Los Angeles
County
Biographies
WILLIAM
PRIESTER
A
resident of Hollywood for more than a half century, William Priester has not
only been an interested witness of its evolution but has assisted in that
development as an enterprising business man and a public-spirited citizen. A native of Australia, he was born July 6,
1859, and belongs to a family of German origin.
His father, Nicholaus Priester,
a painter and farmer, emigrated from Germany to Australia in 1858 and
experienced all of the hardships and privations of pioneer life in that
country. Subsequently his adventurous
spirit took him to the United States and he first settled in San Francisco,
which was a small town at the time. The
people of San Francisco were then being offered homesteads as an inducement to
locate in the Los Angeles are and live upon and cultivate the land. Due to these attractive offers and the
favorable reports of friends who had investigated the matter, the father took
his family southward in 1871, following their San Francisco neighbor, Bernard Duin, who had located here in 1870.
A
lad of twelve at that time, William Priester removed with his parents to their
new home in the Hollywood site, which was in section 12. The original boundaries of the section were
Vermont to Normandie avenues and Fountain Avenue to Santa Monica Boulevard, and
the Priester residence today stands on the original homestead. The Sullivan’s, Duin’s
and Priester’s were the first white families in what
is now Hollywood, the Priester’s being the
third. The Sullivan’s owned all of the
land bounded by Vermont Avenue, Santa Monica Boulevard, Melrose and Normandie
avenues, on which the southern branch of the University of California
stood. The land was in its natural state
but gradually, through the use of ponies brought from Mexico, the virgin soil
was brought under cultivation. In time
the Priester’s were farming on a large scale, having
leased large acreages for that purpose.
Their neighbors, like themselves, lived in rude adobe dwellings, of
which there were only a few over a wide area.
Sheep were raised by the French family of Amestoy,
whose dwellings, of which there were only a few over a wide area. Sheep were raised by the French family of Amestoy, whose adobe house stood on the site later occupied
by the Arthur Letts residence. The Lamaree family also lived in the neighborhood, having come
here in the winter of 1869, and the Plummer family arrived shortly before
1870. The late Senator Cornelius Cole
arrived in 1880, and about the same time came Senator Beveridge. Thus, slowly, the valley of the Cahuengas, known as Hollywood, was settled by sturdy people
who tilled the soil, planted orange and lemon orchards, and began the
development which has continued throughout the years. Business houses and motion picture studios
now cover the old homestead sites.
In
this valley William Priester grew to manhood.
The first school in Hollywood, the one which he attended and of which
his children subsequently became pupils, was at the corner of what is now
Beverly Boulevard and Normandie Avenue and was known as the old Cahuenga
schoolhouse. Mr. Priester made the most
of his educational opportunities which were meager. Largely because of his lack of schooling, he
worked untiringly and effectively in later years to improve Hollywood’s
educational facilities. At one time he
served on the board of trustees of the Cahuenga school district, composed of
four valley schools, which in 1903-04 were taught by three or four
teachers. There were no telephones then
and his daughter rode many miles on a bicycle, delivering the notices of board
meetings, which were usually held in the Priester home. It was chiefly due to his influence that
sites for four new school buildings were selected and the structures erected,
all at the same time, though considerable opposition was met. Later he cooperated with Mark Keppel, county
superintendent of schools, in advancing the standards of education in this part
of the state. Provisions were made for
the schools at a time when there were but three teachers in the valley; but
others followed the demand for education, and on the whole, Mr. Priester’s eight years of service as a trustee brought rich
rewards to the community. He owned the
land on which the Ramona school stands today and to him was accorded the
privilege of selecting its name. On the
day of its opening the Security Trust and Savings Bank honored the pioneers by
issuing a history of Hollywood, printed in attractive style, and Mr. Priester
and his daughter Alma were guests of honor in the reception room. They were accorded the privilege of opening
the first account at the bank.
The
Priester Apartments, modern and attractive, were built by Mr. Priester on his
father’s homestead. The Fox studios
occupy a part of the original land comprising the Spanish grant, and he recalls
the time when as many as two thousand sheep roamed that site at will. In fact, he has lived to see all the changes
that have occurred in Hollywood since its beginning
more than three score years ago. He was
ranching at such an early date that crops were difficult to market in the
sparsely settled region. The first real
market was supplied with the opening of the Arizona mines, which created a
sudden demand for grain and hay. Mr.
Priester also recalls the days of the stage coach and mule train; remembers the
hanging of numerous Chinese in Chinatown; the bandit Vasquez; and the three dry
years that were followed by three years of flood. For a number of years he has been retired
from business but continues in the best of health and maintains many interests. He purchased the yacht used by the late
Valentino of screen fame and enjoys many outings on the water with his friends.
Mr. and Mrs. Priester were the
parents of two children, Alma Dorothy and Harvey William Priester. The latter, successfully engaged in the
insurance business in Hollywood, is a worthy representative of one of the
city’s honored pioneer families.
Appreciative of the social amenities of life, he belongs to a number of
clubs and has a wide circle of friends who esteem him for his genuine worth. Of Mr. Priester it has been well said: “The name of William Priester will live as
long as the history of the Golden West for his part in building up from the
virgin soils a portion of one of America’s greatest centers of present-day
civilization.”
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South Vol.
IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 741-744,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES