Shriners cross ‘the hot sands of the Desert’ to take in the Fiesta de Las Flores

Sarah Bernhardt skips L.A., heads for Venice, then Salt Lake City

Plans for massive Santa Fe freight depot are unveiled
Will the City Council outlaw
skating on sidewalks?
Will the Fire Board let Chinese wash
white folks’ clothes throughout the city?
Bank clerks would like to go home on Saturday evenings

Los Angeles in the 1900s

May 1906

by
George Garrigues
Los Angeles Express, May 19, 1906

Venice Auditorium

Management L.E. BEHYMER
Cars Every Two Minutes
TONIGHT: Farewell Performance

“LA TOSCA”

The Last Chance to Say Good Bye

Sarah Bernhardt

Good Seats Remain at all prices in all parts of the house.
1,000 GOOD SEATS TONIGHT AT $2 AND $3 EACH
Doors Open 7 p.m. • Curtain Prompt at 8 p.m.
Seats now on sale at BIRKEL’S MUSIC STORE, 345 S. Spring St.
Mail orders received and carefully filed.
PRICES, $2, $3, $4 and $5
(including round trip Los Angeles to Venice)
Phones — Home 8277, Sunset Main 8677
Los Angeles Express, May 19, 1906

FRENCH ALLIANCE FOLKS GREET SARAH BERNHARDT

Frenchmen and women cordially greeted Sarah Bernhardt when she passed through Los Angeles yesterday on her way to Venice.

Among those who called upon the tragedienne at the pier after she reached Venice were Mr. and Mrs. [Paul?] DeLongpre, Mr. and Mrs. Jacquard-Auclair, Mr. Lacroix and other well-known residents of this city.

Madame Bernhardt was presented with a big bunch of La France roses by one of the delegation.

La divine Sarah’s first view of Venice was a vista of fences and sand, with a glimpse of the ocean in the distance.

It was while her car stood switched back of the Midway Plaisance that the representatives of the Alliance Francaise broke through the cordon of hired retainers which guarded the actress’ private car and were received by her.

The actress greeted her caller in the parlor. She had risen not long before.

“Madame never rises before 2 o’clock and is never visible before 3,” said her press agent.

Almost her first remark was that she felt very tired as the result of her long trip from the north. Speaking of her journey through the United States, she said that she liked this country immensely and that she had seen much to admire here.

Madame Bernhardt spoke of her automobile ride through the ruined streets of San Francisco. The scene of destruction had affected her greatly.

“C’était navrant!” she said.
Sarah Bernhardt as Floria in La Tosca
Los Angeles Express, May 21, 1906

Bernhardt Special Beats Schedule Time

First Train to Race Since Last Winter’s Washout

On a special train and in double-quick time, Sarah Bernhardt made the trip from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City.

The Madame left Los Angeles at 5 o’clock yesterday evening over the Salt Lake road and

 reached Salt Lake City at 9 o’clock this morning, her train being the first to make less than schedule time over the route since the Rainbow Canyon storm trouble of last winter.

Cross-dressing Frenchie may have spooked L.A. theater owners
The Venice Historical Society reports on its Web site that:

The reason that [Venice founder Abbot] Kinney was able to obtain the Bernhardt booking in the first place was because the Los Angeles segment of her American tour was canceled.

The L.A. theater district declared a boycott against the famous actress probably because of the stir that the League of Decency created as a result of her crossing-dressing rolls.

La Bernhardt played equally well as a male or female, as it was whispered she did off the stage as well as on it.

Railroad tracks were still in place on the floor of the Pier a year after the Kinney Company hauled rocks from Chatsworth to dump from the end of the wooden structure because a breakwater was needed at the ocean end to protect it from the fury of winter storms.

It was on these tracks that the Frenchwoman's private rail car, loaned by the New York Vanderbilts as a token of esteem, was parked.

Abbot Kinney dined nightly in the luxurious car with the great international star.
The Divine Sarah as a guy.
•
Los Angeles Express, May 12, 1906

NEW SANTA FE DEPOT TO BE MADE OF CONCRETE

The Santa Fe company pins faith to Los Angeles and to reinforced concrete construction by awarding a conract for $280,000 for a concrete freight depot one-quarter of a mile long to be erected on Santa Fe Avenue, extending from Third to Fourth streets, in the Angel City.

The immense building will be built under the direction of General Manager Wells and Acting Chief Engineer Morse of the Santa Fe Railway company, in accordance with

 drawings and specifications prepared by Harrison Albright, architect. . . .

The contract for the building has been awarded to Carl Leonardt. . . .

The extreme dimensions of the building will be 1,320 feet in length by 91 feet in width. The building will be constructed entirely of reinforced concrete, with clear spans between columns of sixty feet.

One of the many features of the ease with which it can be converted from a closed

 building into an open building. The turning of two levers will open one-half-mile of rolling steel doors, and the turning of two other levers will open one-half-mile of pivoted transom windows. . . .

The orders of the general freight agent T.W. Pate, the chief clerk A.G. Compton and the yard foreman B.F. Rosenfelt will be transmitted to their various clerks by means of intercommunicating telephones and pneumatic tube service. . . .
(Note: This story is (mis)quoted elsewhere on the Web and wrongly credited to
the Los Angeles Evening Newspaper.)

The Santa Fe Freight Depot is now part of the campus of the
Southern California Institute of Architecture (below).

The front of the freight depot is at the top of the illustration below, just outside the blue oval, facing Third Street. A modern view via Googleis just below..
•
Los Angeles Express, May 21, 1906
MAY PROHIBIT ROLLER SKATING
 Los Angeles Express, May 26, 1906
DEADLOCK IN FIRE BOARD

The enjoyment of roller skating on the sidewalks by the thousands of the city’s juvenile population may be stopped by ordinance. Councilmen are seriously debating the necessity for such a measure.

Almost as many scratched faces and broken heads have resulted in the past few weeks to pedestrians as to the juveniles with roller skates.

Dr. L.W. Young, city veterinary, held the sidewalk against a young skater Saturday afernoon on South Main Street.

After the youngster had passed on, he took an inventory. He had received a gash in his chin, his nose was bleeding, and his clothes were in a condition to be acceptable only to the “old clothes” man.

Dr. Young favors the passage of an ordinance of suppression.

There is a deadlock in the Fire Board. The point at issue is whether Chinese shall be permitted to establish laundries in all parts of Los Angeles or whether they shall be restricted to a certain district or stay out altogether. . . .

W. Furuya caused the deadlock this morning when he asked for permission to establish a washing outfit at 3419 South San Pedro St.

Mr. Betkouski met the request with a motion that it be denied.

Commissioner Robinson is of the opinion that the yellow man has as much right to wash clothes in Los Angeles as has any other kind of a man. He moved that the permit be granted.

It was left for the mayor and Commissioner Wren to decide the question. The mayor voted with Betkouski, and Wren lined up with Robinson.

The question will be brought up again.
•
Los Angeles Express, May 18, 1906
BANK CLERKS WANT SATURDAY EVENINGS

Efforts are being made to induce all the savings banks to agree to remaining closed Saturday nights.

It has been the vogue for all the savings banks to reopen Saturday evenings after being closed during the afternoon. This is done for the convenience of those depositors who get their pay Saturday afternoons.

About 150 clerks are employed in the savings banks of this city. They would like their Saturday half-holiday be not interrupted by a busy evening.

The clerks of many classes of retail commercial houses have secured for themselves an early closing hour Saturday evenings, and now the bank clerks hope to do so as well.
The Consolidated Bank of Los Angeles, for one, wasn’t buying into this movement. Click here to see its response.
•
This souvenir postcard, including the felt Shriners’ fez at the right, publicized the 1906 Fiesta de las Flores, held May 7-12. The text in the center reads: We have crossed the hot sands of the Desert and send Greetings from the Mecca of All Pilgrims. A Shrine convention, I believe, was being held at the same time.
•
For a personal look at Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s, click for a new book by George Garrigues
He Usually Lived With a Female: The Life of a California Newspaperman
Los Angeles history