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Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California Hardcover – November 11, 2008

by Frances Dinkelspiel (Author)

48 customer reviews

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Isaias Hellman, a Jewish immigrant, arrived in California in 1859 with very little money in his pocket and his brother Herman by his side. By the time he died, he had effectively transformed Los Angeles into the modern metropolis we see today. In Frances Dinkelspiel's groundbreaking history, the early days of California are seen through the life of a man who started out as a simple store owner only to become California's premier money-man of the late 19th and early 20th century. Growing up as a young immigrant, Hellman quickly learned the use to which "capital" could be put, founding LA's Farmers and Merchants Bank, that city's first successful bank, and transforming Wells Fargo into one of the West's biggest financial institutions. He invested money with Henry Huntington to build trolley lines, lent Edward Doheney the funds that led him to discover California's huge oil reserves, and assisted Harrison Gary Otis in acquiring full ownership of the Los Angeles Times. Hellman led the building of Los Angeles' first synagogue, the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, helped start the University of Southern California and served as Regent of the University of California. His influence, however, was not limited to Los Angeles. He controlled the California wine industry for almost twenty years and, after San Francisco's devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, calmed the financial markets there in order to help that great city rise from the ashes. With all of these accomplishments, Isaias Hellman almost single-handedly brought California into modernity. Ripe with great historical events that filled the early days of California such as the Gold Rush and the San Francisco earthquake, Towers of Gold brings to life the transformation of California from a frontier society whose economy was driven by the barter of hides and exchange of gold dust into a vibrant state with the strongest economy in the nation.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (November 11, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312355262
ISBN-13: 978-0312355265
Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #902,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #447 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Immigrants
- #644 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Europe > Germany
- #2379 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Business

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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars

5 star		77%
4 star		17%
3 star		2%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

Loved it

By S. Epel on November 12, 2008

Format: Hardcover

I was hooked from the introduction when the writer describes discovering boxes of her great-great grandfather's letters and papers and realizing she had a story to tell. From that great beginning, this book continued to hold me in its vivid, dramatic rendering of California history and of this man, a true tycoon. Until this book, I had not heard of Hellman , but now I see his influence regularly in my life in California, starting with Wells Fargo banks. Hellman not only started this bank, but the author tells an amazing--and chillingly timely--account of how Hellman stopped an 1893 bank panic singlehandedly. If you're interested in California history (imagine a time when the streets of LA were dirt, as were the floors in many homes), immigrant history, Jewish history, and a juicy story of wheeling-dealing tycoons, you couldn't find a better scribe than this writer and her elegant, exciting, and well-told history.

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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

A Must Read! Fascinating Book About a California Financier.

By D. Austern on November 11, 2008

Format: Hardcover

Frances Dinkelspiel has written a fascinating account of the life of Isaias Hellman, her great-great grandfather and a man whose banking skills seemingly transformed California. The Hellman name is well-known in the Bay Area - Warren Hellman, a billionaire merchant banker - puts on the free, three-day Hardly Strictly Bluegrass concert every year in Golden Gate Park - but I didn't know anything about this Hellman.
Isaias Hellman came to Los Angeles from Germany in 1859 and started the region's first successful bank, the Farmers and Merchants Bank. Los Angeles was just a small settlement back then. The streets were unpaved, the only way to get there from San Francisco was by steamer, and a murder a day was common. By starting a bank, Hellman brought much-needed credit to the region and helped start its transformation into one of American's biggest cities.
He goes on to do many important things, like donating the land to start the University of California, lending funds to Harrison Gray Otis to gain complete control of the Los Angeles Times, and spinning deals with the railroad tycoons Collis Huntington, Henry Huntington, and Edward Harriman. In fact, his friends read like a "Who's Who" of the 19th century and include Levi Strauss, Mayer Lehman, and Jacob Schiff.
In 1905, Hellman took over the Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco. That was just one of the banks he controlled. According to Dinkelspiel, he headed up or served on the board of dozens of other institutions, including the Nevada Bank, and controlled more than $100 million in capital. This guy clearly had a brain for business.
Dinkelspiel does a wonderful job of bringing history to life. There are lots of great scenes in Towers of Gold.Read more ›

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

An Immigrant's Story

By J. Kaye Oldner on December 5, 2008

Format: Hardcover

"Towers of Gold" by Frances Dinkelspiel is about her great-great-grandfather, Isaias Hellman. If you have never heard of him, you might know one of the banks he built, Wells Fargo Bank. Wells Fargo was in the news several months back by buying Wachovia, one of those failed banks. Speaking of failed banks, this book also shows the start and rise of Lehman Brothers Bank, which declared bankruptcy this year.

This is not about banking, it's about a German-Jewish immigrant that ended up in Los Angeles who worked, saved, and started businesses, of which banking was his specialty. Isaias Hellman's struggles and triumphs in business shows how far someone with intelligence and determination, in the right circumstances, can achieve.

"Towers of Gold" also chronicles the rise of Los Angeles from a town on a marshland to a major city and a bit of business history through two depressions, one before 1900 and the one after.

Dinkelspiel also writes fascinating glimpses of the founding and founding figures of Stanford University, University of California, Levi and Strauss, Southern Pacific Rail, Nob Hill, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, San Francisco cable cars, Los Angeles, and Mount Zion Hospital.

I enjoyed reading the Towers. It is fast-paced and detailed. Events and people are shown in their background, which allows the reader to see there are very few black and white issues. The "Towers of Gold" puts the current banking crises in perspective. Frances Dinkelspiel's saga about her great-great-grandfather shows his place in California history.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

Fascinating!

By A. Bartlett on November 12, 2008

Format: Hardcover

To read Towers of Gold is to step back into a fascinating and unpredictable period in California's history. Thoroughly researched and meticulously told, the story of Isaias Hellman is more than an archetypal rags-to-riches American tale--it's a story of how a Jewish immigrant, unhampered by Old World prejudices, helped shape the state. Anyone interested in the history of our country's ailing financial system will find interesting parallels.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

Epic unknown history of California

By D. Levy on November 20, 2008

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Towers of Gold rediscovers Isaias Hellman, once justly celebrated as one of the most important businessmen in California's development, both in Los Angeles and San Francisco. There is hardly a major California economic development in a 50-year span with which Hellman was not involved. Dinkelspiel has created a fascinating history of the state's growth through the lens of one man's history.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Fascinating history of 2 Jewish brothers and their contribution to ...

Fascinating history of 2 Jewish brothers and their contribution to the development of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Well researched.and an enjoyable histrorical journey.

Published 4 months ago by Judith M Berger

If you love history this book is a must read

If you love history this book is a must read. Most informative of how California took shape by rich, powerful men.

Published 6 months ago by jjann

Great Biography!

I'm interested in all things financial, both past and present, and I've always been a big reader, settling in with a good book is one of life's great pleasures for me. Read more

Published 6 months ago by TopCat19

Fanscinating

Hellman was an amazing man. This story is written by his great-granddaughter and is expertly researched. This is a must-read for those interested in the history of the West.

Published 11 months ago by R. Carpenter

and her self-indulgence as a decendent of Hellman annoyed me a lot

A book about the founder of Wells Fargo, Isaias Hellman, written by his grand niece. Isaias Hellman was a tipical Jewish financial pioneer in the late 1800s and early 1900s based... Read more

Published 12 months ago by P. M. MUROYAMA

fantastic history!

I'm from San Francisco and lived in LA for a few years while attending USC. This history probably meant more to me than to mist because it is all so familiar to me. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Deborah M Smith

Birth of California

This book brings the story of the California's birth to life through the life of Isias Hellman, founder of Wells Fargo Bank. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Jody P.

amazing history of California

Definitely worth reading if you have any interest in the way life got started in LA and how this one man had such a far reaching influence in all of California and its many areas... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Louise Sherrill

Enjoyed this book

I found this book to be very interesting. Amazing how some people are able to start with nothing and go on to build an empire.

Published 15 months ago by Stuart Hershaff

One person can change the world.

What one person can go. A look into a little known contribution to the development of the west particularly in San Francisco.

Published 17 months ago by Sky Trails