Frank Sinatra’s desert hideaway was ‘all sex, all the time,’ former valet claims
Frank Sinatra's Yucca Valley getaway "was all sex, all the time."
During a recent interview with SFGATE, the president of the Morongo Basin Historical Museum, Justin Merino, shared that the "Fly Me to the Moon" singer and the rest of the Rat Pack spent a lot of time partying in Yucca Valley, because it "wasn’t really populated" in comparison to Palm Springs.
"They would come out, they would have parties," Merino said. "There was specifically in the [historical society’s archives] that they came out here because there was no bother, because of small Yucca Valley."
According to the outlet, Sinatra was introduced to the area by his friend, singer-songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen, who was quoted by the Desert Sun as saying, "I dig chicks, booze, music and Sinatra — in that order."
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Van Heusen purchased a home overlooking Yucca Valley in 1963, which quickly became the party house, with John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe reportedly spending time there together.
The home was known by a few names, including Scenic Mountain, JVH Ranch and Rattlesnake Ranch.
"Rattlesnake Ranch … was all sex, all the time," George Jacobs, Sinatra's former valet, wrote in his memoir, according to the Desert Sun. "He would have entire plane crews of stewardesses when stewardesses were the big sex symbols, crashing there at once."
In addition to Van Heusen's home in the town, Sinatra also frequently stayed at Artanis Villa, according to Eric Conroy, the property manager for Cohost Co rental properties, one of which is the Villa.
Its name is a nod to Sinatra as it is his last name spelled backwards, and is said to be where the singer spent his honeymoon with Mia Farrow in 1966. Nowadays, the house features a mural of Sinatra.
"This house wasn’t owned by Sinatra, but he used to stay here with a bunch of other famous people," Conroy added. "The owners told me that every time they’d finish a bottle, they’d stick a candle in it and burn it... And so, very up high — we don’t want guests really to get to them — there’s quite a few bottles sitting up on a ledge about 15 feet up high that were supposedly drank by all those guys."
The crooner and Monroe were said to have a very close relationship, with Tony Oppedisano writing in his book, titled "Sinatra and Me: In the Wee Small Hours," that "he had a special place in his heart for" her and that "he cared about her too much."
As a close friend of Sinatra's, Oppedisano had an inside look at the singer's admiration for the movie star.
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"He felt she was a fragile girl who had been exploited by a lot of people," he wrote. "That’s part of the reason why he said, ‘Even though as pretty as she was, as attracted as I was to her, I just couldn’t bring myself to go there physically.’ That’s something she even tried to pursue with him. But he said, ‘I just couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I didn’t want to be another older guy who appeared to take advantage of her and then leave her flat. I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to do that.’"
Sinatra has deep ties to the area, as he also owned many homes in Palm Springs, including one in Rancho Mirage and another in Twin Palms.
In addition to those homes, he also owned multiple homes in Los Angeles, including one in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Chatsworth, which hit the market in September 2024 for $7.9 million.
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"The Farralone is not just a home, it's a silver-screen star," listing agents Craig Knizek and Blair Chang said at the time. "Don't miss the chance to own a glittering piece of Hollywood with a storied past and a bright future."
The home was previously used for dozens of TV and movie productions like "Mad Men" and "Dreamgirls."