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  • Built in 1924 on Lot 46 in Tract 5640
  • Original commissioner: lumberman and financier James Clifford Titus
  • Architect: Stanley J. Pedersen, who had been a draftsman with the firm of Walker & Eisen
  • On June 24, 1924, the Department of Buildings issued J. C. Titus a permit for a Pedersen-designed 15-room residence at 325 Rimpau Boulevard. On August 5, 1924, Titus was issued a permit for a one-story, 24-by-20-foot garage on the property; Titus is indicated as the architect and contractor on this document
  • James C. Titus had been a lumberman and oil investor in Wichita before moving to Los Angeles in 1921. In the writeup in The Wichita Eagle of his August 1915 wedding to Renata Garst of that city, Titus is described as one of Wichita's most prominent businessmen, co-owner of the lumber firm of Titus-Higley and president of the Slim Jim Oil Company, so named for Titus's tall slim build. The Tituses brought their two daughters, Kathleen and Theresa, to California in time for the arrival of Renata Jr. on October 4, 1921. Stephen Titus arrived on February 15, 1924. With radio on its meteoric rise, organizations offering financing to dealers were opening across the country on the automotive model of the General Motors Acceptance Corporation; the Music Industries Acceptance Corporation was formed in Los Angeles, with James Titus becoming secretary of the firm. (James O. Adams, president of the company, moved into his own Hancock Park house at 632 South Highland Avenue)
  • The Tituses would remain at 325 Rimpau Boulevard into the 1960s. Recently arrived Midwesterners with money, a well-situated house, and pretty daughters could rise quickly in Los Angeles society, and the Tituses did not go unnoticed by the editors of womens' pages. There were the requisite sailings to Hawaii. Their cocktail parties at 632 were noted as were their coming and goings at Balboa, where they had a house. Not that there wasn't sadness in the family to punctuate the high life: While details of her demise are unclear, Terry Titus died at the age of 16 on June 29, 1935. Life continued, as did the press coverage; on August 10, 1938, tireless and long-lasting society chronicler Christy Fox of the Times announced Kathleen's engagement to Tudor Alfred Wall of Riverside. "From the summer colony of Balboa comes news of an engagement which will unite two prominent familes of the Southland," the well-placed announcement began. It was accompanied by a large portrait of the bride-to-be, who was an alumna of Marlborough and Sarah Lawrence. Dartmouth alumni Tudor Wall's father was a major fruit grower and shipper. Subsequent large writeups of the pink-themed wedding itself described a reception for several hundred at 325 Rimpau following a ceremony at All Saints' Episcopal in Beverly Hills


As seen in the Los Angeles Times on August 10, 1938, and June 13, 1943


  • In February 1939, Renata Jr., known as Ronnie, was pictured in the Times on a date at the Beverly-Wilshire with Richard Tibbett, son of Metropolitan opera star and film singer Lawrence Tibbett. Four years later, she married Lieutenant John Lawrence Russell, the dress for which, according to Lucille Leimert, another Times purveyor of social trivia, was made entirely by Mrs. Titus—"every single stitch of it." Smoky-eyed six-foot-three John Russell went on to a have a respectable movie and television acting career after signing a contract with 20th Century–Fox in 1945, notably in westerns. He played Marshal Dan Troop in ABC-TV's Lawman from 1958 to 1962
  • After six-foot-four Stephen married Catherine Livingston at St. James' Episcopal on March 27, 1948, the reception was held at 325 Rimpau Boulevard—the house was utilized to the fullest by the Tituses. The Stephen Tituses would eventually become Hancock Parkers themselves when they moved into 172 South Las Palmas Avenue
  • James and Renata Titus retained 325 Rimpau Boulevard despite having become empty-nesters. Preparing for the next decade, a termite problem was addressed per a permit issued by the Department of Building and Safety on May 9, 1950; on January 15, 1951, James Titus was issued a permit to slightly enlarge the kitchen. Otherwise 325 would remain during the Tituses' tenure as it was built in 1924 
  • James C. Titus died at home at 325 Rimpau Boulevard on May 5, 1962; he was 85. It is unclear as to how long Renata Titus retained possession of 325 after her husband's death; she died at the age of 81 on January 8, 1971
  • 325 Rimpau Boulevard was on the market by the end of 1971; classified ads began offering the house for $150,000
  • Purchasing 325 Rimpau in 1972 was insurance executive Charles L. Schultz and his wife Marilyn. Schultz had a short commute straight down the street to his office at the Farmer Insurance Group's landmark Moderne headquarters at the southeast corner of Rimpau and Wilshire boulevards. Schultz was president of the Truck Underwriters division of Farmers before being elected vice-president of the company and becoming its C.F.O., from which position he retired in 1993. He later became a director of the Amwest Insurance Group
  • Despite her death on January 13, 2003, Charles and Marilyn Schultz were both cited as joint owners on a permit issued by the Department of Building and Safety on May 5, 2003, for a new roof on the house. Charles Schultz retained 325 Rimpau Boulevard until 2007
  • The owner of 325 Rimpau after the departure of Charles Schultz added a 75-foot lap pool along the south property line in 2008, added a backyard storage unit, and have carried out a kitchen remodeling



Illustrations: Private Collection; LAT