Gates To The Past #4

In grander times, this was an entrance worthy of the great man himself, Alphonse George Barnes Stonehouse. The revered Al. G. is seen here, celebrating his expansive Winterquarters and Circus Zoo, on Washington Blvd., in Venice, California. He had wintered in Venice in lesser accommodations from 1914 to 1919. In 1920, he developed this property and made it a bustling attraction until voted out with an annexation to Los Angeles, in 1926. From 1927 to 1938 the Barnes title, seeing changes of owner- ship, resided on 300 acres on Valley Blvd., in two separate lots, halfway between El Monte and Baldwin Park