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Maxfield, Virginia (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - Virginia Maxfield was interviewed in her Long Beach home. It was a very nice townhouse located in relatively new development adjacent to California State University Long Beach. TOPICS - family background; oil wells; childhood; schools; 1933 Long Beach earthquake; WWII; sports; and Four Drillers;oil industry; Desk and Derrick; Auto Dismantlers Association; Long Beach Petroleum Club; and Quota Club; 10/30/1989
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- 2022-10-21
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- *** File: shvmaxfield1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-4:06)... Maxfield's family moved to Huntington Beach where her father worked for oil companies in 1921 and they lived in a campground because there were not many houses available. Before she was born, however, they found a house to rent and that's where she was born. In 1928 her family moved to Long Beach. Maxfield's dad quit school in the eighth grade to go to work in the oil fields as a roughneck and later as a driller. He followed the oil boom in the San Joaquin Valley, where her older three siblings were born in Delano. He also worked in Texas and other places through the Depression until he started his own business in Signal Hill in 1938. When work in Long Beach became hard to find, he worked in Ventura County (4:06-5:20)... In 1928 Maxfield's family moved into a house on Lemon in California Heights and her father lived in that same house for 60 years. She went to school in that neighborhood and her school was moved after the 1933 earthquake. When her family first moved into the neighborhood, the streets weren't paved and there were no sidewalks, street lights or curbs. When she went to Poly High School, the other kids thought she lived out in the country. (5:20-10:02)... Maxfield's dad worked for different drilling companies, assembling crews of roughnecks and others. He kept in touch with many men who didn't have regular jobs. He was one of the few in the neighborhood who had a phone and people would call him to ask if he knew about available jobs. When times were tough and there were no jobs in the oil business, he'd get a truck and buy oranges, apples, etc. Then he send drilling crew members to sell them door or door. He always seemed to be able to find a way to make money. In 1938 he went into business for himself selling used valves that he salvaged from big oil companies. He cleaned them up and sold them. Later he also bought and sold all kinds of used oil field equipment. His business was called Robert S. Moore Oil Field Supply. (10:02-13:38)... Residential development in California Heights was sparse through the late 1930s. She could tell who's car was coming down the street from miles away. Most of the dads of the kids she went to school with worked in the oil business. There were not many other jobs available until World War II. Douglas Aircraft plant opened during the war and there was ship building. (13:38-14:22)... Maxfield's family went to the California Heights Methodist Church. She and her siblings belonged to Boy and Girl Scouts, Brownies, and Campfire Girls. She rode the bus down to the YWCA on Sixth and Pacific where she took dancing classes, including tap, toe and ballet in the summer. She used to ride her bicycle out to where Park Estates was at the time of the interview and camp out. There was creek and lots of willows. Going to the movies was a big deal because you had to have money to do it. (14:22-15:50)... When she was older, she rode the bus to the beach. She didn't surf, but she watched the waves break before the breakwater was completed. When Maxfield graduated from high school she got married and they moved to Compton. She didn't start working until World War II when she took a defense job. Her dad continued with his business of selling used oil field equipment and when his book keeper left, in 1949, she went to work for him. She'd gone to business school and had some work experience by then. (15:50-19:51)... Maxfield's mother, Grace Slosson, was born in Los Angeles and her parents worked for Union Oil Company. Her grandmother was a cook and ran a cook house around Taft and Maricopa. Her grandfather, William Slosson, was born in Riverside; his family came there with the Mormons who built the railroad. Her grandmother's name was Ola. Her uncle, Otha Slosson, owned one of the biggest truck transportation company on Signal Hill when oil was hauled in trucks. He invested in some oil wells in Wilmington. where he hit it big. Otha's son, Clifford, handles the business now which includes real estate and oil in the Tejon Ranch area. Her dad's brothers worked as laborers in the oil fields and when her uncle Bill couldn't find enough work, he went to work for the Twenty Mule Team Borax company. (19:51-20:31)... Maxfield's brother, Bill, worked in the oil fields all of his life and eventually owned his own oil well service company in Wilmington. He serviced wells on Signal Hill and by the time of the interview, he had retired. Her other brother couldn't work because he was crippled and her sister worked for her dad for a while. (20:31-22:56)... Maxfield wasn't too interested in studying in high school, but she had a good time. She took as many classes as possible; she graduated in 2 years because she wanted to get married. After she graduated and married, she and her husband lived in Compton. She got an office job at McClatchy Manufacturing where they made something out of neoprine. When her marriage didn't work out, she returned to Long Beach and went to work for her father. He paid for her to study at Long Beach Secretarial College. It was hard to find a job after WWII if you didn't have any any formal training. (22:56-30:21)... Her father bought an oil field supply business called The Four Drillers in the late 1930s. The previous owners weren't' getting along and Bill Knapp, an accountant her dad worked with, helped him make the deal to take over the business. He dad bought the building, all of the supplies and took over the lease, all for $6000. He dad didn't know if he should go into so much debt; he thought it was a great deal of money. But it turned out to be the best thing he ever did. He rented some of the rooms in the building to help pay off the debt. The building was on Cherry Avenue which was important because it was like Rodeo Drive for the oil patch; there were oil supply companies along both sides. The street was narrow with no curbs and the buildings came right out to the street. Her dad's building was later moved back when Cherry was widened. Soon after that, in the late 1960s or early 1960s, she and her second husband bought the building. *** File: shvmaxfield2.mp3 (0:00-2:01)... Introduction There were a number of other people still around Signal Hill at the time of the interview who could provide more information about the place's development. One was Peter Allan who ran Sunde Company which used to be Blackwell Sunde. When Maxfield returned to Long Beach after her marriage ended, she lived in Lemon near her father. Her children attended Longfellow, Hughes and Poly. She moved several times. When she married again, she moved several times more including to Huntington Harbor. But she and her husband were working 7 days a week, so they moved back to Signal Hill. They eventually built a penthouse on top of their business and lived there until the city bought their property. (2:01-2:58)... Then after he dad passed away, Maxfield and her husband bought her his property. They rebuilt and office, added warehouses and made an industrial rental complex out of it. They'd just finished and were ready to begin renting when the city bought it. When they lost their business, they lost their wrecking license which was attached to the business. They'd been in that business for 29 years and it had become a way of life. (2:58-6:50)... Maxfield joined the Desk and Derrick Club (Long Beach Chapter) in the 1950s; it was women's club for hose employed in the oil business. She hadn't know other women who worked for oil companies but she got to know them through this club. There were women who worked in Signal Hill, Long Beach and women who lived in Long Beach but worked for the big companies in Los Angeles. Often 75 or 100 women attended the meetings, so they had to meet downtown, at places like the Lafayette Hotel or the Pacific Coast Club. She stayed involved until she remarried. They had speakers and sometimes made field trips. In Signal Hill, there were many "one girl offices." And through this club, she met her friend Kathy Walker. (6:50-8:58)... Maxfield also belonged to the Quota Club, a service club for women that raised money for the hard of hearing, and served as president. She also served for 2 years as president of the American Society of Women Accountants (8:58-12:38)... When she remarried, she and her husband started, in January, 1959, working at their wrecking yard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It took them nearly 5 years to start making substantial profits and pay off their debts. When they started making money, they closed on Sundays. They joined the Auto Dismantlers Association and one requirement of membership was to close on Sundays. In 1969, they closed on Saturdays as well. When they realized they'd never had a vacation, the decided to close a week at Christmas and one near July 4 (12:38-15:51)... At first, their car wrecking business had a do-it-yourself policy. Many customers were people working on their own cars who shopped on weekends. As business increased, they quite buying old, junk cars and only bought cars that were only 1 or 2 years old. Then more people from garages, dealerships, etc. began to buy from them. When they went out of business they had about 700 cars in their yard. They sold them to other wreckers or had them crushed and sold for scrap. (15:51-18:03)... In the old days in Signal Hill, there was a frog pond. Many oil wells were drilled near it and it's where Memorial Hospital was located at the time of the interview. The pond was really just a gully, but there really were many frogs. (18:03-20:24)... Many Signal Hill oil people used to go to the Hill Top Restaurant for lunch or dinner and dancing, especially before the Petroleum Club was built in 1953. There were many small cafes on Signal Hill. One was Sis Ashton's and Maxfield went to high school with Sis's daughter, Ruth. Oil men played gin at this cafe and others. Coleson's Cafe north of Cherry Auto Wrecking had the best greasy hamburgers.
- SUBJECT BIO - Virginia Maxfield's family worked in Signal Hill most of her life. Her father operated an oil field supply company and, as an adult, she worked for him. Later she and her husband operated an auto wrecking yard nearby. She has experienced observed many changes in the area. In this single interview, Maxfield talks about being born in Huntington Beach where her father worked in the oil boom. The family soon moved to Long Beach where he went to work on Signal Hill. Soon he successfully moved into the oil field supply business. Later, Maxfield worked for him keeping books and managing his office. She took a leading role in the women's service club, Desk and Derrick and other service clubs Then she and her husband operated an auto wrecking yard in Signal Hill until the city of Signal Hill took over their land to make way for a new auto mall. At the time of the interview, she was living in Long Beach but she and her husband were planning on moving to Utah. The interview was conducted as part of a project to document the history of Signal Hill. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - Virginia Maxfield was interviewed in her Long Beach home. It was a very nice townhouse located in relatively new development adjacent to California State University Long Beach. TOPICS - family background; oil wells; childhood; schools; 1933 Long Beach earthquake; WWII; sports; and Four Drillers;oil industry; Desk and Derrick; Auto Dismantlers Association; Long Beach Petroleum Club; and Quota Club;
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9818007790407389-shvmaxfield2.mp3 | 2023-10-20 | Public | Download |