Los Angeles County, CA History Transcribed by Kathy Sedler This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to their own work. An Illustrated History of Southern California - The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago - 1890 THE PRESS. Los Angeles County has its due share of worthy newspapers and periodicals; and, like all intelligent, enterprising communities, its highways are strewn with the graves of dead journals and the wrecked hopes and fortunes of ambitious but mistaken journalists. The following is a list of the periodicals of the county, perished and surviving, published in the county since 1850: The Los Angeles Star was established in 1851, its first number appearing May 17, of that year, printed in English and Spanish, appearing weekly. John A. Lewis and John McElroy were the publishers. It underwent various changes of partnership and owners up to 1864, when it was purchased by General Banning, who removed the plant to Wilmington, where it was used for the publication of the Journal. In 1868 the Star was again established at Los Angeles, published and edited by Mr. H. Hamilton. From that time it suffered many changes of editors, management, and political affiliation, and probably no other journal in the county could show on its rolls so many names which were notable in the history of the county, and not a few of them over wider territory. The Star ceased publication early in 1879. The Southern Californian, published weekly, was founded by C. N. Richards & Co. The first number appeared July 20, 1854, William Butts, editor. After various changes, it was finally discontinued in 1857, and the following year its plant was used to publish the Southern Vineyard. El Clamor Publico, a Spanish publication, was established in 1855, by Francisco P. Ramirez, making its first appearance on June 18 or 19, and continuing as a weekly until December 31, 1859, when for lack of support, it suspended. The materials of the office were transferred to the Los Angeles News. The Southern Vineyard was established on March 20, 1858, as a four-page weekly, 22 x 30 inches in size. It was devoted to general news, and appeared every Saturday morning. In December of this year it became a semi-weekly, 20 x 26 inches, issued Tuesday and Friday mornings. It continued under the management of its founder, Mr. J. J. Warner, until June 8, 1860, when the plant was transferred to the Los Angeles News. The Christian Church, a monthly paper, devoted to religious subjects, made its appearance April 10, 1859, published by William Money. It was printed in Spanish and English, at the office of El Clamor. Receiving little support, it issued but a few numbers before it was discontinued. The semi-weekly Southern News, independent, issued every Wednesday and Friday, was established in 1860, by C. R. Conway and Alonzo Waite. The sheet was enlarged in six months and again in thirteen months. On October 8, 1862, the paper was styled the Los Angeles Semi-Weekly News, and so continued until January 12, 1863. It was frequently enlarged and modified between this and the early part of 1873, when it finally suspended. The Amigo del Pueblo, printed in the Spanish language, made its appearance November 15, 1861, published by Jose E. Gonzales & Co. It was a weekly, and in politics independent. In May, 1862, it announced its suspension for want of adequate support. The Los Angeles Chronicle, a German weekly journal, published by F. G. Walther, was first issued May 19, 1869. It continued until August, 1870, when it stopped publication for lack of support. It may as well be here stated that while it appears that more newspaper ventures prove abortive than any other class of business undertakings, they are so conspicuous that they are more likely to be noted, and thus made to appear more numerous when in reality they are not. The Evening Republican was founded in June, 1876. by W. W. Creighton. It was continued with various modifications, until September, 1878, when the daily was discontinued for lack of support, the weekly continuing until January, 1879, when it also ceased publication. The School-Master was established in 1876, edited by Dr. W. T. Lucky, at that time superintendent of the city schools. It was the organ of the public schools of the county, and was a very valuable publication for those interested in educational matters. The death of Dr. Lucky caused the paper to be discontinued after a few months. The Southern California Horticulturist was first issued in September, 1877, by the Southern California Horticultural Society, L. M. Holt, editor. This was a monthly periodical in pamphlet form, 6 x 9 inches, devoted to the interests of horticulture and agriculture in Southern California. It was sent free to all members of the society and to others on subscription. After January, 1880, it was issued by another management, in enlarged form, as Semi-Tropic California and Southern California Horticulturist, devoted to the same interests as formerly. Its contributors numbered several able writers. It was succeeded by the Rural Californian. The Los Angeles Daily Commercial, established by W. H. Gould, was first issued March 6, 1879. It was Republican in politics, and it was devoted to the development and interests of the Pacific coast. D. M. Berry was its editor. Its publication was discontinued some years since. The Daily and Weekly Journal was started in 1879 by J. C. Littlefield, the first issue being June 23. At the close of the political campaign, in September of that season, Mr. Littlefield withdrew, and the Journal was conducted until its publication ceased, by Mr. Hewitt, as editor and proprietor. It was Republican in politics. The Weekly Rescue was an eight-page sheet, devoted to temperance, current literature and general news, being the official organ of the Grand Lodge of the Good Templars of the State, and published under the direction of its executive committee. It was printed at different times in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles. While it was issued here, Messrs. Yarnell & Caystile, then publishing the Mirror, printed it by contract for three years, beginning November 1, 1877. The following are the periodicals published in this county in the year of 1889: The Los Angeles Evening Express enjoys the distinction of seniority, and it is, with one exception, the oldest daily newspaper published in Southern California. It was founded and first published by an association of practical printers comprising Jesse Yarnell, George Yarnell, George A. Tiffany, J. W. Painter and Miguel Verelo. The first number appeared March 27, 1871, and consisted of four pages, six columns to the page. In March, 1875, it was purchased by James J. Ayers and Joseph D. Lynch, who enlarged and otherwise improved it. The following year Mr. Lynch retired from the Express, and Mr. Ayers continued in editorial charge and practical management of the paper until his appointment as State Printer by Governor Stoneman in 1882, when he removed to Sacramento. Mr. Lynch now resumed responsible charge of the Express, which he published in connection with the Herald, in the same building and on the same press, but with a separate editorial and local staff. In 1884 this journal was sold to H. Z. Osborne and E. R. Cleveland, with whom, as editor and manager and city editor, respectively, it was first printed on August 18 of that year, and under whose administration it has ever since continued. In August, 1886, these gentlemen organized the Evening Express Company as a corporate body, to facilitate business, and transferred the newspaper property to that company. The paper has for some time enjoyed a steadily increasing prosperity, well known throughout Southern California, and it is one of the most influential of the State. It has a splendid plant of modern presses and material, and a book and job printing establishment equal to any in the State outside of San Francisco. The company has also acquired in perpetuity the exclusive franchise of the Associated Press, the greatest newsgathering association of the world, for all its despatches. The paper is now a handsome eight-page issue, with three daily editions. The Los Angeles Herald, the oldest morning daily in Southern California, was founded by C. A. Storke, its first appearance being October 3, 1873. Some two years later it was sold to J. M. Bassett, and shortly afterward to Joseph D. Lynch, formerly editor of the San Diego World, who had been in the newspaper business from boyhood, and who had been attached to the staff of various leading eastern papers. He alone edited and owned the Herald until the fall of 1886, when he sold a half interest to Colonel James J. Ayers, who since the days of '49 " had been engaged in newspaper work in this State, having been connected with several notable journalistic enterprises, and who was the founder of the Call in San Francisco. Thus this journal has proceeded with perhaps fewer changes than any other in Southern California. At all times it has been a clean, conservative newspaper, Democratic in the true Jeffersonian and Jacksonian sense. As a conservative advocate, the managers take great pride in building up what is good in the community, and in consistently extending the fame of the merits of the section. The Herald is now an eight-page journal, containing all the important news, given in prompt and readable style. On February 1, 1873, appeared the first number of the Weekly Mirror, a diminutive sheet of three columns to the page, 10 x 13 inches. It was published and distributed free every Saturday, by Yarnell & Caystyle, who embarked in journalism with $500 worth of second-hand job printing material, which they had purchased on credit, their primary purpose being to do job printing. The little paper flourished far more than other such enterprises of ambitious beginning. On March 1, 1873, the proprietors, having taken a new partner, announced in a double-leaded editorial that, having abandoned the idea of publishing the smallest paper in California, they would set no bounds to the Mirror's growth. During the year that followed, it underwent repeated enlargements and changes of personnel, some of the original founders always continuing in the firm, however, and by 1882 it was the largest paper published up to that time in Southern California. Its fifth enlargement took place in July, 1882,� six months after the Daily Times was started,�when the Mirror was made a double sheet of eight large pages. After the Times was started in 1881, the Mirror became practically the weekly edition of that paper, but retaining its original name, as being the older journal. In May, 1888, it was changed to its present shape, �twelve pages of six columns each. Unlike the Times, it is not a partisan paper, although it aims to give all the current political news. The Mirror's specialty is the development and advancement of Los Angeles and Southern California. On December 4, 1881, was started the Los Angeles Times, as a seven-column folio. The projectors were Cole & Gardiner. With the first issue retired Mr. Gardiner, and on January 1, 1882, Mr. Cole also, leaving the Times in the hands of the proprietors of the Mirror, Yarnell, Caystile & Mathes, who continued this publication they had bought, as a Republican morning journal. It grew and waxed strong from the outset, as no other Republican paper had been able to do in Los Angeles. After several enlargements, a share in the paper was bought by Colonel H. G. Otis, who became the editor of the Times and the Mirror. Various changes successively ensued, in the makeup of the paper and in its administration, until, in October, 1884, the Times-Mirror Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $40,000, which was increased to $60,000, two years later, for the purpose of erecting the Times building. In April, 1886, the Times-Mirror Company was reorganized, Albert McFarland and William A. Spalding, both practical printers, coming into the concern, the former becoming vice-president, and the latter secretary of the company. Mr. McFarland has since been succeeded by another partner, but the other members still continue the administration. The Times is a standard seven-column quarto, 35 x 47 inches. The first number of the Los Angeles Daily Tribune was published on Monday, October 4, 1886, by H. T. Payne and Edward Records as publishers and proprietors. It was then a seven-column, four-page paper. With the advent of the Tribune were introduced some features new to Los Angeles journalism, as the publication of a paper every day in the year, including Sundays and holidays. The new venture was well received, and enlargements and further improvements speedily followed. Able talent was employed in each department of the paper, the aim being to make it a newsy sheet without its becoming sensational. The policy of the Tribune is thus set forth in its own language: "Politically it is stalwartly Republican, and labors for the interests and principles of that party, irrespective of the feelings of any one man or set of men. Locally it has given a faithful and pure reflection of the news of the day, without any sensational attempt to ridicule or blacken the character of even the most humble citizen. Editorially it has fairly, honestly and manfully discussed the issues of the day without fear or favor, awarding to Caesar that which is Csar's, * * * honestly laboring for the honest rights of the people, and the best interests of the city and the whole of Southern California. Its course has been honorable, open, and upright." General H. H. Boyce is at present editor-in-chief and general manager of the Tribune, and Ed. Gill managing editor. The S�d California Post, the only daily German newspaper published in California south of San Francisco, was established as a weekly in 1874, by Conrad Jacoby, its present editor and proprietor. The weekly enjoys a prosperous career, having a large circulation among the German population in Southern California. In 1887 the daily made its appearance, and has been published ever since, as an afternoon paper. It is a four-page, eight-column sheet, 26 x 40 inches. Its weekly edition is the same size, with a supplement added. The daily has a general circulation among the Germans, nearly 1,100, in Los Angeles, and its advertising columns are liberally patronized by the business men. La Cronica, a Spanish newspaper, was founded in 1872, by M. S. Arevalo, a native of Mexico: B. F. Teodoli, a native of Rome, Italy, and B. F. Ramirez, a native of Los Angeles. Mr. Teodoli was a practical printer and a thorough business man, clear-headed and energetic. Mr. Arevalo was a musician, and of the artistic temperament. Mr. Ramirez was a lawyer, and a gentleman of fine education, but timid and retiring in character, so much so that his personal courage was not equal to the vigor of his writings, a circumstance which shortly led to his retiring from the paper, when he was succeeded by a congenial associate, Eulogio F. de Celis, a native of Los Angeles, with a European education. Combating with difficulties apparently insuperable, this paper has come to be the most influential paper printed in Spanish in California. It is the respected organ of the Hispano-American population where that race is still numerous and important. In 1880, Mr. Arevalo organized the La Cronica Publishing Company, a joint-stock association, limited to 100 shares of $100 each, which were all taken by the most influential citizens of Los Angeles and the State. Soon afterward, Mr. Teodoli withdrew from the company, which, after a time, leased the newspaper to Miguel J. Varela and Pastor de Celis, a brother of the original editor, who had also retired. Next, the Cronica passed into the hands of the Cardona Brothers; then E. F. de Celis again assumed the management, with S. A. Cardona and Thomas W. Temple, the latter of whom is now sole proprietor. L' Union Nouvelle was founded in 1879; it has been edited from the start by Mr. P. Gene�, the present editor and proprietor. It is a large four-page, eight-column sheet, 36 x 42 inches; it is taken by most of the 3,500 population of Los Angeles. Le Progr�s was established in 1883 by a corporation of the same name, whose object was to have in Los Angeles a true representative of the French population. Its founders and stockholders are among the leading and most influential members of the French element in Los Angeles. The first editor was Dr. Pign� du Puytren, who resigned the position in something over a year, when Georges Le Mesnager succeeded to it, and he in turn resigned, to attend to private interests. Since then, the paper has been in charge of the directors' committee. Felix Viol� is now editor, and Thomas Laughlin, Jr., is manager. Le Progr�s is issued every Saturday. It is independent in politics; and it enjoys a liberal advertising patronage. The Porcupine is a weekly news and story paper, which was started by Major Horace Bell, November 11, 1882, heading the sheet with the motto: "For the cause that needs assistance, For the wrongs that lack resistance, And the good that I can do. " On September, 22, 1888, Major Bell retired from the editorship in favor of his son, Charles A. Bell, the present editor and proprietor of the Porcupine. The Cactus, the only weekly illustrated paper in Los Angeles, was established by Carl Browne, its first number appearing February 11, 1883. It is a quarto, four-column sheet, whose principal feature is its cartoons. It has passed through several local campaigns. The Court Journal is a three-column folio, published on the morning of every weekday in the year, and devoted to recording the daily proceedings of the courts of Los Angeles County, thus making a convenient and valuable accessory to the office of every member of the bar, who are its chief patrons. It was first issued April 6, 1888, and its brief existence has been a varied one, as it has several times changed hands, and twice suspended publication. It is now considered a permanent fixture of the city, being pretty generally supported by the lawyers. Los Angeles Life is a weekly journal, published on Saturdays, and devoted to gossip, criticism, literature, music, the drama, etc., and it is non-political. It first appeared in Los Angeles on December 8, 1888, under the title of the Critic. J. M. Shawhan was the proprietor, and he had, previous to its removal, conducted the paper in Pasadena for about eight months. On February 1, 1889, Mr. Shawhan transferred the business and good will of the Critic to Gilbert McClurg and L. Montgomery Mather, who changed the name to the Los Angeles Life. Mr. Mather afterward became sole proprietor. The paper has a good circulation, and is in a prosperous condition. The Social World was established by Mr. Ward in 1886. It was then an eight-column, four-page paper, devoted to social, dramatic and personal matters. Under another management in 1887 it was made an eight-page, five column quarto, and much improved. In February, 1889, it was sold to the present owners, one of whom, W. H. Kennedy, has the management. The paper is published every Saturday. It is steadily growing in public favor and patronage. The Commercial Bulletin was permanently established in January, 1887, as an advertising sheet. Its projectors were Fred W. Beau de Zart and John G. Hunsicker. The first few numbers bore the name The Weekly Directory, but the owners saw the necessity in future for a trade journal to represent the jobbing and manufacturing interests of Southern California, and so changed the name to the present form. That the paper has been successful is evinced by its well-filled columns and the advertisements of many of the largest wholesale, manufacturing and jobbing houses in the world. The subscription list extends through the southern counties of California, Arizona, part of New Mexico, and to El Paso, Texas. Fred W. Beau de Zart still conducts the editorial department. The Exponent, published every Saturday in East Los Angeles, is a four-page, seven-column paper, 24 x 36 inches. It was established July 28, 1888. In politics it is Independent Republican, but it is devoted chiefly to local and family matters. The proprietors have erected a publishing house, equipped with steam presses and a neat book and job office. These gentlemen, Charles A. Gardner and L. S. Akerman, are both practical newspaper men of many years' experience. In September, 1877, the Rural Californian, then called the Southern California Horticulturist, was established in Los Angeles. Two years later, George E. Rice, the present editor, bought and consolidated this and several other publications more or less devoted to agriculture, naming the new paper the Rural Californian. There was an interregnum of his work from 1886 to 1889, when Mr. Rice resumed the editorial chair. The Rural is a neatly printed illustrated monthly journal of forty-eight broad double-column pages, bound in an illuminated cover. It is devoted to the discussion of topics relating to the farm, the orchard, and the home. It has a large list of readers, not only in Southern California, but throughout the State, and also in the East. The Pacific Coast Poultry Journal, C. O. Cummings, editor, was first issued in May, 1889. It started out as an illustrated monthly journal, in magazine form, with imperial quarto page of three columns. The Southern California Christian Advocate was founded by its present editor and publisher, Rev. P. H. Bodkin. It began issue March 1, 1886, having superseded a district quarterly issued by Rev. R. W. C. Farnsworth, A. M., of the Los Angeles District Methodist Episcopal Church. For nine mouths it was issued as a medium four-page monthly, under the supervision of the Los Angeles Preachers' Meeting. In November, 1886, its field was enlarged, its name changed to its present title, and it was made a sixteen-page semi-monthly, with a local advisory committee, which raised a subsidy of $500 to aid the editor and publisher in the work. Since then the paper has been again enlarged, and additional subsidies provided. At the session of Conference held in Pasadena, September 13, 1888, the Advocate was made the Conference organ, thus raising it from the character of a local concern to that of an official paper. The present editor was unanimously elected by the Conference, and, as is usual, he was appointed to the work by the Bishop. The publication committee was enlarged to embrace representative men of the entire Conference, and another subsidy raised. The subscription list has grown with reasonable rapidity, and numbers 1,500 or 1,600. The paper bids fair to be self-supporting in another year. It is entirely managed by the editor, who has frequently issued large editions of ten or twelve pages. The Los Angeles Churchman, first issued in January, 1888, by Rev. Thomas W. Haskins, its present editor and proprietor, is a monthly magazine of some twenty pages of three columns each. It is devoted to " the interests of the church in Los Angeles and Southern California." It embraces articles on various religious and Sunday-school topics. Its circulation is about 500 copies. The Southern California Baptist was first issued February, 1887, with Rev. W. B. Wright as editor. It started as a weekly of sixteen pages of four columns each. After the first three numbers were issued, Rev. G S. Bailey, D. D., assumed the editorship, which he retained until June 15, 1889. The paper has received a liberal support and has prospered from the beginning, its influence extending beyond the limits of the section. In February, 1889, its name was changed to the California Baptist. The Pentecost was first issued in 1885 as a quarterly publication. The following year it was changed to a monthly, and since the middle of 1887 it has been issued semi-monthly. No advertisements are inserted in this paper, which is a four-page sheet of four columns to the page. The paper and plant, including a job printing office, is the property of the "Holiness Band" societies of Southern California and Arizona; its editing and publishing is done by L. A. Clark and W. C. Brand. The Southern California Practitioner, a monthly medical journal, was established in January, 1886, its editors and founders being J. P. Widney, A. M., M. D., Dean of the College of Medicine of the University of Southern California; Joseph Kurtz, M. D., Professor of Clinical Surgery; and Walter Lindley, Professor of Obstetrics in the same college. These gentlemen have remained in charge of the journal, having associated with them Frank L. Haynes, M. D., Professor of Gynecology in the college. The Practitioner, while treating of all matters pertaining to the science of medicine and surgery, has mapped out for itself as a specialty one particular field, viz.: the careful investigation of the climatic peculiarities and climatic laws of Southern California, and of that great inland plateau which embraces Arizona, New Mexico, and the elevated portion of the interior of Mexico; the effect which these climatic peculiarities may have upon race types, race development, and race diseases; the local changes which through human agency�such as irrigation, drainage, cultivation, planting or clearing of timber�may be produced in climate; the question of race habits, of food, drink and manner of life; the physiological and pathological effects of the crossing of bloods; and all of these questions as affecting the Anglo-Teuton in taking up his abode in this, to him, new climate. This is a new, a broad, and a hitherto unworked field; and the Practitioner hopes to add somewhat to the stock of human knowledge in this direction, and to help toward the solution of these problems. It will also endeavor to present the salient features of various sections of this now widely-known climatic belt, so that physicians in the Eastern States and abroad, who may be recommending a change of climate to invalids or persons of delicate constitutions, may have accurate information upon which to base a selection. In carrying out the plan of work thus outlined, the Practitioner, which is the pioneer in the field, has hardly issued a number without some valuable climatic article; and it has become standard authority throughout the continent in this new line of climatic and disease study. The Pomona Times was established in 1882 by Messrs. Short & Morton. In December, 1883, the first number of the Pomona Weekly Courier was issued, with John H. Lee as editor and publisher. On April 1, 1884, the two papers were consolidated, under the name of the Times-Courier, with J. H. Lee and W. D. Morton as editors. In April, 1886, Lee & Sumner began the publication of the Daily Times, the first daily issued in Pomona, and the only one to the present writing. The Times-Courier is continued as the weekly edition. Both papers are independent in politics, but strong in support of all industries and interests that tend to develop the resources of Los Angeles County, and especially the beautiful San Jos� valley and the city of Pomona. The Pomona Progress was established in January, 1885, the first issue appearing on the 31st of that month. It was then owned and managed by E. E. Stowell. Pomona was then a hamlet of about 1,500 people, and the Progress, with its superiority of material and style, was an innovation on the rural journalism that the town had had hitherto, and it soon made for itself a prominent place in the eastern part of the county. In January, 1886, the plant and business of the Pomona Telegram was added to that of the Progress, which continued, through various managements, to be a handsome and successful paper.