The new CEO of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Richard Schulhof, was introduced Sunday night, October 4, to more than 100 Arcadia dignitaries and community leaders.
New Arboretum CEO Richard Schulhof (center) chats with County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich (right) and County Parks & Recreation Director Russ Guiney (back to camera) during a Baldwin Adobe restoation event at the home of Carol Libby Sunday, Oct. 4.
by Scott Hettrick
Among the attendees were County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, County Parks & Recreation director Russ Guiney, and five current and former Arcadia Mayors, including current Mayor John Wuo, current Arcadia Councilmen and former Mayors Bob Harbicht and Gary Kovacic, and former Mayors Gail Marshall and Floretta Lauber.
A postcard showing the palm tree-lined walkway to Baldwin's adobe in 1903. The palm trees are still there but little else remains.
The gathering at the home of Carol Libby in her elegantly-decorated backyard gardens that rivals some areas of the Arboretum itself, was an information program coordinated by the newly-formed Baldwin Adobe Restoration Committee. BARC, led by Arcadia historian Sandy Snider and founding members Libby and Lauragene Swenson, is working with the Arboretum Foundation, which, along with Schulhof, will consider proposals from three reputable architect firms and then seek funding to finally push ahead with a long-planned and previously-approved project to restore the fast-deteriorating “Hugo Reid” adobe at the Arboretum to its most notable phase as the permanent 34-year home of Arcadia founder Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin. Baldwin died in the adobe 100 years ago in 1909 at the age of 81.
Schulhof, after just one week on the job, heartily endorsed the efforts of BARC, noting, “I see the history of the Arboretum as a very important part of my job.”
In a brief address to the attendees, Schulhof said, “Going back to the late 1940s there was a concept of a dual mission: yes, the Arboretum would be a botanical and horticultural resource for the County of Los Angeles, but at the same time it would be a very important public historic site celebrating an important chapter in California history.
“So, I see this effort as potentially moving us light-years forward in accomplishing that mission.” He also concurred that “the historic structures are in need of attention, in need of stewardship,” and said that “accomplishing that is going to be an important part of my job.” (Story continues after the following video...) (Image below shows the wooden leg of the L-shaped adobe that no longer exists but which faced north towards the lake.)
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Schulhof’s comments followed equally supportive endorsements of the effort by Antonovich, Guiney, and Wuo, and encouragement by Kovacic, who is also a board member of the Arcadia Historical Society, for residents who support the project to contribute personal or corporate contributions.
Effects of one of Baldwin's closest Chinese employees, Lem Kay.
Another Foundation member, restoration architect Bill Ellinger, provided numerous archaeological and architectural drawings of the adobe, which were displayed throughout the yard Sunday night along with many archival photographs, drawings, and memorabilia from Baldwin’s robust years at the adobe, including effects from Baldwin’s adoring Chinese ranch hand Lem Kay.
Restoration architect and Arboretum Foundation member Bill Ellinger describes one of many designs of the original Baldwin adobe to an attendee.
Attendees also enjoyed Baldwin impersonator John Reuter.
I only recently learned that Lucky Baldwin never lived in the beautiful and iconic lakeside cottage that was later named the Queen Anne Cottage. That was Baldwin’s guest house and where he played cards and entertained.
Rather, he lived in the nearby adobe along the south side of the lake during the decades in which he shaped the growth of the San Gabriel Valley and Arcadia.
Likewise, it was something of a surprise to me to discover that Hugo Reid never lived in the adobe at all, which was then more of a simple hut that he built to comply with a requirement to allow him to buy the land called Santa Anita Rancho. In fact, the structure that is crumbling at the Arboretum was not even part of the smaller hut that Reid built some yards further to the northwest.
In recent years it has become clear to me that history, at least the history we learn, can change. Just last week we learned that Hitler may not have killed himself after all, and we learned that humans may not be as closely related to chimpanzees as we thought, based on the famous Lucy skeleton.
In other cases the history we learn may not be the result of any change but simply the aspect of history chosen to be promoted by whomever is telling the stories. For instance, what we learn in the terrific PBS documentaries of Ken Burns, such as last week’s 12-hour “National Parks” series, are the elements of history he finds most interesting to tell. That becomes our perspective of history.
Host Carol Libby welcomes attendees to the "Libby Gardens."
Decades ago local groups decided to bolster the remains of the adobe at the Arboretum by promoting the fact that the adobe was built by the first European landowner to build a home at what was known as Rancho Santa Anita. So, all these years we have come to know this adobe as the Hugo Reid adobe.
While that’s factual, as mentioned earlier, the dwelling was more of a small hut and Hugo Reid never lived there. He only owned the property for a couple years before selling to the first of a half-dozen or so property owners who each turned it over quickly before Baldwin finally acquired it in 1875.
Similarly, over the years, the stories most often repeated about Lucky Baldwin depict him as a scoundrel and something of a womanizer who had four or five wives, usually decades younger than himself.
That’s also true. I guess in that regard he’d fit right in with many of today’s politicians and big business CEOs.
But what’s also true, and something BARC is choosing to promote, is that Baldwin was also a very highly-regarded and enormously successful entrepreneur who is responsible for so many of the iconic aspects of the town that we have enjoyed and benefited by for more than a century.
Most local residents know that Baldwin is responsible for the peacocks, horse racing, and the exotic species of plant life at the Arboretum, all of which still combine to define our City all these years later.
But many don’t know that Baldwin also:
Built extravagant hotels in San Francisco, Arcadia, and Lake Tahoe
Produced prize-winning wines from his own vineyard
Had massive orange groves and nurseries for many kinds of trees
Designed ranch irrigation systems himself
Was one of the biggest regional producers of grains, hay and alfalfa
Was one of the first to win horse races at Eastern tracks with Western-bred horses, including a record 4 American Derbies
Deeded this ranch property to allow one of the first transcontinental rail lines to pass through; and made sure to include two station stops in Arcadia
Perhaps most notably, employed an ongoing “melting pot” of anywhere between 150-300 workers that included Asians, African-Americans, Mexicans and Caucasians.
Upon his death, the Los Angeles Examiner, in an article describing his funeral, noted that “Deepest sorrow was displayed by the scores of ranchers and their families who learned to love their benefactor,” including “people of many nationalities,” some of whom could not speak English, but whose grief found expression in tears.”
Among them were probably 20 workers who worked for him until senility had caused them to be dropped from the laboring staff, yet continued to receive a monthly check from Baldwin anyway, when he placed them on a pension roll.
The Arcadia Board of Trustees called Baldwin “Arcadia’s most progressive, most enthusiastic officer, and best friend” and recognized his “great charity for the deserving and helpless, his great eye for nature, his great love for the things that grow, his adoration for our native trees and his faculty for beautifying the land, all of which during his life tended to the upbuilding and planting of this little city.”
The Los Angeles Examiner described Baldwin as a man of “marvelous foresight” and noted that it would be a long time before the West sees another man like Elias Jackson Baldwin.”
This history hasn’t changed; it was just never promoted very much. (It’s not as salacious as the other history.)
Likewise, historians like Sandy Snider wrote decades ago in her book that Baldwin was the first owner of the ranch during the 1800s to really spend much time in the adobe. In fact, he made it his permanent home of 34 years, added a wing, and embellished it with ornate landscaping. The palm trees that lined the entrance to the adobe still stand in their positions today.
In fact, Baldwin lived in the adobe at his ranch, known as the Baldwin Home Place. That historic adobe has been deteriorating for years and is literally crumbling as we speak. It has severe water leaks and no one is allowed inside.
So, BARC is choosing to restore the adobe to the style of its most prominent use during the extraordinary days of our community’s illustrious founder.
As a recently-recruited member of BARC, I wholeheartedly support that strategy.
BARC is driven by solid leaders, including Libby, one of the community’s foremost historical experts and the backbone of the Arcadia Historial Society; Snider, who co-authored the book “Arcadia: Where Ranch and City Meet”; and Swenson, longtime member of the Arboretum’s Los Voluntarios. Other members include the Arboretum’s curator of historic collections, Mitchell Hearns Bishop, Arboretum Foundation board members Sho Tay and Joe Eisele, and longtime community leader Jean Parrille.
The restoration of the Baldwin adobe is an effort that has been ongoing for many years and was even approved several years ago by the Arboretum Foundation. Mostly all that remains is the architectural design.
It’s time to get it done before the walls of what remains of the adobe disintegrate.