Inside Hancock Park

By Jane Gilman

Inside Hancock Park describes the community's early pioneers, a who's who of Hollywood, and unique characters such as the world's richest Indian. "Inside Hancock Park" describes its founder, G. Allan Hancock, and his rise to become one of the city's wealthiest men. Learn of the challenges the residents have faced to maintain its integrity: the threat of a freeway route through the neighborhood, plans to remove palm trees and the threat of Mc-Mansions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gilman Publishing
• Release date: Aug 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393578994

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Inside Hancock Park

by Jane Gilman

INSIDE HANCOCK PARK

Copyright © 2020 Jane Gilman

First Edition, August 2020

Published by Gilman Publishing

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) whatsoever without permission in writing from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Trademarks—All brand names and product names referred to in this book are registered trademarks and unregistered trade names of their owners. There is no implied endorsement of any of them.

Disclaimers—This publication aims to provide accurate and reliable information regarding the subject matter covered. However, neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. The information in this book is intended for educational purposes only.

Author services by Pedernales Publishing, LLC

www.pedernalespublishing.com

ISBN 978-0-578-66427-9 Paperback

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020905049

Printed in the United States of America

Introduction

Howard Hughes threw lavish parties here, Howard Ahmanson showcased some of his art collection here, English royalty slept here, and Nat King Cole was urged not to move here.

Hancock Park is a unique neighborhood in Los Angeles that is so magical that Hollywood would have had to create it if it didn’t already exist. The neighborhood does exist, in real life and in countless movies filmed within its confines.

From 1963 to 2015, I had been editor and co-publisher of the Larchmont Chronicle, a community newspaper serving Hancock Park and adjacent communities in mid-Los Angeles. I had a front-row seat to the comings and goings of Hancock Park, an area rich in history, classic architecture, and remarkable individuals who have called it home.

Inside Hancock Park is a biography of this neighborhood and of its founder, G. (George) Allan Hancock. It was Hancock who developed this suburban enclave beginning in 1919 into the desirable neighborhood of 1100 homes it remains today. The book covers the history of the area schools, architects and newsmakers. And the story tells of the continuing dedication of residents who have thwarted many obstacles in order to maintain the community’s integrity.

Contents

Introduction

1. The Story Begins with Family

2. A Major Meets a Colonel

3. A Life Together

4. Finally, Liquid Gold

5. The Birth of Hancock Park

6. Streets Honor Landowners

7. From Tudor to Colonial

8. Early Residents of Hancock Park

9. Apartment Surge on Rossmore

10. Neighborhood’s Ups and Downs

11. Headliners in the Neighborhood

12. Houses in Starring Roles

13. The Road Ahead

14. G. Allan Hancock, the Later Years

15. Aid for Southern Cross Pilots

16. Aboard the Veleros

17. Honored by Colleges, Military

18. Villa Madama at USC

19. Family Continues Legacy

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER 1

Hancock family home adjacent to the tar pits. Photo: Los Angeles Public Library.

The Story Begins with Family

Hancock’s Pioneering Forefathers

When 10-year-old Allan Hancock was delivering a wagonload of tar along a dusty road from his Rancho La Brea home to the train station, could he have imagined that one day he would become one of the wealthiest men in Los Angeles?

From dirt poor to oil rich, Hancock shared his talent and his wealth with Los Angeles as land developer, inventor, musician, financier, scientist, sea captain, engineer and philanthropist. Look for the Hancock name on the 23-acre Hancock County Park, which includes La Brea Tar Pits. Then look again, to the palatial homes set amid stately trees and gardens within blocks of the iconic gates of Paramount Pictures.

Like all good stories, it begins with family. Henry Hancock, Allan’s father, was an adventurer, who came to California seeking gold. Henry’s grandparents, Henry and Abigail Hancock, first came to America in 1770 and settled in Bath, New Hampshire after emigrating from Somerset, England. Their grandson, Henry Hancock, born in 1822, left his New Hampshire home at 17 to become a surveyor in St. Louis. When the Mexican-American War broke out, Hancock enlisted as an aide to General James Donaldson. He was rewarded for his gallantry in delivering dispatches under fire with the rank of Major.

Henry Hancock enrolled in Harvard to study law after the close of the war, but news of the gold rush drew him from college three months before graduation. He and two of his brothers, John and Sam, traveled to San Francisco by way of Cape Horn in 1849. After he arrived, he earned $20,000 in six weeks in gold mine profits, then moved to Los Angeles in 1850, the year California became a state.

Los Angeles, as it looked to Major Hancock in 1853.

Photo: Los Angeles Public Library.

When Hancock arrived in Los Angeles, it was a provincial village founded only 69 years before. The population was approximately 1,600: two-thirds Spaniards and Indians, one-third Americans, many of European descent. The city abounded in saloons and gambling dens; there were horse races, cock fights, bull fights and lynchings. He opened a law practice, and soon was elected to the California State Assembly as a Democrat, representing the city’s First District from 1851 to 1852.

Henry supplemented his law practice by surveying land grants. One of these land grants was Rancho La Brea, which the Spanish settlers named La Brea (tar in Spanish) for the sticky, smelly pools of asphaltum. The grant was applied for by a Portuguese seaman named Antonio Jose Rocha who was one of the first non-Spanish arrivals in 1815.

Rocha set up business as a blacksmith and a gunsmith and became a prominent resident of the area. He married Marie Josepha Ventura, whose family owned Ventura County land. In 1828, Jose Antonio Carrillo, mayor of Los Angeles, ceded Rancho La Brea to Rocha and his partner Nemesio Dominguez with the stipulation that the tar pits within the rancho would be open and