In October 1959, Long Beach Independent reporter Bob Wells described how the 4500 residents of Signal Hill liked their politics loud, partisan and frequent. At the drop of a hat, it would take up recall petitions and remove what it considers to be the “boil on the body politic.” The recall weapon was first brought into use in 1926, a short time after the city was established in 1923. The populace swept from office a council it blamed for a street paving job it felt was not up to standards. Recalls followed in 1935, 1948, 1953, 1958 and 1959.
On April 7, 1959, Signal Hill traded in its 17-man police force for officers almost outnumbered by the population of the “island” city. The change gave the 4000 residents of the city the full law-enforcement services of the 3800 member Sheriff’s Department. Along with the 20 or so men who worked out of the Signal Hill substation (Signal Hill police officers would be absorbed into the Sheriff’s department) , the city would be covered by narcotics, vice and other special details from other sheriff’s offices. Under the contract, the city paid $113,000 ($1 million today) a year for services. The council felt that for the $113,000 they would be getting more protection than under the $168,000 ($1.5 million) police budget. The change, the council stated, was the end result of months of morale-shattering unrest during which officers were fired, rehired and then fired again. On June 24, 1959, county fire and ambulance service for Signal Hill also went into effect.
Cities contracting out for services was a relatively new
thing at the time. Citizens believed
they should have been consulted on what would in later years become a basic
municipal action. However, other issues were such as a $90,000 ($800,000 today)
police building – just completed in 1959 – sitting virtually unused because the
county sheriff’s office worked through a Lakewood station, and five police cars
and a city fire ambulance being placed “in storage” were also decisive factors
in the recall. In October 1959 75% of the city’s registered voters turned out
to give the recall a 2.5 to 1 majority. Recalled
were four of the five city council members – Harold V. Clark, Frank B. Vaughn,
Emil B. Haughty and Benjamin A. Moyle (who also served as mayor). Only Councilwoman Nellie Combellack, who had
not voted for the contract move, remained in office. The contract for police and fire service with
Los Angeles County ended July 1, 1960.
A reader told me an interesting story about moving into
Nellie Combellack’s former home at Orange and 33rd Street in the summer
of 1959. Shortly after the Smith’s moved in and had gone to bed the family
heard two loud blasts. Not wanting to disturb his wife, who had just returned
from the hospital, Mr. Smith got up without turning on a light, looked around
and didn’t find anything wrong. However, the next morning the Smiths’ found
lots of glass, shredded drapes, the back of a new chair shredded with stuffing
covering the floor, holes in the living room and kitchen windows and the
hallway door leading to bedrooms full of shotgun holes. The debris ended just a
foot from where the recently hospitalized Mrs. Smith was sleeping.
Sheriff's officers were called and seemed VERY surprised that the
house did not belong to Mrs. Combellack. They started questioning family
members as to who they knew who could have done it. They asked the Smith
daughter if she had a jealous boyfriend, etc. In between questions, they kept
asking about Mrs. Combellack. Mr. Smith said after they left he thought the sheriff's did it. His parting words to them, his daughter recalled, were “make sure you
tell people Mrs. Combellack doesn’t live here anymore.” When the sheriff's were
contacted asking about the status of the investigation the Smith’s got the
feeling no one wanted to talk about it. No leads. However, the family did feel
fortunate that the door onto the hallway and Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s bedroom
door was closed, or someone could have been seriously injured or killed. The Smith
daughter, who told me this story, said the family would talk about it over the
years and remark that not everyone got their house shot gunned in the wee hours
of the night…especially in 1959.
Nothing was reported in
the press about the incident and no suspect was ever found.
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| Kid Mexico |
There was no mention then of what drivers were to be
paid, but word had circulated beforehand that they would get $15 ($146) each –
plus a big fat $30 ($292) bonus if the gambler’s slate won. Faulkner’s campaign
manager, Cliff Waters told drivers he had a list of 1200 registered voters whom
they believed would vote the “right” ticket. Waters then explained who the
“right” candidates were – Mayor Lloyd J. Tomlin, Loring R. Jones and James F.
Walsh. Drivers went out at 7 a.m., knocking on doors, ringing bells, and making
pitches for Faulkner’s slate of candidates. Each driver was given a pack of
cards, more or less sample ballots, on which crosses had been marked opposite
the names of Tomlin, Jones and Walsh. Drivers were told to hand a card to each
passenger to guide him or her in choosing the “right” candidate.
The undercover reporter was surprised to find most people
already up, and they weren’t surprised to see someone at their door so early.
Perhaps they had been told beforehand that drivers would be around. However no
one, except one sickly lady, accepted the reporter’s invitation to ride to the
polls. This wasn’t so hard to take when one realized that the polling place was
only two blocks away from the street were the reporter had been assigned.
Despite Faulkner’s actions only Mayor Lloyd Tomlin, who had been in office
since December 1946, was reelected. In
July 1953, Faulkner pleaded guilty to election fraud charges which involved his
trying to rig registrations in the November 1952 Signal Hill election. An anti-gambling ordinance passed by a vote
of 1358 to 660. But Faulkner was not one to give up.
Faulkner found religion. He claimed that in April 1958,
God and Faulkner’s dead wife Edna appeared to him, telling him to go out and
preach the word of God. One person he found “ungodly” was Signal Hill City
Administrator-Engineer Charles Trygg. In 1962, Faulkner, admitted he helped
finance a four-page smear sheet against Trygg distributed in Signal Hill just
before the April 10 municipal election. The paper referred to the city
administrator as “Big Wig Trygg,” “Boss Trygg” and “Mr. Big Trygg” and cast
innuendo on Trygg’s competence, although no specific charges were made. Faulkner was successful. A new city council
asked for Trygg’s resignation. Trygg resigned, though the charges brought
against him were not revealed.
A persistent Faulkner decided to run for council himself in 1964. His platform included: effective zoning to provide for high-rise developments without sacrificing single-family residential areas; working to create a modern “downtown” area with top-quality retailers; creating a municipal auditorium for conventions and other meetings; attracting modern businesses in order to keep the tax rate low and get Signal Hill moving ahead. He also pledged to keep away politics and gambling. Faulkner ended up running sixth among nine candidates.
(For more about Faulkner
see my 2016 blog “Kid Mexico.”)
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| Papadakas |
George E. Papadakis, a Torrance school teacher, Floyd
Jones and Gertrude Beebe were running to fill the vacancy of Morris L. Shoup, who
decided not to run for reelection. Floyd
and Beebe both lived in the 7-year-old Flintstone Apartments at 2165 E. 21st
Street, known for its two-story high mosaic dinosaur with red mazda eyes, which
adorned the front of the apartments (see my Flintstone Apartments article). Papadakis was their
neighbor who owned a small apartment house outflanked by the Flintstone.
Earlier I wrote about Papadakis’ fight with Flintstone owner Miles Shook over partying at the apartment building and how, as a city planning commissioner, he was able to convince the city council to pass a city-wide anti-noise ordinance in 1962. Ironically, he was now running against two residents of the Flintstone.
Both Jones and Beebe agreed that Signal Hill needed to be
straightened out. Here’s where the gut fighting and nit picking came in: Floyd
Jones said he wanted to know why the curbs in front of the apartment house
owned by the mayor were not painted, allowing parking, when in front of other
apartment houses they were painted red. Jones
called the Signal Hill Police Department “worse than a Mack Sennett comedy,”
and he deplored the nepotism in the department, epitomized by the fact that the
police chief, Richard Denham, was the mayor’s son.
A native of Wheatland, Wyoming, Mrs. Beebe taught elementary school in that state for six years after graduation from the University of Wyoming before moving to Signal Hill in 1935. She served as city treasurer from 1942 to 1966. Mrs. Beebe, held the distinction (and possibly the state record) of being reelected as city treasurer and as city clerk, all on the same ballot in 1966. She said this about the City Council and the Police Department: “The city councilmen are no more than puppets for the city administrative officer (Fred Baxter) and the police operate in pathetic fashion. Many of our patrolmen are the finest law enforcement officers one could find, but politics prevents them from doing their duty as they see fit.” (Press Telegram, 3/15/1968) She also mentioned remedying the city hiring policy, which barred blacks from being employed by the city.
Gertrude Beebe won a seat on the council and continued to
serve as councilwoman until March 1976 and as mayor from March 1974-March 1975.
Papadakis bounced back in April 1970, continuing an on and off career as
council person until March 1984, also serving as Mayor from April 1973-March
1974 and from March 1981-July 1981. Floyd Jones also made another run for a
council seat in 1970, charging misuse of city funds “so the politicos can make
a killing in real estate.” He also favored a break up of “family control of
Signal Hill.” He lost.
Another candidate who won in the 1968 election was Sandra
L. Miller who served on the council until April 1972. More about her and her
fight against the political bosses of the city in my final chapter of Signal Hill's Checkered Past.
Sources:
“Hill elects councilmen
Tuesday.” Independent Press Telegram,
12 April 1964.
Wells, Bob. “Signal Hill recalls 4 council members.” Long Beach Independent, 28 October 1959.
