This modest little building at 5751 Hollywood Boulevard on the northwest corner of Taft Avenue started out as the Hollywood sales office of the Taft Realty Company.

The head of Taft Realty was Alfred Z. Taft, Sr.. Son of Harley Taft and Mary E. Hazard, he was a Los Angeles native, born in 1864. In 1888 he married Blanch Tedford. In April 1893, the couple moved with their young children- 3 daughters and 4 sons- to a 10-acre property along Hollywood Boulevard (then Prospect Avenue) between Wilton Place (then Lemona Avenue) and Van Ness Avenue (then Warner Avenue), originally addressed as 716 W Prospect Avenue, which he planted with lemons and oranges.

Taft dabbled in real estate in the early 1900s; by 1910 it had become a full time occupation rather than a sideline. Having bought and sold other properties, in February 1912, the company constructed a tract office on the ranch property and announced that it was subdividing the family orchard into lots along the newly-created Taft Avenue between Hollywood Boulevard and Franklin. The street had already been graded and sidewalks put in. A pair of unique cobblestone pillars marked the north and south entrances.

 

Having given up citrus ranching, in 1913 A.Z. Taft, Sr., relocated to Nogales, Arizona where he took up gold mining. His wife, Blanche Taft, died in Los Angeles in December 1915, at only 45 years old.

The two oldest Taft sons, A.Z., Jr. and Bertram Y. (who went by his initials, B.Y.) ran the family real estate and land development businesses.

 

Originally a wood-clad structure, in November 1920, society architect Frank Rasche (who also designed a retail building at 5526 Hollywood Boulevard for B. Y. that year) obtained a permit to make a number of alterations to the building. Originally a Craftsman-cottage in keeping with the architecture of many of the homes in the subdivision, it would be transformed into a Spanish Colonial Revival structure with stucco walls and a red tile roof as the style gained favor along the Boulevard.

In 1923, the company proposed its most ambitious project to date: the Taft Building, to rise on Hollywood Boulevard at Vine Street. Completed in 1924, it would be the first height-limit building in Hollywood.

After serving as the Taft Realty Co. tract office, the little building took on a variety of (usually short-lived) roles. Starting in July 1926, it became the headquarters of Screen Library Services, Inc.

In June 1929, it became an office for Paul Marshal’s Health Institute.

By early 1932, it was Del Zoppo’s Cafe Italian restaurant. Federal Prohibition agents raided the place on June 23, 1932 and found stockpiles of illegal alcohol. Owners Mike and Tony Del Zoppo were charged with violating the Volstead Act. Renamed the Volcano Cafe, it was raided again in September 1932, and Federal prohis recommended it be padlocked permanently.

In 1934  through mid-1936 the building housed various theater arts purposes. In July 1936, Reginald Denny Industries, the listed owner of the building, obtained a permit to make minor alterations. By September 1936, 5751 had opened as the Reginald Denny Hobby Shop, selling model airplanes as well as model ships and trains. Denny’s factory for manufacturing his planes was located behind the shop.

English-born actor Reginald Denny had served in the RAF during World War I and had been a popular leading man in silent films. As his career turned to character roles in the early 1930s, gossip columnists frequently noted Denny’s interest in model airplanes- a hobby that purportedly evolved from making them for himself, to making them in his home workshop for neighborhood children to the creation of Reginald Denny Industries to make and market the kits, which could be purchased from local shops or by mail order. By the Fall of 1935, it was reported that he would open his own retail outlet.

 

 

 

Denny was still affiliated with the shop as of September 1940 when a fire broke out in the rear warehouse.

 

The model shop continued in business here into the early 1960s before moving to another location.

The corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Taft looks radically different today. The current buildings on this site, a 7-11 and mini-mall, were constructed in 1976.

 

Notes:

Harley and Mary Taft moved to Hollywood in 1904. Taft died in 1906. A.Z. Taft Sr. died in Nogales in 1936. His mother, Mary Taft, continued to live at 5821 Hollywood Boulevard until her own passing in 1938 at age 96, one of the Very Old Ladies of Hollywood Boulevard who witness the transformation from rural to commercial.

Her daughter Dr. Gertrude Taft, lived in the residence at 5821 Hollywood Boulevard until she died in  September 1941. A.Z. Taft Jr, died in November 1941, at age 52. B.Y Taft died in November 1977.