J.C. Barthel
Encyclopedia
Julius C. Barthel, who went by J.C. Barthel, was an engineer and politician who was a Los Angeles City Council member from 1929 to 1931.
who "prepared plans for the docks and other water-front improvements in the San Francisco Bay
district" for the War Department
. He moved to the Palms district of Los Angeles in 1906 and lived at 9001 National Boulevard. In 1913 he helped organize a state convention in Venice for the Fraternal Order of Eagles
.
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In the 1920s he was in the real-estate
business and was on a committee that worked to bring UCLA to its present home in the Westwood district of West Los Angeles.
In May 1922, Barthel was among forty-six "asserted Klansmen" who were questioned by a grand jury
investigating the Ku Klux Klan in the wake of the shooting death of a police constable during a Klan terrorism incident in Inglewood, California
.
He made an application to the city of Santa Monica
in July 1922 for lease on a plot of land next to the "new government aviation field on Central Avenue
" to establish "an aerial passenger service to San Francisco, by way of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Salinas." He said he "represented a group of associates who would operate four Fokker
passenger-carrying planes on regular schedule." He was secretary of the Venice Chamber of Commerce
in August 1922.
Barthel was married twice, his first marriage to Letitia Barthel ending in a 1923 divorce, in which Barthel agreed to pay Letitia $50 a month for life, according to a complaint she filed in court. Both Barthel and Letitia remarried, and Barthel ceased payment of the alimony to his first wife. There were two trials. At the second trial, Barthel testified that he had signed the original agreement only because "I feared for my life. She covered me with two guns and kept me prisoner in a room for eleven hours on Easter Sunday, 1923." She denied the claim, and Barthel was ordered by the judge to pay back alimony of $2,400 to Letitia, by then named Letitia Winn, and continue the monthly payments as agreed.
During a hearing that preceded the second trial, Barthel suffered a facial gash when Letitia Winn struck him in the hallway outside the court chamber. "Mrs. Winn moved toward Mrs. Barthel [his second wife, the former Harriet Cleveland], who dodged while spectators yelled for police. Bailiff Danielson dashed into the hall, and restrained Mrs. Winn while the Barthels took refuge in an elevator."
, City Council on June 19 of that year on Venice's practice of burning garbage in an incinerator "which is supplied with a patent draft device for economical operation." He said the residue "makes a fine sub-structure for good road building in street improvements, being . . . more desirable and durable than rock."
Barthel was appointed postmaster in Venice by Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, serving from 1915 to 1924, and he was active in Democratic politics in 1916. He was ousted in 1924 in the Republican Calvin Coolidge
administration, being replaced by Clyde W. Holbrook. Just a few months later, though, he was secretary and campaign manager for Coolidge in the Beach Cities
area and remained active in Republican politics.
Barthel made his first run for the Los Angeles City Council
in 1927, when the beach area was a part of Los Angeles City Council District 3. He finished fifth in a field of eight. In 1929, though, the beach area was placed in the 11th District, and Barthel defeated a challenge by former Councilman Lester R. Rice-Wray
by a vote of 11,410 to 6,637, to win the race. His bid for reelection in 1931 failed with the victory of Clarence E. Coe
, who had 5,450 votes to 4,444 for Charles W. Dempster (both nominated in the primary) and 3,621 for Barthel (who ran in the final as a write-in). He ran again in the 11th District in 1933, placing last in a field of nine, and in 1937, where he again finished last — third in a field of three, and in 1939 where he once more finished last, among five candidates.
In 1930 he ran unsuccessfully for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
in the 4th District.
Venice oil In February 1930, Barthel introduced a motion that would have required the City Council to issue drilling permits in the Venice oil district to "any and all requests" because "Venice people are capable of effecting their own contracts." The motion came as the result of a move by the council to place strict requirements on the oil-drilling companies, "whereby the municipality receives a royalty of the oil in proportion to the extent of land covered by public streets and alleys." The Times reported that
As the council debated the Venice oil district proposal during the next sessions, Barthel studiously avoided debate on the issue, absenting himself from the council chambers when the votes were held.
Free gasoline It was reported in May 1930 that Barthel was among the City Council members who were taking free gasoline from L.A. police stations — in Barthel's case "as much as 300 gallons per month from the Wilshire station." He said he had permission to do so.
Bunker Hill Barthel was among six council members who in May 1930 unsuccessfully opposed allocating funds to make a study of lowering the height of Bunker Hill, "which stands as a hindrance to traffic and a bar to development in the northwestern downtown territory."
Biography
Barthel was a civil engineerCivil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
who "prepared plans for the docks and other water-front improvements in the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
district" for the War Department
War Department
War Department may refer to:* War Department * United States Department of War - See also :* War Office , a former department of the British Government...
. He moved to the Palms district of Los Angeles in 1906 and lived at 9001 National Boulevard. In 1913 he helped organize a state convention in Venice for the Fraternal Order of Eagles
Fraternal Order of Eagles
Fraternal Order of Eagles International is a fraternal organization that was founded on February 6, 1898, in Seattle, Washington by a group of six theater owners including John Cort , brothers John W. and Tim J. Considine, Harry Leavitt , Mose Goldsmith and Arthur Williams...
.
In the 1920s he was in the real-estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
business and was on a committee that worked to bring UCLA to its present home in the Westwood district of West Los Angeles.
In May 1922, Barthel was among forty-six "asserted Klansmen" who were questioned by a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
investigating the Ku Klux Klan in the wake of the shooting death of a police constable during a Klan terrorism incident in Inglewood, California
Ku Klux Klan in Inglewood, California
Ku Klux Klan activities in Inglewood, California, were highlighted by the 1922 arrest and trial of 36 men, most of them masked, for a night-time raid on a suspected bootlegger and his family. The raid led to the shooting death of one of the culprits, an Inglewood police officer. A jury returned a...
.
He made an application to the city of Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
in July 1922 for lease on a plot of land next to the "new government aviation field on Central Avenue
Santa Monica Airport
Santa Monica Airport , also known as Santa Monica Municipal Airport, is a general aviation airport located largely in Santa Monica, California, United States. The airport is located about from the Pacific Ocean and north of LAX...
" to establish "an aerial passenger service to San Francisco, by way of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Salinas." He said he "represented a group of associates who would operate four Fokker
Fokker
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names, starting out in 1912 in Schwerin, Germany, moving to the Netherlands in 1919....
passenger-carrying planes on regular schedule." He was secretary of the Venice Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
in August 1922.
Barthel was married twice, his first marriage to Letitia Barthel ending in a 1923 divorce, in which Barthel agreed to pay Letitia $50 a month for life, according to a complaint she filed in court. Both Barthel and Letitia remarried, and Barthel ceased payment of the alimony to his first wife. There were two trials. At the second trial, Barthel testified that he had signed the original agreement only because "I feared for my life. She covered me with two guns and kept me prisoner in a room for eleven hours on Easter Sunday, 1923." She denied the claim, and Barthel was ordered by the judge to pay back alimony of $2,400 to Letitia, by then named Letitia Winn, and continue the monthly payments as agreed.
During a hearing that preceded the second trial, Barthel suffered a facial gash when Letitia Winn struck him in the hallway outside the court chamber. "Mrs. Winn moved toward Mrs. Barthel [his second wife, the former Harriet Cleveland], who dodged while spectators yelled for police. Bailiff Danielson dashed into the hall, and restrained Mrs. Winn while the Barthels took refuge in an elevator."
Appointments
By 1914, Barthel had become the commissioner of supplies of Venice, California, which at that time was an independent city. He spoke before the Pomona, CaliforniaPomona, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Pomona had a population of 149,058, a slight decline from the 2000 census population. The population density was 6,491.2 people per square mile...
, City Council on June 19 of that year on Venice's practice of burning garbage in an incinerator "which is supplied with a patent draft device for economical operation." He said the residue "makes a fine sub-structure for good road building in street improvements, being . . . more desirable and durable than rock."
Barthel was appointed postmaster in Venice by Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, serving from 1915 to 1924, and he was active in Democratic politics in 1916. He was ousted in 1924 in the Republican Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
administration, being replaced by Clyde W. Holbrook. Just a few months later, though, he was secretary and campaign manager for Coolidge in the Beach Cities
Beach Cities
The term Beach Cities refers to both a region of California located in Los Angeles County along the Santa Monica Bay coastline as well as a smaller group of cities located therein the region...
area and remained active in Republican politics.
Elections
See also List of Los Angeles municipal election returns, 1927–39.Barthel made his first run for the Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
in 1927, when the beach area was a part of Los Angeles City Council District 3. He finished fifth in a field of eight. In 1929, though, the beach area was placed in the 11th District, and Barthel defeated a challenge by former Councilman Lester R. Rice-Wray
Lester R. Rice-Wray
Lester Rice-Wray was a professor of mathematics at the University of Denver who later was elected to the City Council in Los Angeles, California, and was the first councilman there to face a recall election under the 1925 city charter....
by a vote of 11,410 to 6,637, to win the race. His bid for reelection in 1931 failed with the victory of Clarence E. Coe
Clarence E. Coe
Clarence Elliot Coe , known as Clarence E. Coe, was one of the first settlers and farmers in Palms, California, and a member of the Los Angeles Police Commission from 1929 to 1931 and of the Los Angeles City Council from 1931 to 1933....
, who had 5,450 votes to 4,444 for Charles W. Dempster (both nominated in the primary) and 3,621 for Barthel (who ran in the final as a write-in). He ran again in the 11th District in 1933, placing last in a field of nine, and in 1937, where he again finished last — third in a field of three, and in 1939 where he once more finished last, among five candidates.
In 1930 he ran unsuccessfully for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five-member nonpartisan governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district. They were as of December 2, 2008:*District 1: Gloria Molina...
in the 4th District.
Council actions
Recall threatened In January 1930, Barthel and seven other council members who had voted in favor of granting a rock-crushing permit in the Santa Monica Mountains were unsuccessfully targeted for recall on the grounds that the eighthave conspired with . . . Alphonzo BellAlphonzo BellAlphonzo Edward Bell Sr. was an American oil multi-millionaire, real estate developer, philanthropist, and champion tennis player...
, Samuel Traylor and Chapin A. Day, all multi-millionaires, to grant this group a special spot zoning permit to crush and ship . . . from the high-class residential section of Santa Monica, limestone and rock for cement.
Venice oil In February 1930, Barthel introduced a motion that would have required the City Council to issue drilling permits in the Venice oil district to "any and all requests" because "Venice people are capable of effecting their own contracts." The motion came as the result of a move by the council to place strict requirements on the oil-drilling companies, "whereby the municipality receives a royalty of the oil in proportion to the extent of land covered by public streets and alleys." The Times reported that
Several days ago it was discovered that one of the applicants [for an oil-drilling permit] is Mrs. Barthel under her maiden name of Harriet Cleveland.
As the council debated the Venice oil district proposal during the next sessions, Barthel studiously avoided debate on the issue, absenting himself from the council chambers when the votes were held.
Free gasoline It was reported in May 1930 that Barthel was among the City Council members who were taking free gasoline from L.A. police stations — in Barthel's case "as much as 300 gallons per month from the Wilshire station." He said he had permission to do so.
Bunker Hill Barthel was among six council members who in May 1930 unsuccessfully opposed allocating funds to make a study of lowering the height of Bunker Hill, "which stands as a hindrance to traffic and a bar to development in the northwestern downtown territory."