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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
March, 1906 
The Patio in Southern California 
By Charles F. Holder 
countries will recall with pleasure one feature 
of the homes he visited, known as the inner 
court, or patio. Who first originated the 
idea is not known. ‘The Indian remada 
might be called a primitive patio; as I have 
seen it it comprised a square or oblong place covered by the 
branches of trees or tulle, in which the owners passed much 
time, the house proper being around or back of it. 
I watched the pseudo development of this idea some years 
sides stakes were placed forming a frame and roof over which 
branches were thrown, taken from the chaparral, grease- 
wood, Adenostoma, mountain mahogany, bay and others, 
producing a perfect protection from the sun and a roof that 
was redolent of sweet odors. 
The remada complete, the builders began to erect little 
booths on the sides, which were rented to various speculators. 
One was a wine room; another a grocery shop; another de- 
voted to fruit; the next contained a gambling outfit, until 
when complete the central court was surrounded by these 
The Outer Portion of the Patio of a California House 
ago at one of the Indian fiestas in Southern California, this 
particular one being the fiesta of San Luis Rey, at Pala, a 
little settlement in San Diego county, at the foot of Mount 
Palomar, a lofty pile about which the elements have played 
havoc. The Indians who arrived in advance began at once 
the erection of an oblong platform, perhaps fifty by twenty 
feet. “This was to be the central court, as it were, and repre- 
sented the patio idea seen in so many beautiful houses in 
Southern California, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Morocco and 
elsewhere, The floor was covered with planks and around the 
minature rooms or shops. In the evening the men and wom- 
en danced in the court, and the dancers patronized the vari- 
ous stalls or booths. 
The original Andalusian patio idea has been elaborated 
and adapted to a variety of purposes. The plan is to enable 
the owner to live out-of-doors, yet obtain some protection 
from the sun; to live in the open and have privacy; to bring 
out-of-doors into the house, and to reverse the idea of the 
American lawn, which is entirely on the street for the 
benefit of the passer-by and of no real use to the dweller, The 
