Arcadia
Bandini-Stearns deBaker
One of
the great beauties and richest and most influential women of her day, Arcadia
Bandini was born in
Los Angeles
around 1825 and
died in
Santa Monica
in 1912. At her death she left a fortune estimated at between $7-8
million, at that time the largest probated estate in
Los Angeles
history. Arcadia's parents
were the well-known ranchero, Don Juan Bandini and his San Diego-born wife,
Dolores Estudillo, the daughter of Jose Estudillo, a comandante at
Monterey. In his 1840 book, Two Years Before the Mast,
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. described
Arcadia
's
father: "He had a slight and elegant figure, moved gracefully, danced and
waltzed beautifully, spoke the best of Castilian with a pleasant and refined
voice and accent, and had, throughout, the bearing of a man of high birth and
figure." It was said his eldest daughter inherited her father's grace
and style. But when Dana described him, Juan Bandini was feeling the financial
pressures of shrewd and aggressive Yankees who were finding money-making
opportunities in the fading Mexican pueblo.
One of
the most successful of these immigrants from the
United States
was Abel Stearns who
arrived in 1829. He became "Don Abel Stearns" after adopting
Mexican citizenship and converting from his Jewish heritage to Catholicism.
Stearns was a imposing, if controversial figure, nicknamed Cara de Caballo ("Horse
Face") because of his long-jawed countenance. Once accused of being a
smuggler, Cara de Caballo was amassing the largest fortune of his day when he
married Arcadia Bandini. She was 14. He was 43.
Arcadia
brought with
her a sizable dowry in land. Stearns enlarged it in 1842, acquiring Los
Alamitos Rancho, near present day
Long Beach
and
Seal Beach
.
The couple summered there. Stearns added his young wife's name to one of
his early investments, one of
Los
Angeles
' first American-styled commercial developments,
the Arcadia Block.
Arcadia
, now considered
a "noted belle," was mistress of one of
Los
Angeles
' most elegant adobes, El Palacio, at Main and
Arcadia
streets. She
could be seen riding through the pueblo in a proper Bostonian carriage. Carol
Dunlap, in her book California People, reports that Mrs. Stearns once
gave the Empress of China some sheep as a gift.
Abel
and
Arcadia
never had children, but the marriage was considered a happy one. When Abel
Stearns died in 1871, he had fallen on hard times, but three years later
Arcadia survived to marry another wealthy Anglo-Angeleno, Col. Robert Symington
Baker, owner of the San Vicente Rancho. With John P. Jones he was
co-founder of
Santa Monica
. Baker
tore down El Palacio, replaced it with a commercial structure, the Baker Block,
and moved his household to
Ocean
Avenue
in
Santa
Monica
where he named the town's most impressive hotel
after his new wife. Los Angeles chronicler Harris Newmark described The Arcadia: ". . . built on a bluff, [it] was four stories
high and had a great veranda with side wings; and with its center tower and
cupola was more imposing than any hotel there today [1915]."
According
to Carol Dunlap, in her later years,
Arcadia
"maintained a salon furnished with Aubusson carpets, period furniture, and
Sevres china . . . living in
Santa
Monica
dispensing financial aid to a large circle of
impoverished relatives." When she died in 1912 she left no will and
her $7-8 million estate became one of the most contested in
Los Angeles
history. Dunlap reports that
"32 lawsuits were filed by 86 hopeful heirs: 35 Bandinis, 41 Stearns, and
10 Bakers." It was an ignominious ending to the life of one of
Southern California's most elegant and admired women.
--
Contributed by Jon Wilkman, 1999
Back
