A Beverly Hills 90210 Sunrise!
Good morning from Beverly Hills!
That’s the view east from the top of Beverly Hills, which I took one morning while on a walk.
And what of this one?
My wife and I like to walk up our street to the top of Beverly Hills, which offers spectacular views of Los Angeles below us as the sun rises int he morning, and offers a spectacular view of downtown LA all day long as well:
We live approximately one mile directly north of the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel, which is on the equally iconic Sunset Boulevard:
One way we like to get our exercise is to walk all the way down and then back up to the top of our piece of the Beverly Hills mountains.
That mile is all uphill, and the walk up is a great way to get exercise – and see a few iconic mansions as well!
Behold “Pickfair”!
One of the most iconic mansions in Beverly Hills is this one; owned by two of cinema’s first superstars!
Pickfair is an iconic 18-acre estate just north of Sunset Boulevard, originally designed by architect Horatio Cogswell – and was home to Actor Douglas Fairbanks in 1918, who lived there with his wife, the legendary Actress Mary Pickford.
Coined “Pickfair” by the press, it became one of the most celebrated houses in the world. Life Magazine described Pickfair as:
“a gathering place only slightly less important than the White House… and much more fun.”
And when you are climbing the “Hills of Beverly”, you reach a flat spot where Pickfair sits!
Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks lived here a long long time ago, but it is still as iconic as ever – even though this is just a replica!
Actress Pia Zamora Tore Pickfair Down!
In 1988, Pia Zadora, a little-known Actress and her husband at the time, Meshulam Riklis, bought the home for $7 million. Two years later, Miss Zadora revealed that instead of renovating Pickfair, she had it razed and constructed this “Venetian style palazzo” in its place.
It’s impossible to get a wide shot of the entire property, so I decided to slowly down the street past the estate and let you see it that way:
This is the view from the northern driveway, and there is a second house to the right that is on the property as well.
A piece of property at the very southern end was sold several years ago and another house was built there…
After soaking in Pickfair, time to head back up hill.
Continuing to hike north of Pickfair, we next came across Elvis Presley’s former wife, Priscilla’s house!
This is the giant mirror across from the entrance, so cars can safely back out of the estate – Priscilla lived here for a long time! The house itself is behind the massive gate. She sold it before her daughter tragically passed away – here’s a peek inside:
Continuing to walk up the hill, the entire western side of Los Angeles lies to the left of me as I pass houses where Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Janet Leigh used to live, and then an empty lot where a house once stood belonging to Elizabeth Taylor!
I mentioned that “Psycho” Star Janet Leigh lived very close to my house until her death, and her classic thriller was one of my Alfred Hitchcock “Hitch Hikes”:
My wife Alex came up with this idea: we’d go on a hike then watch a classic Hitchcock thriller…for this one, we had an encounter with a rattlesnake!
Since I am typing this now, we survived it…you can see how it turned out here:
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Categories: Art, Exotic Travel, Film Fight Club, Hollywood, Memoirs, nature, Pop Culture, Real Estate, Talent/Celebrities, Travel, Travel Adventures
johnrieber 
This was terrific, John. It’s sad when people tear down iconic houses.
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Hi John, an interesting post. I looked up about Lisa Marie Presley’s death and see that it is linked to surgery for weight loss. I also saw her oldest son committed suicide which I didn’t know about. My goodness, that family is dogged with untimely death.
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Enjoyed this peek into ‘Pickfair’ – what a pity it was razed to the ground. The surroundings all look lovely. Thanks for my armchair travel guide!
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Thank you for reading! Pia Zamora and her husband were loudly criticized and they used the excuse that it was old!
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Very nice. Are you guys back from France now?
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We are indeed back! Left Paris the day after opening ceremony!
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I’ve always heard about how legendary the house and the couple were. I would have loved to have had the chance to see it. what a shame that Pia had it torn down
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I always thought Pia Zadaora had no class! Demolishing such an iconic piece of Hollywood history just confirms that.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yes Pete they destroyed an iconic landmark and put up a fake palace…but still worth showing folks with that context – cheers!
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