13 Dec 1926 – Hundreds throng to Valentino Auction

The name of Rudolph Valentino is still one to conjure with. On the first day, that his mountainside home, “Falcon Lair” was thrown open to the public, the caretaker counted 500 persons going through the house. It had been opened to the public to display the personal effects of the dead star preliminary to the auction in which the house was sold yesterday for $145,000. The collections of art objects, thirty-five oil paintings, antique furniture and books; in fact, the complete furnishings and belongings of Valentino’s home, go on the auction block. Only the clothing of the actor, some 65 suits is held out. These garments are being retained by friends for sentimental reasons. In spite of the location of the house, which is at 2 Bella Drive, high up a steep mountain road on one of the smaller mountain crests above Hollywood and Beverly Hills and far from any casual motorist, streams of people file in from morning till the house is closed in the evening. Included with the house in the auction were eight and one and half acres of gardens above it and six and three fourths acres of unimproved area. The old home at 6776 Wedgewood Place in Whitley Heights and the four lots next to it, which formed the home of Rudy when he was married to Natacha Rambova, remain to be sold. There has been some talk of preserving one of his collections of antique objects as a memorial to be placed in a local museum.