L.A.’s GREAT OPEN HOUSE
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Next Sunday, tours of area neighborhoods will be open to registrants of the 1989 California Preservation Conference and the general public, on a space-available basis. Except as noted, all tour buses depart from the Biltmore Hotel (Grand Avenue side). Reservations required; call (213) 876-6299.
Tour No. 1:
CRUISING L.A. REVISITED
What do the Beach Boys, Raymond Chandler and “American Graffiti” have in common? All were inspired by the streets of Los Angeles. So fill ‘er up, tune in your favorite oldies and go Cruising L.A. Equipped with self-guided tour booklets, aficionados can view the architecture, “street furniture,” street art, flora and engineering marvels that make up L.A.’s outdoor museum of car culture.
Price: $8, tickets sold at the Biltmore from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Time: 2-3 hours (self-guided).
Tour No. 2: EL PUEBLO BY FOOT
El Pueblo de Los Angeles is the oldest and most historic part of Los Angeles, containing the Avila Adobe (c. 1818), a number of Los Angeles’ oldest business buildings, the 1884 Plaza Firehouse and Olvera Street, long considered the Latino heart of Los Angeles.
Price $15. Time: 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Tour No. 3:
ANAHEIM NEIGHBORHOODS
Founded in 1857 by wealthy German immigrants from San Francisco, Anaheim grew to one of Orange County’s largest communities at the turn of the century. Explore its turn-of-the-century neighborhoods.
Price: $25. Time: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Tour No. 4: FREMONT PLACE, WINDSOR SQUARE, HANCOCK PARK
For more than 60 years, the neighborhoods of Windsor Square, Hancock Park and Fremont Place have stood for tradition in Los Angeles. Los Angeles’ civic, business and philanthropic leaders commissioned major L.A. architects to design lavish Tudor mansions, French chateaux, and Spanish Colonial Revival haciendas. The tour is sponsored by the Windsor Square-Hancock Park Historical Society.
Price: $25. Time: 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Tour No. 5: HISTORIC HOUSES
OF HIGHLAND PARK
One of the earliest suburbs north of Los Angeles by the Arroyo Seco, Highland Park attracted many artists and craftsmen with its rustic beauty. Three historic houses are the focus of this tour: El Mio, a recently restored Queen Anne residence; Abbey San Encino, and Sycamore Terrace, a neighborhood district of distinctive Craftsman residences.
Price: $25. Time: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Tour No. 6: VENICE
Envisioned by developer Abbott Kinney in 1904 as an artists’ colony, Venice by the Sea was designed with cottage-lined canals, lagoons and bridges, but soon became better known for its pleasure pier, bathhouse and amusements. The area is home to numerous artists.
Price: $25. Time: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Tour No. 7: LONG BEACH RANCHOS
Explore the romance of two Long Beach ranchos, La Casa de Rancho Los Alamitos, reputed to be the oldest domestic building still standing in Southern California, and Adobe Los Cerritos, constructed in 1844 by Don Juan Temple, and considered to be one of the finest Monterey-style adobes in Southern California.
Price: $25. Time: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Tour No. 8:
PASADENA’S ARROYO SECO
Discovered by artisans and craftsmen during the Arts and Crafts period in the early 20th Century, the east bank of Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco became home to tile designer Ernest Batchelder, painter Jean Mannheim and others who had adopted the Craftsman philosophy as a way of life. The district, anchored by Greene and Greene’s Gamble House, is one of the finest concentrations of Craftsman architecture in the San Gabriel Valley.
Price: $25. Time: 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Tour No. 9: SAN FERNANDO VALLEY RANCHOS AND ADOBES
Explore Mission San Fernando, founded in 1797 by Franciscan missionaries, and the adobe houses of three great ranchos: the Leonis Adobe, the restored home of Miguel Leonis; the quoined Rancho de Los Encinos adobe and the Andres Pico Adobe in Mission Hills.
Price: $25. Time: 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Tour No. 10: SANTA FE SPRINGS
East of Los Angeles are the cities of Norwalk and Santa Fe Springs, whose architectural and historic treasures will be explored on this tour. Visit the Victorian farmhouse, barn and blacksmith shop of Paddison Farm, Norwalk’s last farm, then tour the Clarke Estate, a magnificent example of the work by famed Southern California architect Irving Gill.
Price: $25. Time: 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Tour No. 11: CARROLL AVENUE, ANGELINO HEIGHTS AND HERITAGE SQUARE
Angelino Heights, developed in 1887, was one of Los Angeles’ first subdivisions. Today, stately Victorians still grace its streets. Take a guided walking tour of the Carroll Avenue National Register Historic District, the highest concentration of Victorian architecture in Los Angeles.
Then visit Heritage Square, a haven for endangered buildings that could not be preserved in their original locations.
Price: $25. Time: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Tour No. 12: WORKMAN AND TEMPLE FAMILY HOMESTEAD MUSEUM
Tour of a Spanish Colonial Revival home in South Gate, a masterpiece of tile work, then enjoy lunch and a tour of the historic Workman and Temple residences at the Homestead. The focus of the tour will be on the architectural crafts in the 26-room Temple House.
Price: $25. Time: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Tour No. 13: JEWISH HERITAGE
IN LOS ANGELES
The origins of the Jewish community in Los Angeles will be the focus of this tour, which includes a rare visit to the historic sanctuary of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, two very early temple sites, the original site of Cedar Sinai Hospital in Angelino Heights and the Breed Street Shul in Boyle Heights.
Price: $25. Time: 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Tour No. 14: HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD
The main street of Hollywood boasts a variety of architecturally styled commercial- and entertainment-related buildings dating from the 1920s and ‘30s. The nearby Lasky-De Mille barn, where the first feature-length film in Hollywood was made, is now operated as a museum dedicated to the silent film era. Tours will begin from the Capitol Records Building at 1750 N. Vine Street.
Price: $25. Time: 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Tour No. 15: MOVIE STUDIOS AND SITES
Film historian Marc Wanamaker will lead a guided tour of sites associated with the film industry, including a behind-the-scenes look at a working studio plant. Explore sites in Edendale, L.A.’s earliest film colony, including the remnants of the Mack Sennett lot. Then it’s on to Hollywood for a look at Columbia, Paramount, United Artists, Chaplin and other studio sites.
Price: $35. Time: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Tour No. 16: HOLLYWOOD’S NEIGHBORHOODS
Tour of the Hollywood Hills will include Whitley Heights and Hollywood Heights. Developed as a Mediterranean village by Hobart J. Whitley in 1918, the hill was home to actors, directors, set designers and other film industry personnel, attracted by the beautiful homes, spectacular views, privacy and close proximity to the studios.
Hollywood Heights is a companion neighborhood to Whitley Heights and is home to the Freeman House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Price: $35. Time: 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Tour No. 17: GLENDALE BY RAIL
Travel by rail to Glendale, the “Queen City of the San Fernando Valley.” After a short train trip from Union Station to Glendale’s historic Southern Pacific Railroad depot, tour the 1925 Alex Theatre, the 1875 Casa Adobe de San Rafael, Leslie Brand’s Moorish estate, El Miradero, built in 1904, and the 1890 Doctor’s House. The tour concludes at the Lanterman Estate, a pristine example of Craftsman styling, with a rare tour of the house, which was last occupied in 1941.
Price: $35. Time: 9:15 a.m.-3:15 p.m.
Tour No. 18: RESIDENTIAL MASTERPIECES
Residential masterpieces by Greene and Greene, Rudolph Schindler and Frank Lloyd Wright will be opened for interior visits. Visit the Gamble House and a Mediterranean Revival estate in Pasadena, the Freeman House in the Hollywood Hills, the Schindler residence in West Hollywood as well as others.
Price: $35. Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Tour No. 19: RIVERSIDE
AND THE MISSION INN
Originally founded in 1870, Riverside was transformed by Frank Miller at the turn of the century into the Mission Revival fantasy of every transplanted Midwesterner. Tour of the Mission Inn Historic District includes the Mission Inn, constructed between 1902 and 1931 and featuring the work of Arthur B. Benton, Myron Hunt, Elmer Grey, and G. Stanley Wilson, and the First Congregational Church, designed by Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey.
Price: $35. Time: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
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