by Paul R. Spitzzeri
As the 1860s came to a close, the significant increase in Christmas content in the Angel City’s newspapers was both a reflection of the growing (including the commercial element) celebration of the Yuletide holiday, as well as the general effects of the region’s first boom, which started in 1868 and would last though the mid-Seventies.
A significant component of the latter was shown in the results of the 1870 federal census, which revealed that, for the first time, Anglos outnumbered Latinos in Los Angeles and this demographic shifting clearly had ramifications when it came to holiday celebrations. One new event was “Christmas Racing” held at the Los Angeles Race Track, opened in 1868 on 160 acres at the southern limits of the city west of Figueroa Street.
This soon became known as Agricultural Park because the Sixth District Agricultural Association was formed to hold agricultural fairs at the site, with horse racing a major component of the event. The facility is now Exposition Park and the Association still exists as its managing entity. The 24 November 1870 edition of the Los Angeles News informed readers that, “Mr. [James] Thompson [a former sheriff], the proprietor of the Los Angeles Race Track, will offer a liberal purse to be trotted and paced for on Christmas Day,” with five steeds said to be considered for either a five-mile race or two-mile ones in a best of three scenario.
By 10 December, the paper remarked that “several other matches” were being added to the program and “shooting matches and other sports will be offered.” The day, however, was moved to Christmas Eve, while none of the entrants originally mentioned took part and there were a half-dozen others, who competed three each in two heats. The News, though, commented that there was “light attendance and no betting.”
A new advertisement for this year was from the American Bakery, owned by the father-and-son team of James and Thomas Rowan and formerly operated by Augustus Ulyard, who opened the business, and Louis Mesmer. Tom Rowan also was assistant cashier at the bank of Hellman, Temple and Company, which included Homestead owner William Workman and his son-in-law F.P.F. Temple as partners of Isaias W. Hellman, a prominent Jewish merchant. Rowan was a county supervisor, county treasurer (battling Temple in the 1873 and 1875 campaigns, winning the first and losing the second, for that office) and, in the 1890s, mayor of the Angel City.
A recently opened mercantile house was that of Herman Fleishman, who hailed from Reckendorf, Bavaria, the hometown of Hellman (they were perhaps related) ran a store at the Bella Union Hotel on the east side of Main Street, just north of Commercial Street, and who offered presents for Christmas and New Year’s Day, including items recently received by steamship, such as baskets, gift books, music albums, musical instruments, novels in English and Spanish, toys and “wax candles for Christmas trees.”
The 14 December number of the Los Angeles Star contained, in its “Local Affairs” column, a note “For the Holidays” that Charles P. Robbins “has just received the largest stock of watches, clocks, and fine California jewelry, ever brought to Los Angeles” and “which will be sold at wholesale cost for 40 days.” Readers were exhorted to go to the Main Street store to see goods and their prices and told that there was “No humbug!”
Victor Ponet, a native of Belgium and who went on to be one of the wealthiest citizens in Los Angeles with extensive real estate holdings, advertised his Main Street establishment for holiday gifts, specifically pictures and picture frames. Ponet, who also constructed coffins, went on to become a successful undertaker as part of this evolution in business in the Angel City was long consul for his home country.
On 15 December, the News ran a short ad for “Christmas Trees!!!” these comprising “Scotch Firms from the Mountains,” meaning the Sierra Madre (now San Gabriel) range northeast of town. Readers were advised to leave their orders at the book and stationery stores of Brodrick and Reilly and Samuel Hellman, cousin to the banker, but to do before the 21st so that their requests “will be promptly filled.”
Speaking of Brodrick and Reilly, that firm advertised in the Star of the 17th that “The Book Store” offered several notable works “For The Holidays,” including a 14-volume set of the works of Charles Dickens for $21.00 (some $520 in purchasing power today according to one inflation calculator), while a six-volume set fetched $10.50 ($260 now).
Other items listed included the Waverly Novels of Sir Walter Scott (the same number of volumes and price as the latter Dickens set), six volumes of William Makepeace Thackery for $7.50 ($185), an atlas for $20 ($495) and various editions of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe from $1.50 to $5.00 ($37 to $124.) Also mentioned, though without prices, were “Christmas Annuals, beautifully illustrated.”
The same day’s edition of the paper also contained an ad with the salutation of “Happy Christmas!” and informing readers of “A Grand Ball At Wilson’s Hall,” the location of which was so well known that it was not provided. In any case, the Christmas Eve event was to have performances by “the GERMAN and ITALIAN STRING BAND of this city” with it added that “good music, efficient managers, and a pleasant re-union is promised” with “No Extravagant Charges” because admission for “Gentleman and Lady” was a dollar ($25 in today’s currency).
The 20 December issue of the Star contained notices of other balls, including that “a grand Christmas ball” at El Monte’s Bennett House on the 23rd “will not interfere with any of the amusements of the holidays in town.” The paper continued that “all those who desire to spend a pleasant evening, and be entertained with all the luxuries of the season, at supper, will not miss this splendid affair.”
To the south in Los Nietos, an area that, like the older El Monte, was heavily populated by Southerners, most arriving since the Civil War, it was remarked that, on the 28th, a “Christmas Ball will be given” at Pollard’s Hotel. It was added that arrangement, floor and reception committees were at work to ensure “the comfort and conduce to the enjoyment of the guests.”
The same day’s edition of the paper ran a feature titled “The Holidays” and which began with the observation that,
The holiday season has come round once more, and we find our storekeepers are well prepared for the raid to be made on their fancy department by the young people, as well as by the children of a larger growth.
Mentioned were Brodrick and Reilly, Fleishman and Robbins, while the store of Harris and Jacoby store “and their stock of elegant books, toys, [and] fancy goods, presents an extensive assortment from which to choose.” Simon Nordlinger, the first Jewish jeweler in the city and from Switzerland (as was competitor Charles Ducommun) which is famed for its watches, offered those as well as diamonds and agates “and expects to have many visitors during the present week.”
Another jeweler, Charles H. Bush, was inadvertently left out of this article, so was given space in the next day’s edition for his store, where “the display is as handsome as any one in the city” with the Star adding that “those who cannot select a present from his stock must be very hard to please.” Lastly, it was asserted that Bush “will sell his diamonds, agates, etc., to any one, even if not for holiday gifts,” so readers were encouraged “just try him.”
Concerning amusements, the paper elucidated that Wilson’s Hall was, that evening, hosting a concert by Professor Van Guelpen’s Grand Concert, which was to be “a tribute by his pupils, who will be assisted by certain musicians of well known talent.” Then was the Christmas Eve performance mentioned above and “which, from the well known ability of the performers, will draw a full house” because prior shows “have generally given entire satisfaction.” There were also a pair of events closer to the New Year’s Day holiday, which was generally more observed and popular than Christmas.
At the beginning of December the Star briefly warned its readers that “foul thieves are laying up turkey[s] and chickens for Christmas, while in its issue of the 16th, the paper advised that there was one of the former, “being a little too much for one man, and not quite enough for two,” being raffled off with “many a good Christmas dinner won for four bits [a dollar].” Four days later, the News observed that at Higby’s Bank Exchange Saloon, there was to be a “raffle for turkeys . . . on Christmas eve and every night thereafter until new year’s night.”
Confectioner J.A. Mauricio, as in the prior year, advertised his confectionery, including his wedding cakes, while also mentioning that he “lately received a rich lot of BOXES directly from Europe for Christmas and New Year’s Presents.” Moreover, he carried “the new celebrated candy ‘Turron,” this being an almond and honey based nougat that was and is a very popular Christmas treat in Spain, Mauricio’s home country, though it appears the candy had origins in the Muslim world.
The Star of the 22nd highlighted the enterprise of Walter and Smith, which requested readers “wishing to purchase Christmas presents, to call and examine their large and complete stock of Carpets, Rugs, Mats, etc., of the latest designs and colors.” The same edition briefly recorded that “the general holiday trade is good, though the toy dealers are making very few sales,” which sounded concerning given that Christmas is largely a holiday for gift giving to children.
A trio of other Angel City merchants were mentioned as advertising their wares, including Solomon Lazard, who stated that “any lady that wishes to purchase any thing for Christmas or New Year” was to remember that his store “keep[s] the best and largest stock of dry goods and clothing in town.” It was added that “small profits and quick sales is [his] motto.”
Shoe and bootmaker Richard Slaney, whose business was located on the corner of Los Angeles and Commercial streets, was featured in the Christmas eve edition of the Star, which commented that “the man must be poor, indeed, who cannot afford to visit . . . and treat himself to a pair of Christmas boots, or purchase the latest and neatest styles of Ladies wear, to set off the pretty foot of his wife, daughter, or sweetheart.”
Women were called upon by cigar maker Jacob Vogelsdorff, who, earlier in the year, advertised that he hired no Chinese workers and whose products were made only by white men, to visit his Spring Street shop “and procure a fine MEERSHAUM PIPE or a box of good CIGARS” as these were “the best Christmas gift for your SWEETHEARTS or HUSBANDS.”
There were several Yuletide references in the Christmas Eve number of the News, including advice that “among the many evidences of prosperity in this city” was the healthy inventory at Walter & Smith and “old housekeepers in search of Christmas presents” and younger adults looking to improve their abodes “can find every thing demanded by elegant and refined taste” at the establishment run by “handsome as well as obliging young gentlemen.” Also mentioned was Lazard’s sale of sewing machines for men to give as a gift to their daughter, mother, sister or wife.
The post office, readers were informed, would be open for an hour in the early afternoon on Christmas. The pastor, Rev. Atherton, of the First Congregational Church was readying his next Sunday sermon for the holiday in the form of the query of “What Shall I Do Then With Jesus That Is Called Christ?” Lastly, it was reported that
The various toy shops and fancy stores of the city are well supplied with Christmas trees, and fond parents and attentive guardians are busy selecting the decorations for the Christmas trees that are to make glad the hearts of the little folks on Christmas day.
In its holiday edition, the News reported on an unusual Christmas present as it informed readers that Daniel Hazard, residing in the Territory of Arizona, sent his mother in Los Angeles a gold brick three inches long and about a half-inch thick and valued at $250—our inflation calculator determines that the amount in 2025 money is about $6,200.
For its part, the Star in its Yuletide issue offered a pair of editorials concerning the holiday, with one observing that, “Christmas, this season of feasting and merry-making for the rich, has arrived, throughout the length and breadth of this Christian land” and it pontificated upon the ideal of “how, by thanksgiving and prayer, thanks for the infinite mercies bestowed by the Lord . . . would indeed be a fit celebration.”
Yet, the paper went on,
But alas, this beautiful path is seldom trodden by the feet of the dwellers in this city. To-day, will be a day devoted to gaming, drunkenness, horse racing, swearing and surfeiting; abusing the gifts of heaven, and breaking its laws. Woe unto you, ye men of California, unless ye turn from the evil tenor of your ways and wash away your sins in the clear waters of repentance.
On a more positive note, the Star elsewhere greeted readers with “A merry Christmas!” as it added “as the good old holiday comes but once a year, we hope all . . . may have no drawbacks, no griefs nor sorrows, to darken their prospects—but that all may, in truth and reality, hail the day as a merry one.” Allowing for the expected problems confronting people, the paper offered its hope that “peculiar to the great event this day celebrated, [Angelenos] will cherish good will to their fellows.”
It added “let us not cloud the day’s enjoyment by any useless grieving over the evils under which we may be laboring nor be desponding as to our material prospects in the future.” Instead, it quoted the old chestnut of “let us eat, drink, and be merry,” because it would be time, the next day, to “go out again into the hard battle with all the world” and have the fortitude to learn all that “Christmas and the Sabbath, may teach us.” Therefore, the Star concluded, “again, good friends, we greet you with ‘A merry Christmas!'”
On the 29th, the paper’s “Local Affairs” column reviewed, under the subheading of “Christmas Trees,” events held at the Congregational and Episcopal churches in Los Angeles. The former threw its party for the Sunday School and it was reported that “the children . . . had a very pleasant time, in celebrating the grand old festival of Christmas.” The church was at capacity and the adults enjoyed seeing “the interest and anxiety of the little people to see what gifts were in store for them, suspended on the bountiful tree.” The account continued,
While the children were singing their little hymn “Our Christmas Tree,” the veritable denizen of the mountain slope, transferred, for the occasion, to a prominent position in the church, was illuminated by lighting the wax tapers which were plentifully distributed through the branches. The effect was electric, and excited the admiration of both young and old.
Moreover, the paper noted that, prior to the distribution of presents, a surprise was prepared for the “gratification of the little folks,” as W.W. Robinson, “a gentleman who has spent many years in the Arctic regions, made his appearance, by springing in through one of the windows, clad in Siberian furs—the very ideal of old Santa Claus.” His appearance “had a great effect, and was received with delight by all present.”
At St. Athanasius’ Episcopal Church, the Sunday school pupils “were entertained by the distribution of gifts from the traditional Christmas tree” and the account continued,
A beautiful pine tree had been procured for the purpose, and was set up in the chancel. An abundance of articles were suspended on the branches, also little wax tapers, and when the latter were lighted the enthusiasm of the children reached the point at which it could no longer be restrained, and so broke forth in loud applause.
It was added that the students were arrayed “in their neat and elegant dresses” and sang well, “and their gratification at the presents distributed was vividly and unmistakably exhibited,” while “the children of larger growth” also were handed presents. A postscript observed that “the Christmas Tree became ignited by the candles coming into contact with the branches—but the flames were soon subdued,” perhaps a bucket of water was at hand which was typical because of the common occurrence of flames bursting forth, “and, after a momentary excitement, the proceedings continued.”
We’ll return next week with a look at how the holiday was celebrated in 1871 as reported in Los Angeles newspapers, so check back for that. Meanwhile, a few items located for 1869 were left out of last week’s post, so an addendum has been made—head over to see the update.