Charles Fletcher Lumnis, an author and historian, hiked from Cincinnati to Los Angeles in a pair of street shoes in 1885. He was offered by the L.A. Times a job as a reporter, but before that, took the nation's attention with the chronicle of his adventures and with his description of the countryside as he travelled by foot. His stories were published in his hometown newspaper in Ohio. Upon his arrival in L.A., he became the first city editor of the Times.
A do-it-yourself guy, Lumnis decided that he would live in a castle, and since Los Angeles did not have that much castles up for sale, he built his own by hand and out of stones he gathered from the river.
His home was erected on a three-acre lot which Lumnis bought in 1897. He named the property "El Alisal" in honor of the "thicket of alder and sycamore trees that grew in the arroyo." Lumnis spent 13 years to build his 4,000-square-foot abode.
Many were impressed with the castle's detail - a tower much like those we see in kingdoms, glass-plate images which he used as window panes, a basement which he himself dug, and which served as a darkroom where he printed his collection of Southwest photos.
In this house, Lumnis entertained and accommodated fellow writers, musicians, and artists. Parties were held in its exhibition hall that was made of concrete floor to make cleaning a lot easier. He even built guesthouses for guests who were to stay overnight, and these included naturalist John Muir, composer John Philip Sousa, and humorist Will Rogers.
The house was acquired by the Southwest Museum when Lumnis passed away in 1928. Later on it was sold to the state. The ownership of the castle was later transferred to the Department of Recreation and Parks. The Historical Society of Southern California moved in and made the place as its headquarters in 1965. The house was then opened to the public.
Just last year, news went around that the Society will be moving out of Lumni's property due to Los Angeles' failure to extend the lease on this historical place.
