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10116 Commerce Ave
Tujunga, CA 91042-2313
818-352-3420
For over twenty
years the heavy wooden doors of Bolton Hall in Tujunga were tightly secured. The solid stone building, once the heart of a
fledgling community, came to life once more in 1980, and a cherished dream was realized by the Little Landers Historical Society.
Soon after the turn of the century Glorietta Heights (located on part of the Mexican land grant of Rancho Tujunga) came to
the attention of Marshall Hartranft, a land developer who engaged William E. Smythe, and editor who recognized the miracle
of irrigation to publicize the upper slopes of the chaparral-covered pass. Believing that families settling on an acre or
two of land could support themselves and prosper, Smythe founded a movement known as "Little Lands" and had already established
colonies in san Ysidro, Hayworth Heath and Cupertino.
In 1913 settlers moved onto acre and half acre lots, calling themselves Little Landers. In April of that year Hartranft
donated five lots, contracted for and financed construction of a meeting house. Using rocks gathered from local hillsides
and Tujunga Wash, George Harris, "Nature Builder," designed the edifice to harmonize with its setting between the Verdugo
Hills and San Gabriel Mountains. Slightly arched windows hint of Spanish influence while inside a great fireplace resembles
a natural precipice under which Indians might have built their fires.
The Clubhouse, as it was first known, was dedicated in August of 1913 and immediately became the hub for all community
activities - town meetings, church services, socials and dances. The first public library in the San Fernando Valley was in
Burbank; the second in newly opened Bolton Hall; the third in Sunland six months later. One might reasonably assume the name
"Bolton Hall" was chosen to honor some local hero named Bolton. However, Smythe managed to honor his friend the author Bolton
Hall (whose writings concerning land development had inspired to Smythe) and to perpetuate a harmless pun. A variety of factors
contributed to the demise of the Little Landers movement - an economic recession, World War I and a growing cynicism about
the "ideal life" which failed to bring financial gains. By 1920 the idea of the colony had waned.
Bolton Hall, however, continued to serve the community. Following the war the American Legion purchased it. Encouraged
by a steady influx of new residents, town leaders sought and gained incorporation for Tujunga in 1925. This centrally located
building made an ideal City Hall. It was rented for a number of years and eventually purchased for $15000. All city business
was transacted herein, and with the acquisition from Glendale of two iron cells for the nominal sum of $1.00, one of the added
rooms became the town jail. Following the annexation to Los Angeles in 1932 Bolton Hall housed Los Angeles' Department of
Building and Safety as well as its Health Department.
The city eventually built a new municipal building on Foothill Boulevard and the old stone structure was boarded up in
1957. The bell was moved from the tower where it had rung out the calls for school, church and disasters. It was to hang in
the Travel Towns Little Red Schoolhouse, then under construction in Griffith Park. While Bolton Hall turned its brooding face
on Commerce Avenue for the following twenty years, a struggle began: first, just to save the building and demolition, and
later, to see it restored and put to use for the benefit of both Tujunga and Sunland residents. In their growth the two small
towns had met and come to consider themselves one community. In 1959 when the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks
proposed razing the building, a number of local citizens joined to form the Little Landers Historical Society. The ten-year
battle for Bolton Hall had begun.
In April 1960 Assemblyman Tom Bane introduced a resolution in the California Legislature concerning historic site status.
Los Angeles moved more quickly; Bolton Hall was declared City Historical Monument number two in 1962 (the Avila Adobe in Olvera
Street is number one). Nevertheless, until April 1967 when Councilman Louis Nowell presented the official plaque, the old
hall's fate remained uncertain.
The Department of Recreation and Parks held a permit to demolish it, but the Little Landers, with the assistance from other
civic organizations, gained one extension after another for "further study." Starr Von Fluss, charter member and past president
of the Little Landers served as campaign chairman to raise funds for the restoration. Finally in 1967 funds raised by these
Little Landers were matched from a federally funded city program, assuring restoration. Roberta Stewart, for many years president
of the historical society powered the drive.
While the structure itself was sound, architectural studies of the interior and roof found many changes necessary to bring
the hall up to Building and Safety standards. By the time renovation was to start, ten years passed and inflation had taken
its toll of original estimates.
Councilman Robert Ronca, apprised of the situation by then president Mel Carlson, petitioned the city for additional funds,
which were subsequently granted. Work began in February 1980. The interior of the building was kept as near to the original
as possible, while some adjustments have been made to meet prevailing needs. Facilities consist of two offices - one for Little
Landers and the other for the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce. There is a large combination meeting room and museum, a
research library, rest rooms and quarters for a resident caretaker.
Bolton Hall celebrated its official opening in December 1980. Artifacts, photographs, documents and memorabilia of Sunland-Tujunga
and the foothill area are displayed. They range historically from the Gabrieleno Indian village through the Mission and Mexican
land grant periods to the development of Sunland-Tujunga and the rescue of Bolton Hall.
The McGroarty home, now the McGroarty Cultural Art Center was designated Historical Monument number 63 in 1970. Not many
neighborhoods can boast of two historical monuments, one a museum of its own history. Today's Little Landers, like those of
Hartranft and Smythe's day, see Bolton Hall as an integral part of the community - an old beauty reclaimed to serve new generations.
Jane Boales 1. Reprinted with updates from California Historian. March 1981.
City of Los Angeles, Recreation and Parks
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Sunland-Tujunga is probably best known around the world
The Tujunga Valley is about six miles long and two miles wide. Consisting mostly of ranch land and orchards at the turn of
the last century, much of the area is now filled with single family residences mixed with pockets of low-rise apartment and
condominium buildings, though remnants of the orchards and ranches still stand. 
Most of the area is located within the northernmost limits of the City of Los Angeles with general services provided by the
municipality. Portions of Big Tujunga, Little Tujunga and Kagel canyons are in the unincorporated area served by the County
of Los Angeles. 
The San Gabriel Mountains, with its series of magnificent mountain peaks that separate the Los Angeles basin from the Mojave
Desert, forms the north and northeast borders of the valley while the Verdugo Mountains separate the Tujunga Valley from the
communities of Glendale, Burbank, and the rest of the Los Angeles metropolitan area to the south. 