There are few places I have driven by in my adult life as frequently as Campo de Cahuenga. There is no place I have meant-to-go-to-yet-never-made-it-to for as many years as Campo de Cahuenga. In fact, it is the reason there is a Lost Landmarks column. In my former aspiring actress years, I would pass by the forlorn adobe structure on my way to acting class and wonder what it was. A squat, Mission-style building, it was dwarfed by Lankershim Boulevard, Metro-owned parking lots, and shrieking Universal Studios. Campo de Cahuenga looked as out of place as I often felt.
For various reasons, (including the fact that it is only open from 12-4 the first Saturday of each month) what was supposed to be the first Lost Landmarks was repeatedly pushed to the back burner. Last Saturday, I finally made it to the Campo. It is a postage-stamp sized site, with memorial bells and plaques and fountains. There is a confusing recreation of the original building's recently rediscovered foundation. The actual foundation is buried below for safekeeping, and extends into the parking lot and the street. The adobe building, built in 1950, is now known to be an inaccurate approximation of what the original building may have looked like. Inside this building there are flags, portraits, a conference table and a mish-mash of historical knick-knacks. A rack of period-style costumes sits beside the restroom, waiting for the next reenactment of the signing of the Capitulation of Cahuenga.
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