There's a Nadeau Street in Walnut Park. Wally Shidler, a local historian, knows the street's story. He says it "was named for Remi Nadeau, who was a French Canadian that arrived in Los Angeles in 1861."

Nadeau borrowed $600 and bought a wagon and six mules to haul ore and supplies for mining camps. His business grew to 80 teams and more than a thousand mules. He tried his hand at farming sugar beets, barley, and wine grapes. And like most successful Angelenos, Wally Shidler says Nadeau invested in real estate. He "built the Nadeau Hotel, which was the first four-story structure in downtown Los Angeles."

The hotel boasted of the first passenger elevator in L.A. The project was labeled "Nadeau's Folly." But Nadeau had the last laugh. From the time the hotel opened, it was the place to be for Angelenos. Today, the Los Angeles Times building occupies that piece of real estate.

(Airdate for this story: 8/19/07)