by Paul R. Spitzzeri
We continued our “postview” series following Sunday’s event at the Museum commemorating the 150th anniversary of the eastside Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights, founded in 1875 by William H. Workman, John Lazzarovich and Isaias W. Hellman, with a look at a very interesting and detail examination into the community from a real estate development and general civic booster perspective in the 6 June 1906 edition of the Los Angeles Herald newspaper.
The issue came out just a little over seven decades since the authorities in the Mexican pueblo granted the land, known then as Paredon Blanco, or White Bluff, because of the mineral and soil content of the geological landform that defined the area, to Esteban López, whose family were early settlers from the Spanish period.
It was not quite a half-century since Petra Varela, the widow of Esteban (who died in 1852), sold a portion of Paredon Blanco to Andrew Boyle, a recently arrived native of Ireland, who’d lived in Mexican Texas, New Orleans and San Francisco, before purchasing the tract, including a section of “The Flats” flanking the Los Angeles River as well as areas behind the bluff. In 1860, two years after the transaction, Boyle built a brick residence, while continuing the work of the vineyards and orchards the López family planted and cultivated.
It was just a bit beyond 20 years since Boyle’s son-in-law, Workman, partnered with Lazzarovich, who married into the López family, and banker Hellman to subdivide the community named in Boyle’s memory during greater Los Angeles’ first boom. Despite an economic collapse that followed within just several months, after which, during a national “Long Depression,” it and other newer communities (Artesia, Pomona and San Fernando, being examples) went largely moribund, a second and much larger boom peaked during Workman’s term as mayor in 1887-1888.
Another bust came and the 1890s included another national depression and several years of local drought, but Boyle Heights continued to grow. Largely considered an exclusive neighborhood, the community had some significant developments, such as the Orphans’ Asylum, Hollenbeck Park and the Hollenbeck Home for the Aged, now Hollenbeck Palms, added during the post-boom period. With the dawn of the 20th century, a third major boom burst forth and, again, Boyle Heights was a beneficiary.
The piece, which was almost certainly intended to reach visitors in town and those living elsewhere, began with the remark that,
Marvelous advancement in the erection of new and beautiful homes in all districts of the Boyle Heights section, which comprises the greater portion of the Ninth ward [City Council district], has been made within the past year, and in the grading and improvement of new tracts bordering the limits of the ward hundreds of thousands of dollars have been judiciously expended.
The article continued that “the beautiful rolling mesa land appeals at once to the home seeker” because, as it claimed in wording typical to the booster pieces of the era, “there is the pure air and the mountain and valley scenery which delight the eye of man more than anything else in nature.” Dedicated campers, fishers, hikers and hunters roaming the nearby San Gabriels would surely disagree with that last sentiment, as would many people with the assertion that “in Boyle Heights one breathes as though there were real pleasure in inhaling the pure air.”
How much pure air would continue to waft through the area comes to mind with the very next sentence: “Lying on the eastern side of the Los Angeles river there is a stretch of comparatively level land, certain to be of great importance for industrial uses but for the time in large part devoted to home making.” In fact, there became a mix, as industrial developments did share significant portions of The Flats next to working-class housing, including those occupied by a growing cadre of Russian immigrants, known commonly as Molokans, but really the Spiritual Christians.
It was east of those 20-foot or so tall bluffs that,
Syndicates and individual investors, appreciating the advantages of Boyle Heights as a specially attractive residential district, have earned handsome profits by acquiring acreage that has been neglected or overlooked for many years, and now in every direction may be observed hundreds of pretty homes, ranging in value from $1000 to $5000, or more, with the occupants enjoying all the conveniences enjoyed by those residing at Sixteenth and Figueroa streets.
Since the Boom of the 1880s, much of the spread of suburbia was focused on the south, southwest and west, while annexation began to extend city limits far beyond the original pueblo boundaries—the only of which still existing is that on the eastern fringe, along Indiana Street, of Boyle Heights—though the aggressive absorption of hinterland areas only accelerated after this period.
The Herald averred that the east side neighborhood had much in common with the western communities of Pico Heights, West Adams Heights and Westlake and Boyle Heights “is in truth one of the choicest residence sections in Los Angeles, considered from a scenic or sanitary point of view.” Moreover, “the nearness of Boyle Heights to the business center,” not to mention the growing industrial district across the river, “is one of the greatest points of important value to men of affairs with whom time is money.”
The paper then returned to its reverie, with no small amount of exaggeration, concerning what Mother Nature bestowed on the area:
Perfect climate, perfect health and beautiful scenic effects, glorious sunshine, bracing air and high altitude are among the chief valuable assets of Boyle Heights. Those who reside in Boyle Heights constantly in close touch with nature. It is a daily delight to be in the balmy sunshine, inhaling the pure air from the mountains and the sea, while the ever-changing views bring forth perpetual exclammations [sic] of pleasure. Out of door life is one of the chief charms of living in Los Angeles, and in Boyle Heights the pleasure can be enjoyed to the limit. There is no lack of elbow room. In every direction, go where you will, everything is clean and fresh, the purity of the air giving one an impression that meadows and running brooks must be near at hand.
Also touted were streetcar lines and the usual run of community amenities, such as churches, library, schools and utility service, so that “everything needful for the comforts of life are supplied,” though it was also added that the denizens of the neighborhood “include many of the best known successful business men of the community.” In fact, a large photo on the page features the distinctive residence, just off Hollenbeck Park on Fifth Street where interstates 5 and 10 run now, of George Chaffey, co-founder of the city of Ontario and a major force in developing irrigation in southeastern California, as well as head of the American Savings Bank. The house was formerly occupied by J. Phillip Erie, who introduced the first automobile in the Angel City which tentatively traveled through its streets not quite a decade before.
Under the heading of “Institutions of Merit,” the piece observed that “clustered about romantic Hollenbeck park and lake are a number of valuable institutions that contribute to the comfort of humanity.” Featured in recent posts on this blog, before and after the sesquicentennial celebration, was “the Hollenbeck home for aged persons . . . founded by Mrs. Elizabeth Hollenbeck in memory of her late husband, John E. Hollenbeck” with the note that the operations of the facility were funded by proceeds from the Hollenbeck Block and Hotel at Main and 2nd streets downtown.
Also highlighted was “the orphanage and school of the Sisters of Charity,” situated at the corner of Boyle and Stephenson avenues, this last later changed to Whittier Boulevard, with it being added that “children from all parts of Southern California [are] being educated at this large institution.” Not far from the park was a hospital operated by German-Americans as well as one for employees of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, which opened the transcontinental rail line to the region that ushered in the Boom of the 1880s and which had a large yard bordering Boyle Heights. While there was talk of a second state Normal School for teacher education near the park—one for nearly a quarter century was near Central Park (Pershing Square) in downtown—including a chosen site, the project was never realized and the existing school eventually morphed into the University of California, Los Angeles.
The last part of the article was under the heading of “Industrial Future Good” and began with the remark that,
Events of the past few months have greatly enhanced the value of industrial tracts in the lowlands and the improvements inaugurated along First street, east of Main, have tended to bring the Heights into greater favor.
While the section mentioned included what was the city’s main African-American enclave, which then headed south along Central Avenue, followed by the established of Little Tokyo for the rapidly growing Japanese-American community, east of Alameda was an industrial section, where “the erection of the Union Metal company’s building, one of the largest buildings west of Chicago, was a great stride in modernizing endeavor.” It was added that 1st Street “is one of the wholesale thoroughfares and many big buildings are projected.”
To the south, “the opening of Seventh street beyond [east of] the river means the early construction of another bridge to span” the watercourse and this, in turn, resulted in a movement “to open up and increase values of acreage in the Heights.” The span, moreover, meant another street railroad to link east siders “to points near the Pacific Electric building,” situated at Main and 6th streets, “and Central park in quick time.” The Homestead’s collection has a used Los Angeles Railway (a sister line to the Pacific Electric, built and developed by Henry E. Huntington, who quickly made a massive mark on greater Los Angeles after he settled in the area in 1901) ticket for the 7th Street and Stephenson Avenue line.
Another major transportation development involved the fact that “the Salt Lake Railroad company has acquired a large tract of land south of Hollenbeck avenue and east of the city limits, where it is planned to erect railway shops that will give lucrative employment to hundreds of men.” The San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake line was built by Montana and Arizona mining magnate William Andrews Clark (whose namesake son made a name in Los Angeles with his library, the creation of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and his support of U.C.L.A., as well as the lesser-known Mary Andrews Clark Memorial Home) just a short time prior to the article.
The route went north from the Port of Los Angeles along what became the “Shoestring Addition” to those downtown yards, which as noted was south of Boyle Heights along Washington Boulevard near East Los Angeles, Commerce and Vernon and then headed through Montebello and Pico Rivera before entering the San Gabriel Valley and running just south of the Homestead, including next to what, seven years later, became North Whittier (Hacienda) Heights, before moving into the Inland Empire, up the Cajon Pass, and through the deserts to its terminus at Salt Lake City, Utah. In the 1920s, the Union Pacific acquired the Salt Lake line and the yard are those of the Burlington Northern Salt Lake (BNSF)—as to “lucrative employment,” that is certainly an interesting way to put what was working-class work!
We’ll return tomorrow with part two of this post, delving deeply into more of the contents of this special Boyle Heights section, including the work of the Ninth Ward Improvement Association, the new tracts of Bowen and Dolton, Euclid Crest and six subdivisions of the Janss company (known for its expansive development of the Westwood area, Yorba Linda and much else) as managed by the realty firm of the Cornish-Braly Company. Early history of the community, including the roles of Andrew Boyle and William H. Workman, the new electric car line mentioned above and a notable piece on the Angel City’s future are also on tap, so be sure to check back in for those!