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.
1966: July Paige Transfers From Marvin M. Mitchelson To New Law Firm. Donna and Virginia New SFV Location.
Posted on July 6, 2020
July 1966
Paige gets transferred from the Marvin Mitchelson law firm of Beverly Hills, to the law firm of Silverton, Ruderman and Graf of Studio City. Her new law firm is located at 12345 Ventura Blvd.; a 5 minute drive from her childhood home at 13055 Moorpark St.
Marvin Michelson was busy climbing the ladder of success in 1966.
He continued to represent Hollywood and Beverly Hills “soon-to-be-divorced-wives.”
(66 also brought Marvin international work in London from a rock band.)
Aldo Ray spoke bitterly about his ex-wives. I have several more articles about him not included here.
Marvin Michelson probably grew tired of Paige’s non-payment divorce case by 1966. Her “interlocutory” divorced ex-husband Mark F. Segal, had not paid more than the one initial payment in 1964.
Mitchelson gave it his all in 1965. He filed in court for contempt against Mark Segal for non-payment, every single month of this year. It was all to no avail.
Any publicity for “attention getting headlines” (see chapter on Segal-Young Divorce Makes Headlines) had long since ceased to be of any benefit to M.M.M.
In the divorce documents, (I own copies) dated all the way into 1969 showing Paige and her lawyers, Silverton, Ruderman & Graff, still trying to collect the unpaid, court ordered alimony and lawyer’s fees.
1966 Paige’s Mother, Donna Holroyd, and her grandmother, Virginia Young LaRocca, are listed in the phone directory at 5760 Hazeltine. It’s an apartment building on the corner of Hazeltine and Hatteras in Van Nuys. Jack Holroyd is not listed at this location. They may have been separated or even divorced, at this time. Jack Holroyd went on to divorce two more women before he passed away in the early 2000s.
From the Marvin Mitchelson biography Ladies Man by John A. Jenkins.
1950s #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.
Paige Young in Los Angeles 