Life in the Past Lane

On a hill overlooking the downtown skyline of Los Angeles is a place out of time. Wide-eyed visitors curiously wonder if they’ve mistakenly stumbled through a time machine. But what they’ve discovered is a 24-hour-a-day living museum--a reminder of the glory days of architecture and a more genteel way of life.

This is Angelino Heights, Los Angeles’ first suburb, built in 1886. A cobblestone’s throw away from Echo Park and Dodger Stadium, Angelino Heights boasts one of the highest concentrations of residential Victorian homes in Southern California. On one block of Carroll Avenue alone, 17 homes are designated historical and cultural monuments by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission.

“There is something very special about this hill,” says Murray Burns, a resident since 1971. “It’s a little part of Los Angeles we ought to know about and keep for our great-grandchildren, to show them how Angelenos used to live and what life was like way back then.”

Burns leads monthly walking tours around his neighborhood, pointing out the architectural design elements, telling stories about the early days of Angelino Heights and watching the faces of his group light up when they first see the gingerbread-styled homes.

It all started in 1886, when land developers William Stilson and Everett Hall filed for the subdivision of Angelino Heights. Situated above the noise, dust and irrigation ditches of the city, this spot was groomed to become the new upper-middle-class enclave, second only to Bunker Hill in prestige and wealth. When the tract opened, lots sold for about $500, and the cost of building a house ranged from $7,000 to $10,000--quite a price back then.

Early Angelino Heights residents were socialites, representing a wide variety of self-made wealth, in diverse businesses like dairy farming, shoe sales and warehouse construction. In parlor rooms up and down Carroll Avenue, residents hosted elaborate parties as well as intimate gatherings. Angelino Heights was a desirable address, much like today’s Beverly Hills or Bel-Air.

“Visitors always marvel and gasp when they come around the bend,” Burns says with a laugh. “No one expects to see homes like these in Los Angeles.”

Most of the Queen Anne-Eastlake and Carpenter Gothic homes were built during Los Angeles’ first big housing boom more than a century ago. Consequently, a second boom in 1905 brought many California Craftsmen-styled homes and bungalows into the neighborhood as well.

Today, as visitors stroll along the street, they find other treasures such as a rare 100-year-old Moreton Bay fig tree, a 1950s bomb shelter and the house used for the exterior shots for “Psycho.” It’s not unusual to see film crews on the streets; countless movies and commercials are shot here, most notably “Sweet Dreams,” “Salem’s Lot” and the recent remake of “Of Mice and Men.”

One of the biggest treats, however, is that every tour ends with a visit inside two restored Victorian homes. Planaria Price, who lives in a lovely Queen Anne-styled house, welcomes the idea of guests visiting her typical “cluttered” Victorian parlor. “I tried to be appropriate to the times; back then people did travel and collect quite a lot of things,” says Price, an avid globe-trotter herself.

Among the books, knickknacks and collectibles that include a stone-carved Mayan god and an iron angel fireplace grill from Paris, guests can view fanciful woodwork, detailed light fixtures and beautiful stained glass windows.

But visitors quickly learn architecture isn’t the only thing on display. The miracle of Angelino Heights really is the story of the people who rescued these homes from disrepair in the 1970s, and who continue to maintain and live in them. Burns calls these folks the true “urban pioneers.”

Barbara Thornburg is one such pioneer. When she moved into the area in 1975, she says the neighborhood was a mess. “Cars were up on jacks in people’s front yards and dirty sofas littered the porches,” she says. “You could see these ladies needed a face lift.”

Joining with fellow neighbors, Thornburg helped to establish the Carroll Avenue Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit group that helped to revitalize the street. The organization was successful in installing vintage street lights, planting trees and moving other Victorian homes, which were in danger of demolition, into the area.

“These houses continue to live--most of them were brought back from the dead with hard work and dedication,” Thornburg says. “You realize when you see these houses that they represent another time and way of life, and it’s so important for people to know where they come from.”

BE THERE

Tours of Angelino Heights are held at 10 a.m. the first Saturday of every month, and take about two hours. Reservations are required by calling the Los Angeles Conservancy at (213) 623-2489. Cost is $8 for the general public, $5 for members of the Los Angeles Conservancy.