Anyone could live like a movie star at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard: the Garden Court Apartments. Opened in 1917 to accommodate players in the burgeoning motion-picture industry, the four-story’s neoclassical exterior featured Corinthian columns, dentil cornice, and figural corbels “holding up” the second-story molding. At the entrance, a trio of cherubs embraced a fountain, flanked by a pair of globe light posts.

On Hollywood Boulevard, there is one last vestige of residential architecture: the home of pioneering sisters Mabel, Carrie, and Grace Janes. Now, No Vacancy cocktail bar. The Misses Janes School (Hollywood Historic Photos) In 1905, the trio moved with their parents Herman and Mary Janes from Illinois into this majestic Queen Anne on Prospect Avenue, as it was then known — built in 1903 by none other than H. J. Whitley, the Father of Hollywood. Its architects, Dennis & Farwel

Not every Whitley Heights home in the freeway’s path was destroyed. A select few were relocated, both near (within the neighborhood) and far — 40 miles away in Huntington Beach, as was the case for 6793 Whitley Terrace. 6793 Whitley Terrace (LAPL) After 28 years at the corner of Iris Drive (where its front door was located; see below), in 1950 the three-bedroom Spanish Colonial Revival was severed in half vertically and transported from the Hollywood Hills to Orange County.

Before Adriana Caselotti voiced Snow White, she had her own fairytale cottage on Cahuenga Boulevard. Adriana Caselotti In 1935, her father, singing teacher Maestro Guido Caselotti, was operating a studio out of a “handsome English type home” — pitched roof, Juliet balconies, and battlement—when he received a call from a Disney casting agent asking if he recommended any of his students who could play a princess.

Although Jean Harlow didn’t live in Whitley Heights (despite rampant rumors to the contrary), her acting/voice coach Samuel Kayzer did, at 6617 Whitley Terrace — and the majestic home is still there . Jean Harlow in front of 6617 Whitley Terrace Here is an incredible video of Jean leaving Kayzer’s home after a lesson and taking off in her Cadillac, in candid footage shot by "Father of the Travelogue" Burton Holmes, who lived around the corner on Grace Avenue, in 1931.

As planning began for the Hollywood Freeway, many of the homes that stood in the way of progress were acquired by the state and then auctioned off at a fraction of their worth. If the new owners were unable to relocate the structure immediately, it was bulldozed. One of the first victims of this controversial tactic was 6786 Whitley Terrace, which sold for $855 in 1948. (Dick Whittington Studio / USC)

Such a dramatic house may not be the most inconspicuous hiding spot for your mistress — but then again William Randolph Hearst was not a subtle man. 6697 Whitley Terrace, with Robert Vignola at left In 1923, the media tycoon built this Mediterranean villa on Whitley Terrace to stash actress Marion Davies, who he allowed to live here with her favorite director, Robert G. Vignola. The trio had collaborated several times on films for Hearst’s Cosmopolitan Productions, including

Before the Hollywood sign or Walk of Fame, the first tourist attraction in town was Paul de Longpre’s enchanting gardens on Cahuenga. Paul de Longpre postcard (CA State) In 1901, the French painter built a Mission Revival mansion on his “Corner of Paradise,” three acres just north of Prospect Boulevard (later renamed Hollywood Boulevard), reportedly gifted by the Mother of Hollywood, Daeida Wilcox Beveridge, in a bid to bring world-famous culture to her blossoming community.

One of the few homes rescued from the freeway’s path is a sprawling mansion with a mysterious connection to Harold Lloyd. 2053 Lloyd Lane (left) / UCSC Branson DeCou Archive The silent film star didn’t exactly live in Whitley Heights, although rumor has long had it otherwise. During the neighborhood’s land boom, he snapped up several lots in an area dubbed Lloyd Lane in 1924.

The home, now on Pilgrimage Terrace (Kathleen Perricone) This adorable doll house in the Hollywood Dell looks like it’s always been here — but until 1950, it was located just across Cahuenga Boulevard. Built by Bride of Frankenstein screenwriter William Hurlbut in 1933, the two-bedroom charmer had a pretty uneventful life at at 2225 Fairfield Avenue in Whitley Heights.

Below the Mediterranean mecca of Whitley Heights sat another European-inspired beauty: the French Village. French Village In 1919, brothers Walter and Pierpont Davis built up a cluster of unique cottages, located at the convergence of Highland Avenue and Cahuenga Boulevard, modeled after the Normandy countryside — “far removed from the conventional, commercial type,” described the 1921 Building Review.

The last home to be torn down for the freeway was amongst the first to go up in Whitley Heights: 6787 Whitley Terrace, otherwise known as the Heartbreak House. 6787 Whitley Terrace The owners, Edwin “Ted” and Ruth Anderson, were wealthy Chicagoans “tired of the flatness” of the Windy City when they built upon “the highest hill we could find” in 1922. Protective of their architectural wonder, the couple shunned all requests for photoshoots. They could do little about lookie-lo

The most famous resident of Whitley Heights, Rudolph Valentino lived at 6776 Wedgewood Place with second wife Natacha Rambova and an imported pack of dogs featuring German Shepards, Italian mastiffs, and Spanish greyhounds. Rudolph Valentino's home The Sheik actor supposedly fell in love with the neighborhood while driving by one day — its Mediterranean architecture reminded Valentino of his native Italy. In 1922, he purchased four plots of land for his marital estate with Ra

When The Fontenoy on Whitley Avenue was built in 1928, it was advertised as “the first of its kind on the Pacific Coast” — and it remains one-of-a-kind. (University of Southern California) The 13-story high-rise has a most unique layout: Four “little homes” per floor (a one-bedroom and three singles), so everyone gets their own corner view: the beautiful green hills “dotted profusely with costly mansions” (north); the city and its “countless lights at night” (south); blue wat

On the corner of Franklin and Cherokee sits “10 stories of luxury and comfort”: the Montecito. Ahead of the residential hotel’s 1931 grand opening, reservations were accepted to rent the 79 furnished units, a mix of singles ($90) and doubles ($175). Amenities included subterranean garage, 24-hour service, Hollywood views — and eventually a commissary, despite one opposing councilman’s argument that residents were too “lazy” to go to the market.

The “happiest bride in Hollywood,” Carole Lombard made her honeymoon home with William Powell in Whitley Heights. Following their June 1931 wedding, the Paramount stars moved into a romantic four-bedroom Spanish Villa on Iris Circle with panoramic views, vaulted ceilings, tiled courtyards, and a two-car garage tunneling beneath the living room.

One of Hollywood’s oldest landmarks, Yamashiro is a work of art. Yamashiro (USC) In 1911, German-born brothers Adolph and Eugene Bernheimer purchased seven hilltop acres from H.J. Whitley on the promise of building an exotic home. Three years (and hundreds of craftsmen from Japan) later, they completed their very own replica of a 17th-century temple located in Yamashiro, a mountainous region near Kyoto.