11-11-11

So what was going on the last 11-11-11: November 11, 1911? It was NOT Veteran's Day, or even Armistice Day as my Grandma used to call it. That date memorialized the end of WWI, still several years in the future.

Good ol' Proquest tells me that a land and building boom was going on in 1911. During the first ten days of the month, 434 building permits were issued--aincluding a permit for the Times Building.

On November 11, the last piece of undeveloped shoreline in Santa Monica, starting at Idaho Ave and going north--about 4500 feet, was sold at about $225,000.

The Valdemar Hotel at 6th and Hope was leased for ten years to a lady named Lillie K. Simpers for $60,000--that included furniture. Thirty-six rooms had just been added to the property (don't know how big it was before the addition.)

A huge storm paralyzed the rest of the country. "Train service is demoralized and both telegraphic and telephonic communications are seriously interfered with." So much for the old rule about not ending a sentence with a preposition.

And Altadena put forward a plan to become the first and only U.S. city to elect only women to office. Could not find any follow up to this article, so perhaps it was joke.

Much more stuff happened, but quite honestly some parts of the ancient newspaper are just impossible to read, so they'll have to go unreported.