Joan Crawford’s legacy as a Tinseltown fixture has stretched long beyond her lifetime. Known for films like What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Women, and Humoresque, Crawford skyrocketed to stardom in the 1940s. But as the story goes for many of Hollywood’s most legendary actors, her troubled backstory and complex personal life often overshadowed her professional triumphs. Crawford’s rags-to-riches story played out over several iconic properties that became almost instantly identifiable with the actor, who died in 1977.
Although she may be gone, the actor’s own Hollywood story continues to intrigue modern audiences as her films did in her heyday. In Ryan Murphy’s 2017 series Feud: Bette and Joan, the star’s personal aesthetic was reimagined with sets that “play up the glamour of the Hollywood Regency style and reflect Crawford’s perfectionism—right down to the plastic slipcovers,” production designer Judy Becker previously told AD.
From her humble start in the heartland to peak Hollywood luxury, read on for a look at the iconic properties in the life of one of the silver screen’s most notorious stars.
Crawford’s Childhood Homes
Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur in 1906. Life in her hometown of San Antonio was about scraping by, and Crawford’s father left the family shortly after she was born. Crawford, her brother, and her mother landed in Lawton, Oklahoma, before relocating to Kansas City, Missouri. All accounts say that her transient childhood wasn’t a happy one; ultimately, the family ended up staying in a laundry where Crawford’s mother worked.
“It was a deprived upbringing, and it left Crawford with an abiding hatred of dirt and disorder,” The Guardian reported in 2008. Crawford later lived at a boarding school, serving as a “working student” to pay her way through, she wrote in her 1971 memoir, My Way of Life.
Early Hollywood Days
Determined to leave her unhappy childhood behind, Crawford took off to be a chorus girl on Broadway. While in New York City, she was discovered by a talent scout from Metro-Goldwin-Mayer and moved to Hollywood in 1925. Those early days in Los Angeles were defined by cramped quarters in long-term hotels, like the Hotel Washington in Culver City. “I was happy at the Hotel Washington,” Crawford is quoted as saying in the 2008 biography Not the Girl Next Door. “I didn’t really want to go to sleep at night, and I was anxious to wake up early every morning because every new day held promise. It wasn’t until months later that I noticed that Hotel Washington was, you might say, sort of a dump. It hadn’t changed, so I guess I had.”
Crawford lived there for six months until she could put down more permanent roots. Though the property is still standing, it has undergone massive renovations in recent years and was later renamed the Hotel West End. These days, it’s known as the Palihotel Culver City, a stylishly restored urban hotel.
