The Cecil B. DeMille Estate

This past April, the Grim Cheaper’s best friend came to town for a visit and, while he was here, he invited us over for dinner at his parents’ house.  Well, believe you me, because his parents live in the gated Los Feliz celebrity enclave known as Laughlin Park, there was very little arm-twisting involved in getting us there.  In fact, we jumped at the chance.  Well, I did.  Per usual, the GC could have cared less about our famous environs. 

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Just a few of the luminaries who have called Laughlin Park home at one time or another include W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, Dermot Mulroney, Catherine Keener, Natalie Portman, Portia de Rossi, Jenna Elfman, The Dave Matthews Band’s LeRoi Moore, Carole Lombard, Lily Pons, The Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, Casey Affleck, director David Fincher, Lauren Graham, Ellen Pompeo, and musician Chick Corea.  The most well-known former resident, though, has to be legendary director Cecil B. DeMille.  Heck, Laughlin Park’s main street, De Mille Drive, was even named after him and his one-time house, a massive Italianate Revival-style manse, is arguably one of the most famous in all of L.A.  So I, of course, ran right out to stalk the place while we were there.

Laughlin Park, or “The Park” as residents have dubbed it, was originally founded in the late 1890s by real estate developers Homer Laughlin and Wilbur Cummings.  And while the site was originally intended to boast forty separate “villas”, some plots of land have since been subdivided and the community is now comprised of sixty dwellings, each with its own architectural significance.  The 7,472-square-foot, 15-room “DeMille estate”, as it has come to be known, was constructed in 1914 on the largest and highest of The Park’s lots.  The home originally belonged to Laughlin himself, but DeMille purchased it in 1916, two years after it was built, for $27,893.  DeMille continued to live on the premises for the next four decades, until his death in 1959.  His estate then held onto the residence through 1988.

 

Legend has it that DeMille filmed The King of Kings’ Garden of Gethsemane scene, in which Jesus, the Christ (H.B. Warner) prayed with his disciples after The Last Supper, on the grounds of his estate in 1927, although that would be extremely difficult to verify.

In 2008, the DeMille estate was put on the market for a cool $26.25 million, but it does not appear that the property was ever sold.  You can view some fabulous photographs of the place from its real estate listing on fave website The Real Estalker here.

 

Sadly, as you can see below, not much of the DeMille estate is visible from the street.  Even though it is located inside of a gated community, the house itself is also gated.  Boo!

But, as I have said before, that is why God created aerial images.  As you can see below, not only is the DeMille estate gargantuan, but it is also pretty darn spectacular.  What I wouldn’t give to tour the inside of that thing!

On a side-note – the GC’s best friend’s parents both work in the “biz” and have won countless awards, including a whopping NINE Emmys, which I always tend to freak out over when I am there.  And this time I just had to snap a picture with one.  (Notice all of the other awards displayed on the shelves in the background behind me.  So incredibly cool!)  Emmys are apparently not the most sturdy of awards, though – as you can see, the rings of the atom in the one I am holding below have all fallen off.  LOL  Now, that’s what I call a high-class problem. 

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 

Stalk It: The former Cecil B. DeMille estate is located at 2000 De Mille Drive in the Laughlin Park neighborhood of Los Feliz.  The property is, unfortunately, located inside of a gated community and is not accessible to the public, so you can only stalk this one vicariously.