A famed architect to the stars designed it. A renowned Hollywood producer occupied it. A relative of a reviled international terrorist abandoned it. And now a Mediterranean villa on a hillside in genteel Bel-Air has become the latest target of mysterious graffiti vandals.
Sometime late last week, spray-paint-wielding intruders turned the pink walls of this seven-bedroom mansion into a helter-skelter canvas of pop art, obscure quotations and political insinuations — the third hillside home in Los Angeles to be defaced in recent days.
Police detained one man at the two-acre property on Stone Canyon Road late Friday, but the real estate agent who oversees the property said a security guard believed the uninvited visitor was only taking pictures of the home. She declined to press charges.
Police and the private security firm that patrols the verdant neighborhood near the Hotel Bel-Air said they had no further clues about who vandalized the house, with missives and sketches filling most of the walls both inside and outside the once luxurious residence.
Graffiti covers interior walls of the home, and on the floors are empty cans of spray paint and beer.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
On Sunday morning, emptied paint cans and beer bottles littered many of the rooms and a front patio. Windows above the front door had been shattered. Others had been rendered opaque with black and red paint. An elegant stone archway had been emblazoned with “Hopes” in black paint.
“They really completely destroyed everything. There is broken glass everywhere. It’s been defamed, vandalized,” said the agent who is selling the property and spoke on condition that she would not be named. “It’s so horrible. Horrible.”
Two large homes in the Hollywood Hills got a similar treatment recently. The property crimes follow the much-publicized defacing of downtown high-rises with graffiti.
A guard who has patrolled the neighborhood for years said he had chased others off the property, most recently three young men who were also shooting video Saturday night.
“They asked me, ‘Can we stay and take pictures?’ “ recalled the guard. “I said to them, ‘Can I just come into your house without an invitation and then stay?’“
The guard, who also requested anonymity, wondered whether the intruders wanted photos “as part of some kind of competition or something.” He said that, several months ago, squatters backed a moving truck up to the home, apparently ready to take up residence. He told them they had five minutes to get lost. They did.
The Bel-Air mansion sits at the end of a long driveway, shielded from the street by tall stands of trees and bamboo. Three Bel-Air neighbors said they had not heard about the vandalism until a reporter told them about it Sunday.
Police and private security said they had no clues about who was responsible for the vandalism.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
The vandalism marks a low point for a home born in Hollywood splendor.
Architect John Elgin Woolf designed the villa, one of many he helped create for luminaries including Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Judy Garland and Errol Flynn.
Producer Arthur Freed lived there for years. He made classics including “Brigadoon,” “Showboat,” “An American in Paris,” “Gigi” and “Singin’ in the Rain.” He also co-wrote the song “Singin’ in the Rain” with Nacio Herb Brown.
Freed also served as an associate producer (uncredited) on “The Wizard of Oz” and, by one account, was among those who fought to keep the song “Over the Rainbow” in the film after some of the filmmakers wanted to cut it.
Freed served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He died in 1973 in Los Angeles.
Ibrahim bin Laden, a member of the wealthy Saudi construction dynasty, bought the Bel-Air home in the 1980s. He is the half-brother of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Bin Laden brother and his family used the Bel-Air property as a vacation home, but they have not lived there for more than 25 years, the real estate agent said. For a time, a manager lived in a guest house and tended to the property, but he fell ill and moved out several years ago.
The family considered leasing the home and hired a contractor to improve the bathrooms and kitchen. But work crews only tore out walls and never completed the work, the agent said.
Architect John Elgin Woolf designed the villa that sits behind tall trees on the two-acre property on Stone Canyon Road.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
The house has been listed for sale since 2021, with the asking price as high as $28 million. It’s currently listed for $21.5 million. One buyer who had placed an offer is deciding what to do, after being apprised of the graffiti damage, the agent said.
Among the messages scrawled on the interior walls is an expletive and “Osama!” Nearby, another message reads: “G.W. Bush Helped You.”
The agent said she sent a video of the damage to her clients, who maintain several other homes around the world. “They are very, very upset,” she said. “I mean, it is really devastating.” She also pleaded for the public to understand that the owners had nothing to do with the faults of their famous relative.
At one massive home nearby, a man who answered via intercom said he had not heard anything about the vandalism. At another gated mansion, a housekeeper came on the speaker phone and said she did not want to talk.
One prominent Bel-Air resident had no doubt whom he blamed for the crime — the city’s political leaders.
“L.A.’s woke. It’s also broke,” said Fred Rosen, the onetime chief executive of Ticketmaster, the computer ticketing giant. “The city’s broken. There’s crime, people leaving and politicians lying more than usual.”
Rosen, who lives not far from the graffitied mansion, blamed L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón, in particular, for what he said was a lack of accountability for wrongdoing.
“We’ve had a basic breakdown of consequences for bad behavior,” Rosen said. “I don’t know anybody — from the Valley, to the Westside, to Compton — who’s not afraid, or isn’t concerned.”