Browsing Category: "Community Historical Background"
Development of Highland Park: A Brief History
Highland Park is a community rich in historic lore and architectural resources. Highland Park as we know it today was settled by the Chumash Indians, a migrant relative of the Shoshone tribe of Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming. In 1781, the City of Los Angeles, known then as the Pueblo de la Reina de la Margen Del Rio de la Porciuncula, was founded and incorporated by Spain. Around this time, in 1784, Jose Maria Verdugo, a retired military soldier and rancher was granted 36,000 acres of land which he named “Rancho San Raphael”. He built a small pueblo, using the balance for cattle raising.
Almost 100 years later, part of this Rancho would become the community of Highland Park. Alfred B. Chapman, an attorney, and his partner Andrew Glassell purchased 32,500 acres of this land in 1869 (approximately 50.7 square miles) 3,500 acres of which remained with the Verdugoes. Chapman and Glassell immediately sub-divided and categorized the land into 31 parcels, one of which was later to become Highland Park. Jesse Hunter, Albert H. Judson and George W. Morgan, a group of developers, purchased and subdivided what became the Highland Park parcel into several tracts in 1885. Some of these early tracts were named “Highland Park”, “Hunter-Highland View”, “Ramirez Homestead” and “Montezuma”. They were generally located adjacent to Figueroa Street, which was formally named Pasadena Street, initially called Grasshopper Street. This arterial (Figueroa Street) served as the primary connector between the cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena.
The arrival of the railroad in the late 1870’s connecting Los Angeles with the east was to further change the pace of life and growth in this emerging area. As the street network improved connecting adjoining communities and the downtown Los Angeles area, development accelerated. The rapid development around this time resulted in inflated property prices as evidenced by a 500 percent increase in one year, when demand for commercial and residential property exceeded the supply. The real estate boom lasted into the 1890’s with the arrival of the Los Angeles Pacific Railway in 1893. The highlands emerged as a vibrant independent community, requiring even more homes, goods and services.
The people of Highland Park formed a volunteer neighborhood improvement association to supply some of the greatly needed community services such as refuse collection, landscaping and road repair. Two issues, water supply and police protection were problems the volunteer association could not adequately resolve. Both the water supply and rowdy saloons of the area’s central Sycamore Grove district prompted the community’s need for the strength of a larger city that could help it to address these problems. In the latter part of the 1890’s they sought annexation to the City of Los Angeles to receive both water and adequate police protection.
In 1885, Charles Lummis, poet, writer, and visionary who later became the L.A. Times editor, came to Highland Park. In 1893, Lummis bought three acres of land along the Arroyo Seco, at what is now Avenue 43 to build his home. His home named “El Alisal” meant “Place of the Sycamores”. It took Lummis over 15 years to build his concrete and Arroyo stone eclectic craftsman style residence with the help of Indian youth. The house is preserved now as a cultural monument and headquarters of the Southern California Historical Society. “El Alisal”, not only served as the Lummis’ residence, but it was also a gathering place for writers, artists and luminaries of the era. Lummis also recognized the value of preserving the natural setting along the Arroyo and was instrumental in the creation of the Arroyo Seco Park.
Other important figures in Highland Park community history were William Lees Judson and Clyde Browne. William Lees Judson was a landscape painter and founder of the Los Angeles College of Fine Arts and Architecture located at 200 So. Avenue 66 (later to become USC’s School of Fine Arts in 1920). When the school moved south to its current University of Southern California campus site, the building became the meeting hall for the Arroyo Guild of Fellow craftsman; and later the Judson Studio, the “Tiffany’s of the West”, where fine art glass was fabricated.
The original building of the Judson Studio still stands today, although missing the top floor which was destroyed by a fire in 1910. The architects Train and Williams set forth a sort of Craftsman interpretation of Moorish architecture. Like Lummis’ El Alisal, Judson was the head of a group of artists, sculptors and architects that were part of the emerging Arts and Crafts movement in Southern California. The “Arroyo Guild of Fellow Craftsman” as they called themselves, were an offspring of the American and English Arts and Crafts movement headed by Gusta Stickley and William Morris, respectively. Borrowing Morris’ tenets, the Guild pledged a return to nature and artisan crafts, believing that this was a means of rescuing man from the emerging machine age. It was this democratic ethic that found virtue in the simplicity and the beauty of natural material honestly applied.
Clyde Browne, a printer who approached printing as a fine art form, used classical typography and detail. Clyde Browne’s home, “The Abbey”, as it was commonly known, was an Eclectic Mission-Gothic Revival styled structure and a gesture to the California Spanish heritage complete with bell tower, cloister, patio, and refectory. It was built between 1912 and 1915. Like Lummis’ “El Alisal”, his home the “Abbey San Encino”, located at 6211 Arroyo Glen Street, served as a residence, printing shop and gathering place for the local literary circle.
The Arroyo Craftsmen, among them Lummis, Judson, and Browne left a legacy that gives Highland Park its own architectural and historical identity. In the early 1900’s the Craftsmen ethic became popular with local residents and the California bungalow translated this ideal into the predominant style and influence of homes in the Highland Park area. Local builders, such as John W. Scott prospered in building bungalows for Highland Park residents. Bungalow court (a series of small detached residences on a parcel normally arranged in a “L” or “U” plan) which began to appear in Highland Park at the turn of the century.
In the 1920’s and the early 1930’s a new architectural style known as the Revival period was introduced. The Revival period was basically the incorporation of foreign and romantic architectural styles into the American fabric. These revival styles included: English Tudor, Spanish Colonial, Mediterranean and Streamline Moderne examples. Ideas for the revival period styles came from fantastic architectural structures shown in the movie houses, generating the first new breeze of architecture since the Craftsman. As a result, the new architecture incorporated 13th century and earlier period architecture into this late 19th and early 20th century emerging community with its Queen Anne, Turn of the Century, American Foursquare, and Craftsman buildings.
In 1929, the Depression hit and development began to slow down. It came to a complete stop in 1932. In 1939, the Pasadena Parkway, later known as the Pasadena Freeway was constructed. This spurred continued during the war years although not as rapidly as in the early 1900’s. The 1950’s saw new development activity to the northern and southern suburbs, primarily the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys.
In 1979 the Northeast Los Angeles Plan created a land use dilemma for Highland Park, whereby single family homes were being demolished and replaced by multi-family structures. This has led to the demolition of many of the early century styled single-family homes and their replacement by rectangular shaped box apartment buildings, which were out of scale, density and character with the earlier Highland Park community. Thus, these actions lead to a proposal for the establishment of a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone for Highland Park in the 1980’s and 90’s.
Highland Park: A Brief History
On account of its land contour and elevation – the rolling hills, the lush vegetation of the Arroyo Seco, and the grassy flatlands, within an area accessible to both Los Angeles and Pasadena – part of what was named after the Garbanzo sweet pea appropriately became known as the Highlands, and later Highland Park.
Initially used as sheep and cattle grazing land, the area was soon subdivided and portioned into lots, as real estate owners and developers realized the potential value of the property.
Inasmuch as the dirt roads in the area were subject to change, depending upon the weather conditions – dusty in the summer months and muddy during and after the rains – a major steam railroad, the Los Angeles & San Gabriel Valley Railroad, built through the area in the mid 1880’s, brought with it economical, practical transportation, and a dependable, time- saving link to the two important big cities. “All abroad!!”
Taking advantage of the developing situation, the Garvanza Land Company was organized by some local businessmen, to promote and sell property. The sales were brisk. Business lots sold for as high as $1,500.00 and new construction was highlighted with the opening of the Garvanza Hotel in 1886. Residential lots sold for as much as $400.00.
A small school was set up in Miller’s Hall.
The Sierra Madre stagecoach stopped at the hotel.
In spite of a major depression throughout most of the southland in the early 1890’s — with falling prices, some commercial failures and property foreclosures, and with business lots that once sold for $1,500.00 sold again for as low as $100.00 — the people of the area held together and, incredibly, forged ahead with uncanny prosperity.
A second major railroad, the Los Angeles Terminal Railway, was built through the area in 1890 and offered 24 scheduled trains a day to local riders. Then in 1895, an electric trolley system was built, to compete for the active passenger trade.
A wooden trestle over the Arroyo Seco was replaced with a heavy steel bridge by the Santa Fe railroad in 1896 because of the heavier and longer trains using the right-of-way.
Highland Park was annexed to the City of Los Angeles in 1895.
Persuaded with a gift of 10 acres of land located at Pasadena Avenue (Figueroa Street) and Avenue 50 in Highland Park, Occidental College moved into the area in 1898, from its former site in Boyle Heights. The apparently prudent move developed to such a point that it attracted both President William Taft and Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt into the community, and to a visit to the small college campus, a few years later.
Overlooking the Arroyo Seco, adjacent to the trolley tracks, the College of Fine Arts, an extension of the University of Southern California, opened in 1901 and operated for two decades. The buildings and grounds then became the Judson Studios, named after its founder and first dean.
An influential group of women formed the Highland Park Ebell Club in 1903, and when the elite ladies organization opened a clubhouse ten years later, more than 20,000 people attended the colorful ceremonies.
A community newspaper, the Highland Park Herald, was established in 1905.
A Masonic Lodge and the Bank of Highland Park were organized in 1906.
The Los Angeles Railway extended the tracks of its “Yellow Car” system up through Highland Park in 1904, and down through York Valley in 1906.
The Annandale Country Club was established in 1906, and was visited a few years later by President Taft and by multi- millionaire Andrew Carnegie. A reception held in 1910 in honor of the industrialist consisted of 283 guests, 57 of whom had also achieved millionaire status. The putting “greens” on the golf course were oiled sand.
After a speaking engagement at the college in 1911, Roosevelt toured the area in a new convertible Buick with his longtime friend Charles Lummis, the most flamboyant local resident. After viewing the Arroyo Seco, Roosevelt remarked, “This Arroyo would make one of the greatest parks in the world.” And so it as; but twelve years later, at the insistence of Lummis, the Ebell Club and the general public, the City of Los Angeles passed an ordinance to preserve, for all time, 60 acres of land to become the Arroyo Seco Park system.
Among a list of notable accomplishments, Lummis was City Editor of the Los Angeles Times for a few years, founded the Southwest Museum, and maintained the sociable position of hosting lavish parties at his home, located next to the Arroyo Seco. His home was affectionately called “El Alisal,” named after a sycamore tree in his yard. His guests included explorer-writers John Burroughs and John Muir, and actor-entertainers Douglas Fairbanks and Will Rogers.
Benjamin Franklin High School opened its doors for instruction in the late teens and almost immediately, along with Occidental College, the campus was used as a training area for student-soldiers destined for service in World War I. More than 200 young men from the local area entered the armed forces.
Some major sports/athletic personalities attended school in the area, most prominent being Bobby Riggs, the triple crown winner in tennis (including Wimbledon) in 1939; and Sammy Lee, Olympic diving champion in both 1948 and 1952 Summer Games.
Mount Washington: A Brief History
Nature’s gift to an area called Mt. Washington was the abundant array of vegetation and wildlife, highlighted by the dazzling colors of the black-eyed Susans, forget-me-nots, purple iris, and sunflowers, the fleeting sightings of coyotes and deer, and the more frequent observance of bluebirds, doves, hawks, owls, quail, roadrunners, and woodpeckers.
It is an exceptional mixture of city and country, in relative close proximity to the downtown business district of Los Angeles, and a very treasured area of the northeast part of the city to those who call it home.
Originally a part of the huge, sprawling rancho San Rafael, the area was only sparcely settled owing to its initial lack of accessability. A school was built, however, in 1906, near the top of the hill, to accommodate students from a wide area of hillside territory. When the school first opened for instruction, the first through eighth grades were taught in the building of Mission style architecture. There were two teachers.
A spectacular view, which included ships at sea (with the use of binoculars) afloat in the ocean at San Pedro Bay and Santa Monica Bay, some 25 to 30 miles away, was afforded from the upper portion of the hill.
The Mt. Washington Inn, built in 1908 near the 1,000 foot elevation of the hill to take advantage of the panoramic vista, flourished during the early years, and catered to the more affluent members of society. One of the greatest tennis matches played at the time occurred on the 4th of July, 1910, on the
cement courts of the hotel. May Sutton, former tennis champion of the United States and England, defeated, in a thrilling sea-saw battle, Hazel Hotchkiss, the current champion of the United
States. More than 3,000 spectators filled the grandstands to over-flowing, and completely surrounded the playing field. The hotel was easily reached by a cable railway, franchised by the Los Angeles & Mt. Washington Railway Company, which operated two cars named Florence and Virginia. The Self Realization Fellowship purchased the Inn and grounds in 1925, for use as its international headquarters.
Situated on a steep rise, near the northeast part of the hill, is the Southwest Museum, conceived and developed by Charles Lummis as an institution to explore, research, house, and display the artifacts and treasures of the native inhabitants
of an area covering both north and south American continents. The museum opened for public use in 1914, and contained four main exhibit halls, displaying such items as Indian art, blankets, clothing, cooking utensils, hunting equipment, dolls, and jewelry. An extensive library of papers and photographs,
including those of Lummis and George Wharton James, were preserved and catalogued at the site.
Affiliated with the museum was the Casa de Adobe, an early Spanish home, located on Pasadena Avenue (Figueroa Street), across the street from Sycamore Grove. Built by the Hispanic Society of California in 1918, the pre-1850 rancho type house, composed of several rooms, surrounding a central patio, was donated to the museum in 1925.
Prehistoric whale bones have been excavated at a site located near the top of the hill.
An auto road, meandering from Marmion Way up to the top of the hill, was built about the time that the hotel was opened.
Further development of Mt. Washington remained at a slow growth rate from the 1920’s into the late 1940’s — usually one house being built at a time, on one lot at a time — allowing for the area to maintain its natural state.
