Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-05-30

snare. according to the federal census.
THE school census taken this month
shows a population of 302,6O4, having
tripled in eight years. -Four years aso
a real estate agent put up nuHpeI
of wooden for sale" signs on vacant
lots. on each was the bold inscrip-
ton: Los Angeles. Population 2OO-
600 In 1910" Some of the signs are
still in existence, but the painter has
run a line through the ZOO, Ooo' and
has painted beneath 1t 100000" Few
cities realize the ambitions OF real es.
tate agents as presented on lor saio
signs within the limit of time liked.
Los Angeles has made even the opti-
,njsm of a real estate man seem ike
the conservative estimates of prop
erty holder talking business with the
assessor.
There may be those who will say
that the school census Is not good
authority. Even II the enuinera i,.,,s
have overstepped the bounds a nttle
bit, the United states census office has
declared that the growth of Los An
geles has been so much greater In pro-
portion than for the preceding decade
that Ii was forced to omit the city
from the list of mid-decade population
estimates. The most conservative es-
innate made places the present pop
ulation at 2S5,000, which is but little
below the three hundred thousand
mark. OF course none of these statis-
tics take into account the many oeau-
tiful suburban towns which are q part
of the metropolitan clientele or Los
Angeles.
When the last census was taken.
eight years ago, Los Angeles was the
| thirty seventh city in the United
States in the amount of receipts at the
postoffice. Now 1t has moved up TO
| eighteenth In the list, ranking Just
ahead of Indianapolis. On account or
the large number of tourists and other
visitors who come to stay week or
month, the Los Angeles postoffice has
the largest general delivery service in
the whole country. 1t has proved al
most impossible to provide room in
buildings to keep up with the rapid
expansion of the postal business OF the
city.
Not all of the tourists who come to
Los Angeles are rich people who can
afford to stay In the magnificent no.
tells with which the city is plentifully
provided. The great majority of the
visitors take furnished rooms. The
chamber of commerce helps the visitor
to find q placeNto stay and 1t has on its
list 10000 furnished rooms. No city In
the country of the size has anything
like this number, and not even New
York can boast of list or directory
which contains so many addresses of
| the kind. The Angeleno Is always
willing to help stranger. Any police
man can direct one how to reach any
address in the city by street car--some-
thing that can be done In very few
cities or course the "cop" Is aided by
book he carries, but Los Angeles
sees that he has the book.
The Los Angeles real estate agent
is in a class by himself. The stranger
within the gates cannot escape him,
| He calls at the hotels. Let the
stranger declare that he is only tour
ist,> that he doesn't want to buy any
property, that he has prejudice
against real estate, that nothing on
earth could induce him to become in
terested in corner lot. The real estate
agent smilingly replies: Certainly
certainly, but / came around just to
take you for a drive over the city, just
to show you the town." From his tone
one would think that selling land was
the last thing on earth he would care
to think about.
The agent takes the stranger into
his motor car. He sweeps through the
well-paved streets. He points out tbs
splendid system of ornamental street
lighting and mentions that Los An
geles was the first American city Il
follow the lead of Paris in this par.
ticular. He indicates new office build
lings and hotels with careless men
ton of millions of dollars in connec'
ton with each. He stops for a minute
on the crest of an elevation and says
Look" The stranger looks about
and as far as he can see in every di
rection there are neat streets borderet
with roses and geraniums and thanked
with rows of homes and bungalows o
every conceivable style of architecture
except the square box effects of east
ern cities.
When the vision is all taken in thu
real estate agent casually remarks
that four years ago there wasn't {
; house in all that section. Parks, clubs
palatial residences. avenues of palms
long rows of pepper trees, profusiol
of tropic flowers and maze of beau
. tiful homes. The real estate agen
hasn't yet said a thing about lots. Blu
he will. He knows that there is goo'
, chance to sell some of them, for tina
is exactly the way some forty or NIT.
thousand people have been brought t
5 Los Angeles.
{ The City of the Angels refuses poin
, blank to look at the hole. 1t concen
trates its gaze upon the doughnut
When the panic came last October /
l hit Los Angeles as 1t did every othe
' city But creditor wholesalers said t
? We won't let you fall. We will Civ
you more time. We must look out 70
the reputation of the town" TIL
booster spirit here penetrates even int
the region of the personal pocketbook
It is a city of ideals. Even real es
: tate agent, with his mind on business
said: Remember, Los Angeles cal
D furnish a carnation for every man, wo
' man and child in the United State
4 every day"
5 Copyright. 1908, by Frederic ]. Haskin)