Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
Have we seen this exceptional photograph of the Abbey boarding house on NLA?
(I searched the archives and couldn't find it)
from Shorpy....
" For Aunt Annie, Compliments of Mayme". My grandmother had this photo of a boarding house in Los Angeles in her photo collection.
I suspect the photo was given to her grandmother, but I never heard any stories about the photo - I first saw the photo long after she died.
Taken by "Mr. B. Howard, View Photographer, 147 South Main St., Los Angeles CAL. I managed to figure out the location using clues in the picture."
http://www.shorpy.com/node/6174?size=_original
" The address on the building is 232; the sign behind it for the "City of Paris" store suggests this is 232 S. Hill St.
The gothic building behind and to the right would be the old City Hall. This site would have been a block from the Angel's Flight train up Bunker Hill.
There's lots of photos of the old mansions of Bunker Hill that got converted into boarding houses, then flop houses, and finally torn down by the 1950's.
I suspect this one disappeared sooner than others because it was in downtown proper." |
In 1895, the proprietor of The Abbey, furnished rooms at 232 S Hill, was Mrs William R Curtis. There's also a Miss Mayme C Curtis listed among the residents, which ties in with the "Compliments of Mayme" comment. Mayme becomes a milliner by 1898. The 1899 CD lists Mrs Helen U Kernodle as proprietor of The Abbey, although Mayme (shown as Mamie) is still a resident. The last listing I can find for a hotel/furnished rooms as 232 S Hill is 1904, when the proprietor's name is now spelled Helen U Kernodie, and she's listed as the widow of Harvey G (her husband was called Harry in 1899).
By 1905, The Abbey was replaced by the Blanchard Music and Art Building, which extended from 232 S Hill Street through to 235 S Broadway.
I was initially thrown by the reference to the "City of Paris" store, until I realized that the poster had translated the more familiar "Ville de Paris" name.
Here's a circa 1894 view from the Crocker Mansion, which shows City Hall and the side of Ville de Paris. Assuming that The Abbey was standing when this picture was taken, it would have been just off the left side, two lots north of the church. In the center, the newly completed Bradbury Building and Stimson Block dominate their smaller neighbors. There's an extensive article on both buildings in the August 13, 1893 edition of the Los Angeles Herald at
the California Digital Newspaper Collection.
USC Digital Library
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(it almost looks like they're constructing an elevated track)
500 East First Street?
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