Escape Reality for $8.25M : Movie Producer Combined History and Hollywood to Create a Nautical Wonderland, Now on the Market
From the street, the place looks like any other multimillion-dollar house behind a locked security gate off Coast Highway.
Three large garages with oars hanging over them unassumingly front the pavement. A tidy rose garden graces an even tidier front lawn. And a modest white gatehouse guards an otherwise invisible entrance. Passing that gatehouse, however, reveals something far different than your average millionaire’s mansion. Here, on an oblong acre of hillside rolling literally from the street to the sea, is the Griffith Estate, a nautical wonderland complete with its own lighthouse, ocean cave, saltwater swimming pool and richly imbued history tinged with the glamour of Hollywood.
Begin by taking a walk down the cobblestone path that winds through the well-manicured gardens and hedges.
On the left is a guest house consisting of the former chart house from the original three-mast sailing ship, the Mary Dollar. In the main house is an authentic ship’s staircase, cage elevator, porthole windows and den designed by the art director of “Mutiny on the Bounty.” And beyond a brick patio overlooking the ocean is the lighthouse and rickety wooden steps dropping about 70 feet to a private 200-foot beach complete with a cave and a saltwater swimming pool built into the rocks and replenished daily by the tides.
It’s charming. It’s delightful. And it’s all for sale.
“When you’re on the grounds there’s a feeling of disassociation with the real world,” says Ray McAfoose, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker, which recently listed the property for $8.25 million. “Everyone has the feeling that they’re stepping back into history.”
Fretting about the hefty price tag? The Griffith Estate is just one of 46 homes currently listed for more than a million dollars overlooking the ocean along this section of the Orange County coast. While Newport Harbor has its high-priced bay-front mansions, Coast Highway from Laguna Beach to Dana Point is home to some of the most spectacular oceanfront properties in the world. They range from a three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath house in Dana Point listed for just over $1 million to the palatial Villa Elena del Mar in South Laguna. A lavish Mediterranean-style mansion completed in 1986, the house went on sale three years ago for $22 million; today, because of the sluggish economy and slow sales, it can be purchased completely furnished for a cool $9 million.
Lovely houses all, but there are two things that distinguish the Griffith Estate. One is history; the other, style.
Among the first houses built in Three Arch Bay, the estate was constructed in the 1920s by Edward Griffith, a cousin of legendary movie producer D.W. Griffith and a producer in his own right for Paramount, MGM and 20th Century Fox. Edward Griffith was married to America Chedister Griffith, who had been a showgirl in the Greenwich Follies.
Because the Griffiths loved ships, they built their house--which they called “The Lugger”-- in a nautical style. Lined with pine, it was constructed entirely with wooden pegs rather than nails. Many of the built-in features inside--including a stairway, porthole windows and various cabinets--were taken from actual ships. And when the couple decided to add a guest house, they hauled the Mary Dollar’s original chart house down from San Pedro and slid it onto their property from the street above using cranes and pulleys.
“It . . . was a major production,” Karen Wilson Turnbull, a local historian, wrote in a 1977 book called “Three Arch Bay.” “But major productions and special effects were a way of life for a movie producer.”
Another major production, according to Turnbull, came in 1937 when America Griffith, despite almost impossible conditions, decided to build a saltwater pool in the rocks just off the couple’s private beach. Doing the job on three consecutive nights of extremely low tide, a crew of workmen labored frantically with fast-drying cement under bright studio lights, nourished during breaks by helpings from America Griffith’s huge kettle of oyster stew.
Later, for a formal christening of the pool, she stocked it with Garibaldi, a large gold fish common in Southern California waters. America paid 50 cents apiece for the fish; today the capture of even one would bring a heavy fine.
The pool’s christening, however, was indicative of the couple’s sense of showmanship and fun.
Over the years they entertained many Hollywood celebrities of the era at their home. Among them were Aly Khan, Claudette Colbert, Lionel Barrymore, Fredric March and Leslie Howard.
And their parties became legendary, inspiring stories that continue today. One of the most famous surrounds a “shipwreck” party staged in the large cave at Picture Bay, which was the couple’s name for their private cove. Urged to come dressed as victims of a shipwreck, each guest received a hand-delivered invitation scrawled on a piece of brown paper slightly burned and stuffed into a bottle. According to historian Turnbull, costumes ranged from the formal attire of a steward and stewardess of the Cunard Lines to pajamas and cold cream.
As the Griffiths’ reputation for hospitality grew, Turnbull writes, their presence in Three Arch Bay began to attract other Hollywood types. Cecil B. DeMille is said to have wanted to buy an island in the area and build a castle on it. A well-known actor of the period, Donald Crisp, moved to another house on the same street and lived there until his death in 1974. And numerous films, including one starring Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland, were made in the area, presumably with the knowledge and cooperation of the neighborhood’s resident film producer, Edward Griffith.
But the Griffiths had a quieter side too, as evidenced by the design of their lighthouse. The bottom three levels contain a shower, bathroom and tiny bedroom, respectively. The top level, accessed only by climbing a ladder hand over hand through a small trapdoor, once housed a library. Today it is mainly an observation tower, surrounded by an outside balcony.
While the lighthouse is equipped with a real light, it is far too weak to be seen from very far. So passing sailors must rely on the familiar white brick and red-domed roof to tell them that they are passing one of the most distinctive landmarks on the coast.
The Griffiths died in the 1970s. The current owner spent lots of money fixing the place up and lived there for more than a decade. Today the house is leased for $7,000 a month to a couple who take great pains to maintain their privacy.
Yet there are still vestiges of the old Hollywood hospitality. The three large garages at the front end of the lot speak of the days when large numbers of guests needed a place to park their cars. A funicular railway running along an entire side of the property still sits poised to carry visitors via cable from the street almost to the ocean’s edge. And everywhere one turns is a feeling of fantasy and fun, the wispy remnants of an age of elegant frivolity seemingly less troubled than our own.
“I like the serenity,” says McAfoose, the real estate agent charged with making it all change hands. While there has been a lot of interest in the estate, he says, no firm offers have yet been made. “It’s a landmark,” he says. “When you’re on the grounds, it’s easy to fantasize.”
And what of living so close to the ocean? The current owner, speaking only on the condition that her name not be used, had a thought on the subject. “You’ve got someplace to swim right in front of your house,” she mused. “I think it’s worth it, even though everything rusts.”
Other Mansions on the Market
The coastal area between Laguna Beach and Dana Point sports some of the most spectacular oceanfront homes in Southern California. Three others in the area currently for sale:
VILLA ELENA DEL MAR ($9 million, with furniture), South Laguna: 15,000 square feet, nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and two half-baths. Swimming pool, gazebo, steps to a 100-foot private beach.
MEDITERRANEAN VILLA ($7.9 million), Irvine Cove: 3,000 square feet, five bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths and two dressing rooms, two pools with waterfall and spa, 180-foot private beach.
ROCKLEDGE BY THE SEA ($8.5 million), Laguna Beach: 10,000 square feet, five bedrooms, 6 1/2 baths, guest quarters with bath, pool, waterfalls, 190-foot private beach illuminated by lights built into the cliff.
Sources: Waterfront Homes Inc.; Grubb & Ellis; Turner Associates
