Oral Histories

Interview of Samuel Butler

Early resident of Southern California and carpenter on Catalina Island.
Subtitle:
Recollections of Samuel Butler
Topic:
Community History
Biographical Note:
Early resident of Southern California and carpenter on Catalina Island.
Interviewer:
Dixon, Elizabeth I.
Interviewee:
Butler, Samuel
Place Conducted:
Palmer's home in Pasadena, California.
Supporting Documents:
Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
Interviewer Background and Preparation:
The interview was conducted by Elizabeth I. Dixon, Head, UCLA Oral History Program; B.A., international relations, University of Southern California: M.L.S., UCLA School of Library Service.
Processing of Interview:
The tapescript was edited by Donald J. Schippers and indexed by Adelaide G. Tusler.
Language:
English
Copyright:
Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Abstract:
Family's arrival by boat in Los Angeles, 1872; boyhood on ranch between El Monte and Lexington (now Rosemead); sight of surveyors for Southern Pacific Railroad Company coming through property; importation of lemon and orange seeds from Spain; description of early Pasadena and Monrovia; work as well digger on Rancho Santa Anita for Elias I. "Lucky" Baldwin; Lucky Baldwin and H. A. Unruh; Abbot Kinney's development of Ocean Park and Venice; arrival of Benjamin D. Wilson (first mayor of Los Angeles) and George Patton in Pasadena area, 1871; Wilson's vineyards in Pasadena and San Gabriel; employment as superintendent of Arrowhead Hot Springs Hotel, 1889-95; operation of mud baths; hotel burns, 1895; Henry E. Huntington and Huntington Hotel; installation of Pacific Electric railroad along Fair Oaks Avenue to South Pasadena and into Los Angeles; employment by William Wrigley, Jr., as carpenter in building many early Santa Catalina Island structures; notable events and people of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Los Angeles; Wrigleys and baseball in California; playing minor league baseball.