A photograph is shaped more by the "'Self-Talk'" of the person taking the picture than by what's in front of them. HJ Whitley never left his home without being dress for success. His image and self-confidence was his calling card. He wanted others to think positively about him.
HJ Whitley was a remarkable man that was not imprisoned by his circumstances, his setbacks, his history or his mistakes, or even staggering defeats along the way. He was freed by his choices. By looking for the positive in every opportunity and by rejecting the belief that every down in life leads us only further downward, he gave himself the greatest power possible; the ability to move up despite the setbacks.
Janss Investment Company gave a banquet to honor HJ Whitley for his management of the development of the San Fernando Valley. In 1909 the Suburban Homes Company, a syndicate led by HJ Whitley, general manager of the Board of Control, along with Harry Chandler, H. G. Otis, M. H. Sherman and O. F. Brandt purchased 48,000 acres of the Farming and Milling Company for $2,500,000. On April 2, 1915 H. J. Whitley purchased the Suburban Home Company so that he would have complete control for finishing the development.
The master builder of Hollywood is Mr. HJ Whitley, who has been likened to Aladdin and his lamp, for wherever he has appeared towns have sprung up as if by magic. There is a string of them from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains along the Northern Pacific and along the Rock Island in Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. He began operations in California in 1894.