true crime – IAMNOTASTALKER

July 6, 2020July 7, 2020

Betty’s La Jolla Shores House from “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story”

Dirty John producers traveled far and wide across Los Angeles to shoot the second season of the true crime anthology series, which chronicles the 1989 double murder of prominent San Diego lawyer Dan Broderick (Christian Slater) and his new wife, Linda Kolkena (Rachel Keller), at the hands of his ex, Betty Broderick (Amanda Peet). The scenes involving Dan and Betty’s longtime family home were shot deep in the Valley in Chatsworth, the restaurant the couple regularly dined at during happier times is in Studio City, and Betty rammed her car into Dan’s post-divorce pad in Toluca Lake. But most of the action takes place at Betty’s supposed La Jolla Shores residence, where she grows more and more unglued following the separation. The sprawling seaside property is perhaps the show’s most prominent locale, popping up in the opening scene of the first episode and going on to appear in pretty much every episode that follows. So I, of course, was hot to track it down. Try as I might, though, I could just not find the place – until I enlisted the help of my friend/fellow stalker Owen, that is, who IDed it in no time!

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From what was shown onscreen, we knew the dilapidated ranch-style abode was situated on a corner lot across from a bluff overlooking the ocean. Since no discernible street signs or address numbers were visible in the background, Owen simply began scouring the Los Angeles coastline from the north to the south via Google aerial views and, voila, quickly pinpointed Betty’s home at 1400 Paseo Del Mar in Palos Verdes Estates. I ran out to socially-distant stalk it shortly thereafter on a gorgeous Southern California day. Those skies, amirite!

In real life, the 1966 property boasts 3 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3,962 square feet, 2 fireplaces, a massive 0.48-acre lot, a wraparound driveway, a pool, and a large front yard.

Oh, and views for days!

The Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story production team roughed the place up a bit for the shoot by dotting the front railings with rust stains and covering the roofline with chipped, peeling paint to make it appear to be in the same disrepair as Betty’s actual former La Jolla Shores home. The exterior was also painted a muted blue and the front door swapped out to give the property a more dated look.

In real life, the residence has a much cleaner and more contemporary aesthetic.

The set dressing coupled with the fact that the house was mainly shot from the driveway, a vantage point that is blocked from the street by large hedges, equals a very different-looking house in person. So much so that, when I first pulled up, I wasn’t entirely sure I was in the right place.

One glimpse of the side of the property, though, with the front stairway, large pane windows and ocean visible across the street, and it became instantly recognizable.

Dan put a $140,000 down payment on the house for Betty following their separation in mid-1985. (Though, as stated in Bella Stumbo’s 1993 book, Until the Twelfth of Never, “He would, of course, collect it back in full nearly four years later from her share of the community property in the divorce settlement.”) Per a San Diego Reader article, the place was in “poor repair” at the time. In fact, Betty, sure Dan was going to re-think the separation, considered the property a tear-down and had plans to raze it in order to build a dream house for the two of them. Dan had other ideas, instead buying a Colonial pad in Hillcrest and moving his mistress right in. Eventually Betty began fixing up the La Jolla Shores residence on her own, adding a pool, a Jacuzzi, a pool house, a new kitchen and bathroom, and gorgeous landscaping that she honed herself. By 1988, though, she was in seriously dire financial straits – whether through fault of her own or Dan’s depends on whose account of the divorce proceedings you believe – and could no longer afford the $4,000-a-month payment on the place or the cost of the many repairs it required. (Per the Reader, she spent $11,000 on home improvements in the first 5 months of 1988 alone!) She finally put the pad on the market in September 1989 and began moving into a small 2-bedroom condo at 3133 Morning Way, which cost her $200,000. Though she was splitting her time between the house and condo in November 1989, it was from the La Jolla Shores residence that she departed the morning of the murders.

Betty’s actual La Jolla Shores house, located at 8320 Calle Del Cielo, no longer stands. It was torn down in 2014 to make way for a newer modern manse. Thankfully, if you toggle Google Street View back to 2007 and 2008, imagery of Betty’s residence is still visible. As you can see below, it looks nothing like the pad chosen for Dirty John.

In fact, it is the only location on the series so far that does not closely resemble the site of the actual events. I’m guessing that is due to the tear-down. Either producers did not know what the residence looked like . . .

. . . or they figured that since it was gone audiences would have nothing to compare it to, so they had a clean slate to work with.

Interestingly, Betty’s TV home looks a lot like a neighboring house on Calle Del Cielo – the one at 8333 (pictured in the top image below) – leading me to wonder if the production team drove around Betty’s old neighborhood, saw the residence and its large second-floor balcony, exterior staircase, big pane windows and ranch-style elements, and became inspired to find a similar property for the shoot. That’s a completely unsubstantiated hunch, though.

As mentioned earlier, the Palos Verdes house pops up regularly on Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story. Besides the front of the residence, Betty is also shown eating with friends on the balcony overlooking the ocean in the episodes titled “No Fault” and “The Twelfth of Never.”

The interior of Betty’s home is just a set, though – one with a very run-down ‘80s feel.

I am sure the interior of the actual Palos Verdes property is much more swanky and updated, though I could find no photographs with which to verify that.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine, and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Betty’s house from Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story is located at 1400 Paseo Del Mar in Palos Verdes Estates. Betty’s real former home was located at 8320 Calle Del Cielo in La Jolla Shores, but it was torn down and a new dwelling now stands in its place.

June 17, 2020June 17, 2020

Dan’s House from “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story”

The first season of the true crime anthology series Dirty John had the feel of a really cheesy Lifetime movie. I couldn’t even get through one episode! Season 2, though, titled Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, which covers the 1989 murders of prominent San Diego attorney Dan Broderick (Christian Slater) and his mistress-turned-wife, Linda Kolkena (Rachel Keller), at the hands of his first wife, Betty (Amanda Peet), is absolutely scintillating! It doesn’t hurt that I’ve long been obsessed with the case and have read countless books and articles on the subject. I’ve, of course, been obsessively seeking out locations from the show, including the home where Dan and Betty lived during their marriage, which I blogged about here. Also on my list was the stately residence Dan bought post-separation, which Betty rammed her car into in episode one. Thankfully, it was a snap to find!

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It became obvious while watching Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story’s premiere episode, titled “No Fault,” that Dan’s house was situated on a corner.

One look at its handsome detailing . . .

. . . and sleepy, leafy surroundings, and I figured it was most likely located in Toluca Lake.

So I started searching aerial views of the area for large brick homes on a corner lot and came across the right pad at 10355 Woodbridge Street.

I headed out to see it in person shortly thereafter.

In real life, the Colonial-style home, which was built in 1967, boasts 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2,973 square feet, a formal entry, multiple fireplaces including one in the master suite, a 0.28-acre lot, a pool, and a built-in BBQ.

You can check out some interior photos of it here.

The property is eerily reminiscent of Dan’s actual former home, which is located at 1041 Cypress Avenue in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood. One of my dearest friends, Kylee, happens to live nearby, so I enlisted her to stalk the residence for me. That’s it in the top photo below as compared to its television counterpart just beneath it.

The TV home is a virtual carbon copy of the real thing, right down to its white columns, dark shutters, front door framing, circular driveway, brick fence pillars, and large trees.

Once again, the Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story location managers absolutely nailed it!

Dan purchased the idyllic pad in late 1985 shortly after leaving Betty. It was not long before Linda moved in with him. They eventually married in the home’s front yard on April 22, 1989. You can see a photo of them standing by the front door on their wedding day here.

None of that has played out yet on Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story. So far we’ve only seen the house once, in “No Fault.” In the episode, Betty drives to Dan’s new residence to confront him about their La Jolla home, which he has just sold out from under her.

She gets so angry over the property’s sale that she winds up hopping into her car, kicking it into gear and ramming it straight into Dan’s front door. As she later explains to friends in the episode, “God, I loved that house. I loved it so much that when I found out it was gone I crashed my car into Dan’s new one!” Of the incident, Betty told the San Diego Reader in 1989, “I’d do it again, only I’d do it better. I was mad! He had just stolen everything from me. Up until that point, he had stolen my furniture and my kids and my dogs and my jewelry and my clothes, but I still knew I owned half that [La Jolla] house. My name was on that house, and I didn’t really understand how it could be taken from me.” Dan had her committed to the San Diego County Mental Health Hospital for three days following the attack.

When Dan’s actual former home was up for sale in 2014, a friend of the then owner spoke to ABC News and showed off the exact spot Betty damaged in the crash. The discolored brick where the façade had to be replaced is clearly apparent in the segment, which you can watch here.

You can also see remnants of the repair in the image below, which was featured in this video tour of the property.

Though Dan’s home has only so far appeared in “No Fault,” considering it is where the murders took place, it will definitely pop up in upcoming episodes.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine, and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Dan’s house from Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story is located at 10355 Woodbridge Street in Toluca Lake. His real life former residence can be found at 1041 Cypress Avenue in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood.

June 5, 2020June 26, 2020

Dan and Betty’s House from “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story”

No true crime case has fascinated me quite as deeply as the murder of prominent La Jolla attorney Dan Broderick and his wife/former mistress, Linda Kolkena. The intrigue is odd considering we know who the killer is (Dan’s first wife, Betty, confessed immediately following the slayings), we know the why (she could not get over the affair, the divorce settlement or the fact that Dan had moved on), and we know the how (on numerous occasions Betty has detailed sneaking into Dan and Linda’s Hillcrest home on November 5th, 1989 and shooting the couple dead). There’s really no mystery here. Yet, I.am.engrossed. So is much of the world. There have been myriad books and articles written on the subject, television interviews broadcast (including several with Betty conducted from prison), and a two-part made-for-TV movie starring Meredith Baxter that aired in 1992. But the public can’t seem to get enough. So it is no surprise that the USA Network decided to dedicate the second season of its Dirty John series to the case, with Amanda Peet and Christian Slater at the helm. Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story hit the small screen this past Tuesday. My interest was piqued long before that, though. In fact, I started tracking down the show’s locations as soon as the first trailer was released! The spot that most interested me, of course, was the home where Dan and Betty lived before their relationship went bad, which turned out to be a snap to find.

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In the first Sneak Peek of the series, which was released in early May, a young Dan and Betty are shown removing a “For Sale” sign from the yard of their new house. An address number of “19854” was clearly visible on the front of the property in the scene and, thanks to its early-80s tract look, I figured it could most likely be found in the San Fernando Valley. So, armed with that information, I headed over to Google and fairly quickly IDed the place as 19854 Dina Place in Chatsworth.

I ran out to stalk it – from an appropriate social distance, of course – shortly thereafter. I call the picture below “Stalking in the time of the Coronavirus.” Winking smile

Betty Broderick’s story is a tale as old as time. Wife works to put husband through school (in Dan’s case, medical and law school) while managing the household and caring for the children. Husband finally starts making money, opens up own practice, buys a house, and a new sports car. Not long after, husband begins affair with young secretary (in Dan’s case, his 21-year-old legal assistant, whom he hired even though she couldn’t type). Husband leaves wife for secretary, files for divorce, and things get ugly. Extremely ugly. At the center of Dan and Betty’s divorce proceedings was their longtime family home, which they both referred to as the “Coral Reef house.”

The actual Coral Reef house (pictured in the top Google Street View image below) is located at 5555 Coral Reef Avenue in La Jolla. Dan and Betty purchased the 5-bedroom, 3-bath, 3,000-square-foot pad, which you can see interior photos of here, in 1976 after their rental in nearby Clairemont was damaged in a fire. Per a 1989 San Diego Reader article, Dan was just on the cusp of hitting it big financially. Author Jeannette DeWyze states, “Betty said they moved there with virtually no furniture, and even after her third child, a son, was born in 1976, she continued to work nights as a cashier and hostess at the Black Angus restaurant in Kearny Mesa. According to her, the family only became ‘solvent’ around 1979. ‘I can remember because we built a swimming pool in the back yard. And that’s a luxury, right? We financed it onto the house, so it wasn’t like we paid cash for it or anything, but we were able to increase the house payment a little. So, in my mind, that’s when he had some money.'” When a cracked slab was discovered at the property in the fall of 1984, the family moved out and into a rental nearby so that repairs could be performed. Dan left Betty the following spring, moving back in Coral Reef alone for a time and then into a handsome dwelling in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood. On February 4th, 1986, he sold their longtime home out from under Betty via a legal loophole (granted she had been trying to stall and hamper the process for months), and when she found out, she was so furious she proceeded to drive a car into his Hillcrest residence! Like I said, things got extremely ugly. As you can see below, Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story location managers really strove to find a house for the series that closely resembled the real thing, which I couldn’t appreciate more.

The peaked red-tile roof, three-car garage, double front doors, stepped front walkway, and Spanish style of Dan and Betty’s actual former home are all a direct match to those of its TV counterpart, as you can see in the MLS photo of Coral Reef as compared to the image of the house used on the series below!

Not only that, but the TV pad still has a very ‘80s feel, despite being 2020, so producers must have been elated to find it!

In real life, the 1976 home boasts 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, 3,989 square feet, a 0.41-acre lot, a pool, a jacuzzi, and a tennis court.

I had to laugh at the Ferrari parked out front being that Dan bought the same kind of sports car shortly before leaving Betty – both on the series and in real life. His was red, but still. Life imitating art imitating life, I guess.

The property’s backyard is also being featured on the series.

The inside of Dan and Betty’s residence was, I believe, just a set – one closely based upon that of 19854 Dina Place. And though I could not find interior photos of the home with which to verify that hunch . . .

. . . an Instagram follower named mz._royale informed me that the very same property appeared in another true crime anthology series based in San Diego! In 2018, it popped up as the supposed Rancho Bernardo home where Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) grew up in the “Creator/Destroyer” episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

I was thrilled to discover while watching that the home’s actual interior also appeared in the episode!

Though it is similar in layout and design to the inside of Dan and Betty’s house, as you can see above and below, the two are not one and the same, making me all the more certain that filming of Dirty John took place on a set.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine, and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Dan and Betty Broderick’s house from Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story is located at 19854 Dina Place in Chatsworth. The couple’s real-life former residence can be found at 5555 Coral Reef Avenue in La Jolla.

July 26, 2017July 25, 2017

Patapsco Valley State Park from “Serial”

Patapsco State Park. Those three words, the name of a popular Baltimore-area recreation spot, shouldn’t be part of the lexicon of this California native. But in October 2014, the first season of the investigative podcast Serial was released and instantly became a worldwide phenomenon. Detailing the 1999 killing of high school student Hae Min Lee and the subsequent conviction of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, for the murder, the true crime tale elevated several local Charm City sites like Woodlawn High School, The Crab Crib, Leakin Park, the I-70 Park & Ride, and the Best Buy on Security Boulevard into pop culture landmarks. And yes, Patapsco State Park. Say the words and pretty much anyone at all interested in true crime will know exactly what you’re talking about. The Grim Cheaper and I were – and still are – obsessed with the Hae Min Lee case. So when we visited Maryland last fall, we, of course, hit up all of the locations mentioned in the podcast, which I found thanks to this extensive Google map. And when I say all of the locations, I do mean all of them – our Serial stalk was pretty much a two-day adventure. The locale that surprised me the most was Patapsco State Park, or Patapsco Valley State Park, which, for a time, figured prominently in the narrative of the state’s star witness in the case, Syed’s friend Jay Wilds.

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Patapsco Valley State Park was originally established in 1907 thanks to a local named John Glenn who donated 43 acres of his Catonsville land to the Maryland State Board of Forestry.

The site, which has the distinction of being Maryland’s first state park, was soon transformed into a public recreation area.

Expanded over the years, Patapsco State Park now boasts 16,043 acres of land spanning a 32-mile stretch of the Patapsco River.

The site features 8 different recreation areas, 200 miles of trails, waterfalls, a dam, bridges, and sweeping vistas, and plays host to such diverse activities as hiking, fishing, camping, canoeing, horseback riding, mountain biking, picnicking, and disc golfing (yeah, I had to look that last one up, too).

During the investigation of Hae Min Lee’s murder, detectives questioned Jay Wilds, aka “the criminal element of Woodlawn,” on several occasions. In his initial interviews, he recounted a timeline of the day Hae was killed. That timeline, though never really believable, has since been completely debunked by countless sources (including Jay himself), so in the end many locations thought to be significant to the case, including Patapsco State Park, don’t actually figure into it at all. But in Serial’s early episodes, the sites were mentioned and detailed so relentlessly that they will forever be tied to the story and, despite their current insignificance, remain popular places for listeners of the podcast to visit. As Jay originally told it, shortly after school got out on the afternoon of January 13th, 1999, Adnan had Hae drive him to the southeast parking lot of the Best Buy on Security Boulevard (the store’s actual address is 1701 Belmont Avenue), where he then strangled her. That parking lot is pictured below. Though it is located on the side of the store and is less populated than the front parking lot, it is completely ridiculous to think that anyone would choose it as a good spot to strangle someone, in broad daylight no less.

According to Jay, Syed then called him from the lot’s payphone (don’t even get me started on that damn payphone!) and asked him to come by the store to assist him in disposing of Hae’s car and body. Jay does so and the two then drive in tandem to the I-70 Park & Ride (that’s it below), where they temporarily dump Hae’s car.

After picking up some marijuana in the Forest Park area, per Jay’s story (which again, has been debunked), Jay and Adnan then ventured to Patapsco State Park to smoke and debrief about the murder.

I was absolutely shocked as we entered the park and I saw how beautiful it is. Being that Jay and Adnan supposedly discussed possibly burying Hae’s body on the premises, I was expecting something sinister, dark and deserted. Instead, what we found was lush, green, and picturesque. It’s idyllic. Not to mention populated. Despite the fact that the GC and I showed up shortly before dusk, Patapsco was chock full of people enjoying the great outdoors.

After seeing the park in person, I find it totally ludicrous that Jay claimed he and Adnan were actually considering burying a body there in broad daylight.

Though we hadn’t planned on it, the GC and I were so taken with Patapsco that we wound up spending quite a bit of time there, walking around exploring its beauty. I highly recommend a visit if you’re in the area. And bonus – the park is also a filming location!

At the end of the 2000 thriller The Blair Witch Project, Heather Donahue and Mike Williams (who both played characters named after themselves) sought shelter in a dilapidated old residence. That residence, known as the Griggs House in real life, was an actual home once located in Patapsco State Park, just west of Hernwood Road. Sadly, due to its decaying condition and the fact that it upset neighbors by regularly attracting throngs of both vandals and movie fans, the structure was demolished in the early 2000s.

The interior of the home also appeared in The Blair Witch Project. You can check out some photos of what the place looked like shortly after filming took place here. Oh, how I wish I could have seen it in person!

In the Season 2 episode of House of Cards titled “Chapter 18,” which aired in 2014, Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) attends a Civil War battle reenactment at Patapsco State Park. Specifically, filming took place near the McKeldin Recreation area.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Patapsco State Park, from Serial, is located at 8020 Baltimore National Pike in Ellicott City, Maryland.

October 13, 2014September 29, 2017

The El Palacio Apartments

Situated at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and Fountain Avenue in West Hollywood is an idyllic complex named The El Palacio Apartments. The gorgeous Spanish Baroque architecture is hiding some dark secrets, though. The building has been the site of two infamous deaths, the most notorious of which was the overdoes of actress Dorothy Dandridge in 1965. I have always been fascinated by the El Palacio’s lesser-known tie to the macabre, however. It was at the tenement that a young oil heiress named Georgette Bauerdorf was found murdered, face down in a bathtub, in 1944 – a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

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The El Palacio Apartments were designed by architect William Hauptman in 1931. The 18-unit courtyard complex features a stuccoed exterior, subterranean parking, mahogany doors, cast stone ornamentation, balconets, a tiled gable roof and gardens fashioned by Seymour Thomas.

Georgette Bauerdorf was born into a life of privilege in New York City on May 6, 1924. After her mother passed away in 1935, she migrated to Los Angeles with her father and sister. Georgette graduated from the Westlake School for Girls in 1941 and spent the next few years travelling. In the summer of 1944, she moved into the family’s multi-level, two-story apartment at the El Palacio along with her sister and father. When they decided to return to Manhattan in August, Georgette remained behind. She spent her days working for the Los Angeles Times Women’s Service Bureau and also volunteered each Wednesday night as a junior hostess at the Hollywood Canteen, a nightclub for servicemen formerly located at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood.

On the night of October 11th, 1944, Georgette left the Hollywood Canteen at 11:30 p.m. and arrived home about a half an hour later. She ate a can of string beans and some cantaloupe and then changed into pajamas. The following morning she was found by the cleaning staff, face down in her bathtub with a nine-inch by nine-inch piece of cloth lodged in her throat. It is said that the bath water had been left running, though I am not sure how or why the tub did not overflow. The police were immediately called and it was determined that Georgette had been raped and strangled. Nothing in the apartment was found to be amiss, save for a lone drop of blood on the floor of the bedroom, and Georgette’s expensive jewelry had been left undisturbed on her dresser. Investigators later discovered that her front porch light had been unscrewed slightly, rendering it unusable, possibly so that the intruder could leave the premises undetected.

A few suspects were later questioned, but the crime was never solved. It is believed, though, that a man, most likely someone Georgette knew, broke into her apartment while she was at the Hollywood Canteen and then proceeded to hide out until after she returned home, at which time he raped and killed her. You can read a more detailed account of the case here.

Twenty years later, Dorothy Dandridge, the first African American woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award, moved into unit D2 of the El Palacio. Her tenure there was not long. She was in fairly dire straits at the time, victim to both a drug addiction and a Ponzi scheme that had depleted her finances. On September 8th, 1965, just a year after she had moved in, she was found dead of a prescription pill overdose in the bathroom of her apartment. She reportedly had $2.14 in her bank account. You can read more about her death here.

According to Curbed LA, my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe also lived at the El Palacio Apartments, in the spare bedroom of actor John Carroll and his wife, Lucille Ryman, for five months in 1947.

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.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The El Palacio Apartments, where the murder of Georgette Bauerdorf took place, are located at 8491-8499 Fountain Avenue in West Hollywood.

October 10, 2014September 29, 2017

Dorothy Stratten’s Former House

True crime has always fascinated me. One case that I had never followed, though (probably because I was barely three years old at the time the events took place), was the murder of Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten in 1980. When my friends Lavonna, Kim, Katie and Kaylee came to L.A. for a visit this past June, Lavonna insisted we stalk the house where the killing took place so that I could write a blog post on it come October. Here goes.

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Dorothy Stratten grew up in Vancouver and, while working at a Dairy Queen at the age of 17, met and hooked up with a club promoter/get-rich-quick schemer/pimp nine years her senior named Paul Snider. Thinking the naïve and beautiful young blonde could be his potential meal ticket and his “in” to show business, Paul had professional nude photographs taken of her shortly after they met and sent them off to Playboy. Hugh Hefner liked what he saw and quickly flew Stratten out to L.A. It was not long before Paul followed, intent on riding on his girlfriend’s coattails. To seal the deal, he convinced Dorothy to marry him and the couple tied the knot in a quickie Vegas ceremony on June 1st, 1979. She was 19. Along with a roommate named Dr. Stephen Cushner, the newlyweds moved into a two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,424-square-foot home located at 10881 West Clarkson Road in Rancho Park.

Cushner lived in the residence’s upstairs bedroom . . .

. . . while Dorothy and Paul stayed in the bottom level room located at the back of the house. There was to be no honeymoon period, though. Dorothy’s star was on the rise and as she grew more successful, Paul grew more possessive and controlling.

Dorothy was named Playmate of the Month in August 1979 and then Playmate of the Year in 1980. Predictably, it was not long before Hollywood came a-callin’. She landed roles in episodes of Fantasy Island and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and in the movies Americathon, Skatetown, U.S.A., Autumn Born and Galaxina. The starlet caught director Peter Bogdanovich’s eye one afternoon at the Playboy mansion and he cast her in his film They All Laughed shortly thereafter. Dorothy had to relocate to New York for the shoot and, while there, she and Bogdanovich fell in love. Upon returning home once filming wrapped in early August 1980, Dorothy separated from Paul, asked for a divorce and moved into Peter’s Bel Air mansion located at 212 Copa De Oro Road in Bel Air.

Around noon on August 14th, Dorothy agreed to meet Paul at the house the two once shared to discuss the divorce. She brought along $1,000 cash to placate him and keep things amicable. The events that followed were anything but. Paul ended up shooting Dorothy and then killing himself. Their bodies were found at approximately 11 p.m. that evening by Cushner. The details of the murder/suicide are not pretty. If interested, you can read more about them on Findadeath and in this 1980 article from The Village Voice. In an odd twist, Bogdanovich, who still considers Dorothy the love of his life, wound up marrying her much-younger sister, Louise, in 1988. They divorced 13 years later.

In 1983, famed dancer Bob Fosse directed a movie about Dorothy’s life and untimely death named Star 80. Model Mariel Hemingway played Dorothy, while Eric Roberts played Paul. Oddly enough, part of the filming took place at the couple’s real life former home.

Supposedly, several areas of the real life interior of the dwelling appeared in the movie, as well, including the garage;

Paul and Dorothy’s bedroom, where the murder took place;

the downstairs bathroom;

the downstairs hallway;

and the downstairs living room/office. Without having seen images of the home’s actual interior, though, I cannot say with certainty whether or not that was the case. And because the layout of the windows shown in Star 80 does not match the window layout of the actual residence, I am guessing that the interior was just a set.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for taking me to this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Dorothy Stratten’s former house is located at 10881 West Clarkson Road in Rancho Park.