Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles | |
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  Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles Location within Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Show map of San Fernando Valley Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles (the Los Angeles metropolitan area) Show map of the Los Angeles metropolitan area | |
| Coordinates:34°07′02″N118°22′31″W / 34.11722°N 118.37528°W /34.11722; -118.37528 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| County |  Los Angeles |
| City |  Los Angeles |
| Named after | California bay laurel |
| Elevation | 866 ft (264 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (PST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
Laurel Canyon is a mountainous neighborhood in theHollywood Hills region of theSanta Monica Mountains, within theHollywood Hills West district ofLos Angeles, California. The main thoroughfare ofLaurel Canyon Boulevard connects the neighborhood with the more urbanized parts of Los Angeles to the north and south, betweenVentura Boulevard andHollywood Boulevard.
Originally inhabited by theTongva people, by the early 20th century real estate developers situated a vacation site along the slope of neighboring Lookout Mountain; this formed the nucleus of what would become the Laurel Canyon neighborhood. It later developed into a celebrity enclave: the remote, rugged nature of the land and its proximity to many of the movie studios in nearbyHollywood made it an ideal location for many movie stars to site their homes, especially during theGolden Age of Hollywood.Raymond Chandler's first novelThe Big Sleep sets lurid scenes there, and inThe Long Goodbye (1953), his private detectivePhilip Marlowe is residing in 'the Laurel Canyon district'.
By the 1960s, the neighborhood had become a local center forcounterculture, and many prominentfolk androck musicians moved into the area, making it a nexus for musical collaboration. By the late 1970s, criminal activity in the neighborhood, including distribution of drugs, was controlled by theWonderland Gang (named for a Laurel Canyon thoroughfare), and the neighborhood became associated with theWonderland murders, a grisly quadruple homicide in 1981.
Laurel Canyon is focused on its central thoroughfare,Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Unlike other nearby canyon neighborhoods, Laurel Canyon has houses lining one side of the main street most of the way up toMulholland Drive. There are many side roads that branch off the main canyon, but most are not through streets, reinforcing the self-contained nature of the neighborhood. Some of the main side streets are Mount Olympus, Kirkwood, Wonderland Avenue, Willow Glen, and Lookout Mountain Avenue. The zip code for a portion of the neighborhood is 90046.[2]
Laurel Canyon Boulevard is an important North–South route between:West Hollywood,Hollywood, andCentral Los Angeles; andStudio City and the easternSan Fernando Valley. The canyon's division between the two regions is defined by Mulholland Drive.
The Laurel Canyon neighborhood is generally bounded by West Hollywood to the west and south, Hollywood to the east, and Studio City to the north.[3]
Laurel Canyon is known for its natural wildlife and is home to at least one adult male mountain lion.[4]
The Laurel Canyon area was inhabited by theTongva people, a regional tribe of theindigenous peoples of California, for thousands of years.[citation needed] Aspring-fed stream flowed year-round providing water.
The reliable water supply attracted colonial Spanish ranchers who started grazing sheep on the hillsides in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. After theMexican–American War and the advent ofU.S. statehood forCalifornia in 1850, the area was settled by Americans interested in water rights.
Until the 20th century, passage up the canyon was made on foot or by mule. In 1907, an 82-mile dirt road (132 km), later namedLaurel Canyon Boulevard, was built. It ran up the canyon, dividing at what is now Lookout Mountain Road; the left road went up to the summit of Lookout Mountain, and the right branch of the road went to the top of the Santa Monica Mountains and then down to the San Fernando Valley.
In 1908, the Lookout Mountain Park and Water Co. was formed to purchase 280 acres (110 ha) on Lookout Mountain, just west of Laurel Canyon, subdivided and marketed as mountain vacation properties. On August 14, 1908, theLos Angeles Times announced that the company would build Lookout Mountain Inn at the summit of Lookout Mountain and Sunset Plaza roads, and Lookout Mountain Park, Bungalow Land at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Lookout Mountain Avenue and Wonderland Park.[5] Two years later, the company widened the winding dirt road to the top of Lookout Mountain where they built the Lookout Mountain Inn.[6][7]
In 1910,[8] Charles Spencer Mann,[9][10][11] a real estate developer, and Richard Shoemaker, an electrical engineer,[12][13] built a "trackless trolley" (trolley bus) line, starting passenger service on September 11 as the first commercial trolley bus operation (Electric road) in the United States.[8][14] It ran up Laurel Canyon Road from thePacific Electric Laurel Canyon Shuttle stop atSunset Boulevard to the Tavern at the top of Lookout Mountain Road, a road house serving visitors.
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Each of the two 16-passenger cars had twotrolley poles, one to a positive overhead wire and one to a ground overhead wire, and were able to sway to either side of the street, only using power uphill. Each trolley was actually anOldsmobile bus whose gasoline engine was replaced with a 15-horsepower electric motor.[8] Their original bodies were rebuilt in 1912,[12] their open sides being enclosed.[8] Sometime in 1915, they were replaced byStanley steam buses and the overhead wires were taken down.[12][8] Until 1918, the shuttle service traveled up and down Laurel Canyon to meet the half hour schedule to Los Angeles. It was insufficiently patronized and discontinued when demand failed to support it after Pacific Electric stopped service to Laurel Canyon Boulevard from Gardner Junction (at Gardner Street and Sunset Boulevard, 1451 N Gardner St, West Hollywood, CA 90046)[21][22] in 1924.[23][24][25]
On October 26, 1918, a fire, fanned by strongSanta Ana winds, burned about 200 acres and totally destroyed Lookout Mountain Inn at the summit of Lookout Mountain Avenue and Sunset Plaza Drive.[26][27][24][25][28][29][30][25][31] Another major fire occurred in July 1959, destroying some 38 homes.[32]
As the roads were improved, access was possible by automobile.[33][34][35][36][37][38]
With the establishment of the Hollywood film industry in 1910, Laurel Canyon became home to numerous silent film stars, includingClara Bow,Harry Houdini,[a]Bessie Love,Ramon Navarro, andWallace Reid.[40] The canyon's remote location and proximity to Hollywood studios made it an ideal retreat for entertainment industry figures seeking privacy from the growing celebrity culture.
In 1915,Ralf Marc Walker, built a Mediterranean-style villa at 2398 Laurel Canyon Blvd (the address later became 2400 Laurel Canyon Blvd).[41][42][43]
At Bungalow Land, a housing subdivision, Bungalow Inn at 2401 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, was built in 1907,[44][45] as a roadhouse tavern with an 80-foot (24 m) living room, floor-to-ceiling fireplace, and bowling alley.[46] ActressBessie Love purchased the property in 1920,[47] and it was later rented by actressClara Bow.[48] In 1958, Fania Pearson, bought it to build a girls school.[43] Decades later, musicianFrank Zappa rented in 1968,[49][50] marking the neighborhood's transition from Hollywood enclave to counterculture music scene.[51][52][53] The mansion burned down on Halloween 1981, and, as of 2017[update], the lot remains vacant.Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife and theMountains Recreation and Conservation Authority purchased the approximately 2.5-acre parcel, home toLaurel Spring.[54]
Laurel Canyon became a nexus ofcounterculture activity and attitudes in the mid-late 1960s and early 1970s, becoming famous as home to many of L.A.'s rock musicians, such asCass Elliot of theMamas & the Papas;Joni Mitchell;Frank Zappa;Jim Morrison ofthe Doors;Carole King;the Byrds;Gram Parsons;Buffalo Springfield;Canned Heat;John Mayall; members of the bandThe Eagles; the bandLove;Neil Young;Brian Wilson ofthe Beach Boys as well asJames Taylor,Jackson Browne,JD Souther,Judee Sill,Linda Ronstadt andStone Poneys,Ned Doheny,Bonnie Raitt,Harry Nilsson;[55], David Cassidy andMicky Dolenz andPeter Tork ofthe Monkees. Cass Elliot's home was considered one of Laurel Canyon's party houses with all-night, drug-fueled sleepovers, attended by musicians and movie stars of the era.[56]
John Phillips, also of the Mamas & the Papas, took inspiration from his home in Laurel Canyon for the song "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)", released in 1967. The following year,blues artistJohn Mayall recorded and released the albumBlues from Laurel Canyon, based on his experiences during a vacation that he spent there.
The area and its denizens served as inspiration forJoni Mitchell's third albumLadies of the Canyon, released in 1970. Her house was immortalized in theCrosby, Stills, and Nash song "Our House" (1970), written by her loverGraham Nash. The group is reputed to have met and first sung together in Mitchell's living room.[57][page needed]
Rock photographerHenry Diltz was also a resident and used the scenic Canyon backdrop for many of his historic photos of rock musicians. Several of his photos became representations of the West Coast music scene during the 1960s and 1970s; other of his photos became album sleeve covers, such the one used for as CSN's debut albumCrosby, Stills & Nash (photographed in nearby West Hollywood).
MusicianJosh Tillman has said that his output under the moniker Father John Misty was partly inspired by a move to Laurel Canyon. The song "I Went to the Store One Day" from his 2015 albumI Love You, Honeybear, recounts the story of how Tillman met his wife, Emma, in the parking lot of the Laurel Canyon Country Store.[58][59]
On July 1, 1981, three members and one associate of theWonderland Gang, so-called because they were based at 8763 Wonderland Avenue, died in theWonderland murders (also known as the "Four on the Floor murders" or the "Laurel Canyon murders"). Salón stated "The massacre took place just down the street from what was then the home ofJerry Brown, who was California's governor at the time. The 8763 Wonderland Avenue address is said to have been inhabited at one time byPaul Revere & the Raiders."[60]
Mrs. F. J. Talamantes, accompanied by her daughters, Mrs. M. D. O'Farrell and Miss Fay Talamantes, left yesterday for a two weeks' stay at Bungalow Inn, in Laurel canyon.
Built 1894 by Cahuenga Valley Railroad Company as a narrow gauge steam line. Obtained by Pasadena & Pacific in 1896 and electrified about 1900. It was standard gauged by LAP in 1909 and became PE [Pacific Electric] property in 1911. PE operated it until March 10, 1924, when it was abandoned.
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