Whitley Heights 101

Lloyd Lane: The Lost Street

Lloyd Lane was a street in Whitley Heights that did not have more than ten lots (most of them remained vacant) which was originated circa 1924. Below is a map of Whitley Heights showing the street going north from Whitley Avenue a short distance to Iris Drive. The photo above was taken by photographer and travel lecturer Branson DeCou who resided at 2015 Whitley Avenue between 1935-1941. DeCou died in 1941 when he was residing in Whitley Heights. His collection of over 45,000 photographs taken world wide can be viewed at UC Santa Cruz Digital Collection. His collection includes images of the exterior and interior of 2015 Whitley Avenue. The photograph above shows the three homes that were built on Lloyd Lane: 2053 is on the left, 2100 is the first house on the right and 2108 the the house right after 2100. All other homes face Whitley Terrace (left) or Whitley Avenue (right). The tiny garage in the front was used by the fire department in 1927 to keep equipment there in case of a fire.

Below is an approximation of where Lloyd Lane was located. The garage that was to be used by the fire department is visible to the right of the red line on Whitley Avenue. The photograph was taken in 1922-1923, just prior to the road being built. Note the garage used by the fire department was built prior to its use.

Lloyd Lane was in fact, named after Hollywood actor Harold Lloyd. There had been a rumor that his house was 2053 Lloyd Lane. However, producer Louis Lewyn built 2053 Lloyd Lane in 1924 may have had something to do with the street being called Lloyd Lane.

However, the Harold Lloyd Corporation did own three lots on Lloyd Lane (Lots 4, 5, and 6) and it appears that they owned the land since 1931 but never did anything with it. They were attempting to auction off the land in 1945, but it does not appear anyone bought the land.

Above, tract 6174, shows lots 4, 5, and 6, the property owned by Harold Lloyd. Lot 1 was vacant prior to the 101 Freeway. However, lots 1, 2 and 3ZA still exist (or partially) and Lloyd Lane was remained Whitley Terrace after the construction of the freeway:

The land right of Lloyd Lane was grazed for the freeway. In 1960, 6767 Whitley Terrace was built on this lot (which continues to use tract 6174, lot 3). 2053 Lloyd Lane was built in 1924 on lot 2 and relocated to 6801 Iris Drive in 1950. In 1963, 6763 Whitley Terrace was built on lots 1 and 2. In 1925, 2100 Lloyd Lane was built on lot 7 and relocated to 23315 Burbank Blvd. in Woodland Hills in 1950. In 1937, 2108 Lloyd Lane was built on lot 9 and there was no record of a relocation so it may have been razed. Also in 1937, 2115 Whitley Avenue was built on lot 11 and relocated to 968 Tularosa Drive, in Silver Lake in 1950. Lots 8, 10, and 12 remained vacant. Hence, Lloyd Lane was comprised of only three homes. Below is an aerial of Whitley Terrace as it looks today. The yellow arrow indicates the location of 6767 Whitley Terrace on tract 6174, lot 3.

Below is an aerial photograph of Lloyd Lane sometime after 1937 as all of the residences on tract 6174 are present. #1 is 2053 Lloyd Lane (lot 2), #2 is Lots 4, 5, and 6, the property owned by the Harold Lloyd Corporation, #3 is 2100 Lloyd Lane (lot 7), #4 is 2108 Lloyd Lane (lot 8), #5 is 2115 Whitley Avenue (lot 11), #6 is the vacant land which is partially where 6763 Whitley Terrace is currently located, and #7 is the end of Lloyd Lane which met at Iris Drive. The house to the left of #7 was 6787 Whitley Terrace, which had the indoor pool with a dome over it.

2053 Lloyd Lane was the first home to be built on this street. In March of 1924, producer Louis Lewyn pulled the permit to build the six room residence using Reed & Company as his contractor and architect. Reed & Company was responsible for building a mansion off Cahuenga Blvd. dubbed “The Hollywood Electrical Home” in 1924, which is located at 6533 Cahuenga Terrace (pictured below). Rudolph Valentino was rumored to have lived there.

Louis Lewyn started his career in 1920 in the age of silent films and had produced 95 films up to 1945. Not long after Lewyn started his film career, he spotted a young lady win a bathing suit contest sponsored by Thomas Ince Studios. The young actress was Marion Mack, born Joey Marion McCready, who traveled all the way from Utah to sneak into Mack Sennett’s Hollywood lot and audition for him. Whether he was impressed by her glamour or her motivation to act, he hired her to be one of his Bathing Beauties in 1921 and then began to get acting roles. Lewyn and Mack co-wrote the semi-autobiographical film in which she starred in called Mary of the Movies in 1923. That same year, Lewyn and Mack got married-he was 31 years old and she was only 21 years old.

Now they were building their dream house; a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom Italian Renaissance house which had 64 steps leading up to the house. Mack decorated the home using her own unique style and imported many pieces from Europe and China. She decorated the home with Persian and Mandarin rugs all over the house. In the living room, there was a imported Italian 7-foot hand-carved settee upholstered in hand loomed tapestry. There was a Sonora radio radio and phonograph attachment which sat in a cabinet, a sofa and occasional chairs. In the bathrooms were French rosewood commodes with Marquetry inlay. There was also a den with lovely furnishings and the dining room with a hand carved table with upholstered chairs complete with imported dinnerware and table pieces. The breakfast nook also had an exquisite set and the kitchen was complete with a white enamel range and Frigidaire.

The upstairs had three bedrooms with the fourth bedroom used as an art room. The modern art room was created and designed by “Schumacher” for the International Exposition of Design and Decorative Art in Paris. There was also a Chinese den which was reached by a winding stairway and hallway located in the basement. The walls were covered in read, gold, and black with the room dimly lighted. All the furniture, paintings, other hangings, and art objects were imported from China. Lastly were was a library full of books. Mack took the year off after filming “Mary of the Movies” due to an undisclosed illness. Come to find out, she discovered that she did not like all the long hours that came with acting. She obviously enjoyed decorating her new house. However, Lewyn, (pictured below), who acted as her agent suggested she return to work.

Mack returned to work in 1925 opening the Marion Mack Production Company. In May of 1925, while working on a film on the boat “Swallow” in the Los Angeles Harbor, the engine suddenly caught on fire. The cameramen rushed to save 40 movie actors from the demolished boat. The following year, she was selected to star opposite from Buster Keaton as the role of Annabelle Lee in “The General”. Unfortunately she would have to spend six months in Oregon filming the movie.

As Mack returned to work, the second home on Lloyd Lane was being built. Ernest and Kathryn Long hired architect Nathan Coleman to erect a one-story six room home on lot 7. This was the second property in Whitley Heights that they were building. They also hired Coleman to build another home located at 2137 Whitley Avenue (this duplex remains in Whitley Heights with the listed address of 2135-2137 Whitley Avenue). 2100 Lloyd Lane is pictured below on the right side of Lloyd Lane.

The Longs moved into the home on Whitley Avenue and put this house up for sale in December of 1925. The house may have been rented until Bert and Rosa Wallis purchased 2100 Lloyd Lane in 1930.

After Mack returned from shooting her movie in Oregon, she and Lewyn were still residing at 2053 Lloyd Lane. Mack enjoyed watching the sport of boxing and wanted to support boxer Jack Dempsey at a boxing match in Chicago. On September 22, 1927, she left Clover Field Airport in Santa Monica at 9:25 a.m. on the monoplane “Spirit of Hollywood”, but it never made it to Salt Lake City to refuel. Mack was on the plane with the pilot Frank Tomick, a well-known stunt pilot in movies. Last week, while with some other actors in her home, they wrote a good luck note in which 60 of them signed for Dempsey that Mack would deliver. The following day, a search began for the plane believed to be somewhere in Nevada. By September 27, and no citing of the plane, Lewyn put up a $1,000 reward hoping motorists in the area would be motivated to search for the plane.

Luckily, the plane carrying Mack and Tomick was spotted landing in Yermo, California. Mack and Tomick relayed the story of the plane having engine trouble in the Shoshone section of Death Valley and they were forced to land. When the plane landed, one of the tires had a blowout. They decided to walk for help, but returned to the plane where Tomick attempted to repair the engine. At times, they were fear of coyotes and rattlesnakes as both had approached the plane. Strong winds also were a concern of the plane being further damaged. When they were able to get the plane running, both were suffering from starvation, dehydration, and lack of sleep as they only carried 2 sandwiches and containers of water when they left Santa Monica. They had to drink the water from the engine’s radiator for survival. Lewyn and some of his Whitley Heights friends and neighbors flew out to Nevada to help with the search including; James Ferdon (6603 Whitley Terrace), Edwin Anderson (6787 Whitley Terrace), J.D. Millar, and B.C. Wallace. Mack returned home under the care of a physician and live-in nurse. Mack rested in bed and would have nightmares about crashing in a plane.

In May of 1931, Lewyn and Mack auctioned off the the contents of the home, including their Packard Sedan, so they could move to Mexico City for a year to make some movies. Meanwhile, 44 year old tile merchant, Bert Wallis, his wife Rosa, and their two sons (22 and 18) had moved in across the street to 2100 Lloyd Lane. 21 year old Bert had married 18 year old Rosa in Ohio and moved to Hollywood in the early 1920s. Bert became involved in the Whitley Heights Association and was a board member in the 1930s. They remained in the home until the mid-1940s.

When Lewyn and Mack left for Mexico City, they rented out 2053 Lloyd Lane. The first tenants were Edgar and Helen Seymour between 1932-1933. Edgar was a bonds salesman. The house was advertised for rent again in 1934 and this time, socialite and recently widowed Constance Deighton Simpson (pictured below) and her children, Douglas and Constance, who were both in their 20s. In 1924, daughter Constance was presented to King George and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace with her mother accompanying her. On July 30, 1935, Constance lost her jewelry somewhere on the steps leading up to the house.

In September of 1938, daughter Constance married actor Jack LaRue in London (they dated for about four years). LaRue began his acting career in 1925 and was credited for 143 minor movie and television roles including A Farewell to Arms in 1932. The couple stayed married for seven years but were very different: she was a rich socialite and he was an Italian homebody. In November of 1942, Constance went to Reno to get a divorce claiming mental cruelty. LaRue followed her to Reno to try and stop her and was arrested making too much nice outside her hotel room and demanding a reconciliation. The divorce became final, although the two remained friends.

In 1937, Manuel and Hazel Zamora hired architects Spencer & Landon to build a 2-story house with. a 2-car garage on lot 9 with the address of 2108 Lloyd Lane, the third and final home erected on the street. They moved in the house in 1938 after doing finishing touches on the kitchen and bathrooms. Manuel, who immigrated from Mexico, was a former lieutenant of the Mexican Army from 1916-1918 and now worked in the motion picture industry using his pilot and gun expertise. His wife, Hazel Blake Zamora, was a concert pianist who came to Los Angeles with the all-girl band “Ina Ray Hutton and the Melodears”.

Manuel had crossed the border in El Paso, Texas and was in Chicago by 1920 working as the pilot and gunsmith for crime boss “Big Jim Colosimo” who was killed soon after in a mob hit. He ended up enlisted for the US Army and was stationed in San Antonio where William Wellman’s movie, “Wings” was currently being filmed. Wellman recruited Manuel to be the technical expert of the movie which ended up winning the first Academy Award for Best Movie in 1929. After receiving Honorable Discharge from the Army, Manuel moved to Los Angeles in the pursuit to work in movies. Manuel ended up working for producer Howard Hughes as his personal chauffeur. However, Manuel ended up falling asleep at the wheel and crashing. Hughes, impressed with his background, transitioned him to a technical expert in his movie, Hell’s Angels. From there, Manuel worked on movies such as Scarface, King Kong, and Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times.

Manuel and Hazel continued to reside in Whitley Heights during World War 2 and Manuel was still working for Howard Hughes. In the mid-1940’s recently married 21 year old Zelma Graham Brown and her husband, Whitney, moved in with her aunt Ruth Anderson, at 6787 Whitley Terrace. The backside of 6787 Whitley Terrace was just one house down from 2108 Lloyd Lane. Every Sunday, Ruth and Zelma would walk down to the Zamora house to attend musical gatherings. Zelma and Manuel became very fond of each other and started an affair. Zelma’s husband was very controlling and critical towards her and she was not happy in her marriage. Aunt Ruth, had her troubles when she and her husband Edwin built the home in 1922. No sooner did they move into the house, Edwin was arrested by the feds. for false reporting income on his 1920 taxes when he and Ruth lived in Chicago. The feds spent six months searching the western United States and Mexico looking for him. Edwin was extradited to Chicago where he stood trial and had to pay a hefty fine of $5,000 and then was able to return to Hollywood.

Whenever Zelma’s husband was gone, she would go down to the trash cans, which were located under the stairs that led from the kitchen to the back of the house. Zelma would bag the lid of the trashcan. The sound would carry over to Manuel’s house as a signal for him that Whitney was not at home. Manuel would play a similar trashcan symphony if he was free. Eventually, Zelma filed for divorce and went to stay with her family Detroit for a month so Manuel could take care of his affairs. Manuel put up 2108 Lloyd Lane for sale and also filed for divorce.

In 1946, Luther and Iris Scherer bought and moved into 2053 Lloyd Lane. During this time, Luther spent time remodeling the home. On the exterior, he retiled the patios and repaired the porch and balcony. In the interior, he retiled the floors, converted the maid’s room into two dressing rooms (each with their own bathrooms) and improved the swimming pool. Luther, who went by his nickname “Tutor”, who launched the first gambling barge off of Los Angeles in the 1920s. He also had a large bookmaking operation in gambling clubs in Palm Springs and Hollywood’s Clover Club and the Airport Gardens in Glendale. Tutor eventually ended up in Las Vegas. Iris Monahan Scherer was his second wife. His first wife, Myrtle Webb, died suddenly in 1927 (he was 15 years older than she) and left him a widow with a 8 year old daughter. His third wife, Iris, was the daughter of former figure skater/actress and socialite Mabel Monohan and was 27 years younger than he was.

Scherer was part of a group of L.A. gamblers and racketeers referred to as “The Combination” that all ended up moving their operations to Las Vegas. The Los Angeles District Attorney and LAPD were forever trying to get this group off of the street. However, Scherer always seemed to be one step ahead of law enforcement. Scherer and Iris divorced before 1952 as she moved to New York and married a wealthy businessman that year. However, Scherer remained close to his former mother-in-law, Mabel Monahan. In fact, he named her next of kin on his 1942 draft card and listed her living with them at this address (see below). It is peculiar that he did not list his wife Iris, as his next of kin. Mabel is also listed as living here in 1940 in the LA City Directory.

However, when Scherer and Iris split up, she and Mabel moved to a modest 2 bedroom home in Burbank. When Iris moved to New York, Mabel continued to reside in the Burbank home. During this time, Scherer and Mabel remained close. He was living between Hollywood and building another empire in Las Vegas. It was rumored that he had Mabel stash $100,000 in the Burbank home as he was trying to hide money in case he needed it. Somehow, a group of criminals found out about the money from “jailhouse gossip” and on March 8, 1953, Jack Santos, Emmett Perkins, Baxter Shorter, and Barbara Graham robbed and killed Mabel Monohan for the money. However, they did not find the stash of money and took off with $15,000 worth of jewelry. The most sensational part of this story is that Barbara Graham who had convinced Mabel to open the door, was executed June 3, 1955. The story of “Bloody Babs” was so well known, there was a movie made about her in 1958, “I Want To Live”, starring Susan Hayward.

Scherer was now living full time in Las Vegas and married twice more-both young cocktail waitresses. One pulled a gun on him and shot him in the leg and the other had his son when he was 74 years old. Scherer did in 1957 in Las Vegas probably tired out from all the drama that seemed to follow him. Scherer put 2053 Lloyd Lane for sale in November of 1945 with no success so tried to rent the furnished home in 1946. Three years later, it would not matter, as the state was taking over part of Whitley Heights to use as the 101 Freeway. All three homes on Lloyd Lane would have to be moved or demolished. The California State Division of Highways held several public auctions trying to relocate homes in the path of the freeway to be built. Below are advertisements for 2108 and 2053 Lloyd Lane:

Tutor Scherer’s belongings:

2100 Lloyd Lane was bought by Lena A. Smith and moved to 23316 Burbank Blvd., in Woodland Hills in 1949. Since the move, many additions have been done on the home that is on a double lot.

2053 Lloyd Lane was purchased by William and Hazel Farrell in 1950 and moved down the street to 6801 Iris Circle. It appears that they took two sections of the home minus the tower that stood in the middle and attached the two sections in the shape of an “L”.

As for 2108 Lloyd Lane, there is no record of the property being relocated so it most likely was demolished by the California State Division of Highways. However, many news articles indicate that the state contractors were making shady deals with some of these homes and may have sold the property “under the table” to make a profit.

The Los Angeles Times indicated Barbara LaMarr lived at 6787 Whitley Terrace. That was unlikely since she lived at 6672 Whitley Terrace and no records have been found indicating that.

Below the photograph was taken from where Lloyd Lane would be located. Below is a house on 6544 Bella Vista Way, another Whitley Heights street that was cut down to only five lots. The garage of the Bella Vista Way home is located on Whitley Avenue were Lloyd Lane used to be. The house to the right is 2037 Holly Hills Terrace.

The other direction shows 6766 Wedgewood Place on the left before it was torn down. The lot next to it was Rudolph Valentino’s former house at 6776 Wedgewood Place. The house on the right partially covered by trees was 6820 Whitley Terrace before it was torn down for townhouses in 1997 & 2004. The house to the right of 6820 Whitley is 6820 Iris Circle and exists today.

And just like that…