The Street Seen: Floral Arrangements
Ocean Park
From 1899 to 1906, the hills of Ocean Park are the location of a thriving horticulture business.
Outdoor cultivation of carnations in Redondo Beach is well known, when in 1899, banker and real estate subdivider, E.J. Vawter (1848 – 1914) from a pioneering Ocean Park family, decides to experiment with horticulture in Ocean Park. Starting with 2 acres around his brother’s house at 4th and Pier, E.J. Vawter who never had more than an aesthetic interest in flowers, becomes a wholesale florist and president of the Ocean Park Floral Company. The fields are one of Ocean Park’s first tourist attractions.
The Ocean Park ridge affords an ideal situation for carnation culture. The eastern and the southern slope are protected from the winds, and the grade insures drainage. Well water from a pumping station at the foot of the hill (Vawter also owns the Ocean Park Water Company) is delivered to a storage tank at Marine & 4th, and then piped over the fields. The soil and conditions prove to be favorable and the venture is successful.
Vawter now devotes 15 acres of land on Marine & 4th Street to the culture of flowers - mostly carnations and roses. In the flats beyond grow calla lilies, roses and violets - but carnations are the specialty and the hardiest. The plants are raised from cuttings, started on the bench, and as soon as they are rooted, are put into pots and later planted in the ground. After their second season they are uprooted and replaced with new plants.
Vawter purchases another 15 acres of land between Rose and Sunset Ave in Venice, to grow flowers, mostly carnations. Large greenhouses and increased acreage are devoted to the propagation of flowers.
By 1904, Vawter is selling from 5,000 to 10,000 blooms daily. Vawter opens a wholesale and retail floral store at 522 S. Spring St in downtown Los Angeles. The flowers are marketed in Los Angeles and shipped to distant points.
1905 is a banner year for Ocean Park - un-precedented growth and development in every direction. Land is too valuable to be used for horticulture, and Vawter decides to subdivide his property for residential development. In 1906, the Ocean Park Floral Company is acquired by Rising-Dunscomb.1 By 1907, E.J. Vawter resides on Hill St near the beach, and his former house, located amongst the flowers at SWC 4th & Marine, is relocated (and slightly remodeled) to Pier Ave and is now a City landmark.
In 1903, Walter L. Armacost (1878 – 1947),2 the son of a farmer and fruit grower from Maryland, comes to manage the Ocean Park Floral Co. for E.J. Vawter. In 1906, when Vawter has moved on, Armacost Nurseries is growing carnations and violets at Marine & 3rd in Ocean Park. In 1907, Armacost partners with Fred E. Royston (1852 – 1936)3 and they lease Vawter's fields at 6th and Rose Ave in Venice.
In 1911, Armacost and Royston move their entire Ocean Park operation to the western part of Sawtelle. They buy 8 acres (which soon expands to 37 acres) at the NEC of Bundy Dr and Olympic Blvd and focus on roses and orchids grown in glass greenhouses. By 1940, the West Los Angeles land is also too valuable to be used for horticulture. Some operations are moved to Chatsworth and15 acres of Sawtelle land are sold for residential development. Later, new greenhouses are built in Carpinteria and the remaining Sawtelle property is sold. The Armacost & Royston Nursery (grand daddy of all Sawtelle nurseries) closes in 1974.
Harry G. Rising, J. L. Dunscomb (1874 – 1953) and G. S. Dunscomb (1879 – 1953) form Rising-Dunscomb Co. in 1906, to absorb the Ocean Park Floral Co., the Hollywood Rose Co. and the West Park Nursery. Their wholesale flower distribution depot is in downtown Los Angeles.
Walter Lee Armacost (1878 – 1947)
Born in Hampstead, MD, Armacost goes to upstate New York in 1899 to work in greenhouses. After two years, followed by a short stay in Cleveland, OH, he comes to Ocean Park in 1903, where he is put in charge of E.J. Vawter’s carnation fields. In 1906, when Vawter decides to exit the floral business, Armacost partners with Robert Lewis Wolfley (1877 –1907) to grow carnations and violets at Marine & 3rd for Armacost Nurseries of Ocean Park. In 1906, Armacost leases Vawter’s fields at 6th and Rose Ave in Venice. In 1907, he marries Anna May Shirey (1888 – 1925) in Ocean Park. They live on the Rose Ave property with his father George Armacost (1841 – 1918).
After Wolfley dies in 1907, Armacost forms a partnership with Fred E. Royston (1852 – 1936), a retired wholesale grocer and Ocean Park Bank VP. In 1911 they invest in 37 acres on the NEC of Bundy Dr and Olympic Blvd at Sawtelle, where they built an array of steam heated, glass greenhouses. By the 1920s, Armacost is the largest wholesale florist west of Chicago. Armacost is the last mayor (1922-1923) of the city of Sawtelle and Armacost Ave is named for him. He lives amongst the greenhouses at 2001 Armacost Ave (at La Grange Ave) until 1933, when he moves to 1116 Carmelina Ave. In 1934, he marries Marion Cumi Waltz (1893 – 1983).
Born in NY, Royston goes to work for wholesale grocers Sprague & Warner in Chicago, IL. Then he starts his own wholesale grocery, F.E. Royston & Co of Aurora, IL which is later acquired by Nabisco. Royston retires to Ocean Park in 1900, where he is a director and VP of the Ocean Park Bank. In 1908, he partners with Walter Armacost in the wholesale floral business - although Royston leaves day to day management of the business to Armacost. In 1911, Amacost & Royston Nurseries move their entire Ocean Park operation to Sawtelle.
