USA > California > California of the South: Being a Complete Guide Book to Southern California > Part 8
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The places of amusement are the Grand Opera-House, a fine structure on South Main Street, near First, that can be easily reached by any street-car line ; and Hazard's Pa- vilion, corner of Olive and Fifth Streets, an immense struct- ure, seating several thousand people. All the street-railway lines pass within one or two squares of it. The Turn-verein Society has just erected a three-story brick building on Spring Street, between Second and Third Streets, which will contain a large concert-hall.
There is a Chinese theatre on Alameda Street that should be visited by every tourist. It is but a few steps from the Pico House.
Washington Gardens, a large park at the corner of Main and Washington Streets, is another pleasure resort. The principal attraction of the gardens is the zoological depart- ment, containing, among other features of interest, a large number of ostriches. The gardens are reached by the Main Street line of horse-cars.
The Second Street Park and Zoological Garden are on the line of the Second Street cable-road. It is a pleas- ant place to spend an hour. The Agricultural Park and race-track are at the terminus of the Main Street line of cars.
LOS ANGELES.
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Residence and Grounds of O. W. Childs, Esq., Los Angeles.
Residence of Hon. Charles Silent, Adams Street, Los Angeles.
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In fact, a pleasant day's trip for the tourist with leisure is to take the Main Street line of cars in the morning, stop- ping first at the corner of Eleventh and Main Streets to see the beautiful home and extensive grounds of O. W. Childs. Taking the car again to Washington Gardens, spend an hour there among the orange-groves, vineyards, and the os- triches. By a car of the same line continue the trip to the corner of Ellis Avenue and Figueroa Street. Here is a de- lightful walk through Ellis Avenue, past the Marlborough Hotel, to Adams Street, and then down Adams to Figueroa Street, visiting the gardens of Hon. Charles Silent and the Longstreet Place. Tourists will receive much kind atten- tion if they do not neglect the ordinary courtesies expected from people of good-breeding ; but it may not be amiss to add that an unwarranted or unseasonable intrusion upon strictly private property is apt to be summarily resented. This should be especially remembered in visiting the Span- ish-American part of the city.
At the corner of Adams and Jefferson Streets, again, take a Main Street car to the University of Southern Cali- fornia. After visiting this institution, proceed by a car of the same line to the Agricultural Park, where a basket- lunch under the shade of the pepper and eucalyptus trees, or a warm lunch at the restaurant, will be appreciated. On the return trip take a Jefferson Street car of the same line ; this will carry you to the center of the city by quite a dif- ferent route.
A day's ride on the "bobtail " car will take the tourist through miles of orange-groves and vineyards, through ave- nues of palm-trees, whose great, broad fan-leaves cast a heavy shade across the street, and past scores of elegant villas sur- rounded by gardens which contain at all seasons of the year a wealth of flowers. Such a trip will lead the visitor to feel that he has reached a new world. The foliage is all dif- ferent from that with which he has been familiar in his
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Eastern home. Even the plants he is accustomed to see in his native place will have reached such an exaggerated growth that they look like strangers.
Dragoon Palm.
East Los Angeles is a beautiful portion of Los Ange- les, and is on the east side of the Los Angeles River. The two-horse-car line is the best means of reaching this part of the city. Boyle Heights is another delightful suburb. It can be reached by the Aliso Street railway, whose cars start from the junction of Spring, Main, and Temple Streets.
Every visitor should take a ride on the electric street- railway that starts from the corner of First and Los Ange-
San Pedro Street, Los Angeles.
5
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les Streets. There is a neat little waiting-room here. Trips are made every fifteen minutes. Fare for a ride of three miles, five cents. This is said to be the most successful electric railway now in operation.
Almost all of the leading theatrical and musical at- tractions visit Los Angeles every year. During the past season there have been Booth, Langtry, Ward, Modjeska, and a host of others of more or less note, in drama ; while in opera, Patti, Emma Abbott, the National Opera Com- pany, and many other musical celebrities have visited the city.
The Los Angeles Crematory.
Los Angeles is not behind other cities of its size in re- gard to cemeteries, of which there are five. The Roman Catholic Cemetery is beautifully located on an elevation on Buena Vista Street, just overlooking the Southern Pacific depot. The City Cemetery is situated on Castellar Street, between Bellevue Avenue and Sand Street. The Hebrew burying-ground is on Reservoir Street. These three are old cemeteries, and are near the center of the city. They will doubtless soon be closed. Chief among the new places of sepulture is Evergreen Cemetery, on Aliso Avenue. It is reached directly by the First Street and also the Aliso Street railway ; all other lines transfer passengers without charge. The Rosedale, on West Washington Street, can be reached by the electric railway, which can be taken at First and Los Angeles Streets. At the Rosedale Ceme- tery there is the only crematory in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains. It was built by the Los An- geles Crematory Society, under the supervision of an ex- pert who came for that purpose. The first incineration took place June, 1887. The body, which had been regu- larly interred a few months previously, was that of the wife of Dr. O. B. Bird, a prominent homeopathic physi-
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cian. The cremation was a complete success, and attracted as much attention as the most sanguine friend of the move- ment could have wished. Dr. Bird took his wife's remains,. now reduced to a few ashes, in a little package and went a short distance out to sea, where he cast them solemnly upon the breast of the great Pacific. The boatman whom Dr. Bird had employed was very much excited at such a mys- terious manœuvre, and with some friends returned to the spot and did some fruitless dredging. H. Sinsabaugh, D. D., a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is President of the Cremation Society, and Dr. William Le Moyne Wills, Professor of Anatomy in the Medical College of the University of Southern California, is Secretary. Dr. Wills is a prominent Los Angeles surgeon, and inherits his enthusiasm for cremation-his grandfather, Dr. F. Julius Le Moyne, of Washington, Pennsylvania, having constructed at his own expense the first cremation-furnace in the United States.
Los Angeles a Cosmopolitan City.
Los Angeles is cosmopolitan. Almost every nation under the sun is represented. The genuine American, who talks plain English with Yankee modifications, is the con- trolling element whenever he asserts himself, but there are also many foreigners here. One of the best foreign ele- ments is the Irish. While Eastern cities complain of igno- rant Irisbmen, Los Angeles can boast that many of ber most intelligent citizens are from the Emerald Isle. Hon. John G. Downey, an Irishman who resides in Los Angeles, was one of California's most noted Governors, and is one of the founders of the University of Southern California. Hon. E. F. Spence, President of the First National Bank, another Irishman, was recently Mayor of Los Angeles. A year ago he gave ten thousand dollars to the University of Southern California ; and last June, as he was leaving on a European
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tour, gave his check for fifty thousand dollars to the same institution, with which to found an astronomical observa- tory. There are Irish lawyers, Irish clergymen, Irish doc- tors, and Irish merchants, who are a credit to the land of their adoption.
Of Germans there are many. They support an excellent daily paper, and rank among our most progressive people. The Turnverein Society is a rich and influential German organization. The German Lutheran Church, corner of Eighth and Flower Streets ; the German Methodist Episco- pal Church, on Fourth, between Hill and Fort Streets ; and the German Evangelical Church, near the corner of Olive and Seventh Streets, are all quite wealthy organizations, and completely out of debt. Hon. L. J. Rose, a native of Germany, is the State Senator from Los Angeles ; and Isa- ias W. Hellman, also a native of that country, is a member of the Board of Regents of the California State University. There are not many Scandinavians, as they instinctively seek a colder clime. The French are here in large num- bers. They comprise all classes, from the ignorant Breton who labors on the streets, to those who were high in the graces of Napoleon III and bear titles of nobility. Two weekly papers are published in the French, and one in the Basque language.
There are about four thousand persons of English birth residing in Los Angeles and vicinity. Their native land is ably represented here by Hon. C. White Mortimer, Esq., British vice-consul, whose office is in Temple Block, corner of Maine and Market Streets. The Queen's Jubilee was celebrated in Los Angeles with great éclat. D. Freeman, Esq., a wealthy member of the English colony, is one of the best-known and most popular citizens of the county.
Canadians are very numerous, and almost all have, soon after their location here, become citizens of the United States. Hon. P. Beaudry, formerly of Montreal, has been
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Mayor of Los Angeles ; Dr. H. Nadeau has been Coroner of Los Angeles County, and President of the Los Angeles County Medical Society. Hon. G. W. Knox represents Los Angeles County in the State Legislature. W. W. Rob- inson, a native of Nova Scotia, has held several important public positions, and was for eight consecutive years city auditor.
The Spanish-speaking population has already been re- ferred to. Scores of them have held important positions, from that of Congressman down to that of constable, and their records in these places have ever been honorable and praiseworthy. The names of Del Valle, Coronel, Domin- guez, Pacheco, Sepulveda, and Estudillo will always hold an honorable position in the annals of California del Sur.
The Chinese are a prominent factor in the population of Los Angeles. There are between two and three thou- sand of them. They were formerly very extensively em- ployed as servants for general house-work, but latterly trained white and colored servants are gradually taking their places. The Chinaman, as a rule, with occasional exceptions, is not desirable help. He is dishonest, gen- erally insolent, and, after making the rolls and dessert for the family dinner, spends his nights gambling in the dirty hovels of Chinatown. The family relation is almost unknown to the Chinese in America. Their associations are of the vilest kind. They are in a condition of peon- age, being owned body and soul by one or another of the Six Companies, which imports them to this country.
Each morning every house in the city is visited by a Chinaman with his one-horse wagon loaded with vegeta- bles and small fruits. The laundries run day and night, Sunday and week-day. The butchers deal principally in pork, which is the Chinaman's chief meat. The merchants deal in Chinese specialties, and do also a private banking business. The restaurants are not extensively patronized
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by whites. The porky, greasy, nauseating smell is too much for the average Caucasian stomach. Then, again, the Chinaman, when he wishes to remove the feathers of a chicken, has a peculiar way of putting the live fowl into boiling water. This may shock the nerves of the sensitive American, but the Mongolian has a special gleam of delight in his almond eyes as he watches the chicken squirming in the kettle. The opium-joint is a typical Chinese institu- tion. There are probably a hundred of these vile dens in Los Angeles, where Chinese, white prostitutes, and fast young men spend night and day smoking opium, or, as it is technically called, "hitting the pipe."
The Chinese present a great field for missionary work. The Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian churches have missions in Los Angeles. A clergyman, who has been a missionary in China and in California, says, "Twenty dollars will do as much toward converting Chinamen in China as one hundred dollars will in California." He says the difficulty is that, when they come to the United States, they are bent solely on making money and returning to the Flowery Kingdom. They have no time for religion, and attend the missions, not through religious interest, but to learn the English language, and thereby increase the value of their services.
Every tourist should visit Chinatown twice-once in the daytime and once at night. The best way to see the sights at night is to obtain the escort of a policeman, who will always be able to conduct him through the opium- joints, gambling-houses, and other dens of Chinese iniquity.
Educational Institutions.
The University of Southern California opened its doors October 6, 1880. M. M. Bovard, A. M., D. D., has been the president of this institution from the first. In its or-
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ganization and financial management Dr. Bovard has re- ceived valuable continuous assistance from Hon. R. M. Widney and Hon. E. F. Spence. The principal university buildings are in West Los Angeles, on Wesley Avenue, and may be reached by the cars of the Main Street line. There are here two large buildings-one a frame structure occupied by the College of Music, the other a massive brick edifice occupied by the College of Letters. In the former the faculty consists of four members, and in the latter there are ten professors and instructors.
The College of Medicine of this university is located near the center of the city of Los Angeles, at 219 Aliso Street. J. P. Widney, A. M., M. D., is dean. The faculty numbers eighteen physicians as teachers. This institution requires a course of three years. Its regular session be- gins the second Wednesday in October and closes the third Wednesday in April. The intermediate session opens the first Wednesday in May and closes the last Wednesday in June. The University of Southern California is hand- somely endowed and is constantly receiving additional be- quests. In addition to the colleges already named it em- braces a college of theology, located at San Fernando, and a department of agriculture at Ontario, that will be noticed more fully in speaking of those places. The university is under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
St. Vincent's College is a Catholic school for boys, lo- cated at the corner of Grand Avenue and Washington Street, on the Main Street line of cars. Very Rev. A. J. Meyer, C. M., is the able president. Father Meyer, as he is affectionately termed, is very popular in Los Angeles, and his school bears an excellent reputation. It occupies a very large building and is admirably located.
The Los Angeles College, a day and boarding school for young ladies, is located at the corner of Fifth and Olive Streets. Rev. D. W. Hanna, A. M., is the president.
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Among the faculty we notice Miss Mary A. Roe, instructor in zoology and geology. Miss Roe is a sister of the Rev. E. P. Roe, the well-known novelist. The Ellis Villa Col- lege is a select school for young ladies. The Second Street cable-line passes its doors. Rev. J. W. Ellis is the presi- dent. St. Paul's School is for boys only, and is located on Olive Street, between Fifth and Sixth Streets, in the same yard with the Protestant Episcopal Church of the same name. There are also three Catholic primary schools. McPherron Academy, for boys only, is located on Grand Avenue, between Sixth and Seventh Streets. It is an excel- lent and well-patronized school. The Branch State Normal School occupies a large brick structure on the corner of West Fifth Street and Grand Avenue. It is surrounded by extensive and beautiful grounds. This institution is the equal in scholarship, discipline, and efficiency of any normal school in the United States.
The Los Angeles City Board of Education, of which Dr. Joseph Kurtz is president, employs over one hundred teachers. The average salary paid the teachers is eighty- five dollars per month. The Los Angeles School Depart- ment has always been liberal toward women. Mrs. A. S. Averill is a member and secretary of the City Board of Education. Mrs. Chloe B. Jones was principal of the high school and afterward city superintendent of schools. At least seven eighths of the teachers are women. The school department has been embarrassed by the rapid increase in population, but the new buildings to be erected this year will relieve the present crowded condition. The public schools, from the kindergarten to the high school, are noted for their efficiency.
There are numerous private schools in the city, including kindergartens, primary, grammar, schools of elocution, busi- ness colleges, and dancing-schools. There are also many private teachers of music, painting, drawing, etc.
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Churches and Philanthropic Institutions.
Los Angeles is a city of churches. There are three Catholic houses of worship. The old cathedral is a quaint, interesting structure on Main Street, opposite the Pico House ; but the new cathedral, on Main, between Second and Third Streets, is a far more imposing edifice. There are nine Methodist Episcopal churches, one being of the Church South, and one German. There are four Baptist churches, four Congregational churches, three Presbyterian, one United Presbyterian, one Hebrew synagogue, one Lu- theran, and two Protestant Episcopal, organizations. The Christian or Disciples' Church, the denomination to which President Garfield belonged, have one church and are about building another. The Universalists, Spiritualists, Unitari- ans, and Chinese also have services regularly. Reference to a city directory, which can be found in any hotel or drug-store, will give the locations of these societies. The hours of services are about the same as in Eastern States.
There are two orphans' homes, one a non-sectarian insti- tution, at the corner of Yale and Virgin Streets ; the other, under the auspices of the Roman Catholics, at the corner of Alameda and Macy Streets. The Flower Festival Society is a unique, philanthropic band of prominent ladies, with Mrs. R. M. Widney as president, who give each year a grand floral carnival in Hazard's Pavilion. This is to Los Angeles what the Mardi Gras is to New Orleans or the ice palace is to Montreal.
The object of this society is to provide at a reasonable figure respectable boarding-places for young women who work in stores and factories. The society has recently erected a commodious building on Fourth between Main and Los Angeles Streets, where young women are boarded at cost, or, if their salaries do not justify even that outlay, at less than cost. The last flower festival paid all the
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debts of this society, and next year they hope to clear enough to make additional improvements. This fair occurs annually in April, and every tourist who visits it will feel well repaid for his trip across the continent. There is also a Ladies' Benevolent Society, with Mrs. Ducommon as presi- dent, that does a great amount of good. The German Ladies' Benevolent Society was organized for charitable work among the Germans.
Los Angeles has a public library on Main Street, op- posite Commercial Street, open free to the public.
Parks.
There are two large tracts of unimproved land reserved by the city for parks, but the only parks the tourist will at present care to visit are the "Plaza," near the Pico House, the Second Street Park, on the Second Street cable-line, and the Sixth Street Park, bounded by Sixth, Hill, Olive, and Fifth Streets. The last mentioned is a beautiful little park, where one can spend. a restful hour. Diagonally across the street from this park is the building occupied by Brigadier-General Nelson A. Miles, U. S. A., as headquar- ters for the Department of Arizona. Surrounding this building are extensive and beautiful grounds open to the public. If the tourist is so fortunate as to have a letter of introduction to General Miles, he will meet a courteous, polished, scholarly gentleman, who is also a brave, success- ful soldier. He is modest, dignified, and entertaining. His appearance indicates that he was born to command. The general is very popular-except with the Apache Indians.
Elysian Park is a large body of very hilly land, that is as yet wholly unimproved. East Los Angeles Park is also a park only in prospective. There are numerous extensive private grounds of great beauty where visitors are allowed to stroll.
Shafer and Lauterman's House and Grounds, Los Angeles.
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Secret Societies and Kindred Organizations.
There are doubtless twenty thousand persons in Los An- geles who belong to secret or semi-secret societies. When the ban of the Catholic Church was so pronounced against secret societies, this would have been an impossibility ; but, since Archbishop Alemany has expressed a willingness for his people to belong to the Ancient Order of United Work- men, they have accepted this letter of permission as infer- entially including all secret societies except that of the Free- Masons.
The Masonic Order was the first to establish a society in Los Angeles. There are three subordinate lodges, two Chapters of Royal Arch-Masons, one subordinate lodge of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters, one Com- mandery of Sir Knights, and the Hugues des Payens Coun- cil, No. 3, Knights of Kadosh, Robert Bruce Chapter, No. 6, of Rose Croix, and King Solomon Lodge of Perfec- tion.
The Odd-Fellows were only a year behind the Masons in effecting an organization in Los Angeles, and there are now four subordinate lodges, one encampment, one lodge of Patriarch Militant, and one Rebecca Degree Lodge.
The A. O. U. W. have seven subordinate lodges and three Legions of the Select Knights of the A. O. U. W. This order is numerically very strong. The B'nai Brith have two lodges. The Knights of Pythias have five sub- ordinate lodges and three handsomely uniformed divisions. The American Legion of Honor have two councils. The Grand Army of the Republic have three posts. The Sons of Veterans have one camp ; there is one lodge of the Knights of Honor and one lodge of Chosen Friends. The Knights of Labor have four lodges. There are also the various trades-unions usually found in a city of the size of Los Angeles. The Good Templars have two lodges, and
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the Native Sons of the Golden West (natives of California) have also organizations. There is a council of the United Friends of the Pacific, a commandery of the United Order of the Golden Cross, a branch of the Catholic Knights of America, a division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a wheelmen's club, a division of the Sons of Temperance, a council of the Royal Templars of Temperance, and two branches of the Catholic organization known as the Young Men's Institute.
There is an incorporated association of school-teachers, nine tenths of whom are women. The name of the associa- tion is the California Land League, and it represents a capi- tal of seventy-five thousand dollars. The object of this society is to buy property, and build and rent houses.
The principal social organization is the Los Angeles Athletic Club, of which E. A. Preuss, the postmaster of Los Angeles, is president. The Caledonia Club is a social organization composed of Scotchmen. Any one is admitted to the organization who can stand the crucial test of listen- ing to a bagpipe.
Los Angeles is a city of wineries and distilleries, but there is nevertheless a strong and respectable temperance element. A high-license law, which imposes a license of six hundred dollars per year, was carried by a large majority, and is strictly enforced. The churches are the chief tem- perance societies. Every pulpit in the city is a center from which radical temperance views are promulgated ; but, of the distinctive temperance organizations, the Women's Christian Temperance Union is the most aggressive and effective.
The W. C. T. U. was first organized here in 1883. There are now five strong unions in Los Angeles. The society owns a very central and desirable lot, and are now arranging to build a thirty-thousand-dollar structure.
Los Angeles is the military headquarters of the Depart-
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ment of Arizona, which includes the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico, and that part of California south of the thirty-fifth parallel. Brigadier-General Nelson A. Miles is the commander. There is also in Los Angeles a battalion consisting of three companies of the National Guard of California.
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