Recently, the 1940 U.S. Census became available for free online, and I decided to build my research skills by seeking information regarding Dietrich and her household. Currently, the census is available as JPG image files and organized by enumeration district, which was the area covered by a person called an enumerator who went door-to-door to collect and record census data. Thus, scouring data can be tedious, but the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project will hopefully make the task more user-friendly. With indexing software from Family Search, project participants can transcribe data, which will aid others who prefer performing term searches to skimming images or who may not be able to read the handwritten content.
After using the powerful tools developed by Steve Morse, I determined that Dietrich--whom I'm certain lived in the Beverly Hills Hotel during 1940--would be listed on the census pages of enumeration district (ED) 19-36. Browsing these pages, I learned that movie actors did participate in the census, spotting the names of William Powell (1113 Tower Rd.), Fred Astaire (1121 Summit Dr.), and Blonde Venus and Angel co-star Herbert Marshall (1707 Tropical Ave.). Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone associated with the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is located at 9641 Sunset Blvd. In fact, the addresses listed for Sunset Blvd. didn't even correspond to the enumeration district as I understood it. For example, Richard Barthelmess, who made one of his last acting appearances in The Spoilers, is listed with a misspelled surname at 501 Sunset Blvd. Nowadays, there's no such address anywhere near Beverly Hills. In fact, I supposed that address on Sunset Blvd. would have been somewhere in downtown Los Angeles, on what's now Cesar E. Chavez Ave. Then, I realized that addresses on Sunset Blvd. must have been different in the past, which led me to check the other Beverly Hills enumeration districts. Do any of you L.A. historians out there have some knowledge about this?
Indeed, Beverly Hills Hotel guest names appeared on the pages of another enumeration district, 19-43, at 1210 Sunset Blvd, but I failed to spot either the last name Dietrich or Sieber. Maybe Dietrich didn't live in the Beverly Hills Hotel during the spring of 1940, maybe she didn't participate, or maybe the enumerator didn't collect her data. Who knows? At this time, we'll have to settle for other Dietrich data--such as her U.S. citizenship application, her FBI file, and her social security number--unless one of you finds her in the 1940 census.
Somewhat related to this topic, I searched for Josef von Sternberg's Neutra-designed home in the San Fernando Valley at 10000 Tampa Ave. and found his name somewhat excised from the page, even though his Japanese staff's data remained. What's the meaning of that?
Edited to add a map of the locations I mentioned in this blog entry. If you're interested, I can start a collaborative map so that all of us can mark spots related to Dietrich, e.g., her homes, movie sets, concert venues, etc. Let me know!
View 1940 U.S. Census--Where's Dietrich? in a larger map
UPDATE: I found Dietrich in the census!
After using the powerful tools developed by Steve Morse, I determined that Dietrich--whom I'm certain lived in the Beverly Hills Hotel during 1940--would be listed on the census pages of enumeration district (ED) 19-36. Browsing these pages, I learned that movie actors did participate in the census, spotting the names of William Powell (1113 Tower Rd.), Fred Astaire (1121 Summit Dr.), and Blonde Venus and Angel co-star Herbert Marshall (1707 Tropical Ave.). Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone associated with the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is located at 9641 Sunset Blvd. In fact, the addresses listed for Sunset Blvd. didn't even correspond to the enumeration district as I understood it. For example, Richard Barthelmess, who made one of his last acting appearances in The Spoilers, is listed with a misspelled surname at 501 Sunset Blvd. Nowadays, there's no such address anywhere near Beverly Hills. In fact, I supposed that address on Sunset Blvd. would have been somewhere in downtown Los Angeles, on what's now Cesar E. Chavez Ave. Then, I realized that addresses on Sunset Blvd. must have been different in the past, which led me to check the other Beverly Hills enumeration districts. Do any of you L.A. historians out there have some knowledge about this?
Indeed, Beverly Hills Hotel guest names appeared on the pages of another enumeration district, 19-43, at 1210 Sunset Blvd, but I failed to spot either the last name Dietrich or Sieber. Maybe Dietrich didn't live in the Beverly Hills Hotel during the spring of 1940, maybe she didn't participate, or maybe the enumerator didn't collect her data. Who knows? At this time, we'll have to settle for other Dietrich data--such as her U.S. citizenship application, her FBI file, and her social security number--unless one of you finds her in the 1940 census.
Somewhat related to this topic, I searched for Josef von Sternberg's Neutra-designed home in the San Fernando Valley at 10000 Tampa Ave. and found his name somewhat excised from the page, even though his Japanese staff's data remained. What's the meaning of that?
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| Josef von Sternberg in the 1940 U.S. Census |
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| You may need to click on this close-up to better read the census page. |
Edited to add a map of the locations I mentioned in this blog entry. If you're interested, I can start a collaborative map so that all of us can mark spots related to Dietrich, e.g., her homes, movie sets, concert venues, etc. Let me know!
View 1940 U.S. Census--Where's Dietrich? in a larger map
UPDATE: I found Dietrich in the census!
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