A Homestead That Turns Back the Clock

The Workman & Temple Homestead in the City of Industry has turned back the clock to re-create Christmas 1928 in the 26-room mansion. The public may now enter the historic mansion and envision what it was like on that Christmas Eve long ago.

It was the decade of the Roaring ‘20s, a transitory period that Roger Butterfield defined in his “The American Past” (Simon & Schuster, 1976) as a time when Americans “sang crazy lyrics, drank bathtub gin, rolled their stockings, and raised their skirts . . . the age of flappers, gun molls, tin lizzies and jazz. A large part of the population was engaged in breaking the laws and the Ten Commandments . . .”

The disaster regarded by some as the day of atonement came in October of the following year when the carnival came to an abrupt end. Stocks had been soaring at a spectacular rate. Investors had been buying hundreds of millions of dollars in securities, with the fervent hope of becoming rich. On Oct. 24, more than 12 million shares changed hands in a panic of selling. By the 29th, leading stocks had plummeted as much as $60 a share. Millions lost their life savings. Banks, factories and business establishments closed. An army of unemployed walked the streets looking for work.

But that is in the future. La Casa Nueva was built in 1917 by Walter P. Temple, the grandson of William and Nicholasa Workman, whose remodeled adobe house is on adjacent property. Temple’s Spanish Colonial Revival residence was completed in 1923 and is noted for its fine craftsmanship.

Bordered by Poinsettias

One approaches the main entrance to the Temple mansion along a gravel walkway bordered by poinsettias, the bright red flowers first cultivated by the Aztecs in Mexico.

Entering the hallway, a glance upward brings a huge stained glass window into view, through which sunlight illuminates a brightly colored scene depicting the landing of Spanish galleons along the California coast. Trees, shrubs, window wreaths, mantles and table pieces are decorated with colored lights. The patio is centered by a large fountain similar in design to those found in the Franciscan chain of missions established in California during the late 1700s.

The tree in the living room is surrounded by colorfully wrapped packages. With a nod to the originality of homemakers of that era, Homestead director Karen Graham Wade had it decorated with ornaments that were hand fashioned; garlands of strung popcorn, acorns and pine cones dipped in a starch solution and sprinkled with artificial snow. Burned-out light bulbs were painted and gilded to hang on the tree. The Temples also used traditional objects such as handmade Victorian ornaments for decorations.

Germans Were the Best

One wonders what the gift packages may have contained. “I remember,” commented one visitor, “for I was a small boy then. If you were lucky, it could be a Lionel or American Flyer electric train. I favored toy soldiers which were made in England, France and Germany. The Germans were the best. They wore World War I uniforms, both German and American.

“We little generals would line them in battle array and proceed to decimate their ranks with volleys of marbles shot from spring activated cannons, or less lethal corks from popguns. They would tumble and be in need of first aid, particularly the ones with their heads shot off. Little did we realize how valuable they would become to collectors today.”

There also would have been a variety of cast iron toys like the Hubley horse-drawn fire trucks and ice wagons, doll houses and furnishings for little girls, blocks, spring-driven carrousels, and the magnificent Buddy “L” wrecking trucks, oil tankers and hook and ladder fire engines manufactured by the Moline (Ill.) Pressed Steel Company. Tin vehicles were being produced, but happily or unhappily for youngsters of the period, plastics were still in the future.

The year 1928 had been an eventful one. Walt Disney gave the public its first introduction to the animated Mickey Mouse. Eugene O’Neill won the Pulitzer Prize for drama with “Strange Interlude,” and Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur had collaborated on the newspaper drama, “The Front Page.” Sigmund Romberg and opened his operetta “New Moon” in New York. Eddie Cantor starred in the Broadway show, “Whoopee,” and Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein wrote the score for “Show Boat,” which included the song, “Ol Man River.”

Prohibition Merely a Nuisance

In the world of fashion, women wore long suede gloves and wide brimmed lace hats trimmed with satin and flowers. Long beads, monkey fur collars and cuffs were also in vogue. Gentlemen favored homburg hats, wide trousers with turned up cuffs and two-toned shoes. In colder climates, spats warmed the ankles and as the economy worsened they covered the holes in the wearer’s silk socks. A real sport carried a silver flask engraved with his name or initials. Prohibition never dried up the country. It proved more of a nuisance than an effective law.

Calvin Coolidge was still in the White House, waiting for his tenure to run out with the inauguration of a new president in 1929.

The public might have re-elected Coolidge in 1928. His optimistic statements had spurred the stock markets to new highs. But the President had tired of the responsibilities of the office: “I do not choose to run,” he declared flatly from the Summer White House at Custer Park. The way was cleared for his Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, to obtain the Republican nomination. It was Hoover who would be sitting behind the President’s desk when the roof fell in, Oct. 23, 1929. The stock market collapsed, ushering in the era known as the Great Depression.

The Workman & Temple Homestead was acquired by the City of Industry in 1981 and restored as a cultural landmark. It was once part of Rancho La Puente, a 48,790 acre Mexican land grant owned by William Workman and John Rowland, who had led the first organized overland expedition to settle in Southern California.

Holiday tours are free and take place Tuesday through Friday, 1 to 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The site will be closed on Mondays and Dec. 24, 25, and 31. The Workman & Temple Homestead is at 15415 E. Don Julian Road in the City of Industry, one mile north of the Pomona Freeway at the Hacienda Boulevard off ramp. For information phone (818) 968-8492.