Fallbrook has an extensive history of Avocado groves, packing houses, and planters. This brief article discusses two men with remarkably similar stories, who patented different avocado varieties that they were growing in Fallbrook before their untimely deaths.
Rudolph G Hass did not live in Fallbrook, but he did die here. Retiring after 30 years as a postal mail carrier in Pasadena, CA.in 1952, Rudolph bought 75 acres in the Fallbrook/Rainbow area, intending to plant a Hass tree orchard on his own property but died of a heart attack just 3 months following his retirement. (1)
Rudolph Gustav Hass was born 05 June 1892 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin of German immigrant parents. He married Elizabeth Sochutte in Milwaukee in 1919. They moved to Pasadena, Calif in 1923. Rudolph Hass worked 30 years as a Pasadena mail carrier supporting his wife and 3 children. (2)
In the 1920s, Hass purchased avocado seedlings from A.R. Rideout of Whittier. Observing the trees for years and testing the fruit, In 1935, Hass took out a patent on the tree his family prefered. Hass then entered into an agreement with H.H. Brokaw of Whittier to plant an orchard of these trees and promote the Hass variety for 75% of the profit. Under this agreement, Rudolph only earned about $5,000 in his lifetime from his Hass tree. (3)
After his retirement as a Pasadena mail carrier, Rudolph hoped to earn more money with an orchard on his own land. He was in the process of planting this orchard when he was stricken and passed away on 24 October 1952 at the age of 60. (4)
Rudolph Hass is buried in Altadena, Calif. (5)
James Sterling Reed was born 25 Feb,1900 in Jewett Texas. Although he only had two years of high school, James Reed gained a reputation as an inventor. While working as a shoe salesman for many years in San Francisco and Oceanside, Reed invented the first shoe arch support. Reed patented his arch support in 1932.
Reed sold the patent and purchased a ranch in Carlsbad. About 1948 at his Carlsbad ranch, Reed observed a seedling that sprouted by chance on his property. (6)
This seedling was a Guatemalan-type avocado variety, originating from a cross between two other Guatemalan varieties, Nabal and Anaheim. (7) Reed observed the young growing tree for many years before filing a patent on the Reed Avocado in 1960.
James Reed and his wife Dorothy moved to Fallbrook in 1962 to 2260 Brooke Road, (8) Fallbrook where he grafted more of his trees. Atkins Nursery was located just a few miles away from Reed’s ranch. The Atkins property still has one of Reed’s original trees producing fruit in 2025. (9) James Reed died of a heart attack on 30 May 1964, at the age of 64. He is buried at Eternal Hills in Oceanside. (10)
Tom Frew,
FHS Historian
Footnotes:
1) Los Angeles Times October 26, 1952
2) Fallbrook Historical Society genealogy documented on Tom Frew’s Ancestry.com Hass tree
3) North County Times, Dec 1997, obituary for his wife Elizabeth who died at the age of 98.
4) Fallbrook Enterprise, Oct 31, 1952.
5) Find a Grave, Rudolph Gustav Hass.
6) Organically.com avocado blog.
7) California Avocado Society 1967 yearbook, report on Reed tree by Oliver Atkins.
8) Historical telephone books on file at Fallbrook Historical Society
9) Interview with Scott Atkins in 2025.
10) Find a Grave, James Sterling Reed.
