Whitley Heights 101

6615 Emmet Terrace

6615 Whitley Terrace was built in 1921 by architect Arthur S. Barnes for Amandus Zoellner, a well-known violinist and member of the Zoellner String Quartet. The 5 room bungalow, which had two bedrooms, was built specifically with a studio for Zoellner to practice in. Zoellner was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1893. The Zoellner family were all gifted musically and his father, Joseph, founded the Zoellner String Quartet, which included his brother, Joseph Jr. and sister, Antoinette. The musial group performed in Belgium for a period of time before moving to Los Angeles in 1922.

While actively performing all over the world, the family opened a conservatory called The Zoellner Conservatory of Music, originally located at 1250 S. Windsor Blvd. in Los Angeles in 1922. A few years later, they moved to larger quarters at 3839 Wilshire Blvd., and, even later, opened branches in Hollywood and Burbank. The quartet retired in 1925, although the family continued their careers in music. An appearance in a radio broadcast on station KHJ, Los Angeles, was scheduled for as late as November 24, 1927, and the group’s informal performance with Albert Einstein took place in 1931. Also like his father, Amandus served as university violin department director, first at Pomona College in Claremont, California and then at Occidental College in Los Angeles. At the latter he performed solo recitals as well as with the quartet. Below, the family is with Helen Keller after performing in her honor.

Zoellner and his wife, Ruth Koehler, had two daughters while they lived at 6615 Emmet Terrace. Ruth A. Zoellner was born May 11, 1919 and Marjorie A. Zoellner was born March 18, 1922. Since this residence had only two bedrooms and Marjorie was born a special needs child, the family moved out in need of a bigger house. However, Marjorie spend most of her life living in state institutions. In 1940, at the age of 18, she resided at Ms. Allen’s School for the Mentally Retarded, 1307 W. 105th Street in Los Angeles and by 1950, Marjorie was a resident at Pacific Colony State Mental Institution in San Jose.

Thinking “feeblemindedness” to be a menace, the California Legislature created Pacific Colony as a Southern California facility to detain the “feebleminded”. People with developmental disabilities were “inmates”, needing to be locked away from society forever because of their “insanity” and welcomed its first 27 “inmates”, on May 2, 1927. At that time, only the city of Pomona existed in the local area. By 1946, over 1,900 people crowded into a facility that had only grown large enough to hold 1,512 people. With World War II finally over, the state allocated more money for expansion and improvements. The institution closed its doors in 2007. Marjorie’s last known address was in San Bernardino where she died in 2002.

By 1930, Amandus was living at 527 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills. His daughter, Ruth, attended Beverly Hills High School in 1936. She married Herman Jalof in 1938 and remained in the Los Angeles area. In 1985, two truckloads–50 cardboard boxes full–of programs, photos, press clippings, scrapbooks, musical scores and memorabilia–including a gold medal given by the Queen of Belgium–arrived at their Beverly Hills home. The entire contents–its net worth estimated in excess of half a million dollars–were the musical estate of the Zoellner Quartet. For nearly three decades, this unique musical archive had been kept by her cousin, Joseph Zoellner III, in a series of storage spaces in Northern California, the most recent one an abandoned barn near Lakeport, 75 miles north of San Francisco.

6615 Emmet Terrace went on the market in 1926 and was bought by civil engineer T.B. Blackburn, the man responsible for constructing most of the Los Angeles roadways in the 1920s. Between 1932-1934 pianist and composer, Gertrude Ross, rented 6615 Emmet Terrace so she could use the studio for piano lessons. Ross, one of the original creators of the Hollywood Bowl, played in the first performance with Anna Ruzena Sprotte in 1920. Ross performed at a piano while Sprotte sang atop a barn door used as a stage in the bowl-shaped canyon.

Ross’s father, Abner, built the Rosslyn Hotel in the early 1900s after moving the family from Chattanooga, TN. Ross also married and had one daughter, Corrine. Corrine spent much of her schooling abroad and eventually married Marquis Grimaldi of Monaco. Grimaldi ran a tavern 50 miles from London and claimed that he had the legal right to the throne in Monaco-not Prince Rainier. The Marquis says his grandfather spent most of the family fortune establishing the line of descent, and that the line has been recognized by the College of Arms in England. The Marquis says it would take “Too much” money to press the claim to the throne. He ran the tavern with his wife “Kay” and two daughters.

Between 1934-1935 Broadway actress Pamela Simpson lived at 6615 Emmet Terrace with her parents, Ivan and Bettie. Simpson, born 1905, in England, enjoyed a long career on Broadway first appearing in Enchantment (1927) and later performing in plays such as Barchester Towers (1937) and Half a Sixpence (1965). On television she appeared in the movie Cradle Song (1960), as well as the series Big Guns (1958). She eventually returned to England where she died in 2002.

The bungalow is a one-story home consisting of 1,377 square feet and a detached one car garage. There is a fireplace in the living room which is located upon entering the front door.

In 1963, the garage door was replaced with an aluminum door (before Whitley Heights was established as a historical zone), but in 2001, Loyal Pennings replaced the “eyesore” with a new wooden garage door, reminiscent of the original door. He fixed up the place and put it up for sale. Pennings is known in the community as a restaurateur and nightclub owner. He is currently the co-owner of Madera Kitchen. He has also owned Las Palmas Nightclub, Hwood Restaurant, LAX Nightclub, Concorde Nightclub, Deluxe Nightclub, and Garden of Eden.

Pennings made news last year when he opened up a “pop up” sushi restaurant called Mokuzai in a private parklet in Hollywood at the intersection of Cahuenga, Wilcox, and Franklin. Many neighborhood councils claimed that Pennings took the space illegally and defied a mandate to cease operations. The parklet, which is technically a city-owned traffic median, is not classified for use as an outdoor dining area, according to the LA Department of Transportation (LADOT). Mokuzai was announced as a sushi pop-up from Madera Kitchen owners Milton Sznaider and Loyal Pennings, who have operated their restaurant and event space near the corner of Cahuenga and Franklin since 2014. Without notifying the city of their plans, Sznaider and Pennings removed the low-level vegetation from the triangle-shaped median, built a fence, and placed furniture and fixtures to make what resembled a secluded outdoor dining area. Previous to these improvements, the median was never used as a public park, and only contained a large tree, said vegetation, and a 30-foot-tall vertical Hollywood sign welcoming drivers coming into the neighborhood from the 101 freeway. The pop-up restaurant has since then been closed down.

Below is the studio space which is now being used as a third bedroom.