Television producer Greg Gugliotta, since 2013 an executive producer on the LGBT-themed family drama “The Fosters,” currently in its fifth season, is asking $1.249 million for an earth tone decorated desert getaway on the unnaturally verdant 3rd fairway inside the gates of the prestigious Thunderbird Country Club in the affluent, Coachella Valley community of Rancho Mirage, Calif. Originally designed by influential desert modern architect William F. Cody, the early 1950s ranch was purchased by Gugliotta in April 2014 for $575,000 and subsequently given what listing agent Louise Hampton of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices described in marketing materials as an “historically sensitive renovation.” Set behind custom wrought iron gates and obscured behind a tall wall and even taller privacy hedge, the 3,229-square-foot single-story residence, first listed a couple of months ago at $1.349 million, is configured with two bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms plus a den easily converted to a third bedroom. An attached casita offers additional living or guest space with garden access, wet bar and en suite bathroom.
A massive, raised hearth fieldstone fireplace anchors the sprawling, open-plan living and dining room that features ordinary but cool on the feet beige ceramic floor tiles, a vaulted, exposed wood ceiling and a built-in entertainment unit in the family room area. The separate kitchen, freshly updated with inky black solid surface counter tops and crisp white subway tile back splashes, connects through the laundry room to an attached two-car garage. There’s also a detached golf car garage alongside the driveway. The bedroom wing includes a den and a guest bedroom with convenient access to a hall bathroom as well as a master suite outfitted with a wood-paneled ceiling, a fireplace, a walk-in closet and a mirror-walled bathroom with louche, jet black soaking tub. The living room, den and guest bedroom open the front side of the hip-roofed residence to a walled and hedge-lined courtyard with a swimming pool and spa while the dining area, master bedroom and casita all have direct access to an approximately 1500-square-foot, trellis-shaded outdoor living and dining area that overlooks a thick carpet of lawn that runs along the back of the house and features a built-in fire pit, a built-in grilling station and an over-the-hedgerow view of the scenically rugged San Jacinto Mountains.
The Thunderbird Country Club has a long and illustrious reputation as a desert escape for politicians, business titans and Hollywood luminaries like Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Dean Martin, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, tire magnate Leonard Firestone and hotelier Barron Hilton. Late president Gerald Ford and his wife Betty “were often found at their favorite table in the Thunderbird’s dining room,” according to the club’s website, and former president Barack Obama, earlier this year presented with an honorary membership to the private club and many times rumored to be interested in buying a home in Rancho Mirage, has been a frequent guest at the nearby Thunderbird Heights home of acclaimed interior designer Michael S. Smith and former ambassador to Spain James Costas.
Gugliotta, creator of NBC’s “Behind the Camera” franchise and the originating executive producer for Spike TV’s Ben Kingsley-starring 2015 mini-series “Tut,” previously owned a stylish and unexpectedly luxe, one-bedroom and one-bathroom tree house-like cottage cleaved to a precipitous hillside in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles he bought in late 2014 for $750,000, put up for sale in October 2016 at $1.299 million and sold before the year ended for $1.225 million.
Listing photos: Ryan Castillo, Desert Bird Media
