The West Coast Years
(1910 to 1931)
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Chapter Nineteen - Highland Park
1925 to 1927 |
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"If I had but one choice to make, namely, to remain in Los Angeles for the rest of my days or be shot to death I would say shoot away!" Letter to Guy Abernethy - July 3, 1925 |
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Very little is known about Gegoux's period at Highland Park. Nearly everything is gleaned from a single letter. Art and architecture have flourished in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles since its beginnings in the 1880s along the Arroyo Seco. The business district developed in the 1920s and '30s, a few decades after the residential area was established. The community is home today to about 66,000. (1) (1) History hopes to repeat itself in Highland Park, Los Angeles Times, by Susan Carrier, October 12, 2003 One of the oldest settled areas of Los Angeles, Highland Park is also one of the most scenic due to its architecture and location between the Mt. Washington hills, the San Rafael hills and the Monterey Hills of Los Angeles, California. It has sprawling parks, including the Arroyo Seco Park and the Ernest E. Debs Regional Park. The Southwest Museum, with one of the largest and most significant collections of Native American artifacts in the country, is located in adjacent Mt. Washington. The light rail Metro Gold Line travels from East Los Angeles Atlantic Station through Union Station to Pasadena, traversing all of Highland Park. Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock was founded in Highland Park in 1923 and constructed its building in 1930. It is the second oldest synagogue in Los Angeles still operating in its original location, after the Wilshire Boulevard Temple (built in 1929). Highland Park has experienced economic highs and lows during its first 100 years, most recently enjoying a Renaissance. After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, California became part of the United States and Rancho San Rafael was subdivided, creating the neighborhood of Highland Park. In the early 20th century, Highland Park and neighboring Pasadena became havens for artists and intellectuals who lead the Arts and Crafts movement. (2) (2) Wikipedia 2012 Gegoux, himself, wrote in a letter to Guy Abernethy, "I have been to the ocean several times, and I make sketches whenever I can remain long enough to do so. I have not forgotten what I said, about painting you a canvas, to add to your collection of artworks. If I am unable to paint you one before I leave, I surely will from one of my many sketches when I land in Newberg." "I will carry a hand-bag and paint box and brushes, so that I can make some sketches on the way, where and whenever an opportunity presents itself to put on record a worthy scene. I may take along a small camera." It is not known whether or not Gegoux consummated his plans to travel back to Oregon, but his economic realities suggest that he was unable to accomplish this aspiration. Nonetheless, the letter reveals sufficient wealth for Gegoux to travel to the coast. Readers catch a glimpse of Gegoux's technique; sketch or paint on location; take photographs, then having thus recorded the scene; finish the works at some later time. Gegoux had access to transportation, since there were many automobiles driving about at that time, and well as the electric rail. It would have been a simple matter to catch one of the Pacific Electric Railway cars to the beach. The schedule would have run regularly to nearly all points on the line. So it was that Gegoux came to paint such works as the "Southwest Museum" 1925, "Distant Sailor" 1925, "Sunrise at Castle Rock" 1925; and "Stormy Sunset". Gegoux was very familiar with the pacific coast near Santa Monica, having stayed there with his son Frank from approximately 1913 to 1915. At that time Gegoux was interested in capturing the "marine layer" effect of this coastal area. In this effort he would travel to the beach at Topanga Canyon and each morning observe the dominant atmospheric effect known as the "Catalina Eddy". This vortex forms periodically off Santa Catalina Island and throws marine air on shore, resulting in periods of up to a week or more when fog persists through out most of the day. Gegoux wrote of his intense dislike of the summer heat in Los Angeles, as can be seen in the header quote for this chapter. It is with some sympathy that we read Gegoux's 1925 letter from Highland Park. This writer, having lived in Southern California for these 20 years, can scarcely imagine life without air conditioning in Los Angeles. While not as hot, on most days, as Las Vegas or Phoenix, it is not difficult to visualize that someday nature may well wrest the desert back from man, and return this area to its natural state. One can only wonder how few years, after man leaves, it would be until little but crumbling buildings would remain to mark man's effort to cultivate the Southern California desert. Gegoux's suffering was little different those tens of thousands today who lack a home, let alone the where with all to afford the electricity for air conditioning. This generation has not seen a paradigm shift in the manner of man's suffering in Los Angeles. In modern day Los Angeles it is still possible to retrace Gegoux's likely route to the coast, down Sunset Boulevard to Pacific Coast Highway. Many Los Angeles residents know this as the location of Gladstones for Fish (Castellammare). Gladstones has been a popular restaurant for more than 40 years and remains one of the highest grossing restaurants in California. Just west of Gladstone's, along the beach, are seen several large rocks which are all that remain of the Castle Rock formation that Gegoux painted in 1925. Gone now is the prominent rock in Gegoux's painting. Man's love of the automobile and the right of way demands many sacrifices. One such was the dynamiting of Castle Rock, which stood between the Ocean and one more traffic lane for Pacific Coast Highway. Fortunately for history, and prior to the efforts of the highway engineers, in Gegoux's mind an opportunity presented itself to "put on record a worthy scene", which on this occasion was a Sunrise at Castle Rock. At this location Pacific Coast Highway has a contraindicated track running mostly west, which seems a paradox for a western coast. Nonetheless, such is the case. Gegoux selected a view to the east at sunrise for his "worthy scene" and likely sketched it on the beach and committed it to canvas later back in Highland Park. The formation of the beach rocks from the painting can still be seen today, while standing near the highway looking toward Gladstones. It might do well here to relate that Pacific Coast Highway itself exists due to a Supreme Court decision. Such was the degree to which the "necessity for public use and travel" was rigorously debated. Mrs. Rindge owned the entire Malibu area at that time and argued successfully for years that imminent domain did not apply. Following a Superior Court ruling, the County of Los Angeles condemned the property, under imminent domain, and used the land to construct a County Road through Mrs. Rindge's Malibu Ranch. This county road was finally opened for the public on November 3, 1921, despite the fact that the appeal was yet to be heard by the Supreme Court. On June 11, 1923, Mrs. Rindge lost her case in the highest court of our land, the United States Supreme Court, when a road easement was granted to the State of California through the Malibu Ranch. Staunchly, she claimed she was deprived of her property without due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The state highway right-of-way followed the route of the County Road in some places and in other places it was constructed parallel to it. When state employees arrived to begin work on the State Highway, they were met at the Las Flores gate by 40 of Mrs. Rindge's armed guards on horseback. The guards kept the state work crew off the ranch for three days. The State eventually was awarded title to the right-of-way through the Malibu Ranch in 1925 by the Superior Court. The final order of condemnation was issued two years later. The new state highway was named "Roosevelt Highway" (now called Pacific Coast Highway) and was opened for through traffic to the public between Santa Monica and Oxnard in June 1929. This was 22 tumultuous years after the first court action. (3) (3) The Malibu Story, 1985 by Doyle, Thomas W. et al; Malibu Lagoon Museum Therefore when Gegoux was at Topanga Beach in 1914, to paint that "worthy scene" there was not yet a County Road through Malibu and Topanga Beach would have been about as far up the coast as a visitor could travel without running into a Rindge fence or rider. The same was still true in 1915 when Gegoux painted Mountains on the Coast. However, by 1925 the County Road was in place so Gegoux, or anyone, could have travelled up the coast all the way to Oxnard. Time may yet reveal Gegoux paintings from further up the California coast. The Monterrey coast painting was signed in 1920 and was therefore not related to Gegoux's later travels in California. Highland Park also had one major benefit to Gegoux. The house he chose for a studio at 349 S. Ave 52, was directly down the hill from his son Theo's house, which was located at 1103 Monterrey Road in South Pasadena. The house on Monterrey Road was known as the Ida Longley house. Which had been the home of one of Southern California most famous Suffragettes Miss Ida Longley. Ave 52 lies along the Los Angeles river and in the shadow of the Southwest Museum. It is not known whether or not Gegoux attempted to return to Oregon, or in fact how long that he resided in Highland Park. The latest known works by Gegoux were dated 1926, which appears to be the last year he painted. However, so much of what is known about Gegoux is evidence based. It would not surprise this writer to find more information buried in as yet unidentified repositories. |
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News & Letters While at Highland Park (1925 to 1927)
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Letter - Frank Gegoux to Geo. Himes March 10,
1925 Portable Document Format (PDF)
Frank Gegoux wants to sell the Birth of Oregon.. |
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The Oregonian March 27, 1925
Painting on Exhibit |
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The Oregonian April 1, 1925
Painting Charms Bank Patrons |
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Letter - Theo. Gegoux to Guy Abernethy July 3, 1925
Gegoux wants to return to Oregon .. |
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The Oregonian October 20, 1925
Painting Funding Desired |
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The Oregonian December 11, 1925
Oregon Pioneers Association wants Painting |
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