On occasion I have read that before the Beverly Hills Hotel was built that this area around Sunset Blvd. was home to "orchards and poinsettia fields" and that this is where Paul Ecke first began his lucrative poinsettia business.
This
LINK says:
"...by 1923 the pressures of a rapidly urbanizing Hollywood led Paul Sr. to move the operation to 40 acres in Encinitas."
I have been trying to find some historic photographs of these "poinsettia fields" but haven't had any luck doing so. Apparently the Ecke family discovered that these plants grew wild in the area and subsequently made a career of it. We are accustomed to the potted poinsettia plants each year, but I once saw, in Culver City, a backyard that was surrounded by poinsettia bushes and it blew my mind. Absolutely fantastic. (If "bushes" is the right word.) And it makes sense why there's a street called "Poinsettia Place" in Los Angeles, I would guess.
Alas, after a century, the current Eckes family wasn't interested in carrying on the tradition so they sold out last year to a Dutch company, I believe I read.
Since it's the season for them, I thought I'd enlist the help of anyone else who might be able to find a photo or two of the poinsettia fields on Sunset. I believe that KCET once aired a program (probably California's Gold) about the Paul Ecke ranch and it seems they must've shown a photograph or two of what I'm talking about, but it's possible they only mentioned it.