The Mesmer family of California was a wealthy family of early Los Angeles settlers who contributed to the development of the city between the rancho era and the explosive growth of the post-WWII era.
Louis Aloise Moessmer Mesmer (February 20, 1829 – August 18, 1900) was, in his day, “considered in the front rank of the leaders of the city.”[1]
Originally from Alsace, a region of eastern France with strong German cultural influence, Mesmer was trained as a bread baker. He initially worked in Ohio[2] and then along the Fraser River in British Columbia, where he tried his hand at mining[2] and then baked for the Hudson Bay Company.[1] Mesmer immigrated to California in 1859, when the population of Los Angeles was fewer than 3,500 people.[3] He had $20,000 in savings and used it to buy a bakery on Main Street, which he ran for two years.[1] In those days he was apparently the only local producer of matzah, “which he sold to nearly all the Jewish families of Southern California.”[2]
He sold the bakery and bought the United States Hotel in 1862, greatly expanding the building over time and operating a wholesale wine and liquor storefront on the ground floor.[1] The United States Hotel was "the third hotel built in the city" but was rebuilt from scratch in 1886. In the early 20th century it was described by a historian as being "redolent of the romance of old Los Angeles."[2] In 1887, the Los Angeles Times described it as "one of the best-known landmarks in Los Angeles…and practically the only hotel…Everybody knew Louis Mesmer…for that matter everyone knows him even now."[4] (The hotel, which was managed by Mesmer’s son Tony, was sold by the family shortly after Mesmer’s death in 1900.[5])
After construction was halted due to funding issues, Louis Mesmer also oversaw the completion of St. Vibiana's Cathedral at the behest of Bishop Tadeo Amat and Bishop Mora.[6] His son Joseph’s wedding there in 1879 to Rose Elizabeth Bushard was the “first marriage solemnized in the cathedral.”[7]
The family home, which he purchased from “Mr. Hayes” in 1871,[2] was on Fort Street between 1st and 2nd.[8] The property later became the address 125 S. Broadway in the early 20th century downtown theater district.[9]
According to his Los Angeles Herald obituary, “In 1880 he had put down the first regular cement squares sidewalk, for which he was arrested for an infringement of the Schlinger patent. As there were no federal courts south of San Francisco, he was arrested, taken by the United States marshal to San Francisco, and there the case was compromised. He broke the value of the patent, which inured to the public's benefit, but at a cost of over $800.”
In 1887, Mesmer, Moye Wicks and others were partners in the ultimately failed effort to build a harbor and settlement at Port Ballona, at what is now considered Playa Del Rey and the greater Ballona Wetlands complex.[2]
According to another source (a landmark-status application for a building in Playa Del Rey), “Louis Mesmer had been an acquaintance of the Machado family…On February 23, 1890, Louis Mesmer inherited a significant percentage of the La Ballona Rancho from the estate of Andres Bristwalter, a Mesmer business partner and an acquaintance of the Machados. Louis Mesmer had purchased or obtained the balance of the Rancho La Ballona holdings through business dealings with Daniel Freeman and others.”[10]
Mesmer’s first wife, and mother of his children, was Catherine Forst (October 28, 1833 – October 2, 1891). His second wife, Jennie E. Swan, was many years his junior and their marriage by elopement triggered several weeks of breathless “scandal sheet” coverage in the Los Angeles Times.[12] He was survived by his sons Joseph, Tony, and Alphonse, and his daughters Christina and Lucile; also a stepdaughter, Mrs. Ziba Patterson.[2]
His estate was valued at $350,000 and was left in large part to Joseph Mesmer, with stipulations that the other heirs would only receive bequests if they did not contest the terms of the will.[13] At the time of his death, Louis Mesmer owned “the Kraemer rancho” near Fullerton in Orange County, 766 acres (3.10km2) acres of the former Rancho La Ballona, 5 acres (20,000m2) acres at Port Ballona, “several lots in the Business Center tract,” the house on Broadway, a lot on Hill Street, and the U. S. Hotel.[14]
Joseph Mesmer
Portrait of Joseph Mesmer, circa 1906
Joseph Mesmer (November 3, 1855 – November 28, 1947) was an active, even profligate, civic booster of Los Angeles in his working lifetime. According to Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of Its Mexican Past (2004), “Mesmer is a little-studied but important figure in the history of land use and planning in Los Angeles.”[15] He has been called the "Father of the Los Angeles Civic Center."[16]
Mesmer’s obituary noted that he was a “great supporter of the Owens River project, the great aqueduct that brought water to a thirsty valley.”[7] Described as a “one-man planning commission,” he was a member of the Los Angeles City Parks Commission (including one term as park commissioner[17]), Los Angeles City Planning Commission, the Freeholders’ Charter Commission (to frame a new city charter), promoted the development of the Los Angeles Civic Center, and lobbied for decades for the creation of a Los Angeles Union Station.[7][1] He was president of the North Los Angeles Development Company for 28 years.[17]
As a 1921 biography put it “Mr. Mesmer for years has been a foremost advocate of development work in Southern California, particularly in Los Angeles city and county. Probably no citizen has been more liberal of his time and study in behalf of various plans and movements to beautify and improve the city.” He seems to have organized fundraising to buy the second federal courthouse and post office building (later replaced by the Spring Street Courthouse), the Temple Block that became the Los Angeles City Hall site, and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce building.[17] He also was involved in expanding and extending several streets downtown and advocated for the “demolition and grading of Bunker Hill.” His main commercial interests were the Queen Boot and Shoe Store (which he operated from 1878 to 1906)[17] and the St. Louis Fire and Brick Clay Company.[18] Like his father before him, Mesmer was heavily involved in causes and charities of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.[7]
In old age, he devoted himself to honoring the “pioneer” legacy of his father’s generation. He and his wife Rose Bushard Mesmer were married for 66 years; they died within a year of one another.[19] The couple were parents to six children.[17] Mesmer’s 12-year-old son Clarence drowned at “Ballona Harbor” in 1895 while visiting his grandfather Louis Mesmer.[20] In 1902, the Beach Land Company bought the Port Ballona lands from Joseph Mesmer and began developing Playa Del Rey.[21]
Residence of Joseph Mesmer on Manitou Avenue, from Los Angeles and Vicinity book created for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair
The crowning feature of his plans for a great and beautiful city proposes the improvement of the Los Angeles River bed. No other work, declares Mr. Mesmer, “could be projected that would have such beneficial results and mean so much to the city. It would transform the most unsightly feature of Los Angeles into a beautiful parkway, chain of lakes and esplanades such as would charm every beholder by the picture of a park six miles long in the center of the city. It would mean facilities immediately at hand for outing and recreation, walking over the serpentine paths amid shady trees and flowers. with facilities for boating and sailing in the six lakes each three thousand feet long, while the river bed and sides would be lined solidly with concrete and the parapet sidewalks above the surface level would be molded in artistic design, on the top of which would stand at every thirty feet a beautiful electrically lighted gondolier.
—From the Mountains to the Sea: Los Angeles (1921)
Tina Mesmer Griffith
Mary Agnes Christina Mesmer Griffith (February 29, 1864 – August 11, 1948), called Tina, was the oldest daughter of Louis and Catherine Mesmer.
While her parents and husband were wealthy, “Katarina Mesmer” was also heiress to a valuable piece of property at San Pedro and Washington that had been left to her by family friend Andres Briswalter.[22][23] (Briswalter was an Alsatian like the Mesmers.[24]) When Louis Mesmer died, the newspaper report about Mesmer’s Will stated, “Mrs. Mary Christina Griffith (wife of G. J. Griffith), another daughter, is left only $500. The testator explains that the reason of the bequest being so small was that, prior to his death, he had secured for his daughter a handsome bequest which would have come to him from the estate of the late Andre Briswalter.”
After 16 years of marriage, on Friday, September 4, 1903, at the Hotel Arcadia in Santa Monica, apparently motivated by a combination of chronic alcohol abuse, paranoia, religious bias, and sheer greed, Griffith shot Tina in the face.[25][23][26][27] She miraculously survived but lost an eye and was permanently disfigured; he was sent to San Quentin Prison for less than two years.[28] The couple divorced.[23] Their only child was Van Griffith.[14] After the end of her abusive marriage, Tina Mesmer lived out her days in virtual seclusion at the home of her younger sister Lucy Mesmer Whipple.
The Mesmer-owned Ballona lands were primarily used for cattle ranching.[31] When the Southern California Railway line was created in 1887, one of the stops, Mesmer Station, was named Mesmer after the family.[32] Local historian the Militant Angeleno argues that neighboring stop, Alsace (now the name of a tiny wedge of unincorporated Los Angeles County) was derived from Louis Mesmer’s homeland of Alsace in Europe.[33] A street named Mesmer Avenue runs from the site of the old railway stop up to Ballona Creek near Inglewood Boulevard, which is one of the older roadways and bridge crossing in the era (dating to at least the late rancho era).[34]
Marina del Rey is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the Greater Los Angeles area. The port is North America's largest man-made small-craft harbor and is home to approximately 5,000 boats. The area is a popular tourism destination for both land and water activities such as paddle board and kayak rentals, dining cruises, and yacht charters. Land activities include bicycling on several bicycle paths, walking paths along the waterfront, and birdwatching (birding). Wildlife watching opportunities include California sea lions and harbor seals. Dolphins and whales occasionally visit the deeper waters of the harbor. This Westside locale is approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Santa Monica, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Los Angeles International Airport, and 12.5 miles (20.1 km) west-southwest of Downtown Los Angeles.
Playa del Rey is a seaside neighborhood on the westside of Los Angeles in the Santa Monica Bay region of Los Angeles County, California. It has a ZIP Code of 90293 and area codes of 310 and 424. As of 2018, the community had a population of 16,230 people.
Playa Vista is a neighborhood in the Westside area of Los Angeles, California, United States. The area was the headquarters of Hughes Aircraft Company from 1941 to 1985 and the site of the construction of the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" aircraft. The area began development in 2002 as a planned community with residential, commercial, and retail components. The community attracted businesses in technology, media and entertainment and is part of Silicon Beach.
Del Rey is a neighborhood in the Westside of Los Angeles, surrounded on three sides by Culver City, California. Within it lie a police station, the largest public housing complex on the Westside, a public middle school and six public elementary schools. It is served by a neighborhood council and a residents association. Del Rey, with a 32,000+ population, has a large number of military veterans.
Ballona Creek is an 8.5-mile (13.7 km) channelized stream in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, that was once a "year-round river lined with sycamores and willows". The urban watercourse begins in the Mid-City neighborhood of Los Angeles, flows through Culver City and Del Rey, and passes the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Preserve, the sailboat harbor Marina del Rey, and the small beachside community of Playa del Rey before draining into Santa Monica Bay. The Ballona Creek drainage basin carries water from the Santa Monica Mountains on the north, from the Baldwin Hills to the south, and as far as the Harbor Freeway (I-110) to the east.
Dockweiler State Beach is a beach in Los Angeles, California, with 3.75 miles (6.04 km) of shoreline, a hang gliding practice and training area. Although a unit of the California state park system, it is managed by the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors. Part of the park is located directly under the flight path of the adjacent Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The 91-acre (37 ha) property was established in 1948. Originally part of Venice-Hyperion Beach State Park, it was renamed in honor of prominent early Angeleno Isidore B. Dockweiler in 1955.
Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve is a protected area that once served as the natural estuary for neighboring Ballona Creek. The 577-acre (2.34 km2) site is located in Los Angeles County, California, just south of Marina del Rey. Ballona—the second-largest open space within the city limits of Los Angeles, behind Griffith Park—is owned by the state of California and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The preserve is bisected generally east-west by the Ballona Creek channel and bordered by the 90 Marina freeway to the east.
Westside Village is a neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles, California.
The Ballona Creek Bike Path is a 6.7-mile (10.8 km) Class I bicycle path and pedestrian route in California. The bike path follows the north bank of Ballona Creek until it reaches Santa Monica Bay at the Pacific Ocean. The route is defined by, and recognized for, the dramatic contrast between the channelized waterway’s stark cement geometry and the abundant wildlife of the verdant Ballona Wetlands.
Griffith Jenkins Griffith was a Welsh-born American industrialist and philanthropist. After amassing a significant fortune from a mining syndicate in the 1880s, Griffith donated 3,015 acres (1,220 ha) to the City of Los Angeles that became Griffith Park, and he bequeathed the money to build the park's Greek Theatre and Griffith Observatory. Griffith's legacy was marred by his notorious shooting of his wife in 1903, a crime for which he served a year and nine months in prison.
Ballona is a geographic place name in the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.
Rancho La Ballona was a 13,920-acre (56.3 km2) Mexican land grant in the present-day Westside region of Los Angeles County, Southern California.
Alla is a former streetcar station and archaic place name located near Marina del Rey in the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.
Alsace is a place name designating what was originally an interurban trolley stop, and now an approximately five-block enclave of unincorporated Los Angeles County in the Westside region, surrounded by Del Rey, just north of the Playa Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.
Port Ballona is an archaic place name for an area near the center of Santa Monica Bay in coastal Los Angeles County, where Playa Del Rey and Del Rey Lagoon are located today. Port Ballona was a planned harbor and town site from circa 1859 to 1903. The name comes from the Rancho La Ballona Mexican land grant.
The Venice–Inglewood Line is a former railway line in Los Angeles County, California. The route was established by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1887 before eventually being absorbed into the Pacific Electric interurban railway system. Service under electrification was very sparse, providing a suburban route between Venice and Inglewood.
The Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey was an interurban railway route of the Pacific Electric. It operated between the Hill Street Terminal and Cliffton, south of Redondo Beach, through the company's Western Division.
Del Rey Lagoon Park is a 14-acre (57,000 m2) municipal park in the Playa Del Rey neighborhood of Los Angeles, United States, with a lagoon that is part of the greater Ballona Creek watershed.
Culver Boulevard is an east-west thoroughfare in the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, connecting Venice Boulevard to the coast roads.
Guashna was a Tongva village located at Playa Vista, Los Angeles at the mouth of Ballona Creek. The site has also been referred to as Sa'angna, with various sources debating whether Sa'angna, meaning "place of tar," was a regional referent rather than a village name or whether it was a separate nearby village. The initial place name was said to be Sa'an; the village suffix "ngna" was added by Bernice Johnston to her 1962 map of Gabrieleño villages "despite her having found no mention of the term in baptismal records." Sa'angna is also not to be confused with Suangna. The Tongva referred to the Ballona Wetlands as Pwinukipar, meaning "full of water." Another alternate name may Waachnga.
↑ FILTHY LUCRE.: LOUIS MESMER'S BONANZA MINE AND ITS OUTPUT. AN OLD VAULT IN THE COURTYARD OF THE UNITED STATES HOTEL YIELDS A BUCKETFUL OF $2.50 AND $5 GOLD PIECES. (1887, May 11). Los Angeles Times
1 2 3 4 "Joseph Mesmer, Pioneer Leader, Succumbs at 92: Businessman Helped Build Los Angeles From Pueblo to Metropolis in Years of Service." Los Angeles Times, Nov 29, 1947, pp. 2.
↑ "Member of Pioneer Mesmer Family Dies: Mrs. Lucile Whipple, 86, was Active in Church and Women's Club Affairs." Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1959, pp. 32.
↑ "BROADWAY THEATER AND OFFICE BLOCK.: OLD MESMER HOMESTEAD SOLD AS SITE FOR NEW PLAYHOUSE AND SKYSCRAPING BUSINESS BUILDING." Los Angeles Times, Nov 06, 1901, pp. 12.
↑ WILL BE A BIG ROW.: BUT THE AGED BRIDEGROOM DON'T CARE A-- MR. AND MRS. LOUIS MESMER DISCUSS THEIR MARRIAGE. PEOPLE WILL SAY A LOT OF DISAGREEABLE THINGS. BUT THIS WILL NOT MAR THEIR BLISS--THEY FOOLED EVERYBODY AND ARE HAPPY IN CONSEQUENCE. (1893, Aug 20). Los Angeles Times
↑ "THE BOAT CAPSIZED.: A SAD DROWNING ACCIDENT AT BALLONA HARBOR. CLARENCE, SECOND SON OF JOSEPH MESMER, DROWNED WHILE BOATING ON THE LAGOON--PARTICULARS OF THE DISASTER ARE VERY MEAGER." Los Angeles Times, Aug 26, 1895, pp. 10.
↑ FIFTY DEAD CATTLE.: A SEVERE LOSS OF STOCK AFTER ITS SHIPMENT. HERD WAS BROUGHT FROM NORTHERN ARIZONA AND TURNED LOOSE NEAR BALLONA. (1899, Dec 08). Los Angeles Times.
↑ Guzman, N. S. (1928, Mar 04). RANCHO DAYS OF PAST RECALLED: CULVER CITY NEIGHBORHOOD PIONEERS' PLAYGROUND EXCURSIONS TO SANTA MONICA POPULAR IN 1876 HISTORIC FIFTY-MILE RELAY HORSE RACE RETOLD. Los Angeles Times
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Mesmer (and Briswalter) holdings on the Ballona in 1888
Machado, Alsace, and Mesmer stations in the 1890s
Mesmer placename along California Railway track that became Venice–Inglewood Line (map circa 1900)
Mesmer station visible on Pacific Electric streetcar map; Del Rey Junction is the old Port Ballona stop
Mesmer City was laid out and marketed in 1924 but never developed.
Mesmer Avenue sign at Centinela Avenue, near site of old Mesmer rail stop
