Highland Park's Ebell Club

Departures is researching its next installment exploring neighborhoods in Highland Park and the Arroyo Seco.

Contributions like seen below will enrich this next installment as they help identify points of interest, personal anecdotes, and places that are culturally or historically significant.

131 S. Avenue 57
Los Angeles, CA 90042-4701
(323) 478-9562

As noted by the NY Times: The Ebell was named after Adrian Ebell, a German professor who traveled around California forming study groups for women. In the beginning of the 20th century, the Ebell was one of the largest and most elite clubs in the nation, rivaled only by the Friday Morning Club in downtown Los Angeles.

What is often overlooked is that the Ebell Club was also a 'safe' place for women to organize the modern suffrage movement, resulting in the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1920 (Women's Right to Vote Act).

Highland Park's Ebell still retains its historic presence in what was Los Angeles' first annexed neighborhood due to the City asserting its pueblo rights over the Los Angeles River and all its tributaries, including the Arroyo Seco.

Many community groups meet in its charming building where the wall still holds the gallery of women who served as Ebell Club presidents.

It's one of my favorite Highland Park places.