Isaac Van Nuys started out as a sheep man. But soon he developed wheat as a cash crop in the San Fernando Valley. In 1880, he married the daughter of wheat magnate Isaac Lankershim, and became president of the Los Angeles Farming and Milling Company.

Van Nuys was busy. He also was vice president of Farmers and Merchants Bank, and director of the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company. The bricks came in handy. Bill Robertson, director of L.A.'s Bureau of Street Services, says Van Nuys used them to build a fancy hotel downtown.

"You drive by there today, look up over the doorway on Fourth Street and you see Van Nuys Hotel. It was actually one of the first major hotels in downtown Los Angeles."

Robertson says Van Nuys built a second, smaller hotel on the street that bears his name. It was primarily a boarding house, but it also hosted community meetings. Today, if you look up on the facade of the old building across from the post office, you'll see the name of the wheat farmer turned hotelier: "Van Nuys."

(Airdate: 11/2/2008)