I. H. Hawkins

Hawkins was born March 16, 1888, in Supply, Randolph County, Arkansas^[1] and died January 20, 1975, in Redondo Beach, California.^[2]

He moved west and worked in a dry goods store in Needles, California then opened his own store there. He then sold the store and bought another, this time in Redlands,^[1] now near the eastern edge of the Greater Los Angeles suburbs.

Hawkins operated "The Hub" at 120 N. Pacific Redondo Beach starting in 1923,^[3] closed it at some point (it is not among his stores listed in 1928)^[4] and reopened it in 1943.^[5]

Hawkins also operated the White House store during the 1920s at 126 N. Pacific.^[6] By June 1928, Hawkins and partners operated:^[4]

• 2 Hawkins & Co. stores in:
  • Redondo Beach
  • Dinuba, Tulare Co.
• 3 Hawkins Sample stores in:
  • Compton
  • Inglewood
  • Porterville: 220 N. Main, later the site of the Craven Department Store^[7]
• 3 Hawkins & Oberg Sample Stores in:
  • Redondo Beach
  • Torrance
  • San Pedro (July 2, 1928) 408 W. 6th St.
• 1 store branded The Low Down, Inglewood

4 additional locations that opened after June 1928 included:

• Hanford (February 9, 1929 – May 13, 1933),^[8] 109 E. Seventh^[9]
• Santa Ana (April 15, 1931), 301–3 E. Fourth St. at Spurgeon. Jack Lansdowne was manager and part owner.
• Anaheim (October 1932), 124 W. Center, purchased Ormsby's, prior to that Falkenstein's Department Store.^[10]
• Bakersfield, 2006 Chester Av., closed March 1933, taken over by Combs Dry Goods Co.^[11] (later Stovall's, Urners, Minnette's (1953), Sorority Shop, Pallets for Days). Premises damaged in 2020 fire.^[12]

By early 1933, Hawkins operated a total of 16 stores, but τhe 1933 Long Beach earthquake on March 10 of that year damaged stores in Compton, Santa Ana and elsewhere in Southern California. By 1933, 8 of the 16 locations had closed.^[8]

By 1941 he had sold all of the stores except the one in Redondo Beach on North Pacific Avenue.^[13] As mentioned above, he reopened The Hub store in Redondo Beach in 1943. Hawkins served as mayor of that city shortly thereafter.^[14] He served as a delegate to the 1952 Democratic National Convention.^[15]