Overview

Remi Nadeau, a legendary teamster as well as a hotelkeeper, owned this winery on acreage seven miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles in 1890.

Building History

Born in French-speaking Canada, Remi Nadeau (1821-1887) relocated to Southern California by 1861. In the days before railroads, goods had to be moved across great distances by teamsters driving teams of oxen, horses or mules. Nadeau became one of the more famous teamsters of his day, establishing a transport company that shipped goods back and forth between Salt Lake City, UT, and Los Angeles, a distance of about 688 miles. Nadeau's fortunes were good between 1861 and the later 1860s, but the development of the transcontinental railroad by 1869 undermined this lucrative freight route.

In 1868, he turned to areas that were not yet served by rail service, focusing his attention on a treacherous run between Los Angeles and the Cerro Gordo silver mines just northeast of Owens Lake in east-central CA. He also hauled silver-lead ore from other Northern Mojave Desert mines at Lone Pine, Swansea and Independence, CA. Nadeau utilized 20-mule teams to negotiate the difficult and hot terrain, hauling heavy silver ore from the mines to the docks at San Pedro, where they hauled by ship to San Francisco for refining. He worked in all seasons, an economic necessity. Nadeau also became famous for hauling borax with his 20-mule teams from mines at Columbus, NV, to processing plants in the Bay Area.

Nadeau retired from hauling by the early 1880s. Silver ore was disappearing in the Northern Mojave mines and the borax hauling trade was being taken over by others, and mechanized by borax moguls including Francis "Borax" Smith (1846-1931) and William Tell Coleman (1824–1893).

Nadeau saved his money and bought Los Angeles real estate. In 1882, he established Nadeau House, the city's most fashionable hotel. He also established this winery in the 1880s, that produced wines for the hotel. Nadeau he ran for the winery during the last years of this life, dying at age 68 in 1887.

PCAD id: 23940