Los Angeles
County
Biographies
ALFRED
S. JOHNSON
The
culmination of three generations of successful printing and photography has
been reached by Alfred S. Johnson in perfecting an improved system of making
color separations for the printing trades.
Mr. Johnson has had varied and intensive training in addition to wide
experience as a background for his present work at Alfred S. Johnson, Inc., at
1130 Monterey Pass Road in Monterey Park.
Born
on July 8, 1909, in Waupun, Wisconsin, to Alfred S. and Myrtle M. (Ihde) Johnson, young Johnson graduated from Waupun High
School and then attended Layton School of Industrial Art at Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
Mr.
Johnson has been connected with both printing and photography for the greater
part of his life, having started his training in his father’s combination photo
studio and print shop in Waupun. The
business had been handed down to the senior Jonson from his father who had
established it in 1864. This combination
plant also produced post cards that were sold nationally through variety stores
as well as Woolworth’s.
Shortly
after finishing school, young Johnson produced a series of travel pictures with
the help of Wallace Witt of Waupun, and over a period of two years presented
this material to schools and colleges throughout the Midwest.
In
1928 Mr. Johnson was engaged by the motion picture laboratory of Burton Holmes,
the pioneer traveler and motion picture photographer, whose headquarters were
in Chicago.
A
position with Bennett Motion Picture Laboratory brought Mr. Johnson to
California in 1929, and he was later employed by Paramount Pictures for a
considerable period of time. Then in
1936 he became connected with Keystone Photo Service of Los Angeles in the
field of commercial photography.
During
the early part of World War II, as part of the war effort, Mr. Johnson became a
wood pattern maker and continued in this field until the end of the war.
In
1948 he started his own printing business on Valley Boulevard in Alhambra. This business continued to grow from the one
original building until it included three others and was still cramped for want
of growing room. It was in 1955 that the
improved system for making color separations was perfected, and it was then
that Mr. Johnson decided to drop printing and to concentrate on the production
of color separations. The printing
accounts were given away to other printers who were interested in buying color
separations from Alfred S. Johnson, Inc.
In November, 1959, the company moved into its present 8000 square foot
building in Monterey Park.
In
Alhambra on August 27, 1937, Alfred S. Johnson married Miss Maude Humphrey, a
graduate of Alhambra High School. They
are the parents of a son, Gary Lee Johnson, who is now a senior at Alhambra
High School.
Mr.
Johnson is a member of the First Christian Church of Alhambra and is also a
member of the Kiwanis Club of Alhambra and of the Toastmasters Club of San
Gabriel. He has been active in both Boy
Scout and YMCA work at various times.
One
may expect that a man with such varied skills would have at least several
hobbies and outside interests. Mr. Johnson’s hobbies include music, writing, art, amateur
radio, hi fi, photography, books, travel, and foreign languages. He has also written numerous technical
articles for trade journals.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 692-693, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES