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Ray, James (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - Ray's single interview was conducted at Ray's home, in the same neighborhood where he grew up. The interviewer met him through the Historical Society of Long Beach where she served on the board of directors and he served a term as president. 9/24/1979
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- 2020-12-17
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- *** File: pejray1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-0:09)... Tape introduction (0:09-3:52)... James Ray was born on August 13,1910 in Long Beach. As a child he played on the Pacific Electric trolley tracks, which ran along Redondo. When he was 2, his family moved into a California style house his father built in Zaferia. It was the only house on the block where there were also a drug store, real estate office, a post office and a doctor's office. His father and the doctor both has Model T Fords. The stop on the Pacific Electric trolley line closest to the Bixby Ranch was at Zaferia and Fred Bixby sometimes rode his horse there to pick up his mail at Long Beach Post Office #2. Sometimes Ray got to ride back to the ranch with Bixby and stay until either his father or the doctor picked him up and brought him home. (3:52-6:22)... Near the Bixby ranch there was a one room school where the children of the ranch employees went. Later, an area nearby was used as a "lover's lane" but couples scattered when they saw the lights from Bixby's caretaker's car. As he was growing up, his father moved into a new office; his father also raised vegetables there. (6:22-8:23)... His father built an office building for Bob Durkee who started a newspaper called the Long Beach Progress. Later it was merged with the Long Beach Star the new paper was called the East Long Beach Star Progress. After school, at night and on weekends through junior college he worked in the print shop for the Long Beach Progress . His job was to feed paper into the press. When he started, he wasn't tall enough, so they built him a special box to stand on. There had been an earlier paper called the Zaferia Advertiser but it went out of business before he came along. (8:23-13:25)... His father sold subdivided property around and in Zaferia. In 1940 he bought a single lot in that area and paid more for it than his father got for selling the land for the entire subdivision. His father sold one piece of land Mr. MacArthur who opened a planing mill on it. Later this property was sold to Hammond Lumber Company who put their yard there. Later still it was sold to Boy's Market. His father built many of the buildings near Anaheim and Redondo. Joe Josts pool hall was located there as well grocery stores. (13:25-15:34)... There were pool halls all up and down Anaheim. Graham brothers had a sand pit on Signal Hill and the Stevensons used a horse and wagon to deliver it to customers. Pacific Coast Highway was called State Street and when it was paved, the contractors used steam rollers. He attended Temple Avenue school through the 6th grade and at that time, Temple Avenue only oiled, not paved. (15:34-18:41)... The area around Redondo and Termino flooded when it rained. There were Mexican and Japanese gardeners on Signal Hill who grew blackberries, strawberries and vegetables. They sold their produce at the Long Beach farmers' market at Lincoln Park. There were chicken ranches in the area and some people even raised sheep. On the Bixby ranch, they raised lima beans and sugar beets. Sometime he went with his mother to pick up the beans that were left in the fields after harvesting. (18:41-22:40)... As a child he trapped ground squirrels with his friends on Reservoir Hill. At that time there were only dirt roads and 3 tanks on the hill. There was a creek with willows where he kept a row boat and he could row it down to Alamitos Bay. There he caught fish before Marine Stadium was built. When Belmont Shore was built, sand was dredged out of the the area that became Marine Stadium. (22:40-23:45)... He attended Jefferson Jr High when it opened. Then he went to Poly High School in 1926 for 1 year and then to Wilson High when it opened. He graduated from in 1928 and went on to Long Beach City College. Jefferson was Long Beach's second junior high and Wilson was the city's second high school. (23:45-25:20)... He was born at home. The only hospital at the time was Seaside. His mother didn't believe in movies, but his aunts, who lived downtown, let him go on weekends when he visited them. (25:20-29:00)... Wilson High School functions, such as commencement were held at the Virginia Hotel. The Hotel was damaged in the 1933 earthquake. On weekends he stayed with his aunts downtown and went down to the beach and the bathhouse. He also went to the Pike and to the movies at the State Theater. He walked from the Pike near the Silver Spray Pier to Terminal Island. The Union Pacific Railroad came down California Avenue to Ocean and across a bridge to Terminal Island. Workers at the Edison plant on Terminal Island had to walk across the railroad bridge to get to work. (29:00-33:30)... East Long Beach grew with the discovery of oil on Signal Hill on June 21, 1921. Small oil companies began putting up derricks and sold stocks to investors, who were brought to Long Beach on the Pacific Electric trolley. When he was born Long Beach's population was about 17,000 but with the discovery of oil the population rose to 55,000. Homes were built to accommodate the men who worked in the oil fields. His father worked in the oil fields, leasing land for oil companies, for a couple of years. The land his relatives owned did not produce oil. When his father sold some land near Community Hospital he kept the mineral rights. (33:30-36:20)... His father came to Long Beach from Illinois in 1906. He was trained as a teacher and a lawyer. He couldn't practice law in California so he opened a real estate office in Long Beach in 1908. In 1910 his father moved to Zaferia probably because it was mostly undeveloped, but it was a junction point on the Pacific Electric trolley line. The discovery of oil led to more development in the area. An industrial area grew up there when People's Ice Company and Gold Medal Creamery located there. His mother also came to Los Angeles about that time. (36:20-42:17)... Ray and his brother owned a service station in Long Beach at the time the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. After the quake the electricity was out but they had one hand pump so they could still sell gasoline; they sold 800 gallons that day because no other station had a hand pump. Long Beach was chaotic right after the quake; people from Belmont Shore were trying to get out of town. The Holsome Bakery building collapsed and the Japanese Laundry, whose building his father owned, caught fire. The Long Beach central fire station collapsed with the fire engines inside so they couldn't get out. The Seal Beach and Newport Beach fire departments sent help. At the time of the quake he was setting the table for dinner at his mother's. There was a damage to homes which slid off their foundations and brick buildings had a lot of damage. There was damage to the campanile at Wilson High School. (42:17-45:20)... He attended Junior College and then in 1928 he went to Arizona with his uncle who bought land east of Yuma to grow cotton and alfalfa. He stayed two years. When the Depression hit, they weren't making any money. Then the irrigation water turned salty and the farm was lost. He returned to Long Beach and jobs were hard to find. His brother was working at the Ford plant driving new cars to dealers. End of tape *** File: pejray2.mp3 (0:00-6:11)... He moved back to Long Beach from Arizona and both he and his brother bought a service station. After one year they sold it and made a profit. In October 1933 he started a wholesale oil business, selling solvents, motor oils and service station supplies to machine shops and garages throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties. Their company is the second oldest independent oil company in Long Beach, the first being Amber Oil Company. There were many small companies throughout Signal Hill and Long Beach. Many oil businesses have been sold and/or gone out of business, including Hancock Oil and Signal Oil. Over the years the bigger companies have run the smaller companies out of business by dropping prices and buying up all the crude oil. (6:11-9:51)... He joined the Native Sons of the Golden West during WWII. The organization was most active before the war in northern California marking historic sites. Once the California highway department took over marking historic sites, the organization began supporting 2 California hospitals. After the war, new chapters were organized throughout southern California including such places as Compton, Lakewood and Whittier where one of the new members was Richard Nixon. (9:51-12:41)... The Native Sons organizations was over 100 years old at the time of the interview. Before WWII, its members were community leaders including judges and politicians. The Native Sons supported laws to prevent Asian immigrants from owning land. This position was only rectified recently. California Governor Jerry Brown didn't belong to the group, but his father, Governor Pat Brown, did. (12:41-15:58)... East Long Beach was an industrial area, that was turned into a residential one during the oil boom. At the time of the interview, Long Beach was in the process of considering rezoning the area. There was a proposal to remove businesses from Pacific Coast Highway and make it into an expressway. Long Beach has given too many zoning variances, so that the city now has a confusing pattern of land use regulations. (15:58-19:17)... The oil boom was followed by the Depression. Then in 1938 oil was discovered in Wilmington and oil was developed off shore through permission of the voters. Ray served on the Oil Committee for the Chamber of Commerce when they were hearing different proposals for off shore oil development. Some people object to any off shore drilling, but the construction of drilling platforms turned out to be the best solution. (19:17-25:49)... He joined the Chamber of Commerce in the early 1940s. At the same time, he was involved in the East Long Beach Improvement Association and the Native Sons. When the Pacific Electric built a new station on Anaheim in 1921, its name was changed from Zaferia to East Long Beach. The area around it had been annexed to Long Beach in 1915. Although he has been asked about it many times, he's not sure how the place got the name Zaferia. (25:49-26:58)... The land his father owned was originally part of Rancho Los Alamitos, owned by Fred Bixby. His father probably bought it from someone who bought it from Bixby. (26:58-30:41)... When he was a child he was raised with Mexican Americans. His father sold land and rented buildings to Mexican Americans. Many Mexican Americans worked on the Bixby ranch and some lived there as well. When he was in grammar school he recalls a Mexican American family that owned land and farmed nearby. The East Long Beach Methodist Church, at the time of the interview, had been in Long Beach for over 50 years. (30:41-32:55)... When he was a child Long Beach was mostly fields with scattered homes. He was building a home at the time of WWII and had difficulty getting building materials because so many things were needed for the war effort. His floor heater, for example, had no thermostat because they were impossible to get; he did, however, get the last bath tub and water heater in Long Beach. (32:55-35:27)... He lived with his mother and on Newport until he was married in 1940. Looking at map, he describes problems with subdivision and streets. (35:27-39:32)... When the Farmers and Merchants Bank opened a branch in east Long Beach, a whole block of buildings was constructed nearby including the Cash Store which also had a store downtown. First the area was served by jitneys and later, there were buses. Two lines were operated by the Long Beach Transportation Company. Later B&H buses added more routes and later yet, there was Lang Transportation. Finally National City Lines bought all of the bus lines; National City is the company that was owned by General Motors, and oil and tire companies. It also bought the Pacific Electric lines and took up the tracks. (39:32-42:10)... Shell owned a meeting hall in east Long Beach that was used by community organizations. It also owned a baseball diamond that was the home of Long Beach's baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League. Farmers and Merchants Bank on Anaheim cashed pay checks for oil workers. The bank had it's own armored car before there were armored car companies. (42:10-45:28)... The oil boom was also responsible for Virginia City becoming part of north Long Beach. The area at one time was considered the "cheap" part of town. Zane, who subdivided land there, sold lots and named a street for himself, was a friend of his father. These kinds of subdivisions were common at the time; similar developments occurred in Belmont Shore. When he was young, many of the major roads in Long Beach did not go through past Compton. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - James Ray was the owner of Ray Brothers Oil Company, the second oldest company, at the time of the interview, in Long Beach. Ray Brothers blended and sold lubricants and solvent and it was located near where Ray was born in a Long Beach neighborhood called Zaferia. In this single interview, Ray remembers growing up near a stop on the Pacific Electric Railway system. When oil was discovered on Signal Hill, his neighborhood changed as oil workers' homes and new retail developments were built. In 1933, the same year as the Long Beach earthquake Ray and his brother started their company; Ray later bought out his brother's interest. Over the years, Ray was also active in the Native Sons of the Golden West and the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. This interview was part of a project to study the impact of the discovery of oil on the development of Long Beach. TOPICS - oil industry; childhood; family background; Zaferia; real estate business; Japanese farmers; Virginia Hotel; Rancho Los Alamitos; Fred Bixby; and 1933 Long Beach earthquake;oil industry; Ray Brothers Oil Company; Native Sons of the Golden West; anti alien land laws; Depression; Long Beach Chamber of Commerce; Jitneys; and Farmers and Merchants Bank;
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