Toluca Lake Neighbors Recall the ‘Brightest Star in the Valley’

Mardi Rustam recalled the time he looked up from his desk at the Tolucan Times and saw Bob Hope tap dancing for the staff in front of the mirrored storefront window on Riverside Drive.

Dan Weisburd recalled the evening he peeked over the wall that separates his property from Hope’s and saw, to his amazement, Sugar Ray Robinson sparring with the entertainer in a makeshift ring, the main event at a fund-raiser.

Director Garry Marshall, who for years lived across the street from the entertainer, said he once turned his bedroom over to Secret Service agents for surveillance purposes during one of the many presidential visits to Hope’s 4.2-acre estate.

“He was the biggest and brightest star in the Valley,” said City Councilman Tom LaBonge, in whose district Hope resided. “He was a great neighbor.”

Joggers, dog walkers, strollers and Toluca Lake celebrities reminisced about their famous neighbor Monday, as helicopters buzzed overhead and police officers turned away nonresidents trying to pay their respects to a beloved neighborhood icon.

The Los Angeles Police Department, the Hope family and several city agencies made plans months ago to keep order in the upscale neighborhood after Hope’s death, according to Capt. Ronald E. Marbrey, the commanding officer of the LAPD’s North Hollywood Patrol Division. Those plans included barricading the streets around Hope’s home and directing mourners with flowers and other mementos to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in North Hollywood.

Neighbors, meanwhile, recalled the occasions on which Hope waved to them from his golf cart as he made his way to Lakeside Golf Club nearby, while shop owners remembered his frequent visits to the little stores that make up Toluca Lake Village in the eastern San Fernando Valley.

“Every Saturday I’d see him driving his gold Chrysler down the street, and he’d drop in for a ham sandwich,” said Marty Dolfuss, whose family has owned the local HoneyBaked Ham Co. shop for 25 years. “He’ll be missed by a lot of people here.”

That includes the hundreds of children who dropped by his house every Halloween. Marshall recalled that in the early 1960s, Hope’s assistant handed out dollar coins to trick-or-treaters. As the crowds grew, the treats switched to chocolate bars and autographed pictures of the star. One year, he gave out kazoos shaped like his famous ski-jump nose.

“He could have closed his gate and ignored the holiday,” said Candy Waldron, a longtime neighbor. “But every year he’d give out hundreds of toys.”

Hope was best remembered by neighbors as a major fund-raiser for Republican candidates, especially presidential hopefuls, who over the years dropped by the entertainer’s house by helicopter and motorcade.

Waldron recalled a particular event at which President Gerald Ford and other political luminaries sat down to lunch in Hope’s backyard. Frank Moll, another neighbor, remembered another time when President Richard Nixon arrived by helicopter for a round of golf with Hope.

“Bob Hope put us on the map,” said Shirley Duenckel, president of the Toluca Lake Chamber of Commerce. “He and [wife] Dolores raised money for the local hospital and church. They also showed up at store openings in town here.”

Despite the twinge of sadness that many of Hope’s neighbors felt the day after his passing, most remarked that what they loved most about having him in their midst was his legacy of laughter.

“He was one of the men who made you laugh, and that’s hard to do,” Marshall said. “As the world gets less funny, we’ll miss him more.”