14400 Sunset Boulevard

Dennis Wilson’s Home at 14400 Sunset Boulevard, in Pacific Palisades, California

Dennis Wilson inadvertently met the family when he picked up two young ladies who were hitchhiking along Sunset Boulevard in Malibu; one of them, at the time, was pregnant.

During the late 1960s, Dennis Wilson, the famous drummer of the music group The Beach Boys, lived in a log-cabin styled home located at 14400 Sunset Boulevard, in Pacific Palisades, California. Wilson wound up hosting about twenty members of the Charles Manson family at his home, mostly woman, for an entire summer to his larger than expected expense; costing nearly $100,000 in food, clothes and drugs. He eventually moved out of the home just to get rid of them.

According to a Record Mirror interview article (right) Dennis Wilson inadvertently met the family when he picked up two young ladies who were hitchhiking along Sunset Boulevard in Malibu; one of them, at the time, was pregnant. Wilson offered to bring them home and gave them a ride. About a month later he saw the same two again, yet this time, the woman that had been pregnant now also had her baby with her. Wilson was “overjoyed” for the woman and young child and decided to bring them back to his home. The two woman turned out to be Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey; The girls stayed a couple of hours.

Wilson had been recently travelling and told the girls about his involvement with the Maharishi – an Indian guru, known for developing a form of silent meditation and for being a leader and guru. They girls told him they too had a guru, a guy named Charlie. All the girls were invited over and they brought with them, the rest of their clan and this Charlie Manson. The group stayed for the entire summer and Dennis and Charlie forged an unusual relationship, paying music and writing songs together.

It was here in this home at Dennis’s parties that Charles Manson was able to meet Hollywood celebrities whom would give him an opportunity at getting his music recorded. Among the list of popular faces, Manson met the son of Doris Day, Terry Melcher, who had become a record producer. Wilson expressed interest in Manson’s music and even recorded two of Manson’s songs with the Beach Boys. For a time, Melcher was interested in recording Manson’s music as well as making a film about the family and their hippie commune existence.

According to Beach Boy Mike Love:

“Dennis lived in a luxurious house, on three acres, with a swimming pool and plenty of guest rooms. Guileless about others, indifferent about his own possessions, Dennis was all too happy to allow Manson and his girls to move in, use his charge cards, take his clothes, eat his food, and even drive his Mercedes. Beyond what was spent on his credit card, Dennis paid the medical costs for the women who were treated for sexually transmitted diseases. His house was ransacked. Furniture, clothes, guitars, stereo equipment, and gold records – they took most everything of Dennis’s that wasn’t nailed down. They also totaled his Mercedes. By summer’s end, Dennis figured he had lost about $100,000 to his roommates.”

14400 Sunset Boulevard was originally built in 1923 and was renovated in 1960 just prior to Wilson purchasing it. The near 8,000 square foot home sits on three acres of private high tree lined property just off Sunset Blvd. It’s right across the street from the Will Rogers State Historic Park. When it sold in 1968 the price tag was $126,500, however, today it would be worth about $15M.