Annenberg Community Beach House

This guide to the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica follows the oceanfront estate William Randolph Hearst built here in the 1920s for his mistress, actress Marion Davies, designed by Julia Morgan, the architect behind Hearst Castle. It traces the parties that made the estate legendary, guests from Winston Churchill to Charlie Chaplin, and the marble-lined pool at its center, through to the affair's end and the 1956 demolition of the mansion despite neighbors who fought to save it. Best heard at the pool's edge, where Davies herself once described its marble floor and Venetian bridge.