The Street Seen: Marketa El Centro
2936 - 2938 Main Street @ Pier Ave
In 1928, a 1-story market building, Marketa El Centro, is constructed just north of Pier Ave on the west side of a widened Main St. The building still exists, although the facade has been extensively altered on several occasions.
Before Main St Widening
Between 1902 and 1909, three 1-story wood frame stores are built on the 3 lots at 2932-34-36-38 Main St (west side of Main St between Ashland and Pier).1
From 1910 to 1921, Ocean Park resident James M. Stiles (1881 – 1966)2 operates the Sanitary Meat Market3 at 2936 Main St. Over time he acquires the 3 properties (2932, 2934, and 2936-38 Main St) with a 75-ft total frontage on Main St. In 1921, Stiles, sells his Sanitary Meat Market business - but retains the properties. In 1923, he leaves Ocean Park.
In 1926, all of the buildings on the West side of Main St, including Stiles’ three buildings at 2932-34-36-38 Main St, are demolished to make way for the widening of Main St.
After Main St Widening
In 1927,4 James M. Stiles returns to Ocean Park and announces plans for a $100,000 3-story store and apartment structure on his 75-ft x 78-ft vacant lot. Norman W. Alpaugh is the architect, with Winter Construction as the contractor. A construction contract is said to have been signed - but nothing comes of it.5
In 1928, Stiles goes ahead with a smaller project - a $12,000 75-ft x 78-ft market on his vacant lot at 2930-32-36 Main St.6 The tall 1-story with a partial mezzanine building has wood bowstring roof trusses that clear span 75-ft to steel columns located in the perimeter brick unreinforced masonry (URM) walls.
Marketa El Centro opens in 1929 with two side-by-side stores - 2936 Main and 2938 Main. Stiles’ Sanitary Drive-In Market (free parking for all his customers) is on one side and D. W. Hatt7 runs a delicatessen and bakery on the other side.
Stiles’ business is soon acquired by Mac Marr Stores8 - which is itself acquired by Safeway in 1931. From 1933 to 1940 Safeway occupies one side (2938 Main) of the building. From 1933 to 1977 Wonder Food Market9 occupies the other side (2936 Main).
In 1969, Action Industries Inc, a Venice-based corporation invested in community ownership of productive resources, opens a food market at 2936 Main. From 1978 to 1985, Barretts Appliances occupies the entire building. In 1986, the building is remodeled as the Atrium on Main with ten small interior skylit stores.
From 1991 to 1992, the building is a Reebok Concept Shop - the company’s second such shop. The store contains an extensive assortment of Reebok products. In a Max Headroom era, the mannequins have video monitors for heads.
Patagonia occupies the building from 1997 to 2012. During the 1997 Patagonia remodel, the unreinforced masonry building is seismically strengthened with steel frames.
Japanese lifestyle retailer Muji occupies the building from 2014 to 2020. Muji (USA) files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy closing all 19 U.S. stores in 2020.
In 2022, 2nd STREET, Japan's leading high-quality second-hand clothing and fashion accessories chain, replaces Muji.
Like modern-day Main Street, the three stores before 1926 have various changing uses. From 1915 to 1918, 2932 Main St is a billiards parlor, and from 1915 to 1918, 2934 Main St is a Japanese restaurant.
James Milton Stiles (1881 – 1966). Stiles is born in Chicago IL. In 1900, Stiles marries (#1) Adelaide Lillian Griffin (1882 – 1915), and in 1907, he marries (#2) Jessie Delia George Stiles Draper (1879 - 1955). Stiles is a meat salesman in Chicago when, in 1910, he and his parents move to Santa Monica. From 1910 to 1921, James Stiles lives at 520 Ashland Ave and manages the Sanitary Meat Market at 2936 Main Main St. In 1917, he marries (#3) Edith Lucile Brown Robinson (1888–1937). In 1921, he sells his Sanitary Meat Market business - but retains the Main St properties. In 1924, Stiles leaves Ocean Park.
In 1927, Stiles marries (#4) Mary Ann Newing Stiles Wayne Wilcox (1905–1947) and returns to Ocean Park to build Marketa El Centro. The market is soon acquired by Mac Marr Stores. Stiles opens a meat business in Beverly Hills. In the 1940 census, Stiles (age 59) is listed as a divorced astrology teacher living at 512 Pier Ave with his widowed father Aurelius Stiles (1848 – 1940). In 1941, Stiles marries (#5) Grace Eickelberg MacDonald Hatfield (1904 – 1968) and works for Roberts Market. In the 1950 census, he (age 69) is listed as separated, unable to work, and living in a trailer park in east Los Angeles. In 1966, Stiles dies in Temple City, age 85.
Stiles is interred at Verdugo Hills Cemetery, which is closed in 1978 after a portion of the cemetery hillside collapses in a landslide, leaving some of the interred bodies exposed on the streets below. Approximately 150 bodies have to be reinterred into a mass grave on higher, flatter grounds of the property.
In the mid-1910s, the term Sanitary Market becomes popular for retail grocery stores with a butcher counter. In the Sanitary Market, meat is sold separately on one side of the store and fresh produce on the other. The “sanitary” applies to the meat side of the store. Some references indicate that originally “sanitary” implies no live animals. Although “sanitary” includes concrete floors, concrete and glass counters and display cases, and numerous water and drain connections to keep the stalls and stands clean. The influence of the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 is probably important.
In 1927, the adjacent landmarked 2-story Parkhurst Building is constructed.
At the same time in 1928 as Stiles announces his building plans, electrical contractor D.S. McEwan (1874–1950), owner of the vacant 2926 Main St lot to the north of Stiles’ property, announces plans for a 3-story structure on his lot. Nothing becomes of this, and the McEwan lot remains vacant till 1948. The vacant lot is leased for Stiles Auto Park - used for market deliveries and customer parking.
With the disruption associated with the 1926 Main St widening, there are small changes in street address numbering between the before the street widening, and the after widening. This may explain the lack (loss ?) of pre-1926 building records.
Daniel Walter Hatt (1879 – 1938) doesn’t have to move very far - he was in the old building at the same address.
In 1929, Mac Marr Stores, a Pacific Northwest grocery chain with 413 stores, expands into Los Angeles. Mac Marr is itself bought out by Safeway in 1931.
Jack Fishbain (1903–1964) opens Wonder Food Market at 2936 Main in 1933. In 1948 Fishbain sells to local grocery men brothers-in-law Harry Neiter and Oscar Alperin.