San Pedro’s Shoe Agent Has You Covered
Al Murray Shoes celebrates centennial in San Pedro
A century ago, Al Murray Shoes opened on 6th Street in San Pedro. That’s what the very amiable owner J.C. Ryu explained when I went to the store to speak to him, on a tip from one of his customers about this occasion. The store is now located in Park Plaza off Western Avenue, in San Pedro. The original location still has the store’s name embedded in the Terrazzo at what is now JDC Records.
Al and Murray Kantor were two of three brothers who came to Los Angeles from New York. Census records suggest that the Kantors immigrated to the United States as early as 1884, likely to escape the intense anti-semitism, class struggles and national rivalries (Austria-Hungary and Russia) in the waning days of the tripartite Poland. All three were in the shoe business. Together, the brothers ran several shoe stores throughout Southern California. Al ran two of those stores, the ones in San Pedro and Wilmington, before turning them over to his son, Ron Kantor, in 1964. Ron, now retired, sold (or passed on) the stores to J.C., a longtime shoe-man in his own right before going into business with the Kantors. J.C. took over the Wilmington store in 1985 and eventually moved to the San Pedro store in 1994. He ran both stores until he closed the Wilmington store around 2000. Before completely retiring, Ron (91) worked part-time for J.C. for about nine years. J.C., a very young 85-year-old, asked, but Ron doesn’t remember which month in 1923 the store opened in downtown San Pedro.
A quick bit of research shows the store resided in Downtown San Pedro on 6th Street for six decades before closing the shop and relocating to Park Plaza in 1984. An old San Pedro News Pilot dated March 7, 1949 reported “Exclusive Agency Given Shoe Store.”
It reads:
Al Murray’s Bootery at 375 Sixth St. today announced that it had been selected as agent for the Gold (Red) Cross line of women’s shoes. Shipments of the product known for its comfort in addition to the latest in style creations,’ are arriving at the store and will be displayed as a complete line soon, Murray said. This is the first time this brand has been available in the harbor area.
The advertisement highlights Murray Kantor quickly adopting Red Cross shoewear at a time when the company was quickly diversifying its
offerings including COBBIES, Joyce and Socialite. The company had also acquired Selby shoes. For sake of comparison, the Red Cross shoe was the Nike, Reebok and Adidas shoe companies combined in its heyday and Murray opened several stores selling these product lines from Hollywood to San Pedro.
Al Murray Shoes has long provided functional, yet fashionable shoes. This business has managed to keep customers returning largely because of that functional part. And of course, J.C.
Back in the boom years of downtown San Pedro there were more than one shoe store, several men’s clothing and women’s wear stores — one that sold industrial strength bras and underwear for the cannery workers at StarKist.
J.C. appreciates working in San Pedro because of the relationships and friendships he’s built with his clients.
“I do not have many strange customers coming in here,” said J.C. “I don’t have many people who are just shopping around. I do have people who come, they know who I am, they know what they want. They know what kind of help they need. We [help] more functional than fashionable clients.”
J.C. deals with podiatrists, trainers, therapists and medical doctors. He said it’s because many people have challenges in their daily life. Not necessarily health issues, but sometimes fit issues or they need a modification of the shoe.
“I definitely have a clientele that needs help and the help they need cannot be handled by an online business,” J.C. said.
He explained some of the issues that he is able to help people with. Sometimes the left and right feet are different, not only in size, but maybe a different shape or other issues. Sometimes a person’s leg can be longer or shorter than the other one and he will address that as much as he can. He also deals with orthotics (arch supports), from custom made to over the counter.
“We have different options and ways for fitting people with orthotics or braces … and we also deal with [clients with] diabetes, arthritis, neuroma, heel spur, pronation, knee or ankle problems, pelvic and low back problems. It’s all related [to] the shoes, actually, many times.” J.C. said it’s not a “foot cover” business, it’s
more functional. Many people need this kind of help. Here, customers won’t get the regular department store type of customer service, but he admits, unfortunately, it’s “a kind of dinosaur” and a disappearing area.
“Nobody does what we do anymore,” he said. “There used to be a lot more but it seems to be dying one by one.”
J.C. started as a young man of 30 in this business and he said he’s probably one of the oldest people in it now. He is rightfully proud of what he says is a long record of history with his clients. He checks on them every time they come
in. He’s not looking for that quick sale or to give them the same shoes, he said, because their body and health changes. “In the beginning I thought I knew pretty much everything about [a customer]. Now I’ve changed my view, totally,” J.C. said. “Every time, it’s a new case. I don’t assume it’s going to be the same [situation for a client] every time. Each time a customer returns I think of it as a new process.” He said he’s learned from his mistakes but he also learned to not solely trust his experience. When a customer comes in he approaches it like they are partners. He gets their input and tests things out to find a solution for them.
He’s still learning every day. The shoeman’s aim is to make clients better than they were when they walked in — and happy. That makes him happy and he added, they become friends.
“I’ve had a lot of interesting customers here through the years,” J.C. said. “I know their families, I know their dogs, where they work, their children and we share family photos together. If I stop this business, those relationships and friendships are what I will miss, not the income. We’re each not retirement just It’s “I other.” don’t clear customer is think J.C. not even loves and [retiring] retailer, a his consideration. work, is we my to are will, the friends point actually, with that because he said. “Especially of the business with environment rents going these so high, days,” it’s challenging. After the pandemic it made it even harder because I had to shut down this store for about two and a half months. [This is] a small business. We don’t have unlimited income or an investor either. Everything is from my pocket.
“That’s another thing, a lot of people called me to check how I was and to say they were glad I was still here in business … they said I better not go out of business until I die.”
J.C. said he believes your feet are not just at the bottom of your body — they hold your whole body. If you have issues with your feet, your posture will be impacted, your lifestyle will even change. If you cannot move about freely that creates other issues, including mental issues. You may be a little more depressed if you’re not moving, which affects your exercising.
“It’s all connected,” J.C. said. “I’m like a shoe agent, not just a salesman. I talk to podiatrists all the time about what they need for their patients and what they suggest [for patients’ foot care]. It’s a give and take and we’re friends too.”