From Gregory Paul Williams'
The Story of Hollywood:
"in 1902, the Janes house appeared on Prospect Avenue as a model home in the Whitley tract. With the same architect as the Whitley tract house now known as The Magic Castle, the Janses' Queen Anne Victorian cottage boasted hardwood floors, stained glass windows, large front and back yards, and the most modern of kitchens.
The Janes family bought the three-bedroom house in 1904 after arriving by train from Aurora, Illinois, where their father, Herman, had retired from the furniture business. Three sisters and a brother, Carrie, Mary Grace, Mabel, and Donald, came with their parents.
The Janes sisters, after inheriting the house from their parents, lived there to old ages. Originally, their nearest neighbor was a block away. By the time the last Janes died (Carrie in 1982) the house stood in the middle of a very seedy Hollywood Boulevard."
(From another chapter) "After Mary Grace's husband Ernest died in 1964, the Janes sisters rarely left their kitchen. Carrie slept in a window seat. Mary Grace made a bed above some cabinets while Mabel slept in a padded chair. In 1967, the Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce tried to get them to move again, insisting that their land was worth $500,000. The sisters kept the door bolted and refused to answer. Mary Grace told a reporter, 'Mr. Whitley built this house, and he told us it was the best house he'd ever built. There's nothing wrong with it.'"
(From another chapter) "Vacant since the last sister, Carrie, died in 1986, the house's new owner wanted it demolished for a mini-mall. Using CRA incentives, Hollywood Heritage worked to spare the house. In 1987, the structure was pushed back on the lot and restored as a visitor's center. A poorly executed, Janes-house-themed mall rose in front of it."
From the L.A. Times, September 15 1985:
http://www.latimes.com/