LA shoemaker holds Hollywood's past in a dying art

In a cobbler’s workshop tucked away in Los Angeles, the legacy of Hollywood’s entertainment elite stacked floor to ceiling in thousands of foot-shaped molds, or lasts. The collection included molds for stars ranging from Chuck Norris to Sarah Jessica Parker, representing decades of custom-made footwear for film, Broadway, and Vegas performers.

Chris Francis, shoemaker said "Hollywood was the place to be if you were a shoemaker, because the film industry and the entertainment industry needed specialty shoes that couldn't be delivered by the fashion houses. They needed things that weren't mass production, and they still do, and that's how I still survive."

Francis added that while celebrity demand for custom shoes once supported artisans, the growing expectation of free products threatened the survival of traditional shoemaking in Los Angeles.