Historical Entrance Drive

William Allen rode up to the property in 1879 via this same path, widened now, in a horse drawn buggy.

Remembering his ride with J. DeBarth Shorb to the property for the first time, William Allen wrote Emily in 1878:

"The only suitable place I have seen thus far is that of 200 acres some 12 miles off. There is plenty of scope for improvement and close to it at one part are some 4,000 odd acres which might I think be had at a low price, but then as there is no water on it, it is not worth much. It would however be a capital place for galloping about on and one would not feel so shut in with such a place near as if the land were all enclosed with fences and hedges. There are none except around some gardens and orchards."

With all the homes and paving you see around you erased, a carriage ride through the native oaks is the path any visitor would follow when heading to Fair Oaks ranch out of Pasadena. And by 1879, upon turning up the drive that became pepper street, we would be immediately greeted with tidy orchards and the smell of citrus.

On your left heading up the hill is a cluster of native oak trees with pumpkins planted at their feet.  On your right and all around you, the aroma of mature oranges and lemons in a 5 and a half acre orchard surrounding you as you trot up the drive would bring a smile to most faces. Newly planted and knee sized orange seedlings neatly lie in tidy rows in your view east as you ascend the curve as it stretches northeast to a stately and new two story home coming into view on our right. 

A few hundred yards uphill and we arrive just south of where Berendo street is now and the place where William built a palatial home for his family in 1880.  The street does not perfectly align with the short road up the hill as it once was, but it is surprisingly close, honoring a graceful curve that existed in the old drive to this very day.

To our right, a two story home with a welcoming wrap-around balcony in the victorian style would be decorated with the large Allen family on the porch in greeting. Shaded by pepper trees on the west side, it looked over the southeastern corner of the ranch and its orchards and mature vineyards.

The home took about six months to build and the family came down from San Francisco to stay first at the Pico House in downtown Los Angeles and then the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel so they could be short ride away while hammers echoed across Eaton Canyon.

William had purchased the ranch from a settler named Edwards who had planted some additional grapes to compliment the rows Eaton had started a decade before. Edwards sold the ranch and left town in a hurry when the local community continued to grumble about a fire he had started to burn underbrush which had gotten out of control and burned through neighboring properties. Allen was as welcomed as the anguished Edwards was persona non grata!

He left to return to England without purchasing the land, rather, he contacted an agent in Los Angeles to pursue his interests before he left. He ended up getting a favorable price and made the purchase for the initial 200 acres in July of 1879 for 18,000 dollars in gold coin. In November of the same year, he bought another 250 acres from his neighbor on the south,James Craig.

The photographs show the entry drive at the bottom of Pepper where it meets New York, looking Northeast in earlier days as well as a Christmas table setting in the dining room in the early 1890s. Also, the Allen family sitting on the steps to their home.

The palatial home was set between modern day Pepper and Craig and some of the shade trees they planted still surround where the old foundations were placed. They wanted a view of the deep green orange trees to their east and upon moving in planted dozens of rows of seedlings to augment the current and producing orchard and enhance their view.