Nicole Brown Simpson’s Gretna Green House

You’d think I would be sick of all things O.J. by now, what with the recent airing of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and the many stalkings I’ve done of the various locations associated with it over the past few months (you can read those posts here, here, here, here, and here).  But when my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, mentioned a couple of weeks back that a new five-part documentary about the famous fallen footballer and the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, would be airing on ESPN, I immediately set my DVR to record it.  O.J.: Made in America did not disappoint.  The Grim Cheaper and I were glued to the TV for its duration.  After the airing of “Part Two,” Owen suggested I blog about Nicole’s former rental located at 325 South Gretna Green Way in Brentwood, which was featured prominently in the episode.  Shockingly, not only had I never stalked the residence, but I had never so much as even looked at it via Google Street View.  In fact, up until watching “Part Two,” I had been under the assumption that the place was Tudor in style.  I was shocked to see that it is actually Spanish!  I added the home to my To-Stalk List and was floored this past Monday when, in a random twist of fate, the GC and I happened to find ourselves in Brentwood passing Gretna Green.  So we headed right on over to finally see the house in person.

Nicole moved into the four-bedroom, five-bath, two-story, 3,424-square-foot pad upon separating from O.J. in January 1992 and remained there through January 1994, at which point she relocated to a Mediterranean-style condo at 875 South Bundy Drive, where she would be killed a short six months later.

In the spring of 1993, Brian “Kato” Kaelin, aka the world’s most famous houseguest, moved into the Gretna Green property.  (His unusual nickname is a childhood moniker apparently derived from the character played by Bruce Lee on The Green Hornet.)  Kato first met Nicole in December 1992 in Aspen, Colorado, where Simpson was vacationing with future The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Faye Resnick.  The two apparently hit it off and the following month Nicole invited Kato to a party at her Gretna Green residence.  During the soiree, he noticed the guest house on the property and asked if he could lease it.  Nicole agreed.  Kato paid a monthly rate of $500, which was offset by any time he spent babysitting the Simpson children.  When Nicole moved out of the home in January 1994 and into the condo on Bundy, Kato was set to move with her and live in one of the downstairs bedrooms.  O.J. apparently scoffed at the idea and instead invited Kato to stay in one of the guest rooms at his mansion on Rockingham, rent free. Kato accepted, thereby sealing his fate of being forever entwined with one of the most famous murder cases in history.

The gate leading to the backyard, where the guest house is located, can be seen on the very left hand side of the photo below.

Aerial views of the Gretna Green home are pictured below.  Kato’s guest house, which is located on the southern side of the property, is denoted with pink arrows.

It was from the residence that Nicole’s infamous October 25th, 1993 calls to 911 were made.  On that evening at approximately 10 p.m., O.J. showed up at the Gretna Green house unexpected, apparently upset over Nicole’s relationship with Mezzaluna restaurant manager Keith Zlomsowitch, and kicked in the back door to gain entry, at which point Nicole called the police.  After talking to the dispatcher, she hung up briefly and then called back.

That call was chronicled in the O.J.: Made in America episode titled “Part Two.”

Several areas of the residence were shown in the episode, including the backyard, which provided us with a great view of Kato’s guest house.

Though no filming took place inside of the home, we were given a glimpse of the interior through the back windows.

I have to admit that I inwardly groaned when the camera ominously panned in on a large set of knives in the kitchen.

It was also at the Gretna Green home that, according to O.J.’s testimony from the civil trial, Simpson watched Nicole through a living room window while she was being intimate with Zlomsowitch.

Per Zillow, the 1937 residence, which sits on 0.17 acres of land, last sold in January 2000 for $630,000.  I think that number may be slightly off, though, being that when the pad hit the market five years prior in 1995, it was listed at $1.275 million.  During that sale, it was acknowledged that Nicole had made the infamous 911 calls from the property.  According to the real estate agent, this was done “not as a come-on, but in an effort to disclose information so as not to take the buyer by surprise later on.”

You can check out some photos of what the house looked like shortly after the murders here, here, and here.

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Big THANK YOU to Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for suggesting I stalk this location. 

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Nicole Brown Simpson’s former rental is located at 325 South Gretna Green Way in Brentwood.

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