USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea : with selected biography of actors and witnesses to the period of growth and achievement, Volume II > Part 17
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Norman R. Martin attended school in New York, but most of his education was acquired after his parents came to Los Angeles in No- vember, 1881. For a time he was a pupil in the old Bath Street School, and he was one of the three white children among sixty students, the rest being Mexicans. In June, 1890, he graduated from the Los Angeles High School, then located in the old Spring Street School, where Mer- cantile Place is now a business center. For about a year thereafter Mr. Martin studied and played instrumental music.
His real business career began in December, 1891, as messenger at the freight house of the Southern Pacific Railway in Los Angeles, under Charles Seyler, who later became cashier of the Farmers' and Mer- chants' Bank. In July, 1892, Mr. Martin became clerk in the uptown freight office at Second and Spring streets, was sent in December, 1894, to San Diego as ticket clerk ; in June, 1895, returned to Los Angeles as Pullman and ticket clerk in the Los Angeles office; in 1896 was pro- moted to cashier and accountant ; August. 1899, was made traveling passenger and advertising agent: in 1902 became city ticket agent at Los Angeles, and in 1904, was given the responsibilities of district pas- senger agent over the territory of southern California, north to Santa Barbara and Bakersfield, east to the Colorado River, and south including the Imperial Valley. All these promotions were made on merit and the value of his service to the company; in 1910 he was assigned to an in- teresting task, requiring several months, during which he explored the west coast of Old Mexico as far south as Tepic, a thousand miles below the American horder. These investigations were for the purpose of making exhaustive colonization reports for Colonel Epes Randolph,
Martin 4
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president of the Southern Pacific Railway of Mexico, to determine agricultural possibilities and a policy of colonization.
Realizing the wonderful possibilities in old Mexico, Mr. Martin re- signed from the Southern Pacific Company in May, 1911, and bought an eleven thousand acre ranch in Sinaloa. He gave his time to the per- sonal supervision of this immense tract until the outbreak and continu- ance of revolutionary trouble put a quietus to all ordered activities of an agricultural nature in the southern republic. In March, 1914, Mr. Martin, returning to Los Angeles, was appointed general agent for the Lake Tahoe Transportation Company. He was also secretary of the 1915 General Committee, succeeding Congressman Henry Z. Osborne, and under the chairmanship of Motly H. Flint, Mr. Martin resigned these duties in February, 1915, to become Superintendent of Charities of Los Angeles county, with general supervision over the County Hos- pital, Farm and Cemetery and the outdoor relief for city and county. In June, 1917, additional duties were imposed upon him as superin- tendent of the County Hospital.
Mr. Martin is a director of the Southern California Building and Loan Association, is a member of the Immigration Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, is an Elk, a Royal Arch Mason, a Republican, a member of the Episcopal church, and of the Southern California Auto- mobile Club. In Los Angeles, at St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral June 1, 1898, he married Miss Florence Hayden Mclellan. They have one daughter, Marjorie Eleanor, a student in the Los Angeles public schools.
ARTHUR LETTS. The world is becoming accustomed to the marvel- ous results accomplished by organized efficiency, otherwise it would be difficult to explain how one of the Los Angeles greatest institutions, the Broadway Department Store, could have been founded twenty odd years ago by a man with only five hundred dollars in capital. Little notice was taken of the arrival of Arthur Letts in the business community of Los Angeles in 1895. But for ten years or more his store, and his won- derful home and gardens at Hollywood, has attracted millions of patrons and visitors every year. Mr. Letts represents an old and substantial English family of the upper middle class. He was born at Holmby Lodge in Northamptonshire, June 17, 1862, son of Richard and Caroline (Coleman) Letts. Both his father and grandfather were namcd Rich- ard, and that name was regularly bestowed upon the oldest son of the family for nine generations. Four hundreds. years ago a Richard Letts owned the farm where Arthur Letts was born.
Up to 1874, at the age of twelve, Arthur Letts attended a private school for boys near his old home, conducted by Rev. Mr. Hedges. From 1874 to 1877 he attended the Creaton grammar school, and also had the instruction of a private coach named Mr. Meredith. His early life was characterized by great devotion to his studies. He was always very fond of his older brothers. He stood at the head of his class in school, but he chose otherwise than a studious or professional career. At the age of sixteen he was articled for three years to a good man, proprietor of a dry goods store in a small, thriving English town. The three years he spent there gave him a good foundation for a business career. The fourth year he was engaged by the same house on a salary. About that time he and a younger brother became enthusiastic over the opportuni- ties of the New World. When they were safely embarked on a steamer at Liverpool they sent word to their parents and thus avoided the com- plications of leaving home without express permission. For several
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years Arthur Letts was employed in Walker's department store at To- ronto, then the largest mercantile establishment of Canada. During that service he received permission to volunteer in the Queen's Own, and made a creditable record while with the troops engaged in putting down the Riel Rebellion in the northwest. For this service he was awarded a silver medal and clasp and also a grant of land by the Canadian gov- ernment.
In the early '90's Mr. Letts went west to Seattle. Soon after his arrival the mercantile house that had employed him was burned in a general fire that devastated the business section of the city. The ashes were hardiy cool when he put up a tent and installed a stock of goods on his own account. Later he moved his stock to a building, and con- tinued a Seattle merchant for several years.
His next move brought him to Los Angeles in February, 1896. At that time he had only five hundred dollars in capital. Perhaps the most significant thing about Mr. Letts' early activities at Los Angeles was his foresightedness and his choice of a business location. At that time the corner at Fourth and Broadway was considered out in the country, being several blocks from a real business district. A firm at Fourth and Broadway, J. A. Williams & Company, had recently become bankrupt, its stock inventorying at a little more than eight thousand dollars. Mr. Letts apparently was the only man who con- sidered this a real opportunity for investment. With the aid of an influential friend he secured a loan of five thousand dollars from the Los Angeles National Bank, and the stock was finally purchased from the Board of Trade. Thus on February 24, 1896, the Broadway De- partment Store of Arthur Letts was first opened to the public. His stock was damaged a week later by an adjacent fire, but that handicap was soon overcome and his business grew by leaps and bounds. Time and again it has been necessary to enlarge his quarters. In 1899 the Broadway Department Store occupied the entire ground floor of the Pirtle & Hallet Building. In 1901 the adjoining Hellman Building was bought, and in 1905 the upper floors of the Pirtle and Hallet Building were acquired. In the next year the Slauson Building was occupied. Still later a magnificent new structure was erected, and today there is no larger and better known department store in southern California than the Broadway Department Store.
Some of the qualities of character that have impelled Arthur Letts to his present business position are indicated in the foregoing brief de- scription. But it is significant that Mr. Letts himself has always re- garded the Broadway Department Store as an institution and an or- ganization rather than a one-man business. He seemed to exemplify a policy laid down by another eminent financier a number of years ago of never doing anything which someone else could do. He has been content to blaze the trail, show the way, and give his complete con- fidence and co-operation to his associates, whether those associates are department managers or the humblest employes.
In recent years the public generally has been made familiar with a so-called new idea in education, the "Continuation School" and voca -. tional training. It is noteworthy that Mr. Letts introduced a plan of "Continuation School" seventeen years ago. In his store he arranged for and established instruction given free to his younger employes, and since then all the junior members of the store's working force under eighteen years have the opportunity of getting a good education while earning their living. This school has been studied and commented upon
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by many educators, and frequently the results attained by the Broad- way Department Store pupils have been equal to those attained where pupils have attended the regular public schools without the interruption of a daily vocation. Another important institution of the store was the organization in 1904 of a mutual benefit association that provides relief to members who are kept from their duties through illness.
Mr. Letts was one of the most liberal givers to the Los Angeles Y. M. C. A., for nine years was president of the local association, and in that time the association acquired the largest membership of any individual body of the association in the world. In 1909 Mr. Letts was a delegate to the World's Convention of the Young Men's Christian Association.
Mr. Letts was at one time vice-president of the California Savings Bank and a director of the Broadway Bank and Trust Company, but his growing interests as a business man caused him eventually to retire from all outside responsibilities. He is a republican but has never con- sented to serve in more than one political position, as trustee of the State Normal School.
Mr. Letts is a member of the Hollywood Lodge, A. F. and A. M., is a Knight Templar, and a member of the California Club of Los Angeles, the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, the Los Angeles Cham- ber of Commerce, Realty Board, Los Angeles Country Club, Athletic Club, Midwick Country Club, Municipal League, City Club, Hollywood Board of Trade, Federation Club and the Automobile Club. He is also vice-president of the Boy Scouts of America, and president of the local Boy Scouts.
His hobby is horticulture. His estate at Hollywood covers a hun- dred acres of ground and contains besides his beautiful residence, known as Holmby House, an unrivaled collection of trees, plants and shrubs gathered from all parts of the world. To one who has known the beau- tiful residences and estates of other lands, there is an especial charm about the approach and entrance to the home of Arthur Letts-Holmby House. No lodge beside locked gates here, with liveried servants keep- ing guard, but on the contrary as one approaches on Kenmore avenue he is impressed with the open welcome of the unguarded gateways and drives. The formal garden, with its warmth of color shown in the many symmetrical designs of arrangements of brilliant-hued foliage plants, seem to speak of a warm hearted host awaiting one in the mansion on the hill.
The graceful branches of the many deodars seem to beckon to one to come closer and yet closer, while from row upon row of carefully chosen specimen trees that plant the garden comes a burst of melody from a thousand tiny throats, the sweet songsters giving welcome as they wing their way from tree top to tree top. The beautiful statuary grouped on the terraces, the playing fountain, the restful Italian marble seats, all lend their aid to the development of this idea, that here is to be found a largesse, a bounteous generosity and hospitality, in a home the master of which is a citizen of the world.
There are literally miles and miles of beautiful winding roads and walks and picturesque pathways in the grounds about Holmby House, and in some of these one might linger for hours, resting now and then beneath some stately tree, or dropping down to enjoy at leisure some fine vista of distant ocean or purple tipped mountains.
Architectural effect has not been neglected either, and here and there are dignified pergolas overhung with glorious tropical vines, and
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with tiled or gravel walks beneath their shelter, leading perhaps to a rippling fountain or to the edge of a terrace where one may sit cosily at afternoon tea, or perhaps in the summer evening linger to look out over the moonlit valley, or watch a few miles away the twinkling lights of the busy city of Los Angeles.
The trellised walks about the great glass and lath conservatory are especially beautiful, for they shelter wondrous waxen begonias and rare ferns, and some of the lattices are woven from the natural branches of trees still covered with bark in rustic fashion, some of these screening cosy rustic seats and lending much to the beauties of the plant houses, which overflow with rare plant life gathered from all parts of the world.
In the palm plantation there is an unusually fine grouping on a gently sloping side hill, with a ground covering of French cannas, dwarf palms, grasses and other plants that add to the luxuriant tropical effect of the arrangement which is at once unique and beautiful. The poets of the world have written freely and fully of the music of the tree tops, and especially have the pines had their soft minor songs translated for us into rythmical words, but as yet no musical interpreter has been found for the wonderful songs of the palm tree. To sensitive ears there is a harp-like quality to the tones as if the fingers lingered on the silken strings, and the notes of melody die away like the whispers of baby voices.
Each of the palms has its own song, but that of the graceful cocos plumosa has a peculiarly musical tone, and one might sit for hours in the great pergola on the terrace listening to the music that floats up- ward front the waving branches.
Mr. Letts' collection of cacti and succulents is considered to be the finest private collection in the world. The government has created his cactus garden a United States sub-station. It was his interests and attainments as a horticulturist that caused his selection to represent America on the Advisory Board of the committee having in charge the International Horticultural Exhibit at London in 1912. Mr. Letts has expended a large amount of money in developing his gardens 'and grounds, but has always declined to estimate the cost of this work, feel- ing that in his own words: "this garden is the one thing in my life that is going to measure up to my ideal now and for a hundred years to come, and I do not propose to place a money value on it." Among the durable satisfactions of life there is perhaps none greater than that of an intimate kinship and love of nature, flowers and all growing things, and in the exquisite expression of that taste which wealth and long study have afforded Mr. Letts he is surely one of the most enviable men in southern California. He is also a lover of art of other kinds, and his Hollywood home shelters a number of precious marbles and other rare treasures.
Mr. Letts has had an ideal home life. On August 25, 1886, at Toronto, Canada, he married Miss Florence Philp, daughter of a Method- ist Episcopal minister. They are the parents of three children : Florence Edna, born September 24, 1887, now Mrs. Malcolm McNaghten ; Gladys, born September 9, 1889, Mrs. Harold Janss, and Arthur Letts Jr., born April 21, 1891.
GEORGE H. PECK for many years was prominent as a banker at San Pedro and is active head of two companies which have handled more land in and around San Pedro, including the great harbor improve- ments, than any other organization.
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The Pecks are original Californians, dating from the days of forty-nine. George H. Peck is a son of George H. Peck, Sr., who was born at Burlington, Vermont, in October, 1822. He was well educated, studied law and practiced in the east until 1849, when he came to Cali- fornia by way of the Isthmus of Panama. For a time he mined at Dutch Flat, later was principal of schools at San Francisco, and in 1868 moved to El Monte, and was engaged in the business of raising castor oil beans until 1876. He then retired and moved to Pasadena, where he lived quietly until his death in 1906. He was a Republican and a mem- ber of the Episcopal church. At San Francisco he married Mary Chater. Their four children are: John H. F., of Long Beach; George H., Mrs. Kate W. Gibbs, of Pasadena; and Mrs. Mary C. Jardine, of Los Angeles.
George H. Peck, Jr., was born in San Francisco October 15, 1856. He attended public school in that city until 1868, and after his parents moved to El Monte continued his education in the public schools of San Gabriel. His first serious employment was with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, beginning in a minor capacity and rising to the position of conductor. After nine years he resigned from the operat- ing department and engaged in the real estate business in San Pedro. He was from the first an active spirit in all of San Pedro's affairs. He established a general commercial bank, and also the Citizens Savings Bank, and was president of these two institutions for twenty-five years. Mr. Peck is still president of G. H. Peck & Company, which handles San Pedro harbor property, and is president of the San Pedro Land Company, through which a great bulk of the lands in and around San Pedro have been bought and sold. Mr. Peck is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is independent.
At Los Angeles in February, 1884, he married Olive Betz, now deceased. There are four children, two sons and two daughters, Wil- liam, Leland, Rena, Mrs. Herbert Culler of Los Angeles, and Alma. The son William, born in Los Angeles, was educated in the public schools, and for a number of years has been associated with his father in business and is now vice president of the San Pedro Land Company.
GEORGE W. WALKER is on the board of a number of Los Angeles' leading financial and business institutions, is a member of its leading clubs, and all his associations are those of a most substantial, prosperous and influential business man and citizen. Everyone likes to know how such a man got his start. Some of the older acquaintances and friends of Mr. Walker can answer this query by recalling the period, now twenty- eight years in the past, when he was winning friends and building up business in his cigar and tobacco store on the corner of First and Main streets.
The width of a continent separates him from his birthplace. George W. Walker was born at Albany, New York, October 7, 1861, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Moore) Walker. His early boyhood was spent in the city of Washington, where he attended the grammar and high schools, graduating in 1878, at the age of seventeen. He at once sought change and adventure in the life of the southwest. At Tombstone, Ari- zona, he became identified with the cigar and tobacco business, and re- mained tinere until coming to Los Angeles, in 1891, then establishing the store above mentioned. He developed his business rapidly, both wholesale and retail. In 1906 he removed the wholesale cigar and
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tobacco business to 109-111 North Main street, and in 1912 the whole- sale business was moved to 306-308 South Los Angeles street. When he sold the business in 1912 he had built it up until in volume it was the largest of its kind in Southern California.
Mr. Walker in 1911 was made president of the Citizens Trust and Savings Bank. He continued to act in that capacity until 1912, when, resigning, he in company with his family, made a trip around the world, during which they visited all the principal countries and cities abroad. On returning to Los Angeles in 1913 he was soon again in the active tide of business affairs, serving as vice-president and director of the Citizens Trust and Savings Bank and as director of the Citizens National Bank and a member of its Executive Committee.
Mr. Walker is president of the Olig Crude Oil Company and the Olig Land Company, president of the Monroe Oil Company and the West Side Oil Company, is vice-president of the U. S. Realty Company and an officer and director in many other corporations. He owns the Walker Theatre Building and much other valuable real estate along Broadway, Grand avenue and Seventh street.
He is a member of the Jonathan Club, Athletic Club, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Municipal League and other civic and social organizations, and in politics votes as a republican. . At Tombstone, Ari- zona, in 1883, he married Miss Margaret S. Holmes, of Nevada City, California. They have one daughter, Ethelwyn Gertrude.
FREDERICK PALMER, president of the Palmer Photoplay Corporation, was born in Belmont, New York, on Friday the thirteenth of May, 1881, and his success has been a living exemplification of the fallacy of the superstition founded upon this calendar combination.
Educated in the schools of Rochester and New York City, Mr. Palmer took up newspaper work, starting as a cub reporter on the Roches- ter Post Express and making rapid progress under the kindly guidance of John Northern Hilliard, now famous as a novelist and short story writer.
Having been an adept at sleight-of-hand since boyhood, Mr. Palmer became acquainted with Alexander Herrmann, the famous magician, and after a course of training under this great master of digital dexterity, entered vaudeville under the title of "Palmer, The Man of Mystery" and toured this and other countries successfully for a number of years.
In an emergency arising from the sudden illness of a member of a dramatic company, Mr. Palmer jumped in and played the part and met with such success that he spent several years in the legitimate drama and musical comedy.
Seeing great story possibility in the various branches of the show business, Mr. Palmer spent several seasons with circuses, carnivals and fair ground shows, also making a trip down the Mississippi in a river show boat. During this time he contributed many stories and special articles to magazines and newspapers and wrote several volumes of verse.
Ten years ago, adopting Los Angeles as a permanent home, Mr. Palmer turned his attention to a study of motion pictures. During four years of this time he published the largest theatrical magazine of the west, "The Rounder." After selling this publication he decided to devote his entire time to screen production. After free-lancing" for a time he became a staff writer with the old Keystone Company, rising to the position of assistant managing editor under Mack Sennett and Hampton Del Ruth. Later he became managing editor of Vogue Films, resigning
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that position to become special writer for Universal. During nine months Mr. Palmer wrote fifty-two stories which were produced and exhibited. Subsequently he was a special writer for Triangle and the William Fox Corporation.
Realizing that producers were facing a serious scarcity of screen stories, Mr. Palmer together with Roy I. Manker organized the Palmer Photoplay Corporation, which was incorporated under the direction of the following officers: Frederick Palmer, president ; Harry E. Teter, vice-president : Sam E. Warmbath, secretary and treasurer; and Roy L. Manker, business manager. Starting with three offices and five employes the Palmer Photoplay Corporation has grown to an organization com- prising thirty offices and nearly two score employes and serving as a national clearing house for photoplay scenarios.
The Palmer plan of scenario writing has been widely advertised and has helped many aspiring writers to success, as creators of photoplay stories
The Manuscript Sales Department is a constant source of supply for screen material and some of the largest productions of the past year have passed through this department from author to producer.
Frederick Palmer is one of the men of genius-though he disclaims any of it-who have made Los Angeles the world's greatest center in the production of photoplays. It is only for the purpose of permanent record, and not to furnish information that would be superflous, that this brief article is incorporated here.
DANIEL FREEMAN. A number of the experiences of the late Daniel Freeman, especially during his early residence in Los Angeles county, are pertinent and indispensable facts in the understanding of the real history of this section. Daniel Freeman was a man of interesting per- sonality, and his achievements rank him as one of the foremost of the pioneers of Los Angeles.
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