the San Diego Amvets organization, he hoped to win the GI vote. Given his father's twelve-year stint in the California legislature, he was sure to have good name recognition. And it helped that across the country pollsters were predicting a Republican resurgence. Howard offered his support and advice.
As they were walking back to Howard's office, Charlie casually mentioned that he knew a savings and loan manager who wanted to get out of the business. The association was for sale. He suggested Howard should buy it.
“How much is it?” Howard asked.
“Sixty thousand.”
“Where is it?”
“Highland Park,” Charlie replied.
Howard considered the area and the opportunity. Located along the Arroyo Seco just west of Pasadena, Highland Park included some of the oldest homes in Los Angeles. The thrift had been established on November 24, 1924, as the Los Angeles American Building and Loan Association by Walter Giddens Tomlinson, who had served as secretary and manager and now wanted to retire.51 For some unknown reason, the company was in the process of changing its name to North American Savings and Loan Association.52 Howard decided to take a chance.
“Come on up to my office,” he told Charlie.
Upstairs, Howard wrote out a check to Tomlinson and asked Charlie to make the deal for him. Characteristically, he was not interested in negotiating. If the price was fair, he paid it. If it wasn't, he walked away.53
In telling this story years later, Ahmanson made it sound impulsive, as if nothing that came before had prepared him for that moment. In fact, he was anything but impulsive. As one of his longtime employees recalled, “Howard explored every facet of everything before he made a decision.”54 In fact, Ahmanson had spent years studying the savings and loan industry. He owned more than 28 percent of one thrift and served on the board of directors of Hollywood Savings and Loan. He had also spent months thinking about the postwar future of Los Angeles.55
Ahmanson knew the demand for housing in Los Angeles was explosive. He was already positioned to take advantage of this growth by selling residential fire and hazard insurance, but he wanted to increase his bet.56 He bought stock in cement companies because new homes needed foundations. He continued to buy real estate because developers and builders had to have land. But he also recognized that tract builders would need financing and that savings and loans were uniquely positioned in the postwar era to provide construction loans and mortgages.
Ahmanson knew that most savings and loan managers didn't see the opportunity. For too long they had been focused on surviving. Hit hard by the Depression, nearly one in four in California had gone out of business. Those that remained carried large portfolios of delinquent loans and foreclosed properties through the 1930s. By the end of the war, only 101 state-chartered savings and loans and 73 federally chartered thrifts were still in business in California.57 The total assets held by the industry amounted to $642 million, compared to $511 million in 1930. With this weak growth over fifteen years, the industry had failed to keep pace with the state's increase in population or the expansion of real estate lending.58
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