Gone Too Soon: Pierre Louis Eschardies

Pierre Louis Eschardies Jr., known as "Pete" to his friends, had it all, or was about to.

Tall, dark, and athletic, Pete was born in Los Angeles to French immigrant parents in 1893. He was named for his uncle Pierre and his father Louis.

Pete may have been mechanically inclined from a young age - the 1910 census lists a teenage Pete as a helper in a foundry.

Pete was a noted amateur boxer, a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and according to the Los Angeles Herald "one of the most daring road drivers who ever tackled a mountain race."

The automobile industry was young, and Pete was already one of its rising stars, at least on the West Coast.

Pete worked for J.W. Leavitt, first as a mechanic, then adding sales to his skill set. 

Leavitt's firm sold Overland and Willys-Knight cars, but took over Chevrolet sales from the Ryus Motor Car Company (sources disagree over whether this was in 1916 or 1917). 

In 1915, the manager of Chevrolet's sales division and driver Fred Aubert came up with the idea of demonstrating the new Chevrolet 490 by lighting up Mount Wilson on Labor Day evening and racing the car to the top, setting a record driving time of 36 minutes (hey, it was 1915!). The race took place again on Labor Day, 1916, but Aubert was injured in an accident on a practice run, and a replacement driver had to be arranged on very short notice. About twenty Chevrolet salesmen clamored for the chance, but Pete, or "Wild Pete", as the newspaper called him, was selected.

Pete spent Labor Day in its entirety making practice runs up and down Mount Wilson to familiarize himself with the 120 curves along its 9.5 miles of road. By 7:30 pm, it was dark and foggy, and Pete was tired, but about a thousand spectators were waiting to watch Pete drive the 490 up the mountain. 

In the words of the Los Angeles Herald:

With a roar and a blast Pete was on his way. With lights flashing in and out around the curves and in the canyons, he climbed rapidly upward until he was lost in a fog bank three miles from the top. A few minutes of anxious suspense and then a great red flare broke out at the summit announcing that he had arrived safely.

Pete not only made it to the top of Mount Wilson despite the fog and a long day of practice runs - he set a new record of 35 minutes.

Pete quickly worked his way up to Chevrolet sales manager in 1918 at the tender age of 25. The buzz around Auto Row that summer was that Pete was going to marry his sweetheart, Esther Lind, and then go off to fight in World War One (he had registered for the draft the year before). It didn't quite pan out that way.

Shortly after World War One ended, the Spanish influenza pandemic broke out, and several members of the Eschardies household were stricken. 

The Spanish flu was a brutal killer, claiming the lives of many otherwise perfectly healthy adults. On the night of January 8, 1919, it became apparent that Pete was not going to live for much longer.

Despite quarantine restrictions, someone sent for Esther Lind and a minister. Esther stood on the Eschardies' porch, Pete's bedside window was opened, and the minister performed the marriage ceremony.

Pete died the next day and is buried at Calvary Cemetery. 

The French (and Italian) Funeral Home

It's not exactly a secret that San Francisco had quite a large French community of its own. Hell, San Francisco had an active French Hospital until relatively recently (it still exists, but is now a "campus" of a larger hospital).

Julius Stephen Godeau, who went by J.S. Godeau professionally, was born in San Francisco to French immigrant parents. He was a director of the aforementioned French Hospital and belonged, incredibly, to 40 fraternal organizations.

Atkins-Massey, founded during the Gold Rush and by far the oldest funeral home in the city, went up for sale in 1895. Godeau snapped it up.

Godeau went on to open an Oakland branch, and much later, one in Stockton. But in 1910, Los Angeles beckoned.

Ad for Godeau & Martinoni, March 11, 1910.
Do note that "Lady attendant" probably refers to Katherine Martinoni.

Godeau knew that the growing city of Los Angeles had large French and Italian communities, and sought to tap that market. But he couldn't be everywhere at once, and travel took longer in those days. So he took business partners for the Los Angeles branch - James Martinoni and his wife Katherine Piombo Martinoni. (Godeau and Martinoni may have known each other due to their mutual membership in a fraternity, the Ancient Order of Druids.) James held the role of funeral director, Katherine was a mortician.

Yes, there was a woman working as a mortician in Los Angeles over 100 years ago. Pretty cool, huh?

James passed away just a few years later in 1914, but Katherine kept working.

Excerpt from James Martinoni's 1914 death notice. Like Godeau, he was a high-ranking member of multiple fraternities.

1910 news blurb from the Times. Godeau's membership in 40 fraternities very likely brought in a good amount of referral business, as in this case of a deceased Mason.

1910 ad from The Tidings, published by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

In an interesting coincidence, J.S. Godeau poached a hardworking teenage boy from a rival's casket business - Raymond Malburg, future son-in-law of J.B. Leonis - to work at the Los Angeles branch. Raymond, who had started out building coffins, became a mortician himself.

In Godeau and Martinoni's early days, the mortuary was located at 827 South Figueroa Street, and young Raymond lived onsite (as did the Martinonis). It later moved to "Mortuary Row" on Washington Boulevard.

The Martinonis' niece, Florine Olivieri, helped with the books while earning her degree in Accounting at Southwest University. 

It's not unusual for members of an ethnic or cultural community to patronize each others' businesses, and Godeau and Martinoni received a good amount of their business from the French and Italian communities of Los Angeles. 

1913 funeral announcement for Leon Amar, teenage son of San Pedro pioneer Edward Amar. 

1912 funeral notice for French immigrant Emil Louis Barclay. 
The notice references the Court Français and the Legion Français - one wonders if Godeau belonged to either or (more likely) both.

1913 funeral notice for Italian immigrant Mary Magdalena Zanoni

1913 funeral notice for French immigrant Joseph Luquet

1919 funeral announcement for Pierre Louis Eschardies.

1913 funeral announcement for French immigrant Antoine Begon

There are far too many funeral notices to post here; suffice it to say that Godeau and Martinoni was a very busy firm for decades.

Godeau and Martinoni even handled the funeral for Mickey Cohen's infamous bodyguard Johnny Stompanato.

When Katherine Martinoni passed away in 1938, 30-year-old Florine took over as senior partner (working with two transplanted brothers from Ohio, Dick and Frank Palmieri), staying until her own death in 1968.

J.S. Godeau's Bay Area funeral homes closed in the 1970s. Godeau and Martinoni was bought out by Pierce Brothers in 1984.