Krotona Court postcard, Los Angeles
“During the more sedately spiritual Krotona occupation, the front building housed a kitchen, dining room, vegetarian cafeteria and lecture rooms until Krotona relocated to Ojai in 1924. The building, then called the Krotona Court, was designed by San Diego-based architecture firm of Mead & Requa. Every era at Krotona seems to bring a fresh interpretation of the Theosophical Society’s mission: to explore the inexplicable...”
I came across this article a little while ago, and meant to post it here as well as on Rupert's Facebook page: "Curiosity for Rent: Krotona apartments in the Hollywood Hills".
I visited there myself a few years ago now, and was lucky enough to bump into the building superintendent, who let me in to look around a little. The courtyard and fountain are still there in the centre of the building, and the larger church hall structure behind is too - complete with the picture window!
The super had a copy of an old book telling the history of the Theosophical Society who built the place, which included a few old photos and a map of Krotona, which is interesting to see as well. (The Krotona Court buildings are just a small section of their overall grounds, it seems!)
Of course, I was thrilled to see these images below (courtesy of the incredibly generous Marc Wanamaker at Bison Archives in LA), of Rupert and Elsie relaxing at home there, during a visit from his sister Blossom from Auckland.
They had bought the property in the early twenties, and remained there until at least Rupert's death - Elsie had moved a short distance up the street at the time of her death, twenty years later.
At the time of the census in 1930, they were sharing their home with a German houseman, a Swedish cook, a gardener, a photographer, a writer, an engineer, a salesman, and a few others - so it was certainly spacious even before it became apartments!
By 1940 (again, according to the census) it appears it was just the two of them and a Japanese servant to help maintain the property.
It's a beautiful building, so I'm glad it's stayed in the hands of creatives, all this time!
“Rupert Julian Buys Krotona”, from the Los Angeles Times, July 25 1923.
Just a quick update in 2021, through a friend who moved from Sydney to LA a few years ago I’ve wound up following someone on Instagram who lives in one of the apartments at Krotona now, and he pointed me to this article online—which at last answers the question of when Rupert & Elsie took over the property at Krotona!
He’s also been accessing the guest book they kept over the years, and posting short biographies of some of the people who stayed or lived there, many of which are quite fascinating. It seems like they ran it as either an inn or a longer-term boarding house for many years, rather than the number of residents dwindling to just the two of them as I’d thought originally.
I had no idea that Quentin Tarantino had lived there (long after Elsie’s time of course), and that he’d filmed scenes there for True Romance in the nineties…!
And I have no idea whether they ever produced plays there, by Elsie or anyone else. Quite possibly they did! The research continues…