Jared Leto has made a fine career out of playing an LA cool guy rock brah in all aspects of his life, and it seems he makes real estate moves based on the same principle. He recently bought a $5 million compound in Laurel Canyon where the government used to process films of nuclear tests. It’s like the real estate equivalent of that outfit!
The complex, once known as Lookout Mountain, has an incredible history. Between 1947 and 1969, some of Hollywood’s most talented scriptwriters, producers, editors, and directors made furtive journeys to this place to work on a top-secret project: filming nuclear explosions.
The United States Air Force established Lookout Mountain in 1947 in order to produce movies and photographs of nuclear tests. It was a full-service facility: military and civilian filmmakers would head to test sites in the Nevada desert or Pacific islands, capture footage of exploding bombs, and bring it back to Laurel Canyon for editing and post production.
The facility was equipped with a soundstage, screening rooms, film storage vaults, and, naturally, a bomb shelter.
The compound has since been converted into an eight-bedroom, 12-bathroom residence. In January, Variety reported that Jared Leto has purchased the former top-secret studios for $5 million. [Slate]
…located on a narrow canyon street behind imposing gates and towering hedges on just about 1.7 acres, has more than 50,000 square feet of multilevel interior space. Listing details show a total of 8 bedrooms and 12 — ahem — creatively tiled bathrooms, and… several kitchens and at least half a dozen living and dining spaces, both intimate and baronial in size. [Variety]
Slate linked some of the bomb test films, and they’re pretty great. Aside from the cool footage of nuclear ‘splosions, they also have an oddly cheerful, ask us about our Doomsday machines! tone to them. You know, the good ol’ days.
Reached for comment, the nuclear bomb designers explained, “we wanted to destroy something beautiful.”