FLASHBACK

California, 1938.

It’s a jungle out there—but not quite. The riotous patch of tropical foliage pictured here eight decades ago may have served as the backdrop to Johnny Weissmuller’s vine-swinging antics in the 1936 film Tarzan Escapes— not to mention scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious, Moon over

Burma, Road to Singapore, and television’s Fantasy Island— but its actual location is not as exotic as it looks. Located just 25 kilometers from downtown Los Angeles in Arcadia, this was once part of Rancho Santa Anita, a Mexican land grant that was purchased by Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin in 1875. Baldwin, who had made his fortune in Nevada’s silver mines, transformed the area around the estate’s lake into a botanical wonderland, as well as adding vineyards and a horseracing track (the forerunner of today’s Santa Anita Park). The ranch was divided up and sold off after his death in 1909; about 40 years later, some 50 hectares around the lake became the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. It remains the leafy haven Baldwin originally envisioned— even if Hollywood has moved on to greener pastures.