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Saturday, April 26, 2014

Whimsical Disney Desert Retreat for Sale

AUTHOR:EMILY HEFFTER
ZILLOW

First there was Disneyland. And then there was the zip line Walt Disney installed at this Palm Desert weekend retreat for his A-list friends. Among the famous stars who partied at this small hillside house while Walt Disney owned it in the 1950s and 60s: Humphrey Bogart, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
The 1-bedroom, 1.5-bath, 1,440-square-foot home sits high above the Coachella Valley at 56160 Las Rocas in Mountain Center, CA. Its rear wall is all windows overlooking the view. Its whimsical features include red kitchen cabinets and a feature not present when Disney owned it: the elaborate ceiling fan system featured in the classic film Casablanca.
Disney and his movie-star friends used to drive to the house — then even smaller before a 1970 remodel — and sleep out under the stars in sleeping bags, said Jason Evans, the listing agent for the home with Coldwell Banker’s Steve and Geri Downs Team.
Frank Sinatra owned a house in the neighborhood, and Disney’s retreat was a Rat Pack party pad.
At some point, Disney installed a concrete pad and a zip line, so he and his friends could zoom through the desert.
The home is listed for only $535,000, and its big selling point is not the home with its Disney history, but the 2.79-acre property which sits at 3,000-feet with grand views of the Coachella Valley. The neighborhood is full of much larger homes, and Evans expects the new owner might tear down the Disney retreat to make way for more square footage.
“It’s not really the size” of the house, Evans said. “It’s the view and the history. It just takes your breath away when you walk into the house.”

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