Whitley Heights 101

2149 Fairfield Avenue

2149 Fairfield Avenue was built in 1926 by builder F.H. Parmalee, a prominent contractor in Los Angeles in the early 1900s. The three-story Spanish style home had a circular room that went up three levels with an attached cone roof that made the house look like a Medieval castle. The house was built for singer and actress Emily Schneider (pictured below) who once owned the Hollywood Motion Picture Theater and more recently, ran the Idle Hour Theater. She moved into the home with her daughter, actress Goldie Schneider, who went by the stage name of Goldie Fessendo.

Schneider had her daughter dancing at the age of four so acting and the theater came naturally to her. In 1918, the young Goldie fell in love and married Phillip Fessender, a military man. They invited over 1,000 people to attend the wedding in order to charge 50 cents per attendant, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross. Unfortunately, less than a year later, Fessender was in Nevada when he came down with influenza and died. The young widow decided to use part of his last name to create her stage name, “Goldie Fessendo”. In 1927, Goldie signed with Arizona Photoplay Productions to make 12 western movies under the direction of Rex Thorpe. She had minor roles in silent films, The Midnight Flower (1923), The Desert of the Damned (1925), A Tale of Two Cities, and Black and White. Often branding herself as a “blonde vamp”, Goldie also danced with the Pantages Theater circuit.

Unfortunately for Emily Schneider, the stress of running a theater was taking its toll on her health. She died on July, 7, 1934 at the age of 50, of a heart ailment, during her stay at Hillcrest Sanitarium. The house ended up in foreclosure and by 1937, the bank-owned, 2149 Fairfield Avenue was listed for sale.

The house was located on Fairfield Avenue, close to Alta Loma Terrace, near the famed English cottage that Bette Davis rented in 1930, 6655 Alta Loma Terrace. The house sat just above the French Village on Highland Avenue before the quaint little shops and apartments were demolished to widen the roads.

Following her embarrassing investment scandal, socialite Evelyn Byrd Christian moved into 2149 Fairfield Avenue with her two sons in 1939. Her oldest son, Warren Redmond Christian Jr. was 21 and tried his hand at acting, eventually settling for a car salesman job. Her younger son, Byrd Christian, 19, married in 1942 and moved to the famous Villa Bonita Apartments on Hillcrest Drive. When they moved to Whitley Heights, Evelyn listed her occupation as the manager of “radio artists”, but became involved with the Hollywood Athletic Club society functions later on.

Just prior to moving to Whitley Heights, the widowed socialite lived in Beverly Hills. She and her sons moved to Los Angeles from Mobile, Alabama after the sudden death of her 49 year old husband in 1930. In 1934, she met an investor named Frederick Falkin who seduced her into giving him $15,000 for an oil investment and another $4,000 for a plot of land in Bel-Air that fell through. Having only received $2,000 back from the failed property investment, Christian became concerned with Falkin’s intentions. Falkin, married to former actress, Lucille Stafford, told the older widow that he was divorcing his wife and wanted to marry her. Christian called of the brief engagement and went to authorities about her lost money. In 1939, Falkin was arrested on two grand theft charges and the case went to trial. However, during the jury trial, Falkin produced evidence that the money given to him by Christian was a loan and the jury acquitted him on both charges. A few months later, Falkin was arrested on withholding assets from a bankruptcy case. Above is Evelyn Byrd Christian and her son, Warren, during the 1939 trial.

Unfortunately, 2149 Fairfield Avenue was one of the several homes in the area (mostly Alta Loma Drive) that were to be either sold or demolished in order for director Sol Lesser to build the Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Museum. With the backing of several celebrities such as Mary Pickford, Gregory Peck, Walt Disney, Bing Crosby, Desi Arnaz, and Frank Sinatra, the Los Angeles City counsel was easily persuaded to move on the project. However, lack of funding, over-ambitious plans (a museum, galleries, film archive, library and academic complex, theater, sound stage, television studio, demonstration center, concessions, and administrative offices), and politics all contributed to its failure. Instead, the Hollywood Bowl got what it always wanted-another paved parking lot for its venue. The princess cottage was demolished in 1963 for a project that was never completed. Below, 2149 Fairfield Avenue sits next to 6655 Alta Loma Terrace (English cottage). The homes above are on Wedgewood Place.