All Elvis fans recognize the gates of Graceland, but did you know he once owned another home in California with often-photographed gates.
I recently found this aerial-photo of Elvis’ former home at 1174 Hillcrest Drive in Beverly Hills. It was posted in April by a realty firm selling the house for $30 million dollars. In an ElvisBlog post back in 2011, a different realty firm was offering it as a rental for $25,000 per month.
The new view of this fabulous house and its hefty price tag prompted me to scan the internet for more pictures and there turned out to be many. We’ll look at a few, interspersed with related comment.
The most common pictures of Elvis’ house in posh Toursdale Estates usually showcase the front door. One modern-day realtor describes the design as Hollywood Regency mid-century modern, whatever that is. I wonder what it was called back when Elvis lived there. He bought it in May, 1967 for $400,000.
Here’s a night shot of the front door from a different angle.
This shot was taken farther down the driveway/parking lot. You can see the front door in profile and the gate in the open position. These are modern day photos. Let’s take a look at this area back in Elvis’ day.
That’s Elvis’ Stutz Bearcat in front. Of course the foliage here was different than that shown on the other photos taken nearly sixty years later. The gate appears to have a metal panel behind the bars at this time..
And here are the gates closed during renovations back in 2013. Almost looks like an Elvis sighting, doesn’t it? Actually that is Elvis tribute artist Donny Edwards.
And here is a determined fan on a vigil to catch Elvis coming through the gate.
Now I would like to present a montage of photos of Elvis at the gates of 1174 Hillcrest Drive in Toursdale Estates, Beverly Hills, CA. All appear to be fan-taken shots that have been posted on the internet over the years.
This appears to be the beard Elvis grew for his part in the 1968 movie Charro.
Here Elvis is beyond the open gate and photographed from behind by a fan.
The website where I found this photo said the other guy was an Elvis impersonator. Did they really start as early as 1968? Johnny Elvis Foster Wrote in and advised that it is him with Elvis in this photo.
This fan picture seems to have been taken during the period when the gates had the panels behind the bars.
How many millions of pictures do you think have been snapped of Elvis fans at the gates of Graceland? It has to be a staggering number. But if you’re ever in Los Angeles and you drive up to Beverly Hills and check out 1174 Hillcrest Drive, you might just run into some other Elvis fans there, too.
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