Through the Viewfinder With a Photograph of the Bellevue Terrace Hotel, Los Angeles, ca. 1885

by Paul R. Spitzzeri

For most of a century after the founding of Los Angeles, the hills west of the town were generally barren of any form of development. When American forces established Fort Moore immediately west of the Plaza after the 1847 seizure of Mexican California, that was a rare example of any use of this area. In the succeeding two decades, there were minor changes, but, it was not until the city’s first boom, which lasted from the late Sixties through the mid Seventies, that a concerted effort to expand into these sections took place.

Much of this was due to the effort of Prudent Beaudry (1816-1893), who was born in Mascouche near Montreal, Quebec, Canada in a well-to-do mercantile family and spent some time as a young man in that business in New Orleans before returning to Canada. During the Gold Rush, he joined a younger brother Victor in San Francisco and followed the family trade there and in Marysville, but a fire destroyed his business.

In 1852, he migrated south to Los Angeles, soon to be joined by Victor, and worked as a merchant, including a store on the corner of Aliso and Los Angeles streets in a building he acquired two years after settling in the Angel City. After a few years, he sold the business and left to visit France and Montreal, where a brother, Jean-Louis, served as mayor for several terms over many years. Victor remained in Los Angeles and managed Prudent’s interests.

Returning to the Angel City in 1861, Beaudry opened a new store and ran that for a few years before, again, selling it. He became an insurance agent, got involved in mining (Victor became a key figure at Cerro Gordo, where F.P.F. Temple and William Workman were also heavily invested) and turned especially to real estate. With Temple, he was, in 1868, a founder of the Los Angeles Homestead and Building Association, but his biggest project was in what was commonly known simply as the “Hill Lands.”

Starting in 1866, as greater Los Angeles was clawing its way back after terrible floods and punishing drought in previous years, Beaudry bought up a large amount of property in this area, sometimes for ridiculously low prices. A short sketch of his life in the Los Angeles Herald (he just happened to be president of the company that published the sheet—Temple was the treasurer) of 13 September 1874 as he mounted a successful campaign for mayor (he’d been on the Common [City] Council for three years to that date) noted that what became Beaudry Terrace was purchased for $55, while an unnamed parcel cost him $517 and another was $1,500. In 1867, he petitioned the City to sell 69 acres at auction and the Los Angeles News of 28 January 1868 noted that what was usually considered somewhat worthless land actually fetched nearly $25 an acre, when the Council only set a minimum of $2 an acre. At the time, Beaudry was derided for his belief that there was significant future value in these properties.

Over the course of several years, he worked on subdividing them into lots, grading streets and, most importantly, tapping the Los Angeles River. This was done through the Los Angeles City Water Company, also established in 1868 by Beaudry (who was its first president), Solomon Lazard and John S. Griffin and the firm had a 30-year lease to supply water to the growing community, while taking over the ravaged system of Jean-Louis Sainsevain and Damien Marchessault (this latter was also from the general Montreal area).

Beaudry was able to bring water to the upper elevations of his growing little empire through a steam pump system, part of the Los Angeles Canal and Reservoir Company and said to cost some $75,000, and, aside from Bunker Hill, which has been far better known, he also developed an area called Bellevue Terrace, to the south. The featured object from the Museum for this edition of “Through the Viewfinder” is a circa 1885 cabinet card by Lemuel Ellis of the Bellevue Terrace Hotel, initially known as Pickit Villa, situated on what was then called Pearl Street (soon renamed Figueroa) and Sixth Street.

The earliest found mention of Bellevue Terrace was from the 9 April 1869 edition of the News when it was briefly noted that a map was prepared and exhibited in the salesroom of an unnamed auctioneer. It took some time for the water system to be established, with the Herald of 28 May 1874 proclaiming,

Yesterday was a day of triumph for Mr. Beaudry, and for the city of Los Angeles. The task of raising water to the hills in the northern [northwestern] part of the city which involved so much planning, labor, pluck and capital, was completed and its success assured. Glory enough for one day. For seven years past, Mr. Beaudry has been forming his plans and expended his capital for this very object. He has purchased a large portion of the hill property, comprising several hundred acres and has staked the whole amount of his outlay on this one venture.

The article went on to note that, at Main and Alameda streets, just north of the Plaza, “a basin has been dug 80×55 feet with a depth of five feet, which is abundantly supplied by natural springs, and has a capacity for 250,000 gallons,” though there were plans for doubling the size. Moreover, it was stated that “the water is soft, clear as a crystal, and cannot be otherwise than healthful.” Next to the reservoir was the engine and pump contained in a frame structure and able to direct some 50,000 gallons of water hourly, though it operated at about 60% of that capacity.

A five-inch diameter pipe carried the precious fluid 240 feet in elevation and about seven-tenths of a mile to a receiving reservoir with a capacity of a million gallons and from which “the water is distributed by mains over the adjoining hills, and will have sufficient fall to reach all localities desired.” It was added that “a main is already completed as far down as Bellevue Terrace” and, as the reporter observed the initial flow of water in the system, Beaudry “says that nothing short of poetry can describe” his feelings with the successful trial. 

The Herald went on to assert that “at that very minute the hundreds of acres of land spread over the hills took a jump forward in value to the extent of several hundred per cent.” With Beaudry slated to begin selling lots several days later, it was fully anticipated that, at last, “he will now begin to reap the fruits of his enterprise, his long waiting and heavy outlay.” Moreover, it concluded,

Los Angeles will owe to Mr. Beaudry a debt of gratitude as lasting as the hills which he will have transformed into the most beautiful and valuable portion of her possessions.

In its 14 October edition, the paper reported that “a stream of water from Mr. Beaudry’s system of water works was kept in play on Bellevue Terrace yesterday for irrigating purposes.” Delivered through six-inch pipes, the water was “ejected through an inch nozzle throwing a stream to the distance of sixty feet.” The short statement ended with the observation that “this on the heretofore ‘barren’ hills was quite a refreshing sight.”

The next day, under the heading of “Water on the Hills,” the Herald further celebrated the completion of what it called the “Hill Land Waterworks.” It commented that “the pipes are laid from the reservoir to Bellevue Terrace, a distance of about one mile” and added “in carrying out this enterprise, Mr. BEAUDRY has added many thousands to the wealth of our city.” With several hundred acres now available, the lands were sure to be as “productive as any portion of the valley and [be] convert[ed] into desirable homestead property.”

It averred that the value of this section of town was some $500 to $1,500 an acre “and it will continue to increase in value from year to year.” If it was not for the “pluck, energy and enterprise” of the mayor, “these hill lands would have remained as he found them—unproductive and valueless—for a half dozen generations” or until someone with Beaudry’s ambitions and abilities could do the same. The piece proclaimed,

Aside from the increased wealth and revenue which these water-works will add to the city, the number of beautiful and comfortable homes they will directly aid in creating, is a matter to excite the pride and gratulation [joy] of our citizens. Cheap and desirable building lots within a few minutes walk of the very heart of the city are desirable, and these the enterprise of Mr. BEAUDRY has placed within the reach of all.

Allowing for the fact that Beaudry was the president of the paper’s publishing company and it was a boom period, during which breathless enthusiasm for development was standard practice, it wasn’t just his paper that sang his praises. The 30 April 1875 edition of the Los Angeles Express in an article titled “Public Spirit” noted that “one of the most agreeable sights about Los Angeles is the Bellevue Terrace of Mayor Beaudry.”

Specifically, the sheet lauded the garden spot that he created on a portion of the tract and it noted that “miles and miles from the city his young orange and lemon trees may be seen gleaming on the hillside” and added that “nowhere do these trees look so well as [when] circling the crest of a hill.” It applauded his “enormous system of water distribution” which, through some 35,000 feet of pipe, yielded its output “in order to make the companion hills of Bellevue smile as the rose.”

It complimented Beaudry for his extensive investment in developing Bellevue Terrace in a “superb scheme of improvement” that, whatever financial windfall accrued to the City’s chief executive, “will none the less be a public benefaction.” Like its contemporary, the Express employed no small amount of purple prose in crowing,

Owing to this large private expenditure, Los Angeles will have a new and elegant quarter, from which the most charming panorama in the United States may be drank in, and which, with its foliage and flowers, which will rapidly put in an appearance following the copious distribution of water, will of itself form an exquisite portion of that other panorama of beauty which will greet the eye of the visitor as he approaches the city from the ocean.

For all of this expansive expressiveness, the problem was that the boom went bust within several months. In late August 1875, a panic erupted in San Francisco as a Virginia City, Nevada silver mine stock bubble burst, with the news relayed by telegraph to the Angel City and locals rushing to the two commercial banks, Farmers’ and Merchants’ and Temple and Workman, to withdraw their deposits. While the former quickly reopened after a one-month suspension of the institutions, the latter remained close for just over three months.

In late October, Beaudry held an auction of more than two dozen “of the most choice and beautiful building sites in the city,” situated between Temple and Fifth and Hope and Olive streets. With the purest water promised, it was asserted that the tract was “by far the healthiest part of the city” with sea breezes freshening the air and the property “untainted with the noxious vapors and filthy odors that arise from cesspools and gutters to destroy its beneficent effect.” The area possessed “unequaled advantages” for buyers taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the sale.

When Temple and Workman reopened in early December after a loan from Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin and a celebratory banquet held at the Pico House, Mayor Beaudry presided over the affair. In its 11 January 1876 edition, the Express related Beaudry’s development of the “Hill Lands” including the spectacularly low prices he paid for them, including $517 for Beaudry Terrace (not named above) at a sheriff’s sale. It was reported that he’d since realized $12,000 from the sale of lots there and, with a third of it remaining unsold, he’d likely have accepted another $12,000 for it.

The paper then discussed Bellevue Terrace as comprising 39 acres, with a third of that acquired in May 1867 for a mere $100. Two months later, former Mayor John G. Nichols sold him the next 13 acres for $280, while the following January, Beaudry bought the last third for $1,000 from Mathew Keller. After that, the parcel was divided into 141 lots, the first he sold for $100 and the last for five times that, with the Express concluding that the mayor “has the Bellevue Terrace [garden plot with the orange and lemon trees] left, which he would probably hold at $20,000.”

Two days later, the Temple and Workman bank closed permanently and the economy continued to slide precipitously downward. Still, Beaudry professed confidence in the future of the “Hill Lands,” insisting,

There is no use in trying to keep the hill section back; such a thing can’t be done. If I fail to induce the city to order streets opened . . . when I bear nearly all the expense, then I shall be compelled to buy the land and open the streets myself . . . Besides opening streets for the development of this section, I am planting orange orchards [and making other improvements] . . . as soon as we can build the Temple street railroad there is no doubt that the valley . . . will be settled up rapidly . . . I intend to spend money and keep on spending money . . . until this locality meets the attention it deserves, and it will not be long I assure you . . . and when two or three handsome houses are erected on some of the most prominent sites in that neighborhood then the property in the little valley will be filled up, and people will wonder why it was that they failed to see and appreciate the beauties of that location.

He noted a “queer trait” among Angelenos who’d not taken the time to visit the hill lands and, therefore, “know nothing about the beauties of it.” He continued, “well now, it requires no great amount of foresight to see that this will all be changed in a short time” and “if a favorable impression can be made on a man’s mind this is the way to produce that impression, for the city shows to its greatest advantage” with these tracts.

As the financial doldrums continued through the end of the Seventies and into the following decade, Beaudry was able to swing a deal that involved the prime portion of Bellevue Terrace with the aforementioned orchard and gardens. This was the sale of the property in 1881 for the new State Normal School for teacher education, which was completed the next year. Nearly a half-century later, the site became the remarkable Central Public Library, which is approaching its centennial in 2026.

With respect to the Bellevue Terrace Hotel, it was opened as “The Bellevue Terrace” by late 1884 and then briefly was known as the Pickit Villa, a complex of three structures at the northeast corner of Pearl (Figueroa) and Sixth streets, before reverting to its original moniker. The second proprietors were Daniel and Katie Pickit, who came to the Angel City from Minnesota, where Daniel, a native of New York, was a real estate attorney. He’d visited Los Angeles for the 1883 national convention of the Knights Templar, a Masonic order in which Temple (who died in 1880) was a local leader, and then brought his family out shortly thereafter.

Pickit Villa was soon renamed Bellevue Terrace and remained in the hands of the couple for a few years, including during the Boom of the 1880s, which peaked during the mayoral administration of William H. Workman. They then sold the hostelry, with Daniel Pickit returning to a legal practice, including a stint in Pomona before a return to Los Angeles, where he died in 1917. Beaudry lived not too long after the boom, dying in 1891. Notably, obituaries mentioned that he suffered significant financial reverses after the Temple and Workman bank failure, though whether he prospered during the late growth spurt was not stated. One of the few reminders of his nearly four decades in Los Angeles is Beaudry Avenue running from Sunset Boulevard south past Wilshire Boulevard through the lands he once owned.

The Bellevue Terrace Hotel lasted less than four decades. In April 1922, its contents, from some 100 rooms, went up for sale and an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times of the 26th stated,

With the close of this sale darkness befalls upon one of the historic landmarks of Los Angeles. The contents of this hotel, “The Once Famous Ambassador of Los Angeles,” will be sold at auction . . .

Hundreds of chairs and rockers; carpets, runners and rugs; dressers; wardrobes; commodes, wash bowls, pitchers, and slop jars; beds of brass, iron and mahogany; curtains and drapes; heaters; pictures; office furniture, and more were offered by Lewis S. Hart, dubbed “Los Angeles’ Progressive Auctioneer.”

The tripartite structure was razed and the Times of 2 March 1924 reported that the site “marked for many years by the picturesque old Bellevue Terrace Hotel—relic of our more rambling and leisurely days,” was to be replaced by a structure built by the elite Jonathan Club, the new headquarters of which opened in late 1925 across Figueroa. Today, the hotel locale is part of City National (formerly ARCO) Plaza, built between 1969 and 1972 as part of the long remaking of Bunker Hill, Bellevue Terrace and other areas that were, in the late 19th century, generally higher-end residential sections that decayed through much of the 20th century, and subject to “urban renewal” in the 1960s and afterward—to the dismay of many who hoped that much of the charm of what Beaudry and others set in motion could be at least partially preserved.