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  • Built in 1928 on Lot 333 in Tract 8320
  • Original commissioner: building contractor David Perel
  • Architect: Theodore John Scott
  • On June 27, 1928, the Department of Building and Safety issued David Perel permits for a two-story, 11-room residence and a one-story, 40-by-22-foot garage at 207 South Hudson Avenue
  • It appears that David Perel intended 207 South Hudson as a speculative project, continuing to live with his family at 835 Westchester Place, which he had built in 1926 in the Wilshire Park neighborhood
  • Loren D. Sale purchased 207 South Hudson Avenue in 1929, moving from the house at 331 South Ardmore Avenue that he'd bought in 1910, another speculator's recently built project, in the Norwood Terrace subdivision north of Wilshire Boulevard
  • Loren Sale was president of Western Wholesale Drug Company. He had married Katherine Wilson back in her native Eau Claire on November 10, 1897, he bringing his bride west to Los Angeles, where he was in the drug business with his father Howard. In 1901, the H. M. Sale Drug Company was renamed Western Wholesale Drug Company. In 1928, the firm became McKesson-Western Wholesale Drug Company after its acquisition by McKesson-Robbins, which was buying up wholesalers across the country. Loren Sale became a vice-president and director of the combined operation, and no doubt received a price for his company that made him, or at least his wife, immediately wish to leave their longtime home at 331 South Ardmore Avenue for Hancock Park
  • The Sales bought 331 South Ardmore Avenue—né 431 before the city's renumberings to accommodate various annexations—in the Norwood Terrace subdivision soon after its completion in 1910. Norwood Terrace was one of dozens of Wilshire-corridor developments that were siphoning off the affluent from West Adams and Westlake, among other older districts; while still perfectly respectable, the neighborhood was somewhat déclassé by 1930, when the effects of the Depression began to affect it. Richer homeowners who wished to remain in central Los Angeles aspired to subdivisions such as Windsor Square and Fremont Place, but most prized was Hancock Park; after the Sales left 331 South Ardmore, it was immediately turned into a rooming house
  • Loren and Katherine Sale and their daughter Lorna—born, apparently, as "Lorena" on July 3, 1916, when her mother was 44—were sailing high in 1920s; annual trips to Hawaii were part of their routine. The year 1930 appears to have been pivotal; after settling into 207 South Hudson the family went to Europe for three months, arriving home in early September. While it may have been less in terms of finances, there would be decline setting in soon enough over the Sale household. Per the Evening Express of October 16, 1930, in a report of events early that morning, with Mr. Sale away on business: "Menacing the sleepy residents of the palatial residence of Loren D. Sale, wholesale drug company executive, at 207 South Hudson avenue in the exclusive Wilshires [sic] district with death if they started 'howling,' a 'well-dressed, youthful bandit' whose gentlemanly appearance belied his 'rough language,' early today held up Mrs. Sale at the point of a gun and made good his escape with jewelry and furs valued in excess of $15,000." Per the Express, the loquacious perp, sounding as though he had just seen a James Cagney film, seemed to have enjoyed delivering such lines as "Keep your mouth shut or I'll blow your gizzard out" and "Now you keep quiet until I get away or I'll blast you." Lorna remained asleep until the robber left and her mother screamed, also alerting a neighbor, who called the police. Within a few years, Loren Sale's health began to falter, though his precise problems are unclear. The Sales would remain at 207 South Hudson until not long after Lorna married oil executive Richard Spencer Bullis at St. James' Episcopal on June 19, 1937, with a small reception held afterward at 207. Katherine would soon be putting the house on the market and taking an apartment at The Talmadge at Wilshire and Berendo; her husband by this time seems to have become a permanent resident of a Pasadena hospital, Los Cerritos per the Times, where he died, five days shy of his 72nd birthday, on December 16, 1940. His Times obituary the next day stated that he had been ill for almost a decade
  • Soap and cosmetics manufacturer Abraham Solomon Nassour, his wife née Rhoda Khoury, and five of their nine children moved into 207 South Hudson Avenue in 1938; the family would retain ownership for decades. Two of their daughters and their husbands had built houses in Hancock Park five years before. Abraham and Rhoda Nassour and three of their eventual nine offspring had arrived in the United States from Syria in April 1900 and made their way to Denver. There and later in Colorado Springs—with, apparently, a few years in Houston in between—they opened dry-goods shops. By 1930 their sons Fred and William had moved to Los Angeles to establish Nassour Brothers, soap and cosmetics makers. In 1931, Abraham and Rhoda closed their Colorado Springs shop, which they tagged "The Up to Date Shop," selling ladies' apparel, hosiery, millinery, lingerie, art linens, and infant wear. On December 30, 1933, the Post-Record reported the formation of the Castilian Products Corporation, with Abraham as president, William as vice-president, and Fred as secretary-treasurer. Nassour Brother continued under new management. Abraham and Rhoda first rented 602 North Highland Avenue, at the northwest corner of Hancock Park, apparently from Hollywood makeup artist Ern Westmore. From 1934 to 1938 they would occupy 314 North McCadden Place, another Hancock Park house, and move from there to 207 South Hudson Avenue
  • Abraham Nassour died at 207 South Hudson Avenue on July 6, 1945. Still in possession of the property, Rhoda Nassour died at Good Samaritan Hospital on October 4, 1967. "A. Nassour" was still listed at 207 in the 1973 Los Angeles city directory. The house would be sold by the spring of 1974
  • Abraham and Rhoda Nassour's three daughters all married men by the name of Malouf. June 26, 1975, the Los Angeles Times ran a sizable feature titled "Three Nonstop Malouf Sisters." Victoria Nassour ("Vicci," born in 1899) and Marion Nassour (born in 1908) had married brothers Bill and Bert Malouf, respectively, also of Lebanese extraction, who had, with their brother Anees of 159 Hudson Place in Hancock Park, built their dress business into the nationwide chain of over 800 Mode O'Day stores. Florence Nassour married their cousin Thomas, who worked for Mode O'Day. In 1933 the Vicci and Marion and their husbands hired building contractor Robert Finkelhor to design Hancock Park houses: Vicci and Bill at 170 South June Street and Marion and Bert at 101 North McCadden Place. Florence and Tom Malouf were living with Vicci and Bill by 1940. The three sisters became known for their tireless volunteerism and philanthropy. In 1946 their brothers William and Edward began construction of the Nassour Studios, which quickly became popular for film and television production; in 1950 the brothers sold it to the Times/CBS broadcasting station KTTV
  • At some point, if not from the beginning, 207 South Hudson came to occupy two lots when Lot 333 was combined with Lot 334, adjacent to the north, creating a parcel of .8 acres; a tennis court was built on Lot 334 at the corner of West Second Street
  • By the spring of 1974, insurance executive Philip S. Sirianni and his wiife, née Janice Baker, were the owners of 207 South Hudson Avenue, and would be moving in with their six children, the youngest two years old
  • On April 19, 1974, the Department of Building and Safety issued P. S. Sirianni a permit for a small bay addition and a general refurbishment of 207 South Hudson Avenue. A permit issued on October 8, 1974, authorized the construction of a wine cellar in the basement. A 15-by-35-foot swimming pool was permitted on April 14, 1981
  • The property changed hands for $3,050,000 in July 1990
  • Attorney Andrew Friedman and his wife Judith were the owners of 207 South Hudson by 2010. Per permits issued by the Department of Building and Safety during 2010 and 2011, a new 73-foot-long pool was built, as was a new cabana, the garage was rebuilt or replaced, and the house's roof underlayment was renewed. The property appeared on the market by April 2013, priced at an ambitious $9,995,000. By June the price had been slashed by $1,000,000



Illustration: Private Collection