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Mr. Roarke's Island Cottage - This beautiful white
Victorian home owned by the mysterious Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) on
romantic drama FANTASY ISLAND/ABC/1978-84 was in reality the California
registered landmark No. 367, known as The Queen Anne Cottage.
The house was formerly the residence of Elias "Lucky" Jackson Baldwin who began
building the charming house for his fourth wife in 1885-86. However, she left
him before it was completed and so it became a memorial to his third wife,
Jennie Dexter.
When Baldwin died the house was closed, and the interior furnishings were
liquidated. It wasn't until the 1950s that the house, long neglected, was
restored and dedicated in 1954.
Although termed the Queen Anne Cottage, the house is actually a combination of
Queen Anne, Stick and Eastlake Styles. The refurbished cottage includes
portraits of both Baldwin and Jennie Dexter.
The mansion and its surrounding tropical setting has been a favorite shooting
location for Hollywood studios. Some examples:
- Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan swung through the arboretum trees with both Maureen
O'Sullivan and later Brenda Joyce who played Jane, his jungle wife.
- Dorothy LaMour, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby walked its tropical setting in the
Road
to Singapore (1940).
- James Earl Jones motored down its waterways searching for the village of Kunta
Kinte on the 1979 television miniseries ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATION.
These lush settings and buildings are located on the 127-acre complex of the Los
Angeles State and County Arboretum at 301 North Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia,
California 91006. See also ISLANDS: "Fantasy Island"
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