Trousdale Estates

Trousdale Estates remained part of the Doheny Estate up until the 1950s--it was the northernmost part of the Doheny Ranch. The Los Angeles Times describes it as "sprawling view properties limited to single-level homes." That's not too limiting.

Trousdale Estates --that's the entrance on the left, picture from city-data--is the 425 acres where Greystone Mansion sits. It's now part of Beverly Hills. Paul Trousdale bought 410 of the acres in 1954, and began parceling off land to celebs, who built custom homes throughout the 50s and 60s. Celebs like Elvis, Frank, Dean, ...

...and Groucho . I can never ignore a Marx Brother in the news. Groucho's home, designed by Wallace Neff in 1956, is on the market for $12.9 million. The Times says it's "updated but maintains its Neff footprint." Yes, I understand (snort). I can hear Groucho saying, "At that price, there'd better be no footprints. And no handprints either."

Actually, he'd probably say something a lot more clever. The picture on the right, borrowed from Classic Television Showbiz , is from Life Magazine in 1960.

Here's the listing to his sparkling white, airy estate on Hillcrest.

I can't help but correct the Times on one point. It claims Groucho "shared the home with his third wife, actress Eden Hartford, until his death in 1977." Ummm, no. Eden and Groucho were ancient history by then. Groucho was living with Erin Fleming in his 80s, and that created quite a family scandal, if I remember.

I'm sorry, but isn't the idea of scandalizing the Marx Family a bit of a joke in itself?

BTW, Groucho's home is a real steal. Even on the one website (Hilton & Hyland Properties) there are several other celebrity-owned properties at much higher prices. Like Pickfair at $60 mil (I know; a shadow of its former self), or the King Vidor Estate for $19.95 mil. Nothing sells like knowing a long-dead famous person once sat in space kinda near your remodeled kitchen, right?