Silver Lake Chronicles: Exploring an Urban Oasis in Los Angeles

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright © 2014 by Michael Locke

All rights reserved

Front cover, top left: Colonel William Selig with a baby elephant, circa 1913. Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Front cover, top right: Mach Sennett (carrying his hat) visiting Marceline Day on the set of The Gay Deceiver (1926). Front cover, bottom right: George Watson, dean of Los Angeles Photographers, during his stint as second staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times, 1919. Courtesy of the Watson Family Photo Archive. Front cover, bottom left: Mack Sennett’s Bathing Beauties, 1919.

First published 2014

e-book edition 2014

ISBN 978.1.62584.682.2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Locke, Michael (Michael J.)

A brief history of Silver Lake : an urban oasis in Los Angeles / Michael Locke with Vincent Brook.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-958-7 (paperback)

1. Silver Lake (Los Angeles, Calif.)--History. 2. Silver Lake (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Biography. 3. Los Angeles (Calif.)--History. 4. Los Angeles (Calif.)--Biography. I. Brook, Vincent, 1946- II. Title.

F869.L86S555 2014

979.4’94--dc23

2014036894

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Dedicated to Hynda Rudd and the memory of Ada Brownell

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Paradise Found: The Legend of Hugo Reid

2. William Mulholland: Bringing Water to a Parched and Thirsty Land

3. Hi-Yo Herman Silver! Silver Lake’s Namesake

4. Early Pioneering Families: The Bonadimans and Passarinis

5. The Multi-Talented Watsons

6. Big Red Cars: Building a Foundation for the Future

7. From Red Cars to Roadsters

8. Colonel William Selig: Hollywood’s Forgotten Man

9. Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand and the Fun Factory

10. The Sad Saga of Roscoe Arbuckle

11. Tom Mix: King of the Cowboys

12. An Immigrant Architect Builds His Dream Home

13. Julian Eltinge: America’s First Drag Superstar

14. The Crestmont Mansion Part 1: The Life and Times of Antonio Moreno

15. The Crestmont Mansion Part 2: The Life and Times of Dana Hollister

16. Frank Alderman Garbutt and the Mansion on Hathaway Hill

17. Innocenti Palombo, Michale Togneri and the Mansion on Mayberry Street

18. From Poverty to Philanthropy: The Inspiring Success Story of George C. Page

19. The Music Box Steps

20. Pill Hill

21. The Contradictory Saint: Sister Aimee Semple McPherson

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

About the Authors

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When I signed a contract with The History Press in 2012 for my book on Silver Lake, little did I know what challenges lay ahead. Although I had written hundreds of newspaper articles, this subject’s complexity was well beyond my previous experience. Knowing that I would have to narrow my focus, I first thought I would deal solely with the aspect about which I knew the most: the history of mid-century architecture. But as I began researching, I soon discovered that no comprehensive study of Silver Lake’s early history had yet been completed, nor had anyone undertaken the task of archiving documents relating to its past. Thus, I would be starting pretty much from scratch.

In 2003, the recently formed Silver Lake Neighborhood Council established a history collective committee, which has done an amazing job of compiling (and continuing to compile) video and oral histories of Silver Lake residents. The records are housed at the University of Southern California (USC) in the Bob Herzog Memorial Archives, named in honor of a prominent, recently deceased chair of the collective. As valuable as all this work has been, I believed a broader contextual history, such as I envisioned, might also enhance their efforts.

In November 2013, I arranged a public meeting at the Silver Lake Branch Library with the dual purpose of opening a dialogue on my book project and providing impetus for a local historical society. The history collective supported the first idea, and Michael Masterson, co-chair of the collective, was especially helpful in recommending me to The History Press. The sixty or so persons who attended the meeting were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their specific interests and expertise, and although the historical society never materialized, the questionnaires proved invaluable in laying the groundwork for my book.

I had already been poring over books and articles on the history of the general area and scanning old manuscripts and photographs. The library meeting gave me further tips on people to interview—those who had lived in the area for longer periods of time, knew of others who had or just had a memory or story to share. Another benefit of the library meeting was my learning of the work of Ada Brownell, recently deceased, who had written articles in the 1990s for the Silver Lake Residents Association Newsletter and had been collecting newspaper clippings and photographs for her own prospective book project. I found Ada’s files at the home of Sherman McClellan and Joy Tinsley, who generously allowed me to scan the documents.

Beginning to zero in on persons of interest from the past, I began a correspondence with Carol Hagedorn, grandniece of Mary Bonadiman, who had had the foresight to keep a rich account (in handwritten notes and photographs) of her family’s pioneering days in Silver Lake. Joe and Joann Lightfoot, current owners of the Bonadiman family home, offered additional insight and information on the historical who’s who of the community.

The library meeting also introduced me to Bud Overn, a Clifford Street School classmate of Charles Hathaway, of Hathaway Hill Mansion fame. Charles’s son Frank Garbutt Hathaway later met me at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, sharing his memories of living at the mansion and allowing me to scan historical photos. Bud also offered photos relating to another prominent local family, the Watsons, to whom another of my chapters is devoted. Realtor Karen Lower was instrumental in arranging a tour of the Watson family home. And my friend Nettie Carr, historian of next-door Atwater Village, expanded the Watson connection through her contact with Daniel and Antoinette Watson, keepers of the Watson Family Photo Archive, whose generosity in sharing this prized collection proved a major coup.

Through my membership with the Los Angeles City Historical Society (LACHS), I had previously met Hynda Rudd, Los Angeles’s first city archivist, who had written her master’s thesis on Jews of the intermountain West and, in the process, had learned about Herman Silver, to whom she jokingly referred as her patron saint. Hynda’s research was invaluable in helping me tell Silver’s story. And besides her overall encouragement, she and LACHS president Todd Gaydowski introduced me to Michael Holland, the current Los Angeles city archivist, who gave me access to the city’s archives.

My affiliation with the LACHS bore further fruit in a meeting with historian Helene Demeestere, whose research on architect Armand Monaco inspired me to include his story in the book. Through the website Ancestry.com, I was able to connect with some of Armand’s living descendants and others close to the family. My first contact was with Leslie Ruelas, whose grandmother lived with the Monaco family during a time of difficult transition. Leslie has been extremely useful throughout the project in helping unravel the mysteries of the Monaco family.

Yvonne Ng, librarian at the Arcadia Public Library, generously allowed me free access to the library’s archives as they related to Hugo Reid, a key figure in early Los Angeles and Silver Lake history. Ng also introduced me to Ronald C. Woolsey, author of Migrants West: Toward the Southern California Frontier, who was kind enough to give me a free copy of his excellent book. I was most fortunate to meet Clara Togneri shortly before she died and later had the pleasure of meeting other members of her family, including Greg and Marie Togneri. Besides the information I gleaned about the Togneris’ contribution to Silver Lake, a major bonus for all of us was the later designation, through our collaboration, of their family estate, Villa Palombo-Togneri, as a Los Angeles historical landmark.

Good friend Genelle LeVin, president of the Silver Lake Improvement Association, introduced me to many VIPs in the neighborhood and shared valuable information about Roscoe Arbuckle, the great silent-era comic. Designer/restaurateur Dana Hollister was very gracious in opening her home, the Canfield-Moreno Estate (also known as the Crestmont or the Paramour), on many occasions, which allowed me the opportunity to photograph the interiors, as well as to hear her fascinating personal story. Dr. Kenneth Williams and his wife, Sally, invited me into their home to tell their family saga, as did Dr. Thomas Berne and his wife, Cynthia, to talk about Thomas’s father, Dr. C.J. Berne. This information about prominent physicians who lived in the area formed the crux of my chapter on Pill Hill.

I’m grateful to John Chadbourne and Halla Picado of Equity Title Company for their exceptional research in verifying addresses from the past. Jerry Roberts, commissioning editor for The History Press, has been a bulwark of support throughout. And I’m beholden to owner-director Jesse Rogg of the newly reopened Silver Lake branch of Mack Sennett studios, built by Sennett in the 1910s for his film star and lover Mabel Normand. Besides resuscitating the historic studio—which is once again operational and just celebrated its one-year anniversary—Jesse gave me the carte blanche treatment.

A special thanks to Los Angeles magazine associate editor Chris Nichols, who has been one of my most enthusiastic supporters and has provided several of the photos that grace these pages. And last but not least, I am deeply indebted to Vincent Brook, media studies professor, friend and fellow local activist, who came aboard late in the project and whose editorial skills and historical expertise (along with the research of his wife,