Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-26
SAYS FIESTA IS
THE BEST OF ALL
NEW YORKER COMPARES CIVIC
CELEBRATIONS
Has Seen Many Festivals, but
Believes None Equal to
One JUST Held in
Los Angeles

"The manner in which the Fiesta was
celebrated by the citizens of Los An
geles, the beautiful electrical and floral
displays has outdone everything in that
line have ever seen,' said Sidney Les
ter, a well known business man of New
York city, as he sat in the lobby of
the Hollenbeck hotel yesterday after
noon discussing Los Angeles with sew
eral of his friends and business asso-
ciates.
ITO the whole affair there was a
marked individuality that L have never
seen duplicated at any celebration in
any of the large cities in the United
States" continued Mr.. Lester people
of the south talk of their Mardi Gras,
San Francisco has always boasted of
its New Years eve and Denver points
to her festival of mountain and plain,
better known as the Carnival.
None of these, and L have had the
pleasure of being present at many of
them, compared with the expressions of
municipal patriotism that was apparent
during the Fiesta celebrations. The at
mosphere seemed surcharged with the
spirit of good fellowship and fun. Ev-
erybody discarded care and had a
bully time.
Is at Head of List
For elaborate displays Los Angeles
is certainly at the head of the list. The
gorgeous riot of colors was amazingly
beautiful and the running Of the floats
upon the street car lines is something
entirely new to me. L regard it as be-
ing much superior to any number of
horse team floats which are used in
like celebrations in other cities.
1.-The electric decorations of the large
hIIil n iTle on IQrsnn n nj
South Spring street were not only
beautiful, but exceedingly artistic. The
delicate lights thrown off by the thou
sands of Chinese lanterns which were
draped over the buildings with the pro-
fusion of flags and Fiesta colors was
superb.
But with all this, which in itself was
a great credit to Los Angeles, the con-
duct of the citizens at large was the
most admirable. People crowding each
other on the streets good naturediy
could not be avoided but the absence
of drunken persons, men and women,
raised my estimation of this city far
above that of any other. did not see
one intoxicated person on any street
during the two days celebrations. This
fact impressed me more than any other
feature of the Fiesta. as it is such a
common sight in other cities.
People Are Refined
81 do not attribute this to any efforts
of the police of Los Angeles. It's the
people of Los Angeles. They are re-
fined and cultured and did not go into
the Fiesta with the idea that it was an
opportunity to get on a three or four
days spree. They had the object of
the Fiesta in view, it's significance and
its meaning to Los Angeles.
Il did not hear of more than one
holdup during the two days street
celebrations. In that instance pick
pocket took mans watch, but the po-
lice captured the thief Immediately. In
any other city the burglars and pick
pockets would have reaped a harvest
and gone unmolested by the authori-
ties.
Through the absence of this feature
from the Fiesta Los Angeles showed
clearly that she is a city we'll governed,
has much less of that element which is
naturally supposed drifts here owing
to the delightful climatic conditions.
ITO all of the thousands of visitors
that were present in Los Angeles dur
ing the Fiesta the city made an excel
lent showing. 1t was, in my opinion.
the best advertisement she could ever
get