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Davis, Don P. (audio interview #1 of 2)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first of two interviews that were conducted in Davis' home. 5/18/1982
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- 2020-10-13
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- *** File: cbdpdavis1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-1:39)... He was born in 1910 while his family lived on First Street. In 1914, his family moved to a house on Cherry that his father built. Later they moved to Belmont Shore, then to Los Cerritos (1:39-5:14)... His parents came from Nebraska in 1906 and his father was one of only 3 Democrats in Long Beach. His father worked in real estate and oil. In 1920 his father met Franklin Roosevelt when FDR was Secretary of the Navy and in town to investigate Long Beach Harbor; it wasn't a partisan visit and his father took the head of the local Republican Party with him to greet FDR. (5:14-6:10)... His father, Edgar Franklin Davis, died in 1930 and his mother, Sevilla Davis died in 1949. He has a younger sister and two brothers, the youngest of whom had passed away at the time of the interview. (6:10-9:35)... His family moved to Los Cerritos in 1923 and then back to the city in 1927. Los Cerritos school only had 3 rooms and the students took monthly trips to museums. The mothers in the neighborhood organized to take the students to see the circus and parade that came around every year. Mrs. Royce, the principal, later retired and went into selling real estate and oil property. He graduated from Poly High School in the last 4 year class. (9:35-14:23)... Mrs. Holton of Holton's Mortuary gave his family had a pet goat when they lived in Los Cerritos on Pacific below Bixby. They moved when oil drilling began in Los Cerritos in 1926 because it was so noisy. They kept the mineral rights to the land under their house. As children, they played around the oil wells and his youngest brother fell off an oil derrick. The result put him in Seaside Hospital for about 3 months. They took the pet goat to visit him and the nurses had a fit. (14:23-20:13)... There were only 3 other students in his high school class at Poly. Then he attended Stanford University and graduated. He served in the military for 4 1/2 years. When he returned to Long Beach, he got interested in politics and worked in several campaigns. He became a Republican and attended a rally in front of Hoover's home when he was at Stanford. The candidate he supported lost the election for Congress and the one who won died as soon as he was sworn in, leaving Long Beach without representation. (20:13-21:17)... Davis graduated from Poly in 1927. He wanted to go to Dartmouth but didn't have high enough grades in his 3 years of Latin. Harry J. Moore was the vice-principal. He lived near Walter Desmond they walked to school together. (21:17-29:57)... Davises were Protestant, but they attended Catholic fund raisers at St. Anthony's Catholic Church. When he was a little boy, his father took him to a church fund raiser, bought him a raffle ticket and he won a live duck. Walter Desmond's father was one of the other 3 Democrats in Long Beach. George Spicer, who was Davis' father's attorney, was the other. Desmond was a judge and started a program that allowed those convicted of crimes to work to support their families during the week and serve their time on the weekends. *** File: cbdpdavis2.mp3 (0:00-4:10)... Brief Introduction Davis' discusses his wife's (Virginia) family background. They started dating in 1925 while in high school. When his wife graduated from high school, she attended the University of Washington. They married in 1934 and things were "rough" because of the Depression. Davis believes that the Depression and the recovery hit Los Angeles later than other parts of the country. Davis and his wife owned 2 cars and rented a furnished apartment for $20 a month. He worked for General Petroleum and made $80 a month. His wife was a writer for the Los Angeles Times and covered 15 small communities in the Los Angeles area. February of 1935 was a particularly rainy month. His wife earned $1.50 for weather reports, which she used to buy gasoline. (4:10-6:17)... For entertainment, Davis and his wife went to the Ebell Theater on Saturday nights. The entire evening they spent a $1, ten cents on the movie and the rest on drinks and dancing at the Pacific Coast Club. His father was on the board of directors for the Pacific Coast Club during its construction. There was conflict over the design of the club. His father argued that because the club was not open to the public it would suffer if times got rough. (6:17-12:25)... Virginia was president of the Junior Charity League. When Davis went into the service during WWII, she applied for a clerical position at Cal Ship. She flunked the typing test and enrolled in typing lessons. His mother knew someone from Cal Ship and he offered Virginia a job supervising the ship launchings at the company. She was in charge of 454 ships. There were about 22 ship launchings each month. She was making more money than Davis who was a major in the military at the time. Their daughter was 4 years old and they hired a sitter to watch her while Virginia was at work. The ship launchings took place at various times throughout the day and the evening. She had a charge account and was responsible for purchasing the gifts for the dignitaries and special guests that attended the launchings. He remembers when Madame Chiang Kai-shek sent Virginia 2 dozen silk stockings from China (12:25-14:19)... When Davis returned from military service, his wife quit working at Cal Ship. They did not have any problems with rationing coupons; however, it was difficult to get the food. He wore his uniform when he went to the store and came home with plenty of food to feed his family. (14:19-19:40)... Davis was driving his car when the Long Beach earthquake hit in 1933 and his car was struck by an ornamental streetlight. The chimneys on his home fell. A second earthquake in October did more damage to their home in Los Cerritos. (19:40-23:53)... While growing up in Los Cerritos, Davis and his siblings used to ride horses. They kept their horses at a stable on Pacific and Bixby. They visited Fred Bixby's Ranch and were friendly with the Bixby children. He was also friends with the Bixbys and Gilchrists in Los Cerritos. He remembers Juanita Gilchrist as a very beautiful woman. The Gilchrists eventually returned to Oklahoma and operated the Gilchrist Oil Company. (23:53-25:45)... Davis' father owned oil property on Signal Hill; however, he was not involved in the drilling end of the business. Davis believes that approximately eighty percent of the land on Signal Hill was owned by absentee owners who lived in Long Beach. He talks about the "bandits" in Signal Hill. (25:45-27:26)... After Davis graduated from Stanford, he went to work for General Petroleum. In 1934, he left General Petroleum and was hired by the Pennzoil Company. He worked there during the Depression. When he returned home after the war he thought about opening a service station. His wife suggested that he interview for a public relations position with Foster & Kleiser. He worked for this company for 13 years, during which time he traveled about 4,000 miles a month. In 1966, he left Foster & Kleiser. (27:26-31:08)... Davis majored in economics at Stanford. His father wanted Davis and his brothers to pursue a career in law. During the war, his brothers attempted to enlist in the service, but both were turned down. One of his brothers went to work for Douglas Aircraft and the other for Lockheed. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Don P. Davis served on the Long Beach Civil Service Commission longer than any other person. He grew up and went to school in Long Beach where he began his interest in politics and local elections. After serving in the military during World War II, he returned to town and continued his interest in politics. This led to his appointment to the Civil Service Commission. There he opposed term limits on commissioners proposed by a reform commission and managed to get reappointed before the term limits went into effect. He also opposed use of gender neutral titles for city employees. In these two interviews, he talks about his experiences growing up in Long Beach, his wife's work during World War II arranging the christening of locally built ships and his work in advertising after the war. This interview was conducted as part of a project to study the impact of oil on Long Beach. TOPICS - family background; political parties; Los Cerritos; oil field development; elections; and education;wife's work; family; WWII; and Junior Charity League;
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