1559 West Adams Boulevard
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- Built in 1898 on a parcel comprised of Lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Block E of the Adams Street Tract by Mary A. Colgan, wife of furniture dealer Neil Colgan; house relocated in 1938 to the rear of the parcel
- On December 28, 1897, the Los Angeles Evening Express reported that Mary Colgan had hired Abe H. Haas, then working in the office of architect Robert B. Young, to build her a two-story frame residence at the northwest corner of Adams Street and Budlong Avenue budgeted at $2,640. This amount was reported three days later in the Evening Express as $3,000. On January 21, 1898, the Times reported that the house would have nine rooms
- Neil and Mary Colgan arrived in Los Angeles in the late 1880s, with Mr. Colgan teaming up with established new and second-hand furniture dealer Henry Santelmann. After his partner left for San Francisco in 1890 to go into the liquor business, Colgan took over the operation, which would have various addresses along Main Street and elsewhere in the city and be run by his family for over 40 years. The Colgans were also real estate investors; they had—presumably at the same time they acquired Lots 1-4 in Block E of the Adams Street Tract—purchased the entire easterly blockfront of Budlong Avenue between Adams and West 25th Street, a parcel of Lots 5-13 in Block E, which they sold in December 1901
- On January 16, 1907, the Herald reported that the Colgans had just sold 1559 West Adams to attorney George D. Howland, whose family would remain in the house for the next 33 years. George Howland had been born in Troy, New York, in 1861, his family moving west in the '70s; Howland was graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1879. He attended Cal and began his career as the principal of schools in Glendale, Wilimington, and Los Angeles before enrolling at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, where he was admitted to the bar in 1890. He opened an office back home and settled into a house at the foot of Bunker Hill
- George and Annie Howland weathered the Depression in their declining neighborhood, in 1938 cutting a deal with Safeway Stores, Inc., to redevelop their four-lot parcel containing 1559 West Adams. That year, the house was pushed back to the parcel's Lot 4 where, turned 90 degrees to face west and narrowed slightly, it became 2512 Budlong Avenue. 1559's two-story stable remained in its original position, as it does today
- On September 14, 1938, the Department of Building and Safety issued Safeway Stores, Inc., a permit for a 50-by-110-foot store building on the 45-by-135-foot Lot 3 (plus a five-foot longitudinal strip of Lot 2) of the Howland parcel. This building was designed by Frank L. Stiff and still stands, addressed 1549 West Adams. The metal folding front doors of the building's original open-market design were replaced with glass in 1947; in 1961, with Safeway closed, the building became home to the Intime nightclub. Before long, in March 1962, the Intime was raided by the vice squad, which arrested 26 patrons on gambling charges. The next year, after more raids, the club became an outlet of Hudson shoe stores and then of Hudson discount stores; by 1975 it had become an automotive service center, which it has been in recent years
- On October 31, 1938, the Department of Building and Safety issued a permit for the relocation of 1559 West Adams to face Budlong Avenue. The document called for a new foundation and for the narrowing of two side porches to fit on its new 45-foot-wide lot
- George and Annie Howland were enumerated at 2512 Budlong Avenue in the 1940 federal census taken on April 29 and appear in the 1940 and '41 city directories there. It appears that the Howlands were now renting the house from the Safeway company. The couple used a new address in Echo Park when registering to vote for the fall 1940 elections
- Ownership of 2512 Budlong Avenue until 1949 is unclear; a number of names are listed as living simultaneously at the address in city directories and on voter rolls during the '40s despite its continued official classification as a single-family dwelling
- Agustin and Isabel Estevez were the owners of 2512 Budlong Avenue and its rear building by early 1949. The Department of Building and Safety issued the Estevezes two permits in January 1949 to repair fire damage and to officially convert the residence into a duplex. It appears that the stable building had also by this time been converted to residential use
- On July 18, 1968, the Department of Building and Safety issued a demolition permit for 2512 Budlong Avenue; it is noted on the document that the house was by this time a three-unit apartment building. Its owner is noted as a Harriett Canister of 1030 West 81st Place
- The two-story original stable of 1559 West Adams remains where it was built in 1898; it now carries the 2512 Budlong address. On April 13 1982, the Department of Building and Safety issued an Arturo Estevez (who does not seem to be related to Agustin and Isabel Estevez) a permit to add a shed-roof one-room addition to front of the building. On May 21, 1993, a permit was issued for fire-damage repairs indicating the owner of 2512 as a Mr. Lee, whose address is listed as that of the former Safeway building. In recent years the owners of the 122-year-old structure have been Jae H. and Jung S. Lee, who also own the Safeway/Intime/Hudson building, the façade of which reads "J & J Auto Center"
