Liberace's Onetime Home a Local Landmark Sherman Oaks, CA Patch

Table Of Content

• Behind the Candelabra and Inside the Homes of Liberace
• Find out what's happening in Sherman Oakswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
• Photos: The Lavish Real Estate Of Liberace
• Mother's Day is on its way: Shop our favorite bouquets from 1-800-Flowers for the perfect gift
• How Barry’s brutal, nightclub-inspired workouts became the biggest thing in fitness
• Early career
• Anne Hathaway’s ‘Tonight Show’ interview takes cringey turn after audience reacts in silence to her question

From then on, Liberace bought and sold real estate, always keeping a few properties in his portfolio, while ordering piano-shaped and other elaborate furnishings. We dug into the archives and were able to find some vintage shots of Liberace's real estate from photo shoots and also from a set that was taken in 1987 shortly after the performers' death. His style is just as glitzy as anything he ever wore on-stage—like Versailles with a midcentury twist. Although he fought against being labeled as homosexual during his lifetime, his sexual orientation was widely discussed and recognized. Pop music legend Elton John has stated that Liberace was the first gay person he remembered seeing on television, and he considered Liberace to be a personal hero.

Behind the Candelabra and Inside the Homes of Liberace

There was a music-playing fountain in front of the house with cherubs, which was removed only a few years ago by the current owner. According to the LA Times, Liberace had a penchant for penthouses after filming the 1955 movie Sincerely Yours, in which he played a pianist who owned one. His featured a mirrored wall in the bedroom, zebra-pattern carpet, and a rooftop pool. Apparently the space has recently served as a sex therapy workshop site. The great pianist/eccentric Liberace had many fabulous and over-the-top homes throughout the Los Angeles area (and as far as Vegas) during his life. To get primed for this Sunday's airing of the HBO biopic about him, Behind the Candelabra, why not take a tour of some of the razzle-dazzle entertainer's numerous properties, from the piano-themed house in the Valley to his favorite place in Palm Springs.

Find out what's happening in Sherman Oakswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Liberace eagerly embraced pop culture making guest appearances both on the Monkees and Batman in the late 1960s. In 1978, Liberace appeared on the Muppet Show, and, in 1985, he appeared on Saturday Night Live. In the 1940s, Liberace reworked his live performances from straight classical music to shows that included pop music. Liberace added the iconic candelabra to his act after seeing it used as a prop in the 1945 film A Song To Remember about Frederic Chopin. Liberace often hid his private life as a gay man by allowing public stories about romantic involvement with women to gain traction.

Photos: The Lavish Real Estate Of Liberace

Tivoli Gardens was planned as a coffee shop for museum patrons but quickly became a full-service restaurant with several bars in 7,000 square feet. It’s closed now while part of the 7,000 square feet is being claimed by the museum for additional exhibit space. He seemed to live as lavishly at home as he appeared on the stage, but he was also self-effacing. Palm Springs resident Maxine Lewis was entertainment director of the Last Frontier in Las Vegas and gave Liberace his first big break.

Mother's Day is on its way: Shop our favorite bouquets from 1-800-Flowers for the perfect gift

Palm Springs resident Don Fedderson produced Liberace's first TV series in 1952 after seeing him perform at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the Palmer House in Chicago and the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. He bought his first home in Palm Springs shortly after his show was nationally syndicated. Liberace was born in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis, Wisconsin. His father was an Italian immigrant, and his mother was of Polish descent.

Under the new plan--approved by Liberace 13 days before he died--Strote was named sole executor and trustee of the Liberace will and trusts, with power of attorney and authority over the use of Liberace’s name and likeness. There was, in fact, testimony that Liberace was directing the court action from the grave. There also was exhaustive testimony about his last days, sketching him alternately as a man unable to speak in sentences or control bodily functions, and as a coherent if worn patient with wits enough to weigh complicated legal options. Vegas immortality is of course relative and not necessarily forfeited upon death.

Images show an original fireplace, columns, handsome herringbone floors and even space for a home gym. Up a stairwell is a private 2,000-plus-square-foot roof terrace with space for dining, lounging and looking out to views of the Los Angeles skyline. John O’Reilly, one of several lawyers engaged in Strote’s defense, spoke of Liberace’s “dream” for the foundation and the “Shangri-La” that the generous entertainer had provided his entourage before he passed away. The closing arguments were made late Wednesday, and as often happens the opposing lawyers appeared to have been locked in different courtrooms for the duration of the case, so contradictory were their appeals. They testified about estates and trusts, real estate transactions, the standard rates of fees charged by attorneys in such cases.

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His hands showcased a number of ornate, piano-shaped rings, and he draped himself in long, heavy fur capes. He even drove to his piano on stage in one of his many luxury automobiles. In the mid-1970s, Liberace decided to give the public a peek into his lavish lifestyle. He later displayed his collection of costumes, cars and other treasures at his own museum in Las Vegas. You can see Liberace’s influence throughout this home, from the plaque on the driveway that reads “Piazza de Liberace,” to the street sign in the entrance that says “Liberace Lane,” to the musical notes along the fence.

Anne Hathaway’s ‘Tonight Show’ interview takes cringey turn after audience reacts in silence to her question

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Sorry, folks, Tosa's most beautiful house is for sale but has an accepted offer.

Posted: Wed, 26 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Among other roles at The Times, he previously served as city editor and as a columnist, writing the award-winning “On California” column for several years. She was asked if it was true that she believed her brother had directed her to be in court, that she talked with Liberace every day. Liberace, they said outside court, had known he had the disease for more than a year, but never came fully to terms with pending death.

However, when neighbors complained of noise and traffic due to events held at the home, the county zoning board denied Dzvonick’s license to operate. He told AOL News that without an operable business, it was impossible to make the more than $20,000-a-month mortgage payment. That was a year after he bought the Los Angeles office building with residential penthouse on Beverly Boulevard, which is in escrow. He bought the office building after he sold five commercial buildings he bought in 1968 on La Cienega at Santa Monica boulevards.

The affection grew from the movie “Sincerely Yours,” which he made in 1955. In the past few weeks, one of his Malibu co-ops and his office building with the penthouse entered escrow. Both were listed by Bill Weatherby of Santa Monica, who also has the $695,000 listing on Liberace’s other, larger co-op.

He liked tiny, Tivoli-like twinkling lights and had them installed along the stage-like platform under his bar stools in Malibu and along the four posters of his king-size bed in Los Angeles, where an elaborate chandelier hangs over the master bathtub. Liberace combined two units to make the larger co-op after he bought three one-bedroom co-ops in the six-unit, 25-year-old building in 1984. Other A-listers to live in the charming cluster of homes include broadcast journalist Connie Chung, Vivian Vance and Farley Granger, Katherine Hepburn, Barbara Marx — the fourth wife of Frank Sinatra — and the actress Kathrine Herzer, Dirt reported. The address is one of 15 at the Shoreham, a gated knot of apartments and townhouses built by MGM Studios to house talent above Sunset Strip’s Sunset Plaza section.

There’s also a private, gated courtyard entry with a koi pond and fountain. These people, he said, indicating the plaintiffs who were seated in the front row of a now packed courtroom, “lived a dream.” And now it was finished. “‘That was the beginning of his piano-shaped world and the beginning of his interest in real estate,” James said. But it was, after all, only one dream of many that Liberace had about real estate.