609 East Adams Boulevard

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  • Built in 1904 on Lot 2 of Block B of Culver's Adams Street Subdivision of the Shorb Homestead by retail clothier Simon Isaacs; the building permit was issued to Simon's wife, Rebecca, during the last week of September 1904. Mrs. Isaacs had purchased the lot the month before from real estate investor Joshua G. Gardner (Gardner was the father of noted stage actor Gilbert E. Gardner, who married an actress member of the Banning family and was building 2721 Wilshire Boulevard at the same time the Isaacses were building 609 East Adams)
  • The contractor for 609 was Albert L. Parker, until recently in partnership with his brother, Charles, as Parker Brothers, now on his own
  • By April 15, 1907—the day that the publisher of the city directory completed its canvass for that year—609 East Adams was occupied by a new owner. While her family would own it into the 1930s, Anna Fellner would live in the house with various family members only until 1915, after which it was rented for the next 20 years
  • Mrs. Fellner's first husband, Louis Theobald, had died in 1888. On October 19, 1897, their son, Victor Hugo Theobald, married Miss Katie Fellner; on July 25, 1899, six weeks after her daughter Sophia died, Hugo's widowed mother married Katie's twice-widowed father. On the evening of the Fourth of July of the following year, a streetcar struck the Fellners' buggy as the couple traveled south on Union Street near Pico. Two months after Frederick died of complications from his injuries on September 10, Anna filed suit against the Los Angeles Railway for the equivalent of 1.25 million in today's dollars, citing the loss of her husband and his pain and suffering, as well as her own resulting disabilities     
  • In 1915, Anna moved in with Victor and Katie at 4825 South Wilton Place; the family retained ownership of 609, renting it to various tenants
  • On October 23, 1930, Hugo Theobald was issued a building permit to replace the roof of 609
  • Anna Wilhelmina Meier Theobald Fellner died in Los Angeles at the age of 92 on January 18, 1932
  • An assistant gardener with the City Parks Department, Fred A. Brown, and his wife, Luella, a nurse, were listed in the city directory at 609 from 1930 to 1934
  • Electrician Manuel Izaguirre was listed at 609 in the 1935 city directory; he was still living there when he married in June 1941. Izaguirre and his wife, Grace, were listed in the directory through at least the 1942 issue
  • By October 21, 1949, a Mrs. Reed had acquired 609; on that date she was issued a building permit to add a 20-by-22-foot three-room addition to the rear (northwest) corner of the house, turning it into a duplex. Mrs. Reed was issued a certificate of occupancy on February 20, 1950; she appears to have then moved into the new apartment, addressed 609½
  • A building permit issued on January 23, 1988, for the addition of security bars refers to 609 as a two-unit building; a permit issued on September 19, 2002, notes that is it now a single-family dwelling


A youthtful 65-year-old Frederick Fellner married Anna Meier Theobald on
July 25, 1899, two weeks shy of her 60th birthday; the couple is seen
here in a photograph made to commemorate their wedding day.




Illustrations: Private Collection; Ann Tindall/Find A Grave