El Alisal

El Alisal or the Charles F. Lummis House and Garden is a "castle" in Highland Park, California. It has two stories with a slightly rugged exterior. The construction on the house took from 1889 to 1910 due to the need for large rocks and telephone poles. These materials came on the Santa Fe Railroad. The architect was Charles F. Lummis, hence the alternative name given to it. Lummis was a Harvard graduate who studied archeology. He was also a writer that coined the phrase "See America First". Lummis was interested in Native American culture, so much of his work referred to the southwest such as New Mexico and Arizona.

He even began the South West Museum with numerous Native American artifacts. The house is an amazing construction of various cultural mixtures including the fireplace, which was built from rocks carved from Mount Rushmore. Gutzon Borglum was the one to carve and style the fireplace in El Alisal. The house is also known for its garden because of the experimental structure using water conserving plants to make the garden beautiful, but also "green". The house is open for tours Friday through Sunday 12pm to 4pm. It is located in the downtown section of Highland.