1944. Birth. Los Feliz Address on Birth Certificate. Family Members.

The woman who most of us recognize as Paige Young, Playboy Playmate of November 1968, was born Diana Lee Cotterell on March 16, 1944, at the Griffith Park Maternity Home, located at 1933 Griffith Park Boulevard and her home residence is listed as nearby 3834 Evans St.

Diana’s older sister Constance Susan Cotterell was born at the same maternity center in 1942. It was designed as a “birthing center” for mothers of the Christian Science religion aka Church of Christ Science.

According to newspaper articles at the time, the birthing center was well established by 1931 and continued in that capacity for decades.

It became a senior center in the 50s or 60s and was being demolished in 2016 the day I visited.

By 1938 Ned LaRocca and his wife Virginia, Diana’s grandparents, were living at 3834 Evans, along with their daughter and Diana’s mother, Donna Virginia LaRocca.

Written on a City document about 3834 Evans.

Neighborhood

Disney Hyperion Studios in the foreground of this 1931 photo. Marshall High in the background. Ned and Virginia LaRocca would be living right around the corner from the High School by 1938. findingwalt.com

This studio is where Snow White, the first full-length animated feature, was produced. Its’ success made Walt Disney enough money to build a larger studio in Burbank, which was up and running by January of 1940.   The Burbank Disney studio is still the location of Disney to this day.

A Ralph’s Market now stands at the old Hyperion studio..

Walt and his brother/partner Roy Disney lived in the Los Feliz neighborhood for several years in the days when they first moved to Los Angeles.

City of LA building permit for garage 1938 Mr. LaRocca listed as owner of 3834 Evans St.

View at Los Feliz Blvd and Rowena looking east. 1933 Anton Wagner. Close to 3834 Evans St., the LaRocca’s home from about 1938 to the mid-40s.

This 1942 registration card of Joseph Ned LaRocca’s was nicknamed the “Old Man’s Draft Card.” It was required by a Selective Service Act (after Pearl Harbor) and used to acquire information. It was likened to a “snapshot of American males age 45-64 years old.“

The document shows us that Joseph Ned LaRocca lived at 3834 Evans St and that he worked at NBC and CBS on Radio Row, Sunset and Vine. (See corresponding chapters for much more information.)