Chinese Angeleno Margaret Quon Lew began her oral history interview with this statement: “I was born in Los Angeles on 524 August Alley.” She added that she was born in the year 1917. Her recollections were recorded in 1986 by Suellen Cheng from the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California.
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| Image courtesy Los Angeles Public Library |
Where was August Alley located? How did the name originate?
Her transcript provided more clues: “The back part of the
Hop Sing Tong was on the August Alley side.” “The August Alley was a narrow
alley.”
This blogpost explores the area once bound along the west by
North Los Angeles Street (hereafter referred as North L.A. St.); northerly
Marchessault Street (today nonexistent); easterly Alameda Street; and on the south
by Ferguson Alley (gone).
A Proposed Union Terminal at Plaza
Margaret’s neighborhood was doomed before she was born. A
1915 headline in the Los Angeles Tribune read “Union Station Near Plaza
Endorsed by Roberts” referring to Councilman W.A. Roberts. The plaza being the
city’s historic core meant there were dilapidated structures, including the 1830
Olvera Adobe which was torn down the same year of Margaret’s birth. A 1920 Times
article underscored how the proposal would impact her community.
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| Los Angeles Times, February 22, 1920 Courtesy Newspapers.com |
“August Alley” on the Map
On an 1891 Dakin map, an alley did not exist due to the
configuration of the buildings, though there seemed to be pockets of interior open
spaces.
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| From Glen Creason's Chinatown on the Map Courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library |
The 1905 Baist’s atlas below showed an alleyway, unnamed. Soon two new structures would sandwich the 1838 Vicente Lugo adobe house at 520 ½ North L.A. St.: the “Fook Wo Lung Curio Co.” and the “Gee Ning Tong Block.”
Note: At least by 1908, “August Alley” was recognized by the
U.S. Post Office.
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| From Glen Creason's Chinatown on the Map Courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library |
From the 1921 Baist’s real estate atlas page, August Alley
is clearly on the map.
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| Courtesy David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries |
The 1930 Sanborn map also showed the alleyway.
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| From Glen Creason's Chinatown on the Map Courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library |
How “August Alley” Came About – and Surrounding Buildings
A Chinese Theater
From the 1891 map, one can imagine where the “future alley”
would appear, with its entrance on Marchessault Street, along the length of the
Chinese theater. This theater might have been the 2nd one to operate in Old
Chinatown, and this location may have begun in 1884. Though the balcony was
removed sometime after 1934, the entire building stood until the 1951 wrecking.
A Curio Business Corner
The unnamed alley in the 1905 map is aligned with a red corner lot at North L.A. St. and Marchessault (526-528 North L.A. St.) for which all the historic photos I have seen it appeared to be a two-story building with a distinctive parapet sign “Fook Wo Lung Curio Co.” However, newspaper articles and city directories alternately indicate the “China (or Chinese) Oriental Curio Co.” at that location in the earliest years starting on January 27, 1900. The owner, Yip Bow Yuen, described as a wealthy merchant and resident of 20 years, died in 1908.
In 1909 the “Fook Wo Lung Curio Co.” starts
appearing in historic reference sources and continuing throughout the teens,
twenties and early thirties. “Suie One F. Co.” takes over the location (which I
spotted in the 1934 city directory). “Suie One” stays here until the building
was tagged for demolition in 1951. It is still a thriving business today.
Note: An earlier store “Tong Sang” advertised a firecracker
sale of Chinese silk goods and merchandise in the Times in the summer of 1890.
They were here at 526 North L.A. St. probably in an original single-story
building and at least into 1897.
Lee Shing Properties
To the south of the former Lugo adobe were more Chinese businesses including a long-operating drug store, Gee Ning Tong, owned by druggist Lee Shing who was reported in the Times to have been in the city for 18 years and a total of 31 years in America. He decided to spend $12,000 for a modern structure, called the Gee Ning Tong Block, a 3-story, pressed brick building for retail and professional offices (510, 512 & 514 North L.A. St.).
The grand opening on January 25, 1906, coincided with the lunar new year. Lee’s
own shop, Gee Ning Tong, resumed to operate on the ground floor. Lee died in
1912, but the business continued for decades and into New Chinatown as a tenant
of Margaret and her husband.
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| Courtesy Herman J. Schultheis Collection, Los Angeles Photographers Collection, Los Angeles Public Library |
Lee expanded in 1907 by purchasing a single-story building
on Alameda Street from the Bauchet estate so he could complete a multi-story
addition to connect to the rear side of his other building. This effort likely
fortified “August Alley” with a dead end. On the 1921 Baist’s map, the notation
“Lee Shing Prop” can be seen.
Vicente Lugo Adobe
Lugo descended from settlers to Spain-held California. The
building became an important center of Chinese community life after 1890 and
housed a Buddhist temple, the Hop Sing Tong headquarters and businesses. The
Hop Sing Tong (the big clue provided by Margaret) had its address at 520 ½
North L.A. St., and other numbers corresponding to the adobe were 516, 518,
520, 522, 522 ½, and 524 (shown on the 1921 map).
But individual street numbers for “August Alley” are not
detailed on maps. Historical references indicate persons resided at 516, 516 ½,
518, and 522-524 August Alley. Update: hold on! The numbers appear on the 1930 Sanborn (purple) map: 518, 520, 524, 526. The apartments were in the converted old theater!
In late 1950 supporters rallied to save the adobe, the last
symbol and cultural monument of Old Chinatown. But they did not win against Christine
Sterling (the brainchild of the 1930 tourist attraction Olvera Street). The
impending erasure of nearby Ferguson Alley also captured public attention, but
August Alley remained invisible in the shadow of the Lugo adobe.
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| Next door to the Lugo house was the Fook Wo Lung Curio Co. building. Circa 1915 "August Alley" was behind these two buildings. Courtesy Ernest Marquez Collection, Huntington Library |
Ferguson Alley, and the Dragon’s Den
The 1905, 1921 and ca. 1930 maps all show Ferguson Alley.
From about 1897 onward Chinese lived here. The property was owned by William
Ferguson, an Arkansas settler from 1869.
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“Nov. 8, 1946 View is West into Ferguson Alley from N. Alameda St. L.A. Calif." Courtesy L.T. Holman Gotchy Collection, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California At the rear of the Fook Wo Lung Curio building (by 1934 occupied by Suie One F. Co.) was a basement that became social hot spot. It was next to "August Alley." See image below. The Dragon’s Den restaurant gained popularity after opening
in 1935 especially due its eye-catching artistic façade and interior murals
painted by Tyrus Wong and his cohorts from art school. Stories of the
restaurant and the renowned artist Wong were introduced to us through Lisa
See’s On Gold Mountain, the One Hundred-Year Odyssey of a Chinese-American
Family (1995) and filmmaker Pamela Tom’s documentary Tyrus (2015). Upon
arriving in the city, Tyrus’ first home after reuniting with his dad was on
Ferguson Alley.   The above photo is about 1950. Courtesy Harry Quillen Collection, Los Angeles Photographers Collection, Los Angeles Public Library. Who Owned the Land in Old Chinatown? Covered so far have been the neighborhoods west of Alameda
Street. On the east side of the street there were other parts of Old Chinatown
removed in the early 1930s to establish the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, known as Union Station, which opened in 1939. Those
areas became occupied by Chinese residents who moved or extended further away
from the plaza. The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 prompted new Chinese arrivals to the city, too. Streets included China Alley; Marchessault Alley; Mary Lane; and
Apablasa (Apablaza), Benjamin, Cayetano, Concha, Jeanette, Juan (John), and Napier
streets.
Along the “Union Station” vicinity, the land was owned by
the Apablasa family and the Mathew Keller estate. Deed maps indicate Caroline
and Alice Shafer inherited in 1891 from their father Mathew. The Shafers were
California-born 2nd generation Irish.  The above survey is from 1890. Note the Chinese theater on the corner of Marchessault Alley and Alameda. Courtesy Huntington Library. Returning back to the vicinity of “August Alley” and the
surrounding buildings, the landowner was Levi Newton Breed. He was a latecomer
to L.A. (1881), served as city councilman and subdivided in Boyle Heights where
today Breed Street runs. He died in 1908, and when his wife died two years
later his daughter Lillian May Moore inherited the property valued at $75,000.
In 1899 and 1900, newspapers reported Breed’s building
permits on Marchessault for repairs as well as $3,500 for a building in
September 1899. These details play into the next section on how "August Alley" might
have gotten the name. |
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| L.A. County Public Works map CF0209, 1890. Note in yellow highlight on the right side are two properties of L.N. Breed where "August Alley" stood. Highlighted in the center is a lot for Wm. Ferguson. To the right of that, see also two unhighlighted lots of Meyer Newmark and Delphina Varelas |
Did the Alley Name Originate from a Baker, a Judge
or an Architect?
I learned that the name August or Augustus or Agustin was
rather common among early L.A. settlers.
Was it attributed to Philadelphia-born August Ulyard who
arrived at the close of 1852, rented a place near the Plaza and then opened a
bakery?
Was the alley named for Judge Agustin Olvera? While he was
living he was graced with the naming of Olvera Street in 1873. He acquired an
1830 adobe on Marchessault Street that was not far at all from “August Alley,”
and the adobe was razed in 1917.
Or did the alley name somehow stuck because prominent
architect August Wackerbarth knew a lot of people through his clients and being
a Scribe (key officer) in the Masons fraternal organization?
Both Levi Newton Breed and William Ferguson were members of
the Masons.
Wackerbarth practiced as an architect in L.A. since the early
1880s. Breed was a client of Wackerbarth in a 1906 property at 308 South
Broadway.
Wackerbarth also had a Chinese customer: in 1900 he was the
architect for Chee Kong Tong Co. (a powerful fraternal group which had the
offshoot Bing Kong Tong) for a property on Apablasa Street.
He was also active in the L.A. County Pioneer Society, and
in 1926 on behalf of the Society he endorsed the Union Terminal at the Plaza
site. He died of a heart attack in 1931 and did not live to see the rise of Union Station.
My money bet is with August Wackerbarth.
The Legacy of Margaret Quon Lew
According to the oral history, Margaret married Tony Quon Lew at 20 years of age and started a retail business with her husband at 21. That was 1938 the year before Union Station’s grand opening. The Lews found opportunities in New Chinatown along North Spring Street.
Their ventures, which began with a market, then included investment properties, a restaurant and a theater in 1962 called Sing Lee. The theater provided a hub for Chinese opera fans, beauty pageants, and of course, motion pictures imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Now
the old theater space at 649 North Spring Street is undergoing its own stages
of life and death – new generations of public historians are keeping the stories
alive – especially Janet Louie, Harvard University Ph.d. candidate whose film
screening series, Echoes from Spring Street, is ongoing through March 22nd at the
Billy Wilder Theatre in the Hammer Museum. Read also Janet’s blog post on
the history of the Sing Lee Theatre and followed by UCLA Motion Picture Curator Todd Wiener’s efforts to save hundreds of film reels from destruction.
Addendum: Commission on Housing & Immigration; WPA Census
Records, 1939
Government authorities surveyed living conditions in 1915
and homed in on "August Alley" and vicinity:
The Work Progress Administration (WPA) sent out census
takers in 1939. Here are several records of "August Alley" and No. L.A. St. households from the WPA Household Census Cards and Employee Records, Los Angeles, University of Southern California Digital Library:
Fantastic Sources:
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California’s Digital Repository
Counter, Bill. Los Angeles Theatres Blogspot
Estrada, William David. The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space (University of Texas Press, 2008)
Greenwood, Roberta S. Down By the Station: Los Angeles
Chinatown 1880-1933 (Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, 1996) PDF available online
Kines, Mark Tapio. Los Angeles Street Names
Water and Power Associates Museum
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| Image was before 1934. August Alley on the right next to a Chinese theater along Marchessault Street. Courtesy Chinese Historical Society of Southern California |
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