Paige Young in Los Angeles1950s #2 Diana Cotterell (Paige Young) in the SFV. Grade School. Sepulveda Stables. Van Nuys Junior High. Donna V. Remarries. Grandfather Ned Dies. Updated 3/15/25
Posted on May 15, 2020
SFV= San Fernando Valley
According to her birthdate, Diana should have started first grade in 1950.
It appears she lived in Gardena in 1950 according to the1950 census.
It’s unknown where or if she started grade school in that community. (See chapter 1950s #1.)
Seen Below:
Grandmother Virginia LaRocca is listed in an onlineGardena 1951 phone directory as a Christian Science Practitioner. Husband Joseph Ned is not listed.
This is unusual as I have seen documents with the couple’s names linked over decades.
Had Ned already moved up to the SFV? Did the girls and Donna move with him or stay with Virginia another year in Gardena?
My best guess is the family moved to 13055 Moorpark St in Studio City approx. 1952-1954. Please see related chapters.
In Sherman Oaks
Diana and Connie could have gone to Riverside Drive Elementary. It is located at 13061 Riverside Drive. This is very close to the Moorpark house address.
If the Cotterell girls walked to school from their house on Moorpark, all they had to do was turn north on Ethel Ave., and it was a straight walk to the school.
It would have taken only a few minutes.
There would have been no Ventura Freeway to walk under along the way. I think that came in 1959.
UPDATE 5-20-20 I found this article.
We see that Diana was definitely at Dixie Canyon Avenue School for the 6th grade. Notice she is named “Diane.”
Both Dixie Canyon and Riverside Drive elementary schools are the same distance of .6 miles to the Moorpark/Ethel house where Diana lived with her mother, sister and grandparents through much of the 1950s..
The photo below is one of the first articles I found when I started this research.
It showed me that Diana Cotterell and Paige Young were the same person.
It can be confirmed that she attended Van Nuys Junior High for the 7th and 9th grades.
1959 yearbook photo Van Nuys Junior High yearbook. Diana Cotterell was in the 9th grade. Her grandfather Joseph Ned LaRocca would die in November of that year. This would have been taken before his death.
I found the photo in the VNJH school library with the librarian standing over me as lunch was about to start.
There were several yearbooks, more like paper notebooks, in a jumble. This was the only photo I could find of Diana on that day. I haven’t found a photo of her 8th grade year.
I have reason to believe that Diana Cotterell dropped out of school after the 9th grade. You could drop out with parental permission at age 16. I am unsure if Paige went to the 10th grade until she turned 16. I’ve not found her photo in an online high school yearbook
Here is the photo in a larger context. Candy Conklin was a member of the Singing King family and would perform with them in a few years time.
Many SFV schools had graduation ceremonies in mid June1959. This includes Van Nuys Junior High shown in the 3rd column. Diana Lee Cotterell would have been among the graduates that day.
1953-1959 Like many kids living in 1950s San Fernando Valley, Diana Lee Cotterell is obsessed with horses according to her friend from junior high, Joan Edwards.
Diana and Joan ride and board their horses at Sepulveda Stables, located at 5763 Sepulveda Blvd, on the corner of Hatteras.
Equestrian shows were held almost every weekend in the Los Angeles area in the 1950s.
There were commercial horse stables and riding trails all over the SFV in the 50s and 60s. In fact the whole area was known as a rural in the post-war era, even as the population exploded and the rural land was paved over.
Many westerns in movies and on TV were filmed in the SFV. Obviously horses were a big part of this!
In the 1950s of suburban/ruralSFV, horse husbandry was considered a wholesome activity for youth and thought to produce responsible American citizens.
And probably most importantly, it would keep kids and teens busy and separated from the bad influences of “juvenile delinquency,” a growing social concern of the 1950s, all over America.
source: Making the San Fernando Valley: Rural Landscapes, Urban Development and White Privilege by Laura R. Barraclough
Diana owned a horse named Hamish in junior high, 1957-1959. She owned him until at least 1964 when she was married to Mark Segal and living at his house at 4133 Crisp Canyon Rd. .
Sepulvedastables.net is where I got much of this information and the website seems to have now vanished.
I spoke with the owner of the website a few years earlier who remembered Paige. This woman was 12 or 13 when Paige was probably 19 or 20. She was living with Mark Segal on Crisp Canyon Rd. which was located “south of the (Ventura) Blvd.” Paige was known by that name by 1962. She invited this young girl up for lemonade to the address on Crisp Canyon Rd. (See chapters on Marriage and Divorce. 1963)
Donna Virginia LaRocca Cotterell married John “Jack” Holroyd in Las Vegas on October 3, 1958. This information is sourced from online Vegas wedding records, which are very difficult to decipher. Found on ancestry.com.
Patriarch Joseph Ned LaRocca dies of lung cancer towards the end of 1959.
LAT November 18, 1959.
Ned LaRocca’s grave is in Glen Haven Memorial Park in Sylmar.
Below are closeups of Ned LaRocca’s death certificate.
It looks like he spent about a year in a sanitarium located on Foothill Blvd. in the Tujunga/Sunland area. It was called “Lakeview Terrace Sanitarium” and the building was originally the home of silent film star Francis X. Bushman.
I have been unable to learn if this was specifically a Christian Science sanitarium due to his wife Virginia being a CSP.
I have learned that the Tujunga area was considered to have “much cleaner air” than other parts of the San Fernando Valley.
Note the name of last employer: Leith Stevens.
There was an obituary placed in Ned’s hometown of Peoria, Illinois upon his death. Recently posted to find-a-grave, I will transcribe below.
Joe N. (Ned) LaRocca, a native Peorian like his brother Roxy LaRocca and a former Vaudeville star, died Sunday night at his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He had been in failing health a number of years and had suffered several strokes.
He was a music contractor for Columbia Broadcasting Co. in Hollywood for many years.
Mr. LaRocca, a harpist, appeared in vaudeville with the Young Sisters, Virginia and Josephine, and later married Virginia. They continued with their act until the birth of a child when Mr. LaRocca joined a brother, Paul LaRocca, now operator of a local barber shop, in a new stage act.
Later, he became associated with his brother Roxy in New York theatre appearances. After Roxy left on a European tour, Mr. LaRocca became associated with CBS Radio, an association that he continued until last summer when he retired due to bad health.
Born in July, 1894, in the house at 1411 Martin St., presently occupied by his brother Roxy, he was a son of Salvatore and Roseanne LaRocca. He and his wife have been married for 42 years. She survives, with a daughter Donna V., and two grandchildren, all of Sherman Oaks: his two brothers, Roxy and Paul: and a sister, Kathryn Marinello, of North Hollywood, Calif. Two other brothers, Nick and Frank, are deceased.
Funeral services and burial will be today in Sherman Oaks.
Peoria Illinois Star November 18, 1959
There are obvious discrepancies between the death cert. and the obit. “Died at home” in obituary, instead of Lakeview Terrace Sanitarium, death certificate.
“Cancer of the lung” in death certificate vs. a “series of strokes,” as we see in the obituary.
Mention of CBS network and no mention of Leith Stevens.
Joseph and Virginia Married in 1915 and after this became a vaudeville act with her sister Josephine. Not the order as described in the obit, which was likely written by Virginia or Donna V. Or relayed over a long distance phone call
Ned Argo shown in the Edmonton Journal June 1919.
Ned’s granddaughter Paige would memorably visit Edmonton 50 years later on behalf of Playboy. See chapter 1969: Most Popular Year.
1950s #1 Updated 11/4/25: 1950 Census. Gardena. Move to San Fernando Valley. Ned & Virginia LaRocca. The Marinello/Bartletts. Recording Industry LA. Leith Stevens.
Posted on May 12, 2020
San Fernando Valley abbreviated SFV.
The 1950 census
gives more information about the LaRocca/Cotterell family unit.
We seem the family listed at a residence in Gardena at 1830 W. 147th.
Enlarge the document and you see that Joseph’s occupation is Radio Orchestra Manager, Virginia, a Christian Science Practitioner.
Donna has an empty box for occupation, her daughters Constance S. is listed as 7 years and Diana L. as 5 years.
Constance would have been in the second grade and Diana, kindergarten, if she went.
See the listing for Virginia LaRocca, CSP, at this same address but no Joseph is listed.
It’s unusual that Joseph and Virginia weren’t listed together. The married couple had been listed together every other year for decades, both in directories and voter registrations.
I first connected the family to 13055 Moorpark St. address by a city building permit dated Dec. of 1952.
Christian Young, a relative of Paige Young’s, told me in a phone conversation about a memory from his childhood.
“The house on Moorpark had a cabinet you could crawl through and get to their grandparents’ side (of the house).”
It seems reconstruction was made into a duplex, Ned and Virginia are on one side, Donna and the girls are on the other.
More specifically, off of the intersection of Coldwater Canyon and Ventura Blvd.
The duplex on Moorpark & Ethel, is located on the west side of Studio City, close to the eastern border with Sherman Oaks.
The Los Angeles River is nearby the house, as is Sportsman’s Lodge; a classic Hollywood and SFV landmark.
It’s recently been totally or partially demolished.
Ned & family were aware of this part of the SFV area for some time before their move.
Joseph’s only sister of many brothers was named Kathryn Marinello.
She and her husband Anthony, opened a food store at 13251 Moorpark in 1947, seen below.
“New Business Filings in the Valley” Van Nuys News
There is a 1947 City document I have been unable to download; indicating a “food store” at 13251 Moorpark St. The building was not owned by the Marinellos but a business announced, as seen here.
Mildred and Clifton’s first child James is recorded as 1 year old.
Their daughter Donna Lee was born only a few years later. Looks like she was named for Donna LaRocca Cotterell, and Diana Lee Cotterell.
Meanwhile……Diana’s father Robert Morgan Cotterell also moved to the SFV around this time, but further west of his daughters and ex-wife.
His new wife (1949) Patricia/Pat Frick and their two children born in 1950 and 1951, started out in the Canoga Park/Winnetka area.
Robert’s daughters by Donna V., were living in Gardena when “Bob and Pat” were parenting 2 toddlers on Lurline Ave.
I can’t imagine they saw each other that often but who knows?
It’s the first of many moves around LA for the Cotterell family due to Bob Cotterell Sr.’s career at Douglas Aircraft.
We do not know exactly why the LaRocca family moved to the SFV.
However, we know they were part of a massive migration to the area after World War 2, from both inside and outside California.
“The end of WW2 transformed the Valley and vastly accelerated its growth
with: vast tracts of suburban housing, shopping centers and industrial parks where chicken ranches, orchards and cattle ranches and wheat fields once existed. The 1940s and 50s, when I was growing up, the Valley was full of movie cowboys, beautiful ranches and fine horses.”
Jerry England at cowboyup.com
“In the five years after the war, the population (of SFV) more than doubled to 402,538 residents-the pastoral San Fernando Valley was suddenly the ninth-busiest urban area in the nation. Valley society was a mix of young suburbanites, older families who had come west to try their luck as engineers, animators, or pioneers in the new field of television, and ranchers trying to hang on in the face of the new hordes.”
The San Fernando Valley: America’s Suburb by Kevin Roderick
I discovered that Ned LaRocca spent most of the 1950s working as an “orchestra manager.”
He worked for composer/conductor Leith Stevens.
I saw this information through Ned’s death certificate, seen below.
I can confirm two Leith Stevens projects that have a credit as “contractor” for Ned LaRocca: A Doris Day album recorded in 1951 at 1032 Sycamore Street.
It was a studio known at that time as “The Annex.”
The website careerexplorer.com defines an orchestra contractor is: “He or she has the job of finding the appropriate musicians for Broadway shows, television episodes and commercials.”
Ned had experience adapting to a new mass medium.
In his first industry performing on the Vaudeville stage performing the harp. (See related chapters)
Vaudeville died in the early 1930s during the Great Depression and Radio programming became a mass entertainment form.
One significant factor that changed the popularity of radio programming was the rise of TV in the 1950s.
Drama, comedy and musical variety and interview shows moved to TV.
In the 1950s Los Angeles had a burgeoning music recording industry scene.
Ned worked in each of these mediums. Performing on radio broadcasts and orchestra managing for films.
In 1950, just under 20 percent of American homes contained a TV set. Ten years later, nearly 90 percent of homes contained a TV—and some even had color TVs. The number of TV stations, channels, and programs all grew to meet this surging demand.
encyclopedia.com
Ned LaRocca has a credit on Leith Steven’s 1953 score to the Marlon Brando movie “The Wild One.”
This record was a hit, released by Decca records, it remains Stevens’ most widely known work. J. Ned LaRocca is credited as “Contractor” on the project: Per Discogs.com.
As I understand, the Wild One was the first soundtrack entirely made up of Jazz music.
I recently watched The Wild One and noticed there are long stretches where there is an notable absence of music.
Besides composing and conducting “The Wild One” soundtrack, Leith Stevens composed scores for radio shows, movies and T.V. from the 1930s until his death in 1970.
This includes Film Noir classic Private Hell 36, co-written by and starred Ida Lupino.
Another Stevens credit was for The Bigamist, directed by and starring Lupino. So there was a relationship there with the pioneer female director, Lupino. Or maybe he was just assigned to the project.
A minuscule list of Leith Stevens credits includes both credited and uncredited work.
Just a very few: It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946, Ma & Pa Kettle Back on the Farm, 1951, 1954, Earth Vs. Flying Saucers in 1956, The Ann Sothern Show, 1960, Twilight Zone, early 1960s.
He composed 100s of stock music pieces for Hollywood media.
Virginia Young LaRocca in the 1950s.
Diana’s grandmother. She started out life as a Mormon in Utah, but somewhere along the way became a Christian Scientist.
She is listed as “Chr. Sci.pr.” (Christian Science Practitioner) in Los Angeles telephone directories in the 1940 and 1950s. Virginia was listed with her own telephone line.
(Read more about Virginia and her sister Josephine’s early years as a Vaudeville performer in the family history chapters.)
A Christian Science practitioner is an individual who prays for others according to the teachings of Christian Science. Treatment is non-medical, rather it is based on the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875) by Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910), who said she discovered Christian Science in 1866 and founded the Christian Science church in 1879. According to the church, Christian Science practitioners address physical conditions, as well as relationship or financial difficulties and any other problem or crisis.
wikipedia
At some point, the Christian Science Church won the right to accept insurance for their practitioners. However, I have been unable to find exactly what year.
So, I can’t tell how much income Virginia might have earned from her vocation as a CSP.
In 1955, an LA telephone directory lists a Ned J. LaRocca at 4414 N. Ethel and a Virginia Young LaRocca with the same address.
Donna Cotterell is listed with the 13055 Moorpark address. 13055 Moorpark is on a corner with Ethel St.
4114 Ethel St. doesn’t seem to be an “real” address; I don’t find a record of it anywhere besides the phone directory.
1957 Virginia Young LaRocca is listed in the phone directory at 4414 N. Ethel State 4-7052 North Hollywood. Cr. Sci. Pr.
This could be a result of the house modification for Donna, Diana and Constance Cotterell, it was made into a duplex.
I’m sure Donna received child support from her ex-husband Robert Cotterell. And likely alimony until Donna remarried in 1958 to Jack Holroyd in a Las Vegas wedding.
It is probable that grandfather Ned LaRocca was the primary breadwinner of this household.
This would have been normal for the times.
Paige Young in Los Angeles 