Harry Lehrer (October 15, 1904 – June 26, 1972) was an American licensed pharmacist, physician, and real estate speculator who owned the

Bumiller Building The Bumiller Building is a residential building in the Los Angeles Historic Broadway Theater District. Built in 1906 and designed by the architects Morgan & Walls, the Bumiller Building was constructed of reinforced concrete in Renaissance Revival ...

in Los Angeles.

Early years and education

Working as a stenographer for a wholesale grocery company, Lehrer took a California pharmacy board review course at night and was certified by examination as a pharmacist in 1924. Lehrer attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He was a 1938 graduate of the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons (now the

University of California, Irvine School of Medicine The University of California, Irvine School of Medicine (UC Irvine School of Medicine or UCI School of Medicine) is an LCME accredited medical school, co-located in Orange County's cities of Irvine on the University of California, Irvine campus ...

). Lehrer received a Doctor of Medicine degree after the 1962 California legislation allowing an osteopath to convert his degree to an MD. While running a pharmacy in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, he was from time to time a robbery victim. In one instance, a 21-year-old medical student robbed Lehrer of $271. A judge sentenced the student to 10 years' probation and summer vacation in the county jail. In 1938, Lehrer opened a medical office, La Clinica Sano, and pharmacy, La Farmacia Sano, at 124 North Main Street. He spoke fluent Spanish, had a Spanish language radio program, and applied for a broadcast license in 1943.

Later years

Lehrer had his medical offices at 139 South Broadway in Los Angeles, when he acquired a group of neighboring tenement buildings in the early 1950s, anticipating that the State of California would take them under

Eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

to build a new California State Building. Lehrer was unable to obtain financing to buy one additional building, a former

Thrifty Drug Store Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States. The combined company was formed in April 1994 when Los Angeles-based TCH Corporation, the pa ...

, 133-135 South Broadway; its owner was Gabriel Laskin. When California did condemn the buildings, Hodge L. Dolle, an attorney known for his expertise in eminent domain, represented Lehrer. The tenement buildings have since been demolished and the land, acquired by the state, has passed to the city and may become a public park.

Bumiller Building

Lehrer bought the

from the estate of Lillian E. Schramm in 1958, and had his medical offices on the ground floor until his death in 1972. Built in 1906, the Bumiller Building, designed by the architects Morgan & Walls, was constructed of reinforced concrete in Renaissance Revival style.''Concrete Engineering: For Engineers, Architects and Contractors'', Volumes 1-2, Technical Publishing Company, 1907 It is today part of the Los Angeles Historic

Broadway Theater District New York City's Theater District (sometimes spelled Theatre District, and officially zoned as the "Theater Subdistrict") is an area and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan where most Broadway theaters are located, as well as many other theaters, ...

Personal

Lehrer was married to fashion designer Anne T. Hill. Dr. Clarence H. Nelson treated Lehrer when he became ill in 1960. Lehrer is interred in the Odd Fellows Cemetery (Los Angeles).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehrer, Harry 1904 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American physicians] Physicians from St. Louis Pharmacists from Los Angeles 20th-century American pharmacists Physicians from California University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Southern California alumni