Los Angeles
County
Biographies
RALPH
E. PERKINS
An
authority on big game hunting in Africa, India, Alaska, and the United States,
Ralph E. Perkins has made extensive world tours, and many trophies of his hunts
adorn the walls of his office and the den of his home. Among the most vicious game Mr. Perkins has
hunted are buffalo, lion, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, elephant, and bear. He also has mountings of most of the
varieties of plains game of Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda, Africa.
Mr.
Perkins was born on July 30, 1907, in Indiana.
His is the son of John and Nora Perkins, and migrated to Alhambra in
1910 with his parents and two brothers, Lester M. Perkins and Rex N. Perkins. He was educated at Garfield Elementary School
and Alhambra High School, graduating with the class of 1926. He then attended the University of California
at Los Angeles.
Following
his studies at college, he went to work for the Alhambra Advocate as
circulation manager, and later became the district circulation manager for the
Evening Express, which then merged with the Evening Herald and became the
present Herald Express.
In
1932 Mr. Perkins entered the amusement business, and subsequently owned and
operated the State Theater and Raymond Theater in Pasadena; Norwalk Theater,
Norwalk; and theaters in Westmoreland, Fallbrook, Victorville, and El Sereno. He was
affiliated with Mr. James Edwards, the owner and operator of the Edwards
Theater circuit. After selling all of
his interests in the theaters, Mr. Perkins operated bowling alleys in Los
Angeles, Big Bear, Needles, and Sonora, California, for a number of years. He later sold all interests in the bowling
alleys and purchased and operated roller skating rinks in Buena Park,
Bakersfield, Taft, Oceanside, and Pasadena.
In 1937 he built and operated the famous Moonlight Rollerway
skating rink in Pasadena until 1950, at which time Mr. Perkins retained
ownership but leased the operation to Mr. Clifford Neschke. The building of the Moonlight Rollerway was one of the biggest assets for the curbing of
juvenile delinquency in East Pasadena, and it is a landmark for Pasadena.
As
a small loan broker, Mr. Perkins opened the Pasadena Finance Company in 1941 at
its present location, and since that date, has purchased the property. In 1946 he opened the Alhambra Finance
Company at 503 South Garfield, Alhambra, which is now
operated under the same roof as the Pasadena Finance Company. The latter company has expanded until it is
now one of the largest and most respected companies in the West. It is owned solely by Ralph E. Perkins who
also operates the following companies:
Pasadena Investment Company, which handles factoring and which is one of
the oldest factoring firms in California, and Perkins Investments and Insurance
Associates Company, which handles all the specialty
financing for Ralph E. Perkins. This
company generally “tailor fits” a financing program for small and large
firms. It also purchases all types of
service contracts, school paper, and miscellaneous contracts as well as
handling a complete line of insurance.
The directors and advisory board of these corporations are: Ralph E. Perkins, president; Rex N. Perkins,
secretary and treasurer; Laura Y. Perkins, vice-president; Ila
E. Perkins, vice-president; Lyman D. Bedford, former manager and vice-president
of the Bank of America in Alhambra; Dr. Peter Blong,
well known Alhambra doctor; Willis Brown, certified public accountant of
Alhambra for many years; Henry Chandler, former vice-president of the Bank of
America, the main branch, in Los Angeles; Judge William J. Clark, former judge
and local attorney; Nieuport B. Estes, investment;
Edward S. Kellogg, former employee of the Alhambra Post Advocate and presently
the owner of an advertising firm; J. W. McClusky,
owner of the Alhambra Mortgage Company; Al Robertson, former newspaper carrier
for Ralph E. Perkins at the time Mr. Perkins was circulation manager of the
Post Advocate and the Evening Express, who is presently the supervisor of
Perkins Investments and Insurance Associates Company; Gage Shannon, former
manager and vice-president of the Bank of America, Alhambra; and Ed Olmstead,
former manager and vice-president of the First Western Bank, Rosemead and
Colorado, Pasadena.
Mr.
Perkins’ companies have thirty employees whose years of service total in excess
of two hundred fifty years, and of these, Lyle Adrianse,
the manager of the Pasadena Investment Company, has been employed twelve years;
Tom Miller, manager of the Pasadena Finance Company, has been employed eleven
years; Charles Robertson, former newspaper carrier for Ralph E. Perkins, and
now manager of Perkins Investments and Insurance Associates Company, has been
employed for fourteen years; Franklin Tate, in charge of public relations and
new accounts, has been employed by Mr. Perkins for fifteen years; Colonel
Robert Hines, public relations and new accounts manager of Perkins Investments
and Insurance Associates Company, has been employed for ten years, and Ken
Camp, collection and insurance manager of the same firm, has been employed
there for four years; and John Goss, head auditor, has been employed by Mr.
Perkins for seventeen years.
Mr.
Perkins is associated with Mr. Nieuport Estes of La
Jolla, California, in properties and other enterprises. Mr. Perkins and Mr. Estes operate E&P
Industrial Investments Company. Among
the properties owned and operated by Mr. Perkins and Mr. Estes are a
twenty-five hundred acre farm in Blythe, California, and a five hundred acre
farm in San Diego, California. Mr.
Perkins is also associated with Mr. L. D. Bedford, former owner of the First
National Bank of Alhambra, and who was, prior to his retirement, vice-president
and manager of the Bank of America in Alhambra.
President
of the board of directors of the Alhambra Community Hospital from 1957 to 1959,
Mr. Perkins is also on the advisory board of the Bank of America, Alhambra; he
has held this honorary position for ten years.
An
honorary member of the Boy Scouts of America, Mr. Perkins organized Boy Scout
Troop Number 11 in 1927. He is also a
member of the First Christian Church in Alhambra, and is a charter member of
the Lions’ Club of Alhambra, a member of the Free and Accepted Masons of California,
Lodge Number 322, in Alhambra, and is a former member of the Kiwanis Club and
the Knights of Pythias, Alhambra.
Mr.
Perkins is married to the former Miss Laura Y. Askew, formerly of
Mississippi. Mrs. Perkins has lived in
Alhambra since 1928. Married on June 4,
1930, Mr. and Mrs. Perkins have one son, Neale A. Perkins, of Sierra Madre, who
is associated with Ralph E. Perkins, and one daughter, Mrs. Virginia L. Swig,
of Pasadena. They have three
grandchildren, Tamara Lea and Daryl Eldon Perkins, and Nataska
C. Swig.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 571-574, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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BIOGRAPHIES