The Hotel Arcadia was a hotel in Santa Monica, California that stood on the oceanfront between 1886 and 1909. [1] The hotel was located on Ocean Avenue between Colorado and Front (later Pico Boulevard). [2]
Built during what one historian called the Great Boom, [3] the “fashionable and luxurious” hotel attracted wealthy visitors to the climate and scenery of the area, which ultimately became “important factors in the upbuilding of Southern California.” [4]
Named in honor of Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker, [5] the five-story hotel built by Jesup W. Scott [6] had “glass observatories” facing the beach. [7] At the time of its completion it was considered the “finest seaside hotel” in the state, comparable only to the Del Monte in Monterey. [6] A history of early Southern California resorts described it as a “summer society capitol.” [8]
In 1903, Griffith J. Griffith shot his wife Tina Mesmer in a room at the Hotel Arcadia as she was packing for the return to Los Angeles after their month at the resort, which she had hoped would put her husband in better mind. [9]
Ultimately, patronage declined and the Arcadia Hotel was demolished. [2]
The Peter Strauss Ranch is a regional park unit of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area - and operated by the National Park Service as Peter Strauss Ranch Park. It is located in the central Santa Monica Mountains — on Mulholland Highway near Agoura Hills, Southern California, in the Western United States. The ranch is named after the actor Peter Strauss, who was the last private owner-resident of the property. Much of the ranch was destroyed during the Woolsey Fire in November 2018.
The Hollywood Hotel was a famous hotel, society venue of early Hollywood, and landmark, formerly located at 6811 Hollywood Boulevard, on the north side, extending from Highland Avenue to Orchid Avenue, in central Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
Mulholland Highway is a scenic road in Los Angeles County, California, that runs approximately 50 miles through the western Santa Monica Mountains from near US Route 101 in Calabasas to Highway 1 near Malibu at Leo Carrillo State Park and the Pacific Ocean coast – at the border of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
The Third Street Promenade is a pedestrian mall esplanade, shopping, dining and entertainment complex in the downtown area of Santa Monica, California which originally opened as the Santa Monica Mall on November 8, 1965. It is considered a premier shopping and dining district on the Westside and draws crowds from all over the Greater Los Angeles area. Due to easy access to Downtown Los Angeles via the Big Blue Bus rapid transit service, E Line's terminus station and the Pacific Coast Highway-Santa Monica Freeway Interstate, the neighborhood's north-south thoroughfares connecting to Muscle Beach, Venice Canal Historic District, Marina del Rey, Ballona Wetlands and Los Angeles International Airport, and its proximity to historic U.S. Route 66, Santa Monica Pier, Palisades Park, Tongva Park, Santa Monica State Beach and the Pacific Ocean coupled with Los Angeles's mild mediterranean climate, it is also a popular tourist destination.
Wilshire Boulevard (['wɪɫ.ʃɚ]) is a prominent 15.83 mi (25.48 km) boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal east–west arterial roads of Los Angeles, it is also one of the major city streets through the city of Beverly Hills. Wilshire Boulevard runs roughly parallel to Santa Monica Boulevard from Santa Monica to the west boundary of Beverly Hills. From the east boundary, it runs a block south of Sixth Street to its terminus.
The Verdugo Mountains, also known as the Verdugo Hills or simply The Verdugos, are a small, rugged mountain range of the Transverse Ranges system in Los Angeles County, California. Located just south of the western San Gabriel Mountains, the Verdugo Mountains region incorporates the cities of Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, and La Cañada Flintridge; the unincorporated communities of Altadena and La Crescenta-Montrose; as well as the City of Los Angeles neighborhood of Sunland-Tujunga.
Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker (1827–1912) was a wealthy Californio landowner and socialite of Los Angeles. She played an important role in the elite society of Los Angeles and, later, Santa Monica. She was married to two wealthy Anglo-American men over the course of her life, Abel Stearns and then Colonel Robert S. Baker. Like many californias of her time, Arcadia Bandini provided to her Anglo husbands opportunities for entrance into and alliances within the established californio elite society. She was a skilled businesswoman in her own right, as well as a renowned hostess and organizer of balls and other social functions.
Abbot Kinney was an American developer, conservationist, water supply expert and tree expert. Kinney is best known for his "Venice of America" development in Los Angeles.
Rustic Canyon is a residential neighborhood and canyon in eastern Pacific Palisades, on the west side of Los Angeles, California. It is along Rustic Creek, in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The Hollywood Knickerbocker Apartments, formerly the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel, is a historic former hotel, now a retirement home, located at 1714 Ivar Avenue in Los Angeles, California.
Beverly Drive is a major north–south roadway in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles.
Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas was a 4,539-acre (18.37 km2) land grant in present day Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California given to María Rita Quinteros Valdez de Villa in 1838.
Hahamongna and Hahamog-na are two historic Tongva village sites. They are located in the Verdugo Mountains of Southern California and bear the name of the local band of indiginous Tongva, "Hahamog'na." The sites are located in present-day Pasadena and Glendale in Los Angeles County, California. Hahamongna was one of the largest Tongva villages in the greater San Fernando Valley area, along with Cahuenga, Tujunga, and Siutcanga.
Cornell is an unincorporated community in the Santa Monica Mountains, within western Los Angeles County, California. It is located 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Agoura Hills and around 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of Malibu. Cornell's heyday was the 1910s to the 1950s, and the settlement is now essentially a ghost town but a handful of buildings and one functioning restaurant persisted circa 2007.
Seminole Hot Springs is an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Seminole Hot Springs is located in the Santa Monica Mountains near Cornell, 3.6 miles (5.8 km) south-southeast of Agoura Hills at an elevation of 932 feet (284 m).
The Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows is a historic five-star hotel located near the beach in Santa Monica, California, not far from the Santa Monica Pier. The property was originally a private estate, built in 1889. It was converted to a hotel in 1921.
The Santa Monica Camera Obscura is a publicly accessible historical camera obscura, located in Palisades Park overlooking the Pacific Ocean, in Santa Monica, California.
The Old Santa Monica Forestry Station is the nation's first experimental forestry station, built in 1887. The Old Santa Monica Forestry Station was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.840) on March 20, 1970. Old Santa Monica Forestry Station is located at Rustic Canyon in Los Angeles in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California in Los Angeles County. The site is south of what is now called Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. In 1971 the state placed a marker near the entrance of the Rustic Canyon Recreation Center at the NW corner of Latimer and Hilltree Roads, at 601 Latimer Road, Los Angeles, CA 90402. This location is in what is now called Pacific Palisades. The hills and canyons around the Santa Monica Canyon were a land boom in the late 1880s.
The Mesmer family of California was a wealthy family of early Los Angeles settlers who contributed to the development of the city between the rancho era and the explosive growth of the post-WWII era.