The Return of Allah!

The “lost” Garden of Allah hotel on Sunset Boulevard is one of those vintage Hollywood experiences that I am slightly obsessed with. Located (almost) across the street from the Chateau Marmont, it provided a similar experience for actors, writers, and artists who liked to live on the fringe and play as hard (or harder) than they worked. This aerial view is pre-1951 and shows the Chateau on the fringe left of the shot and Garden of Allah and its distinctive swimming pool top right:

The other day, a friend tagged me in a post about one of the original neon signs reappearing all these years after the hotel closed down and was razed in 1959. How the heck did that happen?!? Here’s a shot of the sign in its heyday:

…and sadly,  how it looks now:

Thinking positively, how incredible is it that it still exists?!?

The main building of the hotel was the residence of silent screen superstar Alla Nazimova and known as Hayvenhurst, after the original owner William H. Hay:

Nazimova converted it into a hotel, hoping it would generate some extra income. Instead, her partners bankrupted her and she was forced to sell, moving east to New York shortly after. Returning to Hollywood in 1938, she stayed in Villa 24 and lived there until she died in 1945. Here is Arch Oboler with Alla Nazimova at the Hotel, September 10, 1940:

One of her final roles was a cameo in “Since You Went Away” (1944) about life on the homefront during World War II. When she recites the poem from the Statue of Liberty, she steals the scene from Claudette Colbert:

Back to Allah (with an “h”): Here is starlet Martha O'Driscoll at the Garden of Allah Hotel pool, June 1937:

Garden of Allah Hotel bungalow 9 with Henry Wilcoxon, 1934. Don’t recognize him? Maybe his role of Pentaur, the pharaoh's captain of the guards in “The Ten Commandments” rings a bell. If not that, how about the priest from “Caddyshack” who gets struck by lightning on the golf course?

Yes, that’s the same guy!

Of course you know this famous Garden of Allah guest, Humphrey Bogart, with his then wife Mary Phillips, shown in their room in the late 1930's

 

Sorry for all the Allah rambling; back to the point of the post! So what’s happening with the sign? Wish I knew. There is a movement to get the sign installed at the steaming-turd-of-a-monstrosity that Frank Gehry has designed to be built on the property where the Garden of Allah once thrived:

The seller is wanting a cool $50k for it, which puts it out of the reach of the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale. Will the city of Hollywood/West Hollywood step forward and buy this piece of history? Only time will tell!

See more vintage Garden of Allah photos at my main website.

The Garden of Allah remnants

There was once a fabled hotel across the street from the Chateau Marmont called The Garden of Allah. Today’s post features an envelope from the hotel, postmarked 1942.

Sadly, it did not survive and was demolished in 1959. Like the Chateau, it was a haven for artists, actors, and writers; also like its neighbor, there are many legends and tall tales that have outlived its stucco walls. Originally a 2.5-acre private estate/residence, it was purchased by silent-screen actress Alla Nazimova and converted into a hotel by adding 25 villas around the main house. The Garden of Alla Hotel had its grand opening on January 9, 1927.

Strapped for cash, the actress ended up selling it three years later; the new owners added an “h” to the end of “Alla,” which is how it was normally spelled. The actress lived in Villa 24 until her death in 1945. 

Recently, a key from the hotel surfaced on ebay:

The listing states:

Good luck and even if your not bidding you might want to watch how this one ends after all the dust has settled. 

They lost me at “your” instead of “you’re.” Oh yes...and the price: $2,000. That was a deterrent, too. Hard to believe, but an intact matchbook also came up for auction:

One of the most interesting pieces I have seen is the Garden of Allah Guest Informant book:

Interesting to see the businesses listed, most of which no longer exist:

I’m sure the “stars” appreciated having their addresses in print, encouraging all the looky-loos to ring their doorbells.

The final owner, Bart Lytton, owner of Lytton Savings & Loan, demolished the hotel in 1959 and replaced it with his bank's main branch which is now closed and part of a mini-furor by the preservationists who don’t want it replaced by a Frank Gehry monstrosity. Oh the irony. See more Garden of Allah hotel photos at my main website.

TGIF at the Garden of Allah pool

While many classic vintage Hollywood photos show movie stars poolside, rarely do they show them IN the pool. Above is one of actress Eve Brent at the infamous Garden of Allah Hotel. Brent’s claim to fame was that she starred in “Tarzan’s Fight for Life’ (1958) as Jane; Gordon Scott played Tarzan. Brent also had a bit part in the 1999 Tom Hanks film “The Green Mile” before she passed away in 2011.

Below is a previously posted shot of actress Martha O’Driscoll, also posing beside (but not in) the Garden of Allah pool, circa 1937:



Two shots follow from the USC Digital Library. Dick Stagg is shown instructing seven-year-old Terry Miller how to swim:



Here’s one of the first shots of the pool during construction, 1926:



...and one of the last photos, shot for Life Magazine at the Final Farewell Party in August 1959 before the property was leveled to make way for a bank...which is now about to get leveled for a Frank Gehry monstrosity.



THAT'S karma!

See more Garden of Allah photos at my main website.

Alla and The Lonely Heart

Across the street from my beloved Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard once stood the Garden of Allah Hotel. Consisting of a main house and villas, this lovely complex was torn down to make way for a strip mall. Here in this vintage photo from September 10, 1940 we can see the hotel behind its namesake (whose name had no "h"). From the accompanying publicity blurb:

Conferring on the radio script for "This Lonely Heart" beside the pool at The Garden of Allah in Hollywood, are Arch Oboler, writer-director-producer of Everyman's Theatre and Alla Nazimova, internationally famous star. Oboler's forthcoming dramatic series for Proctor and Gamble will make its debut on the NBC-Red Netowkr October 4 with Nazimova as the first guest star. Gordon Jenkins, whom Oboler has chosen as musical director of the series, will lead a symphony orchestra composed of members of the Los Angeles Symphony in the Tschaikowsky music, which serves as the musical background for "The Lonely Heart."



If you want to see the proposed Frank Gehry ginormous structure that might replace the strip mall, check out Curbed LA. There goes the view, Sunset Boulevard neighbors!

Visit my main website and see more Garden of Allah photos.