"Early History of the San Fernando Valley Oral History Project"

"Early History of the San Fernando Valley Oral History Project" VIRLEY V. HARLAN ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW Topanga and the San Fernando Valley April 28,...
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"Early History of the San Fernando Valley Oral History Project"

VIRLEY V. HARLAN ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW Topanga and the San Fernando Valley April 28, 1984

Interview conducted by Adrian Molello, CSUN Student Interview transcribed by Jennie Kogak, Grant Project Typist

CSUN, Department of History and University Library's Urban Archives Center California State University, Northridge 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge, California 91330-8329 [Final Transcription - October 1995] [PDF Version - September 2003]

BOOKMARK NOTE A note about this PDF version of the transcript: Bookmarks have been added to the PDF document to aid locating specific pages and passages on specific subjects in the oral history transcript. A list of them will appear to the left of the document when it is opened in a web browser or the Acrobat Reader. Clicking on the bookmark title will bring you to the place in the transcript where that page or passage begins. Underlining has been added within the transcript itself to indicate the beginning of each bookmarked passage.

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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT This oral history typescript is hereby made available to the public for research purposes only. All literary rights in the typescript, including the right to publication, are reserved to the Urban Archives Center, University Library, California State University, Northridge. No part of this typescript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Urban Archives Center.

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VIRLEY V. HARLAN ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW INTRODUCTION At first they came seeking new lands to hunt and trap. They came for nothing else. As lands yielded their animal life to the trappers, the Mountain Men moved westward, forever westward. Soon they came upon a land of radiant sunshine, a land unknown to any save the native Indians. They returned to civilization to announce this new discovery, soon escorting small parties overland to this land of milk and honey. Word spread of a land of freedom - freedom of religion, free land, gold for the digging, land for the farming. And so they came. They came by covered wagon; they came by steamship; they came by foot, by horse, by mule. And still they came. They came in groups; they came by families; they came singly. And still they came. After the lands were taken, after the gold was dug, after the farms were bought, and still they came. Who is the "they"? Who were the people who braved the environment, gave up the security of homes and relations? Who were the people who decided to risk everything they owned, and some things they didn't, to cross three-quarters of a continent that wasn't even theirs? Some label these people as "individuals." Others were more brash and called them "mavericks." Still others thought them "crazy, desperate people." And still they came. Pioneer is the term that seems to sum up the characteristics and qualities of these people. While the term simply means "to settle a region," it is used here to encompass the bold, brave, and selfless people who continued to cross the long miles and settle the land of radiant sunshine, the land we now call California. While these people settled in various locations throughout California, it is with the most interest that we look at those pioneers who settled Los Angeles. In particular, it is with interest that we look at those people who not only settled the San Fernando Valley, but who breathed life into it. Virley Victoria and Hugh Harlan were two people who devoted their lives to their community, just as a mother who gives birth watches and nurtures that child as long as she lives. In 1984, at the youthful age of 90, Vi Harlan graciously consented to an interview. It is with awe and amazement that I listened to this gentle and selfless lady speak of her deceased husband and of his accomplishments, with no thought of herself. Yet, in listening very closely, you'll also hear about a woman who supported and worked tirelessly alongside her husband year after year as he stove to achieve continuity in the community and hope for his fellow workers during the Depression years. Hugh Harlan was, very simply, a writer. During his career he wrote a book, History of Olympic Games, founded several newspapers, wrote songs, and poetry. He had been born into the publishing business; his father was a newspaper man and printer. Hugh loved his work and when asked about any hobbies, he said, "A hobby? Oh, yes. Founding newspapers." (sic) His pioneer spirit brought him to California in 1919 from his birthplace in Nebraska, just as it brought Vi here later. They met and were married in 1936, thus merging the brilliance of his writing with her editing capabilities, to say nothing of the community spirit that seemed to consume them both. 5

Feeling the need for harmony in the small town of Topanga, Hugh founded the Topanga Journal in 1942. Vi Harlan spent endless hours proofing copy to ensure it was error-free. The newspaper, a first in the area, gave the community a sense of togetherness and addressed current events. Although a fire destroyed their beautiful home in the Canyon, the Harlans simply relocated to another house close by and continued their work. Soon the Malibu Monitor was founded in Malibu and for Malibu residents, much the same as the Topanga Journal had been established. While both papers were sold many years later, the Harlans continued to serve the community in both spirit and structure. The Depression years were hard, difficult at best. People found themselves without jobs, without homes, and sometimes without food. Hugh Harlan ingeniously suggested to the then Assistant State Administrator, Roy Pilling, a union of jobless men. Thus the Newspaper Writers Project was founded in 1935. The sole purpose of the project was to employ the unemployed writers of Los Angeles to research, literally, whatever needed to be researched, everything from civic organizations to Los Angeles history. Where was Vi Harlan all this time? Right beside her husband, working incredible hours, proofing, editing, and supporting his endeavors. But this is not to say that she wasn't active in community affairs. Vi, on her own right, served on many Valley committees, including charitable, as well as women's organizations. Vi, however, when asked if she considered herself anything of a feminist, replied, that she did not consider herself a "feminist," yet her contribution as a leader in women's organizations and efforts in the Valley cannot be denied. Vi Harlan is a wealth of information about the Los Angeles area and in particular, the San Fernando Valley. She and her husband researched and categorized major events in the Valley, whether those events were about communities which still attest to their history with existent buildings, such as Calabasas, or whether they were about those communities that, unfortunately, cannot attest to their past histories, such as Warner Center. I, for one, could sit hour after hour listening to these events as Vi reveals, not a cold list of facts, but a true and interesting saga of the Valley, as only one who has experienced it can tell. Listening to her epic of how the first newspaper emerged, of the rivalry between The Chronicle and the Topanga Journal, of the struggles of the Depression, a picture of those forgotten pioneers comes to mind, for I find that across the table sits just such a person. While Vi and Hugh Harlan left no children to this world, they do leave a progeny of a different nature. Their gift is the legacy of the pioneer spirit and all that it stands for. Their gift lies in the first founded newspapers of Topanga and Malibu, of the hope they gave others during the Depression, of the continuity of the organizations which they initiated and participated in during the course of their lives. Hopefully, this paper, together with the recorded interview tapes of Virley Victoria Harlan on April 28, 1984 , will also stand as a legacy to these pioneers of California.

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VIRLEY V. HARLAN ORAL HISTORY TAPE SUMMARY Tape 1, Side A

Topic Summary Hugh Harlan's first Book - History of Olympic Games - 1931 Early History, Parents - England, Birthplace - Utah, Birthday - April 26, 1894, Religion - Mormon Career, Milliner, Moved to Oregon, Moved to California Married Hugh Harlan - 1936, Los Angeles, Moved to Topanga Topanga, Fire - New Year's Eve - 1958, Restarted from scratch Hugh Harlan, Topanga Journal - first newspaper founded, B. The White Rose of Sigma Nu - A College Fraternity Waltz Song, The Writer's Project Depression Era Depression, 1929 - 1932, No jobs San Fernando Valley, Warner Project, Walnut Acres, Built Houses destroyed walnut trees, Agriculture - squash, corn, tomatoes, Businesses - new The Writer's Project, Depression Years, Hugh Harlan headed project, Found jobs for jobless writers, Best friend a communist, 935 - 1936 Rotary Club of Woodland Hills, First President, Charter Member Hugh Harlan's Education, Wrote fraternity song, University of Nebraska, . USC Vi Harlan's Major Career, Proofed, edited husband's copy Topanga Journal, Started during war - May 29, 1942, Purpose - give comfort to community, Remembers Japanese camps Lou Bedlou, Head of Culture Center, Friend Newspapers, Topanga Journal, Malibu Monitor, Sold both papers Republican Tribune, Started by Vi Harlan 7

Topanga Life, Hugh Harlan head of Topanga School Board, Sold school 10 acres of ground, Held 35 acres of land Malibu Monitor, War meetings, Wrote of emergency procedures Apartment house, Built corner of Canoga, Ground breaking attended by Woodland Hills people Newspaper Stories, Compared then to now Calabasas, Jail, Various Buildings Laura B. Gaye, Wrote, Dedicated chapter to Vi & Hugh Harlan Tape 1, Side B Pacific Boys' Lodge, Rotary participation, Hugh Harlan offered help in any form Woodland Hills, Honorary Mayor, Various prominent men California Reflections, Sisters in California, Community Church of, Owensmouth, Calabasas Community - hanging tree, Wild spot, Calabasas means "pumpkin" People, Prominent people were the nicest people, Community leaders Memorable Experiences, Worked in politics, Started Topanga Canyon Republican Women's Federated Club - 1955, First President Memorable Experiences (continued), President again 1980 for two years, Largest women's group in United States, Board member various women's groups Europe, Purpose to gather material for Hugh's book, Went by steamship First Book Success, Sold book in first hotel in Los Angeles, Worked hard to sell book, Others sold Olympic pins, Edited and proofed book to ensure no errors Tape 2, Side A Collected Historical Newspaper Articles, Woodland Hills - 1929, News Enterprise - free Woodland Hills paper, Calabasas Historical Society, Tarzana named for Edgar Rice Burroughs, California Historical Adobe, Local residents fight to keep historical landmarks, Platt Ranch - turned into housing project, 8

Sheep original animals, dairy cows next, Warner Center couldn't persuade dairy farm owner to sell Family Life, No children San Fernando Homestead Association, Started by Pio Pico, Donated 60,000 acre parcel to association San Fernando City, Charles Maclay purchased large parcel, Geronimo Lopez purchased large portion of Granada Hills in 1855 to build adobe, Lopez Station - first English speaking school and also served as a stage, Late 1880's - Judge Porter donated property for development Franklin Academy, Hugh Harlan's school - 1908, Nebraska, Captain football team Franklin Academy (continued), Very few graduates, Played piano Vi Harlan's Education, Did not graduate from high school - high schools were not available, Grades only went to eighth grade, Brigham Young University later put in school that went from eighth grade to twelfth, After school, became milliner Woodland Hills Reporter, First issue April 30, 1948, Sold for 5 cents a copy; today the local paper is at 50 cents a copy Rotary Club, Purpose is to provide betterment for different organizations, Helped the Pacific Lodge Federal Writers Project, 1935, Found jobs for out-of-work writers, Found original copy The Chronicle Newspaper, Attached Harlan's papers because they were Republican, Wrote lovely article on husband's death, Harlan printed very first paper in West Valley, Chronicle consisted of Communist writers Hugh Harlan's Family, Father was a printer and newspaper man, Learned to set type at early age, Hugh owned print shop locally, Vi helped with proofreading copy, editing Women's Right to Vote, Vi was pleased, but does not consider herself a "feminist," Vi doesn't understand the extreme feminist ideas Tape 2, Side B 9

Depression, Shoe manufacturer sold to county charities department, To raise money, Writers Project tried to get available non-used land to become agricultural land

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Interviewee:

Virley V. Harlan [H]

Interviewer:

Adrian Molello, CSUN Student [M]

Date:

April 28, 1984

Subject:

Topanga and the San Fernando Valley [Tape 1, Side A]

M:

This is an oral interview with Vi Harlan, who is retired. She and her husband Hugh started and edited many papers in the Woodland Hills area. The interview will take place in her home in Woodland Hills, April 28th, 1984. The interviewer is Adrian Molello, student of Dr. Prescott's History 48 class. The purpose of this interview is to get a taped recording of reminisces from Mrs. Harlan about the past. A first-hand experience with the community and, in particularly, the San Fernando Valley.

H:

...Olympics, which maybe you don't. This was the games...game in '33 and this first book was written to...to be sold at this affair. Which was sold...

M:

They sold...

H:

Yes.

M:

...for this. Okay.

H:

Yeah, the first book. The first one. And it was sold at... during the whole time of the Olympics here in '32, and my husband was on the board of that. He was the historian of that...on the board of that game during '32. Here's very wonderful things about Olympics if you want them for anything at all.

M:

Oh, certainly. That would be much appreciated.

H:

Let me get this out of way.

M:

That's okay.

H:

This here's about ready to fall apart.

M:

Yeah. What is that? 11

H:

It's a dictionary, and I'm going to try and cover it, but look what it's doing before I can get it done. An old, old one.

M:

Yes, lovely.

H:

I don't know what I got that you want, that would be of any use to you.

M:

Well, I just wanted to ask a few questions and...so why don't you have a chair...

H:

I'm going sit right here.

M:

...right here. Okay.

H:

My name is in here, too, somewhere.

M:

Down at the bottom.

H:

Yes.

M:

He married...Virley? Is that how you pronounce it?

H:

Uh-huh. Virley, uh-huh.

M:

That's a pretty name.

H:

Isn't that a good name?

M:

That's a nice name.

H:

You know, that's...that was in a novel of my oldest sister named me. It was an English novel, and she read it and she thought that was pretty, so when I was born she was...about eighteen or so what I was born, and she wanted me to be named that, so I have Virley Victoria there with the Queen of England. My people all came from England and brought their families here. All but me.

M:

All but you?

H:

Yeah.

M:

When was that?

H:

And my father use to call me...Well, you're just nothing but a little Yankee, and I can see why you'd be so stupid and do all these things. 12

M:

Oh, heavens!

H:

So I was bad girl. I was just nothing but a little Yankee anyway.

M:

Oh, I see. Because he was from England, huh, and you were American.

H:

Yeah, and they were all born...and I was born in America.

M:

Oh. Where were you born?

H:

I was born in Provo, Utah.

M:

Utah?

H:

And of course, I was so little, I didn't get the big idea about him insulting me so all the time, you know. But he didn't do it after I got older.

M:

Father's are sneaky that way.

H:

Yeah. He'd get mad at me for doing something and he'd say, "Well, I can see why you'd do it. You're just nothing but a little Yankee." [Laughing.]

M:

I think he was teasing a lot, though, don't you?

H:

Yeah.

M:

What part of England were they from?

H:

They came from the County of Nottinghamshire.

M:

Oh, we've certainly heard of that.

N:

That's sort of the northern central part of England.

M:

Um-hum.

H:

And had seven children, and then...then they had a boy and me after they came to the States, and that made them have nine children all totaled.

M:

They had nine children?

H:

And all of them are dead, but me.

M:

Oh! 13

H:

And I darned near died this last year.

M:

Yes, you were quite ill.

H:

And I had a birthday the day before...let's see, Thursday I had a birthday and I turned ninety years old.

M:

You're kidding!

H:

And people say to me...

M:

You do not look ninety! You should be...

H:

...my can't tell anybody because...you don't look like you're anymore than seventy-five! [Laughing.]

M:

That's right. That's right. You certainly don't look ninety. You look very, very well.

H:

Well, I've been so awful sick, and I'm coming out of it real beautiful.

M:

You are. You're very, very healthy.

H:

Been in the hospital...times. Once...let's see if I have...now wait. I had something here that you wanted in here. This is all Olympics...

M:

Okay.

H:

And this you can take and keep it or give it to the head of the...I guess history department.

M:

Thank you very much. I will do that.

H:

Now what little questions have you got?

M:

Oh, you're doing so splendidly. You've answered all my first paragraph questions about your parents and where they came from.

H:

Oh, yes.

M:

How did you get from Utah to here? Your parents move on?

H:

No, no. They stayed in Utah and...my father was in the butcher business and they had...the church...they joined the Mormon Church, and the Mormon Church found a nice building for him to go in business as soon as they got into Provo. And they were in business there for many years and then he...they got old and didn't want to do it anymore, so they bought some...about five acres of property, and then they loved to just make gardens and grow things, and put all 14

kinds of fruit trees and all kind of...every kind of vegetable you'd ever want to eat, and so just grew...and had one cow so they had plenty of cream and milk and butter, and one horse. M:

What kind of business did your father do when he was in business?

H:

He was in business in England, in the butcher business, and then he brought all the supplies that he could of that business boxed with him, and then the minute that he got to Provo, why the Mormon Church found a building for him to start his business there.

M:

Terrific.

H:

So he was in the butcher business there for a long time until he got older and then he didn't want to do it anymore...

M:

I don't blame him.

H:

...so then he just bought some property and he had such fun growing everything he wanted to.

M:

Oh, I bet. That would be nice.

H:

But both of them died in '64. Just imagine how early that was in life for people to die. Two people, with two months and two days apart.

M:

So, if they stayed there in Utah, how did you get to California?

H:

Well, I was doing designing...millinery designing at that age, at the time they died. And then I went to the wholesale houses in Salt Lake and was transferred to Portland, Oregon. And then I was up in the north for a ng, long while, at all of the main cities there, managing places that were very lovely. Millinery places.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

Well, I did all that until that business went flatter than a pancake.

M:

Did it? What...

H:

Well, you know, it went...it did when they started to put woman's hair up high on their head.

M:

Is that right?

H:

You know, and all the curls and all the beautiful hats just went to the dogs...

M:

Isn't that a shame!

H:

... they wouldn't put a hat on top of that frame. I see now they're trying to bring them back in. 15

M:

Yeah?

H:

Yeah.

M:

Well, I love hats.

H:

They're trying awful hard to. Maybe they'll make it. I don't know. But they've tried before to, and they just...woman are so fussy about their hairdress, and so scared something on it going to spoil it, you know, will press it down or something.

M:

Yeah, they are. They're finicky that way.

H:

I don't think they're completely dressed until they get a hat on.

M:

Oh, I agree. I agree. That's a old school, which I think it something that's been lost. Yeah. So you were in Portland, Oregon and in that area?

H:

Yeah, all through the Portland and Seattle and quite a number of cities in both of the states. I was there for a long time. Then I lived in Los Angeles here for quite a while.

M:

When did you come to L.A.?

H:

And I met my husband in Los Angeles. We were married in Los Angeles.

M:

That was in...

H:

This is ...

M:

...1936?

H:

Yeah, yeah. 1936.

M:

So you had just been here a short while...

H:

Yeah, yeah. And a short while after we got married, we settled in Topanga because my husband was doing quite a bit of riding and it was quite romantic in Topanga, you know. It was so lovely there.

M:

Oh, yeah. It still is.

H:

And we had a cute house that we partly built ourselves and then we decided...we got an 16

opportunity to buy a very lovely home in Topanga. A sixteen-room home and it was all carved wood inside. It's a gorgeous place. Then we bought that and sold the home that we had been living in. And then one day a great big fire came through Topanga and burned the whole works to the ground. M:

Oh, how terrible! What year was that?

H:

About...that's when we had the Recorder here in...or the Woodland Hills paper here. 1958, I think. New Year's of '58. New Year's Eve.

M:

Oh, my!

H:

...and it burned all night and this wasn't anything left. Sixteen rooms and everything in it.

M:

Oh, what a shame!

H:

Mmm-hum.

M:

So you had to rebuild all over again?

H:

Yeah, yeah.

M:

But you didn't you rebuild in the same size?

H:

No, we didn't. We played around...we had a little house on it that was right near the house that burned that didn't even burn, and we built a another room on it, and then we lived there. It was a cute little place.

M:

Cute little place?

H:

Uh-huh. Yeah, we built a nice great big front room on it and put a fire place in it, and we liked it all right. But oh, we felt terrible about that house.

M:

Oh, I'm sure.

H:

Yeah.

M:

All you're things in it.

H:

Yeah.

M:

So what year did you all do the papers?

H:

Well, let's see, now, we went in... 17

M:

The Topanga Journal is another paper, correct?

H:

Oh, now that's...I have some of those...

M:

Oh, terrific!

H:

...over there. I was going to show you.

[Note: Mrs. Harlan begins by showing historical documents and family papers to interviewer. In several parts of the interview she will quote directly from the papers or describe individuals found in photographs.] M:

Oh, terrific!

H:

And this is the song he wrote for The Sigma Nu fraternity.

M:

Oh!

H:

He started...

M:

He was quite talented, wasn't he?

H:

He started the Sigma Nu in...for the University of California ...Southern California. He put the Sigma Nu's in there...in that university. Now this here is about when he was head of the Writer's Project [Federal Writer's Project of the Works Project Administration under FDR] during the Depression.

M:

What are your memories of the Depression?

H:

The Depression was...started about '29 and didn't get over until about '32 or so.

M:

What was it like...

H:

Oh, it was a terrible depression. You had everybody out of work and the men wouldn't get jobs writing and then the...the government...a man that he went to college with that was President Roosevelt's right-hand man, pulled Hugh into the state for the head of the Writer's Project there because those years that it was so terrible bad. In '29, I guess, through about '32. Nobody could...

M:

Were you working?

H:

...anything to do, and oh, it was just... 18

M:

Terrible. Remember the area. I'm sure it was...I mean, there was a lot of greenery, I'm sure, and everything, correct? I mean, there weren't all the houses around?

H:

Oh, you mean here?

M:

In here, uh-huh.

H:

Oh, yeah, of course. There weren't houses or anything in the Warner projects then.

M:

Okay.

H:

There were no houses there at all. And there was no houses in Walnut Acres. That's the section on the other side of Topanga that goes from there to Circle Drive.

M:

Oh, okay.

H:

Yeah, that whole section in there was called Walnut Acres.

M:

Because there were walnuts, I guess.

H:

Well, there's walnut trees all through it...

M:

Yeah, uh-huh.

H:

Everybody had...if they had anything at all, they had walnuts...walnut trees. And so then...well, when this building thing started, the stucco in the Walnut Acres, and they pulled all the walnuts down and started building houses.

M:

How did you feel about that?

H:

Oh, that makes you sick, you know. I never could stand it.

M:

No.

H:

I didn't like them putting this Warner deal in here either. It was prettier when it was big flat pieces of ground growing...oh, they grew a lot of squash.

M:

Oh, did they?

H:

Yeah. And a lot of corn. A lot of squash and a lot of corn and tomatoes. And everything that you could think of they grew in those Walnut Acres. Just great big squares of gardens, it was just lovely. 19

M:

What a shame.

H:

Then here they go in there and plow it all up and start puttin' stuff in there. Oh, did that get ya!

M:

What do you think of it today?

H:

Well, it's just getting bigger and bigger.

M:

Bigger and bigger.

H:

I don't what they're going to do next, but I believe that what they're building there, up there between, I think, Oxnard and something. I believe that's going to be a hotel.

M:

Oh, you're kidding!

H:

Yeah. They've got...if you'll notice if you go back over, they got the foundation and all of the building up as high as it's going to go. The framework. I think it's going to be a hotel.

M:

That's sad.

H:

Here's where...here it talks about him heading the writer's project, which was started...Oh, it started in '35. I thought it started a lot sooner there, and expanded into '36.

M:

What exactly was the writer's project though?

H:

Well, people...the writers couldn't get jobs.

M:

Oh, I see.

H:

See...

M:

Okay. From the...during the Depression.

H:

Yes. During the Depression they couldn't get jobs, and so they had this project so that they would give them things to do and pay them as best they could. A little bit of money, but not as much as they would at a regular job.

M:

Sure.

H:

So he had charge of all these people trying to write these projects.

M:

Oh, I see. About how many people did he have under him?

H:

I don't know how many he had, but he had quite a few. 20

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And then he finds out when he thinks it's going along so beautiful, that his very best friend was a communist... communist, and that just killed him. Oh, that was the worst thing that ever could have happened to him because he was so careful about letting them in there.

M:

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

H:

And...

M:

What did he do?

H:

Well, I don't know what he did, but it just...their friendship just stopped right there.

M:

Oh, I'm sure.

H:

The minute he located what was going on, he stopped right there.

M:

Uh-huh. So that was between what, 1935, and about what?

H:

Yeah, that was '35. That was started in '35, and expanded into '36, but I thought it started a lot sooner than that, and I think it did start sooner that than. I think I have a thing on that Valley history. Let's see.

M:

Let's see, is this part of it? This one.

H:

Yeah. Yeah. Might be in there.

M:

Well, this is...oh, this is 1964. This is...

H:

That's when we went to England.

M:

Oh, okay.

H:

And we went to Greece too.

M:

Oh, these are in memory of your husband.

H:

Oh, yeah. That...uh-huh. It's all that.

M:

Yeah, that's what these two are, yeah.

H:

Oh, that's all.

M:

That's all. 21

H:

Oh, wait. That is not.

M:

Oh, here's the rotary club, but I don't thinks that's

H:

Well, he was the first...he was the president of the...the rotary's first president.

M:

Okay, this is a while later ...

H:

I don't know whether he went into the rotary. Maybe that's the one that tells you...

M:

Oh, here, yeah. "Charter member and charter president." Oh, this is on his death again.

H:

Oh, yes. That's...

M:

"A few weeks after returning from a Europe trip which accented him from the club for over a year. A newspaper man since 1920."

H:

What'd he say happened in 1920?

M:

It says, "a newspaper man since the 1920's. Mr. Harlan remained active in the field having authored a book during his recent travels. This is the second loss to rotary within a short time of long standing and active club member."

H:

Oh.

M:

Uh-uh.

H:

Well...

M:

This is your memories here.

H:

Yeah, that's...he wrote this song. That's a sweet song.

M:

Are they still using it today do you know?

H:

This is a...I don't know whether they are or not. They might be. See, he was from the University of Nebraska...

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And that's when he went into the Sigma Nu. Then when he came to California, he started it at USC. 22

M:

Oh, terrific. Be interesting to find out...

H:

Then he wrote...we used to go to the rotary parties and have lots of fun and the band would play this song. It's a real pretty song.

M:

Weren't you proud!

H:

Yeah. Really was.

M:

Were you working at this time or you were helping him in his writings?

H:

Yeah, well I was helping him in the...I just read copy and stuff like that.

M:

Did you do his typing maybe or...

H:

No, I didn't do any typing.

M:

Oh, I see. What about the Topanga Journal?

H:

The Topanga Journal started during the war. Let's see, we started that to try and get news out to people that was very, very frightened about that...about the Japs and the war on the coast. See, that's why they put those Japs all in those camps. They took all the Japanese out of all their businesses and put them into camps.

M:

You witnessed that, huh?

H:

Yeah, they were scared...they were scared to let them free because they were afraid they'd turn on and do like their...

M:

Countrymen.

H:

...country did. All this...all this stuff I put out here to show you about the bed lu? And this cultural center in...in the cultural...where they put that park, you know, in the Warner's Cultural Center. Do you know her?

M:

No, no.

H:

Well, she was...she was partly the head...here she is there. See, this is the Enterprise...

M:

This is '82. Uh-huh. 23

H:

This is '82. This is her here. A big thing about her in West Valley Paper. She's still the head of the board. She's the president of the board.

M:

Do you know her personally?

H:

Yes, uh-huh. I...I'm also belong to this deal.

M:

The Culture Center?

H:

Yes.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

The Culture Center raises the Friday's meetings this is...things that they do and they have lovely programs now. All of this stuff again...they tell you what they're doing...

M:

Oh, uh-huh. And where is the cultural center now?

H: M:

...and this girl...this girl was a very popular person. Turned her retirement into a new career. Oh, that's terrific.

H:

This is her. She looks funny there. This is her...[pause]

M:

Oh, The Topanga Journal?

H:

Oh, yeah. She...[pause]

M:

Are any published?

H:

It was at that time.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

There were some that went in for bands. We played by orchestras and bands.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

Anyway...[pause]

M:

Oh, here's Topanga history...

H:

That's the first copy that was...printed. 24

M:

Oh. 1942. May 29th, 1942?

H:

Yeah, '42.

M:

My goodness!

H:

And they we are...and then right on top of that we printed the Malibu Monitor Newspaper.

M:

Oh, really. Uh-huh.

H:

Yeah. And that went for a long time. Then we sold it and somehow or other the person we sold it to wasn't able to handle it, so it went under...went under.

M:

Oh, that's too bad.

H:

And they sold this too.

M:

Uh-huh. What year did you start?

H:

When we started...yeah, when we started The Woodland Hills Reporter, we sold this.

M:

And so, you and your husband put this together, huh?

H:

Yeah.

M:

The editing, and had people help him with the stories though?

H:

Yeah.

M:

Did he have a full staff?

H:

He had one or two writers that did nice columns.

M:

Staff...

H:

Yeah. Let's see, does this say who this is?

M:

It looks like, um, it's Camille Anderson...in Memphis, 1942.

H:

Oh, yeah. Oh, yes...[garbled]

M:

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. 25

H:

She's cute, isn't she?

M:

...isn't she.

H:

[Garbled.]

M:

Well, how long did you have this paper?

H:

Well, we had this for quite a long time before we sold it. And I don't know what year we sold it in, but I believe there's a copy of that...

M:

I'm looking for a stamp...

H:

Where it says the date? Yeah, I have to pull the whole thing out here. The Topanga News...

M:

No...

H:

The Republican...I started the Republican Club in...in Topanga. The Republican...

M:

Was that here?

H:

...I started that in '55. No wait, here's the one after we sold it. It changed it's name.

M:

Oh, yes, "Topanga Lookout, April 10, 1964."

H:

Yeah, that's it.

M:

So you had it actually almost twenty-two years?

H:

Yeah. Well, we had it quite a while.

M:

Well, you weren't doing the Malibu the same time you were doing the Topanga paper?

H:

Yes, we were doing Malibu the same time as the Topanga...

M:

Oh, you were. Uh-huh.

H:

...as the Malibu Monitor. And then we sold the Monitor. Then we sold the Journal. Let's see...[pause]

M:

How large a deal was that? Yeah...If I may? 26

H:

Well, let's see...I know another one of those, so you can take that out of there. I have another one just like it.

M:

Do you? Are you sure? I'll bring it back when...

H:

You can have the whole thing if you want because...there. Now...and there's another.

M:

Okay.

H:

And this is when it got sold right here. All right. Let's see...

M:

Oh, pictures.

H:

That's the Topanga School Board.

M:

Yeah.

H:

My husband was on the board of the school there.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And we sold the school ten acres of ground...

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

...and they leveled all it off into three levels and then all these people who they...after it got all built it was really nice...after...it was on the same road that we went to our house in, only we went to the left and they went to the right up hill.

M:

Oh, I bet I know. Is there a bridge? There's a bridge? And you go up the bridge into the school?

H:

Yeah, yeah.

M:

I'll be darned.

H:

You see, we owned all that property. We had about 35 acres in there.

M:

My heavens. Terrific.

H:

And this was all the people that was the head of board. These two were on the board at that time...and this girl.

M:

Uh-huh. 27

H:

And this is the principal right here. There was a new principal that came in...started the school, and this is these five over here. These are all very prominent Topanga people...yeah, that. You can have that.

M:

Terrific. Do you have the Malibu paper?

H:

Hum?

M:

Do you have the Malibu paper...

H:

No. I must have one of those packed somewhere, but I don't know where it is. The Malibu Monitor.

M:

The Malibu Monitor.

H:

Yeah.

M:

Did you...let's see, that one you had until '64. How long did you have...did you have the Malibu longer than that?

H:

Right after it.

M:

Right after the...

H:

Because we were having a whole lot of war news, you know, during the war.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And it...it took in a lot of the people in the Malibu that was...had...meeting with us in the canyon to prevent this or to prevent that in case of emergency. All kind of set ups like that.

M:

Oh, I see. Was Mr. Harlan involved with the...

H:

Yeah, he was involved in that. He was on that board. Oh, here's where we built...down here we built an apartment house right down here on...almost on the corner of Canoga and there, and this is the crowd that was there when we started digging dirt down there to built it. Woodland Hills people.

M:

"This is Virley V. Harlan and Hugh Harlan." Yes. Well, how much acreage did you have when you first came to L.A.? 28

H:

Well, we didn't have any acreage at all?

M:

Well, what did you acquire...

H:

When we first moved in the canyon, we had a house and a loft. A big sized loft. But when we sold that and got this, there was thirty-five acres connected with this place and it was a gorgeous place...

M:

I bet.

H:

...so when it burned, you can imagine what was going on there. Just everybody in the canyon having a heartbreak. Just like we had all our P.T.A. meetings, all of our war board meetings there and it just made everybody sick.

M:

Do you think the stories that you published, in like the Topanga Journal, are different from the ones today?

H:

No.

M:

Much the same?

H:

No, I think they're practically the same. If they're written by the same person, they follow along about the same trend of thoughts and...

M:

I mean the people...newspaper today or newspaper people today, compared back in the early 30's and 40's...

H:

I don't know. They may be different.

M:

A little different?

H:

Let's put this somewhere where you can take that home with you.

M:

I'll put it under here.

H:

Now that book that that fellow wrote of Woodland Hills that I can't find, might have had those pictures of those very odd buildings that was on the corner of...let's see if this is one of them...No...I'm just going to see if she had the pictures of them in here...but they're very interesting old, old type buildings. Maps are very nice for you to have in your book.

M:

Yes, um-hum.

H:

There's a real nice one there.

M:

Uh-huh. 29

H:

What's that? "Quiet, friendly Calabasas"...What is that? Now wait, I'll see if I can find those buildings that were around the corner of Topanga...

M:

Well, This is Tim Conway...

H:

...and then...that might have been something that this woman had that was left in here and I didn't see it before this time. Now wait, this is Topanga Shopping Center. Potter's Topanga...Oh, that was down at the mouth of canyon, down to the waterfront. That Potter's Trading Post. Topanga.... building Canoga Park. She took in quite a little bit of stuff of all the different towns. Here's Hidden Hills this when they started to open that up.

M:

Oh, in that first...it doesn't look the same it is today. Calabasas Jail.

H:

Yeah. Oh, that little jail. That was cute, that little jail they had in Calabasas. I don't think it's there anymore.

M:

Did they really use it?

H:

At that time they did.

M:

Uh-huh.

H: M:

It's just a little old thing. Little old building. This is the girl that wrote this book right there. Oh.

H:

She belonged to the historical society over in Calabasas.

M:

What's her name?

H:

That's...oh, Gay.

M:

Gay, uh-huh.

H:

Uh-huh. Her name is...I'm sorry she died. She was the nicest person. Let's see what's her first name. Laura.

M:

Laura Gay.

H:

Yeah. "Pictures here, Laura B. Gay." After reading this which is...in October, 1975. That's a long time ago, '75, do you know that? Well, I thought she had those buildings in here, but I believe that fellow did...I got that book just recently. Those two very quaint, odd, funnylooking buildings. It would be nice for you to have for your book and your history. Why I don't know even remember what the doggoned buildings were used for, but they were very funny looking buildings and I thought maybe she had... 30

[Tape 1, Side B] H:

Pacific Boys Lodge.

M:

Where's that?

H:

They...does quite a lot to help this lodge financially. My husband used to help them, too, when we were in business in Woodland Hills. They take boys that are little tiny wayward boys...

M:

Oh, uh-huh.

H:

...and train them from the time they get them until they finally let them out of there. And they make fine young men out of them. And people helped us...helped us quite a bit. All different people do.

M:

Contributor of, like, their time or whatever it takes, huh?

H:

Yes. They do. Uh-huh.

M:

Did Mr. Harlan...was he involved with that?

H:

Yeah, he used to help them too. Well...wait I've got this here in here for some reason. There's is my husband right there.

M:

Oh, there he is.

H:

Un-hum.

M:

He looks familiar.

H:

Here's what's-her-name that was the mayor of the city. You remember Vera Vague?

M:

No, nah-ah.

H:

A long time...

M:

She was the mayor of L.A.?

H:

No. She was an actress and a real cute one.

M:

Oh, okay. Okay. And all her journals... 31

H:

She was the first mayor of Woodland Hills.

M:

She was?

H:

Yeah, uh-huh. Honorary mayor, Vera Vague.

M:

I'll be darned.

H:

Here's Paul Crider. He was one of the main ones in the city. "Chairman and Bud Bently. Len MacMullen is in the real estate business and Hugh Harlan and Elbie. Pat Murphy was in the real estate business. These two men helped make Woodland Hills what it was. Charge of publicity on master of ceremonies." That's a real good picture there.

M:

Yeah, that's a very nice picture.

H:

Well, I bet that they don't...oh, Calabasas Emporium. Oh, isn't that something! [Laughs.] I forget who this is. This must have been during the olden, olden days.

M:

Old, old is right, yeah.

H:

Yeah, I bet.

M:

Do you remember those?

H:

No, this must have been ever since beginning of time. She thought that she was...

M:

Looks like the eighteen hundreds.

H:

Yeah, she got this from somebody. "The land of West Valley" she's got here. Oh...this...

M:

What is your first recollection of California when you came down from Oregon.

H:

Well, I had been in...stayed in California before I ever went up to Oregon because I had some sisters living there. And then I came back there and lived with one of my sisters after I was up north for a long time. Oh, wait, this here is something... "One of the most imposing buildings"...that's Canoga Park she's got tarred up. "One of most imposing buildings was the Community Church of Owensmouth."

M:

Oh, the one Owensmouth...

H;

I believe that's still standing...

M:

I think you're right. 32

H:

That's still standing.

M:

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

H:

Now here...here's some more things. Maybe these buildings will come in here now. "Difficult times selecting a jury for most men did not want to judge..."

M:

That's Calabasas jail again.

H:

Oh, that's that jail...

M:

It's that jail you like.

H:

Yeah. Isn't that comical? [Laughing.]

M:

It's cute.

H:

Oh, I bet you could hardly turn around in that jail. Oh, poor little things. There's somebody shooting deer in Calabasas road here. The hang man's tree is still standing, and it is, too, that tree.

M:

Is it?

H:

I was over there with my nephew just about two weeks ago, and we went up to Johnson...what do you call it, Johnson's Cafe, and the tree is still standing there. It's just right there. It joins the property of the Motion Picture Country Home in...

M:

Oh, yeah...

H:

That tree...

M:

That tree?

H:

That little alley as you go up this to that Chinese or Japanese...not that, but Mexican cafe on the right-hand side...

M:

Oh, yeah. Uh-huh.

H:

All right. Well, on the left-hand side just as you turn in to go in, is the tree against an old building.

M:

Did they ever use that?

H:

Yeah, that's the hangman's tree, and that's been there for many, many years... 33

M:

Many, many years...

H:

...and everybody that was naughty that they didn't like and they wanted to do something with, they hung them on that tree out at the road.

M:

For real?

H:

Yeah. Here's where they're hanging a deer on it.

M:

But a deer's a little different than a person though.

H:

Yeah, I bet they didn't dare put a person in there. She wouldn't… I bet she wouldn't... I bet she couldn't get any pictures.

M:

Probably. Did they really use it for...did they have trials and...

H:

That was...that was when the Spaniards owned that property and when that adobe went in.

M:

Oh, you're talking about way back.

H:

Yeah, way back that tree's been there, and it's got a rope hanging on it. Whether it's still hanging on it now, I don't know. I didn't look to see if it was on it the other day when I went past it. Oh, my golly. Let's see...

M:

This one...

H:

I was going to show you this in here. Oh, this here...

M:

Oh, that's Tim Conway...

H:

Oh, wait a minute..."quite friendly Calabasas has wild and colorful past."

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

So there's something about somebody in Calabasas. "One of the worst spots in the...one of the first spots were named by Spaniards. In Spanish Calabasas means pumpkin."

M:

Oh, does it?

H:

Yeah, squash or gourd.

M:

That's what you said were growing... 34

H:

Yes...

M:

...around here.

H:

"The quiet friendly town once had a reputation of being one of the toughest and wildest spots in California. The Butterfield stage had a station there between 1858 and 1876 and was responsible for bringing many unsavory people through town. Some sought to nearby mountains to find refuge from the authorities."

M:

Hum. What's Tim Conway have to do with...

H:

Tim Conway...

M:

Maybe he was...

H:

"Near western border of from San Fernando Valley almost surrounded by Woodland Hills was unique town with a spirit of the old west." I bet he lives in Hidden Hills. I bet anything. Seems like I remember something about him, but I don't know what it was. "Calabasas one of the first spots in the Valley to be named for the Spaniards." But Calabasas is an Indian name, I understand. But here is says what it means don't it.

M:

Uh-huh. Pumpkin.

H:

Yeah, pumpkin or squash. Uh-huh. This is why I had this in here. This in here.

M:

Yeah, the second half of it. It's carried over on...

H:

Oh, that's some more of it.

M:

Yeah, that's just...

H:

Yeah, I put this in here because it gives more history to this...this whole thing.

M:

What type of people did you meet through the newspaper? I mean, you must have met all kinds of...

H:

Well, the very finest people we met.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And you then associated with that particular class. Whether you did it before you were ever in business, or not, you may not have. But if you got into it, then you mixed in with people that were very interested in what the paper was for and what it was doing, and then became interested in who was putting it out. See? 35

M:

Um-hum. Un-hum.

H:

So you finally get acquainted with everybody and then you form a friendship that is in the upper level rather than any other way.

M:

Do you remembe r anybody, the names of anybody, like...I don't know, community leaders or...Well, like...

H:

Um, the community leaders...

M:

That one with Vera?

H:

...and...yeah. Seems to me like I have pictures of some of the community leaders. I'll tell you one community leader that's now...one of the heads the Rotary Club, Jess MacCann. He's been around here for many, many years. And he's in the beauty parlor supply business and he has a place that sells all kinds of supplies for beauty treatments and stuff. Up in that little city just beyond Hidden Hills. Joins on to Hidden Hills, going north.

M:

North?

H:

You know, there's a little town up in there, just a little ways beyond Hidden Hills.

M:

Oh, is there?

H:

Yeah, in Calabasas. If you look on the right-hand side, there's a lot of little tiny settlements up through there.

M:

Oh, okay.

H:

Well, his place of business is in there. And his name is MacCann. And he has been quite a leader in through this Valley. And he was a very dear friend of my husband's and he was the one that helped me with the services and burial of my husband when he died.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And I don't know whether there's anymore of the old timers that belonged to the rotary club alive because all the main people belonged to the Rotary Club, and I don't believe there's hardly anybody left in this town that's alive but him.

M:

I'll be darned.

H:

And he's quite elderly. He's now having quite a little bit of trouble with arthritis in his knees the same as I'm having, only his knees...his is worst than mine. He can't hardly walk with his.

M:

I think you're just doing super well. 36

H:

Yeah...um-hum. Right.

M:

What's your most memorable experience or laughable experience, or an incide nt that happened maybe when you were working on the paper, or an incident...just something that you're fond of?

H:

No, I can't think of anything like that.

M:

No?

H:

I worked in politics a whole lot, with most things that I was doing.

M:

In what way?

H:

I finally started the Topanga Canyon Republican News of Federated Club in '55, and I was it's first president. And then about four years ago I took the presidency again and I was in for two...after twenty-some years...twenty-five years I guess, I took the presidency again, and was in it for two years. And this girl that has it now, she lives in Hidden Hills, her name is Wilhelm. Arliss Wilhelm.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

She has it now. She had it for two years, and then she did it again because they couldn't find anybody to take it.

M:

And what was the name of it?

H:

Arliss Wil...The Topanga Canyon Republican Women. You know, they had the Woodland Hills Republican Women, too. I belonged to that when I...when I first was in the paper with the paper here.

M:

Oh, I see. Now was this a political organization?

H:

Yes, uh-huh. Very political.

M:

Very, yeah.

H:

Well, it belongs to...it has a federation that is the largest women's group in the history of the United States.

M:

Oh, it does?

H.

Yeah, uh-huh. 37

M:

I'll be darned.

H:

Topanga Association of Republican Women. And then I started that club in there. I was also on the board of the one here for quite a number of years, about seven years. And I was also on the board of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. That's a very fine organization.

M:

What elsewhere you involved in?

H:

They had a lovely women's club here.

M:

Do they? In Woodland Hills or...

H:

Yeah, uh-huh. When we went to Europe, I didn't pay my dues anymore, and then I never went back into it when I come back.

M:

Tell me about how you got to go to Europe?

H.

Well, we went to Europe on purpose to get material for that book and we went to Greece first. We went...

M:

This book?

H:

...yes. We went on a ship to Greece.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

On the steamship Frederica, I think it was. It took fourteen days to go from New York to Athens on a great big ship. Steam vessel. Then we were around there for maybe a couple of weeks before we went...well, we went to Egypt and we went to Lebanon and we went to Turkey and we went everywhere before we landed in London.

M:

You did have a...

H:

I had a nephew and his wife living in Manila, and we went to the Manila. And then we came back from...on our way home we went to Tokyo, and then we went to Manila and stayed two weeks with my nephew and his wife. And then we flew to...got oil in Honolulu, we flew to Honolulu and got...and changed plains and then we flew from there home.

M:

So you wrote this in 1931?

H:

Yes, that first book.

M:

Wow!

H:

That was '32. We had to have it ready for the Olympics. 38

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

Well, we sold a lot of those books in the Olympics in 1932.

M:

Wow, how old were you then? You were just...

H:

Well, I don't know...I wasn't...that will take I don't know how many years away from it.

M:

Yeah.

H:

I forget what's the difference from '32 to '84.

M:

Well, if you're ninety in '84, that means you were born in 1894.

H:

Yeah.

M:

That's incredible! It's wonderful!

H:

Yes.

M:

You have seen so much!

H:

Yeah.

M:

So, um, you were about thirty...

H:

I was just about twenty-eight, I guess. Around twenty-eight.

M:

Twenty-eight, un-huh.

H:

Well, we worked real hard to sell those books during the Olympic Games.

M:

Oh, I'm sure you did.

H:

We were working in the big hotels where most of the people in the foreign countries were staying.

M:

Did you have like a booth? Did you have a booth or something?

H:

Yeah. We had a...sort of a desk downstairs...

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

...with a table and desk and chairs. And we sold those books like mad. 39

M:

What hotel? Do you remember?

H:

Well, we were at the...myself and one other person with me, but we were in all the hotels, but I was at the...what was the one before they put the Biltmore in? The one on the side street.

M:

Oh, the Biltmore is the only one that I actually remember.

H:

Well, it was the one...the first one. The first big hotel they had in Los Angeles. It was kind of on the side street...

M:

Down from the Biltmore?

H:

...just right down from the Biltmore, running on the corner there. It was a ways from it. That's why I can't think of that hotel. Well, anyway, all of the different places that were places where people were going to stay, you know, that came to stay in a hotel or rooming house or somewhere, was carrying them in those places to be sold. And they would...also selling the cute little pins that they made for...little tiny pins you wore, like little gold little pins...

M:

Oh, uh-huh.

H:

...that had the Olympic little insignia on them. They sold those at the same time. Uh-huh.

M:

Well, this took a lot of work.

H:

Yes, it did.

M:

A lot of work.

H:

It took a lot of work. My husband worked awful hard at that first booth.

M:

How many booths did...

H:

And then we completely...and then he...then he wrote... completely wrote this over, and then he...he read it and...I read it, and then he corrected copy through the whole thing so that it was...there wasn't any mistakes in it. Periods or commas or anything.

M:

That's a big job.

H:

You bet that's a big job. It took a long while.

M:

Oh, yes.

H:

It makes you tired too. You get tired of looking right at that stuff all the time... 40

M:

Oh, I know.

H:

...reading copy.

M:

Oh, yeah.

H:

See...I wanted to find any Valley history in here that was of any use to you...Oh, this is the Enterprise that wrote this in '82. Oh, this is history of...when it...when it...you, know, when the Spanish were here...

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

...this is history.

M:

What year was that?

H:

Well, this is...this talks about the stagecoach that ran through...

M:

Oh, my!

H:

...right here. And this was a water...a wagon with a water tank pulled by mules which used to water each tree...when they started planting all of the trees before it was named Woodland Hills...

M:

Oh, I see.

H:

...it was named something else. This here is looking at 19...

M:

'29.

H:

...'29.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And it was even before '29 that they started Woodland Hills. This here land here is the one that's writing this article, right here. "The Filbert's home overlooks Woodland Hills, which he has seen changed dramatically since the first Olympian here in '28 and '29. There was no trees and no buildings in those early days, he recalled, and Filbert learned to play golf at Woodland Hills Country Club, left center, where his dad was the golf pro in the late twenties."

M:

Huh. I was thinking that name was familiar. Uh-huh.

H:

Yeah. Right here, uh-huh.

M:

Uh-huh. 41

H:

I've been taking all of these things out of that paper. That news...News Enterprise that they give away here...paper. got things in it all the time. Very interesting things. Let's see what this is. "Oh, here's the colorful settler's adobe still stands." 1881. "Adobe still stands." That's the Leonis Adobe in Calabasas.

M:

What's that?

H:

That was the master Calabasas adobe that's just beyond that cafe. Just as you drive up in there.

M:

Oh, okay.

H:

And if you go past that Spanish or Mexican cafe, and then back in the back there is where that Historical Society's headquarters is...

M:

Oh...

H:

...that told you about me.

M:

Yeah.

H:

Well, they have a regular...they have a regular outfit that protects that adobe. That is...that members of people in...and here's where it talks about the "Leonis Adobe finally opened to the public in May of '66, and entered the National Register of Historic Places." This don't look like it, though.

M:

Maybe that's an older picture.

H:

"The Tudor-type cottage in Studio City with two bedrooms," it says here. So this wasn't the adobe. "Living room listed with Jerry Burns and Associates"...oh...I don't know what that picture is down below this for. Maybe I shouldn't have cut that out.

M:

Maybe...let's see...maybe it's a part of it...

H:

Because see it says...no, it isn't that. That's not the adobe.

M:

No, this is a cottage from Studio City.

H:

Yeah, that...

M:

Yeah.

H:

...don't look like that.

M:

No. They're trying to sell this for three hundred forty-nine thousand dollars. 42

H:

Now, here's the...here's "to the game of the name...nothing lasts forever, especially in the San Fernando Valley." Here's some of their old people here. Sherman and Burroughs...Edward Rice Burroughs here. "Isaacs...Isaacs' Town is renamed. His boulevard remains." Isaacs. I don't remember anything about Isaacs. I do remember him, though. About him. And then there's...here's "General M.H. Sherman, a railroad builder, and Carl Laemmle...

M:

Laemmle...

H:

...a movie magnet." I took this out of that paper in 1981. And here's a whole history of a whole lot of things. Here's Victor...here's Victor Girard. He's the sub-divider that started Woodland Hills, and they called the town Girard at first.

M:

Oh, did they?

H:

That was it's name.

M:

Huh!

H:

Until some of it...a lot of people got together and changed the name of it. The Chamber of Commerce, I guess. "You probably know of Tarzana here," it says. And here's..."was named for Edward Rice Burroughs," Tarzana was 'The Ape Man.'

M:

He created it?

H:

Yeah. "The reason for the feminine spelling was because there was already a Texas town called Tarzan, but can you come up with a community former name, plus the reason it could no longer be used. That's Tarzan." So they took that away and then they called it Tarzana.

M:

Oh, I see.

H:

He ought of named it Tarzan and then they could...

M:

So, Tarzana was named after Burroughs?

H:

Yeah.

M:

His book on Tarzan.

H:

Apparently he created this Tarzan deal, this Burroughs. See, "the creator of Tarzan."

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

This is an interesting little thing. 43

M:

Very interesting article.

H:

Yeah. In the earliest days North Hollywood was known as Toluca Lake.

M:

Well, there is a Toluca Lake.

H:

Yeah, now there is a Toluca Lake, and then they've got North Hollywood. "The residents here referred to their town as the home of the peach. All that time it was named for the man credited with opening up San Fernando Valley to development. The man with whom... the main boulevard is still named. His last name was"...oh, dear, I haven't got it anymore of...the last name was...I guess I didn't...

M:

No, that's the way it is. See? This one's the same thing. was...you're supposed to guess it I think.

H:

Oh, I guess.

M:

Yeah. Then on page seven...the answers are on page seven.

H:

Oh, yeah.

M:

Yeah.

H:

That's right. But some of that is interesting information.

M:

Um-hum.

H:

And here's the adobe still stands, but then you think this is it, but it isn't...

M:

No, it's not part of it.

H:

...and that don't belong there. Now, let's see what we've got in here now. Oh, here's the adobe. Southern California Historic Adobes. Here's...here's the...just off Ventura Freeway...

M:

In Calabasas.

H:

...I have "23537 Calabasas Road, Calabasas." That's where the adobe is, right there. That Leonis...Leonis Adobe. Here's... where it talks about when he started to put it in there. "House into a gracious two-story Monterey-style home. In 1889 Leonis was killed when his wagon overturned in Tujunga Pass as he was returning home from a celebration after winning one of his many lawsuits."

M:

Sounds like...oh, this L.A. Times from 1881 to 1981.

H:

Yeah. 44

The original name

M:

Huh?

H:

That's the history of all the adobes.

M:

I'll be darned.

H:

Uh-huh.

M:

Very interesting.

H:

You know, a lot of people are very interested in those adobes.

M:

Oh, yes. Yes. They are very popular now. Uh-huh.

H:

But maybe you'd have all that information you have somewhere else so that you've got all this. If you don't, here's all of the adobes.

M:

Okay.

H:

And then still stands is the Leonis Adobe. So...all right. This here...now, let's see what this here is. "Twenty years later, Art Bell left and Nancy and Ray Phillips were still helping the Leonis's." That was the...Art Bell, his wife now, I know her very well. I was on the board with her in the women's club, and she now is working with this park deal that I told you I belonged to. Here. This girl right here. Kay Begee.

M:

Uh-huh. Kay Begee...

H:

Was at one time a very popular person in Woodland Hills, and she owned and lived in that...a very beautiful house that is on...that is back of Topanga about it's second block going toward Calabasas. And then up on the hill, back of that there, about a block further up on the hill, is a great big lemon and orange orchard surrounding that property. And then it grows up hills and this house is on the top of it.

M:

Oh, really?

H:

Do you remember that?

M:

Is this, um...

H:

That's here in Woodland Hills.

M:

Yeah, the one if you go...

H:

You go... 45

M:

...to Platt?

H:

If you go to Shoup...

M:

Right. I mean Shoup.

H:

...and then drive toward Calabasas, it's on the right-hand side of the street. I think...I think Clarendon is something on one side of it...

M:

Oh, okay.

H:

...and another town on the other. And they're now publishing in the papers that they want to open that...that whole thing up for condo...condominiums, and the people are fighting it like mad.

M:

I hope so.

H:

Yeah.

M:

Yeah. Do you know who...

H:

All right. She...

M:

Go ahead.

H:

This girl owned that house and property. I think her husband was dead. Well, when it came up about this adobe in Calabasas and the connecting property with it, was going to sell it to some...a big building deal that was going to put markets in there and stores and stuff, and this...these girls that belong now to that thing that told you about me, started a fightin' it and this girl came in with the money to take it over, and she bought it from right under them. This here one.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

So then...then they took it to the...to the State...to the County to have it made as a historical landmark.

M:

Do you know...

H:

They said they couldn't do it until after they had got the property.

M:

Right. Right.

H:

Then they got... 46

M:

I see.

H:

Well, she owned and then she died.

M:

Oh, I see. Do you know how Platt...Platt goes in and then it curves, and then there is Fallbrook?

H:

Yes.

M:

And then there's this great big...um, it...is a hill, and on the top of the hill there is like and adobe ranch, and then down here used to be part of it on the other side of Platt...

H:

Of Platt.

M:

Yeah. And maybe...

H:

Do you remember when that big ranch was on Platt? That big cattle ranch? Where they had...where they had cattle and the cattle grazed in the fields all through that.

M:

Yeah, there's cattle over here.

H:

Yeah.

M:

Yeah.

H:

The Platt Ranch.

M:

Is that Platt Ranch?

H:

Yeah. And they...they raised cattle there. And then they opened Platt...they put Platt Street through there...the boulevard through there...

M:

Right.

H:

And they pushed that thing back. And if it exists at all, I don't know. That was the...

M:

Okay. Well, there's one there now that's just a house on top and they converted the...the...

H:

The ranch into housing developments.

M:

Part of it. 47

H:

The whole thing, I think. Now, do you know if any of the ranchers there are left?

M:

Yeah. What I'm thinking of...

H:

Well, there'd be cattle on it if they were.

M:

There's a few cattle on it.

H:

There'd be cattle on it.

M:

There's a few...it goes...it goes way up to kind of a real big hill. There's a big adobe on the top.

H:

Well, maybe that's the...maybe that was the Platt House that the Platts lived in.

M:

Yeah. Oh, it could be, and the rest of it was the ranch...

H:

Yes. Then the ranch was all.

M:

...was built.

H:

I remember when they had acre after acre all fenced in with cattle.

M:

I bet.

H:

Yeah. So, anyway, this here...let's see if this talks about the Platt Ranch. That the trustees of the Walter and Kathleen Beechy Foundation here...

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

...Kay and Elaine were sisters. That was...they called her Kay. Kathleen Beechy. They called her Kay...

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

...and...and Elaine were sisters, "gave Ray Phillips the deed to five additional acres around the Leonis Adobe fronting on Calabasas Road and across the street, and those acres are worth at least one million dollars each."

M:

Wow. Wow. That's something else, isn't it.

H:

Yeah. And now they got this under control. This is in the hands of the government now, this adobe. It's one of the special things that they're going to keep for history... history's sake. I 48

saw her when she died. She was just such a good worker, and she tried so hard to do things. What happened to her...I don't know, I must have been away when she died because I know I didn't go to her funeral. But she sure saved that situation. M:

Yeah. Uh-huh.

H:

Well, anyway, if you ever want any of this kind of stuff, I've got most of it here.

M:

Okay.

H:

And here's a Spanish grant here in case you want something about that Rancho... [End Tape 1, Side B] [Begin Tape 2, Side A]

M:

Okay.

H:

No one ever knew who founded the City of Burbank. Burbank and [garbled] most of that or something. Here's Woodland Hills formally subdivision called Girard. Oh, that's when Girard was cutting up the...and he was cutting up pieces of... sections of ground and people were putting little houses on them. A thousand two hundred acres of walnut trees. There's that walnut acreage.

M:

Right. Uh-huh.

H:

Yeah. "The largest walnut grove in existence."

M:

Twelve hundred acres of walnut grove.

H:

Yes. Uh-huh. And they had...let's see up here what they did. Oh, this O.F. Brant...this corner down here of Topanga, where Vons is, belonged to O.F. Brant, and he had a...a...he had milk cows there, and he had stables and barns with many, many females cows and he was getting milk from them. And selling milk. Later sheepherders gave way to the cattle ranching. You see, the sheepherders were in there ahead of the people that had the ranches.

M:

Oh, uh-huh.

H:

Then the cattle ranching, alfalfa, and vegetables crops replaced the wheat and the barley fields. "In 1909 O.F. Brant bought an eight hundred and fifty-two acre parcel which became known as the Brant ranch. His son David established the herd of Guernseys, the dairy cattle on the ranch, which brought something to San Fernando Valley." There's a very good article. I wished I could find something in here in what became of Mr. Bailey, who that...that property that is now 49

on the corner of Canoga Avenue and the freeway... M:

Uh-huh.

H:

...in there, there's a big piece of property that has a house sitting way back...

M:

Way back, uh-huh.

H:

...and nothing else there.

M:

Right.

H:

Well, that belonged to Bailey.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And he owned a big, um...a company that takes care of deeds of property that...it goes through there to make it legal. What the devil is his...well, anyway, he wouldn't sell out to Warners, so that whole big piece of property could be Warner's, and he wouldn't sell off Warner's, so...but he did let him have this frontage right here from Canoga to Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

M:

Okay.

H:

And there's then that one piece that belonged to Brant. That was that great piece that was a dairy farm. And they couldn't have it because they were trying to build Woodland Hills into a beautiful place, and they made him move out of there. They put some pressure on them. I don't know where they went. I wish...I wished I knew where they went.

M:

Huh. So no one's living there now or...

H:

Now it's Vons and the Security Pacific Bank...

M:

...in the house...nobody in that house...

H:

I don't know. But I'll tell you one very lovely thing about Bailey. When our house burned down in the canyon, he was one of my husband's friends, and he was one of the most important men around there, and he was a friend of my husband, and they were both Republicans. And so when the house burned down, we got the loveliest letter from him, and said, "I have a little home on...in the Malibu on the beach, and if you folks would like to go there and live until you get yourself settled, why you're just perfectly welcome."

M:

Isn't that sweet?

H:

Isn't that something? I just never know that people can be so kind. 50

M:

How many children do you have?

H:

None.

M:

You have no children?

H:

No. "The town was named Woodland Hills in 1941." Maybe you'd like that information. "The Country Club opened that year and became a popular sport for Valley residents, bringing recognition to the new community." I wished I had something that talked about those buildings. They were the most quaint, funny buildings you ever saw on those cards. I used to look at them and wonder what the devil they were, you know. What was inside of them. We didn't live...we weren't in business then. We just used to play around over here. Here's seven saloons. Do you want to know about...

M:

How many books did your...excuse me. How many books did your husband, besides the newspapers, and...how many books did he write?

H:

He didn't write any other book but...but that.

M:

Just this one, uh-huh.

H:

But he did write other songs beside the...the "White Rose." Here's a thing here. "San Fernando Road boasted seven saloons in the days of its youth."

M:

Where is that White Rose. Oh, under here.

H:

You know, I've got a lot of those copies someplace. This one is a mess. I was going to give one of these copies to you if I could find it.

M:

Okay.

H:

I've got them packed someplace.

M:

Okay.

H:

But I don't know how long it will take me to find them. This is about Mr. Harlan being a supervisor.

M:

Okay, this is...this has some of your mementoes... 51

H:

That's the one that you saw in there.

M:

Yeah.

H:

Well, let me see. There's something else in here about this that's interesting. Oh, this is about Granada Hills. You're not interested in Granada Hills are you?

M:

No, huh-uh.

H:

Here's Valley San Fernando history, way back to 1846. This is about the Rancho in Encino. That big park there that was a Rancho once, you know. Where they've got that little place in Encino that's...that's a government grant now. "San Fernando Homestead Association was the second time the land was sold to the same man. 1854, Andre Pico." Oh, that's where he comes in.

M:

Oh, Pico Boulevard!

H:

You know, they have that Pico Boulevard.

M:

I'll be darned.

H:

Yeah. Here he comes in here now. "In 1854 Andre Pico owned one-half interest and was lessee of the other half of the hundred and seventy-six thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight acres, previously sold to DeCelis...DeCelis," had returned to Spain when he later died."

M:

...Pico, huh...

H:

I guess maybe that's when that San Fernando town started. The San Fernando Homestead Association. After that man died, then they got him out of there.

M:

"Pio Pico, 1869...

H:

Yeah...

M:

He sold a sixty-thousand acre parcel...

H:

Yes.

M:

...San Fernando Homestead Association." Wow.

H:

Yeah. You know, it's interesting to know who owned all these...these grants...

M:

It's interesting to find... 52

H:

...the Spanish grants...

M:

...the names of these streets and stuff, they were real people.

H:

Yes. Yeah, right.

M:

Very interesting...

H:

Yes, they are. Let's see if this is all about one of them...this here must have come from something else. "Continued from the first page." This is about San Fernando City. "Copy i.e. sender Charles Maclay of Santa Clara in 1874, and he contacted Eulogio F. DeCelis, administrator of his father's estate, and purchased a fifty-six thousand northern acre Valley ranch." Maclay. That's another noted person in the Valley.

M:

Maclay? Oh, sure.

H:

Yeah. Yeah, Maclay. And I don't have anything about Maclay...

M:

Just an old...

H:

Here's Geronimo Lopez. "He purchased a large portion of the Granada Hills area in 1855, and built an adobe there." I don't know..."Valley, June 14, 1981."

M:

Yeah, it's Granada Hills.

H:

The later...the latter became... that belongs to something else...

M:

That belongs to this.

H:

Yeah, that one.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

"That...the latter became the Valley's first English-speaking school. The Lopez Station in close proximity served as a stage...a stage station for the Butterfield line." Oh, that Butterfield line went way up through Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park...

M:

Did you ever see that?

H:

No, but I was in the station they used the time before...

M:

Oh, really? Where was that? 53

H:

And it...it was up in Newbury Park, on the left-hand side of the road going toward Oxnard.

M:

Do they still have the station?

H:

Yeah, I think so.

M:

Oh, really?

H:

They don't use it for a station anymore...little things they're selling the last time I remember. I haven't been it for a long while.

M:

Oh, okay.

H:

I used to go in it once in a while and see what they had in there. "So, here the land in which the Lopez Adobe was is now covered with the waters of the Upper Van Norman Reservoir." I don't know where that reservoir is.

M:

Me neither.

H:

Here's a Porter...where he comes in. "Heavy subdivision activity has swept through the Valley in the late 1880's. George K. Porter, a principle stock holder in the Porter Land and Development Water Company deeded much of his property for the company to develop." Oh, that was a nice thing, wasn't it? He gave it to 'em.

M:

He gave it to 'em?

H:

Yeah, he deeded it to 'em.

M:

I'll be darned. Porter?

H:

Didn't say they paid for it, either, Porter.

M:

Porter?

H:

George Porter.

M:

Is that Porter Ranch?

H:

Yeah, that might have been with the Porter Ranch, yes. Now the Porter Ranch now is in...is it in Chatsworth?

M:

Um-hum.

H:

I believe... 54

M:

Yeah, it's in Chatsworth.

H:

Uh-huh, yeah. Well, anyway, if you get down to wanting some of this kind of stuff, you know that I have this here...

M:

Okay.

H:

...and you can look at it sometime whenever you want to.

M:

Thank you.

H:

Yeah. Let's see what this is...we looked in there, didn't we?

M:

Um-hum.

H:

Let's see what this is...Harlan...personal effects...Oh, God. My personal effects ought to be a certain part of stuff here...oh, this is my husband and I when we sailed on the Queen Elizabeth to England when we left for England.

M:

Oh!

H:

Oh, here's...here's...this girl you might know. She lives in Northridge. Rosemary Pendarlis.

M:

Hum-uh.

H:

She was the manager of Valley Federal Savings and Loan.

M:

Oh?

H:

She's one of my very dear friends and she's the sweetest girl that you just could ever dream about. This is Franklin Academy where my husband went to school when he was young, in 1908.

M:

1908?

H:

1908.

M:

Where is that academy?

H:

That's in Nebraska...

M:

Nebraska?

H:

Uh-huh. Let's see what this is...where would this have been...oh, this is a map of the streets in Topanga. Now, here's something... 55

M:

Here's Hugh Harlan.

H:

Oh, yeah. That's...he was the head of the football team. He was the captain...

M:

He did well, huh?

H:

...in the University of Nebraska.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

Isn't that cute how he's got his hair curled.

M:

That's cute.

H:

Oh, dear.

M:

That's an old map.

H:

Yeah. Now that's...

M:

Well, they only...

H:

...that's a Franklin book, where he went to school.

M:

But they only have a very few people. "There's four classical graduates, there were four scientific graduates..."

H:

Yeah.

M:

...there's um...this doesn't say what type they are.

H:

Maybe those were...

M:

These are music...was he a music graduate?

H:

He might have been, uh-huh.

M:

A music graduate.

H:

He might have...he was very much of an athlete so...and he was very much...he got a very pretty voice. There's the school he went to, I guess.

M:

School of Music. 56

H:

Yeah, when he was at...yeah. And he played piano.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

Yeah, he...that's why he wrote that music. So he could play it and...what's all this stuff a runnin' loose. Here's Topanga. Here's the school. Here's the property that we bought right...right up there and like that. Thirty-five acres right there. And then we sold ten acres to the school. This here is the Old Canyon Road that comes out of Calabasas. This is the one that goes down to the ocean. Let me see. This is the Old Road that goes to Calabasas...

M:

Yeah, the Old Road.

H:

...this is the road that comes out of Woodland Hills.

M:

Right. I see.

H:

That's quite a map, isn't it?

M:

Yes. Where did you graduate from high school? Was that in Utah?

H:

No, I never graduated from high school. They didn't have high schools when I was in school.

M:

They didn't?

H:

They only had the eighth grade and then there was no further school education.

M:

What...did...okay, so you went just the eighth grade?

H:

There are several in our family that didn't...didn't go any further than the eighth grade.

M:

I'll be darned. What did...

H:

But the University that the...Brigham Young University later put in a school that went from eight to twelve, and then they had the university there, so then people could go right into the university from the same school they were going. But that didn't turn out to be that until quite some time later after I got out of school.

M:

Oh, I see. These must...what did you do when you get out of school though? I mean, do you start working right away?

H:

Then I started...then I started learning how to be millaman[?] when I was quite young.

M:

Uh-huh. 57

H:

And I got into the designing end of it, and that was lovely. I did beautiful on that.

M:

What's that?

H:

Pictures on board the ship, Frederica. Oh. That was the line we were...no, that was on the Queen Mary. We came back on the Queen Mary.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

Yeah. Oh, this a rotary thing?

M:

Hugh and the rotary...

H:

Yeah. He was a guest, see? Here you down here. He was a guest at this...and the rotary was aboard ship.

M:

Oh, uh-huh.

H:

Uh-huh. Burlington Drive...oh, this is when we built that apartment house down here.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And this was insurance and...oh, this is the Title In...Trust and Insurance Company that this Bailey owned...

M:

Oh?

H:

...see, that told us we could stay in his beach home.

M:

Oh, uh-huh.

H:

And then, I know he must have died because he was quite elderly at the time that he was living there with his wife. This here we got from him about something. You see, by "Title Insurance and Trust." I don't know what this is. Something to do with property and something. There is my husband right there, a junior in the university who composed several songs for the "Sparkle...

M:

...sunflower..."

H:

...fun folly. Here's a cute picture of him when he was young, too.

M:

Yes. 58

H:

Let's see here. This must have been his stuff. This was his...this was his stuff that he...the file that he put his stuff in. I don't know...this is...

M:

Well, this...[Pause as they look]

H:

This is something regarding Laura Gay, the one that wrote that book. "I, the undersigned, do grant release without... whatever that word is"...to Laura B. Gay, the use of the informant collected by my husband and the late Hugh Harlan. The information may be retold, recorded, and used best by Laura B. Gay that she find suitable for her book, Land of the [garbled]." I signed on the bottom so that she couldn't sue me.

M:

Right. That's...I have one of those for you to sign. We need it for the historical society.

H:

[Laughing.] [Long pause.]...canyon...to civilian protection committee. This must have been during the war. Here he is down here.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

Laura Crier...oh, this is Topanga...these were the main people that lived in Topanga that was the head of this civilian protection committee during the war.

M:

Oh. Uh-huh.

H:

Huh. This is a joint tenant thing for Hugh Harlan and Virley Harlan, joint tenants, the right of survival, not as tenants in common. Huh. Some legal stuff. And I guess there isn't any...oh, there's...well, there's...oh, this is my niece that lived in Price, Utah.

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

Used to come out here every...every...when the cold...she and her husband, during the cold winter, they...would stay with me a couple of months. This was some...this is some of my husband's stuff that...this is his personal stuff.

M:

Like a certificate of...

H:

Yeah. Yeah. This is...

M:

...something...

H:

...look, isn't that rotten? It's all fallen apart. These are his notes from...notes to his wife. This is after...after they gave us notice. County of Los Angeles...oh, oh, I had to get...some kind of an affidavit to be able to print a paper. 59

M:

Oh, uh-huh.

H:

That's a legal...

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

...legal stuff. First, he diagnosed as a little stroke.

M:

This is the first issue of the...

H:

Yeah, that's the first issue of the Reporter.

M:

Woodland Hills Reporter...

H:

Uh-huh.

M:

...April 30th, 1948.

H:

Yeah, 1948.

M:

This is from January 1949.

H:

Oh, this is the letter from...

M:

Five cents a copy. Today, what do we pay for a newspaper, a buck and a half?

H:

Twenty-five we paid for a while, and now we pay fifty cents. I think. [Pause.] Oh, this is something.

M:

What did the rotary do exactly? What's their function, the rotary club?

H: M:

Well, it's...it's sort of a betterment deal, to get some... it's the best club organization there is. You always hear...

H:

They...they raise...they try to raise money to do good things for different organizations, and I don't know what...I know they do help this specific lodge quite a lot. This here's explaining the Federal Writer's Project officially.

M:

Terrific!

H:

November 20th, 1935. And if he wrote this, you could tell it's a little scorcher...

M:

Terrific!

H:

"...prior to the Depression, Southern California has been a newspaper man's paradise. There 60

were any number of dailies, weeklies, community papers, magazines. Then there was always the movie industry, and this array of...there always seems to be a job..." That's the job project that he had charge of. M:

Terrific!

H:

Oh, I don't know all there is to it...[pause] maybe there's a lot of stuff in it that's very interesting. Oh, this is...on the highways and people digging ditches and people improving roads, and people..."our project survey had completed at this time, looking to the relocations of thousands of indigent California families on farming lands under Federal Aid." That was a letter during the Depression.

M:

Huh.

H:

...Chronicle Paper that came in later than we did, and was working against us. And we were a Republican paper, and they weren't, see?

M:

Uh-huh.

H:

And so anything they could do to us that was out of order, they'd do it.

M:

What was this? The Chronicle?

H:

Yeah. It's still running.

M:

Is it?

H:

Yeah. It comes out in Canoga Park, I think.

M:

You didn't have anything to do with the Chronicle, though, did you? The Woodland Hills Chronicle?

H:

No. No. And we didn't like it, either. See?

M:

Oh!

H:

Because it came in and we charged for ours, and they threw theirs away. They just fought us like nobody's business. They really hurt us.

M:

Did you have much of that between the newspapers? I mean...

H:

Between us and them...

M:

...slander... 61

H:

...and they were just a little no-account deal here. This was...maybe this was their first paper. No, it isn't. This is the article about my husband when he died.

M:

Oh, I see.

H:

This was written by Rosemary Bill of whom I knew very well. I worked with her on the Republican...and the Women's Club for a long while. And it's a beautiful article.

M:

Was the...

H:

How she could write it so lovely, I don't know.

M:

When after all those years she...

H:

After all those years, she was...well, she wasn't doing it especially, but the paper was.

M:

Why was the Chronicle like that? I mean, why did they...

H:

The Chronicle...I think they print the Chronicle in Canoga Park now. But it used to be...their offices used to be here in Woodland Hills, but I don't think they...

M:

In '63, it was...it says Woodland Hills.

H:

It's a whole lot bigger paper now than that.

M:

Yeah...

H:

That was really one of their early papers.

M:

Did you run into much of that between, you know, the newspaper staff that they...

H:

Well, you see, we were the first paper that was ever printed in West Valley, or in any of the cities in the Valley, and it was printed right here in Woodland Hills. We had...we made... we had an office.

The sun is shining on my pretty violets and it'll kill them. M:

Oh, yeah.

H:

They just hate it. [Pause in the interview.]

62

H:

...and communist writers in the...

M:

In the Chronicle?

H:

Yeah.

M:

Oh, really! Were they pro-communist?

H:

...the project that he was in control of. And he was trying to push him out. They were trying to push them in, and they finally took him off the project, my husband.

M:

Did they?

H:

Now this here, Linton H. Smith, Director, Federal Project Division, might have been the person that was...It says, "It occurs to me that answers to the following questions, would shed light on the crosscurrents that have been set in motion to obscure the real noteds in this affair." This thing here, "to review Mr. Harlan as Los Angeles Supervisor of the Writer's Project, there's one objection of Mr. Lannings is a trip to California." Well, it came in there that was refusing to accept this person they were putting in charge. And they took him out and put Mr. Harlan back in again. This [article] is something about it. And...he's got a lot of stuff here. Now, here's the answer. To Mr. Smith from Harlan. "It is not possible that Mr. Lanning has unknowingly become involved in the local California issue, and has unwittingly become a cats paw for Mr. Hopner." [Laughing.]

M:

[Laughing.] That's cute!

H:

Oh...

M:

How cute!

H:

He could tell...

M:

And that's just a memorandum?

H:

Oh, that's more of this stuff about this writer's project. All kind of stuff. But he was tickled when they put him back in though.

M:

Oh, I'm sure he was.

H:

Because he was handling it real...a "real American was handling it. There's Mr. Clare Lanning, field supervisor, here. California 29th Street and San Francisco for the Federal Writer's Project. This was the project up in San Francisco. 63

I got to read all that one of these days. It's really interesting. "Important matter [reading] regarding H. Harlan's writer"...oh, that's...that's the writer's club, yeah. Here's the stationary they put out during that time. Oh, this is... M:

This was on his project...

H:

Now that's the one you've already got. That belongs...here the worker's projects. Federal Writers...this is their stationary. The Work Progress Administration...let's see what this is...

M:

His father was a printer?

H:

Yes. And a newspaper man. And so he learned how to set type before he could almost speak.

M:

I see. Uh-huh.

H:

So that's why he got tangled up in writing and into newspaper work and printing. We had a lovely print shop here in Woodland Hills.

M:

Oh, did you?

H:

Yes. We had some very nice...

M:

So you got the stories and he wrote it and you edited it and put it together and printed the whole thing?

H:

Yeah.

M:

Yeah.

H:

Right. And he did all the printing for the people around that wanted lovely printing done. He did beautiful printing.

M:

I see if I can find...

H:

This is his...this is his personal file, too.

M:

He was captain of his football squad...

H:

Yes, he was.

M:

"Harlan, Captain."

H:

Yeah. 64

M:

Right there. I don't know what row that is.

H:

This is Nebraska.

M:

Yeah, um-hum. Oh, there he is. I recognize his picture...

H:

Oh, his hair's the same way. Isn't that funny how...it was kind of curly, you know. It was kind of cute.

M:

Yeah. He tried parting it down the middle.

H:

Yeah. And he never parted it down the middle...

M:

Look at their dress in those days. Did you dress like that?

H:

No. But isn't that cute? [Laughing.]

M:

Oh, it's a basketball team.

H:

Yeah.

M:

That's something.

H:

That's the women's team.

M:

I was going to say, it's something...1907, they have a women's basketball team.

H:

Yeah. And they still have...UCLA and USC have some beautiful women's basketball teams. And they're winning...they're winning.

M:

That's incredible. What year did the women get the vote? What 19...31?

H:

'21, wasn't it?

M:

Was it '21?

H:

Seems like it.

M:

So, I mean, for women to have accomplished that earlier...

H:

I forgot...

M:

What did you think about getting the vote? You must have been old enough to vote?

H:

Oh, sure. I remember when I registered to vote. 65

M:

Yeah.

H:

I never registered when I should have, though. By...

M:

Were you pleased about it?

H:

Oh, yes.

M:

Yes? Would you ever consider yourself a feminist in any way?

H:

Oh, no.

M:

No...

H:

Huh-uh.

M:

No, no.

H:

I'm really more of the opposite. [Laughs.]

M:

What do you think of those women today that are real...I don't know...

H:

Well, I don't know what they're trying... [Begin Tape 2, Side B]

H:

...that WP project was the only thing that saved them. They'd have starved to death the lot of them. "The supervisor, Roger Jessup, contended that there must be a halt somewhere in the function of this department. You wouldn't be around when Jessup was in the office. The plan carried over Jessup's negative vote. It called for the County to lease a shoe manufacturing plant on south Central avenue during the morning hours. The federal government will pay the cost of an instructor and the indigents now on the roles will make shoes. Receiving their regular dole budget for their efforts. The shoes will be sold to the County Charities Department," during the war and during the Depression. I don't know why I got that round...I bet my husband put that... that mark around that. All that...this here might have been the writer's club...Yeah.

M:

The writer's project?

H:

Yeah. "Agrees to act as sponsor of the WP Project under which federal government will provide the bulk of the funds to allow continuation of a study started six months ago by R.E. 66

Sparks." R.E. Sparks was with my husband and I when we were married. M:

Oh.

H:

"Sparks is seeking to list and supply all available large parcels of land in California that are not now in use, or which might be conveyed into producing agricultural district. They tried everything to raise money during the war. When people were starving to death a lot of them.

M:

Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. This is just incredible. And if I could just borrow a few of these things, why I will return them to you absolutely.

H:

Yeah, all right.

M:

Well, maybe next...

[End of Interview]

67

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