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  • Built in 1925 on Lot 129 in Tract 6388
  • Original commissioner: stockbroker David Gordon
  • Architect: Eldo Charles Chrysler, whose design career also involved work as an art director at 20th Century–Fox, where he became known for his skills as a model maker
  • On July 21, 1925, the Department of Buildings issued David Gordon permits for a two-story, 10-room residence and a one-story, 18-by-30-foot garage at 629 South June Street
  • David Gordon and his wife, Lillian, both of Russian parentage, were born in Indiana and Maryland, respectively. Their daughter Malca was born in Montreal in August 1908; their son Harold was 11 when the family moved into 629 South June Street. The peace at 629 South June Street was interrupted in June 1927 when David Gordon, along with 40 or so other big Southland muckety-mucks including Motley H. Flint, Harry M. Haldeman, Adolph Ramish, Charles F. Stern, and none other than Louis B. Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer were charged with, among other things, embezzlement and violations of a law governing bankers' bonuses in connection with the famous Julian Petroleum scandals that had recently been exposed. While the indictment against Gordon was dismissed in September 1927, another came (and went) three years later on the same charges of violating the state usury act. The notoriety probably had little effect on Gordon, considering the tribal ties of Los Angeles power brokers of the time; it was more likely the departure of Malca when she married Dr. Jack Feldman in June 1929 if not the onset of the Depression that motivated Gordon to put 629 South June on the market in the summer of 1931. One classified ad in the Times read "...best bargain in Hancock Park. Owner's children married, home too large. Will sacrifice furn. or unfurn." An ad appearing the following February refers to 629 as having a tennis court and a ballroom in the basement. Unsurprisingly languishing in the depth of the economic crisis, the house was still on the market in October 1932: "Cost $76,000, will sell for $40,000 [$919,000 in 2023 currency]." David, Lillian, and Harold—who was 17 and perhaps unlikely to have been married—would be downsizing somewhat to another house in Hancock Park, one built in 1926 nine blocks north at 617 North June Street  
  • David Gordon may have temporarily given up on selling 629 South June Street; Paris-born mining man Bernard Golsan was renting the house in 1934 before its purchase by stockbroker Darrell Bogardus
  • A lifelong Californian, Darrell Joseph Bogardus was born in Placerville on May 26, 1892. He married Muriel Falk of Eureka—her family was prominent in lumber—in June 1917 and settled in Berkeley, where they'd known each other at Cal. They moved south to Los Angeles in 1929, first renting a house at 567 South Wilton Place (built in 1921, demolished 1964); the family then occupied 148 South Las Palmas Avenue in Hancock Park before moving to 629. The Bogarduses moved into the new house with their son, Darrell Jr., and daughter Nancy. A stalwart representative of the city's establishment, Darrell Bogardus—"Bogie" to his friends—was a member of the California and Wilshire Country clubs and just the sort of man G. Allan Hancock envisioned living in Hancock Park
  • In May 1939, while many Americans were deciding not to go abroad amid rumors of war, the four Bogarduses left on an extended tour of Europe including Germany and countries of the eastern parts of the continent; they arrived back in the states three weeks before Hitler invaded Poland. In February 1941, Bogardus formed a new brokerage firm, Bogardus, Frost & Banning, the third partner being William Phineas Banning of the fabled Southland family. On May 5, the Citizen-News reported that 629 South June had been burglarized, a porchclimber having made off with $765 worth of furs and silver. Perhaps the theft added to the decision of Darrell and Muriel to consider a move; with Nancy having gone off to Cal and Darrell Jr. in the service and having married in January 1942, the Bogarduses put 629 on the market and would be downsizing to an apartment at Country Club Manor nearby on North Rossmore Avenue. On May 16, 1943, the Times reported that they had sold the property to Charles and Sadie Andrews for $20,000, which would be $350,000 in 2023 money
  • Charles Andrews, a wholesale produce dealer and shipper, was, depending on the source, born in Syria, Turkey, or Lebanon, as was, similarly unclearly, his wife, née Sadie Hague. The Andrewses were not given to settling in any one house for very long; they would own 629 South June Street only briefly, having moved from 555 South Irving Boulevard in Windsor Square after seven or so years there. The Andrewses and six of their seven children had arrived in Los Angeles from Pittsburgh by 1930, Charles buying 1101 Arlington Avenue in the Country Club District before moving to Windsor Square. A large auction ad appearing in the Times on March 11, 1945, indicates that 629 South June had been sold by that time, less than two years after its purchase by the Andrewses, who were moving on, yet again, this time to 3716 Prestwick Drive in Los Feliz, where Charles would die on April 3, 1950


As seen in the Times on March 11, 1945


  • Purchasing 629 South June Street in 1945 and moving in soon after the Andrews auction was Oregon-born mining engineer Ralph Lloyd Tuttle and his wife, née Isabel Wilson. Her mother, Jessie Garretson Wilson, who appears to have moved into the house with the Tuttles, died unexpectedly on June 28. It appears that Mrs. Wilson, along with her daughter and son-in-law, had registered to vote promptly, all three appearing on 1946 rolls having given 629 South June as their address. By January 1926 Ralph Tuttle had married rich divorcée Gertrude Joughin Schoettler, granddaughter of pioneer Angeleno Andrew Joughin, blacksmith and wagon-maker turned developer of his vast holdings in the West Adams corridor west of Arlington Avenue; Tuttle adopted and gave his name to her son, who became John Joughin Tuttle, née Schoettler. Gertrude was killed in an automobile accident up north near one of her husband's mining operations in October 1936. Meanwhile, Isabel Wilson had married New York physician Jacob Highley Dewees in Reno in July 1935; the couple split after six weeks, she telling the divorce court that Dr. Dewees told her that "No woman can come between us," the "us" referring to he and a male friend. Isabel and Ralph Tuttle were married by mid 1938 and soon living with her mother at 834 South Plymouth Boulevard, from which the Tuttles, if not Mrs. Wilson, moved across Wilshire to Hancock Park
  • Isabel Tuttle died on March 3, 1947, at the age of 53. Ralph Tuttle put 629 South June Street on the market forthwith; on September 9, an item in the Times noted that he and Edith Irene Dickinson had taken out a marriage license. The wedding does not appear to have taken place, or was of very short duration
  • Barrelmaker Isadore Levine was the next owner of 629 South June Street, in residence with his wife Frieda, daughter Gayle, and son Ronald by early 1948. Isadore Levine was a partner in his father's H. Levine Cooperage Company in Vernon; in 1903 Hyman Levine made his way from Skidel in what is today Belarus to New York, where Isadore was born to Hyman and his wife Emma in 1904. The family arrived in Los Angeles in June 1909. The Levines remained at 629 South June until the children were married
  • The owner of 629 South June Street by the summer of 1954 was clothing manufacturer William Mohilef, whose family would retain the house for 54 years. Mohilef had completed 136 North Alta Vista Boulevard, a few blocks west of La Brea, in 1941, from which he would be moving to Hancock Park
  • On September 3, 1954, the Department of Building and Safety issued William Mohilef a permit for an upstairs dressing room addition and a rear covered terrace; the family would move in the next year
  • 629 South June Street came on the market in the fall of 2007 priced at $4,200,000; by January it had been reduced by $225,000. The next owners performed an extensive renovation that, among other alterations, included  unfortunate façade alterations including the removal of the house's original front-door detailing and the alteration of the two southerly second-floor windows, the original window design having provided relief from precise symmetry. Added at the rear of the property was an enormous accessory living building. A new owner purchasing 629 South June in February 2013 added a pool     


A rendering of 629 South June Street in April 2009 reveals the house's original upstairs window
configuration, which was altered by the end of the year; also seen is the house's original
front entrance detail, now a stark arch. The presence of the yagi television antenna
on the roof of 629 indicates the long tenanacy of the William Mohilef family.


Illustrations: Private Collection; LAT