When the Stars Came to Northridge, They Left Hollywood's Glitter Behind

Back in 1937, when Northridge was all open space and fields and Reseda Boulevard ended at a two-lane dirt road called Devonshire Street, actress Barbara Stanwyck was one of the many Hollywood celebrities who built homes in the area.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz built a home down the street. So did actor William Holden and actress Janet Gaynor. And Studio mogul Harry Warner had a working ranch in Woodland Hills, to name a few.

Stanwyck's home, the Oakridge Estate, later known as the “Oakie House,” designed by noted architect Paul R. Williams, has been rescued as a piece of Los Angeles history.

The 6,000-square-foot house is hidden today behind a rickety wooden gate, a fence, a hedge, and beside a Rydell auto dealership near Devonshire and Reseda. It consists of a two-story house, with two fireplaces, a swimming pool, a tennis court, and was designated a Los Angeles historic monument in 1990.

The house was most recently owned by the late comic actor Jack Oakie and his wife Victoria Horne. After Horne passed away in 2003, developers sought to buy the acreage surrounding the estate to build 28 homes.

However, after the developers went bankrupt and the economy deteriorated, former Councilmember Greig Smith was able to purchase both the house and the land surrounding it through Quimby funds for the City of Los Angeles.

Pat LoPresti, outreach committee chair for the Oakridge Estate Park Advisory Board (PAD) said the Department of Recreation and Parks considers preserving the estate to be important, because the estate is a piece of Northridge’s past.

“This is the history of the San Fernando Valley, back when there were groves of citrus trees everywhere and movie stars congregated in this Northridge area to get away from the Hollywood lifestyle,” LoPresti said.

LoPresti described touring the house as taking a trip through time.

“It’s like stepping back in time in another era,” LoPresti said. “When you walk through the front door you feel like you’re in another world.”

Over the years, very little renovation or modification has been done to home, so when it is eventually open for tours, visitors will be able to see the home in its original state: large rooms with hardwood floors, a dumbwaiter in the pantry area, a marble bathtub.

“It looks like someplace a movie star would live,” LoPresti said. “We just got access to some marvelous pictures from Life magazine photoshoot there in ’37. It looks just amazing after she moved in,” LoPresti said.

Right now the estate is waiting for Prop. K funding to begin the restoration process of the house and surrounding lands, to open it up for the community.

LoPresti said project organizers are hoping to get $1 million to $1.5 million to preserve and restore the house and park through Prop K funds and fundraising through Friends of Oakridge, a nonprofit.

In the meantime, LoPresti said there is still progress going on.

In June the Park Advisory Board announced that two rooms of the house will be rehabilitated for a caretaker to reside.

LoPresti said that the board hopes to have that ready by the end of the year.

“Adding a caretaker means that the house will have greater security, someone there to begin taking care of the exterior and maybe some repair work,” LoPresti said

In addition, a preliminary conceptual plan for the estate was created in 2011, which would open up the house for docent tours, community events, and for  rental to small organizations to generate revenue. The plan also provides for nature-oriented hiking and walking trails on the estate’s property plus a film museum in the house.

LoPresti is excited to see the property restored.

“I envision it as a premiere historic park in Los Angeles, that people will travel to come and tour the house or attend an event, and get that same feeling of stepping back in time and also to give people a beautiful quiet park to sit and read, watch birds, or draw,” LoPresti said.  

For now the estate committee continues to dig into the history of the house.

“We’re always doing research on the house and the design and what it was used for,” LoPresti said.

One of the most interesting things for LoPresti was to learn that the property was actually once part of a 130-acre thoroughbred breeding ranch that Stanwyk owned with Zeppo Marx, who was both her agent and one of the comedy Marx Brothers.

“It kind of blew me away,” LoPresti said.

Their Marwyck Ranch was purchased by John H. Ryan in 1943 and renamed Northridge Farms. He continued to breed thoroughbreds there until 1965 when the ranch, barns, and horses were sold.

LoPresti said the estate has worked closely with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to learn more about the horses that were bred at the ranch. 

“They’ve been so excited, they’ve connected us with Santa Anita and Del Mar tracks to find information what horses were there, what breeding was going on,” LoPresti said.

However, since the California Thoroughbred Breeding Association (CTBA) didn’t come into existence until the mid 1940s, LoPresti said much of the information about the original horses is still a mystery.

The CTBA was able to provide photographs of the ranch back when it was active, which LoPresti said the estate will be posting later this summer on its website.

“It will give people an idea of what the ranch looked like,” LoPresti said. “It was modeled after a Kentucky farm with acres of white painted fences and big pastures and paddock areas.”

In addition to its history in horses, the estate also has a history in films. LoPresti said the estate has been featured in more than 40 movies.

Most famously, the estate appears in, This Marriage Business (1938), Sporting Blood (1940) starring  Clark Gable, The Story of Seabiscuit (1949) starring Shirley Temple, and Blue Grass of Kentucky (1950).

For more information on the estate, the Oakridge Estate Park Advisory Board will be having presentation at Northridge library with photographs and updates on the restoration progress 1 to 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 20.

If you're interested in learning more or donating for the estate's restoration, visit theoakridgeestate.org or contact oakridgepab@gmail.com.

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