This St. Patrick’s day, let’s turn away from the corned beef and cabbage, the shamrocks and green beer. Let’s say no to the excessive drinking, the leprechauns, and whatever other terrible stereotypes we misguided Americans have placed on this Irish holiday and turn our sites to loftier goals. Let’s look to the pure color green and welcome it into our homes versus stepping over a puddle of it in the street.
There are few things sexier than a green velvet couch as the focus of a room.
The verdant majesty above and many other fine green items were found on Eclectic Avenue.
Apparently Anthropologie loves green velvet as much as I do, look at the four below.
I coveted this green velvet Room and Board Murphy sofa until I remembered I have cats.
Maybe you’re lucky enough to come by a vintage one:
Or just hit up Ikea. This one is tempting.
Or you can have a velvet or leather one custom made from Roger and Chris. I love these guys. They are so nice and sent me leather samples and answered all my questions (regarding cats and leather). There is a chesterfield in my future when we move into our (hopefully Victorian) next house. You can also check out their show and as a special bonus, look at their amazing house on Apartment Therapy! I bet they’re a blast to hang out with.
If you’re ready to take the leap, consider green walls. I love how sophisticated and dark these rooms are.
Or old worldly and charming.
Maybe you want a green roof. Warning: They’re very heavy, make sure your house can support one.
Or, dream big, how about a copper roof which will acquire a beautiful patina. Your own personal castle? Sigh.
What about a green victorian house?
Or maybe a green greenhouse? Ok. Ok.
At the very least, consider some plants or dishes or even a botanical print.
Want more green inspiration? Get all the luck of the Irish on Miss Havisham’s Pinterest page. You’ll find minty kitchens, leafy upholstery and beautiful botanical installations.
I have to be honest, when friends come to visit me in Los Angeles I feel a little pang of anxiety. I still don’t know where anything is here and driving still stresses me out. Don’t even get me started on parking. I know change is hard but I knew New York, I know it still. Everything is accessible by public transportation there. I knew New York so well I even knew tiny off beat places to go. In LA, you really have to know where you’re going and while there are things to do, they’re not always easy to get to. Truthfully, after about twenty-five houseguests, I feel like I keep doing the same things over and over.
So when one of my favorite people on the planet came to visit recently, I decided this time we were going to take a road trip. It was time to see something you can’t see in New York and I really couldn’t look at the Venice canals again.
While I lack the ability to parallel park, I do have a husband who doesn’t mind driving, loves adventure, and has a fantastic sense of direction. Lucky for me or I would have gone mad within a few months of living here. So, armed with road snacks and a destination, off we went.
To Hearst Castle:
If you haven’t been to Hearst Castle, go. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. Perched high and overlooking a remote section of the California coast, every bit of it is jaw dropping. When I visited I kept thinking I should just sneak away, hide in some quiet room, and spend the night because it really should be my house, guys. It’s such a powerful impulse that the second time I visited I actually started looking around with intent to stow away. If I disappear one day, you’ll know where to find me.
You can imagine that the home of William Randolph Hearst, media magnate and the inspiration for Citizen Kane, might be something unusual and you would be correct. No expense was spared building the house in a time when the rest of the country was suffering from the stock market crash and the Great Depression.
The tycoon himself.
“Hearst Castle’s history begins in 1865, when George Hearst purchased 40,000 acres of ranchland. In 1919,William Randolph Hearst inherited what had grown to more than 250,000 acres, and was dreaming of ways to transform it into a retreat he called La Cuesta Encantada—Spanish for “Enchanted Hill.” By 1947, Hearst and architect Julia Morgan had created Hearst Castle: 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways—all built to house Hearst’s specifications and to showcase his legendary art collection.” So sayeth the Hearst Castle website.
First, let’s take a moment to appreciate that Hearst hired a woman architect. Interesting. Second, consider the lengths Hearst went to; he even went as far as to have whole rooms from great houses in Europe purchased, shipped, and reassembled as part of the construction process. So elaborate were his building plans for Hearst castle, they were never fully realized in his lifetime.
Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Mervyn LeRoy, and Hearst himself. Nice outfit, Billy boy.
The castle served as a playground for Hollywood’s elite who were bused in from Los Angeles each weekend to dine, drink, and dance the night away. When you were at Hearst Castle, you wanted for nothing; evening wear was even provided if you forgot yours. You could swim in either the outdoor pool or the indoor pool, play tennis, stroll the gardens, view the private zoo, or catch one of Hearst’s latest films in the movie theater.
The largest swimming pool I have ever seen.Indoor pool, my favorite. The tiles are gold.Inside the movie theater. Photo by Alana Cowan (houseguest supreme)
There is a guest wing for both ladies and gentlemen, never the two shall meet (wink, wink) and a number of guest cottages around the property. The guest cottages are bigger than my house, by the way.
My favorite room has to be the gothic study.
Not to be confused with the library which is filled with antiquities. Those vases along the ceiling? Those are Greek and Egyptian.
Photo from everywhereonce.comOh you know, just a bedroom.This room is called the “jewel box” but I just call it my bedroom.Meh.
And let’s not forget the great room.
Now for the juicy part. Hearst was married to a former vaudeville performer, Millicent Veronica Willson who he fell in love with when she was a mere sixteen years old. She bore him five sons, one of which is the father of Patty Hearst who was famously kidnapped in 1974 by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a cult. Under the influence of the cult, Hearst assisted in a bank robbery. Her sentence was commuted by President Carter and she was officially pardoned by President Clinton. She has gone on to appear in a number of John Waters movies including Serial Mom, Cry-Baby, Pecker, and Cecil B. DeMented. This only makes me love her and John Waters more, but back to Millicent Hearst.
Patricia Hearst and John Waters
Poor Millicent rarely stayed at Hearst Castle though. She and her husband lived very separate lives. She lived in New York and became a great philanthropist. Her husband lived in California at Hearst Castle with his mistress, actress and comedienne, Marion Davies. They lived together quite openly though he and Millicent remained married until his death. How modern.
Millicent and Marion:
Millicent Hearst
Marion Davies
It’s said that the portrayal of Marion Davies in Citizen Kane so enraged Hearst that he launched a full on attack against the film and its director, Orson Welles. Even Welles later admitted that his depiction was unfair to Marion who was a very talented actress. Marion actually supported Hearst in later years when he hit hard times financially and was forced to sell off much of his art and property. She married eleven weeks after Hearst’s death in 1951. Read about the battle over Citizen Kanehere.
Hearst and Davies characters in Citizen Kane set in a mock up of the famous great room.
Hearst Castle and its impressive collection of art and artifacts was donated to the state of California and is a museum now but I have grand plans to occupy it. They’ll never find me. Never! I highly recommend the evening tours which aren’t offered year round so do your homework. The entire estate is decked out for an old Hollywood cocktail party and it all feels a little bit spooky. As an added bonus, it will be easier for me to sneak off and hide in the shadows in the evening.
Four hours from Los Angeles and you feel like you’ve escaped the city. You feel like you’ve escaped back in time. Well played, California, well played. As much as I hate to admit it, you definitely can’t find Hearst Castle in New York.
It’s a non-profit so go support your local castle. Hey Hearst Castle administrators, just list the guest rooms on AirBnB already. See? Fundraising issue solved.
Welcome to Freaky Fridays where I post links to the odd and the fantastic. Thank you to my friends, especially Sally and Susan, who provided me with pure gold this week. Have a weird news story? Send it to dearmisshavisham@gmail.com
18 rare catbreeds you’ve maybe never heard of. I like cats, shut up.
Who hasn’t done a thing or two out of spite? Would you build a house just to infuriate your neighbors? Explore the concept of the spite house as found on Hyperallergic.
Likewise, a pack of Miss Havishams took to the streets and subways to promote the BBC’s version of Great Expectations. Flattering, dearies, flattering.
“The intersection of stardom and madness, mystery and decay meet at the crossroads of Rockhaven Sanitarium. The once-thriving refuge for troubled minds now sits fallow, crumbling and silent as it awaits an uncertain future, much like its past residents.” -Sezin Koehler, author American Monsters.
I recently had the privilege of touring the abandoned Rockhaven Santitarium with Atlas Obscura. Hidden away in the quiet Crescenta Valley, it’s quite a gem. While I anticipated a creepy good time when I signed up for the tour, what I got was a lesson in feminist history.
In the early 1920’s Agnes Richards, a widow and single mother, worked as a psychiatric nurse at some of the most notorious asylums in the country. Agnes was appalled by what she saw at these facilities, specifically the treatment of female patients. Remember that these were the days of “female hysteria” where anything from lesbianism to menopause or even your husband’s affair with his secretary could land you in an asylum. It was not uncommon for men of means to have their wives committed when they found a new girlfriend as it was considered quicker and tidier than a divorce. There are even stories of families sending their children to asylums for the summer so the parents could travel unencumbered through Europe. It was terrifying easy to have someone committed and nearly impossible to be released on your own accord.
The treatment of patients was deplorable in asylums. There was little expectation that the patients would recover and therefore little or no regard to their health or safety. These were still the early years of psychiatry and mental illness was viewed with great shame. Once someone was committed they were often forgotten about, deemed an embarrassment to their family.
Agnes Richards founded Rockhaven in 1923 to be the antithesis of these asylums. With the intent to cure the women (and the occasional man) rather than hide and control the “mental defectives” as they were called in the system. She sought to treat people with dignity while they were in residence. To begin, Rockhaven was more of a spa or a retreat than an asylum. To look at the rooms today, while they are indeed in need of repair now, you can still see the happy colors and attention to details meant to cheer up the residents. Never referred to as patients, they were simply called “the ladies.”
Rockhaven founder Agnes Richards
The ladies of Rockhaven were expected to dress themselves and attend three meals a day in the cafeteria and to contribute to the best of their abilities. They were also expected to engage with their surroundings in the hopes of reintegrating back into society as soon as they were able. Gardening classes in the three-and-a-half acre meticulously manicured property as well as day trips into LA, music and art therapy were all offered. Again, this was groundbreaking in the world of mental health where caged beds and electroshock therapy were still the norm.
Rockhaven was the first mental health institution for women by women and was founded just three short years after women gained the right to vote. This was almost unimaginable at the time yet Agnes maintained Rockhaven until 1967, then passed it on to her granddaughter.
The original building and grounds were lovely:
Now, let’s talk about the parties. Agnes believed it was important to remove the stigma of mental illness so family members were invited to visit every day and there were parties held for every possible occasion. Mother’s day, birthdays, practically every day was a reason to celebrate.
Among Rockhaven’s famous residents was Marilyn Monroe’s mother, Gladys Eley, who resided there for 15 years and was a bit of an escape artist. She once ran away and got married then returned of her own accord. Billie Burke, best known as Glinda the good witch also stayed at Rockhaven. It seems Rockhaven was the precursor to all those Malibu rehab centers. The view sure is pretty.
And now, without further ado, let’s head inside Rockhaven Sanitarium:
Clothing left behind. Apparently they found fur coats and makeup too.
Two of the bathrooms. Every single one has a different color scheme with matching wallpaper and tile.
This room:
It’s important to wash your hands, ladies:
The ladies’ names are still in the closets:
The hallways are pink, SUPER PINK.
There’s wallpaper everywhere.
Rockhaven is currently owned by the city of Glendale and is in a state of disrepair. The Friends of Rockhaven, a non profit organization have been maintaining it as best they can and are lobbying to have Rockhaven added to the historic register due to its place in feminist history. Its fate is uncertain but I can say it would be a huge tragedy for it to be demolished and replaced with condos or a shopping mall which is precisely what the The Friends of Rockhaven fear will happen. I personally would love to see an investor with a love for historical detail buy it and turn it into a spa or a hotel.
I think this fountain is a great symbol of the work Agnes did at Rockhaven.
Rockhaven is rumored to have its fair share of ghosts and I think that’s a selling point honestly. What’s interesting about the stories is that they aren’t menacing but rather conjure up images of women who wish to return to a place where they found sanctuary. If you’d like to learn more about Rockhaven, check out this documentary. There’s also a coffee table book of photos coming out by writer Emily Lanigan and photographer Jason House. You can see some of those photos in this eloquent article by Sezin Koehler.
Last, here is the memorial rose garden, each rose bush has a plaque:
Welcome to Freaky Fridays where I post links to the odd and the fantastic. Thank you to my friends, especially Sally and Adam, who provided me with pure gold this week. Have a weird news story? Send it to dearmisshavisham@gmail.com
Love is on all our minds with Valentine’s Day looming on the horizon. This UK couple decided to seal their commitment with rings made from each other’s harvested bone cells. So I must ask, how deep is your love?
The heart wants what the heart wants and mine wants these surreal sculptures by Canadian artist Shary Boyle. The always brilliant Dangerous Minds has the full story and suggests that these are for the dark and the demented. I can live with that.
I hate clowns, always have. When I was a kid my mom decided I should have a clown collection so you can imagine the nightmares that ensued…so yeah, thanks, Mom. These clowns from Eat Liver aren’t creepy, nope not at all.
Still not creepy…
Ok, maybe…a little…
For the love of all that is holy…
While researching our next vacation I came across this list of the “The Most Haunted Place in Each of the 50 States” on Places You’ll See. Most of these look perfectly delightful like Henderson Castle in Kalamazoo, Michigan below. It’s a bed and breakfast now, guys.
You buy one haunted Thai baby figurine and pretty soon you see haunted Thai babies everywhere. I didn’t know I was so ahead of the curve when I bought mine at the flea market, but CNN reports that Thai Airways now allows you to purchase a seat for your creepy doll. Who says you can’t travel once you have kids? It’s apparently all the rage with Thai celebrities. Also, when you google “spirit doll” some really terrifying things come up, like this little guy from Spiritdoll.net:
Take away my videograme, I dare you.
Christ, they’re multiplying. On to happier themes, I promise, no more haunted dolls…for a few weeks.
How about beautiful baroque wigs made of paper by Russian artist Asya Kozina from the always entertaining Bored Panda.
And why not also add a set of paper eyelashes from Paperself. I’m in love. Let’s throw a paper themed gala. Doilies for everyone!
Happy Friday! May your weekend be filled with terrifying beauty.
Welcome to Freaky Fridays where I post links to the odd and the fantastic. Thank you to my friends, especially Sally and Arthur, who sent me pure gold this week. Have a weird news story? Send it to dearmisshavisham@gmail.com
Take a look inside the famous Witch House of Beverly Hills showcased on Los Angeles Magazine.
Perhaps you are in the market for a gift for that very special someone. May I suggest a haunted doll? You can have a child, teen, or adult spirit. Please please please read the reviews; they’re pure gold like this one:
“My first haunted doll is named Bonnie. I bought from AJ’s haunted doll store. She is a fine spirit, sometimes active sometimes not. I guess it all depends on her mood (AJ knows why). We have experienced electric disturbances and sounds during the night.”
Tell us why, AJ! Tell us whyyyyyyy. Also a quick Ebay search turned up a whole army of haunted dolls for sale as well. I guess it’s a thing.
I found this little nugget at a flea market and she is truly the stuff of nightmares.
Does your figure belong to a different decade? Are you a 1920’s pixie or a 1950’s bombshell trapped in skinny jean hell? The eagle eyes at We Sew Retro have compiled “The Vintage Sewing Nerd’s Guide to Netflix” and it’s decade by decade up through the 1960’s. Now you can indulge in all the period dramas you want. Not only that, they also have great tips for sewing.
By now we’ve all heard that Coca-Cola used to contain cocaine but back in the day, lots of regular old products contained shocking ingredients. This drug meant to calm down the elderly that I found on Dose is actually an anti-psychotic. This ad, my god this ad…
But early medicine didn’t stop with dosing the very young and very old with heroin and cocaine, check out these bizarre historical headache cures from long long ago on mentalfloss. Who doesn’t want to take a bath with an eel?
Like ice cream? Like cod? Try the Creamed Cod Ice Cream from George’s Portobello Fish Bar in London. For a more complete list of novelty ice cream flavors from around the world, I direct you to the one, the only, Zagat’s.
Earthlings, we come to you from the future…or central Europe. Monuments that baffle and delight on Crack Two.
Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) was used to enlarge the pupils of Italian renaissance women for beauty’s sake. It’s also likely the drug that made Juliet appear dead in Romeo and Juliet. Healthline discusses the medicinal and deadly uses of belladonna also known as The Devil’s Berry. It goes to show you that interesting facts lurk everywhere, even your health website. Isn’t the internet delicious?
For several years when I was growing up we lived in the old rickety house that my great grandparents bought when they first arrived from Lebanon in the early 1900’s. The house was big, rambling and full of dark wood and chandeliers. I’m fairly certain that aesthetic imprinted itself on me because now all I want is a creepy old house with dark wood and a chandelier in every room.
These days I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at houses both in real life and online. I can’t turn down an open house sign and I’ve probably bookmarked hundreds of victorians, gothic revivals, and italianate houses for you know…one day. Here are a few beauties:
One of my favorite websites to browse old houses, many of which are for sale, is Old House Dreams. You can search by state, style, price range and whether or not they’re for sale. Most of the affordable ones are in rural places, small towns, places off the grid. You can search castles, barns, and firehouses. There’s a category for anything old and creepy.
Old House Dreams led me to Chetstone Manor in New Haven, Connecticut, otherwise known as my dream house or …one of them. Chetstone was built in 1875 by New Haven’s first lady physician, Dr. Mary Blair Moody. The second owner, Albert Haasis, a chemist and executive of the Dixon Pencil Company, was an art and gardening enthusiast. He kept lavish gardens filled with peacocks. He also painted Alice in Wonderland type bunnies on the walls of the attic. He was my kind of guy.
The current owner, Ian Christmann, is a photographer and New Haven native and honestly, the nicest guy ever. I had the privilege of touring the house and I can assure you, the bunny paintings are magnificently macabre. The attic and tower are also astounding. I can imagine spending my days writing up in the tower room as the wind whips through the bell tower. Just me and the ghost of Albert Haasis hanging out, talking peacocks. There’s also a fully operational rope elevator which I didn’t get in but it did fill my head with horror movie scenes (and I mean that in the most complimentary way). The basement is massive and appropriately terrifying. I am in love. I haven’t found too many houses as well preserved as this one.
The crazy thing about Chetstone is that it’s around the corner from an adorable carriage house that Tim and I looked at maybe 8 years ago. We didn’t end up buying the carriage house, but as fate would have it, the carriage house is the original one to the Chetstone property! There’s even a path with a gate from the main house to the carriage house where they used to drive the carriages. I tell you we are meant to own Chetstone one day. Here’s a picture of the carriage house from google maps:
Chetstone is a passion project for Ian and his wife. They’ve meticulously restored the house and made period authentic upgrades. He also created a photography and art collective there. The photos you see of Chetstone were taken by Ian. I love you, Chetstone. One day we’ll be together…one day.
I also found this beauty on Old House Dreams. It’s maaaassssive and one of the first poured concrete houses in the country.
Here’s the description from the site, “‘Boulderberg Manor,’ outstanding c.1858 Hudson River Gothic Revival overlooking the river and features beautifully restored period details including exuberant decorations on many of the ceilings. This 8,500 sq.ft. home was built by industrialist Calvin Tomkins and has the distinction of being the largest poured concrete structure in New York State at the time with 2 ft. thick exterior walls. Its slate roof was recently fully restored. Boulderberg Manor is a fine example of 19th century romanticism as a fortress perched on 4.5 acres with gazebo and cottage. Architectural distinctions include high pitched gable roofs with multiple dormers, cupola, oriel windows, fountain, 10 marble fireplaces, ornate moldings/doors, mahogany staircases and more. The 4.5 acres is inclusive of three lots, one with house and two building lots. The property is located 30 miles from New York City and 6 miles from the Bear Mountain Bridge. About a 50 minute drive from Manhattan. Extraordinary.” I’ll say it is. Who wants to buy it with me? Kickstarter?
If you are truly interested in owning a historic home, you can also check out the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They post houses that are for sale and in danger of being destroyed. Be warned though, owning a home that’s registered as historic can often present problems. Renovations need to be historically accurate and sometimes even approved by a committee. Make sure you do your research.
Another great resource is Circa especially if you are lucky enough to own an old home already. They’re not only a website and portal for real estate, they’re also a magazine and should be your go to for all your historic house questions. I can spend hours on Circa looking up the meaning of this or that architectural feature or before and after photos of historic preservations. Started by Elizabeth Finkelstein, an historic preservationist and self proclaimed old house junkie, the site is a more holistic look at historical homes and the characters who love them. Circa proudly proclaims they’re “Not Your Grandmother’s Old House” and I think that’s why I love them. They clearly understand that you can renovate an old house to meet your modern needs and still preserve the integrity of the structure and its history at the same time. Hey Circa, let’s have tea sometime.
Tim and I will continue to discuss the pitfalls and merits of owning an old house like the ones I’ve showcased here (Chetstone, Tim. CHETSTONE!). Until the day comes when I am the lady of Chetstone Manor, I will have to content myself with going to the Heritage Square Museum here in Los Angeles. The city moved a few Victorian homes to the location to preserve them and you can wander around and look at the houses. Check out their site for upcoming events, you can take a gardening class, have tea, or go to one of their movie nights. I attended a seance there a year back and while I didn’t succumb to possession, the buildings are beautiful as you can see from the photo below. I’ll definitely be attending the Halloween/mourning tours and horror movie series. I also won’t be missing their historical fashion show and tea this April. Maybe I’ll see you there.
Miss Havisham's Tea 