Merv Griffin’s La Quinta Home Damaged by Fire

Fire this morning today badly damaged a $1-million La Quinta home under construction for television producer Merv Griffin at a desert country club development, fire officials said.

Twenty-seven firefighters responded to the 7:52 a.m. blaze at the home in the PGA West Country Club development, said Tim Spann, spokesman for the Riverside County Fire Department.

Griffin is flattening a Beverly Hills mountaintop into a 16-acre perch for a marble-and-limestone mansion. He has many homes, and once said real estate is “a nice complement to show business.”