Los Angeles County
Biographies
DANIEL J. BROWNSTEIN
BROWNSTEIN, DANIEL J.,
Wholesale Merchant and Manufacturer, Los Angeles, Cal., is a native of
California, having been born at Red Bluff, in the northern part of the State,
January 3, 1870. His father was Jacob Brownstein and his mother
Bertha (Newmark) Brownstein. On
January 8, 1903, he married Caroline Blanchard in Los Angeles. There
is one son, Robert Grant Brownstein.
Mr. Brownstein spent his early youth in the north of
California, particularly around Red Bluff and in the mountainous regions just
south of snow-capped Shasta. When the family moved to San Francisco he attended
the public schools of that city and entered the Boys’ High School, where he was
graduated in 1887.
Shortly after finishing his studies in high school
Mr. Brownstein moved to Southern California and settled permanently in Los
Angeles in the latter part of the year 1887. His first and only work in the
employ of others he obtained shortly after his arrival. He was given a position
in the wholesale house of Jacoby Brothers, pioneer clothiers of Los Angeles,
and remained with that firm in various capacities for eight years, or until the
firm quit the wholesale business in 1895.
With the retirement of the Jacoby Brothers from the
wholesale field, Mr. Brownstein determined to take their places, and
consequently he organized the firm of Brownstein, Newmark
and Louis, his partners in the venture being Henry W. Louis and
P. A. Newmark. The three men were practical
wholesale clothiers and they combined their efforts to make the enterprise a
success.
Starting business in the old Baker Block, Los Angeles,
with one room and a basement for their store, the firm expanded until it
required three stores and basements in the Baker Block to house its stock. At
the end of ten years, or in 1905’, [sic] the company moved to a new
four-story building and has occupied it down to date.
Mr. Brownstein’s company added manufacturing to their
business about 1899, the department now employing about four hundred people.
The company now has under construction a plant which will be put into operation
in 1912, giving employment to one thousand workers.
On Jan. 1, 1911, Mr. P. A. Newmark,
after an association with Mr. Brownstein and Mr. Louis for more than
fifteen years, withdrew from the firm, selling his interest to
Mr. Brownstein and his partner. The business was then incorporated under
the style, Brownstein-Louis Company.
Mr. Brownstein has been an important factor in the
commercial and manufacturing development of Los Angeles and is prominently
associated with everything that stands for the advancement of Los Angeles’
business interests.
As a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles
Chamber of Oils and Mines in 1910, he was chairman of the Committee on
Mercantile Affairs and was the directing force in all of its activities and
reforms. During his retention of this office the committee was instrumental in
the establishment of rules and reforms of a progressive nature which now play
an important part in the conduct of mining and oil affairs.
He is also a prominent member of the Los Angeles
Merchants and Manufacturers’ Association, having been on the roster of that
organization since its formation fifteen years ago. He has always taken a deep
interest in its affairs and is a liberal contributor in all matters that mean
the upbuilding of the city.
Mr. Brownstein is one of the leading Masons on the
Pacific Coast and is a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor of the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. He is also a member of the Mystic Shriners and of the Native Sons of the Golden West.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
16 March 2011.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 629,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2011 Marie Hassard.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES