Pickfair, which grew from a $3,000 stable in 1911 to become a rambling, green-gabled melange of American Colonial styles, was said at one time to be the nation's second-most famous residence--after the White House.
Over the past century, the fabled property in the 7200 block was home to the Ralphs supermarket founder; the wealthy scion of the Cudahy meatpacking family; and producer Joseph M. Schenk and his then-wife, actress Norma Talmadge. Before that, in 1904, it was reputedly owned by Hollywood's first official mayor, George Dunlop.
The property had been part of a larger estate belonging to silent-film comic Buster Keaton, who built an Italian-style villa there in 1926. The Keaton estate was later home to Cary Grant and his wife, Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton; actress Marlene Dietrich was a former tenant.
In the 1920s and 1930s, however, this mansion was also well-known to any devoted movie fan in America. For several years following World War I, four movie celebrities lived in the house, one after another. The first of these was the mysterious Theda Bara, the product of one of Hollywood's first high-pressure public relations campaigns.
The Marilyn Monroe Doll House in Palm Springs is on the market for $3.3 million, blending architectural pedigree with famous Hollywood lore. Marked by a pink mailbox on an elevated third-acre Vista Las Palmas lot, the 1961 residence allegedly tied to the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes star is a classic Charles Du Bois design built by the Alexander Construction Co.
I fell in love with the TV show 60 Minutes as a child. I loved non-fiction storytelling. Because of where I lived, I got a chance to be on TV when I was in high school. I appeared as a student on Gene Autry's TV station, KTLA. I preferred the world of television to the world of film because it moves faster and there aren't long setup times.
The actress Mae West captured the elusive magic of movie stars best: "It isn't what I do, but how I do it. It isn't what I say, but how I say it. And how I look when I do it and say it." Stars are alluring but contradictory in nature, as much emblems of cinema's intimate magic as they are products of their time and place.
It would be more than just soundstages - it would be a bona fide city with its own residents, its own flag, its own municipal services, its own mayor and its own zoo. Universal City would be so grand and impressive that it would draw tourists from Los Angeles and beyond to pay admission for a glimpse of movie magic. His detractors criticized the idea as fantasy, calling the project "Carl's folly," just as naysayers called Walt Disney's vision for a theme park "Walt's folly."
"Pee-wee's Big Adventure" not only introduced audiences at large to Paul Reubens' wild comic creation, it also welcomed us into the heightened world of Tim Burton.
"Stepping through the doors of the Sherman Oaks abode feels like entering a time capsule dedicated to the 'King of Cowboys,' Roy Rogers, who passed away in 1998."
