John & Anne Wiley

2011/11/17

Why Kuai?

Because it’s on the way to LA, we often fly near one of the quirkier estates in these parts. It’s over the hills South of the 101 freeway in an area often called Lake Sherwood. There are plenty of notable and unusual features to the property, but one in particular stands out for me: The River Kwai. Now for a billionaire I suppose it would be possible to haul enough water from Thailand to say that your estate has the Kwai on it. But the story is that this guy hired a helicopter to fly low and slow along the river, so he could point out his fave rocks. Then an expedition packed and shipped them to his California wonderland.

7618 Kwai Accents

7618 Kwai Accents

Lots of rocks. I think that’s one in the lawn at lower left. Sure he has pagodas with ponds and oriental bridges, a massive arboretum and orchid house, race horses and all that. But does anyone else in the world have a private collection of uprooted boulders from a spot across the planet?

7620 Ventura Farms

7620 Ventura Farms

The place is named Ventura Farms, though it’s pretty far from both the city of Ventura and what one typically associates with a farm. Why Kuai, I wonder? The book and or movie perhaps made a deep impression on David, who owns this place? Maybe he was involved in that WWII event in some way? Just likes how cool these sculpted stones look? More to the point though, why is this so fascinating to me that back in 2008 I’d already posted a different and larger aerial of it with links for info?

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