Everyone knows Abbot Kinney (1850-1920) founded Venice; not everyone knows that he first settled in the foothills northeast of Pasadena. It was in 1880 when Kinney, a wealthy east coaster hoping to soothe his asthma and insomnia, purchased 160 acres there and started building his villa “Kinneloa” – a portmanteau of his surname and the Hawaiian word for “mountain” (he had recently been to Honolulu). The ranch ultimately grew to 537 acres. Kinney was active in local society and was one of the region’s most eligible bachelors until 1884, when he married Margaret Thornton (1864-1911), a San Francisco girl. They had nine children, five of whom would die in childhood. (Kinney also had two kids with his mistress Winifred Harwell, whom he married after Margaret’s death.) It was said that Margaret didn’t enjoy the hot summers out here and so the Kinneys constructed a summer cottage in Santa Monica in 1886. Their descendants split their time between the San Gabriels and the Pacific Ocean until 1928, when they finally sold Kinneloa to Texas oilman Lloyd E. Lockhart. Kinneloa Avenue was named by 1904, Kinneloa Canyon Road by 1947.
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