Hollywood Whitley came to California in 1893; the next year, 1894, he established the HJ Whitley Jewelry Store in Los Angeles. He orchestrated the opening of the Ocean View Tract and construction of a
bank on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland. Whitely built the
Hollywood Hotel on the same Hollywood and Highland corner, with George W. Hoover as builder. Construction was completed in February 1903. The neighborhood of
Whitley Heights in the
Hollywood Hills originated as a residential housing development financed by Whitley. Whitley, along with
Charles E. Toberman, has been called "The Father of
Hollywood." The first reference to Whitley by that title was in 1905.
Whitley Gardens, California Whitley's last development was never finished. He bought thousands of acres and started the town of
Whitley Gardens. It is about east of
Paso Robles, California. Around 1924, as
Los Angeles Times columnist
Lee Shippey put it: Whitley became a Paso Robles enthusiast, after the waters had given him new strength. He bought 48,000 acres of ranch lands there and dreams of putting through one more great development project. He can't understand how fine fertile land with water on it, on a state highway and within reach of ocean winds can still be bought for around $50 an acre. It was said that Whitley had amassed "a private fortune running into the millions" but "most of this wealth dwindled in [this] one unfortunate investment at Paso Robles."
Henry E. Huntington extended his
Pacific Electric Railway (Red Cars) through the Valley to
Owensmouth (now Canoga Park). The Suburban Home Company laid out plans for roads and the towns of Van Nuys, Reseda (Marian) and Canoga Park (Owensmouth). The rural areas were annexed into the city of Los Angeles in 1915. From about 1920 until his death, his company Whiltley Oil and Refining engaged in oil drilling in California. ==Death==