Skip to main content
We may receive compensation from affiliate partners for some links on this site. Read our full Disclosure here.

Abandoned $10M Hollywood Hills Mansion Transformed by Squatters


A once-glamorous $10 million Hollywood Hills mansion has now become a playground.

And not for the rich and famous, but for graffiti artists and squatters.

Once a symbol of Hollywood grandeur, the mansion now stands as a colorful middle finger to the city, according to filmmaker Nick Sozonov.

What was once an addition to the landscape, is now a rainbow of spray-painted chaos.

Local KTLA News reports:

Taggers and squatters continue to target a multi-million-dollar mansion in the Hollywood Hills that neighbors say has been vacant for more than two years.

In the past week, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed officers responded to the property four times for calls involving burglary and trespassing. Nearby residents are sharing concerns for their safety, saying the tagging is getting worse.

One tagger spoke with KTLA on Friday, saying the property is beautiful and has the potential for “a lot of graffiti art.”

The man said the property has different entry points, and that they don’t need to hop a fence but can walk right up to the home instead.

KTLA’s Sandra Mitchell spoke with neighbors who said sometimes vandals intrude on the mansion and squat inside for days.

A public records search shows the home belongs to John Middleton, whose father owns the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team.

The search also shows Middleton hasn’t paid taxes in years, and there is a lien on the property. Middleton reportedly owns another Hollywood Hills home that is also heavily targeted by squatters.

Daily Mail adds:

An abandoned $10million Hollywood Hills mansion, where disgraced rapper Diddy filmed a music video, has been trashed by graffiti artists and taken over by squatters.

Filmmaker Nick Sozonov caught some of Los Angeles‘ greatest graffiti artists vandalizing a multimillion home in Hollywood Hills that was abandoned by billionaire and Philadelphia Phillies owner John S. Middleton’s son, John Powers Middleton.

The gorgeous white and glass home – that used to belong to singer Mary J. Blige – is now covered in rainbow art from words, to a crying dead heart, to faces.

‘With the graffiti towers and this graffiti mansion right now, it feels like a big middle finger to the city,’ Sozonov, who was not involved in the tagging, told ABC 7.

On the corner of the roof reads: ‘Diddy was here,’ as it is the mansion where the rapper – who was arrested in Manhattan this week as part of a sex-trafficking probe – filmed his ‘Last Night’ video, which came out in 2016.

‘We all recognized the song, and once we knew that was the house, everyone was excited about it, like a celebrity mansion,’ Sozonov told ABC 7.

The house has seen an influx of taggers after the connection to Diddy was made.

The Los Angeles Police Department has been called to the six-bedroom home at least six times this month for reports of vandalism and trespassing and has removed at least 10 people on Wednesday, according to the local outlet.

One person was arrested on a warrant, ABC 7 said.

One vandal even boasted about his work to KTLA, calling his artwork ‘beautiful’ and said the home had a ‘lot of potential for graffiti art.’

Is this a sign of things to come for others in the neighborhood?

ADVERTISEMENT

Los Angeles seems to be getting worse and worse and the days go by.

The uglification continues.



 

Join the conversation!

Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!

Leave a comment
Thanks for sharing!