Los Angeles in the 1900s

May 1909

by
George Garrigues

From the Los Angeles Examiner of May 9, 1909.
MAMMOTH PROJECT MEETING SUCCESS
Pasadena Rapid Transit Company Declares 12-Minute Road Is a Certainty

By Horace W. Karr

Officials of the Pasadena Rapid Transit Company announce they are meeting with success in their project to build a high speed railway from Pasadena to the heart of Los Angeles.

They have been working on the prop0sition for several months, and they declare there can be no doubt as to the early building of the road.

. . . a short-line railroad . . . will cover the distance from Los Angeles to Pasadena

in 12 minutes. This will necessitate a subway into Los Angeles.

. . . the proposed road will enter Los Angeles via a steel bridge crossing the Arroyo Seco in the vicinity of Avenue 38.

The subway will start in the vicinity of the Plaza, and the Los Angeles depot will be close to Fifth and Broadway. It is planned to erect an elegant building. . . .

More than six miles of right of way have been secured.

The company is comprised of well-known capitalists and business men. They are:

• Horace M. Dobbins, president of the Agricultural Park Association and former mayor of Pasadena, president [pictured].

• Granvil H. Hayes, vice president.

• Edward J. Sheehan, secretary.

• Ernest H. May, treasurer.

• Newell E. Vinson, manager of the financial department [pictured]. . . .
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From the Los Angeles Examiner of May 12, 1909

MAY OUST WOMEN FROM CONTROL OF ANIMAL LEAGUE

Opponents of Miss Mathewson Head Movement for Male Directors

Opponents of Miss Helen Mathewson, president of the Humane Animal League, at a meeting yesterday afternoon at the Alexandria Hotel decided to begin a campaign to oust women from the control of the affairs of the organization.

Several of the speakers stated that the long-continued warring in the league indicated that government by women was unstable and feverish, and that a new board of directors, composed chiefly of men, should be elected.

The chairman of the meeting was George L. Lawson, former secretary and former poundmaster,

who resigned both positions after a falling out with Miss Mathewson.

Others present were former officers of the league, who resigned because they considered Miss Mathewson “despotic.”

It was decided to hold a meeting on May 25 next. Sixteen signatures were secured to a petition asking the secretary of the league to call a meeting on that date.

If they petition is ignored, the meeting will be held anyway.
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From the Los Angeles Examiner of May 10, 1909

Five Thousand Voice Praise of Mothers at Auditorium

Joining in a celebration which practically has become national, Los Angeles yesterday observed Mothers’ Day with an enthusiasm that established beyond question the fact of the idea's popularity in this city.

Mother was Queen of the May. At the morning services in many of the leading churches the best seats were reserved for mothers; “Motherhood” was the theme of eloquent addresses at a great mass meeting held in the Auditorium [at 5th and Olive Sts.] . . . while thousands signaled their interest by wearing the symbolic white carnation or the Mothers’ Day button.
[Because the mass meeting was sponsored by The Examiner, we have to treat these statistics with some suspicion. The modern campaign for a Mothers Day celebration was started by Ana Jarvis of Philadelphia in 1905.]
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