Whitley Heights 101

6823 Iris Place

Although the legend of Rudolph Valentino having this bungalow built for his mistress and actress Pola Negri adds to the appeal of the quaint Mediterranean home that sits off of the road of Iris Circle, it may just be that-a rumor. There are several factors that suggest that this is just a myth. The house was built in 1923 by a builder named G.S. King who listed his address as 2178 Fairfield Avenue (at the time, that Fairfield address was being inhabited by artist and architect Charles De Grolle, which makes one wonder if De Grolle had any part of the house’s design as there was no architect or contractor listed on the building permit). The house consists of 1,700 square feet with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Pola Negri moved to Hollywood in 1922 and got engaged to actor, Charlie Chaplin in January 1923. The permit to build this Whitley Heights home was not dated until June 11, 1923. However, Negri broke off the engagement in March of 1923 via a letter to Mr. Chaplin citing he was too rich and she, the starving actress starting out in Hollywood. However, newspaper accounts stated that the engagement was still on with a wedding planned for a June marriage. The marriage must have been called off as a month later both were seen dining at the Ambassador Hotel at separate tables. Negri was residing on Hollywood Boulevard around this time.

By the following year, both Negri and Chaplin had moved on-Negri dating actor Rod Larocque and Chaplin getting married to child actress Lita Grey. Actually Lita and her mother, lived across the street at 6610 Iris Drive in 1925 which is about the same time Negri bought a home in Beverly Hills. As for when Negri allegedly first met Valentino, Marion Davies invited Negri to a costume party at William Randolph Hearst’s castle. Negri came dressed in a Czarina costume from her movie “Forbidden Paradise”. The costume fitted perfectly and was all white and gold she looked like a queen. Valentino, who was having his own love issues with his wife, Natasha Ravomba, came dressed in a matador costume from his movie “Blood and Sand”. The two became a couple instantly which would be a short lived romance as Valentino would die of his untreated ulcers that same year. In 1926, this house may have been rented out due to a death in the family. Could Valentino and Negri have used this house as a secret love nest? Below, the Valentino/Negri meeting at Hearst Castle circa 1926.

6823 Iris Place sits in the middle of Iris Circle away from the street. An apartment over the garage was built in 1930 by the Killian family, who have owned the property since it was built. The apartment lists the address of 6605 Iris Drive. 6823 Iris Drive has access via two stairways: adjacent to the apartment or a pathway in the back of the home that begins on the northern part of Iris Circle. This walking path begins between 6835 Iris Circle and 6821 Iris Circle and ends between 6801 Iris Circle and 6809 Iris Circle.

The first floor of the home consists of a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

A staircase goes upstairs to a single room where there is also access to an outside rooftop patio.

Off of the living room, there is a covered porch which goes outside to a jacuzzi area.

Actress Helen Lee Worthing rented out the home for less than a year in 1927. Previously, she lived in another home in Whitley Heights in 1925: 2109 Fairfield Avenue, relocated to 250 Avalonia Street in Playa Del Rey in 1950 to avoid the 101 Freeway divide. Unfortunately that house was purchased by the LAX airport in the 1960s and demolished to become vacant land. Worthing was born to an affluent family in Louisville, KY in in 1905. Her career began with the Ziegfeld Follies between 1921-1923 while living in New York City. Living with mental health issues, Worthing attempted suicide by swallowing poison after getting into an argument with another chorus girl and ended up in Bellevue Hospital. Worthing denied that she tried to harm herself, indicating that she had a headache and did not have aspirin on hand. After starring in “The Swan” in 1925, she moved to Fairfield home and would have roles in four other movies that year. In October of 1925, while living off Fairfield, she was driving her car at a steep hill near Valentino’s residence on Wedgewood Place. The car went off the road and onto the roof of a terrace residence. Worthing was not injured and the car and roof had minimal damage.

In April 1927, she was alone in her home at 6823 Iris Place (except for a maid and a housekeeper who were sleeping in another room). She was attacked; the maid found her lying in a pool of blood with her nose broken, eyes discolored, and one tooth was knocked out. Worthing said she had been confined to bed due to a “nervous breakdown” and refused to go to the hospital. It was alleged that her maid had contacted her own doctor, Eugene Nelson. Nelson and Worthing had started a secret romantic relationship as the doctor was African American and in those days, interracial relationships were frowned upon. There were also rumors that they had already been in the relationship and Worthing had been attacked as a warning to sever the relationship. The maid reported seeing a strange man lurking about, but nothing was taken from the home.

Regardless of what others thought, the two continued their relationship and the two married in Tijuana, Mexico in 1927 after Worthing filed for bankruptcy and was now living on Westmoreland Avenue. As soon as the two returned from their honeymoon, the tabloids caught news of their elopement and it was all over Hollywood that Worthing had married a “Negro” doctor. The marriage ended Worthings acting career and she never starred in another film again. Not only did this cause a strain in their marriage, her mental health began to decline. Worthing filed for divorce in 1929 citing infidelity and checked into a New York sanitarium for “insomnia”. After returning to Los Angeles, Worthing claimed Nelson had hit her after accusing her of having relations with a 16 year old boy. On June 8, 1931, Nelson was robbed at gunpoint at his office, tied him up and robbed his safe where there was $2,000 and jewelry. With the divorce not file, Worthing was now living on Wilshire Boulevard that Nelson was paying for.

In an alimony hearing in 1932, Worthing claimed Nelson deserted her emotionally and financially in their Malibu home (they apparently reconciled for a period of time) and also claimed that he had been drugging her. In reality she had been drugging herself with a combination of alcohol and drug use via needles. Nelson was now to provide her $300 weekly for alimony that contributed to her substance abuse. Now things took a turn for the worse as she was committed in November of 1932 as a judge declared her mentally ill. Nelson continued to care for her financially and emotionally, but Worthing was out of control. In June of 1933, she disappeared from an eastbound train and police were searching for her. She was headed to Chicago; Nelson dropped her off the train station at 6:40 p.m. She was not on the train when the train left Pasadena but her ticket and baggage was found on the train. She was planning to visit the world’s fair in Chicago and then head to New York. She was discovered in seclusion and told friends that she decided to return to Los Angeles to straighten out differences with Nelson. She slipped off the train in Pasadena where she spend the night and returned to LA the next day.

In 1935, the police found her sitting on curb in Ocean Park singing “Lover, Come Back to Me”. wearing torn pajamas and she was recommitted. Worthing spend years on drugs going in and out of various institutions. Worthing was arrested in July 1939 by forging a prescription at a pharmacy. Police found morphine in her purse and had to serve five months in jail. She was arrested again in July of 1940 for more forgery charges and jailed for another year. In March of 1941 Nelson was arrested for performing an “illegal” abortion operation on a woman who died but was acquitted of the charges. Worthing was released from jail after 10 months in July of 1941. In December 1942, Worthing failed to appear on charges of being drunk and told her attorney she was leaving the state and was locked up again. In August 1943, Nelson was acquitted on charges of performing illegal operations and attacking one of the women while she was at his home for a treatment. His license was revoked on February 29, 1944. In April 1944, Worthing was treated after her boyfriend beat her up. In March 1946, she was hospitalized because she was found lying on the street. and said she was performing self-hypnosis. Finally on August 25, 1948 Worthing died in a poverty row section of Los Angeles from an overdose of barbiturate poisoning, in a tiny house (1062 North Serrano, since wiped out by the Hollywood Freeway) surrounded by expensive scrapbooks bulging with clippings from her golden age. Inside were penciled notes: “I can’t stand another straw—it would be too much.”

6823 Iris Place was also the setting of another assault on December 1, 1956. Nurse and aspiring actor, David Lawson was living on the property. He invited 4 servicemen and their girlfriends to the house for a get together. The party broke up at 3:30 a.m. when the serviceman began punching Lawson in his face and body. Lawson’s injuries included a hernia, a damaged right eye and a fractured face bone. Lawson sued the men for over $40,000 as he was not able to work either job for several months. As a result the four Marines were put on 3 years probation for the assault. The men fled the Iris Place home after the beating and Lawson was able to recognize one of them on Hollywood Blvd. a week later. The other three men were arrested on base at Camp Pendleton five days later.