The Spider Pool site's very beginning date is unknown. The
so-called "ruins" section adjoining the spider wall bears the appearance
of an early rude cabin retreat and guesses are that it might date back
to 1900 or before. But as we will see later, perhaps it was merely made
to look that way!
About 1923 John McDermott (a talented director and screenwriter)
began construction of the eventually-sprawling Spider Pool estate house
and it seems to have begun when McDermott's purchased 6 "Algerian rooms"
used in a recently completed picture. It turned out to be an ongoing
project and it's believed he did most or all of the work. Interestingly
and perhaps suggestively John directed a picture, "The Spider and the
Rose" in 1923.
A 1927 movie fan magazine described McDermott's house which he
called his "crazy house." It was an eclectic mix of styles and
incorporated more defunct movie set props and structures rather than
seeing the used surplus movie stuff waste away due to neglect. (Sets
were apparently well made and if cared for would last for many years.)
It was said to have sliding panels, underground passageways, and it even
included 3 small rooftop cannons that had been made for the movie "The
Sea Hawk." This was the Roaring 20s and lavish and crazy parties were
hosted there.
In 1929, McDermott was working with and possibly just pal-ing
around with the actor Harold Lloyd, who was also a fanatic about amateur
photography, especially color & stereo photography, and is said to have
photographed hundreds of nudie & cheesecake models. It may be this
association that led to the Spider Pool locale eventually becoming a
girlie photography destination. He would have recognized the
interesting & colorful Pool area as a natural site for color photos.
The first mention of a swimming pool onsite appears to have been
in 1933 in another magazine article about the strange estate.
John McDermott died in 1946, at age 53, in Los Angeles, attributed
to an accidental sleeping pill overdose. There was a fire at the house
later that year which apparently did much damage but didn't destroy all.
Ownership of the property transferred to his nephew Edward shortly
after the fire. He and his wife decided the place didn't suit them and
they let others live there (evidence that much survived the fire).
When did girlie pictures begin being taken there? Dolores Del
Monte recalled posing for a camera club there between late 1950 & early
1951. A Hit Magazine 1952 issue featured Donna "Busty" Brown on the
cover at the pool. These are the earliest documented dates. Note that
the photography heyday of the Pool was after it had been going downhill
for some time, both figuratively and literally. The gound on the steep
hillsides was subsiding, naturally due to weather, and perhaps
accelerated by earthquake activity. The cracked pool and broken
features seen in many photos bear the evidence.
The SP property passed through many owners after 1950 but nudie
photography seems to have continued until about 1960, but in the early
1960s the site was going to weeds and delinquents were using the place.
The police ordered the owners to raze the rest of the house.
Neighbors bought up land containing the access road so that for a time,
until access rights were corrected, the site was isolated but in 1962
the owner threw I the towel & abandoned the property & the pool & house
remainders were bulldozed. Somehow, amid the building booms that laster
plastered the hillsides with homes, portions of the SP were retained,
perhaps as a convenient retaining wall. Thus, we had some portion of
the SP still there for us to rediscover.
Thanks to the Spider Pool Research Group for doing the hard work of
digging up the Pool's past and that of the people who brought it into
being and into fame.
--rwl
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