Zorthian Ranch
A unique wonderland and its proudly eccentric creator
Zorthian Ranch seems to be one of those Los Angeles places where people have either never heard of it, or widen their eyes knowingly when the name is uttered. I visited recently, and I vaguely knew it was something of a commune, sprawling across forty-some acres in the foothills of Altadena, filled with found art; that there were goats and horses, DIY architecture, full of artists, and concerts and clothing was often optional, and that’s all I needed to know when I saw they were giving tours again.
Untamed, wild weirdness- a relic of everything I love in Los Angeles at its peak.
How to explain prolific, gifted, sensualist dervish Jirayr Zorthian? He called himself a painter, sculptor, architect, and rancher. He was less likely to describe his life as bohemian, but happy to be considered eccentric. Well, let’s start with some background. Jirayr was a Turkish Armenian immigrant, born in 1911. After witnessing the genocide (and narrowly avoiding death) in his youth, the family came here in 1922. Raised in New Haven and small in stature (5’3), he was a powerhouse, was offered full scholarships to Yale in both art and wrestling, and opted for art. His brother also went to Yale and they were both members of Skull and Bones.
After Yale he traveled in Europe, studying art and architecture. During the Great Depression, he returned to America and became involved with the Works Project Administration- that part of Roosevelt’s New Deal after the war-and Jirayr created over forty murals for government buildings in the South (several still intact). He was drafted for WWII and created military propaganda posters. One of his works, a 157-foot long mural titled “The Phantasmagoria of Military Intelligence Training” was for the Pentagon, depicting the training in the CIA. His works earned him the honorary rank of colonel. The mural is presently missing, but there is a digitized version on display at the ranch.
The Beginnings of the Ranch
After the war, Jirayr married Betty Williams, who came from a family fortune (there seems to be a repeated story she was a shaving cream heiress, but per an interview with Jirayr, the money came from banking), and they began to acquire the land here. The original ranch was built in the early 1930s. They started with six acres, then another four, and so on until they had twenty-seven and began building the ever-evolving farm and their life off of the grid before we called it that. They lived a full farming lifestyle and were completely one with nature. Betty’s family found this unpleasant, that he had turned their proper society daughter into a dirty old farmhand, but the Zorthians were happy- until they weren’t.
The Divorcement
Jirayr returned to his homeland to visit his dying father and when he returned to the ranch, Betty asked for a divorce in 1954. Betty received custody of the children in the divorce, and Jirayr got the ranch. The divorce was somewhat sensational since it was the first time that the husband received alimony in California history.
Jirayr painted a furious, incredible painting called “The Divorcement” after, depicting soulless lawyers, with dollars for tongues, and the loathing and hurt are evident in the painting. After a brief exhibit in Chicago in 1955, Jirayr and Betty’s mutual friend, and regular visitor of the ranch, L Ron Hubbard, is said to have convinced Jirayr the painting was too vicious and needed to be hidden until after the subjects had eventually passed. It was recently uncrated only a few years ago.
There’s a news clipping in these closeups of a headline reading “Kills Own Son.” Part of the appeal of the Altadena property was the isolation which partly stemmed from Jirayr’s fear of automobiles around his children. The ranch was covered with “Drive slowly, Honk, Children” signs. In a horrible tragic twist, his daughter and son were playing in the yard while Betty stepped inside for a moment. Jirayr was slowly backing out of his safety circle when his year and a half old son, Tiran, pulled away from his sister and crawled under the tires, he did not survive.
The Guest List
Yes, I did slip Betty’s friend’s name in, so let’s discuss some of the visitors to the ranch during the 50s, because it was the wildest scene in town. Jirayr never considered himself to be “counter culture” but rather preferred to exist and flit between all social spheres, and the ranch was a place for all to gather. There are stories about wild parties with members of prominent local families (the Chandlers, the Adamses, etc) riding pigs and drinking Zorthian wine under the moon alongside physicists from the nearby Caltech. Andy Warhol had his afterparty here after his first show in Pasadena, JPL founder Jack Parsons and his wife Marjorie Cameron were regular visitors and neighbors, along with the aforementioned L Ron Hubbard (he and Parsons were pals, and Betty was reportedly close to both men when she announced the divorce), and there’s an oft-repeated story of Charlie Parker being brought to the ranch, and giving an impromptu performance. A recording exists of this night, and supposedly the cries of “take it off” are heard loud and clear as the hot jazz inspired a… liberating experience for all (35 nude guests, by Jirayr’s gleeful recollection) involved. This recording seems to be vaulted by a jazz collector who doesn’t want it public.
Let’s just run through a list of other names I found who attended various wild nights at the ranch in the 50s: author and playwright William Saroyan, composer and musician John Cage, Nobel Prize winner Murray Gell-Mann, Bob Dylan, scientist and researcher John Lilly, artist Millard Sheets, architect John Lautner (who discussed working on a project at the ranch that never came to fruition), and of course, physicist Richard Feynman.
The Feynman Friendship
It’s hard to talk about the ranch without special mention of nuclear physicist Richard Feynman, he and Jirayr met at a party and became lifelong best friends. They traded their expertise- Jirayr taught Feynman about art, and Feynman returned the favor by explaining physics. Their friendship is discussed in Feynman’s book, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman” and Jirayr made “The Feynman Wall of Passion” as a tribute after his friend’s passing in the 80s.
There is another sculpture near the Primavera stage depicting their mutual delight in the harmonious differences of their minds- art versus science.
The Next Era
Jirayr married again, Dabney, the true love of his life, and she is spoken of with deep reverence at the ranch. They were together until death, and had three children together. After marrying Dabney, the Zorthians began purchasing more of the surrounding land, bringing it to the forty-some acres it is now. Dabney wanted to create a place for children to learn and run free and be immersed in art, and they started a summer day camp that ran for 25 years.
He believed his happiness came from his freedom, that his opportunities arrived because he followed his passions fully and people were drawn to that and offered him jobs or money as a result. He found the waste in America disgusting, he called his work “assemblage architecture” and would create structures (unpermitted, naturally) based on his trash findings, using old telephone poles and bits of discarded lights to create lean-tos and sculptures. As a result, the ranch has a mosaic effect that is almost overwhelming. He called the ranch “The Center for Research and Development of Industrial Discards with Emphasis on Aesthetics.”
Primavera
Jirayr zealously loved women, and for his 80th birthday, he began a party that became a tradition until his death at 92, the Primavera. The Primavera’s climax was Jirayr onstage in a chaise lounge, in long red underwear, as “Zor-Bacchus.” Zor-Bacchus was then surrounded by various nymphs dancing and feeding him grapes. The nymphs were not naked, as he found that word distasteful, but nude, and they weren’t technically nude, they wore wreaths on their heads.
Jirayr Zorthian lived to 92, passing in 2004. His son, Alan, who is one of the residents of the ranch (and a licensed architect), has compared his father’s ranch to the Sagrada Familia, a piece of art that will never be completed, ever-evolving.
The ranch today is unlike anywhere else in the city. It’s a combination of solitude and sustainability and artists in residence and Airbnb, and of course, animals and art everywhere and a pool with spectacular views. It’s absolutely breathtaking and sensorily overwhelming. The secrets and everything the ranch has experienced are palpable. There’s a beautiful area of Jirayr’s workshop displaying his paintings (their honey is available for purchase, and it’s fantastic).
The Zorthians are starting to do tours again, and are possibly doing the Blessing of the Animals on April 16.
I haven’t stopped thinking about Zorthian Ranch, and this story when an artist sneered that his work could hardly be called contemporary, Jirayr replied “I don’t want to be contemporary, I want to be timeless.” Zorthian Ranch exists outside of time (maybe in a different dimension, frankly) and it is utterly unforgettable. What a life and what a legacy!
More of my pictures of the architecture can be found here and more information on the ranch can be found here
