This aerial photograph from 1925 was taken looking south toward the Hollywood Hills from the San Fernando Valley. The straight road leading into the hills on the right is Coldwater Canyon Avenue and is still one of the main roads between the valley and Los Angeles. These days, of course, most of that empty land is now filled in. That golf course to the left of Coldwater Canyon Ave is now Harvard-Westlake School, a private (and I assume very expensive) 7 through 12 high school.
The golf course was called the Hollywood Country Club and you can read more about it here.
This aerial shot from 2021 shows how filled in the land now is.
hi Martin!
I’ve seen this photo before. However, I’ve never been convinced the hillside ‘golf course’ wasn’t painted in with a 1920’s ‘Photo Shop’ technique. I’ve never seen any ground-level pictures of that course, or spoken to anyone who remembers it. At the time, there were some real estate advertising flyers mentioning a Country Club of some kind. Today there is only one piece of property still remaining from the old photo, the Spanish Revival style house in the little horse-shoe driveway, at 12744 Ventura Blvd.
That’s interesting, Steve. The same thought occurred to me, too – that that land seemed awfully hilly for a golf course. But then again, I don’t know diddly about golf!
Steve – turns out it was the real deal:
https://employeelawca.com/vintagela/hollywoodhillscountryclub/
Wow, Martin! Wonderful research!! Thanks for a great SFV story. As Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Now I will see that golf course in my mind every time I drive up Coldwater Cyn. Fore!!
The Rainforest is still there over the east ridge, the wood stairs & tee box for the 8th hole is also still there.
The Rainforest is still there over the east ridge, the wood stairs & tee box for the 8th hole is also still there.