The bell originally hung from a wooden pedestal at a large ranch home in Coldwater Canyon, built in the late 20's or early 30's. The home was designed in the Spanish hacienda style with a large courtyard where one of the largest California live oaks grew in the circular center courtyard driveway. The house was stucco with a red spanish tile roof. There were beautiful hand painted murals on the walls in the living and dining rooms that showed the trees and plants that grew in that area. There was a reservoir on the hill behind the house that was later converted into a swimming pool. A natural spring at the top of the canyon the house occupied supplied water to the property.
Someone had carved copies of all the original Spanish California missions in surrounding rocks and when I saw the house they lined the steps leading to the upper yard. They later "disappeared" when the property was sold.
My husband's aunt bought the property in 1950 and kept it as original as possible.
She sold the property in the early 1960's to Marlon Brando who moved in with his wife, Anna Kashfi.
Unfortunately, she had all the walls painted white thus ending the beautiful murals. The property is still there, but I don't know in what condition. It is a large piece of land and developers would love to subdivide it.
Donated by: Beverly Angarella - Tarzana resident
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