Hollywood Home With Staggering A-List History Goes Up for Rent

The old-Hollywood vibe is palpable at a hillside home in Los Angeles, available to lease for $18,500 a month.

“When you walk into the house, you kind of feel transported to the [19]20s,” says Dag Eliason, who is listing the rental property with Hilton & Hyland colleague Alexandre Anu. “It has all of the creative energy—and all of the elegant features.”

Anu adds that it’s “a very romantic Spanish villa. The way you feel when you walk in, it’s just a magical place.”

In addition to its dreamy vibes, the home is designed to appeal to creative minds.

“We are always trying to see who would be the perfect tenant for this house, and we feel some houses travel from generation to generation, attracting very artistic people,” Eliason says. “This will be the house that you will write your next novel [in], or you would write your new record, or someone is highly creative because the house is kind of calling for that kind of people.”

A serious Hollywood pedigree

Whoever rents this property can tap into the artistic energy of those who once lived in the 1927 home, including Ava Gardner, Lawrence Olivier, and Stan Laurel.

“Anybody who was anybody in Hollywood had visited this house,” Eliason says. “What was interesting to us is when we visited, it still had that feel and energy of it. The first time we walked the house, we were completely seduced by the energy. It’s just so rare to find the vibratory elements intact from that golden era of Hollywood and all the celebrities that lived there.”

Architect Franz Herding designed several homes on the same street in the Hollywood Knolls area.

“He was kind of one of the very early adopters with the social awareness of kind of improving and developing properties that were still very true to the elements and nature.” Eliason says, adding that Herding was one of the first architects to build into the hillsides. “This development was directed to a high-end clientele. He wanted to have the views, but he also wanted to have the indoor and outdoor lifestyle and overall feel.”

So the who’s who of old Hollywood ended up in the area—including Herding himself, who lived right down the street.

Your very own speakeasy

The home has five bedrooms and six bathrooms across 5,839 square feet. Most rooms have a view of the canyon below.

“It’s very, very original,” Eliason notes. “It still has the Herding marks of the fireplaces, and there have been a few changes; but overall, the whole architect element is definitely there.”

The home’s most unique feature might be its speakeasy.

“It was very, very common back then that everybody wanted a speakeasy kind of a small bar with a wine cellar,” Eliason says. “It’s something we like to see, and it’s always extra cool to us when it’s intact. You can strongly sense someone having a glass of wine and an interesting conversation when you visit it, that’s for sure.”

Anu agrees that the home strongly embodies its past.

“When you walk into the bar, you can just feel the people that were there,” he says. “It’s like their souls are still in the walls, so that part really transports you. You forget you’re anywhere else.”

A rare rental opportunity

The rent includes the furnishings, and a discussion about a sale might be possible, although the listing agents didn’t want to commit.

“It’s never been listed for lease before,” Anu says. “It’s very rare for a house like this to be a lease actually. Most leased properties are not of this architectural significance and style. There’s so much good stuff in this home—from the design to the furniture, it’s just very rare.”

While the chic abode dates back to the 1920s, its mechanicals and other systems are definitely updated.

“It has been modernized to accommodate somebody who’s discerning and wants to live a luxurious lifestyle; but it has the charm and the character from 1927 still, and you feel that,” Anu remarks.