Thank you Tourmaline for your comments, and also for your photos. I am not sure I know enough right now to answer your questions.
Regarding prohibition, I have gleaned from this thread that enforcement was, at best, irregular, even in the populated areas. I do not know who might have had jurisdiction over the Laurel area...
Until 1923, the area was in the Sheriff's jurisdiction. Then the LAPD took over. I think you are right in suggesting the Sheriff had a more tolerant attitude than the LAPD.
You observed that most myths may contain a grain of truth. The Laurel Canyon Association's history of the area says: "A popular myth is that the grounds around the Inn were stocked with exotic animals for hunting, but this has not been verified. The Inn burned down in the 1923, and the site was rebuilt with a home for actor Lew Ayres - the original Dr. Kildare." http://laurelcanyonassoc.com/EarlyHist.html Forgetting about the unconfirmed lions and tigers hiding in the area, and what might have been a second secret fire (1918 vs 1923), is there any possibility that the Lew Ayres' "spread" was large enough to include the same or similar location as the Lookout MI, even though the two places might have been treated as separate parcels?
The fire that destroyed the Inn was on October 27, 1918, not in 1923. Lew Ayres built or bought a house that was on the same site as the burned inn. (I don't know which, pending another trip to the Assessor's Map Archive). The address in 1940 for his house was 2355 Sunset Plaza. He was there at least through 1946, when he hosted the wedding of a fellow actor who had been in the 1930 anti-war movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" with him. Ayres was a conscientious objector during WWII.
The real estate section of the LAT had a listing for the house for just under a million in 1979. It was described as a "Monterey style" that was a fixer-upper. In 1983, it was again listed for less money, and more emphasis on the "fixer-upper" aspect. When I moved into my Appian Way house in 1988, there was no house up there at 2355 Sunset Plaza. I remember taking dates up there, climbing over the fence, and being amazed at the night-time views.
You seem to have debunked the notion that Lookout M Inn was at 8782 Appian Way, and instead located at 2355 Sunset Plaza Drive, but I am wondering is it possible that Ayres or another owner of the property upon which Ayres' estate was built also owned the property you have identified as the former Lookout Inn?
The Inn was at 2355 Sunset Plaza. I will check out the transactions the next time I am in the Map Archive, which will tell us when Lew Ayres bought or built the house. The 8782 Appian Way house was built in the mid-20s for Chet Crank who was an advertising executive. It had nothing to do with the Inn. 8782 was bought in 1945 by Rudolph Friml, a well-known Czech composer of light musicals such as Rose-Marie (1924) and The Vagabond King (1925). Friml's widow (his *much* younger fourth wife) sold a mini-park she owned across the street from her 8782 house in 2001, which resulted in the unfortunate trio of spec houses at the hairpin turn of Appian Way a few houses down from mine. I was fortunate enough to be a guest several times in the 8782 house when it was owned by Billy Hipple. He sold it a couple of years ago, saying it needed more work than he was willing to put into it.
Looking at the surveyor's marker, did the one pictured below possibly replace an earlier marker? Or mismarker? As reliable as surveyors may be, wonder what might have happened if the prior surveyor got things wrong? (If you don't believe mistakes can happen, just ask Mayor Shaw. ) I also wonder if certain well-heeled property owners couldn't have made significant improvements that they neglected to report. After all, the area has been called "Wonderland"?
I've seen that survey marker above the intersection of Cole Crest and Blue Heights. The view across the city from that point is quite wonderful. The date is 1952, and it is a first-order control point, which is the most precise type there is. I doubt it is misplaced
I've read that Doheny's Franklin Canyon reservoir supplied the DWP with water. I assume it was also supplying electricity to Charley Mann's 1913 Trackless Trolley? And, how do we know this was the first Trackless Trolley in America?
Good questions.
It has also been said that those street cars only ran for 5 years to a tavern on Lookout Mountain Avenue. Because this would have been prior to the date of the fire, it makes me wonder if the there weren't several unaccounted for makeshift taverns or inns, or one or two being confused with each other. This might also include confusing an Inn with a Tavern, or even a stand. I am aware that the same tavern on Lookout M Ave., was either rebuilt or transformed into Tom Mix's Rancho d'logs, but I can't help think that some of the stories will never be fully known. I say this, having reread the 1946 newspaper article that mentions prior owners, Actress Bessie Love and C.J. Milliron. Curiously there is no mention of Mix. And, while you probably can't judge a book by its cover, or a department store owner by the design of his Fifth Street Store, it is hard to picture CK Milliron homesteading in a rustic log cabin. Of course, there are log cabins and there are log cabins that go by the name of Ponderosa.
I agree that there is confusion about the early tavernage in Laurel Canyon. I have not done much research on it, but as I pointed out to
e_r, the Laurel Tavern was associated with the Laurelwood subdivision, which was located on the east side of the canyon from Kirkwood almost up to Lookout Mountain. The Laurel Tavern was most likely located where the Canyon Country Store is now, or else quite nearby. The terminus of the Trackless Trolley was another half-mile further up the canyon past the Laurel Tavern at the corner of Lookout Mountain. And that was the location of the "other" tavern. The end of trolley service in 1918 was no doubt related to the burning down of the Inn. The fire involved both the Kirkwood bowl and Lookout Mountain Park, so the powerlines and other infrastructure were probably destroyed along with the Inn.