Zsa Zsa Gabor locations – IAMNOTASTALKER

Today’s post is the very first blog written from my new home in the desert. The Grim Cheaper and I moved last Wednesday (it took over 15 hours!) and are finally getting settled in to our Palm Springs pad. There is still quite a bit left to complete, though, and, while the hyper-organized/anal/OCD-side of me has a hard time doing anything while there are still boxes to be unpacked and rooms to be organized, I decided to do a little blogging today, regardless. My posts over the next couple of weeks will most likely be intermittent, though, while we continue to settle in. And now, on with the post! Another filming location from fave movie Argo that I found thanks to the fabulous Los Angeles Times article forwarded to me by Mike, from MovieShotsLA, was the home where Hollywood producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) lived. And I just have to say here how desperate I am to stalk LA/Ontario International Airport, which masqueraded as the Tehran airport in Argo. I have a flight scheduled out of there in early March and, let me tell you, I canNOT wait! But I digress. Anyway, I dragged the GC right on out to stalk Lester Siegel’s mansion a few weekends ago, shortly before our big move.

[ad]

In real life, Lester’s mansion actually belongs to actress Zsa Zsa Gabor and her longtime husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, who seems to be a rather accident-prone individual – in October 2010, Frederic swallowed a bee that then stung him in the throat; in December 2010, after mistaking nail glue for eye drops, he accidentally glued his own eye shut; and in September 2011, he was hit by a car while walking in Beverly Hills. Yikes! Although there are quite a few conflicting reports about the property’s history online (many of which seem to have been propagated by Gabor and Frederic themselves), the fact of the matter is that the residence was originally built in 1955 for John and Gladys Zurlo. And while famous recluse Howard Hughes did rent the dwelling for a time in the 1960s (and apparently wore a hole in the carpet thanks to his notorious pacing), he never owned the place nor was it built for him. Gabor has also reportedly stated that she bought the pad directly from Hughes, but according to the Zurlos’ granddaughter, Barbara Yobs, the couple themselves sold the home to Gabor in 1973 for $250,000. For the record, it is further untrue that Elvis Presley ever lived on the premises, as Gabor has also claimed. Anyway, due to failing health and mounting medical bills, Gabor and Frederic put the property on the market in June 2011 for $15 million. It has yet to sell, though, so in the meantime the couple has been leasing the place out to film crews. HBO’s yet-to-be released Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra also made use of the estate last year.

Sadly, as you can see below, aside from the front gate, very little of the dwelling is visible from the street. Back in June 2011, fave website CurbedLA posted quite a few real estate photographs, though, which you can check out here. As stated in a Huffington Post article, the home “was built in the ‘50s and doesn’t look as if it has been redecorated since. It is lavish and sings old over-the-top Hollywood glamour.” Yep, that pretty much sums it up. The Hollywood Regency-style dwelling boasts seven bedrooms, seven baths, 8,878 square feet of living space (or 6,393 depending on which real estate listing you check), one acre of land, 270-degree views of downtown Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean, a grand salon, staff quarters, a bar, a rooftop terrace, indoor and outdoor entertaining areas, and a pool. Supposedly, Zsa Zsa swam naked in said pool every morning (yuck!) and also entertained such luminaries as Queen Elizabeth, Bob Hope, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor, Kirk Douglas, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Frank Sinatra, and Henry Kissinger on the premises.

Quite a few areas of the house were used in Argo, including the front exterior;

the circular entry-way (LOVE those red walls!);

the formal living room;

the bar;

and the backyard and pool.

A great aerial view of the house was also shown in the flick. Man, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that place!

On an Argo side-note – for those interested in how much of the movie was actually true (and the vast majority of it was – even the part about the Iranian government hiring professional carpet-weavers to piece together documents and photographs that had been shredded by American diplomats just prior to the embassy being taken hostage!), you can check out a fabulous Slate.com article here.

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: Zsa Zsa Gabor’s house, aka Lester Siegel’s mansion from Argo, is located at 1001 Bel Air Road in Bel Air.

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!

[ad]

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.

Tag: Zsa Zsa Gabor locations

Lester Siegel’s House from “Argo”

The Romanesque Villa Apartments – Marilyn Monroe’s Former Home