The quiet, upscale Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood prides itself on being Hollywood’s protected haven — a billionaire bubble the place A-listers can seize espresso, eat at low-key eating places, and disappear behind hedges thick sufficient to dam a highlight.
However the picturesque neighborhood has had a darkish and storied historical past. Bomb blasts, high-profile deaths, and crimes so infamous they froze a nation have all plagued the playground of the wealthy and well-known.
“Tragedy is just not a stranger to Brentwood,” stated Carolyn Jordan, a longtime resident and veteran actual property lawyer who has dealt with every little thing from routine offers to main transactions.
As a former chair of the Brentwood Neighborhood Council and nonetheless lively in public security for the group, Jordan has watched the neighborhood’s rigorously cultivated “sleepy city” picture collide with a grisly, made-for-headlines actuality.
“I believe it’s unlucky that it’s one thing we’re identified for,” Jordan stated.
“There are such a lot of fantastic components of Brentwood, however I suppose there’s a worth while you’re an attractive place that so many high-profile individuals wish to stay, who’re sadly topic to extra tragedy.”
The sample is tough to disregard.
First got here the mob.
In 1950, Mickey Cohen — the loud, flashy gangster who helped outline Los Angeles’ underworld — survived a bombing at his Brentwood house.
A former affiliate of Bugsy Siegel, Cohen had moved into the elite neighborhood on the top of his energy, drawn by the identical privateness and status that may later appeal to Hollywood royalty.
His custom-built house at 513 Moreno Drive turned notorious after a gangland bomb assault shattered home windows throughout the world close to the Brentwood Nation Membership and ripped by the home.
Cohen escaped unhurt, and the picture that caught turned pure noir — Cohen in a bathrobe, cigarette in hand, calmly surveying the wreckage.
“The picture’s so memorable,” Jordan stated. “Even when nobody remembers who he’s, this stands out.”
Then got here Hollywood tragedy.
In 1962, Marilyn Monroe purchased a small Spanish-style house on Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood — the one house she ever owned — tucked right into a quiet residential pocket removed from studio gates.
Simply months later, she was discovered lifeless inside. Her loss of life was dominated a possible suicide brought on by barbiturates, and the home immediately turned a part of Hollywood lore.
Greater than six a long time later, the road remains to be residential and tightly knit, however the deal with continues to attract followers and curiosity-seekers from all over the world.
“Folks have achieved that eternally,” Jordan stated, noting that admirers nonetheless depart roses on the driveway on Monroe’s birthday and the anniversary of her loss of life.
In recent times, nevertheless, the property has once more ignited controversy, with proposed plans to demolish the house sparking fierce opposition from preservationists, neighbors and Monroe followers who argue the positioning is irreplaceable.
Then Brentwood turned America’s crime scene.
In June 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman had been brutally murdered exterior Brown’s Brentwood condominium — against the law that detonated into one of many greatest media spectacles in US historical past as soon as O.J. Simpson turned the prime suspect.
“The day of the slow-speed chase, there was a lady together with her youngsters who went and stood in entrance of our home to observe and await him to drive by,” she stated.
“I bear in mind considering, this man is distressed and has a gun. What are you doing bringing a little bit child out right here?”
The gawkers adopted, Jordan remembered. Streets had been clogged, and police shut down entry.
“Neighbors had been having issues with individuals urinating on their lawns,” the veteran actual property lawyer stated. “It was a zoo.”
The home reportedly sat empty for 2 years after the infamous killings.
In 1997, new house owners “fully re-landscaped the shrubbery the place Brown Simpson and Goldman’s our bodies had been discovered, making the homicide web site just about unrecognizable,” the Los Angeles Occasions reported.
The paper additionally famous the house’s deal with was formally modified — a deliberate transfer to sever the property from its bloody previous.
Much less well-known — however simply as chilling — was the killing of outstanding actual property investor Richard Traweek, who was shot to loss of life within the underground parking storage of his Brentwood condominium within the early Nineties.
Traweek wasn’t a celeb, however he was well-known in actual property circles. Being gunned down in a safe storage shattered the phantasm that cash and privateness meant security.
On the time, stories speculated about enterprise disputes tied to abroad traders, although no motive was ever confirmed.
And the headlines didn’t cease there.
Now, residents are bracing for a grim new chapter. On Dec. 14, acclaimed director and actor Rob Reiner and his spouse, photographer-producer Michele Singer Reiner, had been discovered lifeless inside their Brentwood house in a double murder .
The legendary couple each suffered deadly stab wounds in an assault that shocked the neighborhood and Hollywood alike.
Their 32-year-old son, Nick Reiner, was arrested hours later and has been charged with two counts of first-degree homicide with particular circumstances, probably exposing him to life in jail and even the loss of life penalty because the case strikes ahead.
“I’m involved a couple of repeat of issues,” Jordan stated, cautioning that tragedy shouldn’t be became a “carnival sideshow.”
Nonetheless, she stated, Brentwood clings to its small-town really feel beneath the glare — a celeb zip code the place fame fades quick as soon as the cameras depart.
On San Vicente Boulevard and on the Brentwood Nation Mart, stars nonetheless mix in.
“It’s a sleepy city,” Jordan stated, “You possibly can see Whoopi Goldberg grocery buying, simply one other neighbor in line.”
