I was running the 1930 census for the Enumeration District that, I thought, included the Garden of Allah, as I was curious as to who may have been shown as permanent or long-term tenants in that year....turns out that I was in the wrong e.d. as I could not find the Allah (the maps showing the e.d.'s in these old censuses are invariably difficult to decipher, there is a lot of guesswork involved)....anyway, the general boundaries of the district I was running are Crescent Heights to Doheny Dr., south of Sunset.
As long as I was in the neighborhood I kept going, finding a few recognizable names, and the usual mix of film industry has-beens and never-weres.....at the end of the ledger, the very last entry, was 9215 Doheny Drive....this one pretty much jumped off the page....
The other side of the ledger details what all these servants did around the house....
9215 Doheny was the "La Collina" estate, built by the banker Benjamin R. Meyer in 1924....
The house was designed by Gordon B. Kaufman (Ned Doheny & wife were so taken with the work that they hired Kaufman for their Greystone estate)....
I'd never heard of La Collina or Ben Meyer....he was certainly a significant figure in the city's growth....a mini-bio from Find A Grave.....
"Banker. Chairman of the Board of Union Bank & Trust Company, a bank he helped form. Basically forced into the banking business as the result of the accumulation of client funds in the wool trading business, the Kaspare Cohn Commercial & Savings Bank was founded in 1914. Kaspare Cohn was his father-in-law and was very prominent in Los Angeles Jewish and civic affairs. Mr. Meyer was named Vice President. He was named its President in 1916 when the bank was renamed Union Bank & Trust.
Meyer was also a director of the Southern California Gas Company. He was a trustee of Cedars of Lebanon Hospital (a facility previously formed by his father-in-law), and his widespread business interests linked him with every facet of the growth of Southern California.
At his death the Los Angeles City Council adjourned in his memory and the governor at that time expressed condolences publicly. The Water & Power Commission also adjourned in his memory, pointing out that he had helped obtain Congressional passage of a bill that ultimately led to the construction of Hoover Dam.
He actively pursued deep sea diving and in 1929 he was Winston Churchill's host on a fishing trip to Santa Catalina Island, during which time the British leader caught his first marlin, and the two posed for pictures with the 178 lb. catch."
Meyer and you know who....
In 1941 Meyer sold the estate to a investment group. In subsequent decades, the estate was subdivided into building lots for smaller homes. The long driveway became a new street. Although much altered, "La Collinas" main house, featured in the TV series Entourage, and gatehouse remain today as independent private residences.
Much more on the estate here.....
https://halfpuddinghalfsauce.blogspo...n-r-meyer.html