1571 West Adams Boulevard

PLEASE ALSO SEE OUR COMPANION HISTORIES
FOR AN INTRODUCTION TO ADAMS BOULEVARD, CLICK HERE




  • Built in 1907 on Lot 1 in Block D of the Adams Street Tract by developer and builder G. Frank Sloan
  • On July 31, 1907, the Department of Buildings issued a construction permit to Minnie E. Sloan, the builder's wife, for a two-story house with a nearly square footprint at 1571 West Adams. The budget was $2,900. Frank Sloan was just 30 years old but had been building houses in Los Angeles for several years; it was common for developers to pull permits in their spouse's name. Mr. Sloan, trained as a stationary engineer, is listed on the permit as architect as well as builder. Developers sometimes occupied a new project before selling it; the Sloans were listed at 1571 West Adams in the 1908 city directory. In February 1907, Frank Sloan had begun building 1581 West Adams two doors to the west; while occupying 1571, he began planning 1575 between it and 1581, beginning construction of that house in September 1908 
  • Insurance man Charles Eglinton Anderson purchased 1571 West Adams from Frank Sloan by early 1908. He moved into the house with his wife Minnie and their five sons, Harold, twins Robert and Wallace, Paul, and Edward. Mr. Anderson did not live long after moving into 1571; he died at home on January 6, 1911, at the age of 42, with his funeral being held at 1571 three days later
  • On March 11, 1913, the Los Angeles Herald reported that 1571 West Adams had been robbed. "In a third attempt within two months to discover the secret recess believed to conceal diamonds valued at $10,000...burglars wrecked a valuable collection of Sheraton, Chippendale and other early English furniture, ripped open mattresses, forced drawers, tore up carpets and demolished everything that gave promise of hiding the jewels, according to a report to the police yesterday." The diamonds were actually in a downtown bank vault, but the thief made off with silver, coins, and jewelry valued at $2,500. "Mrs. Anderson reported that her son, Edward, aged 10 years, heard the burglars when he returned from school. While he was trying to find his elder brother's revolver the intruder fled."
  • Minnie Anderson would remain as a widow at 1571 West Adams until not long before her death on January 31, 1934. Wallace, Paul, and Edward still lived with her by the time of the 1920 census; by that of 1930, Robert, a life-insurance salesman recently married to Mercedes Aguayo, was in residence with his mother, as was Wallace. By 1933, the Andersons had left the house 
  • Gilbert Martin Culton acquired 1571 West Adams by mid-1937; a building-repair contractor, Culton was responsible for adding storefronts to the house that year
  • On September 8, 1937, the Department of Building and Safety issued Gilbert Culton a permit for a one-story, 16-by-34-foot addition to 1571 West Adams, one built to the corner of Adams and Budlong Avenue; also indicated on the permit is authorization to stucco the original dwelling. On September 16, 1937, Culton pulled another permit to increase the size of the storefont addition by another 16 feet to the west, resulting in the current configuration. It was at this time that the address 1573 became associated with the property
  • On November 18, 1937, the Department of Building and Safety issued Gilbert Culton a permit to build a 20-by-22-foot garage on the property
  • Gilbert Culton, his wife Gera, and their three sons and daughter did not live at 1571/1573 West Adams but rather at 1826 West 22nd Street; Culton moved his business, Properities Maintenance Company, to 1571 West Adams from Venice Boulevard. (Properties Maintenance specialized in building repairs and in the control of termites, beetles, and fungus.) The building's storefronts were occupied by businesses that included Ted's Paint Store (operated by Culton's friend Theodore Meinecke) and the office of neighborhood real estate broker Harry B. Goodman. By 1948, Gilbert and Gera Culton had moved into the house, which was now designated 1573½
  • On July 21, 1950, the Department of Building and Safety issued Gilbert Culton a permit to officially create a two-family house out of the original single-family dwelling
  • Gilbert and Gera Culton left 1571/1573 West Adams in 1956; ownership of the property passed to Maria de Jesus Fernandez. The Cultons were listed at 1573½ in the 1956 city directory, with their Properties Maintenance Company at 1571. By 1960, the business migrated next door to 1575, where it was listed in the 1960 and '61 directories. Occupying the corner store (1571) was chiropodist Herbert M. Fairs, whose advertisements in the Los Angeles Sentinel touted his specialty in removing corns and calluses. At 1573 from at least 1956 was the El Molino Delicatessen
  • The El Molino Delicatessen, owned by Maria de Jesus Fernandez, would occupy the space at 1573 for decades
  • On January 24, 1958, the Department of Building and Safety issued a permit, with the El Molino Mexican Delicatessen listed as owner, for the placement of the rooftop sign above the entrance to 1573
  • On August 2, 1984, the Department of Building and Safety issued a permit to Maria de Jesus Fernandez of 1573½ West Adams for a storage room attached to west side of the rear garage
  • On April 9, 1988, the Department of Building and Safety issued a permit to Maria de Jesus Fernandez for the addition of security bars
  • On November 9, 1988, the Department of Building and Safety issued a permit to M. Fernandez of 1573 West Adams for the replacement of five windows
  • A banner sign advertising the El Molino Market was in place on the façade of the storefront addition to the original 1571 West Adams as late as January 2019; by May of that year, the banner sign was gone and the storefronts painted beige. As of June 2020 the rooftop sign, still advertising what had become the El Molino Market—though by now defunct—was still in place


In March 2009, the big 1937 storefront additions to the 1907 house at 1571 West Adams still bore
evidence of its occupancy by a Mexican delicatessen opened in the 1950s, as well as more
contemporary artwork. The market was still in operation at the time the image at
top was made in the spring of 2011. By March 2019, most of the store's
signage was gone, stores and house newly painted light beige.



Illustrations: Private Collection