How It Began
Here’s a photo from “The Pictoral History of the American Circus” by John and Alice Durant showing downtown Peoria on May 17, 1934 with a parade down the main street of Peoria, Illinois. KLEINS store is in the background. On the right is another photo I found of KLEINS store in Peoria form the 1950s.
Written By david klein
First a little personal history. Many people on both sides of my family worked in the clothing business. My Dad’s Dad was one of many brothers who each owned a clothing store called KLEINS in a small mid west town. My Dad was born and raised in Peoria and worked in his Dad’s store growing up.
My Mom’s Dad imported silk from China before WWII to make men’s ties.
My Dad loved to party and watch sports. He wasn’t much for book learning or nurturing kids. He worked as a clothing salesman, a manufacturer’s rep primarily for Lee Jeans, but he carried other lines. He used to bring home free samples for us kids to wear which for the most part was A O K. But I remember one time, I was maybe 6 or 7, he forced me to wear a gray woolen sweater to school one day and smacked me around to get me to wear the sweater. I think that incident put a long time dent in my interest in clothing. But it didn’t kill the genetic pre-disposition I have towards wanting to “be like my Dad” and be someone who provides clothing for the world to wear.
On occasion I helped my Dad count the number of items in the stores he sold to - taking inventory to let the store owner know how his wares were selling so they store owner could place new orders. I assume this is all done electronically today. I met Fred Segal when I was a kid, taking inventory in his store with my Dad in Hollywood. And I worked as a sales clerk at The Surpise Store in Culver City when I was a teenager for a few months.
LA TIMES, February 17, 1971 and a photo re posted from www.phantomofthebacklots.com
And that was IT for my experience in working in the clothing industry.
Flash forward to college. I can’t recall her name. But there was a woman, another student, who I was so attracted to. I hardly knew her. I think I must have spoken to her one time. She wasn’t particularly naturally beautiful. She just had a certain style that I couldn’t put my finger one. I don’t recall we had classes together or how I met her in the first place so I didn’t end up being friends with her. But now I know, it was her fashion sense that had me so intrigued by her.
And I will never forget the one time I went clothes “trying on” with my girlfriend who was to become my wife at Saks Fifth Avenue on Union Square in downtown San Francisco I recall it was. I had such a great time with her that day. I recall it was one of the happiest days we had together. Now I know why. It’s this deep seated interest in fashion - in the melting of the interior personality with the exterior appearance that is what “fashion” is all about that I have deep within me that was coming out. Yes, I was born an artist - and nurtured that talent as an actor. But on a deeper level I think I’m a lover of people - of kids and old people - just of people of every age. A humanist I guess you would call it. Someone with an interest to make people feel good, make them feel alive, make them connect with the beauty and truth that makes life so worth living. So when I took up the study of a visual art form, photography, which led me to take photos at a fashion show one day - and I met some artists, Devora and Dmitri, who had printed their work on fabric and made some long dresses with the prints - the meeting of art with PEOPLE just hit me as the place where I belong. And so, I think it was around early in 2008, my venture into the world of fashion, the world of clothing, a homecoming so to speak, began. And it has led me to writing this piece today, April 3, 2020 on this website.
Black and white film portraits I shot and then printed in the darkroom at RayKo in San Francisco of Dmitri, Devora and a fashion designer who were presenting their fashion at the first fashion show I had ever attended in my life.