Thursday, April 2, 2009

Buying Real Estate in 1906

In a frustrating search to pin down the history of the Harbor Gateway (which will be a future post) I've come across some real estate ads dated May 1, 1906. They must be shared:

  • Alhambra Park Tract lots in the "latest and finest subdivision at Alhambra, $400 and up...You only pay quarter cash." The office was at 701 West 7th Street.

  • Vermont Avenue Square, SW corner of Vermont and Vernon: "The Largest and choicest subdivision in the southwest." $650 and up.

  • Huntington Park Junction Tract: "Where shrewd buyers are concentrating their investments."

  • FARM LANDS! These seem to be in Venice, sold by the Miller-Pike Land Co. in Los Angeles. $100 for ten acres ("no interest, no taxes"). Here's the clincher: The farmlands were already planted with alfalfa, and the buyers would get half the crop, without having to care for it that first season.

  • West Hollywood Boulevard Tract No. 2--these lots went for $800 and up, with a free ticket thrown in. Free ticket to what? The ad doesn't say.

There are more: Venice Gateway lots, for (I think) $500 and up, Hollywood Park Place (actually in the heart of Hollywood) going for $500 to $1500, Long Beach commercial sites at independent harbor being built...but the print on the copy becomes indecipherable fast.

1 comment:

Nancy Thyme said...

I publish a community newspaper in Harbor Gateway so let me know if you across anything for that area that would be good to publish.