Mullen & Bluett was a Los Angeles-based department store specializing in men's clothing.
Founding
It was founded by Andrew Mullen and W. C. Bluett in the 1880s, at the corner of First and Spring streets in Downtown Los Angeles. Arthur R. Mullen took over management of the store after the death of the founders.
On May 19, 1922, Mullen & Bluett opened on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, at the now-famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine, in the style of a two-story Tudor Gothic redience, in brick with stone trimming.[4] It was the first of many large upscale clothing and department stores that would open in the early 1920s, making the boulevard an important upscale shopping destination in Los Angeles second only to Downtown Los Angeles (Broadway, Seventh Street).
In that same year, the chain was purchased by Grodins, a Northern California men's clothing retailer.[7]
In 1972, Grodins exited the Southern California market, blaming the recession in 1970-71 and stock market weakness for the resulting inability to finance by IPO both its acquisition of Mullen & Bluett and its November 1969, $1 million new flagship store in San Francisco.[8]