Marilyn Monroe locations – IAMNOTASTALKER

December 6, 2013December 15, 2013

Marilyn Monroe’s Childhood Home

One location that had been on my To-Stalk list for what seemed like ages was the Hawthorne-area home where my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe spent the first eight-and-a-half years of her life. Fellow stalker Lavonna had texted me the address years ago, but because I so rarely find myself in that neck of the woods, I was never able to make it out there. Until a couple of weeks ago, that is, when I realized that the residence was not too far from a hotel near LAX where the Grim Cheaper and I happened to be staying. So I dragged him right on over to stalk it (and to a Four Christmases locale that I will be writing about in late December).

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Gladys Mortensen was single, living in Hollywood and working as a film cutter at Consolidated Film Industries when she became pregnant with Marilyn in 1925. In December of that year, shortly before she was to give birth, she headed to Hawthorne in the hopes that she could move in with her mother, Della, for a brief time before and after the delivery. Della had other plans, though – she was about to sail to Borneo to make amends with her estranged husband, Charles Grainger, who was working in the oil fields there. Arrangements were instead made for Gladys to stay across the street at the home of Wayne and Ida Bolender, a deeply religious couple who served as foster parents to several children.

The Bolenders had moved into the 3-bedroom, 1-bath, 1,376-square-foot clapboard residence pictured below in 1919. At the time, the home, which was built in 1913, boasted 4 four acres of land (it now sits on a 0.20-acre parcel), where the family raised chickens and goats and grew vegetables. The property’s original address was 459 East Rhode Island Street, but during the re-districting of the area in the ‘30s and ‘40s it was changed to 4201 West 134th Street. You can see a photograph of the house from the time that the Bolenders owned it here. It is absolutely REMARKABLE how little of it has changed over the past ninety-plus years! You can also check out a picture of a newborn Marilyn in front of the dwelling here, in which a “459” address placard is visible in the background. So incredibly cool!

Gladys gave birth on June 1st, 1926 in the charity ward of Los Angeles General Hospital. She named her new daughter Norma Jeane Mortensen. After twelve days, the two returned to the Bolender’s. Gladys spent about three weeks at the Hawthorne house with Marilyn before heading back to Hollywood and her job at Consolidated in July. She left her baby behind, paying Wayne and Ida $5 a week to care for her. Contrary to what has been reported, Gladys did not abandon Marilyn entirely, but came to visit her on a weekly basis, often spending the night.

When Gladys’ son from her first marriage, Jackie, from whom she was estranged, died at the age of 14 in August 1933, she became compelled to regain custody of Norma Jeane. She took on a second job and by October 1934, had saved enough money to purchase a six-thousand-dollar house (at 6812 Arbol Drive in Hollywood – sadly, it’s no longer standing). That same month, eight-year-old Marilyn left the Bolenders and moved in with her mother. She didn’t stay long, though. Gladys had a nervous breakdown in late December and was committed to an asylum, at which point Norma Jeane was sent to live with one of her mother’s good friends, Grace McKee. She didn’t stay there long, though, either. By 1935, Gladys could no longer afford to care for Marilyn and sent her to the Los Angeles Orphan’s Home (now Hollygrove Home for Children, which I blogged about here). The girl who would become the world’s most famous blonde spent the remaining years of her childhood being bounced around from foster parents to family members. Then, at the tender age of 16, she married her first husband, James Dougherty, and moved into a guest house in Sherman Oaks, which also, unfortunately, no longer stands. You can read my blog post on that location here.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Marilyn Monroe’s childhood home is located at 4201 West 134th Street in Hawthorne.

July 25, 2013December 6, 2013

Bing Crosby’s Palm Desert House – Where JFK Trysted with Marilyn Monroe

Last month, shortly before I headed off to Switzerland, my dad loaned me the book Killing Kennedy, which he had just finished reading. Because there was a chapter devoted to my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe, he thought I might enjoy it. And enjoy it, I did. I could hardly put it down! The chapter about Marilyn focused on the starlet’s first – and most likely only – tryst with the president, which, according to the book, took place the weekend of March 24th, 1962 at the “Spanish-style home of show business legend Bing Crosby” in Palm Springs. Well, believe you me, once I read the words “Marilyn Monroe” and “Palm Springs”, I became hell-bent on tracking down and stalking that house. Unfortunately though, it proved to be quite the difficult find.

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It seems that every book and website that mentions Marilyn’s encounter with JFK sets it at a different Palm Springs-area home of Bing Crosby’s (the crooner owned several desert houses over the course of his lifetime). Most claims state that the tryst took place at Bing’s Thunderbird Country Club residence, which is located at 70375 Calico Road in Rancho Mirage. A December 2012 NBC News article about the then for-sale property even stated, “If the Crosby angle isn’t enough of a celebrity real estate draw, one of the wings of the home is named the Kennedy wing for the presidential visitor that reportedly stayed for a weekend. ‘Robert Kennedy said that Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy stayed a weekend here, so our party named the wing after him,’ [real estate agent Carl] Mitrak explained.” After looking at aerial views of the home, though, and seeing that it was not at all Spanish in style, I became certain that, despite Mitrak’s claims, it was not the right place.

So I started digging further and came across a message board on the Crosby Fan World website on which Crosby biographer Malcolm MacFarlane commented that the Thunderbird Country Club house was, indeed, NOT the spot where Marilyn spent the weekend with JFK. Unfortunately though, no further information was given, so I was still uncertain as to where their encounter actually did take place. And, after stalking Bing’s first desert home at 1011 East El Alameda in Palm Springs (pictured below) and seeing how close it was to the street and neighboring properties and therefore difficult to secure, I quickly ruled it out, as well.

Then fate stepped in. This past Saturday, I happened to mention my quest to the Grim Cheaper’s boss and, amazingly enough, she had the answer for me! She informed me that Marilyn and JFK trysted at Bing Crosby’s Palm Desert estate in Ironwood Country Club. And, as luck would have it, she owns a home inside of the community, which is gated, and granted me access that very afternoon. As you can imagine, I was beyond floored! Unfortunately though, not much of the place, outside of its front gate, is visible from the street.

When I returned home later that day, I did further research and was able to verify that the Ironwood house was indeed the correct spot. As you can see below, the sprawling residence is definitely Spanish in style. You can check out a postcard of what the property looked like back in Bing’s day here.

In the biography Marilyn Monroe: The Final Years, author Keith Badman states “The fact is that Marilyn was intimate with John F. Kennedy only once, during the evening of Saturday 24 March 1962, when both he and the screen actress were guests at singer Bing Crosby’s three-bedroom house in Palm Springs and the adjoining, remote conclave home belonging to songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen and writer Bill Morrow. The houses, situated in a tiny community 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles, stood against a mountain in Palm Desert at a place called Silver Spur and were situated up a single dirt thoroughfare named Van Heusen Road. They had been a favourite of former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his men during his tenure.”

To further verify Badman’s claims, according to Peter Lawford (as quoted in the Sinatra biography His Way by Kitty Kelley), while JFK and Marilyn stayed at Bing’s pad, the secret service stayed next door at Jimmy Van Heusen’s abode. That house is located at 49300 Della Robbia Lane and is denoted with a pink arrow below. You can check out a 1960s-era photograph of both Bing and Van Heusen’s properties here.

The Silver Spur area was later absorbed by Ironwood Country Club. A 2012 MyDesert.com article states, “Bing Crosby’s estate that was initially part of neighboring Silver Spur Ranch is now part of Ironwood.”

Today, the property, which was recently remodeled and is currently available as a vacation rental, boasts a three-bedroom main house, two guest casitas with two bedrooms each, 2.5 acres of land, a saltwater pool, a Jacuzzi, a fully-lit tennis court, mountain views, and original Bing Crosby decor.

My favorite aspect of the property, though, has the be the sign outside which reads “The Crosby Estate.” LOVE IT!

I also love the fact that Ironwood embraced its celebrity history by naming two of the community’s streets “JFK Trail” and “Crosby Lane.” So incredibly cool!

And I was extremely excited to discover that the residence is also a filming location! In Season 1, Episode 7 of the reality series Hollywood Exes, the women spend the weekend at The Crosby Estate and discuss the fact that JFK and MM trysted there. Hollywood Exes is terrible by the way! I feel significantly dumber just from having scanned through it to make screen captures for this post!

The interior of the house was also shown in the episode.

As was the pool area.

And the property’s front gates.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bing Crosby’s former home, where Marilyn Monroe is said to have trysted with President Kennedy, is located at 49400 Della Robbia Lane in Palm Desert. The estate is located inside of Ironwood Country Club, a gated community, and is only accessible to residents and guests of residents, unfortunately. You can check out the property’s vacation rental website – with fabulous interior photographs – here.

May 23, 2013June 30, 2020

The Colony Palms Hotel

Upon first moving to the Desert back in January, the Grim Cheaper’s boss, who also resides in the Coachella Valley, told me about a small Palm Springs-area inn named the Colony Palms Hotel that she thought I might be interested in stalking due to its vast Hollywood history. For whatever reason, though, I completely forgot about the place until the GC and I happened to drive by it a couple of weeks ago. So, since we were right there and since it was almost 5 o’clock, I suggested we pop in for a quick cocktail. It turned out to be quite the fortuitous stop, too, because while sitting at the wood-paneled bar, I did some cyber-stalking of the property on my trusty iPhone and just about died when I came across this June 2012 Los Angeles Times article that stated that my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe used to hang out there!

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The Colony Palms Hotel was originally founded in 1936 by Al Wertheimer, a Detroit mobster who was once a member of the Motor City’s notorious Purple Gang. At the time, the property was known as the Colonial House and, while billing itself as a hotel, under Wertheimer’s tutelage the site was actually a private club that featured an underground gambling den, a bar and a brothel that were reached via a secret staircase hidden behind a pantry door. The upscale establishment quickly became popular with the Hollywood set and such stars as Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and Humphrey Bogart were known to frolic there.

In 1951, the property was sold to Robert Howard (whose father owned the legendary racehorse Seabiscuit) and his wife, Academy Award-nominated actress Andrea Leeds. The couple hired architect E. Stewart Williams and designer/artist O. E. L. Graves to remodel the site and it was re-opened a year later under the name Howard Manor. The Spanish Colonial-style hotel remained popular with the Hollywood elite and such stars as Kirk Douglas, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Diahann Carroll, Frank Sinatra, Howard Hughes, Ronald Reagan, David Janssen, Dean Martin, and my girl Marilyn were all known to check in from time to time. You can see a photograph of what the place looked like during the Howard Manor days here.

The hotel changed hands several times from the late 1950s through 1979 (it was even at one time owned in part by boxer Jack Dempsey), at which point it was purchased by fitness guru Sheila Cluff, who had previously founded The Oaks at Ojai. Sheila transformed the site into a health resort and renamed it The Palms at Palm Springs.

In 2004, The Palms was purchased by a commercial investor named Steven Ohren who immediately enlisted designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard to renovate the place, at a cost of $15 million. Of his creation, which took three years to complete, Bullard said in a December 2007 Palm Springs Life article, “I wanted to make it young and fresh with these mad designs — sort of Chateau Marmont in the desert.” Thankfully though, the Chateau’s horribly snobby attitude (that place is my least favorite hotel in L.A.) was left at the door. The same Palm Springs Life article stated, “After tolerating the standard withering gaze of ultra-hip hotel staff around the world, he [Ohren] promises an attitude-free environment.” And he delivered! I am very happy to report that the Colony Palms is most-definitely attitude-free.

Sadly, Ohren, who lived onsite at the Colony, passed away in 2008. The hotel was subsequently sold in July 2012 to developer Michael Rosenfeld, who, thankfully, has managed to maintain the place’s charming, attitude-free environment. Today, the 57-room, three-acre property boasts a pool, a gym, a hot tub, a Moroccan-themed spa, and several French-inspired gardens.

The Colony also features a poolside fine-dining establishment named the Purple Palm, a nod to Al Wertheimer’s one-time membership in the Purple Gang.

As you can see below, the Purple Palm’s patio is nothing short of heavenly! I could have spent all day there!

Despite the Colony Palms’ fairly large size, the property feels intimate and quaint with numerous tucked-away spaces. And while I would absolutely LOVE to stay there for a weekend, being that rates start in the $250-range (during the off-season summer months, no less!), I know the GC will be having none of that.

Bonus – the Colony Palms is also a filming location! Kristin Cavallari checked into the hotel with her glam squad while in town for an Uncommon James photo shoot in the Season 2 episode of Very Cavallari titled “Shake Ya Palm Palms,” which aired in 2019.

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! Smile

Stalk It: The Colony Palms Hotel is located at 572 North Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. You can visit the Colony’s official website here.

February 26, 2013December 6, 2013

Louis B. Mayer’s Former House – The Birthplace of the Academy Awards

Last week, the Grim Cheaper emailed me a fabulous Vanity Fair article about the genesis of the most iconic night in Hollywood – the Academy Awards. According to the blurb, in January 1927, legendary producer Louis B. Mayer was enjoying some idle conversation with friends Conrad Nagel and Fred Niblo at his beachfront home when the idea to form an elite club of fellow movie-industry moguls struck him. The article states, “Their flight of fancy—and what some might call anti-union maneuvering—swiftly took wing. The following week three dozen studio stalwarts attended a brainstorming dinner at L.A.’s Ambassador Hotel. By May, Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks, and eight others were addressing several hundred in black-tie and ball gowns at Hollywood’s Biltmore Hotel. Fairbanks presented the big picture, Mayer hit them up for $100 a head, and, lo and behold, they had forged an academy (Nagel’s term) of cinema’s elite. Little did L. B. Mayer suspect that two years later his simple notion would spawn a splendid offshoot: the first Academy Awards dinner dance, held on May 16, 1929, in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel.” Well, as you can imagine, once I read those words, I was immediately itching to track down the house where it all began. As it turns out, the property is one I know quite well and had read about in countless books over the years – the infamous Peter Lawford beach house in Santa Monica where my girl Marilyn Monroe is rumored to have trysted with both John F. Kennedy and his brother, Bobby, back in the 1960s. So I dragged the GC right on out to stalk the place this past weekend while in L.A.

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Because there are numerous conflicting reports about the residence’s history online, I contacted my buddy E.J., from the Movieland Directory website , to give me the lowdown. According to him, the 6,416-square-foot abode was commissioned in 1926 by Mayer, who had purchased an empty ocean-side tract of land known as Rancho San Vicente the year prior. He employed MGM art director Cedric Gibbons to design the Mediterranean-style dwelling and utilized studio electricians, artisans and carpenters to construct it. The home was completed in an astonishing six weeks time, by April 18, 1926, with builders literally working around the clock to finish. Floodlights were brought in so that the laborers could continue to ply away through the night and, according to E.J., Mayer’s children would often head down to the beach to watch the spectacle.

The property, which cost $26,000 to construct, featured a gatekeeper’s apartment, 13 onyx bathrooms, wood-beamed ceilings, wrought-iron balconies, foot-thick exterior walls to keep the interior cool during the summer, a pool, and a projection room with a movie screen that rose from the floor. Legend has it that the first screening of Gone with the Wind took place in that projection room.

Oh, and did I mention the views?

Louis B. Mayer moved out of the home upon separating from his wife, Margaret, in 1944. She later took over ownership of the property, the front of which is pictured below, through the divorce settlement. In 1956, the residence was purchased by British-born actor Peter Lawford and his wife, Patricia Kennedy, for $95,000. JFK would often visit his sister and brother-in-law at the beach house, which became a sort of den of ill repute with Lawford throwing parties and lining up call-girls, starlets and models for the then Senator and later President to rendezvous with. One of those starlets was, of course, Marilyn Monroe. Jack stayed on the premises, which at the time was located on a private, gated road, so often during his presidency that the place became known as the Western White House. And it was there that Marilyn was set to have dinner on the final night of her life, August 4th, 1962, but she wound up declining the invite at the last minute. Much speculation has surrounded the happenings at the house on that particular evening, the most truthful of which, in my opinion, is chronicled in the fabulous book The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe.

In 1974, while working on the Pussy Cats album, John Lennon, Ringo Star and Paul McCartney all lived at the beach house. In fact, the last known photograph of John and Paul was taken on the premises. According to E.J., Warren Beatty also owned the property at one point in time and it was once rented by Led Zeppelin, as well. The historic home was last sold in October 1978 for $862,000.

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: Louis B. Mayer’s former home, aka the birthplace of the Academy Awards, is located at 625 Palisades Beach Road (or Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica. The beach side of the house can easily be viewed by parking in the lot located near 480 Pacific Coast Highway and walking just a few hundred feet south.

February 11, 2013August 10, 2023

Rainbow Bar and Grill – the Site of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe’s First Date

One locale that I had long heard mentioned repeatedly in the various books and articles I had read about my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe over the years was the Sunset Strip’s Rainbow Bar and Grill – where Joe DiMaggio took the starlet for their very first date. At the time, the establishment was known as Villa Nova, an exclusive Italian eatery that, sadly, shuttered its doors in the late 1960s and moved south to Newport Beach. Because the historic West Hollywood restaurant had changed hands and names over four decades ago, I had always assumed it bared little resemblance to the spot where Joe and Marilyn had once dined. So imagine my surprise when, while doing some online research, I discovered that the locale still looks pretty much exactly the same today (well, the exterior, at least) as it did when it was first established in the 1920s! I immediately added the spot to my To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there shortly thereafter on a Saturday afternoon to grab lunch. Unfortunately, Rainbow Bar and Grill only serves lunch on weekdays, so I had to put my stalking plans on hold. I did manage to get back out there, though, this past October, when my good friends, fellow stalkers Lavonna and Kim, were in town visiting from Ohio. And I have to say that the place was well-worth the wait.

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Stepping into the historic restaurant, with its wood-paneled walls and red leather booths, is like stepping back in time, but in a good way. (The place was all decked out for Halloween when we stalked it and does not usually have ghosts and cobwebs adorning the walls and ceiling. Winking smile )

The historic Sunset Strip eatery was originally founded as the Mermaid Club Café in the late 1920s. (You can check out some really cool 1930s-era video footage in which the restaurant appears here.) In 1933, the establishment was taken over by director Vincente Minnelli and renamed Villa Nova. Due to the strict “no press” policy, the site became a haven for the Hollywood elite. Just a few of the luminaries who dined there include Bing Crosby, Charlie Chaplin, John Wayne, and Dean Martin. Minnelli even proposed to future wife Judy Garland at the restaurant one night over dinner. And, as I mentioned above, in March 1952 (or 1953, depending on which website or book one happens to be reading), Joe DiMaggio met Marilyn Monroe there while on a blind date.

As the story goes, Joe became smitten with Marilyn after seeing pictures from a promotional photo shoot she did with the Chicago White Sox – a photo shoot which I just found out took place at Brookside Park in Pasadena! (And yes, I’m planning to stalk it!) The baseball icon asked a mutual friend named David March to set the two of them up shortly thereafter. Marilyn agreed, but only if David would chaperone. The double date took place on a Saturday night and Marilyn, as usual, showed up about two hours late. And while the legendary blonde did not expect to like the sports star, the two hit it off – over a plate of Villa Nova’s Scalloppine of Veal (according to the book Dishing Hollywood) while sitting at Table 14 (according to Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here). Apparently, Marilyn was quite amused – and surprised -at the many patrons who approached their table that evening – not to meet or catch a glimpse of her, but to shake the hand of the world famous Joltin’ Joe.

I had read on several websites that a plaque commemorating the rendezvous was on display at Rainbow Bar & Grill, but I could not find said plaque anywhere, nor did any of the servers know of its existence. Lavonna did manage to spot a gold plate with Marilyn on it embedded in the sidewalk out in front of the Rainbow, though.

In the late 1960s, as the Sunset Strip became less and less ritzy, Villa Nova moved south to the exclusive Newport Beach area and the eatery’s original site was sold to music producer Lou Adler and restaurateurs Elmer Valentine and Mario Maglieri. (While the GC and I were in Newport this past December, we stopped by Villa Nova’s OC locale to do some stalking, but it was, sadly, closed at the time, so I was only able to get photos of the exterior. I do definitely plan on going back, though.)

Valentine, Adler and Maglieri founded a new restaurant named Rainbow Bar and Grill at the old Villa Nova site and feted its opening by hosting a party on April 16, 1972 in honor of singer Elton John. It was not long before the establishment became a hangout for actors and rock-n-rollers alike and such stars as Jack Nicholson, Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Mick Jagger, Sylvester Stallone, Robin Williams, Robert De Niro, Nicolas Cage, and John Lennon have all dined there at one time or another. The Beatles even once partied at Over the Rainbow, the Grill’s second-floor private VIP area. And John Belushi supposedly ate his last meal (lentil soup at Table 16) at the Rainbow before passing away from a drug overdose on March 5th, 1982.

Besides being a celebrity hangout, Rainbow Bar and Grill is also a filming location! The restaurant has been featured in two Guns N’ Roses music videos, including the video for their 1992 hit “November Rain”.

You can watch that video by clicking below.

The exterior of the bar also briefly appeared in the group’s video for their 1993 song “Estranged.”

You can watch the “Estranged” video by clicking below.

The Rainbow Room was also featured in the Season 2 episode of Californication titled “The Great Ashby” as the spot where record producer Lew Ashby (Callum Keith Rennie) took Hank Moody (David Duchovny) for a drink after the two were released from jail.

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.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for taking all of the exterior photographs of Rainbow Bar and Grill that appear in this post! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Rainbow Bar and Grill is located at 9015 West Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit the eatery’s website here. Villa Nova Restaurant is located at 3131 West Coast Highway in Newport Beach. You can visit the Villa Nova website here.

May 31, 2012December 6, 2013

The Sand Acre Estate – Where Marilyn Monroe is Rumored to Have Vacationed

A few weeks ago, while doing research on Seward Johnson’s “Forever Marilyn” statue, which I blogged about yesterday, I came across a press release posted on the Visit Palm Springs website and just about passed out over the mention of a desert-area MM location that I had never before heard of! The press release stated, “Marilyn Monroe has many legendary ties to Palm Springs. To name a few, she was photographed and “discovered” by Johnny Hyde from the William Morris Agency at Charlie Farrell’s Racquet Club. She was also rumored to have frequented a Movie Colony estate with Joe DiMaggio, currently known as the Sand Acre Estate, and owned a 1950’s bungalow-style house in Las Palmas.” While I had stalked and blogged about both Charlie Farrell’s Racquet Club and Marilyn’s Las Palmas home, I had somehow never before even heard of the Sand Acre Estate! So I immediately added the place to my To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there this past Friday afternoon while visiting my parents in the desert.

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When we pulled up to the Sand Acre Estate, which is located in Palm Springs’ Movie Colony neighborhood (LOVE that name!), I was shocked to discover the sheer enormity of the place! As you can see below, it is absolutely gargantuan! And I was even more shocked to discover that the manse is located directly across the street from Cary Grant’s former desert home, which I stalked back in July of last year. How in the heck had I not known about this place??

The Sand Acre Estate, which is currently a vacation rental and special events venue, is surrounded by a tall stucco wall that is topped by even taller hedges making the place extremely private and hidden from view. The stalking gods were definitely smiling down upon us that day, though, because the front gate happened to be standing wide open when we arrived, affording us a tiny peek at the site’s magnificent grounds.

The 3,434-square-foot Spanish-style dwelling, which was originally built in 1933 and recently underwent a year-long restoration, boasts 5 bedrooms, 6 baths, exposed beam ceilings, a media room, a large gourmet kitchen, a carriage suite complete with its own bedroom, a tennis court, a pool and Jacuzzi, numerous en-suite wood-burning fireplaces, a gym, and a 1.02-acre corner plot of land.

As you can see below, the property also boasts some breathtaking views of the San Jacinto Mountains. You can check out some fabulous interior photographs of the home here.

The rumors of Marilyn and Joe vacationing at the Sand Acre Estate are, sadly, just that – rumors. Because there is nothing concrete to prove that the couple ever set foot on the premises, Larry Rener, who manages the property, is quoted as saying, “We go with the rumor.” The tower-shaped area pictured below is the room where Marilyn and Joe are purported to have stayed during their frequent visits. And while I am not sure what the starlet’s link to the property was, if one ever even existed, it is definitely easy to picture her vacationing there, unwinding by the pool with her new husband while protected from the prying eyes of the ever-present and hounding media. Besides Marilyn, the Sand Acre Estate also has another Hollywood connection – Linda Gray, Donna Mills, and Morgan Fairchild once posed for a photo shoot there for the cover story of Palm Springs Life magazine’s January 2009 issue.

And on a very exciting side-note – fellow stalker Lavonna texted me on Friday afternoon to let me know that my fan question for Colin Egglesfield on Extra had finally aired! Whoo hoo!

As you can see below, I had quite a bit of fun watching the filming, especially when Colin showed us his AMAZE-BALLS Tom Cruise impersonation. Big THANK YOU to Lavonna for telling me about the episode and for making the screen captures that appear in this post.

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here. And you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Sand Acre Estate, where Marilyn Monroe is said to have vacationed with Joe DiMaggio, is located at 953 North Avenida Palmas in the Movie Colony neighborhood of Palm Springs. You can visit the property’s vacation rental website here. Cary Grant’s former desert home is located right across the street at 928 North Avenida Palmas.

May 30, 2012December 6, 2013

The “Forever Marilyn” Statue in Palm Springs

Back in December the Grim Cheaper’s boss, while on vacation in Chicago, spotted a huge statue of my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe towering above the Michigan Avenue skyline and texted me a picture of it. Well, as you can imagine, I just about lost my mind upon seeing the looming bronze effigy and told the GC that we had to get out to the Windy City as soon as possible to stalk it. As it turns out, though, Marilyn ended up coming to me! A few months after learning of the installation, which is named “Forever Marilyn”, fellow stalker Lavonna informed me that it was actually being relocated to the West Coast – to the corner of Tahquitz Canyon Way and Palm Canyon Drive in downtown Palm Springs to be exact! So I immediately called up my parents, who live in the Coachella Valley, and told them to keep me abreast of the bombshell’s status so that I could stalk it as soon it was installed, which, thankfully, did not take long. “Forever Marilyn” was finally unveiled last Thursday evening and I dragged the GC right on out to the desert to see it the very next day.

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“Forever Marilyn” was originally constructed in 1996 by American-realist sculptor Seward Johnson as part of his ICONS REVISTED series. The design was based upon the famous 1954 photograph of the starlet taken by Bruno Bernard, aka Bernard of Hollywood, during the filming of The Seven Year Itch’s iconic subway grate scene (the location of which I blogged about way back in June 2008). The statue did not make its debut until 15 years after its inception, though, when, on July 15th, 2011, it was unveiled as a temporary installation in the middle of Chicago’s Pioneer Court. Of the work, the now 82-year-old Seward states, “In this series, ICONS REVISTED, I am trying to discover what makes an image stay with us; become something more than its one moment in time. Marilyn has come to represent beauty, and the white dress blowing up around her is a type of teasing sensuality. There is something about her pose: the exuberance for life without inhibition, which is quintessentially American. It expresses an uninhibited sense of our own vibrancy.” Because The Seven Year Itch was the first MM movie that I ever saw, the image of the starlet trying to hold down her billowing dress has always been one that I’ve held extremely close to my heart. As photographer Mark Anderson asked in the October 2008 issue of Vanity Fair, “Who ever forgets the first time they saw Marilyn Monroe?” So true!

“Forever Marilyn”, which was constructed entirely out of bronze and stainless steel, measures 26 feet tall, 17 feet wide and weighs a whopping 34,300 pounds. It is owned by The Sculpture Foundation, Inc., an educational organization that provides public exhibitions and works of art to various communities around the globe.

Earlier this year, it was decided that the Coachella Valley would be “Forever Marilyn’s” next temporary stop and, on May 7th, a crew of six dedicated men began the dismantling process before the blonde bombshell embarked upon the long journey to her new home. (You can check out some fabulous photographs of her cross-country drive here.) Of the move, Seward said, “I am very pleased that Marilyn will be on view in Palm Springs. It was, after all, a location of her own choosing, and I assume she was drawn to the beauty and stillness of the landscape.”

As you can see here, the positioning of “Forever Marilyn” in relation to the skyscrapers of downtown Chicago was quite deceiving and made the statue appear to be much taller than it actually is. As the GC and I made our way down South Palm Canyon Drive towards the sculpture last Friday afternoon, I kept expecting to see it towering over the short one- and two-story buildings that make up Palm Springs. When we finally did come upon the icon, I was quite shocked as she is much shorter than her Chicago surroundings made her appear. Don’t get me wrong, “Forever Marilyn” is HUGE, just not as huge as I had originally anticipated.

“Forever Marilyn” is honestly one of the coolest works of art that I have ever seen in my entire life and I was literally pinching myself the whole time I was stalking it. I have a feeling that I will be making regular pilgrimages to see it when visiting my parents in the desert over the next year.

I am absolutely IN LOVE with the photograph below that the GC took of “Forever Marilyn”. I think it is can’t-take-my-eyes-off-it stunning and if we had any blank wall space left in our apartment, I would so have it blown up and framed.

I would be remiss in my blogging duties if I did not mention here that located directly across the street from “Forever Marilyn” is a statue of Lucille Ball that was designed in 1995 by the husband-and-wife sculpting team of Emmanuil and Janet Snitkovsky.

I actually stalked the statue, which is titled “Lucy Ricardo”, way back in May of last year for fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, whose mom is a HUGE Lucy fan, but I never got around to blogging about it.

While doing research for today’s post, I discovered that I had unknowingly stalked another of Seward Johnson’s statues while in San Diego back in 2008. The 25-foot-tall “Unconditional Surrender”, which is part of a 2005 series, recreates the infamous photograph of a sailor kissing a nurse in the middle of Times Square on August 14th, 1945 – the day that the end of World War II was announced. I saw the piece at Tuna Park Harbor, just outside of The Fish Market Seafood Restaurant, in downtown San Diego. It has since been relocated to New Jersey for restoration, but according to a May 28th, 2012 Los Angeles Times article, a replica of it is currently being created and will eventually be on permanent display at the seaside park.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: ‘Forever Marilyn’ is located at the northwest corner of South Palm Canyon Drive and East Tahquitz Canyon Way in downtown Palm Springs. The statue will be on display through June 2013. You can visit the “Forever Marilyn” Facebook page here. The “Lucy Ricardo” statue can be found directly across the street from Marilyn on the northeast corner of South Palm Canyon Drive and East Tahquitz Canyon Way, in front of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

May 1, 2012December 6, 2013

The Romanesque Villa Apartments – Marilyn Monroe’s Former Home

While doing research on the Harper House from Scream 3, which I blogged about in mid-April, I came across some information about an apartment complex – located on the very same street and designed by the very same architect – where my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe once lived. I was, of course, beyond ecstatic to learn about a previously-unknown Marilyn location and immediately added the building, which is named Romanesque Villa or Romanesque Villa Apartments, to my “To-Stalk” list. It was not until I dragged the Grim Cheaper out there just a few days later that I realized the complex is located directly across the street from Villa Primavera, the In a Lonely Place apartment building that I stalked last October. How I had been standing less than 20 feet away from Marilyn’s former home at the time without even realizing it is absolutely beyond me! The GC keeps saying that all of the blonde hair dye I use is starting to affect my brain and, in cases like this, I can’t really argue with him. On a side note – I am switching things up a bit today as the GC recently suggested that I post the descriptions of my photographs above the actual photographs themselves. And, even though he is almost never right , I thought I would try out his idea for a few days. Let me know what you think. And now, on with the post!

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The Romanesque Villa Apartments were originally constructed in 1928 and were commissioned by Michael and Isaac Mann. As I mentioned above, the garden courtyard complex was designed by none other than Leland Bryant, the very same architect who also gave us the Harper House and the Sunset Tower Hotel.

As you can see below, the architectural detailing of the Spanish Colonial Revival/Churrigueresque-style building is nothing short of spectacular. I literally could not take my eyes off the place while I was there.

And while the exterior of Romanesque Villa does not bear much of a resemblance to that of the Harper House, the interiors of the buildings’ actual units are almost identical, especially the bathroom areas.

You can watch a video tour of one of the Romanesque Villa apartments (in which the building is incorrectly identified as the “Harper House”) from the West Hollywood Patch website by clicking below. As you can see, the bathroom is pretty much an exact match to Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) and Christine Hamilton’s (Kelly Rutherford) bathroom in Scream 3.

Marilyn Monroe reportedly lived off and on at Romanesque Villa Apartments from 1950 to 1951. The starlet had previously been residing with her agent/purported lover Johnny Hyde, but when he passed away on December 18th, 1950, she decided to move in with her beloved acting coach Natasha Lytess, whom she had been studying with since the filming of Columbia Pictures’ Ladies of the Chorus in 1948. There seems to be a bit of confusion over Marilyn and Natasha’s exact apartment number, though. You can see a photograph on the icollector.com website here of a check written by MM on December 23, 1950 in which she lists her address as “1301 N. Harper Ave.” That same address is written on a photograph release form that Marilyn signed on April 26th, 1949, which you can take a look at here. But the very cool Marilyn and the Camera website has a check signed by the actress in which she notes her address as 1309 N. Harper Avenue. Despite the many conflicting reports, most written in the actress’ own hand, the majority of publications agree that MM lived in Unit 1309, which is pictured below. Legend has it that Marilyn, fraught with despair over Johnny Hyde’s death, also attempted suicide during her tenure at Romanesque Villa.

According to my buddy E.J. over at The Movieland Directory website, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Anita Stewart, and John Welch also all lived at Romanesque Villa at one time or another. And fave book Hollywood: The Movie Lover’s Guide states that upon first arriving in Hollywood, actress Marlene Dietrich moved into an apartment at the Villa thanks to some advice from the man who had discovered her, director Josef von Sternberg, who also lived on the premises with his then wife, Riza Royce. Rumor has it that an affair between Marlene and Josef heated up shortly thereafter. Josef eventually filed for divorce from Riza and she, in turn, slapped Marlene with two lawsuits, one for alienation of her husband’s affections and the other for libel. Both lawsuits were later dropped and Josef and Marlene went on to collaborate in a total of seven films.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Romanesque Villa Apartments, where Marilyn Monroe once lived, are located at 1301-1309 North Harper Avenue in West Hollywood. Villa Primavera, the In a Lonely Place apartment building, is located directly across the street at 1300-1308 North Harper Avenue. The Harper House, from Scream 3, is located just up the street at 1334-1336 North Harper Avenue. Pink Taco, aka the former site of the Roxbury, is also located just up the street at 8225 West Sunset Boulevard. And Pinches Tacos, from the “It’s On Bitch” episode of The Hills, is located just around the corner at 8200 West Sunset Boulevard.

December 14, 2011December 6, 2013

Farralone – Frank Sinatra’s Former House

While doing research on the Chaplin Court apartment complex, which I blogged about last Thursday, I came across some information about an oft-filmed-at Chatsworth-area estate formerly owned by Old Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, that, for some inexplicable reason, I had somehow not previously known about. The mansion, which in most circles is known simply as Farralone, is a marvel of modern design that just came on the public market for the very first time in history a couple of weeks ago. And, let me tell you, I took one look at the photographs featured on the real estate listing and became just a wee-bit obsessed with stalking the place. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there last weekend to do just that.

Farralone, or the “Great Glass Mansion” or the “Sinatra Compound” as it is also sometimes called, was commissioned by Chase-Manhattan-Bank-heiress Dora Hutchison in 1951 and was designed by Pereira & Luckman, the architecture firm who also gave us the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, the Theme Building (aka The Encounter Restaurant & Bar) at the Los Angeles International Airport, and, my personal favorite, the Disneyland Hotel. Dora built the house to be used as a party pad and regularly hosted rousing soirees where she counted Ava Gardner, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, and Vincent Minnelli as guests. When Dora moved back to her native New York, she leased the property to none other than Frank Sinatra, who remained there for almost ten years. Sadly though, as you can see above, not much of the property is visible from the street.

But that’s why God created real estate listings! The estate, which was just put on the market earlier this month for a cool $12 million, boasts sweeping views, parking for over 200 cars, 10,000 square feet of living space, 4 bedrooms, 6 baths, 3 private offices, a conference room, a detached gym, a 50-foot swimming pool, 14 acres of land, a vineyard, a production studio, 16-foot ceilings, glass walls, and a 1,000-square-foot, 1-bedroom, 2-bath guest house (with its own separate pool) where my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe supposedly lived in for a time.

Farralone has seen so much filming over the years that, according to a December 2nd, 2011 Forbes article, it not only nets up to $2 million a year in location fees, but also “comes with a property manager who acts as a liaison with the studios, paid for by the studios.” The article further states that the “main house also boasts a lower level production studio equipped with conference room, edit bays, private office and a separate entrance, all paid for and maintained by the studios.” Ironically enough, when we showed up to stalk the property some filming was actually taking place. The super-nice security guard on duty informed us the the shoot was for a reality dating show of some sort, but she was unsure of the name.

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In the Season 4 episode of Californication titled “Lawyers, Guns, and Money”, Farralone showed up as the residence belonging to Stu Beggs (aka Stephen Tobolowsky), where Marcy Ellen Runkle (aka Pamela Adlon) made a house call to give Stu a “full Kardashian” body wax.

In the 2001 thriller Swordfish, Farralone was the house where Gabriel Shear (aka John Travolta) lived and where Halle Berry famously shed her top for the very first time onscreen – an act for which she was supposedly paid a whopping $500,000. Thanks to some crafty CGI, the Sinatra compound was made to appear as if it was located in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles for the film, instead of Chatsworth.

Farralone was also the home where Jack Wyatt (aka Will Ferrell) lived and threw his post-divorce party in the 2005 romantic comedy Bewitched.

In 2006’s Dreamgirls, Farralone stood in for the residence belonging to pop star Deena Jones (aka Beyonce Knowles) and her music-producer husband, Curtis Taylor Jr. (aka Jamie Foxx).

In the Season 2 episode of Mad Men titled “The Jet Set”, Farralone was used as the supposed-Palm-Springs-area home where Joy (aka Laura Ramsey) took Don Draper (aka Jon Hamm) while he was visiting California.

In the 2002 flick The Salton Sea, Farralone was the home where Nancy Plummer (aka Shirley Knight) and Verne Plummer (aka R. Lee Ermey) lived.

In 2001’s Tomcats, the Sinatra Compound was where Kyle Brenner (aka Jake Busey) lived.

The real estate listing mentioned that Farralone had been featured in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and I really have to pat myself on the back for this one because as soon as I read those words I knew immediately that the episode in question was Season 9’s “Kill Me If You Can”. I was not even watching CSI regularly back in 2008 when the “Kill Me If You Can” episode aired, but I had caught it on TV at some point and when I saw CSI mentioned in the listing, my mind immediately flashed to an image of Lawrence Fishburne standing by the Farralone pool while investigating the death of an art dealer. Why these random, useless bits of location information remain stored in my head is beyond me, but they do. Smile

Thanks to commenter Becky on the Design Public blog, I learned that in the Season 1 episode of Six Feet Under titled “An Open Book”, Farralone stood in for the home belonging to the parents of Brenda Chenowith (aka Rachel Griffiths).

And thanks to the HGTV website, I learned that Farralone was where the Design Star contestants lived during Season 4 of the reality series.

Location manager Scott Trimble also let me know that Farralone was where Optimus Prime came out of the swimming pool in the first Transformers movie.

Fellow stalker Jason informed me that the estate also showed up as the party location at the very beginning of 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Farralone also popped up in the 2004 music video for Usher’s hit song “Burn”.

Usher–Burn–filmed at Farralone in Chatsworth

You can watch the “Burn” video by clicking above.

Several articles have also claimed that the home appeared in the 2001 biopic Ali, but I scanned through that movie yesterday and did not seen anything resembling it pop up onscreen, so I am fairly certain that information is incorrect. I am thinking that the house might have instead been featured in the similarly-named television movie Ali: An American Hero, but because I have never seen it and was unable to find it anywhere online, I cannot verify that hunch. One rumor that I can put to rest is that the Farralone pool was not actually the site of Marilyn Monroe’s second-to-last photo shoot, as the real estate listing and several articles about the property have claimed. Truth be told, that photo shoot was not really a photo shoot at all, but simply consisted of photographer Lawrence Schiller snapping some stills of the starlet while she filmed scenes for her very last movie, Something’s Gotta Give. The shoot, which took place a few days before Marilyn’s death and featured her skinny-dipping while talking to co-star Dean Martin, was not actually shot on location, but on a set that was built inside of Stage 14 on the Fox Studios lot in Century City.

As you can see above, the pool from Something’s Gotta Give does not match the real estate listing photographs of the Farralone pool.

You can watch a YouTube video of the Something’s Gotta Give pool scene being shot, during which it is stated that filming took place on Stage 14 of the Fox lot, by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Farralone, the former Frank Sinatra estate, is located at 9361 Farralone Avenue in Chatsworth. You can visit the home’s official real estate listing here and you can check out some fabulous interior pics of the property here.

September 7, 2011December 6, 2013

Marilyn Monroe’s Former Palm Springs Home – Revisited

This past Friday afternoon the Grim Cheaper and I headed out to Palm Springs to spend Labor Day Weekend with my parents at their new desert abode. And even though most of our time was devoted to relaxing (and to watching Dance Moms, which has to be one of the most addicting shows I have EVER seen, but I digress), I was able to get a little bit of stalking in while we were there, including a LONG overdue visit to the Cabazon Dinosaurs which were made famous thanks to an appearance in the 1985 flick Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. But more on “Dinny” and “Mr. Rex”, as they are known, later. For today I thought I would write about one of my VERY favorite locations that I ever stalked – Marilyn Monroe’s former Palm Springs home, which I originally visited – and blogged about – back in March of 2008. Because I had lumped the dwelling in with several other properties in a post about Palm-Springs celebrity vacation homes and because I had only included one photograph of the place in that post, though, I figured that this was one location that was most definitely worthy of a re-stalk. So I dragged the GC right on over there on our way into town.

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I originally found out about Marilyn’s former desert oasis thanks to a Map of the Stars’ Homes that I picked up – for free! – at the Palm Springs Visitors’ Center on one of my very first trips to the Coachella Valley. And even though it was long before my MM obsession took hold, I absolutely fell in love with the charming little bungalow as soon as I laid eyes upon it. With its Spanish-tiled steps, black-and-white striped awnings, abundant foliage, and gold-trimmed wrought iron front gate, the dwelling just screamed “fifties” to me and I immediately envisioned the starlet tending to some flowers in her quaint little garden, all the while wearing a pink scarf in her hair. According to an article titled “The Road to Fame and Fortune”, which was written by Greg Archer and appeared in the September 2010 issue of Palm Springs Life Magazine, the exterior of the home still looks exactly the same today as it did back in the days when Marilyn lived there. LOVE IT! In the article Greg also states that the property is the “most beautiful house on the block”. I couldn’t agree more! In fact, I would even go so far as to say that it is one of the most beautiful houses that I have ever seen in my entire life. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to take a tour of the inside! Sigh!

Unfortunately, I have not been able to pinpoint the exact dates that Marilyn owned the dwelling as there seems to be a bit of conflicting information online. According to “The Road to Fame and Fortune” article, Marilyn owned the the four bedroom, three bath, 2,978 square foot bungalow from 1960 to 1961, but according to the home’s property records, which I found via fave website Property Shark, the place was not even built until 1961, so something is mixed up somewhere. UPDATE – fellow stalker E.J., of The Movieland Directory website, has done quite a bit of research on the home and has never been able to find any property records which tie it to MM, so he is guessing that she never actually owned the house, but may have rented it for a time.

As you can see in the above photographs (the one on the left was taken when I first visited the house in March 2008 and the one on the right was taken this past weekend), the foliage in front of the property has grown considerably in recent years, blocking quite a bit of the home’s exterior from view. It is still an absolutely adorable little abode, though, and I cannot more highly recommend stalking it.

On a VERY exciting side-note: This past Friday morning, the powers that be at the About Me website sent me a tweet alerting me to the fact that they had featured me on their “Spotlight Directory” page, which you can check out here. (I appear on a different portion of the page each time it is opened, so you may have to scroll through a bit to see me.) SO INCREDIBLY EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU, ABOUT ME! And thank you so much to everyone who has been voting for me to be the new face of the company! I appreciate it so much and, amazingly, I am currently in the top 5%! So please keep those votes coming, my fellow stalkers! You can vote by clicking on the green “Vote for this profile!” tab in the upper right-hand corner of my About Me profile. You can only vote once every 24 hours – and the voting clock does not reset at midnight, which means that if you vote at 2:31 p.m. on a particular day, you will not be able to vote again until the following day at 2:32 p.m. Annoying, I know.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Marilyn Monroe’s former Palm Springs home is located at 1326 Rose Avenue in Palm Springs.