Yamashiro

While the Hollywood Sign may be by far the most famous monument overlooking Tinseltown, there's another monument in the Hollywood Hills that merits a visit. Yamashiro is a Japanese villa located just above Hollywood Boulevard - originally built in the 1910s, its fascinating history and stunning hillside perch are worthy of its name, which in Japanese means "mountain palace".

It was commissioned by brothers Adolph and Eugene Bernheimer as a home for their families and as an appropriate setting for their extensive Japanese art collection which they had obtained over the course of numerous business trips to Asia. The house was designed by American architect Franklin M. Small who was well-versed in Asian architecture and the Bernheimers also brought over Japanese artisans for construction. The mansion was surrounded by two gatehouses and extensive gardens, the latter of which contained pagodas moved directly from Japan.

The villa has lived numerous other lives since its construction. After the brothers sold the property in 1924, it became the home of the exclusive 400 Club, consisting of A-list celebrities and top individuals in the film industry. In the 1930s it was opened as a tourist attraction, only to shut down when the U.S. went to war against Japan during World War II. Conspiracy theories spread that Yamashiro was a signal tower for spies, and it consequentially faced vandalism. Its owners had to disguise it as a military school and apartments to prevent further damage.

Finally, businessman Thomas O. Glover purchased the property in 1948 and, when he saw the beautiful original carved wood and silk wallpaper lying underneath the disguise, he decided to restore it as a Japanese restaurant. Although some of the gatehouses and gardens have been lost, the main villa has fortunately survived a close encounter with a brushfire, and Yamashiro Restaurant survives to this day. Inside it lies most of the original Japanese interiors and the verdant central courtyard. It has appeared in countless movies, including Sayonara and Kill Bill.

Although Yamashiro is protected on the National Register of Historic Places, its future is uncertain as it is currently for sale with an asking price of $100 million. It remains to be seen what the next chapter of this piece of Hollywood history will be.