Los
Angeles County
Biographies
FRED L. HELM
Fred
L. Helm, proprietor of the Alert Dry Cleaners and Launders at 300 East Valley
Blvd., in Alhambra, has been in the laundry and dry cleaning business for
thirty-six years.
He
managed dry cleaning plants for many years before coming to California in
January, 1944. He purchased the Klinger
Cleaners in 1945 and moved the business to its present location in 1948, adding
his own cleaning plant at that time.
Sixteen persons are now employed in Alhambra and the business reaches
out into the entire western San Gabriel Valley.
The business operation now includes a complete laundry facility.
Mr.
Helm’s wife, the former Miss Emm Weist,
who he married in 1949, participates in the dry cleaning business with
him. His first wife, the mother of his
two children, was Mrs. Dorothy (Walker) Helm.
She passed away in 1946, eleven years after they were married.
Mr.
Helm’s son, Kenneth, studied business administration at Los Angeles State
College and returned to enter his father’s business. Robert Scott also joined the family
enterprise after he married Mr. Helm’s daughter, Nellie, following five years
of service with the United States Air Force.
The
latest scientific dry cleaning methods interest Mr. Helm to a great
degree. He has attended clinics at
various universities concerning modern applications of scientific discoveries
in the dry cleaning field. He has been
asked to lecture at many of these clinics.
Mr. Helm makes extensive studies of fabrics and dyes as a hobby. He also likes to travel and collect
literature.
Germany
was the home of Mr. Helm’s parents at birth.
Mr. Antone Helm and Mrs. Ernestine (Leske)
Helm were both about twenty years old when they adopted the United States as
their new home. The elder Mr. Helm was
in the hardware and sheet metal business most of his life. Fred Helm was one of fourteen children,
eleven of whom are still living. He was
born in Oelwein, Iowa, on February 2, 1907.
He attended school in Black Hawk and Chickasaw counties in Iowa. He also studied engineering and business
management in high school and attended business college
in Iowa.
Mr.
Helm attends the First Christian Church of Alhambra. He is a member of the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce
and a former member of the Alhambra Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 734-735, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES