Greta Couper, Email, 2010, 1970
Hello,
I was pleased to find your website . . .
I used to live in Ocean Park in the 1970s, in a wonderful large home on Beverly Ave, right next to a historic craftsman home owned by Doris Siddall (2441 Beverly). My home was at 2451 Beverly, and sadly Doris sold both in 1973 and they were torn down.
I was hoping to find a photo of her house. Right across the street was the architect author Esther McCoy, who wrote about the Green and Green homes in Pasadena but I don't think she wrote about the lovely craftsman houses on Beverly.
[Esther McCoy (November 18, 1904-December 30, 1989) was an author and architectural historian who was instrumental in bringing to the attention of the world the modern architecture of California.]
I was studying architecture at the time and enjoyed visiting with Esther McCoy.
She had a very garden like wood frame house on the west side of Beverly . . . using Google it looks like it was 2434 Beverly Ave.
I just remember it being buried with plants and trees, so you had to walk back to find her.
Doris Siddall lived in the craftsman house at 2441 Beverly for many years, and she owned the house next door that I rented.
I sure wish I could see the house that Doris used to own . . . It is so strange I never did a study on her home,
I was doing them on other architecture sites in LA at the time.
The other craftsman house that the owners appear to be restoring is at 2511 Beverly, built in 1912.
There is still one left there, I think at 2421 Beverly?
Here is the house that was at 2451 Beverly in 1970.
Using Zillow, this is the house at 2511 Beverly now, which is similar to the house that used to be at 2441 Beverly, but the 2441 was larger and taller.
Strange Zillow has it valued at only 1.2 million, it has to be worth much more.
I knew the couple and their children because their rabbit would always escape and come over to our house where we had a rabbit, and we would have to take it back. This hill was really incredible. We could see the entire Santa Monica Bay from Palos Verdes to Malibu before the condo builder cut down the hillside for parking.
I rented the house from 1968 to 1973, when it went for sale . . . a very sad day.
Looking back I should have tried to buy it, to save the architecture.
On another note, I saw a lot of homes in the Google image files that are from your website, so that is one way to see them.
I am an art historian, have written books on the neoclassic sculpture done in Italy in the 19th century, am also a counselor at Pepperdine University, and teach classes at the Fashion Institute (FIDM) downtown LA.
I am from a family of artists, and got a PhD in psychology after studying art history in Italy. I am currently working on a book on Melina Mercouri, and studying Greek so that I can reference some material on her that is only written in Greek.
After the wonderful house I rented in OP was torn down, I eventually bought a townhouse in WLA.
[I] moved to OP in the late sixties . . . I often wish I was still there, since it is an easy walk to the beach and Main St. shops . . .
If you would ever like to meet and share stories about the neighborhood that would be of interest to me.