10050 Cielo Drive
Encyclopedia
The original home located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles
, California
, has been occupied by many famous Hollywood figures, and was the scene of one of the Manson "family"
murders. The house was designed by Robert Byrd
in 1942 for French
actress Michèle Morgan
. It was extremely similar, but not exactly identical to the house which sat on its own plateau directly below 10050, 10048 Cielo Drive (often referred to as the "Twin House" -- {see also "10048 Cielo Drive, Twin House"}). They were originally built on land called "The Bedrock Properties" and were built at the same time. The French country style structure was located on 3 acres (1.2 ha) at the end of a cul-de-sac
on Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, an area west of Hollywood in the Santa Monica Mountains
that overlooks Beverly Hills
and Bel Air. The hillside structure faced east and featured stone fireplaces, beamed ceilings, paned windows, a loft above the living room, a swimming pool and a guest house.
By the end of World War II Morgan had returned to France and in 1946 Lillian Gish
moved in with her mother while filming Duel in the Sun.
Past residents included Cary Grant
and Dyan Cannon
, Henry Fonda
, George Chakiris
, Mark Lindsay
, Paul Revere & The Raiders
, Samantha Eggar
, Olivia Hussey
, Manager
Roger Hart with roommate Terry Melcher
(the son of actress Doris Day
) and Melcher's girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen
. The couple split in early 1969, with Melcher relocating to Malibu.
In February 1969, Roman Polanski
and his wife Sharon Tate
rented the home from owner Rudi Altobelli. On August 9, 1969, the home became the scene of the murders of Tate, Wojciech Frykowski
, Abigail Folger
, Jay Sebring
and Steven Parent
at the hands of the Charles Manson
"Family". William Garretson, Altobelli's caretaker and an acquaintance of Parent, lived in the guest house behind the main house and was unaware of the murders until the next morning when he was taken into custody by police officers who had arrived at the scene.
The final resident of the original house was the musician Trent Reznor
of Nine Inch Nails
. Reznor moved into the house in the early 1990s and had a recording studio
built inside. This studio, dubbed Pig (sometimes called Le Pig) in a reference to the fact that one of the murderers
had written "Pig" in Tate's blood on the front door of the house during the murders, was the site of recording sessions for Nine Inch Nails' 1992 EP
Broken and 1994 album The Downward Spiral
as well as Marilyn Manson
's 1994 Reznor-produced
debut album Portrait of an American Family
. Reznor moved out of the house in December 1993, later explaining that "there was too much history in that house for me to handle." He insists that he did not know that the address was the site of the Manson murders when he bought the place.
Reznor made a statement about working in the Tate house during a 1997 interview with Rolling Stone:
Reznor took the front door of the house with him when he moved out, installing it at Nothing Studios
, his new recording studio/record label headquarters in New Orleans
.
In 1994, the owner demolished the house and replaced it with a new mansion
called Villa Bella with a new street address of 10066 Cielo Drive. The current owner of the property is Hollywood producer Jeff Franklin
. The property today does not resemble the residence at the time of the Tate murders in any way. The only remnant from the original property that still exists is a lone telephone pole which Manson family member Tex Watson climbed over to get onto the property on the night of the Tate murders.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, has been occupied by many famous Hollywood figures, and was the scene of one of the Manson "family"
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
murders. The house was designed by Robert Byrd
Robert Byrd (architect)
Robert Byrd was an architect in Los Angeles, California. Most of his buildings are from the 1920s to the 1950s. In his later years he worked together with his architect son Gary...
in 1942 for French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
actress Michèle Morgan
Michèle Morgan
Michèle Morgan is a French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades.- Career :Morgan was born Simone Renée Roussel in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, a western suburb of Paris....
. It was extremely similar, but not exactly identical to the house which sat on its own plateau directly below 10050, 10048 Cielo Drive (often referred to as the "Twin House" -- {see also "10048 Cielo Drive, Twin House"}). They were originally built on land called "The Bedrock Properties" and were built at the same time. The French country style structure was located on 3 acres (1.2 ha) at the end of a cul-de-sac
Cul-de-sac
A cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
on Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, an area west of Hollywood in the Santa Monica Mountains
Santa Monica Mountains
The Santa Monica Mountains are a Transverse Range in Southern California, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the United States.-Geography:...
that overlooks Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
and Bel Air. The hillside structure faced east and featured stone fireplaces, beamed ceilings, paned windows, a loft above the living room, a swimming pool and a guest house.
By the end of World War II Morgan had returned to France and in 1946 Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
moved in with her mother while filming Duel in the Sun.
Past residents included Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
and Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon is an American film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer.-Early life:...
, Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
, George Chakiris
George Chakiris
George Chakiris is an American-Greek dancer, singer and actor.-Early life:Chakiris was born in Norwood, Ohio, to Steven and Zoe Chakiris, immigrants from Greece. Chakiris studied at the American School of Dance....
, Mark Lindsay
Mark Lindsay
Mark Lindsay is an American musician, best known as the singer for the group Paul Revere & the Raiders.-Biography:Lindsay was born in Eugene, Oregon and was the second of eight children...
, Paul Revere & The Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders is an American rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s with hits such as "Kicks" , "Hungry" , "Him Or Me - What's It Gonna Be?" and the 1971 No...
, Samantha Eggar
Samantha Eggar
Samantha Eggar is an English film, television and voice actress.-Early life:She was born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar in Hampstead, London to an Anglo-Irish father and a mother of Dutch and Portuguese descent...
, Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey is an Argentinian actress who became famous for her role as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Academy Award-winning 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress as well as the David di Donatello for best actress...
, Manager
Talent manager
A talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...
Roger Hart with roommate Terry Melcher
Terry Melcher
Terrence P. Melcher was an American musician and record producer, who was instrumental in shaping the sound of American West Coast rock music. His greatest contribution to the culture of the time was producing The Byrds' innovative hits "Mr Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and his...
(the son of actress Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
) and Melcher's girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
. The couple split in early 1969, with Melcher relocating to Malibu.
In February 1969, Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
and his wife Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
rented the home from owner Rudi Altobelli. On August 9, 1969, the home became the scene of the murders of Tate, Wojciech Frykowski
Wojciech Frykowski
Wojciech Frykowski was a Polish actor and writer who was murdered in the home of Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski by members of Charles Manson's "Family".-Early life:...
, Abigail Folger
Abigail Folger
Abigail Anne "Gibbie" Folger was an American coffee heiress, debutante, socialite, volunteer social worker, civil rights devotee and member of the prominent United States Folger family. She was the great-granddaughter of J. A. Folger, the founder of Folgers Coffee...
, Jay Sebring
Jay Sebring
Jay Sebring was an American hair stylist for celebrities, and the founder of the hairstyling corporation Sebring International. He is also known as one of the murder victims of the Manson Family.-Early life:...
and Steven Parent
Steven Parent
Steven Earl Parent was a victim of the Charles Manson murders.-Early life:Steven Earl Parent was born in California to Wilfred Elmer Parent, a construction superintendent and his wife, Juanita, a homemaker...
at the hands of the Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
"Family". William Garretson, Altobelli's caretaker and an acquaintance of Parent, lived in the guest house behind the main house and was unaware of the murders until the next morning when he was taken into custody by police officers who had arrived at the scene.
The final resident of the original house was the musician Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
of Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
. Reznor moved into the house in the early 1990s and had a recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
built inside. This studio, dubbed Pig (sometimes called Le Pig) in a reference to the fact that one of the murderers
Susan Atkins
Susan Denise Atkins was a convicted American murderer who was a member of the "Manson family", led by Charles Manson. Manson and his followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969...
had written "Pig" in Tate's blood on the front door of the house during the murders, was the site of recording sessions for Nine Inch Nails' 1992 EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Broken and 1994 album The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide...
as well as Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson (band)
Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...
's 1994 Reznor-produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
debut album Portrait of an American Family
Portrait of an American Family
Portrait of an American Family is the debut full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on July 19, 1994 in the US through Nothing and Interscope Records. It was produced by the band's frontman and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails...
. Reznor moved out of the house in December 1993, later explaining that "there was too much history in that house for me to handle." He insists that he did not know that the address was the site of the Manson murders when he bought the place.
Reznor made a statement about working in the Tate house during a 1997 interview with Rolling Stone:
Reznor took the front door of the house with him when he moved out, installing it at Nothing Studios
Nothing Records
Nothing Records was an American record label, specializing in industrial rock and electronic music, founded by John Malm Jr. and Trent Reznor in 1992...
, his new recording studio/record label headquarters in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
.
In 1994, the owner demolished the house and replaced it with a new mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
called Villa Bella with a new street address of 10066 Cielo Drive. The current owner of the property is Hollywood producer Jeff Franklin
Jeff Franklin
Jeffrey Alan "Jeff" Franklin is an American television producer, writer, and director, best known as the creator of the long-running TV series Full House.-Career:...
. The property today does not resemble the residence at the time of the Tate murders in any way. The only remnant from the original property that still exists is a lone telephone pole which Manson family member Tex Watson climbed over to get onto the property on the night of the Tate murders.