Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-13
BUILDERS MUST GET BUSY

one Of the leading real estate men
Of Los Angeles declared last week that
if he had 1000 small cottages or bun
galows he could find tenants for every
one within a day.
The official compilation of building
statistics for the United States for
1906 shows that not only Is Los Angeles
putting up many more buildings in pro-
portion to its population than any city
i'm the United states, but that it ranks
in actual cost with the first three or
four, only such places as Brooklyn,
Philadelphia and New York equal
ing Il.
There is much meat i'm these two
statements. one shows that this city
is progressing far faster than any other
on the globe; the other proves that
even its stupcndous ratio of progress
doesn't enable it to keep up with the
influx of people who are eager and anx-
ious to become inhabitants of it.
1t takes such things as these state
ments to give the world at large an
idea Of what is really doing here in
this land of Gods best making. Los
Angeles is so far away from other CEN
ters of population that comparison by
visual means is largely denied People
who live in Philadelphia, for example,
may run up to New York in four hours
and see what is going on in the build
ing line; people in Philadelphia must
spend five days to do the same thing in
regard to Los Angeles. But figures
don't lie, and when each years end
rolls around and the tables are made
up the inevitableness of the rapid
growth of Los Angeles is undeniable;
the statistics show it in every detail
That this is a real and substantial
growth of a permanency, a growth of
lasting sort. is further set out by an
other real estate mans assertion that
office buildings and warehouses cam
not be erected here fast enough to ac-
1t is a fact any one may substantiate-
that new skysCrapers are rented be-
fore the plans are completed and that
space in them is leased before the steel
skeleton is up. Several new office
buildings now in course of construc-
tion-one no further advanced than
hole in the ground-are we'll rented al
ready. Ten new structures of this sort
went up last year, and a vacant room
in any one of them is almost a rarity.
l. ba
quarters; those who have locations
hang on; the newcomer must wait his
turn, either securing space by paying
a heavy bonus or by buying out con-
Germ already running.
The writer has personal knowledge
Of a man who has been here several
weeks trying to find a suitable room
for a retail hat store, of which he has
some half hundred over the United
States, but he can't find single place. |
The cigar trust attempted to corner all
the business in Los Angeles by OPEN
ing up innumerable shops; it has found
places for only two, so far, and it had
to pay tremendously for leases for
these.
The annexation of San Pedro-and it
is perhaps a matter of only a few weeks
will give a great impetus to Los An
geles and lead to a vast expansion of
both wholesale and retail trade. Many
new concerns will be attracted here
because this will then be a seaport.
But what's to be done for quarters for
them? 1t is a fact that there isn't
wholesale warehouse obtainable in Los
Angeles today, at any price, anywhere.
This city must get busy and build
build rapidly, extensively and of every
variety. Cottages homes, flats and
apartments, shops and warehouses-we
need all of them. And we need them
NOW.