Whitley Heights 101

2037 Holly Hill Terrace

2037 Holly Hill Terrace is located at the end of Holly Hill Terrace and backs up to what is left of Bella Vista Terrace when most of the street was demolished for the freeway. 2037 Holly Hill Terrace was built in 1923 by architect August Hanson. Hanson built other homes in Los Angles that are listed as historical landmarks in Spaulding and Sunset Squares. 2037 Holly Hill Terrace is 2,128 square feet with three 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The Mediterranean home is two stories and sits on an upslope on Holly Hill Terrace on a cul-de-sac. The historic home has a Mission style roof and a wide, single arched entry supported by two columns with Corinthian capitals. The home was remodeled with original materials and design and a jacuzzi was built in the rear of the property in 1980.

Holly Hill Terrace is located in the southeast section of Whitley Heights that is accessed from Cerritos Place just off of Cahuenga Blvd. near the Hollywood Freeway. There are 12 residences on Holly Hill Terrace which were built in the 1920s. 2010 and 2011 Holly Hill Terrace were built in the 1930s.

Between 1940 and 1941, former motion picture executive and novelist John P. Goring and his wife, Evelyn, resided in the home. Goring (1883-1943) worked at Famous Players Lasky Corporation in 1922 and then moved to Los Angles in 1924 and opening a booking office. In 1925, he was named managing director of the Forum Theater (see below) which was located at 4050 W. Pico Blvd and operated by Warner Brother’s Circuit Management. Goring had prior theater management experience as Paramount had hired him to run both the Rialto and Rivoli Theaters in New York City in the early 1900s.

In 1926, the film “The Winning of Barbara Worth” opened in the Forum Theater starring Vilma Banky, Ronald Coleman, and Gary Cooper. That same year, “The Marriage Clause” starring Francis X. Bushman also showed in the theater. The Forum Theatre was described as ‘The Most Beautiful Theatre in the World’, and styled as its name suggests, it looked like a building from Ancient Rome. While Goring lived in Whitley Heights, he wrote the novel “The Right to be Wrong”. Goring died in 1943 at the age of 51.

While Goring resided at this home, he was married to Evelyn who was twenty years younger than he. His first wife had died in 1940 and he must have immediately married wife number two. After John Goring died at the age of 51 in 1943, Evelyn moved to Chicago to live with her sister.

To enter this 2 level home, there is a set of stairs leading up to a porch in the front of the home. Upon entry, a living room with an original Batchelder fireplace is on the left side of the home with the master bedroom and a den in the rear of the home. There are French doors leading out to the patio and pool area in the back.

On the other side of the home, is the dining room that sits over the 2-car garage, and there is a doorway leading to the kitchen and a breakfast nook that is in the rear of the home.

A set of stairs leads up to the second floor to a balcony, two other bedrooms and a bathroom.

In 1980, soap star Stuart Damon purchased 2037 Holly Hill Terrace with his wife of over 60 years, Deidre Ann Otewill. The pair married in 1961 and remained together until Damon’s death in 2021. They had two children and ended up adopting their grandson in 2000.

While Damon started his acting career in theater, during the 1960s, he appeared in minor roles on television shows and got the part of the prince in the television movie, Cinderella in 1965. In 1968, he won the lead role as Craig Sterling in the television show “The Champions”, which aired for one year. In 1977, Damon was awarded the part of Alan Quartermaine on the soap opera “General Hospital” which he played until 2013, appearing in 849 episodes. Damon also appeared in 20 episodes of “As the World Turns” in 2009-2010 and 5 episodes of “Days of Our Lives” in 2010. Between. 1997 and 2001, his part of Alan Quartermaine also appeared on the spinoff to General Hospital. Damon appeared in 83 episodes of Port Charles which ran from 1997 to 2003. After his character was killed off in 2013, Damon’s final part was on the thriller movie called “Rain from the Stars” in 2013 in which he had a minor role.

The Damons also lived off of Van Ness Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades before his health began to decline. Damon died of kidney failure on June 29, 2021, aged 84, at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement community in Los Angeles, where he had lived for seven years.

Since the house was built in 1923, there had not been a building permit issued until 1980 when Stuart Damon put in the 12 x 7 jacuzzi. The house remained unchanged until 2017 when the owner removed and replaced the drywall in one of the bathrooms, installed a new drain in the shower and tub, and put in a new sinks. In 2020, another owner had to anchor the foundation per city code.