Whitley Heights 101

2021 Whitley Terrace Steps

2021 Whitley Terrace Steps (pictured above with the green awning above one of the windows) was built in 1923 by Blair & Mackinga, well-known builders in the 1920s. The property was first given the address of 6719 Milner Court through 1926. The 2,016 main house has two bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. There is also a separate one-bedroom guest house on the property. There is no direct road access and the home can be accessed by climbing 159 stairs from Milner Road or going down them from Whitley Terrace.

This Mediterranean home consists of three levels on a downslope and the main entrance is through a courtyard which is in the back of the property. Below, the front door of the main entrance is open and the door to the right is off of the kitchen.

The living room is entered from the front door with its fireplace on the left and a huge way window that faces the Hollywood Hills. The staircase is taken to the two bedrooms and one bathroom on the second floor.

The dining area and kitchen is to the right of the main entrance. There is half a bathroom off of the kitchen.

One of the first tenants is somewhat of a mystery. According to the 1926 LA City Directory, Darwin J. Pointner, a motion picture operator, was listed as living at 6719 Milner Court. The projectionist, who was born in Santa Barbara in 1901, was previously in the Navy during World War I. In July of 1918, he was traveling back to the United States on the 15,000 ton USS San Diego, returning home after escorting U.S. troop and cargo ships across the North Atlantic passage to Europe, defending convoys against German U-boats and transforming the course of the conflict by delivering 10,000 doughboys a day to the Allied Powers.

The ship was approaching the port of New York and passed eight miles south of Fire Island, when a powerful explosion hit just below the midpoint of the ship and sunk it. Of the 1,500 passengers, six soldiers did not survive. Pointner was working as an electrician on the ship and was discharged from the Navy upon his return home. After years of investigations, it was concluded that a German mine sank the boat.

The year that Pointner was living at the Whitley Heights home, his car was found overturned off of Ventura Highway by two people who were traveling to Los Angeles in the early morning of October 3, 1926. They stopped at the new roadster which was unoccupied. When they returned to the crash site later in the morning the car was gone. The only evidence of the crash was blood and broken glass on the ground. After the police were called to the scene, they found a certificate of ownership belonging to Darwin J. Pointner, 2101 Highland Avenue, Los Angeles. Pointner, now a survivor of another horrific crash, shows up in a 1932 LA Directory living at 3901 Glen Feliz Blvd. with a wife named Dorothy. He remained at that address until his death in 1954 and continued to work as a motion picture operator at Fox West Coast Theaters and Loew’s State Theater. Pointner also rented an apartment at 1926 Whitley Avenue in 1924. Below, 2021 Whitley Terrace Steps is pictured in the upper left corner.

Between 1987 through 1993, actor David Schall resided at 2021 Whitley Terrace Steps. Schall was known for his small roles in popular television shows for two decades including; a chauffeur in Cheers (1988), Dr. Madigan in the Bold and the Beautiful (1989), man at a party in Murder She Wrote (1991), IRS Supervisor in LA Law (1993), Reverend Davies in The Young and the Restless (1996 & 1998), and minister at funeral in ER (2003). In 1976 Schall moved to New York City to pursue a childhood dream of an acting career. After training at various acting studios, he was cast in numerous Off-Broadway and dinner theater productions as well as daytime TV dramas, commercials and industrial films. He moved to Hollywood in the 1980s to continue his acting career and was also a joined the Hollywood First Presbyterian Church and served as the Executive Director of the Department of Entertainment Ministries. His death apparently occurred about 1-1/2 hours before the opening night curtain of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” (performed by “The Actors Co-op”) in which he was due to play the title role. Members of his company found him in his locked car, a victim of a heart attack. The show’s opening night was canceled as there was no understudy for his role and members of the company simply shared stories of Schall on that night.

Producer Richard Rothschild bought the property in the 1990s. Rothschild has worked in several production capacities with such directors as Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Crimes of the Heart), Christopher Guest (The Big Picture), Peter Weir (The Truman Show), Joe Johnston (Hidalgo) and Robert Zemeckis (Used Cars). He was also a producer in Double Jeopardy (1999) and the Scorpion King (2002) and was the unit production manager for Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion (1997). He moved to Hollywood from New York and is currently Senior Vice President at Lion’s Gate Entertainment.

Hotel heiress and reality television star, Paris Hilton rented the property between 2001 and 2002 paying $2,670 per month in rent. During this time, she made a cameo appearance in the movie “Zoolander” and filmed a “sex tape” with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, which became public in 2003 which he leaked. Wonder if she wore her high heels walking up the 159 steps of stairs on a continuous basis.

Actor Duane LaDage also lived on the property either right before or after Hilton. He acted in small roles in several television shows and movies including; a student in The White Shadow (1978), a pledge in The Hollywood Nights (1980), Jason Hoss in The Facts of Life (1980), Henry Poulsen in Little House in the Prairie (1981), and Lew in Chips (1981). LaDage is pictured below with actress Lisa Whelchel on The Facts of Life in 1980.