| Lucius Lomax | |
| Birth Name: | Lucius Walter Lomax |
| Birth Date: | 24 December 1878 |
| Death Place: | California, U.S. |
| Other Names: | Old Man Lomax, Lucius W. Lomax II, Lucius Lomax Sr. |
Lucius Lomax (December 24, 1878June 21, 1961) was an American soldier, bootlegger, gambler–bookmaker, pimp, and real estate investor.
Lomax was born in Texas, and served in the Spanish-American War and in the campaign against Pancho Villa. He later departed Texas (possibly because of a murder charge), went to Japan, and then landed in Washington in time for Prohibition. He became a bootlegger, and ran a brothel with his half-sister prior to moving to the L.A. area. In 1933 a columnist in the California Eagle described Lomax as a "big time financier of San Francisco and Oakland...In days of old when Lady Chance was in her hey-day in California, Lucius Lomax would lose or win a thousand dollars without batting an eyelash. Although he gives away thousands to charity he never allows his good deeds to be published. His modesty is a thing sublime".[1] A 1937 grand jury minority report named Lomax alongside figures like Guy McAfee, Bob Gans, and Tutor Scherer as one of 27 suspected "vice chiefs" of the Greater Los Angeles area.[2] His most productive era in California was from the late 1930s to early 1950s.
Lomax was a wealthy and influential figure who was described by his descendants as a handsome killer and thief, by neighbors as "the man to see" in the African-American community surrounding Central Avenue in Los Angeles, California, United States, and by historians as a "surprisingly important" figure in the history of early 20th-century black L.A. Lomax's son, typically referred to as Lucius Lomax Jr., ran the Dunbar Hotel, became an attorney and newspaper publisher, and ran unsuccessfully for the California Assembly and Los Angeles City Council.[3] The newspaper, edited by Almena Lomax, was viewed by Almena as "the first step in [Lomax Sr.]'s rehabilitation from mobster to legitimate citizen".[4] When he died by self-inflicted gunshot in 1961, Lomax's estate was estimated to be worth approximately half a million dollars, and Lomax was described by a news wire service as someone who built "an empire of wealth through his knowledge of human nature and material values, but still remained modest and unpretentious".[5]