El Encanto Restaurant (Azusa, California)

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Henrietta and Miller Newman built El Encanto in the 1920s for their home and as 'Camp One' for the U.S. Forest Service, as Miller was a Forest Ranger for the San Gabriel Canyon. The El Encanto Restaurant building was originally a two-story single-family residence in Mediterranean style with stucco walls, Spanish clay tile roof, and wood lintels over the windows. It was built with un-reinforced masonry, which was common at the time. Historic images show lawns surrounding the buildings towards the river banks. The structure was later turned into a restaurant and served in that function until recently. It was purchased for $3.5 million in February 2006 to become part of the Azusa River Wilderness Park Project.

The restaurant was well known in the area and was heavily frequented on weekends, when visitors came to enjoy the food, the cool river water, and the enchanting natural beauty of the site. Increasing popularity required several structural additions to the original building, which were constructed in a patchwork of steps over a longer period of time. In the center of today’s structure the old un-reinforced masonry structure is still visible, seemingly entombed within the later additions.

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