Los
Angeles County
Biographies
WILLIAM N.
FARRIS
Here is a friendly and personable
man, William N. Farris, a life-long bachelor, who has become successful through
his own inventiveness and artistic talent.
Mr. Farris, who designs and makes artificial planters and plants, is the
owner of The Planter Box, which he established at 3202 Del Mar in South San
Gabriel in 1945 and which now does business all over the United States.
The son of Ethel and Erie Farris, he
was born on November 2, 1906, in Denver, Colorado, where his father was a
masonry contractor. The Farris family
moved to California when William was a boy of six, and he attended public
schools, graduating from Alhambra High School in 1924. The same year young Farris went to Michigan
to attend college, but instead decided to work in a machine factory there. Later, while still very young, he worked for
a year as a bell boy at the Huntington Hotel.
For the next ten years Mr. Farris was employed by Barker Brothers in window
display and as a salesman and decorator.
His enlistment in the United States
Navy in 1942 turned out to be the beginning of his present career because it
was during this time while stationed at Key West, Florida, as an instructor
that he started working with plastics and sold his products in the Navy
store. On receiving his honorable
discharge in 1945 as a petty officer, Mr. Farris attended the Plastic Institute
in Los Angeles for six months, then started making
artificial orchids. At present his company
makes all types of artificial plants and planters for commercial as well as
individual uses. He has decorated all
the Jolly Roger restaurants including the one in Hawaii. Most of his material comes from Hong Kong and
Italy. At his home which he built in
South San Gabriel, Mr. Farris has a very large garden consisting mostly of rare
subtropical plants.
William N. Farris was a member of
the Pasadena Lions’ Club for eight years, a scribe in Alhambra DeMolay in 1923,
and a member of Alhambra Masonic Lodge Number 322 where his father was Master
of the Lodge. Mr. Farris is now a member
of Masonic Lodge Number 323 in Whittier.
He was a member of the South San Gabriel Chamber of Commerce for one
year.
Mr. Farris has a sister, Florence
Packard, who recently retired from the Women’s Army Corps as a Major.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Page 693, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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BIOGRAPHIES