The Wizard of Ozcot

L. Frank Baum’s Hollywood home, Ozcot

In 1939, Judy Garland followed the Yellow Brick Road to her destiny in The Wizard of Oz. In 1911 the Oz author, L. Frank Baum did the same and it led him to Hollywood.

Baum and his wife purchased a lot one block north of Hollywood Boulevard at Cherokee and Yucca (then known as Magnolia and Rose Streets).  There they built Ozcot, a two-story frame home featuring a large library, an attic where Baum stored his manuscripts and props from various plays, and a solarium.  The dining room is described as having “light fixtures of cut copper sheets and thick pieces of emerald glass” casting “intricate patterns of green light” in the evenings - his own personal emerald city.

Ozcot’s grounds were as impressive as the house.  A large Aviary housed a collection of exotic birds, and a chicken yard was home to a flock of Rhode Island Reds.  Baum spent hours in his garden, where the southern California climate allowed him to grow numerous blooms, especially dahlias and chrysanthemums.  A goldfish pond was also located in the garden.

L. Frank Baum tends his garden at Ozcot.

Baum felt right at home in Hollywood - he won many awards for his flowers at the Hollywood Woman’s Club shows and was a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s exclusive Uplifters.  He also spent the last nine years of his life writing children’s books under six different pen names and he founded the ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful Oz Film Manufacturing Company.

L. Frank Baum passed away at Ozcot in 1919.  His widow Maud lived long enough to witness the success of The Wizard of Oz, which premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, just down the street from Ozcot.

Ozcot was demolished in 1953 and today a plain two story apartment stands.  There is nothing about the site that would suggest its association with one of America’s most beloved writers.  Such is Hollywood, always writing a new story!

Cherokee and Yucca in Hollywood, former site of Ozcot