[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Thanks, FW! I really appreciate it.

The house-mover in question appears to be William A. Tibbetts. "Tibbetts" is a name which can vary infinitely in records, I've found; but in the 1884-1885 CD I find him as "Tibbetts W.A.", at 33 Temple; and, in 1888, "Tibbetts William A." residing on the east side of North Chestnut "nr Pasadena Av". By 1902, he's "Tibbits Wm A" at 458 N Avenue 121 (if it's the same person) . . . and . . . I didn't check any further . . .

Ah-ha . . . Mr. Tibbetts didn't just move houses, he also moved trees, like the palm he moved from San Pedro Street to in front of SP's Arcade Depot:



July 27, 1888, Los Angeles Times @ Newspapers.com



Here's a close-up of a photo of the palm tree being dug up to be moved. I think this has to be Mr. Tibbetts . . .



BEHR-0054 by Martin Behrman @ CA State Library


. . . because the same guy is definitely on the far right:

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

180462 by C. C. Pierce at Huntington Digital Library

Oh and I recently found out where another of those San Pedro Street palms ended up. This is 1342 West Adams, right GW?:



("Bishop home on Adams St. / Old Palm moved from 3rd + San Pedro.")

uclalsc_94_171_01_014 /Hazard-Dyson Los Angeles Photograph Album, Page 14 @ UCLA Digital Library


P.S. I found a better copy of the image at another part of the UCLA site:



UCLA Digital Library