Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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J. F. WOODWARD.
 
        No other business institution of a city or town exerts such an influence 
in creating a reputation, good or bad, for the place as its hotels; for there is 
a deal of truth in the adage that the way to a man's heart is through his 
stomach. Feed and sleep one well during his sojourn with you and he will bear 
away pleasant memories of you. Among the many attractions of Los Angeles not the 
least are its hotels, prominent among which is the Hoffman House, with its cozy 
office, its broad, easy stairways, bright airy halls, large, sunny guest rooms, 
richly furnished, and its spacious dining-room with its well-spread tables. The 
Hoffman is situated on North Main street, and occupies the block bounded by Main 
and New High streets and Postoffice court and Sonora street, thus having the 
advantage of four fronts and four independent stairways, furnishing ample egress 
in case of fire, and also supplying abundance of sunlight and pure air to all 
parts of the hotel. The first floor is occupied by the office, dining-room, 
kitchen, laundry and bar. The second and third stories are devoted to guest 
rooms, of which there are seventy. Thirty of these�front rooms�have their own 
private bathrooms and closets, and each contains an open fireplace and mantel. 
The beds are all hair mattresses, manufactured to order expressly for the 
Hoffman House, and are of excellent quality. Among other modern conveniences of 
a first-class hotel, the Hoffman is furnished throughout with electric call 
bells. The furniture of the house is mahogany, antique oak and cherry; and the 
carpets in the front rooms are moquet and velvet, and in the other rooms body 
brussels. The Hoffman has the largest and most sunny rooms, the purest air, and 
is replete everywhere with the elements of home comfort. The proprietor of the 
Hoffman House, J. F. Woodward, may be said to be a "born" hotel man, for he was 
born and reared in his father's hotel in Bath, Steuben County, New York, and has 
spent nearly all his life in a hotel either as employ� or proprietor. He stood 
behind the counters as clerk of leading hotels in Chicago, Indianapolis, and 
other Eastern cities twelve years, and served two years at the carving-table 
under one of the principal caterers in the city first named. For a number of 
years before coming to the Pacific Coast he successfully conducted a hotel in 
Fort Worth, Texas. In 1880 he took charge of the Mojave House, a railroad hotel, 
in the town of the same name, which became very popular under his management, 
feeding several hundred a day at times. Since coming to Los Angeles Mr. Woodward 
was lessee and proprietor of the new United States Hotel, in which he made the 
handsome sum of $20,000 in seven months, during the late real-estate boom. He 
has won a wide and enviable reputation as a gentlemanly host and a liberal 
caterer. In May, 1889, he leased the Vance House, the leading hotel in Eureka, 
Humboldt County, California, of which he is also proprietor, and which is 
conducted under his direction. Mr. Woodward was forty years of age in June last. 
He was married about fourteen years ago.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 831
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler