Antelope Valley Thanksgivings of the past

Since AV pioneer days, the Thanksgiving holiday has always been a favorite time of the year with special dinners and reunions with relatives and friends. The earliest mention I could find — so far — of Thanksgiving being celebrated in our Valley occurred in 1884, when

Lancaster was in its infancy: “The Herald acknowledges an invitation to a social party to be given at the Lancaster Hotel [House], at Lancaster, on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. By some inadvertence of the printer, the day is set as November 26th, which is Wednesday, whereas the real, simon pure,

Thanksgiving Day always occurs on Thursday. Lancaster is a good place, and the people there will have a good time, but if they keep up two days of Thanksgiving it will be ahead of the age.”

“Los Angeles Herald” (November 22, 1884).

Sadly, there are no existing photographs of the two-story wooden Lancaster Hotel/House (valued at $6,000 in 1885), which went up in flames in 1886 (or 1888) started by a fire in Frank Glencross’ attached general store. This elegant hotel was located on the northwest corner of Sierra

Highway and Lancaster Boulevard, the present-day site of the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department-Lancaster Station.

It is interesting that only eight years earlier, Los Angeles County officially feted its first Thanksgiving: “The first formal observance of Thanksgiving Day in Los Angeles County took place in 1876, although for several years previously, local newspapers had suggested this day should be as fittingly observed here as it was in the East. The Banquet included traditional turkey with cranberries. The banquet was held at the old Bella Union Hotel on Main Street.” The Signal (Nov. 18, 1937)

In addition to scrumptious turkey dinners (some households had to save all year long to afford what could be a costly meal), most families would display a handsome decorative basket of fruit as a symbol of the harvest time. There were also community masquerade balls (Mojave 1907), where halls were decorated with pumpkins and corn stalks.

Pumpkin pies were always a desert staple, but the pears grown in southeast Antelope Valley very soon became another holiday pie favorite. According to the Palmdale Reporter (October 1924), Eliza “Mother” Moore who arrived in Palmdale in 1911 and for years was associated with the Palmdale Inn (northeast corner of Palmdale Boulevard and Sierra Highway) declared her pies “fairly melt in your mouth.” People would drive miles for a taste of her pear pie.

For those who did not want to cook a meal at home, one could always buy dinner at the Lancaster Jazz Café where the 1920 Thanksgiving menu offered oyster soup, roast turkey with chestnut dressing, sweet potatoes, creamed corn, riced potatoes, crisp celery, olives, dill pickles, cranberry jelly, mince pie, pumpkin pie, nuts and coffee — all for $1.50 per plate.

Not everyone would have turkeys for Thanksgiving. Quail, duck and rabbit were popular hunting choices as well as ranch hogs. Another favorite poultry was a nice fat goose. Besides providing a yummy meal, a goose also furnished feathers for pillows and beds. In 1927, Herman Duelke of Roosevelt would sell Thanksgiving geese weighing 10 to 14 pounds for 25 cents a pound (live weight) and 50 cents extra for a dressed bird.

Venison was also a good choice, but one had to be careful as in March 1923, H.M. West, an oil company foreman, was arrested for hosting a 1922 Thanksgiving venison barbecue. Why? Because having venison in one’s possession when it was out of season was a crime. In addition, the local barbecue guests were also guilty of this crime.

And, some children did not experience happy Thanksgivings. One child writing a letter to Santa Claus expressed how during Thanksgiving, his family had nothing but a little chicken that weighed two pounds and some beans. Los Angeles Evening Express (Dec. 4, 1914)

Antelope Valley turkey ranches became popular during the 1940s and especially during the late 1960s through the 1970s, when Lancaster supplied most of the Thanksgiving turkey dinners within Southern California. However, decades earlier, turkey farms were already spreading across the Valley. In 1906, Belle Murdy Smith, whose turkey ranch was located in Soledad Canyon near Ravenna (Acton), shipped quite a few birds to Los Angeles and elsewhere for very good prices.

The accompanying and unfortunately poor-quality photograph from the AV-Ledger Gazette (1908) shows the turkey ranch of Mrs. Lynn, who rather than keeping them penned in brooder barns all day — except for the poults/ chicks—had them running free and herded like cattle on her extensive property. She would let them out early in the morning and then brought them in around 3 pm. This is probably the earliest photo of turkeys in the Antelope Valley.

Mrs. Lynn’s turkeys (left) being herded like cattle (1908). This is a small portion (right) of the 180,000 turkeys raised in 1963 by Bob Jones on his ranch at 70th Street East and Avenue F from the Hi-Desert Spectator (November 1963).

Boron Department Store Thanksgiving ad from the Boron Enterprise (1954).