Events Calendar
Welcome to the Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society Calendar. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.
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| Windsor Square-Hancock Park Historical Society Invites You to Join a FREE ZOOM Webinar The History, Architecture, and Stories of Wilshire Blvd Wednesday September 23 @5pm Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85947603412 PLEASE RSVP GOING? Yes – Maybe – No more options In July, Sharon Boorstin’s article about an architectural driving tour of Wilshire Boulevard appeared in the Los Angeles Times. But the author has much more to say than her 1000-word limit allowed. Join Sharon in a ZOOM presentation covering the history, architecture — and fascinating stories — about the street once known as then “The Fifth Avenue” of Los Angeles. Bring your own memories of Wilshire Boulevard in the past to share. |
 Sharon Boorstin is a contributing writer for the Los Angeles Times, specializing in lifestyle and travel. She has written for magazines including Bon Appetit, Smithsonian and Town & Country Travel. Sharon edited guidebooks for cities including Los Angeles, New York and London, and with her husband Paul, she wrote dozens of screenplays for feature films and television including “Angel of Death” (ABC) starring Jane Seymour. Her memoir/cookbook “Let Us Eat Cake: Adventures in Food and Friendship” (Harper-Collins 2002) was a selection of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club. In 2019 Sharon won Visit California’s Eureka Award for Best Newspaper Travel Article. Sharon’s presentation is based on a July 23, 2020 article she wrote for the Los Angeles Times: “Wilshire Boulevard Architectural Driving Tour.” She will share the history of — and stories behind— the important L.A. landmarks on Wilshire Boulevard between MacArthur Park and Fairfax Boulevard. Remember Bullock’s Wilshire? The Ambassador Hotel? The Wiltern Theater? Bring memories to share during a Q&A at the end.  |
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| Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society Presents The History, Architecture, and Stories of Wilshire Blvd. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85947603412 Meeting ID: 859 4760 3412 One tap mobile +16699006833,,85947603412# US (San Jose) +12532158782,,85947603412# US (Tacoma) Dial by your location +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) Meeting ID: 859 4760 3412 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k6cMBh9ha Going ? Yes – Maybe – No more options |
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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.
August 25th, 7:00 PM. Do you want to read something funny? Let’s say, a novel set at a divorce ranch in Reno in the 1930s? A book with memorably eccentric characters, sparkling dialogue, a satisfying plot twist, and some romance and sex? A feel-good literary comedy/western? Here it is, then, the book you’ve been looking for: Julia Claiborne Johnson’s Better Luck Next Time.”— author of Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement
The eagerly anticipated second novel from the bestselling author of Be Frank with Me, a charming story of endings, new beginnings, and the complexities and complications of friendship and love, set in late 1930s Reno.
$10 Presentation only – Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)*
$15 Presentation only – Non Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)*
$31.74 Better Luck Next Time book signed by author Julia Claiborne Johnson – Available for pick up at Chevalier’s Bookstore or shipped for an additional $6
*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.
The Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society
presents
BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME
with author Julia Claiborne Johnson
Please join us WEDNESDAY August 25th, 7:00 PM
It’s 1938 and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to the “divorce capital of the world,” Reno, Nevada. There’s one catch: they have to wait six weeks to become “residents.” Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need.
Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he’s earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Admired for his dashing good looks—“Cary Grant in cowboy boots”—Ward thinks he’s got the Flying Leap’s clients all figured out. But two new guests are about to upend everything he thinks he knows: Nina, a St Louis heiress and amateur pilot back for her third divorce, and Emily, whose bravest moment in life was leaving her cheating husband back in San Francisco and driving herself to Reno.
A novel about divorce, marriage, and everything that comes in between (money, class, ambition, and opportunity), Better Luck Next Time is a hilarious yet poignant examination of the ways friendship can save us, love can destroy us, and the family we create can be stronger than the family we come from.
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.
May 22nd, 12-3pm. Daniel Orlandi is an American costume designer whose work can be seen in a wide variety of films such as: Saving Mr. Banks, The Blind Side, Trumbo, Cinderella Man, Angels and Demons, The Davinci Code, The Normal Heart, Down with Love, etc. He has been nominated for several costume awards including a BAFTA, an Emmy, and a Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in a Period Film.
Members: $35
Non-Members: $45
Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society
Presents
An Afternoon with Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi
May 22nd, 12-3pm
511 S. Van Ness Ave.
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.