Catholic priest and preservation commissioner receives sinister phone call about Marilyn Monroe house landmark lawsuit

Gentle reader,

For some years now, we’ve been sounding the alarm about improprieties in how historic buildings are demolished in Los Angeles.

Usually, these properties are rent controlled multi-family housing in poor neighborhoods. Few save near neighbors notice when longtime tenants get pushed out, empty housing is blighted and bulldozers eventually show up to eliminate inconvenient structures while spewing toxic dust.

But last fall, an attempt was made to demolish a building people all over the world care about: Marilyn Monroe’s final home at 12305 5th Helena Drive in Brentwood. In the lead up to this, no member of the public saw a posted demolition notice, and neither the Neighborhood Council equivalent nor the City Council office were apparently notified, as is required.

Somebody tipped off the New York Post, and all hell broke out.

We have written about the Marilyn Monroe house saga at length here, including about the subpoena for documents and deposition for which we’re fundraising to cover our legal expenses.

There was a lot of news coverage leading up to the successful landmarking vote in City Hall, but reporters haven’t stuck around to cover the ongoing court battle between the property owners and Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, in a case that seeks to void landmark status and reactivate the demolition permit.

We have attended almost every hearing in Judge James C. Chalfant’s Hill Street courtroom, including Tuesday’s final trial setting conference, when both sides agreed that they are a few hours from completing the case file, instructions were given and a bench trial was scheduled for Thursday, March 13, 2025.

Attending with us was Reverend Dylan Littlefield, chaplain of the Hotel Cecil.

This morning, just before noon, Rev. Dylan received a call from blocked phone number to his private, unpublished cell phone. The caller was male, with a very deep, unaccented voice. He did not identify himself.

The stranger asked, "Why the fuck are you so interested in Marilyn's house?"

Rev. Dylan responded, "It's a symptom of a pattern of behavior in Los Angeles City government, and as a citizen and preservationist, I am concerned."

(Rev. Dylan was recently appointed to Alhambra’s Historic Preservation Commission.)

The stranger snapped, "Mind your own fucking business,” and hung up.

What kind of person calls a Catholic priest on a Saturday and cusses him out?

It is not lost on us that Rev. Dylan's private phone number appears in emails to us that were turned over in the legal discovery, and are in the possession of both sides in this case, which after a long delay, is finally heading to a trial which seems likely to reveal how the matter actually played out, within and outside of Los Angeles City Hall.

If anyone else receives a strange phone call or other communication about Marilyn's house, Rev. Dylan would like to speak with you. Rather than publish his private cell phone number here, we’ll just make that introduction. No cussing!

In less noirish news, we appeared on KTLA-5 News talking about how Raising Caine’s can get it right by not evicting Norms La Cienega, but restoring the landmark as a hybrid dining experience that honors what Angelenos love about this increasingly rare third place.

Are you coming to City Hall next Thursday 12/5 at 10am to speak out in support of Norms La Cienega? RSVP to the Facebook event, and pass it on!

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We’re off this weekend for the holiday, but return December 7-8 with a packed weekend of exploration. Saturday’s tour is an ascent from the old streetcar line on Sunset Boulevard to get to know a miraculous (and only slightly manufactured) Victorian time capsule, Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue. Join us for a deep dive into suburban development and visionary preservation, Chinatown locations and daring girl detectives, ancient trees, atomic age anxiety and the only real ghost story you’ll hear on an Esotouric tour—because it happened on one of them!

And on Sunday, it’s Know Your Downtown L.A., featuring a time travel tramp around Bunker Hill with native son Gordon Pattison, speakeasy tunnel relics and what might be our last chance to visit the tiled marvel Dutch Chocolate Shop before the building changes hands. Join us, do!

And a gentle reminder that we got subpoenaed for third party discovery in the lawsuit by the Marilyn Monroe house owners, and are fundraising to cover our legal expenses with a 20% off holiday sale on bulk gift certificates. Or just buy one ticket or some merch—it all helps!

Yours for Los Angeles,

Kim & Richard

Esotouric

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Our work—leading tours and historic preservation and cultural landmark advocacy—is about building a bridge between Los Angeles' past and its future, and not allowing the corrupt, greedy, inept and misguided players who hold present power to destroy the city's soul and body. If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar and a subscriber edition of our main newsletter, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.

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UPCOMING WALKING TOURS

• Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (Sat. 12/7) • Know Your Downtown L.A. (Sun. 11/8) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles (Sat. 12/14) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (Sun. 12/22) • Human Sacrifice: The Black Dahlia, Elisa Lam, Heidi Planck & Skid Row Slasher (Thurs. 12/26) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (Sat. 1/18) • Broadway (Sat. 1/25) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (Sat. 2/1) • Film Noir / Real Noir (Sat. 2/8) • The Real Black Dahlia (Sat. 3/1) • Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice Downtown L.A. (Sat. 3/8) • Bunker Hill, Dead and Alive (Sat. 3/15) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles (Sat. 3/22) • Franklin Village Old Hollywood (Sun. 3/30) • John Fante’s Downtown L.A. (Sat. 4/5) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (Sat. 4/12) • Leo Politi Loves Los Angeles (Sat. 4/19) • Downtown Los Angeles is for Book Lovers (Sat. 4/26)