1500 West Adams Boulevard
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- Built in 1902 on Lot 2 of G. H. Fruhling's Romeo Place Tract by Reverend Alexander C. Smither
- On January 26, 1902, the Los Angeles Times reported that Reverend Smither had just purchased the unimproved Lot 2 for $2,600 and had plans to build a $7,000 house on the site; on February 6, the Times reported that it was in fact Reverend Smither's widowed mother-in-law, Sarah E. Clough, who had purchased the lot from developer George H. Fruhling. On September 15, 1902, the Times reported that Reverend Smither was in the process of having the house built, to be addressed 1500 West Adams Street
- Born in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1865, Alexander Campbell Smither arrived in Los Angeles in 1890 to become pastor of the Temple Street Christian Church, which, after a move to a new sanctuary at the northwest corner of Hope and 11th streets in 1894, became the First Christian Church. Reverend Smither married Gertrude Clough in 1891; their son Chester Smither was born on June 21, 1894
- A second son was born at home on July 13, 1906; he died there two days later
- A serial daylight burglar entered 1500 West Adams on the afternoon of April 25, 1909, making off with jewelry and cash
- By 1909, Reverend Smither had begun pursuing more secular extracurricular activities including real estate investment; in 1909 he built the 21-room Nevada Apartments in the Westlake district. He left 1500 West Adams and the pulpit of First Christian Church in 1911, moving his family to St. Louis, where he became the editorial and business manager of the Christian Board of Publication. (The Smithers—along with Mrs. Clough—were back in Los Angeles by 1920, with Alexander Smither, apparently wearing his clerical collar only on the side, forming the Smither Building & Investment Company with his son. Interestingly, per the July 1955 issue of Confidential magazine, "gospel minister" Smither was the officiant at actor Clark Gable's marriage to his first of five wives, acting coach Josephine Dillon, on December 13, 1924)
- A. C. Smither sold 1500 West Adams to real estate operator Harry B. Goodman. On December 16, 1911, Goodman placed an advertisement in the Herald offering the house for rent; on August 30, 1912, an ad in the Express offered furniture for sale at 1500 West Adams and a lease of the partly furnished house
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| As described in the Herald on December 16, 1911 |
- By mid 1914, 1500 West Adams was owned by the Conservative Investment Company, referred to in the press as one of the largest apartment house operators in the country. On July 24, 1914, the Department of Buildings issued the Conservative Investment Company a permit to add a sleeping porch to the building
- Nine unrelated individuals were listed at 1500 West Adams in the 1915 city directory; by late 1918, advertisements began to appear in the press, such as one in the Express on November 2, reading "Mother and Daughter from New York have opened a first-class home in fashionable part of West Adams; board and room reasonable, gentlemen preferred." Mother and daughter were the widows Isabel Reed and Mabel Lowenstein—one or both possibly divorcées, "widow" often being used as a euphemism for the condition. The ladies were renting the house from its owner, and by the time of the enumeration of the 1920 federal census on January 5 were hosts to 14 boarders. Mrs. Reed and Mrs. Lowenstein left 1500 West Adams later that year
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| As seen in the Times, November 9, 1915 |
- Harriet A. Canfield Graff was the owner of 1500 West Adams by late 1920. Having arrived in Los Angeles in 1911, Mrs. Graff was a already a notorious Angeleno, in 1915 having been accused of attempting to obtain insurance money by burning down the apartment house at 840 South Flower Street upon which she held the lease. Mrs. Graff had been living north of Boston in 1910 with her then-husband, Charles B. Canfield, and their two-year-old son Charles Jr. Mr. Canfield appears to have died in Los Angeles in December 1911; soon after, his widow acquired the lease on the Flower Street building, renaming it the Canfield Hotel. On November 9, 1915, complete with a large drawing of Mrs. Canfield, the Times ran a lengthy article carrying the headline and subheadings "INSURANCE ON GUESTS IN DEATH-TRAP HOTEL: Indemnity Policy Issued to Landlady Charged with Arson Attempt; Writer of Verses and Epigrams of Sentiment, Alleged Author of Horrifying Scheme, is Believed Mentally Deranged and User of Drugs—Purchase and Disposal of Distillate in Building Traced. Accused of Amazing Incendiary Plot. Insurance on Guests." With Mrs. Canfield having taken out a $10,000 policy on Friday, November 5, effective immediately, the police found, on Sunday night after a tip—could it have been the stench?—93 gallons of distillate and 10 gallons of gasoline scattered in cans as bombs around the building. The perp was taken to City Jail. Mrs. Canfield's sordid history and strange character, her poetic bent and her temper, were outlined extensively in the press; her lease on 840 South Flower was canceled and the building renamed the Jean Hotel. How long Mrs. Canfield spent in jail is unclear; conflicting reports have it that her sanity was questioned but that she was found not to be impaired and also that she was ultimately acquitted of attempted arson by reason of insanity. She may have been a vulnerable woman, easily manipulated into the deed—in September 1916 she filed a $35,000 suit against the owners of what was now The Jean, and against her own her attorneys, charging conspiracy to defraud her out of the lease. The press (if not the court) seems to have dropped the case until September 1921, when it was recounted after a new husband, William T. Graff, charged her with stealing $6,500 worth of his securities and forging his name to sell them. Having married Mr. Graff in September 1920, Harriet may have used these purloined securities to finance her purchase of 1500 West Adams at around the time of the wedding. Graff divorced her after his lawsuit. Reverting to her first husband's surname despite its notoriety, Harriet, ever crafty, managed to retain ownership of 1500
- On March 11, 1924, the Department of Buildings issued Harriet A. Canfield a permit to add additional partitions to the interior of 1500 West Adams; the house was described as a "rest home" on the document. On the following September 4, Mrs. Canfield was issued a certificate of occupancy for an 8-unit, 18-room "apartment house." On January 5, 1925, she was issued a permit to build an eight-car garage at the rear of, and the full width of, the 69.5-by-150-foot lot
- On January 24, 1932, the Los Angeles Times reported that an early morning fire at 1500 West Adams caused eight families to flee their beds, with the L.A.F.D. then fighting the flames for three hours. The article described the house as being "in years gone by...one of the palatial residences of the Wesr Adams district...being used recently as a rooming house." There seems to be no indication that Mrs. Canfield had finally succeeded in her 1915 scheme on Flower Street, but the house would soon be demolished and replaced with a filling station owned by her
- On May 18, 1932, what was now called the Department of Building and Safety issued Harriet Canfield a permit to demolish the burned shell of 1500 West Adams as well as the seven-year-old garage. Curiously, a demolition permit was issued jointly to an Ethel Roddan and an J. F. Berry on June 27, 1932, for the same burned property, but it was Harriet Canfield who would be redeveloping the lot
- On June 19, 1934, Harriet Canfield was issued a permit to build a new filling station at the southwest corner of Adams (redesignated from Adams Street to Adams Boulevard in the mid-1920s) and Catalina (the renamed Romeo Street). Other businesses opened at 1500 West Adams as well, but the service station was a Richfield outlet as late as 1962, and automotive services occupied the corner until recently
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| Brown & Sons occupied the former site of a 1902 house at 1500 West Adams for many years from 1968; on its lot is what appears to be the filling-station office—the cubical structure seen at middle-right in the 2018 view above—that was built in 1934, two years after the Reverend A. C. Smither residence burned down. |
