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 38
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One of the leading trade journals devoted to coffee, tea and spice interests had an article concerning Mr. Sellers' stores and plant about two years after his business started on the Pacific Coast. One para- graph from that article is as follows: "The growth of the Pacific Coffee Stores is an interesting demonstration of the results which are bound to follow when a man has a big idea and the courage to put theories into practice. Mr. Sellers' long and varied experience in the coffee business before entering the retail field enabled him to avoid the pitfalls which might prove disastrous to a man seeking to duplicate his success without his knowledge of buying, testing and roasting."
Mr. Sellers is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Annandale Golf Club, and is a republican in politics. He has one child, a son thirty-three years old, who is connected with him in business.
MAY MACDONALD HOPE. In musical circles of Los Angeles there are few more popular pianists than May MacDonald Hope, a performer of remarkable talent and the institutor of the Chamber Music Recitals, which have attracted widespread interest and commendation among music lov- ers of the city of Los Angeles. Mrs. Hope is a product of Kansas, born in the city of Leavenworth, where her father was an army man. Both her parents, whom she lost when young, were musical and she inherited their inclination and talent, which were developed under special instruction in the convent in which she was reared until reaching the age of twelve years.
Later, Mrs. Hope became a protege and pupil of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Bush, of Kansas City, who sent her abroad, where she reecived her real musical instruction and training. She studied at Berlin under Theresa Carreno, one of the world's most celebrated pianists and a pupil of the master, Antone Rubenstein, remaining in Germany for four years and also touring Europe extensively, visiting all places of note and interest and taking some lessons under the instruction of Bruno Gortatowski. Upon her return to the United States she gave a number of very interest-
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ing recitals and concerts at Kansas City, where the residents placed the stamp of approval upon her work, recognizing her as a finished and charming artist upon the piano. About the year 1912 she came to Cali- fornia and in 1913 was united in marriage with Professor Edward W. Hope, of the faculty of Stanford University, who is now identified with the University of Oregon. She has spent the subsequent time at Los An- geles, with the exception of eight or nine months at Eugene, Oregon,
Mrs. Hope has instituted what are known as the Chamber Music Re- citals, a series of which she has been giving each year for the past three years. These have been very successful and markedly popular, and five were held in 1918, while 1919 saw four. Mrs. Hope has been playing with Mr. Joseph Rosenfelt. She expects to present these recitals each year, on an increasing scale from year to year, her idea being to express in them her ideals for the betterment of music in art. Thus far they have been given at Blanchard Hall.
In June, 1910, Mrs. Hope gave a concert with Alexander Saslavsky, Russian, one of the founders of the New York Russian Symphony Orchestra and for twenty-two years concert master with Walter Dam- rosch. Mrs. Hope's association with Mr. Alexander Saslavsky in con- cert work marks a step forward in her career, which has been one of advancement since its start, and characterized by self help and self reliance. She also has charge of the music at the Cathedral Chapel of Father Conaty's church. In whatever community she has made her home she has been popular in the best social circles, and at Los Angeles she has made and maintained numerous friendships.
E. BURTON CERUTI, is a prominent member of the Los Angeles bar, and has been in active general practice since 1912. He is a young man of interesting experience and derived his early training from a number of noted educational institutions.
Mr. Ceruti was born at Nassau, N. P., Bahamas, West Indies, August 14, 1875, son of Edward B. and Elizabeth J. Ceruti. His parents came to America in 1880, and his education was advanced by successive attendance at the following institutions : Jacksonville graded school at Jacksonville, Florida, the grammar school of Nassau, N. P., Bahamas, St. Augstine's Normal and Industrial Institute at Raleigh, North Carolina, Shaw University at Raleigh, where he took his first courses in law, the Howard University of Washington, D. C., Brooklyn Law School, and St. Lawrence University at Canton, New York. From the last named institution he received his degree in law in the month of June, 1911. Soon afterward Mr. Ceruti came to Los Angeles and was admitted to the bar January 17, 1912. He has busied himself with a growing clientage, and among other interests is grand attorney for the Knights of Pythias of the state of California and attorney for the southern California branches of the National Association for the Ad- vancement of Colored People, and was recently made national director for that powerful organization. His offices are in the Thorpe Building and his residence address is 1800 San Pedro street.
Mr. Ceruti is a member of the Episcopal church and was appointed a lay reader in June, 1914. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order and is exalted ruler of Golden West Lodge No. 86, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks.
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JOHN THOMAS ROWNTREE. The most substantial business enter- prises of any city are those which are the outgrowth of concentrated effort and thorough understanding of the needs of the trade which is supplied. It is not possible to leap into a prominence that is lasting. Stability and the confidence of the buying public are won through suc- cessive operations, in each of which the reliability and honesty of the concern in question are proven beyond doubt. Once such a reputation is established, further growth is certain. Back of such institutions are men of executive ability and great capability, and to them and their broad-gauged methods is due the supremacy this country has obtained and will continue to maintain.
One of the firms which has a national reputation of the highest char- acter is that of John T. Rowntree, Inc., of Los Angeles, with branches at San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver and Mexico City, and a trade territory from the Missouri River west to the Pacific Coast, including British Columbia and Alberta Provinces, Canada, also the Republic of Mexico.
The head of this firm, John Thomas Rowntree, comes of one of the oldest families in America, his ancestors being passengers on the historic "Mayflower." Later a branch of the family went south and took an important part in the developing of South Carolina, one of the original thirteen states. It was near Spartanburg, South Carolina, that Mr. Rowntree was born-being the oldest son of Emily F. and John Smith Rowntree.
When the troubles came to a climax between the north and the south, which resulted in a declaration of war, John Smith Rowntree espoused the cause of his section of the country, and was a gallant soldier in the Confederate Army from the beginning to the close of the war, during which period he was wounded twice, once at the battle of Rich- mond and also at the battle of Fredericksburg.
Impoverished, as were so many southerners by the war, John Smith Rowntree sought other surroundings, taking his family with him to Knox- ville, Tennessee, where his son, John Thomas ·Rowntree, spent his boy- hood days.
Desirous of having his son go through college, John Smith Rowntree entered him as a student at the University of Tennessee, but the lad, when but sixteen years, yearned for a business life, and upon being offered a position in a leading wholesale hardware establishment at Knoxville, he prevailed upon his father to permit him to accept it. This permission was accorded him but under the condition that he return to his studies after a year of business experience. The progress made by the lad in his new undertaking was such that at the expiration of the period of probation the elder man was satisfied to have his son continue in what proved to be his life work, and where he remained for twelve years, but during that time he longed for a broader field and better opportunities for expression of his business ideas.
In the fall of 1889 Mr. John Thomas Rowntree moved with his family to Denver, Colorado, where he established an office and head- quarters, remaining in that city twelve years as the personal representative of a number of eastern hardware manufacturers, visiting his trade every three or four months and covering a territory which extended from Den- ver west to the Pacific Coast.
Later he found it expedient to open offices at San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Salt Lake City, and in 1901 moved to Los Angeles, eventually making this city his headquarters but retaining all of his other
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John & Rountree
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offices. He now has in his employ ten experienced hardware salesmen covering the territory, and has succeeded in building up a valuable busi- ness in hardware specialties, besides being a stockholder in a number of the firms he now represents. When Mr. Rowntree decided to come to the west, with a view of carrying out his plans to represent eastern firms, his ideas in that respect did not coincide with the views of the con- servative southerners with whom he had been associated; however, time has proven the far-sightedness and keen business ability of the man who not only knew what he wanted to do, but also the manner in which to handle the proposition successfully.
Some of the firms he is now representing he has been associated with for a quarter of a century, and through him their specialties have been introduced in a territory where before his advent they were an unknown quantity. Not only does Mr. Rowntree hold the confidence and esteem of his associates, but his competitors acknowledge their respect for his ability and their belief in his integrity. It is related on one occasion an officer of one of the leading eastern manufacturers whom Mr. Rowntree is associated with stated to some gentlemen when intro- ducing them to Mr. Rowntree, that he considered Mr. Rowntree one of the best balanced men he had ever met.
Although a southerner by birth and education, Mr. Rowntree is an independent republican and believes in voting for the best and most com- petent man for the office in question regardless of party affiliations. He has proven this in casting his presidential vote for Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson.
John Thomas Rowntree was united in marriage at Knoxville, Tennes- see, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Barry, a native of Tennessee. They have three children: Lelia Elizabeth, John Wallace and Bessie May.
Lelia Elizabeth Rowntree was educated in Denver, Colorado, where she graduated at Mrs. Speer's private school for girls. She was married to Frank L. Wishon, of Denver, Colorado, now deceased, and they had one son, Frank R. Wishon. Later she was married to W. W. White- cotton, proprietor of the Hotel Shattuck at Berkeley, California, and also the Lankershim Hotel of Los Angeles.
John Wallace Rowntree was graduated from the Lexington Mili- tary Academy of Lexington, Missouri, as captain of his company. He gained his first knowledge of the fundamentals of commercial life at Kansas City, Missouri, and in 1906 came to Los Angeles to join his father's force, and is still associated with him in the business. He married Miss Fanny K. Ball at Richmond, Mississippi. They have three children, namely: John Wallace, Jr., Louise Kirkley and Mary Eliza- beth.
Bessie May Rowntree, an artist of note, was married to Willard Arnott, who is president of Arnott & Company, and prominent in busi- ness and social affairs of this city. They have two children, namely : Mary Helen and Willard, Jr. Mrs. Arnott is one of the social leaders of Los Angeles, and during the great war both she and her mother were very active in Red Cross work as well as on all the drives. Mrs. Rowntree has always been an earnest and effective worker for charitable organizations and is beloved in many homes where her benevolence brings relief.
Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Rowntree is alert and aggressive in business life, he possesses all the old time chivalry and culture of the
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typical southern gentleman, and has made a host of warm, personal friends. Although having strong convictions, he is of a quiet and retiring nature. Mr. and Mrs. Rowntree have a beautiful home in the Wilshire District, where their social gatherings are enjoyed by many friends
Social by nature, Mr. Rowntree belongs to the California Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Los Angeles Athletic Club, the City Club of Los Angeles, also the Olympic Club of San Francisco. He is also a member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the San Francisco Cham- ber of Commerce. He belongs to the Golden West Commandery, K. T., and the Al Malaikah Shrine, being a thirty-second degree Mason. In religious belief a Baptist, he affiliated with the Temple Baptist church of Los Angeles, shortly after locating in this city, and is now serving it as a trustee. His charities are many, and since the outbreak of the World War they have increased in a manner that is only commensurate with his generous nature. In addition to his donations to local charitable institutions Mr. Rowntree contributes liberally to the funds for the orphans in the devastated countries of Europe, and during the drives he gave generously of his time and money to make them a success.
He believes in and supports the Boy Scout movement, as he does in all organizations whose object is the inculcating of true American senti- ments and the betterment of conditions locally and nationally.
THOMAS P. WHITE has gained a most gratifying array of honors and successes with the legal profession since he was admitted to the bar in 1911, and few men of his age have in fact so quickly distinguished themselves either in the solid accomplishments of the profession or in effective public leadership.
Mr. White is only thirty-one years of age, having been born in Los Angeles September 27, 1888, a son of Peter and Catherine (Clark) White. His father was born and educated in Ireland and has been a resident of Los Angeles since the age of twenty-one. For twenty years he was employed as fireman or engineer with the Southern Pacific Rail- way, and after that was in commercial affairs until 1916, when he retired. He died August 26, 1918. The wife and mother is still living in Los Angeles.
Thomas P. White attended the parochial schools of Los Angeles, graduated from St. Vincent's High School in 1904, but after one term gave up his work in St. Vincent's College to earn his own living. The opportunity came to serve as rate clerk in the Santa Fe general offices at Los Angeles, and there was a steady promotion that placed him by 1908 in the position of assistant to the trainmaster at Needles. He was then twenty years of age, and there was every promise of continued promotion and higher usefulness in railroading. However, his ambi- tion had become fixed several years before on the law, and he resigned and invested his savings in the law course of the University of Southern California, from which he graduated LL. B. in 1911. He was admitted to practice by the District Court of Appeals, Second District, June 19, 1911, and in the same year was admitted to practice in the United States Circuit and District Courts. After graduating he became a member of the law firm of Randall, Bartlett & White, but in 1913 formed the law partnership of Irwin, White & Rosecrans. A few months later, in August, 1913, he resigned his membership in the law firm to accept the appointment of judge of Police Court to fill an unexpired term. In the general election of November, 1914, he was elected to that office by popular vote and received the highest vote ever given to a candidate for
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this municipal position. Mr. White soon after his admission to the bar was appointed attorney for the Boards of Education of several union high school districts of Los Angeles county.
While in college Mr. White excelled at a debater and orator, and was on the team of the University of Southern California in its col- legiate contest with Cornell University in 1910, and with the University of Washington in 1911. Back of the manner and arts of the charming public speaker Mr. White has the clear thinking and reasoning ability that gives force and cogency to all he says, and it is not strange that he has been one of the speakers most in demand by the republican organization of southern California. He has taken part in every cam- paign since he was twenty-one years of age. He was elected a delegate to the County Republican Convention in that year, and has done much to keep up the strength of the organization in the county.
Mr. White is a prominent layman in the Catholic affairs of southern California. He is past grand knight of the Los Angeles Council of Knights of Columbus and is past grand president of the California Jurisdiction of the Young Men's Institute having been elected president in 1912 and was the first man so honored from Los Angeles in twenty- eight years. This is one of the leading fraternal organizations of the Catholic church in the United States. Mr. White is also a member of the Delta Chi legal fraternity, the Los Angeles Bar Association, Native Sons of the Golden West, and the Chamber of Commerce.
February 3, 1915, he married at Los Angeles Miss Helen Hickson, daughter of Christopher Hickson, a pioneer citizen of Los Angeles.
CHARLES J. ALFRED is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer who has made almost a lifelong study of means and methods of making a commodity which satisfies a practically universal taste and demand. In less than a generation ice cream has been raised from a rare luxury until it now has an indispensable place in the rational menu of all classes of people. It is as much a staple article of diet today as refined sugar was forty or fifty years ago. Ice cream manufacturers no longer have to stimulate and make a market for their goods, and their only prob- len lies with methods of manufacture which insure a perfect article in purity, cleanliness and quality.
In his fine plant at Los Angeles Charles J. Alfred has probably solved these problems as completely as any of his competitors in Cali- fornia. He gained his first knowledge of ice cream making when a boy of sixteen. He was born in Seneca Falls, New York, July 16, 1870, son of Thomas Jefferson and Ellen (Troutman), Alfred. Until he was fifteen he attended the grammar and high schools of his native town, and a year later began his thorough and laborious apprenticeship in mastering the ice cream and confectionery business. He worked at it steadily for two years, and then for two years had another line of experi- ence, as salesman for the National Cash Register Company with head- quarters at Rochester, New York.
Then utilizing his earlier experience Mr. Alfred moved to Ridge- way, Pennsylvania, and established the Alfred Ice Cream Company, owned and conducted entirely by himself. He also manufactured con- fectionery for many years. That business is still a prosperous and going concern, reflecting the ideas and methods of its founder, but Mr. Alfred sold his business there in 1913 and came to Los Angeles. Here he estab- lished the Alfred Pure Ice Cream Company, of which he has since been president. H. P. Taylor is vice president, and R. J. Powell secretary
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and treasurer. It is a large business, incorporated with capital of a hun- dred thousand dollars, and at its chief place of business, 817 East Eighteenth street, has a model plant, comprising a three-story building 85x88 feet, and of more recent construction a one-story garage building adjoining, 30x88 feet. From the very first Mr. Alfred has emphasized the purity and cleanliness of his plant in every detail of manufacture. As already noted, people no longer inquire whether ice cream is good, but whether it is pure and clean. Those questions Mr. Alfred has been at great pains to answer with a margin of assurance sufficient to satisfy the most skeptical. In fact his business has grown and prospered largely because he has lived up to his slogan, "the factory of the open door." He has never been satisfied to measure up merely to the standard requirements of the law, but has made his plant conform to such ideals of purity and cleanliness that its doors stand open at all times welcoming the casual and the most critical visitors. The business has prospered and it has deserved to prosper. The first year the com- pany employed only twelve persons, and today there are forty on the payroll, and in the delivery and other branches of the service are required thirteen wagons and automobile trucks. In order to safeguard the con- tinuity of service at every point there has been installed a complete dup- lication of machinery, so that the possibility of interruption is eliminated They also have a complete ice plant, both for refrigeration and the manufacture of ice for packing the goods. The capacity of refrigera- tion is 100 tons. The company established a creamery at Tipton and are the largest shippers of sweet cream in that section.
Mr. Alfred is well known in Los Angeles business circles, is a member of the Credit Men's Association, the Merchants and Manufac- turers' Association, is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, an Elk, mem- ber of the Presbyterian church and a republican in politics. He served as a member of the council four years in Ridgeway, Pennsylvania, but has not been in politics in California. At Seneca Falls, New York, May 18, 1892, he married Miss Maude Troutman. They have two children : Maurice, born in 1895, is a graduate of the Manual Arts High School and the University of California and served as a soldier with the Fourth Company Development Batallion at Camp Kearney. He was honorably discharged May 1, 1919. He was in charge of a creamery, a branchi of the company at Tipton, Tulare county. The daughter, Helen, is a graduate of the Manual Arts High School and is now attending the Cumnock School for Girls at Los Angeles.
GEORGE A. RALPHS. A monumental business enterprise of Los An- geles, familiar to every local citizen, is the chain of Ralphs grocery stores. The founder of this business was the late George A. Ralphs, a California pioneer, a man of highly interesting personality, of splendid business integrity and a type of citizen whose thought is always felt, however great the community in which he lives.
Mr. Ralphs was born at Joplin, Missouri, September 23, 1850, and was a small boy when his parents left Missouri for California. He often recalled the exciting incidents of the trip. The prairie schooner of the Ralphs family drawn by five yoke of oxen joined a larger caravan in Kansas, and in passing through Colorado the train was attacked by Indians. About half of the party went out to fight the red men and they were undoubtedly massacred since their subsequent fate was never known. Those who remained to guard the women, children and wagons finally reached their destination at San Bernardino eighteen months after
Ged Daikke
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starting the journey. In Los Angeles George A. Ralphs served an appren- ticeship at the bricklayer's trade. He worked on some of the pioneer structures in the city, and became an expert and was known as the champion bricklayer of the state. Many times he excelled contenders for the honors in open competition. An accident while hunting deprived him of one of his hands, and he had to start life over again. He found his opportunity as clerk in a small grocery store at Fifth and Hill streets. In 1877 he used his modest savings to buy a partnership with Mr. Francis in a small store at Sixth and Spring streets. „The firm of Ralphs and Francis continued two years and in 1879 the Francis interests were bought by Walter B. Ralphs, a brother of the senior partner. Ralphs Brothers, the title of the business for many years, had a record of growth and prosperity seldom equalled even in Los Angeles. At the present time there are seven of the largest retail grocery stores in the city under the Ralphs name and management. The business was incorporated in 1909 as the Ralphs Grocery Company and Albert George, a son of George A. Ralphs, is now prominent in the management, being vice- president and director.
Mr. Ralphs married Miss Wallula Von Keith of Los Angeles July 23, 1896. Her father was Professor J. H. Von Keith, a well known California artist. Mr. and Mrs. Ralphs had a daughter, Annabell, and a son, Albert George, who on April 29, 1918, married Miss Ava Richards of Los Angeles.
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