The Bonadiman family were early settlers in the area of Los Angeles now known as Silver Lake. On May 14, 1977, Mary Bonadiman, who by then had lived in the area since 1892, recalled in an interview, "My grandparents had five sons, all born in Austria. They were getting to the age that they would have to serve in the army. And, of course, they didn't like that. There were about a 100 families that were going to colonize in Mexico. Well, it was a hard trip. Some died on the ocean. Finally they arrived in Mazatlan. It took a month to get there. They stayed for two years but couldn't scratch out a living. And so some of the families started to leave and to the United States. Well the gendarmes went after them and brought them back and put them in jail. Finally, "what's her name-the redhead down there"-she went to bat for them, saying, "Can't you see they can't make a living; let them go!" So they started walking off with a little wagon.
They came to the United States and first went to Texas, settling in San Antonio. They stayed about three years on a rented farm. But my grandmother didn't like the snow nor the snakes up in the trees right outside the house. So my grandfather, my father and an aunt came to Los Angeles and looked around, finally thought that it would be nice here (Silver Lake area). As soon as they could find a of work; the men doing street work and my aunt doing laundry or house work, they sent for the rest of the family. in 1887. First they were downtown, but they yearned for the soil---they wanted to get on a ranch. They heard of this place here (Silver Lake) and in 1889 they rented a ranch between (what was to become) Silver Lake, Sunset Boulevard and Angelus Avenue on one side, Benton Way on the other, from Scott Avenue to Sunset Boulevard".
"They raised hay. Before that there must have been a winery, because under the big barn there was a place for barrels. Evidently the people before must have raised grapes too because there would be a stump of a grape vine where the men would plow. We stayed there until 1907; we could have continued renting it year-by-year, but my father said "We;d better build". So we built over on McCollum in 1907 a four bedroom house".
"The movies used to come and make movies up at the old ranch. They set fire to the old house that we had been renting. A little short guy in a Mabel Norman movie had a bomb tied to him and he ran through the house and pretty soon the house went up in flames. My grandmother was sitting on the porch as the house when the fire started. I asked her, "Why are you crying?", to which she answered, "The old home we lived in for so many years is going up in smoke."
"I was born in 1892. When I was ten, I was attending Custer School. First I went to Grafton Street School until the fourth grade; that was before Logan was built. I could have gone there, but it was my last year in school and they only had three pupils, so I finished where I was going. I took the green car to school".
Before the (Silver) lake was formed it was a ranch. I knew the girl that lived on the ranch. She would come to our house with strawberries and we would have a picnic. We had the cows so we had the cream. She didn't have the cream, but she did have the strawberries, so we got together. Our closest neighbor was a German family that lived over on Glendale Boulevard. There was a fire station, but in the vicinity it was all open country. We used horses for equipment and transportation to go to town to do our shopping. My mother used to make butter and we had eggs, so my uncle used to take the butter and eggs downtown and sell them in exchange for whatever staples we needed, the fruits and vegetables. A lot of that they grew themselves, and of course, the meat too; we had the chickens and rabbits. The main shopping was around the plaza. I was baptized there, my mother and father were married there. My mother and grandmother worked hard and they wanted to get to Mass once in a while. On Christmas and Easter they would get up and walk to make the 5 o'clock Mass at the plaza. On the way back they took the street car, which didn't start service much before 6:30 (a.m.). They ran every half hour and were small with just one track through Coronado (Street)."
"About the Garbuth-Hathaway Estate: Garbutth was the Dunigan House which was the only house that we could see. There were four houses on the property; it has a beautiful view and you can see all around the hill. He was a cranky old guy."
"We had all the inconveniences you can have around the house; the toilet was up the hill with a three-holer and the laundry was down the hill. We sold the hay to people with horses. They would either come in and buy the bales or we could deliver it. We also had an olive grove and an orange orchard as well as a few fig trees which we sold mostly to the residents who lived nearby."
"My fathe built the McCollum house before the streets were put it; the house still stands today. On the ranch we planted potatoes and some vegetables. My father owned land between Aaron and Branden (present day Hathaway Estates). My uncle and I owned a whole block on this side when the area was first subdivided. The film companies didn't film on our ranch because they had their own hills to run up and down. Max Sennett-the Keystone Kops- we often watched them-they were always very nice. Lunch was sent to the people making movies, but they would come to mother for fresh eggs and she would prepare them. On the ranch we had a little milk house; we had enough cows so we had enough milk to sell some. We had to peddle it ourselves; 5 cents a pint and 7 1/2 cents a quart."
"We couldn't go swimming in Silver Lake as it was restricted, but there weren't any fences; it was just open. In 1889 my parents learned of a ranch about three miles from town in the northwest area bounded by Sunset Boulevard, Scott Avenue, Angelus and Coronado Streets. They rented it from George Smith and lived there until 1914 when it was sub-divided and known as Olive Oak. There was a small orchard of olives, figs, oranges and pears. The remainder was planted in grain. A small stream of water, which is now Silver Lake, ran through the ranch for domestic and irrigation purposes. They also rented other pieces of land, mostly for pasture. There was a eucalyptus grove on the ranch which they could cut for stove wood or sell. By now they had acquired a few cows and horses. All was hard work and much had to be done by hand. In 1891, Carl married Domenica Bonadiman. There were four children; I was born in 1892. We moved off the ranch in 1914 and moved to 1533 McCollum Street."
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Tags: Silver Lake Silver Lake Architecture Michael Locke Michael Locke, Realtor Michael Locke, Photographer Treasures of Los Angeles Architecture Los Angeles Architecture Mary Bonadiman Carl Bonadiman Max Sennett Keystone Kops archiref
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Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson in a confidential family huddle with son Role in which Aimee threatened to have her attorney, Jacob Moidel disbarred because he revealed that Angelus Temple elders were forbidden to vote on church questions it was testified at trial of Moidel's suit to collect $5000 for his services as attorney for Angelus Temple.
Photo by Acme News Pictures, New York City from Los Angeles Bureau, Illustrated Daily News Building.
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Tags: Aimee Semple McPherson Angelus Temple
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I began collecting photos of Wallace Beery and Gloria Swanson for material for my first book, Silver Lake Chronicles: Exploring an Urban Oasis in Los Angeles" and learning that the couple first lived in Silver Lake in a humble California bungalow near where Swanson got her Hollywood start in the movies with Max Sennett' Keystone Comedies. She married Berry on her seventeenth birthday who she claimed raped her on their wedding night. She became pregnant to him, but Berry, not wanting her to have the child, reportedly tricked her into drinking a concoction that induced an abortion. They continued to work together at Sennett but divorced two years later. The house is still standing at 1627 Glendale Boulevard
The film, Old Hutch was a 1936 romantic comedy directed by J. Walter Ruben in which Berry plays the part of a man who finds himself in $100,000 debt during the Great Depression. It's a remake of the 1920 Will Rogers film Hones Hutch.
Please do not use this image in any media without my permission. © All rights reserved.
Tags: Wallace Beery
© All Rights Reserved
I began collecting photos of Wallace Beery and Gloria Swanson for material for my first book, Silver Lake Chronicles: Exploring an Urban Oasis in Los Angeles" and learning that the couple first lived in Silver Lake in a humble California bungalow near where Swanson got her Hollywood start in the movies with Max Sennett' Keystone Comedies. She married Berry on her seventeenth birthday who she claimed raped her on their wedding night. She became pregnant to him, but Berry, not wanting her to have the child, reportedly tricked her into drinking a concoction that induced an abortion. They continued to work together at sennest but divorced two years later.
The photo is from a scene in the 1922 Paramount Pictures silent drama film, The Impossible Mrs. Bellow directed by Sam Wood. In the photo, the youngster is either Mickey Moore as Lance Bellow, Jr. age 4 or his brother Pat as Lance Bellow, Jr. at the age of 6. No copies of the film are known to exist.
Please do not use this image in any media without my permission. © All rights reserved.
Tags: Gloria Swanson
© All Rights Reserved
I began collecting photos of Wallace Beery and Gloria Swanson for material for my first book, Silver Lake Chronicles: Exploring an Urban Oasis in Los Angeles" and learning that the couple first lived in Silver Lake in a humble California bungalow near where Swanson got her Hollywood start in the movies with Max Sennett' Keystone Comedies. She married Berry on her seventeenth birthday who she claimed raped her on their wedding night. She became pregnant to him, but Berry, not wanting her to have the child, reportedly tricked her into drinking a concoction that induced an abortion. They continued to work together at Sennett but divorced two years later. The house is still standing at 1627 Glendale Boulevard
Please do not use this image in any media without my permission. © All rights reserved.
Tags: Wallace Beery
© All Rights Reserved