Photo credit: Many of these photographs have been made available from MARC WANAMAKER at the BISON ARCHIVES.
Francis X. Bushman and his wife at the Garden of Allah’s closing party, 1959
This photo has been colorized:
Various advertisements and graphics associated with the Garden of Allah Hotel:
“Live at the Garden of Allah” advertisement, July 10th, 1930
Advertisement for the Garden of Allah Hotel in the Desert Sun, 4 November 1947:
Garden of Allah Hotel advertisement February 2, 1956
Garden of Allah Hotel advertisement, March 18, 1931
Garden of Allah Hotel advertisement Garden, January 20, 1949
Garden of Allah Hotel advertisement October 12, 1928
omg, how could they? Idiots! Love you always, L
Martin & Louella – Exactly how I feel about Los Angeles and specifically Hollywood = how could they?! I’m new here (posting) but have been enjoying your enthralling pictures and comments for awhile now. I cherish this site and you both just as I cherish old Hollywood and the movies as they used to be. If there really is such a thing as previous lives, I have no doubt I was around in the Golden Age of Hollywood and movie-making in some form. I’m certainly an old soul for sure. Great finding this wonderful site and feel such a kinship with people who share my love for the good old days! Thank you – Jean
Hello Jean and thanks for stopping by. I’m glad to know that you’ve been enjoying my various musings and postings, along with Louella’s reminiscing — she lived the live that I can only dream and research and write about. I feel I lived a life back then, too – perhaps we crossed paths! If you’re into old Hollywood you might enjoy my novels as well as my interview with Louella, who was the niece of gossip columnist, Louella Parsons. You can find both of them on this site.
Hi there – Will certainly look into your novels and yes, I enjoyed your interview with Louella very much. She certainly did live the life and during the times we love. Interesting finding out that she is named after her aunt whose old columns I’ve read whenever I have come across them. I have a vintage magazine she devoted to Jean Harlow who is my #1 movie star. And yes, I’ve searched your site for Harlow material haha! Thank you for all your hard work researching photos and articles and such – they are very sincerely appreciated! Jean
Breaks my heart it’s gone. I’ve walked by there many times admiring Chateau Marmont not knowing about this.
Yours isn’t the only broken heart, Kain! Lots of us still miss it!
Thank you.
It’s unspeakably sad. So grateful for sites like these that preserve a glimpse of these majestic and storied buildings and their culture-of-place. Their irreplaceable loss remains in our hearts and follows us into the far less interesting future, without them. It is pure sadness, truly haunting our imaginations. These rare pictorial windows through time are so very precious. The Redwood timber from Idyllwild cannot be replaced and the masonry and European-Mediterranean architecture of these dwellings are increasingly lost arts. The craftsmanship of these by-gone places will surely herald as our paradigms’ great structures (all things told; cinema and its historical figures and their impressions on molding society, included). This legacy; wantonly thrown on the scrap heap for gaudy, cheaply built, “McMansions”, and mogul sized kitchens, are so lovely, historically relevant, and beautiful, it is felt as a crime against society to have destroyed them. The stomach-turning destruction of historical monuments and architectural gems continues, Falcom Lair was demolished in 2005. ..
I have finished the last book of the series today! Several times during the course of the books, I “googled” details, persons, and events. The books were extremely accurate however, it wasn’t until now that I realized the Garden of Alla was a real place! After reading the series, these pictures are such a visual treat! Thank you so much for making the Golden Age of Hollywood and the Garden of Allah come alive for me!
Hi Jamie – thank you for reading the whole series. I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed them. How funny that you got through the whole series without realizing the place actually existed! Well, I’m glad you found this page so that your visual picture could be completed.
Thank you for you glimpse of the Garden of Allah, a place that should have been saved from demolition in 1959. It’s sad for me to drive by and not be able to experience it !
I couldn’t agree more, Joanie. The nine-book series of novels I’ve written has been my attempt to pretend to love at the Garden of Allah. For all of us who came along later, it’s the best I could do!