Whitley Heights 101

2001 Holly Hill Terrace

2001 Holly Hill Terrace was built in 1923 by the Hollywood Architectural Service, who built several other homes on Holly Hill Terrace in the 1920s. This Mediterranean home was built for Dr. Abraham and Mrs. Laura Palmer, which remained in their family until the early 1940s. They added two rooms and the garage, which is located on Grace Avenue, in 1937. Their son-in-law, Dr. Sidney Broadbent, who ran the Hollywood Community Hospital, added the front porch in 1941.

In 1971, actress and activist, Jane Fonda, rented the home for several months after her brief stay in Detroit. Fonda had just finished filming “Klute” in New York City with co-star Donald Sutherland, in which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In those days, Fonda was busy protesting the Vietnam War and other causes, often donating most of her money to them, including the Black Panthers. It became so extreme, that she was on the watchlist for both the FBI and the CIA. She claimed that the CIA had bugged her phone while she was living here and a document from the CIA surfaced dated October 5, 1971, in which her name and this address was on a list of people associated with Kalayaan International, a progressive Filipino organization in the 1970s. Below is Fonda in the Whitley Heights home in 1971.

According to the book, Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman, by Patricia Bosworth, “after Detroit, Jane moved back to L.A. with Vanessa and Dot. She had very little money, so she rented a ramshackle house overlooking the Hollywood Freeway and decorated it with Salvation Army furniture.” Fonda even wore the wardrobe that was used in “Klute” as shown in a scene below.

Below is Fonda in the Whitley Heights home in 1971 when she appeared in the April 23, 1971 Life Magazine edition titled, “Busy Rebel: Jane Fonda Pusher of Causes”.

Fonda had split from filmmaker, Roger Vadim and poured her time into her political causes. In 1970, Fonda was arrested in Cincinnati for assaulting a police officer, with the charges eventually being dropped.

Fonda did not stay long in Whitley Heights as she left later in the year to film “Tout La Bien” in Paris. Upon her return, she rented in house in Laurel Canyon before meeting her next husband, politician Tom Hayden and moving to Santa Monica when they married in 1973. Below, Fonda at 2001 Holly Hill Terrace with her three year old daughter, Vanessa Vadim.

In 1967, the owner put in a pool in the back of the residence. This residence is one of two Whitley Heights homes that is part of the Los Angeles Conservancy (the other is 6726 Milner Road). According to the LA Conservancy, 2001 Holly Hill Terrace is designed in Mediterranean style, featuring an L-shape plan that follows the unique configuration of the lot and an exterior clad in smooth-finished stucco. Over the years, this home has remained largely intact, with the exception of a two-story veranda added in 1941. The Conservancy holds an easement protecting the home’s historic façade. It is one of two easements held by the Conservancy in Whitley Heights, along with a residence on Milner Road.

2001 Holly Hill Terrace is a 4,241 square foot home with 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms which last sold in 1985 for $234,000. The house is now assesses at $2.5 million on a 8,255 square foot lot. When Fonda lived on the property, actress Argentina Brunetti was living next door at 2011 Holly Hill Terrace. In Brunetti’s 2005 autobiographical book, “In Sicilian Company”, she described her living room as white with a huge bay window, while Fonda painted her living room black and kept the windows closed. Brunetti went on to state that “instead of couches and coffee tables you would expect, she had mattresses all over the floor. Jane told me that this was so her guests could relax and spend the night if they so desired”.

Another actor resided in 2001 Holly Hill Terrace in the late 1980s and remained living there for over 20 years: Bryan Clark (1929-2022) and his wife, Josephine. Clark was a character actor who was credited for over 60 movie and television roles between 1974 to 2004. Not only did he have bit parts in “All the President’s Men” in 1974 and “Trading Places” in 1983, he guest starred in Magnum PI (1986), Days of Our Lives (1988-89), Cheers (1990), Charles in Charge (1990), Who’s the Boss? (1990), Knots Landing (1991), and The Nanny (1994). Known to resemble Ronald Regan, Clark played the former president in “Without Warning: The James Brady Story” in 1991. A father of five children, Clark remained married to his wife for 65 years.