Here’s a slice of Hollywood history for you. This Norma Desmond’s mansion in “Sunset Boulevard” (1950) in the process of being demolished in 1957. In the movie, Norma’s address is 10086 Sunset Boulevard but in reality, the house wasn’t on Sunset Boulevard, or even near it. Its actual address was 641 S. Irving Blvd at the corner of Irving and Wilshire, half a dozen blocks east of Western Ave.
from “Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard” by Sam Staggs:
The actual house, used for exterior shots only stood at 4201 Wilshire between Irving and Lorraine boulevards at the in the intersection of Crenshaw. Built between 1919 and 1924 by William O. Jenkins, who owned sugar plantations in Mexico, the mansion was rarely occupied. The Jenkins family living in it for just one year before returning to Mexico. In 1936 J. Paul Getty bought the derelict house, according to some accounts, as a home for a former wife. In any case, the house stood empty, looked after by a couple who acted as caretakers until its demolition in 1957.
Dear Martin: we used to live at 310 S. Irving Blvd, Hollywood – from 1957 to 1963 – teaching skating at Polar Palace until it burned to the ground. Best wishes.
Ah! The Polar Palace fire! http://wp.me/p5XK3w-1iG
So sad to see these lovely homes destroyed ☹?
Isn’t it? Especially such an important one–well, important to us movie fans, anyway!
What stands there now? I’m watching the movie and so sad it was demolished. What a gorgeous home that was.
A big boring 1960s office tower.
That’s tragic.
Im watching the movie now and like you im so sad that this beautiful house has been demolished. Id love to have seen it. I love this film they dont make ’em like they used to. You cant beat these old great movies x
I love Gloria Swanson in sunset Boulevarde and loved the house where it was filmed.pity it was demolished. Let’s not forget William Holden too.
“Sunset Blvd” is such an immortal movie that I doubt we’re likely to forget Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Norma Desmond, or Joe Gillis any time soon! At least we still have that movie to give us a glimpse of what that house once looked like.
What a waste of architecture snd history. Forget the owner. The building!
I hear that the bed in the movie Sunset Boulevard (also used in the Phantom of the Opera) was in a museum that is now closed. So it’s current location is unknown.
It’s so sad to think that so many pieces of movie history disappear forever. As not many people in this day would recognize them if they saw them.
I hadn’t heard that about the bed. Hmmmm…I wonder which museum that is!
It was at the Pewter Plough Playhouse in Cambria, California but the owner died & the property was put up for sale in 2018. Sadly I haven’t seen any mention of what happened to the bed.
I wonder how the Pewter Plough Playhouse ended up with it. I’m sure there’s an interesting story there, along with how all the effects were disposed of when the owner died.
From what I’ve found the owner of the Playhouse had bought a lot of different movie props & was going to open a museum.
I think the history of the bed itself would make a wonderful book. I haven’t done a lot of research but just from what I have read it was made for a French actress that died very young & has been used in 4 movies since her death.. Heck I’d buy the book if you write it & publish it. And you could probably sell it at the silent movie museum when Covid calms down (or hopefully goes away).
When I worked at ILM they would show this movie at their private screening on Kerner blvd at their ILM theater. Funny, I was the only person there in the theater watching. I thought they would shut the movie off but they let it roll.
where was everybody??????
yahoo, thank you ILM for letting me watch it on a big screen by myself
yahoo hahahaha
I want to, well you know……..
Hey Kevin, thanks for sharing your memory with us. Sounds to me like you worked with a bunch of philistines! I certainly would have watched it with you!
To enter Oscar prediction contests I try to see all the nominated films, even the shorts. I thought I was the only person that sat alone in a theater. Have I found my people? Lol
Even the shorts, huh? You ARE dedicated!
So sad that this Hollywood architecture is disappearing. At least some artifacts from the movie have survived. I worked with a woman who owned the elaborate short jacket Swanson wears in the scene where she and Holden are watching one of her silent films, and she stands up into the bright projector light, points at the screen, and tells Holden that “I’ll show them. I’ll be up there again, so help me!” My coworker had bought it at auction when Paramount sold off their costume inventory. No doubt that it is indeed the jacket because it has a label hand sewed in the collar with Swanson’s name on it. It’s a beautiful shade of jade green made of fine silk Brocade. The black and white photography doesn’t do it justice. I’d love to know who has that curious cigarette holder always seen when Swanson is smoking.
Oh wow, Greg! That jacket sounds gorgeous. I’ve never even thought what color it might be. And yes, SURELY somebody has held onto that cigarette holder!
Martin: I’m enjoying your site; lots of interesting research and stories about the Golden Age of Hollywood. Your interview with Louella Parsons’ niece is especially fascinating. She was in a unique position to know the celebrities and witness the history during the time when Hollywood was at the height of glamour. Keep up the great work!
Thanks, Greg. Will do!
Not related but citizen Kane rooms and fire places/stairways were something of extraordinary opulence. Of course Norma’s bedroom entrances were also an art masterpiece of of their own.
I would visit Hearst castle many times, but it seemed pale to the stage sets of the movies.
I quit the movie industry when CGI came into play.
Do you think ever it will return the majestic auras of Hollywood?
I am now going to watch Sorcerer with Roy Schneider to maintain some grounding for theatrics.
Does anyone know if the interior shots of the Sunset Mansion were of the Getty house or where they were shot? I love this movie so much. I am a huge Jean Harlow fan so I have been to Hollywood many times and have driven by where this house once stood. All that beauty destroyed, how sad!!!!!
As far as I know, John, the interiors were all filmed on soundstages at Paramount.
“Sunset Boulevard” won the Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White
I too love Sunset Blvd. I saw it as a young fella & was spellbound. In the 70’s Carol Burnette would make fun of it on her variety show, that peeked my interest in the movie all over again. I was recently at Cordings in London & my sweetheart bought me a very cool flask & she had “Mad about the boy” engraved on it – favourite movie by far.
Holden was nominated for best actor for Sunset Blvd. He didn’t win but 3 yrs later he won the Oscar for another Billy Wilder movie, Stalag 17.
“Sunset Boulevard” made me a Gloria Swanson fan for life,and I’ll never forget finally seeing the pieced-together (original remaining film footage and still photographs with subtitles)version of “Queen Kelly” in the theater on the big screen with fellow movie buffs: what a thrill it was for this star struck kid to see the larger than life gorgeous Gloria Swanson looking more Gloria Swanson than ever! To this day I have a beautiful framed photo of her from this movie framed and hanging on a wall in my living room which I see daily.
I found this blog while researching the possible value of a Sunset Blvd original theater poster purchased in Europe many years ago. It is the bizarre vibrant colors of the Polish printed poster seldom seen in the USA . A treasure I would not sell. I so enjoyed reading these replies! — Richard.
Hello, I found this blog while researching what is “10086 sunset blvd” In the back of the cover of “Return of the Dream Canteen” from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Thank you
Wow, so Red Hot Chili Peppers used this location? I would never have guessed.
What is to be understood about the elevation of the property.
Also it appears the negative is flipped, look at the older photo w Holden and the placement of the chimneys. Another thing is the steps leading “up” to the house or pool deck elevation. What do you know or can explain about this. I do understand the owner had studio install pool as they wanted it for important shots. Thanks in advance
Just finished watching the movie Sunset Blvd. again for the hundredth time. It never gets old. Sincerely, CV Harris
I agree, Chonita, it’s always worth watching. Always!
Martin, I watch many of the film Noir. I enjoy reading about the Golden age of Hollywood. Thank you for posting the pictures of the mansion. I wish it was still around for more generations to enjoy. That is one reason why I like Europe, their structures date back to ancient times. Sincerely, Chonita
In that case, Chonita, you might enjoy my historical fiction novels, which are all set during Hollywood’s golden age.
I would like to read your books. Can they be purchased from Amazon? Thank you! Sincerely, Chonita
I’m watching right now, again. I never get tired of watching it.
Nor do I, Julia!
Yes, they’re all on Amazon: paperback, ebook, and audio. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Martin-Turnbull/author/B006PVNBMM
Thanks again.
What a pity this house was destroyed..an absolute sin. It should have been preserved as a museum…I am sure it would have been a well-visited site. Yes, I agree with someone who said if it had been in Europe, it probably would have been saved.
If the insides of the house matched the interiors of Norma Desmond’s mansion, I’d go all the time!
Hi, just started reading All the Gin Joints, along with Garden on Sunset! Can’t wait to purchase the next book. I’m so happy I came across this site. People who still appreciate the classics. CV Harris
You have to remember this is Los Angeles. City of make believe. They don’t keep anything from the past. They just keep reinventing the city every generation
I just discovered this post and this website.
I was searching for the location of the Norma Desmond house on Sunset Boulevard that was used as a location in the film. But I was very surprised to learn that it was at 641 Irving Boulevard. That’s just a few blocks from where I grew up on Norton Avenue near 4th St. I used to ride my bike all through Windsor Square and one of my elementary school friends lived at 617 Irving Blvd. I went to his house a number of times and we would look over the wall into the backyard of the Getty mansion. I clearly remember the swimming pool.
I learned that it was used in a scene in the film Rebel Without a Cause. I also remember when they were filming Rebel Without a Cause I was walking on Wilshire Boulevard where a small curved driveway had an awkwardly parked Porsche spider car. I realized later this had to be James Dean‘s car. And he was there for that filming. He, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo had broken into a mansion at night in the movie. But in that film they gave the impression that this house was below the Griffith Park observatory.
I had no idea that this was the same house I had seen many times in the movie Sunset Boulevard.
Another fact is that to the north of my friend’s house, on the corner of sixth Street and Irving, is a mansion of another friend of my friend and sometimes I would go visit. I can still see the interior. This home was purchased by the city of Los Angeles, and is now the official residence of the Los Angeles mayor.
Anyway I’m so happy to learn finally where Norma Desmond‘s mansion really existed and it’s still clearly visible in my childhood memory. I was 9 years old at that time and in the 4th grade. That was about three years before they tore it down.
I just came across this site while searching for info on the Sunset Blvd house. Your memories of this home are fascinating! How wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
How lucky you were Gerry to have seen that beautiful home and James Deans porsche spider. To bad you did not see the actors. It still breaks my heart about losing that wonderful house. What a shame!!!! Thanks for sharing your memories with us.
John
The exterior of Norma Desmond’s mansion only being used in the movie by that real place, and the interiors on soundstages, is a movie-production reality to this day, no doubt. In 1985 I worked on the exterior scenes for THE MONEY PIT in Lattingtown, NY, a rich neighborhood just up the hill from Oyster Bay in Nassau County, a real mini-mansion not being lived in at that time. The interiors of that film were shot up-island at Kaufman Astoria Studios, in Astoria, Queens NYC. (Maybe the same soundstages used by the Marx Bros. in their first 2 films THE COCOANUTS and ANIMAL CRACKERS!)
A P.S. to my posting is that I just read on IMDB trivia that the clip of QUEEN KELLY that Gloria & William watch in her mansion…..was shot at Astoria Studios (the same year as THE COCOANUTS shot there), which I just mentioned as to when I worked on THE MONEY PIT in 1985. Serendipitous!
It really is a small world, after all, Bob!
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