Marilyn Monroe The Early Years: A Journey through The Orphanage

Marilyn Monroe, born as Norma Jeane Baker, had a turbulent childhood marked by a mother’s mental illness, foster homes, and orphanages. In December 1934, her mother, Gladys, suffered a severe emotional breakdown and was institutionalized. Consequently, eight-year-old Norma Jeane was sent to live with her mother’s close friend, Grace McKee, lovingly referred to as “Aunt Grace”.

Aunt Grace became a guardian figure for Norma Jeane, providing care and comfort for about a year. However, when Aunt Grace lost her job at Columbia Pictures, she found herself unable to support the young girl. Faced with no other choice, on September 13, 1935, she escorted Norma Jeane to the Los Angeles Orphans Home Society, then known as Hollygrove. This marked the beginning of Norma Jeane’s tumultuous journey through the foster care system, where she became the 3,463rd ward of the orphanage.

“This woman who put me in this orphanage was my mother’s best girlfriend. She had promised my mother that she would always take care of me. Her name was Grace Goddard. She was my aunt Grace. I learned sometime later that the day Aunt Grace took me to the orphanage she cried the whole morning. Aunt Grace came to visit me often, but when a little girl feels lonely and that nobody cares or wants her, it’s just something that she can never forget as long as she lives.

Norma Jeane’s stay at Hollygrove was intermittent over almost two years, during which she was transferred between nine different foster homes. Finally, on June 12, 1937, she left the orphanage permanently and returned to Aunt Grace’s care. She stayed there for about a year before being relocated to another family member.

While some biographies suggest that Marilyn exaggerated her troubled upbringing to enhance her Hollywood persona, the fact remains that any time spent in an orphanage during one’s childhood is indeed a challenging experience. Despite this tumultuous start, Marilyn managed to rise above her circumstances, demonstrating remarkable resilience and determination.

According to popular accounts, the window of Marilyn’s dormitory in the orphanage, which she shared with 26 other girls, offered a view of the former RKO Studio’s water tower. This sight allegedly fueled her dreams of becoming a world-renowned movie star. One of her most memorable quotes goes: “I used to think as I looked at the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.'”

The Los Angeles Orphans Home Society, renamed Hollygrove Home For Children in 1957, was established in 1880 in Chinatown, making it L.A.’s first orphanage. It relocated to Hollywood a few years later and served as a refuge for displaced children for over 125 years. In 2006, Hollygrove transitioned from a residential center for abandoned children to an “EMQ Families First Agency”, providing outpatient treatment for young victims of child abuse.

Today, the property stands significantly altered from what it looked like in the 1930s when Marilyn resided there. However, the old Hollygrove sign remains intact, with “Norma Jeane” spelled out on the bottom part of the Hollygrove letters, a nostalgic reminder of its famous inhabitant. During her time at Hollygrove, Marilyn attended Vine Street Elementary School, located just a few blocks away from the former orphanage.

Stalk It: Hollygrove, Marilyn Monroe’s former orphanage, is located at 815 North El Centro Avenue in Hollywood.  Vine Street Elementary School is located at 955 North Vine Street, also in Hollywood.