Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia, Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden

The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is a unique 127-acre botanical garden and historical site located in what was the heart of the historic Rancho Santa Anita in the city of Arcadia. Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin purchased Rancho Santa Anita in 1875. Historic structures on the Arboretum grounds include Baldwin’s Belvedere, now known simply as the Queen Anne Cottage, built in 1885 on a peninsula jutting out into the horseshoe-shaped lake. The Baldwin Coach Barn is an equally ornate example of Victorian extravagance as the Cottage. Don Perfecto Hugo Reid, the first private owner of Rancho Santa Anita, built an adobe in 1840 with the help of Gabrielino laborers. In 1970, the abandoned Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad depot was moved from its original location a quarter mile north of the Arboretum and restored to its 1890 appearance.

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Arcadia, Los Angeles County
Photographers: John Bare, Andrew Schmidt