Adobe courtyard at the Rancho La Brea, later known as Gilmore Ranch, [s.d.]

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Title	Adobe courtyard at the Rancho La Brea, later known as Gilmore Ranch, [s.d.]
Description	Photograph of an adobe courtyard at the Rancho La Brea, later known as Gilmore Ranch, [s.d.]. The walls of the adobe form a U-shaped enclosure around the courtyard, and there are two doors visible: a screen door on the back wall and a wooden one on the left wall. In the foreground on the right is an overhang with a straw roof supported by wooden posts over an adobe brick floor. The roof is made of terra cotta tiles. Around the edge of the courtyard are benches, shelves and racks which hold assorted pots and blankets. There are several chickens running around in the middle of the courtyard. The original adobe was built by James Thompson in 1851. Arthur Gilmore began expanding and renovating the home around 1900.; "From humble origins it became the seat of a gas and oil empire whose idiosyncratic promotional images dotted the Western landscape. But while the kingdom has been downsized, the Gilmore Adobe endures in modest anonymity, an idyllic vestige of another time. Nestled between Farmers Market and CBS studios, shielded from public view by a fortress of foliage, the Gilmore Adobe dates back to 1852. Originally called the Rancho La Brea Adobe, it eventually became the home of rancher-turned-oilman Arthur F. Gilmore, whose brilliantly eccentric son Earl turned the Gilmore Oil Company into a legendary part of America's burgeoning car culture. Today [2002], the adobe--which now serves as headquarters for the A.F. Gilmore Company, owner and operator of Farmers Market (as well as the adjacent Gilmore Bank)--stands as a bucolic island of tranquility in the heart of the city. The building is an elegant hybrid of California Mission and Spanish Colonial, reflecting a series of renovations over the past century. While modern amenities have been added, original features such as the wood-and-clay-brick ceiling have been preserved. Earl Gilmore's bedroom--remarkably small for a titan of modern capitalism--remains frozen in time, complete with his extensive pipe collection and elaborately designed horse saddle. Outside, terracotta tiles adorn a courtyard where Rudolph Valentino once preened for the camera in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Chickens roam the northern side of the property, while on the eastern edge a pair of towering Mexican fan palms keep watch over the adobe (which is closed to the general public). From inside the grounds, one can almost envision 19th century Los Angeles--a city without cars or freeways or smog, awaiting men like Earl Gilmore and the onslaught of the future." -- Danny Feingold.
Subject	Gilmore, Arthur; Thompson, John
Subject (adlf)	residential sites
Subject (file heading)	Los Angeles -- Architecture -- Domestic -- Adobes
Subject (lcsh)	Dwellings Architecture, Domestic Adobe houses
Geographic subject (city or populated place)	Los Angeles
Geographic subject (county)	Los Angeles
Geographic subject (state)	California
Geographic subject (country)	USA
Coverage era	[s.d.]
Publisher (of the digital version)	University of Southern California. Libraries
Type	images
Format (aacr2)	1 photograph : photonegative, b&w ; 21 x 26 cm.
Format (aat)	negatives (photographic) photographs
Contributing entity	California Historical Society
Accession number	10071
Call number	CHS-10071
Microfiche number	1-33-
Legacy record ID	chs-m1767; USC-1-1-1-1819
Part of collection	California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960
Part of subcollection	Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960
Project	USC
Rights	Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California
Access conditions	Send requests to address or e-mail given. Phone (213) 821-2366; fax (213) 740-2343.
Repository name	USC Libraries Special Collections
Repository address	Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189
Repository email	specol@usc.edu
Filename	CHS-10071
Archival file	chs_Volume30/CHS-10071.tiff

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Home California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960 Adobe courtyard at the Rancho La Brea, later known as Gilmore Ranch, [s.d.]

Adobe courtyard at the Rancho La Brea, later known as Gilmore Ranch, [s.d.]

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