Louise Aline Barnsdall (1882-1946), who went by her middle name, was an oil heiress who inherited $3 million upon her father Theodore’s death in February 1917. Pregnant at the time, the unconventional, experimental-theatre-loving Barnsdall lived openly as an unmarried mother. Her daughter was likewise unconventional: born Louise Aline Barnsdall the 2nd (1917-1978), she changed her name to Aline Elizabeth Barnsdall and went by “Betty” although her mom called her “Sugartop”. In 1919, Barnsdall purchased the 36 acre Olive Hill. She then hired Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s preeminent architect, to build a home for her here, along with various residences, theaters, and artist studios. (Most of the work was handled by Wright’s son Lloyd Wright, then by Austrian architect Rudolph Schindler.) Dubbed “Hollyhock House”, the centerpiece mansion was completed in 1921, but Barnsdall found it unlivable and moved into a smaller outbuilding on the property. In 1926, she donated Hollyhock and 11 surrounding acres to the City of Los Angeles, which now operates it as Barnsdall Art Park. Betty Barnsdall, a fleeting Wright acolyte who would marry four times, subdivided the remaining 25 acres in 1950. That’s when Barnsdall Avenue was named.
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