Whitley Heights 101

6675 Whitley Terrace

6675 Whitley Terrace, aka “The Pike House”, is a midcentury home which was finished in 1952. This land sat vacant for many years prior and was the former site of the first structure that was built on the hill-the Whitley Heights Pavillion. Architects Dennis & Farwell designed the open structure in 1903. The pavillion was used for band concerts on Sundays to lure prospective buyers. It was also the site of the first Hollywood Easter sunrise service organized by H.J. Whitley’s wife and was taken down in the early 1920s when the majority of houses were constructed on the hill.

6675 Whitley Terrace sits on the largest plot of land, 0.73 acres, in Whitley Heights and is adjacent to H.J. Whitley’s former house. The land sat vacant until the early 1950s, except for a one room real estate office which remained there until the mid-1930s.

In 1951, oil tool manufacturer, John Jacob Pike, commissioned architect George Vernon Russell to not only build his new office building for Republic Supply Company of California, but to build a mid-century modern structure on the highest point of Whitley Heights. Pike, a divorced father of four, had recently married the widow of a college professor in December of 1951 and the newlyweds were planning to move into the house in late January of 1952.

John F. Pike, pictured above in the center, at a Van Gogh exhibit at Barnsdall Park in 1957 with architect Paul R. Williams. Both were patrons of the arts and presided on different art committees of Los Angeles. John “Jack” Pike was born in Bakersfield in 1912 and married Marion Hewlett in 1935. The prominent society couple had four children-Jeff, Jane, John and Jacob and in 1950, Marion filed for a divorce when John confided that he was not in love with her any longer. Around the same time, Elizabeth Farrar Wecter, lost her 44 year old husband, historian and college professor Dixon Wecter to a heart attack on June 24, 1950. A year-and-a-half later, Pike and Wecter were married at a friend’s house in Pasadena.

Famed architect George Vernon Russell not only designed the exterior facade of Ciro’s Restaurant for entrepreneur William Wilkerson at 8433 Sunset Boulevard but also The Flamingo in Las Vegas. The Flamingo was taken from Wilkerson by mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. Russell built this split-level home with the garage and laundry on the lowest level, the main entrance-living room and bedrooms on the middle level, and dining area, kitchen, and maid’s area on the highest level over the garage. In the backyard, over looking the view of the entire city, was an in-ground swimming pool.

George Vernon Russell won a Merit Award in the Single Family Residence Category from the American Institute of Architects in 1954 for designing this house. The house was also featured in the November 1954 issue of Arts & Architecture titled “City House”.

The Pike’s sold the house in 1958 to “Singin’ in the Rain” actor Donald O’Connor, who lived here with his second wife, Gloria, until 1961, when he purchased Joan Crawford’s home in Brentwood. O’Connor sold 6675 Whitley Terrace to an acquaintance, William Miller, whom he invested with in a casino circa 1960. Miller, who owned and operated several nightclubs, was linked to the JFK assassination. While he resided at 6675 Whitley Terrace, he was contacted by the Warren Commission and interviewed for his involvement with Jack Ruby.

During the November 29, 1963 interview, he stated that he was currently unemployed, has, in the past, been the operator of various night clubs, and in addition, has been one to obtain entertainment for night clubs. He indicated that he did not know Ruby personally but Ruby contacted him in the spring of 1963 and asked him if he could obtain some girls to help sponsor an amateur striptease contest in his Dallas clubs. Miller told Ruby he was not able to help him. The unemployed former nightclub operator foreclosed on this house in 1964.

According to a relative of George Vernon Russell, during the mid-1960s, 6675 Whitley Terrace may have been the home of actor Mickey Rooney, who like O’Connor “both of whom made a series of very insensitive and unfortunate alterations, all but destroying its original character”. Rooney (1920-2014) had not only over 300 film and television credits, but managed to collect 8 wives, the first being actress Ava Gardner.

By the late 1970s, 6675 Whitley Terrace had exchanged ownership several more times and was not in the same condition that Russell and Pike had planned. In 1981, satellite company executive, Daniel Zinn purchased the property and hired George Vernon Russell to restore the property back to its original state.

During the 1990s, Zinn sold the home to director of the cult classic, “The Hitcher” Robert Harmon. In 1996, he hired Drake Wilson Architects to design another structure to be a “listening room”, to enjoy music in a “controlled acoustic environment”. In addition to the studio, the building featured two bedrooms and one bathroom.

The Harmon’s have also maintained the original 1950s midcentury structural design throughout the main residence, both inside and outside. According to the Whitley Heights Historic District Association, “While this house does not contribute to the district, it has been published by Gebhard and Winter, and is important”.