Monrovia Archives - Etan Does LA

#246-247: Arthur Blair Historic Inn / Blair House & Brossart House (Monrovia)

January 26, 2025

These two homes were built in 1887, part of a huge building boom during Monrovia's explosive first year. After decades of ownership by Monrovia historian Steve Baker, they were given a thoughtful restoration and opened to the public as the Arthur Blair Historic Inn.

#137: William N. Monroe House (“The Oaks” – Monrovia)

February 9, 2023

Architecture

The Oaks is a lovely Queen Anne Victorian built in 1885 for the co-founder and first mayor of Monrovia, railroad contractor William N. Monroe. It was just the second house built in Monrovia, which wouldn't be incorporated as a city until two years later.

#124: Aztec Hotel (Monrovia)

October 30, 2022

Architecture

Ghosts! Hookers! Cultural appropriation! They're all part of the fascinating history of the Aztec Hotel, an eye-popping 1925 Mayan revival hotel in Monrovia (now closed) designed by the idiosyncratic architect Robert Stacy-Judd.

#115: Upton Sinclair House (Monrovia)

September 5, 2022

Art & Literature

This was the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, labor activist and would-be politician Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle. Sinclair moved to Monrovia from Pasadena after unsuccessfully running for Governor of California, and wrote nearly everything from the last 15 years of his career in the study in the back.