From the Los Angeles Herald, October 7, 1905
COMPANY OFFERS TO BUY ALL SALOONS
Millionaire Citizens Would Install New Gothenburg System
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Twenty-five prominent business men and capitalists of Los Angeles [have] . . . decided to incorporate a company which shall offer to take in charge the entire retail liquor business of Los Angeles.
For this privilege, the company will offer to pay into the treasury of the city the present revenue derived from the sale of saloon licenses — $180,000 a year — and will close all but seventy-five of the 200 saloons. . . .
All the profits above 6 per cent per annum will be paid into the city treasury for the purpose of lessening taxation. . . .
[The incorporators proposed] “. . . a modified form of the Gothenburg system. We will incorporate a company with ample capital.”
List of Those Interested
- J.S. Staunton, capitalist.
- Homer Laughlin, capitalist.
- T.E. [Thomas Edward] Gibbon, railroad official.
- James C. Kays, banker [and former sheriff of Los Angeles County].
- John R. Haynes, physician.
- Niles Pease, millionaire.
- J. Ross Clark, vice president, Salt Lake Railroad.
- Charles Silent, real estate dealer. [He was also a judge.]
- Abbot Kinney, millionaire.
- James H. Adams, bonds and investments.
- Robert Wankowski, banker.
- W.M. [William May] Garland, real estate [and the man who brought the 1932 Olympics to L.A.]
- [Henry] West Hughes, physician.
- F.P. Fay, president Fruit company.
- C.R. Fox, capitalist.
- Robert N. Bulla, attorney.
- B.R. Baumgardt, [book] publisher.
- Francis B. Kellogg, physician.
- A.W. Skinner, banker.
- William F. Bosbyshell, merchant.
- C.C. Wright, attorney [and former assemblyman who led fight for a law authorizing irrigation districts].
- Charles M. Stimson, capitalist.
- George Arnott, merchant.
- John M. Gilbert, capitalist.
- William Mead, banker [and later a city water commissioner].
Since his return from Europe several months ago, William Mead has shown a deep interest in the Gothenburg system, which he saw in operation in portions of Norway and Sweden. . . .
From the Los Angeles Herald, October 7, 1905
RICH MEN CAUGHT
IN POKER RAID
Game of Millionaires Is Broken Up
Nearly $5 million was represented in the raid on a poker game in the rear of 213 W. Fourth street yesterday afternoon. Captain Auble led the raid.
Five prominent citizens of Los Angeles, whose names the police refuse to divulge, were arrested while playing the great American game.
All gave fictitious names, but the men were identified, and . . . known to be very wealthy business men and merchants. The police, when confronted with the real names of the men, made excuses but no denials. . . .
As identified when leaving Captain Auble’s office, one of the men is a member of one of the largest hide firms in the city, another is a banker, another is a criminal lawyer of more than local reputation, and another is a stock broker. . . . Each gave bail in the sum of $25.
According to storties of the raid by the policemen who participated, when the officers walked in an ordered them to surrender, one of the men, an influential politician, arose from the table and began to make dire threats.
He was told to do his worst and that the officers were performing their duties and feared nothing.
The excuse given by the police for not divulging the identity of the men was that . . . “it might injure their business.”
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From the Los Angeles Herald, October 15, 1905
WILL DECORATE FLOATS FOR GREAT FIESTA IN LOS ANGELES
 F.J. Zeehandelaar, secretary of the Merchants and Manufacturers’ association, has engaged Fawcett Robinson [shown], one of the foremost men in his profession, to take charge of designing the floats for the parade of the La Fiesta de las Flores next May.
Mr. Robinson has for years had entire charge of the lord mayor’s parade which occurs each year in London. He also has been given the contract in perpetuity for the designs of the floats of the Priests of Pallas carnival which is held annually in Kansas City. . . .
For more stories about the Los Angeles Fiesta, go to the site search engine and type in “Fiesta.”
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From the Los Angeles Herald, October 15, 1905
MOB ATTACKS NEGRO OFFICER
Surrounded by a mob of nearly a hundred angry men, Special Officer Arington for nearly twenty minutes fought off the attacks of the crowd single-handed and held prisoner a man nearly twice as large as himself last evening at Fifth and Central avenue.
Again and again the officer blew his whistle, and when at last help arrived it was all that three officers could do to restrain the furious mob from tearing the little Negro special limb from limb.
Several times before assistance arrived, Arington was knocked down, and once his revolver and handcuffs were pulled from his pockets and tossed many feet away, but a sympathizer returned them to him.
After Arington had handcuffed his prisoner, Peter Peterson, two special officers responded to the repeated calls for help, and a few minutes later a patrol loaded with police arrived on the scene and dispersed the mob.
Arington became involved in trouble when he attempted to arrest Peterson, who was fighting with a smaller man. Looking around, Peterson with an oath rushed on Arington, who evaded his blows and attempted to reason with him. . . .
Peterson and other ice handlers and men in that vicinity took up the cry of “Kill the nigger” . . . .
Three shots, supposed to have been fired at Arington, attracted the attention of three special officers some distance away, and when they arrived on the scene they found Arington holding the mob at bay with a revolver.
Despite the effort of the specials, the assembled crowd surged about the Negro and his prisoner, threatening to lynch the officer.
. . . after the officers had left, small groups of men gathered about and made dire threats against Arington. The general sentiment was: “If any Negro policeman comes down here, he will not live long.”
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From the Los Angeles Herald, October 18, 1905
THOUSANDS SEE IMPOSING PARADE
FIRST WORK DONE ON GREAT HAMBURGER STORE
Those who have made the famous Hamburger Department store a success during the past twenty years . . . paraded the principal business streets of Los Angeles yesterday afternoon, finally assembling . . . on the southwest corner of Broadway and Eighth streets, where the . . . breaking ground for the immense [new] structure was witnessed by several thousand . . . .
The event . . . pointed the way to the immediate further expansion of the business district . . . .
It was truly a great day for the entire Hamburger family and their one thousand employes. They were very much in evidence. Nobody was allowed to walk. Every available automobile, and it seemed all of the carriages and tally-hos in the city, were pressed into service . . . . It took over an hour to seat all members of the firm and the employes in the vehicles, and when the procession moved down Spring street, headed by a platoon of mounted policemen and Arend’s band, the streets were lined to witness the impressive and significant spectactle. . . .
Along the route, business friends of the Hamburgers appeared from the crowded sidewalks to present floral tokens of good will and best wishes. . . .
 Master Asher Hamburger [nephew of the company preident], who is only six years of age and was dressed in a Buster Brown suit [blond kid in the photo], was the first to reach the platform, where he stood proudly supporting a flag and viewing the crowd. . . .
The employes of the firm had thoughtfully joined in the purchase of a solid silver shovel . . . . W.E. Chamberlain [assistant to the president] was chosen to present the shovel. . . . He reviewed the history of the firm from the date of its establishment, October 17, 1881, by Asher Hamburger, who came here with his two sons, from Sacramento.
“Compare, if you can, the little room on Main street where our firm commenced business twenty-four years ago . . . with the magnificent proportions of this new structure, which will cover more than 400,000 square feet, peopled with a thousand willing, loyal helpers, then think of the possibilities before us . . . .”
The formal act of breaking the ground was then observed [by the president, M.A. Hamburger, shown above], and . . . as a conclusion to the ceremony, every employe was asked to pick up some of the dirt and to throw it over the left shoulder to insure everlasting good luck.
Three hearty cheers and a tiger were given by the merry crowd, and the first chapter in the big enterprise was appropriately closed.
Contractor Carl Leonardt today will begin the work of excavation for the great building. The basement will be the deepest and largest . . . in the entire West. The frontage on Broadway will be 305 feet, on Eighth street 165 feet and on Hill street 124 feet, the building to be seven stories high and to cost over $500,000. . . .
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Los Angeles Evening News, October 2, 1905
CHILD STARTS FIRE
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Willie Dunn, a 4-year-old colored boy, endangered life and property today by setting fire to a barn . . . [at] 355 to 359 Firman St.
The barn contained 70 tons of hay, two mules, two oil wagons and harnesses. The barn was soon in ashes, and the home of Mrs. Glassell also was burned down within a few moments.
Willie could not restrain his joy and ran to his grandmother, yelling, “See, Grannie, see!”
His mother, Mrs. Florence Dunn, took Willie by one hand and the grandmother
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by another and they called a policeman.
They accompanied the youngster to the police station, where they said he had been playing with matches and had deliberately set fire to the hay in the barn.
“Why did you do it, Willie?” asked the desk sergeant.
“Fun,” replied Willie.
The mother and grandmother cried when they learned the child was not to be discharged with reprimand.
Screaming with fright, he was taken to the Detention Home.
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From the Los Angeles Herald, October 21, 1905
SAILS AWAY FROM POLICE IN AIRSHIP ‘MAN ANGEL’
Whatever doubt there may be to the future of the airship as viewed from a commercial standpoint, its success as a means of getting away from a policeman with a club was proved Friday morning.
. . . an officer at the corner of Fifth Street and Broadway attempted to lay the heavy hand of the law on Aeronaut Burke, in charge of A.L. Reynolds’ [dirigible] “Man Angel.”
Burke, in the airship, was moored to a flag pole on the roof of the Fifth Street Store [presumably the yellow building above] and was distributing circulars to the crowd below when the officer appeared on the scene.
“The next man that throws a piece of paper on the street I’ll arrest,” he declared.
The circulars continued to fall, and the officer rushed up the five flights of stairs to the roof, only to find when he had reached there that the bird had literally flown. The aeronaut had cast off from his flagpole and was sailing peacefully to the northwest. . . .
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Los Angeles history
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