The Garden of Allah was a famous apartment complex in West Hollywood, California, on Sunset Boulevard between Crescent Heights and Havenhurst, at the east end of the Sunset Strip. Although built in a Spanish-Moorish style of architecture, its name did not stem from Islam but from stage and screen actress Alla Nazimova, the original owner. She built her mansion there—originally known as The Garden of Alla at 8080 Sunset Boulevard. During her height of fame, it was notorious for the parties she held. Openly lesbian and permiscuous in her affairs within early Hollywood's acting community, rumours persist that she would often hold outlandish all female parties—as her film career sagged, built the complex of 25 villas around it in 1927.[1] (The complex, built around the mansion, had the address 8152 Sunset Boulevard.) Nazimova went bankrupt, however, and sold the property, but continued to live in one of the villas on the grounds. The Garden of Allah became home to many celebrities and literary figures. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived there for several months in 1937-38 at the beginning of his final sojourn in Hollywood. (He wrote himself a postcard while there: "Dear Scott -- How are you? Have been meaning to come in and see you. I have living [sic] at the Garden of Allah. Yours, Scott Fitzgerald.") Humorist/actor Robert Benchley was a frequent resident. Fitzgerald biographer and lover Sheilah Graham wrote a book about the place called The Garden of Allah (New York: Crown, 1969). In spite of the fact that it was among the landmark buildings of the west side of Los Angeles, it was torn down in June 1959 and replaced by a bank. Actor Francis X. Bushman and his wife, who had been at the opening party, attended the closing party as well.
Source of the name
In 1905, Robert S. Hichens of England published the novel Garden of Allah. The novel was adapted into a play first produced in New York City in 1909. The name of the apartment complex probably stemmed from the name of the play, and from Nazimova's first name. Mary Mannering acted in the play in 1910, and Nazimova herself performed in the play in New York in 1913.
Notes
- ^ Kally Mavromatis, Alla Nazimova - Silent Star of February 1999, Silent Star of the Month, Glen Pringle's Silent Movies site, Clayton School of Information Technology, Monash University.
