As Angelenos prepare for the Kings’ Victory Parade today, more than 60,000 Angelenos marched in downtown on June 14, 1916. The Preparedness Day Parade was to protest President Wilson’s policy to not prepare for WW1. The Preparedness Movement was a national campaign led by Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted to strengthen the U.S. military after the outbreak of WWI.
Cities around the country held preparedness parades showing their opposition to Wilson’s policies. Wilson changed his mind after the Lusitania was sunk by German U-boats (May 7, 1915) and Pancho Villa launched a raid into New Mexico (March 9, 1916). President Wilson himself led the parade in Washington, D.C., held the same day as the Los Angeles parade.
In Los Angeles, the parade was restricted to marchers, no automobiles, and people from all walks of life from “haberdashers and hatters” to physicians, surgeons and public accountants were encouraged to participate.
Mrs. Josephine Galbraith marshaled a “mighty host” of women marchers, “It was a glorious sight, one never witnessed before in Southern California.” (LA Times, 1916) “They came from Pasadena, from Long Beach, from far-off Lancaster, Santa Monica, Venice, Glendora, Covina, Whittier, to lend their presence to this great event…Smiles light their faces; song at times burst from their lips.”
Perhaps best known Preparedness Parade was in San Francisco on July 22 as a bomb exploded during the parade, killing 10 and injuring many more (footage on YouTube). This photo comes from the Los Angeles Public Library photo archive.
The blog Paradise Leased post a wonderful series of photos and stories of the Wilshire Grand (formerly Statler Hilton), which will be demolished to make room for the second tallest building in downtown. In remembering this once grand hotel, Paradise Leased blogger Steve Vaught writes:
What does surprise me, however, is how few are mourning the old hotel’s passing because it was once a such really big deal. I mean a really big deal. The largest hotel to be built in the United States since the Waldorf Astoria in 1931 it hosted movie stars, presidents (Eisenhower to Reagan) and kings as well as Pope John II; it was the venue for the 1952 Emmy Awards; it welcomed the Brooklyn Dodgers to their new home in Los Angeles; sequestered the jurors in the Rodney King Jr. trial; as well as delegates to the 1960 and 2000 Democratic National Conventions and it was once one of the “Crown Jewels” of Conrad Hilton’s mighty empire.
Letterhead from the Hotel Rosslyn (now the Rosslyn Lofts) in downtown Los Angeles, as seen from the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair. They just don’t make letterhead like they used to. (And because the sellers were kind enough to let us photograph this item, this letter is available from aGatherin’).
As Kodak filed for bankruptcy this week (and since we were inspired by USC Libraries 1922 photo of the Kodak shop on Vermont), we dug out this piece of ephemera related to Kodak’s history in Los Angeles.
Here’s a little Los Angeles oil history as reflected in the historic lobby of the Downtown Standard. The Los Angeles Times recently recounted LA’s oil history in its article about the current capping of some of LA’s oldest oil wells:
The sealing of the long-abandoned wells by Allenco Energy to make way for a 45-unit affordable housing project marks the end of an era for the Los Angeles City Oil Field, which sparked Southern California’s oil boom 120 years ago.
The photo above is of the ceiling relief in the historic lobby of the Downtown Standard, built by architect Claud Beelman in 1955 for the Superior Oil Building.
