Regarding the address below, does anybody know any details as to when and how house numbers were standardized citywide? From reproductions of relevant ads, directories, and other materials I've seen from the same general period, it seems to have been a hopeless hodgepodge. Some businesses and residents used modern addresses, i.e. nothing with fewer than three digits, while others continued to use two digits like the one below.
As late as 1926, the Avila House condemnation notice identified it as 24 - 26 Olvera, leading me to think that obscure alleys and other small streets were the last to change. But then Spring is certainly a major thoroughfare, isn't it? And this address was presumably just north of Temple, assuming that it was then the baseline for north and south addresses, as it is today.
Venice west of Main was allowed to remain aloof from the renumbering, but AFAIK residents and businesses everywhere else in the city fell in with the new order. (I don't count Chester Place since it's now a college campus, rather than an ordinary neighborhood.)
I've been wondering about this for many, many years, and have yet to come up with a single, solitary clue anywhere online, or elsewhere for that matter. I wouldn't know where to begin with offline sources. It's easy enough to find examples that suggest and indicate possibilities. But what I'd really like to know is how the decision came about and how it was implemented. Who advocated for it, and when?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
Here's a nice looking early business card.
J.T. Sheward
13 & 15 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, Cal.
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