Whitley Heights 101

6758 Milner Road

6758 Milner Road was built in 1923 by architect and owner Paul Pape. Pape was a well known Los Angeles architect who started building bungalow houses in the early 1900s and then transitioned to fireproof buildings all over Los Angeles. Pape was responsible for the designs of the Los Angeles Brewing Company, Palatial Apartments (1910), Hotel St. Francis in San Francisco (1910), Rex Arms Apartments (1912), and John Muir High School (1926). He also designed the bleachers at Hollywood High School and Franklin High School, a bank, and a sanitarium in Culver City. In 1921, Pape was on a jury trial against a couple who violated the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) and was excused as he spoke out against the amendment. He also sued a couple in 1928 in regards to the road leading to the Hollywood Bowl.

Originally, the house was listed at 6743 Milner Court until 1927 and was built as a 5 room, single family home. Currently, 6758 Milner Road is a 1,950 square foot home with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom in the main house on the top floor and a separate one bedroom apartment on the bottom floor above the garage. The home sits on an upslope lot on Milner Road and has an amazing hillside view of Hollywood Hills.

The main house consists of an open floor plan of the living room and dining room. There is also a kitchen, den/study, two bedrooms and a bathroom. The detached garage was not built until 1936. In 1972 the the other floor and the porch was added to the property. In 2002, the doors and windows were updated as well as the bathroom fixtures. In 2021, the roof was updated to conform to fire hazard standards.

The 1972 addition:

George and Estelle Hambaugh resided in the home in 1936 after they got married. Estelle Dilthey Hambaugh was the drummer of an all-girls band called Babe Egan and Her Hollywood Redheads in the 1920s. Babe Egan (1897-1966) was a violinist and bandleader that was very successful from 1924 until 1933. They toured those years as a vaudeville act throughout the United States, Canada, and in Europe. Estelle was born in 1908 in Fresno County and her father formed the Musical Dilthey Family Band which she was playing the drums. Her father quit working for the Southern Pacific Railroad and moved the family to Los Angeles in 1920 hoping to make it big in the music industry. However, her father was forced to get a second job as the band struggled getting gigs, playing mostly for fraternal organizations. In the 1920s, female drummers were not recognized, but working for Egan, Estelle’s name appeared in the lineup. Below, Estelle is forth from the left and behind the drums in the later photo.

This was George’s second marriage. He was first married in June of 1928 to Leslie Wadsworth who had just graduated from Pasadena High School and barely 18 years old. At the time, George was a student at USC and involved with Delta Phi Delta Fraternity and 21 years old at the time. In 1929, their daughter Leslie Leone Hambaugh was born with their son, George Jr. was born in 1932. Perhaps they married too young but it did not last as they split up soon after George Jr. was born.

After they divorced, Leslie was having difficulty coping. In April of 1924, she attempted suicide by jumping off of the Arroyo Seco Bridge. Leslie was dating Paul Robinet and he told police that they had an argument and he decided to park outside of her house after he dropped her off. He followed her to the bridge and saved her from the fall. Leslie had moved back in with her parents after her divorce.

Two years later, Leslie made another suicide attempt from the same bridge. This time, two men saved her from falling off of the bridge. Her mother told authorities that Leslie had been suffering from a “nervous condition” for the past two years and “there is absolutely no trace of insanity in her illness-only a nervous disorder that leads her at times be become hysterical and act impulsively”. Perhaps she was upset that her ex-husband had moved on and remarried the year before and her father had also died.

George and his new wife, Estelle rented 6758 Milner Road in 1936 as they were building a home near George’s parents in Sierra Madre. A few months later, George and his new wife, Estelle were in a terrible car accident:

George and Estelle had a daughter named Carol Anne after moving to Sierra Madre in 1937. By 1940, they were renting a house in Beverly Hills and all three children were living with them. Leslie married again to Victor Parkin in Oregon in 1931 and they had a son named Richard two years later but the marriage did not last. Leslie moved back in with her mother in Pasadena and by 1950, her 17 year old son, George, was living with them. Richard must have been living with his father. Leslie continued to have emotional issues and had started drinking as she was arrested for drunk driving in 1947.

George and Estelle’s marriage seemed to last longer than Leslie’s two failed marriages. George was president of the New Mexico Exploration Company of Los Angeles and was able to buy a 42 foot boat called the “O-Kay” in 1935. George and Estelle would go boating frequently. George would later open the Hambaugh Realty Company and make real estate investments also over California. However, George may have not been the smartest businessman. In 1942, he had a $1,000 judgement against him by Albert E. Murray in San Francisco. In 1945, George pled guilty for grand theft and criminal conspiracy for selling land that he claimed had oil on it. So George was forced to sell his boat a few years later.

In the 1960s George and Estelle opened a flower business called Tropical Flowerland. George was in trouble again- this time with the Federal Trade Commision for putting false information into their catalog. In the 1970s, George opened a stamp store in Palm Springs. In 1979, tragedy struck the family when George Jr. was shot by a man who did not want to pay his cab fare. He would eventually die from complications at the age of 47.

At least their daughter, Carol, seemed to have a stable life. Born on Christmas Day in 1936, she became involved in ballet and graduated from Immaculate Heart High School in 1955. Her high school yearbook quote was, “Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew”. In 1956, Carol was a Los Duenos Debutante and married UCLA graduate Jeffrey Clark in 1957.