Whitley Heights 101

6756 Milner Road

This 1925 three bedroom and two bathroom Spanish style home just went on the market today for $2.495 million and last sold in 2004. Businessman William Hunt and architect Nathan L. Coleman built the home with the listed address 6749 Milner Court until 1928. The home is part of the Whitley Heights Historic District so it has retained its architectural charm of the period of when it was built. The property sits on two lots as one lot includes a massive garden and sitting area as well as a patio that is over the detached two-car garage. The garden includes a KOI pond, dining pavilion, and massive flat concrete pad.

Upon entry of the front door, there is a living room to the right with adobe-type pueblo fireplace and wood beam ceilings.

To the right of the entryway, is the dining room, kitchen, and breakfast nook.

There are stairs, one bedroom, and one bathroom that are north of the front door. The stairway leads to the second floor containing two bedrooms and one bathroom.

In 1928, screenwriter James K. McGuinness (pictured below) and his wife, Elizabeth lived at this residence. McGuinness arrived in Hollywood in the late 1920s and was credited for 44 screenplays including; Saratoga (1937) and Rio Grande (1950). He later became chief supervisor and executive producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. While living on Milner Road, McGuinness was involved in a serious car accident in which his vehicle flipped twice while driving on Beverly Blvd. The doctors gave him a slight chance for recovery due to a skull fracture, internal injuries and deep lacerations. He miraculously survived. McGuinness also wrote for The New Yorker Magazine when he moved back to New York City. He died of a heart attack in New York in 1950 still in the midst of his career.

In 1939, Arthur Voegtlin (1858-1948) and his wife, Diana, lived at 6756 Milner Road. Voegtlin (pictured below) started as a scenic artist, stage producer, and founded the New York Hippodrome Theater. The Hippodrome was open from 1905 to 1939 and acts which appeared at the Hippodrome included numerous circuses, musical revues, Harry Houdini’s disappearing elephant, vaudeville, silent movies such as Neptune’s Daughter (1914) and Better Times (1922). He also acted and wrote the movie America in 1914. His son was asst. director of Universal Studios, Jack Voglin.

Between 1940 and 1941, actor Albert Conti lived here with his wife, Patricia. Albert De Conti Cadassamare was born in Italy and when World War I began, he became an officer in the Austrian army. He was captured and was a prisoner of war of Russia for 15 months. He immigrated to the United States and while working in the California oil fields, he answered an open call placed by director Erich von Stroheim, who was in search of an Austrian military officer to act as technical advisor for his upcoming film Merry-Go-Round (1923). Conti was able to secure dignified character roles in several silent and sound films; his credits ranged from Josef von Sternberg’s Morocco (1930) to the early Laurel and Hardy knockabout Slipping Wives (1927). He appeared in the 1928 silent film Dry Martini as a roué artist. Though he made his last film in 1942, Albert Conti remained in the industry as an employee of the MGM wardrobe department, where he worked until his retirement in 1962.

Eleanor Lewis bought the home after Conti and lived here until her death in 1992. Lewis was the secretary of producer Joseph Pasternak of MGM studios.