Falcon Lair | Gone but Not Forgotten

In the early 1920s, one romantic star shone brighter than any other. Women fans tried to speak onto his movie sets. A few managed to climb over the walls of his Beverly Hills estate in search of their idol. The star was Rudolph Valentino, and his estate was Falcon Lair. Valentino extravagantly filled Falcon Lair with art and antiques, and he owned many fine cars, including a custom-made 1926 Isotta Fraschini limousine.

After Valentino's sudden death in 1926, Falcon Lair's residents included a South American playboy who built a monument to Valentino in the garden, a group of women who wanted to turn the estate into a shrine for "lovelorn women," actress Gloria Swanson, and finally tobacco heiress Doris Duke.

In recent years, the main house was demolished for a new mansion. Falcon Lair's original gates -- and reportedly Valentino's ghost -- still linger at this renowned Beverly Hills estate.