Living on the Wedge: When Platform Shoes Ruled Tinseltown

Unfortunately, today’s platform shoe devotees don’t have Fred Slatten’s shop to clomp around in anymore. The premier platform designer in ‘70s L.A., Slatten held court for more than 20 years in a former pet store near Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards. When he first opened Fred Slatten Shoes in 1970, the area wasn’t yet prime shopping turf, but the shop got noticed--not surprisingly, since it was lit 24 hours a day, with a rainbow of platforms spinning on turntables in the display windows. “Before we knew it, we had a captive audience,” he says.

“There was every shape, every color,” recalls Slatten aficionado Sally Struthers, who wore Slatten creations as Gloria Bunker Stivic on “All in the Family.” “Leather, satin, marabou, glitter--you got one pair and you couldn’t stop.”

There were shoes with real goldfish in their wedges and live birds in their heels. Shoes painted with city skylines or the faces of David Bowie or Marilyn Monroe, shoes decoupaged and shoes diamante’d. There were also boots. “Nancy Sinatra was our biggest customer,” says Slatten, who worked as a buyer for Bullock’s and later as a wholesaler before opening his store.

Cher indulged; Sonny, too. Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, Goldie Hawn, Marvin Gaye and Lana Turner (“the only customer we kept the store open late for”) were all fans, Slatten says. “Then there was this little pudgy guy who turned out to be Elton John,” he laughs. “He bought every shoe we ever made.” Playboy playmates shopped by the passel. “Every centerfold for 15 years wore our shoes. Barbi Benton wanted a pair that lit up, so we powered them by batteries.” Each sales assistant had an indivdually decorated office--a Graceland for footwear. “Gene Simmons from KISS came in a lot,” Slatten says, “but I think he just liked our girls.”

The store closed in 1992, a victim of more conservative times. Slatten, 79, free-lances occasionally but mainly indulges hobbies such as detailing his sports car. His take on the current platform renaissance? Today’s platform, says Slatten, is “kind of gross looking. Our shoes flattered the foot.”