Been vacationing in
the LA area this week and as I've been driving back and forth between cities,
my mind wandered to the family history filing cabinet in my brain. My Roper family lived in Palo Alto, Long
Beach and Los Angeles; my mom Marjorie lived in Downey before I was born. I wondered if I could find the houses but
couldn't remember the addresses.
My first test was to
see if I could remember the location of my cousins' house from 30 years
ago. I told the GPS the address and sure
enough, that was the house. They live in
a different house/area now but it was a bit rewarding to pull that dusty piece
of information out of my half-a-century-old brain!
So, that small
victory in hand I pulled up my genealogy files to see if I could find addresses
for the Roper homes. Thanks to census
records from the 1940 and earlier (1950's aren't available yet) I could pull up
the addresses for 6 homes of the Roper family, including one for my Dad in Los
Angeles and my mom (before she met my dad) in Downey.
Thanks to the magic
of technology, online realty sites and GPS, I plotted a route to see the 4
Roper homes in Long Beach; all along the waterfront. (I'm thankful my friend
was up for a drive/walk before dinner!)
312 Roswell Avenue, Long Beach
Photo
taken from Redfin
House
built in 1922
2
bed, 2 bath, 1319 sq. ft.
(lot
size 4298 sq. ft.)
Belmont
Heights / Alamitos Heights
Home
of James & Louise Roper 1930 and 1940 census listing
The
photo above was taken December 2009; today the house looks like this
The
next house on the route was
2739 Ocean Avenue (now East Ocean Blvd)
No photo available but the link is https://binged.it/2v2tnJP
4
bed, 2 bath, 2,690 sq. ft.
(lot
size .25 acres)
Built
in 1919, renovated in 1921, 2
story
Home
of Henry & Bessie Roper 1940 Long Beach Census,
Home
of James & Ella 1930 Long Beach Census
How
it looked in the 1920's
How
it looks today
The
basic structure of the house is unchanged except for the scalloping on the
roofline. The porta cache is still
intact, the lions and steps are the same.
The scrollwork above the front windows are gone however there are
squares of similar scrollwork in plaster above the windows. I nearly walked up to the front door to show
the owners their house from nearly 90 years ago…
The
next house was listed in the 1920 Long Beach Census as
2119 Ocean Avenue (now 2119 E. Ocean Blvd)
1
bedroom, 1 bath apartment
No
other information available
Home
of James & Ella, Clyde & Leonard 1920 Long Beach Census
It
appears to have been a home at one time that has been converted into 4
apartments; 2 upstairs and 2 down.
Here's
how it looks now
The
two center doors (I believe) go to upstairs apartments (2119 and 2121); the two
side doors to the downstairs apartments.
The
last home wasn't really a home but has been a hotel for most of its life.
200 East Ocean Boulevard (Breakers Hotel of Long
Beach)
176
unit, 14 story Hotel
Built
in 1926
Home
of Leonard Eugene in both 1930 and 1940 (listed as “Hilton) Long Beach Census.
Wikipedia
lists development in 1925 by Fred B Dunn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakers_Hotel_(Long_Beach,_California)
It
was "The Breakers" from 1926 - 1938; at this point it was purchased
by Conrad Hilton. It remained a Hilton
hotel until 1947 when it became "The Wilton". It has changed hands many times since then
and been a hotel and a retirement/senior home; designated a historic landmark
in 1989 it is set to once again become "The Breakers" and be a
boutique hotel.
Not
a great photo but here is the current property
From
the waterfront (in 1920)
Today
I drove to my mom's house in Downey and took a photo of how it looks
today. I'll have to look through old
photos to see if I have a "before" photo but here it is
today
9711 Wiley Burke, Downey
9711 Wiley Burke, Downey
According
to Trulia it was built in 1951 and is 1,293 sq. ft with 3 bedrooms and 2
bathrooms. My mom was listed in the 1953
City Directory (not census) as living here under her first married name.
