[SEVENTEEN]

Pearl's Home

with Austin McManus

Pearl’s Legacy

From Draft, July 7, 1949 – MEMORANDUM to the Internal Revenue Service to justify treating sales of land by Pearl McCallum McManus as Capital Gains.

  Despite a careful search among the authorities, we have found no case involving the treatment of gains on sale of real property which resembles the present case in all respects.  The reason is that the taxpayer principally involved, Mrs. McManus, is a very unusual and exceptional personality.  Her personality and approach to life have dominated her conduct and her method of handling her real property.

  One controlling influence upon Mrs. McManus’ life has been her very justifi­able reverence and devotion to the memory of her father.  He was the founder of Palm Springs in her view. . . . Mrs. McManus has based much of her conduct upon her belief that her father founded Palm Springs and did so with certain definite motives and high aspirations for the success of this area.

  Many examples of this motivation of Mrs. McManus are available.  In 1926, with considerable risk and the incurring of substantial indebtedness which was repugnant to her, Mrs. McManus commenced the building of the Oasis Hotel.  This hotel is located on Palm Canyon Drive in the heart of Palm Springs.  It is no coinci­dence that the site of the hotel is the very spot where Mr. McCallum constructed the family home in which Mrs. McManus grew up.  She selected that site because she wished the Oasis to be a memorial to her father.

Ground Breaking - Oasis Hotel

  She employed an outstanding architect, Lloyd Wright, the son of the famous Frank Lloyd Wright, generally known as the father of modern architecture.  She spent much time with this architect planning and devising the construction of a tower, which she regarded particularly as being in memory of her father.  They also spent much time upon the design of the various public rooms . . . In building the hotel Mrs. McManus insisted that as few trees on the site be destroyed as possible.  There are a number of portions of the hotel which were built around trees, although the architect advised Mrs. McManus that it might cost as much as a thousand dollars extra to do so.  All of this was because . . . this site was the McCallum family home site.

  Mrs. McManus was so absorbed in the design of the architectural and artistic features of this hotel that she gave little attention to its commercial or profit-making aspects.  While it had very large parlors and dining room, and the first swimming pool in Palm Springs, and a beautiful garden, it included only 24 hotel rooms. . . . woefully inadequate to support the operation which the rest of the project required.  This is typical of her concentration upon artistic and what she refers to as “interest­ing” aspects of projects as distinguished from their economical value and usefulness.  .  .  .

  Another illustration of Mrs. McManus’ concentration upon activities which would perpetuate the memory of her father was the moving of a portion of the old family home to another site when the Oasis was commenced.  The original McCallum home was an adobe house in part, which included bedrooms and kitchen of wooden construction.  It was impossible to salvage the adobe portion of the house but Mrs. McManus insisted that the wooden portion . . . must be moved to another location.  She was advised by a carpenter that this portion of the house could not be moved two blocks with­out falling apart.  She insisted, nevertheless, and it was bolstered up and at considerable expense, moved to another location.  She then added to it and improved its appearance and used it as a home for some time.

Pearl and Austin

  In this connection it is of interest that because of a great need for funds, Mrs. McManus finally commenced renting it first as a house and later as a restau­rant.  It was added to from time to time by various tenants and finally was made into an apartment building and is now the Rancho Apartments, which was sold by Mrs. McManus in 1946.

Memorials to her father

  While she has never been able to put such plans into effect as yet, Mrs. McManus has at least two very definite ideas as to a proposed memorial to her father.  One is for a quiet place of contemplation to be dedicated as a small public park on one of the hillside properties which she owns, which would be a memorial to Mr. McCallum.  Another idea, based on the crucial importance of water in the desert areas—a problem which her father faced and attempted to solve—is for a series of drinking fountains for people and animals to be placed at strategic locations through the desert area from Palm Springs to Indio.

  Because of her strong attachment to the memory of her father . . . Mrs. McManus has a very strong sentiment concern­ing the City of Palm Springs.  We believe that she can convince anyone of her utterly sincere concern for and interest in the welfare of the City . . . She has given property on a number of occasions to the city or to civic organizations.  For example, she has made gifts of property as building sites to the Palm Springs Women’s Club and the Palm Springs Masonic Lodge.  Within the last few months she deeded the rights of way for flood control purposes to the County of Riverside along Tahquitz Creek, in a location where the value of the property involved is several thousand dollars.

  Although she has a considerable amount of property along Palm Canyon Drive which would benefit from valuations based on industrial use, Mrs. McManus has always opposed any industrial usage or development of property along Palm Canyon Drive.  In addition, she has been very particular about any use of her property at any location for commercial purposes which would not meet her standards of what would be best for the permanent artistic develop­ment of the city.  For example . . . property on Palm Canyon Drive for the construction of a lumber yard.  She consistently refused to sell such property until the buyer persuaded her that he would erect a very high-class structure of sound architectural design and would shield the lumber yard itself from view by a high fence.  This convinced Mrs. McManus that the development would be an appropriate one and she was willing to lease but would not sell the property to Mr. Hyde, but by the time his plans changed and he entered his development at another location.

  Mrs. McManus has a long, well-substantiated record of refusing to sell prop­erty when the seller or his plans for the use of the property did not meet her wishes.  As a matter of fact, she has probably turned down more sales than she has made.  A complete record of sales turned down cannot, of course, be pre­sented as there is no written record of such transactions and Mrs. McManus naturally cannot remember them all.  Following, however, are a few examples of such transactions which have been turned down by Mrs. McManus:

Mrs. McManus’ “Front Yard.”  Directly across the street from Mrs. McManus’ home is a row of approximately 10 lots in a very choice location, near the Tennis Club, and otherwise desirable.  Mrs. McManus’s very attractive front porch looks out directly across these lots.  She has had many offers to purchase them.  She has uniformly refused all offers because she regards this as her “front yard” and does not wish it encumbered with improvements.  The real estate brokers in Palm Springs now know this and do not submit offers for this property.

  The portions of Section 29 which Mrs. McManus still owns lie on both sides of the main highway from Palm Springs to Indio, which is undergoing very extensive development.  The small parts of that section which she sold many years ago to Mr. Cree have been utilized for some commercial development, including an attractive restaurant.  Mrs. McManus has had many offers to buy or lease parcels from Section 29, located on the highway, to be used for many different types of stores and commercial structures.  She has uniformly rejected such offers because they do not accord with her dreams for the development of this property.  Her main hope is that some time this property may be used for the construction of a beautiful hotel which would be principally in the moun­tainous portion of the section, looking down across the valley.  A group of small stores and commercial structures would interfere with this plan.  She has there­fore rejected any offers for such uses.

  Block 19, Lots 5-7 property is located on Palm Canyon Drive between Arenas and Baristo Roads.  It is in the area of very handsome new commercial devel­opments, such as Bullock’s Palm Springs store.  Mrs. McManus has had a number of offers for the purchase of this property.  She has rejected them all because she has the hope of constructing a particular type of development on it herself.  She wishes to create here a U-shaped series of shops which would become the art center of Palm Springs.  It would be occupied by shops specializing in the various arts and crafts and would have space for the exhibi­tion of artistic work of various types, and for other artistic uses.  Until she becomes convinced that she will not be able to make such a development of this property, Mrs. McManus will undoubtedly continue to reject offers for it, despite its very high value.

  Rejection of offers to purchase property by Mrs. McManus has been typi­cal of her property holding from the beginning.  In approximately 1911, when Mrs. Coffman, developer and owner of the Desert Inn, first came to Palm Springs, she offered to purchase the location upon which the Oasis Hotel was subse­quently built, the old McCallum home place, for $10,000, consisting of $5,000 cash and $5,000 worth of property in Santa Monica.  Mrs. McManus could not bear to see the family home site owned and developed by a stranger and forth­with rejected this offer.  She owned the property for 17 more years, until she sold the Oasis Hotel in 1928.

  [After development of the Oasis Hotel in 1926] Mrs. McManus’s next major development was the Palm Springs Tennis Club.  This has achieved an especial reputation as a place of unique design, blending very attractively into the desert terrain, and of high operating standards.  The unique design of the Tennis Club is no accident.  It was the result of years of thought and planning . . . .  She derived the idea for the oval-shaped Tennis Club swim­ming pool from a swim­ming pool which she saw in Morocco, where she went for the particular pur­pose of studying architecture which might be suitable for desert development.  The blending of the original Palm Springs Tennis Club design into the rocky hillside where it is located was the result of her insistence that the foot of the mountain should not be touched, or gouged into.

  The other principal structure built by Mrs. McManus is her present home, built in 1928.  It likewise is located upon the rocky hillside and blends attrac­tively into the hillside.  The entire front of its living room consists of removable glass doors opening onto a large porch with an attractive view over the desert. / / /

  Reviewing this appeal to IRS by Pearl in 1949, one cannot help wondering how much of her desire to preserve the memory of her father in Palm Springs has been accomplished.  Embracing the inevitable presence of Hollywood stars wasn’t a problem for her so long as they kept their moral transgressions behind the high walls of their homes and displayed in public what was expected of them by adoring fans.

  Today, her grand “Pink Villa” is gone, replaced by an office building for the Tennis Club which Pearl sold in the 1940s—a three storied cement box with glass windows, the building of which necessitated gouging into the mountain.  Harry’s Hillside House—which, significantly Pearl repurchased at the same time she sold the Tennis Club—is no longer nestled on the slope of the mountain.  It was torn down in 1970, the mountain once again gouged out to make room for two additional tennis courts by the Club’s new owners.

  McCallum Way, the boulevard running from Palm Springs airport into the heart of the village, was first renamed Tahquitz-McCallum Way, and now is simply, Tahquitz Way.  My late sister, Edith, reported to me that an attempt had been made to chisel out Pearl’s name on the fountain at the airport which she donated in her lifetime.  Fortunately, that attempt failed.  The adobe “family home,” as Pearl called it, is the only site memorializing her father, maintaining a certain dignity as a  museum on Palm Canyon Drive.

  But the very existence of Palm Springs today is perhaps a fitting memorial to John Guthrie and Emily, and Harry, and May and Hamilton Forline—as well as Pearl.  Perhaps this history will serve also as a reminder, at least, of their sacrifices which in the early years assured the survival of this desert oasis.

From Palm Springs Life – April, 1984 issue

The McCallum Saga Continues - Dana F. Skolfield:

  The truth is that strong family ties existed among the McCallums and Hamilton Forline (M.D.) in those early years, as well as mutual regard, and this regard existed until Pearl’s death in 1966.  Pearl spoke glowingly of her sister May to me on several occasions—and to other members of the family.  Also, Pearl’s actions throughout her life proved the obligation she felt toward her sister May who died at the early age of 39 leaving four children.

  Following J.G. McCallum’s death on February 5, 1897, and up to May’s death in November 1908, all members of the family, including Hamilton Forline, acted in concert on at least three specific occasions to protect the McCallum Ranch (“about sixty acres” of land from Palm Canyon Drive up the mountain)—that is, acted to keep this land in the family.

  The “deeding back” of interest in land—and water company stock—did occur in February 1898, and these deeds show that all three children, Harry, May, and Pearl, deeded their undivided interests in the McCallum Ranch (worth far more than all other land) back to their mother Emily.  . . . [In this cross-deed­ing] each received 180 acres of land out on the desert—not worth much—as well as portions of land closer into town.  This land was lost to both May and Pearl to creditors and an option against the property at a later date.  Harry also was deeded back title to “syndicate land” in this February 1898 family distribution, the title of which was to give Pearl many headaches following the death of her mother Emily in 1914.  But that’s a story in itself.

  The key to understanding this family “cross-deeding” and redistribution in 1898 is that the family intended to secure their primary and most valuable pro­perty—the McCallum Ranch, and to protect their mother’s interests in it.

  . . . Had it not been for the efforts, and sometimes sacrifices of Harry McCallum, May and Dr. Forline in the years 1899 to 1907, this center of Palm Springs (the former “McCallum Ranch”) could easily have been lost and developed by greedy, disinterested creditors.  (In the early years, John G. McCallum had to fight off those who would build cement factories in Palm Springs, and precipitated a fight with his syndicate partners.)

  [Harry McCallum’s] personal difficulties are spelled out in his journal entry of February 8, 1899.  This involved an annulled marriage, which—interesting to note—has never been noted in any history, yet was the direct result of May selling the land cross-deeded to her; in two sales, Harry using May and Hamilton’s Power of Attorney—all of which totaled a little more than one-thousand dollars—far away from a reported $10,000!

  Also revealed by Harry’s journal of 1899 is that Dr. Forline gave up his interest in a clinic in Chicago (Western Springs) to come with May to Palm Springs in 1899, together with their (then only) two children, John McCallum and Katherine.  They remained for two years in the area.  There is record of Dr. Forline being “Physician to the Mission Indians” possibly during this period, or from 1905-1910 when May and Hamilton again returned to the area (Red­lands), now with four children . . . It was Pearl’s desire, as it was the desire of Harry, May and Hamilton in the early part of this century, to keep the land at any cost.

  John Guthrie McCallum’s early struggle in the 1880s was a fight to keep out land speculators, as any reading of the Palm Valley Water Company’s articles will attest.  You had to live on the land and cultivate it in those days in order to own it.  That’s how Palm Springs began as a community, a unique experiment in the history of California land development. / / /