Angelus Funeral Home

Angelus Funeral Home. . , "Morticians of Distinction" , In A Man in Our Community, a 1937 biography of L.G. Robinson, Baxter S. Scruggs wrote of Robinson and other founders of Angelus Funeral Home: "These men pledged themselves to the task of erecting the most beautifully appointed mortuary in the city, irrespective of racial classification." Indeed, the men became known as "morticians of distinction." In those days, mortuaries were important businesses, providing a way to honor deceased patrons roles in business or public service. Funeral homes were often run by prominent community members. , The men behind Angelus hired architect Paul Revere Williams to design their new funeral home at 1010 East Jefferson Boulevard, a block west of Central Avenue. By the early 1930s, Williams had overcome the disadvantage of being African American in a city controlled by whites who adhered to the era's racial biases. His popularity in the community appealed to Angelus Funeral Home owners - Robinson, Lorenzo Bowdoin, and John Lamar Hill Sr. - who exhorted him to create a mortuary that would reflect their growing importance to the Central Avenue community and serve the needs of its sizable African American middle class. , Active Community Leaders , Before and during his long career in the funeral business, L.G. Robinson, a Georgia native, was the powerful superintendent of janitor and elevator service for Los Angeles County, where he controlled hundreds of patronage jobs for African Americans who could get out the black vote. He was also a successful real estate investor, an active member of the 28th Street YMCA, and the first African American to buy a lifetime membership in the NAACP. Bowdoin, a philanthropist and civic leader, worked for 38 years as a special clerk for the U.S. Postal Service where he was instrumental in finding opportunities for many other African Americans. Hill, another Georgia native, left his job as a Pullman porter on the Southern Pacific Railroad to work for the funeral home full-time. Eventually, Hill assumed complete ownership and saw the business grow into one of the most prominent black-owned enterprises in the city. , Paul R. Williams Design , The 1934 two-story landmark was built on a triangular lot at the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and East 35th Street. It blended a Spanish Colonial tile roof with Art Deco and Georgian Revival elements, punctuated with a neon sign visible from Central Avenue. A grand curved staircase - a Williams signature - graced the lobby. , Angelus Relocates , When the elder Hill died in 1942, his son John Lamar Hill Jr. replaced him. He became the mortuary's president in 1949 and, in 1954, the first African American to serve on the five-member California State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers. After many middle-class African Americans moved out of the Central Avenue neighborhoods, the younger Hill in the late 1960s relocated the business to another Paul R. Williams-designed building on Crenshaw Boulevard at 39th Street. The Crenshaw location hosted funeral services for such luminaries as actress Dorothy Dandridge, singer Nat King Cole, Olympian Florence Griffith "Flo Jo" Joyner, and former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. In 1965, Hill Jr. founded KJLH FM, which initially served Compton and broadcast sermons from 21 churches every Sunday. It transitioned to playing R&B, soul, and jazz, as well as public affairs programming. Musical superstar Stevie Wonder purchased the station from Hill in 1979. , The Jefferson Boulevard Angelus Funeral Home is a designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.