Marquez Knolls: An Oral History

When Crystal Lachman Pritchard showed up at the annual Marquez Knolls Property Owners Association’s annual meeting in April, she brought a mother lode of memories with her. Having grown up in the neighborhood, she remembers when the Welcome Wagon arrived to greet each new neighbor and Helms Bakery delivered fresh bread right to the door. She said it was also a time when goats wandered in the chaparral behind the houses, Easter egg hunts were held on Marquez Terrace, and she would decorate her beloved horse Toffee and go Christmas caroling with her friends around the block. “That’s the kind of neighborhood it was back then, very family-oriented,” said Pritchard, who was in the first class to graduate from Marquez Elementary school (1957). “It was at school that we got our polio shots and there would regularly be drills because of the Cold War where we’d have to quickly jump under our desks. And we all loved to dance to ‘Rock Around the Clock,'” recalled Pritchard, who also graduated from Palisades High School (1963), then UCLA. The Palisades resident is now a therapist, dividing time between her chemical-dependency practice in Oregon and her family practice in Woodland Hills. She still lives in her family home on Lachman Lane, which she shares with her mother Lila. Their 3,000-sq.-ft. house was the first two-story on the block and had a built-in fish tank in the downstairs den’a real novelty back then. “We also had quite a view in those days,” Pritchard said. “So many of the trees have grown since we moved here.” Pritchard’s family moved to the Palisades from Culver City when she was eight. Her father, Eugene, along with her uncles Earl, Mel, Henry and Lou, developed Marquez Knolls, starting in the 1940s. When she was young she remembers lots of “earth being moved” and the electrical wires being put underground, “which was not an easy thing to do. They had to dynamite the hill.” Pritchard said that at its peak, the Lachman family had 1,000 employees working for half a dozen companies they owned operating under several names, including Basin Builders, Lincoln Lumber and Centinela Pipe. “The company was unique in that it was involved in every aspect of building the homes and everything was done in-house, including the kitchen cabinets,” said Pritchard. “My uncle Earl was the visionary, Uncle Mel worked with the heavy equipment crews, Uncle Henry was in charge of the lumber yard, my dad supervised the construction and Uncle Lou sold the houses. In the ’50s and ’60s they worked hard just to keep up with the demand and insisted on quality. My father would always tell the workers: ‘Build this house as if it was your own, because if it’s not good enough for you, then it’s not good enough for the people buying it.'” Pritchard, 61, said she is enamored with the style of the original homes in Marquez Knolls, which initially sold for around $20,000. These “mid-century” properties are now selling in the $2 million to $3 million range. When Pritchard asked the more than 150 residents gathered at the MKPOA meeting how many of them are the original owners, she was delighted when three-quarters of them put up their hands. “These ’50s houses are a style onto themselves,” Pritchard said. “The design is almost cosmic to me. What I love are their sweeping lines and simplicity. I look at our house and it sort of looks like it’s about to take off. I think they are a real reflection of the time in which they were designed, when we were just starting to move into the space age and people felt free to use their imagination, even putting fins on cars. These houses were built after the war. Everyone was optimistic then.” In 1955, the Lachman family was honored for the contribution it made building the original Kehillat Israel synagogue on Sunset, donating all of the labor for the rough carpentry and supplying other workers at cost. In the early 1960s, the Lachmans built The Americana at 101 California Ave., the first high-rise in Santa Monica, followed by the Huntley Hotel on 2nd Street. The family also acquired a hotel on Ocean Avenue by default. “It happened at a time when my uncles needed funds to expand,” Pritchard said. “Santa Monica Bank, which they were dealing with at the time, said ‘Okay, providing you take over this debt we have on our books.’ So that’s how our family came to own The Surfrider Motel where the Loews Hotel is now. It had a bar with a jazz band and coffee shop. Actors dropped by all the time. I remember Julie Christie being there. We had a lot of good times. Then when my uncles wanted to tear it down and build a bigger hotel the Coastal Commission put the kibosh on it.” Pritchard said it was the L.A. Planning Commission that vetoed the Lachmans’ plans to build several high-rises and a golf course at the top of Marquez, arguing that the project would generate too much traffic. Pritchard regrets that the golf course was never built “as it would have provided some wonderful green space in the neighborhood.” One of the reasons the golf course was never built was because, in the end, the Lachmans were unable to raise the necessary funds. Pritchard said that soon after that her family fell on hard times, a combination of the late 70s recession, coupled with a devastating fire that hit Marquez Knolls in 1978. The last of the property the family owned on the Westside, a lot in Marina del Rey, was sold off in 2003 and is now a car dealership. Pritchard’s father passed away in 1999. “Although there were a lot of difficult times financially, our family always worked hard,” Pritchard said. “My uncles grew up during the Depression, then had to go to war. My dad was a reconnaissance photographer. When he came back he joined the family business. But there were several booms and busts. I remember a time when my father would put his own paycheck in his night table drawer. He was afraid to cash it and of there not being enough to pay the workers. People think our family made a fortune building Marquez Knolls. We might have if we had only built on the flats. But houses were built up the hill to create views, at tremendous cost.” Sixteen homes are currently for sale in Marquez Knolls. Most of them have views. Asked what she thinks of the ongoing controversy over view protection, Pritchard said she finds it “sad. One would hope in the name of civility, neighbors will do the right thing. We all have to trim back our trees so everyone can enjoy the view. What’s nice is the way the houses blend so well into the landscape around here. This was and still is a beautiful place. I urge everyone to keep it that way.”