Liberace’s Former Home

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A couple of weeks ago, while doing some stalking in the Valley, I became a bit obsessed with locating the home where legendary pianist Liberace lived back in the 1950s.  I first heard about this location, ironically enough, from comedian and Whose Line Is It Anyway? star Ryan Stiles, who also owned the property at one point in time.  I got to know Ryan – and several other members of The Drew Carey Show cast and crew – after some extra work I did on the series in the summer of 2000.  For about a year I would fairly regularly meet up with “the Drew Crew”, as I liked to call them, after the show taped every Tuesday night at the now-defunct Dalt’s Grill in Burbank.  During one of those outings, Ryan mentioned that he lived in a Sherman Oaks-area home that had once belonged to Liberace and that the home had a piano-shaped swimming pool in the backyard, which I thought was just about the coolest thing ever!  Being that that conversation took place almost a decade ago, though, I’m not quite sure what made me think of it two weeks ago, but for whatever reason, as my fiancé and I drove through the Valley my mind flashed on that piano-shaped pool and I immediately pulled out my blackberry and started cyberstalking the place.  I fairly quickly stumbled upon this Los Angeles Times article from July of 2007 which listed the address of Liberace’s former house and immediately dragged my new husband right on over to stalk it.

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Liberace himself designed the L-shaped house, which, of course, was decorated with a piano motif throughout, in 1953 and he and his mother, Francis, moved in that very same year.  As his fame grew, fans would reportedly hop the fence into his backyard to catch a glimpse of the entertainer at home and the property was eventually deemed far too accessible for a man who was, at the time, the highest-paid entertainer in the entire world.  Liberace moved out of the 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom, 3,907-square foot home sometime in or around 1958 and migrated to the Palm Springs area, while Francis stayed behind.  Amazingly enough, the property still looks much the same today as it did when Liberace first built it over 57 years ago.  So darn cool!

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The residence made headlines in July of 1957, when Francis was attacked by two masked men while throwing away trash in the garage.  At the time, Liberace was involved in a $20 million libel lawsuit against Confidential Magazine which had featured a recent cover story insinuating that the entertainer was gay.  Liberace had given a deposition earlier that day and it is widely believed that the attack on his mother was a direct result of the lawsuit, although the perpetrators were never identified.  

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Sadly, the piano-shaped pool that I had so loved hearing about from Ryan Stiles cannot be seen from the street.  But thankfully it is visible via Bing’s aerial views and was also featured in a Life Magazine photoshoot from 1954.  Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see that pool in person!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Liberace – and Ryan Stiles’ – former home is located at 15405 Valley Vista Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.

Marilyn Monroe’s Former Doheny Drive Apartment Building

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Another day, another Marilyn Monroe location.  🙂  Last month, fellow stalker and major Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from The Drewseum website, tipped me off to The Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog which had just published a post about an apartment building where my girl had lived at two separate times during the 1950s and 1960s. Amazingly enough, for whatever reason, I had never heard of that particular apartment building in relation to Marilyn Monroe before and I immediately added the address to my list of must-see locations!    So, while were out in Hollywood doing some Oscar Weekend stalking earlier this month, I finally dragged my fiancé right over to Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills to stalk Marilyn’s former residence.  YAY!

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I was especially excited to stalk this particular former residence of Marilyn’s because The Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog had posted a photograph of the actress which had been taken while she was parked in front of the building!  So darn cool!  As you can see in the photographs above, while there have definitely been some changes to the property since the picture of MM was taken – including the addition of garage doors and the removal of the vent-like structures above the carport area – the building is still very recognizable from the time when the actress lived there.  Love it!

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Marilyn first moved into the Doheny Drive apartment building, which had been constructed just one year prior, in 1953 and lived there for about a year before marrying baseball legend Joe DiMaggio on January 14, 1954.  The actress, who was already wildly popular at the time thanks to starring roles in both Niagara and Gentleman Prefer Blonds, lived in Unit #3 of the building, a one bedroom, one bathroom dwelling which measured a scant 648 square feet!  It is incredibly hard to imagine one of the world’s most popular movie stars living in such tiny digs, but she must have liked the place because in April of 1961, after her divorce from playwright Arthur Miller was finalized, the actress left New York and once again leased the very same unit in the very same building.  She stayed there until March of 1962, at which point she moved into the Brentwood area home she had purchased a few months prior, the same home in which she would sadly pass away on the night of August 4th, 1962 (or in the early morning hours of August 5th, 1962, depending on which report you believe).   Marilyn’s former apartment building is now a made up of individually owned condominium units.  

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According to my buddy E.J. over at The Movieland Directory, Marilyn’s former building, the front entrance of which is pictured above, is no stranger to celebrity.  Other stars who have lived on the premises include actor James Coburn, pinup girl Jeanne Carmen, French actress Bella Darvi, and actress Viola Mertz.

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Big THANK YOU to Ashley from The Drewseum for tipping me off to this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Marilyn Monroe’s former apartment building is located at 882 North Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills.  The actress lived in unit #3.