1140 East Adams Boulevard

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  • Built in 1898 on a parcel comprised of half (20 feet) of each of Lots 147 and 148 of Grider & Dow's Subdivision of the Briswalter Tract
  • Real estate operator Robert A. Scherer built the first 1152 East Adams in 1897, his extended family occupying that house until not long after his death there of typhoid fever in January 1899; Scherer was a principal in his father William's firm, the W. J. Scherer Company, which developed a number of lots in Grider & Dow's Subdivision of the Briswalter Tract on the south side of Adams between Central and Naomi avenues, altering lot lines, as with the parcel for his own house as well as that of 1140. On December 10, 1897, the Los Angeles Herald reported that W. J. Scherer had extended a two-year, $1,200 mortgage (at 11 percent interest) on the parcel comprised of the halves of Lots 147 and 148 to John Bollinger, who appears to have built 1140 East Adams; for reasons that are unclear, the Scherer company was back in possession of the property by July 1898, when The Evening Express of July 9 reported it sold to Myrtle A. Ackerman, the wife of Charles D. Ackerman, a downtown barber, for $2,500
  • The Ackermans did not occupy 1140 East Adams themselves, rather either renting it out or flipping it to a party who did—if it was not lost on a mortgage. Prominent banker John M. C. Marble, president of the Los Angeles Clearing House, lived in a big house at 3201 South Figueroa (later, from 1915 to 1924, the home of the U.S.C. College of Music); for reasons unknown, but likely having to do with a mortgage, he and his wife Elizabeth had acquired the relatively humble 1140 East Adams by late summer 1900. On September 5, 1900, the Los Angeles Express reported the even exchange of the property with real estate operator C. H. Bailey for a parcel in today's Bellflower; five days later, the Herald reported Bailey's flip of 1140 East Adams to mining man William D. Stephens
  • Between the ownership of the Ackermans and the Marbles, 1140 East Adams was home to at least two renters. The first was was Mrs. Daniel B. Bunnell, whose husband was a locomotive engineer running between Mojave and Barstow and often away from home. On the evening of October 4, 1899, Mrs. Bunnell, home with her 13-year-old foster daughter, confronted a masked intruder with her revolver and fired upon him. The criminal escaped, but not without, police later surmised, a bullet lodged in his body. He left blood on the kitchen floor and back porch. Two days later the Los Angeles Times further reported that following the altercation Mrs. Bunnell ran out onto Adams Street "screaming 'Police!' and 'Murder!', to which an officer on horseback responded. She moved out of 1140 not long after
  • Counted as renters of 1140 in the 1900 Federal census enumerated on June 28 was William Valentine, a shipping clerk with the local branch of Fairbanks, Morse & Company
  • William D. Stephens lived at 1140 East Adams only briefly, leaving in 1902, though he appears to have retained ownership, renting the house until 1907. In residence during 1902 and 1903 was Lina Bingham, a Texas divorcée; Mrs. Bingham was identified in the 1903 city directory at 1140 as the "widow" of Weaver S. Bingham, a face-saving custom of the day. Succeeding her were employment-agency manager George A. Sorrick and Charles A. Cary, who ran a hardware store just around the corner on Central Avenue. Cary had previously lived across the street at 1135 East Adams
  • William J. Anderson, foreman of a plumbing concern, bought 1140 East Adams in 1907, retaining it until 1916. Mrs. Anderson, who died on May 10, 1911, was the former Laura Nadeau, whose great nephew Remi E. Nadeau became the well-known historian and author of The Water Seekers, the story of Southern California's water quests and water wars, and City-Makers: The Men who Transformed Los Angeles from Village to Metropolis during the First Great Boom, 1868-76. (In 1912, "Andy" Anderson became a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff and remarried in 1914; his career in law enforcement came to an end in March 1921 when he was stripped of his badge and arrested, along with decorated former L.A.F.D. chief Walter Lips, for taking a bribe to release a prisoner from jail. Found guilty the following April, Anderson was sentenced to a term of one to fifteen years at San Quentin)
  • Acquiring 1140 East Adams in 1916 was Aleck Chapman, variously described in records over the years as a junk collector, a junk dealer, and a peddler. Chapman, who with his wife Sarah had nine children, would occupy the house into the 1940s
  • On September 18, 1922, the Department of Buildings issued Mrs. Chapman a permit to add a second dwelling to the rear of the property to produce income. The 24-by-28-foot four-room building became 1140½ East Adams 
  • Aleck, Sarah—who was also sometimes also called Eva—and their son Reuben Chapman were enumerated in the 1930 Federal census as Yiddish-speaking, 25 years after Aleck's petition for naturalization in Chicago. Sarah, as her gravestone in the Home of Peace cemetery reads, died in Los Angeles on July 8, 1936, at the age of 70
  • On March 11, 1940, Aleck Chapman was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety to add a 10-by-20-foot storage building to the lot. By this time, Chapman and Reuben were living at 1140½, with the main dwelling being rented to Benjamin Alexander, who was the proprietor of a filling station at East 41st Street and Morgan Avenue. Alexander, his wife Cora, her daughter Zola Lewis, and six unrelated lodgers were in residence in the 1898 house
  • Aleck Chapman died in Los Angeles on February 6, 1943, and is buried alongside his wife
  • Under whose ownership is unclear, but the two dwellings at 1140 East Adams appear to have been rental properties until 1952, when the lot was acquired by Morris and Pearl Wilkerson, the latter the owner of Pearl's Café around the corner at 2619 Central Avenue. On December 17, 1952, the Department of Building and Safety issue Mrs. Wilkerson a permit for 1140 to allow for interior alterations and a general refurbishment
  • Morris Wilkerson died on February 13, 1972. 
  • After her husband's death, Pearl Wilkerson moved down to Hyde Park, retaining 1140 East Adams as rental property. On March 16, 1973, she was issued two permits by the Department of Building and Safety, one for 1140 and one for 1140½, pertaining to refurbishments to bring the buildings up to code. Around the same time Mrs. Wilkerson moved her café down to Florence Avenue near her new residence
  • Pearl Wilkerson died on December 17, 1987
  • It is unclear as to whether Pearl Wilkerson retained ownership of 1140 East Adams until her death; by 1989 and until at least 2003 the house was owned by Isaias and Luz Gonzalez, who on March 7, 1989, were issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety to add a bedroom. José and Maria Valeriano were in residence by 2005
Illustration: Private Collection