Byron B. Brainard

Byron Bernard Brainard (April 1, 1894 – March 19, 1940) was an electrician, auto mechanic, auto salesman, real estate broker and community newspaper editor who was a Los Angeles City Council member between 1933 and 1939.

Byron B. Brainard
Brainard in 1935
Member of the Los Angeles City Council from the 5th district
In office
July 1, 1933 – June 30, 1939
Preceded byRoy Donley
Succeeded byArthur E. Briggs
Personal details
Born(1894-04-01)April 1, 1894
Topeka, Kansas
DiedMarch 19, 1940(1940-03-19) (aged 45)
Los Angeles, California
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Blanche Huyck
​
(m. 1916)​
Children1

Biography

Brainard was born April 1, 1894, in Topeka, Kansas, was brought to Los Angeles in 1899 at the age of five. He left high school to work as a car washer for the Southern Pacific and the Pullman Company but acquired his first piece of real estate through his parents while still a minor. He continued his education through night school and extension courses. He worked up to chief mechanic for an automobile company, then turned to real estate and, before his election to the council in 1933, he edited and published the Southwest News-Press, a community newspaper. He maintained a semiweekly column called "Column Right" while a council member and after.[1][2]

Brainard was stricken while eating dinner with his wife, Blanche, at home. He could not be revived at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital.[2] Funeral services were conducted at Inglewood Park Cemetery by the Golden Gate Masonic Lodge and the Order of Druids, of which Brainard had been Noble Grand Arch.[3] Besides his wife, he left a son and a daughter.[2]

A month after his death on March 19, 1940, an autopsy report revealed that Brainard had died of choking when a piece of meat lodged in his throat.[4]

City Council

Elections

Brainard ran for the 5th District seat in 1929 and 1931, each time failing to be nominated in the first round. In 1933, however, he ousted incumbent Roy Donley, and he was reelected in 1935 over the End Poverty in California candidate, Charles W. Dempster. He was reelected in 1937 and 1939, but lost to Arthur E. Briggs in 1941.

Highlights of his term
  • He was one of five Council members on Mayor Fletcher Bowron's "purge list" in advance of the 1939 elections.[2][5]
  • When Mayor Bowron vetoed the surfacing of Amalfi and Warren drives with Warrenite bitulithic pavement on the grounds that the substance was part of a "patent paving racket" not worth the additional cost, Brainard called the veto message "the most asinine statement I ever heard given out by any man in public office."[6]
  • He and John W. Baumgartner obtained the original allocation of US$175,000 from the state to begin the project that opened 10th Street and turned it into Olympic Boulevard without having to assess local property owners for the improvements.[2]
  • In May 1939 he cast the only vote against Bowron's request for an additional $2,000 for the police secret service fund.[7]

References

Access to the Los Angeles Times links requires the use of a library card.

  1. "Councilman Columnist," Los Angeles Times, April 17, 1935, page A-10
  2. "Stroke Fatal to Brainard," Los Angeles Times, March 20, 1940, page A-3
  3. "Obituary," Los Angeles Times, March 22, 1940, page 16
  4. "Brainard Choked to Death on Food, Autopsy Discloses," Los Angeles Times, page A-12
  5. "Councilman Defies Purge," Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1939, page A-6
  6. "Bowron Sends Veto Message to Council on Patent Paving," Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1939, page A-1
  7. "Council Votes for Secret Fund," Los Angeles Times, May 19, 1939, page A-10
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