Location is Los Angeles Mansion – DIRT

Guasti rose to prominence with the founding of the Italian Vineyard Company in 1904 on a rural 5,000-acre property in the Ontario area, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles. The winery became the largest in the world with the establishment of Secundo, with a sprawling company town in close proximity to house its multitude of workers, complete with a shop, school, post office, bakery, train station, church and fire station. Although it has since been annexed by the City of Ontario and largely rehabilitated, some of the original buildings of Guasti Village still stand today.

Following its tremendous success, winemaker commissioned Frank Dale Hudson and William A.O. Munsell of the Hudson & Munsell architectural firm, who were also behind the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, to design an elaborate Italian Renaissance-style residence on a large lot he had in Jefferson Park, one of LA’s trendiest enclaves at the time. Construction of the sprawling residence began in 1910 and took four years to complete, with virtually no expense spared or detail overlooked.

The website Peace Awareness Labyrinth and Gardens reports that Guasti, who was “homesick” for his native Italy, “wanted to build a large Italian villa”. As such, “he and his wife imported art and invited craftsmen from Europe to complete the mansion”. The result is a virtual work of art in itself.

Replete with intricate carvings, exquisite joinery and ethereal murals and friezes, the property is impeccably designed from top to bottom. Taking center stage is a stunning grand ballroom that serves as both a formal entrance hall and an architectural showpiece, with a hand-painted ceiling, fine wood paneling and a sweeping staircase that lures guests inside.

Other top-notch amenities enjoyed by Guasti and his wife include a formal dining room, men’s and women’s salons, a hydraulic elevator, coach house, and a variety of fireplaces.

After Guasti’s death in 1927, his widow lived on the site until her own death a decade later, after which the mansion was sold to Busby Berkeley for $200,000. The famed Hollywood director/choreographer moved into the palatial property with his mother, who “furnished it with her collection of antiques, an extraordinary mess that included an early American four-poster bed, Rococo chairs and mirrors, and an intricately carved Gothic Revival table, a white and gold Italian chest,” according to the Los Angeles Times. During his tenure, Busby also had the basement wine cellar converted into a screening room.

Unfortunately, while Berkeley was an undeniable genius in the world of film, music and dance, finances were not his forte and he was forced to sell the Guasti Villa in 1946 amidst a mountain of debt. The mansion was then purchased by Los Angeles County Ärztehilfe eV and converted into a retirement home for local doctors and their widows, with two large living quarters added at the rear. By all accounts, the site was an idyllic place to spend one’s golden years, although it fell into disrepair during the Aid Association’s ownership.

Join the Spiritual Inner Awareness Movement (MSIA), a religious group dedicated to soul transcendence through meditation, founded by John-Roger Hinkins, who bought the mansion in 1974 and converted it into a headquarters and learning center while doing the Property meticulously restored process.

In 2002, the group added expansive meditation gardens to the site, transforming the site into a true urban oasis with 16 fountains, a koi pond, countless trees and plants, countless hidden spots, and a hand-carved travertine maze. Measuring 40 feet in diameter and a footpath that stretches a third of a mile, the latter was modeled after the famous meandering walk in Chartres Cathedral in France.

The mansion and its gardens are a stunning example of both restoration and adaptive reuse and are open to the public on a daily basis. The official website states: “While you are here, you can ‘relax’ your mind by walking the maze, contemplating in the meditation garden, be refreshed by sounds of running water, take a tour and learn more about the beautiful historic villa or attend a workshop or course. As you explore, we invite you to tap into the awareness of the peace that is ever present.”

Numerous spiritual events and retreats, which are also open to the public, also take place regularly on the premises.

Given its opulent aesthetic and grandiose trappings, it’s no surprise that the pad was disguised as a luxurious Houston mansion where former football player and two-time Super Bowl champion Dan O’Callahan (Harry Hamlin) hosted Trish and her friends invites you to a chic pre-game soiree in 80 for Brady.

The property is featured extensively throughout the party scene, with the ladies in the grand ballroom accidentally ingesting some “high dose” marijuana gummies, Lou and Betty dancing the night away on the maze, and Maura getting involved in a high-stakes poker game with Billy Porter, Patton Oswalt, Marshawn Lynch and Retta in the wood paneled dining room.

80 for Brady is hardly the first production to take advantage of the property. In fact, the residence is a true movie star, its alluring facade, distinctive wood carvings and manicured grounds providing a scenic backdrop to numerous films and television shows. Incredibly, the mansion’s history stretches back a full century to 1923, when a partial view of its exterior was briefly shown in Hal Roach’s silent comedy White Wings, starring Stan Laurel.

The comics genius returned to the estate in 1930, this time with sidekick Oliver Hardy, to film Another Fine Mess. The legendary duo who play Colonel Wilburforce Buckshot’s (James Finlayson) home, which is said to be on Pointsettia Ave.

Big Jack Hemmings (Robert Ridgely) lives on the compound in the third season of the television show Hunter called Hot Pursuit: Part 2.

Meat Loaf’s 2006 music video “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” was filmed extensively at Villa Guasti.

The estate plays Murman Shalikashvili’s (Eugene Alper) Georgian palace, where Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) attends a reception while in town as the official observer of the country’s first “free and open election” in the sixth episode by “Veep” titled “Georgia”. In the mansion’s dining room, Shalikashvili offers Selina a $10 million “donation” for her presidential library, which prompts her to later state, “Putting aside the poisoning, the torture, and the death squads, I think Murman is a really good person is , Honest. And he’s a damn good storyteller.”

The gardens later appear in a flashback scene in the season 6 finale of Veep entitled “Groundbreaking,” posing as Sedona spaum, psychiatric facility Selina stops by after losing the presidential election.

And Guasti Villa takes on a dual role in the season one episode of Truth Be Told titled Live Thru This, playing both the New Soul Rebab Center, where Erin Buhrman (Annabella Sciorra) was once a patient, and the Location where investigative podcaster works Poppy Scoville-Parnell (Octavia Spencer) later interviews Erin’s sober trainer.