Realtor George Elliott Read (1890-1957) opened the eighty acre Beverly Crest tract here in 1923. Readcrest Drive was labeled “Read Terrace” on his tract map while, most curiously, present-day Lindacrest Drive was labeled “Nazimova Drive” – an unmistakable tribute to Russian actress Alla Nazimova (1879-1945), whose estate at Sunset and Crescent Heights would become the legendary “Garden of Alla” apartments. Yet I found no ties between Nazimova and Read. Perhaps he was just a fan? An American born in Valparaiso, Chile to clothing exporter parents, Read spent a couple of years in Manhattan before settling in Beverly Hills by 1922. One of his real estate firms, “Read & Wright”, took its jokey name from his second wife Leonie, née Wright; her middle name Claire also must have inspired Claircrest Drive. Despite these tokens of affection, however, the couple divorced in 1937. Read married one Dorothy Ford the following year.
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