824 East Adams Boulevard

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  • Built in 1904 on Lot 22 in Grider & Dow's Adams Street Tract by William Ward Boswell, a mining superintendent who was moving from 807 East Adams, which he had bought in January 1902
  • Mr. Boswell's brother, Albert B. Boswell, a traveling salesman, built 818 East Adams next door in late 1902
  • W. W. Boswell died at Julian, California, on January 10, 1906, after a cave-in at the High Peak gold mine the day before 
  • Fannie Boswell retained ownership of 824 East Adams after the death of her husband, renting rooms to various individuals before remarrying. On September 15, 1909, she married German-born machinist Arthur Otto Zwalina, who was nine years younger and who, although in the United States since 1883, was not yet a citizen. Under the immigration laws of the time vis-à-vis marriage, Fannie was forced to renounce her U.S. citizenship and assume that of Zwalina. (He claimed U.S. citizenship on World War I draft records owing to his father's naturalization, but later court records indicate otherwise)
  • The Zwalinas sold 824 East Adams to Earl M. Champion in 1912; Champion was the second vice president and general superintendent of the Southern California Hardwood & Manufacturing Company
  • On January 28, 1914, the Department of Buildings issued Earl Champion a permit to add one room to the house
  • The Champions appeared to be considering a move from 824 East Adams in 1917; that February, classified advertisements ran in the Herald offering to lease the house, furnished. Instead, the family remained, with Champion's widowed mother, Frances Champion, who had been living next door with her son Albert, moving into a small dwelling at the rear of the lot later addressed 824½. Earl Champion had become manager of the California Aviation Company, which had been ramping up production of planes for the war effort; by late 1919, he and his family, with the exception of son Milton, were living in Highland Park, Michigan, where he was working as an efficiency manager for, it seems, the Ford Motor Company, whose main Model T assembly plant was in Highland Park. The family was counted there in a rented house in the Federal census enumerated on January 3, 1920
  • On August 16, 1919, a large auction advertisement had run in the Times offering all furniture in the house at 824 East Adams for sale—including a combination pool and billiard table—"as owner is leaving immediately for the East." In the 1920 Federal census enumerated on January 3, Frances Champion was listed at 824½ East Adams with her grandson Milton; the main house was being rented by city fireman Cecil B. West and his wife, two daughters, two sons, and two unrelated roomers


An undated vintage view of 824 East Adams before its porches were enclosed


  • Cecil B. West died at 824 East Adams on February 18, 1921; his gravestone at Inglewood Park Cemetery reads "Cecil Budd West—L.A.F.D."
  • After the death of Frances Champion on February 19, 1923, 824 East Adams was sold to mechanic James C. Reherd and his wife Nellie, who had been living at and offering furnished rooms at 762 East 10th Street. The Reherds would have perhaps two dozen or more individuals cycling in and out of 824 East Adams during the 1920s and '30s. After James Reherd died on May 6, 1934, Nellie remained at 824 until 1940, when she sold it to Sylvester and Olivia Smith. The house now had a name: The Olivia Apartments 
  • Byron R. Ellis, Olivia Smith's son by a prior marriage, was living with his mother and stepfather at 824 East Adams when he married Geraldine Solomon in January 1941; their daughter Patti Marie Ellis was born on the following October 27. Patti Marie Ellis became an actress; she appeared in, among other productions, Bright Road (1953) with Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte and had a recurring role as Arbadella Jones, Amos's daughter, in the television series "Amos & Andy." In 1958 she was presented at the Links Cotillion; in 1967, now married with three sons, she became the first African-American ground hostess for T.W.A., based at Los Angeles International Airport


Its porches now closed in, 824 East Adams Boulevard had become
a rooming house. Owner Nellie Reherd appears to be the lady
with the broom standing with tenants alongside her dog.


  • After Sylvester Smith died on March 1, 1946, Mrs. Smith and the Ellises remained at 824 East Adams until at least 1956. By 1960 the Ellises were living at 2180 West Adams Boulevard, which had become a rooming house; it seems that the Ellises may have been managing that house as they had 824
  • By 1960, 824 East Adams was owned by Maggie Rush. On May 9 of that year she was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety to carry out interior work
  • On November 29, 1962, the Los Angeles Sentinel reported the death of Armstead Booker at 824 East Adams Boulevard. After an argument broke out between Mr. Booker and his common-law wife, Lenora Vivian Canady, in their apartment, number 5B, as he was preparing Thanksgiving dinner for friends, Ms. Canady plunged a butcher knife into his back. The guests extracted the knife; as they led Booker to the front porch to await an ambulance, his wife beat him on the head repeatedly with a frying pan. Mr. Booker died on the porch before medical help arrived
  • By 1970, 824 East Adams, despite its history as a multi-unit building, was classified by the city as a single-family dwelling, as it had been built in 1904. After its acquisition by Vera Lee Dunn, the Department of Building and Safety issued a permit on January 26, 1970, for a "change from 1 to 2 family dwelling...no structural changes." The building was now addressed 824-826 East Adams. Ms. Dunn still owned the house 35 years later; she was issued a permit for a new roof on May 2, 2005
  • By 2010, a new owner was issued permits for a major renovation, bringing  a historic house of unusual design back to prominence in the streetscape, its monitor-style dormer continuing as a landmark in the 800 block of East Adams Boulevard


Illustrations: Private Collection