Whitley Heights 101

2030 Holly Hill Terrace

2030 Holly Hill Terrace was built in 1922 (as listed address of 2012 Holly Hill Terrace) by the Hollywood Construction & Investment Company, contractors who also built several other homes on Holly Hill Terrace during the 1920s. This bungalow home consists of three bedrooms and one bathroom on the main floor. There is an attached garage that is accessed on the front right side of the home (can be seen in photo above on the lower left of house). The basement has been converted into a studio apartment with a full kitchen and bathroom.

The home was last sold in 2021 for just over one million dollars and the previous owner placed a fence around the property and updated the residence with a more modern look while maintaining the features of a Spanish-style bungalow. Below is what the exterior of the property prior to its makeover.

Below is the interior of the home looking towards the living room from the dining room area before the home was remodeled.

2012 Holly Hill Terrace was built by Helen C. Anderson who married electrician, Frank Van Amberg in 1922. According to the Southern California Architecture History website (https://socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2014/08/tina-modotti-lloyd-wright-and-otto.html), the photo below is the Van Amberg residence located at 2012 Holly Hill Terrace with the Otto Bollman Residence in background, upper left, 2200 Broadview Terrace, 1921, which they obtained from “Gallagher’s Elevator,” Holly Leaves, April 18, 1924, p. 20-1. Upon further research, the photo below is not the Holly Hill Terrace house, but of another house that was built by the Van Amberg’s in the Hollywood Heights area. The Amberg’s remained in the Holly Hill Terrace home until until 1924 when they moved into an apartment on Beachwood Drive and then to 6883 Yeager Place while they were building a duplex (which is actually the home in the photo below) just below the Hightower Elevator located at 6859-6861 Los Altos Place.

Upon examination of page 20-1 of “Gallagher’s Elevator” below, “The Van Amberg home in Morning Glory Terraces is beautiful and well built” and is located just below the historic Otto Bollman residence, which was built by Lloyd Wright, the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Below, Frank Van Amberg built the 10 room duplex in 1923 situated at 6851-6861 Los Altos Place, the first lot off of Hightower Drive, just below the Hightower Elevator. The Otto Bollman residence, located at 2200 Broadview Terrace can be seen directly above this residence to the right of the tower.

Van Amberg hired architect Charles Grolle to design the home on Los Altos Place. Grolle designed several other homes in Whitley Heights during that time period. The exterior of the house changed extensively due to a fire in the bedroom in 1947. In 1968, actor Michael Neary purchased the home and was living at 6621 Whitley Terrace (the Now, Voyager movie location) at the time. During the 1990s, the house was converted into a single family home.

Actress Gertrude Astor (1887-1987) purchased 2030 Holly Hill Terrace from the Van Ambergs in 1925. Astor, who was born in Lakewood, Ohio, moved to Hollywood by 1915 to start her acting career in the silent film industry working for Biograph Company. The following year, Universal was formed and Astor was one of the first females hired to star in their films. Astor co-starred with actor Wallace Beery in 1916’s “The Janitor”, a film Beery also directed. Astor was one of the highest paid actresses during the silent film era as she was able to buy her first home in Whitley Heights. Dubbed “the best dressed woman” in Hollywood, Astor’s career took off; however, she was also one of the tallest women in the film industry (5’11”) and her height would effect her career later on, especially with the transition to sound pictures.

Although Astor never married or had any children, it was announced that she was engaged to Robert Sinclair, the brother of oil tycoon and race horse owner, Harry Sinclair, while she was living in Whitley Heights. It appears that the two began the engagement in 1925 and remained together until at least 1927. Then the engagement seemed to end with no explanation at all.

Astor may have been romantically linked to Rudolph Valentino as they met on the set of Mae Murrays “The Delicious Little Devil” in 1919 and would later reunite when Valentino starred with Gloria Swanson in “Beyond the Rocks” in 1922. By this time, they were now just friends as Astor quickly discovered the Valentino enjoyed the affections of many women. As he did not like that type of publicity and did not want to be seen coming out of a hotel, Astor would arrange he come over to her house as she set him up with one of her lady friends. Astor would loose the lead role in Valentino’s 1921 film, “The Sheik” due to her height.

Between making movies, Astor found time to fix up the bungalow she had just bought. In July of 1925, Gertrude Astor was awarded third place for individuality and originality of design in the Southern California Bungalow annual national home survey of the American Architects Association. Her home is was described as “Spanish architecture with a touch to Italian to give a villa effect”. Gertrude was also known as the “Nash Girl” as she had purchased her forth Nash vehicle while she was living in Whitley Heights. In court, while she legally changed her last name from “Eyster” to “Astor” and informed the judge that she already owned several properties under the name “Gertrude Astor”. In March of 1926, she was building a home on Orange Grove Drive for $40,000 and in September of that same year, it was reported that she was building a 9 room Italian villa on Hacienda Drive. Below is Astor in front of the Whitley Heights home after it was reported that she purchased her forth Nash from Rickershauser & Miller, the Hollywood Nash Dealership.

Although there were not records of Astor residing in either one of those homes, there was a permit issued in 1926 to build 1421 Queens Way while she was residing on Holly Hill Drive. The 2,159 square foot multi-level home was erected in the Hollywood Hills area just off of Sunset Drive. Astor moved out of her Whitley Heights home and moved to this residence soon after it was built in 1927. However, transitioning from silent to sound pictures proved to be a challenge for Astor and she was soon taking smaller roles, but still doing shorts with her pal Wallace Berry.

Astor received third billing in the 1926 comedy “Kiki” starring Normal Talmadge and Ronald Coleman with her neighbor from Holly Hill Drive, director Clarence Brown. In 1927, Astor got a minor role in “The Taxi Dancer” starring Joan Crawford and “The Cat and the Canary” starring Laura La Plante. Astor continued to get small roles, but they were barely enough to pay for her Hollywood Hills mansion so she rented the house to actress Vivian Duncan, who had been engaged to Nils Asther at the time. By 1930, Astor took an apartment at the Guardian Arms Apartments on Hollywood Blvd. and resided there for four years.

Becoming a landlord turned out to become a nightmare for Gertrude Astor. Vivian had stopped paying for rent for the past three months and when Astor went to check on her villa, it was in shambles. There were liquor bottles all over the house, the carpets and furniture had wine stains on them, and the house was infested with ants. Astor, who took pride in her homes, took Duncan to court. The case dragged on for several years as Duncan continued making up excuses to postpone the hearing. She once claimed that she was stuck in an Italian hospital for three months with a throat ailment and could not make it back to Los Angeles in time. Finally, the case was heard and Astor received approximately half of the $1,400 she was asking for.

1932 was a rough year for Astor as she was making minimal money to pay her bills off of the bit parts she was getting. In January of 1932, a gang of teen bandits stole her coupe which was later located from a high speed chase that ensued by the police. A few months later, Astor collapsed at the clerk of court records department, accompanied by her lawyer, as she was looking at the court records as she wanted Duncan to pay the full amount she had asked for. By July of 1932, Astor claimed to be flat broke as she had to pawn jewelry to pay for her living expenses and her car was repossessed. In November, while she was home in her apartment at the Guardian Arms (pictured below), two men had broke into her apartment and stole her fur coats. Astor did not give up and kept working any part she could get.

Astor became known as one of the top actors to have the most film and television credits in her lifetime, she starred in over 350 roles up until the mid 1960s. Although many of her roles were uncredited, Astor has appeared in: The Women (1939), How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Wolf Man (1941), Dick Tracy (1945), Music Man (1948), Sunset Boulevard (1950), All About Eve (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), I Love Lucy (1952), A Star is Born (1954), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), An Affair to Remember (1957), My Man Godfrey (1957), My Fair Lady (1964), and The Sound of Music (1965). Not a bad resume! Astor spent her last years renting in Beverly Hills. Astor died following a stroke on her 90th birthday at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills. Below are the most recent photos of the interior of 2030 Holly Hill Drive in Whitley Heights.

Below are photos of the studio apartment that is located below the main house that has a separate entrance.

In 1931 Hector Crowley, an art director, returned to this residence in February 1931 and witnessed a party breaking up at the nearby residence. The party giver threw the guests out in an aggressive manner and Crowley approached the neighbor out of concern. The host hit Crowley on the head with a dumbbell and was taken to hospital. Police did not find anyone at the residence where the party took place.