Vintage postcards show L.A. neighborhoods that had restrictive housing covenants
Racist housing covenants kept Black people and others out of certain neighborhoods all around Southern California for many years.
Adams Heights, also called Sugar Hill, was the site of an early victory against restrictive housing covenants. The area’s large homes and lots are seen on this vintage postcard. (Patt Morrison / Los Angeles Times )
A home made of reinforced concrete commanded the northwest corner of then-West Adams Street and Western Avenue on a vintage postcard mailed in 1912. Today, that corner is home to a retirement housing and assisted livingcomplex. Theda Bara, a silent screen star, rented this home briefly in 1918. (Patt Morrison / Los Angeles Times)
Casa de las Rosas, at the corner of West Adams Boulevard and Hoover Street, was designed by Sumner Hunt, who, with his partners, designed the Bradbury Building, the Southwest Museum and dozens of homes. Over the years, this building has served many purposes, including a private school for girls, wartime military housing and a women’s shelter. The city of Los Angeles now owns the historic building and is turning it into housing for homeless veterans and a resource center for single parents and the unemployed. (Patt Morrison / Los Angeles Times )
In the 1880s, Dr. Leslie E. Keeley of Illinois was among the earliest medical men to call alcoholism a disease. Beyond that, his work was essentially quackery. He got rich from a national chain of alcoholism treatments (which included morphine and alcohol). The house was built in the late 1890s when Keeley moved to L.A. He died in 1900 and his widow sold it to Homer Laughlin, the pottery manufacturer who retired here. (Patt Morrison / Los Angeles Times)
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A Compton business leader’s home was printed on a postcard by “Moore Brothers, Compton California” when local postcard printing was rare. (Patt Morrison / Los Angeles Times)
A postcard mailed in 1957 shows a Compton retirement home. (Patt Morrison / Los Angeles Times)
A Long Beach-bound streetcar is seen in Compton on a black-and-white postcard. (Patt Morrison / Los Angeles Times)
