Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853-1913: Containing the Reminiscences of Harris NewmarkNewmark, Harris
History
Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853-1913: Containing the Reminiscences of Harris Newmark
Newmark, Harris
California, Southern; Los Angeles (Calif.)
Later on, the little town grew and, as this property became more
central, Temple removed the steps and built the stores flush with the
sidewalk, after which wide-awake merchants began to move into them.
One of Temple's first important tenants on Main Street was Daniel
Desmond, the hatter. His store was about eighteen by forty feet. Henry
Slotterbeck, the well-known gunsmith, was another occupant. He always
carried a large stock of gunpowder, which circumstance did not add
very much to the security of the neighborhood.
On the Court Street side, Jake Philippi was one of the first to
locate, and there he conducted a sort of _Kneipe_. His was a large
room, with a bar along the west side. The floor was generously
sprinkled with sawdust, and in comfortable armchairs, around the good,
old-fashioned redwood tables, frequently sat many of his German
friends and patrons, gathered together to indulge in a game of
_Pedro_, _Skat_ or whist, and to pass the time pleasantly away. Some
of those who thus met together at Jake Phillippi's, at different
periods of his occupancy, were Dr. Joseph Kurtz, H. Heinsch, Conrad
Jacoby, Abe Haas, C. F. Heinzeman, P. Lazarus, Edward Pollitz, A.
Elsaesser and B. F. Drackenfeld, who was a brother-in-law of Judge
Erskine M. Ross and claimed descent from some dwellers on the Rhine.
He succeeded Frank Lecouvreur as bookkeeper for H. Newmark & Company,
and was in turn succeeded, on removing to New York, by Pollitz; while
the latter was followed by John S. Stower, an Englishman now residing
in London, whose immediate predecessor was Richard Altschul.
Drackenfeld attained prominence in New York, and both Altschul and
Pollitz in San Francisco. Of these, Drackenfeld and Pollitz are dead.
Most of these convivial frequenters at Phillipi's belonged to a sort
of _Deutscher Klub_ which met, at another period, in a little room in
the rear of the corner of Main and Requena streets, just over the cool
cellar then conducted by Bayer & Sattler. A stairway connected the two
floors, and by means of that communication the _Klub_ obtained its
supply of lager beer. This fact recalls an amusing incident. When
Philip Lauth and Louis Schwarz succeeded Christian Henne in the
management of the brewery at the corner of Main and Third streets, the
_Klub_ was much dissatisfied with the new brew and forthwith had Bayer
& Sattler send to Milwaukee for beer made by Philip Best. Getting
wind of the matter, Lauth met the competition by at once putting on
the market a brand more wittily than appropriately known as "Philip's
Best." Sattler left Los Angeles in the early seventies and established
a coffee-plantation in South America where, one day, he was killed by
a native wielding a _machete_.
The place, which was then known as Joe Bayer's, came to belong to Bob
Eckert, a German of ruddy complexion and auburn hair, whose
good-nature brought him so much patronage that in course of time he
opened a large establishment at Santa Monica.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account