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Beautiful 1928 Pac Pal Building That Housed Tragic Starlet Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe is Up For Grabs

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Hey, remember that kooky guesthouse in Pacific Palisades that popped up for rent on Craigslist about a month ago—the one situated above the garage in which the popular actress and restaurateur Thelma Todd met her untimely end in 1935? Well a tipster has passed along the news that the 15,000-square-foot, Spanish-style building that once housed the screen star's eponymous seaside cafe on its groundfloor, a private nightclub for Hollywood elites on its second, and Todd's glamorous apartment on its third, has also recently come available.

According to a 2002 LA Times feature, Todd's business partner (and former director/lover) Roland West continued operating the cafe after her death, with mixed results. After West died, the building passed into the hands of his widow, singer Lola Lane. A devout Catholic, Lane invited a priest named Father Bud Kieser to run his religiously-oriented film and TV production company, Paulist Productions, out of the ground floor, eventually deeding the building to the production company. And that's how they came to own a gorgeous building in a prime location worth millions of dollars.

Per the listing, the historic 1928 structure now offers two floors of office space along with the groundfloor production studio, 360-degree views from the top floor, and "direct bridge access to the sand." Sited on a 22,146-square-foot lot, it's asking $7.995 million.


· Historic Building For Sale - 17575 Pacific Coast Highway [CBRE]
· Rent the Oddball Guesthouse at Pac Pal's Notorious, Possibly Murderous Castillo Del Mar [Curbed LA]