1206 East Adams Boulevard

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  • Built in 1910 on the Lot 137 of Grider & Dow's Subdivision of the Briswalter Tract by developer Perry Whiting who, somewhat ironically, was president of the Whiting Wrecking Company, a well-known Los Angeles building-demolition firm. The Department of Buildings issued Whiting a permit for a six-room house on March 25, 1910. Cited as "architect" was local carpenter William M. Lindow
  • Lot 137 was one of 17 on the south side of Adams Street between Hooper and Naomi avenues bought by real estate investor Maria S. Bowman in January 1894; 13 years later, a Bowman family squabble led to the sale of Lot 137 (and, apparently, Lot 138, upon which 1200 East Adams had been built by Mrs. Bowman's step-grandson Fred Samuel in 1903). In addition to building 1206 East Adams, Perry Whiting carved a new lot from the rear 37½ feet of Lots 137 and 138, building, also in 1910, 2612 Naomi Avenue. Whiting appears to have retained that house along with 1206 and 1200 as rental property during the 1910s
  • The 1206 East Adams Street on Lot 137 of its tract was not the first 1206, which was built on the easterly adjacent Lot 136 in 1901; its address was changed to 1210 East Adams after our subject house was built
  • Perry Whiting's 1206 East Adams Street (as the Boulevard was originally designated) appears to have been rental property during its first five years; occupying it briefly at first was Elmer O. Thomason, president of the Kellar-Thomason, a local manufacturer of irrigation and concrete-making machinery. He was followed by Charles Wood, a Western Union operator, and the Reverend Joseph T. Hill, pastor of the Mount Zion Baptist Church once on Traction Avenue in today's Arts District 
  • Arriving at 1206 East Adams in 1916 was Edward Charles Hamilton, who would occupy the house until his death 60 years later. Hamilton and his wife, Ollie, were renters of 1206 at first, later purchasing it. Mr. Hamilton is described variously in records over the years as a shoe shiner working in Long Beach, then as a waiter, porter, and janitor at the Union League Club at Second and Hill streets
  • Edward Hamilton was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety on November 20, 1925, to add a garage to the property
  • Ollie Hamilton died in Los Angeles on December 5, 1956, Edward Hamilton on December 16, 1976
  • Owners of 1206 East Adams after Edward Hamilton have included Loy Wagoner, who re-roofed the house in 1989, and Fidencio and Consuelo Villasano, in residence since the early 1990s
  • On February 16, 2006, the Villasanos were issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety to replace 10 windows and remove the house's wood siding for replacement with lath and stucco
Illustration: Private Collection