A collection of original documents recording the maintenance, landscaping, leasing, and proposed sale of Peter Lawford's celebrated Santa Monica beachfront home — one of the most storied private addresses in American cultural history.
The property's remarkable occupant list reads like a roll call of the twentieth century's most iconic figures. As Lawford's home throughout the 1950s and 60s, 625 Ocean Front sat at the heart of the Rat Pack and Kennedy circle, and Marilyn Monroe — intimately connected to both — spent time at the house. The property was previously owned by the Mayor of Santa Monica before Lawford, and after his tenure it would be rented by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Lennon famously occupying it during his "Lost Weekend" period with May Pang.
The documents comprising this lot span 1954 to 1967 and include: promotional materials and a price chart from Inertol Co., Inc. for RAMUC swimming pool enamel, with handwritten annotations confirming the pool was painted by MGM and lasted seven years; a November 1965 letter from M. & K. Plumbing advising Lawford to drain his heavily chlorinated pool, with a handwritten note confirming the work was carried out on December 6, 1965; a March 1961 landscape estimate from Rolla J. Wilhite, A.I.L.A., addressed directly to Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lawford, totaling $1,764.25; an executed Beverly Hills Realty Board House Lease dated January 23, 1967, naming Peter Lawford as Lessor and Albert Marre and 55 Enterprises, Inc. as Lessees for a four-month term at $13,000; a covering letter from realtor Richard Derr forwarding the lease to Bonnie Williams; and real estate correspondence and financial summaries suggesting Lawford was exploring trading the property for two Los Angeles apartment buildings with a combined asking price of $439,500.
Together these papers offer an intimate, ground-level portrait of life at one of Hollywood's most legendary addresses.
Various sizes. Generally good to very good condition with age-appropriate toning and fold lines. Offered as a single lot.
With One of a Kind Collectibles LOA.