Tour Views a Hidden Treasure of the Southland
Melinda Wells finally got a chance Sunday to view close-up the graceful Spanish Colonial Revival home she had admired from afar for so long.
Standing on a small balcony overlooking its verdant grounds, her words, breathless and simple, said it all: “It’s lovely.”
It was a phrase that was uttered often as scores of curious and envious onlookers were led on a walking tour of seven 1920s-era homes and gardens in the little enclave of Brookside, adjacent to Hancock Park and seemingly a world removed from urban Los Angeles.
The tour, sponsored by the Windsor Square-Hancock Park Historical Society, wound mainly along Longwood Avenue, a sinuous curve of elegant homes and bungalows designed by many of Los Angeles’ most noted architects.
But as attractive as the homes are, the gasps of appreciation were most often voiced once inside, for the facades hide one of Southern California’s least known treasures: sweeping cliffs and terraces leading to a small stream, El Rio del Jardin de las Flores, that meanders through the rear lots of some 20 homes. For some, it evoked Devonshire countryside; for others, a Sierra Nevada glade.
Who knew? Not many, said society president Fluff McLean, a Windsor Square resident who organized this year’s tour.
“It takes place in a part of Los Angeles that is unusual and has somehow managed to keep from being well-known,” she said.
The stream originates in the Hollywood Hills and wanders from one side of Longwood Avenue to the other.
“The planners of this community didn’t want the stream just on one side of the street, so they developed around it,” McLean said. “It’s very typical of the 1920s. We had gone through a war and financial problems, and then the 1920s came and the skirts went up. Things became less rigid and there was more a sense of fun.”
Brookside was first known as Windsor Crest and was carved out of the original Rancho Las Cienegas (Ranch of the Marshland), owned by a Mexican native, Don Francisco Avila.
What makes it so intriguing now is that--right in the middle of the Mid-Wilshire district--some of the natural arroyos, barrancas and hills of that original tract have been preserved.
An old development plan that the society recently unearthed notes that “Winsdor Crest is the highest elevation on Wilshire Boulevard west of Western Avenue, in what is recognized as the most desirable home section of Los Angeles.”
According to the plan, two-story homes on Longwood north of 9th Street would cost “at least $10,000”--while homes on the south side would set a would-be homeowner back $5,000 to $7,500.
But, then as now, homeowners brought their own dreams, notes neighborhood preservationist and tour operator Greg Fischer. And the Brookside homes, with a stupendous common topography, reflect their owners’ individual visions.
The area was a haven for the Hollywood elite and among the sites is a private theater, named Brookledge and described in one periodical of the day as “the finest residential theater in the country.”
Orson Welles rehearsed here for a magic show that included assistants Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth. The house has been owned for the last 40 years by the Larsen family, builders of the Magic Castle, a Los Angeles landmark.
For Wells, being able to visit the Spanish-style home on the corner of Longwood and 8th Street was a special thrill.
“Being able to finally see it was my main inspiration for coming on the tour,” she said. “I’m just glad they saved something so natural in L.A.”
