Brentwood

Betty Edmund: Feminist

by Westside Chronicles, Posted on

Sculptor, Suffragette.

Betty Edmund visiting Norrigewock, Maine, 1906

Artist Betty Edmund moved to Santa Monica from Maine with her parents as an eight-year-old.  Her father, as so many did, migrated to California searching for a warmer climate with the hope that it would improve his health. His wife’s cousin Frances Gillis lived in Santa Monica so the family bought a property in Rustic Canyon and built the first private residence adjacent to the Forestry Station.  The family pitched a tent under a large oak tree on the floor of the canyon living there for a year while their house was built.

George Edmund was a Johns Hopkins trained geologist and his first job in California was an exhaustive study of the paleontology of the Santa Monica Mountains. In 1907 under the auspices of MIT he undertook a study of the geology of the Baja Peninsula.

His home, reached by a dirt road and behind the locked gate of the Forestry Station, was often a playground and camping site for his daughter, her cousins Adelaide and Dorothy Gillis, and their friends.  Betty Edmund grew up with a love of nature and a talent for sculpture.  She also grew up with a mind of her own and a strength of character that made her, in addition to an acclaimed artist in a male-dominated field,  a dedicated feminist. 

California was a leader in the Suffrage movement granting the vote to women in 1911, a full ten years before women were granted the national vote.  Betty and her cousin Adelaide Gillis were strong supporters of the women’s suffrage movement both in California and in the United Kingdom.  Family stories mention that Betty marched with the suffragettes in London while she studied there.

Unusual for a woman, Betty studied art seriously in Boston, New York at the Art Student’s League, and for two years in Paris. She trained as a sculptor as well as a painter.  She was quickly identified for her talent.  Her sculptures began finding their ways into exhibitions in Paris, London, and New York as well as Los Angeles.

Portrait of Frances McCormick as an infant
by Betty Edmund

As war broke out in Europe in 1913, she returned from Paris and set up a studio in Pasadena.  Eventually, a friend from her Paris days, painter Helen Blum joined her in her repurposed barn studio.  Both artists had exhibited in both Paris and London as well as Los Angeles.  Betty’s work, “In Arcady,” a study of five young girls dancing in a garden was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1913.  It was purchased by an English art collector.

Madonna and Child
by Betty Edmund

In addition, she joined her fellow female artists in supporting the Suffragette Movement. An exhibition of female artists’ work was organized in a New York gallery during the Fall of 1915.  Each artist donated a painting or sculpture to the show to be sold with the funds to be used to support the Suffragette Campaign.  Betty Edmund was an enthusiastic member of this group and sent a sculpture from California to be sold. The artists also offered portraits to those who came to the exhibition at half price with the funds going to the Movement.

When the United States entered World War I, Betty volunteered to go to France and use her sculpture skills to create War Masks for soldiers with facial wounds or burns from the war.  Plastic surgery was in its infancy and these masks, plaster or copper reproductions of the faces of soldiers who had facial deformities from wounds, were one of the only remedies available to help the men return to some semblance of normalcy. 

Since Betty was a talented sculptor and was also fluent in French she was accepted for the program.  When her friends queried her choice to go overseas and into a war zone, she told them that if she had been a man she would already be serving in the war and her feminity did not disbar her from service. She was required to have her tonsils removed before going overseas. Unfortunately, she died from this supposedly minor operation.  She was 28 years old with a bright future ahead of her in her chosen field.

After her death, her fellow artists organized a memorial exhibit of 21 sculptures from her oeuvre to honor her memory.  Held in Exposition Park, the exhibit included sculptures loaned by a number of collectors who had recognized her talent.  The exhibition was well-attended and her work was much praised by the local art critics who mourned her short life and her loss as an exceptional sculptor.

Relief of Robert C. Gillis, Santa Monica Entrepreneur — Exhibited, Memorial Exhibition for Betty Edmund 1919
Exposition Park, Los Angeles

The Edmunds continued to live in Rustic Canyon until the 1920s when George’s widow sold the property to the members of the Uplifters for use as their clubhouse.  Eventually, the house burned down and a new more purpose-built clubhouse replaced it.  Over the years Uplifter members bought lots and built homes, many of them log cabins, near the original Edmund home changing the canyon from a wild natural setting into an upscale suburb of Los Angeles.  The Uplifter clubhouse and grounds including the original Edmund property are now part of the Rustic Canyon Recreation Center.

Los Angeles to the Rescue

by Westside Chronicles, Posted on

Today, in a world addicted to 24/7 news, an earthquake shaking Italy is broadcast worldwide just minutes after it happens.  Relief is on its way shortly thereafter.    It wasn’t quite that way on Wednesday April 18, 1906 when a violent earthquake shook San Francisco apart.  The earth rocked and rolled for 40 seconds and when it settled every line of communication but two within the city and connecting it to the outside world had been destroyed.  (A single line to New York and an underwater cable connection to India were all that remained.)  For all practical purposes the shattered city was totally cut off from the world and the help it desperately needed.

The earthquake struck at 5:12 a.m. and while the Richter Scale did not yet exist the best guess is that the quake was at least an 8.25 magnitude shaker.  It was obvious that this was one of the most powerful quakes ever recorded.  The City Hall crashed down, buildings new and old crumbled to rubble, the Fire Chief was fatally injured and many others were killed outright—the ultimate toll is estimated at over 3,000 dead.  Injured and terrified residents spilled into the streets and parks looking for shelter.  In a city of 450,000 people over half were suddenly homeless, thirsty, and hungry. The water mains broke destroying the water system.  Fires broke out almost immediately adding another layer of horror to an already horrific morning.

One of the first critical tasks was to restore communication to the rest of the country and summon aid.  Sometime between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. the Army Signal Corps was able to reestablish some telegraph lines and began to send out news of the devastation.  By mid-morning Los Angeles received the news of San Francisco’s plight and by noon the word had spread across the city.  (There are varying reports of the earthquake being felt as far south as Los Angeles and San Diego.  If so it probably was considered just a small tremblor.)

In 1906, San Francisco was the premier city in California already known for its sophistication and power.  Los Angeles by contrast was considered a brash backwater.  However, many business men spent time in both cities and many Anglenos had family and friends in San Francisco.  That morning the California Supreme Court justices were holding court in Los Angeles.   Their wives and children were in San Francisco. Gen. Moses H. Sherman’s (who owned the trolley cars rapidly stitching Los Angeles together) wife, daughters, and nieces were in San Francisco and many others were in the same position.  There was no way to determine their well-being.

The justices immediately cancelled court and started looking for a way to get to San Francisco.  Pandemonium had overtaken the railroads as they were the only possible way to reach the stricken city quickly.  Long lines of people were demanding tickets and the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe were scrambling to add as many cars as they could to each scheduled train.  Sleeping compartments and every available seat were quickly sold.  The justices missed the first train north and started looking for a Special train.  However, the situation with the tracks was totally unknown and the railroad decided not to send the Special train.

Gen. Sherman was known for his forceful personality as well as his streetcars, and he lived up to his reputation that day.  In short order the city fathers had organized a Supply Committee and by afternoon they had assembled 14 rail cars of supplies and another nine carloads to go by ship from San Pedro.  Gen Sherman used his contacts with the Southern Pacific to charter a train, loaded the Supreme Court justices, doctors, and other Angelenos who needed to find their loved ones along with the supplies and started north.  In all 28 people accompanied Sherman on his rush north.

Besides the judges, the group included Gen. H. G. Otis, Harry Chandler (Los Angeles Times), E.P. Clark, R.P. Sherman (Sherman’s brother in law and son), R. C. Gillis (Santa Monica Land & Water Company,) the Attorney General, Secretary of State, and other prominent Angelenos. The train had no dispatcher. There was no way of knowing the state of the track—was it damaged or intact—officially the line was closed.  There were wild rumors of bridges being out and tunnels falling in. There was no way to know what was happening in San Francisco.  Each stop on the run through the San Joaquin Valley yielded wild rumors such as, “Chicago had sunk into Lake Michigan” and “The whole of Long Island swallowed by the sea.”  Running through the night, the train reached Oakland Thursday morning in record time.  It was the first outside relief to reach the crumbled and burning city.

The men and women were expecting the worst looking at the inferno the city had become from the pier in Oakland.  However, the ferry was waiting to take them across the bay, and they were able to begin their search for their loved ones. Finding a lumber wagon they hitched a ride to Van Ness Avenue and spread out toward their homes. Sherman found his wife and daughters at their home which was so far untouched.  They were frantic with worry since it was rumored that Los Angeles had sunk into the sea.

Fortunately, all the men and women who made the wild ride north with Sherman to San Francisco found their families and friends had survived the quake although many had lost their homes.

At a banquet held a year later on the anniversary of that frantic trip north the men who make the trip reminisced about their experiences and praised Gen. Sherman for his efforts to help San Francisco and to find their loved ones. As a token of their appreciation for his efforts a silver pitcher and a silver presentation cup were inscribed with their names and presented to Gen. Sherman.  Pictured below they are now part of the Sherman Library Archives located in Corona Del Mar.

 

sherman-cupThe silver cup presented to Gen. Sherman has distinctive antler handles and is inscribed on the front of the cup.  “To General M.H. Sherman in Grateful Remembrance of all his kindness on April 18th 1906.”  The back of the cup has the signatures of the California Supreme Court judges that went north on Sherman’s relief train.  B. McFarland [Thomas B. McFarland], William H. Beatty, Frederick W. Henshaw, Frank M. Angellotti, Lucian Shaw, G. Lorigan [William G. Lorigan], and M.C. Sloss

sherman-pitcher

 

The pitcher is inscribed with a similar presentation and the names of the others who made the trip to San Francisco on the relief train.  “To General M.H. Sherman with Grateful Remembrance of all his kindness April 18th 1906.”  Maria A. Wilcox, Mary W. Longstreet, Caroline M. Hicks, Elizabeth C. Hicks, John J. Gaffey, Harry M. Gorham, R. C. Gillis, Alfred H. Wilcox,  Frank S. Hicks

(Photos courtesy of the Sherman Library and Garden, Corona del Mar, CA)

 

 

 

 

Remember the Maine

by Westside Chronicles, Posted on

 

Certificate given to Los Angeles school children who gave to the fund to rebuild the Battleship USS Maine blown up in Havana Harbor in 1898.
Certificate given to Los Angeles school children who gave to the fund to rebuild the Battleship USS Maine blown up in Havana Harbor in 1898.

Memorial Day has become synonymous with the start of summer—picnics, beach sand, warm weather, shorts, sales—are the prevailing images that come to mind.  There are usually a few op-ed pieces pointing out the meaning of the day and maybe a glimpse of a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington or at another military cemetery.  Ho hum, pass the hot dogs.  It wasn’t always that way.

With 600,000 dead after the Civil War memorializing the dead was a large part of life in the United States for the next few years.  Decoration Day, now our Memorial Day, was conceived of as a day to decorate graves and remember the war dead.  Gradually as time passed it became a day for parades and placing flags on Veterans graves.   Mourning gave way to patriotism and nationalism.

In 1898, the country found itself once again at war—this time with Spain over Cuba.  Cuba had been wracked with revolutions and civil discord for many years.   The government had invented the concept of concentration camps and was breaking new ground in the oppression of its people.  The many Americans who lived and worked in Cuba were being threatened and harassed.  The newspapers of the day were clamoring for intervention and the annexation of the Spanish territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The government decided to send the USS Maine to protect American interests and perhaps to influence the situation.

The USS Maine was a large battleship commissioned in 1895 as part of a ship building push to match the ships being launched by Brazil and other South American countries.  The ship sailed into Havana harbor in January 1898.  The evening of February 15, 1898, the Maine blew up with a might roar.  Over 260 sailors were killed in the inferno and the ship rapidly sank to the bottom of the harbor.  The cause seemed to be an underwater mine floated up against the hull of the ship by the Spanish.  The country was immediately up in arms and demanding vengeance.

“Remember the Maine. To Hell with Spain,” quickly became the rallying cry and with William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulizer’s New York World leading the charge, the country demanded war to avenge the Maine and toss the Spanish out of the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific.  Young men quickly volunteered to serve and volunteer units were raised all over the country. (Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders are the best remembered.)  Patriotic Americans all wanted to do something for the cause.

Given this atmosphere, the Los Angeles City Public Schools followed the lead of two Cincinnati school boys and started a children’s fundraising campaign.  Students were encouraged to collect their change, and rob their piggy banks to contribute to a fund to rebuild the USS Maine. The new battleship was to be named The American Boy. Each child who made a donation received a certificate as proof of their contribution and patriotism. The certificate pictured is still in its patriotic frame decorated with small blue stars and was given to Santa Monica resident Arthur L. Loomis.  As Arthur was only three years old at the time the donation no doubt came from his parents.  In June the Los Angeles Times reported that the enthusiastic and  patriotic students of Los Angeles had raised over $2,500 (over $65,000 in today’s money.)

The Spanish American War was a speedy affair.  War was declared April 20th and the fighting ended August 12th.  The peace treaty signed in December gave independence to Cuba and ceded Puerco Rico a December.  The Maine was considered avenged and honored by numerous monuments in succeeding years.  The mast of the ship was placed atop the mausoleum housing those killed in Arlington National Cemetery.  A large monument still stands at the end of Central Park.  Plaques made from the Maine’s armor plate were sent to cities who had contributed troops to the war. Other bits and pieces of the ship are scattered across the country. Veterans of the Spanish American War eventually became residents of the Soldier’s Home in West Los Angeles.  The Civil War veterans called them “bamboos.”

A new USS Maine was built and commissioned in 1903; today the name is carried by a submarine. However, The American Boy was never built and the money collected seems to have been returned to the school districts or used to fund organizations that helped the families of the fallen.  The Maine itself became one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th century.  Even after many investigations there is still no consensus as to what destroyed the Maine—a coal dust explosion, an underwater mine, or sabotage. Over a 100 years later, Puerto Rico and Guam are still American territories; the Philippines were given their independence after WW II; and Cuba remains a problem off the coast of Florida.

Arthur Looms was three years old whenthis picture was taken with his parents on North Beach in Santa Monica.
Arthur Loomis was three years old when this picture was taken with his parents on North Beach in Santa Monica.

President Visits LA

by Westside Chronicles, Posted on

President McKinley arrives back at Sawtelle after his speech at the Soldier's Home in 1901.
President McKinley arrives back at Sawtelle after his speech at the Soldier’s Home in 1901.

These days the mood in Los Angeles is anything but celebratory when the president of the United States arrives for a visit—snarled traffic and blocked off streets cause delays and aggravation instead of jubilation  .  It wasn’t always that way though.  In May 1901, the entire city, population about 100,000, turned out to welcome newly re-elected President William McKinley.  Contemporary accounts of his arrival on May 8th, 1901 tell of “shouts of welcome from thousands of people heard all over the downtown district.” The din included long strings of Chinese firecrackers exploding in the Chinese quarter, canons booming and steam whistles.

McKinley had been reelected for a second term and inaugurated in March.  Almost immediately he planned a seven week tour through the Western states.  It would be the first time a president would use the railroads for a national tour. Travelling by private rail car with his wife and entourage, he went first through the South to New Orleans.  From there he traveled on the Southern Pacific tracks thru Texas with stops in College Station, Austin, and El Paso where he met with Mexican president Porfirio Diaz. His wife who accompanied him on the tour crossed over into Juarez for an event making her the first first lady to leave the United States while her husband was in office. The next stop was Los Angeles.

The Merchants and Manufacturers Association had invited the president to Los Angeles and timed his visit to coincide with the Fiesta de Las Flores—an event designed to promote Los Angeles for businesses and tourism to the rest of the country.  One of the chief promoters of the visit (and the Merchants and Manufacturers Association) was Harrison Grey Otis, the president of the Los Angeles Times.  Otis served with McKinley in the Civil War and fought in the Philippines during the Spanish American War.  He was appointed a General by McKinley—a title he used for the rest of his life.

The pictures of the day show McKinley and his wife seated in a flower bedecked carriage drawn by white horses moving along the parade route on Broadway.  Later in the day they reviewed the parade from the grandstand and then attended a reception at the Van Nuys Hotel.  McKinley and his wife spent the night at General Otis’ home.

The next day the president boarded the Mermaid, General Moses Sherman’s private streetcar, to deliver a speech at the Pacific Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers most of whom were fellow Civil War veterans.  McKinley fought with distinction during the Civil War receiving a battlefield commission and rising to the rank of major—the title he preferred all his life.  His interest in the veterans ran deep.

The photos show a large crowd gathered in front of the Soldier’s Home Dining Hall to hear the speech.  Among those present were six year old Dorothy Gillis and her grandmother—Mary Clark Lindsey.  “Dana” as she was known in the family was the widow of Stephen Decatur Lindsey, a congressman from Maine.  She and her husband had known President McKinley in Washington hence her invitation to the event.  Why she took her small granddaughter to meet the president is lost to time, but Dorothy remembered shaking the president’s hand and talked about it all her life.

This photo, printed from a glass negative, shows the Mermaid parked at the station in Sawtelle, the town that grew up around the Soldier’s Home.  McKinley, at the center of the photo in his top hat, is apparently getting ready to board the Mermaid for the trip back to Los Angeles.  One man climbed the ladder to give his daughter a better view and there is a photographer, also elevated above the crowd, behind the carriage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Books About West Los Angeles

by Westside Chronicles, Posted on

 

bookcovers
Street names, neighborhood names, city names–they all started out as an idea, a project, a dream. We use them every day as directions, addresses, places to go, but we don’t really think about how they came about.  First there were the ranchos. Their names are still part of the landscape.  San Vicente Boulevard harks back to the Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica, the ranch granted to the Franciscdo Sepulveda  in 1839.  Rancho Buenos Ayres became Bel Air; a play on developer Alophonzo Bell’s name as well as a bow to the original rancho.  Bell traveled extensively in Italy and gave the streets in his new community the names of his favorite Italian towns.  The alphabet streets in Pacific Palisades were transformed from letters to the names of Methodist ministers.  The streets of the Palisades area of Santa Monica are named for the daughters of the developers.  There’s a story behind each name and many of the stories are in my books.  If you are interested in the history of your community these books are a good place to start.

Images of America-Brentwood

Images of America-Pacific Palisades

Westside Chronicles