by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Earlier today, the Homestead participated in a Black History Month event at San Gabriel River Park, located a few miles west of the Museum in Avocado Heights and on the west bank of that watercourse and adjacent to Interstate 605. We shared about fifteen artifacts from our collection related to African-Americans in greater Los Angeles, including some that perpetuated racist stereotypes (such as a pair of pieces of sheet music and a book of minstrel songs) but contrasted these with photos of Black people as a way to counteract those.
One of the images showed an African-American business of longstanding in the Angel City, this being a 1924 view of the True-Fit Tailor shop of Joseph Oliver Dudley (1884-1968), who also was a community leader including at the Val Verde community, where many Los Angeles Black residents enjoyed recreation otherwise denied to them closer to home in a rural area in the northwestern corner of Los Angeles County near Santa Clarita.
This blog shares some history of Oliver, his business and his role in the Black community from the early 1920s onward. He was born in Victoria, Texas, located near the Gulf of Mexico northeast of Corpus Christi and was the son of farmer Neuman Oliver and Ella Eps. From 1906 to 1909, he was in the Tailoring Division of Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The following year, after establishing a tailor shop in Cuero, Texas, he wrote Washington that “I learned enough in that time to enable me [to] do a fine business” and that “I do my own drafting, cutting and making.” He added that he had four employees (his brother Fred also became a tailor) and concluded, “I am doing a very fine business.”
The Dudleys relocated to Oklahoma and resided in the towns of Muskogee, Haskell and Okmulgee south and southeast of Tulsa and Oliver built his tailoring and cleaning, dyeing and repairing business, eventually given the name of “Tru-Fit” and with his wife doing sewing for ladies’ clothing, as well. The couple appeared to have done well, as there were references to purchasing a new Chevrolet, donations to the American Red Cross during World War I and Joseph’s service in a defense council during that conflict.
What looks, at least in part, to have driven the couple to relocate to Los Angeles was an incident that took place a few months after the horrific Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. On 28 September, Oliver, who also operated a taxi service, picked up two white men not far from the city of Henryetta, but, after arriving at the destination they indicated, they pulled out pistols and forced him to drive nearly 15 miles.
There, according to press reports, the bandits “told the negro they were going to killed [sic] him, at the same time striking him over the head with their guns. He jumped from the car and they shot at him several times, he said, and apparently thought they had killed him.
Oliver ran off into some bushes and reached a farm, where the owner took him to Okmulgee. The coverage added that “negroes mustered forces . . . and started out in pursuit of the thieves,” with at least one man captured later and said to be wanted for many crimes in the area. Within a short time, Oliver and his wife headed west.
By late May 1922, Oliver opened his True-Fit Tailor business shown in the photograph, the location being written at the top of the image with 1417 E. 12th Street, being just west of Naomi Avenue and a couple of blocks east of Central Avenue, the main thoroughfare for the Angel City’s Black community, though there was a continuing movement south along that street from Little Tokyo to South-Central Los Angeles through the early 20th century.
The featured photo shows four persons, two men in shirts and ties and two women in blouses and skirts, with it assumed that the Olivers are at the left, standing under an awning with the business’ name on it at the front entrance of the two-story building. Wrought-iron grilles at the second floor windows and a row of red tiles below the roof parapet lend a Spanish Colonial Revival air in the architecture, with another first floor storefront housing a restaurant. In front of a a shoe repair business in a building to the west is a car with the word “Tailor” painted on the side, almost certainly being Oliver’s vehicle.
An early advertisement from the California Eagle, a Black-owned newspaper, showed several men and women in the enterprise’s interior at work on presses and with sewing machines as a caption stated “Gents’ and Ladies’ Suits Made To Order” and “Suits Cleaned And Pressed—One Dollar—One Day Service,” while pick-up and deliver service was also offered. In a “City News” column, the paper informed readers that,
Mr. J.O. Dudley, the merchant tailor, is a prince in his profession. Mr. Dudley who has opened an up-to-date shop in this city is prepared to dress you right in materials, fit, workmanship and price. He will keep your clothes clean, repaired and pressed and gives a 24-hour service. See his ad.
After more than four years at the 12th Street location and likely reflective of the continuing southern move of the African-American community, Dudley relocated his “True Fit” business a little over a mile in a structure he constructed at 2812 S. Central Avenue. An advertisement in the 1 October 1926 edition of the Eagle under a heading of “The Climax” asked readers, “do you remember when you were Twenty years old? Just Starting to like the world, weren’t you happy?”
Noting that “those were the happiest days of your life,” the piece continued that Dudley’s business was two decades old and that, “we are mighty proud of our Record—as one of the largest and most efficient CUT, TRIM, MAKE, REPAIR, CLEANING AND PRESSING ESTABLISHMENTS on the Pacific Coast.” Moreover, the business took one-piece dresses and made them into suits, while new tailored examples of the latter fetched $32 and up. The new location was to open in three days and an invitation was extended for readers to visit.
In the Eagle of the 8th, the paper referred to Dudley as “in [the] wake of progress,” adding that “in taking stock of business enterprises of real worth and merit, the steady, but sure progress of one of our fellow citizens must be noted and especially is it true” of the “True Fit Tailor.” That new edifice included “new fixtures and spacious room” comprising “a modern and up to date establishment” that “is not only a credit to Mr. Dudley, but to the entire community as well.”
The paper ended the piece with,
Mr. Dudley has been in our midst for a period of only about seven years [it was actually around five], starting with practically nothing, in that period he has built up a business in his line of efforts which takes second place for no other. He started humbly on East 12th Street and by strict attention to business and true representations to his patrons he has steadily progressed to his present situation . . . We bespeak for all men of the progressive type as exemplified by Mr. Dudley, a strong and healthy support.
A week later, under the title of “Going Forward,” the Eagle remarked “we must congratulate the progress of our business men who deal in clothing and the very creditable improvements in location and in the appearances generally.” Three establishments were mentioned in the area where Dudley formerly operated, including Frank Tibbs, whose shop was on Central between 11th and 12th; the firm of Henderson and Henderson at 12th and Central; and another, run by H. Brown, at Central south of 12th, so his move to “a modern and up to date place” was notable in following the evolution of the city’s Black community.
The 2 September 1927 number of the paper highlighted “Co-Operation” among African-American business owners, such as the Walter L. Gordon Realty Company and added,
we note the remarkable achievement of the J.O. Dudley Company, the True Fit Tailor, [which] by co-operating with the forces along his line of effort this firm now operates in its own building and the products from this firm have gained the approval of the people to the highest degree.
A little more than three months later, the Eagle used an interesting analogy in observing that “from East 5th street to the sea along Central Avenue, Negro Business, like Sherman’s army of old,” in its march to the sea through the Confederate South during the Civil War, “is moving slowly, but surely onward and outward.”
It emphasized the congregation of enterprises at the Central and 28th Street intersection, including a pharmacy, doctor’s office, market, beauty parlor, two realtors, a café and “J.O. Dudley’s Building,” with it noted that,
And we pause here to say that this man Dudley is a marvel of thrift and industry, at 2812 Central he has erected a two-story brick building which is the home of his all modern tailor shop downstairs with splendidly equipped office room on the second floor housing Dr. Pillow’s dental parlors and Dr. E.W. Kyle’s offices. In the rear of the building is the modern flat of Mr. and Mrs. Dudley and in the back yard a chicken and rabbit ranch also the family garage.
Mr. Dudley has utilized every inch of space in his possession but his entire plant is clean, neat and up to the standard in every way.
Dudley’s upward mobility hit a potential snag as the Roaring Twenties neared its end and one wonders if there was any residual psychological effect from the Oklahoma robbery and beating when, on 25 April 1929, his car was hit by William Armster and an argument ensued. The latter left after the quarrel but returned a couple of hours to Dudley’s business where, it was reported, Armster appeared to be reaching in his pocket and Dudley grabbed a gun and fire, killing his adversary.
While a coroner’s jury determined that Dudley was acting in self-defense, a hearing before a judge led to the business figure being held to answer. While a criminal trial appears to have not taken place, the deceased’s mother filed a civil suit seeking over $100,000 in damages, with two filings made, one in the spring and another in the fall, but no result was located as to the adjudication of the proceeding.
As Dudley built his successful enterprise, he launched into another at the community in the corner of the county that was launched by realtor Sidney P. Dones as Eureka Villa, the word “Eureka” apparently referencing the classic utterance by the Greek mathematician Archimedes, while it is also the California state motto. The “Eureka Villa and Community Center” was launched in June 1924, with a grand opening held on the 15th to promote the 480-acre tract, of which above 300 of flat land was in the process of being subdivided.
Among the amenities planned was a $50,000 clubhouse to be of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, a swimming pool, pigeon shooting traps, a baseball diamond and tennis court, with 40 acres set aside for these recreations. Funds from sales at Eureka Valley, which subsequently included a unit called Val Verde, this name being applied to the entire site, were deposited with the National City Bank of Los Angeles, the headquarters of which in downtown Los Angeles were in a building in which a syndicate including Walter P. Temple, owner of the Homestead, was an investor.
Despite the onset of the Great Depression, Dudley invested in Val Verde, opening, by fall 1932, a Chicken Inn. In spring 1937, the Eagle reported that he repainted the building, made other improvements to the property and anticipated constructing a quartet of cabins. The paper commented that Dudley “is a real hustler and has many more plans to put into operation” at Val Verde.
By summer 1940, with that year’s federal census recording that Dudley still ran his tailor business with Georgia assisting him, the Eagle informed readers that,
While on your vacation or week end stop at this resort remember you can obtain sleeping accommodations for 36 persons, cafe service, grocery supplies and cold drinks at this Inn.
This fine establishment specialized in fried chicken, and barbecue dinners.
For your convenience you can either rent or buy bathing suits from Dudleys so why not follow the crowd to Val Verde this week end?
It may be that the onset of America’s entry into World War II, during which, early in 1942 not long after war was declared on Japan, Dudley, who indicated on his draft registration card that he was running the inn as his business, was appointed a Val Verde committee member for a Civilian Defense Council, and such issues as rationing of gasoline and rubber for tires, led to financial issues for his enterprise there. Whatever the reasons, he sold what was called Dudley’s Inn to two persons in February 1943.
It does not appear that Dudley returned to tailoring and may well have retired after disposing of his Val Verde business, though he lived another quarter century after that. He died at the end of June 1968 and is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Compton with Georgia who passed away almost a decade later.
This photo is an excellent example of how Black enterprise developed in Los Angeles by the Roaring Twenties, with Joseph O. Dudley not only operating a business, but building a commercial building in the Angel City, as well as running his inn and lodgings at the Val Verde community. Sharing this image is certainly an apt way for us to conclude our celebration of Black History Month, especially as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.