page_title: El Sereno, Los Angeles
section_title: Development (1902 to 1911)
hierarchical_section_title: El Sereno, Los Angeles / History / Development (1902 to 1911)
caption_attribution_description: English: Sales office for Baird Park,, Los Angeles County, 1905 (current El Sereno.
context_page_description: El Sereno is a Los Angeles neighborhood in the Eastside Los Angeles region of Los Angeles County, California.
context_section_description: On May 1, 1895, the first inter-urban rail route in Southern California opened from Los Angeles to Pasadena along the Arroyo Seco, spurring subdivisions along that passage. In 1902, the Pasadena Short Line was opened along Los Angeles-Pasadena Boulevard, now Huntington Drive. A brightening economic climate and the rail line were the impetus for the residential subdivision of agricultural land. By 1915, eleven tracts had been subdivided in the Bairdstown area, centered at Farmdale Avenue (now Eastern Avenue) and Huntington Drive. The easternmost central tract was the Navarro Tract, owned by the Janss Company. Recorded in March 1909, it was later known as Sierra Park. At the southern end of Bairdstown, between EI Monte Road (now Valley Boulevard) and the Covina Line of the Pacific Electric, was Grider and Hamilton's Floral Park, a subdivision of large lots recorded April 1906. This subdivision remained vacant, however, until the 1940s. The only subdivision lots designed to draw affluent buyers were those on a hilltop in the Baird Park Tract and in Baird's Pasadena Short Line Tract. With the exception of a few scattered houses, however, these subdivisions filed to generate the building of upscale homes.
  At the farthest eastern end of what is now El Sereno was the Short Line Villa Tract, subdivided in August 1906. It was adjacent to two previously subdivided tracts in the City of South Pasadena: The expense that Henry Huntington incurred to build the Oneonta Park Pacific Electric Railway Station indicates that these adjacent subdivisions were designed to attract upper-middle-class buyers.
  The influx of new residents created a need for community facilities, such as churches, schools,and a social center. The latter, which met at the Lincoln School Auditorium, was established in 1911 and bore three names within just five years – Bairdstown, Farmdale and Lincoln – indicating that the community was in search of an identity. The Bairdstown Improvement Association, formed in 1911, met in the same auditorium.
  Llewellyn Baird, a brother of early subdividers, was a booster for this area. He was able to attract businesses. Some early enterprises were the Blomquist and Lindquist Nursery, the California Metal Enameling Company and the Dillingham Printing Company. The main commercial block with a grocery, meat market and general store/post office was established a few years after 1903.
  From 1900 to 1915, the area that later became EI Sereno lacked a unified identity. There was no coordinated plan for the community. Subdivisions were platted haphazardly by each property owner, resulting in four distinct neighborhoods, each with its own school as a focal point. Known as Rose Hill, Bairdstown, Farmdale and Sierra Vista, they were grouped together under the name "Bairdstown." A true sense of community until after annexation by Los Angeles in 1915.
caption: Sales office for Baird Park, 1904
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