A desperate Great Depression job launched Stater Bros. to success – Press Enterprise

The Stater Bros. markets were founded in 1936 in Yucaipa, by Cleo, left, and Leo Stater. This is an undated photo of them in one of their early stores. (Photo courtesy of Stater Bros. markets)

By Joe Blackstock

Horatio Alger was a late 19th century novelist who wrote inspiring novels about impoverished young men who by working hard and honestly could achieve success in America.

It’s not much of a stretch to picture twins Cleo and Leo Stater as a couple of Alger’s characters who did turn hard work into their share of the American Dream.

About 1931, Cleo Stater felt compelled to leave high school to help his family in danger of losing their Yucaipa farm, a desperate situation that faced millions during those bleak days of the Great Depression.

But persistence paid off one day when he dropped into a Yucaipa grocery store owned by W.A. Davis who at that moment needed some help. Stater was hired for 10 cents an hour to handle chores for Davis at the market on West Yucaipa Boulevard.

So began the company’s rags-to-riches story.

For five years, Cleo Stater worked hard for Davis, learning everything about the grocery business so when opportunity suddenly appeared, he was ready to grab it.

In 1936, Davis decided to move out of Yucaipa because of his wife’s health and offered to sell Stater the market, a truck, his five-bedroom house and a 10-acre apple ranch for $10,000. That was a very good deal if you had the money.

“He wanted $600 as a down payment, which was like a fortune back then when a dime would buy two pounds of oleo (margarine),” Cleo recalled in a company history.

That’s when the brothers agreed to sell their cars for the down payment – “Owing that much money, we were not going anywhere anyway,” Cleo said. But that just got their foot in the door.

Still short of enough money to complete the purchase, Cleo Stater boldly decided to ask for a loan from the most successful businessman in Yucaipa, D. M. Holsinger, who was apparently impressed by the young would-be entrepreneur.

“Every small town had a big shot who owns everything, and Yucaipa was no different,” Cleo Stater recalled in a 1998 interview. “Everyone was afraid of him, but I went across the street and asked him for the money. He just looked at me and said, ‘If Davis is crazy enough to sell you his store, then I’m going to be crazy enough to give you the money.’ ”

So shortly thereafter, on Aug. 17, 1936, a new sign went up on the market, and Cleo and Leo opened the doors of the first Stater Bros. market.

These were still difficult times but putting food on the table was a priority for everyone, and the Staters provided food at a reasonable price to customers. Meanwhile, Cleo and his wife moved into Davis’ house at the rear of the market.

Their first hire was young Evelyn “Sunny” Parks who weighed and cleaned eggs while also keeping the books. A younger Stater brother – Lavoy – later joined his two brothers in the company and married Parks in 1943 while he was serving in World War II.

In the next few years, the Staters opened four more markets into the region, an expansion brought to a halt by the start of World War II. The twin brothers left their markets and joined the Army Air Corps, while Lavoy was a sergeant in the Army. Employees and family kept the stores operating in their absence.

The rise to success continued after the war for Stater Bros. as they continued to open new markets throughout the area. There are about 170 locations throughout Southern California.

The Staters sold their interests in their markets in 1968 for $33 million. Lavoy remained as president and chairman until retiring in 1979. He died in 1988.

Leo lived in Florida for most of the rest of his life before his death in 1985. Cleo would live another 16 years until his death in 2001. In his later years, he continued to fly his plane and even bought a 104-foot boat from the Navy, turning it into a yacht.

The Stater brothers in retirement fully reaped the results of their hard work. Even Horatio Alger would have been impressed.

Royal Tahitian

A free talk on the Royal Tahitian nightclub will be offered Saturday, June 10, by historian Joe Caskey at the Ontario Museum of History & Art, 225 Euclid Ave.

The 1 p.m. program will focus on the Royal Tahitian which was located at the Whispering Lakes Golf Course in Ontario. For several years during the 1960s it featured top-flight entertainment from many luminaries.

Caskey, an Ontario Parks and Recreation commissioner, will discuss the club’s activities including performances there by such jazz luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Pearl Bailey, Ray Charles, Dorothy Dandridge, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Eartha Kitt. Other formers included James Brown, the Four Tops, Odetta, the Platters, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.

Healing and Helping

A June 15 talk about two African American women who made significant impacts in Los Angeles will be held as part of a Juneteenth celebration at the Ovitt Family Community Library, 215 E. C St., Ontario.

The 6:30 p.m. talk will focus on the work of Biddy Mason, a former slave who spent some time in the San Bernardino area before being freed from servitude, and Vada Watson Somerville, who lived in the Chino area as a child.

Mason later became a business leader in the Los Angeles African American community in the late 1800s,  while Somerville was the first African American women dentist in California and prominent in social services work during the 20th century.

The free talk will be offered by Jackie Broxton, president and CEO of the Biddy Mason Foundation, and Paul R. Spitzzeri, director of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Foundation in the city of Industry.

Joe Blackstock writes on Inland Empire history. He can be reached at joe.blackstock@gmail.com or Twitter @JoeBlackstock. Check out some of our columns of the past at Inland Empire Stories on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IEHistory.