Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Little Landers Park & Bolton Hall
This modest and unstaffed pocket park in Tujunga has just gotten a facelift. Well, a minor one at least. But that's enough reason to celebrate with a rededication ceremony of some sort tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m.
The more interesting thing about this park is the Bolton Hall Historical Museum, which serves as a historical marker for Los Angeles' first and only community to be settled by Utopianists. Founded by William E. Smythe, a group called the Little Landers settled in. Those Landers were "an early twentieth century society of idealistic colonists who believed that families settling on an acre or two of land could support themselves and create a flourishing community."
They built Bolton Hall as a clubhouse and named it, not after a man with the last name Bolton, but rather Hall. Mr. Hall's first name was Bolton (oh those early 20th century puns!), and he was an author who inspired Smythe. The history within this park is deep and that's why we turn the teaching to The Little Landers Historical Society who runs the former City Hall space on Sundays and Tuesdays (we also expect you history nerds to chime in here).