Whenever I drive through Beverly Hills I always see tourist vans circling the blocks pointing out the homes of the rich and famous. While I’ve never taken one of these tours I have driven through the neighborhoods of the haves and wishing I wasn’t so much of a have not. But I had never been inside one of these homes and honestly never thought I would ever be. Until I heard about the Virginia Robinson Gardens.
Virginia Robinson was the wife of Harry Robinson, founder of Robinson’s department store. Way back in 1911 the couple decided to build an estate out in the middle of nowhere in a hilly, desolate area called Beverly Hills. They were true pioneers building the first estate in this no man’s land. As the years went by the population grew and the Robinson estate was eventually surrounded by other properties. Virginia lived a very long life, passing away in 1977 a few weeks before her 100th birthday. Not wanting her lovely home and garden to be plowed over and replaced by the latest McMansion trend she bequeathed the property to Los Angeles County so that the estate could remain as is and be shared with the public. And to this day, it remains just that.
Because the home is in the middle of a neighborhood and nearby residents don’t want the pesky public gallivanting about all the time the estate has very limited hours. At this time, guided tours are only available Tuesday through Thursday and appointments are absolutely necessary.
But don’t let that dissuade you because the estate is a sight to see. It’s absolutely beautiful, taking up six acres of terraced gardens and two beautiful historic buildings. Just look at it –
Isn’t it incredible? It’s such a lovely place and I’m really glad I took the time to visit. If you’ve got a free weekday, go. You won’t regret it.
Virginia Robinson Gardens
1008 Elden Way
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Tour available Tues – Fri 10am, 1pm by appointment only
Hi All! Did ya miss me? I know it’s been awhile since I’ve guest posted but the weather here has just been miserable and with this fur coat hiking trails were no bueno. Also, I’ve had a bad case of the allergies and have been […]
Last Saturday I went somewhere for the first time. Somewhere pretty obvious but in all my years in SoCal I had somehow never visited. I went to the Los Angeles Zoo. I know? Right? How did I never get there before? Beats me. But I […]
Recently I had a chance to try it when booking a room for an upcoming hotel stay in Solvang. Remember when I went to the Santa Ynez Valley a couple of months ago? Well, now that Fall’s approaching I’ve got the itch to go again. […]
Ok, so you all know about my love of frozen treats. How could you not when I seem to write about them once a week? Most of the time I write about ice cream but I really don’t mean to neglect that other tasty product […]
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.