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The Lars Larson Show Interviews
Robert Thomas – Can the Government Turn Your Home Into a Celebrity Shrine?
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A Los Angeles couple says the city turned their private property into a government-controlled monument after officials blocked plans to redevelop a home once briefly owned by Marilyn Monroe. Critics argue the owners are now stuck paying for security, maintenance, and restrictions they never agreed to — all to preserve a celebrity connection from more than 60 years ago.
Robert Thomas, director of the Property Rights practice group at Pacific Legal Foundation, joins us to discuss property rights, historic preservation laws, and whether the government can effectively take control of your home without compensating you.
Welcome back to the Lawrence Lawrence Show. It's a pleasure to be with you, and I'll be glad to get back to your phone calls and emails in just a moment. But I've got to tell you about this story. Can the government declare your private property to be a public monument, then ban you from touching it, and leave you holding the bill for all of that? Robert Thomas joins me now, who's Pacific Legal Foundation's director of their property rights practice group. Ms. Thomas, welcome back.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01So tell me, tell my audience what's going on here with this California couple that bought a rundown property and said we're going to redevelop it. What happened to them?
SPEAKER_00Well, it's a it's a story that, you know, you hope that you never hear, but is is not that uncommon. Um bought a house in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles in 2023.
SPEAKER_01Okay, by the way, nice neighborhood where I I've driven through it, but it's where uh O.J.'s uh late wife, the woman he was found uh legally responsible for killing, although he's acquitted of murder, but that was her neighborhood, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's the place. You know, very nice area of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, this prop this property, which was next door to the property these folks already owned, was in a very dilapidated condition. It couldn't be rented, couldn't be used, uh, the roof uh was leaking, uh, it was unoccupiable, so they decided to do what you might think they would do, and that is let's do a teardown and start again. This thing was beyond repair. Um and things looked okay at first because they applied to the city of Los Angeles for a demolition permit, and after a hold for review to see if they could go ahead and do it, City said, yeah, go ahead and do it. Uh that apparently set something off down at City Hall because the next thing you know, a city council member dressed as Marilyn Monroe introduced a motion to initiate uh what they call a historic cultural monument designation on the property. And you're thinking, well, was it just sort of she decided to dress up as Marilyn Monroe? Well, no. It it turns out that back in 1962, Marilyn had actually owned this house for a grand total of 157 days.
SPEAKER_01Not even half a year.
SPEAKER_00Not even half a year. You know, I mean, we all you know, uh I always tell people if you're gonna visit California, make sure not to stay more than 180 days because you know you're gonna become a resident. Uh so it's a very short period of time, and then uh it has some uh uh what has she dies in the house. Um and but since that time it's gone through a s succession of what 14 owners, many of whom changed it. It was the house, but it they changed it, they altered it, they uh uh fixed it up, they ch and and and did other things to it such that you know, by the time uh uh our folks get involved in this property, uh there's literally no no footprint or trace of of Miss Monroe in the house. Um but uh the reason she was dressed up as Marilyn Monroe was she said this is a historic property, and uh even though we have already said officially you may tear this house down, we're changing our minds. And then so the city said, hold on that demolition and the grading permits we've already issued to you, we're gonna figure out whether we want to designate this a historical monument. And sure enough, at the end of the process, that's what happened. The city has now designated it a historical site. Uh and okay, that's you know, kind of an interesting thing, but that has legal consequences in that forbids the owners from not only tearing it down, from making substantial changes to the inside and outside and other things. And so it's left them with a derelic property that they have the privilege of insuring, paying property taxes, you know, and that sort of thing, uh, but they can't do anything with it.
SPEAKER_01Well, let me ask you something. This person who showed up dressed as Merrimanroe, this was a city staffer or a city official? Do you know?
SPEAKER_00Oh, this is an elected city council member. Oh, good. Who has a Merrill Monroe fetish? I who who knows? It's LA, right? Yeah, exactly. Could be. But anyway, that's the story.
SPEAKER_01You know, and by the way, you said it had 14 different owners, all of whom or m many of whom had done renovations of the house, made changes of the house, so the historic character of it, if it was ever there before, is gone, other than that Marilyn Monroe died in the house.
unknownRight?
SPEAKER_00So it seems. I mean, you know, you'd think uh if if the house might have been preserved in the condition it was in in 62, maybe there'd be some kind of claim. But, you know, fourteen successive owners and uh countless amet changes to the property, it you know, it was not this living history museum um as you might think of when you think of a historic cultural monument designation. It was a house that they told you told the owners they couldn't do anything with except maintain it in its s what I would call a a state of arrested decay, um, simply because she lived there and died there.
SPEAKER_01Well, in fact, one of the details, I I don't think you mentioned this, the owners offered to personally pay to relocate the building into a public museum. Uh and and that seems pretty giving to me because that's not an inexpensive thing to do. Uh I've got friends who move houses for a living, so they were going to relocate the house anywhere the city wanted it, perhaps to a museum, and the city turned them down.
SPEAKER_00Right, because what essentially was the city's designation said this is historic. And you know, once that happens, uh what was a sort of unknown uh I don't know, maybe there were there people who knew about this, uh, where this was and what it was, uh, but it certainly wasn't causing any problems for the owners. Um it it became essentially an attractive nuisance. People broke into the house, it's behind a f a fence that you cannot see from the street, so you don't know the things there. Um but as soon as the city designates it a a monument, everybody we have people jumping the fence, breaking in, you know, all to be I don't know, take a selfie with the the Marilyn Monroe house, I suppose. And so with that, and if and that coupled with the notion that this designation says to the owners, you can't touch it, you must leave it as it is, they said, Well, you know, if it's historical, let's move it. Turn it in. If you want it for a museum, uh, we'll help pay for you to move it somewhere, tell us where, and the city said no.
SPEAKER_01The city just said, hang on to it, but we're not going to compensate you as the Constitution actually requires. If the government takes your life, liberty, or property, you have due process and just compensation. And that's not being delivered either. That's Robert Thomas. Robert, thanks very much. Pacific Legal Foundation's director of its property rights practice. Glad to get to your calls in a moment at 866-HLARS. You know, a lot of people think just waking up in the middle of the night, that's just part of life. But doctors now say those nighttime wakeups, they could be affecting your long-term health. That means inflammation, immune function, even memory, and mental clarity. Now, I used to think of a mattress as just another kind of furniture until I got my ghost bed. Because ghost bed, they don't build mattresses like furniture. They build engineered sleep systems, serious health equipment that's designed for relief and recovery, not looks, not fluff. Your body should be healing while you sleep, not trying to fight to get comfortable. Ghost bed's engineered cooling prevents overheating, and doctors say that's a major cause of those nighttime wakeups. And precision support that keeps your spine alive. I noticed the difference right away. Deeper sleep, clearer mornings, actually feeling rested again. You should try it out yourself the way I did. 101 nights risk-free. Right now, Ghostbed is having their spring sale, plus an extra 10% off just for my Lars loyal listeners. Go to ghostbed.com slash Lars. Promo code L-A-R-S. That's ghostbed.com slash Lars. Promo code Lars. I'll get to your phone calls and emails in a moment. 866-439-5277.