Photo Credit: By Los Angeles Times – https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz0002t87d, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6346407
Our History
The beginnings: caring for members in need
The roots of Eastern Star’s elder-care mission in California reach back to 1899, when California Eastern Star worked jointly with the Masons of California to provide a home for those who needed care. Eastern Star had been involved in eldercare even before it established its own home.
As the need grew, the Grand Chapter of California formally organized Eastern Star Homes of California as a nonprofit corporation in 1930. Its purpose was to operate homes for the care, maintenance, and support of elderly, indigent, or infirm members of the Order.
Brentwood Home
The first major chapter in the organization’s own-home history was the beautiful Eastern Star Home on Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood, Los Angeles.
Construction began in the early 1930s, and the Spanish Colonial Revival building was completed and opened in 1933. It was designed by architect William Mooser II and the firm of Train & Cressy. The home was created as a retirement and convalescent facility for members of the Eastern Star.
The building was much more than a traditional care facility. It included private rooms, sitting areas, sun porches, dining rooms, a library, gardens, and beautiful architectural details. A 1955 Los Angeles Times photograph described it as the only facility of its kind in California at the time.
The home became an important part of the Brentwood community and remained in operation for more than six decades. By the early 1990s, however, the organization was looking toward the future and exploring a new facility that could better serve its residents.
Moving to Yorba Linda
The Eastern Star Home eventually moved from Brentwood to Yorba Linda. The new Senior Living Community opened in 1999, marking the beginning of the modern Eastern Star Home in Orange County.
The former Brentwood building became the Archer School for Girls campus and was later recognized for its architectural and historical significance. In 2020, the former Eastern Star Home was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Eastern Star Home today
Today, the tradition continues at Senior Living Community, an Eastern Star Home where it serves as a continuing-care community providing independent living, assisted living and memory care focusing on person-centered care.
The mission has evolved beyond serving only members of Eastern Star. The current community welcomes people who share its values, and membership in the Order is not required to live there.
The Eastern Star Homes of California remains a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable entity whose purpose includes operating a continuing-care home for older adults.
The building changed, but the mission did not. The beautiful Brentwood home represented the organization’s commitment to caring for its members in the 20th century; the Yorba Linda community carries that same tradition into the 21st century.