A. J. Barnes was the first person to represent the 12th district of the Los Angeles City Council under the new charter in 1925. He served until 1927. Barnes, a

contractor A contractor is a person or company that performs work on a contract basis. The term may refer to: Business roles * Defense contractor, arms industry which provides weapons or military goods to a government * General contractor, an individual o ...

and real-estate man"For Supervisoral Posts," ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 29, 1926, page B-2
/ref> who had lived in Los Angeles since 1904, was elected to the City Council in 1925, but failed in a re-election bid in 1927, when he lost the primary election to

Douglas Eads Foster Douglas Eads Foster (August 21, 1875 – July 22, 1962) was a dentist who served on the Los Angeles City Council between 1927 and 1929. Biography Foster was born August 21, 1875, in Warrensburg, Missouri, the son of James Madison Foster and Agne ...

and Clarence W. Horn by just seven votes, determined only after a recount was held. Barnes was known as a supporter of Mayor

George E. Cryer George Edward Cryer (May 13, 1875 – May 24, 1961) was an American lawyer and politician. A Republican, Cryer served as the 32nd Mayor of Los Angeles from 1921 to 1929, a period of rapid growth in the city's population. During his administr ...

, and he was endorsed by organized labor. The 12th District at that time was bounded by Main Street, Sunset Boulevard, Temple Street, Fountain Avenue and Hoover Street. Barnes ran unsuccessfully for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors two times. After his City Council service, he became a field secretary for Supervisor J. Don Mahaffey. In 1932 he was active in a protest movement against a proposal to give the University of Southern California preferential rights to use the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

during the football season. In 1934, Barnes was secretary of the

California Progressive Party The California Progressive Party, also named California Bull Moose, was a political party that flourished from 1912 to 1944 and lasted through the 1960s. In 1910, Hiram W. Johnson, a nominal Republican who was backed by suffragette and early femi ...

State Central Committee and caused a stir when he resigned his position in protest of the party's support of

Raymond L. Haight Raymond LeRoy Haight (July 18, 1897 – September 2, 1947) was an American lawyer and politician from California. Involved in the Republican and Commonwealth-Progressive parties, Haight ran as a third party candidate during the 1934 California ...

in the gubernatorial election that year and urged support for Governor Frank Merriam in order to avoid giving the election to Upton Sinclair, the End Poverty in California candidate. Barnes ran as the Progressive Party's candidate for the state Board of Equalization later that year and came in third."Shontz Vote Crushes Foe," ''Los Angeles Times,'' November 8, 1934
/ref>

References

Other sources

* ''Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials: 1850–1938,'' compiled under the direction of the Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles, March 1938 (reprinted 1966) ------- {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, A. J. Los Angeles City Council members California Progressives (1924)