Architect Harry Hayden Whitely, born in 1890 in Bakersfield, California, studied drafting and worked as the chief draftsman for Twentieth Century Fox in 1920 after serving in World War I. Whiteley graduated in 1924 from the University of Southern California with a degree in engineering. He designed elegant residences in Beverly Hills before World War II, working among the architects Paul Revere Williams, Frank Taylor, and Adrian Wilson.

Thalia Dondero was born January 23, 1921 in Greeley, Colorado. She lived in Colorado and Wyoming before her family settled in Bakersfield, California. Dondero moved to Las Vegas in 1943 when her employer took a job with Basic Magnesium, Inc., and asked that she follow him. She married Harvey Dondero, who taught English and journalism for local high schools, in 1946.