by Paul R. Spitzzeri
With the 1870s being the middle of the three key decades (the others being the 1840s and 1920s) of our interpretive period of 1830 to 1930, the Homestead relies pretty heavily on newspapers for a good deal of the information about greater Los Angeles pertaining to the Workman and Temple family as well as general material for context.
Fortunately, as the region’s first boom was launched in the late-1860s and continued into the mid-1870s, the Angel City’s four-page papers moved from weekly to daily publications, so it is broadly the case that more news was reported, though it was also true that advertisements, which largely paid for their operations, were a substantial part of the issues.
After the demise of the long-running Los Angeles News, launched in 1860, the Los Angeles Express made its debut in 1871 joining the Los Angeles Star, which was revived three years earlier after four years of dormancy (its first run was from 1851 to 1864). In October 1873, the Los Angeles Herald entered the journalistic fray, not long after the Spanish-language sheet, La Crónica, the second such paper in the city, began publication.
This edition of “Read All About It” examines the contents of the 6 May 1874 edition of the Express, published by George A. Tiffany and associates. As with its competitors, the paper was a fervent promoter of the area during the boom, as exemplified by its main editorial piece, “The New Ocean Outlet,” which concerned a pair of projects that portended great things for the future of the region. The paper remarked:
The projectors of the new city of Truxton and of the railroad to connect with Los Angeles have succeeded in maintaining a judicious degree of reticence in reference to their plans. If they have departed from this rule at all, it has been in favor of an interior editor, whose thorough knowledge of the intentions of the company has enabled us to keep pretty well posted on the subject. Through this well informed channel we were made aware that the company intend[s] not only to build a railroad to this city and a wharf to deep water, but that they also contemplate the erection of an immense hotel at Truxton (now Santa Monica) with other improvements which would place the new port on its feet at once as a formidable embarcadero.
The Truxton project was launched by Edward F. Beale, best known as the owner of the Rancho El Tejon (an amalgamation of four ranches, of which Tejon was once part-owned by Jonathan Temple), but who also had a notable career in the United States Navy, as a federal Indian agent, a state surveyor general, and ambassador to Australia.
The proposed city was modestly announced at the end of March about the time that Governor Newton Booth signed a bill to allow for a railroad to be constructed from Los Angeles to Inyo County, where another boom, this involving silver mining, was well underway. If Truxton, named for Beale’s son, is not the most appealing of names, it was certainly better than its earlier moniker, Shoo-Fly!
The April Fool’s Day edition of the Herald went so far as to claim that the new burg’s “proper development” would “make Los Angeles the Paris of Southern California,” while it added that a competing railroad to the Southern Pacific, which had a monopoly in local transport, would be efficacious in reducing fares, and a second port would also be beneficial in the shipment of goods and products.
As for that rail line, an early appellation was the Los Angeles and Truxton Railroad, though the name Santa Monica, drawn from the area’s ranching heritage, was soon appended, but on 18 April, incorporators of a new project met in the office of The Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank and the new name was the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, with F.P.F. Temple as president and John G. Downey (president of Farmers’ and Merchants’) as treasurer.
The L.A. & I. opened up subscriptions of stock for the line proposed to head east from the Angel City through the San Gabriel Valley, including through Rancho La Puente, part-owned by Temple’s father-in-law, Homestead founder William Workman, up the Cajon Pass and across the desert to the Inyo County seat, situated near such mining boomtowns as Cerro Gordo, where Temple and Workman were very heavily invested in mining and water projects. The railroad was taken over by Nevada Senator John P. Jones, who also developed Santa Monica, and a branch line built to there from Los Angeles, though no other work was accomplished before the company was sold to the Southern Pacific in 1877 after the regional economy collapsed (with the Temple and Workman bank the major casualty).
With regard to Truxton/Santa Monica, the Express continued that , “we cannot say that the project has met as warm a response from us as its importance deserves,” because of concerns of speculation on land, though “it now appears that there is an earnest determination to build the road,” which was viewed as a promising harbinger.
There was concern expressed, however, that a rival port might induce the federal government to reconsider its recent appropriations for improvements at Wilmington/San Pedro, today’s Port of Los Angeles. Yet, it was pointed out that Truxton/Santa Monica was closer to the Angel City and to San Francisco, and this led the paper to note,
If they [the promoters] can succeed in giving Los Angeles another good landing and can bring rail and ship together before it can be accomplished at Wilmington, we are sure nobody will be more glad of the event than ourselves. Viewed in a proper light, Truxtun [the proper spelling of Beale’s son’s name] should work no injury to our present harbor.
This was because, the paper asserted, “Wilmington is the only point on this coast—if we except little Morro Bay—between San Francisco and San Diego where a safe, deep, commodious, land-locked harbor can be had,” though it should have been said “created.” Any other landing, including Truxton/Santa Monica, were “mere roadsteads, offering no certain protection to vessels during heavy storms.”
Therefore, the new project was considered “an accessory to our maritime facilities,” as would Redondo Beach more than a decade later, so those considering Wilmington/San Pedro predominant in local ocean transport were to be assured that “our principal dependence, our best hopes for the future, will be in the splendid harbor the Breakwater,” built using those federal funds, “is now carving out for us.”
Another editorial page piece concerned “The Cathedral Concert” to be held that evening and referred to in an advertisement as a “Grand Vocal and Instrumental Concert, For The Benefit of the New Cathedral Fund.” For a dollar, with an additional fifty cents charged for reserved seats, remarked the Express,
Those who attend the benefit tonight at the Merced Theatre will have a delicious evening of fine music from our best voices and most accomplished musicians. Our leading local amateur tale have thoroughly rehearsed a programme of great excellence, and we take no risk in promising the audience an acceptable time.
While the use of “acceptable” seems a bit underwhelming, it was added that, though filling the house of the venue, the building of which is still with us, was a goal, this was not to be to the detriment of the performance’s “attractive merit.” The event was for the long-gestating effort to build St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, the foundation stone of which was laid in October 1869, although the edifice, now an events center and at the southeast corner of Main and Second streets, was not dedicated until April 1876.
The article ended with,
We all heartily wish to see the splendid design [by the city’s first professional architect, Ezra F. Kysor, who was also said to have overseen the remodeling of the Workman House several years prior] of this Cathedral speedily carried outy, and every dollar contributed to that end is well invested. Bishops [Thaddeus] Amat and Moro [Francisco Mora], who are now attending the Archiespicopal [sic] Conference at San Francisco, will, on their return, make a vigorous effort to push along the much-needed structure.
An important infrastructure improvement highlighted in the paper concerned the report that the private Los Angeles City Water Company, which had a 30-year lease, extending to nearly the end of the century, to deliver the precious fluid to customers, “is about to lay a new main, from the reservoir in this city,” this being the Buena Vista located to the north at what is now Elysian Park, “where it will run through Los Angeles street, as fat as Sixth.”
The idea was to “relieve the pressure on the main pipe which now runs through Main street” as well as to “cut off all the lower [southern] portion of the city which has heretofore been supplied from this main.” This addition, it was observed, was to result in the fact that “the supply of water will be ample to meet the ants of our increasing population,” while “people residing on the elevations fringing our city, and not higher than the source of supply, will hereafter have a continuous flow, instead of only occasionally, as at present.”
Finally, the editorial page also had comment on “The New Fire Engine” to be purchased for the newly organized Independent Fire Company, joining the ranks of the city’s volunteer firefighting organizations (the professional Los Angeles Fire Department was about a decade away from formation), and to be a Babcock Manufacturing Company machine.
The Express observed that,
The engine which it is proposed we should purchase has a capacity of 150 gallons, equal to 4500 gallons of ordinary water, weighs 2500 pounds, and costs $1,700 about one-quarter that of a steamer. Carbonic acid gas is the agent the extinguishes the fire, be absorbing the oxygen upon which it feeds . . . We trust the merchants and property holders of our city will subscribe one and all, and give us a “Fire Engine” which will be available in all seasons and in all places.
It was remarked that “this city has escaped thus far any serious conflagrations, but who can tell at what moment the fire fiend may be upon us, finding us unprepared for the emergency[?]” Noting that “regrets will be then of no avail,” the paper implored Angelenos “let us act promptly in this matter, and the hundred spent now, may save us thousands in the future.” The piece concluded with the note that “Messrs. [F.P.F.] Temple and [Samuel B.] Caswell will call upon our citizens tomorrow for subscriptions” toward the acquisition of the machine.
The “Local Items” section of brevities included mention that the Jewish mercantile firm of Hellman, Haas and Company, a forerunner of today’s Smart & Final, occupied the former store of Prudent Beaudry, a major real estate developer and soon-to-be mayor, at the corner of Los Angeles and Aliso streets “and will make it a depot of agricultural implements.”
Two other Jewish merchants of note were reported to be preparing for their nuptials. Myer J. Newmark, a former lawyer and the youngest city attorney in Los Angeles history who owned a wholesale grocery and hardware store at Los Angeles and 1st streets, was readying to marry Sophie Cahen in San Francisco, while jeweler Simon Nordlinger was also soon to wed a San Francisco native, Fanny Morgenthau.
A third wedding reported was that of Erskine M. Ross, who practiced law with his prominent uncle and often district attorney, Cameron E. Thom. Ross, despite having not previously served in a judicial capacity, was elected, as required by the new (and current) state constitution, to the California Supreme Court, serving for close to seven years before resigning to return to a law practice.
He was soon nominated by President Grover Cleveland to a federal judgeship and went on to serve at the district, circuit and appellate levels and was senior judge of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals when he died in 1928. On 7 May, he married Los Angeles resident Inez Bettis in San Francisco and, after her death 35 years later, he wedded Ida Haraszthy Hancock, widow of lawyer and surveyor Henry Hancock.
Los Angeles’ first mass transit system, humble as it was with a single cart drawn by one horse, was the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad, the treasurer of which was F.P.F. Temple, and the Express observed that “track is laid on the street railroad as far as Spring and First” with it added that “two more blocks will bring it to Main street, its present terminus.”
Speaking of railroads, the Southern Pacific line built north of the city on its way to connecting with a main line coming from San Francisco included the recent establishment of a burg, as the paper recorded that “considerable lumber is being shipped to San Fernando, and buildings are going up rapidly in that railroad town.”
With regard to the Los Angeles Water Company, the new 14-inch main line construction was mentioned here, as well, with the repeat that “the rapid growth of the city has necessitated this additional means of increasing the water supply.” It was added, however, that “this great improvement will incur an expenditure of about $30,000.”
Elsewhere, though, it was mentioned that a notice from the firm warned that “garden irrigation will be limited to the time between the hours of 7 and 9 A.M., and 4 and 6 P.M.,” with infractions leading to a cessation of service, revealing how careful use of the precious fluid had to be at the time. Charles E. Miles, the superintendent, also warned that no service for new buildings was to be allowed without his permission, while plumbers were informed that “they will not be allowed to place bath-tubs or water-closets [toilets] in any premises” without notifying him.
The Express also noted that its contemporary, La Crónica, provided “a very pleasant account of the May picnic which the proprietors and ataches of that establishment enjoyed last Saturday, at San Fernando.” It was also remarked that this “very pleasant custom” which could “be more generally observed” was such that “it softens the rigors of busy life and encourages amenities which make us the better and the happier.”
An amenity that continued to rankle many residents was reflected in the report that,
A petition is being numerously signed praying the Common [City] Council to take steps to remove the houses of ill-famed [brothels or houses of prostitution] on Los Angeles street to some more retired quarter of the city [though where exactly was not stated].
An interesting tidbit concerned the visit of Hermann Herzog, a German painter and alumnus of the famed Düsseldorf Academy and who went on to a long, distinguished career, often recognized as part of the Hudson River School. The Express remarked that “he has been taking sketches in our vicinity, and when he returns to his studio,” in Düsseldorf, “some of our most beautiful landscapes will be transferred to canvas by his facile brush.”
It is not known whether there are any surviving paintings of our region taken by the artist. Herzog lived to be 99 years old and spent most of his later years in Philadelphia, with the Express observing that he was “at the very head of the art in landscape painting.” The account added,
He expresses himself highly delighted with his portion of California, and the diversity of nationality and character he witnesses here afford him a never failing source of study and contemplation.
Among the “New Advertisements” was one from Isaias W. Hellman, John Downey’s banking partner and a financial wizard who later went on to run Wells Fargo and the Bank of Nevada in San Francisco after ably managing Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank for many years, offering to rent 2,000 acres of the Rancho Cucamonga east of Los Angeles.
Kenneth D. Wise was a recent arrival in town and took out his notice for a practice in the Lanfranco Building, where the brothers Elijah and William H. Workman ran their saddlery and harness business, on Main Street. The graduate of the Jefferson Medical College, the fifth to operate in the United States and now the Sidney Kimmel Medical College, in Philadelphia, specialized in obstetrics and had a long career in Los Angeles.
Finally, cigar seller Isaac Goldsmith, another longstanding Jewish merchant with his establishment on Main Street next to the Wells Fargo Express office, could always be relied upon to apply levity and humor in his advertising, as he advised,
How to keep the flies off your Face. Smoke a good Havana Cigar and you will see that no insects will trouble you, provided you buy a pure Havana, such as can be had at I. GOLDSMITH’S
Time sure flies when having fun with these posts, but it’s time to stop blowing smoke with this one, though we’ll be back soon with another “Read All About It” entry sharing one of the many historic greater Los Angeles newspapers in the Homestead’s collection.