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Forgotten Details From The Golden Age Of Hollywood

Khalid Elhassan July 10, 2023 29 min

The Golden Age of Hollywood was as posh as posh gets. Filmmaking Lifestyle

Rudolph Valentino’s Falcon Lair

Rudolph Valentino, who rose to fame in the silent film era, became one of Tinseltown’s earliest sex symbols. Often known as the “Latin Lover”, he set hearts aflutter across America and around the world. At the height of his fame in the 1920s, he wanted to both escape his crazed admirers – the Beatles were not the first celebrities to inspire fan mania – and showcase his newfound wealth. So in 1925, he plunked down $175,000 – a fortune at the time – to purchase an estate in Benedict Canyon, LA.

Valentino named it the Falcon Lair, in a nod to his character from a 1924 hit movie, The Hooded Falcon. He modified and expanded the property to his liking. In homage to his home country of Italy, Valentino outfitted the property with Italian cypress trees, and an Italian garden. An accomplished horseman, he also built stables for his four Arabian steeds. He was seen on most mornings riding his horses around his property, which overlooked Beverly Hills and what is now the Rodeo Drive shopping district.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.