Franco, the older of the Morrettis, stayed, while Paolo was to venture out on his own. As it was, Paolo had already made a change, joining an up-and-coming construction company that did most of its work in the San Fernando Valley. The company was Keller Builders Industrial Corporation that at the time had started several street and highway overpass projects. Mr. Ernest Keller, the owner, was more than happy to contract Paolo due to his engineering and building experience. As young as he was, he had worked on the older wooden and steel structures that crossed the river. These expansions for vehicular traffic, railroad and narrow pedestrian walkways would eventually be replaced, and Paolo could help with the engineering and oversee the actual construction. Paolo and Franco Morretti had learned on their own about bridge-building materials that were being used for smaller bridges and flood-control channels in other parts of the country. The Morrettis possessed a gift for putting together structures. People who had worked with them pointed out that they seemed to view the world like photographers, and they sensed the world in shapes, figures and numbers. They perceived the world with an inherent geometrical eye. It was not easy to describe their genius, but Keller immediately recognized Paolo’s talent and hired him after showing him several architectural and engineering drawings.
Oakley had learned most of the current bridge-building methods, techniques and latest theories from the Morretti brothers, as well as from Gerald Fisher and Aikens MacLeash, engineers whom Oakley hired for Sun Construction. Fisher, a structural engineer and also a geologist, had graduated from USC’s School of Engineering, and MacLeash, a civil engineer, had received his degree from USC also. Both young men were thankful to have gotten the job with Sun Construction. Although the building industry offered many jobs, the biggest companies hired experienced engineers over recent graduates. Oakley took a chance with the two young graduates for Sun Construction. Oakley’s love for building over waterways and expanses really came from his father, Alebardo Ríos. As a child, Oakley was taught first and foremost to respect the water because it was a constantly changing element, the source of life that had negotiated its way from a place of cosmic powers. It was an ever-growing force on earth. It came from the sky and from beneath the earth, and it sustained the strength of our flesh and bones. Oakley’s father taught that a person must humbly learn how to approach, to be near, to walk, to swim, to release, to drink, to bathe, to irrigate, to boil, to capture, to protect and to cross water. At the side of the river as a boy, Oakley used mud and sand to shape his first structures. Abelardo had him add twigs, leaves and pieces of wood from the river. As Oakley became stronger, he learned to use nails, hammer and wood. He assisted in building small wooden walkways and bridges that crossed streams and canals that Abelardo built for farmers throughout the area. When Oakley became a young man, he and Sol helped build wood and rope crossings at narrow flows on the river, and wooden bridges where the banks were the narrowest and the most stable; however, in time the river brought down these constructions and floated them to the sea. Oakley learned about the river’s sand, mud and rocks. He studied, along with his father, the river’s changing currents and banks when it was roaring or trickling with water. He was amazed by his father’s patience, how Abelardo never seemed to be frustrated with the fickleness of El Río de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de la Porciúncula. Abelardo had an innate attraction to and understanding of water and of rivers. Both his sons were born with this quality, and Toypurina had often warned her husband that this profitable knowledge was not only beneficial—but also hazardous.
Gerald and Aikens, both historians of engineering and bridge building, kept up with the latest innovations in materials, techniques and machinery for making structural construction easier, faster and more economical. They enjoyed sitting in the Boyle Heights office at the end of a productive work day, talking with Oakley and Agatha (with Albert playing on the floor), listening to the history of bridge engineering or learning about a new material or machine.
Aikens enjoyed talking about history. “During the 1860s the failure of railroad bridges made of cast iron was reported for a while almost weekly. At first engineers could not find the cause of the collapse or the major damage to cast-iron bridges. Finally, two geologists and a structural engineer conducted a series of experiments on cast iron and discovered that after a relatively short time the tensile strength of the material weakened to the point of cracking and eventually collapsing under heavy weight, such as a long fully loaded freight train. Soon after, cast iron completely disappeared from large, heavy construction use. By the end of the last century, engineers and architects replaced cast iron with steel.”
“Steel not only changed how we build, but …” Gerald Fisher picked up Aikens’ story as if it had been rehearsed, “working with steel meant hiring highly trained and skilled workers who shaped and welded long sheets, girders, plates and shafts. Building with reinforced concrete required workers trained in mixing, pouring, finishing and sculpturing sections of cement. The workers had to be skilled and talented to carve detailed designs into the bridges, towers, façades and their long walls. To make the pre-stressed concrete, workers had to string into the concrete long steel rods or cables to reinforce the concrete. This could be dangerous, because at times the rods broke. Most dangerous was when the steel cables snapped like rubber bands, sending the cables flying and snaking wildly away from the steel-plate frames. If a cable hit a man it could kill him instantly. No matter the dangers, the workers kept building. Today I think our workers feel that they’re constructing art.”
Gerald, Aikens and Oakley agreed that their employees felt that their labor created not only a bridge to cross the river but a work of art, a beautiful practical structure that could survive, because of the material and the building methods, for hundreds of years after their deaths. The masons worked long, hard hours performing heavy, challenging—some would consider superhuman—operations. Many of the men on the bridge crews hired by Aikens MacLeash were Mexicans who lived in downtown Los Angeles near Olvera Street, and on the Boyle Heights side of the river and in East LA. What made building large and small single-span rigid frame structures the most economical was concrete that was mixed with hydraulic cement. The key feature of hydraulic cement was that it set and hardened quickly under water. Without a plentiful supply of high-quality hydraulic cement, Sun Construction Company would not have had the economic success it enjoyed, and the many bridges to span the Los Angeles River could not have been built.
Oakley took Albert by the hand and excused himself from the two engineers, knowing that his company was ready to take on more bridge projects. Oakley realized that the need to construct bridges became more urgent with the mass production of gasoline-engine automobiles. He was ready with top engineers, the best accountant any company could have, new materials, equipment, new ideas and designs to create bigger and better bridges that would last a thousand years.
WITH ONLY THREE principal partners—Oakley Rivers, Agatha Rivers and Franco Morretti—Sun Construction continued to be one of the most sought-out builders in Southern California. Agatha and her father’s law firm handled the legal contracts and budgets while Franco and Oakley did the contact and field work. Paolo remained a close friend to the Rivers and brought a lot of business from Keller Construction. The owner, Ernest Keller, invited Sun Construction Company to help on several large road construction and home-building projects in the San Fernando Valley. The relationship with Keller’s company made Sun Construction a stronger company since it now had access to future contracts in the San Fernando Valley. Sun Construction’s reputation for doing top-quality work was getting known throughout Southern California and, most importantly, getting the attention of Los Angeles city planners. It got to the point where Oakley, Franco and their engineers were called so often to consult on jobs in the San Fernando Valley that their trips to the valley were becoming too numerous.
“We should set up an office out there,” Gerald Fisher suggested during their monthly meeting.
“Let’s concentrate on our work in Los Angeles. The city council is talking about a new bond initiative to build several bridges across the river. We want to be ready to bid on those contracts,” Oakley said, seconding Franco’s objection.
Outside the Boyle Heights office-house, Albert argued with Dame Marie, his three-year-old sister. Agatha got up from the table to see why Dame Marie was crying.
“Let Sol deal with them, Agatha,” Oakley advised as Dame Marie protested louder.
She wanted her mother and father, and screamed as Albert tried to hold his little sister back from entering the meeting room. Dame Marie crashed the door open, ran to her father and climbed onto his lap.
Oakley raised his hands and declared, “Meeting is over, I guess. The children have other plans for us. Sorry, señores.”
“By the way, the new bond issue is for at least six bridges. My father reviewed the proposal and reported on the costs for the council. It’s public knowledge, or soon to be.”
Agatha picked up Dame Marie, who waved good-bye to Franco, Aikens and Gerald, who went out to their trucks. The Rivers family, along with Sol, accompanied the men and waited until they exited the Boyle Heights Yard.
On that sunny afternoon the Rivers family went to look at several home lots in Hancock Park, a new residential community. Agatha took her father’s advice to buy in the new development. The area was fast becoming an exclusive residential community in Los Angeles. Agatha enjoyed her house in Boyle Heights, but she wanted to design her own home—not a house that was part company office. Now with two beautiful children—Albert, soon to be nine, and Dame Marie, a curious and feisty three—Agatha wanted the best neighborhood and the best schools in the city. Over Oakley’s protest, she had enrolled Albert into the Thomas Mat Academic Center, which she considered the best private school in the area. Many of Agatha’s father’s clients—including Allen Hancock, Edward Doheny and Robert Crocker—sent their children to this private co-ed elementary school located in the Brentwood hills. Oakley wanted his son to continue attending the neighborhood public school, but this issue Agatha refused to reconsider.
“The education of our children is the key to their future success,” she insisted. “Cost is not the problem. My father is willing to pay the tuition. Albert is bright! He deserves the very best.”
“You will probably want to send them far away to an eastern university. We didn’t have these kids to send them far away from us!” Oakley almost yelled.
“No, when they are ready to go to the university, they can go where they want.”
“What about Dame Marie? Where are you going to send her?” Oakley had given in to his wife. It seemed that he always did. He smiled at the thought.
“Dame Marie is scheduled to attend the Marlborough School for Girls in Hancock Park. That will be her neighborhood school.”
They continued driving west on Wilshire Boulevard. Albert and Dame Marie sat quietly listening to their parents’ discussion. Agatha did most of the talking about the advantages of buying property and building a house in Hancock Park.
“Allen Hancock is developing the land, Oakley. His father owned Rancho La Brea and ran it as a farm. They discovered oil on the property, but the wells proved to be shallow. They didn’t have much oil at all; the wells were quickly drained. What they found were tar pits, the La Brea Tar Pits and those prehistoric animal bones. Oakley, I know you don’t want to move far away from the river, but this is going to be good for us and especially for our children. Father says the most prominent families are buying and building homes there. They’re hiring the best architects, designing magnificent homes and using the best craftsmen to construct the houses. They have big kitchens, large living rooms, five or more bedrooms, usually a nursery and servants’ quarters. I saw some of the floor plans at the developer’s office. The community’s filling up with wealthy doctors, lawyers, land developers and builders like you, Oakley. My parents have already bought several lots and my brothers will probably buy as well. We can’t lose out on this opportunity, Oakley. I haven’t asked for much, but I want a home in Hancock Park. Please say yes for our family, our kids.”
Oakley stopped the car at a temporary kiosk. The guard asked for his name to check if it was on the list of prospective buyers. When they exited that day, they were on the list of property owners.
The subject of houses was a sensitive issue right about the time Agatha wanted to purchase land in Hancock Park. Oakley’s parents’ home, for at least four or five years, had one renter after another and not one stayed a year. The last renter stayed for only two weeks. It was Toypurina, according to Sol, who returned to make life miserable for the renters. She haunted every room, every object that was in the house. It happened over and over again: pots and pans rattling, chairs levitating, babies moved at night, icy freezes in the middle of warm rooms, bed covers torn off the bed while the renters made love, screams and sighs coming from within the walls, dishes and glasses falling off shelves and tables. The last renters complained about not being able to get out of their clothes, then their rooms, then the house. The renters left when the house finally allowed them to leave. The mother and children went to the hospital for observation while the father went to see a lawyer but was told he could not sue because there were no legal grounds to sue ghosts.
Toypurina was often seen in the rooms, at the windows or at the doors, but not only by the renters. Often people who strolled by the house saw Toypurina looking out toward the river. Oakley went to the house to investigate the place where his mother was said to have been, but he never found anything that indicated her presence. He never saw her, but he did sense her presence.
“Mother, you should rest now. We are all fine. What is it that you want?”
Sol started to put everything in the house back in its original place. He tried to establish harmony in the house for his mother. It was Sol whom Toypurina finally allowed to live in and take care of the house. It was Sol who kept the insects from over-running the house. He discouraged the larger beasts, the bears and mountain lions, and the poisonous snakes, getting them to stay a safe distance from the house. Sol was finally able to tell Oakley what Toypurina wanted done with the adobe house that Abelardo Ríos had built overlooking the beauty of the Los Angeles River.
Oakley arrived at his parents’ at one in the afternoon. Sol had been there for several days cleaning and arranging the furniture, searching for its original arrangement in the house. Once he hit on the exact spot for an object, he immediately sensed he had found where his mother had first placed it. This process would take days before every object would be returned to where Toypurina wanted it. Oakley had sent a cleaning service to help Sol. The women who went knew about the sightings and the strange happenings at the house, but they were not afraid.
Oakley met Sol on the porch where the cleaning ladies had placed cold water and lemonade. The temperature during all of August had been unbearably hot. Sol pointed to several boys on a raft floating across to the other side of the river. During these hot periods many more people came to the river to cool off. They swam, waded in the cool water, picnicked on the river banks, fished and watched the families enjoying the water as it flowed peacefully toward the sea. Sol realized that for the River Mother the hot season was a bad time. Curious people attracted by her unusual house came around to investigate what appeared to be a strange pile of junk. They peeked into the rooms, pulled at loose pieces of junk and even tried to open the door, but she remained silent in hopes that the people would leave. Only a few times did she have to scream or allow them to see her. Upon hearing or seeing her they ran away as fast as their feet took them. Sol continued to visit the River Mother. He took her food and drink and made sure she was cared for and protected.
While the women cleaned Toypurina’s house, Oakley and his brother sat on the porch and drank the lemonade. Most of the time, they sat quietly together. Although Sol had improved dramaticall
y from his near drowning, he still had some difficulty speaking, but on this occasion he made an extra effort to talk to his brother, even to offer some advice.
“Mamá remembers, remembers words, remembers Papá’s words.” Sol enunciated carefully. “Papá’s words, want … Do you remember the words?”
“What am I going to do with the house? Nobody wants to buy it, much less rent it. What are we going to do, brother?”
“Oakley, listen to the words: Mamá wants what Papá wants.”
“Papá’s words?”
“Papá told Mamá that when they die the house should not belong to anybody. The house belongs to the river, to the people who live near the river. Those are the wishes of Mamá y Papá.”
From the time of the first haunting, Oakley had met with several state officials in charge of establishing parks and monuments. He also had met with city administrators who dealt with these matters.
One bureaucrat confessed to him, “The city is fickle with river land or, better said, river land is fickle with the city. The city declares a historical landmark or park zone, and the next day declares eminent domain to develop it or use it to build a bridge over the river. It is not stable land. The city can’t fund this, and the state has no money. We are still recovering from the war. State administrators only support designating war memorials.”
Oakley had requested that Gerald Fisher and Aikens MacLeash research the family’s river property at the county assessor’s office to find out exactly how much land his father and mother owned and to survey the precise boundaries. In early February of 1918 the engineers reported to Oakley, who was surprised to hear that his parents held deeds to much more land than Oakley had realized.
River of Angels Page 9
