Events Calendar
Welcome to the Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society Calendar. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.
Wednesday May 26th at 7:00 PM. A prime Hancock Park 1927 Mediterranean Revival Architectural Masterpiece has been fully renovated, restored, decorated and enhanced into its present pristine condition by the legendary design firm of Ron Wilson Interiors and its owner, Joseph Guidera as his personal residence. This distinctive estate has all the hallmarks of a truly unique and special property: built in the 1920s for a direct descendant of Los Angeles oldest original Spanish land grant holding families, designed for large-scale entertaining and yet with many smaller intimate personal spaces in a grand period revival style by noted architects, constructed by a local well know builder of most prestigious luxury homes of the era, and now restored to all of its former glory.
$25 Member price (Pay Below with a small Paypal fee)*
$35 Non-member price (Pay Below with a small Paypal fee)*
*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.
Wednesday May 26th at 7:00 PM
The Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society
presents its first
History and Virtual Home Tour of 330 N. June Street
Featuring an interview and guided tour through this historic property by President Richard Battaglia and home owner Joseph Guidera followed by question and answer period with Mr. Guidera.
Patrick J. Watson was born in 1876 to his parents, Colonel James Alexander Watson of Scotland and Maria Dolores Dominguez on the old Manual Dominguez Rancho, which encompasses much of present day cities of Torrance, Wilmington, Compton, Carson, San Pedro and the South Bay area of Los Angeles. This was the first Spanish land grant in CA from King Carlos of Spain. Patrick Watson was the vice president of the Watson Land Co and in 1923, he sold his share of the original Rancho property to The Pan American Oil Company which was a subsidiary of the Doheny Company. In the mid-1920s, Patrick Watson & his wife, Miss Mamie O’Farrell of San Francisco, were looking to move off of the original Rancho property and decided to build a new home for themselves in the fashionable and developing area of Hancock Park.
Patrick hired the notable Architectural firm of Hunt & Burns to design his new family estate on a large double access lot located on a prominent corner in the new district of Hancock Park. During their tenure together, Sumner P. Hunt and Silas R. Burns built some of the most beautiful buildings in the Los Angeles area including: Automobile Club of Southern California, Headquarters – 1921-1923, Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles – 1910, The Wilshire – Ebell Club, Clubhouse – 1926-1927, Los Angeles Public Library, Vermont Square Branch – 1913, McKinley House, Lafayette Park, Los Angeles, CA – 1917, Scripps College, Claremont, CA – 1929, The Los Angeles Tennis Club – 1927 and The Wilshire Country Club – 1919.
For his new home, Patrick Watson would enlist the services of the Sweden-born master builder C.J. Nordquist who had a well-deserved reputation for building some of the grandest homes and public buildings 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.”
Sunday, December 12th, 5 – 7pm. Please save the date to join us for our annual Holiday Party at the Landmark Home of Joseph Guidera.
**SOLD OUT**
5pm – 7pm
303 North June Street
$45 for Members
$55 for Member’s Guests
Open to members and guests who have been vaccinated
On April 2nd from 12:00 to 3:00 Ms. Woolverton is graciously opening her Windsor Square home for a one on one interview highlighting her fascinating career from budding young playwright to the first female screenwriter for The Walt Disney Company.
$35. For members $45. For non-members.
Linda Woolverton is an American screenwriter, playwright, and novelist, whose most prominent works include the screenplays and books of several acclaimed Disney films and stage musicals. She is the first woman to have written an animated feature for Beauty and the Beast (1991),[1] which is also the first animated film ever to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. She also co-wrote the screenplay of The Lion King (1994), provided additional story material for Mulan (1998), and adapted her own Beauty and the Beast screenplay into the book of the Broadway adaptation of the film, for which she received a Tony Award nomination and won an Olivier Award.[2][3]
Her recent work includes the screenplays for Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Maleficent (2014), both of which were significant box office successes. The former made her the first female screenwriter with a sole writing credit on a film that grossed $1 billion dollars.[4] She subsequently wrote the screenplays of the sequels for both of those films—Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019).
Refreshments will be served.
SOLD OUT. Saturday, April 10, 2022, 10:00-Noon. Join us for a walking tour of Los Angeles’ premier Hancock Park enclave with realtor Bret Parsons and architectural historian Eleanor Schrader. You’ll learn the secrets that illuminate this historic HPOZ neighborhood founded in the 1920s by George Allan Hancock. Be regaled with details about its architecture and architects, movie and television filming locations, plus anecdotes about the lavish lifestyles of the famous (and infamous!) personalities who resided here. This tour focuses on Muirfield Road and Rossmore Avenue. Wear comfortable shoes.
$50 Members
$60 Non-Members
SOLD OUT
Please mark your calendars to join your fellow members of the Historical Society for our annual holiday party on Sunday, December 11th at 1:00. This year we will be enjoying the festivities at the much-loved 100-year-old Tam O’Shanter in Atwater Village. This was Walt Disney’s favorite place for lunch and the plaque on table 31 is a testament to it. Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, fresh salmon, roasted chicken, Martinis and rum toddies, etc.
Sunday, December 11th at 1:00
Tam O’Shanter
2980 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039
Festive all year long and especially this time of year.
Members: $75
Guests: $85
Please join us for our annual Holiday Christmas Party at world-famous Lawry’s Prime Rib this year. The original location was on Restaurant Row on La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California, and was opened in 1938 by Lawrence L. “Lawry” Frank and Walter Van de Kamp. It now has restaurants all over the world.
Please bring a Toys For Tots gift.
Member and guests: $125 (with a small Paypal fee)
Our Holiday dinner will be in the Oval Room, can hold up to 100 and includes:
PLATED HORS D’OEUVRES
Potato Pancakes with Caviar & Creme Fraiche
SALAD COURSE
Lawry’s Famous Original Spinning Bowl Salad
Crisp romaine, iceberg lettuce, baby spinach, shredded beets, chopped eggs, croutons, Lawry’s Vintage Dressing, with sourdough bread
ENTREE SELECTIONS
The server will take orders for the choice of one at dinner
Roasted Prime Ribs of Beef
8 oz. Cut Carved to order, served with mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding,au jus, whipped cream horseradish
Choice of:
Creamed Spinach
Creamed Corn
Salmon Rockefeller
Skuna Bay salmon, sautéed spinach, scampi shrimp
Crispy Roasted Chicken
Half of a jidori bird, wilted chard
Vegetarian Entrée of the Day
DESSERTS
Vanilla Ice with hot fudge ( no berries)
Classic Dinner
Includes freshly brewed Lavazza Coffee or Harney & Sons Hot Tea
For more on the rich delicious history of Lawry’s go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawry%27s_The_Prime_Rib
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