Ben Margolis

Margolis was born in New York, the son of Socialists who fled persecution of Jews in their native Russia. His family moved west to Santa Barbara, Calif., when he was a teenager. He attended Hastings Law School in California, opening a practice in San Francisco in 1933.{{cite news |title=CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER BEN MARGOLIS DIES AT 88 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/02/08/civil-rights-lawyer-ben-margolis-dies-at-88/220d04af-dd2c-4872-a9d0-f33bf3e90216/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=December 23, 2023}}

Margolis had a law partnership for half a century with John T. McTernan.

{{cite news

| title = Religion an Issue at Trial of 16 Reds

| work = New York Times

| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/17/archives/religion-an-issue-at-trial-of-16-reds-defense-questions-whether.html

| page = 11

| date = 17 April 1952

| access-date = 10 October 2018}}

In the early years of the Second Red Scare Margolis testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) on September 30, 1952, and refused to answer questions or name names. He told the committee that he had "no intention of becoming one of your stool pigeons," and he told them that they had "terrorized ... the people of the United States."{{Citation

| last = United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities

| title = Communist activities among professional groups in the Los Angeles area. Hearings

| publisher = U.S. Govt. Print. Off.

| volume = 3

| year = 1952

| url = https://archive.org/details/communistactivit03unit

}}

Margolis commissioned a noteworthy home by architect Gregory Ain which was built by his partner James Garrott in 1951.{{cite book

|last = Denzer

|first = Anthony

|title = Gregory Ain: The Modern Home as Social Commentary

|publisher = Rizzoli Publications

|year = 2008

|url = http://www.rizzoliusa.com/catalog/results.pperl?title_auth_isbn=denzer&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit

|isbn = 978-0-8478-3062-6

|access-date = 2012-07-07

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080617114603/http://www.rizzoliusa.com/catalog/results.pperl?title_auth_isbn=denzer&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit

|archive-date = 2008-06-17

|url-status = dead

}}{{Citation

| last = Goldin

| first = Greg

| title = Ben Margolis and Gregory Ain: A meeting of radical minds

| newspaper = Los Angeles Times

| date = August 18, 2011

| url = https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2011-aug-18-la-oe-goldin-margolis-ain-architectur20110818-story.html}} The two architects had been partners for 11 years at the time,{{cite news

| title = Architect Garrott Moves Office; Takes On Partner

| newspaper = California Eagle

| location = Los Angeles

| pages = 9B

| date = May 2, 1940

| url = https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel21/page/n637/mode/2up

}}{{cite web |title=GREGORY AIN (1908-1988) |url=https://usmodernist.org/ain.htm |website=US Modernist |publisher=Modernist Archive, Inc. |access-date=11 August 2020}}{{cite web |title=JAMES H. GARROTT (1897-1991) |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/garrott-james-h-1897-1991/ |website=Black Past |date=27 November 2017 |publisher=BlackPast.org |access-date=11 August 2020}} and were alternately "Garrott & Ain" or "Ain & Garrott," depending on who was responsible for design, while on other projects they simply assisted each other's solo work without credit.{{cite web |title=2143 Panorama Terrace - James H. Garrott, AIA |url=https://legaciesofla.com/2143-panorama-terrace-silver-lake/ |website=Legacies of L.A. |publisher=Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. |access-date=17 August 2020}}{{cite web |title=Gregory Ain |url=http://www.shalomhaverim.org/Judeografias/Gregory_Ain.htm |website=Judeo-graphie |publisher=Yonah Productions and Shalom Haverim Org.}}

Ain drew the preliminary drawings for the Margolis house in February 1951, but as Garrott later recalled Ain "got cold feet because of the McCarthy hearings."{{cite book |last1=Denzer |first1=Anthony |title=Gregory Ain - The Modern Home as Social Commentary |date=2008 |publisher=Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8478-3062-6 |page=181}} Garrott took over the project, executed the working drawings, and supervised the construction. Garrott is the only architect named on the original building permits{{cite web |title=Los Angeles Department of Building Safety |url=https://www.ladbs.org/ |website=Online Building Records |publisher=City of Los Angeles |access-date=11 August 2020}} and also the only architect named in a 2004 book titled African American Architects,{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Dreck Spurlock |title=African American Architects |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=0-415-92959-8 |page=230}} but Ben Margolis' son Ken, who was ten years old at the time the house was built, knew Ain to be the architect.

{{Reflist}}

• University of California, Special Collections (1984). "Law and Social Conscience, Ben Margolis". Interview with Margolis conducted by Michael S. Balter. [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb6c6010vb/ Available online here]; also [https://static.library.ucla.edu/oralhistory/text/masters/21198-zz0008zf2h-7-master.html available online here].
• [https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/13582/rec/2 1946 photo of Ben Margolis] at Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection

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Category:1910 births

Category:1999 deaths

Category:California lawyers

Category:American communists

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:20th-century American Jews

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