R.I.P. Rhoda May Adamson Dallas

A big piece of Malibu royalty, Rhoda-May Adamson Dallas, passed away on October 14th at the age of 94 of natural causes in her Studio City, California home.  Born on Valentine's Day, 1917, Rhoda-May was the granddaughter of Frederick H. Rindge who bought and essentially built up Malibu in 1892 and daughter of Frederick Hastings and May Knight Rindge.  As a child, Rhoda-May spent a lot of time at what is now the Adamson House, built in 1930 as a retreat for her parents. She was the first "Adohr-able" baby in the dairy's ad campaigns, and later in life too Rhoda-May worked on the dairy farm that her parents opened, "Adohr Farms," whose name is dervied from "Rhoda" spelled backwards.  Her and her siblings Sylvia and Merritt started Adamson Co. which oversaw and ran their parents' real estate holdings, and in 1972, they donated 138 acres of land to Pepperdine University.  Rhoda-May remained an active part of Malibu throughout her life, and will be missed. 

The Adamson Family: A Piece of Malibu History

This week, we continue putting the pieces together in the massive, interesting puzzle that is Malibu history: the Adamsons.  You'll recall a few weeks ago we talked a bit about the Rindge family, a crowning family in Malibu royalty.  Another family famous in Malibu royalty is the Adamsons, who are actually related to the Rindges.  The original big Kahuna in Malibu, Frederick Rindge, had a number of children, including Rhoda Agatha Rindge.  Rhoda Agatha Rindge married Merritt Huntley Adamson and so became Rhoda Agatha Adamson.   They had a litter all their own, consisting of Rhoda May (three generations of the name Rhoda, I guess this really WAS a long time ago), Sylvia, and Merritt Jr. 

In 1916, Merritt Sr. and Rhoda Agatha founded Adohr farms, a dairy in Tarzana. This stayed in the family, having passed hands from Merritt Sr. to Merritt Jr., for 50 years until the increased price of feed forced the Adamsons to sell Adohr farms to Southland Corp. in 1966.  Merritt Jr. did make quite a few great strides in Malibu history, including donating a large part of Pepperdine's campus, built a mobile home park, condominiums, and Malibu Bluffs State Park.  In 1967, the Adamson siblings formed the Adamson Cos., a partnership aimed at developmement. The Adamson brother died of cancer in 1986, but the sisters still remain active in Malibu to this day.