Whitley Heights 101

2119 Fairfield Avenue

2119 Fairfield Avenue was built in 1920 by M.G. Norris, of the R.E. Whitley Company, the sales agent who made “Whitley Heights Famous” according to local newspapers in the 1920s. Norris hired a local carpenter named Bartley S. Crammer to build a 34 x 44, one story Mediterranean house on lot 24, Tract 3737 on Fairfield Avenue. As a reference, 2133 Fairfield Avenue, which still exists, is on lot 29.

Norris put the one-story Spanish style house up for sale hoping to attract a buy in 1920. Unable to sell the property, Norris added a second story to the home in 1921 starting with a bathroom.

Actress Ethel Clayton (see previous post on 6662 Odin Street) purchased this home in October of 1922 and finished the renovations to the property. Ethel Clayton Kaufmann finished the 2nd story adding one room and closet, a staircase, redecorated the rooms, changed the windows, extended the chimney, and enlarged the foundation under the wall of the living room. She also added a shed to the rear of the property which backed up to Wedgewood Place.

Ethel Clayton was born Ethel Blum in Champaign, Illinois in 1882 and moved to New York to pursue her acting career in theater, meeting actor/director Joseph Kaufman and marrying him in 1914 in Philadelphia. Kaufman died on pnemonia in a hospital in New York during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918. Devastated, Ethel dived into her work and got a contract with Paramount renting a house in Venice Beach in 1918. The following year, Ethel moved to Whitley Heights at 6662 Odin Street with her mother, Mary Blum, and her brother, Donald Clayton, an aspiring actor and dancer. After renting the Odin Street home for a year, Clayton purchased another Hollywood home located at 6929 Hawthorn Avenue (see below):

Although Ethel Clayton moved to this residence in Whitley Heights after the remodeling was completed, her mother and brother remained at the Hawthorn Avenue residence. Clayton was a popular silent screen actress during the early 1920s, completing several films directed by Robert Vignola, who was also a resident of Whitley Heights. However, Clayton had difficulty transitioning to sound and was cast only in minor roles until she retired in the 1940s. In 1928, Clayton married actor Ian Keith, who starred in a play, “The Firebrand” with her. When they married, she was 39 years old and he was only 31. After they married, she abandoned this Whitley Heights residence, perhaps renting it, and moved with Keith to the Alto Nido apartments located at 6350 Franklin Avenue. These apartments appeared in the film, Sunset Boulevard in 1950 and was were William Holden’s character lived.

The marriage to Keith did not last long; he had been previously married and divorced by 1926 to actress Blanche Yurka, who was four years older than he. In addition, Clayton or Keith were often traveling for work, so they did not spend much time together. Keith may have also been somewhat of a “ladies man” so Clayton filed for divorce in August of 1931. The publicized divorce became finalized in February of 1932 and she contested the divorce after Keith refused to give her settlement money. Keith had actually moved on to actress Fern Andra and eloped with her when the divorce was being contested, which further caused conflict as Clayton indicated Keith committed bigamy, claiming they were still married. However, the judge ruled the divorce was final and Keith went on to wife number four before going back to Andra and then to wife number five, which he remained with for thirty years before his death. Clayton never married again.

While Clayton still resided at 2119 Fairfield Avenue, the city was fixing the road in front of her home and a 9 foot ditch caused a 10 foot retaining wall to cave in, endangering her house. In 1926, Ethel Clayton won a judgment of $2,700 for damages to her property during the construction of a sewer in 1923. However, a city attorney filed a petition to the supreme court to reverse that decision, but it did not appear to go anywhere.

After Clayton married Keith, there is no record of Clayton ever moving back in to this Whitley Heights home. In fact, no much is known about 2119 Fairfield after Clayton owned the home, including any owners or renters or whether the home was relocated or demolished. The house, very likely, was torn down in the 1950s for the Hollywood Freeway.

In 1932, Clayton moved to 2238 El Contento Drive with her brother. However, unable to pay the bills, they moved back in with her mother at the Hawthorn residence by 1934 until 1940. The house still exists today (below). Clayton would reside with her brother, even after her mother died. They eventually moved to Thousand Oaks where Donald died in 1964, then Ethel in 1966.

As for 2119 Fairfield Avenue, its history vanished after Clayton lived there with the last known date of 1927, according to the Los Angeles City Directory.

Below, the approximate area of where 2119 Fairfield Avenue would have been located since its demise.