Dorothy Chandler moves to Long Beach
with her family, from LaFayette, Illinois. She was Dorothy Mae Buffum in 1904. She was three years old.
Like many stately homes in Los Angeles, the former Chandler Estate is demurely obscured by a stately hedge. Once visited by at least four presidents (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon) the 6 bd/7.0 ba 9,059 sq ft home in the Hancock Park area (not Long Beach, of course!) recently sold for $8,070,000.00.
Another neighbor of the current mayor of Los Angeles, Dorothy's old place was spitting distance of both Hearst's apartment complex and the J. Paul Getty property [see yesterday's post], and so it was inevitable, what with thinking about Citizen Kane and newspapers and old L.A. history and the loss of the Book Review Section from the L.A. Times to want to take a walk by and pay my respects.
When I moved to this town I was told a delightful story which I assume has some basis in fact, given the physical evidence. It seems that the downtown area, where the Chandlers had their newspaper HQ (Norman Chandler married Dorothy Mae Buffum in 1922 and became publisher of the family business in '45) -- the downtown area, especially Bunker Hill, had sadly gone to seed, inhabited by those cheap hookers and grifters and colorful bums of Raymond Chandler fame. It seems the restricted country club and neighborhoods adjacent to downtown had "encouraged" the Jewish community to seek shelter further west, along with the Film Crowd -- the directors and producers and actor riff-raff -- at the beach.
No doubt in the same way the Indian population of the British Raj days looked askance at the English with their stifling costumes and customs, excluded Angelenos must have viewed the Goyim clinging to their dilapidated crumbling city on its nearly extinct river with disbelief and a certain head-shaking incredulity, before they resumed enjoying their Pacific beach front views.
Needless to say, the situation stumbled like a doped and drunken whore toward oblivion until Dorothy -- by all accounts a formidable woman -- marched up to one of "those people" living in comfort on the west side, and told him he should make a commitment to revitalizing Los Angeles. It must have been at some No Man's Land cocktail party where the opposing factions could mix.
"I can do that," the gentleman replied calmly. "In fact, I'll match you buck for buck. Buffy."
"Buffy" was Mrs. Norman Chandler's nickname, not surprisingly given her maiden name was Buffum. People rarely spoke so directly to her, so eye-to-eye, however, and she nearly (although one feels certain, not completely) lost her composure.
"Fine," she replied, tipping her head back to accept the challenge. "I shall construct the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. It shall have the finest crystal chandeliers and dramatically sweeping staircases and host the Academy --"
"-- and I'll build you the Mark Taper Forum," said that same Mr. Taper, who happened to be a well-to-do west-side real estate developer. "Even better, I'll get my buddy Ahmanson to throw in a theater, how's that?"
Disney didn't get into the act until later. However, the rest, as they say, is History.
And as a side note:
When "Citizen Kane" came out, Dorothy Chandler was 40 and her husband Norman had not yet taken over as publisher of the family newspaper.
At the same time, William Randolph Hearst's son George was only 37, roughly the same age his father had been when he started dating George's mother, Millicent, when she was 16 and by some accounts, living and working in her mother's Brothel in New York.
I've been told on more than one occasion to let other people "do the math." I'm not sure why. Probably because it was their job to do it, not mine. But sometimes it's fun to do. That's one reason for doing this Memoir of Then and Now. It forces me (if not you, my precious ones!), to do the math. Good times!
Another neighbor of the current mayor of Los Angeles, Dorothy's old place was spitting distance of both Hearst's apartment complex and the J. Paul Getty property [see yesterday's post], and so it was inevitable, what with thinking about Citizen Kane and newspapers and old L.A. history and the loss of the Book Review Section from the L.A. Times to want to take a walk by and pay my respects.
When I moved to this town I was told a delightful story which I assume has some basis in fact, given the physical evidence. It seems that the downtown area, where the Chandlers had their newspaper HQ (Norman Chandler married Dorothy Mae Buffum in 1922 and became publisher of the family business in '45) -- the downtown area, especially Bunker Hill, had sadly gone to seed, inhabited by those cheap hookers and grifters and colorful bums of Raymond Chandler fame. It seems the restricted country club and neighborhoods adjacent to downtown had "encouraged" the Jewish community to seek shelter further west, along with the Film Crowd -- the directors and producers and actor riff-raff -- at the beach.
No doubt in the same way the Indian population of the British Raj days looked askance at the English with their stifling costumes and customs, excluded Angelenos must have viewed the Goyim clinging to their dilapidated crumbling city on its nearly extinct river with disbelief and a certain head-shaking incredulity, before they resumed enjoying their Pacific beach front views.
Needless to say, the situation stumbled like a doped and drunken whore toward oblivion until Dorothy -- by all accounts a formidable woman -- marched up to one of "those people" living in comfort on the west side, and told him he should make a commitment to revitalizing Los Angeles. It must have been at some No Man's Land cocktail party where the opposing factions could mix.
"I can do that," the gentleman replied calmly. "In fact, I'll match you buck for buck. Buffy."
"Buffy" was Mrs. Norman Chandler's nickname, not surprisingly given her maiden name was Buffum. People rarely spoke so directly to her, so eye-to-eye, however, and she nearly (although one feels certain, not completely) lost her composure.
"Fine," she replied, tipping her head back to accept the challenge. "I shall construct the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. It shall have the finest crystal chandeliers and dramatically sweeping staircases and host the Academy --"
"-- and I'll build you the Mark Taper Forum," said that same Mr. Taper, who happened to be a well-to-do west-side real estate developer. "Even better, I'll get my buddy Ahmanson to throw in a theater, how's that?"
Disney didn't get into the act until later. However, the rest, as they say, is History.
And as a side note:
When "Citizen Kane" came out, Dorothy Chandler was 40 and her husband Norman had not yet taken over as publisher of the family newspaper.
At the same time, William Randolph Hearst's son George was only 37, roughly the same age his father had been when he started dating George's mother, Millicent, when she was 16 and by some accounts, living and working in her mother's Brothel in New York.
I've been told on more than one occasion to let other people "do the math." I'm not sure why. Probably because it was their job to do it, not mine. But sometimes it's fun to do. That's one reason for doing this Memoir of Then and Now. It forces me (if not you, my precious ones!), to do the math. Good times!
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