| In November of 1925, Lakeside Golf Club of Hollywood opened, flanked by Toluca Lake to the North, the Los Angeles River and Universal Studios to the South and Warner Brothers Studios to the East. It’s proximity to Hollywood and the studios made it the favorite golf course for legendary stars such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, John Wayne and many others. The original structure, a rustic and rambling Spanish Colonial Revival clubhouse, was designed by architect William Lee Woollett, Sr., best known for his design of the Million Dollar Theater (1917-18) in downtown Los Angeles and the Metropolitan Theater (1921-23), LA’s largest movie theater until it was torn down in 1963. William L. Woollett, Jr. also worked on the project, having recently completed an internship with James Gamble Rogers in New York City in 1924.
Over the years a number of additions and modifications altered the original clubhouse beyond recognition. The entrance was moved from the lakeside on the North to the parking lot on the East, for more direct access from Barham Blvd. and Olive Ave. This change was purely utilitarian, and the new public face of the club was neither welcoming nor representative of the club’s status among private golf clubs in the area. In the book “The Spirit of St Andrews”, Lakeside had been described as “one of the world’s greatest golf courses.” While the course itself improved with age, the clubhouse structure was woefully degraded by functional but insensitive alterations. The club maintained its glamorous Hollywood history, but its public face was a nondescript parking lot and a small, wedge shaped, 1960s Porte-cochere.
This project sought to reintroduce some of the charm of the original club by re-establishing an entry sequence, including a re-design of the parking lot and Porte-cochere. Current functional requirements necessitated a scale that was larger than the 1920s original Entry, but the details and simplicity of the design recalls the spirit of the original. A fountain was added to mark the entrance and center an automobile turnaround at the Porte-cochere, where 16”x24” rough timbers span 36 feet. Trees, planting, walkways and paving patterns break up the scale of the parking lot and define an entry sequence for pedestrians, referencing details of traditional Andalusian streetscapes. To the north of the parking lot, strategically located overlooks and seating areas frame views of Toluca Lake, accentuating a formerly lost relationship of the club entrance to the lake, while screening car headlights from homes across the water. The Budget for the project, which included the Entrance / Parking Lot / Porte-cochere, was $1.5 million. |
