David, you asked, "Wasn't Tillinghast the GCA who quit the business and opened an antique shop in the Los Angeles area?"
Tilly didn't quit the golf architecture business until after he suffered a severe and almost life-ending heart attack in May of 1940. Tresulted in his leaving his partnership with bell and moving back to Toledo where he died two years later.
Tilly had settled in California after completing his course consultation tour for the PGA of America in August 1937. Since earlier in the year he had been planning on making this move and actually had several things that he was involved with.
First was his new partnership with Bell. They worked on approxiamtely 7-9 courses as the business still hadn't recovered from the heart of the Depression. The second thing that he was involved with was the Pacific Coast Golfer Magazine. His long-time friend Scotty Chisholm actually ended up being the deciding factor when he made the decision to move by offering him a job with the magazine.
The third thing that Tilly became involved with was also inspired by Scotty Chisholm. Because of a need for funds, He decided to sell copies of some of the photographs that he had taken over the years. Unknown to most today, Tilly was an award-winning photographer winning cash prizes for his work as far back as the early 1890's. Among the photo copies that he sold was the one that many are aware of today, the photograph of Old Tom Morris standing in the door of his shop that he took in 1898.
During the trip west, the glass negative for this broke in the lower tight hand corner. Scotty Chisholm's expertise saved the day as he was able to repair it so that it could still be used for reproductions. The way to tell when a copy was reproduced is by the area in the lower right hand corner. For years the new men's club at St. Andrews believed that the photo they have of Old Tom in their clubhouse from Tilly was made very early, but the lower right hand quarter shows that it isn't.
He wrote about this venture saying, "“The original negative was slightly broken when my belongings were moved to California from the East, but fortunately its damage was confined to the edges and that very capable master photographer, Scott Chisholm, with rare skill, completely restored it and has made some magnificent enlargements for framing. One of these would make a particularly appropriate addition to the walls of any clubhouse or golfer’s den and I suggest you get in touch with ‘Scotty,’ care of this office, if you would like to have one. As they say over the radio, ‘Do it today!’”
Finally, the last venture that Tilly was involved with was the "Tillinghast Authentic Antiques" shop that he opened with family friend Nedda Harrigan (the song is actually named such after her family) and hus wife Lillian. It was located at 205 1/2 South Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills (this is part of Rodeo Drive today I am told).
He wrote about this saying, “Then again I managed to get myself messed up with two ladies, who have kept me busier than a one-legged paper hanger. It happens that my good wife and Nedda Harrigan (of cinema fame) decided that they would open an Antique Shop in Beverly Hills (this plug must be inserted to preserve peace in the family) and I was elected to assist. I am a wreck but the repository for authentic antiques of rare merit is robust and healthy. What chance has golf got against such guys as Chippendale, Sheraton, Hepplewhite, Stiegle and such?”
When he wrote that he was a wreck he didn't realize just how "wrecked" he was for the next year he suffered his heart attack.