The
Wattles Mansion, one of Hollywood's unaltered hidden treasures, is one of the
turn of-the-century vacation mansions built by wealthy Eastern and Mid-Western
families.Gurdon Wattles, an Omaha businessman and civic leader, commissioned
noted architects Myron Huntand Elmer Grey to design his new home on forty-nine
acres of prime Hollywood farm land in 1907.The Mansion became one of the city's
first tourist attractions before the movies arrived.
The Mansion and its surrounding lands was acquired by the City of Los Angeles in the middle 1960's and converted into a city park.In 1993 it was designated by the city as a cultural landmark.Since 1984 it has been managed by Hollywood Heritage, Inc. which has strived, with limited funds, to restore and maintain the Mansion and its grounds as one of the city's premier showplaces.
When Candido Marez, a San Fernando Valley civic leader, and director of the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys based Knights of Columbus Youth Services Group, first visited the Mansion, he immediately volunteered his crew to visit and perform needed weeding, spading, raking and general clean-up duties.
On the morning of August 28th, the crew of twelve volunteers arrived and immediately spent the better part of a warm Saturday doing the needed work. The improvements they made were significant, and they promised to re-visit and do more. Which they did on a return visit on October 2.
Wattles Mansion is located on Curson Avenue, between La Brea and Fairfax Avenues, and just North of Hollywood Blvd.Tours are available without charge by phoning Steve Sylvester at the Mansion at (323)874-4005.