The Foothills
Exotic, exciting Hollywood Hills Prominent community activist Joni Smith and her husband Clark, celebrating their 46th wedding anniversary this year, have lived in their French Regency-style aerie at the top of the Hollywood Hills since they were married. Their dramatic view stretches from the Griffith Observatory to the ocean.
Their home was originally Clark’s
bachelor pad. After serving in the Korean War, he returned to his native Los Angeles and bought the property from a philandering husband who had built the ranch-style house in 1959 as a love nest for his paramour. When the owner’s wife discovered his dalliance, the busted Lothario was forced to sell his romantic hideaway. It soon became party central for Clark, his friends and a gaggle of movie starlets.
Joni recalls attending a bash there with
a date after graduating from USC and thinking, “Gosh, what someone could do with this house. I didn’t realize it would end up being me.” Now, with their three children grown, Joni isn’t home much anymore. An irrepressible volunteer, she has chaired the first Los Angeles Library Foundation Literary Awards and the 100th anniversary of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, along with countless charity events.
The Clarks are known for their annual
trips to exotic destinations. “We’ve been all over the world, but I would never want to live anywhere but here,” Joni says. “If I wake up in the middle of the night, I open my eyes and look out at the lights of Los Angeles. Then I turn over and immediately go back to sleep. After all these years, this place is still exotic and exciting, and at night the view is my sedative. This is home.”