Whitley Heights 101

6613 Whitley Terrace

6613 Whitley Terrace is a two story Mediterranean home that was built in 1922 by architect, Arthur S. Barnes, the leading architect of Whitley Heights during the 1920s. The 2,720 square foot home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms with a detached two-car garage and a heated pool on the side of the house. The house is currently for rent for $12,500 per month.

The legend attached to this property is that Ronald and Nancy Reagan had lived in this home when he was an actor and union leader before serving as governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Although, there is no documentation placing the Reagans in this home, there were a few other notables who rented the Whitley Heights home during the 1920s through 1940s.

Actor Knute Erickson rented 6613 Whitley Terrace in 1929. Erickson was a fan of living in Whitley Heights as he also lived at 6776 Milner Road in 1922-1924, 6755 Wedgewood Place in 1927, 6672 Whitley Terrace (Barbara LaMarr’s former house) in 1928, and 6610 Iris Drive (Lita Chaplin’s former home) in 1930. Swedish born Knute Erickson (1873-1945) was a vaudeville comedian and actor active in Hollywood between 1921 to 1936. He is best known for his character as “Daffy Dan” in a traveling show which mogul Jesse Lasky presented through the Harry Cort Film Company in 1915. The character, Daffy Dan, then appeared a few two-reel comedies that starred Fatty Arbuckle in 1921. Daffy Dan then re-appeared in director Roland West’s film, “The Monster” starring Lon Chaney.

Erikson was cast minor roles in films which starred Pricilla Dean, Viola Dana, and Wallace Beery during the early 1920s and then his big break was in 1926 was hired as the lead in “The Non-Stop Flight” for Emory Johnson Productions. Erikson went back to doing minor, sometimes uncredited roles in films starring Richard Barthelmess, Jack Mulhall, Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers, Gary Cooper, Norma Talmadge, Fay Wray, Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, and Gene Autry until 1939.

Erickson married actress Eleanor Begere in Manhattan, New York City, in 1906 and they remained married until her death in 1936. Erickson had always claimed he was born in Sweden; however, some accounts indicate that he was actually born in Ogden, Utah. His death records indicate that he was born overseas.

Between 1930-1931, actor and screenwriter, J.C. Nugent resided at 6613 Whitley Terrace with his daughter Ruth, and her husband, Alan Bunce, both actors. John C. Nugent (1868-1947) began acting in vaudeville by 1900 and wrote the Broadway play, Kempy, starring Dorothy Parker in 1922 which was deemed a success and made into the movie, Wise Girls, which starred his son, Elliott Nugent. Nugent would write dozens of Broadway plays until his death in 1947. Nugent also co-write several films with his son, Elliott Nugent, that were based on his plays. Their first film was “Poor Nut” in 1927, which starred Jack Mulhall. In 1929, they wrote the screenplay “Alibi” in which Roland West directed, starring Chester Morris and Mae Busch.

J.C. Nugent was also cast in almost two dozen minor roles between 1927 to 1943. His first role was in Wise Girls (1929) in which he played the father of his son, Elliott Nugent’s character in the film. Both J.C. and Elliott had also wrote the screenplay for the film which was based off of J.C. Nugent’s Broadway play from 1922. Other notable minor roles included; The Big House (1920) starring Chester Morris and Wallace Beery, Love in the Rough (1930) starring Robert Montgomery, Love in Bloom (1935) starring George Burns and Gracie Allen, Modern Times (1936) starring Charlie Chaplin, and A Star is Born (1937) starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.

J.C.’s son, Elliott Nugent (1896-1980) was an actor, screenwriter and director in Hollywood between 1925 to 1958. His first role was in 1925 in “Headlines” starring Alice Joyce and Malcolm MacGregor. He then began writing several screenplays with his father. Several notable acting credits included: So This is College (1929) which he starred with Robert Montgomery, Not so Dumb (1930) co-starring with Marion Davies, Romance (1930) starring Greta Garbo, and Virtuous Husband (1931) with co-star Betty Compson. However, Elliott’s parts began to grow smaller, uncredited parts. During the 1950s, Elliott made several guest television appearances on Robert Montgomery Presents and the Kraft Theater.

Elliott Nugent married actress Norma Lee in 1921, had three children and remained married until his death in 1980. Lee starred in four minor roles including; Wise Girls (1929), Wives Never Know (1936) starring Charles Ruggles and Mary Boland, and tv movie-Blue Knight (1973) starring William Holden and Lee Remick. J.C. Nugent rented this house with his daughter, Ruth Nugent, who was listed as an actress on the 1930 census but does not have any acting credits listed. Ruth was married to actor Alan Bunce (1900-1965) who was also known on the stage, radio, and on television. Bunce is only credited for one film: She’s My Weakness (1930). Bunce made guest appearances on several tv shows between 1950 to 1965 including; Kraft Theater, Perry Mason, The Patty Duke Show, and The Defenders. He is best known for his television role as Albert Arbuckle on “Ethel and Albert” from 1953 to 1956 with co-star Peg Lynch (both pictured below), which also starred Margaret “The Witch of the West” Hamilton.

Between 1932 to 1944, voice coach Samuel Kayser purchased 6613 Whitley Terrace and would give lessons out of the home:

Dubbed “the most expensive coach in the movie colony”, actress Anita Louise hired Kayzer for two years hoping to improve her acting abilities after actress Ann Harding and other veteran actors credit for their training. Actress Frances Dee paid a third of her salary for two hour daily lessons from “Dr. Kayzer” to get extra training to stay in the running for movie parts. Kayser has also coached Janet Gaynor, Virginia Bruce, Billie Dove, and Paulette Goddard, who would often go back to him for more lessons. Originally, producer Howard Hughes brought Kayser to Hollywood from New York to coach actress Jean Harlow for the film “Hell’s Angels” in 1930.

Harlow continued to get voice lessons from Kayser when he moved to Whitley Heights. Above, Harlow was seen in her vehicle in front of 6613 Whitley Terrace and was often at the house for her lessons. Her presence in Whitley Heights started rumors that she lived down the street at 2015 Whitley Avenue and that she lived in another house that had been relocated to Huntington Beach in the early 1950s in order to avoid being demolished when the freeway was built.

Now on to former actor, Governor of California, and President of the United States Ronald Reagan and former first lady, Nancy Reagan residing here. A search was made in newspapers, city directories, census records, biographies, and other websites yielding no information that they lived in Whitley Heights. The only websites indicating that the Reagans were former residences were Airbnb, Whitleyheights.org, Wikipedia, and the Historical Marker Database, possibly going from rumors.

However, if they did live here for a short period of time, there would be only one or two opportunities of when they could have lived at 6613 Whitley Terrace. Ronald Reagan moved to Hollywood in the Spring of 1937. After graduating college, Reagan got a job in Des Moines as a sports reporter and had to travel to Catalina Island to report on a sporting event there. During his stay, the rain cancelled the event and he ended up meeting actress Joy Hodges at the Biltmore who introduced him to her talent agent. The agent was impressed with Reagan’s demeanor and by the weekend, he had been hired to start work at Warner Brother’s Studio. Reagan quit his job and moved to Los Angeles moving into the Montecito Apartments, 6650 Franklin Avenue, sharing the apartment with another young aspiring actor named Mickey Rooney. Reagan remained at the Montecito until towards the end of 1938.

He then moved to a bungalow house located at 1128 Cory Avenue near Doheny Drive and Sunset Blvd and remained there until the Spring of 1939. He then moved to The Londonderry Apartments, 1326 Londonderry View Drive, a few blocks away. Interestingly, actress Jane Wyman lived in the same apartment complex in unit #5. The two began dating and eventually married in January of 1940 and then moved into Wyman’s apartment while they were building their own home.

Ronald and Jane moved into their new home located at 9137 Cordell Drive in the summer of 1941 where Jane gave birth to their three children, Christine, Maureen, and Michael. They also maintained the Londonderry apartment until the lease ran out. When Ronald and Jane separated in 1938, he temporarily moved into the Garden of Allah, formerly at 8152 Sunset Blvd and then moved back into the Londonderry Apartment he previously lived in and kept it until he met and married Nancy Davis.

After Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis married in March of 1952, they temporarily stayed in her apartment at 941 1/2 Hilgard Avenue in Westwood while they searched for a house to live in. They settled on a Cape Cod style home located at 1258 N. Amalfi Avenue in Pacific Palisades in July of 1952. They then moved to a mid century modern style home when Ronald was working for General Electric as a spokesman. GE built the house located at 1669 N. San Onofre Drive in Pacific Palisades complete with every imaginable electric gadget. They remained in the house until Reagan became president which sold in 1982. The house has since then been extensively remodeled to a larger scale home. Possibly between living in the two Pacific Palisades houses, that the Reagans had to live temporarily somewhere else.

There is a list of addresses where Ronald Reagan lived at the Reagan Library website (Reagan Library) which ranges from when he was born in 1911 to his death in 2004 where he was living at 668 St. Cloud Drive in Bel Air. Although this website does not mention Whitley Heights, it does not mean that they did not stay in the Whitley Terrace home, but it would have to been right after they were married or the time between their two Pacific Palisades homes. Sometimes real estate agents suggest someone famous had lived in a home in order to get the house to sell. In addition, a search of the city directories for the address of 6613 Whitley Terrace found a number of people living in this house from when it was first built until the present and there are no records from when this house was up for sale in 1955 until the next owner in 1958. Could the Reagan’s temporarily lived here?

Over recent years, the house has been used as both a short and long-term rental. The first floor contains the living room, kitchen, dining room, study, and a bedroom. The second floor contains three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The outside pool is heated and there is also a wine cellar on the premises. There is also an outside kitchen and grill in the rear of the home.

At least we are certain Jean Harlow walked through the property to visit her voice coach and sat near the piano in the living room with him prior to her death in 1937. In recent years, the house has been primarily used as a short-term or long-term rental. Perhaps in the evening, sitting on the piano bench near the window that overlooks the city, the footsteps of Jean Harlow can be heard approaching the piano for her voice lesson.