My uncle Larry has been the unofficial Mackel family historian. When my grandfather died in 1992, Larry was very good at bringing out many artifacts from my grandfather’s youth. One of the more interesting items was his savings account passbook from Security Pacific National Bank and it was fun in looking at the kind of deposits and withdrawals my grandfather would make as a young man around the time of the first world war and in the 1920s. Along with the treasure trove items was this newspaper clipping taken from the LA Times in 1932.
My great-grandfather James Mackel immigrated from Ireland to Los Angeles in 1882. The family story claims that his move from public service into real estate was prompted by an accident while working a fire. As the story goes, he caught a survivor jumping off the second floor and broke both his arms. When my great-grandmother answered the door upon his arrival, she fainted and he could not catch her. James Mackel’s youngest son, John (my grandfather), bucked the tradition and attended the University of Michigan where he obtained a degree in structural engineering. While running a successful engineering and architectural firm in Los Angeles, he did purchase real estate investments with my grandmother Maguerite, however, it was not until my father graduated from USC with a degree in business emphasizing in Real Estate, did we have a broker back in the family.
Being a 3rd generation native son of Los Angeles and southern Californian is something I am very proud of and the wonderful history my family has had in southern California makes me even prouder to call southern California my home.
