Real estate is all about location! With its English country-style front garden, cream paint and demure powder blue trim, this relatively humble home feigns modesty. But with its location in one of the most desirable pockets of Santa Monica, surrounded by lavish mansions, it’s no surprise that the place recently traded for $3.5 million in an off-market deal.
The century-old property was acquired by Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Though her name may not be familiar to the Gen-Z and millennial crowd, Davis was something of a tabloid staple back in the ’80s, best known as the so-called “prodigal” daughter of the President and First Lady.
During the family’s time in the White House, there was a highly-publicized rift between Davis and her parents. She began living with her boyfriend, a situation of which her parents did not approve. She wrote unflattering autobiographies, portraying the Reagans in a negative light. She publicly disagreed with her parents on hot-button issues like abortion and nuclear programs. And in 1994, she (in)famously posed nude on the cover of Playboy.
Davis, who will turn 70 this year, eventually reconciled with her parents. Today, the former actress and USC dropout remains a staunch Democrat and is outspoken on issues like animal rights, gun control and same-sex marriage; she continues to write books and accept speaking engagements.
Because the Santa Monica house was never publicly offered for sale — and had not traded hands in decades — there are no interior images and details are scarce at best. But public records say the roughly 1,700-square-foot structure has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, and sits on a flat lot in close proximity to the neighbors. The property does not have a pool, though there is a big grassy lawn out back.
This is hardly Davis’ first tangle with high-end real estate, of course. Back in 2016, shortly after Nancy Reagan’s death, Davis and her brother Ron sold Reagan’s longtime Bel Air estate for exactly $15 million to the next-door neighbor, billionaire Jerry Perenchio. (That house has since been razed.)