DOWNTOWN : Toy Center Planned for Garment Sites

Stepping on a few toes in Downtown’s toy district, a garment district landowner confirmed last week that he is planning to build his own Downtown toy center.

Stanley Hirsh said he is going forward with plans to convert two of his buildings, now occupied by tenants working in the apparel trade, into a toy center where manufacturers and wholesalers can rent showrooms to display their spinning, whirring, speeding gadgets to prospective buyers.

Hirsh’s proposed Pan Pacific Toy Center at 719 S. Los Angeles St. and 122 E. 7th St. is just blocks from the sprawling toy market bounded roughly by 3rd, San Pedro, 6th and Los Angeles streets. Merchants there are wary of competition after enduring their worst holiday season to date.

In a Skid Row neighborhood better known for missions and homeless encampments, hundreds of wholesalers and importers of inexpensive toys from Asia sprung out of nowhere in the late 1980s. At its peak, Toy Town reported annual sales at $1 billion.

Charles Woo, a Toy Town pioneer and landlord to many of the district’s toy wholesalers, said he doesn’t object to the project but said Hirsh should have consulted him before attempting to entice some of his tenants to the Toy Center.

“In Downtown, we shouldn’t be trying to steal pieces of one another’s pie, we should be building a larger pie,” Woo said.

Hirsh said that he has contacted some of Woo’s tenants, but that he was only inquiring about what merchants needed or wanted in showroom space.

“I hope everyone will be a winner. Growing the industry is the goal. I’m not trying to destroy anyone’s business,” Hirsh said.

Hirsh is positioning the center to take advantage of Los Angeles County’s $1.5-billion international toy trade and hopes to have it up and running in year to 18 months. The current tenants of the buildings will be offered space in his other locations, Hirsh said.

With his 14-story toy towers he hopes to attract even more manufacturers and wholesalers to the region so that it might become a Pacific Rim toy hub.

Instead of traveling to Hong Kong, New York or waiting for infrequent shows in Anaheim or Pomona to peddle their products, toy makers could take up residence in the center. Buyers could then visit one central location and see a variety of toy makers under one roof, year-round, Hirsh said.

Woo agreed that the center could be attractive to overseas or out-of-state manufacturers and wholesalers who have yet to establish a presence in the Los Angeles marketplace.

He does not see this as a threat to his business because many of his tenants require warehouse space for their merchandise, which Hirsh does not plan to offer.

“Why have a showroom in a high-rise if your warehouse is only five minutes away? I can’t see Toy Town in a high-rise,” Woo said.

Woo added that many of those who might initially take up residence in Hirsh’s towers might eventually rent warehouse space in Toy Town as their businesses expand.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said the center could complement the existing toy district.

Although Toy Town is not experiencing the type of explosive expansion it did in the late 1980s, there is still opportunity for growth, Kyser said.

Hirsh’s conversion of his buildings into a toy center does not signal a decline in the garment industry.

The garment trade is still growing but is migrating from Downtown to Huntington Park, Vernon and even to Orange County, where cheaper rents can be found, Kyser said. Hirsh can probably get a higher return on the buildings by creating a toy center, Kyser said.