Rodeo Jive: Taking a Tour Through Frank Sinatra's Beverly Hills

Frank Sinatra had many great love affairs in his storied life, but one that stood the test of time—for nearly half a century—was his love of Beverly Hills. It was a town where he held court with other celebrity pals such as Humphrey Bogart and Dean Martin. He owned several homes here over the decades from the late '40s until his death in May 1998, when he was living in his Foothill Road estate with wife Barbara.

This week Barbara released her first book, Lady Blue Eyes, about her marriage and life with Sinatra, whom she calls "the most romantic man she ever knew." Not hard to believe. Sinatra was a true poet and that came through in the brilliant and timeless recordings he made throughout the years. Even today, Sinatra albums still sell in large numbers around the world to young people as well as baby boomers and their parents.

Sinatra was a man of tremendous style and panache, and his affection for Beverly Hills fit right into his love of everything "top notch." He fancied on Canon Drive, a family-owned business now run by Steve and Madeline Zahir.

"Frank loved the maple creams," Madeline Zahir said. "Nancy and Tina Sinatra are still good customers. Not a Christmas goes by where Nancy doesn't buy her chocolate snowmen and Santas from me."

Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and Madonna are also regular customers.

"Madonna loves the chocolate-covered marshmallows," she said. "Leo buys his mom chocolate covered pretzels and Oreos." 

Sinatra would order his favorite gals candy from Edelweiss. Kim Novak, Marilyn Monroe and Natalie Wood all got their Edelweiss chocolates from him.

Now, any Sinatra fan knows that he was a huge devotee of the color orange. The Learjet that carried Sinatra and The Rat Pack had an orange swoosh on the side of it and orange carpet inside. Frank wore orange pajamas (he put them on at dawn, when he went to bed) and his other beloved home in Palm Springs was decorated in orange.

Many of Sinatra's favorite sweaters were bright orange, like the one he wore on the April 23, 1965, cover of Life magazine. When Sinatra wore a pocket handkerchief, it was orange ... not blue.

"Orange is the happiest color," Sinatra would say, and he even favored Dreamsicle ice cream bars with their orange and vanilla classic combo. (Eskimo Pies were his runner-up fave ice cream bars.)

Sinatra loved to eat at  in Beverly Hills. A photo of him with the original owners adorns the wall there now, one of the only celebrity photos on display despite the deli being frequented by regulars such as  and guests such as Paul McCartney, David Beckham and Gwyneth Paltrow. They come to sample delicacies such as the famed "Westwood" sandwich (turkey, coleslaw and Russian dressing on corn rye bread).  

For a fancier meal in Beverly Hills, Sinatra was a huge fan of on Little Santa Monica Boulevard, where maitre d' Ruben Castro speaks highly of his former friend and customer.

"Frank loved it here as he felt like he was at home," Castro said. "Frank was a special man. He knew what he liked. He would have chicken piccata and eggplant parmesan all the time. Not much switching around. Sometimes a steak. Sometimes pasta, but usually the same thing. And of course, he loved his Jack Daniels."

La Dolce Vita is still going strong with a new, hipper clientele. Regulars such as Steve Martin, Johnny Depp and Cher keep the "old school" legacy alive. Sinatra sisters Nancy and Tina are still regulars.

"We have Frank's photo over his private booth now. George Clooney sits there when he comes in. He likes to feel Frank's presence," said Castro, who has been greeting guests at La Dolce Vita for more than 35 years and has no plans of slowing down. 

Sinatra also loved his Polynesian food and was a frequent guest of The Luau restaurant on Rodeo and Wilshire, now a focal point of pop historians' study of "classic Beverly Hills." He also dined at the old Trader Vic's restaurant, now a lounge/bar, at the , where the atmosphere was upscale and packed with celebrities. Hugh Hefner and his entourage were regulars for several years before the restaurant closed.

Sinatra had his infamous "crash pad" apartment at the corner of North Doheny Drive and Cynthia Street. In this famous white building at 882 N. Doheny Drive, Marilyn Monroe was also a resident at the same time as Sinatra for a year in 1961, after her divorce from Arthur Miller. (Monroe had lived in the same location some 10 years prior from 1953 until January 1954 when she married Joe DiMaggio. In both instances she inhabited apartment No. 3.) Sinatra had a fatherly, protective relationship with Monroe during the  final years of her life.

Sinatra's apartment was a place for him to hang his fedora and relax in the way that only the famed crooner knew how. The apartment was written about in the fascinating Sinatra book Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra by George Jacobs, who was Sinatra's personal valet in the '50s and '60s. Sinatra was hanging at the apartment in the early '60s when the Kennedy brothers were in town (JFK had his own "crash pad" on nearby Rossmore Avenue in Hancock Park).

Sinatra loved the quality, style and classiness of the Beverly Hills lifestyle, traits that define and epitomize the neighborhood to this day. He enjoyed the Christmas decorations, especially the Santa Claus that still adorns the phone cables every holiday season on Wilshire and Beverly Drive. 

Some things, especially in Beverly Hills, never change. Frank Sinatra wouldn't have it any other way.

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