1339 East Adams Boulevard
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- Built in 1896 on Lot 54 in Hooper's Adams Street Tract by retired blacksmith and carriage maker Louis E. Page
- On March 29, 1896, the Los Angeles Times reported that Adeline M. Hooper, the widow of John W. Hooper and owner of the original tract, had sold Lot 54 to Louis E. Page the day before. The price of $375 indicates that the property was unimproved
- Louis Page was listed on voter rolls for 1896 as living on "E Adams, bet Hooper & Orange"; Orange Avenue was the easterly border of Hooper's Adams Street Tract and soon became part of Compton Avenue. Page was last listed at 1339 East Adams in the city directory's 1903 issue. Classified advertisements appeared in the press in October 1903 offering the property for sale, describing it as a four-room cottage with a "large barn, lawn, flowers and fruit trees." Page and his wife Lucy would be moving to 1548 Girard Street, which is today designated West 11th Place
- 1339 East Adams was acquired by contractor Robert A. Biddle, who during 1904 both lived at and ran his office out of the house. Biddle married his second wife in February of that year; Emma Biddle died the following September 11. Closing his business and moving to Boyle Heights, Robert Biddle auctioned off the contents of the house. Acquiring the residence itself was another builder, George S. Bell, who moved in in 1905
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Following the death of his wife, Robert Biddle auctioned off his furniture on September 24, 1904, as seen advertised in the Times, above. The Los Angeles city directory of 1904 carried an ad for Biddle's business; the house depicted was not 1339 East Adams. |
- Forty-seven-year-old Canadian-born George S. Bell had married 32-year-old Englishwoman Matilda Bailey on August 16, 1899; their son George Jr. arrived on the following May 8, the child's later hospital records describing the pregnancy as having been full-term, the delivery difficult. A second son, Cyril, arrived on December 1, 1902
- On September 21, 1907, the Department of Buildings issued George Bell a permit to enlarge the cellar and to do interior alterations including the addition of a new bathroom
- George Sr. appears to have become associated with Julius F. Hall, a prominent local contractor; the Herald reported on February 17, 1908, that "J. F. Hall" had just transferred at least partial ownership of Lot 54 to Matilda Bell for the nominal price of $10, indicating that Hall had a hand in financing the Bell's purchase, or that 1339 had been used to secure a loan
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| Apparently a keen angler, George and Matilda Bell's younger son was featured in a story on children's activities in the Los Angeles Times appearing on August 29, 1909. How happy was life at home? |
- On February 23, 1910, the Department of Buildings issued George Bell a permit to add a 9-by-10-foot bedroom to the house
- Sadly, George Bell Jr. began exhibiting behavorial issues early on. Hospital records describe his having had his first epileptic seizure at the age of two weeks, with an abeyance until the age of 12, when fits began to occur regularly. He did not speak, uttering sounds but no distinct speech. At the age of 15, the child was admitted to the notorious Sonoma State Home at Eldridge, near Glen Ellen, on March 4, 1916; he died there on February 24, 1922
- It was likely to have been demographic changes in the neighborhood, with many original homeowners moving west to new subdivisions, as much as personal matters that caused the Bells to leave 1339 East Adams. On February 23, 1923, Matilda Bell was issued a permit by the Department of Buildings for a new house at 5315 West Boulevard down in the new Angeles Mesa neighborhood; the J. F. Hall–Martin Company was the contractor associated with the project. George Bell was by this time a foreman with the concern
- Ownership of 1339 East Adams after the departure of the Bells is unclear. It seems that the property was turned into an income-producing asset and divided into two or more units, as were many if not the majority of houses in the neighborhood; later a garage with additional living space was built at the rear of the lot. Over the next 20 years, a number of tenants would occupy the various units, with the property gaining fractional addresses
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| Mr. and Mrs. James Mitchell, Las Vegas, 1949 |
- There seems to be no easy way to sort out the family of Daisy A. Sanders, who appears to have become the owner of the house by 1948; Mrs. Sanders first appears on voting records at 1339 East Adams that year. On July 7, 1949, illustrated with a photograph of the newlyweds, the Los Angeles Sentinel reported that Mrs. Sanders had eloped to Las Vegas with James Mitchell, a construction worker. The Chicago Defender picked up the story, headlining it "Church Pair Wed Secretly in Las Vegas." The newlyweds were described as "pillars of strength in the Bethel Church of Holiness"; why they would not have wanted a wedding in that sanctuary is unclear but, on their return to Los Angeles, they made their home at 1339. How James Mitchell might have been related to other Mitchells soon to be living in the house is also unclear. Althea V. Mitchell was in residence by 1952; she had once been married to the Reverend Moses F. Mitchell and had a son, Vyvyan—who seems to have become known familiarly as "Vynn"—in 1920, the family later moving from Waco, Texas, to Los Angeles. Vynn Mitchell later become the owner of 1339, perhaps as early as 1956; he remained living in the house until his death on April 28, 1990
- On March 29, 1950, a cave-in at a downtown construction site buried James Mitchell alive; he was saved when a fellow worker was able to uncover his face. The Times reported the next day that it took 20 minutes for him to be freed from the rubble and that he escaped without serious injury
- Vyvyan Mitchell made several changes to the structures at 1339 East Adams during the 1960s. On February 15, 1965, he was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety following an order to demolish apparently noncompliant work. On June 10, 1969, Mitchell was issued a permit to add a two-story garage with living space above, which was attached to the existing one-car garage. The house itself had been kept officially classified as a single-family dwelling
- Gilbert Ayala of Bell Gardens acquired 1339 East Adams after the death of Vynn Mitchell in 1990. On September 12, 1991, Ayala was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety to rehab the house, work that included new windows
- Gilbert Ayala soon sold the house to Tirzo and Teresa Nava, who on September 21, 1993, were issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety to stucco the exterior. A permit issued to the Navas on January 13, 2010, allowed them to officially convert the rear garage apartment into a duplex. A permit issued to the Navas on December 19, 2016, allowed for the reconfiguration of the westerly single-story portion of the rear building into a two-story structure sharing the roofline of the easterly garage/apartment
