A SPECIAL THANK YOU to fellow historian Ed Trosper who pointed out some errors in last Wednesday's WayBack on Haggarty and the Haggarty Castle. Keep those eyes sharp and we welcome any historical information you might have about your neighborhood.
McDaniel’s Harvard Boulevard home was a white two-story, seventeen-room house. The house included a large living room, dining room, drawing room, den, butler's pantry, kitchen, service porch, library, four bedrooms and a basement. McDaniel had a yearly Hollywood party. Everyone knew that the king of Hollywood, Clark Gable, would be faithfully present at all of McDaniel's Movieland parties. Today the location is used by a non-profit organization, Families for Families.
The photographs were obtained from the Los Angeles Public Library Digital Archive, USPS, and Wikipedia.
HATTIE McDANIEL
Hattie McDaniel was born (1895) in Wichita , Kansas to Henry and Susan McDaniel. Her father was a freed slave who have become a Baptist minister; her mother was a gospel singer. McDaniel's father organized her and her brothers and sisters into a singing troupe to earn money.
In February 1940 at the Academy Award ceremonies at the Ambassador Hotel's Coconut Grove the loudest ovation of the evening went to Hattie McDaniel as she won the Oscar.
Hattie McDaniel--while in West Adams--was a leader in organizing against racial segregation in her neighborhood.
From Time magazine, December 17, 1945:
Spacious, well-kept West Adams Heights still had the complacent look of the days when most of Los Angeles' aristocracy lived there. In the Los Angeles courtroom of Superior Judge Thurmond Clarke last week some 250 of West Adams' residents stood at swords' points.
Their story was as old as it was ugly. In 1938, Negroes, willing and able to pay $15,000 and up for Heights property, had begun moving into the old eclectic mansions. Many were movie folk—Actresses Louise Beavers, Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, etc. They improved their holdings, kept their well-defined ways, quickly won more than tolerance from most of their white neighbors.
Their story was as old as it was ugly. In 1938, Negroes, willing and able to pay $15,000 and up for Heights property, had begun moving into the old eclectic mansions. Many were movie folk—Actresses Louise Beavers, Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, etc. They improved their holdings, kept their well-defined ways, quickly won more than tolerance from most of their white neighbors.
But some whites, refusing to be comforted, had referred to the original racial restriction covenant that came with the development of West Adams Heights back in 1902 which restricted "Non-caucasians" from owning property. For seven years they had tried to enforce it, but failed. Then they went to court ...
Superior Judge Thurmond Clarke decided to visit the disputed ground—popularly known as "Sugar Hill." ... Next morning, ... Judge Clarke threw the case out of court. His reason: "It is time that members of the Negro race are accorded, without reservations or evasions, the full rights guaranteed them under the 14th Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Judges have been avoiding the real issue too long." ---
It was McDaniel, the most famous of the black homeowners, who helped to organize the black West Adams residents that saved their homes. Loren Miller, a local attorney and owner/publisher of the California Eagle newspaper represented the minority homeowners in their restrictive covenant case. In 1944, he had won the case Fairchild v Rainers, a decision for a black Pasadena, California, family that had bought a non-restricted lot but was sued by white neighbors anyway.
McDaniel died at age 57 from breast cancer, in the hospital on the grounds of the Motion Picture House in Woodland Hills, on October 26, 1952. She was survived by her brother, Sam McDaniel, a film actor. Thousands of mourners turned out to remember her life and accomplishments.
McDaniel wrote: "I desire a white casket and a white shroud; white gardenias in my hair and in my hands, together with a white gardenia blanket and a pillow of red roses. I also wish to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery". The Hollywood Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood was the resting place of movie stars such as Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, and others. The owner, Jules Roth, refused to allow her to be buried there, because they did not take black people. Her second choice was Rosedale Cemetery, where she lies today.
The whereabouts for McDaniel’s Oscar are still a mystery. It was reported by the Washington Post that McDaniel's Oscar was donated to Howard University's Drama Department to be displayed for future generations of students; McDaniel had been honored by the students of Howard University with a luncheon after winning her Oscar. However, the statue may have disappeared during racial unrest on the Washington, D.C., campus in the late 1960s.She was the first black Oscar winner honored with a stamp. The 39-cent stamp was released on January 29, 2006. This stamp features a 1941 photograph of McDaniel in the dress she wore when she accepted her Academy Award in 1940.
Jeff this is a fantastic article! Thanks so much for getting all this data together. You are enriching our sense of what it means to live in this amazing neighborhood. We look forward to more articles like this.
ReplyDeleteHey, I just wanted to tell you that I was looking up something in West Adams and proceeded to look up Hattie McDaniel in Ancestry.com I found Hattie in the Voter Registration for 1936 (Los Angeles County) and she is living at 2176 West 28th Street.
ReplyDeleteHer footprints are still preserved at 2172 W. 31st. My friend currently owns that house.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that they didn't keep up with the first female to win the Academy award! It's very! Very disappointed and sad!😣
ReplyDelete