Quantcast
Channel: Architecture
Viewing all 303 articles
Browse latest View live

Follies Burlesque Dancer Scales Rosslyn Hotel!

$
0
0

Follies EBay

A photographer for an unidentified men’s magazine from the 1950s (Argosy? Swank? Nugget?) took a dancer with the nom de strip “Dotty Pearce” up to the roof of the Rosslyn Hotel for some pictures. The article is part of a lot of magazine clippings listed on EBay for $12.95.

Technical note: This is the side blade of the Rosslyn Hotel sign. (Nathan Marsak, this is for you!)

Zamboanga

The seller has also listed some photos of “torso tosser” “Dee Evil” from the Zamboanga Club in Los Angeles.

image
Alas, the Zamboanga Club, which flourished at 3826 W. Slauson Ave. about 1956, is just a memory. Are there ghostly bumps and grinds late at night? The neighbors aren’t talking.


Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Los Angeles Elks’ Temple Highlights Importance of Fraternal Organizations

$
0
0

internationalpho04holl_0230
The Elks Temple in an undated photo.


Note: This is an encore post from 2015.

Long a glamorous, outstanding example of Neo-Gothic Architecture and the powerful force of fraternal organizations, Los Angeles’ Elks’ Temple #99 still stands proudly at 607 S. Park View St. across from MacArthur Park. Now mostly an empty shell, the striking building once housed a busy Elks’ Temple that hosted all manner of social groups, an almost holy place that exalted the power of fraternal groups to better living conditions, educational skills, and the ongoing life of their surrounding communities.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks” Lodge #99 was one of Los Angeles’ premiere fraternal and charity organizations, founded in 1888 in downtown Los Angeles. The organization allowed men to gather together in friendship as well as providing services to the community such as allowing children to grow and thrive, feeding and clothing the needy, culturally enriching their neighbors, and honoring American veterans. Originally housed on South Spring Street, the organization outgrew its location in 1908 and moved into a larger, more elegant facility on Third and South Olive Street at the top of Angels’ Flight. By 1920, the organization once again was searching for a new home, and considered buying a couple of properties over the next couple of years.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Elks Lounge
A postcard showing the lounge of the Elks Temple, listed on EBay as Buy It Now for  $15.99.

 


 

On October 8, 1923, Michael Shannon, President of the Elks’ Building Association, announced that the organization intended to construct “an imposing temple” costing more than one million dollars at Sixth and Park View Streets. The group paid Mary Newman and Lange & Bergstrom $262,000 for the property, which adjoined Otis Art Institute holdings on Wilshire Blvd. Planned facilities included public and private dining rooms, social halls, an auditorium to seat more than 1500, social lounge, billiard rooms, and a swimming pool.

The Elks finally hired Aleck Curlett and Claude Beelman as architects for their grand headquarters, announcing in a March 9, 1924 Los Angeles Times story that final plans had been approved for the building that “will rank with the best in the country and will be one of the architectural beauties of the Southland” when finished. The architects visited other luxurious clubhouses around the country to facilitate their designs, incorporating the latest conveniences and flourishes into their plans. In the interior and exterior designs, “…a typical Grecian and Syrian architecture dominates.”

The grand lobby entrance to the building would soar fifty feet high and twenty five feet wide, in scale with the 156 foot tall building. Each of the public rooms would impress with their size. The memorial room extended fifty two feet in diameter and forty feet high, and the 1500 seat lodge room would be 136 feet in length, seventy seven feet wide, and fifty five feet high. The banquet and ballroom would provide accommodations for stage presentations as well.

elks_temple_matchbook_ebay
A matchbook showing the Elks Temple, listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $4.24.

 



Handball courts, fully equipped gymnasium, and other recreational facilities would occupy the second floor, with band and glee club rooms, directors’ rooms, seven private dining rooms, grill, billiard, and card rooms on the third floor. Two private roof gardens on top of the north and south wings would provide excellent views over the entire district.

The upper seven floors of the twelve story building would house the hotel for out of town guests, with 175 hotel rooms, each with private bath. A two-story garage housing 350 cars would also possess ten handball courts on its roof. The basement would contain six bowling alleys, haberdashery, men and women’s dressing and shower rooms, Turkish baths, and swimming pool.

The Elks stated it was the intent of the organization and designers “to construct a building on a scale so large that it will dwarf the human figure to a remarkable degree,” or as the LA Times, headline called it, “a Monumental Edifice.”

Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company helped the Elks arrange financing, loaning the Elks’ Building Assocation $900,000 to construct the building on May 14, 1924.

Elks rejected the first bids by construction companies on September 25, 1924, but did hire Scofield Engineering and Construction Co. to build their temple.  On October 27, the group announced they would break ground on the facility for their 4300 members at 8:30 pm Wednesday, with the United States Naval Reserve Band and the Elks’ band and glee club performing and various speakers saying a few words, including several former Past Exalted Rulers and lead speaker, United States District Judge Paul McCormick.

Dec. 28, 1926, L.A. Times
Dec. 28, 1926: The Times writes about the Elks Temple organ.

 


 

Working day and night, construction workers laid the cornerstone March 25, 1925. Grand festivities included performances by the Elks’ lodge bands, glee club, drum and bugle corps, and drill teams, seven distinguished elks speaking, and Isidore Dockweiler acting as principal speaker.

The Board unanimously approved adding the Golden Rule on a tablet above the fifty foot arch at the building’s main entrance, along with other phrases to line the building, which the group would not make public. They hired Anthony Heinsbergen to design and create murals and other elaborate paintings for the interior.

They issued several press releases during the construction of the building, noting in particular that over 6.2 million pounds of reinforced concrete filled their “Home of Hospitality.”

On May 12, 1926, the Elks dedicated their luxurious $2.5 million dollar temple, a place to worship and serve together as brothers. Over 3000 Elks attended the event, spilling out of the ballroom and into the halls, stairway, and entrance of the building. Organist Sibley Pease played special music suitable for the occasion. Chaplain Herbert Kincaid noted that not one worker was injured or died during construction of the building. The Memorial Hall was dedicated to Spanish American and World War I veterans who gave their lives defending their country.

Broadway Department Stores placed a full page ad in the Los Angeles Times May 13, noting they designed and supplied the elaborate interior furnishings for the temple, including luxurious carpets, drapes, curtains, and Oriental rugs. Simmons furniture filled each of the comfortable bedrooms. They described the magnificence and grandeur of the interior: “It is cathedral-like in its dignity—palatial in its spaciousness—rich, luxurious, colorful, and comfortable in its appointments.”  The ad noted that, “This monumental edifice will long command admiration for the beauty and distinctiveness of its superb architecture.”

May 13, 1926, Elks Temple A detail from an ad for the Elks Temple, May 13, 1926.

 


 

Upon completion, the Elks’ Temple included a main dining room, kitchen and patio on its lobby floor, along with ladies’ parlor, lounge, barber shop, check room, cigar stand, coffee shop, writing office, and hotel and executive offices. The second floor contained publicity offices, the banquet and Memorial Halls, Lodge room, and women’s lounge. The third floor featured fully-equipped gymnasium and handball courts, with the fourth floor containing private dining rooms, billiard rooms, parlor, reading room, and other special rooms. The hotel occupied the upper floors of the building.

Photographs of the gorgeous building filled the Times, noting its monumental and striking architecture and special features like crystal chandeliers. On December 28, 1926, a photo of the $50,000 Elks’ organ was featured in the paper as well

From its’ beginnings, the spacious temple hosted all manner of activities for its’ members, including special balls, teas, dances, and bridge tournaments, along with opportunities to participate in such sports as bowling, basketball, baseball, water polo, handball, golf, aviation, and yachting. Special talks, educational opportunities, and service commitments also occupied members’ time. Thousands of members belonged to the organization, and continued to join, hoping to be a part of a group that gave so much to others. Of course, the Elks hosted national conventions of their organization as well, giving them a chance to show off their glamorous surroundings.

Important social organizations immediately booked the facility for their special events. The  Los Angeles Realty Board, Southwest Branch, held their June 1926 graduating exercises and balls in the dominating temple. Los Angeles Theatre Organists Club were allowed to practice on the organ to help promote it to the general public.

Memorial and funeral services occurred in the building as well, led off by services for James Keeler, a former Civil War veteran and internationally known newspaper man, who suffered a stroke in the hotel. On June 2, 1927, a full police honors funeral service was held for Assistant Police Chief A. W. Murray, featuring fireman’s band, drill teams, and honor guards. Actor Theodore Roberts’ funeral was held at the Temple December 18, 1928, with over 2000 people attending, including director Cecil B. DeMille. Actor George Fawcett gave the main eulogy, and actor Conrad Nagel sang at the services.

Cultural organizations scheduled performances in the glamorous building as well. Shakespeare scholar Frederick Warde gave a series of speeches and performances in 1926 and 1927 highlighting the works and life of William Shakespeare. Organist Pease gave a series of organ concerts showing the dramatic range of the console.

The Elks offered special events for children as well, holding dance recitals and classes for local children. They would of course offer charity events at Christmas and Easter for those less fortunate as well.

On February 24, 1928, radio station KNRC of Santa Monica set up a remote control line to broadcast radio programs from the Elks’ Temple. Opening night entertainers included the Zoellner Quartet, the Elks’ Band, actor Ford Sterling, emcee Charlie Murray, and the Bavarian Yodelers. Regular broadcasts began emanating from the dramatic building. Later, radio station KMC took over the broadcasting facilities of the organization.

During the 1932 Olympics, the Elks’ Temple hosted some indoor swimming events like water polo.

elks_temple_postcard_ebay_02

A postcard showing the Elks Temple, listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $9.99.

 



Many women’s groups over the years booked events at the Temple, including Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Confederacy, women’s social clubs, charity groups, book and theatre groups, and the GOP Women. Contract bridge groups held competitions, both local and national.

Religious groups booked the facility as well, with everything from local Protestant organizations and churches holding events to the Moslem Association in 1958. The Sister Kenny Foundation hosted doctors and others to discuss how to treat the medical needs of the less fortunate.

The Elks took great pride in trying to meet the needs of the community, and they gave needy or lonely children an opportunity to celebrate various holidays over the years. For many years they held Easter egg hunts or events, Christmas parties, or Halloween events. On December 16, 1951, the Elks hosted 3500 children with a visit to Santa, followed by a vaudeville and clown show and presents.

A few unsavory events occurred over the years as well, such as the vice squad raiding the Temple May 17, 1948 and confiscating ten illegal slot machines that some members were operating. a 72-year-old member was accosted in the restroom on April 1, 1950, and it appears his attacker was never caught. Despondent 65-year-old Maurice Finklestein committed suicide October 17, 1950, shooting himself.

By the 1950s, the Elks saw declining membership as older members began dying off and fewer younger members joined. More opportunities for children became available at schools and sports leagues, and fathers began focusing their extra free time there. Less people joined fraternal organizations, concentrating on their churches or other social institutions. As the neighborhood changed, many members moved away, dropping membership rolls as well.

Though events continued, it became more difficult for the Elks to meet expenses in maintaining the facility. Ads in the August and September 1966 Los Angeles Times note that the building would be placed up for auction Monday, September 19, 1966. Advertisements pointed out that the facility possessed frontage on Sixth Street, 159 hotel rooms with baths, and over 175,000 square feet, offering many opportunities for buyers. Baur Properties purchased the Temple November 26, 1966 for $700,000 from the Elks, giving them the opportunity to lease it back.

By the 1970s and 1980s, the Temple held punk rock concerts, served as a youth hostel, operated as the Masque Theatre, and continued operating as the Park Plaza Hotel. The building earned Historic Cultural Monument landmark #267 from the city of Los Angeles in 1985, while being leased for a variety of activities.

The Park Plaza building today mostly rents out its large social halls and spaces for location filming, appearing in such films as “The Mask,” “The Fisher King,” “Inspector Gadget,” “Flags of Our Fathers,” and “Gangster Squad.”

Various groups have suggested restoring the building and reopening the structure as a boutique hotel or social outlet, instead of the rental facility it appears to have become. Now mostly leased for special events, corporate outings, weddings, and location filming, the Elks’ Temple and its eye-catching facade represent the early power and draw of fraternal organizations to make a forceful and positive impact on their local communities, generously supporting and encouraging the less fortunate.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 4634 Santa Monica Blvd., Where History Was Made

$
0
0

Lois Weber Mildred Chaplin Ad

Though today the home of Union Swap Meet, 4634 Santa Monica Blvd. once served as the location for pioneering director Lois Weber’s motion picture studio from 1917 through 1925. Ranking as one of the top three directors in 1915, Weber was among the first multi-threat artists to act, direct, write and produce her own pictures. Within a few months, however, 4632 Santa Monica Blvd. will be demolished and leveled to make way for a large-density project.

Director Weber began her entertainment career on the stage with her husband, Phillips Smalley. Born June 13, 1879, in Pennsylvania, Weber was raised in a religious family, singing in the church choir, which led her to serve as a street-corner missionary and singer to prisoners and asylum inmates before moving on to opera, musical comedy and the stage. The talented young woman met her future husband on the boards before they both entered the moving picture business around 1907.

Mary Mallory’s latest book, Living With Grace: Life Lessons From America’s Princess,”  is now on sale.

Lois Weber MP Mag 1920 at site

Above, Lois Weber studies plans for her project.


Smalley and Weber often acted together under the collective title “The Smalleys” for studios such as Reliance and Gaumont, and co-directed scripts written by Weber, as professor Shelley Stamp writes for Weber’s Women Film Pioneers Project’s biography. By 1912, they were placed in charge of Universal Film Manufacturing Company’s brand Rex to continue their production of high-class, highbrow pictures. They produced one- and two-reel films per week with a stock company of actors from scripts written by Weber and co-directed by the two. The two left Universal for a few years before returning in 1916.

Weber displayed a wide range, directing melodrama, action-adventure, drawing room comedy and social issue films dealing with such issues as white slavery, capital punishment, drug abuse, contraception, and wage equity and poverty, huge hits of their time. From 1913 through 1916, Weber directed such films as “Suspense” (1913), featuring a chase scene through Hollywood; “The Dumb Girl of Portici” (1916), an epic film starring dancer Anna Pavlova; “Where Are My Children?” (1916), dealing with the issue of abortion, birth control, and eugenics; and “Shoes” (1916), the story of a teenage shop girl supporting her family on a meager salary.

Stamp points out that Weber was among the first to focus on quality films of social conscience with complex feature-length stories, talking of using films to achieve political change “that will have an influence for good on the public mind” (Photoplay 1913, P. 73). Weber wrote scripts that facilitated discussion of important social issues, directing and producing these stories to ensure her voice and issues were not watered down.

Lois Weber MP Mag 1920 at site

“Domestic hours are well interspersed in the life of Directoress Weber,” according to the original caption for this image.

 


Audiences flocked to Weber’s films, with her name routinely mentioned along with those of Cecil B. DeMille and D.W. Griffith as the outstanding directors of the period. In fact, she was the first and only woman elected to the Motion Picture Directors Association. Weber left Universal in 1917 to establish her own company, Lois Weber Productions, moving to 4632/4634 Santa Monica Blvd., the five-acre site of a former residential estate.

1908 newspaper accounts list a 10-room mansion at 421 N. Vermont, perhaps built by real estate man R. (Robert) Fred Vogel, whom city directories list as living at 4714 Santa Monica Blvd. in 1909, 421 N. Vermont in 1911-1912, and then 437 N. Vermont in 1913-1915. Permits show that gardener Frank Plaschil and his son Frank Jr. resided at 4634 Santa Monica Blvd. in 1913, and by 1914, were operating a film stage and laboratory at the site, employing sunlight for filming.

In 1917, Weber leased the property for her company, on property owned by Vogel at 4634 Santa Monica Blvd. on what was known as Conner’s subdivision in the Johanssen Tract. Universal enclosed the 12,000-square-foot outdoor stage per a December 18, 1918, permit, part of her lucrative distribution contract with the studio making her the highest-paid director in Hollywood. She then converted the home into administrative offices, in which such stars as Lew Cody, Anita Stewart, and director Marshall Neilan rented space over the next several years. Unlike other facilities, Weber’s studio offered privacy behind hedges and bushes among lovely grounds, almost like a residence instead of a film studio. Many news stories reported that an old-fashioned house in the middle of gardens served as her studio, a homey spot in which to make films.

Weber finally purchased the studio outright on September 8, 1920, which newspaper accounts reported included closed stage, open stage, projection room, dressing rooms, carpentry and machine shop, laboratory and offices. The October 8 issue of the Los Angeles Herald stated that Weber intended to spend six figures to remodel into a “completely equipped and updated” facility, enlarging it to make it the most modern on the West Coast. The formal opening occurred Sunday, October 31, 1920, with a tennis exhibition match by top players of the time and a reception for 300 guests. During updated landscape work in spring 1921, Weber constructed a swimming pool on the property.

Lois Weber Busy Studio LA Herald 9-11-20
Los Angeles Herald, 1920.

 


From 1917-1921, Weber produced more intimate films focusing on women, marriage and domesticity such as “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” (1917), “Home” (1919), “What do Men Want?” (1921), “Too Wise Wives” (1921) and “The Blot” (1921). Unfortunately by 1922, Weber’s output drastically declined along with other veteran directors as studios became major conglomerates through the large infusion of Wall Street capital. She directed only six films over the next decade, focusing more on script writing as the industry changed around her, with a focus on more light-hearted, action-oriented films.

On February 10, 1925, Weber pulled a permit to demolish the studio, running ads in the Los Angeles Times stating secondhand lumber for sale, along with the opportunity to move or purchase parts of two small buildings and a 16-room dressing room. She requested multiple permits on October 1, 1926, to construct several small four-room frame duplexes with garages designed by renowned theatre architect B. Marcus Priteca. Weber called this little complex the Garden Village Apartments, with the August 31, 1927, Los Angeles Times’ ad stating they were available for rent at $45 or $50 a month, including garage, perfect for students or writers looking for peace, privacy and quiet.

4634 Santa Monica Blvd.

Permits show an apartment court still onsite in 1943, but by 1950, permits list Fountain Avenue Baptist Church as owner and requesting to erect a tent for revival purposes. Permits were pulled again in 1954 for another revival. Residents complained when boxing promoter Tommy Kennedy proposed to build a 15,000-seat athletic stadium, killing the project. In 1973, Paris Ace Beauty is listed as owner, and Union Swap Meet in 1988.

On January 17, 2019, news stories appeared announcing that Jamison Services planned to erect a seven-story development with 177 units and 5,500 square feet of street-level retail space at this site under TOC requirements that allow construction within a half-mile radius of major transit stops. Unfortunately, neither TOC plans nor the proposed new bill SB50 offer protections for historic buildings, be they listed as Los Angeles’ Historic Cultural Monuments, National Historic Register Landmarks, or structures not yet listed.

That means such properties as the downtown Central Library, First Congregational Church, Veterans Administration property, Cinerama Dome, Chinese Theatre, Hollyhock House, Wiltern Theatre, and many more could fall. Historic Preservation Zones added since 2010 would also see buildings demolished for new construction of density projects, though it takes years, if not decades, for neighborhoods to earn HPOZ status. Most neighborhoods must wait 10-20 years to earn the HPOZ designation, meaning those winning recognition post-2010 applied in 1990 or 2000.

While Lois Weber’s Studio is long gone from the Santa Monica Boulevard  site, there are many other historic properties still standing now threatened by these proposals. There is a need for more housing in Los Angeles, but these plans require alterations in order to protect historic structures.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: First National Building Banks On Hollywood’s Future

$
0
0

Hollywood First National Building

Hollywood First National Bank Building, Courtesy of Mary Mallory.


Note: This is an encore post from 2014

S
oaring to the skies, displaying confidence in Hollywood’s unlimited future, the First National Building, constructed and opened in 1928, brought Art Deco-Gothic beauty to Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. Operating as bank and office building for decades, the First National Building celebrated Hollywood’s business success and its glorious potential, a economics temple.

The Hollywood and Highland intersection served as the western end of Hollywood Boulevard’s business district, anchored by the regal Hotel Hollywood. Businesses sprang up around it, two blocks north of Hollywood High School. The First National Bank of Hollywood built a branch here, leasing space on its upper floor to the Frank Meline Co. Meline operated its Hollywood office here at 6777 Hollywood Blvd. from 1920, offering properties in the immediate area for sale. Buster Keaton even filmed a scene from his 1921 short “The Goat” looking south from a garage at 1741 N. Highland Ave. toward the intersection, per John Bengtson on his blog, “Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Film Locations.”

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

Allen Vincent Paramount Hollywood

A photo of Allen Vincent with the First National Bank in the background, courtesy of Mary Mallory.



I
n 1927, the First National Bank merged with Pacific South West Trust and Savings Bank, forming the Los Angeles First National Trust and Savings Bank. To recognize their potent economic base, the new company hired prestigious architects/contractors Meyer and Holler to design spacious new headquarters to cost $250,000. Meyer and Holler, designers of the Chaplin Studios, Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Thomas Ince Studios, Montmartre Café, and Hollywood Athletic Club, envisioned a spire shooting to the heavens. The building would rise to height-limit, second only to that of downtown Los Angeles’ City Hall.

The July 24, 1927, Los Angeles Times reported, “Grandeur and scale will be realized through a towerlike formation on the Hollywood Boulevard corner. This effect has been gained by combining the elevator penthouse and those other correlated elements usually relegated to the back corners of the upper roofs, where they will not be seen, and building these elements into one tower embellished at the top by a roof of polychrome tiles.”

By setting the tower back on the building, it freed space for tenants of varying sizes. The wide entry lobby at the intersection served as lobby for both the bank and office building, which would feature a terra cotta and brick facade and flood lights at night to illuminate the tower. They noted, “A series of symbolic or allegorical figures arranged in large niches will represent the various arts and industries of Hollywood.”

Contractors began destroying the old bank to make way for the new in late September 1927, with excavation completed by the end of October. Construction began with the pouring of concrete, before a steel frame rose on the site. On July 1, 1928, The Times noted doors had opened in the Hollywood First National Building’s office tower to occupants, with the first floor branch of the Los Angeles First National Trust and Savings Bank not formally opening until Nov. 17, 1928. The bank occupied the basement level as well, maintaining their safe deposit department here.

A vintage postcard of the time notes on its back: “Hollywood-First National Building — “This limit-height, Class A, office and bank building, at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, because of its beauty and tower construction, is one of Hollywood’s outstanding landmarks. The offices have ultra-modern fixtures and equipment, particularly suited for the professions. The Hollywood Branch Los Angeles-First National Trust & Savings Bank, occupies the entire ground and basement floors. This Bank has resources of more than $300,000.”

July 1, 1928, First National Bank
A
ds in 1929 noted that “its appropriately picturesque design features” led to quick office space rentals, with more than 80% of the building occupied by the summer of 1929. Property values also soared; economists noted that the northeast corner of Hollywood and Highland possessed a $6081 tax valuation in 1919-1920, exploding to $147,860 by 1928-1929.

Many financial firms rented space in the building, including attorneys, investment firms and real estate companies. Willard Clinical Laboratories leased an office in 1930. Doctors also occupied the building, from ophthalmologists to general practitioners to dentists. In fact, G. Floyd Jackman, a former Mack Sennett cameraman, rented space here after graduating from the University of Southern California’s School of Dentistry in 1928. He purchased ads in International Photographer and American Cinematographer through 1934, reaching out to his filming brothers by noting his camera background.

Entertainment industry-related businesses flocked here as well. Talent agent Leo Morrison moved his office from the Roosevelt Hotel to the First National Building in 1932. Showmen’s Trade Review’s Hollywood Bureau operated here from 1942-1949. A casting company by the name of Hollywood Showcase later opened offices here, as did Big Time Records.

By the early 1930s, First National Trust and Savings Bank teetered on bankruptcy. They were acquired and became Security-First National Bank, which later became Security-Pacific and now, Bank of America.

For the last several years, however, the gorgeous bank and office building has set empty and forlorn at Hollywood and Highland, left unkempt and dirty and a place where homeless and protestors camp out in front of. May someone recognize the jewel of this building, and restore and reopen it to its previous splendor, celebrating the another revival of business Hollywood.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Norman Kerry, Preservationist

$
0
0

Norman Kerry Truth About the Movies 1924
Norman Kerry in 1924.

Long before billionaire investor Ron Burkle purchased and restored such historic architectural properties as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis-Brown House, Harold Lloyd’s Greenacres, and Bob Hope’s Palm Springs and Toluca Lake houses, silent film star Norman Kerry became one of the first Los Angeles-area preservation angels by rescuing a doomed Greene and Greene Brothers Craftsman home in the Wilshire Boulevard district. The 109-year-old landmark still stands near the Beverly Hills Hotel, the only Greene and Greene home in that city.

Multi-talented Earle C. Anthony originally constructed the graceful home after becoming one of the West Coast’s most successful Packard dealers. An automotive pioneer, Anthony designed Los Angeles’ first electric car at the age of 17 before founding the Western Motor Car Company with his father in 1904. Diversifying his portfolio around transportation, Anthony created an intercity bus line and constructed a chain of gasoline stations which he sold to Standard Oil Company in 1913.

Mary Mallory’s latest book, Living With Grace: Life Lessons From America’s Princess,”  is now on sale.

 

Screen shot 2014-10-29 at 12.27.49 PM

To signify his success, Anthony hired the renowned Greene and Greene brothers of Pasadena to design and build him an elegant mansion on family owned property at the southeastern corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Berendo Street, opposite his father’s property on the southwestern corner, their first in the Los Angeles area.

Anthony pulled a permit April 13, 1910 to build a two-story, $15,000 home at 656 S. Berendo St. Around this time, Charles Sumner Greene departed to England, and so Henry Mather Greene did the majority of the designing at a time when the brothers’ work was moving away from elaborate and detailed work into more traditional California Craftsman bungalow styles. Randall Makinson in his book “Architecture as Fine Art” describes it as “L” shaped, with a pergola on the street side providing separation from the street. As with other Greene and Greene brothers’ work, it featured split shake-clad walls, open porches, fireplaces, and wooden light fixtures.

While the auto dealer enjoyed the beauty of his new home, his wife found fault with some details. Upon his return from England in 1914, Charles Greene designed interior lighting and leaded glass windows, some of his best work, to brighten up interiors. Some of the trim downstairs was painted to lighten the home as well, while a sleeping room was added upstairs. In 1921, Anthony hired Henry Greene to design a garage in back.

Since the family had taken up residence in 1910, the neighborhood surrounding it had undergone a gigantic building boom, seeing historic estates demolished to make way for commercial developments and apartment buildings. By 1922, Anthony was ready to move on to something more private.

Francesca Arms Talmadge LAT 12-16-23

The Los Angeles Times announced on March 22, 1922 that real estate management company A. C. Blumenthal & Co. had purchased the property on behalf of a group of San Francisco investors in order to construct a Class A apartment building. By the end of July, the company announced they planned to relocate the home as soon as possible to a lot at Wilshire and Lucerne Boulevard in order to construct the $850,000 apartment building.

As usual with real estate projects, time moved more slowly in completing the development than intended. Owners/developers McDonald Kahn Company of San Francisco received a permit December 26, 1922 to move the residence now listed at 666 S. Berendo “Outside the city.” Newspaper stories in 1923 and 1924 announced that McDonald Kahn intended to construct a 10-story, Class A apartment building designed by Aleck Curlett and Claud Beelman named the Francesca Apartments after their Francesca Apartment building on Powell and Sacramento in San Francisco. Finally completed in 1924 and using 3278 Wilshire Blvd. as its address, the building opened under the name Talmadge Apartments after film studio executive Joseph Schenck and his wife, film diva Norrma Talmadge, acquired the property.

Little documentation exists to show exactly when Norman Kerry acquired the home and for how much. The debonair, restless actor enjoyed life as a bon vivant, living beyond his means, but seeming to marry wives with large portfolios. Kerry enjoyed sports and automobiles, both interests of Anthony, so perhaps the two men enjoyed a friendship which facilitated the purchase.

Norman Kerry House Pool LAT 10-22-24
The pool at 910 Bedford in a 1924 L.A. Times photo.

Born Norman H. (Hussen) Kaiser June 16, 1894 in Rochester, New York, Kerry attended private schools while his father owned and operated the Kaiser Leathergoods Company with the help of his father-in-law Alexander D. Lamberton. The young man traveled to the West Coast occasionally in the early 1910s assisting the family with business. In 1916, Kaiser lucked into a job in the film industry with Art Acord, with some papers claiming he first appeared in the Douglas Fairbanks’ film “Manhattan Madness.” After starring in several pictures under his real name, including Mary Pickford’s “The Little Princess,” he changed his name in the press to Norman Kerry to escape the German connotation. Kerry quickly traveled to Toronto to join the British Royal Flying Corps.

Thanks to his attractive looks and charming personality, the suave, intelligent young man quickly became a light romantic star following war’s end. Kerry starred in “Up the Road With Sallie” with Constance Talmadge in 1918 and many others and before landing at Universal. In 1922, he starred in Erich von Stroheim’s film “Merry-Go-Round,” which led the studio to sign him to a five-year contract. Over the next few years Kerry would appear in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Phantom of the Opera,” two bonafide classics. These films perhaps appealed to his romantic, dreamy nature, which possibly carried through into his love of architecture as well.

norman_kerry_pictureplaymagaz20unse_0345

The August 3, 1924 Los Angeles Times reported that Kerry “wanted a home of real Hawaiian timbers, without a nail in it,” and importing wood and workers from Hawaii was cost prohibitive. When “a friend” in the Wilshire District decided to cash in the value of his property for an apartment site, Kerry purchased the mansion. Cut into three parts, the twelve-room residence moved seven miles to 910 N. Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. Moving a home was common during this period, in fact, 10 house moving companies are listed in the 1923 Los Angeles city directory.

Cost to move the home was supposedly twice the price to purchase it, and then the cost of buying the Beverly Hills lot and improving it with swimming pool, tennis court, garage, kennels, and gardens equaled four to five times the purchase price. An Eastern magazine called the residence “the strangest and most beautiful home in filmland.” The Times described it as “marvelous’ – one which couldn’t be duplicated and worth many times its cost.

Kerry hired Henry Greene to properly site the home on the larger, triangular plot, building a brick retaining wall and designing gardens around the property. By 1924, the generous actor was hosting swimming parties for his male buddies and elaborate dinners and events for he and his wife’s friends.

While the actor loved his home, Kerry endured marriage problems over the next six years. His first wife threatened to walk out in 1924; they reconciled but eventually divorced in 1930. Kerry married his second wife in 1932 before she asked for a divorce in 1934. Entertainment trades listed such people as Lorenz Hart (who supposedly wrote “Isn’t It Romantic?” there), Marion Davies, Countess di Frasso, and others renting the home over the years.

Eventually Kerry sold the home, and it passed through several hands over the years. Mrs. Rozene T. Emmerich owned the home beginning in 1933. E. H. Kron owned 910 N. Bedford in 1947, and actor Ed Gardner owned it in 1963. He listed it for sale in 1965 for $189,500, Leslie Dixon and Tom Ropelewski owned the home in the 2000s. The home has sold multiple times since that date, but thankfully Dixon recognized its historic significance and value, getting it named Beverly Hills Landmark No. 14.

Thanks to the foresight and quick thinking of Kerry, Earle C. Anthony’s gorgeous Greene and Greene brothers’ bungalow survived and thrived in Beverly Hills. Here’s to more like-minded individuals stepping up and heeding the call of history and preservation.

Downtown Los Angeles, 1950: ‘The Underworld Story’

$
0
0

'Underworld Story'

“The Underworld Story,” last week’s mystery movie, had quite a few interesting shots of downtown Los Angeles from about 1950.

Here’s one from the opening titles. It shows the Fashion League Building, which was at Hill and 2nd streets. Notice the overhead wires and tracks for the streetcars.

Hill Street and 2nd Street
A similar view, looking south on Hill Street, via Google Earth.

L.A. Times, 1948

 

In 1948, the Los Angeles Times published a map showing the Fashion League Building as the site of proposed state buildings.

'Underworld Story'
Here’s a satellite view for comparison.

L.A. Times, 1956

Demolition of the Fashion League Building as shown in the Los Angeles Times, December 1956.

Downtown Los Angeles, 1950: ‘The Underworld Story’ Part 2

$
0
0

Underworld Story

Here’s another frame from the opening of “The Underworld Story,” last week’s mystery movie. This appears to be one of the Hill Street tunnels, which were demolished in 1955.

Hill Street Tunnel
For comparison, here’s a photo from the Security Pacific Collection at the Los Angeles Pubic Library, showing the Hill Street tunnels, looking north from 1st Street.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: There Is a Lake in Toluca Lake

$
0
0

J. Blair Toluca Lake
Photo: Janet Blair sits on the little platform off the banks of the Lakeside Golf Club. Courtesy of Mary Mallory


Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Surrounded by homes and the Lakeside Golf Club, Toluca Lake is all but obscured from view by the public. Like the movie stars that soon flocked to it, the attractive little lake helped sell the community that grew up around it.

This area of the San Fernando Valley originally fell under the auspices of the San Fernando Mission before being broken into segments and sold off in chunks to Southern California businessmen like Isaac Van Nuys and J. B.Lankershim, among others.  Gen. Charles Forman bought up ranchland just north of the Cahuenga Pass, growing Bartlett pears, walnuts, citrus and other fruit. He suggested the name Toluca for the post office erected in 1893 across from the Chandler railroad depot in North Hollywood, also known as Lankershim.

Toluca Lake color
Real estate developers Heffron, McCray, and St. John purchased 151 acres of the former Forman ranch just north of the Los Angeles River in 1924 to open a real estate tract called Toluca Lake Park, so named because of the eight-acre lake constructed in the middle of the property as an attractive selling feature.

Employing the overexaggerated prose of the day, the development’s first Los Angeles Times ad on Feb. 3, 1924, claimed that “Toluca Lake Park offers irresistibly all the alluring charms of Nature. Great oak trees, full bearing fruit trees, shrubbery, a picturesque park, a sparkling lake, an unchallenged breadth of view of surrounding mountain grandeur and stretches beyond.…”

The chief attraction for the area was the manmade lake, supplied by fresh water from the 27 natural springs situated at its bottom, which residents employed for boating, fishing and other recreation.

Nearby studios flocked to the lake for filming boat scenes. Actress Virginia Valli filmed a scene tipping over a canoe here in May 1924 for the Universal film “K – The Unknown.” The July 6, 1924, Times reported on an unidentified film shooting smuggling scenes on the lake, “The scene, depicting a rum-running fleet twelve miles out at sea, shows miniature oceangoing liners anchored on the center of the lake while small speed boats dash back and forth  with their party of passengers.”

Residents who bought lots adjoining the lake would gain exclusive right to use of the lake up to 155 feet from the shore. The real estate promoters claimed that they would construct a park for residents on the west end of the lake where huge eucalyptus would provide an inviting canopy for picnicking or other pursuits. A nearby walnut grove would provide peaceful vistas. Eventually the trees would be cut down to make room for more homes.

Toluca lake 1939
A consortium of Hollywood businessmen, including comedy filmmaker Charles Christie, spent $400,000 buying 125 acres south of the lake on April 12, 1924, to construct the Lakeside Golf Club in 1925. The swanky club, a constant celebrity draw for decades, consisted of a modern Spanish hacienda with handmade tile and terraces offering attractive views of the lake, along with 18 holes of golf hugging the lakeside.

Toluca Lake Park immediately attracted film stars, thanks to its location only blocks from both Warner Bros. and Universal Studios, and just a short drive over the Cahuenga Pass to Hollywood studios. Matinee idols like Billie Dove, Mary Astor, Lupino Lane, and Charles Farrell built homes. Farrell constructed an elegant Norman estate along the lake in 1928. He introduced swans to the water and began canoeing along the banks. Richard Arlen and Jobyna Ralston soon built at 10025 Toluca Lake Ave. According to an interview in the newspaper, Arlen and Ralston bought and paid for their lot, before getting married and building their $8,000 Spanish house. The cinema colony also included Walter Huston, W. C. Fields, Frank McHugh, Dick Powell, Jack Oakie, Lyle Talbot, Belle Bennett, Herman Mankiewicz, and George Brent.

Actress Eva Tanguay built  a home at 9936 Toluca Lake Ave., before auctioning off the home and furnishings in February 1930 after discovering that the man she married in 1927, Allen Parado, her accompanist at the time, was in fact only his alias. His real name was Chandos Ksiazkiewcisz. In 1933, Boris Karloff bought the residence.

In 1937, director Norman McLeod constructed a $25,000 home at 10010 Toluca Lake Ave.  African American architect Paul Williams designed a home costing $40,000 for director Irving Bacon on the opposite side of Toluca Lake Avenue that same year, which actors Jennie Garth and Peter Facinelli owned before selling earlier this year.

Aviatrix Amelia Earhart and her husband, George Putnam, constructed a home on Valley Spring Lane in 1935 to be near the Burbank Lockheed facility. After her disappearance, Putnam remained here for a time.

Toluca Lake continued growing beyond the boundaries of the small development toward both North Hollywood and Burbank, soon reaching Riverside Drive by the late 1920s. Within decades, however, the little lake disappeared from public view, save for occasional glimpses through the Golf Club gates or beyond private fences.


Downtown Los Angeles, 1950: ‘The Underworld Story’ Part 3

$
0
0

'Underworld Story'

Here’s another sequence from “The Underworld Story” filmed in downtown Los Angeles. The camera is across Spring Street, opposite City Hall.

Downtown L.A. in ‘Underworld Story’ Part 1 | Part 2

'Underworld Story'
Gunmen wait in a car across from City Hall.

'Underworld Story'

Three men leave the building….

'Underworld Story'

'Underworld Story'

Blam! Blam! Blam! (etc. )

'Underworld Story'

“He’s dead, Jim.”

Downtown Los Angeles, 1950: ‘Underworld Story,’ Part 4

$
0
0

Underworld Story

Here’s another sequence from “The Underworld Story,” an especially interesting one that features the Globe Lobby in the old Los Angeles Times Building. Leading man Dan Duryea walks through the lobby. That’s the bust of Harry Chandler in a space that was later occupied by a bust of Otis Chandler.

As I pointed out previously, the Times Eagle wasn’t installed in the niche next to the pay phones when the movie was filmed in 1950. The Eagle was on the roof until it was taken down because of smog damage.

Downtown Los Angeles in “The Underworld Story” Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Underworld Story

Here’s the second shot. Notice that there appears to be some latticework, no longer present, on either side of the doors.

Underworld Story
Duryea looks up and lights a match on The Times ode to “industrial freedom” (the open shop).

Underworld Story

Duryea walks out onto the sidewalk on 1st Street (across from the California State Building seen in “Illegal.”)

Underworld Story
Notice the Western Union office, also seen in “Illegal.”

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hermoyne Apartments, Regal Dowager on Rossmore Avenue

$
0
0

image
The Hermoyne Apartments, 569 N. Rossmore Ave., directly across from the Ravenswood Apartments, via Google Street View.


Still as gorgeous and stately as when it opened in 1929, the Hermoyne Apartments at 569 N.Rossmore Ave. demonstrates the best in high-class apartment hotels built around Los Angeles in the late 1920s. Offering a touch of class in amenities as well as looks, the residence seems as luxurious as any movie pied a terre, located on a graceful curve of Rossmore Avenue.

H. B. (Herbert) Squires, owner of his self-named company, which served as one of the largest purveyors of electric equipment to the motion picture and other large industries in the 1920s, looked for a safe investment to grow his wealth. Beginning as a town assessor in 1907, by the early 1920s Squires ran a large company in San Francisco. Within a few years, he opened branches in Seattle and in Los Angeles at 229 Boyd St.

Mary Mallory’s “Living With Grace” is now on sale.

 

Allied_Hotels_and_Apartments
A postcard view of the Hermoyne Apartments, via the Los Angeles Public Library.


Though he lived in Pasadena, Squires realized that the best return on his investment was probably in Los Angeles. He acquired property at 569 N. Rossmore Ave., pulling a permit February 9, 1929, to construct a Class A, 156 room, 54-unit apartment hotel. The Los Angeles Times article that Squires would spend $425,000 to construct the seven-story building. Architect Leonard Jones estimated that 190,000 tons of steel would be needed to build the swanky address, which received its certificate of occupancy January 2, 1930.

From its beginnings, the building was called the Hermoyne Apartments,, but no stories report on the history of the name. Squires’ first name was Herbert, so possibly the beginning is in honor of him, but I find no links to anything with the word “moyne.” His wife’s name was Mary and none of his companies’ offices were located on a street using the name.

The Hermoyne offered certain amenities very rare at the time, for both permanent as well as temporary residents. Not only did the apartment hotel feature subterranean parking, it also contained a large indoor heated pool and its own private gymnasium with sun-bath booths on the roof. Sports minded guests could play on the property’s tennis court or take advantage of privileges at the nearby Los Angeles Tennis Club. A commissary provided meals as well as catering for residents, who could entertain guests in a private dining room or special club rooms. All residences included daily maid service, and a cook, butler and chauffeur were always available on call.

Suites of various sizes served the needs of any resident or guest. Apartments ranged from one bedroom to four, and could be rented daily for short stays, or by the month. Day rates ranged from $3 to $5, and monthly rates started at $50, with bachelor apartments costing $60 to $80 a month, singles $90 to $125, doubles $150 to $225 and triples $225 to $350. Four and five-room suites cost $350 to $450.

A circa 1934 advertising brochure extolled the swanky building. “The Hermoyne is a truly distinctive residential apartment of unusual charm. Its luxurious appointments and exceptional service facilities are thoroughly attuned to present day requirements for gracious living, yet every detail is consonant with the spirit of home…

Hermoyne Brochure Color Scan The Hermoyne was planned and built with the same thoughtful care one would exercise in the construction of a fine mansion. Its location was chosen to afford the quiet seclusion of a residential section, away from the noisy din of overcrowded streets and boulevards, and yet it is just a few minutes from everywhere.”

Interior features were just as sleek as exteriors, with “a spacious lobby, beautiful new French Room, elegantly appointed private dining and club rooms.” The spacious, furnished apartments contained high end linens, fixtures, and furnishings, along with “generous closet space and wide windows which afford perfect ventilation.” Some even offered “private screened and glass enclosed porches.”

Thanks to its swanky living and location near motion picture studios, the Hermoyne attracted celebrity clientele as well as society folk. The Los Angeles Times and New York Daily News reported actress Estelle Taylor lived there during her separation from boxer Jack Dempsey in 1930 and 1931. Spanish actress Conchita Montenegro resided in the building during the early 1930s as she shot Spanish-language films for MGM. Singer Ruth Etting stayed for a short time in 1938 while in Hollywood.

The French consul threw an elaborate party for guests attending the 1932 Olympics in one of its special rooms, while director Alexander Markey hosted the New Zealand Olympic team in its dining room. Society folk also resided in the building, hosting everything from teas to luncheons to private receptions.

While the Hermoyne always maintained an air of respectable gentility, it also witnessed various changes in ownership and financial status through its history. Squires perhaps experienced financial difficulties in the early 1930s, because 1932 alteration permits list Pacific State Savings and Loan Association as owner. The company did offer mortgages and appeared to manage many properties during this time. By 1936, permits show Allied Properties, owner of such luxurious properties as Santa Barbara’s Biltmore Hotel, San Francisco’s Clift Hotel, and the West Hollywood Sunset Towers, as the registered owner. Newspaper stories reported an affiliation of the two.

In 1939, Robert S. Odell, President of Pacific States Saving and Loan, and Gerald D. White, Vice President of the same company were both charged with violating the Bankruptcy Act, as they contacted other company executives asking that certain records be sent to the Hermoyne, where they were destroyed before they could be turned over to federal authorities.

As the case with Odell dragged on into the mid-1940s, State Building and Loan Commissioner Frank C. Mortimer demanded that the Hermoyne be sold for lack of maintenance. Jacob L. Vitz from Chicago purchased the building for $435,000 in 1945, and soon fell into trouble himself. Judge Peirson M. Hall sentenced him to six months in jail for willfully violating his probation on an earlier charge for breaking rent control laws. Not only did he charge residents above what the city allowed, Vitz also illegally received lucrative bonuses to allow others to move in

In 1953, scandal fell on the property when Dr. Bernhart Schwartz physically confronted his wife, who lived in the building with their children during the couple’s separation. Pulling a gun out of his pocket, he shot Mrs. Schwartz three times as their children watched. Son Barry tried to protect his mother, running towards her as he yelled, “Daddy is trying to kill mama,” which brought the neighbors

Trying to stay up to date, the Hermoyne added an outdoor pool in 1950 along with other refurbishments. Since that time, it has been updated to move into the modern age. The building has passed through multiple hands since 1959, but still operates as a high-class apartment, though without the elaborate furnished rooms. It stands as classy and elegant as ever, on the graceful stretch of Rossmore Avenue.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hollywood’s Little Country Church – Emblem of Bygone Days

$
0
0

Little Country Church_rotated

Note: This is an encore post from 2013

Throughout its history, the city of Hollywood has seen much come and go in the name of “progress.” Instead of remodeling and reusing a historic structure, as is done in Europe or the East Coast, most builders simply tear down the old to make way for the “hip” and “modern.” Occasionally, acts of vandalism destroy grand old buildings. At some locations, however, both unfortunate actions occur.

ALSO BY MARY MALLORY

The Magic Castle
Jerry Giesler, Miracle Man
‘I Lost My Girlish Laughter’
Charles Butterworth, Professional Silly Ass

Just over five years ago, the Little Country of Church of Hollywood, located at 1750 Argyle Ave., burned down through malicious arson. This quaint structure, resembling a church found in any little farming village, bridged old and new Hollywood, thanks to its location, the site of the A. G. Bartlett estate, one of Hollywood’s early great mansions. Both unique and beautiful in their own ways, the buildings acted as community gathering places and landmarks for Hollywood residents.

In April 1901, sheet music publisher A. G. Bartlett purchased five acres at the northeast corner of Prospect Avenue and Vine Street, on which to build an $18,000 estate. The two-story, 12-room mansion, called “Vista del Mar” after the tract of land on which it was located, was designed in the mission style with clay tile roof.

Gardens were lavish as well, with exotic flowers, shrubs and trees from around the world decorating the grounds, which served as a government experimental station. Valued at $100,000, the collection included many rare species and varieties that grew only on the property. Tourists flocked to see the elegant gardens and admire the house.

Little Country Church interior

After Bartlett’s death in 1923, the family sold the property to a 25-member syndicate for $1.35 million, the highest price ever paid for a subdivision in Los Angeles. The syndicate, which included actor Antonio Moreno, planned on dividing the property into business sites along the 382-foot frontage on Hollywood Boulevard. At the same time, the company paid the city for Argyle Avenue to be extended through the property from Hollywood Boulevard.

Along with paying for street construction, they made other agreements. “Provision is made in the map for six sites for a height limit to business buildings to front on Hollywood Blvd.” These buildings – Taft Building, Guaranty Building, Plaza Hotel, B. H. Dyas Department Store, among them – would all be built in harmony with surrounding properties.

The syndicate intended a grand hotel resembling that of the Biltmore to be constructed on the home and garden’s two-acre site. Business declined as the decade wore on, and after the stock market crash, dreams of a hotel died. The home was soon torn down.

Methodist minister William Bennett Hogg and his wife arrived in 1933 from Tennessee via Texas, drawn here to preach the word of God. A college graduate, Hogg served as minister for a few years before serving in World War I as a chaplain. The brutality of war and burying so many of his comrades caused him to have a nervous breakdown.

Once back in the states, Hogg became a circuit preacher, traveling by horse and buggy between several churches in a rural area. While he found that many of his congregants took the Bible literally, they also practiced their faith seven days a week. Hogg dropped his more sophisticated ways to take on the persona of Josiah Hopkins, growing in popularity.

Instead of preaching in a Los Angeles church, Hogg broadcast on radio station KFAC starting Jan. 2, 1933, similar in style to Garrison Keillor’s monologues on “Prairie Home Companion.” Under the name Parson Josiah Hopkins and Sister Sarah Hopkins, Hogg and his wife presented daily life in country village “Goose Creek.” The show blended folksy humor, homespun philosophy, hymns, homilies and stories, and quickly gained a large following.

Hogg acquired the former Bartlett estate property in early 1934 with donations raised by radio listeners with plans to reproduce a country village consisting of church, corn mill, creek and spring. Plans moved quickly, with groundbreaking occurring Feb. 18, 1934, for construction of the little church designed by architect Paul Kingsbury. On March 4, 1934, Hogg and his followers consecrated the site, with 3,000 persons watching the laying of the cornerstone. Hogg declared that, “The Little Country Church is dedicated to the pioneer mothers of California.”

They planned on offering old-time religion to sophisticated city folk looking for direction and hope. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Dr. and Mrs. Hogg believed that most churched and unchurched folk were hungry for a simple faith. The Country Church was built as a simple country meeting house to remind people of some little church they had known earlier.”

LIttle Country Church Exterior

Volunteers built the 250-seat chapel almost entirely from donated goods. Recycled stone from Los Angeles’ old City Hall sidewalk became terracing and steps. Mrs. Bullock, widow of the founder of Bullock’s department store, gave the church two sets of bells chosen from the collection of the Mission Inn at Riverside; one, a replica of an ancient Venetian bell, and the other, a main bell from a sailing ship.

At the April 15, 1934, dedication, attended by such people as songwriter Carrie Jacobs Bond and actor Lionel Barrymore, a message was read from President Franklin Roosevelt, followed by simple singing and speeches. The Country Church quickly opened its doors beyond its regular services, offering weddings, talks and musical performances.

Unlike most churches, however, the Country Church also served as a broadcasting station for Hogg’s Goose Creek show, as microphones, loudspeakers and a control room were installed during construction. Hogg continued on KFAC until Sept. 30, 1934, when Columbia Broadcasting began carrying a Sunday afternoon broadcast of services.

Hogg’s show exploded in popularity, with some comparing Hogg’s homilies to Will Roger’s stories. Daily Variety reported March 18, 1936, “Racked up by smart production and pointed for matronly reception, this one-time Columbia sustaining show has the makings of a new favorite.” On Aug. 30, 1936, Hogg’s show began broadcasting Monday and Thursday evenings at 7:45 PM on CBS, crusading for “back-to-the-simple-life.”

Later that fall, Hogg underwent prostate surgery, and his health began failing. He died on Jan. 15, 1937, with services on Jan. 18, 1937, followed by burial at Forest Lawn. Five ministers participated in his service, with members of Hollywood’s American Legion Post 93 serving as guards of honor. Two thousand people attended Hogg’s memorial service on June 6, 1937, with 12 rosebushes planted around the flagpole of the Argyle property, and Army and Navy veterans sowing poppy seeds from Flanders around the site.

Virginia Hopkins carried on, continuing interdenominational services with ministers of other churches officiating. She also persevered with the radio program as it became a country gospel radio show, ending with her death in 1966.

In 1992, the city of Los Angeles named the Little Country Church Historic-Cultural Monument No. 567.

Martha Hogg, aka “Peachy Applewhite,” the first church secretary and organist, continued on in that role until she and her sister were forced to close the Country Church April 27, 1997, due to dwindling membership.

Susan Moore of Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop planned a 200-seat bar and restaurant on the grounds of the church in 1999, but such a business horrified the Hogg sisters, leading another business to purchase the property.

The Little Country Church sat virtually empty until Christmas Day 2007, when it mysteriously burned down. Today, the property sits vacant, surrounded by remains of the two gardens. Even with destruction, the empty site evokes echoes of simpler days.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hollywood’s Salute to Atmosphere – The Afton Arms

$
0
0

Afton Arms Exterior Hollywood Citizen 1-25-25

A photo of the Afton Arms from the Hollywood Citizen, Jan. 25, 1925.


Built in 1925 and advertising itself as modern and up-to-date, filled with every convenience, the aristocratic Afton Arms offered stylish living for aspiring entertainers and striving businessmen. Located a few blocks away from motion picture studios, the Afton Arms appeared as a luscious fantasy designed for cinematic dreams.

During the 1920s, striking apartment complexes sprang up all over Hollywood and Los Angeles, offering gorgeous designs and and comfortable living to a growing middle class. They represented attainment of financial or career success, or at least the illusion of having it all. For those trying to achieve stardom in Hollywood, these residences suggested that they too, had arrived.

Mary Mallory’s latest book,  on Grace Kelly, “Living With Grace.”

Afton Arms
The Afton Arms via Google Street View.


In 1924, shirt manufacturer Eli van Ronkel realized that constructing an apartment building in booming Hollywood offered a quick way to grow his wealth. Buying a large parcel of land at Afton Place and El Centro Avenue near Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street and the location of several motion picture studios, van Ronkel hired rising young architect Leland Bryant from San Francisco to design his Afton Arms investment. Bryant would go on to design such stunning Los Angeles apartment buildings as the Fontenoy, Sunset Towers and the Trianon.

Van Ronkel’s Afton Arms Realty Corporation pulled a permit June 25, 1924, for a three-story, reinforced concrete apartment building at 6141 Afton Place, which the permit noted would contain no store. The 110-room Class D building would feature 41 single and double apartments renting from $75 to $175 a month unfurnished.

The January 4, 1925, Los Angeles Times featured ads trumpeting the exclusive features of the lavish new building. Each Afton Arms unit featured Batchelder tiled bathrooms, radio connections, refrigeration, full-length cedar wardrobes and mirrors, porcelain showers, steel medicine cabinets, porcelain iron sinks, rubber tiled kitchens, twin Murphy beds, storerooms, French doors, and Napanee kitchen cabinets.

Afton Arms Photos Holly Citizen 2-21-25

Photos of the Afton Arms in the Hollywood Citizen, Feb. 21, 1925.


The complex would include utilities like electricity and heat, janitor service, banquet room and ballroom, electric washing machines with with clothes drying patio, veranda and Moorish Court with fountain and shrubbery leading to individual entrances. Intended strictly for married couples, the ad declared, “It is not a transient apartment house.”

The February 21, 1925, Hollywood Citizen featured photographs of the soon to open Afton Arms, including dramatic shots of its regal entrance, stunning archway, landscaping, and gorgeous built in shelving. April ads in The Times included an exterior shot of the just opened building, which finally received its certificate of occupancy on May 16, 1925.

Thanks to its status as the hip, new residence, celebrities flocked to the Afton Arms. Dolores Del Rio and her husband moved into the structure just a few months after it opened when she immigrated from Mexico to the heart of Hollywood to boost her film career with independent director/producer Edwin Carewe. Carewe’s brother, screenwriter Finis Fox, resided at the regal residence in 1926, followed by actress Edna Marion a few years later. Cowboy star Ken Maynard bunked at regal building in 1930 and Laurel and Hardy nemesis Jimmy Finlayson knocked around the complex in 1932.

Afton Arms Ad 1-9-25 LAT

Over the years, the Afton Arms appeared to bring darkness and tragedy to many of its residents. Future “My Three Sons” actor William Demarest survived a tragic auto accident in 1927 when a car struck the one he was driving at 2nd and Beaudry, killing am aspiring starlet who also lived in the building. In 1930, a young man attempted suicide when his intended informed him she didn’t love him enough to marry him. A niece and nephew of Herman Fichtenberg, who died in the building, sued his widow when she received his full $250, 000 estate. Pvt. Joseph Williams lost his life in 1945 during World War II. Early Red Hot Chili Peppers member Hillel Slovak overdosed at the apartment house in June 1988.

Ownership seemed to turn over frequently as well. In 1936, the Ralf M. Walker estate purchased the Afton Arms for $120,000 plus five acres of the estate at 2400 Coldwater Canyon in Beverly Hills valued at $40,000 from the Calwis Investment Company, who perhaps gained ownership from van Ronkel during the Great Depression. Falling on hard times herself, Eliza Walker sold the building to A. B. Nahas and R. B. Quigley for $100,000, per the May 30, 1943, Los Angeles Times. Just three years later, Mr. and Mrs. John Pettis bought the building from Florence Ball for $250,000. By the 1970s, Allen Ginsberg (not the poet) owned the building.

In 1972, Hollywood character Gen. Hershey Bar took over management, changing the stately old complex’s name to the groovy Happy Malaga Castle. With its new hippy atmosphere, it rocked the Casbah. Art Kunkel supposedly published the Los Angeles Free Press in its Grand Ballroom in the countercultural 1960s and 1970s. Managers partied and left the property open to drug dealing and use. Police visits became as common as mail delivery.

New management in the late 1980s cleaned up the structure, restoring its former glory. Finally acknowledged for its beauty and style, Los Angeles named the Afton Arms Historic Cultural Monument No. 463 in November 1989.

A striking reminder of the roaring 1920s and Hollywood’s glamorous Golden Age, the Afton Arms stands proudly just blocks from where the town’s film industry saw its birth.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Chateau des Fleurs Provides Elegant French Style

$
0
0

6626 Franklin Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.
6626 Franklin Ave., via Google Street View.


Note: This is an encore post from 2015.

Hollywood, California, exploded in population during the late 1910s and early 1920s with the influx of moving picture companies arriving in town and people looking to work in the industry following suit. Originally a quiet, rural, farming community, Hollywood quickly grew more urbanized, with an increase in density.

Many people did not own their own homes during this period, renting single-family residences as well as apartment units from others. Subdivisions in the foothills began opening to cater to the more affluent new residents. Bungalow court apartments opened, appealing to middle-class singles and couples looking for somewhat independent living. Apartment houses were rushed into construction, replacing the family boarding houses that had dominated the scene.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

chateau_des_fleurs
A postcard for Chateau des Fleurs, listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $9.95.


As Hollywood became a mecca both for bi-coastal actors and upscale tourists, it required more luxurious rental opportunities. Developers began constructing elaborate, lavish apartment-hotels to appeal to these people, offering long-term rentals for those looking for something more permanent, or a pied-à-terre while visiting the city. Among these establishments in Hollywood were such pretentious sounding buildings as the Fontenoy, La Leyenda, Hollywood Tower, Chateau Elysee, and the Chateau des Fleurs.

The Chateau des Fleurs, located at 6626 Franklin Ave. at the top of Cherokee Avenue, grew out of the investment needs of Carl and Winifred Raab as a way to diversify and grow their saving. Carl Raab, born February 5, 1873, was the first white child born in what is now South Pasadena, son to German immigrants who established a successful dairy and creamery. Raab worked as the manager of his family’s creamery. After the death of his first wife, he married his second wife Winifred and saved his money.

In the mid-1920s, the Raabs began looking for a way to draw more income by investing their money in real estate. They purchased a residence at 6626 Franklin Ave, the former home of directors Jack Conway and Howard Hawks, upon which to construct a regal apartment hotel. Per the February 2, 1927, building permit, Raab intended to build a $275,000 four-story, fifty-unit apartment hotel, with concrete foundation and exterior, wood and plaster interior, wood floors, and slate roof. Twenty-five tons of steel and 500 bags of cement would be needed for construction of the 96’6” x 149’6” building, sixty feet tall at its highest point.

Sept. 23, 1927, Chateau des Fleurs
An ad in The Times, Sept. 23, 1927.


Architect Meyer-Radon Brothers designed a French Normandy-style Class C building containing 137 rooms and 50 units to be constructed by John A. Platt Construction Company at the former location of an eight room, two-story house.

The July 17, 1927, Los Angeles Times featured a story on the soon-to-open building, describing how its interior and setting evoked the French Norman style through furnishings, decorations, and natural stone fireplaces. All of units contained electric ranges and refrigerators, along with complete soundproofing. An August 10, 1927 advertisement called it “the ultimate in luxurious comfort, smart distinction, and perfection in service.” It noted that a descriptive booklet was available for those looking for more information.

On September 24, The Times announced the grand opening that day of the one month delayed building, with a reception featuring music and refreshments from 2 p.m. through 11 p.m. Manager William Danielsen, experienced in running French and continental European hotels, saw to every resident’s need. The story noted the “elegantly furnished apartments” and “luxurious hotel accommodations,” combining old world charm with up-to-date amenities. Each of the fifty units, a combination of single or double units, featured its own exclusive furniture and design in the French Normandy style, with authentic carvings of peasants. Drawer pulls and hardware were authentic reproductions of peasant art as well.

Guests entered through an outdoor patio landscaped with flowers and shrubs containing an open fireplace and an ornamental pool lit up at night. The interior lobby featured a rough wood-timbered ceiling and a large fireplace. The club and music room adjoined the lobby, with an elaborate grand piano decorated in the Normandy style.

Each unit contained electric ranges and refrigerators, with each refrigerator containing a water cooler holding twenty glasses of water. Electric heat operated by a button in each apartment warmed the units. Water softeners provided soft water at all times.

Some apartments contained natural fireplaces and singles contained “disappearing” twin beds. Units featured oak floors, decorated ceiling beams, and carved wood knobs and pulls. All apartments contained tiled bathrooms, with separate compartments for bath, shower, and toilet.

A canopied rooftop garden beckoned residents, featuring both sleek landscaping and outstanding panoramic views in each direction. A separate but fully enclosed children’s playground adjoined the terrace.

Aug. 10, 1927, The Times

An ad for Chateau des Fleurs in The Times, Aug. 10. 1927.


The Chateau des Fleurs ran its own hyperbolic ad trumpeting the grand opening of the magnificent and plush building, stating, “Discriminating people who seek a home place that is delightfully different..where every detail of arrangements, appointments, furnishings and service is moulded into a consummate whole of infinite satisfaction and enjoyment.” They also noted all the companies who contributed to its opening, like Meyer-Radon Brothers, John A. Platt Construction Company, furniture from Roy Wertheimer & Co., landscaping by United Nurseries, linens and bedding from Pullman Linen Co., upholstering by Davis Upholstery Co., floor coverings by Thomas L. Leedom Co., draperies by Vermillion’s Drapery Studio, and bedroom, dinette, and living room furniture by the McClellan Manufacturing Co.

By January 25, 1928, the Chateau des Fleurs saw a change in management as they promoted themselves to the public. Their ad read, “Hollywood’s Most Exclusive Apartments – Beautiful Singles and Doubles of French Norman Design – Moderately Priced With Daily Service of Every Description.”

The building featured a large staff for guests over the early years, with many listed in the telephone book. Mrs. Nellie Valentine managed the building in 1929 and 1930, Chester Coldwell ran the hotel in 1934, Mrs. Ethel Brooks managed in 1938, with Mrs. Gretchen Warner managing in 1942. Sami Powers acted as engineer in 1928, with Mrs. Emma Krueger serving as housekeeper in 1929 and 1930. Ilene and Minne Baling served as maids in 1930, with Dorothy Haman acting as telephone operator, O. H. Stenzel as engineer, and L. Weiland Jeide and Donald McIver as clerks.

Celebrities, the affluent, and middle-class residents occupied the building over the years. Cinematographer Karl Freund resided in the building in 1930, per the Journal for the Society of Motion Picture Engineers. Diana Wynward occupied the building in 1932, as did Bramwell Fletcher, who often invited his friends like Ronald Colman to tea, per the Los Angeles Times. Actor Ian Keith somehow accidentally slashed both his wrists while performing a trick with a straight razor for friends on November 25, 1936. Photographer Man Ray lived in the building with Juliet Brower in 1940, per “Man Ray: American Artist.”

Ambitious showgirls and actresses like 1934 WAMPAS Baby Star Mary Wallace. Jean Fursa, and Velma Greschan also lived in the building, trying to impress with the residence as well as their beauty. Some, like music teacher Claude Fleming and Feodor Gontzoff, tenor, offered singing and music lessons out of their apartments. The People’s Opera Company operated out of the building in 1932 as well. The Chateau also advertised to those coming to visit the Olympics in 1932, as well as those coming for the winter from the East. By the late 1940s-early 1950s, many press representatives lived in the building.

Sept. 24, 1927, Chateau des Fleurs
An ad for Chateau des Fleurs in The Times, Sept. 24, 1927.


There were a few instances of notoriety at the Chateau des Fleurs. In 1931, resident and Hotel officer R. B. McConogue attempted to practice what Tom Lehrer preached in the song, “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,” when he applied to the Police Commission for a permit to do just that, per the September 2, 1931, Los Angeles Times. The Commission turned him down flat. Mrs. Ruth Levi, visiting the building from New York in 1946, climbed out of her bathroom window and jumped down a ventilation shaft to her death on August 19, 1946.

Ownership flipped over the years, and management attempted to keep up with changing interests, times, and tastes. On October 15, 1939, the Los Angeles Times reported that the J. E. Benton Management Company had been employed by Deposited Bonds and Shares Corp. to operate the Chateau Des Fleurs, along with other luxurious hotels in its portfolio like the Ambassador Hotel, The Gaylord, and the Park-Wilshire.

A 1942 ad listed singles for $60 and doubles for $75, calling the Chateau Des Fleurs a luxuriously furnished abode, noting the building featured spacious rooms, all outside exposure, beautiful gardens and patio, modern roof gardens, and switchboard as amenities.

As Hollywood changed over the next several decades, so did the building and its clientele. The building was not as immaculately maintained as it had been in previous years, beginning to acquire a somewhat aged dowager look. While some still worked in entertainment, most were just regular middle class people. Newer, more hip buildings arose around it.

A 1978 ad for the building lists singles at $235 and one bedrooms at $275 plus utilities, calling the Chateau “an old classic building.” By April, the estate of Victor Nichols sold the building at auction in probate court to A. P. Lopez for $1.3 million, with the building now containing 16 singles, 23 one bedrooms, and one large bedroom plus den for the owners unit. A problem for more contemporary audiences , the story reported the building contained only 21 parking spots.

The Chateau des Fleurs still stands at 6626 Franklin Avenue, a proud, gorgeous grand dame awaiting a refurbishing to return it to its glory days of the 1920s and 1930s.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: North Hollywood Federal Savings and Loans Funds Business and Housing

$
0
0

North Hollywood Federal Savings
North Hollywood Federal Savings and Loan, 1961, Valley Times Collection, L.A. Public Library.


Originally designed to serve as a combination bank and office building, the former North Hollywood Federal Savings and Loan building at Riverside Drive and Lankershim Boulevard in Toluca Lake will be integrated into a proposed apartment/commercial development, thus saving the building through adaptive reuse. The tallest structure in the San Fernando Valley when it opened in 1961, the building has continually operated as a financial institution since its construction.

As the San Fernando Valley, and North Hollywood in particular, saw their populations expand from the 1920s into the 1930s, new financial institutions were established to serve the needs of these incoming residents. The North Hollywood Federal Savings and Loan, established in 1923 as the Lankershim Building and Loan Association, functioned as one of the first savings and loan facilities in the area. Originally located at 5213 Lankershim Blvd., the company expanded its building and updated its name over the years, eventually gaining the new address 5226 Lankershim.  By the late 1950s, the company was cramped and in need of larger space.

Mary Mallory’s “Living With Grace”
is now on sale.

Google Street View
The former North Hollywood Federal Savings and Loan, via Google Street View.


President R. W. Blanchard and Walter A. Johnson, chairman of the association’s building committee, located a large piece of land at Riverside Drive and Lankershim Boulevard in 1958 which they felt perfectly suited their needs and allowed for the possibility of expansion. The April 23, 1958, Los Angeles Times announced the organization’s plans to demolish a public market on the site to construct an elaborate new headquarters. On November 23, 1958, the Los Angeles Times reported the company’s plans to construct a building to house its financial operations as well as earn capital through renting out office space.

The January 17, 1960, Los Angeles Times reported on the structure’s groundbreaking in an article accompanied by photo showing the institution’s executives posing with the model of the proposed building. The savings and loan association would occupy the first floor and basement of the $2-million, seven-story building, while renting out the upper floors. The contemporary building featuring exterior glass walls would be erected on a structural steel frame and “will be of earthquake-resistant and fireproof construction. Clear span construction technique, eliminating stairwells and supporting columns, will provide maximum flexibility in office arrangement.” The main building would sit horizontally on site, while the western tower would rise vertically

Ensuring quality design and work, the savings and loan hired renowned commercial architects George W. Allison and Ulysses F. Rible. Alison and Rible designed such buildings as UCLA’s Engineering Building, a chapel for Hollywood Presbyterian Church, the student union at Claremont College, a Pasadena City College structure, Los Angeles City College building, Pacific Bell building on Ventura Boulevard, the Reseda library, and the master plan for UC Riverside before designing the proposed savings and loan. S.B. Barnes and Associates served as the project’s engineer while Pozzi Construction Co. served as contractor.

Valleys_largest_building
North Hollywood Federal Savings under construction in 1960, from the Valley Times Collection at L.A. Public Library.


When it finally opened April 3, 1961, the $1.67-million North Hollywood Federal Savings and Loan Association building possessed over 73,000 square feet as the tallest building in the San Fernando Valley per newspaper reports. The financial institution occupied 15,300 square feet on the first floor and entire basement, which contained a cafeteria for employees. For the grand opening week, members received genuine 24-karat gold leaf passbooks when opening a $100 account, an 18-page souvenir booklet, free refreshments, favors, and the opportunity to view the entire San Fernando Valley from its roof.

Over the years, many types of offices operated in the building, ranging from production companies and talent agencies to real estate, CPAs, and even doctors’ clinics. Its mode of construction allowed easy remodeling by adding or removing partitions to devise new business layouts. By the 1970s, a health spa replaced multiple offices, later becoming a state of the art gym on the second and third floors in 1993.

Do_gentlemen_really_prefer_blondes

Savings and loan tellers, from left, Betty Falck, Marsha Meyer, Barbara Plachy, Gayle Cutler and Kathy Bergquist, 1959, Valley Times Collection, L.A. Public Library.


As the offices contained in the structure evolved, so did the signs on the exterior of the building. ranging from neon early on to plastic. The financial institutions housed in the structure evolved as well, from North Hollywood Federal Savings and Loan to Home Savings, Washington Mutual, and now Chase.

Historic Places Los Angeles calls it an “excellent example of a Federal Savings and Loan Building in the San Fernando Valley, one of three ‘tall’ buildings…that were constructed in the eastern part of the Valley after World War II.” While some of the exterior had been remodeled, the building still remains eligible for nomination to Los Angeles’ Historic Cultural Monument list.

On September 11, various news outlets including CurbedLA reported that the Los Angeles’ Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved plans repurposing the “old” Chase bank at Lankershim and Riverside into a large apartment complex, a project first proposed in 2016. Reduced to five stories, the old bank building will be renovated into 55 apartments (eight so-called affordable units) and more than 8,500 square feet of commercial space, with a new 179-unit apartment building/commercial space to be constructed on the adjacent parking lot.

Adaptive reuse of the structure will save most of Allison and Rible’s fine design, repurposing a once commercial building into one serving residential needs. Many historic buildings in downtown Los Angeles have been successfully renovated to serve new purposes, with many industrial plants and office buildings converted into hotels, apartments, or condominiums, saving outstanding architectural and design elements, and aping a practice common on the East Coast and in Europe. Hopefully this is a first step for further adaptive reuse and protection for other historic landmarks, architectural resources, and striking buildings throughout Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

While the former North Hollywood Federal Savings and Loan will no longer function as a financial institution, it will still serve the needs of San Fernando Valley residents as a housing complex, projects it often financed.


Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights — Yamashiro

$
0
0

Bernheimer House
Photo: A postcard of the Bernheimer house, listed on EBay at $6.


Note: This is an encore post from 2011.

In Japanese, Yamashiro means castle on the hill. Standing in its original 1914 location, Yamashiro restaurant, the elegant dowager at the top of Orchid and Sycamore, still preens in all her exotic beauty over Hollywood. The building and grounds have served as a home, clubhouse, scenic garden, military school, and restaurant for just under 100 years. Long may it continue its reign.

Brothers Adolph and Eugene Bernheimer, New York importers of Oriental goods, began constructing a Los Angeles winter home in early 1914, one that would stand out in the conservative little burg of Hollywood. After buying the land from Mr. Whitley in 1912, the brothers conceived a beautiful Oriental mansion to reflect their interest in all things Eastern. As the Los Angeles Times described it in the Jan. 11, 1914 paper, 110 feet square, and “designed after the mansions of lordly Chinese mandarins.” It was arranged around an interior, tiled court.

Bernheimer House “Inspected from close range, the resident presents only the aspect of a structure in the rough; but from Hollywood Boulevard, the house with its circular terraces and white retaining walls, looms upon the view like a vision from the skies of the celestial kingdom itself… .” The property consisted of a 600-year-old pagoda imported from Japan, along with waterfalls, koi ponds, arches, and other decorative touches.

The newspaper stated it would cost $120,000 to build upon one of the most scenic hillsides in Hollywood, with the sellers retaining the rights to build other large homes around it.  The brothers soon decided to make it their official residence.

As early as November 1914, the place earned the name “Yamashiro.” The Nov. 15, 1914, Los Angeles Times stated that people had been remarking upon its location for awhile, calling it “Yama Shiro,” or “Large house on the hill.” They also now reported it cost $250,000 to build and outshone any Japanese residence. They also announced that the builders were both bachelors, and vowed that no woman would be allowed to enter as an invited guest.  A few years later, brother Eugene would buy land in Santa Monica on the palisades and build his own Japanese gardens  and house there.  Unfortunately, erosion destroyed part of the hillside in the 1930s, and divided that house in half, which had to be destroyed.

The home opened for the first time to invited guests of the Committees of Foreign Relief on Jan. 21, 1920, children from Poland and Serbia.

Adolph Bernheimer passed away in 1924, leaving no direct heirs. His nephews and nieces decided to sell the property. On June 12, 1925, John Tait, a San Francisco and Los Angeles restaurant owner, was negotiating to buy the property from Joe Toplitzky for $1.5 million. He intended to update it, and to promote the world famous and beautiful Oriental architecture and furniture, included as part of the original deal.

This negotiation collapsed, however, and within a few months, capitalist William Clark Crittenden purchased the property for $1 million for the Four Hundred Club, an exclusive motion picture club founded and operated by actor Frank Elliott.  He founded the Sixty Club a few years before, because actors were ignored by society.  This gave them the opportunity of hosting their own dinners, dances, and special events.  While the Sixty Club only contained 60 members, the Four Hundred Club would number 400, composed of motion picture players, directors, producers, and other behind the scenes people.  The home would become the sophisticated clubhouse for the group, along with a ballroom, theatre, and swimming pool to be installed, per the Oct. 4, 1925, Los Angeles Times.  Oct. 11, 1925 would be the first time members would see and visit their new headquarters.  By 1929, the group was defunct.

Bernheimer House
Photo: The Bernheimer residence in a picture listed on EBay at $33.88.


I could find no  mention of the property in The Los Angeles Times or Daily Variety from this date until 1944 however.

Lewis S. Hart auctioneers sold off the Oriental furnishings at a two day auction on Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, 1944, including Pigeon Blood Art Objects, artwork, XVIII Century Sedan Chair, rugs, jewelry, and furniture, with the property sold on Dec. 18, with a provision that it could be subdivided. “The home consists of 18 rooms and is modeled after the Peking summer palace of the last Empress Dowager of China.” The ad stated that it was located at 1995 N. Sycamore Ave.

In early March,1945,  The Los Angeles Times reported that Joseph M. Gross of the Riviera Airborne Military School, leased long term what they called the “Hollywood Scenic Gardens” at 1995 Orchid Ave.

Over the years, the property has appeared in several films, including “The Annapolis Story,” “Sayonara,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Teahouse of the August Moon,” “Playing God,” and “Blind Date.”

Thomas O. Glover purchased the entire hill, gardens, and buildings in 1948, and soon thereafter opened the house as the Japanese restaurant maintained to this day, though his family did list the property for sale a few years ago. The property now includes the apartments around it as well as the Magic Castle. Hollywood is lucky that the building survived all these many years without being torn down and the hill subdivided. Yamashiro’s is an early example of Hollywood creating a fantasy landscape in which to live.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Bryson Apartments ‘The Finest Apartment Building West of New York City’

$
0
0

image
The Bryson Apartments, via Google Street View.


Note: This is an encore post from 2014.


C
onsidered by many to be one of the most attractive apartment buildings in Los Angeles, the regal Bryson Apartment Building at 2701 Wilshire Blvd. stands as a lovely example of 1910s high end apartment living, a stately survivor reflecting the optimistic, go-getter attitude of early Los Angeles residents. Combining superb construction, elegant looks, and luxurious decoration, the Bryson stands as a glorious monument to its builder, Hugh W. Bryson.

Community leader Bryson believed in constructing affordable large scale residential developments filled with beauty and taste. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, August 1, 1868, ambitious Bryson strove for excellence from a young age. After graduating from high school, he worked as clerk for a cotton brokers, working in banking, and selling real estate, before arriving in Los Angeles in 1902. Bryson joined leading contractor, F. O. Engstrum Co., and within a few years, married the owner’s daughter, Blanche. He was named a general manager and director of the company in 104, focusing on major projects. Recognizing the large migration of East Coast and Midwest residents to sunny LA, Bryson began financing and his own projects under his Concrete Appliances Company.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

image
The Bryson Apartments in Architect and Engineer.

 


 


F
rom the beginning, Bryson’s hyperbolic publicity played up the special quality of the proposed building. The first announcement for the project appeared in the May 19, 1912 Los Angeles Times, proclaiming Bryson’s intention to erect a classical style building with dramatic entrance, gardens, and fountain. Conveniences and amenities would include a ground floor power plant, elevators, staff residences, vacuum and telephone hook-ups in every suite, hot/cold water and steam heat for every apartment, along with maid service. The building contained all luxuries and comforts of a personal residence without maintenance, in a way, an early example of a condominium building.

The June 1, 1912, Los Angeles Times reported the construction start on the ten-story reinforced concrete apartment building at 2701 Wilshire Blvd., the largest apartment building yet built in the city. Under the title, “Finest Apartment House West of New York City,” the clip noted the fire-proof, elegant building’s construction and furnishings would cost $750,000, with 320 rooms and 96 apartments available around a central courtyard. Suites as large as twelve rooms could be assembled by opening contiguous apartments. “The building occupies one of the sightliest corners in the fashionable Wilshire residential districts,” available after Bryson purchased four homes on the property and tore them down.

Bryson originally intended to construct a smaller, six-story building right to the street, but after neighbors complained about how this look would disrupt the layout of the residential neighborhood, he set the apartment back 100 feet on the lot at the same distance from the sidewalk as neighboring homes. The builder ended up with a more substantial project possessing a large front lawn, gardens, and room for tennis courts. From higher floors, the building offered unobstructed views of the hills, mountains, and Wilshire and Westlake Districts.

Desiring only the best for his project, Bryson hired leading architects Frederick Noonan and Charles Kysor, designers of attractive new apartments throughout the neighborhood and downtown. Noonan had created plans for upscale homes and an Alhambra school building, and with Kysor, drawn plans for handsome hotels and apartments.

image

Bryson Apartments in The Architect.



O
wner Bryson employed his own company, F. O. Engstrum Co. as contractor, with the business completing construction in record time for a reinforced concrete building, finishing in early January 1913, with a formal opening in the middle of the month. Bryson’s own company, Concrete Appliance Company provided the concrete. A large story in the Los Angeles Times described the luxurious surroundings, which included an interior finished with tile, African mahogany, and Italian marble. Cut glass chandeliers and upholstered mahogany furniture graced the lobby and reception room, with tile floors, stairs, and wainscotting constructed of marble. The top floor included such extras as music room, billiard room, a three-wall, glassed-in loggia, and a 45 x 60 foot ballroom. Suites, elegantly and expensively furnished,” ranged in size from one bedroom to four. Beaux Art exteriors featured classic finishing in various colored tile., with a grand entrance augmented by two regal lions welcoming guests. Final cost for the project equalled $550 a square foot.

A large advertisement in the May 30, 1913 Times proclaimed the building, “not excelled by any apartment in the world,” contained extra large furnished dining, living, and dressing rooms, tile baths with showers for all, tile floored kitchens, hard wood floors, and steam heat, “…constructed for people of refinement and desiring a homelike atmosphere with beautiful surroundings. No extra charge for telephone, gas, electricity, or daily cleaning.” Later ads promoted Marshall and Stearns folding beds in every room, offering both convenience and space.

Making a quick profit, Bryson leased the building October 1, 1913 for ten years, to F. S. Wise and W. H. Millspaugh for $660,000. On November 28, 1913, Bryson sold the building for $950,000 to millionaire O. S. Weston, along with 550 acres just west of Torrance, per the November 29, 1913 Times. In less than a year, Bryson had covered his costs and earned almost $900,000 in profits.

At least one filmmaker recognized the classic beauty of the building not long after opening. Mack Sennett’s Keystone filmed in front of the Bryson sometime during the week of February 1, 1914 for their short, “A Film Johnnie.” The gorgeous building stood in for the Sennett Studio, with star Charlie Chaplin standing in front of the Bryson, with a printed sign placed to the side of the entrance visible behind him. Film historian John Bengtson points out in his blog, Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Film Locations that Chaplin later employed the building as location for his short, “The Rink,” co-starring Edna Purviance.

bryson_apartments_ebay

A postcard showing the entrance to the Bryson Apartments, listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $4.31.



O
n December 11, 1915, F. W. Braun purchased the apartments from Weston at a cost of $1.25 million, with Wise and Millspaugh’s lease now costing $55,000 a year. Booming growth in Los Angeles brought eager new residents to rent the elegantly furnished rooms.

Proud residents and local organizations rented public space to hold women’s club meetings, society gatherings, afternoon teas, balls benefiting the Red Cross and War Relief, as well as fundraisers benefiting underprivileged children. The Zoellner Quartet performed a Los Angeles recital August 20, 1918, premiering new music. A small art gallery also occupied a small part of the building.

Aspiring new citizens and upper-middle class residents occupied the building. Belgian Count and Countess Jacques de la Lalaing lived in the structure for several months in-between embassy jobs. A young Tina Modotti resided for a short time in the Bryson in 1918, before moving to cheaper quarters. Mr. and Mrs. Bryson also occupied a suite in the apartment building.

By October 1, 1921, Paul Paris acquired a 12 year lease for the building and furnishings totaling $1 million, with intentions to upgrade. The journal, California Real Estate, called it the largest apartment building in Southern California in a 1922 story announcing the $900,000 sale of the lease by Paul Paris to John Hernan, formerly of the Hotel Coronado and Alexandria, including furnishings. They opened space for some commercial activity, with Kramer’s School for Dancing offering lessons in 1923, and Mae Shumway, Harpist, announcing her availability for programs and recitals. New owners and lessees lasted only a short time at the apartment hotel, perhaps unable to cover costs or bringing in only small profits. Newspapers also offer less stories about the building in the 1930s.

Actor Robert Stack notes in his autobiography that he and his mother moved in to the Bryson upon their return from Europe in the 1930s.

Turnover became more frequent after 1940, as newer and fancier apartments replaced the fading glory building. Los Angeles attorney and Director of the Los Angeles Apartment Association, Thomas D. Mercola, purchased the lease for only $500,000 on October 3, 1943 from F. W. Braun. His grand plans failed to materialize, however.

image

The Bryson Apartments in American Builder.

 



D
aily Variety noted on September 14, 1944, that actor Fred MacMurray bought the Bryson from Herbert Lissner of Chicago for $600,000, but he probably soon began regretting his decision. In 1947, Irving Link, an apparel manufacturer, sued MacMurray for $3024,90, claiming violation of rent ceilings and overcharge from February 1946 through April 1947 on three apartments he rented one at a time in the building. The August 1, 1948 Los Angeles Times reported that Mrs. Mary A. McClosky sued MacMurray for $50,000 for injuries she claimed to have received when an elevator began moving upward before she completely stepped out of it. The newspapers, unfortunately, do not reveal the disposition of the cases. MacMurray asked the city for a reduction in the property’s value around the same time, and later, sold the building.

The Bryson’s dramatic rooftop sign and classic look attracted the attention of writer Raymond Chandler in the mid-1940s. Calling it “a white stucco palace” in his 1943 novel, “The Lady in the Lake,” the author noted that intelligent, lovely Adrienne Fromsett lived in room #716.

Dramatics continued at the Bryson. On March 12, 1964, 25-year-old Evelyn Brown stood on her ninth floor balcony, preparing to jump to her death. A police officer prevented her suicide by leaping from one ledge of another apartment onto her balcony.

Sliding further into genteel poverty, the building saw 121 units become senior housing on March 22, 1974. Some parts set abandoned or unused, with the formerly grand top floor serving as storage by 1977.

Preservation groups worked to gain recognition for the Bryson’s history and lovely classic architecture, seeing it added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 7, 1983. Los Angeles recognized it as #653 on the city’s Historic-Cultural Monuments list in 1992.

The Bryson’s somewhat sad look and reputation at this point served it well for the filming of “The Grifters,” with the apartment complex standing in for a decaying downtown hotel.

A real estate syndicate purchased it in 1985 for $5.5 million, intending to update it, but they entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1988. New owners began renovations in 1999.

Once again standing regally at the intersection of Rampart and Wilshire, the classy Bryson Apartment Building provides a classic representation of early luxurious Los Angeles living.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Villa Elaine Courts Tenants

$
0
0

Google Street View The Villa Elaine via Google Street View.


Still stylish after 94 years, Villa Elaine has reigned as one of Hollywood’s most popular apartment/hotels in its location on Vine Street just blocks from Sunset Boulevard. Courtly and regal, the building has attracted tenants whether known as the St. George Court or under its current name, Villa Elaine.

On January 4, 1925, the Los Angeles Times announced that Mrs. Edna Henderson had purchased 1241-1249 Vine Street to construct a five-story, Class C arcade store and apartment building in Spanish Revival style featuring four stores and sixteen studio shops beyond its 64 apartments. Some papers estimated the structure to cost $250,000, with architect Lewis (L.A.) Smith designing the building and the Arthur Bard Co. to serve as contractor.

Mary Mallory’s “Living With Grace” is now on sale.

Villa Elaine LAT 3-28-54

The Villa Elaine in the Los Angeles Times, 1954.


Smith and Bard possessed a history, working together on the building of Pasadena’s Bard Theatre. Smith had designed other motion picture theatres throughout California in places like Santa Maria, Ventura, Palos Verdes, Redlands, and several around Los Angeles such as the Highland Theatre, Vista, and the El Portal. The Arthur Bard Co. supervised construction on everything from Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica to theatres to retail space to apartments like the St. George Court, suggesting a simple but elegant structure.

Plans with Los Angeles Building and Safety Department reveal rearrangement of rooms throughout early construction, with the building featuring brick exterior, comp roof, and wood and asbestos flooring.

The August 16, 1925, Los Angeles Times reported that the building would employ 345,000 square feet of gypsum-centered plaster lath for interior plaster work.  Plans of the building even appeared in the August 1925 issue of Pacific Coast Architect, giving it respectability.

The St. George Court received its certificate of occupancy from the city of Los Angeles on October 7,1925, listing 229 rooms in 97 units. Though close to streetcar lines, the building had access to parking in an adjacent building. Upon its opening, owners positioned it as suitable housing for entertainment and business professionals, with film executives like Charles Burr and stage/screen star Marjorie Rambeau listed as residents.

St. George Court Holly Spectator 12-9-39

A variety of stores occupied the commercial space, including barber, clothes cleaner, and cigar store, which all remained for years. Over time, retail businesses moved in and out, and included such tenants as cafes, upholsterers, tailors, express companies, and even later a bar.

Like with many other commercial enterprises, the St. George Court lost business with the advent of the Depression. By 1930, ads ran regularly in the Times, noting singles cost $45 and up, with steam heat, garden, and adjacent garage.

An ad in the June 25, 1930, Times now called the St. George Court “an apartment hotel,” with 24-hour service, steam heat, refrigerators, garden, and adjacent garage. Apartments ranged from $40 bachelors to $45 singles, and even one and two balcony bedrooms from $75 to $125.

By 1932, the building became part of a fraud case, with new owner A.J. Showalter and six others on trial for using he mails to obtain money fraudulently from clients for multiple apartment buildings throughout Hollywood and Los Angeles and taking receivership through the American Mortgage Company. On the stand, Showalter claimed that when he took over the St. George it was “in lamentable condition…some of the apartments being entirely bare of furniture, others having stoves missing and linen gone, the paint peeling off the walls throughout the house and the entire lower floor being over-ridden with termites.”

Showalter claimed that within a month, his hard work established it as a first-class residence, earning supposedly $3,600 a month. After more than a year of legal issues and 94 days of trial testimony, Showalter began serving two years at McNeil Island.

The St. George Court, also known as the St. George Apartments, passed to Foundation Realty before G.E. Kinsey purchased the building in late October 1938 for $250,000, with the October 29 Los Angeles Times now claiming it possessed 105 apartments. It would sell a few times over the next few years, and by 1949, newspaper ads revealed the building as one of many in the real estate portfolio of the Pepperdine Foundation.

In 1955, newspaper reports, ads, and building permits show the building now called the Elaine Hotel and owned by the Elaine Building Corporation. By 1964, the owner is called the Villa Elaine Corporation, with the building now regularly going by its current name.

With name changes came upgrades and remodels as owners fought to stay up-to-date and current to possible tenants. Owners pulled a permit in 1952 to add a swimming pool, which possibly was not constructed, as another permit was pulled February 19, 1964, to build a pool. Permits also reveal multiple repairs over the years for fire damage to units, as well as repairs after earthquakes in 1971, 1978, and 1994.

In 2007, the Villa Elaine was named Los Angeles’ Historic Cultural Monument  No. 675.

Still going strong after 94 years, the Villa Elaine stands proudly on Vine Street, a striking grande dame still offering style and comfort to residents.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Sixth Street Chocolate Shop Offers Sweet Treats

$
0
0

Hope Chest Chocolate Shop

A still from “The Hope Chest,” courtesy of Mary Mallory.


Note: This is an encore post from 2014


S
erving both sweet and medicinal purposes, chocolate has been served up as a special treat since at least 1900 BC and continues as a favored gift and treat today. As it became more mass produced, it gained a wide following in Europe and America. By the early 1910s, the chocolate craze overtook Los Angeles. A gorgeous chocolate shop would be designed and constructed at 217 W. Sixth Street in 1914 to feed this mania. In business for less than a decade, the striking artwork still survives, though somewhat hidden away in downtown Los Angeles.

Los Angeles businessman Gerhard Eshman bought and sold property in the downtown area from the late 1890s into the 1900s, “a firm believer in the future greatness of this city…,” per his 1915 obituary in the Los Angeles Times. He purchased land on West Sixth Street in 1903 and hired the architectural firm of Morgan and Walls to design a building at 217-219 W. Sixth St. A Sept. 6, 1903, Times article stated he would spend $25,000 to construct a four-story building on the site. Little is known of its earliest tenants, save for ads for the high-class Davis Massage Parlor listed in the Los Angeles Herald from 1906-1909. The Meyberg Co., designers and manufacturers of fixtures, occupied the building from 1910-1913.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

 


T
he Nov. 2, 1913, Los Angeles Times notes in an article that the Chocolate Shop Corp., open for three years, had signed a 10-year lease on the building in order to open their fourth location in the Los Angeles area, to join their shops at 207 W. Fifth Street, 20 E. Colorado in Pasadena, and 731-733 S. Broadway. E. C. Quinby and P. W. Quinby served as president and vice president, with W. M. Petitfils serving as secretary and general manager.

The Chocolate Shop Corp. hired Richards-Neustadt Construction Co. to design alterations to the building, with the upper three floors to be turned into modern lofts. “The whole interior is to be refinished and a handsome marble and tile entrance created at the west end of the building. The corporation will install on the first floor one of the finest confectionary shops on the coast.” They intended to spend $40,000 on fixtures and decorations, and $10,000 on renovating the upper floors.

To ensure the beauty of the shop, the company quickly employed the architectural firm of Plummer & Feil to design eye-catching thematic architecture for the establishment, and hired the young Ernest Batchelder Co. of Pasadena to devise and manufacture spectacular original tilework for the interior. Plummer & Feil sent notices to the Copyright Office in January-February 1914 noting their work on the project. The listings note “revised floor plan of dining room for chocolate shop no. 4—revised plan and elevation of front room for chocolate shop no. 4—revised plan and tile elevations for chocolate shop no. 4—revised tile elevation in dining room for chocolate shop no. 4.”

Batchelder himself created chocolate-colored tile to mimic the product to be sold. Featuring rich caramel and chocolate colors, it also featured images of gargoyles in one room, Dutch children and landscapes of windmills, canals, and bridges in another, and also featured Romanesque arches of chocolate tile in the final room.

Chocolate Box
A redwood box used to pack chocolate, listed on EBay in 2011

 



W
ork proceeded quickly, and by early July, 1914, Los Angeles Times ads note the business serving a la carte meals in its Old Dutch room, just like the 733 S. Broadway facility. Advertisements promoted all the establishments as places for “dainty” meals or desserts, after theater snacks, or full lunch or dinner meals. They served lunch at noon, dinner at six, and offered dainty desserts from 3-5 pm.

By 1916, the shops packed chocolates in small redwood boxes featuring Dutch girls on the box’s interior to be shipped locally or across the United States. They even announced in newspaper ads that they delivered free to any part of Los Angeles.

Fashionable film stars visited the shops, as Picture-Play Magazine noted in May 1916 that the Talmadge and Gish sisters often took tea there.

Two years later, when Dorothy Gish began making films for Paramount, she must have remembered this pleasing place, as it was employed as a location in her film, “The Hope Chest,” starring Richard Barthelmess, Lew Cody, George Fawcett, Sam de Grasse, and Carol Dempster, directed by Elmer Clifton and supervised by D. W. Griffith. The book on which the film was based had the main female character working in a chain of important candy stores, adapted into an upscale chocolate store. The Dec. 28, 1918, Moving Picture World featured an advertisement noting that Gish played a chocolate girl selling chocolate in a store.

pictureplaymagaz09unse_0682

“The Hope Chest” in Picture Play Magazine.

 



A
ccording to the Sept. 1, 1918, Los Angeles Times, “The Hope Chest” crew descended on the store a few days previously to film from 11:30 pm (short dinner) to 7 a.m. for the opening scenes of the film, with Gish and three other young women wearing exact replicas of the Chocolate Shop’s waitress uniforms, as ordered by Gish. She was approached by a real waitress at 11:30 who realized there were four more girls than normal and asked when she had come. Gish replied that she had just arrived, and the waitress told her to remove her lipstick, as a previous girl was fired only 30 minutes after starting when discovered wearing lipstick.

Business was booming so much by December 1918 that the Quinbys leased 20,000 square feet in a Santee street building to strictly manufacture their chocolate, leaving all space in their four local establishments for retail purposes only.

The Quinbys bought out Petitfils in 1919 and changed the name of the company to Quinby’s California Chocolate Shops, shipping across the United States and to Hawaii, Cuba, South America, Australia, the Philippines, and China. They promoted their chocolate as high grade and popular with fashionable people across the country, costing $1.50-$2 a pound.

Unfortunately, sugar prices were rising in early 1920, and the country was soon to enter a deep recession. The Quinbys announced special 50-cent lunches and dinners with choice of soups, meat entrees, vegetables, and desserts around this time at most locations, and they also leased the second floor of the Sixth Street location to the Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank, which was expanding rapidly.

dutch_room_chocolate_shop
The Dutch Room at the Chocolate Shop,  207 W. Fifth St., in a postcard listed on EBay with bids starting at $2.

 



I
n July 1922, they leased the remaining upper floors to the bank for 15 years at a cost of $270,000, with the bank expected to make alterations on the building’s exterior. The Chocolate Shop would move to a store in the Metropolitan Theatre around Aug. 1, with O. A. Olin paying around $200,000 for a fifteen-year lease on the shop space to open a cafeteria. Within several years, all the Chocolate Shop locations would close.

Over the next 90 years, several businesses occupied the former Chocolate Shop location at 217 W. Sixth St., all lovingly maintaining the gorgeous tile. The Health Cafeteria offered the “Ehret Non-Clogging Diet” of fruits, vegetable salads, meat substitutes, and whole wheat breads and desserts through at least 1928, when their ads disappear.

Finney’s Cafeteria later occupied the site, and local organizations held meetings and luncheons in the establishment, still decorated in gorgeous style. In 1975, the interior was added to the list of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments. Eventually, the cafeteria closed and an arcade took its place, later itself replaced by a Metro PCS store. Many people feared removal of the tile, but businessman Charles Aslan discovered it mostly intact when he ripped down particle board in 2012. He stated in newspaper articles of the time that he intended to renovate and reopen the building, but nothing new has been announced lately.

Downtown Art Walk offers occasional tours to see the delectable Chocolate Shop, a hidden and rich taste of Arts and Crafts beauty for patrons dining at the fashionable establishment, and a perfect example that retail and artistic vision can coexist and thrive.

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights — Spooky, Ooky Witch’s House Haunts Beverly Hills

$
0
0

Willat-Lescalle House

A sketch of the “The Witch’s House” by Charles Owens from “Nuestro Pueblo,” courtesy of Mary Mallory


Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

 

Once upon a time, home design and architecture saluted fantasy and make-believe, and not just in fiction. Bilbo Baggins and lucky leprechauns resided in twee little bungalows, short, off-kilter, hutch-like, but so did imaginative and childlike Los Angeles residents of the 1920s. Storybook architecture, dreamed up and promoted by film industry veterans, flourished near movie studios, magical little Brigadoon-like structures.

A strong proponent of storybook design was Hollywood art director Harry Oliver. Noted for his work as art director on films “7th Heaven” (1927) and “Street Angel” (1928). Oliver merrily dreamed up colorful structures on the side, like the famous Van de Kamp’s windmills and Los Feliz’s Tam-o-Shanter restaurant. Another whimsical structure, however, remains his most famous design, the Witch’s House in Beverly Hills.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland:Tales Lost and Found” is available as an ebook.

lascelle_postcard

A postcard of the “Witch’s House” is listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $10.97.


Oliver began working as a printer’s devil as a child and came to California as a theatrical scenery painter in 1908. By 1919, he was working for film director Irvin Willat as a technical director. Starting as a cameraman in New York’s fledgling film industry in 1908, Willat moved from studio to studio until he ended up as an integral lenser for producer Thomas Ince, especially on films like “Civilization” (1916) and “False Faces” (1919). Willat shot atmospheric films and devised intricate visual effects for the times as well, and sometimes edited the pictures on which he worked.

Willat directed the film, “Behind the Door” in 1919, on which Oliver served as technical director. Admiring Oliver’s work, Willat employed him as technical director on two more pictures that year, “Below the Surface” and “Down Home.”

When it came time to design an administration building for his new Irvin Willat Productions in February 1920, the director turned again to Oliver. Oliver’s playful design appeared on the March 1920 cover for the Home Designer magazine, a gabled, angular cottage with thatched roof straight out of “Snow White” or “Hansel and Gretel.” By April 15, 1921, the studio was virtually completed, and the dreamy building appeared as a set in the film “The Face of the World,” starring Barbara Bedford and Edward Hearn.

Unfortunately, Willat quickly ran into financial problems and by 1922 folded his company. The sweet structure was employed as a set for several years, until journeyman film director/producer Ward Lascelle purchased it. Lascelle, who entered the film business working for Fine Arts Studio and D.W. Griffith, acquired property in Beverly Hills at Carmelita Drive and Walden Drive in 1925, and realized that the colorful building would draw attention as his personal residence.

The March 1925 Photoplay magazine called the building, “An artistic structure, one might say, almost futuristic, all gables and gables and gables.” The magazine related that Lascelle bought a lot in Beverly Hills, and “he went to Willat and purchased his studio’s main administration building. He moved it gables and all…” to his property.

New Movie Magazine featured the house in its September 1930 issue, describing it as a “Witch’s House,” and giving a little history. “A strange Mother Goose creation of broken roof lines and eerie windows, this house was the studio of Irwin (sic) Willat. When he abandoned picture production, the structure was moved to Beverly Hills, where it is now the residence of Ward Lascelles (sic), another picture executive.”

The Green family and others owned it over the years, and by 1980, the home contained 12 rooms in 3,700 square feet, including wet bar, wine cellar, three fireplaces, maid’s quarters, three bedrooms, and four bathrooms. The home also appeared in at least two other films, “The Loved One,” and “Clueless.”

A popular tourist attraction today, “The Witch’s House” represents the perfect whimsical and spooky Halloween residence, a proper abode for such popular culture witches as Witch Hazel or Wicked Witch of the West.

Viewing all 303 articles
Browse latest View live