This tourist postcard touts a legend, not fact. Gen. John C. Fremont, the ardent self-promoting Army officer, politician and explorer of the West, did not live or keep his headquarters in this adobe on South Main Street. It was built in 1856 by future Civil War Union officer Henry Hancock. Before the war, Hancock was the surveyor for a number of rancheros establishing their legal claim to the land. Hancock became a ranchero himself, holding Rancho La Brea, site of the tar pits and much of future Hollywood and Hancock Park, and co-owning Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas, now modern-day Beverly Hills. The adobe is no longer standing and is believed to have been near the corner of Main Street and what is now 14th Street. (Patt Morrison / Los Angeles Times)