Quote:
Originally Posted by WS1911
USC Digital Archive
LA Herald 8-26-1874
LA Herald 6-28-1879
LA Herald 10-7-1879
This is a first post for me 
From the early 60s through the early 70s, I stopped in at the news store on 5th street around the corner from the Willoughby at least once a month. I’ve always liked the building but never knew its name until recently.
It does say “Bath.” The A.L. Bath Building was built in 1898. “Historic Hotels of Los Angeles and Hollywood” (2008) says that the 30-unit Hotel Willoughby opened there in 1898 and in 1917 the furnishings were all sold and the hotel closed.
I don’t know who A.L. Bath was, but I did find a few news snippets about him from the Los Angeles Herald from 1874 and 1879. He purchased the property at the southeast corner of Hill and 5th in 1874. I’d be interested to know what was on the property in the 24 years from 1874 to 1898. |
A. L. Bath was Albert L. Bath, born in Nova Scotia in 1829, he came to the US in 1851. in 1870 Mr Bath and his wife, who was 15 years younger, were living in Soquel, Santa Cruz County, CA where he is listed as being a carriage builder. They were living in Los Angeles by 1880 and was listed as being a wagon maker. They do not seem to have had any children. His wife Hannah apparently died between 1880 and 1900. He was a widower when he appears in the 1900 census as living at 508 S. Hill Street. His niece, Florence Dodge, also lived with him. He died in April of 1905 and is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery on Whittier Blvd.