1269 East Adams Street


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  • Built in 1894 on Lot 120 in Grider & Dow's Subdivision of the Briswalter Tract
  • Grider & Dow's Subdivision of the Briswalter Tract opened in early 1894; the builder of 1269 East Adams was Alfred L. Dominy, who was listed at the address in the 1895 city directory, his occupation noted as a laborer at the Ganahl Lumber Company. Dominy and his wife, née Margaret Banks, had five children—Charles, Arrella, Joseph, Edwin, and Frank—and appears to have also squeezed into the house his mother, Sarah Anne Dominy. By 1900, Alfred had become a prospector. Sarah Anne Dominy died at the age of 75 on March 27, 1902. Edwin Dominy drowned off Redondo Beach on June 21, 1903. In the image above are, from left to right, Arrella, Sarah Anne, Margaret, Frank in the baby carriage—he had been born on July 10, 1895—Margaret's mother Hannah Banks, Edwin, and Joseph on the horse
  • An ad in the Herald on September 7, 1902, for the "Fidelity Rupture Cure" listed Alfred Dominy among those cured of the problem by Dr. J. B. Baker
  • The Record of December 5, 1902, and the Times of December 21 reported that Mrs. A. L. Dominy was having a $1,000 cottage built at 1269 East Adams Street; per the 1906 Sanborn insurance map, this was a 1½-story dwelling at the rear of Lot 120 that was assigned the address of 1269½ East Adams Street. The 1906 map also indicates that front and rear additions had been made to the original house. The easterly adjacent Lot 121 appears to have also been owned by the Dominys. Classified ads appeared in the Times in June 1905: "FOR SALE—AT A BARGAIN FOR CASH, two lots, 8-room house, N.W. corner Adams and Hooper st., good business location. See owner, 1269 E. Adams st." A new owner combined Lots 120 and 121 and built a corner store with apartments above in early 1906. This structure appears to remain on the site today, with alterations having been made over the decades. The Dominys moved on to San Pedro, with several families occupying 1269 East Adams Street over the next decade


Sanborn insurance maps from 1900, 1906, and 1922 illustrate the changing lot of 1269 East Adams


  • An ad in the Times on Aug 14, 1916, advertised 1269 East Adams as being for sale—"can be moved anywhere." On August 24, 1916, a building permit was issued for the house to be moved to 5511 Compton Avenue, where it still stands today (see below). The 1922 Sanborn insurance map indicates that the 1894 house had been removed from Lot 120; what appeared as 1269½ East Adams on the 1906 Sanborn map was still in place, though without an address assigned to it


1269 East Adams Street stands today behind a store building at 5511 Compton Avenue


Illustrations: Private Collection; Library of Congress; GSV