The Street Seen: Trask-Kyte House
2640 Main Street @ Ocean Park
Walter Trask builds the house on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Washington Avenue in 1903. Mary and George Kyte live there from 1907 to 1940 and add the 2-story curving front to the house The Trask-Kyte house is moved in 1977 to its present Heritage Square location on the west side of Main St. south of Ocean Park Blvd.
In 1901, prominent Los Angeles lawyer Walter J. Trask (1862 – 1911)1 buys the lot at 1003 Ocean Ave (South East Corner of Ocean Avenue and Washington Avenue)2 from Arcadia Bandini de Gaffey (c. 1865 - 1948)3 and John T. Gaffey (1859 - 1935).4 The Trask property is located directly north of the Roy Jones House5 at 1007 Ocean Ave. Trask says he will build a house – but only intends to stay a year.6 In July 1903 Walter and Victoria Trask move from Los Angeles to Santa Monica to observe the construction,7 and they take possession of the house in November 1903.
As was his stated intention,8 in 1906 Trask sells the 1003 Ocean Ave property to Mary F. Gephard (1846 – 1926)9 widow of George Gephard (1830 – 1901).10 Mary F. Gephard remains in downtown Los Angeles.11 Her daughter Mary M. Gephard Kyte (1869 – 1937)12 occupies the house after she marries George Kyte (1863 – 1940)13 in 1906. In 1924 Mary Kyte adds the 2-story curving front to the house.14 Mary Kyte dies in 1937, and George Kyte is living at 1003 Ocean Ave when he dies in 1940. They have no children.
The Trask-Kyte house (and also the Jones house) becomes a rooming house with multiple tenants sharing the kitchen and bathroom. From about 1950 until 1962, Ellis G. Martin (1891 – 1962),15 a Santa Monica contractor, owns both properties. In 1962, Inland Empire Builders of Riverside is in escrow to buy both properties but is denied a City setback variance for their proposed residential building. Just weeks later Martin dies of a heart attack.
In 1972 developer Boca Monica16 buys the 3 lot (V, W & X) property17 and plans to demolish both buildings18 for a single-building condominium project.19 Local activists rally to preserve the two historic buildings. Boca Monica donates the buildings to the City - with the condition that they be removed.
In 1977, the Trask-Kyte house and the Roy Jones house20 are moved to their present Heritage Square locations on the south west corner of Main St and Ocean Park Blvd. The Chronicle Bar and Grill (a branch of a Pasadena restaurant) opens in the relocated Trask-Kyte house in 1978.
Walter Jones Trask (1862 – 1911) is born in Maine. From about 1880 to 1890 he is a lawyer in Minneapolis, where in 1886 he marries Luella Blanche Engle (1865–1916) and they have a daughter, Caroline Blanche Trask (1886–1974). In 1890 Trask arrives in Los Angeles and joins John Bicknell's law practice. Trask is a prominent Los Angeles trial attorney representing Huntington and the Southern Pacific. His brother, Judge D.K. Trask (1860 – 1914), also comes to Los Angeles in 1890. Walter Trask leaves an estate of $250,000.
Luella Blanche Trask, leaves Trask (they are divorced in 1895) and from 1893 to 1912, she lives with their daughter Caroline Trask on Catalina. Blanche Trask becomes a distinguished amateur botanist and botanical collector with many species of plants named for her (e.g. the Santa Catalina mahogany (Cercocarpus traskae), Santa Barbara island dudleya (Dudleya traskiae) and the locoweed (Astragalus traskae)). She publishes several essays on Santa Catalina, San Clemente, and San Nicolas islands. Blanche Trask, "a wild woman," takes long journeys on foot with a shepherd’s staff and a bit of food.
In 1902 Trask marries Victoria Harrell Trask (1863 - 1955). Mrs. Victoria Harrell, daughter of one of California’s richest cattlemen, Jasper Harrell (1830 - 1901), has a house on the corner of Figueroa and Wilshire (625 S. Figueroa) in downtown Los Angeles. She has a son, Jasper Harrell Harrell (1891–1981) to whom she leaves the bulk of her estate of several million dollars.
Trask’s 1003 Ocean Ave property is lot X, Block 75 of the Town of Santa Monica tract.
Roy Jones’s 1007 Ocean Ave property is lots V & W.
Santa Monica is blessed with two Arcadia Bandinis – the aunt and her niece. The niece, Arcadia Bandini de Gaffey (c. 1865 - 1948) lives with her aunt Arcadia Bandini de Baker (1825 - 1912) at 1247 Ocean Ave. She marries John T. Gaffey in 1887.
John Tracy Gaffey (1859 – 1935) "a brilliant and entertaining Irishman with scholarly tastes” is campaign manager for California Senator Stephen M. White (1853 – 1901), a leading San Pedro real estate owner, a real estate developer, and a financier.
Roy Jones (1869 - 1947) buys lots V & W of Block 75, Town of Santa Monica tract from his father John P. Jones (1829 - 1912) in 1894 and builds a house designed by architect Sumner P. Hunt. In 1907 Roy Jones builds a second house on Adelaide Drive - designed by his brother-in-law and noted architect Robert Farquhar (1872 - 1967).
It is not clear what is Walter J. Trask’s interest in Santa Monica. His involvement (1901 - 1905) extends from the death of his friend Dr. Adolphus F. Elliott (1836 – 1901), a former practicing physician in Minneapolis who spends the winter in Santa Monica, and the death of his widow Mary Elliott (1849 – 1905) in Santa Monica. Mary Elliott leaves her entire estate worth approximately $200,000 to Trask with verbal instructions to build a memorial building at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. As payment for his services, she leaves Trask her house at 5th and Arizona (lots I, J, K, and L of Block 120, Town of Santa Monica Tract) - said to be worth $10,000.
A. E. Morgan (1867 – 1959) of Santa Monica is the contractor for the Trask house. There is an attribution to Hunt & Eager (Sumner P. Hunt & A. Wesley Eager) as architect - but we can find no confirmation.
In 1905 Trask buys a $25,000 property with a house in downtown Los Angeles (1113 S. Figueroa). In 1906 he sells 1003 Ocean Ave. to Mary Gephard. Trask sells Mary Elliott’s house at 5th and Arizona to Kate Fogel (1860 – 1957). After 1910 Trask lives at 1321 S. Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles.
Mary Francis Graves Gephard (1846 – 1926). Born in Maine, Mary Frances Graves moves with her family to Rough and Ready, CA, where she marries George Gephard (1830 – 1901). In 1875 the Gephard family comes to Los Angeles. The Gephard home is in Los Angeles – but they summer in Santa Monica. In 1905 Mary’s sister Hannah G. Bath (1845 - 1905) dies and leaves her entire estate to Mary. Hannah Bath’s estate comes from the spousal 50% of Hannah’s deceased husband’s $100,000 estate – from whom Hannah is separated (in 1891) but not divorced. There is legal wrangling over undue influence over Albert Leander Bath (1829 – 1905) exerted by grand-niece Miss Florence E. Dodge.
George Gephard (1830 – 1901) is born in Germany. Gephard comes to the US as a child and to California in 1850. He is a miner in Rough and Ready (which at the time is the third largest city in California), where he marries Mary Frances Graves. Gephard moves to Grass Valley where he builds a toll road connecting Grass Valley to Smartsville. In 1875 Gephard comes to Los Angeles and invests in real estate in downtown Los Angeles. He leaves an estate of $16,000 to his wife Mary F. Gephard.
Mary F. Gephard buys the Walter Trask property on Ocean Ave where she says intends to live. She also buys the nearby V.H. McPherson property at 1012 2nd St (lot C, Block 75, Town of Santa Monica tract) as an investment. For the remainder of her life, Mary F. Gephard lives at 1712 S. Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles. When she dies in 1926, she leaves $25,000 of her $100,000 estate to son-in-law George Irwin Kyte, and the residue to her two daughters Frances Bovyer Gephard Meyler (1865 - 1950) and Mary M. Gephard Kyte.
Mary Marietta Gephard Kyte (1869 – 1937). Born in Rough and Ready, Mary Comes to Los Angeles with the Gephard family in 1875. The Gephard home is in Los Angeles – but they summer in Santa Monica. In 1906 Mary M. Gephard marries George Kyte (1863 – 1940) and they move to 1003 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica.
George Irwin Kyte (1863 – 1940). Born in NJ, Kyte comes to CA in 1890. Dr. Kyte and Dr. Oswald Granicher (1866 - 1963), optometrists, are partners in Boston Optical Co. located in downtown Los Angeles (228 W. Second St.).
Santa Monica contractor Earl Ostrander adds the $3,000 2-story curving front to the 1003 Ocean Ave house for Mary Kyte. No architect is listed on the 1924 building permit.
Ellis G. Martin (1891 – 1962) worked on the Merle Norman House and the Merle Norman Building.
Boca Monica Developers is a nine-person investment group. Royce Diener (1918 - 2017), a former investment banker and president of American Medical International (AMI), is the managing partner (owns 20%). The actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (1918 – 2014) owns 10%.
Boca Monica buys the 3 lot (Lots V, W & Lot X) property with the two houses for just under $500,000.
In 1975, 1003 Ocean and 1007 Ocean are handsome houses but old, and in poor condition. 1003 Ocean Ave has been registered as a hotel for many years and is a boarding house with 9 people sharing a communal kitchen & bathroom. The roof has clay tiles laid over the original wood shingle.
Boca Monica purchases both properties in 1972 and proposes a 7-story 32-unit condominium project. While they are in the process of obtaining permits, Santa Monica adopts a Landmarks ordinance, and there is a question of whether the two properties should be reviewed by the Landmarks Commission. In 1975 the Architectural Review Board (ARB) votes (4 -Yes, 0 -No, 3 -Abstain) that there are “no redeeming architectural features to either building.”
In 1975, Santa Monica approves a 6-story 30-unit condominium, but in another setback for the Boca Monica project, the newly organized California Coastal Commission pares back the project to a 5-story 24-unit project. In 1980, the 5-story 18-unit Boca Monica condominium project gets its Certificate of Occupancy.
The Roy Jones House is designated as a City Landmark in 1979.