2004 Vine Street

2004 Vine Street, a three bedroom, three bath bungalow, was built in 1922.  Norma Shearer's mother, Edith, rented this home from 1927 to 1929.  Edith Shearer moved her two daughters, Norma and Athole to New York City circa 1919 to assist them in getting acting jobs.  Both sisters were cast as school girls in "The Flapper" starring Olive Thomas in 1920.

Before long, Edith decided that Hollywood was the place to find stardom and the three moved out west in 1924, renting an apartment on Sunset Boulevard.  While Norma found acting jobs and was able to move the family to house on Franklin Avenue near Whitley Heights, Athole suffered boughs of depression which prevented her from working.   In 1923, Athole married another aspiring actor named John Ward, who found bit parts in the 1930s and 1940s, Athole stayed home with their son.  After a divorce in 1928, Athole moved into this house with her mother.  Her depression and mood swings caused her to be hospitalized soon after she moved in.  Several months later, it was announced that Athole was going to marry director Howard Hawks (the two were introduced years earlier by director Victor Flemming).  

Athole, who resembled her sister Norma, and Hawks marred on May 30, 1928, had two children, and Hawks even adopted her son from her first marriage.  Athole continued to have a mental health issues and Hawks had a wandering eye which led to his marital infidelities.   She and Hawks divorced in 1940, reportedly due to Hawks' affair with New York and Hollywood socialite Nancy "Slim" Gross, whom he later married.  As Athole was as much crazy, her husband was as much a philanderer. 

Edith also dabbled in acting and her daughters both had similar features like her mother.  Was it general knowledge that Norma Shearer's mother lived at 2004 Vine Street?  On the evening of November 24, 1927, Edith returned home after spending a Thanksgiving dinner with friends and found the lights burning, the kitchen and icebox ransacked, and some clothes and jewelry taken.  There were also cigarette butts in her rug and one of them had lipstick on it which caused the police to think there was at least one woman involved in the robbery.  In October of 1928, she had another break-in and her diamond ring was stolen.  Edith Shearer only rented 2004 Vine Street for under two years.  She then took a rental in Beverly Hills. 

Between 1933 and 1936, Paramount character actor Harry Woods (1889-1968) rented the 3/2 bungalow home.  Woods appeared in over 250 films and television shows beginning in 1923 and continued his career until 1961.  Early films included; Jesse James (1927), The Lone Ranger (1930), Monkey Business (with the Marx) brothers in 1931, Hoopla (starring Clara Bow) in 1933, Call of the Wild (1935), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1943), and Samson and Delilah (1949).  Woods also appeared in western tv shows such as The Lone Ranger and Gunsmoke.  

Woods and his wife, Helen, had four children: one died at the age of two. Two of his sons also went into the acting business- Richard Woods, known as Dick Durrell and Harry Woods Jr, who was called Craig Woods.  During the 1940s, Craig had bit part roles in western films and appeared in several tv shows during the 1950s, including; The Cisco Kid, The Gene Autry Show, and Seahunt.  Durrell had a few minor uncredited roles in films during the late 1930s, early 1940s. While living here in 1933, Richard was down the street and decided to light a trashcan on fire; the fire caught on him, burning his face, arm, chest, and back.