Just a note that I was parked behind a showroom new looking 1962 Plymouth Fury on a San Francisco street last weekend. You couldn't call it a "classic" - Plymouths were as ugly as dog turds in '62. The car had the original California license plate, and original license plate frame. It said "Earle C. Anthony" and "San Francisco." I didn't know Earle C. had any dealerships outside the LA area. I also don't know if he owned any radio stations here.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Earle C. Anthony
- Thread starter LKellerIII
- Start date
Anthony was the Packard dealer for the entire state, and had a showroom in San Francisco that still stands today. Here's an interesting story and photo:
http://bayarearadio.org/schneider/radio031.shtml
http://bayarearadio.org/schneider/radio031.shtml
Darn! I thought this was going to be a TV bowling nostalgia thread...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Anthony
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Anthony
Great info! Thanks for that. 901 Van Ness has remained a luxury car dealer - it's now San Francisco Bentley, Land Rover, and Jaguar. Not American luxury cars, of course - Bentley is owned by Volkswagen (?!), and the other two brands were recently acquired from Ford by Tata of India.
The nearby AMC 1000 (Van Ness) movie multiplex is the old Cadillac dealer. The building is HUGE, so they must have sold a lot of Caddys there at one time.
IIRC, Packard was dead by the mid 50s, so perhaps Earle C had switched to Chrysler & Plymouth.
The last Packard I remember was a 1958 model but it was nothing more than a Studebaker with a different grille and emblems.
Van Ness was once the "auto row" of San Francisco (early '60's). For about a mile on the east side of the street were one car dealer after another.
It still is the nearest thing SF has to "auto row," though there are now car dealerships all over the city. I've heard that our local Honda dealer (Van Ness & Market) is moving so they can sell the land for a gazillion dollars for yet another high-rise condominium development. The old Ford dealership became a 5 story condo and street level Whole Foods a couple of years ago. If you want a new Ford now, you have to drive to Colma. Gas stations are even more endangered, and closing all the time for new development. San Francisco is gradually turning into Manhattan.
Earle C. Anthony was the son of a Los Angeles banker and owner of the first horseless carriages in town. While attending Los Angeles High school in 1897 Earle built the first car in Los Angeles, with the unique capability of being able to go in reverse – a novelty for the time. . It was also the first car in Los Angeles to be wrecked, but fortunately Anthony was not injured and the pieces were retained. It was later restored and today is in the possession of the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles (which periodically includes it in exhibits).
After graduating from UC Berkeley he became enamored of the auto industry while on a visit to Detroit. He arranged to become a Packard sales representative in Los Angeles with an allotment of a half dozen cars year. Obviously this was not enough to make a living, so Anthony, with his Father’s backing, took on other brands as well. One of these was Buick, which he later gave to a protégé, Don Lee, when Buick’s head (William C Durant) demanded that he make a choice between the two marques. Lee ultimately swapped his Buick dealership for Cadillac, becoming statewide distributor for the latter. He would also become a radio competitor of Anthony but the two remained close.
Pre WW1 Anthony and his banker father originated the concept of auto leasing as a means of spurring sales to taxi drivers, in the process triggering ligation on the proper methodology of applying sales tax in lease situations. The lawsuit results, funded by Anthony, still govern the industry to this day. The younger Anthony also helped originate the Los Angeles Auto Show, the California Auto Dealers Association and (in concert with other dealers) a chain of service stations that controlled 25% of the then emerging market for retail gas.
There was a reason for getting into gasoline distribution – quality control. Gasoline needed to meet certain standards to operate vehicles efficiently, Anthony and others were involved in a network of interurban busses built on Packard chassis, and farm owners were a primary source of car purchases, Dealer coupons could be redeemed at the service stations for routine maintenance; Anthony and his associates mandated rigorous quality standards and sold vehicles with service coupons redeemable at their stations.
,
After the senior Anthony’s death Anthony and his partners faced a problem – the burgeoning fuel demand was outstripping their supply sources while some if those sources were getting into retail gas sales themselves. Seeing what was coming the sold the gasoline distribution chain to the Standard Oil Company of California. Included in the deal was the company’s trademark – the red white and blue chevron. Anthony managed the stations under a long-term contract with Standard erecting an office building caddy-corner to Anthony’s Los Angeles dealership. The trademark today is the name of the company, which has absorbed Texaco, Flying A and other brands.
in 1915 Anthony became Packard’s distributor for all of California and the other marques faded away for forty years (with a few exceptions such as the Durant brand in the early twenties and Hudson in the early thirties). Anthony initially had his own branches in around a dozen California cities with dealers in many others. After WW1 he sold all except those in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland as he turned to a new interest – radio. He would be one of the founders of the National Association of Broadcasters, serving as its third President and becoming a key figure in the press/radio wars of the mid-thirties.
During the depression the Oakland dealership was sold and began handling Buicks – a synopsis with picture is here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/autoh...fcZ-T15J1s-eWcptP-4j5VmY-8gNfcG-hiQXmk-8MpwbA
San Francisco remained after the demise of Packard and began selling Mercedes Benz vehicles; the Los Angeles facility converted to Lincoln but after Anthony’s death became a processing center for Union Bank. It is now the site of the Packard lofts, here.
http://www.packardloftsla.com/
After graduating from UC Berkeley he became enamored of the auto industry while on a visit to Detroit. He arranged to become a Packard sales representative in Los Angeles with an allotment of a half dozen cars year. Obviously this was not enough to make a living, so Anthony, with his Father’s backing, took on other brands as well. One of these was Buick, which he later gave to a protégé, Don Lee, when Buick’s head (William C Durant) demanded that he make a choice between the two marques. Lee ultimately swapped his Buick dealership for Cadillac, becoming statewide distributor for the latter. He would also become a radio competitor of Anthony but the two remained close.
Pre WW1 Anthony and his banker father originated the concept of auto leasing as a means of spurring sales to taxi drivers, in the process triggering ligation on the proper methodology of applying sales tax in lease situations. The lawsuit results, funded by Anthony, still govern the industry to this day. The younger Anthony also helped originate the Los Angeles Auto Show, the California Auto Dealers Association and (in concert with other dealers) a chain of service stations that controlled 25% of the then emerging market for retail gas.
There was a reason for getting into gasoline distribution – quality control. Gasoline needed to meet certain standards to operate vehicles efficiently, Anthony and others were involved in a network of interurban busses built on Packard chassis, and farm owners were a primary source of car purchases, Dealer coupons could be redeemed at the service stations for routine maintenance; Anthony and his associates mandated rigorous quality standards and sold vehicles with service coupons redeemable at their stations.
,
After the senior Anthony’s death Anthony and his partners faced a problem – the burgeoning fuel demand was outstripping their supply sources while some if those sources were getting into retail gas sales themselves. Seeing what was coming the sold the gasoline distribution chain to the Standard Oil Company of California. Included in the deal was the company’s trademark – the red white and blue chevron. Anthony managed the stations under a long-term contract with Standard erecting an office building caddy-corner to Anthony’s Los Angeles dealership. The trademark today is the name of the company, which has absorbed Texaco, Flying A and other brands.
in 1915 Anthony became Packard’s distributor for all of California and the other marques faded away for forty years (with a few exceptions such as the Durant brand in the early twenties and Hudson in the early thirties). Anthony initially had his own branches in around a dozen California cities with dealers in many others. After WW1 he sold all except those in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland as he turned to a new interest – radio. He would be one of the founders of the National Association of Broadcasters, serving as its third President and becoming a key figure in the press/radio wars of the mid-thirties.
During the depression the Oakland dealership was sold and began handling Buicks – a synopsis with picture is here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/autoh...fcZ-T15J1s-eWcptP-4j5VmY-8gNfcG-hiQXmk-8MpwbA
San Francisco remained after the demise of Packard and began selling Mercedes Benz vehicles; the Los Angeles facility converted to Lincoln but after Anthony’s death became a processing center for Union Bank. It is now the site of the Packard lofts, here.
http://www.packardloftsla.com/
I did not know about the retrofitting and remodeling of the building. Very cool and I even signed up for notifications and to see what is available!
Wow an auto row cannot exist in San Francisco these days though due to the emphasis of Bart or ferries to enter San Francisco. Cars have to be parked at terminals outside the city though. But interesting history of Earle C. Anthony though. I know that Earle C. Anthony took over KEHE at one point in Los Angeles and converted that into KECA though.
Wow an auto row cannot exist in San Francisco these days though due to the emphasis of Bart or ferries to enter San Francisco. Cars have to be parked at terminals outside the city though. But interesting history of Earle C. Anthony though. I know that Earle C. Anthony took over KEHE at one point in Los Angeles and converted that into KECA though.
Getting way off the subject, but like Earle C. Anthony's showroom, many Studebaker or Packard dealers continued selling Mercedes-Benz after Studebaker went belly up. In the 50s, Studebaker had been the US distributor for Mercedes vehicles, via Mercedes-Benz USA Incorporated. During (or perhaps just before) Studebaker-Packard's bankruptcy proceedings, Mercedes began building their own dealer network, and was able to recruit a number of Studebaker-Packard dealers to sign up for the German brand.
Colma used to have two businesses: cemeteries and the Cow Palace. Wyatt Earp is buried in Colma.
Way, way off topic now: Neither Studebaker nor Packard declared BK at the end. Packard bought Studebaker in the early Fifties (without carefully looking at the books) and the two losing companies lost even more money. Studebaker shut the Packard line after the '56 run and provided Packard dealerships with rebadged Studebakers (some called them Packardbakers) for '57 & '58. Then that was it for the Packard line. Studebaker started diversifying in the early Sixties, losing money only on their auto division. They stopped production at South Bend in Dec '63, leaving the Hamilton plant open to take and fill orders for the Lark. That plant was shut in March '66, the end of Studebaker automobiles. In subsequent years, Studebaker went thru a series of mergers and acquisitions to the point the trade name Studebaker was no longer used.
To bring the topic back to el Lay - Studebaker had an assembly plant in Vernon overlooking the scenic LA River. And the motto of Packard was "Ask The Man Who Owns Own" So if you're thinking of buying at the Packard Lofts, be sure to ask!
Last edited:
Since of course only a man would own a Packard. Yikes!
Interestingly Earle C. Anthony was ahead of both Packard's sloganeering and women's lib.. Both his wife Irene and one other female were on the Board of Earle C Anthony Inc., in the early twenties. Irene was also used in Anthony's Packard advertising of the day to popularize the idea of women driving. One out of every seven Packards ever manufactured were sold by Anthony's California distribution network - many of them to Hollywood movie and broadcasting celebrities.
On the radio side perhaps his foremost female on the air personality, Virginia Mansfield, confirmed his attitude about women when I interviewed her in Palm Springs 25 years plus ago. Not only did he use licensed female engineers at the station during WW2 (one of them wound up marrying KFI newsman Howard Culver) Anthony had strict on-the-job fraternization rules between staff members. This was unlike the situation common in many Hollywood enterprises of the time. I know of no sexual scandals (divorces, gossip column scandals etc) regarding any employee of ECA Incorporated).
.
On the radio side perhaps his foremost female on the air personality, Virginia Mansfield, confirmed his attitude about women when I interviewed her in Palm Springs 25 years plus ago. Not only did he use licensed female engineers at the station during WW2 (one of them wound up marrying KFI newsman Howard Culver) Anthony had strict on-the-job fraternization rules between staff members. This was unlike the situation common in many Hollywood enterprises of the time. I know of no sexual scandals (divorces, gossip column scandals etc) regarding any employee of ECA Incorporated).
.
Last edited:
A related addendum:
Below is a link showing two pictures of interest to this thread: Anthony in 1897 seated in his self-built vehicle (the one now owned by the Petersen Museum) and a shot of the San Francisco dealership with its decorative but never functional radio towers.
http://theoldmotor.com/?p=113369
Below is a link showing two pictures of interest to this thread: Anthony in 1897 seated in his self-built vehicle (the one now owned by the Petersen Museum) and a shot of the San Francisco dealership with its decorative but never functional radio towers.
http://theoldmotor.com/?p=113369
A related addendum (I unfortunately timed out on my editing time after making the post above)::
There is a discussion thread at the bottom of the page reference in the post above with more information - some of it erroneous.
Anthony did not "found" KABC predecessor KECA. He purchased Hearst's floundering KEHE because KFI has outgrown its studios atop the Packard auto dealership. The station had a magnificent set of studios Hearst was rumored to have built to enhance the career of his lady fried Marion Davies. More pragmatically Hearst intended it to be the west cost anchor for a prospective radio network, but the depression and Hearst's extravagant spending on San Simeon forced the sale of many Hearst radio interests. KEHE wasn't founded by Hearst; using other call letters it was founded earlier. Anthony had in 1929 purchased a small station up frequency and renamed it KECA, making it the NBC Blue network affiliate for Los Angeles (KFI was with the NBC Red network). He surrendered KECA's frequency and merged the station with KEHE and KFI into the studios on Vermont. .
https://urbandiachrony.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/kehe-radio-building-141-n-vermont-avenue-1940-2011/
Above is a black and white photo of the station circa 1940, a time when Anthony's radio division was headed by Harrison Holliway, the man previously credited for building Don Lee's KFRC powerhouse. When Holliway died during WW2 no one else was ever given the title or authority that Holliway had as ECA's President of Radio Operations. With David Starling running a news department that included Sam Hayes, Howard Culver and others (including briefly Chet Huntley ) plus a full time Farm Department with two program blocks a day and the NBC Red network feed KFI was dominant in Los Angeles.
At that time Anthony had Leroy Spencer (who owned 10% of ECA, Inc due to depression financial pressures) running the automotive dealership operations while Anthony and others (KFI's Headlee Blatterman, Paramount's Klaus Landsberg and KHJ's Thomas Lee) were focused on post-war television and FM at a site code named "Mt Anthony" in KFI internal newsletters. "Mt Anthony," of course, was really Mt Wilson and became the post war site of KTSL. KTLA, KFI-TV and later others.
There is a discussion thread at the bottom of the page reference in the post above with more information - some of it erroneous.
Anthony did not "found" KABC predecessor KECA. He purchased Hearst's floundering KEHE because KFI has outgrown its studios atop the Packard auto dealership. The station had a magnificent set of studios Hearst was rumored to have built to enhance the career of his lady fried Marion Davies. More pragmatically Hearst intended it to be the west cost anchor for a prospective radio network, but the depression and Hearst's extravagant spending on San Simeon forced the sale of many Hearst radio interests. KEHE wasn't founded by Hearst; using other call letters it was founded earlier. Anthony had in 1929 purchased a small station up frequency and renamed it KECA, making it the NBC Blue network affiliate for Los Angeles (KFI was with the NBC Red network). He surrendered KECA's frequency and merged the station with KEHE and KFI into the studios on Vermont. .
https://urbandiachrony.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/kehe-radio-building-141-n-vermont-avenue-1940-2011/
Above is a black and white photo of the station circa 1940, a time when Anthony's radio division was headed by Harrison Holliway, the man previously credited for building Don Lee's KFRC powerhouse. When Holliway died during WW2 no one else was ever given the title or authority that Holliway had as ECA's President of Radio Operations. With David Starling running a news department that included Sam Hayes, Howard Culver and others (including briefly Chet Huntley ) plus a full time Farm Department with two program blocks a day and the NBC Red network feed KFI was dominant in Los Angeles.
At that time Anthony had Leroy Spencer (who owned 10% of ECA, Inc due to depression financial pressures) running the automotive dealership operations while Anthony and others (KFI's Headlee Blatterman, Paramount's Klaus Landsberg and KHJ's Thomas Lee) were focused on post-war television and FM at a site code named "Mt Anthony" in KFI internal newsletters. "Mt Anthony," of course, was really Mt Wilson and became the post war site of KTSL. KTLA, KFI-TV and later others.
Unfortunately at the time of demolition the building was a graffiti-spattered and vandalized shell of its original self. The Korea Times newspaper (which used it for a quarter century after the station moved to 8th and Ardmore) had left several years before. The in-house organ was long gone as were in A-E studios (Auditorium, Blue, Coral, Diamond and Emerald).
The LAUSD, anxious to make room for Belmont Elementary, hired an "expert" from the inland empire to write its historical significance report and he pronounced it of "no value." As an interested bystander who had the privilege of being inside the facility many times as a teenager I knew better (as did others - but we had no voice in the matter}. The honest truth was that despite its history there was no money or interest in restoration.
The good news is that at the time of the move then news director Ned Skaff salvaged from a dumpster the clipping scrapbooks kept annually by Anthony's staff - they eventually wound up in the Pacific Pioneer Broadcaster Collection long with many vinyl air-checks etc. Among these is a dramatic Richfield Reporter recording on Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia (the long running Reporter began on KFI in 1929 with San Hayes before moving to the NBC network with John Wald). Its success helped precipitate the press/radio war of the mid thirties. Other KFi employees preserved other artifacts as well.
The LAUSD, anxious to make room for Belmont Elementary, hired an "expert" from the inland empire to write its historical significance report and he pronounced it of "no value." As an interested bystander who had the privilege of being inside the facility many times as a teenager I knew better (as did others - but we had no voice in the matter}. The honest truth was that despite its history there was no money or interest in restoration.
The good news is that at the time of the move then news director Ned Skaff salvaged from a dumpster the clipping scrapbooks kept annually by Anthony's staff - they eventually wound up in the Pacific Pioneer Broadcaster Collection long with many vinyl air-checks etc. Among these is a dramatic Richfield Reporter recording on Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia (the long running Reporter began on KFI in 1929 with San Hayes before moving to the NBC network with John Wald). Its success helped precipitate the press/radio war of the mid thirties. Other KFi employees preserved other artifacts as well.
As mentioned, Earle C's San Francisco location is still a car dealership - selling Jaguars, Land Rovers, and Bentleys. I haven't looked inside, but I'd bet that the interior design has not changed. Bringing it back to radio - I recall that Howard Culver was on KLAC in the mid-late 60s when it was "Two Way Radio" - my mother used to listen to Joe Pyne, Roy Elwell, Joel. A. Spivak, etc.
Like many radio people of the day, Culver dabbled in acting. He was one of Jack Webb's rotating bad of players - showing up as the medical examiner, an eccentric witness, or whoever else Joe Friday (Dragnet) or Malloy and Reed (Adam 12) needed to talk to.
Like many radio people of the day, Culver dabbled in acting. He was one of Jack Webb's rotating bad of players - showing up as the medical examiner, an eccentric witness, or whoever else Joe Friday (Dragnet) or Malloy and Reed (Adam 12) needed to talk to.
- Status