A Glendale public park around the 1904 Indo-Islamic mansion El Miradero, now Brand Library, with a fenced hillside family cemetery topped by Leslie Brand's pyramid tomb — and a reputation for being haunted by Brand himself.
1601 W Mountain St, Glendale, CA 91201
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Brand Park and the Brand Library & Art Center are free and open to the public. The Brand family cemetery on the hillside is fenced and not open to entry, but is visible from the trail.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved park and library grounds; the trail up to the family cemetery and the hills is steep and unpaved.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1904 · Former home (El Miradero) of Leslie C. Brand, the 'father of Glendale' · Distinctive Indo-Islamic 'Brand's Castle' architecture by Nathaniel Dryden, modeled on the 1893 Columbian Exposition's East India Pavilion · Operating public library and art center since 1956 · Site of the Brand family pyramid tomb cemetery
Leslie Coombs Brand (1859–1925) was a real-estate and utility magnate who did more than anyone to shape early Glendale, organizing local utilities, extending the Pacific Electric railway to the city in 1904, building the area's first private airstrip, and relocating the commercial center to what is now Brand Boulevard. For his fame he is widely called the 'father of Glendale.'
In 1904 Brand built his hilltop home at the base of the Verdugo Mountains and named it El Miradero, meaning 'a high place overlooking a wide view.' Designed by his brother-in-law, architect Nathaniel Dryden, the house drew on the East India Pavilion from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, giving it minarets, towers and repeating scalloped arches that earned it the nickname 'Brand's Castle.'
Brand died on April 10, 1925, leaving the estate to the City of Glendale on the condition that, after his wife's death, it become a public library and park. Mrs. Brand died in 1945, and by 1956 the mansion had been converted into the Brand Library; a 1969 addition added an art gallery, recital hall and studios, making it the Brand Library & Art Center.
In the hills behind the house lies the small, fenced Brand family cemetery, which holds several conventional graves as well as Leslie Brand's striking pyramid-shaped tomb. The family is said to be buried there alongside their dogs. The pyramid and its remote hillside setting have made the cemetery a longtime curiosity for Glendale residents and visitors.
Sources
The best-documented haunting at Brand Park is inside Brand Library itself, where the ghost is said to be Leslie Brand. Employees and visitors over the years have reported seeing a man walking up the stairs, hearing a disembodied voice utter 'Joe' or perhaps 'Go,' and feeling a presence that lingers around the tower — the room that was once Brand's private boudoir and study. Reports also include footsteps from the overhead room, books falling on their own, and shadows moving on the staircase (according to PBS SoCal, Weird California, and multiple regional ghost-history accounts).
Up in the hills, the fenced Brand family cemetery and its pyramid tomb have drawn their own folklore. The original Shadowlands submission describes 'occult activity' around Mr. Brand's pyramid and a small stone watchtower-like structure further up the trail; while the cemetery's eerie reputation is well attested by visitors and local writers, the specific occult-ritual claims rest mainly on anonymous reports and are presented here as folklore rather than fact.
Unlike many haunted-site legends that import a famous stranger's tragedy, this tradition is unusually well-anchored: the spirit is the documented original owner, haunting his own home and gravesite. That continuity — from Glendale's founding father to the library that now bears his name — is what keeps the story alive.
Notable Entities
Visit the 1904 mansion Leslie Brand called El Miradero, now a public art and music library, and admire its minarets, scalloped arches and tower, the spot most associated with Brand's ghost.
Follow the trail behind the library up into the Verdugo foothills to the fenced Brand family cemetery, where Leslie Brand lies beneath a stone pyramid alongside relatives and the family dogs.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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