Los Angeles Jewish Pioneers

Benjamin Platt: Music Retailer of Early Los Angeles

Benjamin Platt Values Codes I – H – E – L – P   Born in Khoderkov, a small shtetl near Kiev, around 1882, Benjamin Platt immigrated to New York in 1902 or 1903, becoming a salesman for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. According to family lore,

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Walter Henry Rothwell: First Maestro of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Walter Henry Rothwell Values Codes I – E – L    Walter Henry Rothwell (né Rothschild) was born in London in 1872 to Bertha Löwenberg of Hohenems, Austria, and Barnet Robert Rothschild of Dover, England.   Along the way . . .  A musically gifted child, Rothwell

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Sol & Ephraim Shirpser: El Monte Area Jewish Merchants & Public Servants

Sol Shirpser Values Codes I – E – L – P   Sol Shirpser was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1850. During the late 1850’s, Sol’s mother, Rebecca Jetta, married David Shirpser. Sol took his step-father’s name when the latter adopted him.   California and Alaska In

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Leopold M. Loeb: Organist & Choir Director of Congregation B’nai B’rith, Los Angeles, c. 1887-1895

Leopold M. Loeb Values Codes H – E – L   Leopold M. Loeb was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1849. He immigrated to New York in 1866, and became a naturalized citizen in 1877. Loeb made his living as a music teacher in Toledo, Ohio, before

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Alfred Arndt: Jewish Religious Functionary of Early Los Angeles

Alfred Arndt Values Codes H – E – L   Alfred Arndt was born in Russia in 1856. He was a typical nineteenth-century self-styled traveling Jewish clergyman, whose professional title was as fluid as his employment. There is no record of his education (perhaps he was an

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Victor Rosenstein: The First “Hired” Cantor of Los Angeles

Cantor Victor Rosenstein  Values Codes  H – E – L   The life story of Victor Rosenstein is not well preserved.  The little that remains tells of a struggling nineteenth-century cantor, floating from congregation to congregation, mistreated by temple boards, and never receiving the respect or remuneration

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