2110 Fairfield Avenue

2110 Fairfield Avenue was built in 1922 by contractors Blair & Mackinga for owner Eugene Bradley near the end of Fairfield Avenue, just below Rudolph Valentino’s residence (house on left pictured below) on Wedgewood Place. The house sat directly across the street from 2109 Fairfield Avenue where director Louis Lewyn & his wife, Marion Mack, rented in 1924, actress Helen Lee Worthing in 1925, and Montagu Love in 1927. Rudolph Valentino, Francis X. Bushman and Barbara LaMarr also lived above this house in Whitley Heights.

The 2-story residence with a detached one-car garage could be seen below from Valentino’s side patio on tract 3737, lot 37. The permit was issued October 1922 and exactly one year later, Bradley put the 2 story, 5 room Spanish stucco bungalow with 2 bedrooms, on the market for $12,750 (approximately $242,500 today). After 30 days of no sale, the realtor indicated that the house was next to Valentino’s and Ethel Clayton’s homes (hoping the celebrity angle would help to sell the property). For some reason, Bradley took the house off of the market and decided to rent it out.

According to the Los Angeles 1926 city directory, actress Eleanor Boardman rented this home. Boardman (1898-1991) was an actress that was working at MGM at the time and dating director King Vidor. Vidor was recently divorced from his childhood sweetheart, Florence Vidor, another well-known actress. The truth was Vidor and Boardman had an affair which ultimately broke up his first marriage. Vidor was residing here with Boardman and in May 1926, took out several advertisements in the newspaper to sell his grand piano, two vehicles, rugs, books and other belongings:

Eleanor Boardman arrived in Hollywood in 1922 at the age of 20 after being discovered by Robert McIntyre, the casting director of MGM, who picked her out of over 2,000 applicants. Shortly after her arrival, she had already been linked to Charlie Chaplin. She then worked on the set of “Souls for Sale” with Barbara LaMarr and Mae Busch. During filming, Boardman had endured several mishaps, including being bit my a camel she was riding on and almost having her arm amputated, almost being killed by a collapsing circus tent and then almost drowning in a water tank at the Culver City studio. Nevertheless, Boardman continued with her career. One day during lunch at the studio, while wearing her pink ballerina costume, she was noticed by a smitten movie director named King Vidor who cast her in his next film and then the next. The two began a secretive affair as Vidor was married with a daughter.

In 1926, it was announced that Russian composer Feodor Kolin, now a music instructor in Los Angeles, was teaching Vidor how to play the piano. Kolin was hired to play at a dinner party at the Fairfield residence before the attendees would then go to Vidor’s premiere of “La Boheme”. Vidor was so impressed with Kolin’s talent, he skipped his premiere to stay at the house to hear more. By mid-1926, Vidor and Boardman left 2110 Fairfield Avenue as they were in the process of building a house Beverly Hills.

According to the 1924 city directory, Eleanor Boardman rented another Whitley Heights residence-2139 Fairfield Avenue, just around the corner from this house. She rented the two bedroom home just prior to moving to 2110 Fairfield Avenue. Although Boardman insisted she was living alone in this house, Vidor most likely lived with her in the house and had to keep it quiet since he was in the process of divorcing his first wife. This residence is one of four homes that remain today on Fairfield Avenue since most of the road was demolished during the 1950s during the construction of the 101 Freeway. Rudolph Valentino rented this house in 1923 before he moved into the house be purchased just above on Wedgewood Place.

There is further evidence that Boardman and Vidor were living together prior to his divorce. A 1923 California Voter’s Registration record had Boardman residing at 2281 Holly Drive (pictured below) in the Hollywood Dell. Vidor had purchased this house and was living there at the same time. He had purchased two female police dogs to guard the house while he was at work. In September of 1924, he returned home to discover the dogs left the property or were stolen. The same month, there were advertisements in the newspaper asking for help to return the dogs of the address of 2281 Holly Drive. Vidor’s parents later lived in this home for several years until his father’s death in 1931.

In September 10, 1926, King Vidor and Eleanor Boardman married at the Beverly Hills house of actress Marion Davies located at 1800 Lexington Road. There were only 25 guests invited for the reason that John Gilbert and Greta Garbo were also going to get married at the same time. Garbo never showed up so Gilbert got drunk and punched Louis B. Mayer who made a snide remark to him. Irving Thalberg and Norma Shearer were also in attendance.

Following the wedding, the Vidor’s moved into their newly constructed home located at 6 Tower Road. Vidor built this Spanish style, five room mansion by architect Jon Byer on 3 1/2 acres of land. In December 1927 he sold the house to John Barrymore for $50,000. Barrymore gave it to his bride, Dolores Costello, as a wedding gift and then upgraded the house extensively.

About a year before selling this property to John Barrymore, the Vidors hired architect Wallace Neff to build another home for them in Beverly Hills located on Beverly Estates Drive/Tower Road, which has now been demolished. In 1932, suspecting Vidor was having an affair, Boardman hired a private detective agency who found Vidor at his script writer, Betty Hill’s apartment located at 1413 North Havenhurst Drive (Rhonda Apartments). Boardman kicked Vidor out of the house and sued him for divorce. She wanted the house and custody of their two daughters.

Vidor did not make it an easy divorce. He also hired detectives and found out that she was spending time with director Harry d’Arrast. Boardman should have known as she was “the other woman” during Vidor’s first divorce. After months of a messy divorce, Boardman got the house and her daughters. Vidor went on to marry the other woman, Elizabeth Hill in 1937, while Boardman moved to France and married Harry d’Arrast in 1940. Both would remain married to their new spouses until of the spouse’s death. Below: Vidor’s wives: Eleanor Boardman (left), Florence Vidor (top) and Betty Hill (below). While Boardman may have been married to a king, she later met her Prince Charming!