A house where Marilyn Monroe lived in Los Angeles when she was discovered was bulldozed this week even as it was scheduled to be considered as a historical-cultural landmark.
A developer bulldozed the Valley Village home three days before it was to be considered for preservation by the Cultural Heritage Commission,
the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The action devastated some of those who had been trying to save the home.
“I can’t even breathe. My neighbors and I are in mourning,” Jennifer Getz, of Valley Village, told the Daily News. “It’s one of the biggest losses in the San Fernando Valley. I’m beyond outrage.”
The newspaper said supporters of saving the house said the developer moved to tear it down after the landmark hearing was announced, but before the city’s council could put a stop to the demolition.
Some opposed the designation of the Doughtery House, as it came to be called after Monroe’s birth name, Norma Jean Doughtery, as being historically significant, the Daily News said.
"Obviously, Marilyn Monroe is an iconic figure," Ken Bernstein, director of the Office of Historic Resources, told the newspaper. "But while she had been living in the house when discovered, the house … isn’t associated with a productive period in her career."
The owner of the backhoe that destroyed the house where Monroe lived as a 17-year-old housewife, as well as another one on the property, was Joe Salem of Hermitage Enterprises LLC, the Daily News said. He could not be reached for comment, but city officials said he had applied for a demolition permit with the intention of putting condos on the land.
KTLA 5 reported that the demolition was shut down on Wednesday after officials said the proper demolition paperwork wasn’t filed.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District posted on a fence surrounding the construction that asbestos abatement documents were necessary, KTLA said.
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