A LOOK BACK:

I recently received a nice e-mail from Beverly Beebe Thetford of Sparks, Nev., asking if I remembered one of our residents.

She began the e-mail by saying she doubted many people living in Huntington Beach today would recognize the name Otto Culbertson.

I e-mailed her back that indeed I remembered the name, and I’m sure many of the residents who were living here in the 1940s do also.

This week I thought we would recount a little of Otto’s life, his business and how it influenced the life of Beverly and her family.

For those who have forgotten, Otto Culbertson owned Culbertson Chevrolet and Oldsmobile at 302 Pacific Coast Hwy. at Third Street.

The building was known as the Macklin building ever since City Trustee James H. Macklin had it built in the 1920s, and for most of its history the building has been associated with automobiles in some way. Its first tenant was Huntington Beach Motors in 1926, which sold Hudson and Essex cars.

In 1933 it became a Chevrolet agency owned by Robert Lindley and Herbert Hartley, and at the end of the 1930s its name became just H.W. Hartley Inc. selling Chevrolets and Oldsmobiles.

In December 1936 David Wilson was hired and he eventually would become president and manager of the company.

By February 1941 the company was in big trouble because of the arrest of Wilson in Sacramento Feb. 13, 1941, when he was brought back to Orange County. In Judge Pann’s courtroom he faced three counts of grand theft involving the taking of $5,604.35 from two Long Beach banks through asserted double financing of automobiles (also known as “Double flooring”). Shortly afterward the business closed.

Meanwhile Dwayne Moore, a graduate of Huntington High, opened his own body, fender and paint shop at the vacated Hartley location. Moore had previously been in charge of the body and painting department at Hartley’s prior to its closing.

In May 1941 the H.W. Hartley Corporation went into liquidation, and in stepped Otto Culbertson, who purchased the Chevrolet-Oldsmobile agency.

A little of Otto’s early history is in order next.

Otto was born in 1902 in Oklahoma and held several jobs there and in Texas prior to coming to Huntington Beach from Maud, Okla.

At various times he had been a traveling salesman for a paper company that sold news print, had operated his own oil pipe line, drilled several oil wells, run an oil refinery, worked at GMAC, owned a large department store in Maud and owned an interest in an auto dealership.

After searching the Pacific Coast for a location for his new business, Culbertson settled on Huntington Beach.

Culbertson chose R.G. “Bob” Lindley as his business manager, Merrill Beebe as his office manager, Tom Rankin as shop foreman and Everett Horner as parts manager. Beverly Beebe’s father, Harold Beebe, worked in the company’s parts department.

Harry Pence and P.A. Young were his mechanics along with shop assistants Bob Richards, Dick Hoppack and Johnny Copeland. His able sales force included Richard Moore and Laurie Ridenour.

It was on Saturday, May 24, 1941, that Culbertson Chevrolet had its big grand opening. But even before the doors were opened, Culbertson had sold six new 1941 Chevrolets and Oldsmobiles and for the opening day he had 20 more new 1941 models on his showroom floor and in reserve in the basement.

Some of those first owners included Richard Geer, Dr. Lawrence Downs from Beverly Hills, J.E. Pistole, C.H. Ellis, Elliott Woodhouse and Fred West.

Within a week 13 more cars were delivered to Culbertson and the rush was on, or so it seemed.

At the Santa Ana Horse Show Parade of June 7, 1941, our own parade master, Bill Gallienne, drove a cream-colored Chevrolet Cabriolet from Culbertson in the parade adorned with six bathing-suited girls.

For our July Fourth event that year Culbertson donated $60 in prizes for the first five winners of the Third Annual Soap Box Derby here on July 5, and for the next 10 years would continue to be a sponsor of that event.

War clouds arrived here Dec. 7, 1941, and all new civilian car production stopped, so there were no new cars in showrooms across the nation during the war. Harold Beebe and several other Culbertson employees were drafted into the Army.

Beverly’s sister, brother and mother went to live in Duarte with her grandparents. Soon after they arrived in Duarte her mother received a letter from Otto saying he had obtained housing for them in Balboa.

For two years Otto paid the rent on five cottages in Balboa so the families of his employees in service would have housing, and when they returned they all had jobs at Culbertson Chevrolet again.

Before Beverly moved to Duarte, she attended kindergarten here in Huntington Beach where she and two friends walked to school through one of our oil fields.

During the war years the Culbertson family had to sacrifice much to continue the business by selling used cars and servicing them too.

With the war ended, new cars were slowly finding their way to showrooms once again, and on Nov. 3, 1941 the new 1946 model Chevrolets became available to our residents at Culbertson Chevrolet.

That same month, Dwayne Moore returned from the Navy to become body, fender and paint manager again.

In 1947 Beverly’s father purchased a home in Costa Mesa and would continue to work in the parts department at Culbertson.

At this time Otto owned two locations, the one here in Huntington Beach and the other at 3001 Central Ave. in Newport Beach. During this time Otto lived in Huntington Beach at 760 Main St.

In 1951 Otto no longer had the Central Avenue location, but instead had one at 2481 Pacific Coast Hwy. in Newport Beach.

Otto sold his dealership in 1952 to Ralph Williams who would continue to sell Chevrolets.

Otto Culbertson passed away in 1983 in the Pomona area.

The building that had housed Culbertson Chevrolet-Oldsmobile became a part of history when the owners bulldozed it May 18, 1986, and just recently GM stopped production of the Oldsmobile and it, too, became history.

In Beverly’s e-mail she wrote, “I often think of Otto and World War II as the period in my lifetime when the nation became one. I remember Otto and try to do at least something for someone else who needs more than me. He set a wonderful example and I know that my life has been enriched because of him.”

JERRY PERSON is the city’s historian and longtime Huntington Beach resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box 7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.