Midwick Country Club opens doors

April 19, 1913: The lavish, 208-acre Midwick Country Club -- on the border between Monterey Park and Alhambra -- opened its doors as one of the most exclusive polo, golf and tennis clubs in the region. “The Midwick Country Club has begun things on broad lines, with a large membership of Los Angeles and Pasadena people of the ultra-conservative type, with a clause in the by-laws that puts the pianissimo on flamboyant and hectic display,” The Times declared. Over the years, movie stars and socialites flocked to the club in limousine caravans to watch the likes of Spencer Tracy, Darryl F. Zanuck, Will Rogers and Walt Disney ride hellbent-for-leather on the manicured polo fields. The Colonial-style clubhouse was destroyed by a fire in 1944. By that time, the club had been sold to Dominick Jebbia, a man The Times referred to as the “banana king.” Its grounds were later subdivided for housing. The club’s history lives on in the neighborhood, where some streets are named after famous athletes such as golfer Sam Snead and polo player Thomas Hitchcock.