Evan Lewis (politician)

Evan Lewis (1869–1941) was a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council between 1925 and 1941.

Lewis was born in Wales on July 2, 1869, and was taken to Iowa when young. He became a U.S. citizen in 1890, two years after moving to California. He was at various times a deputy sheriff, a paving contractor and a realty dealer. He and Mary Powell, the daughter of Major E.B. Powell, were married in the Powell home at 2041 East Sixth Street on December 7, 1904, and eventually moved into a house at 268 E. 50th Street near South Park. They had one son, Evan Weldon, who became a deputy district attorney.

He died on while in office on May 5, 1941. A funeral service was held at the Welsh Presbyterian Church, and the body lay in state beneath the rotunda of the new City Hall. Interment followed at Inglewood Park Cemetery.

Lewis was nominated for city assessor at a citywide Republican convention on October 28, 1904, and was elected on December 5. He served one two-year term and then went into business for himself as a private assessor. He was on the Planning Commission 1920–25. and in December 1928 he was chosen by the City Council to succeed Frank L. Shaw, who resigned as 8th District councilman when Shaw won his race for the county Board of Supervisors. Lewis was elected repeatedly thereafter but did not run in 1941.

In 1937 the 8th District boundaries were: North: 45th Street or 48th Street. East: Alameda Street. South: Manchester Avenue. West: Vermont Avenue.

Lewis was once labeled the "official roarer for the Council. He is fearless in his outbursts, and his thundering attacks upon shady deals that he discovers lurking about the City Hall are classics in the art of strenuous oratory. Brother councilmen who trail with Lewis generally look upon him as a sort of watchdog to raise the alarm upon the approach of a dubious proposition. . . . He fights for what he believes is right until he is the last man on the firing line, and then battles single-handed."

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