[Yak]

My brother sent me a link to this thread a while ago; I'm finally chipping in.

My family lived in the castle at 4857 Melrose Ave. circa 1965-1977. During that time I aged from circa 3 to 15 years old.

On that slab shown in the thread, I believe the missing parts read "1949-1957" for the years that Milt Hopkins built the castle; and "Alexander Korens Konya," my Father who built the fountain w/ statue pouring water over herself, which is no longer there.

The thread shows a photo of the castle from "1935". That is definitely incorrect as the castle was built circa 1949-1957.

I once heard that Hopkins used material left over from the building of the Hollywood Freeway which he purchased cheap.

After completion, Hopkins moved into the castle with his wife & lived there until we purchased it around 1966. You should have seen it back then. Hopkins had built dozens of little lights embedded in concrete throughout the property which featured a working water wheel which fed an artificial creek which flowed into a sizable pond. The yard had many cool features, making it great for hide & go seek, inspecting plants & animals, outdoor meals, etc.

The parties mentioned in the thread occurred when we went on a family road trip and rented the castle out for a few months.

In semi-retirement, my Dad spent a lot of time gardening and upgrading the property. In addition to the fountain mentioned above, he also built the concrete walkway which still spans the bridge today, the driveway, and a fenced in table tennis area.

The interior also had the "castle" feel with big mirrors, high ceilings & windows & curvy edges to the walls. My parents decorated with antique furniture which seemed to fit in perfectly.

Even though it was "everyday" for me, I always felt special & priveleged to be living in such a cool home. When my Dad passed away, it was just too much property for my Mom & her 2 boys to maintain, so Mom sold it and it got converted into a French Restaurant. Since then it has also been a Korean Resaurant, & more recently it seemed like some kind of Korean dinner club. Currently it seems boarded up.

Our family and the house were featured regularly in the Wilshire Press newspaper and at least once on the local TV News.

I sure loved growing up there; the castle itself seemed like one of the family.