Russell Havenstrite | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 18, 1896 Lovell, Oklahoma Territory, U.S. |
| Died | March 18, 1958 (aged 62) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Spouse | Edith White |
Russell Easton Havenstrite (1896-1958) was an American wildcatter and polo player.
Russell Havenstrite was born March 18, 1896, [1] in Lovell, Oklahoma. [2] His parents were Jacob W. Havenstrite and Jennie M. Stirk. [3] His mother's maiden name was Stirn. [4]
In the 1920s, Havenstrite moved from Lovell, Oklahoma to Signal Hill, California in the Greater Los Angeles area to drill oil. [2] In 1932, he moved to Alaska to find oil. [2] He became interested in possible oil found at Iniskin, near Homer, Alaska. [2] In 1936, he established the Iniskin Bay Associates, together with Carlton Beal (1914–1994), Walt Disney (1901–1966), Darryl F. Zanuck (1902–1979) and Hal Roach (1892–1992). [2] By 1938, they began drilling their first oil well at Iniskin. [2] In 1941, the firm found oil in Newhall, Santa Clarita, California and became prosperous. [2] [5]
After the Second World War, Havenstrite drilled again at Iniskin, with the financial backing of Chicago banker Hugo Anderson, the father of Robert Orville Anderson (1917–2007). [2] However, Harold L. Ickes (1874–1952), who served as United States Secretary of the Interior from 1933 to 1946, had blocked him from drilling. [2] In 1946, he flew the Andersons, the Disneys and the Zanucks on his private Douglas DC-3 plane to see his jade mine in Kotzebue, Alaska and his gold mine in Candle, Alaska. [2] [6] In 1954, he drilled a second well at Iniskin, but he stopped sometime in 1955. [2] Two weeks after he stopped, Richfield Oil found more oil at Iniskin. [2]
Havenstrite established the Beverly Hills Polo Club in Beverly Hills, California. [7] In 1950, he hired ten-goal polo champion Robert Skene (1914-1997) to manage the club. [8] The same year, he and Jimmy McHugh judged Queen of Mexican Polo contestants at the BHPC. [9] He also played polo at the Uplifters Polo Club in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles with Charles Farrell (1901–1990), Frank Borzage (1894–1962) and Walt Disney (1901–1966). [10]
Havenstrite was married to Edith White. [11] They had a parrot. [2] They owned a penthouse in the Fine Arts Building located at 811 West 7th Street in Los Angeles. [12] From 1938 onwards, they resided in Beverly Hills, California and attended high society events. [13] [14] [15] They also went shooting with William Woodward, Jr. and his wife Ann in Cooch Behar, India. [16] Moreover, they attended fundraisers for the Republican Party. [17] He was a member of the Bohemian Club, the Los Angeles Country Club and the Bel Air Country Club. [18] [19]
Russell and Edith had a daughter, Phyllis, on September 29, 1922 in Oxnard, California. She attended the Douglas School for Girls in Pebble Beach, California. [20]
Havenstrite died of a heart ailment in Santa Monica on March 18, 1958. [21]
The Santa Clarita Valley (SCV) is part of the upper watershed of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,673 ha) Rancho San Francisco Mexican land grant. Located in Los Angeles County, its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita which includes the neighborhoods of Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, and Valencia. Adjacent unincorporated communities include Castaic, Stevenson Ranch, Val Verde, and Valencia.
Robert Bernard Sherman was an American songwriter, best known for his work in musical films with his brother, Richard M. Sherman. The Sherman brothers produced more motion picture song scores than any other songwriting team in film history. Some of their songs were incorporated into live action and animation musical films including Mary Poppins, The Happiest Millionaire, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Slipper and the Rose, and Charlotte's Web. Their best-known work is "It's a Small World " possibly the most-performed song in history.
John Devereaux Wrather Jr., was an entrepreneur and petroleum businessman who became a television producer and later diversified by investing in broadcast stations and resort properties. He is best known for producing The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, and Lassie television series in the 1950s as well as marrying actress Bonita Granville. His daughter, Linda Wrather appeared in one of the last episodes of the Lone Ranger, The Angel and the Outlaw.
Welton David Becket was an American modern architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles, California.
The Beverly Hills Hotel, also called the Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows, is located on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. One of the world's best-known hotels, it is closely associated with Hollywood film stars, rock stars, and celebrities. The hotel has 210 guest rooms and suites and 23 bungalows and the exterior bears the hotel's signature pink and green colors.
Charles Luckman was an American businessman, property developer, and architect known for designing landmark buildings in the United States such as the Theme Building, Prudential Tower, Madison Square Garden, and The Forum. He was named the "Boy Wonder of American Business" by Time magazine when president of the Pepsodent toothpaste company in 1939. Through acquisition, he later became president of Lever Brothers. Luckman would later collaborate with William Pereira, in which the two would form their architectural firm, Pereira & Luckman, in 1950. Pereira & Luckman would later dissolve by 1958, parting ways for both himself and Pereira. Luckman would continue successfully with his own firm, Charles Luckman Associates. Luckman retired from the firm, although he would still be present.
Music World Corporation is an American music production and music publishing company, representing hundreds of song and music cue titles for a small clientele of composers and lyricists including the company founder. The company was founded in 1958 by Academy Award-winning songwriter Robert B. Sherman.
Golden Oak Ranch is an 890-acre (360-hectare) movie ranch owned by the Walt Disney Studios subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that serves as a filming location and backlot. The ranch is off of Placerita Canyon Road outside of Newhall, Santa Clarita, California, less than an hour north of Los Angeles; its entrance is not far from Placerita Canyon Road's intersection with California State Route 14.
Santa Clarita is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most populous in California, and the 138th-most populous city in the United States. It is located about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and occupies 70.75 square miles (183.2 km2) of land in the Santa Clarita Valley, along the Santa Clara River. It is a classic example of a U.S. edge city, satellite city, or boomburb.
Mentryville was an oil drilling town in the Santa Susana Mountains in Los Angeles County, California, USA. It was started by Charles Alexander Mentry in the 1870s around the newly discovered oil reserves in that area. The first oil strike was on September 26, 1876. The town is located at the terminus of Pico Canyon Road, four miles west of the Lyons Avenue exit from I-5 in Santa Clarita. It is currently a part of Stevenson Ranch.
Charles Robertson Skene, commonly known as Robert or Bob and nicknamed Hurricane Bob, was an Australian 10-goal polo player. He was a founding inductee of the Australian Polo Federation Hall of Fame, the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and the U.S. Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame.
Alwyn Walter "Walt" Peregoy was an American artist who was a color stylist and background artist for animated cartoons. Among the studios he worked for were Walt Disney Productions 1951–1964, 1974–1983, Format Films and Hanna-Barbera.
The Beverly Hills Oil Field is a large and currently active oil field underneath part of the US cities of Beverly Hills, California, and portions of the adjacent city of Los Angeles. Discovered in 1900, and with a cumulative production of over 150 million barrels of oil, it ranks 39th by size among California's oil fields, and is unusual for being a large, continuously productive field in an entirely urban setting. All drilling, pumping, and processing operations for the 97 currently active wells are done from within four large "drilling islands", visible on Pico and Olympic boulevards as large windowless buildings, from which wells slant diagonally into different parts of the producing formations, directly underneath the multimillion-dollar residences and commercial structures of one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. Annual production from the field was 1.09 million barrels in 2006, 966,000 barrels in 2007, and 874,000 in 2008, and the field retains approximately 11 million barrels of oil in reserve, as estimated by the California Department of Conservation. The largest operators as of 2009 were independent oil companies Plains Exploration & Production and BreitBurn Energy.
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Neil Steere McCarthy was an American corporate and film industry lawyer, and a Thoroughbred racehorse owner-breeder.
Burton Edmond Green was an American oilman and real estate developer. He was critical in the development of Beverly Hills, California, and he is credited with naming it Beverly Hills after Beverly Farms in Massachusetts.
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The area welcomed a significant number of citizens and visitors, so Beverly Park and the other Kiddielands experienced popularity and success during their operating years.