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Helter Skelter: The True Tour of the... - Dearly Departed Tours

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• Dearly Departed Tours

Very interesting and informative tour of Hollywood and the sights of some of the most famous deaths... read more

so much knowledge and also a very fun trip to the gorey side of Holliwood, The tour guide was... read more

Helter Skelter: The True Tour of the Manson Murders

Some when in LA will go to Disneyland, Universal Studios or Venice Beach...I like to do something different and you can't get more different then the Dearly Departed Tours Company. They have recently moved shop and now are 5901 Santa Monica Blvd conveniently located near the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (another great place to visit). I have done 2 tours with Dearly Departed and this one is the Charles Manson Tour. I think everyone has heard of Charles Manson and most will know the famous murder case of the late 60s. I have read a lot on the "Mason Murders" so I was right up with what happened but even if you know nothing this tour will give you everything. Done in a few hours, you are taken around in a van with a video and some notes to help you with your journey. I had Dearly Departed Tours co-founder Scott Michaels take us through the grisly locations of where both murder sites took place...1st at the LaBianca's and then the "Tate"house or least the road of 10050 Cielo Drive (the house was demolished in 94 and now there is another) plus other places that the killers drank water and got rid of their clothes. You get time for some lunch and also check out the macabre Dearly Departed museum which in itself is worth the trip. If you are bored with the "same old, same old" tourist attractions and want to see the real Los Angeles, give this a try...I dare you. Erin

Scott is a fountain of knowledge on the Manson Family and in particular the murders. The tour used multi media including Scott's live commentary to really paint an informative picture. Interesting for anyone who's heard of Charlie Manson regardless of how much you know or thought you knew. Well worth it, thanks Scott

I was very impressed with my tour and am going back again, The staff is very friendly, and I felt when I was on the tour that the guide was very knowledgeable .

Did the dearly departed tragically history tour. Brian did a wonderful, great job narrating this trip, never a dull moment. We learned a lot of interesting facts and stopped at many places (thanks for going out of your way to take us to the Halloween houses), I would suggest you take notes as many topics were discussed and it's hard to remember them all. Would have loved to be able to google afterwards for more facts and info, but couldn't remember all of the topics. I would strongly recommend this tour as it really is very different compared to all of the other tours offered in Hollywood. Would do it again, can't wait until they get their other artifacts on display in the new office. everyone here are so friendly and awesome. We all had a great time. Thanks again from all of us in CANADA. You made our day.

Very interesting and fun. Learned a lot and fell into a murder internet hole after because I wanted to know more and more lol

We enjoyed our tour with Brian -tragical histories tour he was very nice and funny . The tour was interesting and informative we visited sites of black dahlia , Micheal jackson, the witch house , river Phoenix (VIPER ROOM)and others and by request the houses from the film Halloween I only wish that the museum was open during our visit but they just relocated pairs nicely with a visit to the museum of death

Lost LA: 7 Historic Mansions You Need To Visit

Historic mansion tours in los angeles.

From pop-up museums to food events and everything in between it easy to get distracted with all the new and exciting things happening in LA. What we often overlook are the places that have been around for decades and even centuries.

Yes, it is surprising just how much history Los Angeles really has.

If you take the time to look, you’ll realize that there are some truly extraordinary places here in LA that do not always get the attention they deserve. For instance, all the historic mansions that are accessible to the public. Not only are these mansions architecturally stunning and make for amazing photo ops, but they are great reminders of lost LA.

So whether you are looking to learn more about Los Angeles’ often forgotten history or just want to see some AMAZING homes, here are seven historic mansions in LA you NEED to visit.

Banning Residence Museum

401 E M St, Wilmington, CA 90744

First on our list of historic mansions is the Banning Residence Museum. If you’ve been following me for a while then You are already well aware of my love affair with this beautiful home.

A small museum ran mostly by local volunteers, the Banning Museum is one of the only Greek Revival style homes in Los Angeles. Built-in 1850 by Phineas Banning, Father of the Port of Los Angeles, the Banning Museum a testament to the rise of the city of LA we now know it today. Tediously restored and furnished with Victorian-era antiques, the museum serves to preserve the history of the Banning Family and share it’s unique link to the city of Los Angeles.

Days of operation, tour times, and events hosted by the Banning Museum can be found at banningmuseum.org

Rosenheim Mansion

1120 Westchester Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90019

Look familiar? I know all my American Horror Story fans are screaming YES. Regardless if you’re an AHD fan or not, the Rosenheim historic mansion has as an extensive history within the Hollywood film industry.

Built by renowned architect Alfred Rosenheim in 1908, it was once know referred to as “one of the finest homes in Los Angeles.” A recognized cultural and historical landmark (#660) the Rosenheim mansion stands as a tangible piece of film and architectural history.

Although privately owned, fans can still view and take pictures in front of the mansion. Just remember to be respectful and remain on the sidewalk or street.

For those of you interested in viewing the Rosenheim historic mansion, you can find it at 1120 Westchester Place, Los Angeles 90019.

Getty Villa

17985 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

If you visited the Getty Villa before, you may be a little confused as to why this is even included as a historic mansion. Although the museum is an impressive structure, it is but a recreation of the Villa dei Pairi built in 1974. The historical mansion in question, which once served as both the home to oil magnate J Paul Getty and the original location of the Getty Museum, is actually hidden in plain view.

Although no longer accessible to the public, the former Malibu mansion of J Paul Getty can still be seen tucked just behind the Villa. To get the best view of the exterior of the historic mansion, guests should seek out the coffee cart on the second level near the restaurant.

Many people are aware of the Getty Museum, but not too many people know that there are in fact TWO. While the Getty Center (the beautiful, gigantic white structure just off the 405) is one of the most popular museums in L.A., the Getty Villa, in Malibu, is the original “Getty Museum.” Located just off P.C.H., the Villa houses the Getty’s collection of ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art. A multi-level and immersive experience, the Getty Villa is unlike any other museum found in Los Angeles.

Whether you have visited before or are just coming to learn about the Villa, not everyone is aware of its unique origins. Being that I live for interesting and historical tidbits, I figured why not share all that I’ve come to learn about one of my favorite museums in LA. So here are 7 little-known facts about the Getty Villa.

• Oil magnate and founder J. Paul Getty made his first million at the tender age of 23. Soon after striking it rich, he “retired” and became somewhat of a playboy. After a few years, Getty realized the leisurely life was not for him. He went on to create one of the largest oil corporations, Getty Oil, and become America’s first billionaire.
• The original Getty Museum was located where the Villa is today, just not in the same structure. An avid collector of fine art and ancient antiquities, J Paul Getty opened his Malibu mansion to visitors in order to share his passion for the arts. The Getty Villa, the structure you visit today, was constructed in 1974 just two years prior to the death of Mr. Getty.
• The original Malibu residence of Mr. Getty is still in existence, although it has since been converted into offices. The best vantage point for visitors to catch a glimpse of the exterior of the mansion is located on the outdoor second floor, just past the coffee cart, near the outdoor elevator.
• With four gardens and six fountains, the Villa offers just as much outdoors as it does inside. While these features may just seem aesthetically pleasing, the outside spaces mimic areas that the ancients used on a daily basis. From the fountains that collected rainwater for drinking, cooking, and bathing to the gardens that grew food and medicinal herbs, the Villa creates an all-around immersive and engaging experience into these ancient cultures.
• Upon leaving the parking structure you may notice you just don’t walk into the museum. In fact, you have to take an elevator up a level, then walk a path just to come to a point where you overlook the entrance. Why make entering the museum such a task? Well, that is because you are meant to view the museum as an excavation site. Just as they recreated the Villa to resemble the Roman Villa dei Papiri, the architects of the museum wanted to create a fully immersive experience for visitors. As you make your way down to the museum entrance it is as if you’re walking through the layers of time that have covered this Villa. The water feature located by the tour meeting area (adjacent to the bookstore) also reinforces this idea. You may notice that the water seeps from the wall, just like a real archeological site
• Along with the different activities scattered throughout the Villa that allows for some hands-on learning (Reading Room, Timescape Room, and the Family Forum), there is a statue that the museum actually encourages guests to touch. Located just beyond the outer peristyle, follow the portico to the left. There  you’ll find a replica of Antonio Canova’s  Venus,  better known as the ‘touch statue.’ Installed for blind or low vision guests, the ‘touch statue’ allows all visitors to experience the art of form and texture.
• Mr. Getty’s final resting place overlooks the museum. Yes, you read that correctly. J. Paul Getty, along with his two sons, is actually buried on the property. Of course, the area is restricted from the public so don’t go asking for it. But to get a general idea of where he is located, just look to the left as you are passing the entrance gate in your vehicle. He and his sons lay just atop the hill.

Virginia Robinson Gardens

1008 Elden Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

One of the only historic mansions I have yet to visit here in LA, the Virginia Robinson Gardens can be found tucked in the away in the center of Beverly Hills. Built in the early 1900s by retail giants Virginia and Harry Robinson, owners of the Robinson’s Department store, the mansion now serves as a botanical oasis and historic estate. Take a tour and discover the beauty of Mrs. Robinson’s lavish and well-renown gardens and her equally famous Hollywood parties.

For more information about guided tours and events visit robinsongarden.org.

Huntington Library, Museum, and Gardens

1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108

Set on 120 acres in San Marino, the Huntington Library, Art Collection, and Botanical Gardens was founded by businessman Henry E. Huntington and his wife Arabella. Both avid art and manuscript collectors, the Huntington’s amassed a collection worthy of a museum and in 1919 created the Huntington Library out of their estate. As time went on and the number of acquisitions grew, various structures were created to house the collections. The once opulent residence of Henry and Arabella was eventually converted into an art gallery. While a library was constructed to house rare book and manuscript collections. As for the rest of the grounds, specialized gardens scattered the 120 acres of land showcasing flora and fauna from around the world.

The Huntington Library has quickly become one of our all-time favorite museums here in Los Angeles. Not only do we get to view art but also the various botanical gardens allow the little ones a chance to run wild and explore. We have already visited multiple times and have yet to see all that the Huntington has to offer, which is probably the reason why we have come to love it so much. So if you are in the LA area and can’t think of anything to do, here are some reasons why you should check it out!

Obviously, the reason anyone visits a museum is to view art but in the case of The Huntington, there is so much more to do than just that. If you have kids the first place I suggest visiting is the Children’s Garden. It is our first stop every time we visit and it is my daughter’s absolute favorite. Not only is everything children-sized, but there are also various water features placed all around for the little ones to play. Here kids can run around exploring the different plants, sounds, and sights helping to really engage them in sensory play. My daughter’s favorite thing to do is run through the tiny trellis’ and of course get sopping wet playing in the fountains. Once she has had her fill, we usually then make our way over to the Botanical Center conveniently located right next-door.

Another favorite of Hayden’s, and a place all kids will likely enjoy, the Botanical Center is located inside a beautiful glass conservatory that houses three distinct habitats. A truly immersive exhibit the greenhouse allows families to explore flora and fauna from tropical rainforests, cloud forest, and even a bog. There are even microscopes so children can get an even closer look at the plants and tiny critters that call these habitats home. After all the scientific exploration is through, we venture off to see what else will keep the little ones occupied. I for one LOVE art, so I always make sure we visit a few of the art galleries (in hopes my kids will one day share my passion or at least appreciate it.) But if do not have little ones, or don’t wish to bring them along there are plenty of other gardens, activities, and rotating exhibits to keep you occupied during your visit.

Greystone Mansion

905 Loma Vista Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Built during 1927 the Greystone Mansion was constructed for Ned Doheny, the heir to oil magnate Edward Doheny, and his wife Lucy. The mansion, nicknamed the ‘Greystone’ because of the “abundant use of stone construction and its rather gray somber appearance,” is also often referred to as the Doheny Estate due to the murder/suicide of its owner.

Besides its dark history, this historic mansion has been the backdrop for countless movies and continues to be very much a part of Hollywood history.

Now owned by the city of Beverly Hills, the Greystone Mansion and surrounding gardens functions as a public park with tours of the interior given sporadically throughout the year.

To check times and availability or guided tour, please check out dohneymansion.org.

J J Haggarty Villa

421 Paseo Del Mar, Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274

Unlike most of the historic mansion’s previously listed, the J J Haggarty Villa is probably the least renown but has been repurposed in the most unique way.

Built-in 1927 as a summer residence for wealthy merchant J.J. Haggarty, this historic mansion was at one point the largest home in Palos Verdes. Constructed to resemble a Mediterranean villa, Haggarty’s mansion was comprised of nearly 32 rooms and included a private pier, as well as a conservatory. With Italian Renaissance frescoes decorating the interior and Ralphealesque decor throughout the home, the Haggarty mansion was a jewel amid the developing community of Palos Verdes Estates.

After the death of Haggarty in 1938, the mansion sat vacantly and rumors persisted that the property was haunted. In 1950, the house was purchased by a religious group and converted into the Neighborhood Church.

Still, an active religious center, the historic mansion of J.J. Haggarty now entertains churchgoers while beautifully landscaped grounds are open to the public.

So what did you think? Make sure to leave a comment below and tell me if you’d visited any of these historic mansions!

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Alta : Mystery novelist Denise Hamilton joins us on the Mansonland tour, just one stop on a deep dive into the Charles Manson Industry…

Spectrum News 1 video : A sneak peek of some of the sites that flesh out the lost world of psychedelic Los Angeles, as featured on the Mansonland tour. In this special event tour, a sequel to his popular tour about Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army, author Brad Schreiber ( Revolution’s End: The Patty Hearst Kidnapping, Mind Control, and the Secret History of Donald DeFreeze and the SLA ) takes us deeper down the counterculture rabbit hole, for a wild ride through the mean streets of Los Angeles, on the trail of the Manson Family.

August 1969, the city shuddered at news of two brutal and apparently random home invasions, the first claiming the lives of actress Sharon Tate and four visitors in the Hollywood Hills, the second leaving supermarket owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca lifeless in Los Feliz. The unknown killers left a chilling message for the public: cryptic phrases scrawled in the victims’ blood.

What followed is perhaps the best documented criminal investigation and trial in history, concluding in the murder convictions of a sinister crew of hollow-eyed cultists and the elevation of small-time hustler Charlie Manson to the starring role of America’s Bogeyman.

You already know the story of Charlie’s brainwashed family of acid-damaged dropouts, their black school bus and stolen dune buggies, Charlie’s thwarted musical ambitions and dreams of a coming race war called Helter Skelter. It’s the true crime story that’s inspired dozens of books, documentaries, podcasts and dramatizations. (If you’d like to read up on the case before taking the tour, our Kim Cooper considers The Family by Ed Sanders a great example of immersive true crime reporting, and host Brad Schreiber’s research for this tour relied most upon Nikolas Schreck and his definitive, nearly 1,000 page work, The Manson File: Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman .)

But the truth behind the Manson Family’s crimes is even weirder, darker and more complicated than you know.

To truly understand the Manson Family, you must understand Manson’s relationship to Los Angeles, and the complex web of underworld activities that entwined drug dealers (both local and international), movie stars, organized crime, sex workers, the Black Panthers, motorcycle gangs and Charlie Manson’s gang of true believers.

So join Esotouric for a time travel trip to that hot summer of 1969, as Brad Schreiber gives us a fresh perspective on dark secrets and repugnant characters. The crimes are white collar, blue collar and bloody red, as the optimism and warmth of the ‘60s comes to a shattering Los Angeles cataclysm. We’ve got some special surprises in store–you won’t want to miss it!

Please note that this is a Special Event, and vouchers and discounts good on our regularly scheduled tours are not accepted for this tour.

ABOUT GUEST HOST BRAD SCHREIBER

BRAD SCHREIBER has written for all media. He has been a producer, executive, director, consultant and actor. His early-years biography Becoming Jimi Hendrix was called “fascinating” by the New York Times and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library. He was Vice President of Storytech Literary Consulting, founded by story structure expert Christopher Vogler, for 11 years. In television, he created the series North Mission Road, which ran for six seasons on tru-TV, based on his book Death in Paradise: An Illustrated History of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner. He was a writer, producer and development executive for L.A. PBS affiliate KCET -TV, and director of development for TV/film director Jonathan Kaplan. Schreiber’s writing has been honored by the Edward Albee Foundation, the National Press Foundation and others. Schreiber has taught at the American Film Institute, the Directors Guild of America, University of Wisconsin, Madison and many other locations, in the US, Canada and Mexico. His book, Revolution’s End, an expose of the Patricia Hearst kidnapping, won 2017 awards from the International Book Awards and Independent Publisher Book Awards and is being developed as a television series.

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New Bus Tour Tracks the Trail of the Manson Murders 50 Years Later

LOS ANGELES –  For fans of off-beat history and true crime in Los Angeles, the sightseeing company Esotouric is offering a new tour that tracks the trail of events related to the Manson murders.  

Brad Schreiber leads a four-hour bus tour along with Richard Schave and Kim Cooper, who own Esotouric.

• Chuck Moshontz's Encounter With the Manson Family

The company gives more than a dozen different tours discussing L.A.’s underbelly.  They’re newest is "Mansonland," which they started in August of 2018, about a year after Manson's death.

"Manson and his followers had a connection to the LaBiancas. It was not a random murder," Schreiber said.

So far, they’ve given three Mansonland tours, all of which have sold out.

"This is a very Los Angeles story," Schave said.

Schave and Cooper say most of their customers are Angelenos, authors, and historians looking for a deeper understanding of counterculture in L.A. or who are interested in true crime. 

"I think everyone’s really impressed that there’s just all these layers to this block," Shave said.

On Waverly Drive in Los Feliz, the LaBianca house still stands, looking much as it did 50 years ago.  

It’s currently up for sale…listed for almost $2 million.

"Leno LaBianca was on the board of the Hollywood National Bank, which was infiltrated by the mob. More interestingly, Rosemary LaBianca was a dealer of Mescaline and LSD and had a connection to a mafia drug dealer who went to the Cielo Drive house, just hours before the murders there," Schreiber said.

Just next door is the historic Earle C. Anthony House, built in 1927.  It can't be seen from the street but it became known as a party pad for some of the Manson family, including Linda Kasabian. 

"A year before the murders, Linda Kasabian is making noise next door and who complains about it to the police, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca," Schreiber said.

"You can’t talk about Charles Manson without talking about the Hall of Justice," Schave said, standing on the steps in front of the building.

Manson was held there on the upper floors during the trial, while members of the Manson family would congregate outside the building.

"The trial of Charles Manson and the family was the last great trial at this building," Schave said.

The tour also stops at El Coyote, which opened in 1931. The landmark restaurant on Beverly Boulevard is where Sharon Tate and her friends had their last meal. There happend to be a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood billboard right behind it.

Then, there's Jay Sebring's old salon on Fairfax Avenue.

"Everyone got their haircut at Sebring, and it changed the way men had their haircut," Schave said.

The space is now home to the GoodForm Salon and Dan’s Hair Salon. 

"It was a rather large complex, and you can see that there’s a back room here. That back room used to be for very VIP private clients," Schreiber said.

Sebring was a stylist to the stars, who pioneered using European techniques to cut hair in the US, but it was also a front for a darker side.

"Sebring was an ex-lover of Sharon Tate and was one of the major cocaine dealers to the stars in Los Angeles," Schreiber said.

Fifty years later, it's still a city caught up in the mystery and horrors surrounding the Manson case.

The next Mansonland tour is scheduled for August 31 at noon. It leaves from Urban Radish in the LA Arts District. 

For more information, click here .

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Manson Family Murders historic funeral tour of Los Angeles

Usa - los angeles, included in tickets.

3.5 hour guided sightseeing tour of dark Los Angeles history with audio and visual content (visual for passengers with network internet access)

Suggestions

Smartphone with internet access recommended but not required

Tuesday and Saturday

From: 9 am to 6 pm

Requirements

Parental guidance highly recommended for passengers under the age of 18.

Accessibility

How do i get my ticket, from: $ 85.00, buy your travel insurance now.

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Diddy's l.a. home now a popular tour bus destination after federal raid, hollywood tour companies raid spikes interest in diddy's house.

Diddy 's Los Angeles estate is attracting tons of visitors this week -- besides the feds who raided the place, and really because of them, tourists are desperate to get just a peek at the mansion.

We spoke with several tour bus companies that have been cruising by Diddy's pad a lot in the wake of Monday's shocking raids, and they say customer interest was definitely piqued by the headlines.

A couple tour companies say their buses are packed to the gills this week ... which they admit is due to this being spring break as much as it is Diddy's legal woes.

In any case, these companies tell us their customers are explicitly asking to drive by the mogul's house ... as they're clearly marking it as a major point of interest now.

Now, it's not like most of these companies are having to pivot and change their routes ... they tend to drive past Diddy's fairly regularly, anyway. In fact, one company claims their bus was there while the raid was in progress this week!

That would be an exciting moment, for sure, considering typical celeb home tours are kinda boring.

Fact is, It's near impossible to see anything more than the front gates of those mansions.

As we reported ... federal agents raided Diddy's properties Monday in Los Angeles and Miami -- and our sources say the Bad Boy mogul was completely blindsided to learn the U.S. Attorney's Office had launched an investigation.

That was pretty evident from the video we got of Diddy pacing around the parking lot outside a Miami airport where his private jet was searched at the same time the home raids were conducted.

FWIW ... Diddy denies all wrongdoing, and slammed this entire operation as nothing but a "witch hunt."

He's also taking issue with what he and his attorneys view as the excessive force used to execute the search warrants, which left his Holmby Hills home in ruins afterward.

If Diddy's lookin' for peace and quiet -- at least here in L.A. -- he definitely ain't getting it with tourists flocking to his pad in droves.

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Mapping 13 key locations in the 1969 Manson family murders

From the Tate house to Corcoran State Prison

As Joan Didion wrote in her 1979 essay collection The White Album , the sixties "ended abruptly” on August 9, 1969, the night the Manson Family committed the brutal and infamous murders of five people at the home of actress Sharon Tate and director Roman Polanski. The following night, in Los Feliz, the "family” murdered two more innocent people, chosen randomly. The authorities were stumped; their main suspect, a groundskeeper at the Tate house, was released after passing a polygraph test.

Seven murders in two days was horrible, and without any idea of who did it, the city was on edge: "A Beverly Hills sporting goods store sold 200 firearms in two days. The price of guard dogs rose from $500 to $1,500," according to Los Angeles magazine .

Eventually the world would learn about the Manson Family, a cult in thrall to a man named Charles Manson, living together at the remote and abandoned Spahn movie ranch deep in the Valley. Below we've mapped all those and more important locations in the history of the cult that changed Los Angeles forever.

• The Story of the Abandoned Movie Ranch Where the Manson Family Launched Helter Skelter [Curbed LA]

Dennis Wilson's House

Dennis Wilson got involved with the Manson Family when he picked up two Family girls hitchhiking by the side of the road; he brought them to his Rustic Canyon house, they hung out, everyone left. He returned home late that night to find Charles Manson in his house with about a dozen, mostly female guests. Manson and the guests stayed for a few months, at a cost of $100,000 to Wilson.

• Open in Google Maps

The "Yellow Submarine"

The former site of a pre-Spahn-Ranch hangout for the Family.

28 Clubhouse Avenue

Another pre-Spahn-Ranch home base for the Manson Family. The November following the Tate/LaBianca murders, police responded to a possible lead at this address, where they found their potential witness dead from "suicide."

Hinman House

On July 31, police investigated the murder of music teacher Gary Hinman at his Topanga Canyon house. There were several similarities between Hinman's murder and those at the Tate house that pointed to Manson and his Family.

Valley of the Dolls actress Sharon Tate (married to director Roman Polanski) was eight months pregnant at the time she was murdered on August 9, 1969, along with Folgers coffee heiress Abigail Folger, her lover Voytek Frykowski, hairstylist Jay Sebring, and teen Steven Parent. The house at 10055 Cieldo Drive was demolished in the 1990s; the new house on the property has a different house number and is owned by Full House creator Jeff Franklin.

LaBianca house

Leno LaBianca, owner of a chain of supermarkets, and his wife Rosemary, who ran a successful clothing business, were murdered one night after the murders at the Tate house, on August 10, 1969. The house is still standing but the house number has been changed.

According to Helter Skelter , a gun used in the Tate murders was found here, "lying next to the sprinkler, under a bush," by a 10-year-old boy.

Blood-covered clothes found

Clothes disposed of after the murders at Tate's house were found thrown off a hillside across from 2901 Benedict Canyon by a TV crew and a reporter from the LA Times attempting to trace the steps of the perpetrators on the night of the murders.

Spahn Ranch

Charles Manson and 27 members of his Family were arrested here in an early morning raid on August 16, 1969, but for charges related to stolen vehicles. Prior to housing the Family, the property had been a popular movie ranch and horse-riding spot.

Barker Ranch

Raided in October 1969, Manson's group was using this Death Valley ranch as a shelter after leaving Spahn. (Some members of the Family were also living at the nearby Myers Ranch.) He and 23 of his followers were arrested in what Helter Skelter describes as a three-day-long raid. (This raid was also largely related to stolen cars found on the property.) The ranch suffered a fire in the spring of 2009, but many of the stone structures are still standing, according to Atlas Obscura .

Inyo County Courthouse

Charles Manson was officially indicted here for the Tate and LaBianca murders. He was then transported to the Hall of Justice Downtown, where his trial later took place.

Hall of Justice

Charles Manson was held in jail here. Eventually, he and Family members Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Leslie Van Houten were found guilty of the murders. Another Family member, Tex Watson, was tried separately and also convicted.

Corcoran State Prison

Charles Manson is serving out his sentences here, in a special section of the prison that's apart from the general population.

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Tourism in Mansonland

Bus tours offer a chance to (literally) revisit the end of the 60s. they also offer perspectives you can't find in true crime literature..

Fifty years ago on August 9th, Sharon Tate, along with houseguests and her unborn child, were murdered on Cielo Drive in one of the hottest summers on record in Los Angeles. For the four months that the killers remained at large—following up the murder of Tate by the at-first-unconnected LaBianca murders in Silverlake—Angelenos kept their doors and windows shut tight against the unknown threat, bottling themselves and their anxieties up like a pressure cooker.

There have been other crime sprees in the country, and even in Los Angeles, but few have commanded the imagination of so many for so long. From Quentin Tarantino’s new film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…” which was the filmmaker’s highest grossing opening weekend ever, to Emma Cline’s The Girls, a novel published in 2016, loosely inspired by the murders and attempting to delve into the psychology of the young women thronged around Manson, the 50-year-old murders that, according to Joan Didion, marked the end of the sixties, continue to provide a source of fascination for many. So fascinating, in fact, that Los Angeles offers a variety of bus tours that trace the history and geography of the murders. Why do we feel so compelled to (literally) revisit it?

You can barely drive a mile in Los Angeles without seeing one of ‘em: a tour bus ferrying dozens (or more) to the destination du jour. There’s the stars homes tours, open-aired and often full, partakers holding a slim disc of a phone up to their face like a shield for blocks on end as they snap Instagram clickbait.

But there are other bus tours, too. These don’t look like the other busses on Hollywood and Vine or Sunset Blvd—they’re smaller, gray and muted. Inside, tourists might be expecting to peruse alleyways that lead to the scene of an infamous crime—where Bugsy Siegel died with the LA Times in his lap, maybe, or where the Black Dahlia’s mutilated body was discovered more than 70 years ago. As William Faulkner once said of Los Angeles: “They don’t worship money here; they worship death.”

The intersection of both money and death plays no small part in the enduring interest in the Tate/LaBianca murders, spawning multiple tours in Los Angeles. There’s the Mansonland tour offered by Esotouric, a literary-focused tour company, and guided by host and author Brad Schreiber. The Mansonland tour offers a behind-the-scenes look at the “weirder, darker, and more complicated truth” behind the murders, purposefully diverging from the canonical narrative of the crime proposed by Vincent Bugliosi in the bestselling book Helter Skelter . Tour stops include the Fountain of the World cult site in Box Canyon, just a few minutes away from Spahn Ranch, and a commune that allegedly inspired Manson’s ideals and tactics. The tour also offers counter-theories to Manson’s motivations and the reality of the crime; perhaps most striking, it offers offers Los Angeles locals a chance to get inside the Manson myth by becoming an insider to a new theory of the infamous crimes. “Every neighborhood gets the crimes they deserve,” says Kim Cooper, one of the tour guides and co-founders of Esotouric. For the Tate legend, it seems to mean that the glamour of Sharon Tate’s young life was matched in death by Los Angeles’s inability to forget her.

Then there’s the Helter Skelter tour offered by Scott Michaels, owner of Dearly Departed Tours and a consultant on the recent Tarantino film, which traces the geography of the crimes over the course of a four hour tour offered most Saturdays of the year. Tour goers visit both the crime scene on Cielo Drive, along with the LaBianca house, the hillside where the bloody clothes from the killings were discarded, and more. “The tour is a geographic retelling of the crime. We use photographs, videos of different news clips relevant to the locations, and we can actually see through photographs what it looked like then versus now,” Michaels says.

The two tours offer very different Manson experiences for those looking to live inside the 1969 murders: an up-close look at the landmarks most deeply entrenched in the public consciousness of the crimes, or a divergent excursion that offers tour-goers a look at lesser known places that may have influenced the Manson Family, along with alternate theories of the crime.

No matter the tour, one truth remains constant: you can’t extricate the murders from Los Angeles as we understand it now. It’s become part of the city’s DNA, as much a part of the mythology of Los Angeles as Hollywood. In a city known for its inconstancy of landmarks, it’s striking how many of the landmarks associated with the Manson family and the Tate/LaBianca murders remain standing. El Coyote, the site of Sharon Tate’s last meal, still stands, despite middling Yelp reviews. The site of the LaBianca murders was recently purchased by Zak Bagans, host of Ghost Adventures . But the house where Sharon Tate drew her last breath no longer stands.

For Michaels, part of his fascination with the Tate/LaBianca murders comes from the sheer terror of the crimes. “I’ve always gravitated towards the things that frighten me the most…I tend to run towards the things that bother me the most,” he says. And both at the time of the Tate/LaBianca murders and now, the horror of what actually transpired—strangers bent on murder violating the sacred space of your home—is breathtaking in its ability to frighten. “That night changed so much, as far as people’s personal comfort goes—you were no longer safe in your own bed,” Michaels says. The murders linger around Los Angeles like a bad dream, puncturing the golden cocoon surrounding Hollywood. Despite her wealth and stardom and golden beauty, Tate was not safe from a nightmare. No one was.

“There’s always a danger, when you do true crime storytelling, of exploitation,” says Cooper. Visiting the scene of a crime, particularly an infamous one, can carry with it the potential to dehumanize the victims further, to turn what was the tragedy of someone’s death into a story to be consumed on a Saturday afternoon. But at it’s best, it can also ensure that victims aren’t forgotten. “It’s a thin line. People want to be entertained,” Cooper says. For his part, Michaels is quick to refer to the murders as the Tate/LaBianca murders, centering the victims and ensuring that the narrative never wanders too far from being their story.

But there’s more to the story, and it’s what we don’t know about the story that has helped hook us for the last fifty years. There’s still so much to learn about it, it’s shocking—50 years later, we’re still learning new nuggets of information [about the murders],” Michaels says. We’ll never be able to crawl inside Manson’s head; we wouldn’t want to.

Most of what the public knows about the Tate/LaBianca murders and Manson’s thrall over his followers comes from Helter Skelter, which as of 2015, was the bestselling true crime book ever. Bugliosi offered a convoluted theory involving the fomenting of a race war as the motivation behind the murders, a theory which, despite its leaps in logic, remained the dominant theory behind the crimes for decades. It’s a sensational story, but it muddies the waters in an odd way: the inexplicable becomes even more far out of reach, as if there’s no reaching beneath the news headlines to understand what happened that August. Maybe that’s why we’re compelled to seek it out, over and over and over again, walking in the same steps as Sharon Tate, trying to imagine a different outcome, a better future, a kinder Los Angeles.

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Los Angeles Mansion Tour

Dare to go where no other star tour has gone before..

Star Track’s Los Angeles Mansion Tour  are the go-to Celebrity Tour that puts you in the middle of the action. When the lights go down in the city of angels, Star Track Tours is the best seat in town.   Star Track Tours now offers Hollywood Celebrity Night Tours so you can see Los Angeles come alive when the party really gets going.

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We’ve taken the boring Los Angeles Mansion Tours of the past and made them more exciting and star-studded.

• 32 inch TV’s bring you inside the star’s homes as Star Track Tours takes you by their glamorous estates
• Night Time Tours available for those that want to see first hand what happens when the lights go down in the City of Angels
• State-of-the-art, Open-top, Star Tracker Vehicles make sure you don’t miss a moment of the action

Expect the unexpected on our Los Angeles Mansion Tour

We put our guests right in the middle of the action on our Los Angeles Mansion Tour. Impromptu star sightings are a sure thing as our routes are always being updated with the latest celebrity sightings and new hot spots. Take your pick from Celebrity Home Tours , Beach Tours or the always popular Hollywood Night Star Tours.

Star Track Los Angeles Mansion Tour | Daytime trips include:

Michael Jackson, Tom Cruise, David Beckham, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Bruno Mars, Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez, Just Bieber, Britney Spears, Jason Statham, Quentin Tarantino, Ringo Starr, Beverly House, home from Ironman, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Peter Faulk, and Rosemary Clooney. Cruise done the Sunset Strip to see historic Rock-n-Roll venues in our roofless luxury van.

Hollywood Night Tours Include ( 7pm – 9pm) :

Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne, the Playboy Mansion, Ellen DeGeneres, the Aaron Spelling Mansion and Estate. When the stars come out at night celebrities get wilder and show off their glitzier sides. Be a part of the only tour in Hollywood that offers Hollywood Night Tours.. Star Track Tours is the only place to see the celebs when the lights go down in the city of angels.

5 Hour Santa Monica Beach Tour includes ( 10:00am) : 

See the stars of Hollywood and Beverly Hills, 20th Century Fox Studios, UCLA, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Strip and over 50 other amazing sights. PLUS Spend 2 hours at beautiful Santa Monica Beach. Shop the Third Street Promenade and stroll the world famous Santa Monica Pier. This is by far the best package for your money.

Los Angeles Mansion Tours | Star Track Tour of Hollywood

Justin Bieber Home Tour

Star Track Tours is thrilled to offer extended celebrity sightseeing tours that highlight some of LA’s most iconic sights and locations. Not only do we offer the traditional day excursions, but also beach tours and night star tours for those that want to see the glory of this expansive city in its entirety. Sit back and relax in our open-top luxury vans and enjoy an interactive, entertaining and informative Los Angeles Mansion Tour of Hollywood & Beverly Hills. We provide the most comprehensive narrated tour of the star’s breath-taking celebrity mansions.

• SEE the Hollywood Star homes of Ellen Degeneres, Ringo Starr, Ozzy Osbourne, the Playboy Mansion, Laurel Canyon, wild West Hollywood, fabulous Sunset Strip, world famous Chateau Marmont, and over 50 other amazing sights!!!  PLUS stunning views of Los Angeles at night from the top of Mulholland Drive!!! 
• SEE the Star homes of Michael Jackson, Tom Cruise, David Beckham, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Elton John, Lucille Ball, Julia Roberts, and over 50 other amazing sights!!! PLUS Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, the fabulous Sunset Strip, the Hollywood sign, and breathtaking Mulholland Drive!!! 
• SEE the highlights of Hollywood and Beverly Hills , 20th Century Fox Studios, UCLA, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Strip, and over 50 other amazing sights!!!

We drive you through the most coveted zip codes that LA has to offer

The Hollywood Sign • The Walk of Fame • TCL Chinese Theatre • Sunset Strip • Rodeo Drive • Beverly Hills Sign • Bel Air • Mulholland Drive • View of Downtown LA • 20th Century Fox • Warner Brothers Studios

Jump on Star Track Tours today and get on the fast-track to witnessing celebrities in real time!

Star Track Tours is the premiere Los Angeles Mansion Tour adventure that guides you through Tinseltown to uncover all of the celebrities you’re dying to see up close and personal.

Of course there are dozens of other Los Angeles Mansion Tours, but the majority are outdated, overpriced and don’t offer the flexibility and authenticity that Star Track Tours offers. Forget the Star Maps of decades ago, beam aboard Star Track Tours today and get on the fast-track to witnessing the Hollywood scene in real life.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A LIST OF OUR BEVERLY HILLS STAR TOURS

Explore the City That Put Celebrities on the Map

See the homes of Michael Jackson • Lucille Ball • Elton John • Bruno Mars • Julia Roberts • Robert Downy Rr. • Ozzy Osbourne • Al Pacino • Justin Bieber • David Beckham • Tom Cruise • Kim Kardashian • Kylie Kardashian

Our Los Angeles Mansion Tours at their very BEST!

Los Angeles is one of the most face-paced and infamous cities…. Full of diversity, legendary tales of fame and fortune, and the highest concentration of famous people on the planet. Star Track Tours has the inside track on the newly acquired properties of the rich and famous, where they hang-out and parts of the city where you are sure to get up close and personal with your favorite celebrities. Star Track Tours is the leader of the pack when it comes to celebrity sightings in Hollywood.

Our expert Star Guides are well-versed in your favorite celebrity hang-outs, eateries and locations of their estates . Our signature Los Angeles Star tour is designed for optimum sight-seeing while also hitting the most coveted and star-studded locations on the globe.

CALL STAR TRACK TOURS TODAY (310) 905-7145

Visit the famed Rodeo Drive on our Los Angeles Mansion Tour . Our guests will be guided through the palm lined avenues of the world famous Rodeo Drive to see the stores where the rich and famous shop. Including Bijan, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Harry Winston Jewelers, as well as the Beverly Wilshire Hotel featured in the movie “Pretty Woman”.

Get your flash finger ready to click up a storm | Los Angeles Mansion Tours

• Get your smart phones and cameras ready.
• Enjoy getting some sun with friends and family.
• Prepare yourself for a star-studded adventure of a lifetime.

Trust Star Track Tours to make your trip to tinseltown a memorable one. Our guided Los Angeles Mansion Tour is the best in the industry and our clients can vouch for us. Don’t get swayed by other out-dated and lame star tours. We pay attention to the latest trends and hot-spot locales. Start living your life in the limelight with Star Track Tours of Hollywood .

Doheny Mansion Tours

Experience the grandeur of early Los Angeles with a visit to the Doheny Mansion, located on the downtown campus of Mount Saint Mary's University at 10 Chester Place.

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Experience the grandeur of early Los Angeles with a visit to the Doheny Mansion, located on the downtown campus of Mount Saint Mary's University at 10 Chester Place. Chester Place was an exclusive gated community of Victorian mansions in the early 1900s and home to oil baron Edward L. Doheny and his wife Carrie Estelle Doheny for almost 60 years.

Sign up for a public tour

The tour lasts approximately 2-1/2 hours, and involves walking, standing and climbing a few stairs. We recommend wearing comfortable walking shoes.

March 9, 2024

9:30 AM 10:30 AM

April 20, 2024

October 12, 2024

November 16, 2024

Private tours

Interested in a private tour of the Doheny Mansion? Follow the link below to submit a private tour request form.

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Doheny Campus

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HEARST CASTLE NOW OPEN FOR TOURS.

Hearst Castle

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A museum like no other

William Randolph Hearst started to build a fabulous estate on his ranchland overlooking the village of San Simeon in 1919. He called the estate "La Cuesta Encantada" - Spanish for The Enchanted Hill. By 1947, the hilltop complex included a twin-towered main building, three sumptuous guesthouses, and 127 acres of terraced gardens, fountains, and pools.

The fanciful Gothic Study is the centerpiece of Hearst's private suite on the third floor of "Casa Grande" - the main building of the hilltop estate at San Simeon. He previewed his newspapers every night here before printing. The concrete arches were decorated by Camille Solon in 1934-35, but the historic Spanish ceiling dates from the early 1400s.

The world-famous outdoor swimming pool at Hearst Castle was refilled in August 2018 after two years of restoration and repair. With water that refracts light to create a brilliant turquoise hue, the Neptune Pool is a photographer’s delight.

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Grand rooms tour.

Travel back in time and experience what it was like to be a guest at The Enchanted Hill.

Upstairs Suites Tour

Explore the upper floors of the architectural wonder called Casa Grande.

Cottages & Kitchen Tour

Tour some of the most personal rooms of the property and some of its most practical ones.

Julia Morgan Tour

This seasonal tour is a two-hour look into the woman behind the masterpiece.

The Perfect California Road Trip!

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Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Eames House

Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Schindler House

Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Lummis House (El Alisal)

Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Hollyhock House

Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Sam Maloof House

Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Greystone Mansion

Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Gamble House

Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Neutra VDL Research House

Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Avila Adobe

Architectural homes in Los Angeles: Frank Gehry House

House tour: Architectural homes in Los Angeles

Visit these important architectural homes from some of LA's pioneering greats like Eames, Gehry and Neutra.

From tract homes to Case Study Houses, Southern California has always been at the forefront of residential home design ( even Ice Cube knows it ). Whether you’re interested in local history, celebrity digs or plain old house porn, we’ve got a spot for you. So get off the beaten museum track and check out these landmark architectural homes, all within a few mile radius and (mostly) open to the public.

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Eames House

• Historic buildings and sites
• Pacific Palisades

Designing couple Charles and Ray Eames were known for their intelligence and their joie de vivre , both of which are apparent at the Eames House nestled in the Pacific Palisades. One of Southern California’s most beloved examples of modernist residential design, with its Mondrian-style color-block exterior and environmentally-sensitive siting, this home was the Eames’ residence from the time they moved in—on Christmas Eve of 1949—until their deaths in the '70s and '80s, respectively. Visitors park a couple blocks away and walk up the hilly driveway for a self-guided tour of the exterior ($10, reservations required). Interior tours are more difficult to come by: Members are invited for an appreciation day, always scheduled near the Eames’ June 20 anniversary. Anyone can book a one-hour personal tour ($275; $200 for members), but if you’re a real Eames fan, you may want to splurge on the picnic for four in the meadow ($750; $675 for members) and recreate the opening shots of the duo’s popular Powers of Ten video.

Schindler House

• Things to do
• Walks and tours
• West Hollywood

Sleeping baskets on the roof, communal kitchens and a revolving-door salon of artists. Nope, not a Burning Man camp: This is the Schindler House, designed by Austrian architect Rudolf Schindler, who built it as a dual-family residence in which his family cohabited for a time with his frenemy and fellow influential architect Richard Neutra. A quiet, Japanese-influenced concrete building hidden behind a bamboo grove on a street of condos, this experiment in living now houses the Mak Center , a Vienna-based institute that runs a fantastic program of events in the space, including experimental fashion shows, innovative performance art and concerts of new, original compositions. During the week, visitors can wander around the empty house and imagine themselves part of the freewheeling LA bohemia of the 1920s and '30s.

Lummis House (El Alisal)

• Highland Park

Where would we be without those energetic civic boosters that built Los Angeles? The prolific Charles Fletcher Lummis founded the Southwest Museum, was an editor at the Los Angeles Times , and still managed to design this house (the name of which means “the Sycamore” in Spanish) on the banks of the Arroyo Seco. Its exterior is made almost entirely from river rock and the interior is heavily influenced by Pueblo Indian dwellings. Fans of today’s DIY movement will appreciate the rustic Craftsman charm of this home, which is furnished with hand-crafted wood pieces; it’s interesting to see how closely modern-day bohemian design mirrors that of Lummis House. The Historical Society of Southern California is now headquartered here, and it holds several Sunday afternoon programs a year, as well as an annual holiday open house in December.

Hollyhock House

This 1921, Mayan-inflected Frank Lloyd Wright house was originally built as a “progressive theatrical community” space by activist and oil heiress Aline Barnsdall. Today it’s the centerpiece of Barnsdall Park and is open for tours during the park’s popular Friday night wine tasting events . Rudolf Schindler, a protégé of Wright’s, was the overseeing architect on this project (unusual for Wright, who typically was on-site for all of his buildings) and by all reports it was a contentious building process, with the same delays and cost overruns familiar to anyone who’s attempted construction. After it was completed, frequent flooding of the living room in the short yet destructive rainy season and seismic concerns prevented Barnsdall from living in the gorgeous but impractical concrete and stucco house for long—though she did spend the rest of her life in a smaller house on the property, which the family called Olive Hill.

Sam Maloof House

• Inland Empire

Master woodworker Sam Maloof and his carpenters designed and built this lovely, thoughtful home piece by piece in his on-site workshop; no two door openings are the same here, and each joint is a wonder of craftsmanship. A MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, Maloof has had his iconic rocking chairs shown at the Smithsonian; he also designed the chairs that were used on-camera at the history-changing Nixon/Kennedy debates. Visitors can see some of this furniture, as well as the wide-ranging collection of arts-and-craft pieces that he and his wife of 50 years, Alfreda, amassed together. The garden, which he tended, and the house are both open for tours; if you ask, you might be able to peek into the workshop, where he continued building until his death in 2009 at the age of 93.

Greystone Mansion

• Beverly Hills

Is the Greystone Mansion haunted ? The society that runs it certainly wants us to think so—haunted house tours and a popular interactive play capitalize on the 1929 scandal in which the owner of the mansion, oil heir Ned Doheny, died in a mysterious murder-suicide with his boyhood friend and employee. Doheny’s father was mired in the Teacup Dome Scandal at the time, and the deaths meant that he was excused from testifying; rumors also abounded that Ned, who was married with children, was trying to cover up a same-sex affair. Either way, a tour of this 55-room Tudor estate is a good way to get a glimpse into the lives of LA’s historical 1%—costly slate clads the façade and walkways, the windows are leaded glass and guests were entertained in the bowling alley and two movie theaters. When the home was finished in 1929, it cost a reported $3M, making it the most expensive private home in the city at the time.

Gamble House

• Cultural centers
• price 2 of 4

Pasadena may think it owes much of its traditional Arts and Crafts style to Charles and Henry Greene, the brothers and architects responsible for designing many of the city’s landmark buildings, but really, they should be honoring Thomas Greene, the architects’ father. He was the one who decided on their profession, sending them off to MIT and then demanding they move out to Pasadena once they graduated. No word on whether he determined their style as well, but no matter who the progenitor, this graceful house originally built for one of the heirs of the Proctor & Gamble fortune remains one of the best examples of their work. Programming at the Gamble House is exceptional—there are tours that focus on things like the art glass or the details and joinery in the house, as well as more casual events like Brown Bag Tuesday, when visitors bring their own picnic lunch to eat on the grounds, followed by a 20-minute tour. However you decide to experience it, don’t miss the remarkable zig-zag staircase, a joyous element that adds a bit of fun to the perfection of the house.

Neutra VDL Research House

• Silver Lake

The original Neutra VDL Research House, a living laboratory for architect Richard Neutra’s theories on residential design, was built for $8,000 (including the site!) in 1932; it burned down in 1963 and two years later his son oversaw the rebuilding of an updated version. Neutra was something of a control-freak as a designer—he made recommendations to his clients that included the ideal flowers to display, and would occasionally make unannounced visits to see how, exactly, people were living in his homes. This remodel retains Neutra’s clarity of vision and is still a stunner. Today, this glass-walled paragon of modern design overlooking the Silver Lake Reservoir is an active part of LA’s design community and home to occasional art installations. Each Saturday, students in Cal Poly Pomona’s architecture program lead half-hour tours.

Avila Adobe

Visit this 1818 home to see what life was like in California when it was still governed by Mexico. This is the oldest standing residence in the city, built by wealthy cattle rancher Francisco Avila, whose extensive 4,439-acre land grant covered much of Beverly Hills and the Miracle Mile district. Built of tar from the La Brea Tar Pits , clay from the LA River and wood from the riverbank, this adobe structure is located near the Zanja Madre (in English, "mother ditch"), the original aqueduct that brought water to the LA River for El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles (the original name of our fair city). Though visitors only see about half of the original house, it’s well-preserved with an interesting mix of Spanish, Mission and ranchero influences.

Frank Gehry House

• Santa Monica

The neighbors love to hate it, carloads of architecture students drop by to gawk at it: This unexpected intersection of chicken wire, plywood, corrugated metal and traditional Santa Monica house is famed architect Frank Gehry’s actual place of residence. This year the AIA gave it the Twenty-Five Year Award, for a building that has stood the test of time for 25 to 35 years. Rumor has it that when Gehry had a party for his firm here, design enthusiast Brad Pitt knocked on the door and invited himself in. You probably shouldn’t do the same, but you can take it in from the outside. There are no official visiting hours or tickets, but the house is very easy to view from the street.

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Take A Virtual Tour Of These Five Los Angeles Mansions

Amir a. torkamani.

• May 28, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic and stay at home orders continue to stay in place, real estate agents are utilizing technology to enable buyers to get a “feel” for properties without physically visiting them.  One of the ways this is being accomplished is through virtual tour software.  Virtual tours are becoming more and more common at all price ranges, including multi-million dollar mansions.  As a result, you can now tour the mansion of your dreams without even leaving your house.  With the below links, you can now virtually enjoy living like a billionaire.

31272 Broad Beach Road, Malibu, CA 90265

Explore this elegant beachfront Malibu estate listed at $42,000,000.  The home sits on a lot of 1.09 acres with 13,475 square feet of living space, including 6 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms.  It includes a separate billiard room, maids quarter, library, two master suites, and more.  The home is elegantly decorated throughout, with marble floors, vaulted ceilings, and ornate craftsmanship throughout.  But the interior of the home pales in comparison to the exterior, which features 120 degree views of the Pacific Ocean and a lush courtyard and garden.  Link to virtual tour here and link to listing here .

9520 Hidden Valley Road, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Situated in the famous 90210 zip code, this Beverly Hills mansion is listed at $18,495,000.  The home is brand new construction, with 12,000 square feet of living space on a lot of over 30,000 square feet.  The three-level home with 7 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms includes a theater, bar, fitness studio, six-car garage/auto-gallery, and a separate cabana area to assist with enjoying the elegant pool and waterfall.  Link to virtual tour here and link to listing here .

9127 Thrasher Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90069

Brand new construction sitting above the Sunset Strip with breathtakingly expansive views from almost every single home, listed at $17,495,000.  Oversized glass windows and Fleetwood pocket doors create an incredible indoor-outdoor living space and highlight the incredible views from the home, which features 4 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms in 10,094 square feet of living space.  The home includes a gym, sauna, wine cellar, and more.  Link to virtual tour here and link to listing here .

6051 Spring Valley Road, Hidden Hills, CA 91302

Listed at $15,950,000, this massive Hidden Hills home features 13,400 square feet of living space on a massive lot of 3.77 acres (164,221 square feet).  It includes a separate guest house, a 1,000 square foot open cabana/exercise room, and a garage for all ELEVEN of your cars.  It also features a home theater, a “glam room”, zero-edge pool and spa, fountains, a rose garden, and room for your very own vineyard.  We’ll let the virtual tour do the rest of the talking.  Link to the virtual tour here and link to the listing here .

3400 The Strand, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

At a meager $15,900,000, this home combines beach living with the life of luxury.  Situated on The Strand in Manhattan Beach, the beach is literally your back yard.  The home features 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms over 3 levels and 5,478 square feet of living space.  Enjoy views of the ocean ranging from Palos Verdes to Malibu.  The home features a wine cellar, two private balconies, a “surf room” to house your surf boards, and an oceanfront hot tub.  Link to the virtual tour here and link to the listing here.

For more information on how  Esquire Real Estate Brokerage, Inc.  can help you in the Los Angeles real estate market, feel free to give us a call at 213-973-9439 or send us an email at [email protected].

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Watch: An Exclusive Tour Inside Bel-Air’s $126 Million ‘the One’ Megamansion

We got a private look inside the 105,000-square-foot mansion, which was sold at auction on march 3., helena madden, helena madden's most recent stories.

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At long last, “the One” is opening its doors to a new owner.

The 105,000-square-foot Bel Air megamansion, which took well over 10 years to build, has come across its share of logistical and legal problems over the years, but was finally sold at auction on March 3. While the original auction asking price was $295 million—itself a reduction from the $340 million listing price in 2021, and the $500 million price tag before that—the home ended up selling for $126 million. The new owner will actually shell out $141 million, which is the sale price plus the 12% buyer premium to Concierge Auctions .

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This price is likely a disappointment to the megamansion’s developer, the controversial Nile Niami , and his investors, and it falls short of being the most expensive home sale in California —or even in Bel Air . But the One does now rank as the most expensive home ever sold at auction.

Now that sale saga has concluded, we’re revealing a private look at just what $126 million will get you with this video tour of the jaw-dropping residence led by agents Branden and Rayni Williams of the Beverly Hills Estates, who shared the Bel Air listing with Aaron Kirman of Compass:

The sprawling mansion is the brainchild of developer and former film producer Niami, who commissioned renowned Los Angeles architect Paul McClean to execute the larger-than-life project. Last October the property filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, so instead of listing for $500 million as was originally planned, it ended up hitting the auction block for $295 million.

While that price tag may sound outlandish, there’s no denying the home’s bevy of amenities make it unique, even among other jaw-dropping estates in Los Angeles.

One of many living areas  Joe Bryant

For starters, the One has an enviable location—it’s perched atop a lofty hilltop and enjoys 360-degree views of the bustling city below. “Imagine being the king of the hill and really standing on a property where you’re looking down an entire city,” Rayni Williams tells Robb Report, “And all the while you have a complete compound that encompasses everything you love and everything that’s important to you.”

It’s true that the 21-bedroom property appeals to almost any hobby or interest. For the automotive enthusiast there’s a 30-car garage on the subterranean level, complete with two turntables for showcasing your most bragworthy marques. If you’re more of the fitness type, the third floor has its own gym and lap pool, plus a four-lane bowling alley, a hair salon and juice bar (great for post-workout smoothies and the like). Also on this level is the movie theater for cinephiles, the 10,000-bottle wine cellar for vino enthusiasts and the cigar lounge for those who’d rather just unwind with a stogie.

The library  Joe Bryant

Meanwhile the primary bedroom alone is larger than most New York City apartments at 5,000 square feet, and has its own sitting room, massive his and hers closets and an office. And for visiting guests who’d prefer a separate building entirely, there’s a 4,500-square-foot guest house on the grounds as well.

A set of infinity pools create a sort of moat that surrounds the main home, further adding to the “castle on a hill” vibe. But it’s just one of many reasons you’ll want to spend time outdoors here. The 10,000-square-foot roof deck, for instance, has spectacular views of the city—the mansion’s elevator stops here, too, so you won’t have to hoof it up the stairs.

The master bedroom has a private office.  Douglas Friedman

Obviously the One makes for a great party pad, doubly so because it has its own in-house night club. “We call it the philanthropy wing because it’s similar to something in the Pritzker Estate where they host thousands of people for charity events,” says Rayni Williams.

Put all of the above together and the home makes a lot of sense for our current real estate landscape, when buyers want as many built-in amenities as possible—that way, even if another quarantine period were to occur, everything they need is already on site.

A view from the pool  Marc Angeles

Still, a gargantuan home like this one wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. “Obviously it’s not for everybody,” says Branden Williams. “But for the people it is for, it doesn’t get better than this.”

Unfortunately, the One’s new owner— Richard Saghian, founder and CEO of apparel company Fashion Nova—will have to wait just a little longer to find that out firsthand. It’s expected to take several more months of construction and somewhere around $20 million to finish the home and then obtain a certificate of occupancy.

Check out more images of the mansion below:

The house has incredible views.  By Joe Bryant

The indoor pool  By Joe Bryant

The dining room  Marc Angeles

The screening room seats 40.  Marc Angeles

The beauty salon  Joe Bryant

Another view from the pool  Courtesy of Marc Angeles

Helena Madden is a staff writer at Robb Report. She covers real estate and design for the magazine and the website. Her work ranges from polling interior experts on how to create the perfect game…

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THE HU to support IRON MAIDEN on 2024 North American tour

Iron Maiden are returning to North America for a big tour later this fall, and today (March 25th), the NWOBHM titans have announced the band who'll be serving as their direct support.

Mongolian folk-metal giants The HU will be warming up Maiden crowds throughout the October and November trek, which kicks off October 4th and concludes November 17th.

"Iron Maiden are the masters of rock music and one of our biggest inspirations," lead Morin Khuur/throat singer Enkush wrote in a statement. "The way that they create and perform their music is majestic.

"I still remember the first time I heard their 'Trooper' song and felt the deep energy behind each word. Something about their rhythm hits so close to home.

"We can't wait to be on a tour with them for the first time. America, we will see you very soon and be prepared for the mind-blowing shows we will bring to you!"

Check out the full dates below. 

Iron Maiden, The HU 2024 North American tour dates: 10/4 - North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, San Diego, CA, USA 10/5 - Michelob ULTRA Arena, Las Vegas, NV, USA 10/8 - Kia Forum, Los Angeles, CA, USA 10/14 - MODA Center, Portland, OR, USA 10/16 - Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA, USA 10/18 - Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA 10/19 - Ball Arena, Denver, CO, USA 10/22 - Xcel Energy Center, St Paul, MN, USA 10/24 - Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL, USA 10/26 - Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON, CANADA 10/27 - Videotron Centre, Quebec, QC, CANADA 10/30 - Centre Bell, Montreal, QC, CANADA 11/1 - Wells Fargo Center, PHILADELPHIA, PA 11/2 - Barclays Center, BROOKLYN, NY 11/6 - DCU Center, WORCESTER, MA 11/8 - PPG Paints Arena, PITTSBURGH, PA 11/9 - Prudential Center, NEWARK, NJ 11/12 - CFG Bank Arena, BALTIMORE, MD 11/13 - Spectrum Center, CHARLOTTE, NC 11/16 - Dickies Arena, FORT WORTH, TX 11/17 - Frost Bank Center (formerly AT&T Center), SAN ANTONIO, TX

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The HU (@thehuofficial)

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Jeremiah Brent Reimagined This L.A. Home for Stylish Entertaining

The powerhouse designer and Queer Eye cast member balanced traditional details with current materials and conveniences.

The TV personality took on the family's five-bedroom, seven-bathroom house after renovating their vacation home in the Bay Area. Spanning more than 10,500 square feet, their primary base in Los Angeles County needed to be suitable for "the art of gathering," replete with cleverly designed outdoor spaces perfect for conversation, which Brent says is "an integral part of the client’s lifestyle."

The property, originally built in 2013, features detailed millwork, but it called for a few structural additions to boost its functionality and charm. Reclaimed timber beams by Ross Alan Lumber in the living room and kitchen foster warmth. A small area off the kitchen features a custom Calacatta Paonazzo marble desk and hidden storage for more mundane supplies. In the bar area , custom white oak millwork holds happy hour necessities. "They've always had a love for entertaining and this is a house where everybody visits," the designer says.

.css-17t1xj6:before{content:'“';display:block;font-size:7.5rem;line-height:1.1;font-family:Apparel,Apparel-roboto,Apparel-local,Helvetica,Arial,Serif;margin-bottom:-4rem;letter-spacing:-0.015rem;background-image:none;} .css-x1fw4v{font-family:ApparelItalic,ApparelItalic-roboto,ApparelItalic-local,Georgia,Times,Sans-serif;font-size:2.0625rem;letter-spacing:0.015rem;line-height:1.1;margin:0rem;}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-x1fw4v{font-size:2.625rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-x1fw4v{font-size:2.625rem;line-height:1.1;}}.css-x1fw4v b,.css-x1fw4v strong{font-family:inherit;font-weight:bold;}.css-x1fw4v em,.css-x1fw4v i{font-style:italic;font-family:inherit;} It feels really fresh yet still soulful.

Throughout the home, natural materials and contemporary furniture in a neutral color palette blend old and new. Layers of low seating in the living room surround an antique limestone fireplace mantel and accentuate the high, slanted ceiling. The primary bedroom is wrapped in breezy linen bedding and cozy textiles.

"There are so many stories and memories that the home holds," Brent says. "We came to breathe some fresh air into it so it feels ready for a new chapter."

Pictured above.

Custom pieces like a Grant Larkin chandelier nod to the scale of the architecture.

P aint: Roman Clay in Saint Sauvant, Portola Paints . Table: custom, C.G. Custom Tile & Marble . Vessel: Studio Balestra .

Office Nook

A custom marble desk and cabinetry elevate daily tasks. Chair: Stahl +Band . Desk lamp: Studio Balestra . Marble fountain: Blackman Cruz . Stair runner: Stark .

Living Room

A mix of furnishings befits avid hosts. Sofas: Dmitriy & Co. (white) and vintage (gray) in Pierre Frey velvet. Ceiling light: custom, Glustin Luminaires . Console: antique, Blackman Cruz .

An open window overlooking a yard is "so romantic," Brent says. Pendants: Roman and Williams . Counter: Stoneland USA . Backsplash: Paris Ceramics . Stools: F&F Vintage .

Wicker Rohé Noordwolde barstools, a custom slate and bronze table by J. Pickens , and custom white oak millwork by Jeremiah Brent Design "work together to make it feel like you've gone out, even on a night in," Brent says. Semi-flush mount: Roman and Williams .

Powder Room

Brass antiques accent wall paint in Nitty Gritty Roman Clay by Portola Paints . Sconce: Lucca Antiques . Mirror: vintage, 1stDibs . Hand towel: Hale Mercantile Co.

Primary Bedroom

"It feels like a nest," Brent says. Bed: custom, in Kravet fabric. Bench: custom, Twist Custom . Drapery: custom, in Dedar fabric. Lamps: Woka Lamps Vienna .

Primary Bathroom

Daughter's Office

Sculptural furnishings and her own art give it whimsy. Chandelier: Light Cookie . Floor lamp: Urban Outfitters . Sofa: Eternity Modern . Table: McMullin & Co. Rug: The Novogratz . Pillows: (floral) House of Hackney and (blue) Lulu and Georgia .

Set off the guest room, this outdoor area "creates a vacationesque getaway for anyone visiting," Brent says. Chair: Formations . Table: Design Mix Gallery . Planter (tabletop): Inner Gardens .

To create a comfortable and refined seating area in the rose garden, Brent dressed up durable indoor-outdoor fabric by Pollack (chair cushions) and Perennials (pillows) with Samuel & Sons trim. The ADG Lighting lanterns are hardwired, so they're easy to set and adjust. Table and chairs: custom, Formations .

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.st0{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#fff} .st0{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#fff} SMS Main navigation Things to Do Attractions & Tours Arts & Culture Outdoors & Wellness Shopping Budget Family Hidden Gems Luxury Pet-Friendly Eat & Drink Bars Clubs Dine LA Restaurant Week Restaurants Business Spotlight Find Events Itineraries Where to Stay Celebrate LA Heritage AAPI Heritage Black LA Latino Heritage LGBTQ+ Tourist Information Meetings About LA Tourism Travel Trade Membership Business Spotlight Media Research Careers Today's must read Hidden Gems of Los Angeles Log in Search Search Things to Do Arts & Culture Discover the Landmark Houses of Los Angeles From Mid-Century Modern icons to LA's first World Heritage Site

Marion Davies House - Annenberg Beach House

The site that is currently known as the Annenberg Community Beach House was originally a five-acre oceanfront property belonging to William Randolph Hearst and his mistress, Marion Davies. The lavish compound was designed in the Georgian Colonial-style by architects Julia Morgan and William Flannery and featured a three-story main house, three detached guest houses, servants' quarters, dog kennels, tennis courts and two swimming pools. The legendary parties held at the compound during Hearst and Davies’ tenure had guest lists that often numbered in the thousands. Luminaries such as Howard Hughes, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, Winston Churchill, and Gloria Swanson all spent time at the massive estate at one time or another.

The site operated as the popular Sand & Sea Club for decades, then sat vacant and boarded up for years until the city of Santa Monica announced plans to renovate and reopen it as a public beach facility. Renowned philanthropist Wallis Annenberg donated $27.5 million to the cause. During the renovation, all of the remaining original structures from the Hearst days were demolished, except for a 110-foot Italian marble swimming pool and one of the guest homes, now known as the Marion Davies Guest House . The Annenberg Community Beach House opened to the public in April 2009. The site is open daily and is also used as a special events/wedding venue and filming location.

Neutra VDL Studio and Residences

The only Richard Neutra-designed house that is now open regularly to the public, the Neutra VDL Studio and Residences is a Silver Lake hidden gem that was built by the famed architect in 1932. He ran his practice out of a studio here, and along with his wife Dione, raised three sons in this house, which he designed to demonstrate that Modernist principles could be enjoyed by less affluent clients, while maintaining privacy. Natural light, glass walls, patios and mirrors are hallmarks of the Neutra VDL House. Tours of the property, given by Cal Poly Pomona architecture students, are offered on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In January 2017, the Neutra VDL Studio and Residences was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The U.S. Department of the Interior press release describes Neutra as "a nationally and internationally seminal figure of the twentieth century Modern movement in architecture" and the VDL Research House as "the only property where one can see the progression of his style over a period of years and is among the key properties to understanding the national significance of Richard Neutra.”

Schindler House

When this residential house was built by Vienna-born Rudolf Schindler back in1922 - inspired by a recent trip to Yosemite with his wife - it was extremely unconventional at the time for a place to live. In reality, it was meant to be a cooperative live-work space between two families, much like a camp site. Having been the residence of the Schindlers and then other creatives, this WeHo hidden gem is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday as an architectural center.

Stahl House

The Stahl House (aka Case Study House #22) was designed by architect Pierre Koenig and built in 1959. Perched in the Hollywood hills above the city, the Stahl House is an icon of Mid-Century Modern architecture. A 1960 black and white photograph by Julius Shulman, showing two women leisurely sitting in a corner of the house with panoramic views through floor-to-ceiling glass walls, is one of the most famous architectural photos in history and a quintessential Los Angeles image. In 2016, TIME named Shulman's photo one of the 100 Most Influential Images of All Time .

The Stahl House was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #670 in 1999. In 2007, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) listed the Stahl House as one of the top 150 structures on its "America's Favorite Architecture" list, one of only 11 in Southern California, and the only private residence on the list. The Stahl House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

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America’s first all-metal-and-glass house is reborn in Palm Springs

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An immaculate metal box built in 1931 to symbolize the future bounced around the East Coast for decades before recently landing in Palm Springs for all to see.

The first American home composed entirely of metal and glass was once an experimental housing prototype in New York. Now, the three-story, 1,100-square-foot Aluminaire House is the newest and oldest structure designed by Albert Frey in Palm Springs. The Swiss architect has been hailed as the father of Desert Modernism since he first took residence in Palm Springs in 1934.

“Here in Palm Springs, we often associate modern architecture with luxury, style and elegance,” Adam Lerner, executive director of the Palm Springs Art Museum, told an audience of 1,000 recently at the grand opening of the structure as a permanent exhibit. “But with the Aluminaire House, we are reminded that modernism is not just a style but an embodiment of ideas. Modernism is about making good design available to a wide audience.”

Rather than adapt the home to comply with current fire safety codes and the American Disability Act, the interior has been restored to its original condition but is inaccessible to the public.

“This is a little bit disappointing to us,” Lerner said, adding that the museum is raising funds to offer a virtual reality experience of the interior. The home sits on a gated site that is open during museum hours.

After the ribbon cutting, visitors packed through the gate to get a closer look at the Aluminaire House. Many tested the door handles and pressed their faces up against the glass along the ground floor in vain attempts at a peek inside, while others opted for the upward view into the stairwell — a gloriously abstract composition of steel beams against pastel-hued walls — visible through the double-height windows on its southern elevation.

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“When Frey was in Paris working for [architect] Le Corbusier in the late 1920s,” says Joseph Rosa, a historian and author of Albert Frey’s eponymous 1990 monograph, “he was enamored by the methods of architectural prefabrication and standardization on display throughout Sweet’s Catalog,” an American building material and product periodical that had sent shock waves through European architecture firms for its highly rational approach toward mass-produced design.

In the hopes of combining European modern design ideals with American manufacturing capabilities, 27-year-old Frey set sail for New York in 1930 and found a creative partner in A. Lawrence Kocher, managing editor of Architectural Record magazine, who was then organizing the Allied Arts Exhibition — held the following year in the Grand Central Palace in Manhattan. “Kocher did the writing and publicizing while Frey did the design,” says Rosa of their collaboration on the Aluminaire House for the landmark event.

The metal doorknob of the Aluminaire House.

The Aluminaire House.

Frey wrote in 1988 that he and Kocher “had been discussing the need for low-cost housing in those Depression years. We thought that a small, single-family house, using the new methods of prefabrication and maintenance-free materials, would be both popular with visitors to the Exposition and offer a solution for the housing shortage of the times.” Aluminum was a lightweight yet durable cladding material, and its cost had dropped considerably following the end of World War I.

During the eight-day event, more than 100,000 visitors poked around the features of its multi-functional interior, which included built-in radios, overhead garage doors and a roll-away dining table. Surfaces were partly unfinished to reveal the steel frame and other novelties unique to the structure. Visitors peered into the interior from the second-floor balconies of the exhibition space circling the house.

Architect Wallace K. Harrison paid for the model to be disassembled, relocated to his Huntington estate on Long Island, and reconstructed as a second home for his family. Frey, meanwhile, took his passions to Palm Springs, where he designed several modernist structures across the region while cruising around town in a convertible sporting a license plate that read “ALUMI.”

The Aluminaire House now sits at Museum Drive and Tahquitz Canyon Way, at the bottom of the long, winding road to Frey House II, the spartan home Frey built for himself in the foothills in 1964 and bequeathed to the Palm Springs Art Museum upon his death in 1998.

The Aluminaire House at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

Details of the corrugated metal siding of the Aluminaire House.

Following Harrison’s death in 1981, the Aluminaire House was on the path to demolition before gaining the attention of New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger, whose 1987 article championed the timelessness of its principles, if not its aesthetics. “There is nothing, at first glance, particularly appealing about the Aluminaire House,” Goldberger wrote. But here, “the dream that modernism would show a new way of life to the masses actually had a flicker of reality to it.”

The New York Institute of Technology was soon called on to relocate the home to its campus in Islip, Long Island. “We decided to make it part of the teaching curriculum,” said Michael Schwarting, a former professor at the institute who, with a state preservation grant of $131,000, brought architecture students to the site to disassemble the house before cataloging the elements and transporting them within a storage container. “A screwdriver and a wrench is pretty much all you need to take it apart,” said Frances Campani, a former institute professor who, with her husband, Schwarting, established the Aluminaire House Foundation. For many years, Schwarting’s design studios approached the Aluminaire House as a hands-on, full-scale case study for historic preservation.

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Feb. 8, 2023

In 2004, the home was taken apart once again following the dissolution of the Islip campus. As they struggled to attract New York-based institutions to erect their kit of parts, Campani and Schwarting were invited by organizers of Modernism Week, an annual celebration of the Mid-Century Modern architecture across Palm Springs, to not only lecture on the Aluminaire House but also to consider the city as its permanent home. A truck filled with building parts headed west in 2017, and a capital campaign seeking $2.6 million inspired local philanthropists to chip in.

“The entire structure we received is original to 1931, along with the doors, windows and stairs,” says Leo Marmol, a museum board member and managing partner of the Los Angeles architecture firm Marmol Radziner, who coordinated the design team on site. Among the more challenging tasks were refabricating parts of the interior and the exterior aluminum siding and choosing its location near the main museum building. The design team decided on a former parking lot on the southern edge, where its front elevation now glows every morning at sunrise.

Two blocks south, the exhibition “Albert Frey: Inventive Modernist,” on display at the museum’s Architecture and Design Center until June 3, lovingly depicts Frey as the creative lifeblood of 20th century Palm Springs while gesturing to the first energetic sketches of the Aluminaire House.

“I can’t think of any other town that has such a complete timeline of an architect’s work from the very first house he did in America to his very last,” said Brad Dunning, the curator, during a public tour of the exhibition.

As an image, the Aluminaire House is, and will remain, as pristine as it did the day it was unveiled in 1931. But as a meaningful attempt to build dignified affordable housing — an amenity severely lacking in Riverside County — it’s unclear whether Palm Springs will feel the full weight of its new aluminum box. The Aluminaire House was more than an impenetrable monument to a style, and Frey knew that its purpose would be tough for the masses to internalize but could be accepted with instruction. “Appropriate education and explanation of form evolution will speed up the process of assimilation,” Frey wrote in his 1939 treatise, “In Search of a Living Architecture,” “and make possible the simultaneous creation of modern means and respective forms.”

More to Read

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Shane Reiner-Roth is a lecturer at the University of Southern California. He has written for the Architect’s Newspaper, Architectural Digest and the New York Review of Architecture. Shane grew up in Sherman Oaks.

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Nyc rideshare, taxi passengers bracing wallets for double-barrel..., sean ‘diddy’ combs owes nearly $100m in mortgages on luxury la, miami  mansions raided by feds: report.

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Sean “Diddy” Combs owes nearly $100 million in mortgage payments on a trio of mansions in Los Angeles and Miami that were raided by federal agents this week , according to a report.

The embattled rapper took out eight bank loans, totaling a whopping $140 million, to pay for the sprawling properties, the Daily Mail reported .

The Department of Homeland Security searched the homes on Monday as authorities investigate a range of allegations, including sex trafficking, against the 54-year-old music mogul, who Forbes estimates to be worth roughly $1 billion.

Combs bought his LA home, located in the elite Holmby Hills neighborhood, for $39 million in August 2014, according to the Daily Mail.

The estate includes eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and an underwater swimming tunnel.

To fund the elaborate property, he took out two mortgages from the Bank of America — each for $25.35 million — in 2014 and May 2021, the outlet reported. Neither appears to have been paid off. The former mortgage is due to be paid off in full in August 2029 and the latter in May 2036.

In addition to the LA pad, he also purchased two neighboring mansions on Miami Beach’s exclusive Star Island.

For one of the Miami properties, a nine-bedroom and 12 bath waterfront home he bought from Sony Music head Tommy Mattola for $14.5 million in 2003, he’s taken out five mortgages totaling $68.45 million.

So far, he paid off $42.35 million, the Daily Mail reported. 

The 10-bed, six bath mansion next door was purchased in July 2021 from Gloria and Emilio Estefan for $35 million. For that property, he only took out a single home loan for $20.7 million with Bank of America due to be repaid by August 2036.

That means across Combs’s Los Angeles and Miami homes he’s taken out eight mortgages worth a whopping $139.85 million. 

Roughly $97.5 million remains outstanding. 

The music mogul likely has other properties throughout the country.

Diddy has not been charged with any crimes amid the ongoing investigations. 

An officer with the Department of Homeland Security told The Post the case has been active for several weeks, and authorities “believe that there is a disturbing history of sex trafficking,” said the Miami-based officer, who spoke under condition of anonymity.

At least four Jane Does and one John Doe have been interviewed by New York prosecutors in connection to sex-trafficking allegations and a RICO case.

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Diddy's legal woes spark tourist frenzy: Visitors flood his Los Angeles estate

Tourists flock to Diddy's mansion.

Diddy 's Los Angeles estate has become quite the attraction this week, drawing in a large number of visitors. The recent raids by federal authorities have only added to the curiosity, with tourists eager to catch a glimpse of the mansion.

According to several tour bus companies, there has been a significant increase in interest from customers following the shocking headlines about the raids. Some companies have reported that their buses are fully booked, attributing the surge in demand to both spring break and the attention surrounding Diddy's legal troubles .

"We've had a lot more people asking about Diddy's house this week. It's definitely become a major point of interest for our customers," said one tour company representative.

Interestingly, it seems that driving past Diddy's estate is not an uncommon occurrence for these tour companies. In fact, one company claimed that their bus was present at the property during the raid. This has certainly added an extra layer of excitement for the tourists, as typical celebrity home tours can often be uneventful.

"It's not every day that you get to witness something like this. It's definitely more thrilling than our usual tours," expressed another tour guide.

Tour bus companies report surge in demand for Diddy's house tours

The allure of celebrity homes is undeniable, but it's usually difficult to see more than just the front gates of these mansions. However, the recent events have undoubtedly made Diddy's estate a hot spot for sightseers.

As reported, federal agents conducted raids on Diddy's properties in Los Angeles and Miami, catching the music mogul off guard. In a video obtained by TMZ, Diddy appeared visibly surprised and agitated as he paced around a Miami airport parking lot while his private jet was being searched simultaneously with the home raids.

"Diddy denies all wrongdoing and has criticized the entire operation as nothing but a 'witch hunt,'" stated the report.

The unexpected turn of events has certainly put Diddy and his properties in the spotlight, attracting not just federal authorities but also curious tourists eager to catch a glimpse of the high-profile estate. The combination of legal drama and celebrity intrigue has made Diddy's mansion a must-see attraction for visitors in Los Angeles this week.

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