Something’s Got to Give, Just Not Marilyn Monroe’s House
Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood house has been saved from demolition and declared a landmark, reports the Los Angeles Times. On June 26, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to make Monroe’s final and only home she owned into a historic cultural monument after its current owners wanted to demolish it to expand their house next door. “We have an opportunity to do something today that should’ve been done 60 years ago. There’s no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her Brentwood home,” Councilmember Traci Park said before the vote was decided. “To lose this piece of history, the only home that Monroe ever owned, would be a devastating blow for historic preservation and for a city where less than 3% of historic designations are associated with women’s heritage.” Monroe lived in the house for about six months before she died from an overdose in 1962.
The current owners, Brinah Milstein, and Roy Bank, claimed that the property had been remodeled several times and no longer resembled the original home when Monroe lived in it. They filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming, “There is not a single piece of the house that includes any physical evidence that Ms. Monroe ever spent a day at the house, not a piece of furniture, not a paint chip, not a carpet, nothing,” despite also claiming the home was a nuisance to the neighborhood, as it became a tourist attraction for fans of the late actress.
Related