Whitley Heights 101

2000 Highland Avenue (Roman Gardens)

The Roman Gardens apartment complex was built in 1926 by architects Pierpont & Walter S. Davis who were responsible for the French Village located on the corner of Highland Avenue and Cahuenga Blvd. Between 1910 to 1930, the Davis brothers created General Hospital, Pierpont-Churchill House in Hancock Park, El Greco Apartments, La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes, Normandie Village, and UCLA’s Alpha Theta Sorority house. Roman Gardens consisted of 18 units ranging from studios to two bedroom, two story apartments. All of the units were different sizes each with its own unique design. All of the units centered around an outside courtyard, overflowing with jacaranda, citrus and palm trees, and jasmine and bougainvillea vines. was a popular concept in the 1920s. Above, the rear homes on Whitley Terrace can be seen above the complex.

Francis Pierpont Davis (1884-1953) and Walter Swindell Davis (1887-1973) were both born in Baltimore. Pierpont Davis attended Baltimore City College for one year and the Maryland Institute of Design, Engineering, and Mathematics for three years. Walter graduated from MIT with a Masters degree in 1911. Working in the styles associated with the Mediterranean Revival, the brothers designed residences and apartment buildings including the Roman Gardens (1926), one of Los Angeles’ most romantic garden apartment courts, combining Italian, Spanish, and North African elements. They Davis received the commission for St. John’s Episcopal Church (1923) at the intersection of West Adams and Figueroa streets. They designed a restrained Romanesque building in poured concrete and finished the interior walls in Byzantine-style mosaics. With other California architects, Pierpont Davis worked on the design of the Pentagon in 1941 and was completed a year later. Davis raced sailboats and won a gold medal for the eight-meter yacht race in the 1932 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, after which the city’s Olympic Boulevard is named.

This complex was renamed “Villa Valentino” because of the legend that Rudolph Valentino used it as the center of his amorous activities. Ancient Rome, tower evokes moorish Spain or South Africa. A permit was issued on April 16, 1926 for the Las Palmas Development Corporation, 3125 W. 6th Street, with architects Pierpont and Walter S. Davis, at the same address. Valentino died on August 23, 1926 in New York City. The earliest inhabitants of the building were not until in 1927. Another Valentino rumor. At least the name suites the complex.

In 2009 there was a write-up in the newspaper regarding the Villa Valentino. The residents were told to leave the premises due to leaking gas. Residents indicated it was a ploy to get all the tenants to move so the new owners could convert the building into a boutique hotel. A 7 month standoff ensued between the renters and the new owners who had just paid $5 million for the complex. One Friday evening in December, new owner Rebecca Richards summoned tenants to a meeting and announced that the property was plagued by leaky gas lines, electrical shorts and carbon monoxide buildup. Tenants’ lives were at risk, she said. Residents, who taped the meeting, were told that the gas company and city officials would visit the following Monday to red-tag the whole place. Richards said she had found alternative housing for tenants and arranged for moving vans to arrive Sunday. The residents could not verify by the city if this was true or not. By moving time Sunday, Villa Valentino residents had decided to stay put. They placed signs in their windows that warned movers not to set foot in their apartments and threatened legal action against anyone who did.

Residents said that after they refused to leave, Richards ordered them to remove patio furniture and barbecues from the courtyards’ common areas. Tenants said Richards also cut off the gardening service, shut down the courtyards’ four signature fountains, placed the laundry room off-limits and prohibited the use of fireplaces. A housing official said the city has not been advised of any proposal to turn the complex into a hotel. Such an action would require a 60-day notice to tenants, plus payment of relocation fees of up to $17,800 per family. However, a real estate website had announced the plans of the new hotel. Apparently, the hotel plan did not materialize and Villa Valentino continues to operate as an apartment complex with units ranging from $2,500 to $5,000.

Unit 1 is a two story, 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment with 834 square feet. The living room features beautiful hardwood floors, high ceilings, a fireplace, and French doors to a shared courtyard. The master bedroom offers a fireplace, a romantic Juliette balcony, and a charming inset canopy built into the ceiling. This unique floorplan has a step-up and step-down eat-in kitchen. It features original fixtures, a vintage stove with and a spacious patio with a handy service entrance.

Unit 3 is a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment located on the first floor consisting of 669 square feet. The painted oak door invites you into another era. The living room features beautiful hardwood floors, high ceilings with crown molding, a fireplace, & French doors opening to a courtyard fountain. The bedroom offers 2 closets on either side of a deep inset window & a lovely inset canopy built into the ceiling. The kitchen is quaint and offers a convenient service entrance.

Unit 5 is a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment located on the first floor.

Unit 7 is a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment located on the second floor consisting of 726 square feet. The painted oak door invites you into another era. The living room features beautiful hardwood floors, dramatic groin vaulted ceilings, a gorgeous fireplace, with a spacious dining room overlooking a large shared courtyard. The spacious bedroom is bright and airy offering high ceilings and a gorgeous arched built-in canopy over the bed.

Unit 8 is a 2-story, 2 bedroom, one bathroom apartment consisting of 1,150 square feet. The living room features wood floors, high ceilings, a gorgeous fireplace, and a large dining room with French doors opening to its own private fountain and patio. Upstairs is a wide landing with lots of storage and 2 bedrooms on opposite sides of the top floor. The master offers a large fireplace, a romantic Juliette balcony, and an incredible inset fresco canopy built into a dramatic curved wall.

Unit 12 is a one bedroom, one bathroom second floor apartment. The living room features beautiful hardwood floors, high ceilings with crown molding, a fireplace, and gorgeous romantic windows opening to view beautiful fountains from every window. The bedroom offers a step-up bed platform and with two windows above. The large window at the other ends brings in lots of light and the soft sounds of the fountain below. The kitchen is quaint yet spacious and offers a convenient storage pantry.

Unit 13 is a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment that is on the first floor complete with a private courtyard. It has 642 square feet inside.

Unit 14 is a 2-story, 2 bedroom, one bathroom apartment consisting of 935 square feet. The living room features beautiful hardwood floors, high ceilings with crown molding, a gorgeous fireplace, with French doors opening to a balcony overlooking a large shared courtyard. Upstairs is a wide landing with lots of storage and 2 bedrooms on opposite sides of the top floor. The master bedroom offers high ceilings and a fireplace.

Unit 16 is a studio apartment on the second floor that has a bedroom loft.

Unit 17 is a 2-story, 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment with a total of 832 square feet. Surrounded by mature plants, trees and vines a large shared patio invites you to the front door opening to another era. The living room features beautiful hardwood floors, a unique floating staircase, high ceilings, a fireplace, and gorgeous French doors opening to view a courtyard fountain. The top floor offers 2 bedrooms with high ceilings and amazing views. The master has a lovely corner fireplace.

Unit 18 is a 320 square foot studio apartment located on the ground floor with one bathroom.

Notable Tenants:

One of the earliest tenants was screenwriter Dwight Cummins (1902-1985) who worked for FBO Studios at the time. Between 1908-1966, Cummins was credited for 27 films and television shows including; Smoky (1946) starring Fred MacMurray, Anne Baxter and Burl Ives, The Strawberry Roan (1948) starring Gene Autry, Loaded Pistols (1948) also starring Gene Autry, The Gene Autry Show (1950-1954), The Roy Rogers Show (1952-1956), and Annie Oakley (1955-1957). While living here, Cummins married fellow scenario writer, Dorothy Yost. Yost was credited for 76 films and tv shows (they worked on several together) between 1920 to 1966 (her death). Yost co-wrote “Alice Adams” (1935) starring Katherine Hepburn and “The Big Cat” (1949) starring Lon McAllister.

In November of 1927, Helen Klumph, 25 years old, was found in her apartment in a coma and was a “victim of sleeping sickness”. Klumph was found by a friend yesterday who called Dr. H. Willis who ordered her to the Osteopathic Hospital. Klumph regained consciousness in the hospital. Klumph wrote the adaptation for “Love’s Wilderness” in 1924 starring Corrine Griffith. Klumph wrote for Picture-Play Magazine in the 1920s. She was featured in a 1926 Picture-Play Magazine article, “A Star Turns Reporter”.

George H. Plympton (1889-1972) and his mother, Leila Plympton lived at the Roman Garden Apartments in 1930 for a year. At the time, the 30 year old screenwriter was working for Universal Studios. Plympton started his writing career as a western film scenario writer 1912 with a total of 292 writing credits until his death. During the sound era he switched his focus to serials mostly for Columbia, Republic and Universal studios, co-scripting and adapting such chapter plays as Tarzan the Fearless (1933), Flash Gordon (1936), The Spider’s Web (1938), The Phantom Creeps (1939), The Green Hornet (1940), Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940), The Masked Marvel (1943), Chick Carter, Detective (1946), Brick Bradford (1947), Superman (1948), Batman and Robin (1949), and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950). Active until 1957, he also was one of the principal writers on Columbia’s Durango Kid and Jungle Jim series.

Thatcher H. Kemp married Jeannette Tighe on April 30, 1935 and they moved to the Roman Garden Apartments after their honeymoon. Kemp was an attorney who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1921 and went into practice with his father in Los Angeles. Kemp ran for District Attorney in 1932 but lost the race. This lawyer had his own troubles with the law. In July of 1933, Kemp was accused of election fraud and bribing a member of a grand jury not on indict a politician but was eventually acquitted on all charges. In October of 1933 he was with a date at the Ambassador Hotel and was arrested for intoxication and resisting arrest. The date denied he was drunk. He ended up being acquitted on all charges after a public trial. In 1935, he was appointed Deputy City Attorney. On January 10, 1937, Kemp died of a heart attack in his apartment at the Roman Garden Apartments.

Between 1940 and 1946, architect Carl Jules Weyl (1890-1948) lived in the Garden Court Apartments. Weyl immigrated to the US on 31 March 1912, according to his 1933 petition for citizenship, on the SS Königin Luise. He worked as an architect in California, first in San Francisco for the architect John W. Reid, Jr., a designer of the San Francisco Civic Center and many schools. Weyl moved to Los Angeles in 1923, where he designed the Brown Derby Restaurant #2, the Hollywood Playhouse, the Gaylord Apartments, as well as many other buildings and Hollywood estates. Weyl was best man at the Beverly Hills wedding of film comedian Harry Langdon in 1929. When the Depression hit and building commissions dried up, Weyl joined Cecil B. DeMille Productions, then Warner Bros. as an art director. Between 1935 to 1947, Weyl was credited as the art director for 47 films. His most notable films include; The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Letter (1940) starring Bette Davis, The Great Lie (1941) starring Bette Davis, Shinning Victory (1941) starring Bette Davis, Casablanca (1942), Saratoga Trunk (1945) starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, and The Big Sleep (1946) starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Weyl was also responsible for designing several homes in Whitley Heights during the 1920s: 6850 Iris Circle, 2251 Cahuenga Blvd., and 2022 Holly Hill Terrace. In 1933, Weyl and his wife lived at 6644 Odin Street in Whitley Heights. While he was living at the Garden Court Apartments, he was working at Warner Brothers and was divorced. At one time, Weyl’s architecture office was located in the Thomas Building on Sunset Blvd.

Another designer, Maurice Sands, lived at Garden Court Apartments in 1938. Sands had been a well-known interior designer in San Francisco, designing the interiors of many Bay Area buildings, including student housing at UC Berkeley and the UC campuses in Davis and Santa Cruz. He did design work for the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley and the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., and he was a consultant on branch offices of the Bank of America during the 1950s. According to his daughter, Nancy, Sands learned interior decorating on the job and practiced his profession in Los Angeles in the mid-1930s. He moved back to San Francisco in 1936.

Songwriter John Rox lived here when he was writing “It’s All Too Wonderful” but is best known by his song, “Big Wide Wonderful World” that has been featured on several films (including post-mortem) including; An Angel Comes to Brooklyn (1945), Rhythm Inn (1951), A Safe Place (1971), and Avalon (1990). He also wrote the novelty song I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. Many of John’s songs were recorded by America’s beloved artists. Pig, Pig was recorded by Burl Ives and Riding Down the Canyon by Gene Autry. Others were used in Broadway musicals. In 1948, Rox married actress Alice Pearce in New York. She was the original Gladys Kravitz in Bewitched from 1964 to her death in 1966 and completed 27 episodes. Pearce also guest starred on The Donna Reed Show (1963), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963), and Hazel (1964).