Speaking of King Gillette (1855-1932), he was a bit of an oddball. According to wiki he was, among other things, a Utopian Socialist. He advocated that all industry should be taken over by a single corporation owned by the public, and that everyone in the US should live in a giant city called Metropolis powered by Niagara Falls. Gillette made no small plans.
When Metropolis didn't take off (Teddy Roosevelt turned down the presidency of the corporation, including the $1 million salary), Gillette bought a 588 acre property in the Santa Monica Mountains, adjacent to what later would become Malibu Creek State Park, and commissioned Wallace Neff to build him, "a paradise on earth, California style".
The parcel of land is beautiful, a high, flat valley that leaves the mountain tops looking like little hills surrounding the property. The setting really is gorgeous and very remote. When one is there the cares of the world below seem very far away. A true life Shangri La:
LAT
cityofcalabasas.com
lamountains.com
iamnotastalker.com
hunch.com
"MGM movie director Clarence Brown (Anna Karenina, National Velvet) bought the property in 1930, following Gillette's death. Brown built a private airstrip for elaborate MGM "fly-in parties" that were attended by such luminaries as Clark Gable and Greta Garbo."
-santa monica mountains conservancy
The property became an RC retreat in 1952 and was then sold to Soka University in '86. Soka, a Japanese concern, was great, pretty much letting the public in for any reason. Finally it was bought for the public in 2005 and opened in 2007. So now it belongs to everyone, even though it's not powered by Niagara Falls:
LAT
MORE:
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep...ranch-20120922
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-...5.photogallery
1906 ad:
eBay
1931:
eBay