Famous movie stilt house in East LA hits market for $1.6M

Hillside home starred in “Heat,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Body Double” and more

Danny Trejo and 1219 Dodds Circle in Los Angeles
Danny Trejo and 1219 Dodds Circle in Los Angeles (Google Maps, Getty)

A midcentury house on stilts in East Los Angeles that starred in “Heat” is listed for a cool $1.6 million.

The movie home of Danny Trejo’s Gilbert, the longtime getaway driver for the thief played by Robert De Niro in the 1995 action hit, is up for sale at 1219 Dodds Circle, Dirt.com reported. 

The 2,000-square-foot home that soars above a hillside, perched on scrawny steel supports, has been a favorite of fans worldwide. It hasn’t hit the market for two decades.

The three-bedroom, three-bathroom home, built in 1962 by an unknown architect, is an icon of the L.A. hill set, having also starred in such productions as “Charlie’s Angels,” “Bosch,” “Body Double” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Lethal Weapon 2.”

The single-story home, built on a quarter acre, has been considered an architectural marvel, and once served as a case study for the engineering department at California State University — Los Angeles.

Inside, the property is a mix of midcentury details and tasteful updates. Built for entertaining, the home has an open floor plan with interconnected dining and living rooms under a peaked beamed ceiling.

Much of the interior remains recognizable from “Heat,” including the kitchen, which still boasts its original hand-fired orange tiling and retro cabinetry, now painted white over the original walnut brown. Upgrades include new KitchenAid appliances, a stained glass window, open shelving and a wine fridge.

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The home’s original double front doors, also darkly showcased in “Heat,” remain intact.

The bedrooms and baths are spacious and bright, with a walk-in shower, a standalone soaking tub and a double vanity.

The soaring home sits on a double-parcel lot with a 60-foot deck out back with a panoramic view of the Hollywood Sign, the Downtown L.A. skyline and out to Catalina Island. It has a minibar, a putting green, a 200-square-foot studio and a lower deck and yard.

Brokers Sally Forster Jones and Joshua Smith of the Sally Forster Jones Group at Compass hold the listing. 

“It’s one of only a handful of properties of this kind that have unobstructed views of the entire city all the way to the beach with Downtown L.A. as the centerpiece,” Smith said.

— Dana Bartholomew

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