The Beverly Hills home where a hitman drew a bead on mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel 75 years ago has gone up for sale at close to $17 million.
The owners of the infamous site of Siegel’s murder are listing the 7,000-square-foot house at 810 North Linden Drive, in the Flats, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Spanish-Colonial home, built in 1928, had been leased by the gangster for his mistress and mob courier, Virginia Hill, who was in Paris at the time of his violent death.
On the night of June 20, 1947, the developer of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas was seated on a couch in the living room when nine bullets shattered its streetside window. Siegel took four rounds from a .30-caliber military carbine, including two in the head, according to historians.
His killer (or killers), who’d fired from 14 feet away, was never found.
The seven-bedroom, five-bathroom house has seen various owners since Siegel’s murder and last changed hands in 2003. Its current owners are Dr. Joel Aronowitz, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, and Fiona Chalom.
The white stucco home with a Spanish-tile roof, designed by Joseph Fox and Sons, has a two-floor entry that includes original iron railings, hand-painted tiles and a grand staircase.
Recent upgrades include a new kitchen with an island and a Sub-Zero refrigerator, and a new swimming pool with a cover. A central tower is topped by a studio. Many features, including the bathrooms, are original.
The half-acre property, perched on a knoll, has a private hedged yard and is less than a mile from the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Broker Myra Nourmand of Nourmand & Associates holds the listing. Despite its dark history, she said the house is bright.
“All the bedrooms are very spacious,” Nourmand told The Hollywood Reporter. “A lot of Spanish homes that were built in the 20s have a musty, heavy, dark feeling. Unlike those, this house is full of light with windows and high ceilings everywhere.”
Siegel, who developed the Flamingo Hotel in association with former Hollywood Reporter owner Billy Wilkerson — is tied to a slew of properties across Los Angeles.
The Brooklyn native and Hollywood socialite hung out at the Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, now undergoing a renovation, and leased an apartment at what is now the Sunset Tower, where it was turned into the hotel’s Tower Bar restaurant.
At one point, he lived at Castillo del Lago, a Mediterranean-style estate in the Hollywood Hills reputed to hold a speakeasy and gambling parlor.
Siegel also built an estate in Holmby Hills for his wife Esta, who he divorced. It was later owned by producer-director Bud Yorkin and actress-producer Cynthia Yorkin. It was demolished after they sold it in 2013.
As for the house where he was killed, anyone who watches the biopic “Bugsy” won’t recognize it.
That’s because the murder scene in the movie was shot In Hancock Park at an Italian mansion on South Plymouth Boulevard, according to the trade magazine. It sold last year for $7.5 million.
— Dana Bartholomew
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