This Northridge compound, constructed in 1996, is built on the site of Richard Pryor’s longtime home—where one of the most bizarre events in LA’s long history of celebrity insanity occurred. On June 9, 1980, a drug-addled Pryor covered himself in cognac before attempting to freebase cocaine. He was immediately engulfed in flames and ran through the quiet Sherwood Forest neighborhood where he lived until police officers stopped him and called for paramedics. Pryor suffered horrible burns, but survived the incident, and it later became the basis for one of his most popular standup bits.
Anyway, if that’s the type of Hollywood history you’re looking for in a home, you aren’t likely to find it anywhere else within miles. Northridge has been home to a few other celebrities over the years—Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck, for instance. But it’s never had the wild, anything-goes-appeal of other LA neighborhoods.
When Pryor lived at the 2.18-acre estate, it was apparently loaded with luxurious amenities like an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a boxing ring. The compound includes similarly extravagant features like a professional dance studio, children’s playhouse, and tennis court. The pool might not be quite Olympic-sized, but it does have a waterslide. On the inside, the four-bedroom home isn’t particularly exciting, but does have some nice vaulted ceilings and an interesting mural in the bathroom that references the region’s citrus-growing past (there’s even a few fruit-bearing trees on the premises). All in all, it seems like a very pleasant place to light oneself on fire.
- 17267 Parthenia Street [Rodeo Realty]