Ben Weingart

While I had heard the name before, I fully became aware of Ben Weingart while researching my book on Los Alamitos and Rossmoor.  This is because the City of Lakewood is primarily an outgrowth of Weingart’s Lakewood Park building project of 1949-1954, which is an outgrowth of the Clark Family’s Montana Land Company (1898-Jan 1950), which came about because of the Los Alamitos Sugar Factory.   The connection was further cemented by the Rossmoor connection to Lakewood through its developer. Ross Cortese, and builder, Murry Ward, who both worked on the Lakewood Park project where they reportedly met and teamed up on the Lakewood Ranchos and Anaheim Frematic homes before building Rossmoor.

Weingart and his Lakewood Park partners then show up as the major developer of “The Hill” subdivisions in Seal Beach.  Weingart was now on my radar and I kept seeing his name connected with literally hundreds of areas and subdivisions and Los Angeles building projects.

So sometime around 2015, I started researching Weingart thoroughly and I became very aware of just how much impact the man had on Southern California, and how effectively he worked to let his partners take all the credit.

But while he’s not mentioned as much as he should be in local and regional history books, Weingart (or his corporate entities) frequently appear in records that get it right the most — court records (especially tax courts), real estate recordings, stock filings, Standard & Poors corporate directories, city directories, applications for historical significance status, subdivision maps, city council agendas and minutes, and many more.

So, suffice to say, I have now accumulated a large tranche of documents and clippings related to Weingart and a very extensive timeline for I estimate 500-plus projects that he was involved with.  I also figured I had better get some of this in shape to eventually publish as a book.  So I am presenting it in sections which I am organizing in chronological manner, But there are still holes, and I thought maybe there are people still out there who an provide some information to provide hints to fill in the hole.  Probably not people who worked with him, but maybe their father did.  So, if this is you, please feel free to contact me to let me know what you can add, or, just as importantly, what you think I have wrong.

WEINGART

1. Introduction

1. Early Days
   1. Orphan, Charlatan, Hustler
   2. Early Days in LA – Laundryman
   3. Landlord – First Hotels
      1. with Lester Shobe (1911, future father-in-law)
      2. with John G. Orth (1912)
         1. Panama Hotel to Westminster Hotel
         2. Offer to manage hotels, payment would be % of profits
2. Marriage & Consolidation
   1. Marriage agreement & new home
   2. Home Service, Inc. – consolidation of leading LA laundries
   3. Pacific Employers Insurance
3. Expansion:
   1. The Lincoln Investment Company
   2. Capitalist – Ben Breaks Out
   3. Consolidated Hotels (1928)
      1. RA Rowan connection
         1. Pasadena / LA establishment connection
      2. William Berk (1929) & Angelus Holding
4. Depression
   1. Early Impacts
   2. American Mortgage (1931)
   3. Rebound
      1. American Mortgage trial
      2. Mortgage Guarantee Co (Morgan Adams) cementing connection to LA Establishment
      3. SS Sugarman, auctioneers
   4. Irving Siegel (1933)
      1. Surety Building & Finance
5. The Big Pivot
   1. Aetna Construction (1936)
      1. Large Garden Apartments / Hotels (Hollywood, Koreatown, USC area, Leimert Park)
   2. FHA
      1. Fred Marlow, Fritz Burns and Windsor Hills
      2. Richard S. Diller & Krandill (1936  – multiple OYO plans,
         1. Sidney Kleefeld & George J. Wright   (1937  – United Building
         2. Morris A. Sommers, Louis H. Boyar and Thrifty Building Service (1938)
      3. Defense Housing (1940 –
6. World War II
   1. Long Beach / Bixby Knolls / North LB
   2. Westchester
   3. Non real estate
      1. Commercial Discount Insurance
         1. Pacific Aviation
      2. Harvey Machinery Company
7. Post-War
   1. The Plan
   2. First Projects
      1. Hastings Ranch (Jan 1945)
      2. Long Beach
      3. South Gate
      4. Mar Vista / West Side LA
         1. Weingart folk built more of Westdale than Trousdale;
            1. adjacent to a Kaiser Burns Westside Village tract
            2. Siegel-Weingart/Aetna,
            3. Kleefeld-Wright.United/
            4. Zuckerman-Morris Grandview
            5. Hirsh/
         2. Culver City
            1. Sunkist gardens – Diller-Weber-Kalsman
            2. Grandview Const
            3. Midland / Lushings
         3. Stocker – Crenshaw / Crenshaw Village (w Trousdale)
      5. Alhambra
   3. The Valley
      1. North valley
         1. Midland Properties  (formed 1944-0808, buys Panorama and Hamburger ranches by 1945-0600)
         2. Panorama City (1946), North Van Nuys (1947) & Arleta (1950)
            1. Kaiser Community homes (1947-1952)
            2. Diller-Weber – Van Nuys Gardens (June 1948)
            3. Bollenbacher Kelton (Aug 1947)
            4. Arthur Weber
            5. Woodman Plaza (Aldon, 1951)
         3. North Hollywood/Sunland
            1. Kaiser-Burns  (Feb 1946)
            2. Kleefeld/Don Ja Ran (Mar 1949)
            3. Lushings-Lou Halper / Walnut Square, Valley College adjacent
            4. Appel Bros/Diller-Weber
            5. Mark Taper
         4. Granada Hills & Mission Hills (1952)
            1. Granada Hills
               1. Aldon (April 1952)
               2. Diller-Gunther (Nov 1955)
               3. Don-Ja-Ran / Broadmoor (Jan 1958)
               4. Knollwood / Harold Hirsh (1960)
            2. Mission Hills
               1. Lassen Plaza (Aldon ) April 1952
               2. Sycamore-Square-Sepulveda Gardens/Roven-Spiegel (Dec 1952)
               3. Mark Taper . Queensbury Homes/Residence Mortgage  (Aug 1954)
               4. Midland/Lushings (June 1955)
               5. Kalsman Brothers
      2. South Valley
         1. Encino Park –  RKO Ranch/ Adohr Ranch
            1. Lushings/Halper – Amestoy Estates
            2. Diller-Weber – Encino Gardens
            3. Schulhofer (Diller) –
            4. Ponty (with Weingart) – Encino Park #2
            5. Taper
            6. Boyar-Weingart . White Oak Park
         2. Tarzana – Tarzana Ranch, multiple small ranches
            1. Diller-Weber
            2. Spiros Ponty
8. Social Connections & Charity
   1. Brentwood Country Club
   2. Israel Bonds / Investment Fund (Lou Boyar, Irving Siegel, Ocar Pattiz, Isadore Familian)
   3. City of Hope – Victor Carter, Samuel Firks
   4. Cedars-Sinai
      1. Mt Sinai Hospital
      2. Cedars of Lebanon Hospital
   5. Mob connections
9. Between the Rivers (1948-1955)
   1. Rivera, Norwalk & Downey
      1. Lushings/Midland, S&S
      2. Grandview (Zuckerman-Morris),
      3. Hirsh Edmunds/Louis Towne
      4. Spiros PontyMark Taper
      5. Ross Cortese
      6. Jac-Mar (Mark Boyar)
      7. Bollenbacher-Kelton
   2. Lakewood (1947-1954)
      1. Weingart-Clark connection
      2. Irving Siegel dies/Louis Boyar rises
      3. Lining up the players (Prudential/Harry Volk, IDS/Clint Murchison, Union Bank, Joe Eichenbaum, contractors, PR/Don Rochlen)
      4. Retail I / Lakewood Center –
         1. learn from adjacents… Chapman Market, Leimert Village, Crenshaw Center
      5. Lakewood Park (1950 – 1955)
      6. Post-Lakewood construction (Vegas, Ventura, Seal Beach, Buena Park)
      7. Cityhood – The Lakewood Plan
      8. The Hearings (1954)
10. Lakewood Imitators
    1. Johnson ranch / Hollypark
    2. Palos Verdes (Grandview)
       1. Hollywood Riviera (Don-Ja-Ran/ Kaufmann/Wilson)
    3. Granada Hills (Diller/Hirsh/Aldon)
    4. La Mirada (Halper)
    5. Valleywood / Canoga Park – (Boyar-Weingart, Diller-Kalsman) – Platt Ranch
       1. Westward Ho — North Hills, Northridge, Winnetka, Chatsworth
          1. Runnymede Ranch, Brock Ranch, Bayly Ranch, Warner Ranch
11. Retail II
    1. Eastland / Puente Valley
       1. Diller-Kalsman
       2. Bollenbacher-Kelton
       3. Taper
       4. Kellogg Ranch (Arthur B. Weber)
       5. Firks-Feintechs
       6. Metropolitan
       7. Butler Harbour (Collegewood)
    2. Valley Park Plaza –
       1. Metropolitan
       2. Aldon
    3. Fallbrook Square
    4. Fed-Mart
       1. warehouse discount stores
       2. Eichenbaum-Weingart reach out to Sol Price
       3. Weingart experience with Victor Carter’s Builders Emporium
12. Politics
    1. Democrat
       1. Sol Price – hard core Democratic
          1. Fed-Mart’s Morris Jaffe a hard-core LBJ man
             1. later buys Billy Sol Estes estate
       2. Paul Ziffren /Mark Boyar rise to become key Cal Dems
          1. Boyar in room with JFK and Marilyn
       3. Lead-up to 1960 convention
    2. Republican
       1. Weingart maintains good relationships with GOP elite
          1. Price says Ronald reagan was a frequent visitor to Weingart’s offices
          2. Weingart and fritz Burns – they own a key parcel of land in Chavez Ravine that they sell for Dodger Stadium
13. West Valley – West of Topanga Canyon (1960-1965
    1. Valley Park Highlands – Metropolitan Development (1960)
    2. Valley Circle Estates – Zuckerman-Morris, Arthur Edmunds (1963
    3. Kingswood – Don Ja Ran
    4. Woodland Hills – Exhibit Homes (Edmunds/Feintechs)
    5. Oak Park – Metropolitan
14. Builders to Financiers / S&Ls
    1. Most other builders are bought out by large corporations
       1. Weingart-affiliated guys aren’t and they do better
    2. Seems like every Weingart-connected builder now has his own S&L
15. Retail III
    1. Fallbrook Square / Valley Park Plaza (Platt & Victory)
    2. Lakewood Center – adding corporate HQs as well as more stores
    3. Fed-Mart II – Weingart becomes biggest stockholder – influence on expansion; big loan to Sol Price
    4. Eastland – surrounding development
       1. Carousel Theatre & other West Covina commercial
       2. develops very first restaurant Row
       3. Woodside Village
       4. California Hotel (Fullerton) – convert to shopping destination
16. The Last Hurrahs
    1. proposed Mt Gorgonio ski resort (w/ Alex Deutsch)
    2. Republic Industries /Victor Carter
    3. Richgart, Inc.
       1. partnership with INA – Santa Clarita, West Valley horse condos
    4. Barrington Towers (1966)
    5. Various investments
       1. insurance, S&Ls, computers, real estate, energy especially
    6. Skid Row Hotels
    7. The Foundation
17. Laura Winston & the Conservancy
    1. Ben’s romances throughout the years
    2. Meets Laura around 1959
    3. The will – his executors
    4. Sol Price convinces John Poag & Harry Rosenburg to seek court ordered conservancy in Oct 1974
       1. Coincidentally, Ben has lent Price $90,000 and Price used all his Fed-Mart stock as collateral, so technically Ben controls it.
       2. Laura fights it in court, citing lots of odd stuff by conservators, but lots of squirrelly stuff by Winston as well, so both sides seem to have legitimate points.
18. The Foundation Today