History
The Laurel Canyon area was inhabited by the local Tongva tribe of Native Californians before the arrival of the Spanish. A spring-fed stream that flowed year round provided water. It was that water that attracted Mexican ranchers who established sheep grazing on the hillsides in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. After the Mexican government was ejected, the area caught the attention of Anglo settlers interested in water rights. Around the turn of the 20th century, the area was subdivided and marketed as mountain vacation properties.
Between 1912 and 1918, a trackless electric trolley ran up the canyon from Sunset Boulevard to the base of Lookout Mountain Road where a road house served visitors. Travel to the newly subdivided lots and cabins further up the canyon was at first made on foot or by mule. As the roads were improved access was possible by automobile.
Around 1920, a local developer built the Lookout Mountain Inn at the summit of Lookout Mountain and Sunset Plaza roads, which burned just a few years after opening.
Among the famous places in Laurel Canyon are the log cabin house once owned by silent film star Tom Mix that later became home to the Zappa clan, and another (directly across the street) that magician Harry Houdini may have lived in.
Laurel Canyon found itself a nexus of counterculture activity and attitudes in the 1960s, becoming famous as home to many of L.A.'s rock musicians, such as Frank Zappa; Jim Morrison of The Doors; The Byrds; Buffalo Springfield; and Love. Joni Mitchell, living in the home in the Canyon that was immortalized in the song, Our House, written by her then-lover Graham Nash, would use the area and its denizens as inspiration for her third album, Ladies of the Canyon. That bohemian spirit endures today, and residents gather annually for a group photograph at the country market.
Laurel Canyon has been mentioned in many films and novels of Los Angeles, including Laurel Canyon written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko in 2002, and is the subject of a number of books (see Further reading, below).
Laurel Canyon is mentioned in the 2007 song "White Jumpsuit", by Mary Edwards.
Laurel Canyon was also featured in the 2003 film Wonderland, which chronicled the 1981 Wonderland Murders that occurred at 8763 Wonderland Avenue in the Canyon, involving porn star John C. Holmes and reputed gangster Eddie Nash. The Wonderland Massacre has been described as one of the bloodiest mass murders in California history.
Read more about this topic: Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles
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