Moving Metal

either now or never, so he and Gimbel began a long search for suitable land. In the late spring of 1952, they identified what they considered to be an ideal site. It was a 7.5-acre lot in Vernon owned by Wilshire Oil Company. The lot fronted 26th Street and was bounded by Santa Fe and Soto Streets. Reliance decided to make Wilshire an offer for 3.5 acres, which was considered sufficient for the expansion. Negotiations dragged on until February 1953, when Wilshire finally sold Reliance the parcel for $153,700. Within months, however, Neilan realized that he had miscalculated. The new property was just not big enough for the warehouse, office space, and parking area. Neilan once again approached Wilshire, and the oil company, evidently eager to dispose of an adjoining parcel, offered to sell an additional four acres for the bargain price of $50,000. The new Reliance facility was indeed going to be big. The warehouse was 600 feet long and 74 feet wide, amount- ing to a total of 39,000 square feet of warehouse space and about 5,000 square feet of office space. Two 5-ton cranes would be installed for moving the heavy metal. The main structure’s cost would be an additional $170,000, and site improvements would cost another $20,000. Construction began immediately, and the new warehouse opened in early January 1954. This site later became Reliance’s flagship Los Angeles Division. There were more investments to be made during the early 1950s, particularly in new equipment. To evaluate the technology and make the purchases, Neilan turned to Gimbel, whose engineering experience and fascination with technol- ogy and automation made him Reliance’s resident expert in the field. Gimbel purchased a Niagara Shears 712-B Power Squaring Machine from the U.S. Air Force in July 1951. The

bottomed out in July and Reliance’s inventory was too low to support sufficient sales to earn a satisfactory profit. Neilan reported in August that “prospects were discouraging and business bad,” and demanded that sales be pushed harder and more expenses be slashed. Roe and Littell reminded him that further cutting would be difficult—Reliance had always kept its costs down and so there was not much left to cut. There was little to do except to “struggle along as best we can until conditions become clearer,” they decided. By the end of 1949 things were looking up. In January 1950, as Reliance diversified its offerings and rebuilt its inven- tory, Allied Supply finally vacated the Vernon warehouse. The recovery was completed by the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, which put the United States back on a war footing and made Los Angeles a hub of support for United Nations forces in the Pacific. American rearmament likewise made steel a valuable commodity again, with prices rising along with the military’s increasing demand. In October 1950, Luther H. Stringfellow signed on as Sales Manager to take advantage of the suddenly revived steel business and to service new customers. At the same time, Gimbel was appointed Assistant Sales Manager. Within months Neilan declared that his nephew’s “new duties and responsibilities have been discharged with unusual achievement.” Gimbel was moving up fast. GROWTH MODE By April 1951, Reliance was again in full growth mode and seriously considering purchasing its own land, building another warehouse, and moving into the steel sheet business. Jack Roe had wanted to do this for years, but the company’s finances never seemed to allow it. Neilan decided that it was

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