Smith Estate (Los Angeles)
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The Smith Estate, also known as El Mio (
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
: ''"mine"'' or ''"my place"''), is a historic
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
house perched on a hilltop in the Highland Park section of
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. The street, El Mio, is named after the house, which is how the Smith family referred to it during their residence. Built in 1887, the house was designed in the Queen Anne style by Abram M. Edelman. It has been the residence of a judge who wrote books on
occultism The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...
, the head of the
Los Angeles Railway The Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars, LARy and later Los Angeles Transit Lines) was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent loc ...
, and a
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; and as a shooting location for the
cult films A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated vi ...
'' Spider Baby'', '' Silent Scream'' and '' Insidious: Chapter 2''. It has also been declared a
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cul ...
and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.


Occupants of the home


Judge Hatch

The house was built for Judge David Patterson Hatch (1846–1912). While the National Register indicates the house was built in 1890, a newspaper article from July 1887 reported that the house was already under construction:
"The frame of Judge Hatch's $10,000 residence, which is to overlook the beautiful Highland Park when completed, has now been raised and the owner is pressing the workmen to their greatest endeavors to get it completed."
Hatch became a judge in 1880 and gained fame presiding over the Perkins-Baldwin case—a breach of marriage promise case against
Lucky Baldwin Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin (April 3, 1828 – March 1, 1909) was "one of the greatest pioneers" of California business, an investor, and real estate speculator during the second half of the 19th century. He earned the nickname "Lucky" Baldwin ...
, a gold prospector who became one of the wealthiest men in Los Angeles and founded
Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious race ...
on his estate. The jury awarded the plaintiff $75,000—at the time "the highest amount of damages in the history of the bar of California." (''The case was followed daily by the press, and a search of the ''Los Angeles Times'' archives reveals more than 50 articles reporting on the contents of Lucky Baldwin's love letters and every other detail of the case. Some of the more colorful and breathless headlines from the case are included below.'') In 1886, Hatch left the bench and became the senior member of the Los Angeles law firm of Hatch, Lloyd & Hunt. Hatch also became known nationally as a writer on philosophy and the occult, with works including "Scientific Occultism", "The Twentieth Century Christ", "The Blood of the Gods", "Text Book of Christian Hermit Philosophers" and the novel "El Reschid" (one of a series of books written under "the Hindoo name of Karishka"). When he died in 1912, the ''Times'' called him "a remarkable man" who was "exceptionally versed in the deep philosophies of life" and who had "obtained a deep knowledge of universal laws, which, although natural to himself, appeared as mysticism to those who had not followed his great mental strides."


Smith family

Though Judge Hatch was the original occupant, the house was acquired by Charles Warren Smith in the mid or late 1890s and remained in the Smith family until the early 1960s. For this reason it became known as the Smith Estate. Charles Smith was a railroad man who was at various times the first vice president of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...
, the receiver of the
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was an American railroad that owned or operated two individual segments of track. One connected St. Louis, Missouri, with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connected Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Needles in Southe ...
and the general manager of the Pasadena and Los Angeles Electric Railway Company. In 1900, Henry Huntington named Smith, described as "an old-time employe (sic) of the
Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...
, having been with the road in its early days," as the superintendent of the
Los Angeles Railway The Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars, LARy and later Los Angeles Transit Lines) was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent loc ...
's streetcar lines. At the time of his retirement, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported: "Manager Smith has earned a rest, if any one has, from years of arduous toil as the manager of great transportation properties." During the Smiths' occupancy, the home became known for its parties. In 1901, the Smiths held a Fourth of July party at the home, which the ''Los Angeles Times'' described as follows:
"From 8:30 until 12 o'clock dancing was enjoyed at the home of Misses Smith. The music room was decorated with pepper boughs and roses and streamers of red, white and blue ribbon hung from the center chandelier to the sides of the room. Punch was served on the side veranda, which was decorated in roses."
And in June 1904, Mrs. Smith hosted a Japanese tea at the house featuring Japanese music, tea served by Japanese girls,
stereoscopic view Stereoscopy, also called stereoscopics or stereo imaging, is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...
s of Japan, and an address by a woman who had lived 12 years in Japan. The tea was a fundraiser, and the admission was 25 cents. One long-time Highland Park resident in the 1930s recalled the Smith house as one of the first in the area: "There were few homes in our section of Highland Park then. The C.W. Smith house which pointed an architectural finger from its hill top, a beacon for lost souls who traveled out that far ... A few other dwellings there were, but these were the landmarks." The Smiths' son, Stanley Quay Smith, married Clara Maurer in 1911, and lived at the house until his death at age 72 in 1958. According to his obituary, he had lived at the family's landmark home since 1895.


Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Gage

Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Michael Gage bought the house in 1988 for $515,000. At the time, the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' noted that Gage was an ardent preservationist and he and his wife, Lacey, had both fallen in love with the home. The ''Times'' noted that the house, built on a hilltop with four bedrooms and maids' quarters, had a view of Gage's office at
Los Angeles City Hall Los Angeles City Hall, completed in 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the Mayor of Los Angeles, mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council. It is loca ...
." Gage was credited in the late 1980s with reviving the political pulse of Mayor Tom Bradley's administration.


Current ownership

As of 2008, the house had been owned for approximately eleven years by Tim and Mari Parker.


On film

In 1964,
Jack Hill Jack Hill (born January 28, 1933) is an American filmmaker, known for his work in the exploitation genre. He was an early associate of Francis Ford Coppola and Roger Corman, and worked on many films distributed by American International Pictur ...
shot the horror comedy cult film '' Spider Baby'' (also known as ''Attack of the Liver Eaters'') at the Smith Estate. A short clip from the film showing a full view of the estate and the front porch can be viewed on YouTube.com. In 2007, writer/director Hill recalled: "We did a documentary for the DVD where I went back to the house and showed where we shot this, where we shot that. Today, of course, it's been remodeled and people are living there and it's probably worth a couple of million." '' Silent Scream'' was also shot at this location. The exterior of the house can be viewed in the opening ten minutes of the film. '' Insidious: Chapter 2'' was shot extensively at El Mio, and the home is featured - inside and out - as one of the film's major locations.


Historic designation

The house was declared a Historic Cultural Monument (HCM #142) by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission in 1975, and was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1982.


See also

* Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments on the East and Northeast Sides *
List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places in the city of Los Angeles. (For those in the rest of Los Angeles County, refer to National Register of Historic Places listings in Los Angeles County, California.) Current listings ' ...


References


External links


Big Orange Landmarks article and photographs of Smith Estate
* {{LAHMC Queen Anne architecture in California Victorian architecture in California History of Los Angeles Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles 1890s architecture in the United States Highland Park, Los Angeles Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments