| Silent film superstars Mary Pickford, with the long | | | | and Mary saw their careers foundering. They were |
| golden curls, and dashing Douglas Fairbanks were the | | | | older, movie tastes had changed, Doug was restless, |
| original Hollywood royalty. They were the Brad and | | | | and they divorced in 1936. |
| Angelina of our day, wildly famous the world over. | | | | Mary kept Pickfair, marrying handsome actor Charles |
| Their legendary home was called Pickfair, a joining of | | | | "Buddy" Rogers the following year. She and Buddy |
| their last names. | | | | raised a family and opened their home to charity |
| Pickfair started as a hunting lodge built in 1911. Douglas | | | | events. But as the years went by and life at Pickfair |
| found the property while riding in the wild Hollywood | | | | quieted, Mary became more and more reclusive, |
| Hills. Married in 1920, Doug and Mary renovated the | | | | spending all her time upstairs in her bedroom. |
| cozy lodge on Summit Drive. Prominent architect | | | | Mary Pickford died in 1979. Buddy sold Pickfair to Jerry |
| Wallace Neff expanded it to an L-shaped, 22-room | | | | Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, who in turn |
| Tudor mansion with a copper roof and green gables. | | | | sold it in 1988 to businessman Meshulam Riklis and wife |
| Furnishings were department-store French antique | | | | actress Pia Zadora. |
| reproductions. Through gifts and their travels, Doug and | | | | In 1989, Riklis and Zadora said that Pickfair was so |
| Mary collected fine art and antiques, creating a warm | | | | riddled with termites that it was beyond repair and |
| yet elegant place to entertain. | | | | they had it torn down. |
| And entertain they did! Pickfair was the center of | | | | Preservationists were aghast. The house had been a |
| Hollywood society. Everyone wanted an invitation, not | | | | symbol of Old Hollywood. Riklis and Zadora built an |
| only actors and actresses, but also scientists, athletes, | | | | enormous Venetian mansion on the property. |
| political figures and royalty from all over the world. | | | | Completed in 1991, only a few original features of |
| Doug did not drink and so many guests at Pickfair | | | | Pickfair were saved. They sold the property to a |
| were surprised (and dismayed) to find no wine at the | | | | corporation in 2005. |
| dinner table. After dinner and a movie, Ovaltine was | | | | Although still called "Pickfair," this is not the house that |
| served! | | | | saw the beginnings of the business of making movies, |
| Because of the popularity of the King and Queen of | | | | the meetings resulting in the creation of the Academy |
| Hollywood, others in the film industry built mansions | | | | of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the scores of |
| nearby, creating the luxurious Beverly Hills we know | | | | famous people who visited and the romance of the |
| today. | | | | first Hollywood super couple. That house is gone and |
| But things changed. Talkies arrived in 1929 and Doug | | | | with it the mystique. |