3345 Mentone Ave., Palms, Los Angeles, CA 90034

Palms, Los Angeles History

Apartment Complex
3345 Mentone Ave.,
Los Angeles, CA 90034

2006
In 1950, the McConnells used to live in the small, old 2-story apartment building,
in the center of the photo, with the darker colored roof with white dot on top,
just across the alley from 3345 Mentone Ave.
Grandma told me that at one point, Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan)
used to live directly across the alley, at 3344 Keystone Ave.
The actress Dorothy Neumann lived at 3351 Mentone Ave. (next door),
before she moved to Queensland Ave.
I wish I could see the same photo in 1910, 1920, 1930, etc.

House Photo - 1956	Palms Elementary School - Palms Market
House Occupants	Old Sanborn Map of Block - 1910
House Floor Plan	Palms WPA Map - 1939
Yard Photos - 1950's	West Los Angeles Map - 1959
Lot Layout	Palms, CA History
Block Layout	Dorothy Neumann
Neighborhood Layout	Palms Old Street Names

Fifty years ago
Back in the 1950's, it was
3345 Mentone Ave.,
Palms District,
Los Angeles, Zone 34, Calif.
3345 Mentone Ave., Los Angeles

1956
Avocado, Bougainvillea, Japanese Boxwood

3345 Mentone Ave., Front Door

Blowup of Photo Above
Phone number was VE 8-5062 (VErmont prefix)

.
Residents of 3345 Mentone Ave.

Harrie C. Dillingham

Harrie Clifton Dillingham - 1906-1908
Age 18, 19 or 20 - Army photo from the Philippines
They have Harrie spelled incorrectly over at http://www.movielanddirectory.com/star.cfm?star=186780
Nor did they get the address correct -
it is the suburb of PALMS, not Culver City, although only 4 blocks away.

Susan Steeves - Harrie C. Dillingham

Susan Steeves - Harrie C. Dillingham
Grampa's first wife - My wild guess = 1914
He would have been 25, and she would have been ??.
They had one daughter, Ruth Dillingham.
Many thanks to Anne Guerin of Oregon,
and Donna Conway of B.C., Canada.

3345 Mentone Ave. was the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's home of -
	Family Member	Born	Died	Related	. Note
Husband	Harrie Clifton Dillingham aka H. C. Dillingham	Nov. 11, 1888 Waukesha, Wisconsin -	Aug. 1979 - Roseburg, OR Interment - Rink Creek Cemetery	Father - Nathan Dillingham Madison, WI Mother - Stella Cunningham Madison, WI	MGM Warner Brothers Grampa was formerly married to Susan Steeves of B.C., Canada.
Wife	Ella Mae Dillingham	Oct. 19, 1896* Aug. 15, 1897** Chilliwack, BC, Canada	Apr. 13, 1991 - Myrtle Point, OR Interment - Rink Creek Cemetery	Father - Benjamin Chapman Born April 15, 1854, Ontario Mother - Maria Hoare Born April 14, 1863, Ontario	Housewife Married 1919?
Daughter	Doris Mae Dillingham	Dec. 13, 1921 Santa Monica, CA - Graduated Hamilton High 1939	Mar. 1, 2006 Interment - Forest Lawn, Hollywood	Husband - 1941- Fred Aubuchon Oregon Developer 1950- Robert Stephens, RCA manager	Mrs. Doris Aubuchon Mrs. Doris Stephens
Daughter	Dorothy Dillingham	Dec. 31, 1922 Santa Monica, CA - Graduated Hamilton High 1940	Oct. 1980 - Myrtle Point, OR Interment - Rink Creek Cemetery	Husband - 1943- Tom Guerin, Oregon rancher Graduated Hamilton High 1937	Mrs. Dorothy Guerin
	* This date is listed in the SS Death Records. This date is given in the 1901 Canadian Census. Harrie Harrie Dillingham was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1988. In his early years, he played piano in silent movie houses. He served as Treasurer for the Orpheum Theatrical Co. of Vancouver, BC. He worked for MGM on Washington Blvd. in Culver City in the 1930's. In the 1940's, he worked for Warner Brothers in Burbank. He retired from Warner Brothers in 1954. He was a life-long Mason on Motor Ave. and Woodbine St., and served as Grand Master. I attended dinners and breakfasts there. Stella Cunningham became Stella Dillingham, and later became Stella Chilcote, after she remarried. In 1954, Warner Brothers held a picnic in Calabasas, CA. It was incredibly hot. Everyone just stood by the drink truck. I got to shake hands with Randolph Scott, and I got his autograph. It was a big thrill for me at 10 years old. Ella Mae The parents of Benjamin Chapman were Emanuel Chapman and Ann Snell, both born in England. The parents of Maria Hoare were George Hoare and Ann Patten. Ella Mae Chapman had a younger sister, Cora Ethelwin Chapman, who was born May 6, 1898, and died of disease in Chilliwack on March 6, 1912, at the age of 13. Grandma never spoke of her to me. AKA Corina, Corria Good-bye Los Angeles In 1957, Harrie and Ella Mae moved to Myrtle Point, OR**. The house was sold, and replaced by the current 8-unit apartment complex.
80	160	160	140	160	140

3345 Mentone Ave. Yard Photos

.Backyard Mentone Ave.

1950- Dorothy Dillingham Guerin, Harrie C. Dillingham, Stella Chilcote
Anne Guerin, Cheryl Guerin, Vaughn Aubuchon
St. John's Hospital Entrance in 1950
My cousins and I at Mom's workplace.

The Palms, CA - Pidgeon Coop

My pigeon coop, with custom extention - pigeon door at upper right top
My friends Earl, David and I used to stuff 4 birds at a time into our jackets,
then ride our bikes a few miles away, and release the birds, or sometimes along the way.
Pigeons have a sense we know little about - ALL pigeons are homing pigeons.
Throw them up, and they start making clockwise circles, until at one point,
they shoot off a tangent of the circle, headed straight home.
I had racers, fantails and tumblers.
Only a hawk could prevent a bird's return.

Where did all those doors come from?
The shiplap came from my grandpa.
The chicken wire was appropriated from an abandoned farm on the NW corner of Rose Ave. and Overland,
just below the open hill with the nunnery at the top.
Swamp grass and sweet anise. A great place for "forts".

The Last Photo from Palms, CA

3345 Mentone Ave., Los Angeles last photo

1957 - Tom Guerin, Oregon cattle rancher and my uncle - Me - Bill Jewkes
"Good bye yellow brick road
Ya can't keep me in your suburbs ... I'm goin' back to the farm . . ."
Grandma and Grampa Dillingham move to the Guerin Ranch in Myrtle Point, Oregon.
Bummer. The house was razed shortly thereafter for the current 8-unit apartment complex.
That tire is now in somebody's bedroom.

"You can't go home - home isn't there any more" . . Tom Wolfe
"Just a faded rose of days gone by" . . . Delta Dawn

The 1910 House Floor Plan
3345 Mentone Ave. - Floor Plan

Scale: 1 inch = 5 feet

.
The Lot Layout - circa 1956
3345 Mentone Ave. - Lot Layout

Scale: 1 inch = 15 feet

The Block
The Palms - Block E, Lot 8

Mentone Ave., Los Angeles

Scale: 1 inch = 150 feet
Mentone Ave. residents in 1950s -
Dillingham (Warner Bros.), Hayes, McConnell, Nevin,
Dorothy Neumann (actress), Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan of the 30's and 40's)
Mentone Ave. was never a "Blvd." as shown in this LA county assessor's map.
However, it was "3rd Avenue" in 1886 up to 1910 and beyond.
Does anyone know?

The Palms Neighborhood

Current Mentone Ave. addresses between National Blvd. and Woodbine St. from the LA County Assessor's Office				Was a five and dime in the 1950's	from Fox Studios \| \| v Motor Ave.	-
-	Hu's Chinese Food 10450 National Blvd.	National Blvd. (was Santa Monica Rd.)	Cheviot Farms 10433 National Ave. (was a gas station in the 1950's)	Chiropractic Center 3283 Motor Avenue (was a market in the 1950's)	from Fox Studios \| \| v Motor Ave.	Cheviot Plaza (was Palms Lumber Company in the 1910's thru the 1950's)
Rose Ave. (was Palm)		National Blvd. (was Palm Ave.)
	-	Mentone Ave. (was 3rd Ave.)	Siam Corner 10438 National Blvd.	3303 Motor Ave. Sarah Moses Antiques	Motor Ave. (was 4th Ave.)	3300 Motor Ave. Norm's Foam		-
12	3301 Mentone Ave.		Mrs. Nevin 3300 Mentone Ave.	3315 -Bed Head Mama's Pizza		3308 Motor Ave. Hillis Liquor		-
11	3307 Mentone Ave.		3308 Mentone Ave.			3312 Motor Ave. Shoe Healer		-
10	3315 Mentone Ave.		3314 Mentone Ave.			3328 Motor Ave. Nail Spa		-
9	3321 Mentone Ave.		3322 Mentone Ave.	Coiffures 3443- Old Barber Shop		3332 Motor Ave. Cole's Furniture		-
8	3333 Mentone Ave.		3322 Mentone Ave.	CW Howe Assoc. 3347 Motor Ave.		3348 Motor Ave.		-
7	3333 Mentone Ave.		3332 Mentone Ave.	Old Hardware Store 3359 Motor Ave.		3348 Motor Ave.		-
6	3339 Mentone Ave. J.H. Woods (1937)		3338 Mentone Ave.	Old Hardware Store 3359 Motor Ave.		3356 Motor Ave.		-
5	Dillingham 3345 Mentone Ave.		3344 Mentone Ave.	Casa de Laundry 3371 Motor Ave.		3364 Motor Ave.		-
4	3351 Mentone Ave. Joseph Richard (1937)		3350 Mentone Ave.	NSB Realtor 3375 Motor Ave.		3376 Motor Ave.		-
3	Mrs. Hayes 3359 Mentone Ave.		3356 Mentone Ave.	-		3380 Motor Ave.		-
2 1	3363 Mentone Ave. 10503 Woodbine St. Church was here (3371 Mentone Ave.)		3362 Mentone Ave.	-		3384 Motor Ave.		-
2 1			3362 Mentone Ave.	Cucina Paradiso 3387 Motor Ave.		3392 Motor Ave.		-
Woodbine St. (was Del Mar Ave.)
	3401 Mentone Ave. Don McQuaig (1950)	Mentone Ave.	10420 Woodbine Ave.	Captain V's 3405- Old garage	Motor Ave.	3402 Motor Ave.		1925 Library 1945 Library
	3401 Mentone Ave. Don McQuaig (1950)		3408 Mentone Ave.	3417-Old plumber		3410 Motor Ave.		-
	3415 Mentone Ave.		3414 Mentone Ave.	3421 Motor Ave.		3418 Motor Ave.		-
	3423 Mentone Ave. McGregor (1950)		3420 Mentone Ave.	3435 Motor Ave.		3428 Motor Ave.		-
	3427 Mentone Ave.		3426 Mentone Ave.	3439 Motor Ave.		~~3432 Motor Ave~~ ~~3438~~ 3442 Motor Ave. Boy Scouts (1937)		-
	3433 Mentone Ave.		3432 Mentone Ave.	3447 Motor Ave.				-
	3439 Mentone Ave.		3438 Mentone Ave.	3451 Motor Ave.				-
	3445 Mentone Ave.		3444 Mentone Ave.	3459, 3463 Motor Ave.		3454 Motor Ave. A.V. Dedric- Realtor		-
	-		3462 Mentone Ave.	3479 Motor Ave.		3462 Motor Ave. Ed McIntosh (1937)		-
(Ocean Park Blvd.) . . . . . . . . .Palms Blvd. (Stilton) (was Cyprus Ave.) Pink = Thanks to George Garrigues
			10420 Palms	3505 Motor Ave.		3520 Motor Ave. Palms Grade School
	3509 Mentone Ave.		10420 Palms	3507 Motor Ave.
	3515 Mentone Ave.		3514 Mentone Ave.	3533 Motor Ave.
	3521		3520
	3527		3526
	3533		3532
	3545		3538	3539 Motor Ave.
	3545		3544	3545 Motor Ave.		Kindergarden	-
	3551		3550	3551 Motor Ave.		-
	3557		3554	3551 Motor Ave.		-
	3563		3562	3563 Motor Ave.		3568- Palms Market (was Safeway)		-
	-		3568	-		Laundromat (was drugstore)		-
Tabor St. (was Villa Ave.)
	-		-	(1)		-		-
	-		3600 block	(2)		-		-
	-		-	(3)		-		-
	-		-	(4)		-		-
	-		-	(5)		-		-
	-		-	(6)		-		-
	-		-	(7)		-		-
	-		-	(8)		-		-
	-		-	(9)		-		-
	-		-	(10)		-		-
	-		-	(11)		-		-
	-		-	(12)		-		-
	-		-	(13)		-		-
	-		-	(14)		-		-
	-		-	(15)		-		-
	-		-	(16)		-		-
	-		-	(17)		-		-
	-		-	(18)		-		-
Regent St. (was Eucalyptus Ave.)
	-	Mentone Ave.	-	(1)	Motor Ave. to MGM studios (now Sony) \| \| \| \| v	-		-
	-		3700 block	(2)		-		-
	-		-	(3)		-		-
	-		-	(4)		-		-
	-		-	(5)		-		-
	-		-	(6)		-		-
	-		-	(7)		-		-
	-		-	(8)		-		-
	-		-	(9)		-		-
	-		-	(10)		-		-
	-		-	(11)		-		-
	-		-	(12)		-		-
	-		-	(13)		-		-
	-		-	(was Palms Theater)		-		-
	-		-	(was Palms Theater)		Bike Shop (50 years)		-
	-		-	(16)		--- alley ---		-
	-		-	(17)		(was Post Office)		-
Venice Blvd. (was Los Angeles Pacific Railway)

The Judith Weston Studio is the location of the old Palms Masonic Lodge, at Woodbine St. and Motor Ave.
I also used to live at 3432 Motor Ave., when the garage burning incident occurred.
I was playing over at my friend's house, Donald McQuaig.
There was a big pile of grass clippings.
Somehow, we got a box of stick matches.
We found out that it weas really cool to light a match,
and immediately jam it into the wet grass, for a great white smoke bomb effect.
It was really cool, until the fire truck sirens went off at around midnight.
Burnt the garage half down.
I caught he|| for that.
My Saturday afternoon at the Palms Theater was not to be, that Saturday.
Instead, I had to sit in a corner of the kitchen, facing the wall, sitting on a stool.
There was a bucket of water beneath my feet, and my punishment was
that I had to light every single match in a big box of Ohio stick matches,
until it burned my finger, and fell into the bucket.
Missing the Saturday afternoon movies was the REAL punishment, though.

.
Palms Elementary School
Palms Elementary School, Los Angeles, CA

2006 aerial photo of Palms Elementary School
located at Motor Ave. and Palms Blvd. (formerly Stilson St.)
My mother attended this school from 1927 to 1935.
I attended from 1950 to 1953.
My kindergarten room was the leftmost/ bottommost room in the
big c-shaped red-roofed building in the middle.
Palms Elementary School seems timeless - looked just the same to me in 1986 as in 1950,
and now in 2006 from the air (minus the huge pepper trees plus the added bungalows).

The Palms Market is the white-topped building at the lower intersection.
Ah, thoses were the days - no cares, no worries.
And beautiful Jerry Ann Stack - my first love at 10.
I used to ride my bike past her house on Cardiff Ave.
And lots of Dodgeball, long before it became politically incorrect.

The Palms Market
The Palms Market, Motor Ave., Los Angeles

Palms Market on Motor Ave. at Tabor St. -
recent photograph facing east in the afternoon (from A9 Maps - non-commercial fair use)
Surreal to me. Little change in 56 years, that I can remember. (2006-1950-?)
After school in the spring time, we had dirt-clod fights directly behind this market (Safeway).
Grab a bunch of grass, pull it out of the ground with a big wad of wet dirt attached,
and bombard each other. Mom did not approve.
Palms Elementary School is directly to the left.

And the 24-hour coin laundry on the right - used to be a drug store (Owl? Rexall?)
It had huge glass jars of red, blue and yellow waters,
representing curative liquids, I guess.
The internet has informed me that these were Show globes.

The Palms - Mentone Block - 1910 Sanborn Map
3345 Mentone Ave. - 1910 Sanborn Map

Here is a 1910 map showing 3345 Mentone Ave. in yellow, which was 3345 Third Ave. at the time. The McQuaig house had already been built, just across Woodbine St. (Del Mar) from the First Congregational Church (Heat: Stove, Light: Kerosene).
Keystone Ave. (2nd Ave.) and Cyprus Ave. (Palms Blvd.) are also shown.

Many thanks to Peter Nurkse, H.R.E., Historical Researcher Extraordinaire, for the map, for which he personally dug through a dusty, old resource . . . or, something like that.

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The Palms - Neighborhood - 1939 WPA Map
1939 Palms Map - Los Angeles 90034

Yellow= Single Family, Red= Commercial, White= Vacant, Orange= Multiple family (I see one on "Westwood")
The lot filled in with BLACK is 3345 Mentone.
Scale: 1 inch = 300 feet
Mentone Ave.: Janet Hallberg,
Delos Jewkes (deep bass singer) became a lounge singer in Las Vegas at the age of 80,
(Children were Janice Jewkes, Bill Jewkes, and others)
Don McQuaig (auto dealer, Novato, CA), McGregor
Keystone Ave.: McConnell, Weismuller
Motor Ave: Deadrick (real estate)
Overland: Brown, Harold Harby (politics), son "Thorny" artist

The Palms District - West Los Angeles, Zone 34 - Circa 1959
Los Angeles, CA Map - 1959

Scale: 1 inch = 1 1/2 miles NO FREEWAYS!
Ten miles, directly to the East (right), is downtown Los Angeles (about 7 inches).

Palms, CA Railroad Map - 1907

1907 Railroad Map
illustrating the early importance of Palms,
relative to Santa Monica and the Los Angeles downtown.

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The Palms, CA - Actress
Our Next-door Neighbor - 3351 Mentone Ave., Los Angeles, CA

Actress Dorothy Neumann (1912-1994)
Motion Pictures (40s, 50s, 60s), TV (60s, 70s, 80s),
Turnabout Theater (40s and 50s)
Dorothy resided at 3351 Mentone Ave., in the early 1950's.

.
Palms History

The Palms, CA main street is Motor Ave.
Motor Ave. is the direct route for connecting Fox Studios on Pico Blvd.
with the MGM studios (now Sony) on Washington Blvd. in Culver City.

Palms was the FIRST suburb,
located between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles.

The old Palms Borders -
West - Overland Ave.
North - National Blvd./ Exposition Blvd.
East - Durango Ave.
South - Venice Blvd. (except for 9 blocks, Washington Blvd.)

I loved the Saturday matinee at the Palms Theater
at 3751 Motor Ave. at Venice Blvd.
Inexplicably, I still remember the owners - Jim Allen and Merritt Stone.
And the Palms Bicycle Shop across the street (still there).
And the Palms Post Office on the corner, formerly a bank.

The old Masonic lodge building was replaced since I last saw it in 1986,
at the corner of Motor Ave. and Woodbine St.,
with Judith Weston's Acting Studio.
The old library on Woodbine Street is now a park.
1925 - Palms Library - Small Palm trees
1945 - Palms Library - Large Palm trees

I used to play on the Pacific Electric Railroad Tracks along Exposition Blvd.,
behind the Palms Lumber Company on National Blvd. at Motor Ave.
This was called the Pacific Electric Santa Monica Air Line.
The Historic Palms Train station was the home of my Boy Scout Troop #49 in 1956.
Passenger service on this line had ended in 1920,
but there were still plenty of freights to flatten my pennies (until Sept. 1953).

Current Palms, CA Street Names vs. 1886 Street Names:
Avenues running North and South		Streets running West to East
New Name	Old Name (1910)	New Name	Old Name (1910)
Overland Ave.	First Ave.	National Blvd.	Santa Monica Rd. Railroad Ave.
Keystone Ave.	Second Ave.	Rose Ave.	Palm Ave.
Mentone Ave.	Third Ave.	Woodbine St.	Del Mar Ave.
Motor Ave.	Fourth Ave.	Palms Blvd.	Cyprus Ave., Stilson, Ocean Park
Vinton Ave.	Fifth Ave.	Tabor St.	Villa Ave.
Jasmine Ave.	Sixth Ave.	Regent St.	Eucalyptus Ave.
Empire Ave.	(no street)	-	Josephine Ave.
Clarington Ave.	Seventh Ave.	Venice Blvd.	LA Pacific Railway
Dunn Ave.	(no street)	-	-
Hughes Ave.	Valley Ave.	Washington Blvd.	Ballona Rd.

There is a 1910 Sanborn map of Palms, CA, (1 inch= 50 feet!).
Sanborn is the king of old US city maps (Fire Insurance purposes) since 1886.
The map can be purchased from Sanborn EDR in Connecticut.
It can be viewed online if you have an LA library card.
It can also be viewed in person at Berkeley, Northridge and Stanford, but cannot be photocopied.
I would love to get a high resolution copy, and put it here.

Anyone ever seen a 1890 Palms map?
I would love to show it here! Send me a copy, and I will make you famous!
Here are a few historic photos of Palms, CA.

1

1928 - 3679 Mentone Ave. Father Divine Incident

2

1937 - 3371 Mentone Ave.
Berean Chapel Foresquare Church
Mentone Ave. at Woodbine St. There appears to be snow on the ground in Los Angeles - 1922, 1935, 1947, or 1949? I guess 1935.

3

1941 - Palms Post Office

Photos above provided by the LA County Library - non-commercial, Fair Use.

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From here, it was on to 3432 Motor Ave. (shown on map above), then 1966 Preuss Road at Guthrie near Robertson Blvd., and on to
3559 Veteran Ave., Los Angeles, CA in Westside Village, just west of Palms, CA.

Vaughn's Summaries (One-pagers)
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This Vaughn's Palms, CA early 1950's house webpage was last updated on 2008-12-17.