French emigre Auguste Fusenot (French
Consul in Los Angeles from 1898 to 1907) arrived in the U.S. in 1873 and soon became a partner in San Francisco's
City of Paris store. After learning the business, he founded the Ville de Paris in Los Angeles in 1893. It was operated by the
A. Fusenot Co. as a
dry goods store. It was located in the
Potomac Block at 221–223 S.
Broadway between 2nd and 3rd Streets, at a time when most stores were located in the
Central Business District around Spring, Main, First and Temple Streets. The original store measured . In the latter half of 1905, the store relocated to a space 32 times larger, (), formerly the premises of
Coulter's, a block away in the
Homer Laughlin Building, at 317–325 S. Broadway, extending all the way back through to 314–322 Hill Street. This is the current site of
Grand Central Market. In 1907, Auguste Fusenot died and brother Georges took over management of the store. In 1915, Fusenot sold his business to the owners of
The Emporium in San Francisco, In 1919 the owners sold the 7th and Olive store to B. H. Dyas, and then the store became
B. H. Dyas Co., which itself closed around 1930. The Seventh and Olive building was then occupied by the Los Angeles Jewelry Mart, a constituent of what is now the
Jewelry District, part of the
Historic Core district. ==References==