Introduction
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the beloved stars of the groundbreaking 1950s sitcom “I Love Lucy,” once called a sprawling ranch property home in the rural outskirts of Los Angeles. Located at 19700 Devonshire Street in Chatsworth, the 5-acre estate known as the Desilu Ranch served as the couple’s retreat from the frenzied world of Hollywood from 1941 until they sold it in 1956.
The Early Days of the Desilu Ranch
In 1941, at the dawn of their rising fame, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were a young couple very much in love. Ball, 28, had been steadily working as an actress, earning the nickname “Queen of the B’s” for the many B-movies she starred in. Arnaz, a 23-year-old Cuban bandleader, had captured her heart. They had eloped the previous year.
Seeking a country getaway, Ball and Arnaz paid $16,900 for a rustic ranch house on five acres on Devonshire Street, an unpaved road cutting through the orange groves and farmland between Chatsworth and Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. The area felt worlds away from the bustle and glitz of Hollywood. The couple christened it the Desilu Ranch, a portmanteau of their names.
The ranch house itself was a single-story California ranch style home with white wood siding, typical of the era. A long driveway off Devonshire Street led to the main house, which was set back several hundred feet from the road amid towering eucalyptus and pepper trees. Out back, a sparkling swimming pool was surrounded by a flagstone patio. Nearby stood a small guest house Desi used as a refuge when the couple quarreled, which was often in the fiery early days of their marriage.
Desi set about planting lemon, orange and grapefruit trees on the property, creating an orchard oasis. The couple adopted a menagerie of animals including dogs, cats and chickens. Lucille loved her pack of dogs and was frequently photographed and filmed walking them around the ranch grounds.
A Retreat and Gathering Place
The Desilu Ranch provided Lucille and Desi a much-needed escape from the pressures and prying eyes of Hollywood. On the ranch, they could let down their guard and just be themselves, away from the spotlight.
The couple’s tempestuous relationship was infamous, though, and the ranch bore witness to both tender moments and heated arguments between them. In one well-known story, after a particularly nasty fight, an enraged Lucille smashed all the windows of their station wagon with a hammer at the break of dawn.
But there were plenty of joyful gatherings and special celebrations at the Desilu Ranch too. For Lucille’s 30th birthday in 1941, Desi planned an elaborate surprise party. He sent his wife into town on an errand and while she was gone, decorated the grounds with floating gardenias in the pool. When Lucille returned in the late afternoon, she found Desi leading a 10-piece band and 40 friends singing “Happy Birthday” to welcome her.
The Desilu Ranch was also where the couple’s two children were born. Lucie Arnaz arrived in 1951, followed by Desi Arnaz Jr. in 1953. The ranch provided an idyllic environment for the young Arnaz family to bond and play together. Home movies show the children as toddlers, running and playing in the ranch’s open fields with dogs yapping at their heels.
Even after “I Love Lucy” catapulted the couple to superstardom in 1951, the ranch remained their cherished home base. It was an oasis of privacy and normalcy amidst the growing hoopla surrounding the famous couple. Fellow residents of then-rural Chatsworth recount frequently seeing Desi and Lucille out and about, shopping at the local market or post office like any other couple.
Saying Goodbye to the Ranch
As “I Love Lucy” climbed the ratings, becoming a bona fide TV phenomenon, the couple’s lives grew increasingly hectic and complicated. Desilu Studios, the production company they formed in 1950, was thriving but demanded more and more of their energy and focus.
The long drive from the Desilu Ranch into Hollywood for filming, rehearsals and meetings became wearisome as the San Fernando Valley had not yet been crisscrossed with freeways. With heavy hearts, Desi and Lucille made the decision to sell the ranch in 1956 and split their time between their new Beverly Hills mansion and top-floor suite at the Desilu Studios Culver City headquarters.
Actress Jane Withers, best known as a child star in the 1930s and 40s, purchased the ranch from the couple. Withers would remain there for the next two decades.
Demolition and Development
The Chatsworth area began to rapidly develop and suburbanize during the 1960s. Former ranchland, farms and orchards were bulldozed to make way for new housing tracts. In 1976, the Desilu Ranch main house was torn down and the land subdivided for construction. Only the original guest house and pool from the Ball-Arnaz era were preserved.
Today, the area once occupied by the 5-acre Desilu Ranch contains over a dozen single-family homes built in the late 1970s. The homes on Tuba Street and Jumilla Avenue sit on land where Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz once lived and loved, played with their children and dogs, and savored quiet moments away from their extraordinary careers.
Searching for the Desilu Ranch Site
In the decades since its demolition, the exact site of the Desilu Ranch house has become a topic of interest and debate for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz fans, historians and San Fernando Valley history buffs. Several properties in the immediate vicinity have been rumored to be the authentic Desilu Ranch location, but only one truly is.
Some believed the ranch was situated at 19730 Tuba Street, pointing to an original 1940s home that still stands surrounded by 1970s development. Others posited 10218 Oso Avenue or 19927 Merridy Street as alternative locations. However, these theories are easily disproven by studying historical aerial photographs of the area.
Careful research definitively places the main Desilu Ranch house at what is now 19704, 19710 and 19718 Tuba Street. Overlaying the known boundaries and landmarks of the Desilu property with modern street grids reveals this location. Here, a half-acre or so of land once cradled the famous couple’s beloved country home.
Sadly, nothing remains of the original house today. The rows of citrus trees Desi carefully cultivated are long gone. But echoes of the property’s legacy linger for those who know its history. And for the families residing in the homes built on its former grounds, it’s certainly a claim to fame to live on land once owned by Hollywood royalty.
Remembering an Iconic Couple’s Country Getaway
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s relatively short time at the Desilu Ranch coincided with the most momentous and dizzying decade and a half of their lives together. In those years, they went from a young, up-and-coming showbiz couple to household names and television pioneers. But through it all, the ranch was the grounding force – a tranquil place they could retreat to and just be Lucy and Desi.
While their marriage famously unraveled in the early ’60s, the ranch represented a time when things were simpler, when their love was still new and full of hope. It was where they started their family and where they could laugh and play and dream of the future, away from the burdens of their growing fame and Desilu empire.
Though the structure itself is gone, the Desilu Ranch’s legacy is wrapped up in the larger-than-life love story and pop cultural legend of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. It was the place they called home during the most magical time of their personal and professional lives together. And for that, it is forever part of their enduring Hollywood story.
Sources
https://sanfernandovalleyblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/bttf-22-searching-for-lucille-ball-and.html
