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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Bunker Hill Los Angeles: Essence of Sunshine and Noir
In Bunker Hill Los Angeles: Essence of Sunshine and Noir, historian Nathan Marsak tells the story of the Hill, from the district’s inception in the mid-19th century to its present day. Once home to wealthy Angelenos living in LA’s “first suburb,” then the epicenter of the city’s shifting demographics and the shadow and vice of an urban underbelly, Bunker Hill survived its attempted erasure and burgeoned as a hub of arts, politics, business, and tourism.
$40 signed book Bunker Hill Los Angeles: Essence of Sunshine and Noir by Nathan Marsak. Click here to Purchase
$10 Presentation only – Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
$15 Presentation only – Non Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society
And
Angel City Press
present
Bunker Hill Los Angeles:
Essence of Sunshine and Noir
by Nathan Marsak
Please join us February 17th at 7:00pm
As compelling as the story of the destruction of Bunker Hill is its people who made the Hill at once desirable and undesirable. Marsak commemorates the poets and writers, artists and activists, little guys and big guys, and of course, the many architects who built and rebuilt the community on the Hill—time after historic time.
Any fan of American architecture will treasure Marsak’s analysis of buildings that have crowned the Hill: the exuberance of Victorian shingle and spindlework, from Mission to Modern, from Queen Anne to Frank Gehry, Bunker Hill has been home to it all, the ever-changing built environment.
With more than 150 photographs—many in color—as well as maps and vintage ephemera to tell his dramatic visual story, Marsak lures us into Bunker Hill Los Angeles and shares its lost world, then guides us to its new one.
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.