Residents of Quiet Enclave Picket Parties at Mansion
The extravagant bashes in secluded Benedict Canyon rarely draw looky-loos, much less protesters.
But when the limos started rolling up to Mark Slotkin’s $6.6-million mansion Thursday night, his neighbors took to the streets with picket signs and a bullhorn. They were ready to bring down the “Big Party House” that they said has breached the quiet atmosphere of this tony neighborhood high above the Beverly Hills Hotel.
For years, neighbors have complained that Slotkin has been disturbing the peace with excessive film shoots--for features including “Indecent Proposal”--at his palatial estate that juts out of the top of Tower Grove Drive. But their big beef now: They contend that he rents out his mansion for fancy corporate parties, violating the city code, and that authorities have done nothing to stop it. The fiercely private residents--who have long taken pride in living unnoticed in their cloistered compounds--banded together with a common goal: Shut the place down.
Armed with a bullhorn and carefully lettered signs reading “You are attending an illegal party!” and “This house is not a home,” 15 residents protested in front of the mansion Thursday night, shouting at the arriving guests. The squabble escalated into an angry confrontation when Slotkin stormed out of his mansion, yelling at the protesters that they were disrupting a charity event. He allegedly grabbed a sign from Cecelia Post, a Tower Grove Drive resident, an action that she said hurt her arm.
Two hours later, Slotkin was placed under citizen’s arrest on suspicion of misdemeanor battery by Post when a Los Angeles police squad car arrived at the scene. He was taken in handcuffs to the West Los Angeles police station, where he was booked and released almost immediately.
Slotkin said he was acting in self-defense and felt threatened by the sign that Post was waving over his head. He said that all the outside parties he hosts at his house are charity functions and denied profiting from such events. “When you have a house like this, you have a social obligation,” said Slotkin, an antiques dealer who built the 20,000-square-foot chateau in 1991 on a lot once owned by Elton John. “This is an outrageous violation of our personal privacy. These people are just jealous. Everything they say is unfounded.”
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Post and other neighbors say hundreds of guests flock to the quiet canyon for the parties at Slotkin’s house. Vans and limos race up the winding roads, they say, and music reverberates off the canyon walls.
“We’re not activists by nature,” Post said. “But now we’re at the end of our rope. He has turned our quiet neighborhood into a commercial district. This is a rich guy, and everyone’s looking the other way.”
Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Feuer said his office reacted immediately when he first received complaints from residents in August, setting up a series of meetings with the neighbors and Slotkin. Conflict mediation between the parties failed in mid-September when the tone turned rancorous. Feuer said he dispatched two Department of Building and Safety inspectors to the party Thursday and is waiting for their reports.
“I take these concerns very seriously,” Feuer said. “I can understand the residents’ frustration because up to now . . . there haven’t been any results. But is this an easy matter to resolve? No. If it was, it would have been resolved before I got into office.”
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Feuer said he plans to discuss the situation Monday with representatives of the city attorney’s office, the Department of Building and Safety, and the city office that coordinates city and county film permits. During the last two months, neighbors said, Sheryl Crow performed a concert in the backyard and rap music blasted during a record label function. On Thursday night, neighbors said, about 200 people attended the 100th anniversary celebration of Bulgari, an exclusive Beverly Hills jeweler.
The guests being chauffeured into the chateau were met by the unlikely group of protesters waving signs, as resident Robert Chandler belted through a bullhorn: “You are innocently attending an illegal party.”
The well-coiffed arrivals who had started getting out of vans hurriedly retreated, waiting to be unloaded after they were safely inside the tall gates and past the bronze lions guarding the entrance.
A spokeswoman for Bulgari confirmed that the party occurred but had no other comment.
The Starbright Foundation, a nonprofit group in Santa Monica that creates products for ill children, received a “generous amount” from the Bulgari event, said Chris Garvey, managing director.
Slotkin said he was angered that residents interrupted a charity event that he had been planning for weeks. “The people complaining live 1,500 feet away. They’re not my neighbors. What right do they have to picket my house?” But angry residents said they don’t believe that all of Slotkin’s parties are charity functions.
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“It’s a nightclub/restaurant/catering club,” said Robert Cohen, who has lived on Tower Grove for 20 years. “This is a residential area, and you can’t run a commercial business here. We realize it’s not the biggest problem in the city, but it all adds up to a complete nuisance. People have a right to the quiet enjoyment of their neighborhood.”
Thursday’s altercation was not the first time that Slotkin’s house, featured in the movies “Indecent Proposal” and “The Kindred,” drew the wrath of neighbors. In 1994, residents lobbied then-Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky to cut back the number of filming days allowed in the area and alleged that Slotkin was renting the property to private groups. In April 1994, the Board of Public Works limited each home on Tower Grove Drive to 24 shooting days a year.
But residents said traffic still jams the narrow road during film shoots, creating a safety hazard.
Despite the controversy, Post said, the Tower Grove brawl has spawned some good: “The one positive thing out of this is that we’ve all gotten to know our neighbors.”
