Anaximander

The individual who currently (as of January 1, 1965) refers to himself as “Anaximander” is the proprietor of Anaximander's Maps, located at 840 S. Grand Avenue in Los Angeles. He has been known by a variety of other names and claims to be over two millenia in age. The earliest demonstrated proof of his existence in his current corporeal form is a formal portrait painted in the year 1763 by Fyodor Rokotov.

What follows is the known history of the individual.

Count Yuri Rochenko

In 1762, nineteen year old Count Yuri Rochenko was introduced by his friend Count Grigory Orlov to the court of Catherine II of Russia. Rochenko was an extremely intelligent and entertaining young man who was said to have memorized over a thousand poems and stories. He quickly became a favorite of the queen and was reputed to be one of her confidantes. She often displayed motherly affection for the young man, though there were whispers of something more intimate between them.

Rochenko led a circle of court members who maintained an interest in ancient history and occult practices. They were said to form a secret society, the name of which has been lost to history. It is not known whether they practiced magic or pursued anything beyond mere intellectual curiosity. He received a royal commission in 1771, fought valiantly in the war against the Turks, and served for many years in the military before retiring to the countryside in 1796. He returned to active service in the war against Napoleon and was said to be killed in battle in 1812.

Ned Farmer

On March 9, 1814, a young man calling himself Ned Farmer stepped off the USS Enterprise in Wilmington, North Carolina. The ship was returning from the Caribbean and had taken on the young passenger in Haiti. He told sailors he was a ship's navigator for slave traders but had been captured by Haitians who claimed he had insulted their gods. They held him prisoner for many years and forced him to labor in the fields, beating him regularly with whips and nettles. Though he claimed to be Irish, the Enterprise captain noted in his diary the man had a Russian accent and displayed courtly manners. Farmer did however have many scars on his body, which supported his story of being whipped and tortured.

Upon arriving in America, Farmer somehow managed to put together funds to purchase farmland in what was then the Indiana frontier. There is no record of him for the next four years, when neighbors arrived at his house and found it abandoned. The local newspaper reported that Ned Farmer was presumed killed by Indian raiders or criminals.

In 1832 a former government mapmaker named Ned Farmer was arrested in San Marcos, Texas for cheating at cards. The San Marcos newspaper reported that the man had been shot three times before the sheriff arrived and arrested him. “How the man survived the bullets, which were fired at point-blank range, is anybody's guess,” the paper records. “But everyone in the town is wondering if the man in the sheriff's jail is a man at all.” Two nights later a mob stormed the jail and attempted to seize the prisoner, but he was able to convince them to let him go. According to the newspaper report, “he spun a tale of woe so pitiful that even the hardest of hearts was melted and even the jaundiced eye was wet with tears.” Someone even gave him ten dollars to help get him to San Antonio.

Over forty years later in 1876, a man named Ned Farmer opened a hardware store in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is not known if this is the same individual as the previous individual, though this Ned Farmer is said to have a particular interest in maps and local geography.

David Calloway

In 1919 a dashing raconteur arrived in Los Angeles, claiming to have spent the last twenty years in the study of mystics in Tibet. He had an Australian accent and a flair for fashion. He was soon the toast of the Hollywood scene, seen at so many parties and other social events that gossip columns conjectured the many must never sleep. In 1925 Calloway was involved in a scandal involving several teenaged beauty contestants and was forced to flee the country to avoid prosecution.

Herman Schnorrer

In December 1925, Los Angeles police were called to Arnold's Delicatessan in Hollywood where witnesses reported seeing the notorious David Calloway casually eating a sandwich. Officers arrived to find several local gentleman had cornered another man in a booth. While the individual did bear an uncanny resemblance to Calloway, his identification proved he was Herman Schnorrer, a carpet salesman from Cleveland.

Edgar Castor

In 1932, Seattle businessman Edgar Castor purchased property located on the 800 black (the 830-850 Lot) of South Grand with the purpose of constructing a large hotel. The building was completed in 1934 and the Stillwell Hotel opened in 1936. The hotel remains open to the present day.

The lot purchased included what is now 840 S. Grand Avenue in Los Angeles. This was formerly the site of Magic Moe's, a tavern for magicians that was burned in 1926.

As of 1965, the Castor Corporation is the owner of record of the property located at 840 South Grand Avenue.