Postcard originally published by Van Ornum Colorprint, Co., Los Angeles.; A printed note on the verso of the postcard reads, "No post card can tell the story of Hollywood--the beautiful foothill suburb which our party visited today. It is a most attractive city of fine homes, fine churches, schools, libraries, hotels and business houses, with no saloons and no pool rooms. Hollywood's view of the ocean, of the great city of Los Angeles, and of the mountains is magnificent. Its convenience to the big city, the sea and the mountain canyons cannot be surpassed. With a population of 12,000 it boasts one million dollars worth of new homes in 1914. We emphasize the statement that Hollywood is one of the finest residential cities of the world." Color postcard of the estate of brothers Charles and Adolph Bernheimer, located at 1999 N. Sycamore Avenue in Hollywood. This 1914 hilltop estate was built to house the brothers' priceless collection of Asian treasures. In order to have an authentic Japanese design, hundreds of skilled craftsmen were brought from Asia to recreate an exact replica of a palace located in the Yamashiro mountains near Kyoto, Japan. The original Bernheimer structure included a 10-room teak and cedar mansion, where carved rafters were lacquered in gold and tipped with bronze dragons. The grounds include superbly landscaped Japanese gardens, a Sacred Inner Court in the center of the home filled with sculptured plants, pools and fish. The colorful hillside terraces, shown here, were filled with 30,000 varieties of trees and shrubs, waterfalls, hundreds of goldfish, and even a private zoo of exotic birds and monkeys. After the death of one of the brothers in 1922, the art collections were auctioned off. A few years later, the estate served as headquarters for the exclusive Hollywood "400 Club," an organization for the elite of the motion picture industry. After WWII, the home was remodeled and converted into apartments. Soon thereafter, Thomas O. Glover purchased the property and began the ongoing restoration of what was to become the Yamashiro restaurant.
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