Rollin (1854-1940) and Katherine Lane (1861-1945) left their mark on Hollywood not only with this street, which they named in 1915 on their Hollymar tract, but with their grand mansion – now known as the Magic Castle. Rollin Benjamin Lane was a wealthy banker originally from Oshkosh, WI. After working as a newspaper editor in Milwaukee, he abruptly changed locales and careers in 1887 when he came to California and co-founded the Redlands Union Bank. His troubled first marriage to Edna Loomis may have played a part: Lane’s meddlesome mother Olive disapproved of Edna, so the mama’s boy sued for divorce that year. He and Edna reconciled, had a child die in infancy in 1889, and likely parted ways by 1891, when Lane went to Portland, OR to establish another bank. He was back in Redlands in 1896, the year he tied the knot with Katherine Azubah Glynn, an Oshkosh girl herself (although born near Buffalo). This was a much happier union and the couple resided in Redlands before settling in Hollywood full-time in 1910 or 1911, when their Franklin Avenue mansion “Holly Chateau” was finally finished. (Most historians say it was completed in 1909; newspapers of the day suggested otherwise.) The Lanes, who had one adopted son, lived there for the rest of their lives. The house was then divided into apartments until the Academy of Magical Arts remodeled it and opened it as the Magic Castle on January 3rd, 1963.
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