The “Old Money” Family Who Built Malibu: The Rindges скачать в хорошем качестве

The “Old Money” Family Who Built Malibu: The Rindges

The "old money" dynasty the Rindge family came to Malibu from Cambridge, Massachusetts after purchasing 27 miles of California coastline for $10 per acre in 1891 while accidentally creating America's most exclusive beach community where homes now sell for $177 million. ------------------------------ Gain FREE access to secret full-length episodes on wealthy families "too scandalous for YouTube" by joining our newsletter: https://www.substack.com/@oldmoneyluxury ------------------------------ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Introduction 1:35 Chapter 1: The Harvard Man's Western Dream 5:19 Chapter 2: A Fortune Heads West 9:18 Chapter 3: The Queen of Malibu 12:51 Chapter 4: Paradise Lost 16:22 Chapter 5: The Accidental Legacy ------------------------------ A single Malibu beach house sold in 2022 for $177 million—more money than the woman who built Malibu saw in her entire lifetime. Frederick Hastings Rindge was born December 21, 1857, into Cambridge, Massachusetts privilege, heir to textile and real estate wealth that placed his family among the merchant aristocracy. Scarlet fever killed his siblings while rheumatic fever repeatedly confined Frederick to months of bedroom imprisonment, forcing his withdrawal from Harvard before graduation. His father Samuel's 1883 death delivered a $2 million inheritance—$140 million in current value—launching Frederick west toward empty California coastline. The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School still bears his name, later educating future filmmakers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in buildings his fortune created. Frederick spotted a photograph of Michigan schoolteacher Rhoda May Knight at a California health colony and married her within fourteen days of their first meeting. Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit encompassed 13,000 acres of coastal land most considered worthless—the last available Spanish land grant from 1802. Frederick paid $10 per acre in 1891, a total of $130,000 for property critics called foolish to purchase. He founded Conservative Life Insurance Company, eventually Pacific Life, and joined Union Oil as vice president while building his American Riviera. Death arrived for Frederick in 1905, sudden and premature at age 48, transforming his widow from partner to sole commander of an empire. Rhoda May Rindge hired armed guards to patrol her boundaries, confronting trespassers with rifles while fighting Southern Pacific Railroad through state courts to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 1926 creation of Malibu Movie Colony arose from calculation: Hollywood's new millionaires craved privacy, and May subdivided beachfront into exclusive lots. Clara Bow signed first, then Bing Crosby, Gloria Swanson, and Gary Cooper built cottages that looked modest from Malibu Road but opened onto private beaches. May established Malibu Potteries in 1926, producing 30,000 square feet of hand-painted tiles monthly that graced Los Angeles City Hall, the Mayan Theater, and the Roosevelt Hotel. Atop Point Dume, she began constructing a 55-room mansion before October 1929's stock market crash arrived and the 1931 fire destroyed her pottery kilns. Forced sales began in 1932, with parcels becoming Pepperdine University's future site while movie stars bought their rented lots during her greatest need. In 1940, the ranch sold at courthouse auction for $100 per acre—land now worth millions per lot. The Adamson House, built for her daughter in 1929, operates as a museum showcasing Malibu Potteries tilework that now commands auction prices exceeding her lifetime debts. The Pacific Coast Highway she battled for decades runs directly through former Rindge property, carrying millions annually where she once stationed armed guards. Rhoda May Knight Rindge died February 8, 1941, watching strangers divide her kingdom into empires of their own.