Southern California People: Irish In Los Angeles
by Gloria Ricci Lothrop
W.P Whitsett Professor of California History
California State University, Northridge
"The only place in Ireland where a man can make a fortune is America," an Irish slogan asserts. In pursuit of that expectation as well as the lure of gold, Irishmen ventured to the promised land as part of the rush to California in 1849. Soon they were seeking the rich placer deposits and working the growing number of quartz mines. The majority were young, single, male and grateful to have escaped the famine at home. They were greeted by sympathetic neighbors who shared the sentiments expressed in the Alta California in April 1849, which urged commiseration and sympathy for the hungry of Ireland.
In 1814 the Irish sailor John Milligan or Mulligan, having contracted scurvy, was forced to leave his ship, the Todd, at Monterey. Along with fellow crew member, John Gilroy, a Scotsman, he was allowed by the colonial authorities to become a permanent resident of California. A weaver by trade, Milligan for whom Milligan’s Head in the Salinas Valley is named, soon became proficient in Spanish and served as occasional interpreter.
Irishmen had been welcomed to California even before the advent of the young Argonauts of 1849. In 1795 a ship under the command of Irishman Joseph O’Cain visited Santa Barbara during a sea otter expedition. O’Cain returned later that year aboard a British craft after a typhoon had destroyed his vessel in the Pacific. Although denied residency by the Spanish governor, the undaunted O’Cain returned in 1813 sailing his own ship, the O’Cain, which plied the California waters for the next three years.
In 1843 surveyor Jasper O’Farrell arrived from County Wexford, Ireland. Noted for the accuracy of his surveys, O’Farrell was appointed official land surveyor by Governor Manual Micheltorena. In payment he was granted a ranch in Marin County. In the ensuing years he surveyed 21 Mexican land grants including the 133,440-acre Rancho Margarita y las Flores for Governor Pio Pico in 1845 and Rancho San Jose in 1846, as well as executing the official survey of the bustling town of San Francisco.
In 1844, in an effort to stimulate greater Irish settlement, Vice-consul James A. Forbes secured from Californio leaders the endorsement of a plan of settlement headed by a young Irish priest, Eugene Macnamara, to bring 10,000 Irish immigrants to the San Joaquin Valley. The consequent doubling of the non-Indian population, it was felt, would serve to strengthen Roman Catholic institutions, which would act as buffers against the usurping Americans. The provincial assembly in session at Los Angeles approved the request on July 6, 1846. The grant of 3000 square leagues extending across the eastern half of the San Joaquin Valley was approved within the week by Governor Pio Pico. But the project died aborning, for on July 7, American forces hoisted their flag over the Californio’s capitol at Monterey. The invading Americans secured claim to all of Alta California as a result of the United States’ victory over Mexico, credit for which was shared by General Stephen Watts Kearny, head of the First United States Dragoons.
During the war with Mexico, Irishman William Shannon, a San Diego resident, became commandant of that strategic port. With the conclusion of hostilities, he became a delegate to the California constitutional convention. It was Shannon who introduced the resolution outlawing slavery in California.
Another Irish participant in the war was Richard M. Den, M.D., a native of County Kilkenny who served as the Chief Physician and Surgeon for the Mexican forces. Although he had difficulty receiving reimbursement from either faction, he treated Californios and the American prisoners, including Benjamin D. Wilson and his party captured at the Chino Ranch near Los Angeles in 1846.
In 1836 Richard Den had followed his brother Nicholas, also a doctor, to California via India, Australia, Peru and Mexico. While both Den brothers were medical men, Nicholas’ practice had been put aside in favor of administration of the 70,000-acre Rancho Dos Pueblos and service as alcalde of Santa Barbara. He also devoted himself to preserving the local mission and establishing a Catholic seminary in Santa Barbara. In later years Nicholas Den was one of the seven organizers of the Society of California Pioneers.
While the recently arrived Richard Den was still a guest at his brother’s ranch, he was summoned by the townsfolk of Los Angeles. There he successfully performed several operations. This resulted in the citizens earnest entreaties that he become the permanent physician of the town. With the exception of a brief sojourn in the gold fields and a decade’s absence to administer Rancho San Marcos, until 1895 Richard Den served as the "Nestor of the medical fraternity of Los Angeles," leading the local citizens to adopt the motto, "After God, Dr. Richard." Although viewed with affectionate esteem, Dr. Den also aroused a certain awe in his later days as he made his rounds astride a black charger, dressed in black and wearing a black felt hat atop "a clustered mass of wavy hair as white as snow."
The Los Angeles Census of 1836 lists Daniel Ferguson as the sole Irish resident. But twenty-seven Irishmen, including a dozen soldiers, are listed in the first United States Census of Los Angeles in 1850. An analysis of that enumeration and those of 1860 and 1870 reveals that as they accumulated capital local Irish settlers shifted from service and semiskilled occupations to agriculture. More than a third owned farms by 1870. However, as early as 1857 Irishman Matthew Keller held title to 13,316 acres of Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit.
Irishmen were featured prominently in the various county histories published in the 1880s and 1890s. Foremost among these new elite was Judge H.K.S. O’Melveny who arrived with his family in November 1869, was elected county judge in 1872 and was appointed to the Superior Court in 1887. Another was public servant Andrew Boyle who in the 1860s built the first brick home on the bluffs east of the town later known as Boyle Heights.
Marching in the city’s centennial parade in 1881 were representatives of the Ancient Order of Hibernians organized by the Irish of Los Angeles six years earlier. The group succeeded the earlier St. Patrick’s Benevolent Society organized in 1870. The fate of the Irish political prisoners was of particular concern to another local Irish group, the 80-member Irish Literary and Social Club. Other residents joined the Irish Temperance Society headed by Patrick Connelly. Members of these organizations were the Irish grocers, vineyardists, and orchardists who by the 1880s had become part of the community of Los Angeles.
In 1870 at least 222 of the 476 Irish-born residents were listed in the Great Register of Voters, which reveals that many of them had also become public servants. Former mountain merchant Edward F. Spence served in the California Legislature and even earlier as Treasurer of Nevada. In subsequent years, Irishman Henry King, beginning in 1879, served two terms as Los Angeles Police Chief. Richard A. Ryan was Tax Assessor and William B. Lawlor held the post of Justice of the Peace.
Most notable among them was John G. Downey, born in County Roscommon in 1827. He arrived in the California gold fields in 1850, after attending Latin school in Baltimore, serving an apprenticeship in Washington, D.C. and working as a druggist in Cincinnati. A brief interlude in the Mother Lode was followed by a move to Los Angeles where Downey, in partnership with Dr. James P. McFarland, opened the town’s first drug store. The success of the operation permitted the ambitious young newcomer to acquire land including the Santa Gertrudis Ranch where he engaged in cattle and sheep ranching.
Having served in several local offices including Collector of the Port, Superintendent of Lighthouses and the local Disbursing Agent for the U.S. Treasury Department, Downey was elected to the State Assembly in 1856 and Lieutenant Governor three years later. Four days after Downey’s victory, Governor Milton S. Latham, who had been elected to the U.S. Senate, resigned, making Downey at 32, California’s youngest governor. His leadership in that office was a critical force in keeping California in the Union ranks, although the majority of Downey’s fellow Democrats were secessionists. Firm in his political convictions, he delivered six volunteer regiments to the Union cause.
Governor Downey garnered admiration across the state for his integrity and the sound management of his administration. He countered legislative cabals with a firm veto and, in the process assured the future of private commerce along the city front of San Francisco. As a correspondent for a New York newspaper wrote: "By his firmness, he has saved the state millions of dollars...and discomfited the whole hungry crew of schemers, plunderers and hounds."
Downey’s career after serving as governor was equally successful. He profitably subdivided his lands into residential properties and created the city of Downey. He was a key organizer of the Los Angeles City Water Company and his two-block long Downey Block at Main and Temple streets became the city’s shopping center. His many philanthropies included the gift of a tract of land as the site of the University of Southern California.
Three other Irishmen were important in transforming Los Angeles from a town into a city. In 1896 U.S. Senator Stephen White successfully checkmated Collis P. Huntington of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The powerful member of the Big Four who had constructed the western link of the transcontinental railroad, wanted the federal government to construct a deep water port at Santa Monica, to which the Southern Pacific would have exclusive access. Senator White, the son of Irish immigrants, represented his fellow citizens of Los Angeles in seeking construction of a harbor at San Pedro free of the Southern Pacific’s control. As the battle raged for more than six years, White’s keen intelligence, knowledge of the law and masterful strategy proved equal to Huntington’s wealth and political influence. In the final phase of the struggle, a committee of engineers created as a result of legislation proposed by White, unanimously favored the San Pedro site. Senator White turned aside Huntington’s last ditch effort to foil the construction of the harbor at San Pedro and construction began in 1899.
Oil was another critical element in the economic development of Los Angeles as Edward L. Doheny demonstrated. Born in Wisconsin of Irish parents, Doheny arrived in Los Angeles in 1892 having ventured westward first as a government surveyor and later as a miner at the various mineral strikes which dotted the West. In Los Angeles he soon noticed the ubiquitous brea or tar, especially near Westlake Park. With Charles H. Canfield he leased a nearby section and using makeshift tools, began to dig, hitting lethal natural gas at 50 feet and an impressive gusher at 600 feet.
Inspired by Doheny’s triumph, Angelenos began drilling for oil in their backyards and in empty lots. As a result, by 1897 two thousand wells dotted the landscape in a half-mile swath reaching from Doheny’s oil derrick to Elysian Park. His uncanny talent for finding oil led Doheny across California and into Mexico. The result was an enviable prosperity marred by political controversy over the leasing of the Federal government’s oil reserves at Elk Hills and personal tragedy, before his death in 1935. His many philanthropies benefiting higher education and the Roman Catholic archdiocese permanently enriched Los Angeles.
A burst of urban growth was generated by another Irishman who understood the need for water in the West. William Mulholland, born in Dublin in 1855, arrived in Los Angeles in 1876 after sailing the seas and trekking across a continent as far south as Panama City. The citrus groves and vineyards of the small town captured his imagination. Mulholland determined to settle down and was soon employed as a ditch tender. By 1878 he was in the employ of the los Angeles City Water Company where the strapping, well-educated Mulholland was soon made foreman. When the city assumed operation of the water company, Mulholland was named chief and undertook the construction of the first long-distance, gravity flow aqueduct in the United States, which he completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Angelenos eagerly responded to his laconic invitation uttered upon the arrival of Owens Valley water in 1813: "There it is. Take it." Although the collapse of the St. Francis Dam causing the death of 385 in 1928, for which "the Chief" unjustifiably assumed full responsibility, clouded his later years, Mulholland is remembered for his accomplishments, his keen Irish wit and his wide-ranging knowledge on a variety of subjects.
In June 1897 Joseph Scott alighted from the train at the Los Angeles station. Within ten months he was admitted to practice at the Los Angeles Bar. Scott had inherited an abiding interest in Ireland, staunchly supporting the cause of Irish nationalism. With the Rev. Peter Yorke of San Francisco, he organized statewide support for the Friends of Irish Freedom. Along with John Byrne, a native of County Wicklow, he helped shelter exiles and kept Irish nationalism alive despite press position. The Times described the independence movement as a "tragic-comedy." When Irish President Eamon de Valera visited Los Angeles, he and Scott were rebuffed by the mayor and the Shrine Auditorium was closed to them, Scott remained undaunted.
During sixty years of service as an attorney Scott also forged uncommon links between the secular power structure and the local Irish hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The leadership of the local church by first and second-generation Irishmen began in 1917 with the administration of Archbishop Joseph Cantwell and continued with Francis Cardinal McIntyre, Timothy Cardinal Manning and Roger Cardinal Mahoney. Over the decades Irish priests have continued to represent a significant portion of the secular clergy. There are also a number of Irish-based religious orders. Their activities of Irish-based orders in Los Angeles range from teaching to social work in hospitals and prisons, and administration of charitable institutions. Among them are the Columbian Fathers formed in County Clare, the Sisters of Charity of Ireland, the Presentation Order and the Sisters of St. Louis. Add Daniel Murphy.
Between the turn of the century and World War I increasing numbers of immigrants crossed the seas and ventured across a continent to share in the orange blossom dream of southern California. Arrivals from Ireland worked in a variety of endeavors including the emerging film industry. Among the cinema luminaries Irish by birth or descent are Pat O’Brien, Barry Fitzgerald, Irene Dunne and James Cagney. Others are Spencer Tracy, Maureen O’Sullivan, Dan Daily, Fred MacMurray, and Tyne Daly. More stars are Sean Penn, Aiden Quinn and Mel Gibson. They represent a significant portion of an industry which has significantly contributed to the prosperity of California since the 1920s.
On the threshold of the Great Depression, the Census of 1930 listed 38,792 Irish residents of Los Angeles County. Despite the economic gloom of the 1930s and of the war years which followed, on festive occasions the local Irish congregated at such watering holes as Tom Bergin’s or O’Shaughnessey’s, or gathered for corned beef at Dinty Moore’s, a downtown landmark since 1906, when it opened as a private club for baseball enthusiasts.
Today the Irish community numbers more than 20,000 Irish-born residents among the nearly million who claim some ties to Ireland. The newcomers have come to Los Angeles, which some describe as the quintessential post-modern city, in pursuit of employment opportunities in emerging biotech, media an cyber-based industries, among others. These have been identified by such private employment clearinghouses as the Industrial Development Agency of Ireland located in Santa Monica, one of several agencies lending cohesiveness to the local Irish community.
Although no Irish newspaper is currently published in Los Angeles, The Irishman published in San Francisco, along with several Irish radio programs, covers events throughout the state, including such events as the Rose of Tralee Pageant where a local representative is chosen to attend the pageant’s finals in Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day news traditionally reports the Southland’s several parades - in Los Angeles, Pasadena and Beverly Hills, along with the traditional Gaelic Mass celebrated at holy Trinity Church at San Pedro.
The Irish Cultural Directory lists the many musical groups playing individually or for contra and ceili dances. Classes devoted to the music, song, folklore and literature of Ireland are available at various centers and departments, particularly at UCLA and California State University Fullerton, as well as from private organizations including the Gaelic Society and the Tara School of Irish Dance. Other Los Angeles groups include the American Irish Foundation, the Irish-American Cultural and Historical Association, the Shamrock Club, the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, several branches of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Irish American Bar Association among many others. More specialized groups include the Irish northern Aid Committee, the Irish Forum and the Ulster-American Heritage Foundation.
Ireland’s Own Social and Athletic Club is but one of many sports clubs and activities which constitute one of the most active manifestations of Irish culture to be found throughout the area and give public expression to an ethnic constituency which is deeply rooted in the history of the Los Angeles community.