A mural reflects that the Dearden’s store largely caters to the Latino Community. It opened in 1909, but early employees thought the logo would sound catchier if it read: Since 1910. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The five-floor, 150,000-square-foot downtown L.A. store is one of nine Dearden’s in Southern California. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
David Gonzalez, 2, checks out computers. These days, most of the stores customers are lower-income Latinos. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Browsing the bedroom furniture section. During World War II, when materials used to make furniture were shipped overseas, the store began selling clothing, which it discontinued in the 1970s. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Raquel Bensimon joined Deardens nearly 50 years ago and is now chairwoman and chief executive of the company. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Ronny Bensimon, left, president of Dearden’s, with his mother, CEO Raquel Bensimon, and Christiaan Van den Akker, an operations director at the company and great-grandson of founder Edgar Dearden. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Eduardo Torres prepares an end table for display in the downtown L.A. store. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
