Los Angeles - Greystone Mansion

http://www.greystonemansion.org/

Now that I am pretty much done talking about Christmas decorations, I will go back to covering our trip in mostly chronological order.

We visited Greystone Mansion on our first day as part of our general exploration of Los Angeles.

The mansion has been used in many films, television shows, and music videos. One of the interesting things I learned reading about it is that not only was There Will Be Blood filmed there, but that the movie was inspired by the Upton Sinclair novel Oil! which was loosely based on the life of Edward L Doheny, whose son was the original owner of the mansion. Neither the book or the movie will give you the history of the place, but it's an interesting connection.

Furthermore, the son and his secretary died in a murder suicide, so when this location puts on a murder mystery, which is apparently something that they do, it is about a murder that actually happened - well, based on and inspired by.

Not surprisingly, the mansion does have a reputation for being haunted. I felt nothing, but I also felt nothing on the Queen Mary. I am a poor barometer for supernatural activity.

Nonetheless, the grounds are pretty lovely. They are also not intuitive from the main parking lot.

Where we parked, there was a sign saying Beverly Hills Greystone. Based on its location, the proper way to go seemed to be up a staircase, and there clearly was a large building in that direction. There was also another path nearby that seemed to wind more.

I don't remember which we took, but they both did go to the same place, but there was no house there. From there you could see the big house that we noticed before, but there was no way to get there, and we could see another large house to which there was also no obvious path. (There were huge houses everywhere; Beverly Hills is a place of conspicuous consumption.)

We went down a different way, and then found ourselves going further down than the parking lot, and then we did find the mansion, wandered around there, and came back to the parking lot from yet another path.

I want to mention that because the navigation is not intuitive. Wandering around is fine, because there are lots of interesting things to look at, but you should plan on it being like that, and wear good shoes. It did not seem particularly wheelchair accessible, but I suspect that there is a way for vehicles to get in, especially for events, so there may be some other options.

If you choose the wandering around option, it does make sense to start by going upward, or you may not take that pathway at all, and only see the mansion and the grounds around it. That would still be a lot to see, with plants and fountains and a fairly sweeping view, but I think you would miss the portico. I am not positive.

If you want to go straight to the mansion, and you are facing downhill, I think the steps to the left are best.