by Paul R. Spitzzeri
As we conclude this Yuletide season’s series of “The Evolution of Christmas” posts on this blog, we take our look at how Los Angeles newspapers give us insight as to how the holiday was celebrated in the Angel City during the year 1872. As mentioned before, the region was in the midst of its first sustained and significant period of growth, or boom, which began in the late 1860s and continued through the summer of 1875.
So, with more people migrating here, most from other parts of the United States, they not only brought their economic, political, religious and social approaches with them, they often transported their holiday celebrations, as well. Moreover, Christmas was rising to a greater status among American holidays, if not yet at the level of New Year’s Day or the Fourth of July. This meant, though, that the commercial component, which, of course, was aligned with the burgeoning industrialism underway in the country, was getting greater attention.
Advertising in the press reflects this growing emphasis. The Jewish merchants Harris and Jacoby and Samuel Hellman, for example, promoted their offerings, with the latter letting readers of the 21 December edition of the Los Angeles Star know that, while his focus was on books and stationery, he also carried “Holiday Goods” such as hosiery, musical instruments, sewing machines and toys, not to mention “a general assortment of goods suited to the Los Angeles trade.”
Harris and Jacoby, at the beginning of December in the same paper, touted their “Great Exhibition of Christmas and New Year’s Goods,” linking the two holidays as merchants often did, with their general emphasis on books and stationery, fancy goods, toys, and “Yankee notions,” this latter consisting of such items as sewing implements, personal care products, small hardware, knick-knacks, novelties, trinkets and more. As for “fancy goods,” these were usually thought of as “ornamental” and could include playing cards, photo albums, candlesticks, clocks, ink pens and wells and much more.
The pair also promoted that,
We received by the last steamer the finest and largest assortment of HOLIDAY GOODS ever brought to this market, consisting of Family Bibles, Prayer Books, Poems, Albums, Story and Picture Books, Writing Desks, Musical Albums, Ladies’ Workboxes, Music Boxes, Glove, Handkerchief and Perfume Boxes, Martin’s Violins, Flutes, French and German Accordions, Concertinas, Harps, Drums and Tambourines, Babies’ Carriages, Box Wagons, Wheel Barrows, Doll Wagons, Etc., French Doors, Wax Dolls, China Dolls, Muslin Dolls, Dressed or Undressed. Especial attention of the Public is called to our Large and Well Selected Stock of TOYS, consisting of a thousand different things, too numerous to mention.
The ad concluded with the admonition that “all these goods will be sold cheaper than the cheapest.” A newer enterprise, that of Roe and Garden, who opened their shop in December 1871 and closed it in late spring 1873, highlighted its “Presents for Christmas!!” in the Christmas Eve number of the Star, specifically concerning the inventory of hats, furnishing goods and jewelry at its Main Street location.
A veteran of the Angel City’s mercantile scene was Victor Ponet, who also manufactured furniture and coffins, though he went on to be one of the city’s wealthiest citizens, including through extensive real estate holdings (we’ll learn about one of these in next Sunday’s post). In advertising his move near Roe and Garden on Main Street and “opposite his old stand,” Ponet informed the readers of the Star, in its edition of the 13th, that his “picture establishment” offered “a large assortment of Christmas and New Year’s Goods,” that, like Harris and Jacoby, were received by the last steamship arrival at San Pedro, from where they were shipped by the Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad.
Also of note was a notice in the Star of the 10th for photographer Valentine Wolfenstein, one of the better-known of the early professional shutterbugs in town and whose studio was located in the Temple Block, owned by F.P.F. Temple, husband of Margarita Workman, the daughter of Homestead owners William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste, which offered the advice,
The most acceptable holiday present is a mammoth photograph, which can only be produced from the apparatus in Wolfenstein’s atelier. To give one’s lady-love her likeness in this splendid shape is to bestow a thing of beauty, which is a joy forever.
The Museum’s collection includes two such large-format photos from Wolfenstein and from this era, one of Margarita Workman de Temple, which had some black watercolor touches and a seaweed garland, and another of her youngest children, Walter and Charles, which also included watercolors applied to their clothing. It is interesting to ponder whether F.P.F. Temple purchased these as gifts to his “lady-love” for Christmas.
Also on Christmas Eve in the Star, there was a brief notice that informed readers that “those who would select a handsome and appreciable gift for a friend, should call at Brodrick’s book store, where a line of beautiful goods for the holidays is displayed.” This was a successor to the firm of Brodrick and Reilly, mentioned in other posts in this series.
For food, the Pioneer Candy Manufactory of J.A. Mauricio advertised, as it had for the previous few years, for its delectable delights, informing readers of the recently launched Spanish-language paper, La Crónica, of the 14th that the enterprise carried “a wide selection of sweets and decorative boxes, perfect for Easter and Christmas celebrations.”
What distinguished Mauricio’s ad for 1872 for his prior ones was that he also promoted that, “on Christmas Eve, there will be a large assortment of various dishes of cold cuts, sweets, and fortified wine that will be raffled off for one real [dollar] per ticket.” To add to the holiday merriment, moreover, a poem was included:
Segun la cronica explica
Durante el año pasado,
Mil jovenes se han casado
Por regalos de Turron;
Esta noticia es veridica;
De ella no debe dudarse;
A comprar Turron de boda
Que bien puede uno casarse
Por seguir tan dulce moda.
According to the chronicle
During the past year
A thousand young people have gotten married
Thanks to gifts of nougat;
This news is true;
There is no reason to doubt it;
Go buy wedding nougat
For one can easily get married
By following this sweet tradition.
Not sweet, but certainly savory to many Angelenos was “the best kind of Christmas beef which is to be had in this or any other country” by the partners Frohlinger and Fanhars and their Montana Meat Market, who told readers of the Star‘s Christmas Eve number that they “are now prepared to furnish all and everybody for the coming Holidays” while they “continue to sell the very best the Market affords.” A separate note stated that “anybody wishing fine Christmas turkeys can be supplied by calling” at the Montana.
The same edition observed that “notwithstanding the difficulty of foot navigation yesterday,” because of rainy weather (which we expect here on Christmas Eve and Christmas this year), “there were a large number of people out purchasing good for the holidays.” Mentioned specifically were Harris and Jacoby, Hellman and Roe and Garden mentioned along with another Jewish merchant of note, Herman Fleishman and the paper added that these stores “were thronged with customers all day.” Briefly noted was that “a rich holiday present for your lady” could be had at the jewelry store of Job M. Seamans.
What was missing, compared to recent years, was noted that day, as well, namely the Star expressing that “it is astonishing that, so far, none of our men of enterprise have informed the public where Christmas trees can be purchased” as it was added “we doubt whether any have yet been brought to town.”
A continuation of local tradition where holiday balls, including one at the Anaheim Hotel, with the Star of the 20th, observing that “they always did have a good time” there “and they make things particularly warm during the holidays,” though exactly how was left unstated. Another “Grand Christmas Ball” was offered, once again, at Jones’ Hotel at El Monte and the paper’s issue on the 9th remarked that “a jaunt in the country in the quiet evening is good for the health, and we hope our town people will go out and join in” the merriment. Ten days later, the Star “put in a good word” for the event, asserting that “all who contemplate attending it may rest assured that they will have a gala time.”
The Christmas Day edition of the Star briefly mentioned that “the Mexican Social Club gave a Christmas eve party at Leck’s Hall,” situated on Main Street between 2nd and 3rd streets and this it was accounted “a pleasant success.” The issue of La Crónica three days later referred to a another such festive occasion at the home of Gerónimo López near the Mission San Fernando (a decade later he and his family completed the still-standing family residence in the town of that name, founded in 1874.)
There were also church-related holiday events, including one thrown on the 23rd by the women of the Congregational Church in a hall that was used by the federal land office, though it was remarked that “it is to take the place of the usual Sabbath School Christmas tree.” While sales of “fancy articles” deemed “just suited to the wants of Santa Claus” were offered, the main reason for the event was “to afford a pleasant social pastime for the young folks and their friends.” The following day, the Star commented that a large crowd attended, with ice cream among the refreshments, art displayed and a trio of women sang, with the concluding remark being that “all the little ones were in their glory, eating candy and goodies.”
At St. Athanasius’ Episcopal Church, its Christmas Eve gathering included “evergreens studded with epigramatic [sic] quotations from Scripture” as part of the decorations, while “in the center of the altar was set a large Christmas tree, the branches of which were illuminated with wax tapers and laden with presents.” Christmas carols and other songs, a sermon, the distribution of gifts and recitations, including one by budding poet Yda Addis, were part of the program.
At the still-standing Plaza Church, the city’s Roman Catholics assembled, with the Star of Christmas Eve remarking that Bishop Thaddeus Amat was to preside over the Pontifical High Mass, including a choir performing a Mozart mass. The issue of La Crónica on the 28th called the service “impressive” and added that Father Charles Flannegan “preached an eloquent sermon, and after the service, . . . addressed the large congregation in both Spanish and English.”
In a Christmas Day editorial, the Star asserted that “it is not necessary to say that we extend to all the salutations of the season,” while commenting that the Yuletide tended “to smooth the rough edges of [a person’s] disposition” and that they were more apt to see that they were “but human and but an integral part of the great family of [their] kind.” Given this idealistic sentiment, the paper continued that,
We do not envy the individual who can enter upon the holidays without experiencing a feeling that is something nearer to universal love than anything we experience during the austere seasons of money making. The man whose heart does not open and rejoice in sympathy with the unalloyed happiness of the little ones at this season, has a bad kink in him somewhere; and if we knew him, we should avoid him. For our part, if we were able, we would be a genuine Santa Claus, and fill all the little stockings in the land with toys and goodies. We can imagine of not truer or purer happiness than that supreme happiness which is derived from making little children happy.
The paper cited the example of Christ as “god-like . . . in his love for little children” and it concluded its essay by remarking that Christmas “is essentially their day, and, through their happiness, we, of tougher and more obdurate years, are lifted for the time to a noble realization of the divinity that is in us than at any other season.” Feeling in a better mood because of this sense of holiday uplift, as well as the claim that the world was happiest during the holidays, the Star assured its readers that “it is without the slightest affection [affectation!]” that “we wish to all ‘a Merry Christmas.'”
In its edition of the 27th, under the heading of “Christmas Notes,” the paper noted the packed Plaza Church for holiday services with praise for Bishop Amat and Father Flannegan, as well as the choir’s rendition of the Mozart Mass, which “was sung by the distinguished choir with great feeling and sublimity.” The next item concerned a holiday meal by restaurateur Johnny Moore and adjudged “one of the finest and most elaborate dinners ever got up in Los Angeles.” The menu items were “the rarest and choicest . . . which even our exceptional market” could command and “the style and diversity of the dishes would have done credit to the finest gastronomic establishment in the land.”
Frederick Dohs, a well-known barber, offered a surprise holiday gathering, including “a splendid Christmas tree heavily laden with presents and beautifully illuminated” as a central feature. His guests were said to be very pleased with the event, with “dancing, singing, and every description of innocent fun being the order of the night.” With regard to innocence, it was reported that the Yuletide “was notable for the entire absence of drunkenness visible on the streets, though some folks were said to be rather jolly, with “no outrageous cases of drunk.”
With some drizzle and streets muddy enough “to induce people to enjoy the felicities of the season in the home circle,” it was mentioned that the day still featured “quite a large run of custom[ers] during the day at the fancy and toy stores.” Finally, the Star informed readers that “at the [Skating] Rink Christmas night there was quite a large attendance,” most in practice sessions for a carnival that took place on the 27th.
La Crónica, however, observed, in its weekly edition of the 28th, that,
The Christmas holidays passed with much less cheer than in previous years, we’ve noticed. Naturally, those who suffered the most as a result were the children. This year, for one reason or another, Santa Claus didn’t bring a large supply of toys when he came down the chimneys: we saw him on the night of the 24th and can therefore speak from firsthand experience.
A friend of ours, who has undoubtedly studied the matter, says that the reason children received so few gifts this year is because the chimneys are so narrow and so many people are using stoves: since Santa Claus is rather stout and wears thick clothes because of the cold, he could only bring a very limited number of gifts to each house. Our friend uses a stove in his house!
Elsewhere, the paper remarked that that “preparations being made in anticipation” of Christmas, “foreshadow abundant joys for those fortunate enough to have a family or a home, to celebrate that intimate holiday we call Christmas.” It reminded its readers to remember the story of Christ and to recall that “on that day, the Catholic Church and all of Christianity commemorate the fulfillment of the promises that God made to man through his chosen people, that noble people who are still scattered throughout the world.”
With respect to Angelenos, La Crónica noted that, on the Yuletide, “there is a celebration in every home; everyone rejoices, especially the little ones: in every house there is a table prepared, whether lavish or simple, but cheerfully decorated, surrounded by smiling and contented faces.” Yet, the editor, Eduardo Teodoli, a native of Italy, rued the fact that, “alas!, we cannot help but remember that many thousands of miles from here, there will be a table that will vainly await our presence that night.” Given his, he continued, “we have no other recourse than to envy the happiness of our readers who are gathered with their families and to sincerely sympathize with those who, like us, lament in a kind of exile.”
Still, Teodoli ended his holiday ruminations with:
But setting aside sad thoughts, we will fulfill our duty as publishers, as well as our fraternal duty, wishing all our readers, and all our brothers and sisters, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May Heaven bless your homes, may Heaven bless your endeavors, may it assist you in your undertakings and fill you with happiness. This is the heartfelt wish of your constant friend and supporter.
As we conclude this year’s round of “The Evolution of Christmas” posts and with our holiday upon us, the Homestead, too, wishes the best of the holidays to readers of the blog, as well as a Happy New Year—though we’ll return with some posts related to that holiday as it approaches.