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 III > Part 45
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On his final return to Los Angeles he engaged in the real estate
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business and was one of the well-known old time operators in that field. He was a great lover of all nature and was particularly fond of his flowers and garden, in the care of which his sons were instructed from the time of childhood. To a great extent it was due to this early train- ing that the five sons have built up two of the most successful nursery, floral and landscape establishments in the west, namely, the firm of Howard & Smith, in which F. H. Howard, president; O. W. Howard, secretary, and A. P. Howard, manager, are connected, and the horticul- tural establishment of Paul J. Howard, in which E. A. Howard is asso- ciated.
Dr. Howard married Caroline Huber. They became the parents of twelve children, nine living. They are Frederick H., of Los Angeles; Mary C., wife of Professor Van Barneveld, a well-known metallurgist and mining engineer, formerly of Holland; Edward A., Ozora W., of Los Angeles ; Pauline, at home; Mrs. Helen Jones, of Ventura, Cali- fornia ; Ruth Keane, wife of Dr. Charles Keane, formerly state veterin- arian of Sacramento; Paul J., of Los Angeles, and Arthur Preston, who during 1918 was drafted for army service at Camp Lewis, Washington.
Dr. Howard died May 5, 1900, at Los Angeles.
OZORA W. HOWARD. Aside from the value of his technical services as a landscape architect, exemplified in many of the fine estates and civic centers of the Southwest, Ozora W. Howard is one of the best known naturalists. Years of experience, travel and study have given him an authoritative knowledge of the flora and fauna of the South- western country.
Mr. Howard is a native of Los Angeles, was born January 18, 1877, son of Frederick P. and Caroline (Huber) Howard. His birthplace was an old adobe building on what was then a ranch belonging to his uncle, O. W. Childs, and in honor of whom Mr. Howard was named. This ranch was situated between what is now Main and San Pedro streets and Tenth and Pico streets.
He attended the old Starbuck private school, near Second and Main streets, and later the old Eighth street grammar school at (Charity) Grand avenue and Eighth streets. In spare time during his school days and through vacation he worked with his brother Fred in the care of gardens about town, which have long since been replaced by the principal business blocks of the city. It was during this period that Mr. Howard and his brothers all took part in the care of their father's garden, which occupied an entire city lot adjoining the residence at Ninth and Olive streets, where the family lived for many years.
It was due to this early training in the propagation and care of plants that Mr. Howard and his four brothers are engaged in the nursery business today, and in which the oldest brother, Mr. F. H. Howard, was the instigator.
At the end of the term of 1892, when, at the age of fifteen, Mr. Howard left school and began working during the fruit seasons with a packing company, and at other times with his brother, F. H., who was then in partnership with Mr. G. W. Smith in the firm of Howard & Smith.
As far back as he can remember, Mr. Howard has been a student of natural history, spending all the spare hours, besides those he could steal, in tramping through the country in search of various natural his- tory specimens. In 1895, when, at the age of eighteen, he made a month's
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trip by team into the head of the Sisquoc Canyon, in northern Santa Barbara County, and secured an egg of the almost extinct and much sought for California Condor (Gynogyps Californianus), which, from all reports, was the only first-class specimen in existence at that time.
Being extremely interested in the general program of his studies and investigations, this trip and many other which followed may be said to have constituted his university and his church, and were the source of much scientific knowledge.
In 1896 he, together with three companions, made a trip by team from Los Angeles to the Huachuca Mountains, on the Mexican border of Arizona. On this expedition the party was in the field for about five months, during which time many rare and desirable specimens of natural history were secured, including a number of type specimens.
Beginning in the fall of 1896, he took a course in assaying and mining at the University of Arizona, and assisted his brother-in-law, who was then a professor of mining and metallurgy at that institution. He was there until the spring of 1897, and the following months were spent in the mountain ranges of Arizona following his favorite studies. In the fall of the same year he worked in a timber camp for a time and later secured employment in the Copper Queen Mine at Bisbee, Arizona. where he remained until June, 1898.
After spending two or three months in the mountains, he returned to his home in Los Angeles for the winter, and in the spring of 1899 made a second trip by team across the desert to Arizona, this time ac- companied by his brother Edward. The object of the trip was the sale of nursery stock, and was financed by the firm of Howard & Smith. Several months were spent in canvassing the principal towns of Arizona, with fairly satisfactory results. After covering the field and traveling more than a thousand miles, the team and outfit were disposed of, and for a year following Mr. Howard and his brother camped together in various mountain ranges, having many interesting experiences, after which his brother Edward returned to Los Angeles.
During the next two years he did a considerable amount of mining and prospecting, besides carrying on extensive investigations and re- search work relative to birds, plants and insect life in various sections of Arizona.
In the summer of 1902 he returned to Los Angeles to assist the firm of Howard & Smith in establishing their nursery in the Montebello sec- tion, at that time a barren stretch of land which had recently been placed on the market. He and his brother Edward broke the first ground and carried on the construction work until late in the fall, when he was called on to relieve his brother F. H. at an oil camp in the mountains of Ventura County, at the head of Piru Creek, the location of which had been made some years previous by their father. Owing to its loca- tion, the drilling operations were greatly hampered, all supplies and material being hauled a distance of eighty-four miles from Bakersfield.
Mr. Howard remained in charge of the camp until it was finally abandoned in February of 1904, after he and his brother Fred had spent two and a half years of their time taking chances on making a strike.
After leaving the camp he returned once more to Arizona, putting in the spring and summer in following his favorite pursuits and return- ing in the fall with many rare and valuable specimens.
Aside from numerous short trips covering the Channel Islands, the Mount Whitney County and other California mountain regions, since
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1904 Mr. Howard has been actively engaged with the firm of Howard & Smith. He has since been appointed secretary and is at the head of the landscape department.
He is well known in scientific circles and has contributed numerous specimens to the principal museums and private collections throughout the country, including the Smithsonian Institution at Washington.
He is a member of the Pasadena Horticultural Society and the Cooper Ornithological Club of California. He is a republican and a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West.
On September 8, 1912, Mr. Howard married Mrs. Charlotte Siebold Sherriff.
HELEN BROWN READ, who for the past year or so has been a popular member of the artistic colony of Los Angeles, is a dramatic soprano and a musician whose achievements have been accorded enthusiastic recogni- tion in the greatest musical centers of the old world as well as the new.
She was born at Jacksonville, Illinois, and acquired her early educa- tion in that city. As a girl she showed a remarkable talent for the piano and graduated in piano, musical history, composition and har- mony at the Conservatory of Music of Illinois College. Soon afterward she was married and made her home in Rockford, Illinois, where she became a member of the Mendelsohn Club. It was during her residence at Rockford that her vocal gifts were demonstrated in a manner to give her confidence and determine her to concentrate her future studies along that line. Her husband died in 1900, and a few months later she left for Europe.
Her talents secured for her a fortunate reception by celebrated masters abroad. She studied under Frau Professor Petri of Dresden, whose husband, Henri Petri, was concert master of the Dresden Orches- tra. Later she went to Paris, and was accepted as a pupil by the great Jean de Reszke, whose direction she enjoyed for two years, and on whose recommendation she received an engagement in the Chemnitz Stadt The- ater, the director of which at that time was Herr Oscar Malata, the eminent Bohemian conductor. Her experience in Chemnitz, the Pitts- burg of Germany, was the first and only grand opera she had. For two years she sang such roles as Marguerite in Faust, Mimi in La Boheme, Marie in the Bartered Bride, Antonia in the Tales of Hoffman, Agathe in Der Freischutz, Elsa in Lohengrin and Micaela in Carmen. Some of the comments made by the musical critics of Dresden and Chemnitz should be noted: "As Antonia in Tales of Hoffman, in appearance and vocal makeup she is well nigh ideal." "Her work musically and vocally is all so finished and carefully perfected that one can not help rejoicing in it." "Helen Brown Read seems to be especially gifted for the role of Mimi. The grace of her acting and her great interpretative powers, together with her strong and beautiful soprano voice, all work for the success of an interpretation which holds the audience spellbound."
After leaving Chemnitz and the grand opera stage, she went to Eng- land and toured the principal cities of Great Britain as the soprano soloist with Anna Pavlowa and the Russian Ballet. She sang two operatic arias on every program with full orchestra accompaniment. On this tour she was associated with Paulo Gruppe, the Belgian cellist. She then made her home for one year in London, giving concerts and recitals.
With the approach of the World war, Mrs. Read returned home and gave her time to church singing, teaching and concert appearances. About
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three years later she came to Los Angeles with her mother, who was suffering failing health, greatly aggravated by the loss of the dear father and husband. After locating in Los Angeles, Mrs. Read became soloist in the First Church of Christ Scientist at Long Beach. This was the opening of a new chapter in her life, which brought a new trend of thought and vision. She was engaged in singing at Long Beach thirteen months, and then opened her studio in Los Angeles.
Mrs. Read has sung with the Minneapolis and St. Louis Orchestras, during 1916 filled a six weeks' concert engagement at Atlantic City and was re-engaged for the season of 1917. The comments on her work at home have been fully as enthusiastic as those given her student career abroad. One comment from a St. Louis musical critic is: "She has a powerful voice of uncommon musical quality, has complete control of her vocal equipment and sings with fine taste. She suggests the best traditions of the concert and operatic stage. She was recalled four times after she had completed her first number."
MISS MABEL CONDON. The true record of an active busy life, cover- ing even a few years, that has been crowned with success honorably if hardly won, is not only of general interest, but offers great inspiration. The steps by which Miss Mabel Condon, talented journalist, scenario writer, and owner and manager of the Mabel Condon Film Exchange at Los Angeles, made her way from a humble position in a newspaper office to her present place of literary prominence in both the East and West, gives emphasis to the fact that talent, backed by courage, persistence and initiative, does not belong to one sex alone. Miss Condon has not been a business woman for so very many years, but her success is pronounced.
Miss Condon was born in the city of Chicago. Her parents are Timothy J. and Rose (McDevitt) Condon. Her father was born in Canada, her mother in DeWitt, Iowa, and both were reared on farms. Both parents are faithful members of the Roman Catholic Church, and Miss Condon early became a pupil in the Catholic School of the Visitation, conducted by the Dominican nuns, and later was graduated from St. Gabriel's High School, an institution that has turned out individuals that have become distinguished in many professions. It was the hope of her parents that she would become a teacher, but her inclination from childhood was toward a literary life, and her parents did not object when Sister Wilhelmina, who was at the head of St. Gabriel, encouraged the young aspirant to cultivate her talent for writing.
Miss Condon found her first opportunity as a reporter, with a salary of six dollars a week, on the Farmers and Drovers Journal, which is yet owned by Mrs. Goodall, and issued in the stock yards district, Chicago. "The field was an unusual one for a young woman, but she worked hard and later was made editor of the magazine section, and in this capacity surprised her friends and employers by the dependable articles she pre- pared on unusual subjects. She wrote, for instance, an article on the worth of gallstones, a subject only thoroughly understood by stockmen ; and another on the sun in relation to agriculture, which was circulated through the farming districts. In the meanwhile she wrote articles for the local papers published in Englewood and Woodlawn, Chicago, fol- lowing which she was engaged as a reporter by the Hearst publications, her attractive personality making her able to secure many details of the daily happenings in a great city, which newspaper readers want to read about.
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In 1911 Miss Condon began writing for the Motography Magazine, a Chicago motion picture publication, one of three published at that time, and she called hier page "Sans Grease, Wig and Paint" when she began interviewing motion picture stars. Her first assignment was Jack War- ren Kerrigan, but as she was unable to secure a personal interview, she secured her information from his lawyer, his director and the manager of his film company. It was Miss Condon who secured the first inter- view ever accorded by Francis X. Bushman after he entered moving pic- tures. Her duties then took hier to New York to report a convention, and there she had first interviews with Mary Pickford, Florence Lawrence, William Russell and other stars. The trip was so fruitful and satisfac- tory that the magazine had her open an office in the Longacre building, at Forty-second and Broadway, and she had the distinction of being the only feminine journalist then engaged on moving picture magazines. Notwithstanding, she was the one who secured the most news, the re- liable stories and the bulk of the advertising. In addition to this work, Miss Condon wrote special articles for Photoplay and Picture Play Magazines. As her work accumulated, she sent for her younger brother, Charles R. Condon, then an employe of a Chicago bank, who became her assistant and subsequently took over the New York office, handling it with great success.
After three years in New York, Miss Condon purchased a three- month round trip ticket to California and came West, visiting her Chicago home on the way, but reaching California in June, 1914, in time to write up the . San Francisco Exposition. She came then to Los Angeles, and , the charm of this city and its people determined her to make her perma- nent home here. At this time she was correspondent for the Dramatic Mirror, and she sent from here many stories and a few plays.
At the request of William Russell and Nell Shipman, she experi- mented in the personal line in their interests and remembers with a great deal of gratitude the confidence they thus invested in her. Succeeding in this work, she immediately saw the opportunity for business in the agency line, which resulted in her renting a bungalow next her own, the hiring of three typists and installation of a dictaphone and the establish- ing of a regular motion picture agency. In a short time, however, her work had grown to such volume that she found it necessary to enlarge her quarters, and then came to her present desirable location on Holly- wood boulevard, where she has been since May, 1917. The owners of the building rearranged the whole plan of the structure to please her and now she is beautifully situated, with commodious offices decorated accord- ing to her own taste.
Some eighteen months ago Miss Condon went to New York and re- mained five months, looking after her interests, which include the sale of books and plays. For like reasons she has spent several months there in the current year. Otherwise she has remained at work in Los Angeles. She has had her mother with her for several years, and in July, 1919, was joined by her brother, Charles R. Condon, immediately upon his dis- charge from the army after service with the Medical Corps. Mr. Con- don returned to work in the film industry by way of taking over the publicity management of the Anita Stewart Company. His ability as a writer, his intimate knowledge of the motion picture business and the high reputation which he enjoys therein point to a future of particular promise for him.
Among her patrons Miss Condon can list the most prominent people
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in the moving picture industry. She has made a wonderful success, yet is a young woman of quiet tastes and is particularly unostentatious in manner. She is a member of many representative literary organizations, including the New York Women's Press Club, the Illinois Women's Press Club and the California Penman Association.
FRED HARTSOOK is owner of the largest photographic business in the world, comprising a system of twenty studios in all the prinicipal cities of California. Besides the executive ability which has enabled Mr. Hartsook to develop and build up such a business, he is personally a photographer of the highest qualifications and is one of a family of photographers, the first Hartsooks having taken up the profession when it was in the infancy of development with the old daguerreotype and the first wet plate processes.
Mr. Hartsook's grandfather was the first photographer to open a studio in the state of Virginia. The father of Fred Hartsook was in the photographic business for forty-four years, in two of the principal cities of the West. There are two uncles who have been more than successful in the same profession.
Fred Hartsook was born at Marion, Indiana, October 26, 1876, son of John and Abbie (Gorham) Hartsook. He acquired a grammar and high school education at Marion, graduating at the age of sixteen. The following two years he was with his uncle, Simon Barley, a civil engineer in Grant County, Indiana, but spent the major part of his time in his father's studio. Mr. Hartsook came to California in 1898, well qualified by experience and training and natural inclination for his chosen pro- fession, and opened a studio at Santa Ana, followed later by one at Santa Barbara. He soon discontinued these and opened a studio on Mercantile Place and South Broadway, in Los Angeles, and in this new location worked steadily and quietly for seven years, and giving the studio a well justified fame throughout Southern California. Since then he has been expanding the business by opening studios in San Francisco, Oakland and other principal cities.
During the past ten years Mr. Hartsook has photographed more notable people than any other photographer in the world. Four pres- idents and vice presidents of the United States have made sittings, in- cluding Woodrow Wilson. While President Wilson was in Los Angeles, in September, 1919, Mr. Hartsook took fourteen poses, from which Mrs. Wilson selected nine as good. Mr. Hartscok had forty minutes of the President's time, and it was the first formal sitting since Mr. Wilson had become president.
If his name were not so closely linked with his professional busi- ness, Mr. Hartsook might claim equal distinction as a rancher and fancier of pure-blooded live stock. In any case his enterprises in that direction are noteworthy. When the Los Angeles aqueduct was built, Mr. Hart- sook secured a section of land lying near the mouth of Red Rock Canyon, east of the station of Cantil. It is in the lowest part of Kern County with respect to the topographic elevation for hundreds of miles west, east and north, while it is a thousand feet lower than the country south for about six miles. Mr. Hartsook has increased his holdings in this small valley until they now aggregate over three thousand acres. At a depth of 185 feet he developed a flow of artesian water. The soil con- tains about ten per cent gypsum, and has almost inexhaustible richness and a fertility capable of wonderful production. This ranch is improved
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with a private electric light system, swimming pools, and ranch buildings such as are seldom found on even the more modern ranches. As a youth back in Indiana, Mr. Hartsook gained a practical knowledge of civil engineering from his uncle. He surveyed the Kern County ranch, and never employs an engineer to run his lines and set his grade stakes.
The chief playground for Mr. Hartsook is a country home and ranch much nearer his home in Los Angeles. This is a place of forty- one acres at Lankershim, bounded by Vineland avenue, the Pacific Elec- tric Railway and San Fernando boulevard. The casual Los Angeles visitor would hardly expect to find such a completely developed stock ranch within twelve miles of the Court House and surrounded by paved boulevards. Here Mr. Hartsook has pursued his fancy in handling pure bred registered stock and has over two hundred head. These include a herd of sixty pure bred Holsteins, with Miss Gelisha Walker, a state record cow of the junior three-year-olds, and thirty-two others with of- ficial records of more than twenty pounds of butter in seven days. An- other feature is the selected herd of pure bred registered Toggenburg milch goats from imported stock. Among them are two grand cham- pion does of 1918, exhibited at the Riverside and Los Angeles Liberty Fairs. Mr. Hartsook also has a herd of pure bred big type Poland China hogs, exhibited at the State Fair of 1919, and also at the Fresno County Fair, Riverside County Fair, and Liberty Fair at Los Angeles. They were awarded sixty per cent of all the purses and prizes given by these different fair associations. There is no other ranch, however large, in the state of California with a greater variety of pure bred stock. While Mr. Hartsook has experimented with tractors, he depends for his power upon the reliable mule, and has over seventy-four head of mules. His ranch superintendent, Mr. Bain, claims that Mr. Hartsook is a cham- pion "mule skinner" and exhibits remarkable skill in getting twenty head or more mules in harness and hooked up to the big Smiser land leveler. In fact, it is not uncommon for Mr. Hartsook to pose some of the world's noted people one day and be driving a big mule team on his ranch the next. A nearby rancher at Burbank is big Jim Jeffries, the ex-champion, who says that Mr. Hartsook's judgment in confirmation of a well-bred cow is sufficient for any one to accept, and Mr. Hartsook's showing be- fore the state and county live stock judges and the blue ribbons he ex- hibits goes to carry out the assertion.
He is affiliated with the Masonic and Elk Lodges.
WILLIS GEORGE EMERSON. During the last thirty years of his active life, Willis George Emerson had the satisfaction of seeing a dozen or more books published and winning favor among thousands of American readers. Besides his work as a leading American fiction writer, he gave the singular gift of his genius to business and publicity work, and as a resident of Southern California bore a conspicuous part in the develop- ment of some of the leading towns of the famous Imperial Valley.
He was born near Blakesburg, Iowa, March 28, 1856, son of Rev. Stephen L. and Mary L. (Peck) Emerson. He attended Knox College, at Galesburg, Illinois, in 1876-77, and was admitted to the bar in 1886. He received the degree LL. D. from Northern Ohio University in 1889. During 1889-90 he lived in Kansas, and from 1890 to 1892 made his headquarters at Ogden, Utah. As a town builder, his first important achievement was in developing the townsite of Idaho Falls, Idaho. From 1896 to 1904 he was engaged in laying out and developing the town of
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Grand Encampment, Wyoming. He came to California in 1904 and em- ployed his resources as a real estate man and publicist in developing some desert tracts in the Imperial Valley, two of the best known towns of that valley, Brawley and Calexico, owing their early impulse largely to his enterprise. For a number of years he was president of the Emerson Realty Company of Los Angeles, his chief business associate being his son, Wilbur O. Emerson. His other son, Fred L. Emerson, is a ranch owner in Wyoming.
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