Fred L. Baker (1872 – January 9, 1927) was an industrialist, business owner, shipbuilder, president of the Automobile Club of Southern California and member of the Los Angeles City Council.

[1] After an illness of some fifteen months, Baker died on January 9, 1927, in his suite at the Gaylord Apartments, 3355 Wilshire Boulevard, the diagnosis being heart disease.

[5] And four days after the start of the Spanish–American War, he sent a telegram on behalf of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association to California Senator Stephen M. White[6] stating: Whereas, the city of Los Angeles is totally without any defenses and absolutely at the mercy of invading forces no matter how small in number[,] Resolved that the Secretary of War be strongly urged to garrison Los Angeles with a battery of rapid-firing guns.

[6]Baker, a Republican, was elected to represent the 2nd Ward on the Los Angeles City Council in December 1896 and was re-elected in 1898, for four years altogether.

[10] In 1896 Baker took over as general manager of the Mount Lowe Railway, a tourist attraction running up and down the side of a mountain overlooking Los Angeles and Pasadena.

He is a mechanical engineer, and as head of the Baker Iron Works has demonstrated his ability to organize and secure the best results from big enterprises.

Mosher of the Los Angeles Times, to meet with a committee of bondholders under a power of attorney "to settle or compromise all unsecured claims against the railway.

With the end of World War I, the yard was partially converted into a lumber manufacturing facility, "with its own ships to carry raw material from Graham Island, Canada."

[13]In 1918 Baker appeared before the City Council to ask it to pay for a new road at the harbor leading to his plant, which he said had $54 million worth of contracts with the government's Emergency Fleet Corporation.

[17] After departing on its maiden voyage, City of Honolulu caught fire around 5:30 a.m. on October 12, 1922, in mid-Pacific, some 670 mi (1,080 km) from Los Angeles.

Baker said the matter had been "precipitated" by the "recent defacing of the transcontinental metal signs in the Cajon Pass, where motorists from the East will have their first glimpse of the Southern California roads which have made this part of the State famous.

[24] Another project favored by Baker was his suggestion to take sand from the Los Angeles River bed and spread it over city streets during rainy weather.