THE MERV GRIFFIN ESTATE 

Merv once said: “For me, the good life is that time when, after you’ve accomplished everything you want to in life, you decide its possible to build the house of your dreams”!

He got the idea for his La Quinta retreat when he took a trip to Morocco in the mid-‘80s with his close friend, the late Eva Gabor. “We went to Marrakech, saw an estate belonging to Yves Saint Laurent and conned the gardener into letting us in,” he said. “I came away saying” – this in a clobbered French accent- “Sorry, Mr. Laurent, but I am going home and copying your palace”.

Construction started in 1986 and in 1988, two weeks before he was to move in, a contractor fired up the electricity in the main house-“all at once”, Griffin noted with disdain-and it burned to the ground. “I was in New Jersey at the time and saw it on TV. CNN got there before the fire department did.” It took a year to rebuild.

With all of its amenities, including a 5/8-mile racetrack, the true luxury of this desert compound “is the land”, Griffin said. When he first purchased the 240-acre property, there was nothing there except the jagged peaks of the Santa Rosa Mountains. Now it’s surrounded by golf courses and housing developments.

Merv divided his time traveling between his mansion in Beverly Hills, a mountain lodge in Carmel, a home in Ireland and spent several months each summer on his 142-foot yacht, the Griff. His mode of transportation between Los Angeles and the desert was a converted black military helicopter.

At one time, the horse barns held some fifty thoroughbreds.

A tour of the house starts with the palatial living room whose domed skylight illuminates the 1500 square foot living room. The walls are adorned with Leroy Neiman-ish “neo-Impressionist” paintings---flowers, fruits---in acidic yellows and flaring turquoises that Merv loved so much he had all the furniture reupholstered in matching shades. There are framed photos depicting Merv with politicians, movie stars as well as family photos. Various awards (he received 17 day time Emmy’s and one for Lifetime Achievement in 2005) are tastefully displayed around the main living areas of the home.

Merv Griffin, who worked in front of television cameras as a jovial talk-show host and behind the scenes as creator of the two longest-running TV game shows, “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune”, passed away at age 82 on August 12, 2007.

The family of Merv Griffin is proud to maintain this beautiful estate as a legacy to Mr. Griffin and to continue bringing pleasure to those who visit it, as it has for over 20 years.