The backyard swimming pool wasn’t invented by Hollywood, but it certainly came to symbolize the wealth and opulent lives enjoyed by movie stars of the 1920s and 1930s. As many members of filmdom made their way to the San Fernando Valley and settled on multi-acre ranches, residential swimming pools became almost a requirement. Not only did these watery wonders help beat the heat of Valley summers, they also provided opportunities for movie studio publicity departments to show off the lavish lifestyles of their larger-than-life stars.
Early pool installation was frequently handled by construction companies. Paddock Engineering Company earned many high-profile contracts, installing largely rectangular pools for Valley film stars, and ultimately making swimming pools a cornerstone of their business. Under the helm of Philip Ilsley, Paddock would come to revolutionize the swimming pool industry by popularizing free-form pool design and utilizing gunite, composed of small particles and sprayed on a surface, instead of regular poured concrete. Using gunite sped up installation times and significantly cut costs to such a degree that backyard pools came to be viewed, according to Ilsley, as “a necessity, not a luxury.” By 1963, the Valley Times newspaper declared the San Fernando Valley as the “World Swimming Pool Capital.” While swimming pools were no longer reserved for wealthy movie stars, they remained closely associated with the glamour of Hollywood.
Here we share a visual retrospective of Valley pools.
Actor Ann Dvorak serenely floating in the pool at the Encino walnut ranch she owned with husband, actor-director Leslie Fenton. The rectangular pool was installed in 1934 by the Paddock Engineering Company. The 30-acre property, just north of what is now Ventura Boulevard, also featured a dramatic Andalusian-style main house, an impressive pool house that featured a box bed so the structure could double as a guest house, and an expansive greenhouse (featured in the May 2022 issue of Ventura Blvd).
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Image courtesy of Christina Rice
Barbara Stanwyck struts past the massive swimming pool and tennis court at her Northridge estate. Another Paddock creation, the rectangular pool with rounded ends was built in 1937. The actor named the estate Marwyck Ranch and operated part of it as a thoroughbred farm with the actor Zeppo Marx and his wife, Marion. The property was later sold to actor Jack Oakie, who christened it Oakridge. The Oakridge estate is now owned by the city of Los Angeles and maintained by the Department of Recreation and Parks.
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Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt, The LIFE Collection, courtesy of Getty Images
Jane Russell enjoys iced tea alongside the free-form swimming pool at the hilltop mid-century modern home in Sherman Oaks she shared with her husband, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Bob Waterfield. Jane’s pool was installed by Landon Standard Pools, which started off in Northern California but relocated to Van Nuys in 1947 because, according to a feature in the Valley Times newspaper, “The company believes that this area will prove to be the fastest-growing center of residential building in the U.S.”
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Image courtesy of Christina Rice
Perhaps the most famous Valley swimming pool: the piano-shaped pool installed by Liberace at his Sherman Oaks home in 1953. Baker Construction Company of Pasadena was responsible for bringing this musical vision to life at the Valley Vista Boulevard home. The pool not only bore the shape of a grand piano, but was rimmed with black paint and included a full set of painted piano keys, which were best viewed and photographed from above. The glitzy entertainer lived at the property until 1957, when he migrated to Palm Springs.
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Valley Times Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
Philip Ilsley of Paddock Engineering may have made swimming pool installation more attainable for middle-class Valley families, but others sought to capitalize on this breakthrough during the Valley’s post-war building boom. Here, actor Jayne Mansfield touts the 1959 launch of her Dream Pools budget brand, which she briefly shared with her husband, bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay. The actor lent her name to the swimming pool company, which was located on Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys.
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Photo by George Brich, Valley Times Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
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