Melrose Place today is a tree-lined street filled with trendy shops and cafés in central West Hollywood. Most of the buildings lining the street were constructed in the early 20th century, as were the apartment buildings in the surrounding blocks. Before the building boom of the 1920s and ’30s, this area was farmland. Prior to that, in 1864, it was home to West Hollywood’s first residents.
The central area of West Hollywood at that time would be unrecognizable to us today. Looking north from what is now Melrose Place, instead of buildings, streets, and trees, we would have seen a vast, grassy slope rising gently upward to the steep palisades of the Hollywood Hills, known then as the Cahuenga Mountains. Looking south and east, one would have seen acres of tall grasses rolling away as far as the eye could see.
There were no signs of habitation visible for miles in every direction, except to the immediate west, where a cluster of buildings made up a small homestead: an adobe cabin—likely West Hollywood’s first permanent residence—a stable, a lean-to shed, a privy, and a paddock by a copse of willows near a stream.
In the shade of the willows was an unexpected sight: half a dozen camels grazing idly in a makeshift corral. The camels belonged to Major Henry Hancock, the owner of the land—a 4,444-acre holding called Rancho La Brea that included this rough homestead tucked away in its northwest corner. Major Hancock had purchased the camels from the U.S. Army earlier that year with plans to use them for a transport service hauling goods across the desert in and out of Los Angeles. To tend to the camels, Hancock hired a Turkish driver of Greek descent named “Greek George” Caralambo.
Greek George was the first known resident of what would become West Hollywood. He would later own parcels of land that are today Runyon Canyon Park and the Hollywood Bowl. These properties are now worth tens of millions; however, Greek George died penniless.
In 1874, George’s friend, the bandit Tiburcio Vasquez, was captured at his adobe cabin by the willows. The arrest of Vasquez—a career criminal and the most-wanted outlaw in the West—would be the first news story reported nationwide from what is now West Hollywood. It would not be the last.
Welcome to Wild West WEHO.
A NOTE about jurisdiction: Because of the gerrymandered border between the cities of West Hollywood and Los Angeles, Melrose Place is located in a notch of L.A. jurisdiction bordered by West Hollywood.