Events Calendar
Welcome to the Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society Calendar. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.
On December 22, 2013, the world-famous Hollywood Park Race Track closed its doors forever. In 2014, demolition began on the landmark race track, effectively erasing seventy-five years of history, while at the same time making space for an entire new neighborhood to suddenly arise in the middle of the metropolis. Photographer Michele Asselin spent every day at Hollywood Park in the last two weeks before it closed, photographing the buildings, the employees, and the patrons of the track. Clubhouse Turn: The Twilight of Hollywood Park Race Track is the product of her efforts, and the story of two cultures colliding in the middle of a rapidly evolving city.
$50 Autographed hardcover book from Angel City Press
*$10 Presentation only – Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
*$15 Presentation only – Non Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
*Once you purchase your ticket you will be taken to a page with your zoom link to the event . That is your invite. Yay! Please bookmark that page, print that page or save that link as we will not be emailing out the zoom link.
Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society
And
Angel City Press
present
Clubhouse Turn: The Twilight of Hollywood Park Race Track
By Michelle Asselin
Please join us MARCH 17th at 7:00pm
On Sunday, August 29th at 4:00 you are invited to A Garden Party at the home of June Bilgore, 355 S. Windsor Blvd, Windsor Square. It is our Annual Meeting which usually takes place in June of each year. We had to pass over 2020 because of Covid but we are now back in the swing of things. This will be our first live event since February of 2020. This year our garden party will honor Captain Shannon Paulson of the Wilshire Division Police who, after years of watching over the Hancock Park area will be moving to a higher position within the Los Angeles Police Department. Her successor will also be present to be introduced to the neighborhood.
SUNDAY AUGUST 29, 2021
355 S. WINDSOR BLVD, WINDSOR SQUARE
SOLD OUT
I am happy to announce our special guest speaker will be Alison Martino who created the online community Vintage Los Angeles. Alison has over two million followers daily being delighted by her trivia and nuances on growing up in Los Angeles. Daughter of the late popular singer and actor, Al Martino, Alison has been dubbed the “Godmother Of Los Angeles.” since her father played a prominent role in the movie, The Godfather as singer Johnny Fontane. Alison will be charming us with her colorful memories and interesting tidbits of growing up in the City Of The Angels.
For more information on Alison go to http://alisonmartino.com/
Price includes dinner and refreshments.
Tickets: Member Price $55. Non-Member price $65.
SOLD OUT
September 18, 5pm to 7pm. Please join us on a fascinating twilight walk through of historic Windsor Square on September 18th from 5:00 to 7:00. Explore the architecture and learn about the current and former residents of this beautiful area right in the center of Los Angeles. This is the second in our new series of walks around Windsor Square and Hancock park with Eleanor Schrader and Bret Parsons. Wear comfortable shoes. You won’t want to miss this.
This event has been SOLD OUT.
Member $50. Non-member $60 (You may pay below with a small Paypal fee)
The Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society
presents
Mansions, Moguls & Movie Stars Twilight Tour
with Eleanor Schrader & Bret Parsons
Please join us September 18th, 2021, 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Refreshments will be Served
Eleanor Schrader is an award-winning educator, lecturer, and author. She lectures worldwide on the history of architecture, interiors, and decorative arts and leads art and architecture tours throughout the world. She has been named a Distinguished Instructor of design history at UCLA Extension. She is also Professor Emeritus of Art and Architectural History at Santa Monica College. She has done graduate work in fine and decorative arts at Sotheby’s Institute in London and New York and has served as Design Review Commissioner for the City of Beverly Hills. She is co-author of “Master Architects of Southern California, 1920-1940: Wallace Neff”.
Bret Parsons has written five books, including Colcord Home (2008), the biography of the beloved Southern California architect Gerard Colcord. He is the co-author of books on Paul R. Williams, Roland E.Coate, Gordan B. Kaufmann, and Wallace Neff among others in the Master Architects of Southern California 1920-1940s published by Angel City Press. A residential Realtor, he founded Bret Parsons Real Estate in 2008. He is the founder and executive director of the architectural division of Compass. Bret resides in Los Angeles.
November 10th at 7:00pm. In Saving Radio City Music Hall, published by TurningPointPress, Rosemary Novellino-Mearns reveals how Radio City Music Hall, Art Deco masterpiece and New York City’s premiere tourist attraction for generations, was saved from demolition. After years of struggling with intense, sometimes painful memories, “Rosie” tells the honest, fact-filled, emotionally charged, and often humorous story of how she organized the gargantuan effort to save Radio City Music Hall in the Spring of 1978. Against all odds, and in only four months, she succeeded. Readers will be shocked by the “no good deed goes unpunished” climax of the story in which Rosie reveals her reward for spearheading the movement to save “The Showplace of the Nation.”
*$10 Presentation only – Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
*$15 Presentation only – Non Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
Book available through Amazon
*After your purchase you will be emailed the special presentation link by 6pm the day before the presentation and by 12pm on the day of the presentation.
Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society
Presents
Saving Radio City Music Hall – A Dancer’s True Story
by Rosemary Novellino-Mearns
November 10th at 7:00pm
A modest but determined young dancer from Glen Rock, New Jersey, Rosemary Novellino joined the Radio City Music Hall Ballet Company, the classical dance counterpart to the world-famous Rockettes, in 1966. After a shaky beginning, she danced with the group for twelve years, eventually becoming its Dance Captain and Assistant to the legendary choreographer Peter Gennaro. In the mid-1970s, questionable behind-the-scenes changes in Music Hall management alarmed hundreds of employees, but no one was prepared for the official announcement in early 1978, that Radio City Music Hall was slated to close that April and be demolished.
Drawing upon formerly untapped inner strengths, Rosemary refused to let this happen. She became President of “The Showpeople’s Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall” and motivated fellow workers, friends, thousands of Radio City fans around the world, New York and national media, cultural leaders and politicians to support the cause. As a result of these efforts, the Art Deco palace was declared a National Historic Landmark. saving not only the building but the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of Music Hall employees on stage and behind the scenes who have entertained millions to this day. This “heartfelt and very personal account of that effort,” says Booklist, “provides a backstage glimpse of the drama that ensued and features a cast of characters that includes performers, politicians, the media, and some very heavy hitters in the world of New York real estate that will delight readers interested in the performing arts and their history in the U.S.”
Join architectural historian Eleanor Schrader and realtor/architectural author Bret Parsons for a spectacular tour of the historic enclaves of greater Hancock Park. Our double-decker bus will guide us down streets filled with beautiful homes as we reveal secrets that illuminate this coveted neighborhood. We’ll regale you with details about its historic revival styles, extraordinary architects (Elmer Grey, Sumner Hunt, Paul R. Williams, Wallace Neff, and others), filming locations including “Sunset Boulevard,” and anecdotes about the lavish lifestyles of famous personalities who inhabited these estates.
Members Tickets are $75
Note that all tours require 48 hours’ cancellation notification for refund. You will be asked to sign a waiver of liability.
A portion of the proceeds benefit Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society.
Upper-deck seats provide a unique view of the homes on our tour.
Additional details to be emailed a couple of days before the tour.
Please, no children, babies, or pets.