El Molino Viejo in San Marino

Four minutes from the Huntington, on a quiet San Marino street, sits Southern California’s oldest commercial building. Built in 1816 by Father José María de Zalvidea to grind grain for Mission San Gabriel, El Molino Viejo lasted just seven years as a working mill before the water wheel proved unreliable. What followed was a much longer second act: first as a private residence, then a golf clubhouse under Henry Huntington, and starting in 1962, a gift to the city that turned it into a museum and arboretum.