Los Angeles preservationists have reason to celebrate this week as the landmark Hollyhock House has finally reopened following a two-year closure due to the pandemic. The poured concrete marvel, located at 4800 Hollywood Blvd. on the grounds of Barnsdall Art Park in eastern Hollywood, was Frank Lloyd Wright’s first Los Angeles commission and is currently the only area residence created by the legendary architect accessible to the public.
Both the house and surrounding park were the brainchild of millionaire oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, who relocated from Chicago to L.A. in 1915 with the hopes of establishing a community art complex complete with a theater, artist studios, actor dormitories, homes for visiting directors and a private dwelling for herself. She selected a picturesque hilltop plot for the project and promptly hired Wright to bring it to fruition.
Constructed from 1919 to 1921 with Frank’s son, Lloyd Wright, and then-fledgling architect Rudolph Schindler overseeing much of the work, Hollyhock House became the complex’s centerpiece. Featuring a formidable façade accented by Mayan and Japanese influences, with handsome friezes inspired by Aline’s favorite flower, the hollyhock, dotted throughout, the senior Wright described the property’s unique style as “California Romanza.”
Although Barnsdall and Frank butted heads throughout the build, which resulted in his eventual firing with only three of the complex’s planned structures completed, the Hollyhock House stands as one of his finest works, a glorious fortress of concrete and wood situated atop a grassy bluff overlooking virtually all of the city. As such, its influence is still felt today. The Barnsdall Art Park Foundation website deems the abode’s “innovative plan and bold aesthetic” as “catalysts for the modern California architecture movement.”
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Image Credit: Paul Cozzi, Courtesy of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Aline wound up donating the house and the surrounding 12 acres to the city in 1926 and Barnsdall Art Park was born. It was not until 1971, though, that a theater and art gallery (the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, respectively) were built on the premises and her lofty vision was fully realized. Run by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) today, the site has become a favorite area attraction, popular among locals and tourists alike thanks to its shaded tree-lined central courtyard, grassy expanses overlooking the hills of Hollywood and beyond, and countless onsite activities including gallery exhibitions and art workshops for both children and adults.
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Image Credit: Stan Ecklund, Courtesy of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Standing as the park’s showpiece is the Hollyhock House. As chronicled by Alice Friedman in her 1998 book “Women and the Making of the Modern House,” the property was “built not for the private life of a family but as a residential centerpiece in a public garden and theater complex; its large, formal spaces and evident lack of domestic feeling reflect this program. Yet in rejecting the conventions of domestic planning and searching for an unusual hybrid type, architect and client were free to push the boundaries of architecture to new limits, focusing on theatricality, on the experience of monumental form, and on the vividness of the landscape as it was framed and defined by the house.”
A shining example of Wright’s architecture, Hollyhock House is a genuine work of art. As such, it was included on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage List in 2019 and is currently the only World Heritage Site located in Los Angeles.
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Image Credit: Paul Cozzi, Courtesy of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Since being acquired by the city almost a century ago, the Hollyhock House has undergone several renovations, the most recent of which occurred throughout the 2020-2022 closure, with the DCA taking full advantage of the extended shutdown to make necessary updates and repairs. As announced by Interim General Manager Daniel Tarica in a press release, “Visitors will once again be able to appreciate this historic site in person, including expanded access through our self-guided tour program. Through the pandemic closure, staff have undertaken critical restoration projects and enhanced interpretation of the site – visitors will now see significant transformations at Hollyhock House.”
Officially reopened via a ribbon-cutting ceremony this past Thursday, the DCA and City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell are inviting the public to a Hollyhock House Lawn Party on Saturday, August 20, from 4-8 p.m. to commemorate the occasion. Highlights are set to include two performances by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, a DJ and a “flower abstraction” craft station. Hot dogs, chips and drinks will also be available for purchase, with Fort: LA providing free dogs to the first 100 guests. As the invitation notes, “Bring a picnic blanket & enjoy the sunset with us!”
Though the interior of the Hollyhock House will be closed for the event, self-guided tours are offered each Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Advanced ticket purchases are required. Those who don’t live in the area can visit the Hollyhock House virtually any time of day via its most famous film appearance in “Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death.” (And yes, that is a real movie, produced by Guacamole Films because, of course.)
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Image Credit: Castle Hill Productions In the 1989 camp classic, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Pluto TV, Freevee and a slew of other platforms, Hollyhock House plays the “secret temple” of the Piranha Women. The group, as described by “respected middle-of-the-road feminist”/ethnohistorian professor Dr. Margo Hunt (Shannon Tweed), is an “ancient commune of feminists so radical, so militant, so left-of-center they eat their men” – specifically, “They tear them into strips like beef jerky and eat them with guacamole.” Natch.
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Image Credit: Castle Hill Productions Upon first seeing the Piranha Women’s lair, purported to be located somewhere deep in the jungles of Southern California, Dr. Hunt states, “Their architecture is surprisingly advanced,” to which her jungle guide, Jim (Bill Maher), who apparently isn’t much of a Frank Lloyd Wright fan, responds, “It looks like a big Lego to me.”
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television Barnsdall Art Park itself is also a screen star. The site appears extensively as the Monterey-area community theater where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) works throughout the first season of the popular HBO series “Big Little Lies.” It is also at the park that the Trivia Night costume party takes place in the season finale and where the death at the center of the storyline occurs.
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Image Credit: Amazon Studios DEA agent Charlie Hovan (Celestino Cornielle) learns that his cover has been blown while meeting with LAPD detective Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector) in Barnsdall’s parking lot in the season six episode of “Bosch” titled “Dark Sacred Night.”
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Image Credit: ABC Wills Reid’s intro package for the fifth season of “Bachelor in Paradise” was captured at the park.
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Image Credit: ABC And the site’s Municipal Art Gallery regularly popped up in establishing shots of the Colby Collection, the art gallery run by Sable Colby (Stephanie Beacham) in the 1980s television series “The Colbys.”
Rich in architectural, film and art history, Barnsdall Art Park and the Hollyhock House are true Los Angeles gems.