USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume I > Part 42
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At the funeral services of President Lincoln held in this city Mr. Birdsall delivered an admirable oration before a large concourse of our citizens. Mr. Birdsall died November 3, 1890.
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Other rectors of the original Saint Athanasius Church of Los Angeles, afterwards St. Pauls, were Dr. J. J. Talbot, H. H. Messenger, C. F. Loop, W. H. Hill, J. B. Gray, G. W. Burton and Mr. Birdsall. Doctor Talbot came here in 1868 and was a very gifted and impassioned orator, and had withal a slight tinge of the sentimental or poetical in his character, and his sermons were much admired, especially by the ladies. Doctor Talbot, sad to say, however, was only another instance of a man with brilliant talents who threw himself away and went to the bad. He lived, in the main, an exemplary life here, at least up to within a short time before he left. To those who knew him intimately he used sometimes to speak with tenderest regard of his dear children and his wife, "Betty," in their pleasant home near Louisville. And to them his last words, uttered at the very threshold of death, are full of startling pathos and inexpressible sadness; indeed, I know of no sadder passage in all literature :
"I had children-beautiful to me at least, as a dream of morning, and they had so entwined themselves around their father's heart that no matter where he might wander, ever it came back to them on the wings of a father's . undying love. The destroyer took their hands in his and led them away. I had a wife whose charms of mind and person were such that to 'see her was to remember, and to know her, was to love.' I had a mother, and while her boy raged in his wild delirium two thousand miles away, the pitying angels pushed the golden gates ajar, and the mother of the drunkard entered into rest. And thus I stand a clergyman without a church, a barrister without a brief, a husband without a wife, a son without a parent, a man with scarcely a friend, a soul without hope-all swallowed up in the mael- strom of drink."
The early ministers of the Congregational Church in Los Angeles were Revs. Alexander Parker (1866-67); I. W. Atherton (1867-71) ; J. T. Wills (1871-73) ; D. T. Packard (1873-79) ; C. J. Hutchins (1879-82) ; and A. J. Wells (1882-87).
I should mention that Drs. J. W. Ellis, A. F. White and W. J. Chichester were comparatively early pastors of the Presbyterian Church ; and also that Dr. M. M. Bovard was president of the University of Southern California.
Dr. Eli Fay was the first Unitarian minister to hold public religious services here. Doctor Fay was, intellectually, a very able man, though somewhat aggressive and self-assertive. His sermons, barring a rather rasping flavor of egotism, were models of powerful reasoning. Before coming to Los Angeles, Doctor Fay had been pastor of Unitarian con- gregations at Leominster, Massachusetts, and at Sheffield, England. In addition to his sacerdotal qualifications, Doctor Fay was a very good judge of the value of real estate. Soon after he came here he bought what he called "choice pieces of property," on which it was understood he after- wards made big money. Like many other shrewd saints who came here from many countries, his faith in Los Angeles real estate seemed to be second only to his faith in the realty of the land of Canaan, or, in other words, in "choice lots" in the "New Jerusalem."
I might recount many anecdotes concerning those ministers and priests of Los Angeles of a former generation, of whom I have spoken; for in those olden times, in this then small town, everybody knew almost every-
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body else. In a frontier town-which this then was-there are always picturesque characters, among clericals as well as among laymen.
The foregoing reminiscences of Professor Barrows, together with the recollections of some other old timers, constitute about all we have of the history of the churches from the time that the spiritual field came to be shared with the Catholics by Protestants and Jews and other sects and denominations of almost innumerable creeds and philosophies.
At first glance it might seem strange that the churches have been apparently careless in keeping records, but we are to remember-and, in a way, to be thankful-that the churches have lacked the cunning that charac- terized purely business institutions. One would almost say that business is one thing and religion is another. And, on this ground, we can excuse the churches for failing to do that which in business would be regarded as reprehensible carelessness. Business thinks in days, but religion thinks in centuries.
To make a record of the standing and status of the churches in Los Angeles today would be, it seems to us, an unnecessary task. Not only has every Christian and other denomination come into wonderful prosperity and success here, but it is also a well-known fact that it would be quite impossible to name any religion or creed or philosophy or school of thought under the sun that is without representation in Los Angeles. More than that, we find ourselves able to say that very many religions, or schools of thought that come under that general head, are found in Los Angeles and nowhere else. Maybe it is the climate, and maybe it is something else, but whatever it is, the fact remains that Los Angeles is the most celebrated of all incubators of new creeds, codes of ethics, philosophies and near philoso- phies and schools of thought, occult, new and old, and no day passing without the birth of something of this nature never before heard of.
Indeed, Los Angeles has acquired a fame not altogether enviable, as a breeding place and a rendezvous of freak religions. But this is because its winters are mild, thus luring the pale people of thought to its sunny gates, within which man can give himself over to meditation without being compelled to interrupt himself in that interesting occupation to put on his overcoat or keep the fire going.
With all that, it must also be said that sane religion has nowhere in the world a safer, more prosperous and welcome haven than it has here. Among other things, Los Angeles is most certainly a city of churches.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE CITY'S BREATHING SPOTS
No city in the world has given or continues to give more earnest consid- eration, backed up by action, to the question of parks and playgrounds and. recreation places for the people, than Los Angeles.
This has been true of Los Angeles from its very inception as a human habitation. It was as we have here related, a Spanish settlement. And the Spaniard, wherever he built a town, at home or abroad, never failed, as almost his first act, to create a plaza or park in that town which was designed to be the common property of the people for their pleasure and recreation.
Los Angeles was no exception. When in the fateful year of 1781 Don Felipe de Neve, the gobernador, marched out from the Mission of San Gabriel to found the pueblo of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels, he had in the pocket of his military coat a drawn plan of the new settlement ; and in that plan provision was made, first of all, for the plaza, a part of which remains to this day, in Los Angeles, as a public park.
And to this day you will see in the Plaza of Los Angeles a great deal of what remains here of the once dominant Spanish race. And intermingling with those of the blood of Spain you will see the swart faces of the people of other Latin lands, as well as those who have drifted hither from the Orient and Cathay.
In the old days, when the Plaza was the only public park of which Los Angeles boasted, it was the scene of all public gatherings, and especially was it the scene of the great religious processions and celebrations for which the city was famous. It stands at the door of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, where the people went to pray and to be shrived to hear the mass on Sundays and holy days. And it was out of the door of that old church into the open and common ground of the Plaza that the religious processions of the old times came.
That we may have an idea of what these great religious celebrations were like, let us quote a description of the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi in the year 1858 as published in the columns of the famous old Los Angeles Star :
"Immediately after Pontifical Vespers, which were held in the church at 4 p. m., a solemn procession was formed which made the circuit of the Plaza, stopping at the various altars which with great cost, elegance and taste had been erected in front of the houses where the sacred offices of the church were solemnly performed. The order of the procession was as fol- lows: Music, Young Ladies of the Sisters' School bearing the banner of the school, followed by the children of the school to the number of 120 in two ranks. They were elegantly dressed in white, wearing white veils and carrying baskets filled with flowers which during the procession were
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scattered before the Bishop and the clergy. Next came the boys of the church choir. Then twelve men bearing candles; these represented the twelve apostles. Then came Father Raho and Bishop Amat, bearing the Blessed Sacrament, supported on each side by the clergy, marching under a gorgeous canopy carried by four prominent citizens. These were followed by a long procession of men, women and children marching two and two. The procession was escorted by the California Lancers, Captain Juan Sepulveda commanding, and the Southern Rifles, Captain W. W. Twist in command.
"Very elaborate and costly preparations had been made by the citizens resident on the Plaza for the reception of the Holy Eucharist; among the most prominent of which we notice the residence of Don Jesus Domingua, Don Ignacio del Valle, Don Vincente Lugo and Don Augustin Olvera. These altars were elegantly designed and tastefully decorated, being orna- mented with laces, silks, satins and diamonds. In front of each the proces- sion stopped whilst sacred offices appropriate to the occasion were per- formed.
"Having made the circuit of the Plaza, the procession returned to the church, where the services were concluded, after which the immense assemblage dispersed, and the military escorted the young ladies of the Sisters' School on their return home."
Those old days are no more. Los Angeles is a changed town since those days. And yet, it seems that something of these old traditions will always remain with us. The parks of Los Angeles now multiplied many fold from their old mother, the Plaza, are often the scenes of civic celebra- tions, and it is not a severe strain on the imagination to picture them as again being the scenes of religious celebrations.
At the time that this book is written, the parks of Los Angeles, under charge and in the care of the City Park Commission, with our distinguished and highly useful fellow citizen, Madame Leafie Sloan-Orcutt as the com- mission's ruling spirit, are as follows :
ELYSIAN PARK .- This park is what is commonly known as a rural or country park and the greater portion of same is a part of the original lands of the Pueblo of Los Angeles. Several small parcels have been acquired from time to time through purchases. It was dedicated for park purposes in March, 1886. The total area is 748 acres. Location: North Broadway, Park Drive, Valley View and Casanova streets. The improvements con- sist of about 71/2 miles of scenic drive, 5 miles of foot trails, 8 miles of water lines and very extensive tree planting, consisting of the reforestation of about 500 acres. The section of the park known as "Fremont Gate," being that portion around the entrance near the North Broadway bridge, is improved with lawn, flower beds, shrubbery, trees and walks. The nursery and service yard of the department are also located in this park. A small portion of the park was set aside and dedicated as a memorial grove. for the permanent planting of trees in honor of persons who sacrificed their lives in the great World war. Small bronze tablets are placed at the base of each tree. These tablets show the name of the person in whose honor the tree was planted, military record and date of death. When the trees attain a sufficient growth, these tablets will be placed on the trunks as permanent records.
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EXPOSITION PARK .- This park is one of the largest of the neighborhood parks. It was acquired by lease in 1911 for a term of fifty years from the Sixth District Agricultural Association and the State of California, and by purchase under condemnation proceedings in 1912. The area is 114 acres. It is located on Exposition Boulevard, Figueroa Street and Menlo Avenue. The southern boundary line extends 142 feet north from Santa Barbara Avenue. Improvements consist of two bowling greens, roque courts, rose garden, sunken garden, herbaceous border, California wild flower garden, band stand, picnic grounds, ornamental lighting system, toilet buildings, walks, drives, trees, etc., eight tennis courts, three base- ball diamonds, football field and two swimming pools. The Government Armory, State Exposition Building and Museum of History, Science and Art are located in this park.
GRIFFITH PARK .- This is the largest municipal park in the United States. It was acquired by deed of gift from Griffith Jenkins Griffith, on March 5, 1898. Originally the area was 3,051.75 acres. The location between the Los Angeles River and a line one half mile north of and parallel to Los Feliz Avenue. Numerous additions have been made to this park, one by condemnation proceedings in 1915. It was still the second largest park in the country, but by the recent (1922) action of the Public Service Commission in deeding the Park department approximately thirty- four acres adjacent to Griffith Park on the river side, added to a reservation secured not long since, it became the largest park in the country. Adding to the recent 3,051.75 acres the aforesaid tracts, the total number of acres in Griffith Park is now 3,751. The improvements consist of about 15 miles of scenic drive, 12 miles of water line, 5 miles of bridle trails, a full 18- hole golf course, with a field house containing locker, showers, dining rooms, kitchen and rest rooms. The Zoo of the department is also located in this park. Recently a playground for small children was installed, together with tennis courts for adults.
HOLLENBECK PARK .- Acquired by donation from Mr. W. H. Work- man and Mrs. Elizabeth Hollenbeck January 16, 1892. Area, 21.74 acres. Location, East Fourth Street, St. Louis Street, Boyle Avenue and Cum- mings Street. Improvements consist of boathouse, tennis courts, walks, flowers, trees and shrubs. An ornamental lighting system was completed this year.
LAFAYETTE PARK .- Acquired by donation from Mrs. Clara R. Shatto, December 4, 1899. Area, eleven acres. Location, Sixth Street, Common- wealth Avenue and Benton Way. Tennis court, walk, trees, shrubs, lily pool. This park also contains playground apparatus for small children.
LINCOLN PARK .- Acquired by purchase March 11, 1881, from the Southern Pacific Company. Purchase price, $448.64. Dedicated for park purposes August 18, 1883. Location, Mission Road and Alhambra Avenue. Improvements are conservatory containing large collection of rare plants, boathouse, double tennis courts, corral, shrubbery and picnic grounds. The park also contains an ornamental lighting system, bungalow rest room and an artistic lattice sun shade in front of band stand.
PERSHING SQUARE is a part of the original lands of the Pueblo of Los Angeles. Dedicated for park purposes in 1866. Area is four acres. Loca- tion, Hill, Sixth, Olive and Fifth streets, in business district of city. Exten-
PERSHING SQUARE, LOS ANGELES
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sively improved with lawn, trees and shrubs. Seating capacity on walks for several thousand people.
SOUTH PARK .- Acquired by purchase January 30, 1899. Purchase price was $10,000. Area, nineteen acres. Location, South Park Avenue, Fifty-first and San Pedro streets. Contains tennis courts, lawns, flowers, trees and also playground apparatus for children.
SYCAMORE GROVE .-- Acquired by purchase in 1905 for $22,500 and part by donation from Mr. E. R. Brainerd in 1907. Records do not show amount in acres acquired by purchase and donation. Total area is 15.44 acres. Location, Forty-eighth and Pasadena Avenue.
WESTLAKE PARK .- Acquired by the City of Los Angeles through an exchange in 1866. Area, 32.15 acres. Location, Seventh, Park View, Sixth and Alvarado streets. Contains boathouse, tool house, picnic grounds, lawn, trees. The ornamental lighting system and the boathouse building con- structed in this park cost approximately $22,000. Park contains also play- grounds for children.
CAMP GROUNDS .- Los Angeles provides a camping ground for auto- mobile tourists. Accommodations consist of gas stoves for cooking, hot and cold shower baths, toilets, lavatories and laundry trays. Grounds are lighted by electricity and individual stalls provided for each automobile and car.
Emergency kits for use in case of accidents are provided in all parks. and employes are instructed in the proper use of the same. Through the efforts of Mrs. Sloan-Orcutt, playground apparatus such as swings, teeters, sand boxes, etc., are now provided in practically all the parks for the amusement and entertainment of children. Band concerts are held in Lincoln Park on every Sunday and holiday, and in many of the other parks concerts are given on special occasions.
CHAPTER XXVIII MUSIC AND ART
There is a lilting cadence of music in the very sound of the word "California." For ages California has been musical-since the murmuring waves of the Pacific first sang their love songs to its shining shores, or, in their fury, when the great sea-breakers broke in mighty diapason of Wag- nerian thunder against the rocks. In succession, the love songs and the war chants of the aborigines echoed along the shore or died away in the distance toward the mountains, followed by the Gregorian chants of the padres, the boisterous war songs of the Spanish musketeers, the seductive strains of the caballero serenading his lady love, or the quickening music of the fandango, and later, when the Gringo came, the roistering song of the miner, the hymn and the ballad of the home-seeker, the music of the bank, the choir, the orchestra, and even the aria of the grand opera found their way into all parts of California.
The meadow lark and the mocking bird added their notes to the ripples of the stream, or were drowned in the rush of the torrents. The stately firs on the mountain side in turn sang the requiem of the Indian, the priest, the cavalier, the soldier, the Spaniard, the Mexican, as well as the Ameri- cano. California has been musical from its creation.
Unlike architecture, sculpture and painting, music is necessarily ephe- meral in its material form, and we therefore possess no specimen to acquaint us with its character during remote periods, yet something tangible bears witness to the fact that it has been cultivated in some form from time immemorial, even among the most uncivilized races of men.
We trace its existence through the beautiful philosophies and mytholo- gies of the Greeks; we have its mysterious powers symbolized in the Homeric legends of the sirens whose sweet songs lured the ill-fated mariners to destruction; we find its image engraved upon the ancient tombs and obelisks of Egypt, everywhere gilding the twilight of antiquity with its suggestive presence.
Other nations knew the Ambrosian songs under Constantine, and the Gregorian music of Gregory I. Even Charlemagne conducted the choir at Aix in person. King Robert of France was a favored writer and singer of sequences. The Crusaders sang martial music, and the folk songs and the music of the passion plays and the mysteries of the churches gradually gave way to the musical art of the troubadours and the minnesingers, who in like manner were succeeded by the meistersingers, and so music improved until the rise of the opera, the oratorio, and the symphony brought to the dawn of the nineteenth century a perfection which gradually found its way to the Pacific Coast.
Charles F. Lummis has made a collection of several hundred Indian chants, war songs, religious songs, and, in a way, folk songs of the various
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tribes inhabiting California in the early days. These songs have been handed down from generation to generation, and although they may have lost some of their beauty and originality, they show distinctiveness of tribal ability and rhythm. The same thing can apply to many of the compositions found in the libraries of the old Franciscan missions, and so we trace the music of California in this manner down to the Spanish occupation, the gradual corruption of their music with the varied intonations of the inter- mixture of the Indian with the Spanish race, which disturbed the beauty and the purity of the Spanish tongue and music.
The first grand opera in the State of California was in 1847 when the Alvarez Grand Opera Company came from Lima, Peru, on a lumber vessel, lured to the camp of San Francisco by the munificent subscription of $10,000, the first guarantee for grand opera ever given in the history of California. Since that time grand opera has played an important part in the musical history of Los Angeles and Sacramento.
The first piano recital of note in San Francisco was by Henri Hertz in 1850, and among the early artists heard in the northern metropolis, as well as in Los Angeles, were Camilla Urso, Carlotta Patti, Ole Bull, Scalshi, Trebelli the elder, Emma Nevada, Sarasate, Giannini, Wilhelm Cherubini, Marsick, Ondricek, Lechaume, Adelina Patti, Vincenzo Villani, Etelka Gerster, Tomagno and Amalia Materno.
San Francisco had symphony music long before Los Angeles had it-as early as 1865-and among the well known directors were Louis Schmidt. Oscar Weil, Rudolph Herold, Gustav Hinrichs and Adolph Mauer ; while Los Angeles had among its conductors A. J. Stamm, Wenzel Kopta, Adolph Wilhartitz, Henry Schoenefeld, Harley Hamilton, and, among the more modern California conductors, may be found Dr. J. Fred Wolle, Paul Steindorff, Fritz Scheel, Henry Holmes, Henry Hadley, Alfred Hertz, Adolph Tandler and Walter Henry Rothwell.
The early history of choral music in Los Angeles includes such splendid names as Mrs. Girah D. Cole and Mrs. M. A. Larrabee of the Treble Clef Club; Charles S. Walton, conductor of the Ellis Club; Mr. C. Modini- Wood, Mr. Robert E. Paulsen, of the Apollo Club, and later J. B. Poulin, Joseph Dupuy and John Smallman. The history of the Treble Clef Club, the Apollo Club, Orpheus, Ellis and Lyric clubs of Los Angeles, the Grove Play of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, the annual oratorios given under the direction of Paul Steindorff at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. and the Loring Club of San Francisco, includes the majority of the choral endeavors of these sections.
The state and cities of California have probably witnessed more grand opera and light opera than any other states and cities of the Union excepting New York, Boston, Chicago, and possibly New Orleans.
In the early days visits were made here by the Emma Abbott and the Emma Juch Grand Opera Companies, the Nellie Melba and the Ellis Grand Opera Companies, the Hess English Grand Opera Company and the Bostonians.
Theodore Thomas came to California with the National Opera Company in 1887, presenting Rubinstein's "Nero" in his repertoire. Later came the Metropolitan Opera Company with the world's greatest stars; the Del Conte Grand Opera, the Lombardi Italian Opera Company, Charles
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M. Pyke's English Opera Company, Jules Grau, light opera; the W. T. Carlton, the Duss Opera Company, the Sembrich Grand Opera Company, the San Carlo Grand Opera, the Chicago Grand Opera with its many stars, Mary Garden singing "Natoma" for the first time on the Pacific Coast, the words by Joseph Redding of San Francisco and the scene laid in Santa Barbara ; the Boston Grand Opera Company and the La Scala Grand Opera Company, all vying with one another to obtain the golden coin of California in exchange for the golden notes of the voices of many nations.
San Francisco has the unique distinction of twenty years of continuous light and grand opera at the most popular theater of that city, the Tivoli, which dates back to 1875 when Joe Kreling conceived the idea of opening a place of cheap amusement for the people where the music presented should be of the best order, where prices should be low, enabling families to seek diversion at little cost. It was there that Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pina- fore" was first produced in the West, and where it enjoyed a run of eighty- four nights. "Bohemian Girl" had to its credit 157 nights; "Ship Ahoy," 108; "Olivet," 133; "Fra Diavolo," 72. The Gilbert & Sullivan operas, combined, ran 691 nights, including 14 operas.
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