Hollywood’s Glittering Golden Past Remains in Palos Verdes as Lloyd Wright’s Jester House in Portuguese Bend Finds a New Owner

By Dana Graham

Anyone familiar with the glory days of Hollywood films (1930’s thru 1960’s) knows the name Cecil B DeMille -- King of Kings, Samson and Delilah, El Cid, Ten Commandments – it’s a long list. If you are really into it, you are familiar with the name Ralph Jester, who designed the costumes and sets for nearly all those blockbuster DeMille “bible movies”. It was Ralph Jester who was largely responsible for making them the grand spectacles that they were.

***With DeMille working on Solomon and Sheba***

Here are some of the costumes he designed for C B DeMille Productions.

The pictures of the costumes/actresses were given to me personally by Ralph Jester's son.

In the late 1930’s he arranged with Frank Lloyd Wright to design a house in Palos Verdes overlooking Abalone Cove.

***The house Frank Lloyd Wright originally designed, now located outside of Phoenix***

World War 2 got in the way, but after the War, with Frank Lloyd Wright’s career winding down, Mr Jester contracted with Wright’s son, Lloyd Wright Jr, to design a different house on the same site. In fact, Narcissa Vanderlip had originally asked Ralph Jester to design Wayfarer’s Chapel, but he demurred on the grounds that he was too involved with Cecil B DeMille, and suggested that she call his friend Lloyd Wright, Jr, one of the leading lights of mid-20th Century organic architecture. It was now 1949 and both Wayfarer’s Chapel and the Jester house were under construction within a stone’s throw of each other.

***The house under construction 11-12-49***

The result (in both cases) was a striking Lloyd Wright Jr design with angles and unique architectural elements, set on a ¾ acre lot, with an almost unimaginably enchanting view of Abalone Cove and Catalina Island. The house was a showplace of old Hollywood glamour, with examples of Jester’s work and awards on display.

Guests were sometimes treated to a personal tour of the home by Ralph’s beautiful and gracious wife Lois. To those who grew up in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood in the ’50’s and ‘60’s, the Jester house was an iconic landmark, with Lois providing hors d’oeuvres (snacks doesn’t cover it) to the neighborhood kids.

Over the years, Ralph Jester lent his talents to many local projects, the most memorable to me being the conversion of the Haggarty Mansion in Malaga Cove into the Neighborhood Church. Not only were the Jesters financially indispensable in the purchase of the property, but Ralph Jester designed the original remodel of the entry hall and living room into the narthex and sanctuary. Much of his original work is still there.

When the time came that Lois Jester passed away, her two sons decided to sell the house. You can imagine my excitement when I got a call from one of the Jesters’ sons asking me to interview to put the house up for sale, followed by an even greater thrill at being selected. The sons, Leven and Lee, were concerned about who such a significant property would go to – someone who would preserve and treasure this irreplaceable landmark. Many offers were received, as you might imagine, with the lucky buyer being a local couple who had admired it for decades.