by Paul R. Spitzzeri
“Tis the season once again and the Homestead hosts its annual Holiday Open House this coming Sunday the 7th from Noon to 4 p.m., so we hope you’ll consider joining us for that. And, with the holidays upon us, we return with another tradition for The Homestead Blog, this being the series of posts under the banner of “The Evolution of Christmas.” Last year, after poring through Los Angeles newspapers, posts shared holiday references from 1854 to 1868 and it was noted that celebrations during the season increased, reflecting, to some degree, what was happening nationally, as Christmas started to become as popular as New Year’s Day.
By the late 1860s, moreover, the region was undergoing its first boom, or period of significant and sustained growth in population, business and other areas, and this boosted the celebration of the holiday, largely because new arrivals came from Europe and other parts of the United States in which Christmas was increasingly widely celebrated. As we’ll see with this year’s grouping of “Evolution” posts, the expansion of marking the season and the festivities associated with it accordingly grew.
The year 1869 actually had relatively few newspaper references to the holiday, though most of these concerned retailers hawking their wares. This included Joseph Waible’s store in the United States Hotel building on Main Street, in which for the “Christmas Holidays” he offered toys, fancy goods, writing desks and albums, as well as “knick knacks of various kinds for Christmas presents. Generally, Weible peddled china and glassware “together with everything found at a toy and variety store.”
One of the better-known merchants in town was Maurice Kremer, a Jew from France who resided in Memphis before coming to California during the Gold Rush and living in Sacramento and San Francisco before settling in Los Angeles in 1852. His ad did not mention “Christmas,” but, instead, promoted his “Holiday Presents” and he “informs the people of Los Angeles and vicinity, that he is receiving by every steamer, choice articles of fancy goods for the coming holidays, which upon examination, will be found superior to anything of the kind in this City.” Connected to his establishment was “a Dress Making and Millinery Establishment, where the most Fashionable Dresses are made” and where hats for children and women were in stock. Also available were children’s dresses and women’s underwear and Kremer concluded, “for cheapness, I defy competition” so readers were advised “give me a call and judge for yourselves.”
A simpler advertisement was taken out by Herman W. Hellman, another prominent Jewish figure in the city’s mercantile community, and who merely informed readers that he had “Toys! Toys!! Toys!!! and Holiday Presents,” apparently not seeing the need to specify because he was so well known in town. There were others who were promoted in the press for their offerings, including, in the Star of the 18th, which generally observed that “the Holidays are now upon us, and the stores are decked in their gayest and most attractive styles.” Hellman’s place “is full of toys and the young folks are laying siege to the tables.” The article then went on,
At [Charles] Ducommun’s, at the old stand, corner of Main and Commercial streets, the most elegant goods are exhibited, not only toys, but brilliant diamonds, beautiful moss agates, and every description of jewelry, and fancy goods. If parties cannot select elegant gifts for the holidays from these stocks, then they must be very hard to please.
The Los Angeles News of the 21st pushed the Wine Room, located on Main Street next door to the bank of James A. Hayward and John G. Downey and where “families must supply themselves with wines and the wherewith to compound the traditional ‘egg nog.'” Otherwise, the establishment offered “a stock of liquors of all kinds, selected with especial reference to their purity.” The advertisement of the recently opened business noted that those looking for holiday refreshments could peruse “a large assortment, selected with great care expressly for Family and Table use.”
The following day’s edition told readers that, with the onset of the season, “new hats will be wanted to replace the old ones” and “we notice that by the last steamer [Daniel] Desmond received a large addition to his previous stock, so that he is prepared to supply head coverings to suit the most fastidious.” The News added that Los Angeles long needed a hattery and “we are pleased to note that the experiment is proving a success;” in fact, Desmond’s, which opened the prior month, later expanded into a department store that existed until the 1980s, including a location in nearby West Covina.
The brothers, J.A. and M.C. Mauricio, who hailed from Spain, opened, on Main Street, a confectionery in time for the holidays and the News of the 23rd remarked “now that Christmas is at hand, the little ones, together with the children of a larger growth, must be furnished with the traditional candies and other sweet things, which, upon such occasions, Santa Claus distributes with such a liberal hand.” The new shop, the paper went on, was just the place as it was “manufacturing a large supply of all kinds of candies, fruit cake, etc., which can be had fresh and pure” while “their candies are equal or superior to all.”
In its Christmas Day issue, the Star reported that “fire-crackers and other pyrotechnics were exploded last evening in honor of Christmas Eve,” while also commenting “the toy stores and confectioneries were of course glorious in their attractions,” though it concluded, “the youngsters were puzzled only to know what of all the dazzling things would become theirs.” One wonders if the firecrackers and fireworks were provided by the growing Chinese community, which, however, was widely maligned in the city, to the point that a horrific massacre of 18 men and a teen boy took place two years later.
In an editorial, also from the Yuletide day, the News remarked,
Christmas has come. Throughout the Christian world to-day will be celebrated with feasting and merry-making. Christmas is suggestive of good cheer, of plethoric turkeys, and hot mince pies, of cakes prepared by careful housewives; of egg-nog and “hot apple toddy” in the evening, and of the merry dance at night to be prolonged [far into the early hours].
While younger folks “revel in careless light-hearted enjoyment,” and the more mature members of local society “in fancy, step backward, and become young again,” the hard-working business figure relented from labor for a few hours “and in the relaxation of Christmas finds an unwonted pleasure.” Readers were advised to remember that “to-day the wrinkles of care must be smoothed out, and mirth and jollity enthroned supreme.”
Amid the recounting of the joyous nature of the holiday and a wish for “a merry Christmas!” comprising the paper’s “traditional cheerful greeting,” the paper was sure to editorialize about those in need, so that there was certainly a recognition of the varied celebrations of the holiday, but:
While this is true, in a general sense, we may not forget that there are many among us upon whom the hand of misfortune, or poverty and affliction has been heavily laid, and for whom no Christmas will have come, unless the thoughtfulness of those who have been more fortunate shall provide for them. The poor we have always with us. The well to do man will surely eat his Christmas turkey with a keener relish, from the consciousness that his poor neighbor has been provided with the wherewithal to make Christmas a red letter day in his caledner [sic].
Only a couple of institutional celebrations of the holiday were found in the Angel City press. An ad in the News of the 22nd concisely informed readers that a “Christmas Ball” was offered at the El Monte Hotel in the San Gabriel Valley town west of the Workman Homestead and north of the domain of the Temple family. One wonders if any family members attended the event, which sold tickets for $4.00.
Another, which also involved the sole mention of a Christmas tree for that year, concerned a holiday party held on the 27th, likely because Christmas fell on a Saturday and then came the Sabbath and its children’s school for Bible study, at St. Athanasius’ Episcopal Church, the first Protestant house of worship in Los Angeles when it opened five years prior (though it was initiated by the Presbyterians, who then sold the unfinished structure to the Episcopalians for completion) and which was located at the southwest corner of Temple and New High streets.
The News of the 30th reported,
At the Episcopal Church, Monday night, the traditional Christmas Tree was laden with gifts for the scholars of the Sunday school attached to the church. The church building was crowded to the utmost with the youth, beauty, and fashion of the city, and the accustomed exercises passed off in the pleasantest manner.
As the Angel City continued its expansion during this first boom, modest as it was compared to the many that followed, the celebration of the Christmas holiday duly grew, as well. So, we’ll find that, as the Sixties came to a close, the commemorations of 1870 were far greater, including more events throughout the county, the commercial component more substantial and new elements or aspects introduced and mentioned.
We’ll continue, then, with that next “Evolution of Christmas” post next Tuesday, so be sure to check back in for that.
UPDATE, 10 December 2025: We inadvertently left out a couple of notable references to Christmas in Los Angeles in 1869, so let’s add those now!
The Star of New Year’s Day 1870 reported on the Christmas tree displayed at St. Athanasius’ Episcopal Church, informing readers that the edifice was packed as Sunday school children were feted. The tree “was placed in the chancel, which was liberally loaded with gifts for the children, and brilliantly illuminated with tapers [candles].” The event began with the church choir singing “Gloria in Excelsis.”
A carol was sung by the pupils prior to the presents distribution, but, although it was planned to conclude the festivities with another tune, “the little ones were so engrossed with their presents that it was deemed not advisable to interfere with their occupations.” The paper concluded its coverage by summarizing that “the affair passed off with pleasure to the spectators and much delight to the recipients.”
A week later, the paper published a short letter to the editor from the prisoners housed in the city and county jail, located on the west side of Spring Street, between what is now Temple and 1st streets, concerning the holiday in their confinement:
As we wish to make an acknowledgment of our gratitude to our worthy jailor, Frank Carpenter, for a sumptuous and palatable dinner on Christmas Day, we call upon you to provide space in your paper. The dinner was one that would that would have done credit to and adorned any table. We had everything from the choicest roast beef to the daintiest dessert. We will also state that Mr. Carpenter is also assiduous in his duties, but never permits anyone under his charge to suffer for anything that lies in his power to do for them.
This is a remarkable statement about the treatment of prisoners in the jail by Carpenter, who long served in that position and who has been profiled in this blog before.
Thanks for posting this, Paul. Love it. I’m working on a book about an amazing woman reporter. She wrote an article or two about how Christmas had become all about selling, and less about the holiday itself. She was so disgusted, she and her husband would rent a cabin to keep their children away from the “retailism” of the era. I’d have to look up the year, but it would have been around 1910-ish. Great work, Paul.
In the Christmas advertisement cited in this post, which was placed by merchant Maurice Kremer in the Los Angeles News in 1869, the final line – “Give me a call and judge for yourselves” – immediately caught my attention. Written nearly a decade before the invention of the telephone, this 19th-century expression simply meant stop by and pay a visit.
By poring through advertisements from that era, it’s not difficult to spot many old-fashioned expressions that sound either too Victorian or out of step with modern usage. For example, “Cheaper than any house in the city” had nothing to do with real estate; house simply referred to other stores. “Fresh goods” meant newly arrived merchandise, not necessarily groceries. And “Quality is warranted” meant the goods were guaranteed – a more straightforward promise than today’s warranties, which are often wordy, lengthy, complicated, and sometimes require paying extra, but most of the time useless.
We appreciate the comment, Colleen, and look for more “Evolution of Christmas” posts for the next few Thursdays, including reference to holiday editorials!