Moving Metal

During the 1940s Reliance shared billing at this property, at the corner of East 37th Street and Ross Avenue, with Allied Supply Company.

IN FOR THE LONG HAUL By early 1945, even though wartime production was slowing down, Reliance was booming—so much so that it had run out of warehouse space. In the final year of the war, Reliance was sharing the property at the corner of East 37th Street and Ross Avenue with another sizeable company, Allied Supply Company. The two corporations held it in a joint lease from the owner, the Estate of Daniel, Phillips, Nye, and Little. Neilan began considering two options: either build a bigger and better facility on that property, or lease additional warehouse space somewhere else. Clearly the entrepre- neur who had once deemed Reliance to be no more than a short-term venture had now changed his mind. Neilan had come to realize that if properly managed, Reliance could be

a profitable long-term enterprise. He had also developed a fondness for the company, his colleagues, and his employees; he did not want to walk away from them. Now committed to the steel industry for the long haul, Neilan began thinking about postwar growth. In order to lock in a favorable rental agreement, Reliance joined with Allied Supply to extend the lease for another three years beginning January 15, 1946. The end of World War II left California with an impres- sive industrial economy, but that base necessarily contracted while the state reconverted to a peacetime economy. Many companies that had prospered during the war years were now at a crossroads, their managers wondering how they would adapt to peacetime production—or whether they should even try. That was where Reliance found itself as con-

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