1911-1974 a Thesis Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of The

Home , Isaac Lankershim

CAL IFOi\NTA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORil1R IDGE

VALLEY NEWS AND GREEN SHEET U· 1911-1974

A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in

Mass Communication in Journalism

Sheila Marie Hazlett

May, 1975 The thesis of Sheila Marie Hazlett 1s approved:

California State University, Northridge

May, 197 5

ii TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT • • • • • . • . • • • • • o • • • • • • • 1. v

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1

II. HISTORY AND MYSTIQUE OF SAN FERNANDO VALLEY......

III. EARLY YEARS OF THE NEWS UNDER FRANK M. KEFFER. • ...... 46

IV. THE NEWS UNDER WALTER MENDENHALL • • • • 61

v. FERDINAND MENDENHALL, MAURICE MARKHAM, RALPH MARKHAM AND THE NEWS TODAY • • • • • • • • • • . . . . . 71

VI. ROLE OF THE VALLEY NEWS AS SEEN FROM THE INSIDE • • • ...... 101

VII. ADVERTISING, CIRCULATION AND PRODUCTION • • o • • . . . •. . . . . 114

VIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. • • • • • • • • 128

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 136 t I APPENDICES • ...... 142

It I l lll ABSTRACT

VALLEY NEWS AND GREEN SHEET 1911-1974

Sheila Marie Hazlett

Master o£ Arts ln Mass Co®~unication ln Journalism

May, 197 5

The phenomenon o£ the growth o£ Southern California's

·San Fernando Valley has been reflected £or sixty-four

years in the area's largest local newspaper, the Valley

·News and Green Sheet.

The News is circulated in an area o£ over 320 square

miles, to more than 280,000 households, ~oing £rom a

:weekly ln 1911, to its present £our-times-a-week publica-

tion schedule.

This thesis includes a brief history o£ the San

;Fernando Valley, along with a history o£ the paper, toil-

lustrate how the two grew together, each contributing to

the development o£ the other. Interviews with individuals

involved in the paper's history and present status re-

vealed that they believe the paper's emphasis on local news

is one principal £actor in its success. Another £actor is

lV the large volume of classified advertising, the second

largest west of the Mississippi, and fifth largest in the

United States.

A tabulation of the number of local vt'Csus outside-

the-Valley stories showed that the paper has devoted most

of its space (76 percent) to local news over the past

sixty-four years,, allowing it to maintain a hometown

flavor.

This thesis, on the basis of the evidence gathered,

concludes that the News contributed substantially to the

growth of the San Fernando Valley, and has retained a I . prominent position in that community by offering a mirror

on the lifestyle and values of Valley residents, while

offering them, at the same time, a marketplace for their

goods and services.

:.\ ...

v CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Statement of Objectives, Limitations and Methodology

The post-war phenomenon of the growth of the San

Fernando Valley in Southern California, from vast wheat fields to its present, sprawling miles of tract houses and fast-food chains, reflected the culmination of the American . . . 1 dream for many of lts 1,286,500 lnhabltants.

The first step in realizing the Valley's potential came in the early 1900s with the arrival of many pioneer families. In 1911, Frank M. Keffer, former Pennsylvania school principal, newspaperman and businessman, established the News in Van Nuys as a hometown weekly. The newspaper grew with the Valley, mirroring the values and interests of the twenty-four separate communities it serves in the San Fernando Valley, as well as those of the

200,000 residents of the Simi, Conejo and Santa Clarita

Valleys. 2

Today the News' classified advertising lineage figures are the second largest west of the Mississippi

1 •.l

and fifth largest in the United States. The paper has a 3 circulation of approximately 282,000 homes. The Van_~~~s

-~h_.E:::et in all of its editions except the Central in 1955.

Those papers circulated in Van Nuys still read Van Nuys

News and Gre~n Sh~et, but it is known to most readers as simply, the Green Sheet. In its own columns, however, it is referred to as the News, and this is the designation that will be used throughout this thesis. For most of its sixty-four years, the News has been an important part of California journalism. This thesis will explore the history of a publication which has survived in an area that has seen more than fifty other newspapers come and

4 go •

This thesis concentrates on the history of the News ~ through 1974, one year after its sale to the Tribune

Company of Chicago, which has the Chicago Tribune among its many holdings.

Although a portion of the thesis is devoted to the economic and technical developments of the News, the main body of research deals with the News from a journalistic standpoint, including a look at the newspaper's content, principal personalities, editorial policy and the changes that have occurred ln these areas over the years. A brief 3

history of the San Fernando Valley, a look at the early

history of the paper and a listing of competitive publica-

tions that have existed in the Valley are part of the

background information.

Sketches of the leading personalities involved in

the paper's development, particularly the members of the

Markham and Mendenhall f~~ilies--coupled with a brief

sampling of the content of the News over the years--offer

an insight into how each editor saw the role of the news-

paper in the Valley. Changes in content and editorial

opinion, and results of a readership survey reflect the

philosophical, political and economic profile of the com-

munities the paper serves.

The decision in 1974 to add United Press International. 'c/ coverage, and changes in the women's and sports sections,

offer some indication of perceived changes 1n the interests

of Valley readers, a far cry from the days when the News

covered only local events. The physical expansion of the

News reflects its economic success. Increases in the

number of staff members, circulation figures and areas of

distribution (into three neighboring valleys), plus the

change-over to the cold-type, computerized production I methods are included here. 4

The picture which emerges indicates the paper played

a central role in the growth of the Valley through its

extensive coverage of the life-style and interests of its

readers.

Methodology

Personal interviews with those involved in the publication of the paper, including Ferdinand Mendenhall,

vice president and editor, and Maurice Markham, president

and publisher, were an invaluable source of information.

Their reminiscences of the early years o£ the News, par

ticularly those involving their fathers, W. c. Markham and Walter Mendenhall, were vital to understanding the guiding philosophy o£ the paper.

Interviews with others in executive positions, those with key editorial staff jobs, and some o£ the "old timers" who have been on the staff £or many years, or are now retired, provided other details and color in the 64- year history of the newspaper. Those interviewed in addition to Mendenhall and Markham were: Ralph Markham, secretary and advertising director; Laurance Fowler, managing editor; Miriam Petherolf, treasurer and food editor; Donald Fetherolf, assistant secretary and retail manager; Bob Aschenbrenner, assistant city editor; Haig 5

Keropian, associate editor; Gladys Branson, Fa.'ll.ily Living

editor; Frank Mazzeo, sports editor; Veta McMahan, retired

staff writer; Joy Castro, assistant classified advertising manager; Mary Jane Petit, daughter of Frank M.

Keffer; Mary Margaret Cowart, head switchboard operator;

Ed Richardson, retired mailroom foreman, and Nellie

Richardson, mailroom employe. Edited transcripts of the in-depth interviews with key personnel are included in the text of the thesis; selected photographs related to the history o£ the paper are in Appendix D.

Other principal resource areas included the files and records o£ the News. A systematic study o£ the newspaper through its microfilm holdings supplemented the in-depth interviews. A tabulation o£ local news versus outside- the-Valley news was done to determine what percentage o£ the total news hole has been used £or non-local stories.

One issue a year, beginning with the first, November 24,

1911, and continuing on that date, or the closest publication date each year, through 197 4, was examined to determine the percentage o£ non-local stories. (The years 1923, 1957, 1959 and 1960 were not available on microfilm. The tabulated data are in Appendix A).

Outside-the-Valley, or non-local, stories were defined £or this study as any story not dealing directly 6

with individuals, organizations or issues relating to the

Valley. Stories dealing with actions, policies or decisions affecting the entire city and/or county of Los

AngPl8s were counted as Valley stories. However, stocic~s from Sacramento, dealing with state-wide issues were not counted, unless they specifically mentioned the Valley or a specific area in the Valley.

Three sections of the News were not included in the tabulation: women's (Family Living), sports and entertainment, since the percentage o£ non-local news used over the years in these sections is so small as to have little bearing on the final percentage figures. The tabulation also was broken down into the years under the three editors: Frank M. Keffer, 1911 to 1932; Walter Mendenhall,

1932 to 1955, and Ferdinand Mendenhall, 1955 to the present, to. determine the nature o£ the content during their editorship.

Editorials were not counted in the tabulation, but were read to get an overview of the paper's main areas of concern over the years. The tabulation was done in the form of a galley-count (one galley lS one column of type running the length o£ the page: 21 inches). The number o£ news galleys were counted and totaled for each issue, as were the number of galleys carrying outside-the-Valley 7

stories. Percentages were then calculated to determine

the proportion o:f local to non-local news.

Literature Review

Examination o:f the literature :found :few historical works concerning the San Fernando Valley. TI1ere were none

·on the history o:f journalism in the San Fernando Valley.

However, numerous magazine writers have described the li:fe-

style o:f Valley residents at various times throughout the past :fi:fty years. These provided necessary background material. The literature on the community press in general was explored to determine whether the News is in any

sense unique among community newspapers. Journalism

Abstracts revealed no other academic work done in this area, and the News itsel:f has not previously been the subject o:f such an intensive study. Resources available through the San Fernando Valley Historical Society, in- eluding materials gathered :for the proposed Los Angeles

Valley College Historical Museum, o:f:fer another source

:for background information.

Limitations o:f Study

This study is limited in one sense by its broadness, but dealing with many areas o:f the newspaper rather than 8

just one specific aspect is necessary to give the overview

of this newspaper and reasons for its success. Another

I J imi ting factor is the small ;:>.:mount of historical i..nfor- t !' mation about the Valley. Several standard reference works

offer some research sources but none are up to date. 5

Qbjectives

A historical narrative on the growth and development

of the News, from its beginning in 1911 to late 1974,

provides a picture of a newspaper that has played an im-

portant role in the development of an area as large and

diverse as the San Fernando Valley. This study offers a

contribution to journalism history by providing a record

of a newspaper that is somewhat unique in its vast area of

coverage, longevity, financial success and independence. 9

NOTES

l Population figures are from Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, l July 1973. ~ 2 Population figures are £rom Ventura County Depart- ment o£ Regional Planning, l July 1973. I 3 Advertising lineage figures according to Val~~ News and Green Sheet records, 10 December 1974. I 4 Robert Durrenberger, Leonard Pitt, Richard Preston, The San Fernando Valley-A Bibliography, Center I for Urban Studies and Bureau o£ Business Services and I Research, San Fernando Valley State College, Northridge, California, 1966, pp. 24-25. 5 Frank M. Keffer, ~istory o£ the San Fernando Valley, mgr. ed. Harold McLean Meier, Arthur Hamilton Cawston, (Glendale: Stillman Printing Co., 1934); W. W. Robinson, The Story o£ the San Fernando Valley, (Los Angeles: Title I Insurance and Trust Co., 1961). CHAPTER II

HISTORY AND MYSTIQUE OF THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

California today is the final experiment, the last ex~anse within our borders to be dis covered, plotted, dedicated, fenced in, concrete spread, smog layered. California is our last resort. Where will people sunbathe when California is gone?1

Author Christine Albert expressed the hope that led

millions of people over the past century to seek California

as the last place to realize the great American dream o£

security, success, and in this case, sunshine.

There are many valleys in this land of fruit trees

and freeways, but to over 1.2 million Californians, there

is only one valley, the San Fernando Valley. Chicago

would fit snugly into the San Fernando Valley, and it

could take six Manhattans and never £eel them within its

320 square miles. To fully understand the scope and role

of the Valley News and Green Sheet, this chapter presents

a history of the vast area known as the San Fernando

Valley, its growth and development, and a brief profile

of its inhabitants.

10 ll

In August, 1769 Gaspar de Portola led the first party

of white men across the San Fernando Valley on its

way north to Monterey Bay.

Father Juan Crespi, who kept a diary of the trip,

wrote:

We saw a very pleasant and spacious valley. We descended to it and stopped close to the watering place, which is a very large pool. Near it we found a large village of heathens, very friendly and docile; they offered us their seeds in baskets and other ' ~· things made of rushes. There were so many that if more of them had come with arms it would have caused us some suspicion, £or we counted more than two hundred men, women and children. Each of them brought some food with which to regale us, and we reciprocated with beads and ribbons. We gave to this plain the name o£ Valle of Santa Catalina de Bononio de los Encinos. It is nearly three leagues wide and more than eight long. It has on its hills and in its valleys many live oaks and walnuts, though small 2

Crespi was describing an area which is now the site

of the communities o£ Encino and Sherman Oaks. The name

given by the Spaniards to the area, the Valley o£ St.

Catherine o£ Bononia o£ the Live Oaks, survived until the

establishment o£ a mission twenty-eight years later by r Franciscan friars, seeking a site £or a mission to break I up the walk between the San Gabriel Mission and that of

San Buenaventura.

The friars, £rom the San Fernando College in Mexico

City, selected a place in the upper hal£ of the Valley 12

de los Encinas. They chose to name the Valley and the

mission San Fernando, like thei:r college, in memory of 3 Ferdinand II I, King of Spain {:rom 1217 to 1257. The

rnission \vas founded on September 8, 1797, w1 th Father

Fermin Francisco de Lausen blessing the wate:r, the site

and a la:rge c:ross. Converts and cattle increased, and the

mission's sway ove:r the entire Valley extended to two

hundred different Indian :ranche:rias, including Cahuenga,

Camulos, Pi:ru, Topanga, Simi, Tujunga and Pacoima. Many

of these names still exist today.

The Valley p:rospe:red unde:r the mission system, with productive fields of wheat, barley, co:rn, beans and peas,

f:ruit o:rcha:rds and vineyards. Thousands of cattle, ho:rses and sheep grazed the Valley, tended by the Indians.

The cont:rove:rsy still goes on, however, as to whether the

Indians benefited or su££e:red unde:r the padres' domina- . 4 t1on.

When Mexican rule replaced Spanish rule in California

1n 1822, the San Fernando Valley was little affected. It wasn't until the Mexican government decided to secularize the missions in 1834, transferring control £:rom church to civil authorities, that the old way of living began to disappear. As the Indians drifted away, decay set in, and much misuse o£ the mission wealth :resulted in the final 13

decline o£ the whole mission system. San Fernando Mission

became a presidio, and the Indians, who had worked the

land for so long, received no compensation from the

Mexican government. 1 ! A minor turning point ln the history o£ the Valley

I was the discovery o£ gold in 1842. Within two years after I ! I the discovery in Placerita Canyon, some $80,000 to I' $100,000 in gold had been mirr~d, with fortune seekers from

all over the country working the mines. / In 1846, Pio Pico, the last governor o£ California

under Mexican rule, sold 121,542 acres, covering most o£

the Valley floor, to Eulogio de Celis, a native o£ Spain.

Profit £rom the purchase price o£ $14,000 was used by Pico

in a desperate effort to keep California £rom becoming a

part o£ the United States, by buying arms and outfitting

his troops. By terms o£ the sale, the new owner, de Celis,

agreed to:

••• take care o£ the old Indians during their lifetime and to respect their right to plant crops. He also agreed to warrant to the Father Minister subsistence and clothing with all possible decency together with the rooms assigned to him or those which he justly requires.s

War with the United States followed, and American

soldiers under Col. John C. Fremont entered the San

Fernando Valley on January 11, 1847. Fremont rested at 14

the mlSSlon and on January 13, he went on to Cahuenga,

the present site of Universal City, and signed a treaty

between the Americans and the Californians, who surren-

~ered upper Cal.ifornia. Andres Pico, brother of the

Mexican governor, signed as commander of the Californians. I The following year California officially became a I part of the United States with the signing of the Treaty

of Guadalupe Hidalgo. California was admitted to the

Union as a state in 1850. Land grants made by the Mexican

government in the era of the vast ranchos were confusing

and in much dispute. After California became part of the

United States, litigation went on for many years to deter-

mine the actual owners of vast ranchos. In 1851 the Board

of Land Commissioners was created to settle some of the

title claims, and de Celis filed his claim with the Board

in October of 1852 for all the land deeded to him by Pio

Pico. His grant was declared authentic and a patent was

issued after a survey for 116,858.43 acres. Several other

smaller Valley land grants also were acknowledged as

valid.

In 1853 de Celis, the first purchaser and owner of

the San Fernando Valley, left his immense rancho and

returned to his native Spain, appointing Edward Vischer

his attorney in fact. De Celis died in Spain in 1869, and 15

. his wife and children came back to Southern California.

The eldest son, Eulogio F. de Celis, was appointed ad

ministrator of his father's estate. 6

In 1854 Andres Pico, who had leased a portion of the

rancho since 1845, obtained a deed to half the land for

$15,000 from Vischer and de Celis' widow. He also got a

I year's lease on the appurtenances, including fifty head of I wild horses and mares, thirty-seven head of cattle and

one yoke of oxen. The rental was $1 a month.

Frank M. Keffer described the life-style of a

Spanish don:

The mission rancho of Andres Pico became a favorite gathering place £or Spanish and American friends in Los Angeles, where, under the spell of the General's splendid hospitality, all bitterness over the past was dispelled and a strong bond of cooperation was developed. Here many of the Americans gained their first intimate knowledge o£ real California way o£ life as established by the Spanish dons. Above all else, General Pico, was a horseman, a real caballero. He never tired in showin~ his excellent strain o£ saddle horses and their fine equipment. One saddle outfit alone is said to have cost over $5000. In the way o£ enter tainment, £or his guests Pico provided everything £rom a fiesta to a bull fight, and often hunting trips were arranged to shoot antelope in the vicinity o£ Elizabeth Lake. Pio Pico and Eulogio de Celis were land barons of the Valley, but it was General Andres Pico who, through his residence here, gave the Valley its most intimate touch with old Spanish customs.?

Settlement o£ the Valley by the Americans began slow-

ly according to W. W. Robinson, Valley historian, 16

During the late [1860s] and early [1870s], a visitor riding horseback through the high wild mustard would have seen no evidence o£ human ac tivity in the whole wide San Fernando Valley except the mission, perhaps Lopez Statjon, and a few other nearby adobes, and cattle grazing in £ields. 8

Early settlers Geronimo and Catalina Lopez built a

large adobe home on a 40-acre tract near the mission,

which became known as Lopez Station. There, Rennie

Nadeau's 20-mule team which did the hauling to and from

TI1e Cerro Gordo mines in Inyo County, put up for the night

before crossing the Mojave Desert. Nadeau owned large

mining interests in Cerro Gordo, and made the site o£ the

future city o£ San Fernando his headquarters. Don Lopez

also operated the first post office in the Valley, and

ran the first and only general store until 1874.

About 1840, a young Spanish girl, Concepcion

Arguello, who was preparing to be a nun, taught a private

school at the mission £or daughters o£ Spanish rancheros.

In 1860, Don and Dona Lopez established the first public

school at Lopez Station, taught by Mrs. Catherine Carter i f at a salary o£ $60 a month. In May o£ 1862, Andres Pico I turned over all his interests in the San Fernando Valley to his brother Pio, who in turn sold the southern portion

o£ the Valley to the newly formed San Fernando Farm Home-

stead Association in 1869 for $115,000. 17

The Association had been formed by Isaac Lanker shim, a European immigrant who had made a fortune as a stockman and grain grower in Napa County, California. Lanker shim, on a ,~hance horseback ride through the San Fern;:mdo Valley, was impressed by the size of the wild oats and other vege- tation on the valley floor.

He was joined in the Association by Isaac Newton

Van Nuys, newly arrived from New York. After two years of drought had killed 40,000 cattle and sheep, the grazing business was phased out in favor of raising wheat. This was largely due to Van Nuys' influence, since his interests were in £arming. Vast wheat fields spread over what is now Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Reseda, Canoga Park and other communities. The San Fernando Farm Homestead

Association was dissolved in 1874, and in 1880, the trust- ees distributed the property to the stockholders, largest of whom was James B. Lankershim, son of the original

Lankershim, who was superintendent of the ranch for many years. 9

The de Celis and Pico families held on to their interests in the northern hal£ of the Valley for a few years, but, £aced with foreclosure in the spring o£ 1874, they sold their portion of the area to State Senator f~~~ i 18 I

Charles Maclay and George K. Porter. The sale of the

southern hal£ of the Valley by de Celis and the Picos

marked the beginning of the investment of American capital

in the d.Tea. With the pui:"c1:ase of the northern ha.lf by

Maclay and Porter, the "Day o£ the Dons" was finally over.

California Governor Leland Stanford had recommended

the Valley land to his friend Senator Maclay from Santa

Clara, who was looking £or Southern California land.

Maclay came to Los Angeles, hired a team and drove to the

Valley, where he reputedly acclaimed, "This is the Garden 10 o£ Eden."

Maclay saw its possibilities as quickly as Isaac Lankershim had three years before. He lost no time in getting the boat back to San Francisco to raise the $60,000 necessary to secure the pur chase. He had to make the deposit by a certain day or lose the opportunity. A terrific storm kept the boat outside the Golden Gate £or a week. Ashore, finally, he had not a moment to lose. The Porters proved willing to enter the deal, but were, at the time, short o£ ready money. In desperation he rushed to his friend, Governor Leland Stanford. Without a moment's hesitation, Stanford loaned him the $60,000 with never the scratch o£ a pen between them. He got to a bank just in time to close the deal. The big ranch was his!ll

Maclay's partner was George K. Porter, a San

Francisco shoe manufacturer, who was interested in £arm-

ing. After several years, they were joined in the

partnership by a Porter cousin, Benjamin F., £rom Santa

Cruz, and under the direction o£ the three men, the . . ... 19

northern hal£ of the Valley, like the south, becam c== _ wheat field. At almost the same time in 1874, the

Southern Pacific completed its southern unit, with ~;:::i;Tli-

and the San Fernando Valley.

So came three great factors, a railroad, wheat, and a real estate subdivision to help lift the San Fernando Valley into its proper place in the onward march of progress in California. The sway of the California dons had passed. Americans had come into possession of nearly the entire Valley. In the north Maclay and the Porters; in the south, Lankershim, Van Nuys, and the Garnier brothers (owners of the Encino Rancho); and in the east Dr. David Burbank with his Providencia Rancho. Another person who held extensive acreage was Miguel Leonis, a wealthy sheep owner, who had purchased the El Escorpion Rancho on the extreme west slope of the Valley. The population, however, was still largely Spanish with a few remaining Indians.l2

In the same year of 1874, the fast-dwindling Indian population held its last feast at the mission, and mass was said for the last time in the old mission church. The 13 property became the victim of vandals.

On September 15, 1874, Maclay applied for the rights to establish the city of San Fernando. Excursion trains brought persons interested in buying lots out from Los

Angeles at hal£ rate, including lunch at the mission.

Town lots went for $10 to $24 each and farm lands at $5 to

$40 an acre. 20

San Fernando was typically frontier. Being a railroad terminus, Rennie Nadeau's stables were moved out there from Los Angeles. nThis teaming to the Cerro Gordo mines employes 1600 mules and 80 team sters, so that the stables and dwelling will furnish a fair start for a town in themselves" is une of the naive statements in a real estate prospl!ctus of the day, giving one an idea of the relative importance of live stock and men in that picturesque period. 14

The town of San Fernando was located within Maclay's holdings, which was the first subdivision of lots and

small acreage pieces. Until that time a Valley real

estate map listed the holdings as: Maclay, George F.

Porter and B. F. Porter, approximately 19,000 acres each;

Andres Pico, 2,000 acres; the Lankershim-Van Nuys syndicate, 59,500 acres; Dr. David Burbank, 8,867 acres;

Garnier Brothers, 4,460 acres, and Miguel Leonis, 1,100 15 acres.

There were a few small holdings that had been home- steaded in the Chatsworth area, and a few grants north of

San Fernando. A major period of growth for the Valley began with the completion of the San Fernando Tunnel, linking northern California to the south by rail. Los

Angeles was now on Southern Paeific' s transcontinental line. The driving of a golden spike on September 5, 1876, marked the end of over a year's labor by 1,500 men, mostly Chinese coolies, digging the 6,900 feet of tunnel. 21

In 1880, the southern hal£ of the Valley was deeded

to the newly-formed Los Angeles Farm and Milling Company,

which succeeded the original San Fernando Fz~rm lfomestead

Association, with the almost idu1t i cal 1->oard of di r1c:>Ct' n~ So

With the success of wheat raising, the company produced

510,000 bushels of wheat in 1888, and during this same

period the northern portion of the Valley was also abun

dant with wheat and barley.

The three partners in the north Valley, Maclay and

the Porters, all of whom had been San Francisco

vigilantes, decided to subdivide in 1881.

Senator Maclay took the portion northeast of the

1 Southern Pacific main line, and east of Pacoima Creek,

while the Porters tossed a coin to determine their shares.

Ben Porter won the lands west of Aliso Canyon and west of

the present Zelzah Avenue, including the Chatsworth area,

where the Porter Ranch still stands. George became the

owner of the center portion. Each man got approximately

20,000 acres.

A real estate boom in the late 1880s brought sub-

division to the Valley on a large scale, and set the

trends in motion that exist to this day. In 1888, 12,000

acres were purchased from the Los Angeles Farm and 22

Milling Company by the Lankershim Ranch Land and Water

Company. The land was subsequently subdivided into 40-acre 16 parcels, ranging in price from $5 to $150 an acre.

The directors of the Lankershim Compa.ny l1ad not planned to develop a townsite, however, a hotel, store and blacksmith shop sprang up.

When a town thus had gone ahead and virtually established itself, the settlers got together and called it Toluca. W. C. Weddington became the first postmaster in 1893, and continued as such for a quarter of a century. He located the first office in the back bedroom of the Weddington home, but later dispensed the letters and mail order catalogs from the Weddington Bros. General Store, which his sons, Guy and Fred conducted for many years. Before 1893 people had to drive all the way to Colgrove, now Hollywood, for their mail.l7

Southern Pacific built a station in the new community of Toluca and called the station Lankershim. The name stuck and the area was known as Lankershim for many years.

It is now North Hollywood. Lankershim Boulevard, North

Hollywood's main street, now boasts pornographic book- shops, tattoo and massage parlors, as well as one of the main circulation offices of the News.

In 1889, 170 acres of naval oranges,were planted on land subqivided in the northern half of the Valley.

George Porter, in 1887, had deeded a large portion of his acreage southwest of the town of San Fernando to the new Porter Land and Water Company. Senator Maclay subdivided his 20,000 acres into 40-acre farm lots, and the townsite of Pacoima was laid out.

-~ , , B. F. , ;\_r:(l, : '.\..\\·, 1n

Northridge area, which later formed some of the Valley's most attractive ranches. He also sold part of his holdings to the San Fernando Valley Improvement Company, which then developed subdivisions, resulting in the community of Chatsworth.

During the years o£ the great land boom the rest of the country became aware of the climate and promises o£

California, with overland arrivals estimated at 5,000 a month between 1886 and 1888.18

In 1886 Dr. David Burbank, who had acquired 4607 acres o£ the San Rafael Rancho in the great partition of that rancho in 1870, sold this property together with his Providencia Rancho of about the same area to the Providencia Land, Water and Develop ment Company, retaining an interest in the company. The combined tract of more than 9000 acres was sur veyed and platted, providing £or a townsite to be named Burbank in honor of the original owner, and the balance for various size £arms. Following a well-executed campaign of publicity, the tract was opened on May 1, 1887. In describing the attractions they had to offer, the company's literature set forth the following: "Land and ocean, mountain and valley, sunshine and shade, offer here the choicest benefactors to prolong the lives o£ the feeble and enhance enjoyment of the robust. In no other place are these natural advantages more remarkably manifest than in the San Fernando Valley, in which are spread the broad acres of Providencia 24

and on whose sightliest eminence stands the new tovvnsi te of Burbank." During the year that followed, sales amounting to $475,000 were reported and the company took special pride in the fact that this had b0en accomplished without a single free lunch, brass band or excursion and with very limited advertising.l9

Subdivisions often sold out in a few days, many of

them in less desirable areas. Newspaper advertising sec-

tions were flooded with real estate promotions. The

unfortunate part of all this was that Los Angeles and the

surrounding tracts were not ready for such an influx of

people. Water was limited and public utilities were not

equipped to handle the increased settlement. Climate

alone was not enough, so within a few years the boom

collapsed.

The major turning point in the history of the Valley began innocently enough in 1907 when Los Angeles residents

approved a $23,000,000 bond issue for the construction of

an aqueduct from Owens Valley in Inyo County. The water

came to the Valley, but the controversy rages to this day as to who actually benefited from it, and who was harmed.

An important part of this water story is that Los Angeles, as successor to pueblo rights under Spanish law, had prior or preferential rights in the waters of the Los Angeles River, which passed from the San Fernando Valley through pueblo boun daries, so far as necessary for the purposes of the town and the use of the townsmen. The annexation to the city of the greater part of San Fernando Valley in 1915, nearly 170 square miles, brought 25

the Valley into the family of water users and built up its water resources. Owensmouth, now Canoga Park, came into the fold in 1917; West Lankershim in 1919; Chatsworth in 1920; Lankershim in 1923. The city of San Fernando, incorporated in 1911, has cetained its municipal identity though surrounded on all sides by the city of Los /\ngeles.20

Recognizing the need to annex the Valley to Los

Angeles in order to use the Owens Valley water, prepara- tions began in 1909 with the purchase and subdivision o£ almost the whole south hal£. Representing the seller, which was the Los Angeles Farm and Milling Company, was

J. B. Van Nuys, son of Isaac, while a syndicate called the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company did the buying.

This corporation was directed by General Harrison Gray

Otis, president and publisher o£ the Los Angeles Times;

General M. H. Sherman, suburban railway builder; Harry

Chandler, vice president o£ the Times; 0. F. Brant, vice president and manager o£ Title Insurance and Trust

Company; and H. J. Whitley, subdivider and builder, sometimes called the "father of Hollywood."

The principal promoters selected portions for themselves: Sherman took 1000 acres (Sherman Oaks) at Ventura and Sepulveda Boulevards; Otis took 550 acres at Ventura and Reseda Boulevards (later to be sold to Edgar Rice Burroughs and to become known as Tarzana); Chandler and Whitley selected smaller places at Sherman Way and Van Nuys Boulevard; and Brant took 850 acres at Ventura and Topanga Canyon Boulevards. Three townsites were laid out--Van Nuys, Marian (now Reseda), and Owensmouth (now Canoga_ Park) • 26

W. P. Whittset immediately bought hal£ o£ Van 21 Nuys townsite and took over its sales and promotion.

The names o£ these men and two others, William

Mulholland and Fred Eaton, have been variously praised and castigated over the years for their roles in bringing water to the Valley. In a 1974 Los Angeles Times' article on the controversy, by Dave Smith, an elderly man in

Bishop, California, summed up the feelings o£ many: "Old

Harry Chandler, Mulholland, Fred Eaton ••• the whole lot o£ them were in cahoots. They made millions o££ the rape o£ 22 the Owens Valley." It was in 1904 that Fred Eaton, a

Los Angeles city engineer, saw the Owens River and realized its potential for bringing water to the thirsty southo He told Mulholland, also a city engineer, o£ its possibilities, and the two men conceived the idea to 23 bring water to the Valley floor.

At the same time the u. s. Reclamation Service had begun a survey for a huge Owens Valley irrigation district under J. B. Lippincott, a friend o£ Eaton. Eaton and

Lippincott made a surveillance trip to the Owens Valley in 1904. Afraid that the government might beat the Los

Angeles interests to the water rights, Eaton began buying up Owens Valley land. Lippincott, weighing his dual role as a federal employee and Los Angeles resident, opted for 27

Los Angeles and convinced the government to drop their plans. 24

Los Angeles newspapers got wind of Eaton's activities, but agreed to keep quiet in return for <:>xclusive noti fica- tion when the deal was complete. However, a Los Angeles ---Times reporter, who had accompanied Mulholland and Eaton on their land buying trips, sent word back. The Times published the story a full day ahead of the other papers, enraging William Randolph Hearst, owner of the Los Angeles

Examiner, who threatened to "get Harrison Gray Otis," the Times' publisher.

Smith discussed the reaction to the story 1n the

Owens Valley:

The Times story had a far more serious effect 1n the Owens Valley, where sellers who thought they had sold to Eaton learned for the first time that the buyer was Los Angeles. Those who had not sold were infuriated--with an anger that has never healed --that the federal government had abandoned their long hoped-for irrigation project and in effect turned the valley over to the city.25

Accusations ran rampant that Chandler, Otis and their syndicate bought up Valley land with the foreknowledge, supplied by Eaton, that the water was coming. The syndicate, however, argued that options on the land had been taken in 1903, at least a year before Eaton even conceived of the Owens Valley project. 28

Smith argued that, even if the syndicate did know of

the plans, there is nothing unethical in prominent and

wealthy men profiting from such projects. He wrote:

Limited irrigation had already proved successful in parts of the Valley and the early-day speculators and boosters and optimists to the last man, were confident that water would be found when the popula tion had grown enough to require the search. It would not be the first time that such a group of men might decide to keep it under their hats for a while or even pick up a few more acres before speculation drove the real estate market wild.26

Opposing points of view have been expressed by vari-

ous authors and historians over the years, including such

respected chroniclers of California history as Carey 27 McWilliams and Remi Nadeau. The battle has been re-

opened this year with the Department of Water and Power's plan to drain even more water from the Owens Valley. The

issue today, however, is bound up with all types of

env1ronmen. t a 1 concerns. 28 Bruised memories on both sides may make the issue nearly impossible to resolve amicably.

But, whether saints or sinners, Mulholland and Eaton achieved their goal, and on November s, 1913, some 30,000 people gathered at a point northwest of San Fernando to watch the first mountain waters plunge down an open aqueduct into a reservoir system after traveling 250 miles.

Motorists on the Golden State Freeway today can, if they 29

want to risk a glance away from the freeway lanes, see the

foaming water still cascading down the mountainside.

The arrival of the water marked the death o£ "King

VJheat" as the principal product of the VaJ ley. Growers

had experimented and long suspected that, with proper

irrigation, other crops would be much more profitable.

Within three years the Valley's irrigated acreage jumped 29 from 10,000 to nearly 70,000 acres.

The £ace o£ the Valley changed from waving wheat

fields to walnut and citrus groves, berry and melon vine,

rows o£ sweet potatoes, beans, tomatoes and alfalfa. Out

of these ventures in subdividing have come the present

Valley communities o£ Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Tarzana,

Woodland Hills, Reseda (formerly Marian), Canoga Park

(Owensmouth), Hidden Hills, Winnetka, Northridge (Zelzah),

Granada Hills, Encino, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Sepulveda,

Sylmar, Sun Valley, Mission Hills and Panorama City. This

is in addition to those that had earlier beginnings, San

Fernando, which along with Burbank, are the only incorporated cities in the Valley, Chatsworth, Pacoima,

Calabasas and North Hollywood (Lankershim)u Burbank,

Tujunga and Sunland, which have different historical back-

grounds, are considered in some sources as part o£ the 30 Valley, and are listed in others as "gateway communities." 30

The changing profile of the San Fernando Valley with the coming of the water is expressed in this fanciful des- cription from The Vall~y of _?_9!1-_F~9~ndo by the Daughters of the American Revolution:

The water wrought the miracle. Before 1913 growth was slow and changes moderate, caused by outside events and not by any real inner expansion. Since that year prosperity has smiled upon the fair Valley, which has responded like a maiden whose vision has been touched by love and whose hopes rapidly develop into fruition. Surrounded by foothills the hundreds o£ green acres of varied natural products attest the perma nence of her sources of wealth for generations yet unborn. Walnuts raise their clean and stately trunks, olives toss their gray-green waves that give the great orchard north of San Fernando its fitting name, Sylmar, "sea of green". Oranges toss their golden fruit and fragrant white blossoms at once among the deep glossy foliage; lemon and grapefruit, pale gold apricots, crimson cheeked peaches, purple red and green plums, heavy pendants o£ grapes, like so many luscious, many hued drops of jeweled dew, lend their riot of color and fragrance to the scene. The mockingbird trills his wondrous lays, the meadow lark entrances with his song that is never quite finished, the bright oriole flits or the tiny ruby-throated humming bird pauses to sip and dart upon its journey, while bees hum their busy way. Down the Valley, a soft, green expanse shows acres and acres of alfalfa, beans, sugar beets, lettuce or even the prosaic potato and cabbage, and all combine to tell the tale of happy, prosperous labor. 31

The first two decades of the 20th Century saw the towns grow and, along with them, roads were constructed and paved £or the increasing automobile traffic. Gas and electricity were brought in. Manufacturing plants, banks, 31

canneries, dairies and packing houses all found homes in

the Valley. Community churches, public libraries, women's

clubhouses, movie theaters, chambers o£ commerce, sani-

tariums, Easter Sunrise Services, Boy Scouts, and Kiwanis

Clubs were all part o£ the advertised attractions to draw people to the Valley.

The growth was somewhat delayed, according to Keffer, with the advent o£ World War I.

T~mporarily checked in its forward movement by the World War, San Fernando Valley nevertheless made creditable gains in population even during those strenuous days, and forged ahead faster than ever after the Armistice. No part o£ the country was more loyal in support o£ the government and in its many wartime activities than this valleyo Van Nuys became the headquarters for the Los Angeles City Selective Service Board No. 1, which registered 815 men and inducted 214 into the service. In the pro duction of foodstuffs, Valley farmers rendered valiant service, and in the purchase of Liberty Bonds, the Valley nearly doubled its quota by a subscription o£ over a hal£ million dollars. An interesting feature of the conservation movement was the saving o£ peach and apricot pits at the canneries and dryers for use in the manufacture of gas masks.32

By 1920, a federal census classified Los Angeles

County with its $57,000,000 in £arm products, as the rich- est county agriculturally in the United States. The

Valley produced $22,500,000 of this amount, with its vast agricultural acreage, a million laying hens and 100 . . 33 d alrles. 32

The Valley was cited as having the world's largest

chicken hatchery, olive grove, motion picture plant, com

bined fruit, stock and poultry farm, rose and fresia

nurseries, and the largest contiguous market enjoyed by

any agricultural district in America.

The Depression of the 1930s affected the San Fernando

Valley in much the same way it did the rest of the

country, but many Valley residents counted themselves

lucky since they could escape the cold, fuelless winters of the east, and those who were farmers could at least provide food for their own tables.

In 1932, the Southern California Automobile Club publication, Touring Topics, ran an article, "How to

Circle the San Fernando Valley. 1134 Starting from Auto

Club headquarters at Figueroa Stree~ Adams Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles, motorists were given a route to follow and told to allow six to eight hours for the 92-mile trip.· They were promised they would 11 see the most gorgeous views and visit points of interest not to be duplicated elsewhere from the seat of a motor car."

11 I 1 11 make the San Fernando Valley my home," was the recurring theme of "San Fernando Valley, 11 a song popu larized by Bing Crosby in the 1940s, and reinforced the idea of the good life for many Americans! 33

11 San Fernando Valley 11

Oh I'm packin' my grip, I'm leavin' today, Cause I'm takin' a trip California way.

I'm gonna settle down, And never more roam, And make the San Fernando Valley my home.

I'll forget my sins, I'll be with new friends, Where the West begins And the sunset ends.

Cause I've decided Where your's truly should be, And it's the San Fernando Valley for me.

I think I'm safe in statin' She will be waitin' When my lonely journey Is done.

And kindly old Reverend Thomas Made us a promise, He would make the two of us one.

So I'm hittin' the trail To cow country. You can forward my mail Care of RFD.

I'm gonna settle down, And never more roam, 35 And make the San Fernando Valley my home. 34

Glamorous estates, the influx o£ many movie stars and

·the building o£ innumerable swimming pools all added to

this image, even though the Valley was, for the most part

in the 1040s, still in its small farm, fruit orchard

stages. Many entertainment personalities began buying

there, realizing they could find more privacy and space

than in Bel-Air or Beverly Hills.

It was fashionable then, and still is in many com

munities, to name a honorary mayor or honorary sheriff.

Al Jolson.had mayoralty honors in Encino, while Andy Devine

was chosen in Van Nuys and the honors went to Ann Blyth

in Toluca Lake. Stars who moved into the Valley in these

years included Clark Gable, Dinah Shore, Gene Autry,

Spencer Tracy, William Holden, Lucille Ball, and Bob Hope.

The years of World War II saw Valley residents do

their part with war bond rallies, rationing coupons, tin

foil-saving, air raid wardens and propaganda movles at

local theaters. Defense plants manufacturing war mate-

rials, particularly the immense complex at Lockheed in

Burbank, numbered many Valley residents among their workers. The end of the war brought the largest influx

of new settlers to the Valley since the great land boom.

Lured by the promise of 11 little or no-down-payment" for 35

veterans, young families arrived from all over the country to make the San Fernando Valley their home.

The casual Valley life-style is depicted by writer,

Gerald Duncan:

The charm of the Valley is its majesty and cloudless skies, its sun and its air, its capering squirrels, its four-lane pavements, its avenues of dining rooms and its collarless comfort. Horses nudge hot-rods on the highways as the ranchers trot in from their haciendas. The life is splendidly casual even for California. In the restaurants that nuzzle the concrete of Ventura Boulevard, one may find a glamour starlet in imported gabardine chatting earnestly with a chicken farmer in jeans. Spurs and spangles crowd each other on a Saturday in Reseda, Van Nuys, Chatsworth and Canoga Park when cowhands ride to town to do their shopping.36

Industry in the 1950s included Warner Brothers, Walt

Disney, Universal-International and Republic studios,

Lockheed Aircraft factory, and the Chevrolet and Fisher

Body Plant in Van Nuys.

Higher education came to the Valley in 1947 with the opening of Pierce College in Woodland Hills, followed ln

1949 by Valley Junior College in Van Nuys, both part of the Los Angeles City Junior College systemo On September

24, 1956 students began classes at the new San Fernando

Valley Campus of the Los Angeles State College of Applied 37 Arts and Sciences. Two years later, in 1958, the campus separated from the parent institution and became San Fernando Valley State College. In 1973 it was granted university status, becoming California State University,

Northri dtJP, some J 33 years and an entice cu 1 ture ;".\-.':J..y ( ,-t)Ifl the classes taught by young Concepcion Arguello.

The late 1950s also saw the culmination of a long range plan to transfer to the Valley part of the govern- mental responsibilities previously centered and handled ln downtown Los Angeles. The community chosen for this center was Van Nuys, and in 1957 final plans were drawn for a Valley Administrative Center, which was to finally include a city hall, municipal, county, state, and federal buildings, a regional library, district health office, police administration, Superior and Municipal courts, civil defense headquarters and a multi-purpose civic auditorium.

The San Fernando Valley of the 1950s has been described as a combination o£ metropolis, suburb and country, a sister-city to Los Angeles, without losing its small- town flavor, according to author, Roy Chanslor:

The Valley has been called the bedroom of Los Angeles, but it is much more than that; its in habitants live and love and play in it when day is done and on holidays and weekends, shucking the uniforms of commerce for trunks, shorts, dungarees and barbecue aprons. There were some 455,000 souls in the Valley in 1950. They came £rom the frozen Dakotas, the high cattle country, the Dust Bowl and £rom over crowded cities, seeking an Eden of swimming pools 37

and sunshine, and what's more, finding a reasonable facsimile. They were accompanied by merchants, restau:cantcurs, realtors, stockbrokers, bankers, teachers, preachers, lawyers and purveyors of every kind of service.38

In 1957 the Valley numbered 738,000 persons, with no end in sight. Bursting forth to serve them were theaters, both drive-in and walk-in, shopping centers, plush restaurants, nutburger and hot dog stands, chain stores and new industries, including the Anhauser-Busch Brewery in

Panorama City. Chanslor, writing in Holiday magazine about the Valley in 1957, optimistically predicted: "We can see the smog hovering over San Fernando Road, way across the Valley, but it hasn't reached here yet, and you can get attractive odds it never will."39 He lost.

The 1950s also saw the arrival of the space age ln the

Valley. Early ln the decade, Rocketdyne Division of North

American Aviation located in the Santa Susana Mountains above Canoga Park.

Along with the rockets came the missile men and their families, in need of homes and bringing millions of con- sumer dollars with them. Many of these same families lost their homes and jobs, and many left the Valley to return to their hometowns with the slowdown in space ex- ploration in the late 1960s. 38

In that same decade, the Valley saw the advent of

freeway systems. The Ventura Freeway was officially opened

on April 5, 1960, by Governor Echnund G. Bruwn Sr., rJiving

motorists uninterrupted passage through the Valley from

the Hollywood Freeway at Cahuenga Pass to the Valley's

westerly boundary beyond Calabasas. The above-ground-

level ride gave car occupants the chance to observe the

endless backyards dotted with swimming pools, shopping

centers and even :fields of crops.

Other :freeways, the San Diego, Hollywood and Golden

State, offered access to the Valley from almost any direc

tion, serving to merge some twenty-four communities into

one large suburb of Los Angeles.

This suburb has its share of minority residents,

primarily Blacks and.those with Spanish surnames, al

though the Valley is still basically a white-middle class

area. Predictably, the majority of those with Spanish

surnames live in the San Fernando area, in keeping with

their historical background. Census figures show some

8,100 Spanish-surname residents in the city of San

Fernando, which is more than half of its total population of approximately 16,000 persons. 40

The Pacoima area has the highest concentration of

Black residents. Some 15,000 Blacks make up over l - -

__ .;,- -•• jO

31 percent of the area's 49,000 inhabitants. Pacoima also

has over 19,000 residents with Spanish surnames, or 38 per . 41 cent of the popu1atJon.

Will the future see the same growth and progress that

has been the Valley's past history? Probably not, pre-

diets Harold Buman, vice president and top economist for 42 Wells Fargo Bank. Forecasts o£ a California population

of 28.5 million in 1980 are not e~Jected to be fulfilled,

but instead will level of£ at about 22.5 million, accord-

ing to a study done by Buman. He predicts an exodus o£

some 25,000 persons a year for the rest o£ the decade, and

blames the failure o£ California's economy to generate new

jobs at a £aster rate, as the major reason why in-migration

has slowed. Valley population dropped in 1974 to 1,286,500 43 compared to 1,291,770 in 1972.

A noticeable slowing in requests for building permits

in the last few years, particularly -£or single family

homes ln the Valley, would seem to bear out Buman's find-

ings. A total o£ 17,769 permits were issued in 1974, as 44 compared to 19,984 in 1972, and 30,813 in 1964.

It might be predicted that the Valley will be "more

o£ the same" £or the next few years, with a fairly stable

population level, in an area o£ mostly upper and middle-

class homes. There's some increase in low-income, federal 40

housing, however, in the earlier-developed areas, primarily

for minorities and the growing number of senior citizens

who retire in the Valley.

What was the lure, the mystique of the San Fte>cnando

Valley? California as a whole has been looked upon as a

land of promise, of the good life spent in the sunshine.

Author Christine Albert tried to define that

mystique:

California--it's a state, an image of vitality and incredible diversity in scenery and peoples. It's where movements start and ideas take hold--where the search goes on for a better life. The neon/nature contrast may be sharp, but California's sunshine is 45 still there.

The San Fernando Valley then may be considered a

microcosm of the entire California im~ge. According to

:Art Seidenbaum, Los Angeles Times columnist, Valley resi-

dents arrive as semi-r'ootless strangers, and, instead of

reflecting the community, build their own to their own

tastes and needs, discarding much of the old. He writes:

The Valley has been kind of a social and economic laboratory where new fancies have been tested and new habits have emerged •• oThe residents are young. The Valley is peopled with wage-earners and their wives; he is about 32 and she is about 29. They have two to three children and the family will soon outgrow what aggressive Valley realtors call "3 Br & D" to need "4 Br & Fam Rm."46

Seidenbaum describes Valley-ites as not feeling com- pelled to keep up with the Joneses, but knowing how the 41

Joneses are doing. They know their children's teachers and one--another's politics, and most go out and work for one party or the oth~r at election time. Because almost anything can be bought, grown or produced in the Valley, it has become a self-contained economic community, and

Valley people take particular pride in that independence.

Even though they are part of the city of Los Angeles, many communities still have their honorary officials and chambers of commerce to establish their own identities.

Natives of Los Angeles-proper often have a somewhat patronizing attitude toward Valley residents, according to

Seidenbaum:

Isn't it full of middle-class people with middle-brow notions and over-sized children? Was and is, and those are the same middle-ground people whose habits mold the getting and spending tastes of the country. But what kind of traditions can they have in that farmland? Very few, and that's why the Valley has been free to build its own kind of living •••• The Valley drew people who were too young for preconceptions and too impressionable for prejudge ment. In their own experimental trial-and-error way, they have created the outdoor, informal, down tempo, upbeat pulse of California life.47

Perhaps the best incident to illustrate the thinking of our entire country regarding the ideal American way of life was the visit by Nikita Khrushchev to California in 1959. The Russian premier was escorted through new 42

housing tracts in the San Fernando Valley, chosen as typical of how America lives.

TI1is then is the land of collPs and car w::~.shcs, of churches and po:rno theaters, of Boward Johnson's and the

San Fernando Mission. This is the setting and the challenge o£ the yal~ News and Green Sheet.

_/ 43

NOTES

1 Christine Albert, "California Ain 1 t \.v:hat It 1 s Cr;.r;('r-d Up to Be," ~ev_e.E~.t~en, March, 1972, p. 162. 2 W. W. Robinson, San Fernando Valley Calendar of ~:!~, (Los Angeles: Title Insurance and Trust Co., 1951), Pr). 1-2. 3 Valley was not named for Ferdinand, patron of Cr)hJ.;1bus. See Alice Bradbury Lewis, et al., The Valley of S;~!!_ Pernando, (Los Angeles: Daughters of the Am eric~:;; R~~~lution, 1924). 4 For varying points of view on the mission system s'~'· Sherburne F. Cook, "Sherburne Cook Takes a Hard Look at ;..:ission Life," and Maynard Geiger, "Rev. Geiger, O.F .M. Rc~_:.-1 ies," cited by Leonard Pitt, California Controversies, (GJ,"nview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1968), pp. 24-43. 5 Robinson, San Fernando Valley Calendar of Events, p. 'J. 6 Robinson, The Story of the San Fernando Valley, (Lr,,, Angeles: Title Insurance and Trust Co., 1961), p. 16. 7 Frank M. Keffer, History of the San Fernando ~~' mgr. ed. Harold McLean Meier, Arthur Hamilton Cc'lf'.ton, (Glendale: Stillman Printing Co., 1934), p. 40. 8 Robinson, San Fernando Valley Calendar of Events, p. J 4. 9 Ibid., p. 27.

lOLew1s, . The Valley of San Fernando, p. 50. 11 Publicity Department Lankershim Branch Security Tr~.'.t and Savings Bank of Los Angeles, A Daughter of the ~:~, (Los Angeles: Security Trust and Savings Bank, 1'/~--J, P• 27.

12 ,: _ -:,';. Kef£ er, Hi story of the San Fernando Vall ex_, pp. 4 44

l3Lewis, The Valley of San FernaJ?:_do, p. 57. 14 securi ty Trust and Savings, ~-J?_'?-21..9l~i:_e_!_ __ g_f____ t~ §_n_o~:?_, p. 30.

l SKet. .f · er, p. 93.

16security Trust and Savings, A Daughter of the Sn_ow_2, p. 32.

l7Ibid., p. 33.

18Lewis, The Vall~ of San Fernando, p. 74.

19Keffer, History of the San Fernando Valley, p. 63.

20Robinson, San Fernando Valley Calendar of Events, p. 24.

21Ibid., p. 26.

22Dave Smith, "70-Year Water Dispute: Fact, Fable Hard to Separate, 11 Los Angeles Times, 1 December 197 4, sec. 2, p. 1.

23 Ibid.

25Smi th, "Owens Valley Water Fight Renewed, 11 Los Angeles Times, 1 December 1974, sec. 2, p. 5.

27For detailed arguments on the Owens Valley con troversy see: Pitt, California Controversies, pp. 143~168. 28 Smith, "Owens Valley Water Fight Renewed," sec. 2, p. 1.

29 Keffer, History of the San Fernando Valley, p. 96. 30 Robinson, Fabulous San Fernando Valley, (Los Angeles: Western Federal Savings and Loan Association, undated), p. 9. 45.

31 Lewis, The Valley of San Fernando, p. 117. 32 Keffer, History of the San__ .E.._er~_~s!_~.Y:all~, p. ll3o 33 Security Trust and Savings, :f\_.PO.:.l.l-.9J1!~~--c:>.:f__ the Sn~, p. 47. 34 "How to Circle the San Fernando Valley," Touring_ Topics, Southern California Automobile Club, May, 1932. 35 Gordon Jenkins, "San Fernando Valley," (New York: Mayfair Music Publishing Co., 1943). 36 Gerald Duncan, "TI1.e San Fernando Valley of Sur- prises," Coronet, March, 1951, pp. 90-95. 37 Robinson, Story of the San Fernando Valley, pp. 41-45. 38 Roy Chanslor, "San Fernando Valley," Holiday, October, 1957, p. 118. 39 Ibid. 40 Statistics from the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, 1 July 1973. 41 Ibid. 42 Harold Buman, "Is California's People Boom Over?" U. s. News and World Report, 21 June 1971, pp. 37-38. 43 Valley News and Green Sheet, Achievement Edition, 11 February 1975, p. 1. 44 Ibid. 45 Albert, "California Ain't What It's Cracked to Be," p. 162. 46 Art Seidenbaum, "The San Fernando Valley, 11 Southern California Prompter, September 1960, pp. 202-203. 47 Ibid. CHAPTER III

EARLY YEARS OF THE NEWS UNDER FRANK M. KEFFER

The Valley News and Green Sheet has tried to meet its

challenge to offer the people of the Valley a mirror of

their life-style, a reflection of their values and a marketplace for their goods.

This chapter will offer a brief history of the paper,

and the t01.vn of Van Nuys, where the News was born and grew up, and a look at Frank M. Keffer, founder and first

editor of the newspaper.

Keffer's own background as a newsman and the circum-

stances that brought him to the Valley from his Pennsylva- nia home will be explored. His personal philosophy and the vision he had for the News will be discussed, as will a look at the content of the paper under his directiono

The establishment of the Van Nuys News came close on the heels of the founding of the town of Van Nuys by

Hobart J. Whitley, as described by Rennie Nadeau, author and chronicler of Valley history:

Around the turn of the century, a tall, heavy shouldered westerner stood at the top of Cahuenga

46 47

Pass and scanned the billowing grain fields of the San Fernando Valley. From his vantage point, he could see only five ranch houses in that whole ex panse. But in his mind's eye he could see a vast community of towns and small farms. 1

Whitley was one of the nation's rr1ost successful land developers. During the westward construction of the frontier railroads, in the late 1870s and on into the early 1890s, he founded many towns in North Dakota, Okla- homa Territory and Texas. Whitley arrived ln Southern

California in 1894, and found it a promoter's paradise.

He is credited with making Hollywood into a flourishing city in the early 1900s, even before the movie industry arrived. In 1909 he organized a powerful group of men,

General Harrison Gray Otis and his son-in-law, Harry

Chandler of the Los Angeles Times; Moses H. Sherman, electric railroad magnate, and 0. T. Brandt, a leading land- title man.

As the board of control for the newly formed Los

Angeles Suburban Homes Company, they purchased a 47,500 acre ranch, comprising nearly the entire south hal£ of the

Valley, from Isaac Newton Van Nuys, the wheat magnate, for

$2,500,000, or about $50 an acre in 1910.

When the sale was announced on September 24, 1909, the Los Angeles Times called it: "The largest single body 48

of fertile, level land in this part of the state and said

to be the largest single body of land lying so near a big

city in the United States. There is room in it for at 2 l cast 25, 000 per sons. 11

Early in 1911 the company brought two new men into

the venture, Peter Janss, a German-born doctor who had

turned from his interest 1n medicine to real estate. He was made executive agent for the subdivision.

William P. Whitsett, a successful subdivider 1n the

area of Huntington Park, California, had come to the area from his home in Pennsylvania for his health, and stayed to become sales manager for the project. He showed his faith in the operation by purchasing a half-interest in the Van

Nuys townsite, one of the three projected towns, for

$30,000 down and th~ rest on credit, for a total of

$176,000. The other two towns were Owensmouth (Canoga

Park) and Marian (Reseda).

Whitsett and Janss began planning a huge sales campaign which was to climax on February 22, 1911, the of- ficial opening date of the town of Van Nuys.

Nadeau described Whitsett's efforts to attract buyers:

To provide special excursion rates, Whitsett purchased tickets from the Southern Pacific and then sold them to the public at a loss. He got the telephone company to call every subscriber in Southern 49

California, inviting them to the opening. He set a crew drilling for water in Van Nuys. If the flow did not come on tiP1e, the determined activity would at least be impressive. And to give the appearance of substance to the new site, he built 10 houses, paying the contractor in town lots. !"rom Los /\ngeles two '-'pecial trains, with a total of 19 cars, chugged into the Valley loaded to the windows with excursionists ••• By auto and carriage came still more hundreds ••• raising a screen of dust all through the wheat stubble ••• Then two auctioneers took turns selling at a rate of one lot every three minutes. Even when the last train made ready to leave for Los Angeles, just after 4 p.m., customers pleaded with the auctioneers to put one more lot on sale. As one observer said, ''Nothing like it was ever seen in California."3

Permanent residents of that townsite 1n 1911 numbered

about 300, but by 1915 the population had grown so rapidly

that Van Nuys, as the first community in the Valley to

come 1n under annexation, was selected by officials of Los

Angeles as the municipal headquarters for the entire

Valley annex.

Flooding and dust were serious problems in early Van

Nuys, but were more than compensated for by the beautiful

setting of the townsite, according to J. Benton Van Nuys,

son of Isaac Van Nuys:

I remeP1ber particularly one picnic in a poppy field which contained about 5000 acres. The field was from the Los Angeles River to the north line, and from the Tujunga Wash on the east, to the Pacoima Wash on the west, and this parcel of land was commonly called the "Island". This is the parcel on which the town of Van Nuys is now situated. 4 .. l

The beauty of the Valley, along with its healthful

climate, brought many visitors from the East. ATnong them

in 1911 were Gertrude Keffer, and her young daughter l\1ary

Jane, from their home in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Keffer and her husband, Frank, a newsman and businessman in the East, were long-time friends of the

Whitsetts. VJhitsett, ever the enthusiast about his new town, urged Gertrude Keffer to try to convince her husband that the town needed his newspaper experience.

Mary Jane Keffer, now Mary Jane Petit, of Sherman

Oaks, California, recalled that the families were close friends in Pennsylvania, and the Keffers and Whitsetts had been in one-another's wedding parties. According to Mrs.

Petit, her mother wasn't one to make quick decisions:

W. P. (Whitsett) was very persuasive and wanted her to send a telegram asking father to come out and start a paper. She did, and I know she died a thousand deaths after that because there was nothing in the Valley but wind and dust. But my father wrote back that he would come, and he came to the Valley, sight unseen. He, luckily, was a man of great vision and a good businessman, and had been a war correspondent for the Pittsburgh Leader and other Eastern papers. Right from the beginning he was sold on the Valley and saw its potential.s

That Keffer was sold on the Valley is evident 1n his

History of the San Fernando Valley, which he wrote 1n 1934: 51

In the preparation of this story of the San Fernando Valley it has been my aim to set forth the events relating to the Valley as a whole ••• and to chronicle the causes and effects which have brought about the mr~.rve1ous trans£ormatjon of' a semi-arid and sparsely settled d.rea of Southern CaJ ifornia into one of the most notable suburban rl~velopments in all history. This is the narrative of a valley, one of the fairest and most fertile in the entire length and breadth of California's great domain, whose beauty and grandeur and natural resources made it a favorite haunt and habitation of pre-historic natives and which, as time marched on, has become under the in fluence of civilization, an important and outstand ing center of population and industry.6

Upon his arrival in California, with his 9-year-old

son George, Keffer combined his business acumen with his

newspaper background and purchased the Van Nuys Call, which

had been in publication for only six weeks, from E. R.

Elkins.

The first issue of the Van Nuys News appeared on

November 24, 1911, joining the ranks of three other Valley

papers, the San Fernando Press, the Burbank Review, and

'the Lankershim Laconic. In December 1912, the Owensmouth

Gazette made its first appearance.

Years later, in 1932, shortly before his retirement,

Keffer wrote of the objectives he had in mind when he

founded the paper twenty-one years before:

In October, 1911, the Van Nuys News took its place in this community and assumed as its major objectives the proper and accurate dissemination , ......

of news regarding Van Nuys and the Valley and the cementing of an active, cooperative spirit among its citizens to insure continued progress. Those early days brought mRny trials and tribu lations. Winds, dust storms, floods and severe hot weatht~r combined to combat optimism and enthusiasm. But there was real 11 back bone" in those sturdy pioneers. They may have become discouraged at times, but they did not lose their vision and went ahead doing their full share to make their dreams come true. 7 I Keffer, who had been a war correspondent in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection for I the Pittsburgh Leader, was born in Ligonier in 1875. His I varied career included time as a clerk in his father's ! ' general store, and service as principal of a two-room

school in 1896, following his graduation from Gettysburg

\ College in 1895.

In 1897 and 98 he was in the Railway Mail Service

, as a weighing tabulator, but left this job to enlist in

the Army at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.

He resumed his job with the mail service in 1900 and

entered night law school at Georgetown University. How-

ever, he was obliged to give up his law studies, due to 8 11 eye strain."

Keffer went into business with his father in 1901 in

the firms of J. W. Keffer & Son and Keffer & Sweeney, and

continued his business activities in Ligonier until the L -

request from his wife and Whitsett arrived in 1911.

My transition from a Pennsylvania merchant to a California publisher came as a quick and surprising affair ••. Between Gertrude and Wo P., they fr~10d a t•')1 (?

Ke££er 1 s military ex~erience included time in the

Philippines during the Insurrection in 1898, and from

there he served as a correspondent for the Leader. He

also sent articles during the Spanish-American War to the

Greensburg, Pennsylvania, papers and the Pittsburgh Dis-

patch. His earlier journalistic activities included

writing articles on civic affairs for the Ligonier Echo.

Ke££er 1 s journalistic career began in earnest with

the first edition o£ the News. According to Mrs. Petit, machinery for the News constituted the first freight

carried on the new Pacific Electric Railway into the

Valley on December 18, 1911. In the same month, the paper was incorporated under the name o£ the Van Nuys Publishing

Company, which also did job printing, but the News was its only publication.

The early issues o£ the weekly News carried many stories emphasizing the tremendous amount o£ building and 54

development that was going on at that time.

Keffer, who did most of the writing himself for the

first few years, was a Democrat as a young man, ann had b0en a

a Democratic state convention. But his loyalties changed

in later years, and set the tone for the paper's political philosophy which continues to this day.

Very few editorials written by Keffer were o£ a political nature, however. Most were o£ the chamber-of

commerce 11 boosterism 11 type, dealing with civic pride and praising the increased development o£ the town. Keffer

continually reminded residents o£ how lucky they were to be living in the Valley, urged them to shop in their

11hometowns, 11 and to make sure the upkeep on their property

enhanced the Valley's natural beauty.

The first editorial by Ke££er o£ a political nature

a~peared in 1922, when he asked £or ex-o££icio representa

tion £or the Valley on the Los Angeles City Council.

While the front page o£ the paper was full o£ such

stories as "Plan £or School Building Approved, 11 there was also space for "First Baby o£ Van Nuys--Whitley Van Nuys

Huffaker, Aged About 4 Months." A column o£ local happen ings on the front page included 11 Pleasant Party at the

Heme o£ Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Hewitt, 11 and 11 Typewriter Speed Expert Pays Visit to Van Nuys."10

Subscription rates in that :first year were $1.50 per year, paid in advance, and "Auv(?rtising rat2s macle known on application." Many local columns were scattered

throughout the paper, under such titles as "Personal

11 11 11 Paragraphs", Local Brevi ties , and News o:f Latest De ll velopments Tersely Told. 11

Mrs. Petit has vivid memories o£ those early days:

The wind blew like crazy in those days. Flood water would come down right in the door o£ the school. My brother and I would :fold the early edi tions o£ the News, using a special implement to make better creases in the paper. We o:ften had difficulties in delivery, since :few people had mail ing addresses. People just seemed to know where everyone lived.12

The largest percentage o£ non-local stories was :found in the News under the editorship o:f Frank Ke:f:fer :from 1911 to 1932. With a news hole o£ 567 galleys in the issues sampled, some 212 galleys were devoted to non-local news,

:for a total o£ 37 per cent.

The bulk o£ the non-local news under Ke:f:fer was agricultural in nature, dealing with crops, planting, and prices :from the u.s. Department o£ Agriculture. These were certainly o£ interest in the rural Valley, but did not deal directly with Valley individuals or groups.

As the years under Ke:f:fer went on, women's :features 56

were scattered th1:oughout the paper, although there was no specific women's page until 1928. Serialized features,

:,:;uch as the '':V1agnificent Amhe:r.sons," by Booth Tarl:<,.in(_yt()n, l>ook :tE::vi,:i-v-s, celebrity stories And short sports itc~rns were added to the News in the 1920s. By 1930, some us~ was being made of United Press Association, with datelines two or three days old.

I~cal stories dealt primarily with the doings of

Valley residents, including an item about an unfortunate high school senior that ran in 1925:

Dorothy Alcock, A-12, is again back to resume her studies after ~Jing out several days due to a nervous breakdown.

The opening of a new business in Van Nuys was a big story in the early days of the News, in keeping with

Keffer's policy of encouraging the development of the area.

World War I played an important role in Keffer's

News with many syndicated features on the "boys-over-there". ! and stories of a patriotic nature.

Keffer continued on as sole owner and publisher, as well as editor for the next nine years, while also taking an active role in many community and professional activities. In 1912 he organized the Van Nuys Chamber of

Commerce, serving as its secretary for eight years, and ' l

as president in 1939. He was a member of the ori <_:_1inal

committee representing the Valley in the effo.cts to bring

the aqueduct water to the a:rca. He was also president of

the Van Nuys Building and Loan Company :for a ten·-year

per1o- d • 14

Keffer served as the last president of the Southern

California Editorial Association, a forerunner o£ the

California Newspaper Publishers Association, and the first

president, £or a short term o£ the newly formed CNPA 1n

1926.

Another personality whose influence on the News is

indelible appeared on the scene in 1920. A young midwest

; publisher, Walter Mendenhall came to the coast. He liked

Van Nuys and convinced Keffer their association would be

mutually beneficial. He subsequently became co-owner and

co-publisher.

In 1928, William E. Westland, £or many years a

publisher in Upland, California, associated with the News

as co-publisher, but his role was a minor one in the

paper's long history.

An automobile accident 1n 1930 disabled Keffer £or

many months, and he was never able to renew his active

role after that. 58

Three more individuals who have made major con

tributions to the ~.§!-~~' joined the company in 1932. In

that yo::>ar, Keffer, and Westland, who was also in poor

health, sold their interests to Dr. W. C. l\1arkham, a suc

cessful midwestern publisher, and his two sons, Maurice W.

and Ralph M. Markham. The Markhams were then co·-o"WTlers

and publishers, along with Mendenhall, who assumed the

role of editor.

The history of the town of Van Nuys, as well as the

entire Valley, is a lesson in American free enterprise on

a vast scale. The success of the News, while not exactly

a Horatio Alger story, reenforces the American concept

that one man, or a small group of men, can be successful with a little vision and foresight, and some good business

sense, which would seem to include giving the people what

they want.

The beginning of one of the most important elements

1n the paper's success, that of the feeling of "family" which will be found throughout this study, began with the

earliest individuals involved in the News. 59

NOTES

1 Rem.ie Nad(~au, "Men \..Vho Opened the Valley, n ~~:t_er_- :.v?::~_§., Ma.. y 1963, p. 25.

3 Nadeau, nMen VJho Opened the Valley, n p. 25. 4 J. B. Van Nuys, "My Memories o£ the San Fernando Valley," History Society o£ Southern California Quarterl~, Septgnber 1956, pp. 235-238. 5 rnterview with Mary Jane Petit, Sherman Oaks, California, 21 January 1975. Mrs. Petit's husband, Stanley Petit, is also a member o£ a pioneer Valley fam ily. His £ather, William Petit, was one o£ the first users o£ the aqueduct water on his large ranch. 6 Frank M. Keffer, History o£ the San Fernando Vallel, mgr. ed. Harold McLean Meier, Arthur Hamilton Cawston, (Glendale: Stillman Printin~ Co., 1934), p. 7. 7 Keffer, Van Nuys News, 21st Anniversary Edition, 22 February 1932, p. 3. 8 Keffer, "My Life," unpublished autobiographical notes, 1948, p. 2. 9 Ibid. 10 Van Nuys News, 22 February 1912, p. 1. 11 Ibid. 12 . . . Pet1t 1nterv1ew. 13 van Nuys News, 26 November 1925, p. 1. L

14 The regard with which the paper was held, even at that time, was hinted at in an entry in Keffer's notes. The undated reference has no other details and further in formation has been impossible to obtain:

In a libel suit brought by Volney Craig against the Van Nuys Publishing Co., for $so,ooo, the verdict was for the plaintiff in an amount of $1, and he had to pay the costs. Van Nuys Chamber directors, at a meet ing following the trial, passed the hat and raised the $1 to pay the fine. William Mulholland was our principal witness at the trial. CHAPTER IV

THE NEWS UNDER WALTER MENDENHALL

When Walter Mendenhall arrived in Van Nuys in 1920, at the age of thirty-four, he had behind him sixteen years of experience as an owner-publisher of various newspapers.

This chapter will deal with the man who became known as the ttDean of San Fernando Valley newspaper publishers11 ln professional circles, and as 11 Mr. Walter 11 to his employes. l His years as editor, beginning in 1932, ln- eluded coverage of World War II, and an increasing emphasis on local news in the paper's columns. His personal philosophy lS best illustrated through the content of his long-running front page column, 11 News Graphs Expressed

Editorially, 11 which continued into the early 1950s. These will be examined in this chapter.

The son of a Methodist minister, who was also the publisher of a newspaper, Walter Mendenhall was born ln

Macon County, Missouri in 1886, and began working as an apprentice newspaperman at the age of fourteen during school vacations in Missouri, Illinois and Texas. At

61 62

nineteen he became the owner and publisher of the

Burlington Junction, Missouri, .fs:>_.:;t, and later served as

that town 1 s mayor and a member of the board of ed1Jcati on.

In 1910 he was publisher of the Marceline, Missouri,

Mirror, and in 1911, manager of the Maryville, Missouri,

Ferdinand Mendenhall, the present editor of the News,

and son of Walter Mendenhall, recalled:

My father was an ambitious young newspaperman whose father had the unique distinction of being a Methodist minister and at the same time, publish a newspaper. So my father bought an interest in his first newspaper when he was only 19 years old, and ever after was his own boss. He published successfully in the mid-west for several years, then he and mother decided to follow Horace Greeley's advice, so they came west. Heap proached Mr. Keffer and they sat down and talked and ended up with my father purchasing a share of this paper. He earned the money for his first paper by playing semi-pro football and semi-pro basketball. 2 i The senior Mendenhall was very active in Valley civic! ! affairs over the years, including membership on the board of the Van Nuys Mortgage and Securities COmpany, the

Provident Building-Loan Association, the Van Nuys Land

Development Company and the executive committee of the

West Van Nuys Subdivision.

He held memberships and offices ln the Kiwanis Club, the Masons and the Shriners, as well as serving as 63

president of the California 42nd Assembly District

Republican Club, from 1932 to 1933, and as a California

State Republican Committeeman.

He served in World War I as a member of the Liberty

Loan committee, secretary of the American Red Cross in

Nodaway County, Missouri, and director of selective ser vice registration in that city. He also saw duty as a 3 deputy in the Intelligence Service.

Of the three News editors over the years, Walter

Mendenhall used the highest percentage of local news, with only 14 percent of the space allocated to non-local news.

Of 752 galleys counted, some 102 contained news not related to the Valley. The growing awareness of the value of the News as a mirror and marketplace for the Valley would possibly account for the attempt to cover, even more· thoroughly than his predecessor, the Valley scene.

Walter Mendenhall employed more news from the state capitol than did Keffer, probably due to its availability.

Handouts, from such sources as the Edison Company, the

Department of Social Security, and, as in Keffer's time, the Department of Agriculture, appeared fairly consistent ly in the News.

Mendenhall dealt with two wars in his newspaper,

World War II and Korea, giving space to the same type of 64

features that Keffer used, and stirring up the Valley's patriotic fervor, particularly during World War II.

Much of the non -1 ocal news usc>d by :'-1c,llcic?nhall through-

out the 1940s appeared on a !!World News" pC:l.ge using the

services of United Press, and in a "Washington Week" column beginning in 1947-. The first television column

appeared in 1949, and shortly before Walter Mendenhall became editorial director and Ferdinand Mendenhall became managing editor in 1955, the News went to three publica tion days a week.

Editorials under Mendenhall's leadership appeared more frequently than during Keffer's years, but it was not until 1935 that an editorial page became a regular part of the paper. Editorials on non-local issues included many urging tax reduction on a federal level, an important issue to Mendenhall, who was strongly anti-taxes in his own "News Graphs" column. During the war, Mendenhall encouraged the purchase of war bonds in the editorial columns and, in 1935, called for Congress to increase the military budget to allow the United States to catch up to the naval power of Great Britain.

Mendenhall's column, "News Graphs," was preceded on the front page by a "Valley Index" column which he also wrote, but which was concerned primarily with Vali.ey 65

topics.

In "News Graphs" over the years, he, as did Keffer,

continually promoted Valley development, and was intC?rested

1..n conse:cvation, both locally and on a national level. One

of his early columns in 1939 urged Congress to save the

vanishing herds of buffalo in this country.

In 1940 he wrote a :favorable commentary on the merger of the AFL and the CIO, but in 1945 took an anti-union

stand against the threatened General Motors strike. His

columns included humorous and personal anecdotes, such as the time he saw Frank James, of the notorious James brothers, in a rodeo when he (Mendenhall) was twelve.

Calling himself the "pilot" of "News Graphs, 11 Mendenhall often included Valley news, with a brief co®nentary ln the column.

A proponent of the mandatory pledge of allegiance re- 'j ' l . l' quired of Japanese American citizens during World War II, l he :filled the pages of the News with such :features as "V ! Roll Call," listing Valley residents in uniform, the ac- I tivities o£ the local Red Cross, bond rallies, and what- . Ii to-do-in-an-air..,.raid stories. Hard news about the war was ! scarce in the,cNews, however, unless it dealt with a significant action having an effect on the entire war effort. The attempt even then was to keep the emphasis 66

on the local area.

This idea of localizing the N_~:-~~ as much as possible

lS the guiding philosophy of the newspaper, and one that h"ncc:cc:;s. The te:rm

"family11 is repeated throughout these pages and can, of

course, be applied to the Mendenhalls and Markhams in a

literal sense, but it has been important to management to

extend this feeling to their employes.

Throughout the paper's history, there ls one employe who, although not a member of the two families, made her influence felt in the News' columns and in the community as a whole, the late Ethel Barnhisel Taylor.

Young Ethel Taylor, following her graudation from Van

Nuys High School in 1927, passed up a journalism scholar ship to the University of Southern California to become the writing protege of the late, senior Mendenhall.

In her early years, she handled general assignment reporting, and established the women's section, which proved to be her true forte. Throughout the years, she took award after award for excellence in women's pages all over the country, including the prestigious University of

Missouri-J.C. Penney Award the maximum number of allowable times. 67

Her grasp of the social life of the Valley earned her

awards from Theta Sigma Phi, a professional women's

journalism society, both for her woml~n' s pages ,-md for her

personal contribution to journalism.

Although reflecting the more traditional aspects of

upper-middle-class Valley social life, her pages also

mirrored the growing change in women's consciousness in

the last few years. Aware, however, that the News reader

ship may not be as "into" the women's movement as in other

geographic areas, she still gave over most of the space to

club and social news, and family features.

At the time of her retirement in 1971, she had managed to strike a lopsided balance of the traditional

and the new, with a predominance of news still dealing with local organizations, weddings, and household hints.

She did, however, change the name to the "Family Living''

section, and dealt much more in-depth with family oriented

stories, giving just as much space to the women's movement as she felt Valley readers wanted.

Using her maiden name professionally, Ethel Taylor

started on the staff of the News when it consisted of

Keffer, the senior Mendenhall and herself. At the time of her death in 1973, the staff had grown to sixty-five persons on the editorial side. 68

Mendenhall remained active 1n his c1v1c and business

affairs until his death in 1961, a few days before the

paper's 50th Anniversary edition. The joint efforts of

Keff (~r and Mrond.cnha 11 in spurring on the 9rowth of the

~ews was cited in a 1928 article in the Lino~ News.

With Mr. Keffer's excellent editorial ability and wide acquaintance in the community and Mr. Mendenhall's practical and successful experience in the publishing business, a well balanced organiza tion was effected that began a record of accomplish ment right at the time Van Nuys and vicinity commenced its most rapid development. The publishers' vision in building a modern plant has been fully justified by the rapid and sub stantial increase in business, both in the newspaper and commercial printing department. It required the services of nine newsboys with bicycles, and two automobiles for local distribution of the ---News. The display and classified advertising is said to exceed in volume that of any newspaper in the Southland outside of the metropolitan district. Last year, a total of 114,395 column inches were used by advertisers in the News. 4

Thus, in the early years of the News, the paper was written, edited, managed, and read by individuals who

shared common American ideals, a certain pioneering spirit

and values stemming from their mid-America backgrounds.

Mendenhall, Keffer and later the Markhams, had a single

vision, that of developing the good life 1n the Valley, while at the same time providing a means of making a living for themselves and their employes. 69

Mary Jane Petit coiDJnented on the atmosphere that

existed at the News in those early years:

Walter Mendf'"nhall, my £ather and the Mz,rkh;::;ms hr~.d the most wonderful relationship. They all had the ~~ame purpose in the vision o£ what kind o£ paper they wanted to have. 5

I 70

NOTES

1 J~uth Croft, 11 The Val L:;y News,·· Tll,_~ ___r::-i_'~_tj~_})::_j-b, Chicago Tribune Company, Chicago, Ill., July 1974, po 9o 2 Interview with Ferdinand Mendenhall, Van Nuys? California, 2 December 1974. 3 Frank M. Keffer, _!iisto:ur__ of the San Fernando Val.~, mgr. ed. Harold McLean Meier, Arthur Hamilton Cawston, (Glendale: Stillman Printing Co., 1934), pp. 182-183. 4 The Linotype News, May 1928. 5 Interview with Mary Jane Petit, Sherman Oaks, California, 21 January 1975. CHAPTER V

FERDINAND MENDENHALL, MAURICE MARKJIAM, RALPH MAR~1AM AND THE NEWS TODAY

The one individual whose personal philosophy has been

the guiding spirit behind the News editorial policy since

1955 is Ferdinand Mendenhall, son o£ Walter Mendenhall and present editor o£ the News. This chapter will explore his views, his background and the influence his personal philosophy has on the paper's content.

One o£ journalism's basic precepts, that "names make news" has been a rule o£ thumb at the News throughout its history.

Its position in· the Valley as the recorder and reporter o£ the activities o£ its citizens has been cemented into permanence, partly due to its policy o£ trying to include the name o£ anyone who does anything o£ interest, whether it be in their local community or on a Valley-wide basis. In this chapter the content o£ the News today will be explored with an explanation o£ why so much emphasis is placed on local news.

71 72

The paper's political philosophy, which coincides

with management's own views, is describe?d in the chapter

as conservative, but, according to the l\1arkhams a.nd

Ferdinand Mendenhall, they take pains to see that the

"other side" is represented within the pages of the !'1_~.

How this done also will be examined as will the decision

to add the United Press International wire service.

Valley demographics illustrate clearly the middle

income audience that the News serves, and thus will be

briefly discussed to offer a more complete profile of the

area.

The decision on the part of management to give up

their independent status and become part of the Tribune

Company holdings is a new development in the history of

the paper. What changes have been made or can be expected,· will also be briefly covered in this chapter. Interviews with Maurice and Ralph Markham offer their views on the

News and its attempt to cover both sides of an issue.

The Markhams, too, have exercised great influence over the years, although their roles are not visible as that of

Mendenhall. Nevertheless, they are an integral part of the decision-making body at the News.

Ferdinand Mendenhall started at the News as a print er's devil in the composing room during his school years. 73

He recalled:

M1en I came out of the Navy in 1946, my £ather decided to become less active. I came in on the editorial side and in due course became the daily managing editor. I began to acquire his stock by purchri.se, which is what he wanted me to do because he wanted to spend a little more time on other pur suits and take a less active role. 1

A graduate of Van Nuys High School and Stanford Uni- versity, Ferdinand Mendenhall was the first Eagle Scout in the San Fernando Valley, and has held a life-long interest in scouting and other youth activities.

A political conservative, Ferdinand Mendenhall was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1960 and

1968, and was a California elector in the same years. He served as chief o£ protocol £or former California Governor

Ronald Reagan, and has received innumerable awards £or public service. A long-time supporter of Richard Nixon in his 11 Sha£ts £rom the Lamplighter 11 column which appears each Sunday, Ferdinand Mendenhall takes a hard-line conservative stand on most issues.

Active in the California Newspaper Publishers Asso- ciation (CNPA), the younger Mendenhall served as president of that group, and has headed many committees. He has also been president of the California Press Association, and a director of the Greater Los Angeles Press Club. 74

A former president and di 1~ector o£ the Van Nuy s

Chamber o£ Commerce, he was also a director o£ the Los

Angeles Chamber o£ Commerce.

Presently e~. Cd.ptain in the Unit •'·d States N3.vy Re-

serve, he saw action in all major theaters o£ World War II

and in Vietnam.

Management at the N~ws is still a family a££air.

Maurice Markham came on the scene 1n 1932 £rom his native

Baldwin City, Kansas, where his £ather, W. c. Markham,

owned the Baldwin Ledger. While a student at Baker Uni-

versity in Kansas, at the age o£ eighteen he took over the

paper £rom his £ather, and followed that with an editorial

position on Printer's Ink, a trade publication.

Markham's journalistic experience was expanded in

jobs with the Wichit~ Kansas Beacon and as a correspondent

for Associated Press and United Press, prior to his coming

to Van Nuys with his £ather.

Both Maurice Markham and his brother Ralph have been active in the CNPA, along with Mendenhall £or many years.

Ralph Markham, also £rom Baldwin, Kansas, attended the American University and Baker University, where he developed his interest and expertise in advertising. He has been recognized by many professional advertising 75

organizations and civic groups for the contribution he has

made to the !:i~~' advertising department.

The Markhams' sister, Miriam Fetherolf, became a

stockhoJrler in 1936, but remained at her home in Swarth-

more, Pennsylvania until the death of her husband. She

had contributed to the News women's section since 1954,

and in 1956 increased her staff and management activities

upon moving to the Valley permanently. She is now food

editor and company treasurer.

Joining the paper in 1949, while still in school,

Donald Fetherolf, Miriam's son, came to the News on a full-time basis in 1957. In 1958 he assumed the job of retail advertising manaqer.

Ralph's son, William c. Markham III, is assistant treasurer and sales promotion manager, and Maurice's daughter, Jeanne Markham Keating, is a contributing columnist on a regular basis.

The family atmosphere that exists is a real one, and

1s evident to anyone having dealings with the News, as

Mendenhall related:

I would say the success of this organization down through the years has been the very good rapport that has existed, along with personal friendship, among all of us concerned on a managerial level. Maurice, Ralph, Dot and myself. 76

We have our honest differences of opinion, which we work out, because that's the way to ferret out the best way. Markhams and Mendenhalls have known each other and been together for 42 years, which is quite a while. In all that time, they pulled together a.nd wrn·kcd tog<:>ther to finaJ ize a team, and my asso ciates here feel the so..me way about it. As one man once said, a man who's in the supply business, nyou fellows have a particular gift, an excellent team to work in your respective lines, and all work together. n And I think that's one of the answers to it, in other words, we're all of quite a mind. 2

Shortly after the Van Nuys Publishing Company was

sold to the Chicago Tribune Company on December 15, 1973;

the paper was described in the Tribune's house organ as having a 11 family 11 atmosphere:

As the 750 full and part time employes of the News, along with 1800 carriers, join the Tribune Company family, it should be pointed out that the newcomer is something of a family affair in itself. Almost from the beginning, News' ownership has passed from father to son, providing a continuity of policy and atmosphere for orderly expansion. It has created a deep sense of loyalty among employes and many have marked their 40th anniversary before retirement. 3

The News was sold to the Tribune Co. of Chicago, parent company of the Chicago Tribune, for an undisclosed amount, but estimates range from $25 to $35 million. That the News lS a profit-making organization has never been disputed, and, while their net profits are not a matter of public record, it can be assumed that the Tribune Company directors bought a successful enterprise, since it's been a - (

virtual hands-off policy at the N~'Js on the part of the

Chicago-based company. Aside from a few changes in book-

keeping operations and other technical areas, no direc-

tives have been issued with regard to content or editorial

policy within the News, during its first year under the

Tribune Company.

Members of the Van Nuys Publishing Co.'s board o£

directors have five-year contracts to remain at their

posts without interference from the parent company, until

1978.

Editor Ferdinand Mendenhall is quoted in the Los

Angeles Times as saying that the sale was made because

"this property certainly could benefit by affiliation with

the Tribune Company and the Tribune Company presumably

wishes to be established in the West."4

He further explained:

The Tribune Co. evidenced concrete interest in establishing on the West coast, and the News could benefit greatly by the affiliation with, and the expertise to be gained, from such an expert company. So the union was made. They'd been interested £or some time, and we weren't for sale, when they came in originally. But everyone seemed to like everyone else and we certainly knew the reputation of the Tribune. Our philosophies were similar, so it was quite a natural wedding. They thought this paper was being well managed and well run, so they left us in our same positions. They acquired the stock of the newspaper. Their officers come out and visit with us and we go over 78

matters together to agree on certain busin<··~·~ policies. But as far as the conduct of the J•;lper, they leave it just as it is. We think it's reasonably good. 5

\\That the Tribun~? Company bought, in fact, w.\S an in- sti tu tion in the San Fernando Valley, a newsp;\1 11 ·r with approximately 750 full and part-time employes. Published each Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, the ~~ws has a circulation of approximately 282,000, both pail] and controlled (circulated free).

l' • • Its six editions cover the San Fernando, >]_ffil,

Conejo and Santa Clarita valleys. This means r1~-making the front page of each issue six times to offer the most complete coverage of the major stories in each local area.

Demographics of the San Fernando Valley area reflect that middle-class picture that has been consistent throughout the Valley's history.

A readership study, done in 1971 by the Th,rothy D.

Corey Research and Counsel in Marketing Co. in I~s Angeles, describes the San Fernando Valley:

••• the largest of the major economic ar(~f.ts of Los Angeles. It is a thriving area, encomp;~('sing nearly 300 square miles that are encircled by mountains. Residents enjoy unique suburban living, yet the Valley offers most metropolitan convc·niences. Valley families are large (3.7 persons) ;~s com pared to the Los Angeles County average of ~.9 per sons per family. 79

Thirty per cent of the adult population have had "some college" education. The majority of nbread winners" are professional people and those with technical skills or specialized training.6 .

According to the study, the aV(?r age income of families who read theN~ is $17,768 and 79.4 per cent own, or are buying their own homes, which have a market value of $25 to $25,000. They own two or more automobiles.

Of the Valley families reading the News, 70.2 per cent said they read the paper for local news and features, and 40.4 per cent of those readers said they read only the

News.

When asked where they got most of their news about the Valley, 72.2 per cent cited the New~ as their principal source, followed by the Los Angeles Times, with 14.5 per cent.

Males between the ages of fourteen and seventeen and females between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine make up the largest percentage of readers. Presumably the high number of teen-age boys would be looking for sports news, while the young women are seeking social and school news, and shopping advertisements.

Both men and women between thirty and fifty are the next largest segment of readers, and readership falls off 80

considerably with persons over fifty-five.

Because the number of youthful readers is so high,

and J_n keeping with the News' pol icy of involving it self

in the local scene, the board of directors established the

Van Nuys News Foundation. Ferdinand Mendenhall believes the Foundation will continue to exist under the Tribune ovmership. He described the Foundation:

The purpose of the foundation is to study ill>d make charitable gifts to various worthy projects, centering mostly along educational lines. The foundation provides scholarships and sup ports such things as the Independent Colleges of Southern California, which is a group of 15 private colleges. We also go into the medic.al education areas and into such organizations as the \~CA and Boy Scouts, because they are also concerned with the education and development of youth.7

The News board of directors is composed of Maurice

Markham, president and publisher; Ferdinand Mendenhall, vice president and editor; Ralph Markham, secretary and advertising director; Miriam Fetherolf, treasurer and food editor; Donald Fetherolf, assistant secretary and retail manager, and William Markham, assistant treasurer and sales promotion manager.

Working directly under Ferdinand Mendenhall are Haig

Keropian, associate editor, and Laurance Fowler, managing editor.

Keropian, a newsman for twenty-nine years, has been ._1.-

affiliated with the News since 1959. His responsibil i tie·,

as associ~te editor cover a bro~d range of activities,

including conferences with Mendenhall on both internal i1.n( 1

external matters. One of his duties is to give direction

to the paper's interests in journalism education at local

universities, community colleges and high schools.

Representing the !'Jews in a variety of professional

organizations is also part of Keropian 1 s duties, includ-

ing four years of service on the Board of Publications at

California State University, Northridge. He is the 1974-

75 president of the Greater Los Angeles Press Club, and

director of Region II of the SOciety of Professional

Journalists/Sigma Delta Chi for 1974-75.

Although not directly involved in the News' produc-

tion, Keropian occasionally writes pieces on major Valley

issues, including the banner story for the annual Achic.:ve-

ment Edition.

Fowler is an experienced newsman who has been at the

News since 1954, and previously worked on the now-defunct

· Los Angeles Daily News and the Los Angeles Examiner. 1Je

heads an editorial staff of 56: 19 full-time reporters;

14 copy editors, including two slot men and two wire e

tors; two part-time copy editors; one day, and one night 82

city editor; two assistant city editors; five in the women's department, five in sports; two artists, two

Jibrarians, one co1lege intr=~rn z;nd one s.~cretary.

Although not directly in charge of the sports and women's sections, Fowler says, "I work with them when I can be of service to them, but Mr. Mendenhall likes to keep pretty close track of those two departments where major things are concerned."

In describing the division of duties between himself and Mendenhall, Fowler says:

Mr. Mendenhall is active in the editorial side of the paper in that he keeps close track of things, watches the paper carefully and often gives me things he wants special stories on. He sometimes suggests coverage of a few things, and pays close attention to sports and society. He leaves cityside pretty much to me. He and I both handle politics, but I handle about 90 per cent of it. I don't al ways do the actual editing, but every piece of politics goes through one or the other of us. In addition to that, he represents the paper in many outside things which are essential to the paper. As an example, he recently spoke before the City Council and the mayor as a representative of the CNPA on the issue of banning newsracks from public streets. He is the most active of the former owners. We have a man who writes most of our editorials, although once in a great while I will write one, or Mendenhall will write one, if we have something we really want to say quickly.s

Fowler, who does most of the hiring for the editorial department, says he doesn't care if an applicant has any journalism training or not: 83

Certainly it's no handicap, but I don't think it is a tr8~endous advantage either. I expect we have more people who have studied journalism than anything else, but that's not by design. It's be cause those are the people who are the most i.nterested in the profession r;nd seeking the jobs. But there are a lot of people who have not such a background. We have quite a few on the sta££. We look £or per sonable people, flexible people, tolerant people, because that's what the profession demands. We train an awful lot o£ our own people. It's been 15 years since I've hired a beginning reporter from outside our office. We have 18 people with us now, starting with the city editors, on down, who started with us as copy boys or girls and it's worked very well for us. We also have a number of people who have worked all over the country as newsmen, and of course you have to have a good level o£ experienced people to balance the young people.9

Fowler believes the low turnover in editorial per-

sonnel is a result of the careful hiring practices:

I£ they are beginners they're considered for copy boys or girls. There's no other way to start on this paper as a beginner. I'd say we've been fortunate. We've lost a few people and had prac tically no discharges. I haven't had to fire more than £our or five people in 20 years. We've had some who might have been lost that way if they hadn't quit, but we've lost some people to other papers or other lines of work.lO

Fowler says that the salary level at the News is not comparable to the Los Angeles Times or to wages established by the American Newspaper Guild. Beginners at the

News start at about $142 a week. He says, however, "Con- sidering the package, it's not too bad. It's gradually been improved over the years. We have many benefits and 84

a good profit-sharing plan. Now, of course, when you talk

about the 1--

don't anticipate that we will ever be on an exact par with 11 them."

In a study of the content of the N~ today, the two

sections that maintain a friendly rivalry as to which ls

the best read are the sports and Family Living (women's)

sections.

These two departments devote almost 90 per cent of their space to local news.

Frank Mazzeo, who is new to the sports editor's desk at the News, having moved up to the job in August 1974 from his assistant sports editor slot, believes:

The scope of the paper has defined its self over the last 10 years because of the growth of the Valley. There is no other outlet for Valley athletics, therefore the main thrust of our sports department is high school and college sports. We have 34 high schools, four junior colleges, two four-year schools and an additional four-year Baptist college that competes in basketball. We now have the option of running national sports news, with the addition of UPI, but we still concentrate on local sports, with the exception of big events such as bowl games, or if local people are involved in any kind of national competition. We also carry the race results now that we have the race track wire. 12

All of the sports columns are local, dealing with everything from sports in general to individual columns on 85

such sports as boxing, skiing and track. None are syndicated, and the department makes use of stringers to call in scores and to cover games during the football season.

l\1a~~zeo explained bis own vil:'WS on the role of the sports section:

I£ people want to know how the Rams did, they'll read the I~~ Angeles Times. I£ they want to know how Van Nuys High did, they'll read the News. In one way I'd like to see more national sports in our pages, because it would be more prestigious for the sta££, but in another sense I like the idea of being the best there is in local coverage. We're the only fish in this pond right now. There are 80,000 others writing about the Rams, but we're the only ones writing about Van Nuys versus Granada Hills, and people are depending on us to tell it like it is. 13

Little League coverage 1s the mainstay of summer months on the sports pages, with much space given to the all-star games and playoffs at the end of the season.

Youth football and basketball leagues, parks and recreation scores and girls' athletics are given minimal coverage because o£ lack o£ space, however, the scores are often run as statistics.

Mazzeo believes that the sports section is probably the best read in the paper and is an excellent public relations tool for the News.

Larry Fowler disagrees with him: 86

I don't know if I'd say that sports was the best read section or not. It's done a tremendous runount for the position of the paper in the community over the years, but I think probably the women 1 s section has done more. Ethel Taylor built it, anrl. built the paper along with it. I don 1 t think anyone vvho wo.Lked here was owed more than she was. You can't expect a lot of retired people to read the sports section. Most of them I think are not interested. Unless women have children in Little League or some other sport, chances are they're not going to read the sports section too much. If a man is inter ested primarily in pro or big league stuff, they're not going to read about school sports. If they just came to this area and don't yet identify with local high schools or colleges, they don't read it. The people who read it are the young people who are in school, their parents and friends and long time residents who have built up a fan relationship with high school football. Most of those people, or at least a good share, read the paper the day after a game to see what we say about it and to read the statistics.l4

The Family Living section, which carries the same

news on a Valley-wide basis, and does not remake its pages,

covers over 400 women's organizations. Gladys Branson,

who took over as women's editor following Ethel Taylor's

retirement in 1971, has tried to further change the em-

phasis of the Family Living section to more stories and

features on family activities.

The women's movement has not made any appreciable

inroads into the Family Living section. She explained the

~ews policy on the subject:

ti li i~,, !I 87

We cover "women's lib" news, but we don't go overboard on it. We often cover some events that are sponsored by the National Organization of Women or other women's groups. I think the women's libbers have gone too far in their philosophy. I see nothing wrong with being a homemaker ;:,_nd nothing wrong with our n1nning patt<~rns, how to decorate a home, club news. We try to balance our type of news, and this seems to fit in well with our readership, which is fairly middle class, with the same values and attitudes we stress. We get few complaints that we are leaning too far one way or the other, so we can only assume we are giving our readership what it wants. 15

Because the Family Living section can't possibly run

all the smaller local clubs, the News also uses women

community correspondents who handle local news and features

from fourteen specific areas. The bulk of their copy deals

with local PTAs, church groups, park and recreation de-

partments, and anything else that is deemed too localized

for Valley-wide publication.

Their by-line columns, bearing the names of the

various communities, have been a News feature since about

1928.

Paid as stringers, at 25 cents a column-inch, these

correspondents serve as excellent public relations representatives to their local communities, since they are often in attendance at local functions, such as coordi- nating councils, and are the only personal link residents have with the paper. 88

The columns, which generally run only in the edition circulated in the particular community covered in the column, are an addL'd attempt on the part of the N-:::ws to insure that even the smallest organizations and individuals can see their names in print and have their news publi- cized.

A policy exists at the News which relegates news of individual Girl Scout and Camp Fire Girl troops to the community columns, while Boy Scout news is considered appropriate to run as individual stories in the general news slots.

Girl Scout and Camp Fire councils, however, have their ovm columns, featuring news of the organizations on a council-wide basis.

In discussing the content of the news columns, Bob

Aschenbrenner, an assistant city editor, explained:

Family things, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, may get what might appear to be an unseemly amount of space, but this is part of the reason we're so successful. Any type of community building story, school news, chambers of commerce, civic organizations are preferred. We don't ignore stories of~ negative nature, but we sometimes play them down a bit. 16

Aschenbrenner, who was an experienced newsman prior to coming to the News some ten years ago, sees the community building features somewhat on the wane: 89

Most Valley conmmni ties are pretty well de veloped, and people have what they want. In the past, the paper has gone overboard in helping pro vide community services. Now they seldom take a crusading attitude. Instead, they are supportive of what various community groups are c'!oing. 17

The thoroughness with which Valley news is covered ls emphasized by Ferdinand Mendenhall:

We have a pretty good-size crew of reporters out there who cover very extensively civic activities, development projects, both government and private, all that sort of thing, so that we keep the people informed and enlightened at all times as to what's going on. When votes come up on assessments of any thing, they know pretty well what the story is. And of course, we promote heavily the business, civic and social, cultural and sports interest reportorially. We keep reporters down in the county building and in City Hall, so we keep our tentacles out.l8

This is in keeping with the findings in the local- versus-non-local tabulation done as part of this thesis.

During the years that Ferdinand Mendenhall has been editor, some 18 per cent of the news has been concerned with non-Valley issues. Of 1,632 galleys sampled, 307 were devoted to non-local stories, with the majority of those coming from UPI since 1973. One issue of the News,

November 24, 1963, dealt almost exclusively with the assassination of President John Kennedy, with virtually

85 per cent of the space given over to a nation in mourn- in g. The same was true with Richard Nixon's resignation, 90

1n the News August 9, 1974.

Before the advent of UPI, much of the non-local

stories were from such sources as the University of

Ca lifr)J:nia, Los An9.~1 es, syndic21.t ed f. ea. tures, and public

relations handouts.

Although the Ii~s prides itself on total coverage o£

the Valley, noticeably missing in the paper's photographs

are members of the black community. Spanish-surname

residents fare slightly better.

A random sampling of the Northeast edition of the

News, which goes into the predominantly minority com munities o£ Pacoima and San Fernando, evidenced few photo

graphs of black residents. A count was taken o£ one month's issues per year, every two years £or the past ten years, (1974, 1972, 1968, 1966 and 1966). A total o£ twenty Blacks, and forty-two Spanish-surname residents appeared in the News, out o£ 2,560 photos, including the women's and sports sections.

Although too small a sample to be scientifically relevant, it would seem to reinforce the entire concept of the News, to reflect the life-style of the majority o£ people it serves, white, middle-class Valley residents.

Although not sensationalized, Valley crime news is not played down by the News. According to Fowler: 91

We cover every police division, all five of them in the Valley. Six days a week, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., we have a police reporter on. ~~en it comes to sensational police news, there isn't all that much. I would say whenever we get a good story we play it. We've had sensational murdr:=r c<1.ses. I wouldn't say we played it down, but we don't exaggerate it and we don 1 t use something that is in such bad taste for a family newspaper. We don It use homoseA'Ual news, or that kind of thing. People interested in that kind of news get it elsewhere.l9

The news value inherent ln crime stories is not the

only reason the News devotes time and space to it, as

Fowler explains:

We pay more attention to the police news than all of the other Los Angeles papers put together. We do it for several reasons. First of all, if you read in the paper there were 15 burglaries in North Hollywood last night, you're probably going to be more careful about locking your door, protecting valuable property and trying to get together with neighbors to institute sort of a watch. We also publicize the stuff because we feel it helps the police, it encourges cooperation, and it lets people know there was a crime here so that if they see something they will be aware of it and notify somebody. We carry lists of drunk drivers. No one else does that, but you know that in more than one half of the fatal accidents in the country, drunk driving is involved. We get a lot of complaints and a lot of tearful pleas, but we use them. We emphasize the approach that Chief Ed Davis (Los Angeles' Chief of Police) is taking, which is to get the public in volved in being aware of crime and controlling it.20

Local politics are covered in depth by the News. All candidates for local or state-wide office representing the

Valley are asked to submit photographs and statements of 92

their policies and positions on various issues.

According to Aschenbrenner, the News tries to run --...--~-----

anything that wi 11 be of henefi t to the r r ,,,L,·r s in mak in 9

up their jllinds on political is;c;ues and rJJ.nclit1:ite>s.

Before each election, we cover the issues and candidates, building up to a few days before the aeneral elections, when we make editorial recom ~endations ourselves. It is a very popular feature. 21

Major national elections are also covered by the

News, and endorsements of both local and national candidates run almost consistently along Republican lines.

Ferdinand Mendenhall describes his political philosophy as

"fairly conservative":

We have a slightly more conservative nature politically, in the matter of government and so forth. I don't mean party-wise, but as far as peo ple are concerned. I'm sort of a pay-as-you-go man. I don't like to see an over-indulgence in credit where peo~le are tiding checks to keep up with the Jones. 2

Aschenbrenner says, 11 The Valley is pretty conservative, and many people rely on the paper to reinforce . "23 th1S.

Fowler would agree:

I would say its always been conservative, it's a conservative Republican paper. As we've grown, added more days, more staff we were better able to be a little more in touch with things, so that we aren't quite so insular. We're able to cover a little broad er spectrum. We are just as conservative as we ever were, but a little better able to offer other views. 24 93

When the paper was started in 1911, it was not very political, according to Maurice Markham:

It was so small and there were so few people here. I think you can say we're certainly not to the left, but of cou.rse, everyone doe'~n't agree with us and they often write a story to us, or co1nment in Open Forum (letters-to-the-editor), and we always run it. We feel its their chance to explore it a little. Of course, the people who founded the paper and the ones who followed were pretty much of one pattern. This is the way we were raised and we follow the same texture. We also know that, even though people find a trend in the paper they're opposed to, when they want to find an ad or buy an ad, there's no place else to go. 2 5

Occasionally the News will endorse a Democrat or a liberal Republican. The final decision is made by an editorial board of from three to five members. Ralph

Markham explains their attempts at presenting both sides of an issue:

I think we've been perfectly fair. We've never yet been accused of not giving both sides of a story. When it comes to politics we are conservative, but we're certainly not ultra-conservative and we're not way to the left. We carry Jack Anderson's column and he's not exactly a conservative. We have a lot of good read ers for it. Their is a lot o£ good comment on it both ways and we print it because we feel its of value to the community. When it comes to politics I would say we're pretty independent really when you get right down to it. We give both sides o£ the story, and a rundown on all of the propositions, £or and against. We request each of the candidates to send us pictures and stories and we go to a great deal o£ expense to do this and allow everyone a chance to give his o-vvn opinion.26 94

The addition of Washington columnist Jack Anderson,

along with another relatively liberal writer, Clark

l\1ollenhoff, is an attempt by the !'J~~s to oCfer another

viev\lpoint. Althou9h l'·Iollenho££ is still found on the

editorial page, Anderson is sometimes related to a posi-

tion deep within the paper. However, the assumption that

Anderson is a "liberal 11 is not necessarily the case, since

he has acted as a gadfly £or the wrongdoings o£ both

Republican and Democratic administrations in the past

years.

Regarding the addition o£ Anderson as important to

the paper, Fowler said:

We don't always admire what he does, but still he's a valuable thing to have around, a burr under the saddle blanket, just like Drew Pearson was in the 40s, and he's done a lot of good things, along with some bad things. 27

A slight relaxing o£ such strict conservatism was

I cited by Mrs. Fetherolf: \ I There was a time when we wouldn't have backed another man £or office because we were so conserva \ tive and Republican, but now we do. I think the whole company has gone that way. We carry Jack I Anderson, which is a far cry from our beliefs, but I I it gives the reading public the opportunity to see ' all sides. \ Mollenhoff, too, respresents the other side, so i ! that I think Mr. Mendenhall makes a definite at ~ I tempt to balance it out. 2S 95

Probably the biggest change in the content o£ the

_!.:Jews over the years came with the adciition o£ United

Press International wire service in 1973.

The l'kws h<'ld i1~·ic•d for some time to obtain the s''r-

vice, but was refused because o£ UPI' s policy o£ being

available only to papers with at least 85 per cent paid

circulation. The ~ews finally obtained the service by

threatening legal action based on the £act that radio

stations can obtain the service and they have no paid circulation at all.

The wire copy 1s run 1n briefs on the front page under the heading, "News o£ the World, Nation, State," 1n a two-column, full length slot. Important wire stories are also run on a full page o£ national and international news, and UPI stories are sometimes scattered in other parts o£ the paper.

This does not indicate, however, a trend toward more and more usage o£ outside-the-Valley news, according to

Fowler:

We'll never use more than 15 to 20 per cent. All we did with the wire was to get the junk out o£ the paper, and by junk, I don't mean the columns and small police news,or the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Those are not junk £or our purposes. I'm talking about such things as UCLA and North Dakota Highway Patrol handouts, which we've had to use to £ill up. We have a bigger news hole to £ill in one day than the Herald Examiner has in three. 96

We wanted the wire service to clean up the paper and to enable us to give a better rounded package to our readers. I don 1 t advocate taking only this paper, but if someone wants to, they can get a pretty good idea of what's going on in the world by just reading our pape-r. But I think ':::v,~ryone outjht to ta,ke at 29 1 cast two.

Ferdinand Mendenhall explained what position national

and international news takes in the paper:

We had City News Service for the last quarter of a century, but we've had a continuing realization that we should, as the paper grows, bring international

news and state news more fully into the paper o We don't give over our front page to it unless its some thing tremendous like Ford's ascension to the presi dency or war being declared, or something like that.3°

The entertainment section of the News seems to be

geared primarily to its advertisers, with restaurant and

television columns and movie reviews of films playing ln

' the Valley. A calendar of things to do is run on the

weekends. Minimal coverage is given to the many Valley

little theaters while much space is filled with photos of

restaurant managers greeting celebrity guests.

It is probably the weakest area of the paper as far

as offering complete coverage of cultural and artistic

activities in the Valley, and one which Fowler says they

hope to expand and develop.

A look at the present status of the paper would not

be complete without noting the competitive papers in the 97

area •

.N~~~ as a daily paper, by its de:fini tion o:f :four or more

puhJiration days a week. The only othec dailies ln the

Valley are the Burbank Daily Review, which was established

Confined :for many years to the Burbank-Glendale area,

ln 1974 the Review extended its coverage into the East

Valley, overlapping the ~ews in the areas o:f North

Hollywood, Sun Valley and Toluca Lake.

There are thirty other smaller papers covering their

own local areas ln the Valley that o:f:fer some competition, but cannot begin to rival the scope and thoroughness o:f

the News.

A listing o:f competitive newspapers in the Valley

lS :found in Appendix B.

Here, then, we have a newspaper serving as the

11 hometown 11 paper :for over a quarter o:f a million people, an enormous undertaking :for any publication, and one made

even more improbable by the vast geographic area the

News encompasses.

How does one newspaper spread a :feeling o:f community over the 320 square miles in the San Fernando Valley? 98

The division of the Valley into six specific areas by the

_!'Jews solves this problem to a certain extent, and the even

further nar-rowing of its coverage within the community

coJumns serves to give even more of the hometown flavor to

the paper.

Conservative in outlook, concerned with youth and its

activities, encouraging the pursuit of the good life, the

News may within its pages offer a certain sense of

security to those who came from a more traditional past.

To those who find th8~selves and what they believe 1n

threatened by the urban sprawl that is Los Angeles, and

the variety of "avant-garde11 life-styles in California,

the News offers reassurance that the old values are still

there for those who would heed them.

As long as the present management is 1n control, it

can be assumed that things will proceed as before. Even

:with the recognition of the need to offer some news on a

; wider scope, the determination to maintain the local

flavor is still there, since that would seem to be a major

key to the paper's success. 99

NOTES

l Interview with Ferdinand Mendenhall, Van Nuys, California, 2 December 1974. 2 Ibid. 3 Ruth Croft, 11 The Valley News, 11 The Little Tr_ib, Chicago Tribune Company, Chicago, Ill., July 1974, pp. 8-9. 4 John A. Jones, 11.Yalley News and Green Sheet Sold to Chicago Tribune Firm, 11 Los Angeles Times, 17 December 1973, Sec. I, p. 3. 5 Mendenhall interview. 6 The Valley News and Green Sheet and Its Market, Dorothy D. Corey Research and Counsel in Marketing, Los • Angeles, 1971.

7 Mendenhall interview. 8 Interview with Laurance Fowler, Van Nuys, Califor nia, 22 January 1975. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 rnterview with Frank Mazzeo, Burbank, California, 19 January 1975. 13 Ibid. 14 Fowler interview.

lSI nterv1ew. w1t. h Gl a d ys Branson, Van Nuys, Cal1forn1a, . . 13 January 1975. 16 Interview with Robert Aschenbrenner, Van Nuys, California, 16 Jill!uary 1975. 100

17 Ibid. 18 Mendenhall interview. 19 Fow1er intl:>rview. 20 Ibid. 21 Aschenbrenner interview. 22 Mendenhall interview. 23 Aschenbrenner interview. 24 Fowler interview. 25 Interview with Maurice Markham, Van Nuys, California, 28 February 1975. 26 Interview with Ralph Markham, Van Nuys, California, 28 February 1975. 27 Fowler interview. 28 Interview with Miriam Fetherolf, Van Nuys, Califor- nia, 15 January 1975. 29 Fowler interview. 30 Mendenhall interview. CHAPTER VI

ROLE OF THE VALLEY NEWS AS SEEN FROM THE INSIDE

Idealism runs high at the ~e\v~. From its earliest

days, when Frank Keffer hoped the Ne~ would "cement an

active cooperative spirit among Valley citizens to insure

continued progress," those involved have had a clear idea

as to what the paper's role should be.

Although never pretending to be all-things-to-all-

people, there is a pervasive feeling at the News that

they've done what they set out to do, and that is to con-

tribute substantially to the development of the San

Fernando Valley. The views of management and staff mem-

bers on the role of the News as they see it will be ex-

: plored in this chapter.

Editor Ferdinand Mendenhall ex~ressed his feelings

on the paper's position in the Valley:

I think we do very materially contribute to the growth of the Valley, and have all down through the years. Going back to the old saying, "An informed public is an enlightened public." After all, this paper has been running almost 64 years, and I think that's a pretty good recommenda tion that it must be valued by the people.l

101 102

Emphatic about the paper's part 1n the Valley's

growth, Ralph Markham said:

We have always been encouraging and optimistic, not st .cictly cha.rrtber -of --ccyn;l•=·rce •• o.nd we still are. There is a ch:-,nging Valley. V.Te are (_d<"tting rnore urbanized perhaps, with condominiums and apartments forced on us a great deal by the economic situation. The factory and farm part of it is being replaced a little bit by the service trades and professions. 2

Competition has always existed for the New2, but it

never seemed to be a large threat, since the only other

paper that tried to cover the whole Valley was the Vallez

Times. With the demise of the Time2 in the early 1970s,

the News extended its coverage into the East San Fernando

Valley, including the communities of Burbank, North

Hollywood and Sun Valley. In discussing the competition

over the years, Maurice Markham recalled:

We've had a lot of competition because we're as close as we are to the metropolitan field, and there's been more than one paper down there through the years. We've had competition from other sources that have now disappeared from the field. All of which has given us a determination to come up with a good newspaper. Advertising helps, but I think its the contact we have with the community that has made us success ful, the £act that we've grown up with the area. When we talk about one, we talk about the other. 3

Concurring in the idea that the News has not at-

tempted to become a metropolitan paper, Bob Aschenbrenner,

assistant city editor, said: i f 103

We don 1 t try to compete with the .Los .£1.ngeles Times on their basis. The Herald Examiner is a different situation too. They are successful in the \vay they should be. They have complete news cover age, but it can be read by the guy on the bus. 4

Ralph Markham agrees it would be impossible for the

Los Angel

Fernando Valley. 11 We fill this vacuum, giving the public

local news, and with our United Press International ser-

vice, a summation of the rest of the news. 115

Defining his views on the role the paper should play,

Laurance Fowler credits other Valley papers for the job

they're doing in their respective areas:

This is a community paper. It should do, it has done, and should continue to do, what nobody else has done, which is to cover the local news. The Los Angeles Times had to abdicate on that. The old Examiner tried a little bit and had a couple of people out here, but they couldn't do it. The Herald never did try. Radio and TV can't do any thing. We're the only ones who can. We and the other community papers, of course. They all play a part. We all do the same thing. These papers are the only way people can find out what's happening in their own areas, and the only way they can find out how what's happening elsewhere effects them. We cover downtown City Hall, the County Hall o£ Administration, both boards of educa tion, as well as the satellite boards, all the chambers-of-commerce, zoning and the police. It's a package.

The attempt to keep the News basically a community paper lS continually re-inforced by those involved in its production, and is seen as the principal reason for its 104

success. According to Fowler, it takes more than that.

He believes there are other aspects of the paper that are

important in its success:

'C'h-ls kind of pap,or, lD a lncal tvay, is the kind of paper that the ~.§~-.X.~~-~-1)mes is, as complete as we can make it. It's not sensational in the sense that you try to make something a sensation that isn't. We're a morning paper which is a good thing to be, and over the years, that kind of paper has been the most successful. Others may have done a nice job in an editorial way, but if they didn't present a rounded view of the community, if they weren't well managed and didn't try to appeal to everybody, they'd gradually fade away. Of course, you can't have too many papers doing the same thing. If another paper tried to start up here now, it couldn't be exactly like this nne. You couldn't start another Los Angeles Times; if you wanted to come into Los Angeles and were willing to spend a lot of money, then you would have to be different. Still they would have to appeal to a broad spec trum. I think that the editorial approach, combined with good management is what made this paper a suc 7 cess and kept it going.

Ferdinand Mendenhall's philosophy toward the role of

the paper would seem to go a little deeper than that of

the others, in that his own values enter frequently into

' editorial decisions. In discussing his own philosophy,

which 1s admittedly conservative, Mendenhall said:

I'll borrow the line £rom the New York Times, 11 All the news that's fit to print." That I subscribe to. I have an aversion to news of questionable moral value. I don't like to throw questionable morals in the face of the readers as a matter of principle where the newspaper's concerned. - l

lOS

We have so many young readers, school children, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, they want to see i£ their team made a touchdown last Friday, or i£ their group's name is in the paper. I'm adverse to some o£ the utterances I see printed some places these days.B

l\h?ndenhall believes this reflects the whole life-

style in the Valley. The things the News prints are the

things the people prefer, and that's why they've been so

successful. He said:

We get letters from time to time from people congratulating us on our rather conservative stand. They think it's a pretty good thing morally. I'd like to think that the morals in the Valley might be a little higher or a lot higher than they are in other areas.9

The belie£ that the News success is the result o£ a

combination of the attempt to keep it localized, adver-

tising ex~ertise, and vision on the part o£ the founders,

as well, is expressed by Fowler:

Walter Mendenhall was a smart man, a good news man and a good businessman. He was active in the business up until the time he died. He realized that not only this paper had a future, but management was smart enough to put money back into it instead o£ carrying it out the back door as soon as it came in the front, and that's what they did. We still spend a lot of money maintaining the community flavor. That's the job of management. There have been papers that have as wide a circula tion but didn't try to localize anything.10

The future of the News is viewed with much optimism by those involved. It is anticipated that soon Video Display

Terminals will be a part of the city room equipment on the 106

technical side, allowing reporters and copy editors to do

their jobs on computeJ~ized machines, without even the use

of a pencil. The nation's economy in 1973 and 1974 l;as

played a role in the pciper' s cx1•~:~.nsion, slc,Ning it <]:)\Vn

somewhat. Maurice MarkJ1am believes the New.2_ would prob-

ably e.A."Pand further east, into the Glendale area, when

newsprint prices go down.

Hopes that it would eventually become a daily were

expressed by Aschenbrenner, who also blamed the economy on

the decision to remain at four-days-a-week.

Fowler would like to see the paper become more 1n-

volved with the schools in the community, perhaps working

with social studies teachers to develop more interest in

reading a newspaper on a daily basis among the students.

As far as changes in the content are concerned, the

consensus is that the percentage of local to non-local

news will remain the same. However, Miriam Fetherolf

, says, "The future may not be up to the present management,

since we've been sold, but I would think it would stay

the same."

Ralph Markham agrees:

It's pretty hard to predict sometimes just what form it will take. I think that as long as we have the pulse of the co~munity, we will more or less move that way. 11 _____ ..1...___

··-·:, ..

107

The News as a permanent institution in the Valley lS

seen by Maurice Markham:

The paper has a pt>Cmanency to it. Va.n Nuys is the center for all the Valley, with i1ea.dquarters o£ hundreds of city d~partmcnts. It's like a county seat, and you can't take us away from the county seat and you can't take the county seat away from us. 12

Keffer's visions of what the paper could become have

been realized according to his daughter. Mary Jane Petit

believes it has filled the role her father foresaw--as an

instrument in the growth of the Valley, and as a means of

keeping the people informed as to what effects them.

Father wanted the News to be one of the best in the state, and certainly, with the Mendenhalls and Markhams it is continuing as such. The Mendenhalls and Markhams have continued the purposes and responsibilities of the paper that father set out to establish. I have no misgivings about the sale to the Tribune Co. The paper has a great deal of influence in the Valley and I see no major changes. The addition of the wire service was necessary because so many people are unsatisfied with the Los Angeles I Times. 13 The view of the News through the eyes of management

reveals a certain amount of self-satisfaction, feeling I that they must be doing something right, as evidenced by their success. lI Another proof of their capabilities would seem to be

the reputedly good management-employe relationships.

I The attempt over the years to maintain a "family" ! atmosphere has been reiterated over and over. Maurice 108

Markham said:

We're not so big we don't know who most o£ our people are, and many o£ them we can call by their first names. This is kind o£ like a big f;::;_mi ly. Once they get to be a member o£ the family, 0enerally they stay, unlPss they move away or become un1','-PPY about something else. Ordinarily we have people on our payroll £or years, many as long as 40 or 45. If they want to go some place else that's their right, but there's many peo ple who like to work close to home. They like the Valley and think its a good place to raise their fami lies. Colleges are right next door. It's pretty hard to undersell.l4

That the family atmosphere should exist among management is obvious, but it also has permeated into the relationships with employes over the years.

Veta McMahan, who joined the sta££ o£ the News 1n

1949, was a professional newspaperwoman 1n the East £or many years, and was with the News until her retirement in

1972. She described the News organization as it existed in the late 1940s and early 1950s:

I started as a general reporter when the whole sta££ consisted o£ Ethel Taylor, her assistant, Charles Ryan, Ferd (Mendenhall) his £ather (Walter Mendenhall) and myself. It had sort o£ a family feeling. I always found management's offices open to me and I think it is still fairly consistent throughout the paper. In recent years, however, they put a ban on people going directly to the woman that makes out the checks. I£ you have a question now, you're supposed to go to the department head. I suppose that's because it's gotten so big. I think Ferd has maintained that family feeling.l5 109

However, the days o:f :f.:-u.11ily picnics for employes and parties, where man;:;gc!Tlent att.c-nded too, o.re 9'Jne. Their

years at the News. His wife, Nellie, 1s 1n charge o:f the tear-sheet department in the mailroom, and has been there since 1943. Richardson recalled:

It's not like it used to be, when you could walk down the hall and walk right into one o:f the head o:f:fices. Mendenhall Senior would o:ften be working late, and I'd stop in to visit with him. The changes came when the paper got bigger, and they brought in a production manager as a stop gap between employes and management. It caused some employe estrangement. But there is still a good relationship. There was a different atmosphere too when the Eastern union-types came in and organized the press men. It seemed like the company was automatically their enemy .16

One of the most stalwart supporters of the idea that the News is a good place to work is Mary Margaret Cowart, the head switchboard operator, who has been there for eighteen years.

Relations between management and employes is ":fantastic." They always have time for you. Your problems are their problems. They are very loyal to older employes. Mr. Mendendall (Ferdinand) also sees to it that the employes are nice to the public. There is always verbal praise from management for a job-well-done, and I feel like part of the family .17 11

Joy Castro, assistant classified manager, has been at

th e _N ews for Some Sl. xt een y e ar s , and also_ feels, 11 If I had

something to t·al k to thf?m about, I could do so. 11

Not only do the employes regard the ~~=:yvs. as a permanent institution, but many Valley residents do alsoo Mrs.

Castro spoke of herself as a ~ews reader:

I can't imagine the Valley without it. It's been here as long as I can remember, and it would be great ly missed if it weren't. In dealing with the public, I talk to a lot of people and many tell me, "I only take the Green Sheet". It is providing the major news source for many, many people. The people who are active in the Valley, in schools and other areas, all go to the News to find news of their activities. It makes them feel like one big family. Even the classified section is geared toward family readership. We don't run anything that is in bad taste. This lS the success of the paper.l8

Haig Keropian, associate editor, has noted the pub- lie's. reaction to the News from a different vantage point in his dealings with other professional journalists and clvlc leaders:

I am convinced that the News is held in high es teem in professional circles. The paper has been cited on so many occasions for its journalistic excel lence, as well as service to the public. It has received tributes and awards for its investigative series on narcotics, and drugs, child abuse, alcohol ism, jurisprudence, senior citizens and many other vi tal issues.l9

The rosy picture of the News as the hometown newspaper-of-record, and as a place offering security and a 1

family atmosphere for its employes has existed for many

years. However, there may be some feelings of discontent-

m<-:?nt breeding among S•)m.e employes. Shortly Z"l.ftt.:-r the Nuvs

was sold to the TJ.:ibune Company in late 19?3, the Los

Angeles chapter of the American Newspaper Guild began re-

ceiving inquiries £rom _!'J~ws employes as to the possibili-

ties of organizing within the paper.

The timing of these initial inquiries may or may not

be coincidental, but it is possible that the job security

that many felt may have seemed threatened under the new

ownership, even though the present management is to con-

tinue until 1978.

Whether the Guild will become part of the News orga-

nization has not yet been determined. However, what does \ seem certain £rom the contents o£ this chapter is that all \ t those concerned with the News production are pleased with

the job that is being done. Little, i£ any, criticism of

the News policies was expressed. As Ralph Markham said,

as long as management feels it has the "pulse o£ the

community 11 it will be more-of-the-same in the future. NOTES

1 Interview with Fe crl.inand I\1 endenhrl.l 1, V;;.n 1'-:uy s, California, 2 December 1974.

2 Interview with Ralph Markham, Van Nuys, California, 28 February 1975.

3 rnterview with Maurice Markham, Van Nuy s, California, 28 February 1975.

4 Interview with Robert Aschenbrenner, Van Nys, California, 16 January 1975.

5 Ralph Markham interview.

6 rnterview with Laurance Fowler, Van Nuys, California, 22 January 1975. 7 Ibid.

8 Mendenhall interview.

1°Fowler interview.

11Ralph Markham interview.

12Maurice Markham interview.

13rnterview with Mary Jane Petit, Sherman Oaks, California, 21 January 1975.

14Maurice Markham interview.

15rnterview with Veta McMahan, Panorama City, California, 8 January 1975.

16rnterview with Edward Richardson, Van Nuys, California, 8 January 1975. ___...... ) ___ _

113

17 Interview with Mary Margaret Cowart, Van Nuys, California, 8 January 1975. 18 Interview with Joy Castro, Van Nuys, California, 8 January 1975. 19 Interview with Haig Keropian, Van Nuys, California, 28 January 1975. CHAPTER VII

ADVERTISING, CIRCULATION AND PRODUCTION

A study of the News would not be complete without a

look at the policies and philosophy behind its tremendous

volume of advertising, a key factor in the paper's sue-

cess.

Classified advertising lineage, which ran close to

5.5 million lines in 1974, is second only to the Los

Angeles Times in Los Angeles County and fifth in the na-

tion, including competition with dailies that publish

seven-days-a-week.

The phenomenal growth of the advertising department

; began on a very small scale, says Mary Jane Petit:

My father would hear someone say that he wished he had brought this or that with him when he settled in the Valley. So, at no charge, father would run ads for individuals looking for something, or wanting to sell something. Sometimes he would not even tell the individuals involved. This surprised many peo ple.1

Today, more than 100 women are employed on the

classified desks at the main Van Nuys office, 14539 Sylvan

Street, and the many branch offices throughout the Valleyg

114 115

A small percentage o£ ads are obtained by solicitation.

The girls on the desk call business customers who are on

contracts to see i£ they want to p1<:~.ce their a.ds. Othe~r s

and call the potential customer to see i£ he would like to

advertise in the News. -~~-·--

Business advertising and ads obtained through

solicitation actually amount to a small proportion o£ the

total classified advertising. Most o£ it comes £rom pri-

vate individuals wanting to sell or buy specific items.

The largest growth period in the classified section

occurred in the past twenty years. According to Joy

Castro, assistant classified manager, there were only I twenty women employed on the desks when she came to the News in 19 59 •

The three largest sections o£ classified are real

estate, used cars and employment, and, according to the I economy, they vary as to their first, second or third positions.

I Mrs. Castro discussed the paper's appeal to adver-

I ti ser s:

Part o£ the reasons people like to advertise with us are the general response an advertiser will I) have £rom his single ad, and the £act that we use a seven-point type which is easily read. We use ]

£ewer abbreviations, so the public doesn't have to guess at what the customer is advertising.2

A strict standard is applied in the acceptance o£ ads

£or the News. A line under the !'ie..w_~ standard listing in

Adver-t:i sing Ag_e states, "Alcoholic beverage advertising accepted. All copy subjected to publisher's approval."

Mrs. Castro explaine9:

We are geared toward family readership. We don't run sex ads or anything like that. I£ something is questionable, we research it to find out what it's all about. It is a family newspaper and we strive hard to keep it that. There's nothing we put in our classified ads that our children couldn't read. 3

The same community spirit that pervades the editorial columns exists in the classified section. Mrs. Castro said many individuals rely on the paper:

People that want to buy something will look in the Green Sheet. I£ they want someone to do work for them, landscaping, remodeling, or buy a home, they'll look here. We have a lot o£ people tell us i£ they want to place an ad they look in the paper to see what other people are asking £or their items before they decide what they want £or theirs. 4

Ferdinand ~endenhall sees several £actors accounting for the success o£ the advertising department:

The advertising department here is a result o£ the growth o£ the Valley in the past 30 years. The makeup o£ the Valley is different from that o£, say, the Wilshire District, where there are few children. Out here, cars, toys and school clothes are always needed. The paper should go to the marketplace.S r 117 t

The role of the ~ew~ in providing a service for many

Valley residents lS illustrated by Maurice Markham:

Often it looks like a mob scene out in front of the builcling, with 50 or 60 men and '"'om~cn waiting for the paper to come off the press cun. M~ny are look ing for jobs, or whatever. There's just nothing else that gives that kind of service.6

Retail advertising too plays a big part in the paper's

financial success. Headed by Donald Fetherolf, the retail

advertising section is distinguished from national or

general, but all are part o£ the display advertising de-

partment. National or general is basically product ad-

vertising, such as General Motors. Retail is advertising

for any type of local operation, such as grocery stores

and department stores, and this is where the News'

largest percentage of display advertising comes £rom.

According to Fetherolf, "All business is local. It

really all happens when you go into a drugstore to buy a

tube of toothpaste, whether the ad you saw was for the

product it self or the retail store that sells it. " 7 He

believes the paper's success is a combination of good

editorial policy and advertising results:

The success of our advertising is in direct pro portion to the success of the advertisers. We're successful because they're successful. Why are they successful? Because of readership. And why do you have readership? Lots of reasons. 118

You've got to have numerical coverage of the area, in sports, women's, aeneral news. It's a little like the chicken and the egg, it's a self-completing cir cle. )V1.3.ny papers have tried to copy the _l'l__Q}VS in uther pd.rts of California. I flon' t think there is a t'J3

Fetherolf believes the Ne~ has lived up to its role

1n the Valley:

It would be nice to think that the paper has played a role in the growth of the Valleyo The paper has certainly made every effort to be involved in the part of the Valley it serves. To answer the ques tion, the size of the circulation figures, readership figures, advertising figures, would pretty well indicate that we have served the Valley pretty well. If the Valley was a city in itself, it would be roughly the size of Detroit. It is difficult to sell retail advertising in the Valley because no figures are kept on the total sales volume in the Valley, only in Los Angeles County as a whole. The source of information on the market is very difficult. Most retail stores compute their sales total not by in dividual stories, but by the city as a whole, lumping central Los Angeles with the Valley.9

That people make use of the News advertising section was borne out in a 1971 readership survey. Some 97.8 per

cent of the respondents said that most all their shopping was done in the Valley, with food and clothing highest on the consumers' shopping lists, followed by hardware and home maintenance items. Car accessories, furniture, 119

major appliances, yardage, drugs, carpeting, and wine, beer and liquors complete the list in that order. All of these indicate the potential for retail advertiser$. Head- ing the list of i tens .for classified re

The News has a somew·hat unique system of paid and

"controlled" circulation, totaling some 282,000, covering the entire San Fernando Valley, and going into the Simi,

Santa Clarita and Conejo valleys. Ralph Markham explained the system:

We are not a throwaway. I don't like that term. We don't leave it unless the people want to read it. There are a few people out there who get it and don't read it on a regular basis, which also happens with your daily newspaper. Therefore, it is controlled in the sense that, if people do not want it, they can call us and we will not leave it. Approximately 60,000 readers are voluntary paid. However, we make no attempt to collect in areas where delivery is made by car routes, men or boys in cars. Voluntary payments are made only to our carrier boys, who deliver some 150,000 papers. 11

In 1971, the News was involved ln a key California

Supreme Court decision governing unsolicited, free distribution of newspapers. The court ruled that residents may stop such throwaway newspaper delivery by notifying the publisher that they do not want the paper. The News follows that policy, although, when a new circulation area opens up, the papers are freely distributed for a period 12.0

and then stopped. \Vhen the sample papers are stopped, the circulation department has found that at least '50 per cent of the pc'opl e wi 11 call ;=md request tl1a t the-y st;::,.rt

Expanding to a semi ·-weekly in 1922, the paper responded to a land and population boom and began publishing three issues a week in 1954, and four 1.n 1959. Although the decision to publish only four days a week is mainly economic, the choice of days, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, was made for specific reasons. Mendenhall e:>..rplained:

We're timed to our market. Here in the Valley, which is a family oriented community, they have it financially a little different than in a metropolitan area. They shop the weekends, therefore we publish on Thursday and Friday, with Thursday being the biggest advertising day. Sunday serves as a wrap-up of the weekend news, and also sports, which is very important. Sunday is also heavily used by classified readers and home buyers. Then everybody gets back to work Monday morn ing, so by Tuesday morning they're ready to catch up with the news again. 13

The News family grows larger considering the 1,800 carrier boys who mount their bicycles four mornings a week to make their rounds. The attempt to make these youngsters also feel part of the "family" is expressed in the

News' 50th Anniversary Edition: ------___i

121

On every morning the .!i.'?ws greets its readers- whether they be mornings hot or cold, wet or dry--a small army o£ young "businessmen" have been in the field all the way £rom the Burbank boundary across the San Fernando Valley and up into the Conejo and Simi Valleys. This the corp o£ conscientious, hard tVOJ:k.ing youngsters the ~-e\~ calls its ca:rrier saJ,'s· men--the lads who deliver most o£ the 160,000 copies of each issue o£ this publication, and who call on the readers each month to collect the subscription fee. That's a lot o£ boys to roll out o£ bed in the "wee hours'' and run their routes---but their district supervisors are proud o£ these carriers' overall interest in their work and their allegiance to this publication. All carriers are encouraged to tell their subscribers just how they are paid £or the job, i£ asked. And more often than not, parents are the boys' most enthusiastic supporters, realizing that, as their sons are remunerated £or delivery as well as com mission, few i£ any other carriers are so well paid £or time they put on a route. The News is proud o£ each one o£ these more than 1400 youngsters--and makes certain each one £eels he "belongs. "14

This homey tribute to the boys-on-the-bikes is aug- mented by trips to Disneyland, Catalina Island, annual picnics, sporting events, and amusement passes.

Working conditions at the News have changed considerably over the years. The first home of the paper was a small, square building, standing alone in the same location the present general offices now stand. From behind the building, the view was unobstructed across the

Valley floor to the mountains. Currently, a 30,620 square-foot building takes up almost a whole city block, 122

and houses the executive, business and editorial offices,

composing room, classified and display advertising de·-

pa.-.ctment s.

Ahout a mile L~om the

Califa Street, Van Nuys, is the plant, covering 41,918

square feet. It houses the press room, mailroom and cir-

culation department. Production is done on a grand scale, with plans for more expansion. With an hourly capacity of 130,000 72-page papers, the nine-unit Goss Mark I and

Mark II presses use more than 37,500 tons of newsprint annually. Rolls are stacked five high in the adjoining warehouse, which as a 3,000 roll capacity. Remodeling

took place in 1971, streamlining the architecture of the

general offices, as described in Editor and Publisher:

Split-granite tiles cover the 200-foot front of the general offices ••• adorned by two concrete marquees of contrasting color ••• Covering 18,000 square feet, the newly renovated general offices feature recessed lighting, air conditioning, heating, music and a paging system. They are carpeted throughout. A carpet mill produced 1,990 square yards of orange-textured, easy-to-clean carpeting to accent the ecru and gold decor of interior wallso Additional improvements include installation of pneumatic tube systems for delivering copy to the composing room for the editorial, sports and society departments, concealed conveyor belts in the clas sified department, and an employe parking lot and lounge.l5

Modernization has resulted in a change-over ln the campo sing :room opera ti()ns: 123

Composition had been converted entirely to cold type with the exception of some clasified advertis ing copy. Editorial copy is now coded in composing and sent through an Auto Reader which punches tape that is fed into a digital computer. I·Vhen the system is complete, the Auto Reader will transmit clirc:ctly to the •:omputc:r, producing type ready for pastc·ap. About 45 per cent of classified ads are scanned; the balance are punched on tape for the linotypes, made up and then photographed from proofs. On completion of the computer prograrnming, all classified copy will be handled by the cold type process.l6

Here then is a newspaper that is recognizable not

only by its content, a local flavor that offers a sense of

community in this sprawling area, but a paper that is

visually distinctive by its green wrap-around sheet. The origin of the wrap-around was told in the paper's 50th

Anniversary Edition:

Newcomers in the San Fernando, Conejo and Simi valleys hear the News referred to as the "Green Sheet". Back in 1931, there was no dearth of publications of various types ·and sizes being delivered to homes and businesses in this widespread area. To better distinguish the News, for what the publishers trusted was preferred reading among the residents of that day, the practice of using green paper for the "cover sheet" of the newspaper was adopted--and people found themselves remarking that they were reaching for- and reading the "Green Sheet". The green paper remains as a popular distinguish ing feature and the name "Green Sheet 11 affectionate ly continues among many readers, particularly in the advertising field.l7

11 We were saying on the switchboard, 'This is the News and Green Sheet,' and people would say, 'Well, I don't -·------1------_.--~---

124

11 11 know if I want the ----News, but I want the Green Sheet" ', 18 according to Maurice l\1arkham.

The result lS a newspaper that provides its readers not only with information on what their neighbors rl.nd friends are doing, but offers them data on where to shop, how to have their homes and cars repaired, and, with the exception of sex, tells them where they can go to satisfy their most basic needs. ~ --·~---·----- _L

rI ' 125

NOTES l Interview with Mary Jane Petit, Shennan Oaks, California, 21 January 1975. 2 Interview with Joy Castro, Van Nuys, California, 15 January 1975. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Interview with Ferdinand Mendenhall, Van Nuys, California, 2 December 1974. 6 Interview with Maurice Markham, Van Nuys, Californio, 28 February l975o 7 Interview with Donald Fetherolf, Van Nuys, California, 12 January 1975.

10 The Valley News and Green Sheet and Its Market, Dorothy D. Corey Research and Counsel in Marketing, Los Angeles, 1971. 11 rnterview with Ralph Markham, Van Nuys, California, 28 February 1975. 12 John A. Jones, "Valley News and Green Sheet Sold to Chicago Tribune_ Firm, 11 Los Angeles Times, 17 December 1973, Sec. I, p. 3. 13 Mendenhall interview. 14 Valley News and Green Sheet, 50th Anniversary Edi- tion, 27 August 1961, p. 3A. 1511 Sixty Year Old Newspaper Brings Plant Up to Date", Editor and Publisher, 10 January 1971, pp. 43-44. 126

16 Valley News and Green Sheet, 50th Anniversary Edition. 17 Ruth Croft, nThe Valley Newsn, Tl2__~Li:ttl_t?_ __ _!rib, Chicago Tribune Company, Chicago, Ill.,. July 1974, p. 9. 18 J'v1aurice Markham interview. CH/\PTER VI II

SU-:-.·n,W.RY AND CONCLUSIONS

The Valley News and G~~en Sheet has, in its 64-year

·history, achieved a place in the annals o£ community

journalism, due primarily to the efforts set forth by

Frank M. Keffer and the Mendenhalls and Markhams. Histor-

ian Daniel J. Boorstin, in The Americans--The National

Experience, discussed men such as these and the roles they

played in the country's coillmunity press:

From the beginning, large numbers of American newspapers were the advance advertising agents of new communities. I£ they were subsidized, it was, with few exceptions, by local businessmen, inter ested in community building, rather than by ideo logues with an axe to grind ••• Small city press might be more accurately described as community-ism: a preoccupation with the growth and prosperity o£ one's city. It was not that they loved the world less, but that they loved Keokuk more. Some American newspapermen have called this pre occupation with the local community the leading characteristic, the principal novelty and the secret strength o£ American journalism. 1

The inclination to form communities was apparent even

1n the early settlers o£ the San Fernando Valley. Within

twenty-two years after Col. John c. Fremont signed the

Treaty o£ Cahuenga in 1847, the San Fernando Farm Homestead

128 129

Association was formed. From that year, 1869, growth and

development of the Valley continued under pre-conceived

p1ans by a handful of

ThL'oughout the entire pc:L'iod of v/estward \_:-xpz,nsion

in the United States, developers recognized the need for

publicity for their proposed townsites. Subsequently,

they often established newspapers where there were, as yet,

no towns. The pattern was the same across the country.

The "booster" press for a particular town was often pub-

lished out of a larger, already developed location. As

one editor put it:

No wonder in their enthusiasm, they sometimes confuse the vision and the reality, sometimes representing things that had not yet gone through the formality of taking place. 2

When Frank Keffer, at the request of w. P. Whitsett,

arrived in Van Nuys in 1911, there were a billion newspapers and magazines delivered over rural routes in the 3 United States. The Van Nuys News soon joined the ranks

of "booster" journalism, a role it sought and continued to

explore throughout the years.

Keffer's own background as a newsman and businessman

included the traditional American belie£ in free enterprise, combined with a pioneering spirit that lent itself well to the idea of leading, rather than following, 130

progress 1n a new area. A cooperative spirit among Valley

citizens and the continued expansion o£ the Valley were

the goals Ke££er held when he established tl12 paper in

1911. Be also Si>.W the paper as ,,_n instnHTlf.''nt of the ac·· 4 curate dissemination o£ news.

Those men that joined Ke££er at the ~ews, W. c.

Markham, Walter Mendenhall, Ferdinan.d Mendenhall, Maurice

Markham and Ralph Markham, brought with them similar back-

grounds, the same mid-America conservative value systems,

and applied them with vigor to their new undertaking. As

Editor Ferdinand Mendenhall said, "We were all o£ quite

a mind. 115 Keffer's goals were their goals: that o£ es

tablishing a cooouunity-oriented newspaper, while at the

same time encouraging the growth o£ the Valley. This would contribute to the growth o£ the News and give them

a solid financial base £rom which to operate.

That the News achieved those goals is the main con-

elusion o£ this thesis. Solid evidence o£ their community- oriented news columns was established in the tabulation

done £or this thesis. Out o£ 295?~ galleys counted,

722, or 24 per cent, dealt with outside the Valley stories.

Over the years, then, the ~has given approximately 76 per cent o£ its space to coverage o£ the Valley and its residents. A look at the content o£ the editorials, --...-,-..- -~-·-----·-

131

particularly in the early years, reinforced the "booster" aspect of the ~..§"!Y_~, with much encouragement on the part of all three editors towards more development in the Valley.

If a.ny sec_:,'lent of Valley ci tizr:>n cy has brc·Pn over- looked by the Nu~~' it is the minority corununities that are not proportionately reflected in the pages of the paper. Again, this would indicate that the l'Jews is basically a mirror on the white, middle and upper income families that make up the majority of its readership.

In a study done on "The Leadership Role of the Weekly

Newspaper as Seen by Community Leaders," by Alex s.

Edelstein and J. Blaine Schulz, it was concluded that the community leaders (59 per cent of those questioned) be- lieved that the community newspaper's role was to provide 6 publicity, not to initiate community projects. This has been the principal activity of the News in its scope of

"boosterism," that of providing a showcase for community projects, and, after their conception, serving through its editorial columns, to spur them on. This has earned the

News innumerable civic awards for community service. That the paper is regarded as credible and reliable is evidenced in the readership survey done in 1971, in which

40.4 per cent of the readers said they read only the News as their source of information. 132

The ~e~ place in the community has been further

solidified by its service, through the advertising columns,

as a marketplace for Valley consumers. Discussing the

role o£ advertising in COJilmun i ty newsp<=tp Pr s, lli. stoxi an

Boorstin observed:

In saving newspapers from becoming too "literary" nothing was more important than the advertisement, which tied it to daily commercial concerns ••• For most of the history of American journalism, the independence and high quality of the American press have been tied to the commer cial spirit and the need to offer his money's worth to a purchaser in the open market. 7

The recognition on the part of management of the need

to go to the marketplace, coupled with a total under-

standing of the area they cover, is the principal reason

behind their successful advertising sections. This has

given the News the solid financial base from which to ex-

· pand, and it makes a self -completing circle, the adver-

tising and editorial departments complementing one another.

The most intangible, and yet possibly one of the main

reasons for the paper's success, is the "family" concept

repeated throughout the pages of this thesis by the

majority of those interviewed. The News has remained under

the ownership and control of three families. Following

the sale to the Tribune Company in 1973, the executive

structure remains entirely composed of the Markham, f l 133

Mendenhall and Fetherolf families. (Miriam Fetherolf lS

the daughter of W. c. Markham).

This arrangement is certainly "family" in the 1 i te)~al l ! o.rganizational ladder. The open~door policy has existed

at the ~-~ for many years, giving employes the feeling

that management was interested in their problems. The

realization on the part of management that people will

value something more if they have a stake in it has also

been extended into the community, offering readers a

"hometown" newspaper for their own use, whether it is read

for pleasure or business.

The News, then, has earned a place in journalism

history by following a pattern established ln the early

· years of this country, during the development of the com-

munity press, and by expanding upon that pattern. It has

,managed to offer its readers a report of their activities

down to the smallest detail and at the same time, expanded

to offer at least a sampling of news of the rest of the

world as well.

The view of the community press as the recorder of

life in microcosim was expressed by William Allen White,

noted Republican editor of the Emporia Gazette in 1895: r \ 134 .! 1

When the girl at the glove-counter marries the boy in the wholesale house, the news of their wedding is good for a forty-line wedding notice ••• When we read of death in that home, we can mourn with them that mourn. We have that neighborly feeling that breeds real democracy. ThereforP, men ,-.o..nd brethern ... when you pick up the little Cl)Utltl:y n'"wspaper ••• don't throw down the contemptible little rag with the verdict that there is nothing in it ••• If you would open your eyes and read the little paper as it is written, you would find all of God's beautiful, sorrowing, struggling, aspiring, world in it.8

Certainly ln spite of this melodramatic little essay,

all of "God's ••. world" is not found within the pages of

the Valley News and Green Sheet, but for the residents of

the San Fernando Valley, a good portion of it is. l r!

NOTES

l Daniel J. Boors tin, Jb~~e~iCC>.J]._~·:-.:}}~~--:f'i

3 Boorstin, The Americans--The Democratic Experience (New York: Random House, 1973), p. 136.

4Frank M. Keffer, Van Nuys News, 21st Anniversary Edition, 22 February 1932, p. 3.

5 rnterview with Ferdinand Mendenhall, Van Nuys, California, 2 December 1974.

6Lewis Anthony Dexter and David Manning White, eds., People, Society and Mass Communications (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1964), pp. 221-235.

7 Boorstin, The Americans--The Colonial Experience (New York: Random House, 1958), p. 328.

8Boorst1n, . The Americans--The Democratic Experience, p. 136. 136 I BIBLIOGRAPHY \

~_ _p_a_:t-!_2_ht~~-_Q£_1}1~ Snows. Los Angeles: Lanker shim Branch of Security Trust and S~vings Bank, 1930. \I Albert, Ch ri stinl?. nca li l:ocni a Ain't Wh;:; t Tt r s Cracked Up i \ to Be.'' .§eve12.!..~en, March 1972, p. 162. \ Armitage, Merle. Success Is No Accident, Biography of I Will_iam _E.~ul ~itset_t. Yucca Valley, California: Manzanita Press, 1959.

Aschenbrenner, Robert. Van Nuys, California. Interview, \ 16 January 1975. \ Boorstin, Daniel J. The Americans--The Colonial Experi \ ence. New York: Random House, 1958. • The Americans--The National Experience. New York: Random House, 1965.

The Americans--The Democratic Experience. New York: Random House, 1973.

Branson, Gladys. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 13 January 197 5.

"California Girls." Seventeen, March 1972, p. 162.

Castro, Joy. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 8 January 1975.

Chanslor, Roy. "San Fernando Valley." Holida:y:, October 1957, pp. 82, 118-119.

Community Guide to the San Fernando Valley/Greater Glen dale Area. Los An~eles: Security Pacific Bank, Economic Research Department, 1971.

Cowart, Mary Margaret. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 8 January 1975.

Croft, Ruth. "The Valley News." The Little Trib, July 1974, pp. 8-11. r 1::: l

Dexter, Lewis Anthony, and White, David Manning, eds • .feopl_e, Society and Mas!?_ Communica~_ions. New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1964.

Duncan, Gerald. "The San Fernando Valley of Surprises." C_o~Ol]_~t, March 19 51, pp. 90·-9 5.

Durrenberger, Robert; Pitt, Leonard; and Preston, Richard. The San Fernando ValleyJ a Biblioqra~. Northridge, California: Center for Urban Studies and Bureau of Business Services and Research, San Fernando Valley State College, 1966.

Editor and Publisher. 10 June 1971, pp. 43-44; l June 1974, p. 9; ll May 1974, New York: Editor and Publisher Co. Inc.

"Energetic Men with Vision Built Van Nuys." Valley News and Green Sheet, 29 August 1961, p. 4.

Fetherolf, Donald. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 12 January 1975.

Fetherolf, Miriam. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 15 January 1975.

Fowler, Laurance. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 2 December 197 4.

Hamilton, Andrew. "A Workman's Ranch." Westways, April 1974, p. 56.

Harris, Sheldon. "San Fernando Black Revolt." Common wealth, 31 January 1969, pp. 549-553.

Height, Lewis H. Jr. "Settlement Patterns of the San Fernando Valley, Southern California." M.A. Thesis, University of California at Los Angeles, 1953.

"How to Circle the San Fernando Valley." Touring Topics, May 1932.

nis California's People Boom Over?" U.S. News and World Report, 21 June 1971, pp. 37-38. 13f

Jones, John A. 11 ~~1J_~ ___:r'i§Y::.? ___ .§.:l~~~E-_:?l!_eet Sold to 1 Chi:-cag~ __Tr~"t2~~ Firm. Los Angeles Times, 17 December 1973.

Kef£ er, Frank M. !:!.i st~_!'__y_g_±.'__ ~}'-~- -~n__ f_~-~!_1_

Ke1:opian, Haig. Van Nuy s, Cali(o:Lnia. Interview, 28 January 1975.

"Let's_ Explore a Byway Through the San Fernando and Simi Valleys. 11 Westways, December 1962, p. 13.

Lewis, Alice Bradbury, ed. Va~ o£ the San Fernando. Daughters o£ the American Revolution, 1924.

Marion, Francis. Westward the Dream. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co. Inc., 1948.

Markham, Maurice. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 28 February 1975.

Markham, Ralph. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 28 February 1975.

Mazzeo, Frank. Burbank, California. Interview 19 January 1975.

McMahan, Veta. Panorama City, California. Interview, 8 January 1975.

Mendenhall, Ferdinand. Van Nuys, California• Interview, 2 December 1974.

Milner, Roy V. 11 Van Nuys Celebrates Golden Anniversary." Valley Federal Pioneer, Winter 1960.

Nadeau, Remi. "The Man Who Opened the Valley." Westways, May 1963, PP• 24-27.

1974 Editor and Publisher Market Guide. New York: Editor and Publisher Co. Inc., 1973.

1973 Ayers Directory of Publications. Philadelphia: Ayer Press, 1973. 139

Nunis, Doyce B. Jr., ed. Los ~...!:l~-~2__~~--lts__ B1virons in the 20th_ Cenj:~. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1973.

!!Out in the San Fernando Valley.n Sc:n1 thee~ -en California l3_!:!_s_:~ n e_0?2?_, August 19 2 8, p • 16.

Paule, Milton, ed. Work~ng Pre~s of_JJ:e~Nati~n, New~a~ers and Allied Services Directory Vol. 1. Burlington, Iowa: National Research _Bureau, Inc., 1974.

Petit, Mary Jane. Sherman Oaks, California. Interview, 21 January 1975.

Pitt, Leonard. California Controversies. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Co., 1968.

Richardson, Edward. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 8 January 1975.

Richardson, Nellie. Van Nuys, California. Interview, 8 January 1975.

Robinson, W. W. Fabulous San Fernando Valley. Los Angeles: Western Federal Savings and Loan Associa tion, n.d.

______• San Fernando Valley, A Calendar of Events. Los Angeles: Title Insurance and Trust Co., June 1951.

The Story of the San Fernando Valley. Los Angeles: Title Insurance and Trust Co., 1961.

Rocq, Margaret. California Local History--A Bibliography and Union List of Library Holdings. 2nd ed. Stan ford, California: Stanford Union Press, 1970.

"San Fernando King of the Fernando Valley." Out West, June 1914. I I "San Fernando: 200 Years in Transition." California Geographez, 1962, pp. 55-58.

Sim, John Cameron. The Grass Roots Press, America's I Community Newspapers. Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State I University Press, 1969.

II 140

Smith, Dave. n70-Year Dispute: Fact, Fable Hard to Separate." !~?.. ?__An?J_~~es Ti_!!!-~, l December 1974.

-~RJ2..:-S___ Ngy.rs.J2_~E ....B..~!5~s ___ and Qat~. Vol. 56. Skokie, lllinoi s: Standard Rate and Data Service Inc., 1\JovH:lhPr 197 4.

Talbot, Katherine. 11 The San Fernando Valley." Pacific Pathw~, January 1948.

The Coele~ Pr~, Aurora, Illinois: Copley Press Inc., 1953.

"The Golden Years 1911-1961. 11 So Cal News Pictorial, March 1961.

Valley News and Green Sheet, 24 November 1911; 22 November 1912; 21 November 1913; 27 November 1914; 25 November 1915; 24 November 1916; 23 November 1917; 22 November 1918; 21 November 1919; 26 November 1920; 24 November 1921; 24 November 1922, 25 November 1924; 19 December 1924; 26 November 1925; 23 November 1926; 25 November 1927; 23 November 1928; 22 November 1929; 25 November 1930; 23 November 1931; 24 November 1932; 23 November 1933; 22 November 1934; 25 November 1935; 23 November 1936; 25 November 1937; 24 November 1938; 23 November 1939; 25 November 1940; 25 November 1941; 24 November 1942; 25 November 1943; 23 November 1944; 26 November 1945; 25 November 1946; 24 November 1947; 25 November 1948; 24 November 1949; 23 November 1950; 22 November 1951; 23 November 1952; 22 November 1953; 24 November 1954; 24 November 1955; 25 November 1956; 25 November 1958; 24 November 1961; 23 November 1962; 24 November 1963; 24 November 1964; 23 November 1965; 24 November 1966; 24 November 1967; 24 November 1968; 26 November 1969; 25 November 1970; 24 November 1971; 24 November ' 1972; 23 November 1973; 24 November 1974.

Van Nuys, J. Benton. "My Memories of the San Fernando Valley." Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly. September 1956, pp. 235-238.

Weber, Francis J. "A Bibliography of California Bibliographies. n Southern California Quarterly, 1968, pp. 5-32. 141

Woehlke, Walter V. "The Rejuvenation of San Fernando Valley." §~n.~et, February 1914. APPENDICES

142 143

APPENDIX A

GALLEY TABULATION OF LOCAL VERSUS NON-LOCAL STORIES IN THE NEWS--ONE A YEAR--1911 TO 1974

TOTAL NON- YE/\RLY DATE NEWS GALLEYS LOCAL GALLEYS ~------PERCENTAGES ______...__ ...... ------·---····--

FRANK M. KEFFER EDITOR:

Nov. 24, 1911 41~ 35~ 85% Nov. 22, 1912 34 22 64 Nov. 21, 1913 33 20 60 Nov. 27, 1914 38~ 14~ 37 Nov. 26, 1915 26~ 17 65 Nov. 24, 1916 27 18 67 Nov. 23, 1917 29 22 76 Nov. 22, 1918 15~ 6~ 40 Nov. 21, 1919 15 7 46 Nov. 26, 1920 26~ 10 38 Nov. 24, 1921 23~ 8 35 Nov. 24, 1922 17 2~ ll 1923 unavailable Nov. 25, 1924 15~ 2~ 13 Nov. 26, 1925 16 1 6 Nov. 23, 1926 28 8~ 29 Nov. 25, 1927 23~ 3 13 , Nov. 23, 1928 22 0 0 Nov. 22, 1929 32~ 2 6 Nov. 25, 1930 37 5 14 Nov. 23, 1931 27 zl--z 7 Nov. 24, 1932 39 5 13

TOTALS 567~ 212~ 37% non- local galleys

WALTER MENDENHALL EDITOR:

Nov. 23, 1933 41~ 3~ 7% Nov. 22, 1934 44 5 11 Nov. 25, 1935 20~ 6 30 Nov. 23, 1936 28~ 5 18 Nov. 25, 1937 3~ 5 17 _! ---- - . ( '- ; 144

TOTAL NON- YEARLY NEWS GALLEYS LOCAL GALLEYS PERCENTAGES DATE ------~-

Nov. 24, 1938 30 3~ 10% Nov. 23, 1939 35~ 2--2 6 Nov. 25, 1940 29 9~ 31 Nov. 25, 1941 24 6:1-z 25 Nov. 24, 1942 25 3 12 Nov. 25, 1943 28 4 14 Nov. 23, 1944 26 4~ 15 Nov. 25, 1945 20 2 10 Nov. 25, 1946 29 7~ 24 Nov. 24, 1947 38 9~ 24 Nov. 25, 1948 30 5~ 17 Nov. 24, 1949 53 1~ 2 Nov. 23, 1950 49 3~ 6 Nov. 22, 1951 44 3 7 Nov. 23, 1952 36~ ~ 1 Nov. 22, 1953 45~ 5~ 11 Nov. 24, 1954 45 5~ 11

TOTALS 752~ 102 14% non- local galleys

FERDINAND MENDENHALL EDITOR:

Nov. 24, 1955 64!2 11 17% Nov. 25, 1956 63~ 8 13 1957 unavailable Nov. 25, 1958 49~ 8~ 16 1959 unavailable 1960 unavailable Nov. 24, 1961 8 o:t--2 9~ 11 Nov. 23, 1962 72~ 5 7 Nov. 24, 1963 83~ ScY--2 60 Nov. 24, 1964 71~ 10~ 14 Nov. 23, 1965 90~ 9 10 Nov. 24, 1966 134~ 35~ 26 Nov. 24, 1967 109~ 16~ 15 Nov. 24, 1968 92 11~ 12 Nov. 26, 1969 104 12 12 Nov. 25, 1970 116 18 16 Nov. 24, 1971 99 10 10 r/ ! 145

TOTAL NON- YEARLY DATE NEWS GALLEYS LOCAL GAUJEYS PERCENTAGES __...... _._, ~.•r•~------~-•-··-----·--·~·------·------'"---·-·--

Nov. 24, 1972 108~ 30 28% Nov. 23, 19?3 110 16 15 Nov. 24, 1974 -¥·------183 46 25

TOTALS 1632~ 307~ 18% non local galleys

CUMULATIVE TOTALS:

2952~ Total News Galleys

722 Non-local Galleys

24% News Galleys Used £or Non-Local Stories--1911-1974

76% News Galleys Used £or Local Stories--1911-1974 r 146

APPENDIX B

COMPETITIVE NEWSPAPERS IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

PURL I C!\TJ()N NEWSPAPER Clk.CULAl'lON DAYS PER VJEEK

Boulevard Banner Chronicle 26,000 2 Burbank Daily Review 12,000 6 Canogan 20,500 1 Canoga Park Chronicle 13,000 1 Canoga Park Times 29,000 1 Encinian and Tarzana Times Press 20,000 1 Encino Excinian 24,900 1

Encino-Oak Valley News 1 Encino Reporter 1 Reporter 1 Reseda Reporter 1 Sherman Oaks Reporter 1 Sherman Oaks Valley News 1 Studio City Valley News 1 Tarzana Reporter 1 Tarzana-Reseda Valley News 1 Van Nuys News 1 Woodland Hills-Canoga Park News 1 . Woodland Hills Reporter 52,500 1 combined

Newhall Signal and Saugus Enterprise 3,000 3 North Hollywood Graphic 20,000 1 Reseda Times 20,000 1 San Fernando Valley Sun 21,000 2 Sherman Oaks Sun and Van Nuys Mailer 25,300 1 Studio City Graphic 20,100 1 Studio City Scene 10,860 1 Tarzana Times 20,900 1 Thousand Oaks News Chronicle 10,840 6 147

Toluca Lake Graphic 19,000 1 Tolucan·-Magno lian 18,540 1 Valley View 42,000 1 (mailer) \.Voodl and Hills Times 21' 900 1

SOURCE: 1973 Ayer Directory o£ Publications, Ayer Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1973.

Milton Paule, ed., Working Press o£ the Nation, Vol. 1, Newspapers and Allied Services Directory, 1974. 148

APPENDIX C

CIRCULATION MAP OF THE VALLEY NEWS AND GREEN SHEET 149

APPENDIX D.

HISTORICAL PHOTOS OF

THE VALLEY NEWS AND GREEN SHEET 1911-1974 --·

150

Frank M. Keffer, founder and

first editor of the News, stands

in front of the first News ------building at 14439 Sylvan St. in

Van Nuys.

1-' V1 tv

W. P. Whitsett, founder of the town of Van Nuys, is shown (second from left

in the driver's seat) with his crew of salesmen in front of the Van Nuys

townsite tract office in late 1911, shortly after his friend, Frank M. Keffer

established the ~·

r' V1 .j:>.

Growth of the town of Van Nuys is depicted in this double photo.

The town was beginning to thrive, as shown in the bottom photo,

less than a month after Frank M. Keffer published the first edi-

tion of the~' on November 24, 1911· ! v·

In 1936, the News moved into the light colored building at the

left. Gradual expansion resulted in the acquisition of the entire

Holly Buildin~ (brick facade) by 1959, taking up the block, from

14519 to 14539 Sylvan St.

'""'·~·B~-,..,.-"'1-~-...~~,..""""'"" • ""'"'""'"•'•'•""""""--""''~"''"-"' ------I

Shown in the News composing room, prior to the change-over to cold tYPe

production methods are, from left, Ferdinand Mendenhall, editor; Ralp:O

Markham, advertising director, and Maurice Markham, publisher.

'"~'""'"'"'•··>'~"'''~'"'''~'·"·'• ...... ,;t,._....,t.-.:~~...;~.,;,..,,;.,~"""'""""""'"""_,._,_.~~"''""""~'-'".,.._~-·-""'.;.",...,~.·"·\•"""""""""'"""~"""'··•"-'•,..'1•"'~"""'~·~ '''" .,~.~ .. •,.,... .. _,~,__._,..__,,,.,_,_.,~...,...-...,,,.,_,,..,.,,..,.,,'l>-~.:""""'-'"''.....-.1•<•,-..·.•"""""'''···"'"~''•"'~""'""'"'·'~''"'''' ''-'·•·"•',_,,.. ___ ,...... ,~,...,.,...,,,., ..,,,,..,....,. •• ,-.-"""~'-'o>'l·!"'.,~..<· ,,. ··

.....,....: '! _.. y;N ,t 'o/Y .t \ ·*·':·.'· .¥Ri!H;; ..U!"·,.~::·!-E~~~=--~~--;..:.__" __ ~~--w ~.':::'..:_'*:_:=:-.. ~'!':o-...,.-~~ ...... ,..,

The ...... News production plant, at 14931 Cali£a St., Van Nuys, was built in 1954 • Located less than a mile £rom the main offices, the plant houses the ?ress

room, mailroom and circulation department.

Members of the editorial staff now enjoy the facilities of a modern, air conditioned building, completely remodeled in 1971. Laurance Fowler, managing editor (in front of second pillar from the left) oversees the editorial department, which operates on two shifts to insure publication

of late-breaking stories.

..\,,

U' ~

Remodeling, at the same location, 14519 to 14539 Sylvan St., was completed in l97lo Split-granite tiles cover the 200-foot front of the general offices, to give the News building a

unified and streamlined appearance.

·-·---~-----~;:.c._:_;.______~~·""-"~··'"1-'-~"-""''"''"-~'''<>""-"''"'"""""""~'=~~.~---'------~·n~.,~.,,.,o-~•=•~~'-''~~~~""""""