Located in Anaheim, California, Spradrom Estates was a $7.5 million development of 486 homes that broke ground in 1956.
It’s still there.
Hundreds of housing developments were built across the Southern California landscape in the post-World War II housing boom of the 1950s and 1960s.
Fairview Ranchos Billboard, No Down Payment, 1957Enchanted Homes Billboard, No Down Payment, 1957Dutch Haven Billboard, No Down Payment, 1957Spadrom Estates Billboard, No Down Payment, 1957
Like most housing developments of that period, Spadrom’s original name disappeared at some point. Residents of Dutch Haven or Fairview Rancho might have used the name of their development for years, but “Spadrom” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
Spadrom Estates no longer has a collective name. It is just an area comprised of Ravenna, Rivera, N. Raleigh, Citron, and N. Ralston Streets. Its namesake, Spadra Road, has since been renamed Harbor Boulevard.
Spadrom Estates, Anaheim, CA 1950s
Already by the early 1960s, the Riverside Freeway was being rammed east-to-west across the top of Spadrom Estates, just below Orangethorpe Ave. Manzanita Park was built. All of that accounted for the loss of about half of the 486 homes.
Spadrom Estates, Anaheim, CA, 1963
Spadrom Estates also gives us an insight into the actual meat-and-potatoes life of the architectural photographer, Julius Shulman. Shulman is famous today for his stunning images of high-profile mid-century modern buildings.
Julius Shulman, Hollywood Hills, 1960Julius Shulman, Eames House, Pacific Palisades, 1968
But these are only the photos we remember today. Shulman made his living, too, by photographing very low-profile homes and developments, like Spadrom Estates.
Spadrom Estates House, Anaheim, CA 1956Spadrom Estates House, Anaheim, CA 1956Spadrom Estates House, Anaheim, CA 1956Spadrom Estates House, Anaheim, CA 1956Spadrom Estates House, Anaheim, CA 1956Spadrom Estates House, Anaheim, CA 1956Spadrom Estates House, Anaheim, CA 1956Spadrom Estates House, Anaheim, CA 1956Spadrom Estates House, Anaheim, CA 1956
Finally, we have the ambitions of entrepreneurs of that age with enough capital to buy yet another unbuilt area of the Los Angeles metro landscape and slap down a housing development to reap the rewards.
Herbert Heftler, 1959
Born in 1913, Herbert Heftler had a father who was a builder in New Jersey. Heftler did a stint in the Army, then into law school, but he really wanted to build homes. Described as a “dapper man who works like a dynamo,” Heftler was neat and non-flamboyant, his one nod to flair being his off-beat cuff links.
Heftler married into Hollywood in 1961 by marrying Louisiana-born B-movie actress Cleo Moore. At least they had one thing in common: houses. Says a 1953 newspaper account:
Housebuilding is one of Cleo’s passions. She and her father and built and sold 11 homes in the San Fernando Valley.
With Spadrom Estates, it’s tempting to get intellectual and intone solemn indictments about the failure of the American dream and about our fondness for illusory environments over real ones like, you know, cities.
But residents of the old Spadrom Estates may have a different opinion. Most of the original houses are still there and in pretty good condition. None are for sale. The original four model homes located at Citron St. and Romney Drive remain and have plenty of foliage and trees.
No Down Payment begins peppy and optimistic as the two central characters, a couple, move to Sunrise Hills, a Southern California suburb. Things turn dark quickly. This is pure John Cheever and Raymond Carver and Mad Men all tossed together. No Down Payment is not a perfect movie, and the ending has a bit of a deus ex machina moment. The acting is spot-on. I’d never heard of Sheree North. In this movie, she is perfect in the part of the long-suffering, quiet wife of alcoholic dreamer Tony Randall. Pat Hingle is the closest to a moral compass that we get in this movie. Cameron Mitchell is the menacing or gentlemanly (which is it?) neighbor who threatens to turn their placid life upside-down. Good stuff.
With food supplement peddling, what comes around goes around. Apparently, this has been going on for ages.
Nutri-Bio was a multi-level marketing scheme in the 1960s and 1970s started by Chuck Young, a Californian who moved to Vancouver, BC.
Talented but troubled actor, health food advocate, and occasional methamphetamine user Bob Cummings was the star attraction. A photo of his beaming face was even displayed in the Vancouver headquarters.
Said Cummings to a group of Nutri-Bio distributors, “NutriBio is not a business. It’s a way of life.”
The U.S. branch of Nutri-Bio supposedly grossed $30 million per year in 1962.
One Nutri-Bio executive even hazarded the idea that food supplements might curb violent behavior, saying that
If you deprive a bunch of laboratory rats of calcium they become vicious and attack each other. Restore calcium to their diet and they calm down. There was the story in the newspapers a few years ago about the young lad who killed eleven people for no apparent reason. That report included a powerful message. The boy hadn’t had a home-cooked meal for two years; he had lived on hot dogs and cokes.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration didn’t look too kindly on Nutri-Bio, often seizing shipments of the tablets and powders, as they were “falsely promoted as cures for ailments ranging from heart trouble to impotency,” according to The Greenville News, November 30, 1961.
Actor William Talman (1915-1968) is probably most familiar as Los Angeles District Attorney Hamilton Burger, from the long-running TV series Perry Mason.
Talman is less-known as a truly effective noir actor, especially in the title role in The Hitch-Hiker.
There, Talman–and his reptile eyes that don’t fully close at night–menace a driver and his passenger who simply were out for a fishing trip and made the mistake of helping a hitchhiker.
William Talman, The Hitch-Hiker
At only 71 minutes and with no substories, The Hitch-Hiker truly qualifies for that overused word applied to so many thrillers: taut.
Affable and well-liked, Talman also heroically put his name and face on an anti-smoking commercial filmed before his death–due to smoking. The effort was heroic because he was in the last few weeks of his life and doing poorly. The morning of the shoot, he’d been at the hospital for cobalt treatments.
In 1960, Talman engaged in a scandalous act that got him temporarily fired from his sweet TV D.A. job.
Raid on 1156 N. Curson Ave.
1156 N. Curson Ave., West Hollywood, CA
On March 12, 1960, Talman and seven others were arrested at 1156 N. Curson Ave., West Hollywood on narcotics charges after officers found marijuana.
It was a Saturday, so unlikely that Talman would be filming any of the Perry Mason shows that day. Talman lived over the hill in Sherman Oaks. at 15426 Valley Vista Blvd, a convenient place to hop onto the San Diego Freeway to the studios.
William Talman House, 15426 Valley Vista Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA
It wasn’t just any marijuana party but a “nude marijuana party,” according to the Los Angeles Mirror-News, March 14, 1960. Plus, officers found “dirty movies, spicy books, and lewd photos.”
The N. Curson apartment, part of a building supposedly built by Charlie Chaplin, was rented by ad exec Richard Reibold.
Besides Talman, the group consisted of Reibold, Talman’s friend, James H. (Jimmie) Baker, Peter and Suzanne Hespelt, and three women, in their twenties or thirties: a Mrs. Peggy Louise Flannigan, a Mrs. Willie Donovan, and all-around bad girl, Miss Lola DeWitt.
What Happened That Night
A sheriff’s deputy, Harry Stameisen, gained entry to the Reibold residence by making a phone call and pretending to be a prospective guest. Stameisen was also the arresting officer. Talman’s attorney would later claim that the deputy had made illegal entry.
One news account was very tabloid-ready, with Sheriff’s Capt. Richard B. Brooks stating:
We found seven people, all nude, in one bedroom. Some were on the floor and some were on the twin beds. When we saw the nudes we summoned the vice squad and officers from there helped us.
Knoxville News-Sentinel, March 14, 1960
According to the Mirror-News account, Mr. and Mrs. Hespelt were “fraternizing” with Miss DeWitt.
James H. Baker was “paired” with Mrs. Donovan. Talman was with Mrs. Flannigan.
Talman was fired from the Perry Mason show. But after lobbying from Mason producer Gail Patrick, he was eventually hired back.
Charges were dropped against the entire group.
James H. Baker, William Talman, and attorney C. Richard Maddox
James H. Baker
James (Jimmie) Hollan Baker, 1970s
James Hollan Baker, 39, was Talman’s friend and companion. Known as Jimmie Baker, he was an Oklahoma-born producer of music-related documentaries.
Baker was big in the music scene and helped out with many charitable organizations, including the Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Museum, which was intended to be located on a 4-acre site behind the Hollywood Bowl but never got past the planning stage.
Baker died in 2003.
Richard Reibold
Host of the party and apartment renter, Richard Reibold, 31, was identified by papers as Director of Radio and Television for high-end Beverly Hills advertising agency, Lennen & Newell, which had accounts in the TV and film industry.
Mrs. Peggy Louise Flannigan, Mrs. Willie Donovan, Lola DeWitt,
Mrs. Peggy Louise Flannigan
At the time of the arrest, William Talman was in the process of separating from Barbara Read. The divorce was granted on September 13, 1961.
Mrs. Peggy Louise Flannigan became William Talman’s next wife: Margaret Louise Larkin Flannigan Talman. Her divorce from her previous husband was granted on October 30, 1961.
William and Peggy Talman
On November 4, 1961, Talman and Flannigan married at the Flamingo Hotel, in Las Vegas.
Lola DeWitt Stewart
Lola DeWitt, 1953
A colorful character with a shady past, Lola DeWitt was typically identified in the news as an actress. Lola DeWitt was a notorious stripper, model, prostitute, child murderer, and yes, also an actress and singer.
Peter Neil Hespelt and Suzanne Elizabeth Hespelt
A married couple was also arrested: Peter Neil Hespelt, 29, and Suzanne Elizabeth Hespelt, 24. Papers stated the name as “Hestelt” but it appears to actually be “Hespelt.”
Peter Neil Hespelt, 29, was identified as a finance company manager. At one point, Hespelt ran or was employed by Budget Finance Plan, in the L.A. area.
Peter and Suzanne Hespelt appear to have divorced. The Santa Cruz Sentinel on January 15, 1971, reported that Peter Neil Hespelt married Lisa Ann Saenz. The paper states that both are residents of “Toponga,” but likely this is a typo for Topanga, an area around Los Angeles.
Peter Neil Hespelt died in Mammoth Lakes, California, in 2011.
Suzanne Hespelt is still alive.
Mrs. Willie Donovan
All we know of Mrs. Willie Donovan is that her husband stuck by her, at least until the trial, because we have a news account that says that Mr. Donovan “shoved photographers” as he was “just trying to protect [his] wife.”
Harry L. Stameisen
The arresting deputy, Harry Stameisen, is still alive and is in his 90s.
Charles McGraw (1914-1980) was the squarest jawed of all square-jawed Hollywood actors of the golden period, always playing a tough guy of some sort: police lieutenants and sergeants, rear admirals, sheriffs, captains, gladiators.
If you were a casting director and you needed a certain granite-like face with oversized features, plus a steely demeanor to match, you might cast Allen Jaffe, Neville Brand, or Charles McGraw–born Charles Butters in Iowa, in 1914.
One of McGraw’s best performances is as Commander Wayne Lee, in “The Bridges at Toko-Ri.” Lee is the commander of the air group whose focus is always is fliers and his mission.
An interesting scene is when Lee approaches Rear Admiral George Tarrant: Lee is concerned because the carrier’s captain is running the propeller planes, which are lashed down to the deck, at full speed to help control the carrier as he docks in Japan.
Lee’s concern is his fliers, since running the planes eats away at their total engine-run hours. It’s a nicely regulated performance, his furor kept in check because he’s addressing a superior officer. You even catch the glint of a tear in his eye after being dressed down by the admiral.
Charles McGraw, when he was known as Charles Crisp-Butters, and his wife Freda Choy Kitt, in 1939
So, it’s especially incongruous that such a tough guy could come to a sad end: falling through a shower door.
On July 29, 1980, Charles McGraw fell through the glass shower door of his North Hollywood, California home.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the LA County Coroner’s office stated that McGraw had suffered from a degenerative hip condition in the last few years, hampering his ability to act.
While in the shower, he slipped and fell through the glass, lacerating himself and bleeding to death.
Alan K. Rode, who wrote a biography of McGraw, mentions having become friends with Mildred Black. Black was McGraw’s de facto caregiver, helper, and friend in the last 13 years of McGraw’s life. Apparently, McGraw was an alcoholic who had many issues. Black owned the home where McGraw resided and was present after his accident, all recounted here:
