Los Angeles herald., 1905-07-23


men of Los Angeles Of the old days has
been very marked Of late. A few years
ago Tom Rowan and w. ]. Brodrick
stepped across the borderland. Much
Of the significance of life in our brave
city departed with those two men.
Within a few weeks Charles j. Shep-
herd, Joe Maier and Fred ]. Harkness
have followed to the great beyond,
Hardness was associated with Brod-
rick, under the inspiration Of l. w,
Hellman, in building UP the modest
street car system which was replaced
by the cable system of ]. f. Crank,
which latter was succeeded in turn by
the trolley roads Of Sherman and
Clark and the tremendous city and in
terurban roads of H.. e. Huntington.
In addition to his street railway inter-
ests, Brodrick was for years interested
in the concerns of the old water COM
pany.
All of these men died young, compar-
atively speaking. There was not one
of them who, in the estimation of his
friends, should not have been
good for twenty years of business life
to come, Charley Shepherd made a
comfortable fortune In. handling
oranges. His death was sudden. Fred
Harkness was in the enjoyment. APP
parently. Of his usual robust health
when the unexpected call came. One
Is tempted to ask, What is the matter
with these kids?" a question I heard
from an intimate associate of them all
Rowan, Brodrick. Shepherd, Hardness
and Maier-a quintet who probably
had more friends than any other five
men in Southern California.
Knew His End Was Coming
Joe Maier was the only one of the
five who had any premonition of his
approaching end He suffered an at
tack of paralysis about two years ago.
His friends are glad to know that he left
fortune of half a million dollars to-
dollar of this himself. 49,"
Somewhat over twenty years ago he
ran the Eintracht saloon, at that time
next door to The Herald office on Main
street. opposite the Bullard block. His
place was noted for the excellent order
which was always maintained there.
An interview between Joe Maier and
a clustering Arizona desperado-Los
Angeles was full of this genus in those
days-was worth going several blocks
to take in. The young Bavarian was
full of the pluck of the Teutonic race
and had very pretty wit, which was
never at fault.
He soon realized that there was not
He associated himself with the senior
Zobelein, and together they purchased
the Philadelphia brewery, which was
then owned by Louis Lichtenberger,
one of whose sons is now a prominent
business man of Los Angeles. The two
have built up the colossal Maier & 70
belein brewery, which Is to this city
what the Anheuser- Busch brewery is
to st. Louis, and which has played a
leading part in keeping Los Angeles
money at home. We have never had
a more public spirited citizen than Joe
Maier. He was always ready to lend a
helping hand to any good work.
The First Brewery
The first brewery ever established in
Los Angeles was started by Chris
Henne on the lot where the HenneI
building now stands on Third street,
between Main and Spring, adjoining
the Lankershim building. The brewery
had an entrance on both Spring and
Main streets. Henne was an excellent
citizen and died in the early '60s. He
left daughter who is married to our
enterprising fellow citizen. Louis
Sloss.
After his death the brewery passed
into the hands of Lauth & Stocker,
and in their hands the New York brew
cry came to be household word in Los
Angeles and Southern California, At a
critical stage of Phil Lauths career a
gentleman named d. Mahlstedt was
running the Philadelphia brewery and
it was generally thought that COM
petition had set in between these two
as to which could drink the most. The
contest was looked upon as a duel to
the death, as indeed 1t proved to be.
pulled out first and took a trip to Hon
olulu for recuperation; where he died.