by Paul R. Spitzzeri
While most entries in this “Read All About It” series based on historic newspapers in the Homestead’s collection have focused on Los Angeles sheets from the first half of the 1870s during the region’s first boom, we’ve occasionally shared some from later periods, including the San Pedro Harbor Advocate, which only existed for a couple of years during the much larger Boom of the Eighties, which peaked in 1887 and 1888 during the term of Angel City Mayor William H. Workman.
A quarter century before, Workman’s brother, Thomas, was clerk for Phineas Banning, whose moniker as the “Port Admiral,” was due to his untiring efforts to expand the rudimentary harbor at San Pedro through his “New San Pedro,” which became Wilmington. In 1889, there was still very much of a divide between the two harbor communities, though, twenty years later, both were absorbed into a relentlessly expanding Los Angeles through the (in)famous Shoestring Addition that followed a narrow southern path to connect them.
The edition of the Advocate featured here is from 5 October 1889 as the paper’s short life neared its end and as greater Los Angeles was fully within the bust that followed the boom. Yet, the editor and proprietor, Frederick W. Beardslee continued to play the role of the booster and, while he was in San Francisco when the issue was produced, his unnamed proxy in a “Comment,” wrote,
The season in which people visit the seaside is about over and the summer resorts will soon settle back into the quiet lethargy that winter brings. But not so with San Pedro—business continues brisk here during the entire year, and the wharves and lumber yards afford employment in winter as well as summer. San Pedro is not only a seaside resort, as attractive as any this part of the coast affords, but it is a seaport as well, which gives it a double advantage.
There certainly were other coastal communities that looked to draw both resort and shipping business away from San Pedro, from Newport, Bolsa Chica and Anaheim Landing in what had just become Orange County, Long Beach just to the south, and Redondo Beach and Santa Monica to the north, but the writer earnestly made the case for his community as best suited to offer the two elements of success.
Another important aspect of the success of coastal and inland resorts throughout greater Los Angeles during his period was the rise of the tourist excursion, handled through agencies that arranged travel, lodging and tours for clientele, many of whom were from the rapidly rising middle class of an American that was increasingly becoming an economic superpower.
The Advocate addressed this in another front-page piece, observing that “excursionists from the east are beginning to arrive in Southern California in large numbers,” with the largest party in the last couple of years coming to the Angel City a few nights prior. The paper continued that,
This is encouraging in that it indicates a better condition of money matters in the east, which will be followed by a greater business activity in this section. Then, of the many visitors who come, some are sure to remain permanently and add their wealth to the capital of the country. May they continue to come.
The following tidbit averred that economic conditions nationally where such that signs of “a great degree of prosperity have never been more encouraging” and it was stated that railroad statistics, crop yields, abundant labor and more showed “an upward tendency.” As for greater Los Angeles, the Advocate confidently prognosticated that “we are certain to have as great an influx of tourists and settlers as that of the boom period” and he scored naysayers, telling them that, once the reality was discerned they would “stop growling and go to rustling [so] they won’t have time to enjoy the blues,” while those who abandoned the area would soon regret it.
Speaking of those with dire predictions, the journalist informed readers that “there are a number of people in San Pedro (and there are in every town) who lose no opportunity to decry the town and predict all sorts of disaster for the future.” These people confronted new arrivals and plied them with “their threadbare tale of dull times, lack of work, scarcity of money” and other woes, to which it was rejoined, in words largely applicable to our own time,
Cease your croaking or leave town; you do more harm than you imagine; you create distrust in the minds of strangers, give your neighbors the blues and make yourselves miserable. To make a town prosper its citizens must work for its interests, talk about its advantages, support its industries, trade with its merchants, and in short show their faith by their works.
Under the heading of “A Good Suggestion,” the Advocate offered yet another booster article for its town, noting that it had “frequently referred to the superior attractions which San Pedro can boast as a pleasure resort” for all kinds of leisure activities dealing with the sea, while it “has also urged the necessity of certain improvements in order to win a due proportion of those who visit the coast during the summer season.”
Unfortunately, it went on “nothing has been done in the past to beautify the town or to afford accommodations to pleasure-seekers” and this resulted in few persons camping or staying in the community for weekend visits. San Pedro, it argued, could “be made the leading summer resort of the country, provided only that the people here evince a willingness to effect the change and work to that end.”
While space for a park was reserved, “not a tree or flower has been planted thereon, nor any manner of work done to improve it,” so an appeal was made to the City Council and failing official action, “the public spirit of the citizens should cause them to raise money to defray the expense of the needed improvements.” With the fall planting season at hand, a well-appointed park could be ready by the summer season of 1890.
Moreover, “there should be a pavilion erected and dedicated to the public—a place in which visitors could rest, eat their lunches and the like” while “various kinds of amusements should be provided” so that “the chief idea is to set the ball rolling, so that everything may be in readiness for that next year’s influx of guests. Hand in hand with this was the need for “an unlimited amount of advertising . . . to keep San Pedro and its attractions before the public” as “we will hold the drawing cards . . . to acquaint the people of Los Angeles county that such is the case to bring our town the popularity and success it deserves.”
In answer to anyone who questioned the wisdom of such fiscal outlays, the proxy pointed to the example of Santa Monica, which had up to 15,000 visitors on Sundays during the past summer season, while Long Beach, Redondo and Santa Catalina Island (then owned by the Banning family) also did well. He could not see why San Pedro couldn’t attract 5,000 guests each Sunday along with a high level of campers and thereby bring business for merchants, labor for residents “and better times generally.”
Beyond these benefits, property values would rise, the population would grow and capital attracted and it was asserted that “for every dollar expended the first season will bring a full return, and every succeeding year will bring enhanced prosperity.” This argument, said the paper, was not a matter of speculation to business figures and “not outside the limits of the probable” but was a sound one, bound to lead to the “putting [of] money in their own coffers as well as benefiting the whole town.”
A strange blithely related “Fun on the Rail” concerned the arrival in town from Wilmington of a carpenter known only as Hewes, who showed up the prior Sunday sporting a silk hat and a cane but “indulging freely in the essence of evil,” that is, imbibing too much alcohol, so that “he seemed anxious for a row.” To this end, he “finally selected a Chinaman as a safe victim” and “stood placidly knocking of the celestial’s hat with his cane and trying to twist his cue [queue or long braid of hair] around the same weapon, repeating the operation as often as the fellow replaced his hat.”
This led the conductor of the former Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad, the region’s first and operated for the prior seventeen years by the Southern Pacific, to intervene and tell Hewes “to sit down and behave himself,” though the latter responded by telling the conductor to be “consigned to the sunny side of Paradise,” that is, to go to hell. An attempt was made to restrain the agitator, but the taller Hewes easily overpowered his foe, leading to another intervention and the possibility of a third before “a truce was called.”
Beardslee’s proxy happened to be at the station, having taking the train down from Los Angeles, and held back one of those seeking to enter into the fray and added that “when the warlike Hewes had gained the safety of the platform at Wilmington he wanted to wreck the entire train, passengers and all.” What was lacking was much concern about the Chinese man who was the object of torment, with the Advocate concluding that the conductor was the target of mild joshing for his attempt to subdue the inebriated carpenter.
Another notable article concerned the operation of the Soldiers’ Home at Sawtelle near Santa Monica, with the paper briefly reporting that “maltreatment of the inmates” by officials was being investigated by a national examining board for the system of homes across the country. It was stated that witnesses told that “the men are often given poor food, that they are not treated in a kindly manner, and that some of the officers are incompetent,” while manager was said to be inattentive to his duties.
While the hearings were continuing and board members expected to “sift the charges and take such action as is justified,” the paper concluded that,
The old veterans are not convicts, but rather deserve such treatment as the honored wards and one-time protectors of their country are naturally entitled to expect.
Among the tidbits in the “Brief Mention” column on the final page four were that “the wharves have presented a scene of busy activity the past week” and that “there is a perceptible improvement in business.” It was also observed that “for some time this port has experienced the condition of having no deep-water vessels anchored here,” though two coal carriers arrived and “this gives a more natural appearance to our harbor” and when more such craft anchored, “it will seem like old times again,” meaning a return to the halcyon days of the late boom.
Also of note was that “the Jewish holiday” of Rosh Hashanah, or the celebration of the New Year of 5649, “was observed in our city last week by a number of the citizens of that faith closing their places of business for a day or so of rest.” Meanwhile, a rare woman-owned business was noted as “Mrs. Crosby” opened a bakery on Sixth Street between Front Street (Harbor Boulevard) and Beacon Street “an has an attractive place.” The proprietor was described as “a very pleasant lady” who “furnishes the best of goods in her line—so you will say after you have tried them.”
The writer also briefly described a trip to Pasadena, then about fifteen years of age, and wrote of enjoying a trip “through its numerous fine streets and delightful suburbs” adjudging that “there is no prettier town in southern California nor [was there] one that can show a greater variety or profusion of trees, shrubbery or flowers” that the Crown City. This led to the proclamation that Pasadena “is a veritable garden of beauty” and a model for others, the only drawback being that “it is exceedingly hot there at this season of the year” because of its foothill location “and the climate is hardly as desirable as that at the coast,” say, at San Pedro.
Another end of summer season report was from Catalina, as it was stated that the steamer Hermosa completed the final trip and “the Hotel Metropole has closed” as “affairs there have quieted down to the usual winter routine.” The craft, meanwhile, was said to be soon head for San Francisco, where it would be used for “pleasure trips” in that region.
At nearby Downey, the Advocate noted that a fair was to be held from 8-11 October and which was “distinctly an agricultural fair, gotten up by the farmers, and is always good.” Exhibits and program elements were said to “promise to be unusually interesting” with a novelty involving the awarding of an organ “to the couple who will get married in the pavilion during the fair.”
Despite the Advocate’s advocacy of improving conditions and better times to come, there was no great boom like that of 1886 to 1888 and the 1890s were marked by a national depression, the worst in American history to date, in 1893 along with several years of drought regionally. Still, there was marked population growth during the decade, though the next big boom came with the dawn of the 20th century.
The good news for the San Pedro area during the Nineties was the outcome of the “Free Harbor Fight” in which the federal government chose San Pedro/Wilmington for emphasis in appropriations for port improvements over the Southern Pacific and its Santa Monica wharf. In ensuing decades, during which those annexations took place, millions of dollars were expended on turning the Port of Los Angeles into one of the largest man-made harbors in the world and the expansiveness of the facility today would not doubt shock, but immensely please, Beardslee, despite the imminent failure of the Advocate.