Results tagged “annenbergfoundation”

                     

Yesterday, the Annenberg Community Beach House opened to the public for the first time. Run by the City of Santa Monica, the public club-like beach and recreational facility sits on property once purchased for movie star Marion Davies by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Although only the guest cottages and pool remain from the original structures (sadly the 110-room Julia Morgan-designed manse was demolished decades ago), a ten-year restoration and re-purposing plan is finally done, and now everyone can enjoy use of the beach, the tennis and volleyball courts, the rec rooms, and the marble-tiled pool all on a beachfront property that was once the playground of the stars.

Once upon a time it was the beachfront estate of silent movie starlet Marion Davies, built for her by her lover, the infamous newspaperman William Randolph Hearst. It was definitely a "party house" where a who's who of Hollywood's golden era would frolic in the pool and on the shore. On the 5-acre site was a mansion designed by renowned architect Julia Morgan, boasting 110 rooms.