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Description

Striking map and birdseye view of the "California Riviera" development, located between the Will Rogers Estate (and now State Historic Park) and the Riviera Golf Course, in Pacific Palisades, with extesive advertising and promotional tracts on the verso.

The California Riviera is an upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, designed to imitate the ambiance of the French and Italian Riviera, with streets named for towns in Europe. The Frank Meline Company was the selling agent and land developer for the subdivision. Among the more notable features is the location of Beverly Boulevard, which would be changed to Sunset in the coming years.

This pamphlet is featured in the book Pacific Palisades, by Jan Loomis (2009).

The Riviera Golf Club opened in 1927. The view shows the Will Rogers Estate and Polo Fields, the mountains and beaches in the distance, and street plan for the developent and Castellemarre (another Frank Meline development) in the distance.

In 1927 and 1928, a large polo facility was developed in Pacific Palisades, which soon became one of the stops on the international polo circuit. In effect, the polo facility enticed the likes of Jack Holt, Hal Roach, and Will Rogers to spend much of their time in the Palisades. Will Rogers owned acreage in Rustic Canyon, which he used as a weekend getaway home while his primary residence was located in Beverly Hills. However, as time passed Will purchased 224 acres of land and announced, in 1926, that the ranch would be his permanent home. On the property, Will had a polo field, barn, and 9-hole golf course built.

In the distance, the development of Castellemarre is shown, another of The Frank Meline Co. projects. Situated west of the Santa Ynez Canyon along the coastal slopes, the name is a tribute to a small Italian port near Naples; Castellemarre means "Castle by the sea."

In 1925, the Frank Meline Company began to develop the area that was to be called Castellemarre. By 1927, the foundations for 12 future homes had been poured. Meline expressed specific requirements in regards to architecture and style for the homes in Castellemarre. It was required that the homes be constructed in the style of the Italian Renaissance tradition. The first home that was built, known as Villa Leon, exemplifies this tradition. Leon Kauffman and his wife purchased the Castle Rock Plot which was a plot intended to house six homes; the Kauffmans decided to build one home of gigantic proportions and of equal extravagance. Villa Leon is so large that it is easily seen from the coastline along the Pacific Coast Highway.