Downtown firm is tall in saddles.

MacPherson Leather Co. maintains its 66-year-old tradition making saddles

Outside 420 S. San Pedro Ave. on the eastern edge of downtown Los Angeles is an urban netherworld, of homelessness, foul odors, graffiti, old factories, razor-wire and refuse.

But inside, at the second-floor MacPherson Leather Co., visitors are transported to a bucolic past, as they view saddles being made in pretty much the same way they were 50 years ago.

That's right: Western-style saddles for horses are still manufactured in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, at the MacPherson Leather Co.

The company was founded and is still owned and operated by the MacPherson clan, which started the operation up downtown 66 years ago.

Are horse saddles still in demand, in gritty old L.A.?

"Well, we make about 25 to 30 saddles a month, depending on the type of saddles ordered," says foreman Juan Torres, a 33-year veteran of MacPherson Leather. "But we also make bridles, halters for seeing-eye dogs, and a wide variety of custom leather products."

Customers range from recreational riders to Los Angeles Police Department mounties to professional cowboys to the federal Border Patrol to parade horse riders.

One odd product in the 25,000-square-foot factory-warehouse: A horse muzzle. Is it made for bad horses who bite a lot?

"Some horses like to crib (chew wood) in their stables," explains owner George MacPherson Sr. "The muzzle prevents that."

It was George's father who started up the shop, which in its early days also made shoes and wallets and such in addition to saddles.

About 40 feet from Torres and MacPherson, worker Juan Hernandez is methodically stamping images into thick leather with his mallet. Between each swing of the mallet, he moves the stamp to a new position.

"He is making what we call a 'basketweave,'" says 74-year-old MacPherson. The metal stamp, about one inch across at its base, leaves an image that looks like part of a woven-cane basket.

When repeatedly hammered into the leg -- properly called the fender -- of a saddle, it makes a beautiful pattern suggestive of woven leather.

Everywhere at MacPherson Leather there are craftsmen and women busily plying their trades, from making bridles, to cutting leather, to driving needles through leather, to carving intricate designs -- called flower patterns -- into the fragrant, tanned hides.

Huge fans, themselves antique in appearance, move air redolent with the smell of leather about the cluttered quarters.

For modern-day consumers used to chintzy ersatz skins, the MacPherson leather feels royally luxuriant and solid. "We get it from St. Louis. It is called 'heavy hide,'" explains MacPherson. "It is from 13/64ths to 15/64ths of an inch, or about one-quarter inch, thick."

The thick leather translates to near indestructibility, given normal use and good care, claims MacPherson. "Properly oiled and maintained, the saddle lasts a lifetime," says MacPherson. "They really don't wear out."

Indeed, at the Sunset Ranch Hollywood Stables in the Hollywood Hills, MacPherson saddles from the 1940s are still in use. "Oh yes, we still have them," confirms Lisa Myers, guide at Sunset Ranch, which is famed for its moonlight rides. "Saddles seem to last forever."

It seems the patriarch of the riding club, a man named Smith, bought saddles from MacPherson's father right after World War II, and the club has been buying ever since.

Saddles come in three shades, called light, medium and dark. The shades are achieved by coating the leather -- naturally, a tawny beige -- in oil. The more coats, the darker the resulting leather.

The darkest leather, fresh at the factory, virtually glows with a rich, burgundy luster, irresistibly beckoning the touch.

But touch carefully -- retail prices start at just under $1,000, and go up from there. "We may not be the Rolls-Royce of the industry, but we are a Mercedes-Benz," says Steve MacPherson, son of George, and also part of the clan that runs the factory today.

But when asked whether they ever made a special or favorite saddle, both the senior MacPherson and foreman Torres are tight-lipped. "Oh, my favorite is the No. 601," says Torres, referring to a standard stock model. George MacPherson too says, "The 601. It sells the most."

MacPherson Leather does make a fancy "trophy saddle," replete with heavily inlaid flower patterns and silverwork, and also rodeo, roping and barrel-racing saddles, each configured for their special uses.

The barrel-racing saddle, for example, has a higher "cantle" (the rising portion of a saddle directly behind a rider's rump), evidently to help riders stay in their seats as they maneuver around the barrels, while the rodeo saddle is sans a horn in the front of the seat, to help prevent injury.

Asked if he has a personal favorite saddle for riding, after a long lifetime of making equine seats, the Scottish George MacPherson is again terse. "Nope, I don't ride, so I don't," he says, closing the topic to further conversation.

But son Steve does remember an odd saddle -- it was actually two saddles, but attached facing each other at a singular horn, akin to Siamese twins. "I think it was made for a bar. It had silver on it, and flowers. It was quite expensive," says Steve. "You sure couldn't ride with it." Steve confides he almost never rides horses either.

Back in the factory, where 25 are employed, another saddle is in its early stages of construction. First, a wooden "tree" is bought, wrapped with lacquered, wet rawhide, called the "groundwork." The result looks like a crude saddle and forms a very strong base, as the rawhide dries and contracts.

Layered over the groundwork are the visible slabs of leather, which can be adorned with the stamped images and possibly silverwork. Woolskin lines the bottom of the saddle, to help keep the horse comfortable.

The whole process can consume 40 workhours or more, depending on the type of saddle, says foreman Torres. "It's the same way we have always made saddles."

If saddle-making hasn't changed, the market has, say the MacPhersons. The recession has been especially hard on California horse-owners, and they have been informed that 25 percent of the horses in the state have either been sold out of state, died or been sent to rendering plants in the last three years. "This isn't a recession, it's a depression," says MacPherson Sr.

Steve MacPherson notes, "It's more expensive to keep a horse than a boat. You have to feed it, call the vet, have it showed -- horses take a lot," he says.

The logo of MacPherson Leather Co., which emblazons a family crest liberally featured about the factory, is "Touch not the cat, but the glove."

MacPherson Sr. says he really doesn't know what the logo means. "We're Scottish, so it's something like, 'Don't tread on me.' But I really don't know where the cat comes from."