HOLLYWOOD PIONEER

Daeida Wilcox Beveridge

By Allan R. Ellenberger 

Daeida Hartell Wilcox Beveridge was born in Hicksville, Ohio and educated in the public schools of Canton, Ohio, and in a Hicksville private school. She married prohibitionist Harvey Henderson Wilcox of Topeka, Kansas and came to California in 1883. Three years later they purchased a fig orchard in the Cahuenga valley and soon bought the remainder of a 120-acre tract. Shortly afterward - depending on who is telling the story -she met a woman while on a train to Hicksville, who described her summer home near Chicago that she called Hollywood. The name appealed to Mrs. Wilcox so on her return she called her Cahuenga valley ranch – ”Hollywood.” 

A marker erected in Daeida’s home town of Hicksville, Ohio. (Doc Wert /flickr). One error - her second marriage was to the son of Governor John L. Beverdige from Illinois and NOT California. (click on image to enlarge)

Mrs. Wilcox was an intergral part in the development of the area, laying out the townsite and the naming the streets. The first pepper trees and flower beds were planted under her personal direction. Among her many gifts was the ground for the Hollywood City Hall, public library, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, of which she was a member; Christian Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was her early dream of beauty that gave fame to Hollywood, making it noted for its wealth of trees and flowers.

Her husband died in 1891 and two years later she married Philo Judson Beveridge, son of Governor John L. Beveridge of Illinois. They had four children, two of whom survived – Marian and Phyllis. Their home was on the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Wilcox Avenue (6467 Hollywood Blvd.).

In early July of 1914, Mrs. Wilcox took ill. On August 13, she entered Good Samaritan Hospital where she died the following day. Funeral services were held at the Connell undertaking parlor with interment in the family mausoleum at Rosedale Cemetery next to her first husband. Survivors included her second husband, her daughters Marian Pringle and Phyllis Brunson, her mother Anna Hartell, an aunt Sylvia Connell and a niece, Gertrude.

NOTE: When Harvey Wilcox died in 1891, there was no cemetery in Hollywood so he was buried at Rosedale. When Daeida died she was also placed there. In 1937, family members had their bodies moved, along with their two infant children, and Daieda’s mother and second husband, to the Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery.

 Daeida Wilcox Beveridge’s crypt (#989) at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

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Hollywood Pioneer

H. J. Whitley

 ”Father of Hollywood”

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Hobart Johnstone Whitley was born in Toronto, Canada on October 7, 1847, of Scotish-English parentage. As a child he moved to Flint, Michigan, where he was educated in the public schools and later at Toronto Business College.

Whitley engaged in banking and land development in Kansas City and Minneapolis, establishing banks and townsites along the Northern Pacific Railroad, and for a time managed the H. J. Whitley Land and Mortgage Company. He platted the towns and built brick and stone business buildings in Oklahoma City, El Reno, Chickasha, Enid, Medfore, and other cities on the Rock Island Railroad.

In 1887 he married Margaret Virginia Ross and had two children, Grace Virginia and Ross Emmet. Because of bad health, Whitley came to California in 1893 and the following year established the H. J. Whitley Jewelry Store, for many years the largest in the city. In 1900 he bought the Hurd property north of Hollywood Boulevard, between Wilcox and Whitley, south of Yucca Street, which he later subdivided into what became known as Whitley Home Tract. As a result of the success of this subdivision, one of the first in Hollywood, Whitley became known as the “Father of Hollywood.”

In 1905, Whitley and a group of Los Angeles investors undertook the development of 47,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley and carried through a similar project involving nearly 50,000 acres in the San Fernando Valley.

Whitley continued his activities in Southern California property until 1922, when he completed the development of Whitley Heights, which was one of the first hillside subdivisions in Hollywood. The opening of the tract in 1920 was the scene of a public barbeque, with city officials and business men of the city as guests. Whitley Heights would become the first celebrity neighborhood and home to such film stars as Francis X. Bushman, Eugene O’Brien, Barbara La Marr and Rudolph Valentino.

In addition to his real estate development, Whitley was one of the founders of the Home Savings Bank and was identified with the organization of the First National Bank of Hollywood, the First National Bank of Van Nuys and State banks in Canoga Park, Reseda and Corcoran.

On June 3, 1931, while staying as a guest of his son at the Whitley Park Country Club in Van Nuys, H. J. Whitley died in his sleep at the age of 83. Whitley was survived by his wife Margaret, his daughter Grace, son Ross and three grandchildren. Funeral services were conducted at the Strother Funeral Chapel at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard with interment at Hollywood Cemetery.

 H. J. Whitley’s cremation niche at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

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