Greystone Mansion and Park

Visiting this place September 22 was the worst experience of my life. The man who checked reservation said that can not take pictures. I asked if can take photo on the phone he rudely replied that it was impossible. I agreed not to take a photo on my phone but he wouldn't let me in. I have been to many museums around the world, but this is the first time I have met such uncultured communication. I came on vacation from Miami and had plans to visit this historic place again. The manager in the office is very nice and she said she didn’t understand why he wouldn’t let me in.

One of the most historic mansions in California, Greystone is set on several beautiful acres in Beverly Hills.
It's a park and free to enter.
You may remember it from several TV shows and movies.
The home is not always open to the public, but you can still photograph it.
You will want to spend some time here and get those photo-ops.
No visit to Beverly Hills is complete without a visit to Greystone Mansion.
George Vreeland Hill

5 Tips For Visiting The Breathetaking Greystone Mansion

#1: Check the opening hours!
Yes the park is usually open to public everyday but if there is an event like party or wedding, it is closed for public. So check before you leave! You don't want to come and be disappointed right? Check their website or call!

#2: Read the history before you come here
The history of Greystone Mansion is very fascinating and it will give you a better sense of this mansion. Well.. let me tell you a little bit about this mansion. The mansion was a wedding gift from a gold magnate, Edward Laurence Doheny Sr. to his son Edward “Ned” Laurence Doheny, Jr. It took them more than 3 years and $3 million to finish the mansion but I guess it really paid off seeing how grand it is. However, tragically only after 5 months of moving into the mansion, Ned was murdered by his friend inside the home. Very terrible huh?

#3: You cannot go inside the mansion unless
You book private ranger tour here or you want to book the mansion for your event therefore you need to see the inside LOL! Unfortunately, I didn't know about this tour and I could only peek through the window.. Sigh.. It would have been nice though to see the interior of the mansion!

#4: Dont't forget to bring your full-charged phone camera, digicam or DLSR here!
The Greystone Mansion is undeniably exquisite and really perfect place to have your pictures taken! Every corner is really beautiful and I am sure you will find yourself ooh-aah seeing all otherworldly magnificent view and architecture here. However, if you want to take professional pre-wedding pictures take here, you must get a permit up to 2 weeks in advance. Unless.. you want to take your pre-wedding photos by your camera phone. Teehee.

#5: Do not bring your picnic basket here!
Yes yes it is so tempting to have a picnic here but.. they do not allow people to do it here! So before you got caught, please do not bring your picnic basket here.

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We walked there, which was a bit of a hike from the Beverly Hilton, but it was cool to see all the beautiful houses on the way. When we got there, we couldn't go into the mansion because of a private function, and if you can't go in, it's not worth going.

This place is a must see if you are a movie buff, really into Hollywood history, have an eye for beautiful things or just want a leisure afternoon in the backyard of a placial estate. My review will concentrate on the movies shot here, which alone makes it worthwhile! The estate was owned and built by Edward Doheney (yup, the dude Doheney Drive is named after) and was the largest home ever built in Beverly Hills (46,000 square feet).

If you peek through the main doors, you will remember some movies as you look into the main landing, the grand staircase and iconic checkerboard floor! Of all movies featured here, some of my favorites are Lili Tomlin/Steve Martin's All off Me and Bette Davis' Dead Ringer! The bowling alley in the basement was used for the final scene of There Will be Blood!

Take a deep breath, beacuse here is a list of other films it was used in, READY?

1993: Indecent Proposal; Also, in the Spider-Man movie series, Greystone was the home of Harry Osborne's father: the Green Goblin! In the X-Men films, Greystone's was courtyard was used as the exterior of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.

In the movie "Town and Country" the mansion stands in for Charlton Heston's mansion in Sun Valley.

Other films using this location include "What Women Want," "The Bodyguard" (RIP Whitney Houston), "The Phantom", "The Witches of Eastwick", "The Big Lebowski", "Ghostbusters II", "Death Becomes Her", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "The Beautician And The Beast", "Guilty By Suspicion",and "Air Force One".

Sir Elton John used this home for the video of "I Want Love" where Robert Downey Jr is wandering about the home "singing" the song!

Barack Obama held a $28,500-per-plate political fundraiser here as well., Some attendees were Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg, Tobey Maguire, Jodie Foster, Eddie Murphy, Barbara Mandel, Antonio Banderas, Will Ferrell and Jamie Lee Curtis.

They even shot episodes of "Dark Shows" - NOT the Johnny Depp movie here!

There is a relaxed, rarefied at the top of the hill within the estate surrounded by redwoods. There's a fresh pine scent in the air and you can catch many city views, particularly in the rear terrace of the mansion!

Look into the windows of the home when you can. You will see the vast marble halls and amazing ballrooms, with gorgeous chandeliers! This is where Demi met Redford to begin their "Indecent Proposal."

There are no public tours of the house itself but there are some events you can pay for and get in, such as the interior designers event where you see each room decorated in different flares by professional designers to compliment the stately estate! I believe they also have concerts which will gain entry to the inside of the estate as well (seasonal).

Greystone is really an "LA secret" and not many know about it and it happens to be one of my favorite places to go to!

It really feels like going into the backlot of a major studio, except this home is real and free for the public to see. It is owned and run by the City of Beverly Hills and typically not very touristy. Also there is no admission!

Greystone Mansion, located on a hillside of Beverly Hills, was built and owned by one of the richest oil tycoons America has ever had, Edward L. Doheny, the first man to sink an oil well in Los Angeles. The mansion was gifted to his son, “Ned” Doheny and his wife Lucy, on their wedding day, and they and their five children lived there beginning in 1928.

Having already taken the tour of the father’s homestead, the Doheny Mansion located in the Los Angeles West Adams district, it was a natural progression to further explore the history of the family by taking the tour of their second home, Greystone Mansion. The Tudor residence, comprised of fifty-five rooms, was originally set on 400 acres of the Doheny Ranch, but the grounds and family went through many changes.

The family had a troubling and tragic history. First, there was the politically sensational Teapot Dome Scandal beginning in 1921, where Edward Doheny was accused with Albert Hall, the Secretary of the Interior, of bribery, having leased the Navy petroleum reserves to private oil companies at low rates without competitors bidding. It was a loan from Doheny to Hall of $100,000 that made it illegal. Criminal and civil law suites ensued, which eventually found Fall guilty and he went to jail. Doheny was acquitted, but his reputation never regained the heights it had gained. Then in 1929, there was the murder of his son, Ned Doheny, and the suicide of Ned’s secretary, Hugh Planket. The truth of the crime has never been fully explained, and to this day the truth remains a mystery.

Ned’s wife Lucy and the children, remained in the house. She remarried and remained in the house for twenty more years, until she decided to move and sell the grounds to Paul Trousdale to develop Trousdale Estates and the mansion to Henry Crown, a Chicago industrialist. In 1965, the city of Beverly Hills purchased the mansion, saving it from demolition, and put in a 19-million gallon water tank, which rests under the present parking lot above the house.

Since 1971, the city has restored the park and house for the public and the mansion became the fourth local historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. The park gardens and grounds are free and open from 10:00 to 5:00 or 6:00, depending upon the time of year. Tours of the mansion are only held on the first Saturday from December through April, and reservations must be made ahead of time. Additional special events are held throughout the year and the gardens can be rented for weddings.

We took the tour last December of the house and grounds and were thoroughly impressed with the entire property, as well as the knowledge of the rangers who led the tours. The house has a mixture of Gothic and neoclassic architecture, and fine craftsmanship shows over the entire building; from the oak banisters, carved rafters, stately fireplaces, inlaid marble floors, and musician’s balcony, to an expansive kitchen, multiple servant’s quarters, and family bedrooms with incredible southern views of Los Angeles, all the way to the Pacific Ocean. We also visited the movie-theater, billiard room with hidden bar, and the basement bowling alley. The only surprising thing is that the house is vacant of any furniture.

It was on the tour that we discovered that there is a play performed in the mansion called, The Manor, presented for only two weeks in the early part of the year. Having become completely enthralled with the history of the family, we booked for one of their presentations in January. The play opens in the living room where the family is celebrating the wedding of Ned and Lucy, and then the audience divides up and is taken to different rooms, where the dramatic story of the family unfolds, until its tragic event at the end. Stage furniture was moved in, which finally gave a more lived-in feel. The actors were excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the entire production, giving us a particularly unique and rewarding conclusion to our exploration into this historic LA family. Two-thumbs up for bringing this intriguing family home and history to life.

The website looks all fancy and even says the hours it's open. When you get there it's very confusing as there are no signs where to go so when you make it to the house you find everything locked up and no one working. Eventually you may find the sign that says the Mansion is not open to the public. Don't bother calling the phone number on the website as no one answers. When you re-read the website you will see that's it's the grounds that are open to the public, but it doesn't say the Mansion is not. What a waste of a trip.

Fell in love with the Mansion on the first visit.
Lots of ooh's and ahh's.

And so it was fitting, we had our civil ceremony here.
Lots of ooh's and ahh's.

BEAUTIFUL:
- City views
- Manicured grounds
- Fountains and ponds
- Historical architecture

There are a few rules:
*No professional photography without a permit (trust me, the park rangers are there to regulate).
*No video
*No smoking
*No dogs

Unfortunately, from time to time, there will be tour buses and hoards of tourists being loud and obnoxious, but the place is so big (18.3 acres), you can avoid contact.

OTHER:

Greystone is open daily:
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Daylight Savings Time

Please note that on weekends (especially during Spring and Summer months) weddings and special events are common at Greystone, therefore, some areas will be off limits.

Admission to the grounds and parking are FREE.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

I saw an article about the less obvious places to visit, and this was one of them. We almost didn't go, but decided to go before going to Hollywood blvd. It was amazing. Be sure to google it and read the history since there is no one to ask questions or give tours. The house it self is not open to the public but you can get some great peeks through some of the lower windows. The gardens are exquisite and the house is amazing. Be sure to look up and admire the stone and brick work especially on the chimneys. A lost art in my opinion. On their website they also list the movies that have been filmed there. I would have loved to have gotten married there!! Even my husband appreciated it. Great place to visit out of the crowds, it's free.

The Greytone Mansion itself is open to the public only a few times a year. I had looked forward to my visit. However I was very disappointed. The mansion is not furnished. I would say the main draw would be touring the home if you are a movie buff. Many movies,TV and commercials have been filmed inside the mansion. Storyboards are in the rooms showing the location of the movie scene. I have visited many historic house museum mansions with opulent gardens and this certainly was not the case for Doheny Greystone Mansion. The Greystone website says “formal English gardens” however the allee’ was the only outside space with some charm. All docents should be given a syllabus to test their knowledge of the home’s history. I asked several basic questions and they had no idea what I was referring to as to the history of the home. There was nothing special to say about the gardensin fact it looked like the landscaping had not been tended to in some time with dead vegetation all around. I would think the City of Beverly Hills could do a much better job in promoting this potentially wonderful home.