Bugsy Siegel mystery lingers here
Opulent estate, listed at $17 million, is where an unknown assailant killed the mobster.
The latest listing on Beverly Hills’ Linden Drive looks innocuous enough. Offered at $17 million, the Spanishstyle showplace boasts three stories of luxurious living space across more than 7,000 square feet.
But the home has a dark history: It’s the site where famous mobster Bugsy Siegel was gunned down in 1947.
Siegel’s death marked the end of a notorious gangster saga that saw him rise through the ranks of mob organizations on both coasts.
Siegel was born in New York City, where he helped found the crime group known as Murder Inc., before eventually heading west to lead criminal operations in Hollywood and Las Vegas.
In Vegas, he helped finance and open the Flamingo Hotel in December 1946 — but not without accusations of steering some of the budget into his own pocket. Six months later, he was shot to death through the window of the Beverly Hills home. His killer is still a mystery.
Records show Siegel didn’t own the place; he was renting it for his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, who was active in the organized crime world as well. Today it’s owned by Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Joel Aronowitz, who picked it up for $3.85 million in 2003.
Claiming half an acre in the Beverly Hills Flats neighborhood, the estate holds a main house, guesthouse and lush backyard with tall hedges overlooking a swimming pool.
The house is over the top with wrought-iron accents surrounding a grand rotunda entry complete with a stone statue, curved staircase and stained-glass windows. Archways navigate the floor plan, leading to a chef’s kitchen and formal dining room with handcarved ceilings. In total, there are seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
Myra Nourmand of Nourmand & Associates holds the listing.
Pizza mogul selling a slice of real estate
The house that pizza built is hitting the market in Beverly Crest, where a French Normandy-style mansion owned by California Pizza Kitchen’s Larry Flax just surfaced for sale at $48.5 million.
Flax co-founded the restaurant chain in 1985, and records show he picked up the property newly built seven years later.
Spanning nearly three acres, the compound sits in coveted Beverly Park, a gated community within Beverly Crest, one of the ritziest enclaves in all of Southern California where stars such as Magic Johnson, Denzel Washington and Sylvester Stallone have owned homes. The cheapest option up for sale in the neighborhood is $33 million; the most expensive — Mark Wahlberg’s place — is asking $79.5 million.
Flax’s home is a European-inspired showplace filled with marble and stone. It holds five bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms across more than 14,000 square feet. The guesthouse adds a pair of bedrooms and bathrooms in 1,400 square feet.
A motor court marks the entry, leading into dramatic spaces such as a golden-domed foyer with a sweeping staircase, a French-style library lined with wood and a formal dining room with a coved ceiling and handpainted walls.
Another highlight comes in the limestone-clad family room, which features a marble fireplace and built-in bar. It overlooks a backyard with a tennis court, rose garden, 70-foot-long swimming pool and reflecting pool anchored by a statue of the Greek mythological figures Daphne and Apollo.
Linda May of Carolwood Estates and Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker Realty hold the listing.