New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-27
CALIFORNIAN HOLIDAYS.
THE SIERRA MADRE VILLA.


tvpox A STAFF CORRESPONDENT THE IRIBUSE.l
INV SAN GABRIEL, CAL, Nav 0.
The sun was just rising III clear say "nen .n'
steamer Orzaba thumped upon the par al inc
entrance of San Pedro Harbor, and, after q &c"
minutes of vain churning OF the wafer swung
athwart the channel with her stern pointing at the
hinge conical rock called Deadmans Island, on
whose summit a signal post like giboet eA'ehueu
its black and warning arm. While the crew were
getting line Of cables TO distant buoy to pun the
boats head around, we had leisure to mark the oui
color of the barren hills and to wonder whether the
scanty brown vegetation which partly clad them
was the sign of a premature summer or oil a long
delayed spring. There was hardly sign Oh ."o
fresh beauty we had left hundred miles iur'hei
north and all the twenty odd miles from 'he coaS'
to Los Angeles, whittier we were speeding Dy trall'
two hours after the Orizaba foated, we marked the
upoveiy hue of The treeess landscape anu the ush-
ness of the gardens. There are thrifty orange
groves along the road but the fruit has mostly peen
marketed. There are fine vineyards, 100, put a'
this season the shoots are small and the LEAKAGE IS
only half developed.
The grape and wine industry seems to be con-
stantly and rapidly extending, and In some OF inc
small towns the French cus,om of giving cheap
native wines at tavern dinners without extra
charge has already been established. But have
not found it in any of the larger places In Los
Angeles restaurant, where stopped for lunch
called for claret "Wil YOU have the French or the
California wine ~ | was asked. IF you have any
very good French claret, bring it; but let me see
the bottle before you draw the cork so the waiter
brought q red wine in a bottle labeled maui
Sauterne"; evidently the wine had just been poured
in. and the neck was full of bubbles. The serving
of common California wines in old French bottles
is practIsed at inns and eating-houses with bold.
ness that despises concealment and disregard Oh
the labels which it is impossible to observe WIN
straight face. Dining one day at most unpretehd-
ing tavern in a little town far from any railroad,
sked the waiter what wine he had I'm, every
kind, sir; give you anything you wish-Chateau
Margaux, Chateau LATTE; all the French wines"
Then replied /, laughing, Il think you had bet
fer bring me something else" And ordered a Cal
iforn,a wine which am bound to say was not good.
hut then at least it was sold under its own name for
a reasonable price. On another day was with
party of friends at a little country hotel and we
called for two bottles of California claret with onr
dinner We got it; but one bottle was Labelled
Medoc and the other st. Julien the wine being the
same in both.
We drove from Los Angeles fifteen miles to the
Sierra Madre Villa. small hotel which seems 10 be
better known in California than any other resort
outside of San Francisco, except the Hotel Del
Barbara. Ii is always full in winter and spring;
people submit to the penance of waiting at Los
Angeles for a chance to get rooms at the Villa the
manager tells me that he has refused four hundred
applications this season and large addition ID to
he made to the house Immediately which VIII
double its capacity. 1t is built on narrow bench
or mesa far up the slope of that part OF the Sierra
Madre which bounds on the north the San Gabnel
Valley and the fertile plains around Los Angeles.
The drive is interesting but far less picturesque
than the roads in Santa Barbara and Ventura
counties; the verdure is less brlliant the flowers
are few, and the shade is scaRty. All fhi, was
naturally a trecless and forbdding region, and
whatever beauty 1t has now is owing TO the young
fruit orchards There is no better illustration OF
the change which intelligent industry can make in
the face of country than the thriving settlement
of Pasadena, which passed about nine miles
from Los Angeles. 1t was formerly known as the
Indiana colony. most of the first settlers being
from that State. The site is a nearly level mesa,
raised a little above the general plain, and the
trim villas surrounded by extensive plantations are
models of neatness. Almost everybody is an orange
grower; the houses stand far back among the fruit
and as the groves are largo the village covers
great deal of ground. The principal street is a
broad avenue bordered with English walnut trees.
At one end OF it, where the pharmacy and the gen.
eral store indicate the centre of business brace oil
hotels are building. Pasadena has never had a
hotel yet but it has few small boarding houses,
one of which have heard warmly commended. and
it IL not without reputation As resort Tor invaiids
For all its pretty aspect. should not like to stay
in it. The dusty roads without shade. Walk
ing or riding must be a trying exercise under
the glare of this sun and orange grove, what
ever NAV be its attractions certainly does not in
ylte one to stroll in its shelter. Oranges require in
cessant cultivation. The soil must be kept loose
and entirely free from grass and weeds; channels
must be opened for irrigation, and shallow basins
to hold the water scooped under every tree. To
walk in an orange grove, therefore, is about az
pleasant to walk in potato field.
The ascent towards The Sierra Madre Villa ia so
gradual that when reach it aud are told that we
are / 800 feet above the we are hardly able to
believe in the figures. But the superb panoramic
view from the front of the house confirms them.
he San Gabriel Valley at our feet looks from this
height ike an extensive plain. 1t is diversified by
orchards and vine ards and grain-feds, each hav-
ing It's distinctive color; at the right the pretty
houses of Pasadena are scattered among the dark
green groves; at the left are the vineyards of San
Gabriel with the old Mission Church showing above
them. Los Angeles is hidden by line of low. bare
hills bat at night the glow of its electric lights
shines above the barrier. Twenty-Five miles away
lies the ocean, visible through the break in the hills
where the San Gabriel and Los Angeles rivers enter
the Pacific near San Pedro; and the horizon rise
the peaks of Catalina Island, thirty miles out at
sea. The view is toward the southwest, and it is
closed right and left by spurs of the Sierra Madrc
range. Behind rises the mountain, steep. rugged
and brush.clad, hardly half a mile from the hotel.
An abundant and unfang stream tumbling down
one of the gorges supplies the villa with that valu-
able and costly commodity, good water, and by the
constant use of it the close-shaven lawn Is kept
green throughout the year.
A grove of two or three thousand orange trees III
full bearing slopes from the edge of the lawn down
the incline to tue south, arranged that the eye
can look over them into the San Gabriel Valley, or
trace charming perspective between the rows