The popular trail that hikers call “Fryman Canyon” is technically in Wilacre Park; Fryman Canyon Park itself is on Mulholland Drive. Regardless, both canyon and road are named for Harmon Christian “Harry” Fryman (1876-1946), an Ohio lad who came to L.A. in 1893 and made his name in the hotel industry – from bellboy to manager to full-fledged hotelier. (The Hotel Hayward, opened by Fryman on Spring Street in 1906, still stands as the Hayward Apartments.) Fryman, who lost his wife Mae to pneumonia in 1918, owned more than 1,000 acres here by the 1920s. In 1939, he developed, with Donald Barker, part of it into an upscale housing tract called Briarcliff Manor. Fryman Road was named in 1941. Postscript: Some have claimed that Wilacre Park was named for “silent movie star Will Acres”, but there was no such person. The name – etymology unknown – comes from a company that owned the land in the 1970s. Previous owners include pharmacist Jules Viole, General Walter Perry Story, and the Lankershim Ranch Land & Water Company. It’s now owned by the State of California.
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