I do this a lot, trying to find remnants of golden age golf from the California school,
It's haunting to research, go looking and finding remnants of what once was. Just haunting, knowing Max Behr, George Thomas, Alister MacKenzie, Robert Hunter, Billy Bell, even A.W. Tillinghast and others had once trapsed the grounds in search of great golf and finding it. All with-in minutes of my home.
It was very odd to go out to Altadena GC, just north of Pasadena and wander those grounds and actually find remnants of the former Pasadena GC. I not only found greensites, but walking paths, bridges, culverts and catch basins part of the original stuff I saw when I first gawked upon the course in photographs from publications that don't even exist anymore.
Midwick CC, a former glory club of the LA area that counted Will Rogers as one of its more esteemed members, even has remnants of it's former life. I was amazed one day while driving around there, the old water tower seen in images of the clubhouse still exists, still standing in someone's actual back yard!
I'll never forget the day I went to the site of the old San Pedro Golf & CC/The Royal Palms, right on cliffs of the blue Pacific, found not only the original gate, but the actual gatehouse which was owned by the developer. He was vice-president of the local bank in San Pedro, and was later indicted and convicted of stealing money from the bank (more then likely to fund the building of the golf course)
Shortly after his conviction, he went iinto that beautiful house, aptly called, "The Gate House" which features bone fragments and fossiled walls from all sorts of kinds of sea mammals, went up into its crows nest/widow's walk and put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
The course tried to remain open, all of it's funds, being invested in the speculative markets that went down during the week of October 29, 1929. And it got so bad, but the course so good that members of the course actually would spend all day on Saturdays maintaining the course themselves preparing it for the weeks use ahead. They played golf this way for several years until finally growth and traspassing signs by the new owner forbade them from doing so. The beautiful cliff's edge twin-building clubhouse lay fallow until 1953 when vandals burined it to the ground, which is ironically the same year it's course designer, Billy Bell would die.
I truely do think that this golf course may have been one of Golf's unheard of gems. The site is spectacular and there are still remnants of open space left where the 17th, a cliffside par 3 once resided.
I recenlty found out where the old Green Hotel golf course was located in Pasadena, literally two blocks away from El Cholo Pasadena. (which is owned by my family friends)
The Green maybe one of the more signifcant golf courses in SoCal golf history, as it is the course where Willie Watson first came to SoCal during his winters to work.
I also found the original site for the LACC, which ironically is located not far from El Cholo Los Angeles. Even the name of the street is still called Country Club drive!
Mike, pains me to hear about Valley Forge. Michael drove me by there on my visit to the actual Valley Forge and it looked like a pretty neat rudimentary, pastaural place. They should be deballed for tearing it down. Someone should really get midevil on these SOB's.