My stalking backlog is ridiculously large, so much so that I often forget places I’ve been. Case in point? The Petitfils-Boos Residence. (With a name like that, you’d think I would have remembered it, right?) I stalked the historic Windsor Square mansion way back in November 2012 (which is crazy to me – looking at the photos, I feel as if it was just yesterday!) after it made a brief appearance on Dexter and then it promptly slipped my mind. Though I was reminded of the place when I saw it pop up on Feud: Bette and Joan in 2017, I somehow quickly forgot about it again. It was not until I spotted the pad in an episode of the new Netflix miniseries Hollywood recently that I decided it was finally time for a post! So here goes!
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The Italian Renaissance Revival-style mansion was designed in 1922 by architect Charles F. Plummer for Walter M. Petitfils, one of the confectioners behind the gorgeous Dutch Chocolate Shop in downtown L.A. Walter didn’t stay on the premises long – in 1927 he sold the pad to his friends Henry and Cassie Boos, hence its hyphenated, hard-to-pronounce name.
Not only is the property absolutely HUGE – between the main house and the guest house, it measures a total of 10,120 square feet! – but it looks even bigger than it actually is thanks to its V-shape and diagonal placement on a corner lot.
The 2-story estate boasts an 8,594-square-foot main house with 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, walnut paneling, stained glass windows, archways, murals hand-painted by Dutch artist Anthony Heinsbergen, and a Gladding, McBean terra cotta tile façade. There’s also a 1,526-square-foot guest house, a 0.74-acre lot, a pool, a hot tub, a BBQ, multiple gardens, a loggia, a courtyard, and a detached 2-car garage. You can check out some interior images of it here.
Every square inch of the place is stunning – even the front gate! With those dripping topiaries, the residence looks straight out of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Not only is the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but the Los Angeles Conservancy procured an easement on the entire frontage, assuring no alterations can ever be made to the exterior.
Considering the manse’s Old Hollywood feel, its appearance on the 1940s-set Hollywood must have been a no-brainer for producers. The residence pops up in the episode titled “Hooray for Hollywood: Part 2” as the supposed former Beverly Hills home of Bugsy Siegel – “Might even be the house he got shot in!” according to Ernie West (Dylan McDermott) – where Jack Castello (David Corenswet) escorts Avis Amberg (Patti LuPone) to an estate sale of the slain gangster’s belongings.
While there Avis bids on – and wins – a soup tureen that she says Bugsy borrowed from her and never returned.
Hollywood is hardly the Petitfils-Boos Residence’s first rodeo.
As I mentioned, the estate was featured on Dexter in 2012. In the Season 7 episode titled “Are You . . . ?”, it masks as the Ukrainian mansion of Isaak Sirko (Ray Stevenson).
In 2014, it portrayed the home of Governor Paul Lane (Joel Gretsch) and his family in the Season 1 episode of Scorpion titled ‘”Single Point of Failure.”
Jennifer Aniston posed there for People magazine’s 2016 World’s Most Beautiful issue. You can see some video clips of the shoot here.
Jennifer Garner also posed at the mansion in 2016 for the March issue of Vanity Fair. You can watch a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot here.
The Petitfils-Boos Residence played Hedda Hopper’s (Judy Davis) home – or as she calls it, “the house that fear built” – in the pilot episode of Feud: Bette and Joan, which aired in 2017.
And it popped up several times as the dwelling of Police Commission President Bradley Walker (John Getz) during the fourth season of Bosch, which aired in 2018.
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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: The Petitfils-Boos Residence, aka Bugsy Siegel’s house from the “Hooray for Hollywood: Part 2” episode of Hollywood, is located at 545 South Plymouth Boulevard in Windsor Square.
Wow, such a great insight! Was hoping you would post about some ‘Hollywood’ sites. Thanks! Hope to see more!
FYI, the 1986 video short “Kidsongs: Good Night, Sleep Tight” made use of the resident’s interior (staircase) during the song “Tomorrow Is A Dream Away” (skip to 5:27) https://m.youtube.com/watchv=vwwiy2eoubo
I just watched the video. That’s actually Donna’s house from Beverly Hills, 90210. As you can see in this post, the staircase is the same one Kelly and Steve kissed on in the Season 1 episode “BOYB.”