430 South Bundy Drive and the Pomer family
By Keldine Hull
Houses tell stories.
The house at 430 South Bundy Drive in Brentwood was built in 1916 and originally owned by architect and developer Sidney Hawks Woodruff, most notably known for his successful Dana Point and Hollywoodland developments during the 1920s. Years later, the Ullman’s took over as owners of the house. Jane Ullman was a talented sculptor and her husband, Harold Percy Ullman, was a world-renowned artist representative.
In 1955, Drs. Sidney Pomer and Kato Pomer became the new owners of the house. Dr. Sidney Pomer built a career dedicated to helping victims of torture, and his wife, Dr. Kato Pomer, who had escaped a Nazi invasion in Holland during WWII, was a well-known and highly respected pediatrician and psychiatrist.
If it wasn’t for an untimely pit stop, the story at 430 South Bundy Drive would have gone a lot differently. “My mother liked this house,” said Karen Pomer, who currently owns the house. “The rooms were big and there was a lot of storage. She thought that that would really be more practical. My parents came, and they met the Ullmans. The Ullman’s had promised the house to someone else, so they had told this other family if you come here by 4 pm we’ll give you the house. My parents waited. The people stopped to get ice cream or something for their kids, so they were there after four. It was too late, and my parents had gotten the house.”
It was a different time, a by-gone era that echoes in the houses that remain.
“The Ullman’s really liked my parents,” Karen continued. “The Ullman’s had sold off the back half of their property. These lots used to be huge. When the Ullman’s bought it, it was a full acre and it was all the way back to Saltair from Bundy. They gave my parents a great deal because they didn’t need the money as much. They had just made a bunch of money from selling the back of the house. The people were different back then. My parents bought the house on a GI loan which meant nothing down, and I think they paid a mortgage of $400 a month. They paid $39,500 for the house.”
Karen recently placed her home on the market and is hoping someone who respects and cares for its past will continue its story. In the meantime, she’s reached out to other people who have ties to the house she grew up in. “The grandchildren of the third family that lived here came to visit. They drove all the way down from the Palo Alto area, and they wanted to see their grandparents house because I told them that I didn’t know how much longer I was going to have it,” said Karen. “They came in and they said they felt so at home. They said it was the weirdest feeling. I felt connected to them right away.”
And just like the other families who lived there, a part of their story is forever tied to the Brentwood home. Karen continued, “Their father grew up in this house, and they didn’t know their father well because he died very young. And it turns out, their mother also came here because her parents were friends of the family. When their grandfather saw that this little girl had never had a birthday party, they gave her and 8th birthday party here, including pony rides because they had horses on the property. And then she went on to marry the son of the owners of the house, their dad.”
On July 14, Karen hosted a luncheon at her home, inviting members of the community to talk about the importance of saving homes in Brentwood. Ted Ullman, whose parents originally sold the house to the Pomers, got to sit in his old room which coincidentally used to be Karen’s room as a young girl. Ted lived in the house from 1939 to 1948, when there were only 2 houses on the street and a water tower. It was his first time back in over 50 years. “I visited the Pomers sometime after my parents had moved, probably late 1960’s,” said Ted. “It hasn’t changed. It’s amazing how similar it is.”
Ted reminisced about a chance encounter with Brian Donlevy, an Oscar-nominated actor from the 1930s and 1940s, who lived nearby. “We had a large black Labrador that went up to Donlevy’s house, picked up his newspaper and stole it! He brought it back to us. Sometime in the morning, this guy shows up saying, ‘Where’s my newspaper?’ That was the only contact with him.”
Karen, who is working towards getting her home historically designated, talked about the future of Brentwood and the loss of important homes in the area that helped to tell the story of Brentwood. “This gathering isn’t just about my house. It’s about what Brentwood wants to look like in the future. Do we really want to forget our history or bulldoze our history? The charm of the neighborhood is really being lost, and you lose the reason why people want to come here.”
