by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Next year, the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights, the second oldest Angel City suburb after Lincoln Heights (established as East Los Angeles in 1873), will celebrate its 150th anniversary. The community, which was founded in spring 1875, was the project of merchant John Lazzarevich, who was married into the López family, settlers of Paredon Blanco (White Bluff) which was previously the name of the area; banker Isaias W. Hellman, one of the most prominent Jews in Los Angeles during the last half of the 19th century and first couple of decades of the 20th and who was a former partner of William Workman and F.P.F. Temple; and William H. Workman, nephew of William Workman.
In 1867, William H. married Maria [pronounced Mar-eye-uh] Boyle, whose father, Andrew, acquired part of Paredon Blanco not quite a decade earlier. The Ireland native continued working the vineyard in the “flats” below the bluff and along the east side of the Los Angeles River, while he built a brick residence on the edge of the bluff and amid a large property which eventually included orchards and gardens.
Boyle died in 1871, leaving his estate to his only child and her husband, and it was in his honor that the new subdivision was established. While Boyle Heights was created at the peak of Los Angeles’ first development boom, that went bust shortly afterward, including the failure of the Temple and Workman bank, and, as was the case with so many new towns during that period (Artesia, Pomona and San Fernando, being examples), the neighborhood languished during what has often been called The Long Depression lasting through the Seventies and into the following decade.
When the economy improved, especially during the fevered ferment of the Boom of the 1880s, which peaked in 1887 and 1888 during William H. Workman’s two-year term as mayor of Los Angeles, Boyle Heights was largely populated by the well-to-do, especially along Boyle Avenue along the edge of the bluffs where fine views were to be had. Then came more hard times in the last decade of the century, which included a nationwide depression in 1893 and several years of local drought, though there was still growth overall in the area.
The meteoric early 20th century growth of Los Angeles and its environs meant a rapid expansion of the downtown industrial district, just across the river from Boyle Heights, while some of the flats area included railroad lines, yards and other components. With new tracts for the upper class primarily springing up near the University of Southern California and Exposition Park and west from downtown towards Westlake (MacArthur) Park and beyond, as well as its proximity to working-class jobs, Boyle Heights experienced a significant shift in its demographics.
This included a necessary ethnic diversity because of the onset of restrictive covenants, which limited almost all areas of the city to Caucasians, so Boyle Heights became a neighborhood of those who were excluded from all but the east side and selected southern sections of Los Angeles. During the first few decades of the century, large populations of Asians, Blacks, Jews and Latinos settled there as many of the earlier well-to-do residents engaged in what was an early version of “white flight.”
After William H. Workman’s death in February 1918, his widow moved with one of her children in a fashionable area west of downtown and the remaining five acres of the Boyle/Workman estate at the northwest corner of Boyle Avenue and Fourth Street became available for acquisition. Because of its size, the existence of several houses (including the recently remodeled Boyle brick house and an 1887 dwelling built by his daughter and son-in-law, as well as another Workman family edifice) and outbuildings, as well as the expansive and well-manicured grounds, an institutional use was soon found.
Los Angeles’ Jewish community experienced, as many other ethnic groups did, a tremendous growth during this era and a core tenet of the community was care for those in need, including the elderly. The Hebrew Sheltering Home, later the Jewish Home for the Aged, was created after the prominent B’nai B’rith Messenger newspaper, some issues of which have been highlighted here in past posts, published an editorial calling for such a facility.
A modest beginning came with the rental of a cottage on Temple Street just west of downtown, but the Los Angeles Times of 1 November 1914 reported that the Hebrew Sheltering Home Society was holding a fundraiser at the original Shrine Auditorium, with “everything in connection with the ball and entertainment” going towards a building fund. The paper added that,
The society now occupies small quarters on Temple street and the proceeds of the ball are to go to a fund for building a suitable home for old people, of whom there are now said to be 600 in the city.
The 15 March 1915 edition of the Los Angeles Express briefly noted that “many Los Angeles Jews last night pledged financial support for” the organization and its project, with a gathering at the Beth Israel synagogue on Olive Street, just south of Temple hearing speakers and enjoying entertainment. In early August, the Society was incorporated and a new home was located in Boyle Heights in the former residence of the Gless family at 131 S. Boyle, just south of First Street.
The Express of 4 September 1915 issued an editorial under the heading of “When Old Age Comes” and noted that the dedication of the new facility was handled “with most impressive ceremony.” It added that the Gless residence could house up to 35 persons and that policies were adopted to help insure adequate maintenance and upkeep.
Observing that what seniors provided through their working years was more than what they received as compensation from a society-wide perspective as their “services rendered to society still stands open and unsettled when the coming of old age finds the toiler helpless and impoverished,” the editorial continued,
There will come a day when society will make precisely the same loving provision for the superannuated [this word usually means “obsolete”] that is the inspiring purpose of the Hebrew Sheltering association. Men and women who have lived lives of toil and find themselves in their old age dependent upon others, possess a valid, if hitherto unrecognized claim upon society—a claim founded in justice and not in charity.
The Times of 15 January 1916 commented on the second annual fundraising ball, again at the Shrine, of the Society, held on the grounds of the Gless place, noting that monies “will be employed to build an additional home . . . to accommodate 100 persons” on the site. It was expected that attendance would top the first year’s total of 4,000 and it was concluded that there were 25 persons on the waiting list for admission as residents to the facility.
The paper’s edition of 20 March reported that a women’s ward and a synagogue were dedicated at the Home, with 500 persons gathered as a 97-year old resident opened the doors to the new ward, which had room for 25 residents, was named for major donor Isaac Norton, prominent in real estate and insurance, as well as secretary of a building and loan association (his son Samuel T. Norton was a well-known local architect and heavily involved in Jewish organizations of all kinds.) An auction yielded $1,000 for the organization, as well.
The synagogue was named for Mrs. A. Lane and the piece went on to state that the first Sheltering Home was on First and Rose streets and could only house three persons, so it appears this predated the Temple Street structure. It added that plans were in the works for a new building to be started in late summer and cost around $50,000, while a fundraising picnic was to be held in early June at the Selig Zoo in what was soon renamed Lincoln Heights.
The Express of 25 November featured a photo of two women selling tickets to the third annual Sheltering Home Association ball, again at the Shrine, the following evening. The plan was to take the receipts and apply them to paying off the remaining $2,000 of a $10,000 mortgage taken three years prior. The article continued that,
The home . . . affords a pleasant place for the 25 persons, ranging from 75 to 93 years of age, to spend their declining years. A spacious yard, garden and three buildings, a ladies’ ward, a 14-room house for men and a tiny church [synagogue] compose the plant.
Additionally, the institution “also relieves the destitute in need of aid,” so that north of 3,700 meals were served in the preceding year and it was recorded that “strangers coming to Los Angeles without funds are taken care of and even clothed until they can obtain employment.” Once the mortgage was paid off, “immediate steps will be taken to enlarge the institution,” and it was observed the annual operating expenses were covered by donations, though around $8,000 was expended for the superintendent (called the janitor here) and spouse.
A key figure in the early years of the Sheltering Home was Simon Lewis (1880-1954) who was a grocer and building contractor who was president of the Association for a decade, but was a board member until his death. The B’nai B’rith Messenger of 5 January 1917 reported on the group’s annual election, including returning Lewis to the presidency, and added “he has been untiring in his efforts and unselfish in his devotion to the institution to make it the success it has become under his incumbency.” From the modest beginnings, the Association had property valued at some $15,000.
Several months later, American entered the First World War and conditions did not yet allow for the Association to realize its ambitions for a much larger facility on the Gless site, though, in the aftermath of the horrific conflict, the Los Angeles Record of 18 June 1920 briefly reported on a “general mass meeting” to be held at the Home the following week “to discuss enlarging the home.” Two days later, the Times noted the upcoming meeting, observing that “steps to secure a new location must be taken if the helpful work now being done is to be extended.”
The Express of 20 August reported on another gathering at the Masonic Temple in Ocean Park, now part of Santa Monica next to Venice, with “plans for raising the $100,000 building fund for the new home to be erected” at the Gless site was to be featured. The Messenger of 1 October reviewed a meeting from the prior week at the Home to discuss a “lawn fete” to be given on the 10th.
Whatever ideas were entertained about keeping the Home at the current site, they soon were superseded by the idea of finding a new and larger location to allow for the ambitions plans for expansion held by the Association. Within several months, it was realized that the members did not have to go far to find their ideal location, as the Workman estate was soon identified and negotiations entered into for its acquisition.
With that, we’ll halt here and come back tomorrow with part two, so be sure to join us then.