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Until 1915 Palms was governed by the county Board of Supervisors. By 1914, though, many Palmsians wanted to link up with Los Angeles — the expanding city to the east where they worked, played, and shopped. Palms “comprises some of the richest country between the city and the sea and is directly in the path of the residence expansion westward,” said the Los Angeles Times.
They wanted access also to the bountiful supply of water that William Mulholland had just brought from the distant Owens Valley. But almost as many were bitterly opposed: These balked at assuming any of L.A.’s debt; they claimed that great promises were being made that couldn’t be carried out — “a sewerage system, reduced telephone, gas and electric rates.”
The confusion went so far that Pacific Electric President Paul Shoup had to publicly deny that passenger fares would be cut to a nickel if annexation passed.
“The proposition on the surface appeared innocuous, and when first proposed attracted about as much attention as a society item on a page of war news,” wrote the Times.
“Then came the power-bond fight and the revelation of Los Angeles’s true financial condition. . . . Crusaders for and against annexation rode forth. Meetings were held in vacant store buildings at Culver City, Palms, and Ivy, and in private homes. . . . Spellbinders were imported by the contending factions: tracts, brochures, and hand bills, tons of them, made their appearance. Ere long, neighbors and even families were divided into warring factions.”
There were two elections.
On April 28, 1914, “The voting developed into a sort of sixty-mile-an-hour affair. The voting places were Lindsey’s store, Fourth street [Motor Avenue], Palms, and a tent at the northeast corner of Washington boulevard and Sprague avenue.” The move lost by a vote of 387 in favor and 264 against (a two-thirds vote was required).
Within a few weeks, however, the map was redrawn (leaving out Culver City) and the question submitted anew: On June 1, 1914, the electors approved annexation by 342 to 156 — a margin of thirty votes.
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