Featured image via mfrissen on flickr.
Besides the gas prices, one of the most devastating things about living in Los Angeles is witnessing beloved businesses and buildings get bought, demolished, and replaced by soulless “luxury” apartment behemoths or chain coffee shops. I’ve only lived for the better part of a decade. Still, even I have seen legendary movie theaters like the Cinerama Dome fight for their lives, institution dive bars like the Good Luck Bar shutter their doors, and Googie architecture gems like Dinah’s Family Restaurant forced to change locations.
If you care about preserving historic architecture and protecting mom-and-pops, LA can be a heart-breaking place to live. But every now and then, we get a win.
On June 26, custodians of classic California design and old Hollywood movie lovers joined in collective euphoria and relief as the LA City Council unanimously voted to designate Marilyn Monroe’s former home in Brentwood as a Historic-Cultural Monument.
The future of the four-bedroom Spanish colonial-style hacienda has been in limbo over the past year, as next-door neighbors, heiress Brinah Milstein and her husband, reality TV producer Roy Bank, bought the property last July for $8.35 million. They were granted a demolition permit with plans of expanding their current estate into the property. News of this permit was met with widespread disbelief and prompted swift action from Councilwoman Traci Park. She secured a temporary stay on the demolition permit and set efforts to protect the residence in motion through the Historic-Cultural Monument designation.
Built in 1929, Monroe purchased the house in 1962 for a humble $75,000. It was the only home she ever owned, as she bought it following her divorce from Arthur Miller. She tragically only lived there for six months before she died of an overdose in the house on August 5 of that same year, at just 36 years old.
The relatively modest, single-story, 2,900-square-foot estate has undergone alterations and renovations since Monroe lived there, passing between 14 different owners throughout the last 60-plus years. Such changes include connecting the guest house to the main structure and overhauling the bathroom and kitchen. Despite these changes, the home’s original charm and authenticity remain intact—casement windows, terracotta tile floors, and wood-beamed ceilings—and deserve protection.
Upon notice of the initial demolition permit, Brentwood residents, Angelenos, and Monroe fans everywhere sounded off to call for the home’s preservation and have emerged victorious.
“To lose this piece of history, the only home that Monroe ever owned, would be a devastating blow for historic preservation and for a city where less than 3% of historic designations are associated with women’s heritage,” Councilwoman Park said in a speech before the vote. Thanks to her efforts and those of the LA Conservancy and community advocacy, an essential piece of Monroe’s legacy and a bygone LA will endure.