When Isaias Hellman and his brother Herman arrived in southern California in 1859, Los Angeles had been part of the United States for nine years. Yet the town was still more Mexican pueblo than American metropolis. Spanish was the most common language, followed by French, and then English. Most people were illiterate. There was no regularly scheduled stage service between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Mail delivery was sporadic and there was no telegraph connection, so it could take weeks before news reached the region. Los Angeles residents didn’t hear about the firing on Ft. Sumter and the start of the Civil War for almost two weeks.
Most of the houses were one-story adobes, with a smattering of brick buildings. The Plaza, surrounded by adobe homes and a Catholic church, marked the center of town. Business was so slow that shopkeepers could shut their stores for hours at a time and go play cards without worrying about losing too much money.
Los Angeles was one of the most violent places in the country. A murder a day was not uncommon. Much of the violence took place on the Calle de Los Negros, a narrow, one-block alley right off the Plaza. Gambling dens, bars, and houses of prostitution lined the street and the crowd could be so thick that it was difficult to pass through. Fights were frequent, and they often resulted in death.
As the old Californio way of life faded, new opportunities opened up for hardworking young men. Isaias worked as a clerk in his cousins’ dry goods store for six years and then opened his own store. Before long, he was storing so much gold dust for his customers that he decided he could make more money as a banker than a storekeeper.
Change came to Los Angeles in 1876 with the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Suddenly, southern California was no longer a mere speck on the edge of the continent, but a community connected to other communities. During the next 25 years, with the help of men like Isaias and others, Los Angeles was transformed into a bustling, modern town with paved streets, a sewer system, gas lighting, and sidewalks.