Verdugo Views: The mysterious residency of a radio preacher
One of the most famous radio preachers of all time, Aimee Semple McPherson, once rented an apartment in Glendale and tried to enroll her two children in our high school.
It seems her stay here back in the late 1920s was brief and may have been an attempt to protect her children from threats; or it may have been that she needed a quiet place to finish writing a book; or it may simply have been that she needed a place to live while her Los Angeles residence was being remodeled.
All three reasons were given in newspaper accounts of the day.
It all started with a Feb. 9, 1928, report in the Glendale Evening News. “Among the latest acquisitions to the citizenship of Glendale is Mrs. Aimee Semple McPherson, pastor of the Angelus Temple, Los Angeles, who has taken an apartment at the Savoy apartments at 520 East Elk and has already moved into her new home with her two children, Roberta Semple and Robert McPherson.”
According to the proprietor of the Savoy, F.W. Jenkins, McPherson told him when she rented the apartment that she wanted to enter her son in the Glendale schools, as she had heard favorable reports and also that she wanted a quiet place to complete a book.
McPherson sent an unnamed woman to Glendale Union High School (as it was then known) to enroll the two children. The woman told officials that both children had been attending Belmont High, but that after McPherson received threatening letters, she took them out.
The woman also told officials that Los Angeles school authorities had refused the necessary permit for them to attend Glendale schools and that McPherson offered to pay tuition. But, the officials told her, Glendale schools legally could not accept the money.
McPherson, of course, was a very well-known woman by this time. She had built her church near Echo Park in 1923 and, three years later, had mysteriously disappeared while swimming near Venice Beach.
She reappeared more than a month later, saying she had been kidnapped. Thousands of people celebrated her return.
So, it’s no wonder that news of her move to Glendale created a sensation.
The next day’s edition of the Evening News asked, “Do Aimee Semple McPherson’s two children have a legal right to attend Glendale Union High School and be educated at the expense of Glendale taxpayers? That is a question that authorities at the high school are determined to solve.”
The school board sent attendance officer Preston Fullen to find out.
His investigation revealed that, yes, McPherson had rented an apartment at the Savoy, and that, yes, she and her two children and another woman were living there.
But during the conversation, the officer received the impression that McPherson was there because her residence in Los Angeles was being remodeled. No lease had been drawn up and McPherson said she didn’t know how long she planned to stay.
And we still don’t know how long she stayed or why she was really here.
A search of city directories by Mike Shea, of Special Collections at the Glendale Central Library, did not list the McPherson — or Semple — name as a resident during that time, so we’ll probably never know the answer to this mystery.
—
Readers Write:
“Thank you for the wonderful story regarding Iron Eyes Cody. I’m a 38-year resident of Glendale and a retired Los Angeles City Fire Department captain. I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed reading your column over the years.
It has been well over 25 years since I attended an LAFD retirement dinner at Les Freres Taix French restaurant in Echo Park. After the dinner, several of my co-workers and I went into the restaurant’s bar. Seated at a table were Montie Montana and Iron Eyes Cody, enjoying a nightcap. I had long admired both of these men and I couldn’t resist the sight of a cowboy and an Indian sitting together, sharing a conversation.
Rude as it may have been, I went up to their table and introduced myself. Without hesitation, Iron Eyes Cody pulled back an empty chair and invited me to sit down. I was in awe of these two men. I did little talking, but a lot of listening. They shared many stories, not only of their respective acting careers, but of their charity work as well. I appreciate your time and effort in relating what a wonderful person Mr. Cody was.”
Very truly yours,
Vince Marzo
—
If you have questions, comments or memories to share, please write to Verdugo Views, c/o News-Press, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.
