Nichols Canyon, Los Angeles, California
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Nichols Canyon is an area in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles County, California. It begins at Hollywood Blvd. on its south end and snakes its way north into the hills below Mulholland Drive.
Nichols Canyon was named after John G.(Gregg) Nichols who served as mayor of Los Angeles, California between 1852 and 1853 and again from 1856 to 1859. He was a businessman and a builder who lived in the first brick house to be built in Los Angeles, and he was the first mayor to expand the city. In 1851 his son, John Gregg Nichols, was the first Anglo American to be born in the city.
On the evening of May 13, 1874 a sheriff’s posse from Los Angeles camped near the mouth of Nichols Canyon a mile and a quarter northeast of Greek George’s ranch house. The next morning, in a shoot out at Greek George’s, they captured the Mexican bandit Tiburcio Vasquez. The present day Los Angeles County park of Vasquez Rocks was one of his favorite hideouts
British artist David Hockney created an acrylic painting on canvas (213.3 x 152.4 cm or 84" x 60" inches) called Nichols Canyon in 1980. The bright colors depict the winding road and landscape of the Hollywood Hills in the late 1970s. The two story red-roofed white house featured prominently in the center of the painting is the Michiels House, which is located approximately one mile up Nichols Canyon Road from Hollywood Boulevard. As in the Hockney painting, there is a stop sign and a right hand turn in the road in front of the house. Members of the Michiels family have lived in this home for three generations. Next door lived Ava Gardner who purchased her Nichols Canyon home in 1948. This home is featured in Architectural Digest, Hollywood at Home, March 2006. In the mid 1950's it was home to Madeline Foy O’Donnell, one of the original Eddie Foy and the Seven Little Foy’s of Vaudeville fame.
Frank Sinatra, Rudy Vallee, Ricky Nelson, George Harrison, Steve McQueen, Bud Ekins, Telly Savalas, Alan Funt, Jack Baily, Betty Garrett, Larry Parks, Lina Horn, Joe Cocker, Guy Williams, Larry Storch, Herschel Gilbert, Alex Murray, Taft Taft, and Melissa Mathison, are just a few celebrities in the music and movie industry that lived, worked, and played in Nichols Canyon.
Nichols Canyon has two large year round water falls over 100’ high, and several natural and man made small water falls. The two larger falls are the only natural water falls in the City of Los Angeles.
Approximately 3/4 mile up the canyon was a small sales office with an old western type porch and roof overhang where canyon children would gather to play in the stream and make forts in the native sycamore, oak, sumac, sage, yucca and laurel. It is now known as "Rick E Lake", named after the current owner. The property features 150 ft. of waterfront on a year-round stream with four waterfalls. Prior to being converted into a residence, the structure served as the real estate office for the Nichols Canyon development (1941). Remodeled several times, the home was featured in 1976 issue of House Beautiful's Home Remodeling magazine. Expanded to the present 2 bd/2ba configuration, the interior now features a rustic antique heart pine interior,inspired by James Cagney's 1930 cabin in Lake Arrowhead.
Today, few of the original bungalow and cape cod style houses remain, having been expanded or replaced entirely. Home to many celebrities throughout the years, Nichols Canyon is a favorite jogging and cyclist road.
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