Jayne Mansfield's Pink Palace

Jayne Mansfield's Pink Palace was a mansion bought and refurbished with pink paint and fixtures by American actress Jayne Mansfield in 1957. The mansion was demolished in 2002.

Jayne Mansfield's Pink Palace
Gate and partial view of Mansfield's former mansion, the Pink Palace (photographed 1997)
Map
General information
Address10100 Sunset Boulevard
Town or cityHolmby Hills, Los Angeles
Coordinates34°4′49.26″N 118°25′34.71″W / 34.0803500°N 118.4263083°W / 34.0803500; -118.4263083
Demolished2002

History

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In November 1957, shortly before her marriage to Mickey Hargitay, Mansfield bought a 40-room Mediterranean-style mansion formerly owned by Rudy Vallée at 10100 Sunset Boulevard in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles.[1] Much of the investment to buy the house came from the $81,340 ($882,404 in 2023 dollars)[2] she inherited from her maternal grandfather Elmer Palmer.[3][4] Mansfield had the house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink furs in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne, and then dubbed it the "Pink Palace". It was, according to her, a "pink landmark."[5] Hargitay, a plumber and carpenter before getting into bodybuilding, built a pink heart-shaped swimming pool. Mansfield decorated the Pink Palace by writing to furniture and building suppliers requesting free samples. She received over $150,000 ($1,627,251 in 2023 dollars)[2] in free merchandise, paying only $76,000 ($824,474 in 2023 dollars)[2] for the mansion itself.[6] It was still a large sum, when the average cost of a house at the time was under $7,500 ($81,363 in 2023 dollars[2]).[7]

The Pink Palace was sold after her death and its subsequent owners have included Ringo Starr and Engelbert Humperdinck.[8] In 2002, Humperdinck sold it to developers, and the house was demolished in November of that year.

Citations

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  1. ^ Marc Wanamaker, Westwood, Arcadia Publishing, 2010 , p. 55
  2. ^ a b c d 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  3. ^ Faris 1994, p. 7
  4. ^ Michael Mundy, "Limit: The Game is Back with Warring Realtors", Los Angeles Magazine, January 1998
  5. ^ Strait 1992, p. 93
  6. ^ "The Pink Palace". Archived from the original on 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
  7. ^ Census of Housing, U.S. Census Bureau.
  8. ^ Web bio Archived 2012-03-15 at the Wayback Machine from fansite.

References

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