The Founding of Naples (Continued)
We waited a week and went back, using our utmost persuasive
powers to get them to let go of more land, conditioned on our starting work
within 90 days, at which time we were obligated to make a substantial payment on
the purchase price.
We now leased the corner of 6th and Main Street in Los
Angeles for the new corporation, called "The Naples Co" and had an office about
90 feet long which we furnished very ornately, building us each a private
office in the N.E. corner, had seats made for our salesmen on either side of a
center aisle, put in a secretary's desk and a telephone exchange, a fine map
table with a map of a subdivided Naples under plate glass, and hired a well
known Washington, D. C. artist to paint a big picture of "Naples as now
building", for which we paid $1,000.
When we moved in we had about 40 salesmen, over half lived in
Los Angeles, the rest either lived in Naples or worked in town and went back
and forth on the street cars. Most of them were doing a good business, some
even doing exceptionally well. Among them were a few who had little experience,
but one in particular, Le B. Lesperance, came here from the ship yards of
Oakland, and green as he was, sold several large capitalists large blocks of
lots, and induced Mira Hershey, to erect the Naples Hotel.
My son and myself went immediately to work to organize a
company to handle this subdivision, and we advertised extensively in the daily
papers for a suitable name which would fit the case and tell the story of a
seaside watering place with canals, stairways, promenades, and in fact having a
decided Venetian air, crowned with red Tiled roofs, fronted with 15 foot
cement walks lighted with beautiful electric ornamental lights, and the whole
tract having been raised six feet above the highest tides by dredging and
deepening the bay and depositing all the excavating material behind solid
reinforced concrete bulkheads against a heavy pile driven wall designed by
competent engineers.
We soon had a strong company formed, with H. E. Huntington as
president. As a result of our advertising, we received thousands of replies
from people trying for a prize I had offered for the name selected. The name
selected was "NAPLES", and the prize was won jointly by Mrs. Blankenhorn of
Pasadena, and a lady in east Los Angeles whose name I have forgotten. We
compromised by dividing the prize, and the resulting publicity was such that
when we opened up our office for business on July 6th, 1906, we found the outer
hallway choked with people the whole length, and we were obliged to elbow our
way through a mob determined to be the first purchasers of a lot in this magic
city so well advertised.
Sales continued heavy, and I must here throw a bouquet at
ourselves for showing at least wisdom in making the terms of sale one third
cash, one third in nine months, and the remaining third in 18 months which
meant that the company would have two-thirds of their money in nine months,
which would practically make it certain that nearly all the sales would stick,
no matter what happened. This was all that saved Naples when the San Francisco
earthquake and fire which stopped everything on the Pacific Coast, including
Naples - occured on April 6th, 1906.
And right here, I desire to set at rest a fallacy which has
prevailed in the minds of people in Southern California for the past thirty
years. I wish to correct an impression which has prevailed among a large
portion of the citizens, that Naples was put on 25 years too soon, and that the
country was not ready for it.
If the reader could have seen the great activity in sales and
the tremendous popularity of Naples itself and the promptness with which all
payments were being met he would have looked elsewhere for a reason. And here
is the reason.
Los Angeles was financed entirely with San Francisco money.
Practically every business block in Los Angeles was built with money furnishes
by Hellman, London, Paris and American-Hilbernian Bank, Savings Union, and
other big loaning institutions of San Francisco. The day after the disaster
notices were mailed to every mortgager in Los Angeles that as fast as loans in
this city came due they would be called, and if necessary, collection would be
enforced. Banks here were unable to step into the breach and it was necessary
to find a new source for big loans. The situation was not relieved till the New
York Life Insurance Company came into-the picture, followed by the other major
insurance companies and all began to make loans on business property.
When this new money became available times began to get
better, but not till we had passed through a period of depression during which
we were on a scrip basis, and scrip was the only money in circulation. This
period lasted a long time, probably two years or more.
Space will not permit more than a skeleton outline of my
story, but I have tried to give at least an outline of the beginnings of Naples
and what caused its promotion. The rest is history. I thank the editors for
this opportunity of correcting a few false impressions.
Arthur M. Parsons
August, 1939 |