The owners of Marilyn Monroe's former Brentwood home will ask a judge next month to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the city from continuing with its efforts to make the residence a historic cultural monument, which would prevent its demolition.
Attorneys for real estate heiress Brinah Milstein and her husband, producer Roy Bank, filed court papers Thursday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant in which they say the city is violating the law by trying to give the home historical recognition. The pair have owned the structure since last July and have obtained a demolition permit from the city.
The petition seeks a court order blocking the monument designation and allowing the plaintiffs to move forward with their planned demolition so they can demolish the Monroe structure to expand their current home, which is adjacent to the property.
"Absent such a preliminary injunction, owners will suffer irreparable harm," the couple's lawyers argue in their Court papers.
The City Council has until June 16 to approve making the home a historic cultural monument status.
"This timeline of expected city action, and the continued violation of owners' vested rights, has created the urgency of owners' verified petition and complaint, the needed redress and remedies," according to the couple's attorneys' pleadings.
A hearing on the motion is scheduled June 4. In a sworn declaration that includes multiple photos, Bank says the recent publicity about the case has drawn gawkers and traffic to the area's narrow streets.
"As owners of the property, my wife and I cannot even begin to estimate the damage to us and our rights if the city's intended designation of the property goes through," Bank says in a sworn declaration in support of the preliminary injunction. "We will be mired in the heavy burden of owning, perpetually, a tourist magnet creating a circus atmosphere harmful to us and our neighbors."
The couple filed the petition May 6, alleging "illegal and unconstitutional conduct" by the city "with respect to the house where Marilyn Monroe occasionally lived for a mere six months before she tragically committed suicide 61 years ago."
Bank and Milstein allege the city violated its own codes and procedures in pushing for the monument designation for the Helena Drive property.
"All of these backroom machinations were in the name of preserving a house which in no way meets any of the criteria for an historic cultural monument," the petition states. "That much is bolstered by the fact, among others, that for 60 years through 14 owners and numerous remodels and building permits issued by the city, the city has taken no action regarding the now- alleged `historic' or `cultural' status of the house."
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After receiving numerous complaints about the planned demolition, City Councilwoman Traci Park announced in September an effort to save the house by initiating a historic-cultural monument application. The application has been working its way through the city process, receiving approval in January from the Cultural Heritage Commission and later from the council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee.
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