The gateway to El Miradero. Photo copyright 2018 by Anna Boudinot.
The Brand Library and Art Center sits like a secret pearl in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains. A recent art exhibit, “The River Lethe” by Joshua Hagler, enticed me to visit the library for the first time. As I drove up the hill through Glendale’s El Miradero neighborhood, I marveled that I’d never visited that picturesque section of town before. It has an Old Hollywood style similar to that of Hancock Park, and near sunset, it was absolutely beautiful.
The first thing that caught my attention was a beautiful archway at the entrance to Brand Park. I pulled over to snap a photo, wondering about the history of the structure and the meaning of its inscription, which reads “Miradero.” As I continued up the hill I was surprised to find a gleaming white beacon of a building with Eastern arches, domes, and minarets. Not what one would expect from a public library, even one hosting a contemporary art exhibit. I soon discovered that this beautiful building has been a Glendale landmark since 1904, and it was once the private residence of Leslie and Mary Louise Brand.
Brand Library and Art Center. Photo copyright 2018 by Anna Boudinot.
Leslie Brand was a tycoon who made his fortune in utilities and real estate. He showed up in the Los Angeles area in the 1890s after stints in Missouri and Texas and decided to create a city, using the Glendale community as home base. “Lush with cash,” KCET describes, “with no government regulation or income tax to hamper him, Brand was in like Flynn. He purchased a huge chunk of the San Fernando Valley and quickly began buying up land for the right of way for an extension of the Pacific Electric railway... He also laid out a grand boulevard on either side of the railway and insisted it be named after him, pushing the commercial center from Glendale Boulevard to Brand Boulevard, and consequently infuriating many early town boosters in the process.” Whether or not the people in Glendale liked him, they owed Brand for the creation of their town: he secured water rights, bankrolled the installation of underground plumbing and a power plant, opened a telephone company, and orchestrated streetcar service from downtown LA to Glendale.
Visitors enjoying the library at sunset. Photo copyright 2018 by Anna Boudinot.
Brand himself owned over 800 gorgeous acres in Glendale, which included citrus orchards and the spot where he would build his 5000-square-foot mansion, “El Miradero.” The architecture of El Miradero was based on the East Indian Pavilion of the 1893 Chicago World's Colombian Exposition; Brand later sent an architect to India for further research in designing the house. The home, adorned with domes and crenellated arches, cost $60,000 to build, about $1.7M in today’s money. It featured thirteen rooms decorated in a Victorian style and facing a central solarium. Brand later added a tower that he adopted as his bedroom: this helped him evade higher Glendale taxes because it was located in unincorporated Los Angeles County. Taxes were levied according to the address at which you slept!
Other than tax evasion, Leslie Brand enjoyed some common rich dude hobbies, such as hiding his mistress and flying airplanes. He owned property at Mono Lake near Yosemite and was annoyed that it took so long to drive there, so he bought a bunch of airplanes and built hangars and airfields at both Mono Lake and El Miradero. (This website has some really cool photos of the Miradero airfield in the 1920s). A much-publicized “fly-in party” in 1921 had Brand’s guests arriving solely by airplane; the gates were closed to automobile traffic.
Stunning architectural detail. Photo copyright 2018 by Anna Boudinot.
Brand died in 1925 and left most of El Miradero to the City of Glendale outright; the rest went to the city upon Mary Louise’s death in 1945. The grounds of El Miradero have been converted to a park that includes a hiking trail and the cemetery in which the Brands are buried. The Brand Library and Art Center, listed on the Glendale Register of Historic Resources, opened in 1956 and was renovated in 2012. The gorgeous Indo-Saracenic architecture of the building is intact. Today it houses one of Glendale’s public libraries – which some say is haunted by Brand– and an art gallery that features rotating exhibitions free to the public.
After enjoying my experience with “The River Lethe” that recent summer evening, I stopped outside of the building to photograph it right as the sun was setting. The park was full of joggers, picnicking families, and people walking dogs. Others sat on the steps of the library, simply enjoying the same peaceful view that the Brands had undoubtedly once enjoyed. I have to admit that Leslie Brand, despite spending his life in self-indulgent decadence, had in death provided peasants like me a beautiful public space in which to enjoy the beauty of Southern California.
Sign me up for the next fly-in party.