Trio Focusing Attention on Monument : Lankershim Tribute Stands in Isolation

Los Angeles Cultural Monument 181 is an almost forgotten stone tower hidden from view in the Santa Monica Mountains above Studio City.

Built by the Boy Scouts of America more than 40 years ago in honor of Col. James B. Lankershim, a member of a pioneer East San Fernando Valley family, the 15-foot-high monument sits behind what was once actor Errol Flynn’s estate, atop a steep incline between Mulholland Drive at the end of Nichols Canyon Road.

3 Plaques on Monument

A chiseled plaque on one side of the monument bears Lankershim’s name, the date he was born and the date he died. Two other plaques on the monument note the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga, in which Mexico surrendered California to the United States in 1847, and the Battle of Cahuenga, fought in 1845. The monument, which is not visible from the street below, can be reached only by climbing a steep flight of 63 rickety wooden steps surrounded by overgrown shrubbery.

“It’s a disgrace; that’s what it is,” said Valley history buff Louis Fisch of Van Nuys. “Nobody even knows it’s here. No one takes care of it. The monument’s neglected and the people who live in the nice homes around the monument don’t really like tourists coming to look at it anyway. They don’t want their privacy disturbed. Something’s got to be done.”

Fisch, 81, whose relatives were pioneers in the Los Angeles garment industry, stumbled onto the fact that a monument to Lankershim existed while researching the history of North Hollywood--a community that might still be known as Lankershim had the local Chamber of Commerce not become fascinated with the aura of Hollywood and changed the town’s name in 1927.

“Nobody seemed to know where the monument was,” Fisch said. “I really wanted to see it.”

He said he finally located the monument through Councilman Joel Wachs’ office. Then, several months ago, he formed a committee to help maintain and publicize the structure.

“It’s such a shame,” he said. “The Lankershim family was so prominent in Los Angeles history. I know lots of other people will be interested once they know the monument exits, especially in the state it’s in.”

Fisch was joined on the committee by Jerry Berns, who writes a Valley history column as part of his advertising space in several newspapers, and Francisco Avila, the former caretaker of the 160-acre Lankershim Ranch.

“I first saw the monument in 1942,” said Avila, who lived on the ranch until 1950, when the last of 60,000 acres of Valley land bought by Isaac Lankershim in 1869 for his son, James, was subdivided and sold. “The Boy Scouts built it in return for 10 acres of land the colonel gave them for a camp. It’s too bad there was no trust fund to keep it in good condition.”

Avila, who went to work for the colonel’s son, Jack, in 1929, two years before James B. Lankershim died, worked to have the monument declared a historic site by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Board in 1977.

Land Sold Off

By then, the Boy Scouts had sold all of the 10 acres except for the narrow, steep strip of land on which the monument stands. Boy Scout officials thought the monument was a marker for Lankershim’s burial place, a Boy Scout spokesman said.

A newspaper article Fisch found declared that the board voted unanimously to declare “the burial site of James B. Lankershim” Historic Cultural Monument No. 181.

“In a sense, it is” Lankershim’s resting place, Avila said. “He was cremated at his request. His ashes were strewn over the land.”

Although the committee members agree that the monument should be more in the public light, they do not know how to accomplish that. Fisch has suggested that the monument be moved to Campo de Cahuenga, a museum below the monument on Lankershim Boulevard, the thoroughfare named for the pioneer family.

Avila, whose opposition helped convince the North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to abandon a proposal to change the name of Lankershim to Universal Boulevard in 1968, said he will agree to almost anything that would preserve the memory of the Lankershim family.

The Boy Scouts would not object to a transfer of the monument. It has been a problem for the organization since the surrounding land was sold in the 1950s.

Bert Keller, an official of the Los Angeles Council of Boy Scouts, said the organization does not have the funds to maintain the site.

“We would love to give the land the monument is on to the city,” he said. “We’re open to suggestions. We are interested in making sure that the monument is maintained for historical purposes. We would not tear it down, but we would be happy to divest ourselves of it.”

Keller said the council has had offers from neighbors who want to buy the land.

Fisch said his committee has tentatively scheduled a meeting Feb. 11 with Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson, Boy Scout officials and others interested in the monument.

“We’re going to get something going, you can bet that,” he said. “The last of the Lankershim line died years ago. Somebody has to preserve such an important name.”