Was Norma Talmadge’s Hollywood Home “Jinxed”?
- Jan 6, 2025
- 8 min read
7269 Hollywood Boulevard was home to some of the most recognizable names in their respective industries: Norma Talmadge, Douglas Fairbanks, Joseph Schenck, Albert Ralphs, Jack Cudahy, Irving Berlin.
And because of their various misfortunes while living under its red-tiled roof—death, divorce, career failure—the nickname “Jinx Mansion” was coined by the press in 1929.
Grocery magnate George A. Ralphs built the 16-room Mission Revival mansion in 1913 at the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Fuller Avenue on three sprawling acres featuring a tennis court, citrus orchard, and pool that was drained any time the fruit needed watering. Inside, there were three bathrooms, lots of mahogany, and several fireplaces with mantels made of onyx.
Flanked by a pair of ornamental lamp posts (that were later painted with “7269” on the light globes), the curb appeal was heavenly. “A house with a prologue of terraced gardens and an impressive door that is reached by so many flights of stone stairs that one expects to meet St. Peter at the top,” described Elsie McCormick in a 1928 Atlanta Journal profile on Talmadge.
