Clicko House

Evelyn Cook rented the house beginning in 1938, where she lived with Taibosch and her very young daughter, Barbara. As an itinerant circus performer, Taibosh did not have a permanent residence, unless one counts the train cars in which performers traveled or their many hotel s. Cook’s family lived in Albany, where Taibosh stayed, but there is no known address. Taibosh’s residence in Glendale was all the more remarkable given that Glendale was rather infamous as a “lily white” residential community (McWilliams 1973) and represented as such in its own promotional literature: “No Negro sleeps overnight in our town” (cited in Ovnick). It is not clear that Glendale had an official “sundown” ordinance, so-called because Blacks were not permitted to be found there after dark, but it had a de facto one: “African American residents of Los Angeles were well aware of Glendale’s danger for Black travelers after sundown, as was the national Black press” (Tucker 1914). After visiting the Glendale YWCA in 1941, a national representative of the organization reported that board members had told her “‘Glendale has no race problem, meaning no Negro problem,’ but she later learned that ‘the reason that there is no Negro problem there is because Glendale does not allow a Negro to stay overnight in the town’” (Tucker). Census records indicate very few people of color in Glendale, only 38 in 1930, and 68 in 1940; given that the vast majority were women they were likely domestics, and they may have been listed at their work addresses rather than where they actually livedMrs. Cook rented the subject property beginning in 1938, where she lived with Taibosch and her very young daughter, Barbara. As an itinerant circus performer, Taibosh did not have a permanent residence, unless one counts the train cars in which performers traveled or their many hotel s. Cook’s family lived in Albany, where Taibosh stayed, but there is no known address. Taibosh’s residence in Glendale was all the more remarkable given that Glendale was rather infamous as a “lily white” residential community (McWilliams 1973) and represented as such in its own promotional literature: “No Negro sleeps overnight in our town” (cited in Ovnick). It is not clear that Glendale had an official “sundown” ordinance, so-called because Blacks were not permitted to be found there after dark, but it had a de facto one: “African American residents of Los Angeles were well aware of Glendale’s danger for Black travelers after sundown, as was the national Black press” (Tucker 1914). After visiting the Glendale YWCA in 1941, a national representative of the organization reported that board members had told her “‘Glendale has no race problem, meaning no Negro problem,’ but she later learned that ‘the reason that there is no Negro problem there is because Glendale does not allow a Negro to stay overnight in the town’” (Tucker). Census records indicate very few people of color in Glendale, only 38 in 1930, and 68 in 1940; given that the vast majority were women they were likely domestics, and they may have been listed at their work addresses rather than where they actually lived.

Evelyn Cook later told Laurens van der Post, a controversial South African writer, that Blacks were subject to a 6 pm curfew in Glendale, so they learned to keep him secretly in the house.  After early signs of misgivings from neighbors, Taibosh ultimately befriended two elderly sisters who lived next door and whose garden he helped tend.  Mrs. Cook described Mr. Taibosh as having “beautiful manners” (Parsons).  It is not clear whether others in the community knew that there was a Black man living at 1442 Montgomery Avenue.  Mr. Taibosch’s existence may have been rarified and lonely.  Clicko continued performing in the circus “off-season” in 1939 in Los Angeles with Al G. Barnes- Sells-Floto Circus.  When he died in New York in 1940 the New York Times is said to have called him “the only African bushman ever exhibited in this country.”

Despite minor alterations including the textured stucco finish, the building retains integrity to be recognizable to its original appearance. It is an example of what was a probably a builder-designed, vernacular residence, is a common type in Glendale and elsewhere in the region.  While the garage and rear dining room have different roof types than the rest of the house, the considerable building permit records for the property do not mention the garage or dining room as additions.  There is an irregularly configured concrete pad in the rear yard (Figure 4), but neither of the two minimal side yards, estimated to be 3-5 feet in width, would have allowed vehicles to pass through to a rear garage, if one had existed.  No visible evidence of a foundation was found.  A building permit from the 1950s references re-roofing extant flat-roofed areas, which would mean the roofs of the garage and dining rooms had existed long enough to require re-roofing.  The National Register test for integrity is whether or not a previous resident like Mr. Taibosh would recognize the property.  Based on what can be gleaned from building permit records and observation, while the stucco may have been changed, the property retains integrity of its original location, its fundamental design, most of its materials and workmanship (which are less important when a property is significant for its associative qualities), feeling and most importantly, its association with Clicko and his “family” in his declining years.

Despite minor alterations including the textured stucco finish, the building retains integrity to be recognizable to its original appearance. It is an example of what was a probably a builder-designed, vernacular residence, is a common type in Glendale and elsewhere in the region.  While the garage and rear dining room have different roof types than the rest of the house, the considerable building permit records for the property do not mention the garage or dining room as additions.  There is an irregularly configured concrete pad in the rear yard (Figure 4), but neither of the two minimal side yards, estimated to be 3-5 feet in width, would have allowed vehicles to pass through to a rear garage, if one had existed.  No visible evidence of a foundation was found.  A building permit from the 1950s references re-roofing extant flat-roofed areas, which would mean the roofs of the garage and dining rooms had existed long enough to require re-roofing.  The National Register test for integrity is whether or not a previous resident like Mr. Taibosh would recognize the property.  Based on what can be gleaned from building permit records and observation, while the stucco may have been changed, the property retains integrity of its original location, its fundamental design, most of its materials and workmanship (which are less important when a property is significant for its associative qualities), feeling and most importantly, its association with Clicko and his “family” in his declining years.

“Glendale Your Home” (Glendale Merchants Association, 1928).

Barnard, Alan. Anthropology and the Bushman. (Oxford : Berg Publishers, 2007).

 Company Histories. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/ Company-histories/harnischfeger-industries-inc-history

“Frank A. Cook; Legal Adjuster for the Ringling, Barnum and Bailey Circus” (death notice). New York Times. 12 January, 1937.

Glendale City Directory, 1926, 1928 and 1935.

 “Glendale Your Home” (Glendale Merchants Association, 1928)

Hoy, Eugene. “So This is Glendale” (Glendale, 1939).

Lindfors, Bernth (ed.) Africans on Stage: Studies in Ethnological Show Business (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999).

Los Angeles, County of. Department of Public Works, Land Records Viewer- Tract Maps.

McWilliams, Carey. Southern Californian Country: An Island on the Land (1946; rept. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, 1973).

Ovnick, Merry. Los Angeles: The End of the Rainbow (Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 1994).

Parsons, Neil. Clicko: The Wild Dancing Bushman (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2010).