H. E. Huntington, a gentlemen farmer; Entertaining on the San Marino Ranch, CA

by Nancy Armitage

Overview of theHuntington’s Ranch (San Marino Ranch, CA). What did the San Marino Ranch really look like when the Arabella & H. E. “Edwards: Huntington’s lived there……

In 1903, Mr. Henry “Edwards” Huntington bought the San Marino Ranch (by Pasadena, CA) . He had visited this stunning property in 1890’s. He was with his Uncle Collis Huntington & Collis’ wife, Belle. While they were traveling by private railroad car, doing business in Los Angeles, California. Collis was offered to buy the ranch & declined. Even at that time, “Edwards” was enchanted by this beautiful Southern California property; but did not have the money to buy it. For many more details go to my blog called “San Marino Ranch Property.”

The San Marino Ranch had several other ranches surrounding it, which Mr. H. E. Huntington also purchased. San Marino Ranch encompassed, the Los Robles Ranch (where the Huntington Mansion is located), the Winston Ranch, & the El Molino Ranch. Mr. H. E. Huntington & his company: The Huntington Land & Improvement Co., also purchased the Oneonta Ranch, Ramona Ranch, & Huntington Drive Tract 1, & Huntington Drive Tract 2. He also bought the Rosemead Ranch (one of Mr. L J. Rose’s ranch of Sunnyslope Vineyards, San Gabriel, CA; Mr. Rose was famous for his sherry & brandy, using muscatel grapes. ) These ranches were surrounding the San Marino Ranch or very close to it. An interesting ranch fact, when one buys different ranches; in the ranch ledgers: each ranch always stays separate. This is probably a good idea so the owner could compare & contrast each ranch of their yield of monthly & yearly crops. Also, if the owner ever sell the ranch, the ranch records & information are together.

Mr. H. E. Huntington also owned 1000’s of acres of land around Los Angeles County, California near Malibu, San Fernando Valley, Redondo Beach, Huntington Beach, & Downtown Los Angeles and also in State of California. At one time, Mr. H. E. Huntington was the Largest land owner in the Los Angeles Co. & California. Details of all those properties HEH owned in my blog “San Marino Ranch Property”.

Mr. H. E. Huntingtons buys the San Marino Ranch

The size of Mr. Henry E. Huntington’s beloved ranch varied from year to year. Between 1903 & 1927 (the year he died), the ranch ranged from 200 acres to over 1000’s acres of land. Mr. H.E. Huntington was a gentlemen farmer, much like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. On the San Marino Ranch, they grew corn, alfalfa, pumpkins, & every kind of vegetable you can think of. Mr. H. E. Huntington & Mr. Wm. Hertrich (Superintendent of the Ranch) experimented with the latest new trees, vegetables, exotic fruits & flowers, berries, & herbs. And of course, Navel & Valencia oranges groves that made the Ranch legendary. The landscape of the ranch changed over the years also, new gardens, beautiful roses, & rose arbors to support them. So little by little the Huntington’s ranch became the world class botanical gardens it is today called Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.

In the early 1900’s, the San Marino Ranch was considered a gentlemen’s country estate. The Huntington’s ranch was a showpiece. While Mr. H. E. Huntington stayed at the elegant Van Nuys Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The Huntington Mansion was built between 1908-1910. H. E. Huntington moved into the mansion in 1910; as a single divorced man. He had divorced his 1st wife, Mary Alice Huntington of San Francisco, CA. She and her 3 daughters refused to move to Southern California.

H.E. Huntington hired a small servant staff for his new mansion a chauffeur, a cook, a maid, a laundress, & a night watchmen. It was in 1913, when he married Mrs. Collis P. Huntington (Arabella or Belle). Things changed to a much grander scale when Arabella Huntington came on the scene. In most years, the Huntingtons had 16-20 in-house staff, with dozens of outside staff like gardens, birdmen, ranch & horsemen.

In the 1920’s, the San Marino Ranch is described in a Architectural Book as an Italian Villa, maybe because of the Loggia and the vast Terrace, view of the entire San Gabriel Valley. Read my blog: “Instructions to the Head Housekeeper” for more details.

Crops on the Ranch

The San Marino Ranch was a working ranch, of which Mr. H. E. Huntington was so very proud. He had 1000’s of orange trees, a 10-acre Avocado grove, 1 acre lemon grove, & a Family fruit orchard of peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums & many more fruit. They (Huntington & his neighbor & friend, Mr. Patton) had a Bee Apiary off Virginia Road in San Marino; the bees helped pollinate the orange trees for good fruit. The early ranch had large pastures of crops: alfalfa, pumpkins, wheat, corn, barley, & sunflowers. There were 2 massive vegetable gardens: a west vegetable garden & a east vegetable garden, filled with every kind of vegetable you can think. Often having 3-5 varieties of a veggie: potatoes, okra, tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus to name a few. The ranch had a large berry patch of raspberries, loganberries, blueberries & blackberries, a fruit orchard, too!

California Artichoke Soup

3 T. butter or olive oil

1 onion, minced

1/2 c. shallots or 1 large stalk leek

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 large cans artichoke hearts, reserve and drain the water or 6 boiled artichokes with bottoms

2 c. chicken stock

2 c. boiled potatoes, (Yukon Gold)

2 c. heavy cream/ creme fraiche/ greek yogurt/ or sour cream

salt

white pepper

2 pinches French tarragon

Saute the onion & shallots, in butter & olive oil, 7 mins. Add garlic last. Add the chopped artichoke hearts or artichoke bottoms. Then add chicken stock, add the cream, or yogurt . Add boiled chopped potatoes. Add salt & white pepper & French tarragon. With a Braun hand blender, blend until smooth. Serve hot in a soup bowl (with a lid), garnish with sprinkle of French tarragon. Recipe: Nancy Armitage

Huntington Ranch Employees:

In 1920, the San Marino Ranch papers show that Mr. H. E. Huntington had over 90 employees on the ranch payroll. These employees included gardeners (rose man, orchid man, & cactus gardener), bird men (bird aviary), gatekeepers, horsemen, mansion in-house servants, ranch men, builders of ranch structures like a rose arbor, & orange pickers. Between 1919 & 1920, was the largest amount of employees because Mr. Henry E. Huntington was building his “Library Building” in Myron Hunt’s design. These employees included engineers, construction workers, painters, book shelf builders, fountain builders, masons, & wood carvers.

Ranch water structures & Automobile garage

The Huntington’s Ranch had 2 large water reservoirs, pump houses, & water towers for the most important thing on a ranch: water. A silo that held grain -wheat. A “Car Barn” stored Mr. & Mrs. Henry E. Huntington’s “San Marino I” & “San Marino II” private railroad cars for their travels. There was a automobile garage that housed Mr. Huntington’s limousines, automobiles, town cars, and 1915 touring cars. Mr. Huntington also owned a motorcycle with a sidecar. Document: 1927 San Marino Ranch map “demolition map” (of cottages & unnecessary structures when Mr. Huntington died.)

San Marino Ranch “Cottages” (24-30):

These are different then the “Guest Cottage”, which was originally made for Mrs. Arabella Huntington son, Archer Huntington to come & visit. These cottages were especially built for Mr. Huntington’s San Marino Ranch employees. They were usually 1-2 bedrooms, a bathroom, small kitchen, & a living area with double-paned windows. Outside the cottages, was a small porch with area for a small garden.

The San Marino Ranch Cottages were specifically made for Mr. Huntington’s In-house servants & employees of SMR; such as Miss Nora Larsen (Head Housekeeper of Huntington Mansion) & a “Maid Cottages” were both located where the Shakespeare Garden is now . There was a village of 10 cottages (close to the 1919 Restaurant now). Per Hertrich’s book, there was also a 6-bedroom cottage/house for the ranch foremen & some small cottages around it. This small settlement was known at Krugerville (in Alhambra, CA). Other foreman cottages were sprinkled throughout the San Marino Ranch, labeled with the last name of the foremen.

Just outside the Servant’s Dining Room in the Huntington Mansion was a the long & narrow “Night watchmen” cottage. There were gatekeeper’s/lodge houses (4 in all). In my opinion, there were at least 24-30 cottages for employees. Mr. Hertrich (superintendent of the Ranch)& his wife Marguerite had their own cottage on Euchid Ave. & later in a larger house. Then they moved to San Marino Court (between Westhaven Rd. & San Marino Ave. & raised 3 children in a larger 2- story California-ranch style house in San Marino Court,

Mr. & Mrs. Kley, he was a gardener & Jack of all trades for Mr. H.E. Huntington. Mrs. Kley was on the payroll as the Huntington’s dessert cook & they had a cottage, also. The Japanese Gardener (there was 2 Japanese gardeners: Mr. T. Goto & Mr. S. Oshita. The gardeners, their wives, & families (at different times) lived in a beautiful & elegant Japanese-style house. It was located in the Japanese Garden, which was created in 1911. One of these sweet couples & their family would invite the Mr. & Mrs. H. E. Huntington’s (Belle & Edwards) to their home for “Japanese tea ceremony”. They would ring the large Japanese Gong Bell, meaning to come to tea. The Huntingtons appropriated dressed in kimonos, Mr. H. E. Huntington in a black kimono, which was reserved for “the boss”. Mr. H. E. Huntington in respect was the very boss of the San Marino Ranch.

The Library staff also had 5 cottages located on Lopez Street, which is now Monterey Road in San Marino. This little cluster of cottages was located just below the Huntington Hotel on the corner of Oak Knoll & Lopez St. There was also a large dormitory with 26-beds (for ranch men). This dormitory was run by Mrs. Grossman (who was the highest paid employee on the ranch). I think she also had to cook for all these ranch men: breakfast, lunch, & dinner. Not a small thing, she must have had several maids & cooks to help her.

I saw the location of all these cottages on a San Marino Ranch “demolition map” dated 1927; the map was made to sadly level all of these cottages after Mr. Henry E. Huntington died. The property was now supposed to be run as a Botanical Garden at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Miss Nora Larsen’s 2-bedroom cottage existed until the 1930’s. Nora created a lovely tea room for the scholars of the Huntington Library for years. She also made the Huntington famous Orange Marmalade from Mr. Huntington’s orange trees (Valencia and Navel Oranges.

Horses, Cows & Poultry

The San Marino Ranch had several (3) different horse stables with about one dozen horses or more; depending on the year. They also had a cow “stables”, & a milk house, for fresh milk from the cows. Eggs & milk were sold to the Huntington employees that lived on the San Marino Ranch property. The ranch had lots of poultry: chickens, capons, pheasants & a pigeon house with homing pigeons. The Huntingtons even had exotic snow-white peacocks & colorful blue & green peacocks wandering around the Ranch.

Large Bird Aviary

They had a impressive large bird aviary structure that with filled with hundreds of exotic colorful birds. The aviary was quite large: 80 ft. long with large down 32 ft. wide in the middle. In later years, Mr. Henry E. Huntington loved to take a walk with his Gentlemen’s Valet also his Head Butler, Mr. Alfonso Gomez. He especially enjoyed sitting on a bench in the aviary to watch the birds & their funny little antics.

Short list of some of the Exotic Birds

They had massive amount of exotic birds like parrots, toucans, blue Victorian crowned pigeons, & royal crowned pigeons. They enjoyed Lady Gould finches, Broad Loreys, Major Mitchell kakadoos, & Macaw parrots. There was canaries, Rosellas, Logegs, & Parakeets. Check my blog on the Huntingtons Property for more bird information. Document: Personal Recollections by Wm. Hertrich & bird list small 3 hold binder/ledger of Wm. Hertrich’s at the 1919 exhibition at the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA 2019

Amusements at the Ranch

For the Huntington’s & their guests, there were many amusements on the ranch to enjoy. There were tennis court, croquet on the large lawns, lawn bowling, a bowling alley, billiards’ room, & horseback riding. They had lovely duck & bird ponds down on the south side of the ranch property with a large covered dock & rowboat. There was also colorful koi fish ponds & turtles in several locations such as the Japanese Gardens.

Original Lath House (the beginnings of the Huntington Botanical Gardens)

The expansive “Lath house” was huge: 300 ft. long & 50 ft. wide with 100 ft. dome in the middle. This marvelous botanical structure gave Mr. Hertrich & Mr. Huntington a laboratory of sorts to experiment. They grew baby exotic plants (orchids & palms), propagated fragrant roses, exotic plants, avocados; fruits like mango & pineapple & papaya. They also had special hot houses for orchids, roses, & two other greenhouses (one 148 ft. long & another 142 ft. long). These hothouses were located in a cluster, just east of the Library Building.

The “Shop”

On the 1921 San Marino Ranch map, a structure labeled “Shop” was indicated. I’m not sure what they used this structure for. My 2 guesses: It could have been a “wood shop” to build over the 100 different structures on the ranch. They called these structures “W. O.” (Work Orders). Hertrich had a whole book on the Work Orders. He would name the structure and figure how to make and the supplies needed. The Shop could have had a band saw & other tools to cut wood. Plus they would have have needed a place to store the wood. Or a “Shop” was used for mending Rare books for Mr. Huntington. (In 1919, the Huntington Library Building was being built; at the same time, Mr. H. E. Huntington was accumulating 1000’s of rare books & book collections. Some of these new acquired books by Mr. Huntington could have needed re-binding or repairing for his “Rare Books” collections.

“Ranch Office“

They had a Ranch Office building for the head gardener, Mr. Hertrich. It was located east of the Huntington Library Building & close to the green houses & the large village of cottages. They had 2 desks (Hertrich & Huntington) & probably many garden, flower, herb, & botanicals books. Always the researcher to investigate plants, herbs, & trees, etc. Huntington used to sit at his light oak roll-top desk and type out letter if needed in the Ranch Office.

Hertrich had a huge job, he did the Ranch payroll for all employees on the San Marino Ranch. He worked on “W.O.”‘s, he had to research what the Huntingtons were looking for. Do a sketch, make changes, buy the wood & supplies, get a crew to make it, built it, paint it, place a garden around it. Pay the crew extra hours for making the structure.

He purchased all the ranch seeds, herbs, roses, cactus, plants, & trees for the San Marino Ranch. He designed the themed gardens, & planted the plants with his garden crew. Daily walks around the ranch, solo or with Mr. H. E. Huntington to see what was going on. Hertrich carried a small notebook to document new changes in the ranch. He wrote every day and then typed his list up so Mr. Huntington could read them. A big delivery of exotic birds to add to the aviary, he wrote down. Plants & flowers for a new garden, he wrote down and then typed it up.

Themed Gardens at the San Marino Ranch

The Huntington’s gardens were extensive themed gardens. Guests could stroll & take in the highly fragrant scents of the large Magnolia tree by the Mansion or white “Mystery” gardenias (the florist-large ones). They had massive fragrant Rose Gardens or Mrs. Huntington fragrant flower cutting garden (the Herb Garden now). They could walk up the grass, towards the mountains, to the mermaid fountain; sculpture lined garden which was inspired by the Versailles Palace. They had a cactus garden & a Japanese Garden & Tea house. They had a Italian-inspired Loggia on the east side of the Huntington Mansion, looking out on 3-acres of green grass & the tennis courts beyond. The Loggia was used as a outside room. They often had afternoon tea served on the Loggia with cool breezes on warm afternoons.

The Huntington’s “Guest Cottage” (Large Cottage with 6 bedrooms)

This Huntington Guest Cottage was located just north of the Library Building. On the north side, It was surrounded by 10-acres of avocado groves. The structure had a southern grand entrance with 4 large columns in front. It also had a tall southern veranda inviting people to meander up from the long 1/2 circular driveway. The covered veranda would have been a wonderful place to entertain. Probably reminding Mrs. Arabella Huntington of her southern roots: Alabama, Virginia, New Orleans, Louisiana, & Texas. But originally the Guest Cottage was built for Mrs. Huntington’s son, Archer M. Huntington.

The San Marino Ranch had a large Guest Cottage. It sounded small, but was actually very large. It was decorated in the California Rancho style. With a Autumnal color palette with rich reds, golds, & browns with black rod iron. There was a large Grand Hall with numerous sitting arrangements & a tall fireplace. It had 6 bedrooms (2 bedrooms for servant’s quarters), 7 fireplaces (probably one in each bedroom & the large hall) & a kitchenette (small, scaled down area for basic cooking).

French Food served at the Guest Cottage:

A French crepe pan was found in the Guest’s Cottage inventory. The Huntington’s might have had a French-style Brunch with Savory French crepes (Virginia Ham & Brie Cheese) or sweet crepes (Orange Marmalade, melted chocolate, or Crepes Suzette). They could have had French Quiche Lorraine, Ranch Fruit, & Berry Salad, Spinach & Mushroom & Gruyere Quiche, Parisian French Omelets with cheese & herbs, French Breakfast Puff (New Orleans puffs – beignets with cinnamon-sugar treat), French Chocolate Croissants, or French Croque-Monsieur & French Chocolate – Thick Cocoa. Maybe a little California Rancho eggs added to the menu: A California Omelet with avocado, tomatoes, Anaheim chilis, & California Monterey jack cheese.

This kitchenette of the Guest’s Cottage was convenient for the Huntington’s Kitchen staff. They could easily set up for a Huntington “entertainment” at the Guest Cottage. Also, for Sundays at the Ranch, also.

To also make morning coffee for the Huntington’s house guests. But the Huntington’s really expected all guests to come join them for all meals at the Huntington’s Dining-Room table for meals. This very large Guest Cottage housed a wine cellar in the basement directly under the Grand Hall.

In the 1920’s, the Huntington’s did a lot of entertaining at the Guest’s Cottage. I read about breakfasts/brunch & “Sundays at the Ranch” at the “Other house” or Guest Cottage. HEH’s brother-in- law, Burke Holladay wrote about Huntington’s “Entertainments” there in his Burkes Journals. There were also 30 chairs for their guests, were stored in the Guest’s Cottage. The Guest Cottage had it own set of elegant fine porcelain plates. Just for the Huntington “entertainments”, they used a set of elegant gold & white “Marquis” French Havilland plates, a large tea set , and breakfast trays for guests in elegant gold & white for morning coffee.

Huntington Mansion on the San Marino Ranch:

The Huntington Mansion was filled with the finest English (HEH)& French paintings (ADH), antiques, & art objects in the World. All these treasures were collected for decades by “Edwards & Belle” Huntington: Mr. & Mrs. Henry E. Huntington with the help & of course a commission from Mr. Joseph Duveen (art & antique dealer). What gave Mr. H. E. Huntington the greatest of joy was to show guests his rare books & manuscript collections. He would walk them over to the Huntington Library building or into the Large Library or his Small Library or “Office” filled with rare books, also.

In 2025, the book collection of Mr. Henry E. Huntington is still considered the largest & greatest private book collections in the world. The Huntingtons & their guests had many places to sit down & read a book. I think Mr. Huntington favorite place to read was the Large Library sometimes called the “Family Room”. This room really was the very beginnings of his beloved “Huntington Library”. He considered books as dear old friends. Other places to read were the Small Library or “Office”, Large Drawing-Room with the “Blue Boy” painting (1922 he arrived at the Huntington Mansion on the ranch) & the lovely Small-Drawing Room with great afternoon light. The Small Drawing-Room was originally labeled “Breakfast Room” on the Blueprints of the Huntington Mansion San Marino Ranch.

Huntington Mansion Bedrooms for the Huntington’s & their employees

The Huntington Mansion had over 20 bedrooms including guest rooms, & 2 Sitting-rooms upstairs). There was also several rooms designated for at least 17 Servants / Employees). There was 2 Butlers: Alfonso Gomez, & Angus McGillivray, 2 Footmen: James Temple & James Pelger, Head Housekeeper & Cook: Miss Nora Larsen, the Cook: Mrs. James, & 2nd Cook, Miss Anna Arnold & at least 2-3 Maids, Miss Carrie M. Campbell (ADH’s private secretary) & Mr. George Hapgood (HEH’s private secretary), Miss Jeanine Reifer (Mrs. ADH’s private Ladies’ Maid), also a Seamstress, Laundress, Night watchmen, & Chauffeur: Mr. Clarence Williams. I think because of this huge amount of people, over the years, Mr. Huntington kindly built a “Maid’s Cottage” & a cottage for Miss Nora Larsen, & a village of at least 10 cottages (where 1919 restaurant & entrance to the Huntington Library is now). Originally, the servants had rooms on the 3rd floor, but it was blazing hot in the summertime, so that is when Mr. Huntington built a lot of the cottages.

It was very confusing researching all the people that made the San Marino Ranch work. Many of the In-House servants & employees were not even on the San Marino Ranch payroll. It took me a while to figure out why ? This was because they were paid from other sources of the Mr. & Mrs. H.E. Huntingtons (Arabella & Edwards). For example, like the Huntington “Traveling Servants”: none of these people were on the Ranch payroll. Sometimes, this entourage included 7-9 people traveled with the Huntingtons. These were the servants & employees that traveled with Mr. & Mrs. H.E. Huntington to all their numerous residences. Some were hired at a different Huntington Mansions (No. 2 Mansion NYC, Throgg’s Neck estate in Westchester Co. NY, & Chateau Beauregard) or they were paid from Mrs. Arabella Huntington’s Bank Acct. or Mr. Henry E. Huntington’s acct in NYC.

Small Aviary in the Huntington Mansion (2nd floor southside)

The Huntington’s also had a small aviary in the Huntington Mansion on the 2nd floor. Notice the mint green tiles on the south side of the mansion, used for the aviary. The 3 birds that were housed there were, a chatty green Amazon parrot named “Buster”. He loved Mrs. Arabella Huntington & hated everyone else. But interestingly enough took on Mrs. Huntington’s exact voice. He also had a nautical vocabulary of 200 words & would make the Huntingtons & their staff laugh with his antics. There was also a white cockatoo, & a black Indian Mynah parrot with a yellow bill in the small aviary.

Entertaining at the San Marino Ranch

From 1913-1927, “Belle & Edwards” Huntington enjoyed entertaining. At the Huntington’s ranch in the Huntington Mansion they entertained often, on a small scale. They entertained on all days of the week but especially on Sundays (Check below). Often, “Edwards & Belle” would host lovely formal luncheons (4-courses) & formal dinners (6 or more courses ) with 6-12 guests. Arabella seemed to enjoy “entertainments” (she called them) with 12 guests for great conversation. They invited people, “To Dine” with them in a formal way, these invitations might have been a formal written invitation, a phone call, or a calling card. Elegant attire was expected: men in tux or white tie & tails & women in long dresses & jewels. At the Huntington Mansion, they were served in a elegant fashion by 2 Butlers & 2 Footmen “like royalty”.

The Huntingtons Kitchen was very large; it had 3 stoves/ranges, a huge walk-in food pantry, & kitchen storage rooms. They had storage for mass quantities (25 jars) of caviar, ranch jams, orange marmalade, jellies & pickles, pickled okra, & pickled ranch vegetables, etc. One of the massive storage rooms was located in the basement down a rod-iron spiral staircase.

The Butler’s Pantry & Mrs. Arabella Huntington fine porcelain plates

The Huntingtons had a massive Butler’s Pantry, that was located just north of the Dining-Room. It had a large walk-in safe/vault for the Huntingtons mass quantities of Gorham silver flatware & vessels for Entertaining. The vault/safe also housed Huntington silver that was Sheffield silver & George III sterling silver. They had ornate silver collection: covered vessels for vegetables, gravy boats, bonbons trays, silver serving trays, & silver serving bowls.

The Butler’s Pantry also had a Butler’s sink & 42 cabinets, with numerous different patterns of porcelain & fine bone china plates & bowls. They had 1000’s and 1000’s of beautiful plates; I think Mrs. Arabella Huntington had a quite a addiction with collecting plates. She owned French Limoges, Havilland, Sevres; English Whielden Ware “Pheasant”, ornate Copeland & Garrett “Best” (gold & white), Coalport, Minton made for Tiffany & Co., & Wedgewood. They had American plates of Homer Laughlin, “Angelus”( white & gold with pink roses). They owned English Royal Crown Derby & Chelsea Plates. For themed parties & entertainments, they owned Chinese Rose Medallion plates, Blue & white Dutch delftware plates, & Japanese red liqueur plates.

They stored beautiful set of crystal glasses in the Butler’s Pantry. They had beautiful Tiffany etched glasses, Salvanti Venetian glasses, & tall Barrcarat stemed glasses (water, wine, sherry, & red wine glasses).

Huntington Kitchen Pantries:

There were several extensive Kitchen pantries which were filled to the brim with jewel-toned preserves of jams, jellies & Ranch orange-blossom honey. The Head Housekeeper Nora Larsen & her team of kitchen cooks & maids made massive amounts of Ranch Orange Marmalade, Apricot Cordial, Tutti-Fruitti ( a crock filled with brandy & different kinds of summer fruit). These Ranch delicacies were not only enjoyed at the Ranch; but the Huntingtons would take these treasures to NYC & give them as gifts at Thanksgiving & Christmas. The Huntington’s kitchen also made their own Vanilla bean ice cream & homemade root beer, maybe to make a root beer frappes or float.

“Sundays at the Ranch” Party : (San Marino Ranch, CA)

The Huntington’s tradition of “calling” & “receptions” was continued at the San Marino Ranch. But it was a different kind of entertaining at the Ranch. People couldn’t just come up to the door at the Huntington Mansion, there was gates with gatekeepers & night watchmen.

Sundays at the Ranch

But the Huntingtons often gave their Calling Cards to people they met at luncheons, teas, & dinners & on their extensive travels. After connected with new people, they would invite them to “Sundays at the Ranch”. This could have been a more casual ranch BBQ affair or a elegant Garden tea party. It seemed like Sunday at the Ranch was a favorite entertainment for the Huntingtons & their family. In the 1920’s, per Leslie Huntington (HEH’s daughter-in- law) she stated in a affidavit, that the Huntington’s entertained “Every Sunday” at the Ranch. When they were “In-Residence” in California. For more details, read my blog, “Sundays at the Ranch vs Garden Party” .

Invitations to the Ranch “Entertainments”

Mr. H. E. Huntington had 100’s of calling cards. These calling cards were from all kinds of different people in his top drawer of his desk (1927) in the “Office”. Just the Huntington family & some house quests added up to about 20 people. These “Sundays at the Ranch” could have easily included 40-60 or more people. I sadly never found a menu of “Sundays at the Ranch”. But we do know that Mrs. Arabella Huntington loved a themed party. Like Spanish-Mexican dinner with tamales & homemade corn tortillas & Mexican flan, or a French crepes brunch, Chinese New year party, Victorian Garden Parties, American 4th of July picnic with red & white gingham tablecloths, Victorian “Pink” or “Violet” Tea, Japanese Tea Ceremony, or California Ranch BBQ (maybe an authentic California Rancho “buried BBQ” in the ground with pork, beef, & chicken ). There were lots of ways the Huntington’s entertained. Go to my blog: “Sundays at the Ranch vs Garden Parties” at the Huntington’s Ranch”, I go into great detail about what they ate, etc.

Mr. H. E. Huntington’s Wine Cellar (Huntington Mansion)

The Huntington Mansion had a expansive wine cellar in the basement. The wine cellar was located on the entire south length of the Huntington Mansion. There were cement block rooms for each kind of wine. Such as Hock (white wine), Claret (red wine) , Burgundy (red wine), French Champagne & California Champagne Sparkling wine. All these lovely elegant wines were paired with the Huntington’s multi-course dinners.

The keeper of the wine cellar key was Mr. William Hertrich, (the superintendent of the Ranch); who lived on the San Marino Ranch year round. This was unusual because in wealthy society households, the Head Butler was the Keeper of the Wine-Cellar key. Mr. Hertrich probably handed off the key to the Head Butlers: McGillivray or Alfonso Gomez, when they arrived from the east (NYC). So the Butlers could be told by Housekeeper/Cook what weekly luncheon & dinner menus were; then they could figure out what kind of wines was appropriate with the meals. Technically, Mr. Huntington had 2 wine cellars, there was also 2nd wine cellar in the basement of the Huntington’s Guest Cottage.

Visit to the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA (San Marino Ranch long ago)

When you are in Southern California, don’t miss this special place. There were so many lovely locations on the San Marino Ranch/ Huntington Library & outside the Huntington Mansion to enjoy. To read a book or have a cup of coffee or tea at the cafes. The Huntingtons often invited guests, houseguests (1-month at a time), family, & friends to share & enjoy their life. The Huntingtons “Belle & Edwards” had a very blessed life, they also had a great sense of gratitude, & appreciated all that they had.

We are so very fortunate that Mr. & Mrs. Henry E. Huntington gave their amazing Huntington Mansion & San Marino Ranch property to the State of California. As planned, the San Marino Ranch became Huntington Library (with art exhibits running all year long) & Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA. In 2025, almost 100 years since Mr. H. E. Huntington died, we are still visiting & enjoying these stunning gardens, & flowers; the scholars reading his interesting rare books & manuscripts.

Documents:

HEH Coll. HEH MS 6/15 (San Marino Ranch papers), HEH Coll. HEH 6/1 (3) uncat (SMR papers), HEH Coll. MS 6/1/ (1-3)uncat (San Marino Ranch papers), HEH Coll. MS 6/1/1 uncat (SMR), HEH Coll. HEH MS 6/1-4-6 uncat (SMR), HEH Coll. MS 6/10 uncat (SMR); HEH Coll 8/9 MS uncat (SMR) papers-exotic bird aviary, HEH Coll. MS 6/2-14 box (SMR) and Hertrichs Book: The Huntington Botanical Gardens Personal Recollections 1903-1949 by William Hertrich; all information found at the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

.