Whitley Heights 101

Motion Picture Star Auctions Whitley Heights Residence 1928

In June 1927, an L.A. Times advertisement read “SACRIFICE–Motion picture star going to Europe. Must dispose of his beautiful home in Whitley Heights. Must also sell Rolls Royce car and 1 acre in very exclusive section in Beverly Hills”. Six months later, the above advertisement appeared in January 1928 newspapers auctioning 6700 Iris Drive, all of its contents and two cars to an unnamed actor. The house belonged to silent screen actor Ralph Graves who purchased the house in July of 1923. Unfortunately the house did not sell, there was no trip to Europe and Graves remained in the home until he moved to 7040 Hillside Avenue, in Outpost Estates in early 1929.

Cleveland native Ralph Graves (born Horsburgh) (1900-1977) was a handsome silent screen star headlining opposite attractive film stars such as Mae Murray, Dorothy Gish, Ina Clare, Colleen Moore, Bessie Love, Gloria Swanson, Mabel Normand, Alice Day, Olive Borden, Viola Dana, Marie Prevost, Barbara Stanwyck, Helen Chandler, and Evelyn Brent during the 1920s and 1930s. If it was not for a receding hairline, Graves would have continued on the screen but pivoted towards screenwriting and directing. In 1921, he starred opposite Carol Dempster in “Dream Street” where he met movie extra Marjorie Seaman and was immediately smitten with the 21 year old young starlit; on a train back to Hollywood, they stopped in St. Louis and eloped.

By the summer of 1922, Marjorie Seaman Graves found herself pregnant and gave birth to healthy baby boy they named Ralph Seaman Graves on March 8, 1923. The following day, the young 22 year old mother died as what was described “complications following child birth”. Ralph was devastated and by the end of the summer, purchased 6700 Iris Drive, where he moved his infant son and hired a live-in maid/nanny.

The 4 bedroom, 2 bath Spanish style home was built in 1923 as 2122 Iris Drive by architect Arthur S. Barnes for owner E.A. Long, who resided just behind this house on Whitley Avenue. Before the birth of the Hollywood Freeway, this house once stood behind the moorish residence located at 6787 Whitley Terrace. When Lloyd Lane was created in 1924, the road stopped between the two houses.

In 1926, Graves convinced a young Howard Hughes to finance a script that he wrote called Swell Hogan; it would be Hughes film venture. Graves planned not only to star in the film but to direct, produce and edit it too. Graves told Hughes that the film would only cost a total of $40,000 but Hughes ended up spending twice the amount. Unfortunately, “Swell Hogan” did not turn out to be too swell. It was rumored Hughes destroyed the only copy of the film during initial screenings when critics balked at the film. Years later, during a drunken interview, Graves admitted that he and Hughes engaged in a sexual relationship during the two years he and Hughes worked on the film.

Hughes was not the only name Graves mentioned during that interview. He also claimed he had a sexual relationship with Mack Sennett for several years and named other less known movie industry men. These affairs proved to be kept discreet as they were not disclosed during this career during a time when same sex relationships were frowned upon.

In June of 1928, 28 year old Graves married for the second time; he met 18 year old socialite Virginia Goodwin while visiting San Diego. By the end of the year, Graves’ house was robbed and they decided to move eyeing a 2-story Spanish Colonial Revival in Outpost Estates. However, the move proved to be a nightmare. One of their cars were stolen from the home in March of 1929 and a month later, Graves had to hire a security guard after receiving early morning death threats on the telephone. Two months later, the house caught on fire after film was left too close to a lamp; fortunately the family was in San Diego at the time of the fire.

In August 1929, there were happy times when they welcomed their son, Jerry, into the world. When their police dog went missing in January of 1931, it was time to move and another home auction of a “famous movie star” occurred in March of 1929; the family relocated to Santa Monica. Ralph and Virginia divorced in 1932; she got custody of their two year old son and moved to San Diego. Ralph married for the third and final time to UCLA college debutante Betty Flournoy in 1934; he was 33 and she was only 20 years old. They had two daughters: Barbara and Betty. Fortunately, the third time was a charm as they remained married until Ralph’s death in 1978.

As for Graves former Whitley Heights home, 6700 Iris Drive, had another change of address to 6636 Iris Drive by the mid 1930s. No other famous celebrity inhabited the walls of this home. A real estate broke and his family would live here for the next three decades. Today, the house is adjacent to a wall the separates the north end of Whitley Heights and the 101 Freeway-a reminder that dozens of magnificent 1920s Mediterranean houses were torn down to relocated all for the name of forward progress.