8424 GRANDVIEW DRIVE

Whisky-a-Go-Go owner searching for bull terriers

Elmer Valentine, owner of three Sunset Boulevard nightclubs--the Whisky-a-Go-Go, the Roxy and Rainbow Room -- was visiting friends when the fire erupted Sunday. His first thoughts were for his three bull terriers. He rushed home in his chartreuse Mercedes, but couldn't get through police roadblocks. A day later he toured the neighborhood with two weepy teen-age girls but gruffly shooed away reporters. Finally, reached by at phone at his Whisky-a-Go-Go office, Valentin explained that he had found only one dog and was heartsick. "There is no way I can replace my house. Only ashes of it are left," the bachelor said. "I am making some plans to rebuild. But right now I'm worried about my dogs and trying to do everything I can to find them." Two of the missing bull terriers, Bo, and Annie, may have escaped through a dog door when the fire started. A third terrier, Maggie May, wandered over to the wasted Ernst Mayer residence, where Mayer's friends caught and returned her. Valentine said the missing dogs both were wearing yellow identification tags around their necks at the time of the fire. He declined to discuss what was destroyed in the fire. A friend described his one-story stucco house as "lavish." Certainly it was clear from the wreckage that the house had been spacious: there was a rectangular outdoor swimming pool, a stone fireplace and a wooden deck that skirted the hill. In the garage area was the burned frame of a Porsche 924. On the front stoop, four wine bottles -- their labels and corks charred but intact -- stood next to a ceramic turtle sitting on a rock. "He's really upset about the dogs," explained a receptionist at Whisky-a-Go-GO. "We hoped the dogs would come to the club since they are familiar with the place but so far they haven't showed up. Everything is just so upsetting."

8446 GRANDVIEW DRIVE

Two little girls fearful, still frightened after ordeal

G. Greely Wells Jr. animator and free-lance artist, was doing some yard work when he spotted the fire several hundred feet down the hill. Misjudging the speed of the wind, he took time out to run back inside and call the Fire Department. Meanwhile, the fire sped to the edge of his property and he heard a friend shout for him to gather up his two daughters, Beth, 8, and Meg, 6, who were inside watching television, and get out. The Wells family piled into neighbor Dan Weiss' car and drove into the inky smoke that now clouded their way out of the canyon. "A neighbor (Weiss) drove through the blaze and got them safely out of the area," Wells' ex-wife, Cathleen, explained. "The girls told me the fire was all around the car as they drove through the hills. The kids said that if (Weiss) didn't know his way out of the area, they could have been badly injured. The fire was spreading that fast." Later, she said, the girls complained of having fears about the fire, which she tried to quiet by telling them they could use it for "show and tell" at school. The Wells' redwood home burned to the ground. Not only did he lose his house, but he also lost all of his paintings. "As it was, one of the kids left the house barefoot and all Greeley had on was red underwear and some flip-flops." Mrs. Wells said. "There was no time to grab anything, they just got out as fast as they could." The family cat, Biscuit, was also lost in the blaze, but may have escaped through a door opening. All attempts to locate the blotchy orange, black and white cat so far have failed. Mrs. Wells said her ex-husband was staying with a friend and planned to rebuild.