Visitors Welcome at Christmas : Heritage Homes Are Specially Decorated for the Season

Take a step back in time this holiday season by carrying a candle in a posada at a home built before the Gold Rush, or sip a cup of wassail in an elegantly appointed Victorian dining room of a turn-of-the-cenury mansion.

The traditions of Christmas past are recaptured in many of the historic homes and buildings of the Southland. Open houses, posadas, tours and music combined with festive decorations in a period theme make December a special time to visit the heritage homes of Southern California.

In Southern California’s oldest buildings, the adobe haciendas of the early Spanish and Mexican rancheros, the holiday adornments are native plants, natural greenery and candlelight. Luminarias (candles in sand-weighted paper bags) outline garden paths and architectural highlights. Visitors can participate in traditional Mexican-Californian posadas in Ventura at the Olivas Adobe, in Mission Hills at the Andres Pico Adobe and at Olvera Street in Downtown Los Angeles.

Traditional Processions

Posadas are processions in which actors representing the Holy Family are accompanied by musicians and guests who troop from door to door asking for lodging for Mary and Joseph. Afterward, children break the pinata (a decorated ceramic jar trimmed with crepe paper and filled with candy), and everyone enjoys typical refreshments such as chocolate and pan dulce (Mexican-style sweet bread).

After California became a state, Yankee merchants arrived to make their fortunes in ranching and farming, building homes in a Victorian style reminiscent of the East Coast or Middle West. Today, many of the homes are operated as civic museums by the cities that sprung up around them.

The following round-up of holiday parties and events in historic places offers festivities for all ages. Many of the events are free, but there may be a nominal donation to help cover costs. Some require reservations. Most are hosted by volunteers. It is wise to telephone to verify times, as last-minute changes may occur.

Los Angeles

Downtown--Olvera Street Posadas, (213) 687-4344. Since the late 1930s, the merchants of Olvera Street have celebrated the traditional posadas of Mexico and early California. Musical festivities begin about 7 p.m., and at 8 p.m. on Dec. 16--and each night at 8 until Christmas Eve--the merchants dress as townspeople in traditional Mexican attire and go from door to door of the shops asking for permission for the Holy Family to enter for lodging. They sing traditional songs accompanied by three or four guitars and are followed by the public. Each night the procession troops back to the middle of Olvera Street, said to be the oldest street in Los Angeles, and the children break the pinata. On Dec. 24, the procession is finally received in one of the shops, where they say prayers and sing “Ave Maria” to the Christ child. Each night before the posadas, between 7 and 7:30, singers entertain with Christmas carols at the Avila Adobe.

Highland Park--Lummis Home, 200 E. Avenue 43, (213) 222-0546. Tour of home and gardens Sunday, 3-6 p.m. Admission is $15. Visitors to the Lummis Home, a 10-room house and garden built by Los Angeles civic leader Charles Lummis at the turn of the century, will be served wassail and cookies along with a tour of the home and gardens. Lummis, a writer, journalist and founder of the nearby Southwest Museum, gathered river stones from the Arroyo Seco and fashioned them into this unique structure. Aficionados of California history will want to do some holiday shopping in the gift shop, which sells books and note cards related to California, the Lummis home and gardening with native plants. The home will be open and decorated for Christmas Wednesdays to Sundays, 1-4 p.m. with admission.

Highland Park--Southwest Museum, 234 Museum Drive, (213) 221-2164. Festive decorations, a pinata, caroling, refreshments at the museum Sunday, 2-4 p.m. Festivities will center around a large Christmas tree decorated with handmade ornaments fashioned by fifth graders at Loreto Street School. Museum visitors will also have an opportunity to view the new permanent exhibit, “People of California,” exhibits of Native American art from the Plains, the Northwest Coast, California and the Southwest, as well as a special exhibition of paintings by eight contemporary Native American artists. Situated on Mt. Washington, Southwest Museum commands a dramatic view of Downtown Los Angeles.

The museum also encompasses the Casa de Adobe, 4602 N. Figueroa St., a reconstruction of an 1850s California hacienda furnished with antiques representative of the Spanish-Mexican era and containing changing exhibits from the museum’s collection of Hispanic art. The Native American Fine Arts Society will demonstrate and sell contemporary arts and crafts at the Casa de Adobe Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Native foods will be sold and ethnic dancing presented throughout the day.

Highland Park--Heritage Square, 3800 Homer St., (213) 222-3150. A festive Christmas Fair at Heritage Square will be held Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults; children 12-17 and seniors 65 and older pay $3. Entertainment includes the New Review Jazz Band, the Union Bank Singers, the Antique Academy of Genteel Dance, performers on the hammer dulcimer, the Glendale College Chamber Chorale and the Los Angeles Arts Repertory Theatre performing their version of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Booths will sell handmade pine Christmas ornaments, antiques, handcrafted items and jewelry. Docents in period costumes will conduct tours of the historical homes and buildings in the park, which is a re-creation of the Victorian era in Los Angeles, 1875-1919. Original buildings rescued from demolition that may be viewed and visited include the Mount Pleasant House, the Hale House, the Valley Knudsen garden residences, the carriage barn, the Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church; the Beaudry Street House, and Palms Depot.

Orange County

El Toro--Heritage Hill Historical Park, 25151 Serrano Road, El Toro, (714) 855-2028. The Fourth Annual Victorian Christmas will be celebrated Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The park will be closed today and Friday. This year’s event will include strolling carolers, two church choirs, a demonstration of bicycle riding on Victorian high-wheel cycles, a children’s puppet show, a harpist and Mrs. Santa Claus, who will tell Christmas stories. A Christmas sing-along will recapture the mood of a 19th-Century holiday, and demonstrations and displays of Christmas crafts may be enjoyed throughout the day. Heritage Hill is an Orange County park that includes the four oldest buildings in El Toro, each of which will be decorated for the holidays in a manner that reflects the building’s heyday. The buildings are the Serrano Adobe, a ranch-style hacienda of the 1860s; St. George’s Episcopal Mission Church, the first church in the area; the El Toro Grammar School, and the Harvey-Bennett Ranch House, which will feature decorations for the 1920s and ‘30s.

Fullerton--Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern, (714) 738-6595. A reception is set for Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The Spanish colonial revival home of Fullerton pioneer Harold Muckenthaler now serves as a cultural center for the city of Fullerton. The center will host a reception and opening of a 15-year survey of the contemporary watercolor images of Southern California by artist Don Hendricks. Refreshments will be served, and visitors may browse at the Christmas arts-and-crafts sale in the Gift Shop and in the Boutique in the basement, which will feature decorations with a fine-arts focus.

Irvine--Irvine Historical Museum, 5 Rancho San Joaquin, Irvine, (714) 786-4112. The museum, housed in the former headquarters of the Irvine Ranch, will host a holiday open house Dec. 15, 1-5 p.m. Wine, lemonade, cheese and crackers will be served, and the staff will be on hand to answer questions about the current exhibition, “East Irvine--the Once and Future Town.” The original foundation of the building, which has also been a private residence of the ranch manager and a bunk house for ranch hands, dates to 1868, says curator Clifford Bodamer. The one-story wood building and hand-hewn stone foundation will be adorned with old-fashioned holiday decorations from the turn of the century to give visitors an idea of early Western living.

Placentia--The Bradford House, 136 Palm Circle, (714) 993-2470. “Christmas at Bradford House,” Sunday, 2-4 p.m., will feature traditional decorations, refreshments and a tour of the large ranch house, built in 1902 by Albert Sumner Bradford, founder of Placentia. Bradford, an orange-grove owner and packer, built this 15-room Queen Anne-style house, which is now furnished like a typical working ranch house of turn-of-the-century Orange County. Visitors can view the restored sections of the house, which include a front and back parlor, office, ranch kitchen and formal dining room. The ruby-glass window in the entry was installed by Bradford because it was the same as the one owned by Helena Modjeska, a celebrated actress of the period.

San Juan Capistrano--The Eleventh Annual Home Tour of San Juan Beautiful, 27182 Ortega Highway, (714) 493-2734. A tour of six homes will be held Sunday, 1-5 p.m.; tickets are $6. Visitors to this year’s home tour, sponsored by San Juan Beautiful, will have the opportunity to visit the historic Forster Mansion, built in 1910 by Frank A. Forster, one of the early ranchers of the area. The Mission Revival mansion now belongs to Martha Gresham, an interior designer who uses the house as her design studio. The house was one of the first stucco homes in Orange County and a social hub of the Capistrano Valley during the 1920s and ‘30s. Gresham has completely restored the home and gardens. In addition to its interesting history and fine design, the house also has a cigar-smoking ghost who reportedly makes occasional appearances. On the day of the tour, live musicians will entertain at several of the homes and mulled punch will be served.

North

Arcadia--Los Angeles State and County Arboretum, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., (818) 446-8251. The Queen Anne Cottage, the ornately embellished house used on the “Fantasy Island” television series, and the Santa Anita Depot will be open Dec. 15, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. for special guided tours, according to Sandy Snider, curator. Admission to the arboretum is $1.50 for adults, 75 cents for children, students and senior citizens 62 and older. In addition, there is a $1 admission for the tours. The cottage was built by Lucky Baldwin in 1885 as a honeymoon cottage for his fourth wife. As the fortunate lady was not expected to do domestic chores, the house has no kitchen. Each room will be adorned with a Christmas tree. Antique toys will be displayed around the children’s tree, and one room will have a peacock tree made from the feathers of the haughty birds for which the arboretum is famous. Visitors will be able to walk through the house on this day. In the coach barn, visitors will view a special exhibit of woodworking tools. The Santa Anita Depot will be decorated to show a turn-of-the-century Christmas.

Glendale--Casa de Adobe de San Rafael, 1330 Dorothy Drive, (818) 956-2000. Luminarias will deck the house and garden at the annual Festival de las Luminarias, the open house sponsored by Glendale Beautiful on Dec. 27 from 6-9 p.m., Dec. 28, 2-9 p.m. and Dec. 29, 2-5 p.m. Visitors can tour the Casa de Adobe de San Rafael, built in the early 1870s by Tomas Sepulveda de Sanchez, the first sheriff of Los Angeles and civic leader of the pueblo. Hot cider, coffee and cookies will be served. A local mariachi band will serenade guests on Dec. 27 and children can try their hand at breaking a pinata on Dec. 29, 2-5 p.m. The casa is one of the last two remaining vestiges of the vast 36,000-acre Rancho San Rafael, which included much of modern Glendale. The house is furnished in mid-Victorian antiques, and Ruth Dodson of Glendale Beautiful says that the house is built in the Mexican hacienda-style with all rooms having doors leading to the wide veranda that surrounds the house on three sides. The walled garden may be reserved for weddings, receptions, picnics and special events by calling (818) 956-2000.

Pasadena--Pasadena Historical Museum, 470 W. Walnut St., (818) 577-1660. “An Edwardian Christmas at the Fenyes Mansion,” a holiday open house, will be held Dec. 15, 1-4 p.m. Admission is $3. The Docent Council of the Pasadena Historical Society invites the public to enjoy music and refreshments in the drawing room and a self-guided tour of the mansion, which was built in 1905. The home, which has also served as the Finnish Consulate from 1948 to 1962, is furnished in an eclectic style that is representative of the Edwardian era and reflects the Beaux Arts architecture. During the holidays, there will be a special exhibition of antique toys on loan from individuals in Pasadena and a presentation of a children’s Christmas scene using period costumes. Docents dressed in clothing reminiscent of the Edwardian era will be on hand to assist guests. The gift shop stocks books on Pasadena history and some antiques. The decorated home may also be viewed on Tuesday and on Dec. 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 26 and 29 from 1 to 4 p.m.

San Marino--El Molino Viejo, 1120 Old Mill Road, (818) 449-5450. Annual Christmas party and open house, sponsored by the California Historical Society, will be held Sunday, 3-5 p.m. Refreshments will be served. All are invited, but reservations are required. This year’s theme is a special thanks to support groups of San Marino and a celebration of 20 years’ presence of the society in the Old Mill. The historic El Molino--which has been used as a grist mill for San Gabriel Mission, a private residence, ranch-hand house and golf clubhouse--will be decorated with wreaths of greenery and natural ornaments. The two-story adobe serves as center for activities of the society on the east side of town.

“Christmas at the Homestead,” a holiday tour organized by the California Historical Society will visit three historic homes on Dec. 14. The tour begins at 9 a.m. at El Molino Viejo, 1120 Old Mill Road, San Marino, and returns at 4 p.m. The cost for members is $21; non-members $26. The round-trip bus from El Molino is $9, but participants may drive their own cars. For reservations, call (213) 651-5655. The excursion includes the lunch at the Victorian-style Banning House in Wilmington; Rancho Los Alamitos in Long Beach for a view of what Christmas was like in the ‘30s, and La Casa Nueva at the Workman-Temple homes in the City of Industry, where the theme will be a Christmas of the 1920s.

Mission Hills--Andres Pico Adobe, 10940 Sepulveda Blvd., (818) 365-7810. Annual open house and posadas on Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by the San Fernando Valley Historical Society. The reception is free, but candles for the procession may be purchased for $1 donation. The adobe, the second oldest remaining adobe house in Los Angeles, was built around 1834 by Indians. The second story of the house was added by Andres Pico, brother of Gov. Pio Pico. The home, which is furnished in late Victorian antiques, will be decorated for the holidays by the San Fernando Business and Professional Women’s Club, who plan to use natural greens, pine cones and ribbons to capture the flavor of a 19th-Century Christmas. The posadas and traditional songs will be performed in Spanish by the children of Santa Rosa Catholic School of San Fernando. Curator Elva Meline says that luminarias will light the garden and the route of the procession. The procession will stop at various gates of the patio and front door and will end up at the Nativity scene. After the posadas, there will be a pinata for the children. Hot chocolate and pan dulce (sweet bread) will be served in the patio. The decorations may be viewed during regular hours, Wednesdays to Sundays, 1-4 p.m. The adobe is closed Christmas and New Year’s days.

San Fernando--Lopez Adobe, 1100 Pico St., (818) 365-9990. An open house is set for Dec. 14, 18, and 20, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and Dec. 15 and 21, 1-4 p.m. The 13-room Victorian-style, two-story adobe house, built in 1882, will be decorated with greenery, ribbons and ornaments to re-create a Christmas of the 19th Century in California. The house is furnished with antiques from the mid-19th Century and is surrounded by park-like grounds. An added attraction at the adobe is a recently acquired library of 500 books on California, reports curator Carolyn Riggs. Lopez Adobe is usually open Wednesdays and Saturdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Sundays 1 to 4 p.m.

South

Inglewood--Centinela Adobe Complex, 7634 Midfield Ave., (213) 649-6272. Open house on Dec. 29, 6-8 p.m. About 250 luminarias will deck the Centinela Adobe Complex for the annual open house sponsored by the Historical Society of Centinela Valley. Festive music will be provided by the New Sounds of Hawthorne. Centinela Adobe was built in 1834 by Ignacio Machado, son of a soldier who had come to Los Angeles to help guard the early settlers. The adobe, furnished in the style of the 1890s, will have Christmas decorations. Visitors may also view the other two buildings in the complex, Daniel Freeman’s land office, which is the original adobe farmhouse for his 25,000-acre ranch, and the Centinela Valley Heritage and Research Center.

City of Industry--John Rowland Home, 16021 E. Gale Ave., (818) 968-8492. A Christmas open house on Sunday from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in conjunction with the Workman-Temple Homestead. Reservations required. The Rowland House, built in 1855, will feature Christmas decorations from different countries and that have European and Hispanic highlights. The nine-room home is furnished with many of the original pieces brought around Cape Horn by sailing ship in the middle of the 19th Century. The house resembles a Southern Colonial home with an inset porch and columns. Original plantings from the 1920s adorn the garden. An adobe kitchen is separate from the house. The tour and open house will be staffed by volunteers from the La Puente Valley Historical Society. The house may also be visited Wednesdays and the first Sundays of the month, 1-4 p.m.

City of Industry--Workman-Temple Homestead, 15415 E. Don Julian Road, (818) 968-8492. A Christmas open house at the La Casa Nueva, Sunday from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Reservations required for the tour, which is in conjunction with the Rowland home tour.

Antique dealer Jackie Chamberlain will present a talk on the history of Christmas ornaments Dec. 14 at 9:30 a.m. The charge of $4 will include the lecture, a tour of the 26-room La Casa Nueva and refreshments. One-hour, free tours of the house are conducted Tuesday through Friday, 1-4 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Huntington Beach--Newland House, 19820 Beach Blvd., (714) 962-5777. Candlelight reception on Dec. 13, 7-10 p.m. at Huntington Beach’s oldest still-standing house. The home will also be open noon-4 p.m. Dec. 14 and 15. Donation: adults $2; children $1. The Historical Society of Huntington Beach will host the candlelight reception and a tour of the 13-room Queen Anne-style house.

Long Beach--Rancho Los Cerritos, 4600 Virginia Road, (213) 424-9423. Open house 6:30-9 p.m., Dec. 19, 20 and 21. Each evening of the celebration, there will be pinatas for the children at 7:15 and 8:15. Traditional decorations will capture the mood of a Victorian Christmas. A tall tree in the parlor will be trimmed in period style. Docents will tell about holiday customs of the 19th Century, and visitors may take a self-guided tour. Cider and cookies will be served. The home is beautifully restored and furnished in antiques. Rancho Los Cerritos, a stately adobe hacienda, was built by Jonathan Temple, an early civic leader of Los Angeles who married Dona Rafaela Cota, one of the heirs to the Cota Rancho that made up much of what is today the city of Long Beach. The adobe reflects an upper-class home of the mid-1800s. The bricks of the foundation were shipped around Cape Horn from the East, and the walls were made of sun-dried adobe, molded in frames to resemble bricks and held together with straw trampled by the bare feet of Indians. The house also has a library specializing in books on Southwestern and Long Beach history.

Long Beach--Rancho Los Alamitos, 6400 Bixby Hill Road, (213) 431-2511. A Christmas open house at Rancho Los Alamitos will be held 7-8:45 p.m. Wednesday and Dec. 12. Reservations suggested. This year’s event will be based on the booklet “Christmas at Rancho Los Alamitos” by Katharine Bixby Hotchkiss. In 1930 the Bixby family, former owners of the rancho, celebrated Christmas with more than 300 guests. This year’s re-creation will interpret a Christmas of the ‘30s with the aroma of mincemeat cooking in the kitchen, a fiddler who will play music of the era and storytellers who will relate tales of early holiday celebrations at the ranch. A one-hour tour of the house and barns is given Wednesday through Sunday, 1-5 p.m. The holiday decorations may be viewed through December.

Wilmington--General Phineas Banning Residence Museum, 401 East M St., (213) 548-7777. A Victorian Christmas at the Banning House will be celebrated with an open house Sunday, 1-3 p.m. Admission to the house, tour and refreshments is $3. The Victory Faith Choir will serenade visitors with carols in Banning Park outside the mansion from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Banning Residence is usually open 1-4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays; house tours are at 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m. and take about an hour and 15 minutes.

East

Montebello--Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe Museum, 946 Adobe Ave., (213) 721-3487. The public is invited to “Christmas at the Adobe,” an open house and regular meeting of the Montebello Historical Society at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 12. The program will include a short installation of new officers, a songfest and refreshments. The small adobe house displays artifacts of the Montebello area. The original adobe, part of Rancho La Merced, was built in 1845.

Whittier--Whittier Museum, 6755 Newlin Ave., (213) 945-3871. A holiday open house on the museum’s “Main Street,” which is a re-creation of turn-of-the-century Whittier, is set for Saturday and Sunday. Store windows will be decorated specially for Christmas, and the open house, operated by museum docents, will offer handcrafted items and antiques for sale. Refreshments will be served. In addition to “Main Street,” the museum, owned and operated by the Whittier Historical Society, features the Queen Anne house, which includes a parlor and child’s bedroom furnished to the period and an antique quilt collection. The museum is in a two-story former Pacific Telephone Building of the 1940s.

Riverside

Redlands--YWCA, 16 E. Olive Ave., (714) 793-2957. The Redlands YWCA is sponsoring its 18th annual home tour on Sunday, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., $8.50 pre-sale; $10 on Sunday. Price includes transportation. The tour will showcase seven Redlands homes, including four historic houses. This year’s visit includes the B.H. Jacobs house, which displays an example of eclectic design in which the master carpenter overlaid the structure of the house with brackets, finials, railings, cornices and other embellishments; Kendall Place, a stately 13-room, three-story house fashioned from redwood in 1902, and the Colonial revival home of Grace and Ray LeFevre, which features an extensive collection of American brilliant cut glass. All homes will be decorated for the holidays. The cost of the tour includes admission to all homes, a walking tour and a courtesy tea at one of the houses.

Redlands--Morey Mansion Bed and Breakfast Inn, 190 Terracina Blvd., (714) 793-7970. A tour of the mansion will be 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $3.25 for adults; $2.50 for children and seniors. Morey Mansion, an example of gingerbread Victorian architecture, demonstrates the ornate embellishments of that style, such as a French mansard roof, a Saracenic onion dome and Italianate balustrades. The home, built by shipbuilder David Morey and his wife, Sarah, in the 1890s, boasts seven original leaded-glass windows, abundant hand-carved details, the original rugs and wallpaper and 100 windows. The Sunday tour, coinciding with the YWCA Home Tour, will include tours led by docents. Last year the house, owned by Carl Ljungquist and Gary Conway, won first prize in the annual Redlands Christmas decorating contest.

Riverside--Heritage House, 8193 Magnolia Ave., (714) 787-7273. Tours will be conducted Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Donation is $1. Reminiscent of an earlier era when large homes in Southern California were surrounded by acres of citrus trees, Heritage House of the Riverside Municipal Museum retains much of its turn-of-the-century splendor. Visitors can sample this bygone era by strolling through the 15 rooms of the house, which are furnished in the style of 1890-1900, when the mansion was home to a prominent citrus grower. Docents in Victorian dress will be on hand to answer questions. Music groups will entertain in the music room and in the garden, which is landscaped as a Victorian park. Father Christmas, the 19th-Century forerunner to Santa Claus, is expected to make an appearance. Cookies and cider will be served. The home and its holiday adornments may also be viewed Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 2:30 p.m., and Sundays, noon to 3:30 p.m. Closed Christmas and New Year’s eves.

Ventura

Ventura--Olivas Adobe, 4200 Olivas Park Drive, (805) 644-4346. Visitors can participate in a traditional posada Dec. 21, 7-9 p.m., says Kathy Bryant, site manager. The posada, which is co-sponsored by the city of San Buenaventura (Ventura) and the San Buenaventura Mission, will be sung in Spanish and accompanied by musicians. Actors representing Mary, Joseph, shepherds and the Three Wise Men will wear biblical costumes, and the choir and some participants will dress in 19th-Century Mexican attire to recapture the feeling of Christmas in early California. Father Modesto Perez from San Buenaventura Mission will read the traditional Scripture in Spanish. Visitors and guests will walk behind the procession carrying candles. The procession will wend its way through the memorial grove and gardens around the house, which will be illuminated with 200 luminarias. When the posadas are ended, the Children’s Choir from Holy Cross School at the mission will sing carols. Traditional refreshments such as bunuelos , sweet tamales and chocolate will be served, and children will get a chance to try breaking the pinatas. The Olivas House will be decorated in natural materials that might have been used in the 19th Century, and candles and lanterns will illuminate the adobe. A shuttle-bus service will transport visitors from Olivas Park Golf Course to the house.