A small update on the Van Deusen Estate on Castle Road, which was so prominently noted on the 1934 flood map:
LAT
Mike Lawler of the Crescenta Valley Historical Society, who also writes a local history column for Crescenta Valley Weekly,
"Treasures of the Valley" was kind enough to send along an undated aerial of the Van Deusen home:
mike lawler
And a directory listing:
mike lawler
The street number has changed, but it's still there:
google maps
gsv
Castle Road wasn't named after the Van Deusen home, it looks nothing like a castle. The road was named for Gould castle (1890) at the very top of the road:
The House Beautiful (undated) cut via mike lawler
There's two interesting (not long, but info packed) articles on Gould Castle, its rise and its fall,
here and
here. Well worth the read.
Stranger yet, Gould Castle wasn't the only castle built out that way. Some of them still exist. See
here and
here.
Lawler has also did three articles on Verdugo Lodge and the little neighborhood which exists in the ruins, Mountain Oaks. He explains more about those tiny plots one could buy
here.
Lawler is a devotee of
noir. Reading his articles, one learns a great deal about the things that would most horrify the Chamber of Commerce, the local real estate agents and others who work so hard to convince people that the Crescenta Valley is (and always was) "nice". He's co-authored a couple of books too:
amazon
amazon