My Trip to Cielo Drive 1994

The original property was at ease in the landscape but the new house looks like it has invaded the hillside.

Incredible how old the 90’s look now. Seems like only yesterday to me. Sometimes I miss those days.

Its crazy isn't it. You would image living all that way up in the hills you would have been in the safest place in the world. Such a tragic and horrific event.

That house was beautiful the setting so serene and lovely with breathtaking views, a place anyone would be proud to call home, the kind of place you would hate to leave and smile and get excited all the way going back home, all those twists and turns going up so high tucked away above the city it seemed, this is a constant reminder that no matter how far you go or how high to get away and have your own private piece of heaven right here on earth the evil in people is determined to try to kill steal and destroy you your peace your dreams and your life and is never satisfied until it does, i think all those houses he passed all that way he traveled to reach the top to that house to bring destruction and grief and forever taint what was once so beautiful serene and lovely which is what evil does, some people are really sickning and go out of their way to make your life more difficult than life already is, very sad memory

The original house was so much more Beautiful, thank you for sharing.

The old (Tate) house had charm, especially in that beautiful landscaped setting. Now the property looks as though a bomb exploded, and the new house doesn't contribute to the community at all.

I drove up there myself back in 2006. A very peaceful drive. Thank you for sharing your experience. It is nice to remember the victims in a peaceful manner.

I did this drive with my cousin in 1984. The wall and gate had been changed, so you couldn't see the house from the street, but the original house was still there at that time. More recent footage I have seen shows that there has been a lot of building on the street since this was filmed. I'm amazed it was so relatively undeveloped in the mid-90s - how I remember it from 1984.

This is a wonderful time capsule of Beverly Hills in the 90s!

This video was done with respect and done beautifully. The zoom in shot of the house was touching.

I'm only 3 years old when you made this video and now in November 2018 I'm watching.

This video was truly historic. Besides the house itself, you can see what people drove back in the day and how beautiful cruising through Cali was too.

Here's the story: I lived in the San Fernando Valley and had just gotten my driver's liscence around the time of the Tate murders. Underage, I had a few years earlier managed to get in to see Valley Of The Dolls at the movie theater so I was familiar with Sharon Tate, and was a fan of Patty Duke and Barbara Parkins from their TV series. News of the murders was the talk of the town, to say the least! I was a student at Canoga Park High School located in a kind of ballpark area to the Span Movie Ranch in Chattsworth. My friends from Drama class and I got into this thing of driving up to the abandoned property after school as a spooky lark. I was more adventureous and before long began hosting trips up narrow Cielo Dr. off of Benedict Canyon Dr. to the famous Tate gate. Night & day! Unorthodox way to entertain ones friends but it had a certain fascination.  Moving ahead, several years later, I guess for nostalga's sake (?) I was in the area and decided to make my old round. The Tate property was completely unchanged, but this time the chain link gate with the upraised old bell to the side was wide open! It was in lateish afternoon and I decided I would, for the first time, walk into the property. I didn't plan to go very far... Background is that when you stand at the front gate you can see a bit of the Tate ambiance as a little well is clearly in view. The driveway has a curve to it and you can see the rustic wood mixed with the white trim of the house and almost the front of the house, but it stops just short. As a person I am actually reserved and polite, very well behaved. Only I know the crazy inside, and all I can say is I was just - obsessed and that gave me the courage. So I'm walking up the driveway a little bit and quickly the well photograped front of the house with its famous white front "Piggy" door comes into view! To either side of the door are the big open french windows. Unfortunately for me(!), just as I came into view the owner of the house was looking out the window back at me! Scared? Big time. I knew I need to be relaxed and not make any sudden moves! A mature man came out who identified himself as the owner (Rudi Atabelli) of the house and wanted to know what I was doing there? Guilt rushed over me and I didn't want to identify myself as a Sharon Tate house lookie-loo, so I suddenly announced that I was a college student from UCLA and I was supposed to be meeting a group of other students for a meeting at a house at the end of Cielo Drive. "This isn't the house?", I might have asked. There was, I believe, another steep road on the opposite side of Cielo that I thought he might think is where I belonged. Upshot: He likely asked me a few try to pin me down questions but ultimately just let me go. With a warning? Can't remember his actual tone.  Why?, you may ask. Well, I wouldn't do any of this today... Ah, youth, is all I can really muster...

Speaking for myself, I could never build there ever again..I feel their spirits linger on on that land..Such a horrific tragedy took place in that area of the old home...As I said that's just me feeling that way..But people with a lot of wealth can't be bothered by that..They put it our of their mind and move on to other bigger and better things..As for me, never would I build there again.

Thank you for taking us that can't go on this lovely trip.😂

The city should have never allowed the developer to put up that ugly faux-Mediterranean wart on that beautiful hill. They not only ripped down a historically important house, they actually destroyed the natural grade to fit that over-sized monstrosity onto the lot. Went from idyllic to eyesore. Just awful in every sense of the word.

Another beautiful and heart warming video! Thank you George! Sharon needs to be remembered with the love and respect she deserves! You bring that to your viewers! ❤️😔

The new house blights the landscape of the canyon.

Hi Ralph, thank you for the great comment. The house was amazing to see as you drove up Benedict Canyon, it was like a house from another time...not Hollywood. George

I agree. So sad that the house was torn down along with the beautiful landscaping that surrounded the house. You're right about how angelic the house, land and view was.