Manslaughter, local icons and a view to die for: Unique SLO County property goes up for sale

High atop one of the slopes of the Santa Lucia Range overlooking the Cuesta Grade, there sits a property with a storied history in San Luis Obispo County.

At an elevation of around 1,600 feet — just higher than Hearst Castle — a one-of-a-kind property with deep ties to local historical figures such as Alex Madonna and the heir of a Guilded Age business tycoon is now going to market.

3455 Vista Del Ciudad, which once bore the name “Ryan’s Gate” in honor of original owner and socialite Margaret G. Ryan, is going up for sale at the end of this year, current property owner Rob Rossi told The Tribune.

“(Ryan) was an author and intended to live here the rest of her life,” Rossi said. “Unfortunately, fate took her a different direction.”

A look back into the property’s past reveals a ranch with a wholly unique history — including a manslaughter case that gripped San Luis Obispo County for a year in 1951.

How ‘Ryan’s Gate’ came to be

Originally constructed in 1951 — a rare case of Madonna building a home rather than a road — the property was built for Ryan, a widow and novelist who moved to San Luis Obispo County in the early 1950s from New York City.

Ryan’s husband, Basil, was the grandson of Thomas Fortune Ryan, a tycoon of tobacco, insurance and transportation who once ranked as one of America’s wealthiest businessmen and left a $200 million fortune after his passing in 1928, according to Britannica.

Ryan inherited some of this wealth through her late husband, and once widowed she used it to raise the property overlooking the city of San Luis Obispo, Rossi said.

However, Ryan’s occupancy was not to last.

The same year that construction was completed on the property, Ryan fatally shot a 22-year-old trespasser named Leonard D. Ray, Jr., who had allegedly threatened her and ranch foreman Evasio Piovera with a rifle June 9, 1951.

Ryan was indicted for manslaughter later that month, and while she was acquitted the next year, she moved away from San Luis Obispo, selling the mountaintop home to developer Leonard Blaser and his wife Rebecca, whose family lived at the property until Rossi purchased it in 1986, Rossi said.

Shortly after the Blasers’ deaths and before Rossi purchased the property, an estate sale detailed in a Jan. 30, 1986 article in the Telegram-Tribune was held, in which Rebecca Blaser’s expansive collection of furs were auctioned off for around $20 to $75.

Notably, an 18th century French harp valued at $10,000 and a pair of late-19th century Louis XVI-style candelabras valued at $500 — both of which were purchased by the Blasers from Hearst Casle — were included in the sale, according to the 1986 article.

When Rossi took possession of the property, the very same furniture that Ryan brought to the property was still there, not even changing locations within the room in which they were originally placed, leaving deep divots in the hardwood floors from three decades of use, he said.

Property features panoramic views of SLO County

Because of its secluded nature at the end of a 1.4 mile driveway that extends from the midway point of the Cuesta Grade, Rossi said his family wasn’t interested in owning and maintaining the property, prompting him to put it up for sale.

The driveway was cut into the side of the mountain and paved by Madonna when the home was originally constructed, but has since lost some of its paving in places, making four-wheel drive vehicles the best option for reaching the property. It’s a far cry from the days of the estate sale, when 40 busses of visitors were whisked up and down the mountain, Rossi said.

Along the way up the mountain, a guest house that is authorized as a vacation rental is available, though like the driveway and home, it is in need of repairs.

In recent years, Rossi has used the guest house area to house several unique pieces of San Luis Obispo history, including some of the original signage and edifice of the original Scrubby and Lloyd’s prior to the restaurant’s sale of property to New Times in 1998.

Atop the road, the property’s detached two-car garage is in need of a facelift, while the home itself is in need of some structural and aesthetic work including broken windows and general improvements inside.

The property was built with a full basement — a rarity in California — and has a maid’s quarters attached to the kitchen.

Two bedrooms and two bathrooms are attached via wings connected to the main living room, which features a large window looking out over the back patio. From the patio, on a clear day you can see as far west as Morro Bay’s downtown area, while southern views stretch to the southern end of San Luis Obispo.

“We’ve let it run into some disrepair, and it’s been used as a rental and been kept busy over the last 40 years, but we just didn’t find a need within our family for it,” Rossi said. “We thought it would be better to make it available to someone else, to either redevelop the house or build a new one.”

Lindsey Harn, a San Luis Obispo Realtor with Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno, represents the property and said she expects to go to market at a little under $3 million.

Rossi will continue to own 40 of the property’s 80 acres, with the remaining 40 acres consisting of the driveway, home and guesthouse making up the purchase area, Harn said.

“There were fabulous events and parties here, and so I just think having that rich history, there’s going to be so much potential for somebody to bring this back to life and enjoy another 50 to 60 years of incredible memories,” Harn said.