by Paul R. Spitzzeri
When, in 1887, during the height of the Boom of the Eighties, Luther H. Titus sold his Dew Drop Ranch, just northeast of the Mission San Gabriel, to the San Gabriel Valley Land and Water Company, which bought over 1,100 in the area for subdivision, including the proposed town on East San Gabriel, he reaped quite a profit some 16 years after he purchased the property from Leonard J. Rose of Sunny Slope Ranch.
The Los Angeles Times of 1 July 1887, in discussing the company and its plans, devoted a fair amount of space in the article to Dew Drop, informing its readers that,
A portion of this magnificent purchase is the beautiful and highly-improved property of L.N. [sic] Titus, containing 212 acres of land and a water supply, which, if developed, would probably prove ample to water a thousand acres or more of land. This tract, since improved to the highest pitch of perfection by Mr. Titus, was bought by him in 1874 [actually, September 1871] for $7000.
The sale to the company was for a handsome $212,000 and the paper went on to remark that “he has manifested rare taste and judgment in the improvement of the soil and the development of the water-supply of the place.” Fruit and ornamental trees and grapevine were planted, with the bulk of it, as was the case in what was then known as the San Gabriel district, devoted to oranges.
It was added that this citrus fruit “made a wonderful growth,” as attested by the fact that some of Titus’ trees were up to 3 feet in diameter and branches, even with trees set apart some 30 feet, nearly touched others, “so luxuriant has been their growth.” Moreover, the proprietor was so fastidious about maintenance of his groves that “there is scarcely a weed to be seen in the entire orchard.”
The prior season, Titus shipped his crop of oranges to Chicago for $15,000 in sales and it was noted that he grew about a dozen more fruits, including lemons and limes and deciduous varieties, including apples, cherries, peaches and pears. The water supply, which was most of what was available for the company to develop, hence the high price paid for Dew Drop, “is obtained from a natural mountain spring, or cienega” and which, it was asserted, could be doubled with development, while Titus brought in an artesian well with high flow.
The Times continued that “Mr. Titus has perfected an excellent system of underground [cement] water-piping” and it pointed out that the firm refused an offer of $200,000 for the water alone. It was mentioned that, near San Gabriel Boulevard, there was “a natural park” with about 30 oak trees and which “is to be made an island, being situated near a reservoir constructed to hold the ‘waste supply’ from one of the many natural springs.” Open earthen ditches were to be developed “to completely encircle the above-described ‘island'” and to be crossed by “rustic bridges.” With a streetcar line projected along San Gabriel Boulevard, “this will ere long become a popular resort for private picnics, social gatherings, etc.”
Like many a boom town, East San Gabriel did not come to fruition as the bust came and the Titus ranch ended up under the ownership of Louis L. Bradbury, who made his pile in mining in México and part of whose local land was acquired by the firm. A prior post here went into some of his history and, after Bradbury died in July 1892, his estate was controlled by his widow, Simona Martínez. After her death a little over a decade later, their children were the beneficiaries of the Bradbury Estate and Dew Drop, which was incorporated in November 1898 as the Titus Ranch Company in the 1890s, continued with agriculture, especially orange growing.
As for Titus, he dove back into horse breeding and, for several years, served as the manager of the famed race horses of Rancho Santa Anita owner Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin, traveling the country in that capacity, including for high-profile races, before returning to the San Gabriel Valley and purchasing 50 acres of land in Lamanda Park, just north of Dew Drop, for what he called the Horseshoe Ranch. There, with his second wife Ella, mentioned in part one, he resided until his death in 1900. Three years later, she sold the Horseshoe to Henry Huntington for $50,000 and returned to her native Saratoga Springs, New York.
Jumping ahead a few decades, the Pasadena Star-News of 19 May 1927 briefly alluded to a remark made by a local that “the Bradbury estate will soon be subdivided” and that this action would be “marking the last big tract” to be so handled “between Arcadia and Los Angeles.” The paper’s number of 12 September 1927 reported that,
Negotiations for purchase of the 297-acre Bradbury estate here [San Marino, which incorporated in 1913] were completed yesterday when the J.B. Ransom Corporation announced acquisition of the tract for a consideration of $1,650,000. Subdivision of the property, which is located a half-mile southeast of the Huntington Library, art collection and botanical gardens, will commence after the first of the year.
It was added that the deal involved the largest such deal “with the exception of the Huntington properties,” as those, the ones involving the Patton family (neighbors who included lawyer George S. Patton and his namesake son, the famed World War II general) and the Bradbury tract were “the most extensive in the city.”
Notably, the paper commented that “the development planned at the Bradbury ranch will open to homes the eastern part of the city, which has been the last stronghold of orange groves.” The name “Gainsborough Heath” was “a reflection of the great Huntington Library and Art Gallery” which “contains over a dozen of the most famous and valuable of the [Thomas] Gainsborough paintings, including that of the renowned ‘Blue Boy,” which Huntington, who died in February 1927, acquired earlier in the decade.
Another significant element of the deal was that “a business district for the eastern part of the city, to be composed only of high-class business buildings will be located along Huntington drive” and it was mentioned that “the city council recently granted the request of the Bradbury estate to zone the double Huntington drive frontage for business if the purchaser so desired.” As for the residential element, the Star-News commented that,
“Gainsborough Heath” will probably follow the English design of homes considerably, as its name indicates it might. The landscaping will be in charge of Cook & Hall, landscape architects, and city planning experts. It is estimated that over $1,000,000 will be expended in improving the tract before it is placed on the market the first of next year.
Lastly, transportation was highlighted with Huntington Drive a direct connection to downtown Los Angeles with links to Mission Road and North Broadway, while Rose Avenue, now San Gabriel Boulevard though a diagonal of the old road connects to Del Mar Avenue near Longden Drive. It was added that the proposed Arrow Highway was anticipated to skirt the southern edge of the tract, though that thoroughfare ends to the east in Irwindale, with Longden and Live Oak Avenue continuing westward.
In its coverage the same day, the Times observed that,
The Bradbury property has been permitted to remain idle for years while the surrounding territory has within the past three years developed into a thriving community of beautiful homes and estates, many costing $100,000 and more.
Moreover, the paper reminded readers that “transportation is furnished by the main trunk line of the Pacific Electric [streetcar system], centering on Huntington drive and by the Alhambra division of the same company, which passes within two blocks to the south.” That line following Las Tunas Drive was actually further away than that and extended out to the Town of Temple, very soon to be renamed Temple City and founded by Homestead owner Walter P. Temple in 1923, the peak year of the latest regional real estate boom.
The Pasadena Post of 17 September announced that Ellis Bishop and Charles Brooks were chosen to be Crown City agents for the Bradbury Syndicate heading the project, deemed to have “one of the most comprehensive plans for improving high class residence and business property yet attempted in Southern California.”
Ransom’s associate O. Nicholas Gabriel, who resided in San Marino and was a key figure in the company’s Bandini and Montebello Park developments in what is now the City of Commerce, was a spokesperson for the new project, telling the paper that there were 1,300 shares in a $650,000 stock issue, with each unit, of course, selling for $500 and paying 7% interest. It was added that, once the investment paid returns, each share would have “an additional prior participation in the profits to the extent of 100 per cent.”
Moreover, a quarter million dollars was paid for the land upfront with a $1.4 million trust deed due in a decade at 6% interest, though nothing was due for two years. The appraisal value was pegged at north of $4 million, though the low-end sales value was above $5.8 million considering completed improvements to the tract.
In it 1 October edition, the Star-News quoted Nicholas as remarking,
Gainsborough Heath will embody all the beautiful landscaping effects learned in the laying out of Beverly Hills, Carthay Center, Montebello Park and the Montebello Park Country Club and Pay-as-you-play Golf Course . . .
Restricted community developments of today have proved surprisingly successful where they have been adjacent to a golf course . . .
The San Gabriel Country Club [of which Temple was a member] adjoins Gainsborough Heath on the southeast, and the quick response in investors to join the Bradbury Syndicate . . . indicates the [i]nterest that a development of this character, situated adjacent to an excellent golf course, his [sic] aroused in the Southern California investment world.
Another strikingly interesting feature of Gainsborough Heath is the fact that it will embody San Marino’s new business section . . . San Marino and its estates and homes are so picturesquely beautiful, that any business section to be built must positively embody those same architectural refinements. Our plans call for a business section . . . [which] will probably be one of the most uniquely remarkable business centers in the country.
The 26 November number of the Star-News cited another agent, William L. Rice, as stating that “many Pasadenans have shown an enthusiastic interest in this excellent San Marino property which promises to eclipse all other high class residential tracts” and that Crown City investors were well represented in the rolls kept by the Bradbury Syndicate.
Importantly for this post and its highlighted artifact was that, once Rice was finished with a Montebello Park project, he was to “devote his entire time to the disposition of the property of Gainsborough Heath and will co-operate with real estate brokers in Pasadena and vicinity in demonstrating the fine home site values of the tract.” Moreover,
Mr. Rice will make his readquarters [sic] at a beautiful Spanish home, situated at San Gabriel boulevard and Huntington drive, which will be used as the administrative offices of the property by the J.B. Ransom Corporation.
The 15 December issue of the paper reported that the first phase of the tract, comprising some 75 acres, received approval of a tentative tract map and it was mentioned that a strip “will be left to tie up with property of the Van Nuys Company,” this referring to the San Fernando Valley family which built a major downtown Los Angeles building and had other property, “and Sir Joseph Duveen,” one of the art world’s most prominent dealers and who counted Huntington as a major client.
Also of note was that “thirteen large signs . . . were approved” by the City to promote Gainsborough Heath, these being the typical roadside variety that measured from 50 to 75 feet long “and will portray the ‘Blue Boy'” painting of the tract’s namesake, “and other facts concerning the name of the tract. Four of the signs were to go on Huntington Drive, four on San Gabriel Boulevard (still frequently called Rose Avenue) and four at the southwest section between San Gabriel and Del Mar and where Duarte Road becomes Melville Drive.
Two days later, the Star-News remarked that the stock issue was so popular that it was over-subscribed by $200,000. Ransom Vice-President Harry C. Adams proudly asserted that the 79 days of the issue “constitutes a record in the financing, by means of syndicates of Southern California real estate properties.” Conservative investors, he went on, “are vitally interested in the well organized real estate syndicate” and the tract “represents one of the finest and best located tracts in the country” as “its splendid situation in the heart of San Marino and extending well southward into San Gabriel makes it a property of unparalleled beauty and charm.”
The article also revealed that Louis L. Bradbury, Jr.
had begun construction of a magnificent home, the exact replica of the old “casa” of the Spanish regime in California, which was 90 per cent finished when the property was sold.
This fine home, situated at Huntington drive and San Gabriel boulevard, is being completed by the J.B. Ransom Corporation, selling agents for the property, and will be utilized as administration offices. Its cool, broad verandas will be used as an outdoor restaurant for visitors to the tract.
On Christmas Eve, the Ransom firm took out advertisements blaring “PROGRESS” with its success at Bandini and Montebello Park and looking forward to the “early opening” of Gainsborough Heath as it wished “its thousands of friends throughout Southern California a Joyous Christmas and Prosperous New Year.”
The Star-News of the 29th reported that “formal approval was given” to 100 acres of the subdivision and listed some of the Gainsborough Heath street names, including Blackstone, Brinsley, Sheridan, Shakespeare and, of course, one named after the painter. It was added that some of the streets were to be extended west into the Van Nuys Company and Huntington estate properties. As for business lots in the tract, it was stated that “Spanish groups of shops as in Santa Barbara will be built.”
As the year ended, the Ransom company, highlighting 105% growth in 1927, took out ad seeking ten sales agents, while it was also announced that a Gainsborough Heath float would be entered in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade to kick off 1928. This is, then, an apt place to halt and return next with part three, in which we’ll share a booklet from that year in the Museum’s artifact collection titled “The Story of Gainsborough Heath and the Old Adobe.” Be sure to join us then!