ok, this is a hidden gem.
a moorish early 20th century quasi-castle, quasi-temple hidden in hollywood somewhere between beachwood canyon and the hollywood dell.
i've said it before, but most cities are populated by remarkable architecture that's pretty easy to find (chrysler building, st. peters, kremlin, big ben, etc). l.a is populated by about a million hidden gems, like this utterly odd and remarkable house. i found it once, i'm not sure i'd be able to find it again (kind of like brigadoon), as it's located on a tiny, odd, winding, little street.
i believe it also ties neatly into the theosophical/spiritualist history of beachwood canyon:
Alternative Religions, from Theosophy to Scientology: A Hollywood Tradition
it's amazing that there's so much free floating apocrypha in a city that was fairly sparsely populated up until 100 years ago.
l.a is so odd. everything's hidden here. which is probably why a lot of people dislike l.a, as all of the good stuff is away from the center and kind of (or very) hidden. it's the anti-city city. the center of l.a is usually pretty gross (or have you driven by pink dot on sunset at 2pm in the afternoon recently?). and the outskirts are usually pretty beautiful.
this gem isn't even in the outskirts of l.a. it's hidden right in the middle of hollywood, 5 minutes from the crack dealers on hollywood blvd. i think that's why i love old hollywood so much. it's byzantine and baffling and only ugly if you glance at the surface. underneath the grim surface of hollywood is some of the most interesting and odd and baffling urban architecture on the planet.
or perhaps you know of other cities with moorish residences surrounded by pine and palm trees that are a 5 minute walk to auto parts stores and film studios and crack dealers?
if you're inclined to dismiss l.a as a place of unrelenting vapidity and generic 1980's architecture then your'e doing yourself and l.a a huge disservice and you're just not looking hard enough. the ugly stuff in l.a is really easy to find. the beautiful/odd/interesting stuff (and there's a lot of it) is hard to find, hidden, and really architecturally/anthropologically/archaelogically compelling.
to wit: this gem:
-moby