Coming to a Store Near South L.A. Too
“I like Nike, but wait a minute
The neighborhood supports, so put some money in it”
Public Enemy, “Shut ‘Em Down”
It has been one of the paradoxes of sneaker chic: The shoe companies market urban edginess and covet street cred, but the hardest place to find the latest products for sale has been on an urban street.
That changes today, even if it’s only one store on one block on one street in one city. It’s about a Hall of Fame baseball player, an All-Star basketball player, a police officer, a sportscaster and a salesman trying to make a difference one pair of sneakers at a time.
You can see the difference right at the entrance. The flooring, glossy with “Urban Legends Stadium” inset in the blue and gold colors, cost $30,000.
“It’s time we brought a little bit of Beverly Hills to Los Angeles,” co-owner Reggie Montgomery said.
This isn’t the L.A. that Randy Newman sang about. It’s oft-neglected South Los Angeles. And it isn’t just Beverly Hills that’s coming. It’s Staples Center and Dodger Stadium and even a touch of the good ol’ Fabulous Forum.
Why open a shoe store here, at 8410 S. Broadway, two doors down from a tiny storefront church and adjacent to a cramped market where a delivery man is unloading cases of malt liquor from his truck?
What’s so special about this place?
We’ll let Eddie Murray explain.
“People have no idea, sometimes, who has come from here,” the baseball Hall of Famer said. “I went to Locke High School, right down the street, 111th and San Pedro.”
He goes through a quick list of other famous alums. Singer Patrice Rushen. Saxophonist Gerald Albright. Fellow baseball star Ozzie Smith.
“That’s something I’ve always been proud of, just having people you know go on and make it,” Murray said.
When he was growing up, Broadway was where the family came to shop. Now, just try to find a place to get the latest styles, even something as seemingly basic as the latest sneakers.
Montgomery says you won’t find one within a six-mile radius. And you definitely won’t find one as committed to community involvement as Urban Legends Stadium. The owners plan a series of youth-oriented Saturday events that include lessons in nutrition, banking, emergency preparedness and cultural history.
“As much as it’s a business, it’s a platform for guys to come back in the community; it’s a platform to do some educational outreach in the community,” said former Laker Norm Nixon, another investor. “That’s probably the most important piece of this whole thing.”
For Murray, it’s a matter of teaching kids “to learn how to dream again.”
First you have to get them in the building, and there are few better lures for youths than stacks of brand-new shoes.
As workers hammered and rolled paint in the frantic race to the opening, Montgomery led a quick tour through the inventory shelves, pausing to open boxes containing the latest LeBron James signature shoes, some retro Air Jordans and the new Jordan women’s line with the famous Jumpman logo in pink.
Nike made sure the latest and limited-edition shoes would be available. Merchandise from Fila and Reebok is on the way.
Montgomery, who got his business degree from USC, will run the store. Sports memorabilia from Murray, Nixon and other local sports stars such as Serena Williams and Eric Davis will be prominently displayed, and highlights from their careers will be looped on seven plasma televisions throughout the store. Sportscaster Jim Hill and Reggie’s brother Mike, a Los Angeles police sergeant who also works security at Staples Center NBA games, are the other owners -- in title, at least.
“This is the community’s store,” Reggie Montgomery said. “This is what we owe to the community.”
J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read more columns by Adande go to latimes.com/adande.
