Homestead Museum

Drilling for Black Gold: The Strange Saga of C.C. Julian, Part Two

by Paul R. Spitzzeri After colorful oil promoter Courtney Chauncey (C.C.) Julian, whose oil wells at Santa Fe Springs were the subject of intense financial speculation starting in spring 1922, was arraigned in July 1923 on charges of selling stock (actually, units) without a license.  Moreover, his aggressive prospecting at Santa Fe Springs was looking... Continue Reading →

Drilling for Black Gold: The Strange Saga of C.C. Julian, Part One

by Paul R. Spitzzeri In the latest of a series of booms that broke in Los Angeles, the early 1920s featured an explosion of speculation in oil, an endeavor in which Walter P. Temple was fully embroiled.  No one rose as spectacularly and flamed out so dramatically as Courtney Chauncey (C.C.) Julian, whose folksy ads... Continue Reading →

An Expatriate in Ensenada: A Letter to Walter P. Temple, 19 July 1930

by Paul R. Spitzzeri Several days ago, a post here discussed a financial statement of Walter P. Temple’s Temple Estate Company from 15 July 1930, issued at a time when his long-precarious financial situation was worsening, as was the case for so many Americans as the Great Depression was in its early stages. That report... Continue Reading →

Through the Viewfinder: The Women’s Christian Temperance Union Temple, Los Angeles, ca. 1920s

by Paul R. Spitzzeri As the Homestead commemorates the centennial of the enactment of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, and we get ready to change our exhibit in the Homestead Museum Gallery from the temperance movement leading up to 1919 with the Prohibition years that followed through the... Continue Reading →