THE ALTADENA COUNTRY CLUB

compiled by Mike Manning

The history of the Altadena Town & Country Club is one of survival through years of tumult, reorganization, and financial disarray. Through it all the Club has come to be one of the shining gems of social activity in the hillside community of unincorporated Altadena.

Altadena sits at the foot of the Sierra Madre Mountains as a large community of homes, to quote its Chamber of Commerce, stretching across eight and a half square miles that is home to some 12,700 homes, and residence to some 42,000 residents. It's beginnings were humble, but not meager. It became the retreat of millionaires, and a hideaway for the most recluse.

Its pioneers were some of the wealthiest men in America who had found continued success in Southern California and yet remained benefactors to their new community. Among these were the five members of the Altadena Improvement Association who incorporated the Altadena Country Club as a cooperative organization in 1911. They were: A. F. Gartz, Leigh Guyer, A. E. Crowley, Clinton Walker, and John Bishop Coulston.

A. F. Gartz was a plumbing magnate from Chicago who married Kate Crane, daughter of Robert Crane of the Crane Plumbing Company. Their home was the Cloister at Altadena Drive and Santa Rosa adjacent to the Girl Scout Camp Mariposa left by them to their daughter Gloria Gartz. John Bishop Coulston, was president of AIA, owner of the Maryland Hotel in Pasadena, and lived at 1040 E. New York Drive.

The site was readily selected and two five-acre lots, one on the Mendocino Bluff and one in the Rubio Wash, were purchased from Francis Beckwith. Beckwith was an immigrant from Yorkshire, England who, while still in Texas, met David Macpherson, chief engineer of the Mount Lowe Railway, and was talked into settling to Altadena. Beckwith opened the Altadena Highland Dairy near Mariposa and Maiden Lane in 1885. According to his granddaughter Margaret Sanders, the two lots is where Beckwith used to grow corn for his cows.

Another large parcel was acquired from the Porter Ranch. Lafayette S. Porter came to Altadena in 1883, first purchasing a large parcel on the east bluff of the wash for his mother, Hannah Porter. This is the property just east of Holliston making up parts of Braeburn, Boulder and Page streets. Porter purchased a second parcel that ran from Mendocino St. north to Loma Alta, and from the Rubio Wash to Tanoble (then Woodward) Street. He named this parcel "Homewood." A third parcel was purchased below Mendocino and this was acquired to establish the golf course.

In 1911 a small one-room clubhouse was designed by one J. J. Blick and built on the Mendocino Bluff at a cost of $10,510. It became the venue for many a social event. There was, however, before them an enormous task of clearing, filling and top soiling the 115-acre, 18-hole golf course. Laid out by one Mr. Watson, the course ran from the clubhouse on the bluff to the corner of Allen Avenue and from Mendocino Street south to roughly Morada Street. No sooner was the job completed when a Santa Ana wind scoured to topsoil off the course and down into Pasadena. It wasn't ready for play until the summer of 1912.

Around the same time (1912-1913) the Pacific Electric Railway laid a track spur from the Lake Avenue line along Mendocino Street to the corner at Allen where the new residential development of Altadena Country Club Parks had just opened. This is the development on which the famous Balian Mansion stands, though it was not built until 1927. It has become a question to railroad buffs, how enough pressure from the developers - and possibly the club members - was put on the PE to have the line laid. It is nevertheless obvious that this would be a great inroad from Pasadena via the Lake Avenue short line.

At Country Club Parks there were supposed to have been some small bungalows built adjunct to the Country Club. These were strictly arrangements for retiring as they had no kitchen provisions, and guests were expected to eat at the Club. Several stories about these bungalows have baffled local historians in recent years. Some suggested that the La Solana development one block north of the clubhouse consisted of these bungalows since the kitchen facilities in these houses were so small. A local realtor-historian debunked this myth saying there was no historical evidence that such was the case. Others say that the homes across from the front door were bungalows, but the architecture and varigated styles do not lend support to this theory either.

In 1913 a three-day rainstorm sent a torrent of water down the Rubio Wash which in turn deposited a pile of mud and rock into neighboring Pasadena. Pasadenans threatened to sue the club for the damages but later dismissed the occurrence as an Act of God. Meanwhile the club had to do some $10,000 of repair to the course. Later that same year a sudden gust of wind blew into the open air section of the clubhouse upending a card party that was under way, and ripping the roof off the building. Thereafter, the club was enlarged and closed off to the weather.

The club remained active with social events and golfing, but costs of upkeep piled onto the costs of development, and by 1917 the organization fell into bankruptcy to the tune of $200,000. Around this time, a new-comer to Altadena, one A. M. Andrews, a wealthy promoter by profession, interested the president John Coulston in purchasing a partnership in the California Hotel Association. Coulston owned the Maryland Hotel in Pasadena which was already part of the association, and the sport of golf was an important activity to the winter guests of the Maryland as well as other Pasadena hotels. The two drew up an agreement on March 20, 1920 making Coulston president of the hotel association and Andrews president of the club. Andrews changed the name of the club to the Pasadena Golf Club as a means of attracting guests to the course. The club also held options on additional land to the south of the course.

This picture and the one at the top of this page depict the
Altadena Country Club at a time when it was named
the Pasadena Golf Club (1920 - 1932)

There does, however, exist a separate yet related story to that of the Country Club. In 1919 Dennis M. Linnard, owner of the parent company to the Maryland Hotel, movie mogul Cecil B. Demille and the Pasadena Board of Trade (an old title for Chamber of Commerce) had prepared an ersatz municipal airport at the southeast corner of the golf course with the help of Pasadena City employees and those of the Mercury Aviation Company, owned by Demille. The concept was that of making this the first in a series of municipal airports operated in conjunction with the Southern California Hotel Association by which state-wide intercity airport service could be provided with one phone call. The local taxi service was coordinated between Mercury Aviation and the C. C. Tanner Auto Service of Pasadena.

Official opening day ceremonies were held at the Country Club on September 4, 1919 with guests of honor Gloria Swanson, Cecil B. Demille and Leroy Linnard. Three Mercury Aviation pilots thrilled the crowds with aerobatics including a simulated WWI dog fight.

The airport also offered flying lessons between scheduled flights. Mrs. F. T. Brand of Altadena was the first woman to sign up with the idea of becoming the first aviatrix to fly from coast to coast. History knows that Amelia Earhart made that flight instead.

With aviation as young and undeveloped as it was, the whole intercity airport program received little public support and by 1921 Mercury Aviation was forced to dissolve. At that the property on which the airport was located was more valuable and attractive to residential development.

After a year of failure to see any improvement in the club's status, its operation was reverted to the five members of the Altadena Improvement Association, they now being Theodore Smith, O. E. Keller, E. L. Martin, F. A. Wood, and Frederick C. Nash. Nash was a Pasadena merchant, founder of Nash's Department Store in Pasadena, and president of the Pasadena Kiwanis Club who founded and sponsored the original Christmas Tree Lane.

From 1925 to 1927 club membership had grown to over 300, and in 1927 borrowed $300,000 to build a more adequate clubhouse. Though many historians report that a completely new building was erected, newspaper articles of the period reported that the existing structure was again remodeled and enlarged under the design of club member David A. Ogilvie at a cost of $121,000. There are clues in the buildings superstructure that indicate the original building was remodeled.

In a contrasting turn of events, by 1932 the Great Depression had reduced membership and income so acutely that First Savings and Trust Bank was forced to foreclose on the club's mortgage. From there it took over management under the name of the Altadena Golf Club with hopes of making it a profitable venture for once. Nevertheless, participation continued to drop off and the cost of operation rose so that by 1944 the bank was ready to sell the property.

With an asking price of $175,000, it seemed there could be an opportunity for Altadenans to retrieve the club. Los Angeles County had expressed an interest in buying the golf course with an offer of $125,000 if a group of citizens headed by Mr. Rollin Dixon could raise the $50,000 needed to acquire the remaining five acres and the clubhouse.

As fast as anything could be planned, a Mrs. Alexander Kerr, vice-president of the midwest-based Westmont College, a religious institution, had quickly put up the money and taken ownership of the entire property. With a little luck in acquiring rezoning, she could move her college and its 149 students to Altadena. She obtained 779 signatures on a petition which lead to one of the largest community hearings recorded to date. On January 17, 1945, 900 residents met at Eliot Junior High School, and after a 3-1/2 hour debate, voted down Mrs. Kerr's proposal 700 to 150.

With that defeat Mrs. Kerr cleared the clubhouse of all its furnishings and utensils - to the plate - and sold the eastern 55-acre portion of the golf course for a small, yet undisclosed fortune. She then sold the remaining 60 acres of golf course to the County for the $125,000 they originally proposed, and the clubhouse to Mr. Dixon for $50,000. From this time the Altadena Town & Country Club took its name and from the year 1946 does it track its anniversaries.

Robert M. Campbell was elected Club President and Rollin Dixon secretary. The first of their meetings, given the lack of furniture, was held using crates and cartons as seats and table tops. Immediate plans were made to develop fund raising activities for the purposes of refurnishing the building. At the same time many of the members with creative skills and ingenuity hand-crafted some of the items needed to re-equip the club, such as drapes, doilies and table cloths fashioned by several of the ladies.

At the Valentine Inaugural Dinner held on February 14, 1947, President Campbell was prepared to announce the April First start date for construction of a new and larger swimming pool. On the same day, the County was to begin building a new nine-hole golf course on the adjacent property. Not only was the pool completed at the cost of $20,000, but three tennis courts were added as well.

In 1948 the Women's Division of the Club was established to continue organizing fund raising projects such as bake sales and bazaars. Mrs. Kathryn Shank served as the Division's first president.

It took nearly two years to furnish the house and equip the kitchen, and another year to acquire a permanent liquor license. During all this time club activities continued to increase. In 1949, Club Classics, a fine arts program, was holding monthly music recitals and motion picture viewing after Sunday dinner. In 1950 they held their highly successful Annie Oakley Night. There were family dinners, round-the-world dinners, and celebrity dinners with famous guests like Norman Rockwell and Hedda Hopper.

By 1951 membership had reached the 1927 high of 300, and by 1954 they boasted 390 members. Yet the work habits of members persisted. In 1954 when the pool needed maintenance and repairs, a small work committee, which included a couple of Olympic swimming champions, worked through the night spending only $168 for materials. In 1957 the bar and card room were modernized and the pool was decked and heated. In 1962 two new tennis courts were added along with the front and lower parking lots.

And, as history would have it, this story is to be continued.