Major Harold Ferguson: Citizen-Soldier Meets Roaring 20s Los Angeles

About the Book

This is a true story from Maj. Harold Ferguson’s personal diary and letters describing his experiences during World War I and his life as a citizen of Los Angeles during the formative years of the 1920s. Maj. Harold Ferguson was a Stanford graduate lawyer and member of the United States National Guard returning from service in World War I to his home in Los Angeles, a city growing into a thriving metropolis. But Los Angeles was a different city from Chicago, New York, or Detroit. It was isolated from the rest of the country by its location on the West Coast, surrounded by mountain ranges and oceans. Natural resources were rare, and water would be crucial to supporting a new population that hailed mostly from the Midwest. All these challenges were part of Ferguson’s story. His entry into the LA real estate business came at a time when Los Angeles was overwhelmed with housing demands to accommodate all the new immigrants who saw Los Angeles as a Mediterranean paradise—sunshine, Hollywood, job opportunities, get-rich-quick schemes, and a new beginning. But delayed effects of World War I, subterranean and invisible to most, rose from the depths and created the Great Depression.

About the Author

This is the second book for author Edmond J. Clinton III. A retired physician, Dr. Clinton was raised in the Los Feliz region of Los Angeles in a restaurant family. His grandfather Clifford Clinton was the founder of Clifton’s Cafeteria where he worked as a young man growing up. He graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles and attended Medical School at University of Southern California. He practiced as an internist in Pasadena and lives with his wife Diane in La Canada, California.