Edward L. Hutchinson was an attorney and a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council from 1896 to 1898.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1886 and attended two years at Harvard Night School in that city.

[1] Among his legal clients was Bartolo Ballerino, known as the "king of the 'crib' district" who ran a string of brothels.

[7][8] As an attorney, he listed his clubs as the Iroquois, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, among others, and his religion as "private creed, not specified."

He was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in 1898, for city attorney in 1900 and for State Senate in 1902.

[11] Known as "the young orator from Los Angeles," he was elected chairman of a Populist convention in Sacramento on July 12, 1898.