Krotona Apartments

I have always maintained that I am an equal opportunity stalker.  It is not just filming locations that enthrall me, but pop culture landmarks, historical sites, and architectural curiosities.  In fact, the curiouser the better.  So when I came across a grouping of grandiose Moorish-style structures dotted throughout a small section of the Hollywood Hills while searching for the Swingers party house, my interest was immediately piqued.  I headed over to Google and soon discovered that the properties were initially constructed as part of the Krotona Colony, a compound built in the early 1900s by the Theosophical Society religious sect.  At the center of the sprawling onetime commune is the former Krotona Inn, a massive complex that originally served as the group’s national headquarters, but today is a bohemian apartment complex.  It should come as no surprise that to the top of my To-Stalk List the site, now known as Krotona Apartments, went.

The rambling Krotona Colony was the brainchild of Theosophical Society follower Albert Powell Warrington who desired to build a U.S. headquarters for the India-based group.  He won approval for the project from the organization’s then leader, Annie Besant, and in 1912 purchased ten acres of land in the Hollywood Hills.  Of the bucolic locale, he told Besant, “The trolley comes within one long block of our site . . .  one can be in the business center of the city in 30 minutes.  On the other hand, twenty minutes walk up the canyon will put one entirely outside all building improvements, and tucked in between charmingly wild canyons, one is as if in the wildest and most far-off mountain retreat.  I have never known such an extraordinary combination of favorable conditions . . . We can make the spot a veritable Garden of Eden.”  He derived the name of his oasis from Crotone, the Italian city where mathematician Pythagoras lived and studied.

Several Victorian-style buildings were already standing on the land at the time that Warrington purchased it and the Theosophical Society members set up shop in them before eventually adding more structures, all with Moorish influences.

The “heart of the commune,” as described by Curbed Los Angeles, was the Krotona Inn, an idyllic stucco complex designed by the Mead and Requa architecture firm in 1912 that boasted a central courtyard with a lotus pond, meandering pathways, a communal dining room, a kitchen, a cafeteria that served solely vegetarian dishes (natch), offices, lecture spaces, dormitories, a rooftop terrace, patios, and a large domed meditation venue known as the Esoteric Room.  Two years after the property’s completion, architects Arthur and Alfred Heineman were commissioned to build a 350-seat auditorium directly next door that became known as the Grand Temple of the Rosy Cross.  You can see what the two structures looked like in their early days here.

Many of the Theosophical Society’s wealthier members erected private Moorish-themed residences for themselves on the streets surrounding the Colony, ultimately creating a fantastical conglomerate of mystical architecture.  The vast majority of the properties, amazingly, still stand.

Despite Krotona Colony’s idealized nature, the Theosophical Society did not remain there for long.  In 1924, the group left Los Angeles behind and migrated to Ojai.  Following their departure, the Krotona Inn was sold to actor/writer Rupert Julian and his wife, Elsie, who made it their primary residence.  You can see some photographs from their time on the premises here.  When Rupert passed away in 1943, Elsie moved to a smaller house nearby, at which point her former estate was converted to apartments.

Today, the complex, which was purchased by real estate investor Mayer Moizel in the 1990s, boasts 17 units, a pool, a large parking lot, several courtyards, and an on-site laundry facility.  The former Esoteric Room meditation space now serves as a one-room studio apartment, which you can see photos of here.

While we were stalking Krotona Apartments, the friend of a resident happened to stroll outside to smoke a cigarette, struck up a conversation with us, and ultimately invited us into the courtyard for a closer look!

The property could not be more picturesque, with canopied trees, colorful plants, flowering blooms, and sparkling fountains dotting every square inch.

Not surprisingly, celebrities have long been attracted to the place.  Per a 2011 Los Angeles Times article, both Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding and Evil Dead II screenwriter Scott Spiegel lived there at different points in time.  Quentin Tarantino has even called the place home, crashing on Spiegel’s couch for nine months before selling his first script.

That first script just happened to be for True Romance, which, according to the same Los Angeles Times article, did some filming at Krotona.  Supposedly, one of the building'”‘”‘s second-floor units portrayed Dick Ritchie (Michael Rapaport) and Floyd’s (Brad Pitt) apartment in the 1993 drama.  Because only a small portion of the space can be seen in the flick and there is a lack of interior photos of the complex available online, I cannot say with any certainty whether or not that information is correct, though.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Krotona Apartments, aka the former Krotona Inn, is located at 2130 Vista Del Mar Avenue in the Hollywood Hills.  The party house from Swingers can be found right around the corner at 6161 Temple Hill Drive.

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