Pickfair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pickfair was a Hollywood mansion designed by California architect Wallace Neff and named as an amalgamation of the names of its original residents, silent film actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.
Located at 1143 Summit Drive, in the San Ysidro Canyon near Los Angeles, California, the property was a hunting lodge when purchased by Fairbanks and Pickford in 1919.
They renovated extensively to transform the lodge into a 22 room mansion luxuriously decorated with ceiling frescos and the highest quality art and furnishings available. The property was said to have been the first private property in the Los Angeles area to include a swimming pool (set in a large formal garden).
During the 1920s the house became the focal point for social activities, and the couple became famous for entertaining there. An invitation to Pickfair was a sign of social acceptance into the closed Hollywood community, and European royalty was also accommodated and entertained at the mansion. Dinners at Pickfair were legendary; guests included George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Elinor Glyn, Helen Keller, H.G. Wells, Lord Mountbatten, Fritz Kreisler, Amelia Earhart, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joan Crawford, Noel Coward, Max Reinhardt, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Austen Chamberlain, and Sir Harry Lauder. Lauder's nephew, Matt Lauder Jr., a professional golfer whose family had a property at Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, taught Fairbanks to play golf.
Fairbanks and Pickford were divorced in January 1936, and Pickford resided in the mansion with her third husband, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, until her death in 1979. A recluse in her later years, Pickford received few visitors and the house was neglected.
It stood empty for several years after Pickford's death and was sold to Los Angeles Lakers owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, before being purchased by actress Pia Zadora and her husband Meshulam Riklis. They announced they were planning renovations to the famous building but later revealed that the house had in fact been demolished and a new larger mansion constructed in its place.
Faced with public criticism, Zadora defended her family's actions, stating that the house was in a poor state of repair, and was infested by termites.
The only remaining artifacts from the original Pickfair are the gates to the estate with their prominent P motif.
Pickfair is now owned by UNICOM Systems, Inc. as of April, 2005.
[edit] In popular culture
Zadora's purchase and subsequent demolition of Pickfair is referenced in Deborah Harry and Iggy Pop's cover version of "Well Did You Evah!". Pop claims he was invited to Pia Zadora's house but didn't go, later saying "I hear they dismantled Pickfair... wasn't elegant enough", to which Harry replies "probably full of termites".
