Sinatra’s Desert Hideway Home for Sale for $4.8 Million

About a 30-minute drive from Palm Desert is Frank Sinatra’s desert hideaway, “Villa Maggio,” named after his role as Private Angelo Maggio in “From Here to Eternity.”

And if the Rat Pack and friends of the Rat Pack didn’t make the drive along the picturesque Pines to Palms Highway en route to Sinatra’s Mountain Center hideaway,  Sinatra flew them into Palm Springs and then helicoptered them to Villa Maggio.

Sinatra fans, this is your chance to tuck away a piece of history: Villa Maggio is for sale for $4.8 million. This info came by way of Windermere agent Steve Stewart’s blog, but additional anecdotes came in talking with Windermere listing agent Rebecca Pikus (Villa Maggio is co-listed with Kathleen O’Brien):

• Sinatra built the hideaway in the 1970’s for the seclusion and as a getaway for his friends
• Villa Maggio is on 7+ acres of elevated granite terrain (4,300 feet) and has a main house and two guest homes, plus a pool and helipad.
• Sinatra owned it for 12 years and then donated it to Loyola Marymount University. Evidently, the school didn’t make use of it and sold it in 1989 for $1.4 million.
• Two other couples owned it for a few years each prior to the present owner (also a celebrity).
• Sinatra loved to cook (pasta, naturally) and designed the kitchen himself, which has remained unchanged after all these years.

Photos of the famed getaway are fascinating. Check out the photo of the “original telephones with 50 lines” in this slide show of Villa Maggio. Here are a few that you’ll see:

Living room — main house

Sinatra’s kitchen, which has remained unchanged

BTW, if you have a hankering for desert living, Stewart’s blog “Palm Springs Open House” does a great job capturing the essence about Palm Springs and desert-area homes.