Charles A. Allen (Los Angeles)

Not to be confused with Don A. Allen, Los Angeles City Council member, 1947–57.

Charles A. Allen was on leave from his job as supervisor of the Los Angeles City Hall parking garage when he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1941. He was reelected in 1943 and 1945, but in the April 1947 primary election his victory — already certified by the City Council—was set aside by court order, a recount was made, and he had to face a final election the next month, which he lost to Kenneth Hahn.

Allen

A native of Missouri, where he was a captain in the National Guard and was given the nickname "Cap," Allen was in the grocery business and ran several Los Angeles area markets. He was also active in clubs and civic associations. He took the garage job in 1935 and ran for Los Angeles City Council District 8 six years later in an election to succeed 12-year veteran Councilman Evan Lewis.^[1][2] He won that year and was reelected twice more.

In 1940, the 8th District was bounded on the north by Vernon Avenue, on the west by Western Avenue, on the east by the city limits or Alameda Street and on the south by about Slauson Avenue.^[3]

Positions

Allen was sworn in as a council member on May 14, 1941, to fill the unexpired term of Councilman Evan Lewis, who had died on May 5. Lewis's term was to end on June 30, and Allen's elected term was to begin July 1.^[4]

These are two of the positions he took during his six years of service:

Minorities, 1945. During debate on a proposal to establish an interracial committee "devoted to the interests of so-called minority groups," Allen said he was opposed because he was:"convinced that this is a Communistic setup and that the people who have been associated with this effort have been misled." The proposed ordinance was killed by an 8-6 vote.^[5]

Radio, 1946. He voted in favor of a resolution condemning the sending of individual letters by city councilmen to support any given radio station in making an application to the Federal Communication Commission. He denounced an organization, the Hollywood Community Radio Group, Inc., which had solicited such letters because its membership, he said, "contains names of persons with reputed Communist sympathies."^[6]

See also

• List of Los Angeles municipal election returns, 1941–1945

References

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