It’s no secret that the real estate market is in serious shambles right now. Even Southern California’s high-end housing, once a gold standard for investment, is suffering. Perhaps that’s why agents are resorting to any number of marketing tactics to stoke the flickering embers of California real estate. That might mean staging a house with furniture, redoing floors, changing out carpet, painting, freshening up the landscaping—or getting creative with the house’s history.
This month a house in California’s San Fernando Valley (Chatsworth, specifically) went on the market for $12 million. If you’re concerned about the $12 million-dollar price tag, no need to worry—according to the real estate agent’s website the house pulls in a considerable amount of money every year from production companies. In fact, an episode of Mad Men and the movie Dream Girls was filmed here. I’ve never seen Dream Girls, but I did catch the Mad Men episode. Singer Usher filmed the video for his song “Burn” at the house. Watch it here.
As an architecture fan, I must admit that the estate, known as Farralone, is pretty sweet. It sits atop a hill so the views are spectacular. Other features include 10,000 square feet for the main estate, a 50-foot pool, a detached gym, four bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, 1,000-square-foot guesthouse, riding trails and parking for 200 of your closest friends.
Of course, in addition to the sleek Mid-century Modern architecture, oodles of amenities and fat studio paychecks, you’re also buying an eye-popping history. You pay extra for that. Originally completed in 1951 for a Chase Manhattan Bank heiress—per the real estate agent’s website—the property was the site of Judy Garland and Vincent Minnelli’s wedding vow renewal, host to Ava Gardner and Lucille Ball (no Desi?) was leased for “several years” to Frank Sinatra (dates not specified), who sublet the guesthouse to Marilyn Monroe, where she had a romantic tryst with President John F. Kennedy and posed nude by the poolside.
The house’s history is so good it almost sounds like a Hollywood concoction. In fact, doesn’t it seem almost too good to be true?
If you said yes, you’re right. There is no record of Marilyn Monroe living at this property. If she ever visited anyone at the property, like, say, Frank Sinatra, there is no record of it.
While I cannot say conclusively say if Lucille Ball was a guest, if Judy Garland renewed her wedding vows here or if Ol’ Blue Eyes called the great estate home, I can tell you about Marilyn Monroe—and her movements are accounted for.
According to Forbes, “Sinatra rented the estate for nearly a decade, starting in the 1950s, during his Rat Pack years. He occupied the 10,000-square foot, four bedroom main house, which touts 16 foot walls of glass curtains and a 50 foot swimming pool just outside.”
The article quotes the real estate agent, Lynn Teschner, as saying, “If walls could talk, this house has had more celebrities in it than just about any other house in Los Angeles.”
If walls could talk, they would say, “Marilyn never lived here.”
Let’s start here: The dates of Sinatra’s residency are not disclosed but according to the article it was during his Rat Pack years, which narrows things down to the late 50s and early 60s. (Just wondering—if Frank Sinatra was married to Ava Gardner from 1951 to 1957, then wouldn’t have Ava Gardner lived at the estate and not just have been a guest?)
Anyway, during the latter half of the 1950s Marilyn Monroe was married to Arthur Miller and, therefore, residing primarily on the East Coast with him until their marriage ended. (During trips back to L.A. during that era Marilyn and Arthur stayed at The Beverly Hills Hotel.) The Monroe-Miller divorce was finalized on January 20, 1961. At that time, Marilyn returned to her hometown of Los Angeles and moved into an apartment at 882 North Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills. It was the very same apartment (#3) that Marilyn had lived in during 1953 until January 1954 when she moved out to marry Joe DiMaggio.
She lived in the Doheney apartment until she bought a house in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. She moved into 12305 Fifth Helena in March 1962. She lived there until her death, just a few months later on August 5.
Some more points:
- Many of Marilyn’s personal effects, including her personal checks, letters, legal documents, telegrams, bills, etc., have been seen by the public, much of it having been sold at auction. None of these items list a Chatsworth address for her.
- The Hollywood entertainment community wasn’t as spread out then as it now. Better freeway systems, faster cars and more efficient roads make commuting easier now than back in the 1950s. Most entertainers lived in town, though some may have had vacation property on outlying areas, such as Santa Monica, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, etc. Because Chatsworth is in the San Fernando Valley—and remained primarily rural until the 1960s—it wouldn’t have been a commuter-friendly location for a daily contract player in Hollywood like Marilyn in that era. (It’s true that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had a ranch in Chatsworth, but that was a vacation home. Their everyday residence was in Beverly Hills. If Frank Sinatra lived in Chatsworth during that era, it's important to remember that he wasn't a full-time actor and therefor not required on a movie set every day.)
- In the final months of her life, Marilyn did indeed pose nude by a swimming pool. It was, however, on the set of her last movie Something’s Got to Give, which was never completed. The photo shoot took place on May 28, 1962, on a sound stage at Twentieth-Century Fox and the result was a Life Magazine cover. Here’s a slideshow of the shoot, which includes photos from the session and the set, and an interview with the photographer, Larry Schiller. Still don’t believe me? Here’s the actual footage of Marilyn swimming in the pool. The pool’s shape doesn’t match the Farralone pool—nor does the house in the background match Farralone. Also, in the footage, which is taken from the documentary “Marilyn Monroe—The Final Days” about the incomplete movie, there is only talk of the set—no mention of any filming taking place on location.
- I hate to disappoint people who are desperate for a titillating story about a Marilyn Monroe-John Kennedy affair, but history can only place the two in the same room a couple of times. Donald Spoto, author of one of the best Monroe biographies Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, cites just four occasions in which Marilyn and the president were in each other’s presence: 1.) An October 1961 dinner party at the Santa Monica beach house of actor Peter Lawford and his wife Pat, sister to President Kennedy. Angie Dickinson, Janet Leigh and Kim Novak were also in attendance. A member of the Lawford staff drove Marilyn home after the party. 2.) A dinner party in Manhattan in February 1962. 3.) In March 1962 both Marilyn and President Kennedy were guests at Bing Crosby’s Palm Springs home. Marilyn telephoned her close friend and masseur Ralph Roberts from the room she was sharing with the president to ask about the solus muscle. He answered the question and the president himself got on the phone to thank Ralph, who later said, “Marilyn told me that this night in March was the only time of her ‘affair’ with JFK. Of course she was titillated beyond belief, because for a year he had been trying, through Lawford, to have an evening with her. A great many people thought, after that weekend, that there was more to it. But Marilyn gave me the impression that it was not a major event for either of them: it happened once, that weekend, and that was that.” 4.) The fourth and final time the two were in the same place at the same time was the evening she sang Happy Birthday to him in May 1962.
Giving the listing agent the benefit of the doubt, I figured she had probably received some bad information about the house. Stories start and then get passed on and on until they are presumed to be the truth. I contacted her by phone and left a voice mail that stated the Marilyn information was incorrect. I also left my phone in case she had any questions for me. (And yes, I was polite.) I did not hear back and the Marilyn information was not taken down.
If you’d like to buy the house, or simply want to be nosy and have a look around, here’s the official website. (Cheesy music alert—you may want to turn your computer down.)
You’ve been warned—buyer beware.
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