Hollyhock House at Barnsdall Art Park, with the Griffith Observatory in the background. Photo copyright 2016 by Anna Boudinot
If you drive along Hollywood Boulevard from Hollywood to Los Feliz, you will pass a nondescript parking lot and a sign that reads
BARNSDALL PARK
HOLLYHOCK HOUSE * MUNICIPAL ART GALLERY * ART CENTER * THEATER
CITY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION & PARKS & DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS
Even if you have time to read all of that as you drive along, a glance past the parking lot will just reveal a hill with a bunch of olive trees on it. Nothing about it is likely to catch your eye. I must have cruised past Barnsdall Park 100 times before I finally parked in that lot, climbed up the hill, and was amazed at what I found.
Hollyhock House, an architecturally stunning home, sits at the top of the hill. On one side lies a grove of evergreen trees, an art gallery, a theater, and a building where art classes are taught. On the other side is a lovely grassy area open to the public that offers some of the best views in Los Angeles. The Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Sign seem so close you feel like you can reach out and touch them. Gazing westward, you can see the sun sparkling on the Pacific Ocean 15 miles away.
The Hollyhock House has a complicated and intriguing history, where two notorious and prominent public figures, Frank Lloyd Wright and Aline Barnsdall, came together. The Kardashians of today are model citizens compared to the shenanigans of Frank and Aline.
Frank Lloyd Wright was a celebrated architect and leader of the Prairie School, but he had a reputation for being difficult to get along with, and his personal life was in constant tumult. He had left his wife and six children for his neighbor’s wife, abandoning his family in Illinois and building a new home and studio in Wisconsin. One night when Wright was in Chicago, one of his servants went berserk and used an axe to murder Wright’s mistress, her children, and others staying at the home. Wright was devastated, but managed to get married two more times after that.
Aline Barnsdall was born in 1882, the daughter of a wealthy oil magnate. He took her along during his many travels to Europe, which is where Barnsdall fell in love with acting. By 1913 she wound up in Chicago to become part of the theater community there. Her theater troupe was based in the same building as Wright Lloyd Wright’s office, leading the two of them to meet. Barnsdall later moved to Los Angeles, founded a successful theater company, and got pregnant with the child of an actor/director employed by her company. He renounced her, and Barnsdall headed to Seattle with a new lover. She did not marry him, instead choosing to be a single mother in an era where single motherhood was unheard of. Her father had died by that point and her half-sister had bought out Barnsdall’s share of the oil company he had owned, so it helped that Barnsdall had plenty of cash to use as she pleased. A feminist and a socialist, she supported revolutionaries such as Upton Sinclair and Thomas Mooney, leading to the FBI to monitor her for over 20 years.
In 1919 Barnsdall found her way back to Los Angeles with the idea of establishing a theater colony. She purchased the gorgeous parcel of land, dotted with olive trees, that is still home to Barnsdall Park today. Wright was brought in to design a theater and home on the grounds, and unsurprisingly, these two strong-willed personalities did not always see eye-to-eye. Wright was also occupied with the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, a massive and stressful project, and he didn’t seem to put much effort into meeting Barnsdall’s needs. One design of the theater neglected to include accommodations for curtains, scenery or lighting.
Hollyhock House. Photo copyright 2017 by Anna Boudinot.
Construction moved forward regardless, over budget even before it began. With Wright wrapped up with the Imperial Hotel and with the usual drama in his love life, it became clear that other architects needed to be brought in to finish Barnsdall’s project. Barnsdall is sometimes credited as the “mother of modern architecture” because the need to include other architects made her the benefactor of Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Wright’s son Lloyd Wright, all of whom went on to have famous and prolific careers in California.
But as the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth. By the time the house – dubbed the Hollyhock House, after Barnsdall’s favorite flower – was completed, it “had 17 rooms and seven bathrooms, [and] was a massive, almost medieval castle with a Mayan motif. While its details and architectural breakthroughs place it in the pantheon of famous Wright houses, it was not what Barnsdall either wanted or was willing to live in.” She gave up her dream of hosting an artist colony there, and the property was turned over to the city of Los Angeles shortly afterward.
And thank god for that! Today, despite some rough periods where Barnsdall Park and Hollyhock House were in various states of disintegration, the home is restored to its architectural glory and is open for tours. The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery onsite is free to the public and features a constant rotation of shows that often include work by Southern Californians. The Barnsdall Gallery Theatre is host to a variety of cultural events, and the Barnsdall Arts Center offers educational programs to both adults and children. It may not have gone exactly according to Barnsdall’s plan, but the people of Los Angeles are more artistically and culturally enriched because of her. Hollyhock House was even designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
What consistently impresses me about Barnsdall Park is that while there are so many different things going on there, it always manages to feel serene. Bring a blanket and a picnic and sprawl out on the grass to watch the sun set – it’ll be one of your most favorite Los Angeles moments ever. It’s amazing to think of how much history and beauty this site holds, and how easy it is to almost miss it completely.