Rhoda Adamson

Rhoda met her husband, Merritt Huntley Adamson, by way of the family ranch; Merritt had been appointed ranch foreman.[21][6] He was temporarily injured on the job, and Rhoda nursed him back to health. They were married on Nov. 18, 1915.[22] A year later, as they shared an interest in animal husbandry,[23] they began a small beef ranching operation, though it took a backseat to their primary business: Adohr Stock Farms at 18000 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA, located next to Times-Mirror publisher Harrison Gray Otis's ranch.[24] Merritt Adamson assumed the office of the president of Adohr, while Rhoda served as secretary-treasurer. Adohr Stock Farms was the umbrella organization from which the Adamsons would grow Adohr Farms and Adohr Dairy & Creamery, the latter of which was headquartered at 1801 S. La Cienega Boulevard and Sawyer Street. A giant milkmaid and cow sculpture, created by Art-Vertising of Los Angeles, stood at the Adohr locations.[25][26][27][4] The business was named Adohr for Rhoda, as Adohr is Rhoda spelled backward.[28] Their ad campaign "Adohr-able Babies"[29][30][31] featured their daughter, Rhoda-May, as the first Adohr-able Baby.

In addition to becoming one of the biggest dairies in the United States, Adohr would come to be one of the largest certified dairies in the world, and come to boast the world's largest herd of Guernsey and Holstein-Friesian cows, tallying in at 1,650 head of cattle.[1] The milk was certified by the Milk Commission of the Los Angeles County Medical Association and was a "consistent winner" in contests ranging from the California State Fair in Sacramento to the Pacific International Live Stock Exposition in Portland, Oregon, and more.[1] The organization thrived throughout the Great Depression, as milk consumption was bolstered by Prohibition,[32] though the beef ranch side of the enterprise was forced into bankruptcy.[33] Darling of the Depression era, Shirley Temple, became an Adohr promotional figure, naming Adohr cows like Tillie Temple from Tillamook and Dinah.[34] Clarence "Ducky" Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck and countless other cartoon characters, also promoted Adohr products as Whistling Clarence, the Adohr Bird Man. He was a mere milkman with Adohr, yet became known for the funny voices and sound effects he produced to the delight of children on his delivery route. He hence became Whistling Clarence, and was tasked with riding in a wagon drawn by miniature horses through the streets of Los Angeles, dispensing treats to children. His Adohr resume and other voice work impressed Walt Disney, and Nash was brought into the Disney family in this way.[35] Other dairy promotionals included cow milking contests to the benefit of Warner Bros. Theatre.[36]

The dairy ran on a 24-hours-a-day schedule, with 100 employees carrying out the operation of the plant itself,[1] while scores of additional employees—Adohr milkmen—were deployed across hundred of routes[4] to deliver milk straight to clients' doorsteps, and sometimes, straight to their refrigerators, as did long-time milkman Elmer Moss.[37][4] And the company offered not only milk but buttermilk, butter, cream, ice cream, cottage cheese, eggs, and other milk products like whipping cream.[38]

The Tarzana farm and additional farmland in Kern County, California,[39] meanwhile, provided the room necessary to grow feed for the livestock and allow them out to pasture. This branch of the business entailed growing 150 acres of corn and 300 acres of alfalfa. Simultaneous to the dairy operations, Rhoda managed Kentucky-bred prize horses of the Saddlebred and draft varieties.[1]

The couple settled into an Elmer Grey-designed home in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles[40] and started a family. They had three children—Rhoda-May (b.1917),[41] Sylvia (b.1921),[42] and Merritt Jr. (b.1926).[33] In 1929, the couple commissioned Stiles O. Clements to build them a weekend and summer home on 13 acres in Malibu that Rhoda's mother had gifted them. Two Danish painters, Ejnar Hansen and Peter Nielsen, hand-painted doors, cupboards, and other surfaces in the house, while John Holtzclaw, an interior decorator, worked to create a cohesive home for the Adamsons, coordinating furnishings with textiles, the Danish painters' work, and the abundant Malibu tile. The home, the Adamson House, was completed in 1929, and the family moved in during June 1930. They loved it so much that by 1936, they had moved in full-time. There, the family raised prized chickens, tended bees, and accommodated a variety of pet animals,[8] including goats, dogs[43] (Saint Bernards being one of the breeds), a sheep named Bohunkus[44][45] and a donkey named Don Quixote. The family was friends with cowboy-humorist Will Rogers, and Rogers was known to ride his horse from his ranch in Pacific Palisades to the Adamson house where he would perform rope tricks for the Adamson children.[46]

The home's downstairs guest room was reserved for Rhoda's mother, Rhoda May Knight Rindge. Not only had May Rindge gifted the land upon which the Adamson House was built, she also provided the home's extensive tile from her own tile factory, Malibu Potteries. The home contains such an extensive display of the tile that it is referred to as the "tile Taj Mahal" or "Taj Mahal of tile."[47][48]

During World War II, the Coast Guard wanted to take over the Adamson House, hoping to use it as an outpost. The family declined, but did allow officers to stay in the poolhouse as well as semi-permanent tents along their stretch of beach. This arrangement became the Coast Guard's Command Post No. 5.[49][50] The home, like most buildings during the war, was required to make use of blackout shades—light-blocking shades covering all windows in the home so that enemy aircraft or submarine would have difficulty making sense of the landscape at night. Merritt Adamson volunteered as an air-raid warden, riding his horse from the Adamson House down to the Malibu Pier and back on patrol. Rhoda, like many heads of house, did a lot of canning in the war years, creating edible preserves of all kinds. In 1941, the Adamson family heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on what was a luxury to most families then—a large Scott radio in their living room. They sat around the same radio to hear President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fireside chats.

In 1948, imminent post-war suburbia began infringing on the Tarzana dairy operation, and the Adamsons owed money to creditors. Merritt hence sold the Tarzana dairy property to builders who planned to divide the land into parcels for construction of low-cost housing for veterans.[51] In preparation, original dairy structures were dismantled, including its three 31-year-old silos, which had to be razed with the help of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Demolition Squad and a significant amount of dynamite.[52] The dairy operations were moved to Camarillo. A year later, Merritt Adamson died, leaving Adohr completely up to Rhoda to operate.[53] The same year, Adohr published a cookbook called Milk-Maid Recipes from Adohr, with recipes ranging from Butter Crunch Cake, Southern Spoon Bread, Hot Peppermint Chocolate, Purple Cow Soda, Sour Cream Raisin Pudding, and Cornmeal Soufflé to Boston-Style Scalloped Fish, Asparagus With Lemon Sauce, Cheese Salmon Loaf, English Lamb Chops, and Cheese Ham Casserole.[54] The dairy's radio program, an opera show called Adohr Opera of the Air,[55] continued; opera singers for the program were auditioned in none other than the Adamson House living room.