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Emery, Nahum (audio interview #2 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This interview was conducted in Emery's well kept Lakewood home. He had lived there alone since his wife passed away but was visited, during the interview, by a neighborhood cat. 6/15/1979
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- 2020-10-05
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- *** File: lhownemery3.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-5:00)... Introduction When Emery's family lived in Long Beach, he attended the Eastside Christian Church. The rest of his family didn't go to church but a neighbor encouraged him to go; he "went forward to give himself to the Lord." He regularly attended both church and Sunday School. When his family lived in Florence, he attended Christian Endeavor meetings at the Lynwood Community Church. Many people from that church transferred when a Baptist church when it was built in Lynwood. Later he attended a Presbyterian church in Compton. (5:00-14:04)... His family was not involved in politics but they voted for Republicans. His younger aunt, Sadie, was well acquainted with local politicians and influential people. Emery went to Compton Union High School from 1921 to 1922, his freshmen and sophomore years. During the summer after his sophomore year, he got a job unloading lumber from railroad cars. He later worked in a saw mill. The mill sized rough lumber. Many houses at the time were built with 2' x 3' studs. He also made redwood window sills. He beveled the edges of the sills with a circular saw. He started working there for $.50 an hour, which was the common pay at the time for laborers. By the end of the summer he was making $.75 an hour. (14:04-19:12)... Emery worked 5 days a week, and sometimes worked on Saturdays and Sundays to earn extra money. The mill employed 5 men in addition to Emery. The rough lumber came in on Pacific Electric cars and was shipped out on trucks, primarily to East Los Angeles. Men were recruited on skid row to help load and unload the trucks. (19:12-24:57)... After that summer, Emery didn't go back to high school. He continued working to help support his mother and brother. There was no welfare or other sources of support to help him stay in school. He also used material from the lumber yard to fix up the family's house. The lumber company he worked for had 2 yards and when his boss was transferred, he had a chance to work at the other yard; he turned down the chance because it took too long, almost 2 hours, to get there. He worked at another lumber yard for a couple of weeks but quit because the pay was so low. (24:57-31:08)... He had a friend who helped him get a job at Emsco, a steel derrick and oil field equipment company. He started at $.50 an hour and was promised a nickel an hour raise every 6 months. He worked on a hydraulic press making different parts for oil field equipment. They made steel walking beams for derricks. He worked there from December 1924 to July 1925, but never got a raise. He also saw another worker get killed in an accident. (31:08-34:29)... So when Emery heard about a job in the oil fields, he was interested. He was introduced to the Pan-American oil refinery by a friend who was chief steam engineer there and he ended up being picked to work that day. He hired into the labor gang in July and in August, moved up to "clean up boy" in the cracking plant where he cleaned up oil spills and scrubbed floors around the units. He earned $.50 an hour but hoped to move into the operating department, where workers erred $.85 an hour. Just before Emery went to work at the refinery, the company changed from a 7 to a 6 days a week work week. (34:29-38:12)... While in the labor gang Emery dug ditches, unloaded bricks, and did other tasks. Sometimes when other work was slow, they dug weeds in the tank farm until other jobs came up. The hardest job was near a reservoir pump house when a section of pipe sprang a leak. The gang had to dig out the pipeline which was about 15 feet deep. His foreman taught him how to dig straight sided ditches. (38:12-44:30)... He lived with his mother and brother on Florence Avenue until he was married, 4 years after going to work at Pan-American. To get to work, he took the Pacific Electric trolley from Florence to Watts, then transferred to a San Pedro car which ran toward the refineries. The commute was pretty convenient. A trolley ran at night as well for those who worked the afternoon shift. When he was hired into the labor gang, he worked 6 days a week, 8 hours a day. He got a $.10 an hour raise when he became "clean up boy." He did shift work until 1925. He later worked as a fireman at a cracking plant where his job was to control the heat in the unit by opening and closing valves. That plant was finally closed down in 1938. End of tape *** File: lhownemery4.mp3 (0:00-4:28)... The workers at Emsco, who went to work at the same time as Emery but stayed even when they didn't get a raise, were all laid off; he believes the layoff was to avoid paying the higher wage. He began working as a fireman in 1925 and he earned $.85 an hour. That was his first job as an "operator." All operators worked shifts; they changed shifts every week and had only one day off each week. Seven years later, operators began to get 2 days a week off. (4:28-7:02)... Having a social life while working shifts was difficult. Some of the younger workers would go out, sometimes at midnight, when they go off their shift. Emery found it hard to get out and sometimes went a week without having any fun. He was attending church in Lynwood and he went out with friends to the movies, and to parties and dances, but he never did much dancing. He also liked to go swimming in the ocean. (7:02-13:37)... He went to church in Lynwood because many of his friends lived there. He met his wife at a Christian Endeavor meeting at the Methodist church in 1926. First he met his future wife's sister, who was secretary, and her future husband, who was president, of the club. They studied the Bible and had some social gatherings, but the church didn't approve of going to movies. Later he joined the Lynwood Baptist church when his friends did and he and his wife were married in that church in August, 1929. The church's pastor originally worked in the oil fields in Bakersfield. (13:37-19:13)... When Emery married in 1929 he had been working at the Pan-American oil refinery for four years. By that time he was working as a control board operator where he controlled the flow of oil into a unit. Before that he had worked as a stillman and as a pumper-gauger. In that job he had to sample oil in tanks and send the samples to labs which were located right on the units. (19:13-23:44)... Emery also worked in an absorption plant; there he had to maintain the pumps, monitor the absorption tanks, and control the flow of lean and fat oil. These plants were powered by the gas that was removed during the absorption process. All the gas that was produced was used. (23:44-28:02)... The crude oil they refined came from the Wilmington, Long Beach, Elk Hills, Bakersfield, Ventura and other fields. The Pan-American refinery was laid out in 1923. Richfield Oil Company bought the company including that refinery in 1929 when it was in bankruptcy. The absorption plant was shut down when a new unit was built; he took 2 steps back and a pay cut when he became a pumper-gauger After some controversy, his pay was raised again. (28:02-35:22)... Later Emery became an assistant stillman. He was in charge of a unit and considered part of management; he was paid by the month and was the only man who worked on the unit who got a vacation. There was not much union related activity. When Richfield took over Pan-American, they fired some of the managers and brought in Richfield employees to take the jobs; some Richfield employees lost their jobs as well. He never took a pay cut during the Depression, but he never got a raise either. (35:22-40:01)... He never was without work or had to take a pay cut during the Depression, but he was always aware of the "people outside the gate." They were there seeking work and ready to take the job of anyone who got fired. He continued working as an operator and worked in a combination plant. Richfield operated refineries at both Watson, near Carson, where he worked and at Hynes near North Long Beach. (40:01-44:35)... Emery joined the Oil Workers International Union (OWIU) in 1934 but believed he received few benefits from his membership. There were conflicts between the OWIU and craft unions that had organized some workers in the refinery. Instead of going out and recruiting more men to join the unions the organizers were out goofing off. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Nahum Emery retired as a night superintendent of the ARCO oil refinery in Carson. He began as a laborer and worked his way up in the company as its name and refining processes changed. He held several different jobs along the way and observed many aspects of the oil refining process. In this three part interview, Emery talks about growing up in Long Beach and holding a variety of jobs even before leaving high school. He also discusses changes he saw in Long Beach and surrounding areas including those brought by the 1933 earthquake. The interviews were part of a project to study the impact of the discovery of oil on the development of Long Beach and the interviewer became acquainted with Emery when they were both volunteers at the Historical Society of Long Beach. TOPICS - leaving school; finding different jobs; and going to work at the Pan-American oil refinery;working in an oil refinery; recreational activities; and the Depression;
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4213793613636359-lhownemery3.mp3 | 2023-10-19 | Public | Download |
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9996891870532486-lhownemery4.mp3 | 2023-10-19 | Public | Download |