“I remember the Yard”

By Jim Ferry Jr.

Written at the suggestion of John C. Ferry

Rev. 4/26/08 3/2/2006 9:15 AM

The “Yard” was a special placed in my life and many of my kin. It was a wonderland of construction equipment, old sheds, hideouts, and places to explore. If I wanted to build something, or fix my car, or just hang out with very colorful men, the Yard was the place. It all started with my grandfather.

Grandpa Ferry (Peter L.) came to Calif. in 1909. He died in 1935 after a two-year illness at 54. He died from skin cancer. A problem that seems to come from our Irish heritage. I was two years old. Peter L. looked much older in pictures due to poor health. Uncle Pat Ferry, Marie DeMera , and Aunt Kay are the only ones I can think of, now living, who could actually remember him personally. Yet he affected all our lives and with Papa Jim and Mama Jeanne’s gift is to us will continue to do so. You can read about Peter L. in “Westside Pioneer Farmers” by Mary Alice Diener.

He settled down with Mother Ferry in the Acacia St house in Glendale with his large family, construction equipment, mules, and probably workmen’s living quarters.

At probable urging of Mother Ferry he purchased 5 ac. of raw river land across the tracks In Los Angeles and moved there in 1924. His construction company did earth moving using mules and a small scoop called a Fresno being the main machine. This dirt moving operation was similar to plowing. It was very labor and animal intensive. Peter L. also did concrete work, utilities, and street paving. His concrete stamp can still be found on the streets of Glendale. The actual Yard must have been bigger than the 5 owned acres. A neighboring landowner uncovered methane gas during earthmoving. The gas came from years of animal droppings in pens south of the Yard on Brazil St.

Those days the crew lived at the company yard, or on the job site itself. It was said to be like a circus train when a new job started, mules, bunk wagons, cook wagons, feed, tools, and men, all drove off to the new location for the duration of the job. To help understand the yard system.
· I remember about when Al Leon, a long time employee, got married and wanted to live at his home. It was a subject for discussion. He had to ask for permission. Could he make it daily to the job and on time?
· Even for the Davis Levee job in 1947, Dad had war surplus Quonset huts built on the job site where I remember staying in 1947. It was a camping sort of life. I remember spearing frogs and roasting them on a fire. Going to town meant going to Sacramento and seeing the Solons play baseball or the wrestling matches at Memorial Auditorium. I learned to drive in an old truck on vacant fields and soon had my driver’s license at 14. My job was a “Load Counter” every time an earthmover went by I marked down its time and number. I also went out at night and lighted the fire pots used as warning safety blinkers.
· This type of situation continued for Papa Jim after the war years. At the remote bases like China Lake the government built barricades and mess hall for the workers. The quarters were very simple with cots for the workers. There was adult entertainment outside the base, but only a nightly base movie show for me. There was a camp of sorts at the Oklahoma warehouse job. I ate meals there, but stayed in town with a family. I had my first lesson about integration: “Never go to the other side of town after dark”. I was never a drinker but Oklahoma was a dry state so I learned about bootleggers and buying a home beer from farmers. It was called Chalk. I worked in a surveyor party. Getting back to the Yard:
·
Grandpa Ferry died June 1935. Of the estate, my dad, Jim Sr. was named executor. It was a very difficult time for this large family and business. Older sister, Mary Alice was at the “Ranch” since 1930. Keeping business going fell to 26-year-old Jim. He did it by renting equipment, doing construction jobs, and selling off property Peter L. had acquired. He was called the “Boy-Contractor”. There was talk of his having to gain respect from the old hands at the yard. On one trip down Brand Blvd Dad pointed out a huge building that was on a lot he once sold for $500. He regretted it now, but the family needed the money. Seeing his family and extended family thru the depression, I believe, influenced him in the years ahead. He was usually always on the conservative side, sure the bottom was going to fallout. Who could have guessed there were 70 years of relatively good times ahead with real estate appreciation? Peter L.’s estate fortune was real estate based. None of his children were keen on this, except Mary Alice. I and many of my peers have seen themselves through the years by working at our jobs, as we have grown older it is with real estate the extras have come from. One of dad’s answers when questioned about why he did not buy some of the vacant land in the Glendale hills, or the vacant land on the way to Balboa, etc. was he invested in himself and his construction company. Being with dad in Sacramento it was to easier buy a tractor, but impossible to buy any of the cheap land we saw in Santa Barbara or Sacramento. Getting back to the Yard.

I remember the rows of house type sheds, and hearing about depression drifters who lived along the LA River coming up to the cookhouse to be fed, also the nuns would beg at the office. I never heard about any one ever being turned away by dad. I heard recently Mother Cabrini herself came by. The good sisters would pass out small metals and holy cards. Dad would hand them a check.

My personal memory of the Yard is of course from early photographs. But I do remember going with Dad and sometimes Mary Jean & Sue to spend a Sunday afternoons at the office. And in climbing on the equipment and raiding the office supplies. We were always warned never to start any machinery. At our Sierra Vista house I remember huge Xmas’ that just appeared on Xmas morning. I learned about Santa Clause by looking out the window on Xmas Eve and seeing a truck from the yard filled with presents.
I “worked” many weekends and vacations there with Al Leon and Uncle Laurence Farmerie repairing all the equipment which was brought in from jobs. Al was nice as could be, Uncle Laurence was very grouchy. There was also an African American named Floyd who was a live-in watchman. I clearly remember Bob Leland at the office. I mostly remember cleaning off dirt & grease off machinery in the steam cleaning rack. Dad was mostly gone and these colorful caring people become surrogate fathers.

Cousin Tommy and I hoed weeds and moved them around in trucks to be burnt. We did mostly trucking. I remember the old forge and belt driven tools in the old shop, which is still standing. This old building was moved used on the property used in the early years and looks good for many years ahead. The “outhouse” was behind any piece of equipment. During my Loyola days we took one of the old outhouses and put it on the campus for a joke, part of the new student union. . I remember building a loft inside the shop with Al Leon. It was all out of plumb. I knew dad wouldn’t like it. Al said don’t worry and put board across the front, painted it and leveled it up. The job looked great. My sex education, what there was of it, came from calendars on the shop walls. Also marriage advice: when you get married hang your pants on the bedpost saying ”who ever wears these pants is the boss”. I remember one of the workmen confiding in me that I would be a millionaire someday. Which came true, but he didn’t say gas would cost $3 plus a gallon. I remember it costing about 12 cents then and we just helped ourselves at the yard pump. I installed an extra tank in my car so it could make it all the way to Villanova and back without refilling up.

I remember acres of machinery in rows and scattered everywhere were lumber, pipe, stuff from many jobs. Dad had a ”Low-Bed” truck going all the time moving equipment. I can’t recall the driver’s name. I remember dad saying he would drive all night if it was a special job, but he hated routine hauling work, so every job had to made special. I once flipped a brand new pickup truck in the desert and I very clearly seeing the pickup on the back of the low-boy as it was brought in. A job I did quite often was to use a small tractor and load & unload equipment. Cement, and perhaps other materials came by rail on our own siding. To earn extra money after work Al Leon would unload by hand-truck RR cars full of cement sacks. After the war Dad got interested in airplanes and once owned three of them, a Waco, A big Cessna, and a small two seater. He even had a pilot on the payroll. A mechanic had to make an emergency landing at Hughes; Culver City field and the plane flipped over on the runway. Nobody was hurt. Dad lost all his enthusiasm for flying, especially when some fellow contractors “bought the farm”.

Dad spent the war years building defense projects. One of his problems was finding men to work the machines. More than once he would go to a local bar to hire and hope they would show up the next day. The same situation occurred in Sacramento when we had a job up in the hill at George in the 70's. Dad was running the job. He went into the local bar and hired some men for the next day. None of them showed up!
After the war years Jack & Bill came home from the service. Optimism was in the air. The four boys (with Pat) were partners in the Yard property when Peter L’s estate was split up. Jack was mostly interested in rock and sand production. He rebuilt old engines in the sheds. He also went into the fiberglass business. He made many carousal horses. Everyone was proud of him as he started without a lot of family help. Jack & Dad set up young Bill up with the ready mix business. In those early days it was a wooden structure of hand pull levers and 3 CY mixers. Business prospered especially with portable mixing plants for military jobs in the desert. It boomed again later under John C.’s with the building of apartment underground spaces and the freeway work, which was often done at night. Dad’s plan was for John to run the Ready-Mix and for me to do contracting. We both disappointed him, but both met with success in our own terms.

In the early sixties the Ferry Bros. (4 boys) moved to San Diego to have a go at this closed construction market. They didn’t fair well and partnership was dissolved and the Yard was split as a result. The built-up front end going to Pat & Jack, and the larger rear vacant piece going to Bill & My Dad. Driving down Brazil St. today it is easy to see which is which. Sadly the front piece was lost to an auctioneer who loaned Pat & Jack money. His name was Rouse and his family still owns the front portion. I heard the figure was only $100,000, but Pat & Jack were too proud to approach Jim & Bill and let the property go. The ready mix company was getting along and a few warehouses were built. I did labor work tearing out old wooden buildings and disposing of all kinds of stuff, huge boxes of plates, eating utensils, countless Peter L. Ferry signs. All kinds of gear for mule rigging. Picks, shovels, drench jacking, etc. Peter L had huge boxes of signs for his company: Peter L. Ferry Equipment for Rent. Uncle Pat was often there working too for the ready mix company. I remember him getting badly burnt washing parts. I remember Mother Ferry bringing her large car down for a tune up. After she left the mechanic would race it up and done Brazil St. as she drove so slow the carbon built up. When she found this out she didn’t come back.

In later years it was an awkward situation working there. Dad was not often there and Uncle Bill, being usually there in the am, would say “No” if something would cost money. I’ll never forget trying to have a $100 spent on an inspection door for the new plant on the bucket belt line. The belt later plugged and the plant went down for days. I started a side business making house piers out of excess concrete, but Bill Sr. didn’t like it and paid my expenses and took it over. It was kind like family in many ways. In the early years often on Saturday afternoons and Christmas Eves, the workers, salesman, family, etc. would come to the office and drink and play cards. At various times there were about 5 different offices. Dad and Jack were very proud of the “new” office on the corner of San Fernando & Brazil St. I was amazed to how the grand office came to be for Bill and Dad and Ready Mix. The new Ready Mix office saw the batch man not even at the plant, but at the office and the use of a computer to control the mixes.

I very clearly remember Uncle Bill calling in everybody from the yard to listen to President Kennedy’s talk during the Cuban missile crisis telling us it looks like war. That evening Mary Ella and I went out, like a lot of other people, and stocked up on food, etc.

In the early 60’s the subject of which way to use the Yard was discussed over and over again by dad & Bill. Both men wanted the easy income of warehouses. But they worried about keeping the family and employees involved, having jobs for them. They decided to do both. I did many layouts sketches for warehouses and for a modern RX plant. Both men did soul searching about making such a huge investment in trucks and a modern plant that neither one really felt 100% comfortable with. The salesmen’s pitches certainly influenced the day. Of course no one at that time foresaw the high volume from such a postage sized layout and the almost never a vacancy from the warehouses. Dad usually figured a return on investment in 5 years. That is the investment would be paid back in 60 payments. He would be please that the warehouses probably repay their cost every month now. They did see correctly the jobs given to many of us here and elsewhere through the years to relatives and employees.

I was not a party to the leasing of the plant to National. My only memory is going with dad to see plant that was for sale in the San Diego area to try to determine value. Perhaps others can tell how and why it happened. This decision now appears to have been the best for all concerned despite all the stress involved.

Today the property is pretty much as the two seniors left it and intended it to remain, a relatively trouble free source of income that sees both families through the years. For my kids it gave some help when they needed it. As of now there are 19 people owning shares of various percentages.

Some of the family members I didn’t mention who also worker at the yard were Peter Ferry the third (Peter), Tommy Meyer, Helen, Linda, and of course Helen & Bill Jr.

What are your memories of the Yard?

A gray area for me is the years between the boom of the 20's and the start of WWll. Peter L. was a large well-equipped contractor doing relatively large jobs. I assume the jolt of the depression and his health ended the contracting and started the equipment rental. I remember Jim Sr. telling me "We never lost money in the depression. (Through renting)." "We never make much either". The family did see a lot of on-paper wealth in real estate disappear. Jim Sr. was very active during the war doing military base work. After the war he did military housing and base grading, etc at China lake. The middle 50's brought the infamous "Big Cut" which lasted three years. The late 50's was San Diego rock, sand, concrete, and construction. In 1962 James L. Ferry & Son was low bidder on a Sacramento River Job that ended in '89 with 120 completed contracts.