A couple of years ago I bought journalist Sean Flynn’s book Why Peacocks? as a gift for my mom, and I finally got around to reading it myself, finishing it early last week. In one chapter the author talks about Lucky Baldwin and the fact that he was responsible for introducing six Indian Blue peafowl to his Southern California ranch in 1879. I recalled that Huell had done at least a couple of different segments on Lucky Baldwin, although I had never actually watched them. And I couldn’t help but wonder if Huell ever happened to mention those peacocks whose descendants are still scattered throughout southern LA County. Well, of course he did! But that’s only one minor footnote in this fascinating episode of Visiting, which originally aired on May 23, 2002. You can read more about Lucky Baldwin and his Rancho Santa Anita here.

Lucky Baldwin was one of the great characters of Southern California history during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. He was a pioneer and real estate tycoon who owned the land that would become Arcadia, Monrovia and Baldwin Hills. Huell visits the Queen Anne Cottage at the Los Angeles Arboretum, which was built on his former property in 1885, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)