by Paul R. Spitzzeri
This afternoon’s Holiday Open House at the Homestead was held during dry, warm weather and we were happy to count some 630 visitors, the largest number we’ve had to date for this event, which began after the COVID-19 pandemic. Visitors enjoyed recitations and music from students at Los Altos Elementary and Los Altos High schools in Hacienda Heights, a quartet of Victorian carolers, puppet shows and activities. Those who took self-guided tours of the Workman House and La Casa Nueva saw newly mounted displays in the former, along with our usual interpretations of 1840s (during the Mexican era of California) and 1870s Christmas celebrations, while, in the latter, there was an abundance of 1920s-era decorations, including authentic electric holiday tree lighting sets set out on a sofa in the Living Room.
The burgeoning use across the country of electric holiday lights at Christmastime during the 1910s was certainly reflected in greater Los Angeles. The prior post looked at some examples from the period 1908 to 1912 and now we carry on with examples gleaned from regional media starting in 1913. One of the major department stores in the Angel City was Bullock’s, which existed until not all that long ago, and, in the Los Angeles Express of 4 December, it advertised for a special for “electric tree lighting outfits” so that shoppers could “get your tree ready for Christmas.”
Moreover, the store informed readers, “these electric tree outfits solve the trim question,” meaning that trees did not have to be trimmed to accommodate candles, “and they are perfectly safe,” which addressed long-standing concerns that electric lights were fire risks. A string of seven lights was offered at $3.50, which one inflation calculator says would be the buying power of about $114 now. These outfits were “complete with cord ready to attach” and Bullock’s also let its customers know that with each purchase the following day buyers would receive a trio of “fancy globes” free.
More than two weeks later, the Los Angeles Tribune ran an ad from The Electric Shop, the new name of the Woodill-Hulse firm mentioned in the last post, and which promoted its “Electrical Christmas Gifts” including coffee percolators, chafing dishes, heaters, curling irons and portable desk lamps. The firm, reminding readers that “electrical gifts make splendid presents,” added that it offered motors, toys and trains, as well as Christmas tree lights that sold from $3 and up.
The 20 December edition of the Pasadena Star let its readers know that the Pasadena Rubber Supply Company, located across from the Hotel Maryland, which was on the northwest corner of Colorado Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue, “is showing a full line of Christmas gifts for the automobile owner,” including clocks, horns, lamps, Thermos bottles and cups, “a complete line of sporting goods,” and “Christmas tree electric lighting outfits.” A few days later, it reduced prices because of overstocking, so that the $5 string was offered for $4.45 and the $8 set sold for $6.95, with individual globes cut from 75 to 65 cents or 65 to 55 cents.
In its issue of the 22nd, the Express ran an advertisement from the Southern California Electric Company, which was a store, not a utility, and which was located where a parking lot is now on Main Street between 6th and 7th in downtown Los Angeles. First among its list of “Electrical Gifts,” including radiators, toasters, toys, warming pads and wireless telegraph items were holiday tree lighting sets, though no prices were provided.
The holiday edition of the Los Angeles Record mentioned both a public Christmas tree in Central Park, renamed Pershing Square five years later, and which had “lights [which] shone upon the upturned faces of the banker and the hobo, [as well as] the newsboy and the child of wealth,” but that “sweet voices rang through the Alexandria hotel the giant fir in the lobby flashed into life with myriads of colored lights.” The hostelry set a new local standard for luxury when it opened almost a decade before and prior to the completion, in 1922, of the Biltmore Hotel.
For the 1914 season, Long Beach’s “The Handymen,” located at Pine and 1st streets in that rapidly growing coastal burg, let readers of the Press-Telegram of 10 December that it offered “Xmas Tree Colored Lighting Outfits. Back in Pasadena, McNally’s Electric Shop, situated where Fleming’s Steakhouse is now at Colorado Boulevard and Marengo Avenue, warned readers of the Crown City’s Star-News four days later “don’t forget to get your Electric Christmas Tree lights before they are all gone,” as it mentioned its bed warmers, coffee percolators, grills, heaters, irons and more, adding “It It’s Electrical It Will Be Useful Therefore Appreciated.”
On the 16th the paper ran an ad from electrical contractors Foltz and Whipple, situated on Lake Avenue just north of Colorado, and who promoted practical and sensible gifts as part of a campaign for “Everything for Electrical Christmas.” Asserting that “electrical gifts will solve your shopping problem,” the firm promoted such gift ideas as irons, grills, heaters, sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and its “Christmas tree lighting supplies.”
Bullock’s again promoted its strings of lights for the holidays, including those that could be hung on artificial Christmas trees, priced at 25 and 50 cents and from $1 to $6, with tree lighting outfits sold for $5, $8, $12 and $15. That highest amount had the buying power of nearly $500 in today’s currency. It is also notable to see pricing for bells, candles, artificial snow and gold and silver tinsel, as well as “unbreakable ornaments of aluminum in all colors of the rainbow” these being “beauties that will last for years.”
Returning to Long Beach, we find that the 23 December number of the Press-Telegram reported that the Christmas tree in the Hotel Virginia was being trimmed, though whether this meant that candles were being used was unstated. The Kennebec family was to have “an immense Christmas tree” in its residence, with guests invited to stop in after a municipal tree lighting ceremony on Christmas Eve.
On the 30th, the Los Angeles Country Club held an annual dinner dance, with “an extreme stunning” repast served and the Tribune of New Year’s Day 1915 reported that,
In the center of the table was a glowing Christmas tree laden with dainty tinsel and colored lights, while surrounding it was a woodland scene with tiny growing pines and maybe a few hemlocks, rustic bridges, mossy lawns and tiny graveled paths. There were no electric lights permitting during dinner, and the big club indeed looked like the house of a thousand candles.
The Yuletide season of 1915 included an advertisement from another major Los Angeles department store, Hamburger’s, which, eight years later, became the May Company after an acquisition by the St. Louis-based chain. The store offered readers a discount for a tree lighting set with eight bulbs that retailed at $5 but was sold for $3.95 and added “these will add much of beauty to your Christmas tree.” Otherwise, there were series outfits from $3 to $12 and multiple sets ranging from $5 to $20, this latter involving north of $650 in today’s purchasing power.
A small parking lot is on the site now, but the F.W. Newbery Electric Company on the east side of Olive Street between 7th and 8th streets advertised in the Tribune of the 20th for hairdressing sets, heaters irons, lamps, percolators, toasters and more and even had a image of Santa Claus with a General Electric belt buckle and holding a banner reading, “GE Electrical Christmas Gifts.” These included “A Full Line of Toys, Xmas Tree Lights, Motors, Ranges, Etc.”
Two days later, the Monrovia News ran an ad from the C.F. DeBaun Electrical Store, situated in what may be a surviving building downtown on the east side of Myrtle Avenue south of Lemon Avenue. The business promoted its “Ideal Electrical Xmas Gifts” including many of the kinds of items listed above, as well as electric stoves and a complete Christmas tree light set for $3.00.
The Christmas Eve number of the Los Angeles Times included an advertisement from Woodill and Hulse’s The Electric Shop, which was open until 10 p.m. for last-minute shopping and which informed readers that it was offering light sets from $2.50, while also advising,
Consider the risk, do not light your tree with candles. Remember it is always the [apparently] unloaded gun that does the most damage.
Notably, the Tribune of the 19th ran a photo of a doll posed next to a small Christmas tree and with the caption that the new innovation “lights up when it is given the signal” after “a child blows a whistle seen in the foreground, and the sound acting on a microphone and batteries seen at the left, illuminate the tree, by means of tiny colored electric bulbs.” It sure would be interesting to know what the cost of this novelty holiday item was.
For 1916, the H.L. Miller Company of Pasadena advertised in the Star-News of 2 December requesting readers “Give Something Electrical” for Christmas, with that list of items we’ve seen mentioned, except for such items as “combination toaster stoves,” toy stove, Victrola (record player) motors, vibrators and spotlights. Naturally, tree lighting sets were also on offer and there is a nifty illustration showing Santa in an “electric truck” with the phrase “Electrical Prosperity Week” on the side of the bed, while reindeer stand by placidly as they were not needed to convey St. Nick in the traditional sleigh.
At Bullock’s, readers of an ad were informed that “the available supply of imported tree ornaments in Los Angeles this year is only a fraction of the normal demand,” though it was not explained that this was due to the worsening conditions in Europe during the First World War, then two-and-a-half years old. The store offered its ornaments, beads, tinsel, candles, paper bells, Santa figurines, artificial garlands and wreaths made of wood fiber, paper garlands and artificial snow. As to light sets, they sold for from $5 to $15.
Hamburger’s remarked that electrical items were “the modern gift for the modern home,” including, on its third floor, “a wonderful display of the newest electrical appliances.” These including the combination of an electric disc stove and chafing dish, nickel plated copper coffee machines, and “Xmas Tree Lighting Outfits” which had “eight colored lights strung on green cord” so that “your decorative lighting [is] made safe and easy” and count connect to any socket. The basic model sold for $3, while sets with from 16 to 32 lights cost from $6 to $15.
Woodill and Hulse seemed to have dispensed with its “The Electric Store” moniker and returned to the old name and, as did Bullock’s, it mentioned to potential shoppers that, though no mention of imports or the war were included,
We want to impress upon your mind that there is a scarcity of some kinds of electrical Christmas presents and especially train outfits and Christmas tree lights. This condition is due entirely to [issues with] manufacturing, and those who are not to be disappointed must shop early.
On the 18th, as it promoted its irons and toasters, it offered its light sets at $3 and upward, and reminded readers of its ads that “if you are going to buy a string of electric Christmas tree lights you will be wise if you do not put it off till the last minute as there is a great shortage of these goods.”
In Pasadena, an “Electrical Christmas” was touted by R.H. McCormick and his The Electric Shop, located on the east side of Raymond Street just north of Colorado and near the corner with Union Street. McCormick made no mention of any lack of inventory as, with a large Christmas bell as a background, he promoted his “electrical devices of every kind,” especially toys and telegraph sets, while also offering tree light sets.
It was great to see an excellent turnout at today’s event and we are offering a new set of tours called “Christmas Through the Decades” next weekend, during which visitors will learn in-depth about the evolution of the holiday. We’ll return later this week with some further posts here in “The Evolution of Christmas” series, so be sure to keep an eye out for those.
One particularly interesting advertisement cited in this post is one of Bullock in 1914 featuring artificial Christmas trees and electric-light outfits priced at $5, $8, $12, and $15.
Curious about these early “artificial Christmas trees,” I looked into their history and discovered that they were quite different from the modern versions we see today. Instead of PVC or plastic, they were typically made of dyed feathers, and the popular ones were small tabletop sizes.
As pointed out in this post, the small $15 electric-light outfit alone in the mid-1910s would equal roughly $500 in today’s buying power after inflation adjustment. Interestingly, with that price we can easily buy a 7-foot pre-lit artificial Christmas tree at Costco.
Hi Larry, thanks for the observations and we have for decades displayed a group of small artificial trees such as you describe in La Casa Nueva. In recent years, they have been on the grand piano in the Music Room.