Charles Harper moved to L.A. from Mississippi after the Civil War and made his fortune selling hardware. His estate, known as Harper Ranch, occupied a prime stretch of Hollywood. It stood north of Sunset Blvd and west of Laurel Canyon, which later became the start of the Sunset Strip. (By contrast, the Garden of Allah Hotel was south of Sunset and west of Laurel Canyon.) As we can see by this circa 1909 photo (which I can only assume has been hand-tinted, but beautifully so) the view from the Harper manse was picturesquely bucolic.