In the early 1990s, Frank Sinatra and his fourth wife, Barbara, designed their 5,800-square-foot Malibu beach house to meet all of their needs and expectations. Now someone else can live there and embody Sinatra style at the highest level — for just under $13 million.
After the death of Barbara Sinatra in 2017, her son by a previous marriage put the two-story house up for sale. But the first incarnation was as a rental.
Variety reported that in mid-2018 the property was available “as a fully furnished, short-term summer rental with a skin-blistering price of $110,000 per month.” By the end of 2018, the rental had turned into a “for sale.”
The Sinatras bought the land in 1990 for $2 million and knocked down the existing house. They used architect Ted Grenzbach, who also oversaw projects for Cher, Rupert Murdoch, and Barbara Streisand, to design their dream home.
Broad Beach is a highly desirable neighborhood, including current and former homeowners Dustin Hoffman, Ray Romano, Marta Kauffman, Goldie Hawn, and Steven Spielberg.
The elevator-equipped home, with seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms, has “living, dining and entertaining space with scads of built-ins, a fireplace and a walk-in wet bar plus a spacious eat-in kitchen with commercial-grade range,” reported Variety. “Under a vaulted ceiling with head-on ocean and sunset view, the airy second-floor master suite encompasses a private terrace, two bathrooms, a steam room, and a hair salon.” Yes, a hair salon.
Of course the house comes with a swimming pool, a spa, and a sandy path to the beach as well. And plenty of beach frontage.
While Frank Sinatra was alive, the house was the scene for many Old Hollywood parties, with favorite guests including Jack Lemmon, Gregory Peck, and Dick Van Dyke.
According to Forbes, “Sinatra once proclaimed that ‘orange was the happiest color’ so it is not much of a surprise that a version of that hue shows up throughout the house. Though the Sinatras went with a paler version, perhaps influenced by the California tones and sandy beach outside the backdoor.”
Sinatra biographers say the Malibu house might have been Frank’s favorite. The Sinatras renewed their vows there in 1996, with Don Rickles and Bob Newhart among the guests. Says Top Ten Real Estate Deals, “In her book, Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank, Barbara fondly describes their life in the beach house and their poker games where jokes and laughter flowed as fast as the food and drinks. Although the couple also owned homes in Palm Springs and Los Angeles, this was where they chose to renew their vows.”
For those seeking a Sinatra vibe, this is not the only one of his houses available. “The crooner’s most recognizable residence, Twin Palms, in the heart of Palm Springs with a piano-shaped swimming pool, can be rented by Rat Pack fantasists starting at $2,200 a night.
Villa Maggio, the suave singer’s semi-remote 7.5-acre retreat perched 4,300 feet above the desert floor in the craggy mountains above Palm Desert, is currently for sale at $3.7 million,” reported Variety in 2018.
Sinatra was still performing and touring in his 70s. As The Guardian reported, “The thousand concerts he undertook between 1973 and January 1995 were mostly reflective affairs in which, having dabbled in but renounced the work of George Harrison, Stevie Wonder, and Jim Croce, he returned to the songs of his burnished yesterdays.”
Read another story from us: Frank Sinatra Almost Became an 80s Action Hero
Sinatra’s last public performance was on February 25, 1995, at the Marriott Hotel in Palm Desert, not far from one of his homes. After a golf tournament, he gave a six-song set, finishing with “The Best Is Yet to Come.”
Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998, in Los Angeles.
Nancy Bilyeau, a former staff editor at Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, and InStyle, has written a trilogy of historical thrillers for Touchstone Books. Her new book, The Blue, is a spy story set in the 18th-century porcelain world. For more information, go to www.nancybilyeau.com