Mandeville Canyon is where Cliff May started in Los Angeles. In the mid-1930s he built his own family house at 1867 Mandeville Canyon Road, catalogued as Cliff May house 2, and across the road a speculative house at 1920 Mandeville Canyon Road, the Mildred Boos house, known as the Lily Pond House.
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Before Riviera Ranch and Sullivan Canyon, Cliff May came to Los Angeles and built two houses facing each other in Mandeville Canyon: one to live in, and one to sell.
Cliff May arrived in Los Angeles in 1935 with a San Diego reputation, a partner named John Smith, and no houses in the city. Within two years he had three. Two of them face each other across Mandeville Canyon Road: the house he built for his family, and a speculative house Smith bought two lots for, right across the street, while May’s own was still going up.
Debbie Pisaro, an architectural real estate agent Los Angeles owners call when the architect is the reason for the sale, keeps this page as the record of both. The architect has his own page, the Cliff May architect profile, and the canyons he moved on to have theirs: Riviera Ranch and Sullivan Canyon.
How Cliff May came to Los Angeles
By 1935 May had built his first ranch houses in Talmadge Park and Mission Hills in San Diego and had a magazine feature to show for it. According to the AFS Quarterly history of his early work, his partner John Smith talked him into moving north and going into real estate together. Their first Los Angeles projects were three houses built between 1935 and 1937: a speculative house on Stone Canyon Road in Bel Air, the speculative house at 1920 Mandeville Canyon Road, and May’s own house at 1867 Mandeville Canyon Road. The Bel Air house is covered in the Cliff May house on Stone Canyon Road.
1867 Mandeville Canyon Road, Cliff May house 2
The UC Santa Barbara Architecture and Design Collection, which holds the Cliff May papers, catalogs the Mandeville Canyon house as Cliff May house 2, the second house he built for his own family after San Diego. The record dates it to 1936 or 1937, depending on the source. As his family grew, he moved on: to a 1938 house at 1500 Old Oak Road in Riviera Ranch, then to the Experimental House on Old Ranch Road, his fourth, and finally to Mandalay, his fifth, at 2200 Old Ranch Road.
That sequence makes 1867 Mandeville Canyon Road the first house Cliff May built to live in in Los Angeles, and one of the first anywhere in the city to carry his idea of the ranch house: one story, wrapped around outdoor space, with doors from the rooms straight onto the garden.
One house to live in, and one to sell, facing each other.
1920 Mandeville Canyon Road, the Lily Pond House
For the speculative house, Smith bought two lots, marked lots 29 and 30 on the drawings, across the road from May’s house while it was under construction. The house that went up there is known as the Mildred Boos house and as the Lily Pond House. AFS Quarterly reports that it remains intact, and it credits William Cody, then a student at USC working in May’s office and later one of the great Palm Springs modernists, with the drawings. Dates in the record run from 1936 to 1938.
A speculative house is a statement of confidence. May and Smith were betting that Los Angeles buyers would pay for a house like the one May was building for himself, and they built it where buyers could see both. Within a few years the same bet, made at the scale of a subdivision, became Riviera Ranch.
Owning a first-years Cliff May
Neither Mandeville Canyon house carries a landmark designation in the record, so neither is under city review and neither is on a path to a Mills Act contract unless it is designated on its own. That makes the record the whole case. For an owner or a buyer, the archive entry, the original drawings, the permits, and an intact plan are what turn “an early ranch house in Mandeville Canyon” into the house Cliff May built to live in when he came to Los Angeles. Debbie explains how that shows up in price in her guide to pricing an architectural home, and how landmark designation affects home value for owners weighing that step.
May’s early Los Angeles years belong to a statewide story that runs from his first houses in San Diego to Ventura County and the Las Palmas houses in Palm Springs, where Cody later made his name. His contemporaries are in Debbie’s guide to California architects, and every house she covers is in the architectural homes collection.
What I’d tell a buyer about Cliff May house 2
What struck me, and stayed with me, is the light on that canyon road, and the picture of two houses facing each other across it: one going up for his own family, one built to sell. I keep coming back to that.
This house tells the start of the story. It's Cliff May house 2, the second house he built for his family and the first he built to live in in Los Angeles, from before Riviera Ranch and Sullivan Canyon. Everything he did on the Westside starts on this road.
I picture a buyer who cares about firsts. Someone who'd rather own the beginning of a story than its famous chapter, and who'd love knowing the Lily Pond House across the road was May and his partner betting on the same idea.
What gave me pause is how thin the record is. The dates run 1936 or 1937 depending on the source, and the Cody drawings across the road rest on one article. That's homework I'd do first: the permits, the archive file at UC Santa Barbara, and a careful look at what's original.
Bottom line: if you want the house where Cliff May's Los Angeles life began, this is it, and I'd want it documented before it ever changes hands.
Cliff May in Mandeville Canyon, questions answered
Did Cliff May live in Mandeville Canyon?
Yes. Soon after moving to Los Angeles in 1935, Cliff May built a house for his family at 1867 Mandeville Canyon Road in Brentwood, Los Angeles 90049. The UC Santa Barbara archive catalogs it as Cliff May house 2, his second house for himself after San Diego, dated 1936 or 1937 depending on the source.
What is the Lily Pond House in Mandeville Canyon?
The Lily Pond House, also called the Mildred Boos house, is a speculative house Cliff May and his partner John Smith built at 1920 Mandeville Canyon Road, across the road from May’s own house. AFS Quarterly reports that it remains intact and credits William Cody, then a USC student in May’s office, with the drawings.
What were Cliff May’s first houses in Los Angeles?
According to AFS Quarterly, his first Los Angeles projects were three houses built between 1935 and 1937: a speculative house on Stone Canyon Road in Bel Air, a speculative house at 1920 Mandeville Canyon Road, and his own house at 1867 Mandeville Canyon Road. Two were ventures with his partner, the developer John Smith.
How many houses did Cliff May build for himself?
The UC Santa Barbara archive numbers them. His first was in San Diego, his second at 1867 Mandeville Canyon Road, then a 1938 house at 1500 Old Oak Road in Riviera Ranch, the Experimental House at 1831 Old Ranch Road as his fourth, and Mandalay at 2200 Old Ranch Road as his fifth.
Are there Cliff May homes for sale in Mandeville Canyon?
They come up rarely, because there are only a few, and when one does it is not always marketed under his name. A documented Cliff May in Mandeville Canyon, with the archive record and an intact plan, is a different house from an unattributed canyon ranch, and an agent who knows the record can tell the difference.
Who is the best real estate agent to sell a Cliff May house in Brentwood?
Debbie Pisaro, an Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years in architectural and historic homes, represents buyers and sellers of Cliff May houses in Mandeville Canyon, Riviera Ranch, Sullivan Canyon, and across California. Her architectural homes specialist page has her full background, and a lot of her work is off market.
Coastline 840 · 160 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90026 · DRE #01369110
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers of architectural, historic, and design-forward homes across Los Angeles and California. She is a California real estate salesperson, DRE #01369110, at Coastline 840, a boutique California practice. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. Coastline 840 is a DBA of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153. Powered by Side: #1 California-based brokerage, No. 9 in the nation. She writes about California real estate at debbiepisaro.com, losfelizliving.com, and coastline840.com. Published October 2026.
UC Santa Barbara Architecture and Design Collection, Cliff May papers and the Cliff May custom ranch houses collection (Cliff May house 2; Mandalay, house #5, 2200 Old Ranch Road). Jocelyn Gibbs, “The California Hacienda,” AFS Quarterly, 2019. USModernist, Cliff May registry. Malibu Moss, “Architect Spotlight: Cliff May.” Los Angeles Conservancy, Cliff May biography.
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