There's a good chance the English author James Hilton wrote Lost Horizon at this address. Rosalind Russell rented the house in 1936. Beulah Bondi made it her home from 1941 until her death in 1981. Bondi played mothers, grandmothers, dowagers. Her most famous role was as James Stewart’s mother in It’s A Wonderful Life. Make Way for Tomorrow is not to be missed. Orson Welles said, "It would make a stone cry".

Bondi's lifetime fear of fire caused her to install extra thick fire-resistant walls in her home. They are the thickest walls in all of Whitley Heights.

1973, Beulah celebrating the 50th anniversary of WHCA.

In 1991 Jerry Solomon bought the property from TV executive Syd Vinnedge. Jerry wanted to live in a Mediterranean home. One day on a whim he drove to Whitley Heights. Rounding the bend on Whitley Terrace he saw an old sign attached to a…

Balcony of 6620 Whitley Terrace in the 20s looking southeast towards Whitley Avenue.

Side garden 1981

Mediterranean style built in 1913, two stories, stucco, Mission and Spanish tile roof, arched French windows and doors on three levels. Several bullseye windows. It’sone of the oldest remaining house in the District. 

Captain Vesey O’Davoren and his artist wife, Ivy DeVerley, were two of Whitley Heights' first residents. They met in a London hospital when O'Davoren was recuperating from wounds suffered in WW1. Madame DeVerley was dispensing appreciation and good cheer to British soldier-patients. She was already internationally acclaimed as a portrait painter. He was smitten.

Vesey visited Ivy’s salon following his discharge from hospital. A romance blossomed. They married in January 1916 while he was still in the Chelsea Hospital. His medical prognosis for survival was for only six months (he lived to celebrate his 101st birthday) if spent in a dry climate like Arizona. In 1920 they relocated to Hollywood. Vesey nicknamed his bride Flossie. They lived…

Eugene O'Brien home was featured in Screenland 1929. His star is can be found on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1620 Vine Street.

O'Brien played opposite Ethel Barymore on stage. On screen his leading ladies included Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, and neighbor Gloria Swanson.

Then.

Today.