Daeida Wilcox Beveridge: Mother of Hollywood
- May 10
- 2 min read
The Mother of Hollywood lived right on the Boulevard at the northeast corner of Wilcox Avenue, named after her first husband.
Daeida Wilcox Beveridge, her second husband Philo Beveridge, and their two daughters moved into the Moorish-Mission home in 1907 upon returning to Hollywood after spending a year abroad in Japan.
“Green Meadows,” as it was named by original owner Henry Clarence Beville, sat on two acres surrounded by dozens of orange and lemon trees, 400 roses, 200 carnations, pineapples, and bananas.
Designed by Hunt and Eager (Doheny Mansion on Chester Place), the 10-room home was built for entertaining. Through the recessed porch was a 24-foot reception hall made of oak. To the left, a circular sitting room; to the right, a mahogany dining room with flower alcove.
Upstairs, there were four bedrooms, one bathroom, billiard room, and sewing room.
Daeida arrived in Los Angeles in 1883 with her husband H. H. Wilcox and purchased 200 acres in the Cahuenga Valley she named “Hollywood.”
She took an active role in improving the townsite, specifically the planting of hundreds of pepper trees and flower beds along the boulevard and early roadways, like Dae Avenue (now Whitley Avenue).
After Wilcox died in 1892, Daeida carried on his dream to develop Hollywood with her second husband.
In a bid to bring world-famous culture to the rural paradise, she sold three acres to French painter Paul de Longpre in exchange for three of his watercolor portraits. He built a garden estate at Cahuenga Boulevard and Prospect Avenue, adjoining “Green Meadows,” that became a popular tourist attraction and put Hollywood on the map.
Six years later, Daeida and her family moved into the former Beville residence right next door to de Longpre. Across the street at the southeast corner of Cahuenga, she built Wilcox Hall; at the corner of Ivar Avenue, she donated land for the Hollywood Public Library.
Daeida died in 1914, but her family continued to live at Green Meadows, even as commercialized Hollywood Boulevard encroached.
Her daughters Marian Pringle and Phyllis Brunson demolished the home in 1925, only 23 years after it was built, to make way for the Warner Bros. Theatre (before/after photos below). They also replaced Wilcox Hall with the Streamline Moderne building still there today.
With the passing of Daeida Wilcox Beveridge, the Citizen-News mourned Hollywood’s “loss of one of its most enthusiastic and loyal citizens… She was a woman of strong and admirable character, charitable, refined, and principled.”