LACMA gets gravity-defying John Lautner-designed home featured in 'The Big Lebowski' Los Angeles Times

Table Of Content

• These are the California cities where $150,000 still buys you a home. Could you live here?
• Why You May Recognize James Goldstein's Mansion in "Selling Sunset" Season 7
• Greystone Mansion
• Alerts & Newsletters
• In Residence: Inside John Lautner's Quintessential California Modern, the Lautner Harpel House
• Alerts and Newsletters
• Film

The house is filled (filled) with photos of Goldstein posing with models and celebrities. It has appeared in The Big Lebowski as pornographer Jackie Treehorn's house, and in an actual porn. It has its own detached nightclub and an infinity tennis court with some of the most incredible views of Los Angeles.

Sheats-Goldstein Residence tour Things to do in Los Angeles - Time Out

Sheats-Goldstein Residence tour Things to do in Los Angeles.

Posted: Fri, 08 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

These are the California cities where $150,000 still buys you a home. Could you live here?

The 1971 James Bond spy film, Diamonds Are Forever, was filmed inside the Lautner–designed Elrod Residence, a conical, concrete wonder invisibly tucked into the rocky hillside above Palm Springs. In 2015, Rihanna chose the house for her 27th birthday bash, with Leonardo DiCaprio in attendance. James Goldstein, the house’s colorful owner since 1972, recalls a notorious party when a huge traffic jam developed blocks away as people tried to get to the house — Jack Nicholson, drink in hand, got out of his car and directed traffic. If these walls could talk they would spin stories of Snoop Dogg and Charlie’s Angels, 1960s Hollywood glamour, and epic star-studded parties that still happen regularly, high above the hills of Hollywood.

Why You May Recognize James Goldstein's Mansion in "Selling Sunset" Season 7

This jewel of design is simply said iconic, no wonder it is often reproduced for photo prints and would even be a great modification to your phone’s T8Cases. The design even tho created more than half a century is still inspiring architects around the globe. He calls this undertaking the Goldstein Entertainment Complex, and it also includes Goldstein’s office and a nightclub (yes, you read that right) called Club James, with an infinity-edged tennis court as the roof, made of post-tensioned concrete. In the documentary, we see him wandering, today, through Washington Square Park, always with his camera. He’s tall, with a shock of white hair, and a voice of surprising velvet gentleness.

Greystone Mansion

According to the LA Times, Goldstein will live there for the rest of his lifetime but is already allowing the museum to hold limited, ticketed tours. He said he hopes the house will serve as an educational tool for young architects in the future. Due to a private event, Ray's and Stark Bar will be closed Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27. The museum will close early at 4 pm on Saturday, including access to outdoor art and the Pritzker Parking Garage.

Businessman James Goldstein has been the sole owner of the Sheats-Goldstein house since he purchased it in 1972. He continues to spend time at the residence, but also often rents it out for photoshoots or as filming location for Hollywood movies or TV shows. In the meantime, the residence is available for rent for photoshoots, and we’re willing to bet we’ll be seeing more of it in upcoming movies, TV shows, and music videos.

In Residence: Inside John Lautner's Quintessential California Modern, the Lautner Harpel House

While the property (worth an estimated $40 million) will not be officially transferred to LACMA until the owner’s passing, the museum hopes to host events and exhibitions in the space in the near future. Club James has it all— from state-of-the-art LCD screens to a concrete DJ booth with a concert-quality sound system. The poured concrete space has a glass wall overlooking Beverly Hills that can retract, giving the space an indoor/outdoor feel. While it isn’t open to the public, one of the most interesting rooms in the home is the master bedroom.

Designed by influential Southern California architect John Lautner in 1961, the modernist mansion has become so iconic that it's now recognized as a work of art. James Goldstein, a millionaire who has owned it for 35 years, announced earlier this year that he plans to donate it to Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). While changes to the house itself are finished, Goldstein is working on a slew of future projects elsewhere on the property, including a large terrace, secondary swimming pool, guest house, and screening room. Called Above Horizon, the installation is built from the same materials as the house, and is located on a steep slope below the residence.

Film

The intensity of that work — as a result of which what was once the Sheats House is now widely known as the Sheats-Goldstein House — complicates the LACMA acquisition. The house that Goldstein bought in 1972 hardly represented a pure version of Lautner’s architecture. You have to admit it, bachelor-pads of various flamboyant psycho-paths, pornographers or drug-smugglers. Curbed Hollywood really seems to have a thing for John Lautner; his designs are continuously cropping up in tv-shows, films, cartoons, music videos and even video games. The colossal yard includes L.A.’s only infinity tennis court and looks out to astonishing views.

His work is not limited to just the architecture of the house; Lautner also designed the interiors, the windows, lighting systems, all the furniture, the rugs, and other details. The 4,500-square-foot Sheats-Goldstein residence was designed by John Lautner (one of the most noteworthy American architects of the twentieth century) and built between 1961 and 1963, in Los Angeles’ Beverly Crest neighborhood. According to the outlet, the hillside home has been known to open its doors up to cosplayers during Lebowski Fest who hope to re-create Bridges's scenes.

He talks about how much he misses the analog days, when you had to go into the darkroom to discover what you had shot. As a magazine photographer, he did his own processing and printing there, insisting the images go in as he’d framed them, uncropped, which is basically what happened. He was so good at what he did that his editors let him write his own ticket.

Designed and Powered by Image Locations, Inc All photos are property of Image Locations, Inc, or used with Permission of owners. Photos may not be used for any other purpose without written consent from Image Locations, Inc. "Bandits" — the 2001 crime dramedy starring Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett — is another film that can say it's a part of the Goldstein film credits. Though the house isn't featured prominently in the movie, you can catch a small glimpse of it toward the end, per its signature greenery. "Selling Sunset" always delivers on drama and high-end properties, and season seven is no different. By now, viewers are used to seeing the cast of Oppenheim Group realtors show off lush California homes to their roster of rich clients, but this time, they got the unique opportunity to host a work event at an iconic Hollywood landmark — which you may recognize.

Goldstein mentioned that you can see all the way out to Catalina Island on a clear day. One of the first projects Goldstein and Lautner did together to renovate the house was implement seamless glass throughout the residence, which created a connection to the outdoors that remains consistent throughout the entire property. The Goldstein Skyspace was original envisioned by owner James Goldstein to be a collaboration between artist James Turrell and architect John Lautner, states the website ‘Architectoid – Learning Architecture for life’. An apprentice of Lautner, architect Duncan Nicholon took over the Architects role in collaboration with the James Turrell to complete the project in 2004. Talent Resource Sports, which has worked with the home for the last few years curating events for A-List actors, sports stars, and top music artists, is currently gearing up to throw an epic Super Bowl 2022 event series that will be like nothing else in the world.