Lucky Baldwin and Anita Baldwin

The paintings of Elias (Lucky) Baldwin and his Daughter Anita are nearly completed. It is a deadline for March 7th when the paintings will be viewed by the City council if Arcadia Ca. for an upcoming event honoring Elias "Lucky" Baldwin, who in the 1800s was a principal land owner of much of Southern California and lived on his Ranch in the Arboretum in Arcadia California.

He was a businessman, Miner, horse breeder and built the famous Santa Anita Racetrack. His great, great ,great grand daughters, Heather Gibson and Margaux Viera Gibson, have commissioned the works as part of a celebration of his life and to give him and his youngest daughter Anita, some family Honor. This man has an amazing history. Born in Ohio, in 1828, he spent his early life in Indiana, until as a young man, heard the stories of gold in California. First working as a day laborer, saved up to eventually open a hotel and livery stable. Unable to pay a debt, a customer paid him 2000 shares of Omhir gold stock worth only pennies a share. As Luck (hence the nick name "Lucky") would have it, the comstock load in Nevada struck gold, which skyrocketed the penny stock to hundreds of dollars a share.

With wealth and savvy, he eventually accumulated over 67,000 acres that was a great deal of land over southern California. The communities of Arcadia and Monrovia Ca are the most famous. His marriages, a total of 4 , always created a sensation. His last marriage to a young girl, produced Anita Baldwin, his favorite daughter. She was known for her beauty,elegance and the bringing of Peacocks to Southern California. Lucky Baldwin was also famous for building the Santa Anita Race Track and breeding some of the finest racehorses of his time. He retired to the Arboretum in Arcadia living in his simple Adobe home. He was shot by a rival and died with his fourth wife and Anita at his bedside in 1909. The painting of Lucky Baldwin shows him at his beloved adobe home, with his parrot who called him "Poppy" the painting of Anita as from a rare photo of her as a young woman. Besides City Hall, the paintings will be shown at the Arboretum Arcadia Ca.