Paige Young in Los Angeles1960-1964. A New Decade. Paige Young Is “Miss Panorama City.” Robinson’s In the Valley. Stepfather. Birth of Half-Brother. Childhood Home Razed. Updated & Longer: 11/01/2025
Posted on March 2, 2021
1960-1961 Where was Diana/Paige living, and what was she was doing these years? She would have been 16 and 17 years old.
Her grandmother Virginia LaRocca was a recent widow. Virginia has voter’s registrations listed at 13204 Riverside Drive. It was a 4 or 6-plex at the time, on the corner with Atoll Ave. Diana could have lived here with her grandmother as she was still high school age.
Josephine Young Harker, Virginia’s sister and Diana’s great aunt, is also listed with the Riverside Dr. address in a 1960 LA phone directory. Josephine was also listed at least once living at the LaRocca family home at 3834 Evans St. in the 1940s.
13204 Riverside Drive is also the address on Ned LaRocca’s death cert. 1959. It is unknown if he ever lived there. He might have been at the sanitarium for the last year or so of his eventually fatal lung cancer. (see related chapter)
This all means the family had to leave the duplex on Moorpark and Ethel Ave., at some point.
Donna LaRocca Cotterell married Jack Holroyd in 1958. The couple moved to their own place on Oxford Ave. and/or Ventura Canyon Blvd in Panorama City. Did Diana live with them even temporarily?
Sister Constance (Connie) was already married by 1960 when she was 18 years old.
There were profound changes in Diana’s life circumstances these years.
Her de facto father,grandfather Ned LaRocca, died in 1959.
Her mother Donna remarried in 1958.
A move out of a single family dwelling/duplex with family, to multiplex living.
UPDATE 7/25/2022: I had a phone conversation with a close relative of the family named Chris.
Chris informed me that Donna and Jack Holroyd had a son Wesley, born in 1960.
Add this to the list of major life changes for Diana who again, was only 16 in 1960.
Chris/Christain Young also confirmed visiting Diana and Virginia, at the Riverside Drive unit in Sherman Oaks.
Donna and Jack Holroyd, are listed at 12835 1/2 Oxford Ave., a few blocks from Grant High School in 1960, 61 and 62, voter’s registrations.
Donna and Jack Holroyd were married in Las Vegas in 1958, their son Wesley Scott Holroyd was born on August 20, 1960.
That date is almost 9 months to the day after Ned LaRocca died.
If Diana and/ or Virginia both lived here on Oxford, they would have run out of space and privacy pretty quickly. Especially with an infant.
Virginia LaRocca is listed here on Oxford at least once or twice in directories and voter registrations in the early 1960s.
Move to another SFV city: Panorama City
1962 What looks here like a Panorama City Chamber of Commerce ritual, takes place at the popular venue Sportsmen’s Lodge, only 0.6 miles from Diana Cotterell’s childhood home on Moorpark St. in Studio City.
To liven up this dull looking affair there was a special appearance at the lodge….
With 3,000 homes built between 1947 and 1952, Panorama City was the first large postwar community in the San Fernando Valley. In making up the blueprint for the community, Kaiser engineers also designated space for a Kaiser Permanente clinic and hospital, which was completed in 1962.
A General Motors plant completed in 1947 was situated one quarter mile south of Roscoe Boulevard, the southern boundary of Panorama City. A Schlitz Brewery sat immediately to the east, and Lockheed and Vega Aircraft, and Precision Tool, were all within seven miles of the Kaiser development.
Kaiser Permanente website.
This was Robinson’s first store in the SFV opening June 27, 1961. Other major department stores expanded into Panorama City: The Broadway, Orbach’ s, Montgomery Ward. The department stores in Panorama City continued the tradition of hiring the best architects for department stores. Beautiful Department stores thrived in the consumerist post-war years of the 1950s and 60s.
Broadway of the Valley opened a stone’s throw from Robinson’s in the Valley. Photo by famous LA architecture photographer Julius Schulman. Still trying to get a great photo of Robinson’s!
This is the earliest date I have found of Paige’s usage of the name Paige Young: Feb. 1962 when she was 18 and could be the first time she she was publicly documented with the name Paige Young .
The latest date I have seen Paige associated with her birth name, Diana Cotterell: her 9th grade photo listing in the Van Nuys Jr. High yearbook, 1957, age 15 or 16.
Note that in this write-up of Paige, no high school is mentioned. This is out of the ordinary.
I’ve seen and read dozens of newspaper photos with brief write-ups of models, starlets, beauty pageant winners, even “Muscle Beach” beauty contest entrants and winners and runners-up from the 1950s and 1960s.
The article nearly 100% of the time includes where the young woman attended high school and frequently, they were still in high school.
It is probably the only article of several I’ve read interviewing Paige that doesn’t mention her devotion to oil painting.
“Space made for ample parking.”
In 1969 interviews, Paige told reporters she graduated from Van Nuys High School. I have found no school photos of Paige at VNHS. (see 1969: Most Public Year)
My opinion is Paige dropped out of high school after the 9th or 10th grade. And changed her name between ages 16–18.
1963 and 1964 Both Virginia LaRocca and Jack Holroyd are in the phone directory with an address of 8533 Ventura Canyon, Van Nuys. This address is also listed as Panorama City. Paige was married in 1963 and 64, living with her husband”south of the Boulevard” in Sherman Oaks on a steep winding Road known as Crisp Canyon.
Donna Holroyd is not listed in the phone book these years, only her husband Jack Holroyd.
She may have started her studies at UCLA around this time, majoring in Early Childhood Education.
Paige’s cousin Chris told me he remembers visiting Donna and Jack Holroyd and their baby Wesley in the early 1960s, in an apartment building. He couldn’t remember the address. He did remember an unheated pool. Chris said the apartment certainly could have been one near Grant High School or Panorama City. He didn’t see Paige during those particular visits.
Chris said he did see Paige at the Riverside Dr. location.
Paige would be married in Las Vegas 1 1/2 years (Oct. 1, 1963) after this “Miss Panorama City” article appeared.
The marriage lasted for 11 months (Aug 27, 1964).
In 1964, Paige filled out a divorce questionnaire ( below) stating that she had moved out of the marital home and was “living with family”.
Family would have been living at 8533 Ventura Canyon Ave. according to phone listings.
Her answer to employment record says clerical-secretary.
-is this at Robinson’s of the Valley as a clerk-secretary in their business offices, or was she a salesgirl in the department store. Unclear.
See chapter on Marriage and Divorce to Mark F. Segal 1963-1964.
Some of Paige’s quotes from Playboy magazine are about disliking and avoiding the “9-5 doldrums” and “working for impersonal corporations.” Ironically enough.
By 1963, Diana’s childhood home on Moorpark near the Sportsman Lodge had been razed. Records show a city permit (below) requesting a 6-unit apartment to be built.
Notice it says NONE (highlighted) for “existing buildings on lot.” I’m not sure when the house was actually torn down.
Did a developer make the LaRoccas an offer for the Moorpark house back in the late 50s when Ned was sick with lung cancer? Many older houses were now being razed for multi-unit housing to meet demand for higher density populations flooding into the San Fernando Valley.( If you can call a 6–plex multi-housing.)
I’ve been by this complex and it is obvious that more buildings were added over the years.
Nearby Ventura Blvd. continued to thrive with many businesses of all kinds.
SFV continued to experience massive population growth and housing development throughout the 1960s and beyond.
The famous Sportsmen’s Lodge has been demolished as of 2024.
I do not know if any of the structure was saved. I had read that was a possibility.
What happened to Paige’s family, ex Husband, Desmond Guinness, Marvin M. Mitchelson. Updated 1/28/2025
Posted on August 26, 2020
Paige’s grandmother Virginia Young LaRocca died in August of 1976 in the Studio City Convalescent Hospital located at 11429 Ventura Blvd. Location is close to the 1950s family home at 13055 Moorpark St.
Cause of Death: Stroke per a relative on a Mormon family website. A family audio recording to a relative on a Mormon MIssion somewhere in the world. Everyone said at least a few words into the tape recorder, except for Virginia, whom they referred to as “Doing really good Today.” Virginia may have had the debilitating stroke in the early 1970s and been unaware of of her GRANDDAUGHTER Paige’s suicide in 1974.
This address is the Chase Knolls Apts in Sherman Oaks. Ironically named Huston St., not a common name.
Virginia was cremated and her ashes scattered in the ocean near the Santa Monica shoreline, just like granddaughter Paige’s ashes two years previous.
Virginia died of a stroke after one year of onset, according to her death certificate. It may have been more than a year.
Josephine’s daughter, former Warner Brothers starlet Mary Jane Harker Lanier died in 1988 in Jacksonville, Florida. Her husband Samuel Lefkovitz Lanier remarried and lived with his second wife for over 10 years until his death in 2007 at age 88, also in Florida.
The oldest child of Jane and Samuel Lanier, Samuel Harker Lanier, passed away in 2018; he was only in his 60s. A Florida lawyer, he had been disbarred due to a cocaine arrest only a few years previous.
Virginia’s sister and former Vaudeville performing and travelling partner, Josephine Young Harker, Paige Young’s great aunt, died in June of 1979 in the Jacksonville, Florida area. Public record.
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Donna Virginia LaRocca Holroyd had moved sometime in the late 60s, with mother Virginia? (had she had her stroke?) and husband Jack, to Simi Valley. Were they divorced already? Possibly as it is looking like Jack Holroyd married and divorced twice after Donna. Still need to confirm.
By 1970, Donna was the head supervisor for the Ocean View Children’s Center (5201 Squires Dr.) in Port Hueneme “for low income and welfare families…. so that the mothers (of the Valley Village neighborhood) could work or go to school.” Oxford News 1970.
Article below mentions that Donna received a degree from UCLA in Early Childhood Education.
Oxford Press Courier March 21, 1971. Her daughter Paige was probably living in Westwood or Trancas Beach by this time.
By the time of her daughter Paige’s suicide in April of 1974, Donna and Jack Holroyd were divorced. Donna was living with her mother Virginia back in Sherman Oaks. They stayed at the lovely and historic Chase Knolls Apartment Community on Huston St.
Donna’s Chase Knolls address is on Paige’s death certificate as her next of kin.
This Huston address is also on Virginia LaRocca‘s death cert. in 1976. Donna is listed as her mother’s next of kin. (See Above)
In 1980 this address appears on Donna’s own death certificate.
Donna dies of a “hypertensive arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” in her Chase Knolls apartment at age 59 years. Her and Jack’s son Wesley would have been about 20 years.
Donna outlives her mother by 4 years, and her daughter by 6.
Oldest daughter and Paige’s sister Constance Smashey is listed on Donna Holroyd’s death certificate as next of kin with a Simi Valley address.
Constance and Steve Smashey divorced and Connie would move to the Palm Desert area in the 1980s. She now lives in Banning, California.
She turned down my request to ask her a few questions about her sister Paige and their family.
Wesley Scott Holroyd died of alcoholism in 2014 at age 53. He was living in the San Fernando Valley where he spent most of his life.
Paige’s father Robert Morgan Cotterell and his wife Pat, moved to Oregon in the 1970s after he retired from Douglas Air. They lived there until their deaths around 2010.
Bob Cotterell’s obituary is no longer online. When it was, there was no mention of his daughters by Donna LaRocca: Diana/Paige and Constance.
It appears that Connie has reunited with her half siblings.
Richard Sample told me that Paige drove him to meet her sister one time only. He said he “didn’t get any impression” they were close.
Paige did not disclose her personal history or childhood, to anyone I’ve talked with who knew her.
Paige’s ex-husband Mark Frederick Segal married a woman named Denise in 1974. A few years later they had a son: Ivan Mark Segal.
1985/86 Mark F. Segal stayed in the car business:
Segal sold his home on Crisp Canyon Ave. to Rex Ramsey and later bought it back from him. He sold it again and moved to Portland in the late 80s? He died there on October 16, 2012.
4133 Crisp Canyon Ave. was razed and replaced with a really horrible McMansion.
His son Ivan Segal lives in Portland and Scottsdale.
Desmond Guinness married Penelope Cuthbertson in 1984.
She is his cousin according to “International Set” gossip writer Suzy Knickerbocker back in 1973. They were not couple at that time.
Desmond continued fundraising for his Irish Georgian Society well into old age. He died on August 20, 2020. I have read Desmond had some degree of dementia.
Ex-wife Mariga and co-founder of the IGS died decades earlier.
There are numerous obituaries online for Hon. Desmond Guinness.
Desmond’s niece is fashion icon and socialite Daphne Guinness. His granddaughter is popular fashion model Jasmine Guinness.
How and where Desmond became acquainted with Paige Young is a mystery. Possibly was through John and CiCi Huston in Ireland.
Desmond on his own was well connected in Los Angeles and Southern California. He had a receptive audience in the area.
In the late 1970s……..
Paige’s divorce lawyer Marvin Mitchelson gained a reputation beyond Beverly Hills and LA. He became internationally famous when he represented Michelle Triola Marvin in her lawsuit against her live-in lover of 6 years, actor Lee Marvin.
Beverly Hills Lawyer Marvin M. Mitchelson
Mitchelson introduced the term and concept of “palimony” into the courts.
Commonly known as Marvin vs. Marvin, the case received major publicity in the mass-media of the time. It’s something I personally remember as a young teenager. I call it “People magazine” famous.
I didn’t learn the back story in detail until I researched this project. I am condensing the details for this website.
Michelle Triola Marvin was a singer in Hollywood. She felt she was owed part of Lee Marvin’s $3.2 million fortune, as she had given up her own career, per his demand, to become his live-in lover, helpmate, career advisor, and even helped to raise his 4 children from first wife Betty.
Triola said Lee Marvin had promised her life-long financial support. Triola-Marvin was abruptly dumped when Lee Marvin suddenly married his high school sweetheart Pamela Feeney in 1970. Marvin kicked Triola-Marvin out of their Malibu home and cut her off financially.
Because Michelle Triola Marvin was not legally married to Lee Marvin, she had no legal standing to demand any financial compensation.
Mitchelson saw an opportunity in California’s newly enacted “no-fault” divorce laws.
Mitchelson filed a breach-of-contract suit against Lee Marvin in February of 1972 asking for 50% of his estate.
After being rejected by two lower courts, Mitchelson pushed the case to the California Supreme Court, where he won.
The Marvin vs. Marvin case finally reached trial in January of 1979 and it quickly became a mass-media event.
The judge in the case, Judge Marshall, awarded about $100,000 to Triola-Marvin, for the salary she potentially lost giving up her career as a singer.
Lee Marvin’s attorneys appealed, and the decision was reversed, leaving Triola with nothing and Mitchelson with nothing.
Mitchelson didn’t care though, because the fame the case brought him was worth millions of dollars in representing “wronged spouses,” mainly women.
The fact that in the end, Triola got nothing was not well publicized in the many media reports. It happened after the initial hoopala had died down and was never emphasized in the reporting.
Over the years, some of the women Marvin represented were celebrities like Bianca Jagger, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Joan Collins ( a reverse of his norm as Collins was the one being sued by estranged husband Peter Holm.)
Mostly though, Mitchelson took cases of non-celebrity live-in girlfriends or mistresses of rich celebrities: Sara Dylan (Bob), Anna Kashfi (Marlon Brando) Nancy Lee Andrews (Ringo Starr), Veronica Buss and Puppi Buss (girlfriends of Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss) Soraya Khashoggi, Kayatana Harrison (Flip Wilson.)
Marvin represented a few men: Mark Christian, ex-lover of Rock Hudson, in his widely publicized case against Hudson’s estate for failing to disclose his AIDS status to Christian.
Mel Torme, Carl Sagan and Sonny Bono were other clients.
Mitchelson was disbarred in 1988 for grossly overcharging clients and went to prison in 1993 for tax evasion.
Marvin Mitchelson was released from prison in 1998 and died in 2004.
Lee Marvin died in 1987 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Michelle Triola went on to have a long live-in relationship with actor- comedian Dick Van Dyke. She died of lung cancer in 2009.
Information from: Ladies’ Man: The Life & Trials of Marvin Mitchelson, by John A. Jenkins. The only published biography of Marvin Mitchelson. It’ a fascinating look at an LA character of his time, nearly forgotten today.
Paige Young in Los Angeles 