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Joan Crawford Geography
This
page features Joan's homes and schools and is divided into 3 sections below:
Youth
Los
Angeles
New
York City
See each section for links to interior photos, if available.
To
see the surrounding area, click
on a map link below addresses to go to the corresponding MapQuest page.
For other Joan locations, see also the separate Movie Sets and Vacation Spots pages.
South Cherry Street. San Antonio.
From Joan Crawford, by Bob Thomas:
The
family lived, according to Joan, on South Cherry Street
in 'a drab little
rented house on the wrong side of the tracks.'
Click here to see 9 more photos of South Cherry Street.
804 D Avenue, Lawton, Oklahoma.
According
to the "Jazz Baby" bio, Joan lived here with her mother, brother, and stepfather Henry Cassin
at
some point during the 1910 to 1916 time period. (Photo by
John March, Jazz Baby.)
910 D Avenue, Lawton, Oklahoma.
According
to the 1910 Comanche County census, the Cassin family lived here in that year,
at least.
(Thanks to Gregg, a Lawton
native, for sending in these two recent photos of the 910 D Avenue house.)
Scarritt Elementary School, Lexington and Askew streets, Kansas City, Missouri.
Map of Askew Ave & Lexington Ave
Joan attended school here as a third-grader beginning approximately in 1916;
after a
few months,
she transferred to St. Agnes Academy.
403 E. 9th Street, Kansas City.
In this picture, the name of the laundry is different, but in 1918 or so and for a few years afterwards, it was known as "City Gate Laundry." Joan and her mother and brother worked here and lived on the premises. The New Midland Hotel, where the family had originally lived (with stepfather Henry Cassin) upon arriving in Kansas City in 1916 or so, was located across the street.
St. Agnes Academy, 128 N. Hardesty at Scarritt, Kansas City.
Joan
attended this Catholic school as a scholarship/working student for 3 years (4th
through 6th grades),
from approximately 1916 to 1919. This building no longer stands. (Photo:
Jazz Baby.)
Budd Park, 199 N. Hardesty, Kansas City.
Where Joan would hang out and sometimes pick up boys (and where she first met friend Ray Sterling as he played football).
Click here to see three more shots of Budd Park, taken by KC resident and Joan researcher John Linville in November 2006.
Rockingham Academy, 4343 Campbell, Kansas City.
Joan attended this 14-room boarding school as a scholarship/working student
for 3 years, from approximately 1919 to 1922.
Click here
to see 8 more Rockingham shots, all by John Linville.
Joan's stepfather Harry Hough's home, 4407 Genessee St.
Joan's
mother moved in with Hough in 1919. Joan would occasionally
come home from
the Rockingham Academy to stay here...when Hough wasn't putting the moves on
her.
Click here to see 2 more Hough-home shots, both by John Linville of KC.
Westport High School and Northeast High School, Kansas City.
Joan attended her first dance at Westport High in 1920 and first saw her future close friend Ray Sterling in a play at Northeast High in 1921 (info according to Jazz Baby; photos courtesy of John Linville).
Main Hall, Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri.
Joan
lived at Main Hall during her one semester at Stephens College in the fall of
1922.
The building no longer stands. (Photo: Jazz Baby.)
Hampton building, 303 Bellefontaine, Kansas City.
This
6-unit building in northeast KC was home of the Cook Sisters,
who briefly
gave Joan a place to stay here in the Spring of 1923 after she was kicked
out of her stepfather Hough's house.
(Photo courtesy of John Linville, November 2006.)
Hotel Washington.
Map of [3900-3901] Van Buren Pl
After arriving in Los Angeles in January 1925, Joan was quartered at this hotel.
It was located on Van Buren Place,
4 blocks from the MGM studio on Washington
Avenue.
513 N. Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills.
Joan lived here from mid-1927 until 1929. (MGM loaned her the $28,000
purchase price; Joan bought the house from
Herbert Howe, a columnist and former
lover of silent star Ramon Novarro.)
The house was built in 1925, was 3950 square
feet, and sat on a quarter-acre lot. It had 5 bedrooms and 5 baths.
Click
here
to see one interior photo of the dining room when Joan lived there, as well
as
six photos of the house when it was put on the market for $3.5 million in
February 2005.
426 N. Bristol Avenue, Brentwood.
Joan lived here from 1929 until her 1955 marriage to Pepsi executive Al
Steele. The house was 8103 square feet.
Click here
to go to the December '31 "New Movie" magazine article that has
architectural drawings of the house as well as many more interior shots.
And
here
to see a 1944 article in "Motion Picture" with links to 10 photos.
And
here
to see 8 photos from a 1948 "Modern Screen" article.
And here
for 13 interior photos from a 1950 "Screen Guide" article.
Click
here
to see 2 exterior pictures
of renovations being done at the address as of May '04 and February '05,
as well as
5 interior renovation shots from 2006, and 2 exterior photos
of the final results, shot by Joel W. Marsh in December '06.
Also
on this page is an account by a fan who in July 2005 snuck onto the property
while
it was being renovated and had a look around!
8008 West Norton Avenue.
This apartment was used only as an
office for Joan's secretary Betty Barker. Joan never lived here during her visits to
Los Angeles after husband Steele's
death, though she did use this return address on her stationery during this
time.
Click
here
to see two more photos of this West Hollywood apartment (all courtesy of Ged).
Joan's
actual Los Angeles address post-Steele through the early 1970s was in a building
owned by Loretta Young:
8313 Fountain Avenue, Apt. D, which was only a few blocks
away from Norton Ave. Map of 8313 Fountain Ave
It was a two-bedroom, two-floor condo, for which Joan
paid @ $400 per month.
If you have any photos of the Fountain Avenue address,
please e-mail
me.
36 Sutton Place (at 55th Street).
This
was husband Al Steele's "bachelor pad," where he and Joan stayed while
waiting
for their East 70th Street apartment (below) to be renovated.
It's a
17-story red brick building, built in 1949 and converted to a co-op in 1962.
There are 101 apartments in the building.
2 East 70th Street, at Fifth Avenue.
Joan
lived in this 8-room (renovated from 18-room) corner penthouse apartment overlooking
Central Park from 1957 to 1967.
Click here
to see interior shots and to read Joan's description of the apartment from My
Way of Life.
(Photo courtesy of Bryan Johnson.)
Imperial House. 150 East 69th Street, between Lexington Avenue and 3rd Avenue.
The
Imperial House was built in 1960 on the former site of the New York Foundling
Hospital.
It has 30 floors and 378 apartments. It was converted to a co-op in
1971.
Joan
lived in the 9-room apartment 22-G from 1967 to September 1973. The apartment
cost @ $500,000.
Click here
to see interior shots and to read Joan's description from My Way of Life.
From
1973 to her death in May 1977, she lived in the 5-room apartment 22-H, which
cost $85,000.
Click here
to see interior shots and to read the accompanying Architectural Digest
text,
as well as Joan's reaction to the 1976 magazine article.
NOTE:
It's
been incorrectly reported on the findadeath.com site that this building
has been torn down.
I personally visited the location in the Fall of
2004. The building was standing then and,
according to even more recent
personal accounts, is still standing today.
Addendum: Ferncliff Mausoleum
Joan
is interred with her husband Alfred Steele at Ferncliff (Unit 8, Alcove E, Crypt 42),
which is located in Hartsdale, New York, about 40 miles north of New York
City.
Click here
to see March 23, 2006, photos of Joan's crypt, the mausoleum, and environs;
here
to see May 10, 2007, photos; and here
to see March 23, 2008, photos.