70588 Frank Sinatra Dr
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270, USA

'The world' visited Sinatra's Rancho Mirage compound

From the article: 'The world' visited Sinatra's Rancho Mirage compound. Written by Melissa Riche

Sinatra’s ‘Twin Palms’ home in Palm Springs by famed architect E. Stewart Williams (1947) is well-known, but it was his base for only five years. It can be hired for events, photo shoots, vacation rentals and tours, e.g. during Modernism Week. By contrast, his home in Rancho Mirage is as much a private residence today as it was when Sinatra lived there from 1954 – 1995.

The reason usually given for Sinatra’s move a few miles away was because “Palm Springs was getting too crowded.” It wasn’t quite that simple. He and Ava Gardner were calling it quits in 1953 – she filed for divorce in 1954 – and Sinatra’s career was in trouble. The ‘Twin Palms’ home was a regular reminder of his recent personal and professional problems, so he sold the house in April 1953. He then stayed at songwriter friend Jimmy Van Heusen’s home in Thunderbird Heights ‘hiding from reporters’ when he was in town. Van Heusen had introduced Sinatra to the desert in the 1940s.

Sinatra’s career was about to reignite with the film, From Here to Eternity, for which Sinatra won an Oscar in 1954. February 1954 also saw the launch of his first successful album for Capitol Records, Songs for Young Lovers. Around the same time, Sinatra purchased a couple of lots including a modest home at Tamarisk Country Club beside the 17th fairway, on Wonder Palms Road, now Frank Sinatra Drive. Having a quieter place to escape to for Sinatra was vital as his career rebounded. Like many entertainment figures in the desert, Sinatra enjoyed golf. He became a member of Tamarisk Country Club in 1954 and, although he didn’t play often, he signed up for Pro-Am fundraisers along with Danny Kaye and Groucho Marx.

The house Sinatra bought with the land was even smaller than his Twin Palms home. Architectural Digest (1998) described it thus:

“The small, one-story house had a rough stone entrance and vertical sand-colored clapboard siding. There were two bedrooms, a living room, a tiny kitchen and dining area and an oval swimming pool open to the golf course.”

William F. Cody designed the original home (similar in style to the Cody Cottages at Thunderbird) in 1952 for client Austin H. Peterson, but Sinatra saw, fell in love with, and purchased the home before Peterson ever moved in. Records show that Cody designed the house’s expansion and remodel for Sinatra.

In November 1955, Palm Springs Villager magazine ran a full-page ad for Tony Burke Realtors featuring a photo of Frank Sinatra and announcing the sale of the Tamarisk Country Club home. Was Sinatra having buyer’s remorse? Or was this a favor for the realtor? The ad read:

“Mr Frank Sinatra said … 'Tony, find a bigger house for me.' We did. He bought the handsome estate once owned by Al Jolson. So now he has entrusted us with the disposal of his elegant home on the golf course at Tamarisk Country Club. Pictured above, Frank and Jimmy Van Heusen are relaxing musically in the living room.”

The ad continues, “Designed by Architect Wm. F. Cody, it has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, large living room with fireplace, dining room, modern kitchen, TV, and Hi-fi equipment. Swimming pool and high walls. Price with furniture $85,000 including records and books.”

Sinatra had a change of heart. Maybe he was just too busy to move. Earl Wilson’s society column observed (Desert Sun, May 10, 1956):

“Frank Sinatra, nearly washed up two years ago, will have six films in release in ’56.”

In 1956, another room and bathroom were added, then over the next few years, according to Architectural Digest (1998), he added a pair of two bedroom cottages, one off either end of the pool.

“Each bedroom had its own separate his-and-her baths. Sinatra also expanded the main house, adding a dining room for twenty-four and a restaurant-size kitchen with a commercial range, a walk-in refrigerator and freezer and a wine closet.”

He bought adjoining lots so that he eventually owned two-and-a-half acres.

Sinatra also moved to Tamarisk because it was unrestricted. He couldn’t stand bigotry on any level. Frank’s best friend and Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr. was unwelcome most places unless he was performing. The two singers became friends in 1941. It was at Sinatra’s Tamarisk home that Sammy Davis recuperated following the 1954 car accident that nearly killed him in which Davis lost his left eye. Davis normally wore a good luck charm around his neck, a mezuzah given to him by Eddie Cantor. The night of the accident he wasn’t wearing it. Davis converted to Judaism in 1961.

A Newsweek magazine article in 1965 observed:

“[Sinatra’s] various defenses of civil rights causes and his friendship with (Sammy) Davis have hurt him commercially in the South, while his contributions to Israeli charities have gotten him, his records and movies banned in the Arab countries.”

In 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy spent two days at Sinatra’s home, sleeping in a guest room of the main house. Sinatra later installed a plaque and the room became Sinatra’s library and the depository for Kennedy memorabilia. During the next two years Sinatra extended his estate, anticipating a future visit from President Kennedy. He installed a heliport, built cottages for the security staff, an additional guesthouse for Kennedy, a tennis court, a new office, and a projection room. He installed cabling, telephone lines, and more. It was all for naught. Kennedy’s security team didn’t like the association with Sinatra’s suspected mob friends. Instead, Kennedy’s 1962 desert visit was to Bing Crosby’s Thunderbird Heights home, next to Jimmy Van Heusen’s. Sinatra was livid; he blamed Peter Lawford, his old friend and Rat Pack fellow and the two never reconciled.

For a while, the heliport was used when showgirls were flown in from the Sands hotel in Las Vegas, but neighbors weren’t too thrilled by the noise and wind from the chopper and Sinatra stopped using it.

In 1966 Sinatra – then 50 – married 21-year-old Mia Farrow. The union lasted only two years. Afterwards Sinatra made the home even more ‘his,’ adding in a painting studio – one of his favorite pastimes, along with his train sets. In 1971, his employees gave Sinatra a real caboose, which Sinatra had fitted out with a sauna, massage table, barber’s chair and an exercise bench. His home was comfortable, not opulent: it was where he entertained, relaxed, and enjoyed time with his family. His younger daughter Tina commented in the Architectural Digest feature:

“That was his home, and you could feel it. It was full of great times. I met the world in that house.”

In 1976, Sinatra married Barbara Marx, his former neighbor, while she was married to Zeppo Marx. Barbara Sinatra loved the desert as much as Frank. She was longing to give an overdue feminine touch to Sinatra’s home that had been ‘aggressively lived in for more than two decades.’ She brought in interior designer Bea Korshak and architect Ted Grenzbach to open and lighten the home’s central spaces, add a master suite for her, and renovate key areas like the much-used projection room. Sinatra’s favorite color, orange, was toned down in some areas and removed from others. Ultimately the compound grew to include 18 bedrooms and 23 baths. Sinatra’s own bedroom was left untouched, his paintings and model trains intact. “It was his little cave,” said Tina Sinatra.

In 1995, with Sinatra’s health declining, the Sinatras very reluctantly sold the compound and moved to Los Angeles where he died in 1998.

The Palm Springs Historical Society’s two museums, the McCallum Adobe and Cornelia White House, will open to the public on Friday Oct. 21, 2016. To find out more about Sinatra’s years in Palm Springs, visit the McCallum Adobe which will feature an exhibit on Frank Sinatra’s years in Palm Springs.

Postcard of Frank Sinatra's House

A historic postcard sends greetings from the home of Frank Sinatra.

Frank Sinatra in Rancho Mirage,

Excerpt from "The Homes He Lived In: Frank Sinatra in Palm Springs" by Scout Schiro for WNYC

Sinatra moved to a new home in nearby Rancho Mirage (in 1957 from Twin Palms in Palm Springs). This house was known as 'The Compound', named for the multiple additions and acquisitions Sinatra gained during his time there. During his time in Palm Springs, he met former Vegas showgirl and ex-wife to Zeppo Marx, Barbara Marx. She became his fourth wife in 1976, hosting a ceremony at philanthropist Walter Annenberg's estate Sunnylands, and then moved back into The Compound to live out Frank's remaining years in Rancho Mirage. The town would later name a street 'Frank Sinatra Drive' in his honor.

The original house was small and part of an area country club, but was later expanded to include a guest house, a movie theater, poolside bungalows with his and her bathrooms, a huge restaurant-style kitchen, and even a train caboose converted into a small spa. The Sinatra Compound hosted many guests, including President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy had planned to stay a second time, and Sinatra pulled out all the stops, even designing a new bathroom for him. Unfortunately, Robert Kennedy was wary of Sinatra's alleged Mafia connections, and advised him not to. JFK pulled out at the last second, opting to stay at Bing Crosby's house instead. Sinatra then became a staunch Republican for the rest of his life.

Sinatra's favorite color was orange - he once called it "the happiest color" - and much of the furnishings in the house were orange, including the refrigerator. This changed during Barbara's time there due to changing tastes in the 1970s as well as her own - she brought in designer Bernice Korshak to help her. She even named each room after songs he recorded. Frank, however, got to keep his master bedroom in its original citrus-colored state at the end of her renovations - as well as the art pieces in it by himself and his daughter Tina.

Sinatra used The Compound as a base, between his excursions to other homes and cities, until almost the end of his life. Sinatra's last time there was in 1995 - shortly after his last concert, a benefit for the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center. He began to fall ill, and Frank and Barbara decided to sell the house to a Mr. James Pattison, who keeps many Sinatra relics around today.