Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles
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Benedict Canyon is an area in the
To the north of the Benedict Canyon neighborhood is the neighborhood of Sherman Oaks, to the west is the neighborhood of Beverly Glen, to the east are Beverly Park and Franklin Canyon, and to the south is the city of Beverly Hills.[1]
Geography
Benedict Canyon is a
In upper Benedict Canyon are the subdivisions of Benedict Hills, which consists of 107 homes,[2] and Benedict Hills Estates, which consists of 229 homes between Deep Canyon and Mulholland Drive, just east of Hutton.[3]
History
Benedict Canyon was a part of Rancho de las Aguas ("Ranch of the Waters"), which also included present-day
In 1923, silent film star Harold Lloyd purchased 15.7 acres at the southern mouth of the canyon from P.E. Benedict for $100,000. Lloyd built a 44-room mansion on the site that would become known as Greenacres, and helped establish Benedict Canyon as a desirable address. Upon its completion in 1929,[4] Greenacres had a private 9-hole golf course, one of the largest pools in the western US, and a miniature English village built for Lloyd's daughter, Gloria. After Harold Lloyd's death in 1971, the property was left to his family, but mounting debt and a delinquency on the promissory note led City National Bank to foreclose on it by the end of 1974. Proceedings were paused as the Beverly Hills city council considered acquiring the grounds and establishing it as a film museum, but the plan was ultimately abandoned due in part to the $700,000 cost of paying off the accrued debts, an additional $180,000 needed to collect various artifacts for the museum, $500,000 to redevelop the site, and roughly $100,000 a year in maintenance costs, all of which would defer city funds for other projects. [5] The bank then completed its repossession of Greenacres and put it up for auction in the summer of 1975 with an estimated value between $1.2 million and $1.6 million. Nasrollah Afshani, a retired Iranian businessman and Beverly Hills resident, bought the estate for $1.6 million telling the Los Angeles Times that he was "looking at property, shopping centers, to buy".[6] Afshani kept the main house and the 5 acres surrounding it intact, resold it, and in 1984, it became listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[7] Meanwhile, Afshani subdivided the remaining 10 acres into 15 lots that he sold for over $1 million each.
In August 1969, the
Author and LSD enthusiast Timothy Leary spent the last years of his life in a house in Benedict Canyon, where he died in 1996.[9]
Residences
Homes range from smaller one-story family residences to large properties. Homes are predominantly single-family and owner-occupied and have two or more bedrooms. The median year in which the homes were built is 1960.
In 2000, Benedict Canyon homeowners won a legal battle against the City of Los Angeles over the latter relaxing height requirements to allow a 45,000-square-foot villa that Mark R. Hughes had hoped to build on the area’s highest peak.[10]
Vegetation and plants
Benedict Canyon has a mix of vegetation and growth that is endemic to
By far, the dominant vegetation sub-type is chaparral. Chaparral is composed of drought- and fire-tolerant evergreen shrubs that range in height from four to ten feet. Unless recently subjected to fire, or some other type of disturbance, this plant community is generally too dense to penetrate. Another unique shrub community to Southern California is sage scrub, which varies between coastal and inland types. Sage scrub vegetation contains fewer stout, woody shrubs, and more openings with fine, delicate plants. The expansive valley floors between the mountain ranges were plowed and farmed long ago. They are now entirely developed. The precise former native plant cover of the
Wildlife
The animal population is pretty much the same as it was 10,000 years ago.
Benedict Canyon is also part of the
Community
The Benedict Canyon Association (BCA), started in 1948, is an example of neighborhood activism. The BCA is dedicated to preserving the beauty, safety, environment and quality of life in the Canyon. Because of their early efforts, Benedict Canyon remains the only canyon that is 100% residential.[citation needed]
The Hillside Ordinance to limit building height at 36 feet (11 m) and stipulate restrictions on set-back, side yards or parking, was a product of Association lobbying and participation. That ordinance was also the basis of the recent defeat of the proposed villa on top of the Mark Hughes hilltop, an event cheered by many residents.[citation needed]
Current and past beautification projects of the Association include the repair and repaving of roads, repainting of guardrails, repair of Upper Benedict Canyon, and a subsidized monthly service of clearing debris and trimming vegetation that spills on the roadway.[citation needed]
"Adopt Fire Station 99" is another community grass-roots organization representing about 9,000 residents in the Mulholland-Benedict Canyon area. Going hand-in-hand with the BCA, residents helped to generate the media attention, popular support, and political will that defeated the city's plan to reduce from two to one the number of paramedics available at each Fire Station to deliver emergency care.[13]
Celebrities
A number of notable people live or have lived in Benedict Canyon. Some of them are:
- Fred Astaire[14]
- John Barrymore[14]
- David Beckham[14]
- Susan Berman[15]
- Jacqueline Bisset[16]
- Orlando Bloom[16]
- Adrien Brody[16]
- Ron Burkle[14]
- Gerard Butler[16]
- Mike Farrell[17]
- Cary Grant[14]
- Jimi Hendrix[18]
- Thomas H. Ince[19]
- Danny Kaye[14]
- Kirk Kerkorian[16]
- Robby Krieger[16]
- Jack Lemmon[14]
- Lisa Kudrow[14]
- Mila Kunis[16]
- Ashton Kutcher[16]
- John Legend[20]
- Jay Leno[14]
- Harold Lloyd
- Jon Lovitz[16]
- Demi Moore[21]
- Phil McGraw[16]
- Rupert Murdoch[22]
- Roman Polanski[23]
- George Reeves[24]
- Emmy Rossum[25]
- Timothée Chalamet[16]
- Bruce Springsteen[14]
- Sharon Tate[26]
- Channing Tatum[21]
- Kate Upton[27]
- Rudolph Valentino[14]
- Yvette Vickers[28]
- Jon Voight[21]
Fire danger
Bottlenecks on the neighborhood's narrow canyon roads have been noted as a primary concern. As part of the plan, the Department of Transportation tows away cars that are parked illegally on narrow hillside streets on "red flag days," when fire danger is high. When fire conditions reach the critical red flag level—25 mph (40 km/h) wind and relative humidity below 15%—illegally parked vehicles that restrict access are ticketed and towed. Fire departments notify residents by raising red flags over the 103 fire stations in Los Angeles. Over the last ten-plus years (2015), the maximum number of Red Flag days per year was 12.[29] The normal range is between four and seven days per year.[30]
Brush clearance is a year-round responsibility for those homeowners living in Benedict Canyon.[31] Fire officials said that both the foliage and the lack of recent fires in the area are cause for concern, not comfort, noting the Oakland Hills fire of October 1991 that killed 25 and destroyed 3,276 residences under similar conditions.[32]
Emergency services
The Los Angeles Police Department operates the West Los Angeles Community Police Station at 1663 Butler Avenue, 90025, serving the neighborhood.[33]
The Los Angeles Fire Department serves the area of Benedict Canyon. Fire Station 71 and Fire Station 99 serve the Benedict Canyon Area.[34]
Education
Residents are assigned to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District:
In popular culture
- Numerous notable individuals have lived in the house at Steven Parent.[37]
- Hollywood producer Jeff Franklin currently owns the property formerly located at 10050 Cielo Drive; the former house was razed, replaced with a new mansion, and assigned a new address: 10066 Cielo Drive.[8]
- In the Wojciech Frykowski, and Jay Sebring, at 8 p.m. on the night they were later murdered,[39][40][41] and Megan assures Don the wild animals are not as close as they sound: "It's just what happens to the sound in the canyons," she says, sharply echoing the second line of Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (1974), which reads, "The canyons above Hollywood and Beverly Hills play tricks with sounds. A noise clearly audible a mile away [1.6 km] might be indistinguishable at a few hundred feet [~91 m]."[41]
- In an episode of Match Game '74, after winning $100 in the "Audience Match" bonus round, the contestant, "Barbara" selected Richard Dawson as the person to match in the "Head to Head Match" question for $1,000. The question was "[Blank] Canyon". Barbara told the host, Gene Rayburn, that her answer was "Grand [Canyon]" - which was very popular with the audience. Rayburn replied that since Richard "has only been in the country about 20 minutes" [lots of audience laughter] and doesn't know about American geography [more laughter], her answer would likely not match. And indeed, Dawson's answer was "Benedict [Canyon]". Much teasing and razzing ensues, including Dawson writing a new card saying "oops..." and later referencing his "Benedict Canyon" answer in a subsequent verbal exchange with Rayburn.[42]
References
- ^ Benedict Canyon Association, map
- ^ Benedict Hills HOA
- ^ Benedict Hills Estates Association
- ^ "Greenacres - Harold Lloyd Estate".
- ProQuest 157729531.
- ProQuest 157901899.
- ^ https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/84000876 [bare URL]
- ^ ISBN 978-1-74266-211-4. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
- ^ "Timothy Leary was a Ron Paul supporter (was he high???)". 26 August 2013.
- ^ Gina Piccalo (30 November 2000) Neighbors Defeat Plans for Mansion Atop Peak Los Angeles.
- ^ a b "BenedictCanyon.com: Flora & Fauna". Archived from the original on 2008-09-01. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
- ^ "South-Central/Southern California Coast Steelhead Recovery Planning Domain 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation of Southern California Coast Steelhead Distinct Population Segment" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2011. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
- ^ "BenedictCanyon.com: BC Tour". Archived from the original on 2008-09-01. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
- ^ from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ Blake, Meredith Blake (March 9, 2015). "D.A. Reopening Inquiry Into Death of 'The Jinx's' Susan Berman". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Martin, Hugo Martín (September 19, 2022). "Luxury hotel proposal pits celebrities against celebrities in Benedict Canyon". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ "The MASH Gang – Confined to Quarters".
- ISBN 978-0-7868-8841-2.
- ^ "Half Pudding Half Sauce: "Dias Dorados" – A Country House in Early Californian Style". halfpuddinghalfsauce.blogspot.ca. 6 November 2012.
- ^ Katherine Clarke (24 September 2020), "John Legend and Chrissy Teigen Buy Beverly Hills Home for $17.5 Million" The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ a b c "Man, 21, Drowns In Swimming Pool At Demi Moore's Benedict Canyon Home". CBS News. 19 July 2015. Archived from the original on December 14, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ "The Making of the Fox News White House". The New Yorker.
- ^ "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired". 28 May 2023.
- New York Times.
- ^ Ryan Parker (28 March 2017), Emmy Rossum Is Latest Star Burglary Victim: $150,000 in Jewelry Stolen The Hollywood Reporter.
- ISBN 0-671-24985-1.
- ^ Jack Flemming (19 January 2022), "Justin Verlander and Kate Upton are selling their Benedict Canyon estate" Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Blankstein, Andrew (May 2, 2011). "Mummified body of former Playboy playmate Yvette Vickers found in her Benedict Canyon home". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Fire Department - Red Flag Day Parking Restriction | City of Los Angeles Archived March 20, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "LAFD Red Flag - Frequently Asked Questions". notify.lafd.org.
- ^ "Brush Clearance Unit". Archived from the original on 2008-09-27. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
- ^ Captain Donald R. Parker (January 1992). Oakland Office of Fire Services (ed.). "The Oakland-Berkeley Hills Fire: An Overview". SFFD Commission. Archived from the original on 2013-08-03.
Deaths 25, Total Living Units Destroyed 3276, Estimated Dollar Fire Loss $1,537,000,000
- ^ West LA Community Police Station. Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved on 2008-01-09.
- ^ "Los Angeles Fire Department". www.lafd.org.
- ^ Warner Avenue Elementary School
- ^ "Welcome to LAUSDnet". Archived from the original on 2008-08-26. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
- ISBN 978-0-553-27601-5. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
- ^ Goodman, Tim (April 13, 2014). "'Mad Men' Deconstruction: Ep. 1, 'Time Zones'". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ Alfvegren, Skylaire (August 12, 2009). "The Last Supper: Mansonites Converge at El Coyote". LA Weekly.
- ^ Watkins, Gwynne (April 14, 2014). "A Serial Killer Expert Analyzes Mad Men for Links to the Manson Family Murders". Vulture.
- ^ a b Killoran, Ellen (April 14, 2014). "'Mad Men' Season 7 Premiere Teases Conspiracy Theorists With Sharon Tate, D.B. Cooper Clues". International Business Times.
- ^ "Match Game". Rebroadcast on Buzzer. Jan 25, 2022.