Jessup brothers worked hard and played hard

KATHERINE YAMADA

Roger W. Jessup turned 23 acres along the Los Angeles River into one

of the largest individually owned dairy farms in the United States,

and, by the 1960s, had 1,200 cows producing milk that was sold from

Santa Barbara to San Diego.

The dairy was certified, which meant the cows were disease-free

and that the milk was not heated or pasteurized; instead it was

chilled to kill any bacteria.

“Chilling the milk allowed it to retain more healthy properties

than pasteurizing it did,” said Roger’s grandson, Rich Jessup of

Montrose. “It’s rare to find that anymore.”

Jessup, his wife, Marguerite, and their children, Editha, Roger

Vincent, Webster, Bud (Roger W. Jr.), and Bert (Albert) lived right

on the dairy grounds at San Fernando Road and Doran Street so that

Jessup could keep a close eye on operations.

Jessup taught his sons to work hard and, according to family lore,

to play hard. Many local residents remember that, at one point, there

were four Jessup boys at Hoover High at the same time. They weren’t

all siblings, they were two sets of brothers who were first cousins:

Vince and Web, Jessup’s sons; and Bob and John, his nephews, who

lived nearby for a few years after their father died.

The boys earned their spending money recycling the resources that

a large dairy farm provided on a daily basis. Rich Jessup said the

boys bought bags from Jessup, at four cents per bag, filled each bag

with manure and peddled them around to the nurseries.

“That’s how they got their spending money, even through college.

Of course,” he added, “with all that manure around, the Jessups gave

it away free to anyone who came with a pickup truck and took it away

in bulk.”

Glendale was uphill from the dairy, which sat on low ground by the

river.

The boys called it going uptown. In those days, a movie cost five

cents and a hot dog was another five cents.

The Jessup boys would ride horses all over the dry riverbed and

through Griffith Park -- that is until New Year’s Eve 1933, when

heavy rain brought water roaring down the river, washing away at

least eight of the houses on the dairy. The floodwaters, which killed

more than 40 people, inspired Jessup, who was then serving as a

county supervisor, to join the drive to concrete the river and

prevent similar damage in the future.

Rich Jessup recalled that, when they were older, his father and

the other Jessup boys would drag race west on Broadway, driving their

cars toward San Fernando Road.

“Once they crossed the railroad, they were in Los Angeles and safe

from the Glendale cops,” he said.

* KATHERINE YAMADA’S column runs every other Saturday. To contact

her, call features editor Joyce Rudolph at 637-3241. For more

information on Glendale’s history visit the Glendale Historical

Society’s website at www.glendalehistorical.org, call the reference

desk at the Central Library at 548-2027 or visit the Special

Collections Room at Central (open by appointment only).