Adolph William Steller (1894-1983) was one of Culver City’s earliest and most influential business owners. Raised in Minnesota, Steller was the second of three boys born to a German baker and his Swiss wife. A pilot in World War I, Steller came to Culver City around 1922 with wife Margaret (née Gatz, 1892-1985) and infant daughter Betty Jane. (A second daughter, Mary Jean, would join the brood in 1924.) He set up a hardware store with Margaret’s brother William, who unfortunately died of strep throat soon after, then brought on his brother Herman and another brother-in-law, Jack Skoog, as partners. Steller & Skoog was a Main Street mainstay for years – later owners rechristened it “Stellar Hardware” and it stayed open until 2008. Adolph W. Steller was an all-around pillar of the community, presiding over the Culver City Chamber of Commerce, the Culver-Palms YMCA, and so on. He was awarded with this street name in 1946 for encouraging city leaders to sign off on the Hayden Industrial Tract.
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