SALES OF NAPLES LOTS FLOURISH WHILE OTHER WEST COAST DEVELOPMENTS FLOUNDER. In April 1906, San Francisco experienced their great earthquake which shut down that city. With that shutdown, the flow of money on the West Coast came to a standstill since nearly all of the major banks were located there. It took nearly two years until those banks were up and operating properly and very little money was loaned during that time. But the Parsons brothers who were developing Naples and selling lots were not deterred. They came up with a plan on how to sell their lots, which were considered affordable, and have a good cash flow despite the lack of money for loans. They leased the corner of 6th and Main Street in Los Angeles for a new real estate development corporation and had an office about 90 feet long which was furnished very ornately. Each of the brothers had a private office in the northeast corner. The office had seats made for their salesmen on either side of a center aisle, and there was a secretarys desk and a telephone exchange. There was also a fine map table with a map of a subdivided Naples under plate glass and they hired a well known Washington, D. C. artist to paint a big picture of Naples as now building, for which they paid $1,000. When they moved in they had about 40 salesmen with over half living in Los Angeles while the rest either lived in Naples or worked in Long Beach and went back and forth on the street cars. They advertised extensively in the daily papers for a suitable name which would tell the story of a seaside watering place - with canals, stairways, promenades - in fact having a decided Venetian air, crowned with red tiled roofs and fronted with 15 foot cement walks lighted with beautiful electric ornamental lights. Two individuals, who both suggested the name of Naples, split the grand prize for this big and very popular promotion. Thus “The Naples Company” was named and ready to do business. When they opened up their office for business on July 6th, 1906, they found the outer hallway choked with people the whole length, and they were obliged to elbow their way through a mob determined to be the first purchasers of a lot in this magic city which had been so well advertised. Sales continued heavy, and the success of this promotion was in making the terms of sale one third cash, one third in nine months, and the remaining third in 18 months. This meant that the company would have two-thirds of their money in nine months, which practically made it certain that nearly all the sales would stick, no matter what happened. Cost to buy a lot – between $900 and $4,000! Come join me soon for a NAPLES WALKING TOUR and learn more about Naples. (Most of this history is courtesy of an interview with Arthur M. Parsons in 1939)
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 05:47:40 +0000