Elliott Place Goes Hollywood

Watching children hone their detective skills in treasure hunts is fun. For the person lucky enough to actually FIND the prize, the joy is like witnessing a hundred volts of electricity go through a 50-volt socket. They're blown away.

As adults, sometimes we bump into people who give us the same feeling of discovery. But instead of the treasure being "20 steps beyond the weeping maiden (willow tree) to the boundary of the dragon (neighbor's fence)," this gem is found behind the second door of the first building, eighteen steps down the hall at Elliott Place Retirement Apartments. His name is John Nooner.

Spending most of his time attending to his hospitalized wife of 55 years, he paused for two hours in his home recently to reminisce about his life and his soul mate, Ida.
From his roots in Kansas City, a graduate of Lincoln High School in 1940, he still finds it hard to believe that for most of his life he and his wife listed a Hollywood address. But before that destiny could occur, he had to grow up.

" In my household, my brothers and I knew three things for sure when it came to my mother," said Nooner. "If you cussed, lied or stole something you would get whooped. What was worse was that neighbors had permission to whoop you too if you messed up. Then when you got home you got it again.

"Under the eagle eyes of his mother and other mothers, Nooner grew into a young man of honesty, courtesy and wisdom, and he suspects that his later success in life goes back to the kindness, yet strictness of his childhood home.
" After graduation, dabbling in a job at an eyeglass store in downtown Kansas City, I decided to join the Union Pacific railroad," said Nooner. "As a waiter, I made good money and got to see the country - especially the Ogden-Los Angeles-St. Louis route many times in 12 years."

But as things go, even a bachelor has to come home to visit his mother now and then. That's when all the tumblers lined up and the vault opened to the most beautiful woman who, with his mother's nudging, would become his wife.

Living in Salt Lake City with a new bride, his 7-day trips cross country soon became the main topic of conversation for the two. Marriage without a spouse was not going to work, so Nooner quit his railroad career.

" Ida found a job as a caretaker for the children of a wealthy Salt Lake City businessman and got me on as a butler of the household," said Nooner. "We worked as a team until the family moved east. Knowing we needed to find a new employer, Ida visited a relative in Los Angeles and asked the host's housekeeper if she knew of anyone who needed domestic help. She referred us to actor, Joseph Cotton."

With Ida's references of Wolfe Brothers in Kansas City, Cotton without hesitation hired the duo. They lived with the household for nine years in the Pacific Palisades, five-story home called Tramonto.

Under the eagle eyes of his mother and other mothers, Nooner grew into a young man of honesty, courtesy and wisdom, and he suspects that his later success in life goes back to the kindness, yet strictness of his childhood home.
" After graduation, dabbling in a job at an eyeglass store in downtown Kansas City, I decided to join the Union Pacific railroad," said Nooner. "As a waiter, I made good money and got to see the country - especially the Ogden-Los Angeles-St. Louis route many times in 12 years."

But as things go, even a bachelor has to come home to visit his mother now and then. That's when all the tumblers lined up and the vault opened to the most beautiful woman who, with his mother's nudging, would become his wife.
Living in Salt Lake City with a new bride, his 7-day trips cross country soon became the main topic of conversation for the two. Marriage without a spouse was not going to work, so Nooner quit his railroad career.

" Ida found a job as a caretaker for the children of a wealthy Salt Lake City businessman and got me on as a butler of the household," said Nooner. "We worked as a team until the family moved east. Knowing we needed to find a new employer, Ida visited a relative in Los Angeles and asked the host's housekeeper if she knew of anyone who needed domestic help. She referred us to actor, Joseph Cotton."

With Ida's references of Wolfe Brothers in Kansas City, Cotton without hesitation hired the duo. They lived with the household for nine years in the Pacific Palisades, five-story home called Tramonto.

You don't necessarily have to dive or dig for treasure. You can sometimes just stumble upon it, in this case 18 steps down a hallway, behind the second door of the first building of Elliott Place Retirement Apartments. His name is John Nooner.