The family of oil baron Edward Doheny (1856-1935; see Doheny Drive) owned 429 acres here between 1913 and 1955. On this land, in 1928, Doheny built an enormous $3 million mansion called “Greystone” as a wedding present for his only son, Edward Jr., a.k.a. Ned (1893-1929). Just five months after Ned and his family moved in, Ned and his friend and assistant T. Hugh Plunkett were found dead in the house, both killed by gunfire. The official explanation was that Plunkett went mad, shot the younger Doheny, then turned the gun on himself – but the case was rather too quickly closed and so, given the elder Doheny’s immense power and corruption, many questions remain. Regardless, the Teapot Dome bribery scandal, in which Ned and Plunkett served as bagmen for Daddy Doheny, was doubtless a factor. Ned’s widow Lucy lived at Greystone with her second husband Leigh Battson until 1955. In the 1970s, it served as the American Film Institute’s campus. The grounds are now a public park. There Will Be Blood, the 2007 film partly inspired by the life of Doheny Sr., had several scenes shot here, including its famous “I drink your milkshake” finale in the mansion’s bowling alley.
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