Arthur Letts Sr. (June 17, 1862 – May 18, 1923) was an immigrant from England who made his fortune in Los Angeles, California, in the early years of the 20th century.

In the early 1890s, he emigrated to the United States in Seattle, Washington, and began retail employment in dry goods.

At the corner of Fourth and Broadway, then on the far southern edge of the downtown Los Angeles business district, the J.

He named the department store The Broadway[1][2][3] and would go on to greatly expand this location and open up numerous others throughout the southwest United States.

The development of Westwood, Holmby Hills, and UCLA began in 1919 when Arthur Letts Sr. purchased a 400 acres (1.6 km2) portion of the Wolfskill Ranch, originally the Mexican land grant Rancho San Jose de Buenos Ayres.

He personally christened the developments Westwood and "Holmby Hills," the latter loosely derived from the name of his birthplace, a small village in England called Holdenby.

The grounds of his Los Feliz district, Hollywood estate Holmby House[6] were formally laid out with wide variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers, and his cactus collection was known across the country.