At the foot of Hollywood: the rare collection of a Los Angeles shoemaker

In a Los Angeles shoemaker 's workshop, traces of Hollywood history are stored from floor to ceiling, safeguarded by a craftsman who says his profession's days are numbered.

Peter Fonda, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liza Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Tom Jones: countless names are labeled on shoe boxes containing measurements and molds of the feet of the cream of the entertainment industry.

The collection was born from the work of Pasquale Di Fabrizio , an Italian known as "the shoemaker to the stars," who in his workshop in Los Angeles handcrafted shoes for more than four decades for figures such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tina Turner, Jack Nicholson, Fred Astaire and Michael Jackson.

The craftsman knew these feet like the back of his hand, and although he revealed some secrets (such as the centimeters he helped several celebrities gain), others are protected in these boxes that eventually ended up in the hands of Chris Francis, a 48-year-old shoemaker who not only preserves this piece of history, but also a dying trade.

"There's a little bit of everything here," says Francis.

"Di Fabrizio created for everyone, from casino owners to actors, performers in Las Vegas, Broadway, Hollywood—whoever comes to mind in the entertainment industry from the 1960s to 2008," he adds.

Some of the boxes contain autographs or dedications, such as that of actress Anjelica Houston.

Others, the designs used in films or series, as in the case of Sarah Jessica Parker or Julie Andrews.

The list of stars lining the four walls of the cramped space is staggering, including the recently deceased actress Diane Keaton and Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley.

"Something unique"

Francis never met Di Fabrizio, but he preserves his legacy with the same fervor with which he keeps alive a profession that, like the boxes, he claims to be a thing of the past.

In the past, he explains, Hollywood was an ideal place for the craft, given the specific demands of the entertainment industry, which led many stars to commission custom work.

"Celebrities used to brag about how much they paid for a pair of shoes, and they wanted something unique . Nowadays, more and more celebrities want free shoes, which is killing shoemakers like me," he laments.

In addition to the changes social media brought to the industry, mass production altered consumption patterns in the fashion industry, making the artisanal work of men like Francis or the late Di Fabrizio, who charged thousands of dollars to his prestigious clients, unviable.

Francis started out in clothing, and was discovered by a rock stylist while hand-stitching a leather jacket on a public park bench.

"In Los Angeles, it's easy to be in the right place at the right time," he laughs.

But shoes became his true passion.

He started making them in his kitchen , and went door to door looking for an internship with masters of the trade who initially looked at him with suspicion because of his old-school rocker look.

"They told me to join a band," he says.

"They were men of the old world (...) they didn't speak English well, so you had to watch and learn."

"They came from places like Iran and Syria, they grew up in shoe factories in countries with political problems (...) they found success here in the United States, where they could maintain this ancient craft, until it was no longer sustainable. And they dedicated themselves to repairs."

Francis, who stays in the business partly for the love of art, sometimes regrets not having listened to some of his advice.

"'Why do you want to be a shoemaker? People can buy shoes for twenty dollars these days,' they told me."

"As a profession," he says, "it is extremely difficult to survive."