The dispute over Marilyn Monroe and her former Los Angeles home has entered a new phase, evolving from a local preservation fight into a broader legal confrontation. Since 2023, the owners of the Brentwood property, where the Hollywood icon lived and died in 1962, have been locked in an ongoing clash with the city over plans to tear down the residence. Now, the case has taken a sharper turn: the libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation has joined the fray, representing the homeowners pro bono in a federal lawsuit against City of Los Angeles.
A little backstory about Marilyn Monroe and her home, for those who haven’t been following along: Monroe purchased the 1920s Spanish-style bungalow for $77,500 in February 1962, six months before dying, apparently of an overdose of barbiturates, inside the residence. It was the first (and only) home that she owned herself.
Shortly after buying the house for $8.35 million in 2023 with the intention of expanding their neighbouring property, owners Brinah Milstein and Roy Bank were granted permits to demolish and redevelop Monroe’s former pad. Those permits were revoked after local Councilmember Traci Park filed a motion to designate it as a landmark amid public backlash to the proposed demolition. “To lose this piece of history, the only home that Monroe ever owned, would be a devastating blow for historic preservation and for a city where less than 3% of historic designations are associated with women’s heritage,” Park said at the time. In June 2024, it was officially named a cultural-historic landmark, preventing Milstein and Bank from razing it. The couple has been embroiled in a bureaucratic battle to tear down the historic home ever since.
This January, they filed a federal lawsuit. The Pacific Legal Foundation, which joined the lawsuit in April, is arguing that the city is violating the couple’s Fifth Amendment rights, citing expenses associated with property taxes, permits, legal fees and an increased need for security (allegedly, the designation has attracted an uptick in trespassers and even burglars). “The U.S. Constitution guarantees all Americans the right to just compensation when the government takes their property. If the government wants a museum, it must pay for one—not force private homeowners to foot the bill for a public monument,” the firm wrote in a statement. Now, the city of Los Angeles has filed a motion to dismiss the case, the New York Post reports, the latest attack in an ongoing battle.
