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F 869 ·L8 Ps
OS ANGELES A GUIDE BOOK
NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1907
1800
SS
S
Class F 369
Book
. La Ps
Copyright N.º.
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.
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LOS ANGELES A GUIDE BOOK
COMPILED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
DR. E. C. MOORE MARTIN C. NEUNER ROBERT O. HOEDEL
BY
ALICE MARY PHILLIPS
FOR THE
National Educational Association
1907 The Neuner Company, Publishers Los Angeles, Cal.
LIBRARY of CONGRESS
Two Conles Received JUL 24 907
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Copyright Entry July 6,1907 CLASS A XXC., No. 182026 COPY B.
WELCOME
N.E.A.
LOS ANGELES 1907
Copyrighted 1907
C.C
LOCAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE IN CHARGE OF ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONVENTION
F. Q. Story Chairman
W. W. Wood Treasurer
Frank Wiggins Secretary
Robert O. Hoedel Assistant Secretary
Charles Silent Finance
C. A. Parmelee Hotels
J. M. Guinn. Halls
Dr. J. F. Millspaugh Music
O. M. Souden. Entertainment
Dr. E. C. Moore Publicity
J. H. Francis. Railways and Excursions
Mark Keppel
Membership Southern California
Jas. A. Barr. Membership Northern California
James A. Foshay . Reception M. C. Neuner Printing and Badges
F. W. Blanchard Decorations
Victor H. Tuttle Information and Baggage
Melville Dozier Headq's, Books, School Appliances A. H. Chamberlain Ex-Officio Member
J. J. Morgan Member at Large
As a souvenir of Los Angeles and of the Convention of 1907, this little book has been prepared for the members of the National Educational Association. It makes no pretensions of being a com- plete guide, nor does it seek to take the place of the railroad and street car folders. In the gathering together of the material, the aim has been to give a connected story of Los Angeles and Southern California, from the time of the original inhabitants, the Indians, up to the present day. If those who read are enabled to form any clearer idea of this country and are thereby inter- ested and the more inclined to love the land of sunshine and flowers, the mis- sion of the book will have been accom- plished.
CONTENTS
T. Early History 1-17
II. Growth of the City
18-61
Public Schools 26-32
Chamber of Commerce 33-35
Banks and Trust Companies 38-42
Mercantile Institutions 43-48
Manufacturing Industries 48-53
Electric Roads
53-61
III. Los Angeles-In and About
63-92
The Parks 65-69
The Beaches 70-84
The Inland Towns 85-92
IV. Along El Camino Real
93-109
The Missions 98-109
V. Condensed Information
110-144
Locations of Hotels and Offices 113-120
Excursions and Rates 126-132
Points of Interest
132-144
VI. Index 145-150
Map. of Business Section 150-151
In the preparation of this book, ac- knowledgement is due to the Los Angeles people for their kind as- sistance, and especially to Mr. F. Q. Story, President of the Cali- fornia Fruit Growers' Exchange, for information concerning the Citrus Fruit Industry; to Mr. J. Henry Wood, of the Southern California Savings Bank, for the article on Banks and Trust Com- panies; and to C. C. Pierce & Company for the use of their copyrighted photographs.
LOS ANGELES: A GUIDE BOOK
EARLY HISTORY
HE history of Los Angeles, the history of all California, begins in Mexico. Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo, starting from Navidad, State of Sinaloa, Western Mexico, in 1542, and sailing up the coast. entered the Bay of San Diego, and, landing where the city of that name now stands, he was the first European to put foot on California soil, thirty-seven years before Sir Francis Drake sailed past the Golden Gate. He then sailed into San Pedro Bay, which he called the Bay of Smokes. From there he probably obtained his first view of the present site of Los Angeles, but it was two cen- turies later before any white man entered the valley in which the city is situated.
Baja, or Lower California, apparently barren and un- productive, was prospering under the rule of the Jesuits and Dominicans, but by order of His Most Catholic Majesty, Carlos III, the Jesuits were removed from power, and the Franciscans were given Alta California for their territory, with Baja California left in the control of the Dominicans.
The Franciscans, under Junipero Serra, started the first Mission at San Diego, in 1769. That same year Captain Gaspar de Portola, by appointment of the Spanish crown Governor of the Californias, crossed the Los Angeles river where the Buena Vista bridge now stands, and marched over the Elysian Hills, through the Cahuenga Valley, and very likely down to the present Plaza. It was the second
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EARLY HISTORY
day of August, the feast of Our Lady of the Angels, when in grave sonorous Spanish, Portola took possession, with his followers, of the site of the present city in the name of Spain, and called it Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles. The river they called Porciuncula, from a stream in Italy dear to the heart of St. Francis. At that time there was a straggling Indian village called Yang-Na where Com- mercial and Alameda streets are now. The Indians were stupid but friendly, and made no resistance to NUEVO the strange white men. It was twelve years MEXICO later before the formal to Nava MAR APACHEA #2 establishment of the CALIFORNIE XII. pueblo which has since .. NUE become the city of Los GRATH Angeles.
MER
MARATA RE. Father Serra found- ed his second mission VERMEIO D D'E Tezvaninh at Monterey, the then Tab fall most northerly point of SUD Spanish occupation. The missions of San Isque four le Terapieque du Cancer. - PACIFICQUE. Antonio de Padua and San Gabriel Arcangel Copyright C. C. Pierce & Co. An Early Map between San Diego de Alcala and San Carlos Borromeo were next dedicated. Before the time Los An- geles was founded there had been eight missions estab- lished between San Diego and San Francisco, one presidio, Monterey. and one experimental town, San Jose. As every one knows, the missions were the outcome of the plans of the church for christianizing the Indians, and the little towns which sprang up around them were natural outgrowths.
The real colonization of Alta California was part of the theoretical scheme formulated in Spain, adopted from the Romans, whereby there were to be presidios and pueblos.
THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY
with the pueblo as the unit of settlement. The presidio was purely a military post, consisting solely of a fort with its soldiers, and the pueblo was a town wherein was to be centered the industrial, so- cial and political life of the country. Monterey, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and San Diego were presi- dios, while the first estab- lished pueblos were San Jose. Los Angeles and Santa Cruz.
When Colonel Felipe de Neve was appointed Governor of California, the whole of Al- ta California was depending on the port of San Blas, in the state of Sinaloa, for sup- plies, an inconvenient and unbusinesslike arrangement. owing to the great distance from the scene of operations. De Neve, who was second only to Father Serra in ability and force of character, pre- pared to found towns which should form the bases of supplies for the presidios and missions. San Jose was founded for this purpose in 1777. and Los Angeles in 1781. In spite of this fact, Los Angeles was the first le- gally ordained city of Cali- fornia, San Jose having been established by way of ex- periment. without specific authority from the King. De Neve conceived the idea of establishing the pueblo at Los Angeles as the prin-
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EARLY HISTORY
cipal base of supplies. The plan had the approval of the Commander, General Teodoro de Croix, who sub-
Early Los Angeles
mitted it to Galvez, member of the King's colonial council. who then presented it to King Carlos, and from him it was returned to De Neve as a royal regulation. De Neve then ordered Captain Rivera to secure settlers for the new town.
This was not ac- complished until 1781, when eleven families were in - duced to leave the fertile plains of Son- ora and Sinaloa for the unknown land of Alta California. A plan of the pueblo was drawn up, which specified that it was to contain four square leagues, and thus the original Los Angeles measured six miles each way. Near the center of this area, where now are
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THE PLAZA
Marchessault, Main, Bellevue and High streets. a plaza was laid out. 275x180 feet, around which were building lots 111×55 feet in size. Outside of this there were seven-acre fields, two for each settler, and a common pasturage. The streets of the pueblo were to run northeast and southwest, and southeast and northwest, to secure sunlight in the houses from all sides.
On the fourth of September, 1781, the families arrived from San Gabriel, led by the governor with soldiers bear- ing the Spanish banner. At the plaza a procession was formed of governor, soldiers, priests from San Gabriel with their Indian acolytes, the male settlers and the women and children, who carried the banner of the Vir-
The First Plaza
gin. About the plaza the curious Indians from Yang-Na saw the priests ask a blessing on the new town, heard the speech of the governor and the final prayers and benedictions of the priests. This solemn and impressive ceremony proclaimed the establishment of the first pueblo or town in the new California, specifically authorized by the King of Spain, now the phenomenally prosperous city of Los Angeles.
Under the arrangement with the colonists of Sinaloa made hy Captain Rivera upon the instructions of Governor De
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EARLY HISTORY
Neve, each settler was allotted his building site and parcel of farming land, providing that he should, within three years, build a good adobe house and clear his land, and
he was sup- plied with a few chickens, corn a n d wheat for seed. farming instru- ments and a little live stock. After five years he was to obtain title to his portion, but this title was in the nature of a leasehold for life, the land remaining the property of the king. The little colony increased con- siderably in the next few years by reason of the addition to population of the soldiers who had finished their term
of service and who married native women, and later, the daughters of the original colonists. By 1790 the number
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THE GOVERNMENT
of familes had increased to twenty-eight with a total population of 139. One family had departed for San Jose, and in return San Jose had furnished a substitute in the person of Sebastian Alvitre, who for many years enjoyed the distinction of being the most wicked man in California. Most of the reports of the Comisionado of Los Angeles to the governor at Monterey contained the information that Alvitre was in jail again.
The names of some of the new settlers are still well known and have been perpetuated for all time as designat- ing certain localities round about and some of the principal thoroughfares of the modern city, among which may be mentioned Figueroa, Garcia, Dom- inguez, Pico, Reyes, Ruiz, Lugo, Se- pulveda and Verdugo.
Until 1788 Vicente Feliz, a corporal of the governor's military establish- ment, acted as general manager of the colony or pueblo, under the title of "Comisionado," being the only local administrative, judicial and legislative authority. After 1788, the pueblo, being theoretically entitled to local self-government, was to elect an al- calde and two regidores or council- men. The records of the times are so meager that little can be told of its af- fairs. The little pueblo went along quietly enough. The building of the irrigating ditches. the planting and harvesting of crops, the small business affairs of the colony proceeded in a leisurely manner, as became the newly constituted aristocrats in a country of dolce far niente. The natural fertility of the soil and the salubriousness of the climate conspired to make exis- tence easy and agreeable.
In 1790 the colony produced a larger crop of grain than any of the missions, except San Gabriel. Ten years later
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EARLY HISTORY
the crops of grain had increased beyond local require- ments to such an extent that it was proposed to furnish annually for the San
An Early Ranch House
health were then, as now, thie perquisites of the inhabitants. The census of 1790 revealed an interesting commentary upon the glorious climate which has made Los Angeles the mecca of seekers after health and long life. Out of eighty adults, nine were over ninety years of age, an extraordinary ratio. The settlers induced the Indians to perform most of the hard work, and therefore were enabled to pass the time with the sports and pleasures of the day, cock- fighting, dancing and social in- tercourse.
In 1784 Felipe de Neve, the first Governor of California and founder of the city of Los Angeles, died, having been succeeded as governor by
Blas market 3,400 bushels of wheat at a price equal to $1.66 per bushel.
New settlers ar- rived; old soldiers came down from Monterey to pass their days in the en- joyment of their pensions and in the comfort of a warm and equable climate. Long life and good
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ROMANCE
Pedro Fages in 1782. The history of our city from this time forth is a large part of the history of the rise and fall of the missions and their founders and the history of the progress of the whole state under Spanish rule. It is all of absorbing interest, but is too voluminous for this little book, and our visitors must be referred to the more pretentious histories of that time. The most complete and interesting of these, written by Charles Dwight Willard, was published by the Los Angeles Herald during 1901, and afterwards printed in book form by Kingsley, Barnes & Neuner Company of this city, to which we are indebted for much of the information in this vol- ume.
The history of our pueblo, like that of all California, has an atmosphere of romance, which appeals to the imagina- tion of visitor and resident.
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Mission Santa Ysabel
Look down from the summit of Mount Lowe, across the hills and valleys that stretch away to the Pacific, orange groves, flower gardens, quiet villages, palaces and cottages, a large town, a great city. The background of all this charming picture is made by the brown hills, now as in those colony days covered with the native grasses, alfileria, burr clover, wild oats, which furnished free fodder for the thousands and tens of thousands of cattle, the natural increase of the small herds of the first colonists.
With your mind's eye follow El Camino Real from Mission San Diego twenty days' travel to San Francisco. The journey has been described in song and story. There 2
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EARLY HISTORY
were the padres at their beautiful mission stations, hospi- tably receiving the weary traveler at the end of the day, offering an Indian servant to care for the horse and prepare the bath for the horseman. Gardens of brilliant blossoms, of flowers and fruit, furnished rest and re- freshment for eyes weary from the glare of the sun and strained by the limitless vista of hill and plain; a glass of native wine, a substantial meal, a chat with the padre in the garden cooled by the evening breeze, a peaceful sleep beneath the stars, and then an- other day's journey began. The padres in their missions were the bone and sinew of the early in- dustrial growth of California. Their foresight and energy made industrious workers of the native Indians. Flocks and herds increased, grain
fields were tilled and planted, harvests were bountiful; and in the meantime Los Angeles grew and prospered.
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PERIOD OF STRIFE
While the colonists on the Atlantic Coast were fighting for existence with hostile savages, wrestling with giant trees, clearing stubborn soil, suffering with cold and hun- ger during winters of snow and ice, the Californians were leading a life of ease and pleasure while Indian serv- ants performed the labors of field and farm. Faint echoes of the wars in Europe and of the Revolution in the English colonies reached the Pacific shores months and years after the momentous events occurred.
But nature's peacefulness must ever be disturbed by man. When Spain was fighting her battles at home, she failed to furnish money and supplies for the military branch of her distant colony. There were clashes of au- thority between the padres and the governors. Levies were made upon the treasure chests, the granaries and the cattle range. There was almost constant strife between Church and State, until at last the missions and their glory were destroyed by the rapaciousness of military tyranny. Nevertheless there was a constant increase of
prosperity and wealth. Los Angeles had been selected by the Fates as the metropolis of an empire.
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EARLY HISTORY
In 1805 the first American ship sailed into San Pedro harbor to barter with the colonists for otter skins and food supplies. Afterwards a considerable trade in hides and tallow was carried on despite the fact that all com- merce with foreigners was forbidden by the home govern- ment, and the traders were smugglers.
In 1806 the growing of sisal hemp from plants imported from Sinaloa became a profitable industry. The fiber was exported to Spain.
In 1812 work had been begun upon a church building
located somewhere east of the Plaza, but when the river changed its channel during the great flood of 1815, the location was changed to the present site of the Church of Santa Maria, Our Lady, Queen of the Angels. Five hundred cattle were contributed by the citizens, but these were appropriated by Governor Sola, who promised in return to build the church out of the government revenues. As the home government was unable or unwilling to fur- nish funds for the support of the civil and military authori- ties of the colony, the promise was not fulfilled, and the work on the church edifice was abandoned until, at the request of the president of the missions, the padres con- tributed seven barrels of brandy worth less than $600
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THE PLAZA CHURCH
for the continuance of building operations. In 1821 the fund being exhausted, the padres were again appealed to. and more brandy was contributed. Governor Sola also made a subscription of cash, in which he was joined by colonists in all parts of the state. The church was com- pleted and dedicated in 1822, and the present edifice was constructed in 1861. largely from the material in the old building.
During the quar- ter of a century in which California was a territory of the Mexican Republic, no less than eight regularly appointed governors administered its affairs, besides several who were self constituted or held temporary power as the result of the long series of revolutions. Los Angeles being the largest pueblo in the colony, it was ambitious to become the capital, and was the headquarters of the various con- spiracies that undertook to achieve independence of Mexi- can authority. In 1825, Jose Maria Echeandia having succeeded Arguello as governor, moved from Monterey to San Diego, prefer- ring the latter as a place of residence. This action being re- sented by the people of Monterey, the capital, a rebellion was fomented and the rebel army marched southward. Governor Echeandia met the mal- contents near Santa Barbara with 150 men, and one of the bloodless battles of that period took place, and the rebels were put to flight.
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EARLY HISTORY
In 1831, Manuel Victoria was appointed to displace Echeandia as governor, and almost immediately a move- ment was begun in Los Angeles to depose him. A mani- festo was issued signed by the leading citizens, including Pio Pico and Jose Carrillo. About two hundred men were enrolled and marched northward to meet the gov- ernor's forces coming from Monterey. which had again become the actual seat of government. Two of the prominent members of the Los An- geles party were killed in a personal encounter, the governor was wounded, and his troops defeated. The colon- ial legislature elected Pio Pico gov- ernor, but his title was contested by Echeandia at San Diego and Zamor- ano at Monterey. Each claimant as- sembled one of those miniature ar- mies which was the principal feature of the revolutionary tactics of those days. They marched within sight of each other and then marched home again. Meanwhile a fund had been raised towards which Los Angeles citizens contributed $125 to send the regularly appointed governor, Vic- toria, out of the colony.
In the early part of 1832, Jose Fig- ueroa was appointed to take Vic- toria's place, and he held the position until his death three years later. He was the best of all the governors ap- pointed by Mexico, and was succeeded by Pariano Chico, the worst. Within six months, after hav- ing incurred the enmity of all sections and having had an especially bitter altercation with the principal officials of Los Angeles, who were arrested by his orders and con-
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MEXICAN GOVERNORS
demned to death, Chico suddenly departed for Mexico. The imprisoned officials were released; Gutierrez, next in command to Chico, undertook to act as governor, and this precipitated another revolution. This was led by Juan Alvarado, who had been an employe in the custom house at Monterey. His forces compelled Gutierrez to capitulate, and Alvarado announced his intention to de- clare the independence from Mexico of the "free and sovereign State of California." This declar- ation did not please the Pueblo of Los Angeles, and when Carlos Carrillo was appointed governor by Mexico, he had no difficulty in raising a vol- unteer "army" from among the residents of Los Angeles to proceed against Alvarado. A "battle" took place at San Buenaventura; one man was killed, and the Los Angeles forces were put The First Trading Post to flight. Alvarado con- tinued as governor for five years, and in 1842 was suc- ceeded by the Mexican General Micheltorena. During
his term of three years there was constant strife
between the colonists and the band of adventurers which accompanied him from Mexico in the guise of soldiers. They were designated by the colonists "Micheltorena's Lambs," and their depredations were the cause of another revolution lead by Alvarado. In this Los Angeles sided with the revolutionists, and a fierce battle was fought near by, at Cahuenga. Micheltorena, being defeated, re- turned to Mexico, and a citizen of Los Angeles, Pio Pico, who had been temporary governor in 1831, became the
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EARLY HISTORY
last of the governors of California under Mexican rule. Visits of vessels were few and far between, and the arrival of a small vessel from Mexico in 1822, announcing the close of the revolution and the accession to power of
the Emperor Iturbide, aroused the colonists to new thoughts and desires, not always good ones. The spirit of revolution which prevailed in Mexico after that time was communicated to Los Angeles, which became head- quarters for revolutionists, and miniature wars were fouglit mostly without blood- shed. The spirit of strife was in the air. Incapable and tyr- annous governors robbed the missions. Outlaws and rene- gades held up the luckless traveler or levied tribute upon the herds of the pad- res and colonists.
An Olive Mill
Mexico began to make California a dumping ground for criminals, and until the protests of the colonists were heeded many
17
AMERICANOS
shipments of undesirable men and women were thrust upon them. There were floods and drouths to destroy the prop- erty and try the courage of Los Angeles citizens. The population increased notwithstanding, and from 1810 the number of inhabitants of the pueblo to 1820
doubled. In 1830 the popula- tion had grown to the number of 1,200 souls. In 1835, during the revolutionary strife, an ef- fort was made to move the cap- ital of the colony from Mon- terey to Los Angeles, and the order for removal was promul- gated by the government in Mexico City. Not until 1845 was the order made effective, and events were then moving so rapidly that the change was of little importance, for two years later the American flag was hoisted over the presidio at Monterey, and Pio Pico, the last Gov- ernor of California under Mexican authority, retired to private life. California prepared to take her place among the American states, and our city of Los Angeles entered upon a new era of her destiny, prepared, as al- ways since, to extend a welcome to the settler or tourist seeking homes, wealth or health.
GROWTH OF THE CITY
The first American, as the term is used to designate a citizen of the United States, to settle in Los Angeles was Joseph Chapman, who came around the Horn in 1818 with Bouchard the pirate. Having been taken prisoner when Monterey was captured, he journeyed south when released, and, arriving in Los Angeles, became a man of mark on
General Fremont's Headquarters
account of his mechanical ability. He built for Padre Zalvidea at San Gabriel the first successful water power grist mill. He framed the timbers for the first church and his work may now be seen in the Church of our Lady of the Angels, which was constructed from the original. He also built the first boat, which was constructed at San Gabriel, taken apart and carried to San Pedro, where it was reassembled and launched. For thirty years Chapman exemplified among the indolent natives the energy and skill which have enabled Americans to build this great city.
The industrial growth of Los Angeles, begun so humbly by this American pioneer, advanced with varying for-
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