This here video, The Oakridge Estate, is Wandrlust’s inaugural post for what should be a myriad of pleasant video content that will be found exclusively here at Wandrlust… through the You Tube…
You know what I love? I love spending all this time editing some HD footage so I can turn around and make it look like absolute ass on You Tube. That isn’t to say that this inaugural video for this here Wandrlust doesn’t have it’s own share of flaws within its hopefully brisk 5 minutes and 41 seconds.
The video above can be enjoyed without context (hopefully), but instead of making it 2 minutes longer and less interesting, I will provide the context within these texts. I will also provide some links here that will give a very thorough overview of the contentious situation regarding the Oakridge Estate. For those of you who are not as thoroughly invested I will summarize:
The prolific architect Paul R. Williams, who is responsible for iconic LA landmarks such as the Beverly Hills Hotel and the LAX Theme Building, designed the Oakridge Estate. The Oakridge Estate is located in the suburban wasteland of Northridge which is now more known for its homogeneity and famous 1994 earthquake than the old Hollywood Estates of yore. Oakridge is the last of these homes standing in Northridge, which used to boast residents such as Lucille Ball, William Holden, and the famed Von Sternberg Residence built by Richard Neutra — all of which have been demolished.
The estate itself, once the home of legendary Femme Fatale Barbara Stanwyck (of Double Indemnity, Lady Eve, and Forty Guns fame) later changed hands to Oscar nominated actor Jack Oakie.
Upon Oakie’s death, his wife bequeathed the property to USC who in my opinion should never be given anything of architectural merit. USC owns Frank Lloyd Wright’s Freeman House, which I toured in 2006 and it was in such piss poor condition it was borderline depressing. USC, who doesn’t know what to do with Oakridge, is planning on selling the property to a developer to build a much needed tract development, something very uncommon in this area… I freely admit I am not versed in the good USC has done, but seeing the neglectful state of Wright’s Freeman House and their handing over a historic property to a developer, my faith in their efforts, in terms of preservation, is basically zero. In regards to Oakridge it seems as though USC has never formally done anything with the estate apart from the strange maintenance referenced in the video.
[Side note: On USC’s own website; their profile of Paul Williams’ buildings neglects to mention The Oakridge Estate under private residences, this in spite of the fact that they own the house.]
I tried to check out the Oakridge Estate a couple of years back but the gate did its job of keeping me out. But with the slight media attention it was given (a single article in the LA Times and further coverage of that article on the blog, Here in Van Nuys) I took matters into my own hands, of steel…
Also, when you are watching, lets try to ignore the annoying clicking sound of the mic, my heavy panting, body, or horrifying sweaty look derived from the 100 degree temperatures of that day. As for now — enjoy Wandrlust Presents: The Oakridge Estate.
The Oakridge Estate is located at :18650 Devonshire St., Northridge, CA 91324
Beautiful video… Bee-C-P, genius.
I never realized how much you look like a mix between Tom Hanks and a hairy guy with a microphone.
Really though, it was great.
If the Spellings can have a gift wrapping room, I can;t imagine why anyone would find my Dead Bee Room so unusual. It was quite the talk of the town in its day.
- Mrs. Oakridge
What you probably don’t realize is that advent of photography can largely be credited to the vanity of Baroque era statesmen and the fact that horses are very hard to draw.
Was that a horse jawbone?
“Get a picture of me on my horse”
fantastic
It has always amazed me how people go to such incredible lengths for their 15 minutes of fame. You see, USC does not own the Oakie Estate any longer. As instructed by Mrs. Oakie, the property was sold to fund a CHAIR IN COMEDY at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. To further enlighten you, the residence has not been abandoned since the 1970′s. One other thing… Do you have any idea what a locked gate means? It means you are trespassing, but that obviously doesn’t mean much. Perhaps we might invade your property one day. Should you one day be interested a real tour of the home, without the bees, let me know. Until then, it’s not real wise to film yourself while trespassing. Have a nice day!
WOW…the chute is a DUMB-WAITER…google it. The other DUMB thing is that you don’t know what you are talking about and that you were also DUMB enough to film yourself trespassing and then breaking and entering. I guess fifteen inutes of fame on You-Tube is life changing. If you would like the factual information about the home from the other side of the gate let me know.
Dear David Sonne,
I am glad you enjoyed the video I posted. The 15 minutes of fame that I have achieved from The Oakridge video (which has netted a whopping 300+ views to date! as opposed to the roughly 6 million views of classics like two cats talking) has indeed been a life changing experience.
I learned that no matter the great lengths one takes to obviously present something in a in a satirical and humorous fashion, there is someone out there who either doesn’t think it is funny, or as in your case, doesn’t get that intention.
I know what Dumb-waiter is – as much as I am aware that the paintings in living room do not depict a gentleman taking a photo with his “Canon Elph”. I am well versed in the history of the home and take preservation very seriously. Unfortunately most people, especially people my age, don’t put preservation as high on their list of worries or interest. That being said, I attempt to present fairly high brow material in a low brow style as a way to expose people to more interesting and rich subjects as opposed to writing about the opulent indulgences of celebrity types (which is where the majority of online traffic seems to go, right under pornography of course. To each their own).
Your redundancy is a bit tiresome. I like your subtle variation of the exact same point written in a progressively worse fashion. Except it looks as though the second time around you were writing about “15 inutes of fame” which I guess is a new form of fame derived from the Native American Eskimo tribe, the Inuits. You are seemingly so ahead of the curve, I didn’t even know about it! Unfortunately, I think my 15 inutes are up.
As to the specific information about the home, you clearly have some sort of vested interest in the property that you either aren’t fully letting onto or are pretending to have (I have to make assumptions by the information presented, sorry Sir Sonne) but to be clear I will address the points you are making.
The one clear error I made in the video (not in the text) was that the house has been abandoned since the 70s, this was a reading error I made. Oakie had died in the 70s and his wife continued to live in the home until she bequeathed the property to USC in 2001. So I stated that falsely in the video, I wanted to edit it out, but I kept it in there for audio continuity, so I live with that error everyday.
That being said you clearly didn’t read the text following the video. I say tiresome redundancy because:
1. You made the same point twice, but also because;
2. You presented points to me that were either in the body of my text and in a more specific form in the LA Times article linked from my site. On my site I stated very clearly that further context and depth could be derived from the linked articles. I guess you either didn’t see that or assume that I am blindly linking articles I source in both the video and the text?
Whether you contend with the information presented by the LA Times is a whole other point but You, see (as you so condescendingly put) everything you seemed to think I didn’t know could be found in my article or the linked Times article:
David Sonne: “You see, USC does not own the Oakie Estate any longer. As instructed by Mrs. Oakie, the property was sold to fund a CHAIR IN COMEDY at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.”
My Article: “Upon his Oakie’s death, his wife bequeathed the property to USC…”
I really appreciate the depth but I caught that tid-bit from the LA Times article I linked that I read back in August when I was published.
So you missed that too, no hard feelings.
At the time when I wrote this article the property, as far as I had known, was still in limbo as to whether or not USC was going to sell it to a developer. After publishing the post I came across this article:
http://www.americassuburb.com/oakie_estate_to_be_developed_1.php
Which goes into depth about the proposed development and links a source article that goes into even further depth (although you have to pay for that article in the archives). As I wrote in my post, there are literally about 5 articles to be found on the entire web about the Oakridge Estate, because I had the same wishes as Mr. Oakie for this historic property as the Times puts it: “the radio and movie comedian battled to preserve low-density agricultural zoning around the home” and his wife who quoted in the same article saying to city officials; “I feel it is too beautiful to be torn down when I’m gone”. Since the matter was garnering little or no press coverage, and no one really gave a shit, I took the matters into my own hands, which leads to the trespassing…
Your pretty irate remarks involving my “alleged” trespassing of the property leads me to believe you have something to do with USC, the developer, or some factor involving the Estate. That being said, I felt that it was my only way to bring an important issue to people who would otherwise not know about the subject, but since the video has only been viewed 300 or so times, I might have been a little idealistic, but I did try.
The poor home which is the very LAST classic Hollywood estate in the area is just sitting there with no purpose, has now been sold to developers so that 29 new homes can be built on the site, maybe the Oakridge Estate can make a really cool guard gate!
Thanks for your informative rehashing of information and if my property is ever left abandoned for a few years, you’ll be the first one to get an invite!
Love,
Phil Donohue
Wandrlust.net
Thank you for your reply. I did indeed get your intention. My sense of humor, so people tell me, is incredible. Had I not known Mrs. Oakie I might have thought it funny. A bit crude, but funny. I am not connected with USC nor am I a developer. I am a Trustee with the Jack Oakie and Victoria Horne Oakie Charitable Foundation. Oddly enough, we fund scholarships to children attendng summer camps to students attending Universities. They all have one thing in common…they study film, dance, writing or theatre. If you ever become a legitimate filmmaker perhaps we could help fund one of your peices. My involvement began some 22 years ago when I met Mrs. Oakie. She and my family became very close during the last 22 years of her life. If you truly are interested in the facts, let me know. I would be happy to invite you to one or several lectures or events funded by the Foundation. Oddly enough, some do take place at USC and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Perhaps you would like to read one of the five boks Mrs. Oakie penned. The home was indeed sold to Lennar builders and subsequently fell out of escrow. Trimark moved in and bought the home and the property. The home is a Cultural Heritage Monument and therefore must be retained where and how it stands. In fact, the city has just provided funding to purchase the home from Trimark and plans are to reconfigure some of the rooms inside, including the dumb-waiter, to facilitate a cultural center and perhaps a North Valley Film Museum. Ther is NOBODY more interested in preserving that property than me! But…in the end…perhaps I was a bit harsh…trespassing and breaking and entering, under the guise that USC had invited you??? Think what you may, but whatever the reason you went in…you shouldn’t have. By the way, the pool is still serviced each week and the lawn has been left to die due to the $2000. per month water bill to water the nearly 11 acres. One more point, I did speak to Bob Pool after reading his inaccurate article and congratulated him on keeping with the Los Angeles Times credo…”ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS” Oh yes, before I forget, here is the “m” I owe you from the word minute. The reason you received two comments is due to the fact that when I clicked on submit it asked me for a word to be typed in a box…the word never appeared so I wasn’t certain you had received my input. Thank you for your time.
Now that you are being more forthright Mr. Sonne, we can actually have a conversation. Since you are the trustee of their foundation it is clear that you might not take kindly to the alleged ways I went about doing my video.
Why you would make cheap shots as opposed to being upfront about your interest in the property is a bit confounding but nonetheless I’m glad we can now clear some things up.
Unless I am say, you, I don’t have the information you claim as the truth in this matter. I get my information from sources and articles available to me, the issues you take with the LA Times, although they may be well founded, are certainly based on your closeness to the Oakie’s and their trust. Which I understand but I do feel like it creates a very obvious bias in the information being presented. That isn’t to say I don’t believe you over the Times or vice versa, I just think in order to get the real story out there – it would be helpful if you could clarify some details.
I don’t doubt you are interested in preserving the house but as per the available articles there isn’t much information counter to the property being developed and the home itself being threatened. Although I am very glad to hear that Northridge is putting up money to put a museum or something to that affect there, it is very depressing to see a property like that taken over by 29 homes. The area has lost so many other priceless properties throughout the years to development and where once one home could stand, now 29 will stand creating more density in a high traffic area with no mass transportation. I do very much hope that the home itself will end up refurbished and back to its original glory.
My curiosity still lies with this pool though. With all the issues with the interior of the home, it is a very strange thing to maintain a pool once a week. Is it some sort of tax credit thing? As you know I swam in that pool, and I did so not as a stunt but because it was so welcoming, clean, and pretty. Its unfortunate to see the home neglected while the pool is dealt with once a week.
If you would like to help fund any other projects of mine or at least help with a follow up piece on the home let me know.
Phil Donohue
Wandrlust.net
Mr. Sonne – Get A Life!!!!
so i can finally say i know what is behind those mysterious gates on Devonshire! i used to dream as a little girl that i would win a million dollars and buy that property and open it up as a homeless shelter. guess i would need more than 1 million though. i am excited to see that Northridge is doing its part in moving forward with preservation, that is stellar indeed. as a Chatsworth resident most of my life (no laughter please), i was sad to see the Ball/Arnaz ranch destroyed to make way for a “better” structure and playground for the school that is on that site on Devonshire and Oakdale. i would also like to mention that above Mason park in Chatsworth (not the montaria estates), there among the ranch style homes is another Barbara Stanwyck (sp?) home, still preserved and currently lived in. it was purchased about 3 years ago by the one and only Marilyn Manson as his “quiet” home, but he sold it soon after to a private owner who is residing there now. you can still see the tall tree line that once lined Ms. Stanwyck’s driveway but are now residing in other people’s yards. chatsworth and northridge have quite a unique history and i am glad to see i am not the only one who cares! great video by the way, i laughed the whole time and am super glad you didn’t get stung. oh yeah and go bruins.
-marissa
Thank you very much Marissa. I agree that Chatsworth and Northridge have a very rich and often overlooked history. This video was supposed to be a segment in a grander more ambitious video about the unique architecture of the Northwest Valley. Specifically, Granada Hills (the Eichler Tract), Northridge, Chatsworth and North Hills. I got a lot of great stuff but felt like the video would be a bit over long for the internet. Soon I hope to release a sort of Out-take Reel from this video as well as including the material mentioned above. I wouldn’t hold your breath as this site has clearly been on the back burner for awhile but expect more great footage from the Oakridge Estate in the near future. Also that is really interesting information of the other Stanwyck (you spelled it right) property and if you can divulge some more information in regards to the address and such I promise not to break in haha. Thanks for you sentiments and glad I could give you a tour! Look for more to come. – Phil
Phil…Long time no speak! I hope all is well. The Marilyn Manson property was never owned or occupied by Barbara Stanwyck. After selling what is now the Oakie Estate (the Trimark Estate) she moved South and never again resided in the North Valley.
We have a couple of lectures scheduled in the fall (both pertain to comedy in film), and I am happy to still offer you an invitation to one or both. Let me know. Thank you. David
Thank you for the view from behind those gates I pass almost every day. Your volley with Mr. Sonne is equally educational.
Let’s hope for the best for this architectural gem to be re-vitalized (and de-bee-d) soon!
Please also report on the Eichler tract. It seems as though much more attention would be paid to these properties if they weren’t in the *818* area code!
Cheers, MAS