Sonny Bono’s Palm Springs Home Hits the Market for Nearly $7.5 Million

Sonny Bono’s former estate, a piece of local history in Palm Springs, California, has come up for sale.

The desert residence, on the market for $7.49 million, was home to the singer, songwriter, congressman and Palm Springs mayor from 1986 until his death in 1998, records show.

“Opportunities like this simply do not come around often,” said listing agent Louise Hampton with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California, who brought the home to the market last month.

“A hillside estate of this size, with this level of privacy and this historical connection stands among the most compelling offerings in today’s desert market.”

Bono was perhaps most famously the other half of singing duo Sonny & Cher, but also served as the mayor of Palm Springs from 1988 to 1992, and as the U.S. representative for California’s 44th district from 1995 until he died in a skiing accident in 1998 at the age of 62.

Located in the city’s Mesa neighbourhood on a hillside parcel, the colourful seven-bedroom property combines Mid-Century Modern design with Italian influences across its almost 9,000 square feet and multiple structures.

The house last changed hands in 2021 for $4.35 million. The sellers couldn’t be reached for comment.

There’s a great room, a formal dining area with a rock fireplace, a chef’s kitchen with two wine fridges.

The seven bedrooms include a primary suite with a walk-in closet and a “spa-style” bathroom with a soaking tub and steam shower, according to the listing. Several of the home’s guest suites include private patios or separate entrances.

Outside, there are lawns, olive trees, date palms and cacti alongside terraces, a new travertine pool deck, a pool, a tennis court and an oversize motor court with space for more than a dozen vehicles.

In Sydney’s Northern Beaches, there are plenty of homes with a multimillion-dollar view and an enviable position close to the sand.

This unique listing has all that, but it has also earned its page in the local history books.

After 50 years in the same hands, The Palladium in Palm Beach—once a famed dance hall, then a restaurant, a private residence, and an artists’ studio—is now back on the market with a price hopes of $13.5 million through BJ Edwards and David Edwards of LJ Hooker Palm Beach.

Positioned in a rare corner spot where Ocean Rd meets Palm Beach Rd, The Palladium has been front and centre observing the famous sandy stretch for almost a century.

Built in the early 1930s, the Art Deco building was originally conceived as a vibrant community dance hall; the “it” place to be for young folk during Sydney’s thriving interwar period.

Often the dances were held to raise money for the Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club, and newspaper reports of the time told of rowdy parties lasting until the early hours, bootleg liquor arrests, and where shorts and sandals—or even pyjamas—were scandalously worn by “both sexes”.

Over the decades, The Palladium has worn many hats.

By 1943, the original owner, Joseph Henry Graham, had defaulted on his loan, and a mortgagee sale reportedly sold the building for £1550, which translates to about $137,000 today. It later became a dining space and a general store run by the Milton family. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the property was also home to the Blue Pacific Restaurant.

The current owners acquired the keys in 1976 when it began its next chapter as a creative hub. One of today’s vendors, filmmaker David Elfick, who has been a filmmaker and producer on such films as Newsfront and Rabbit-Proof Fence, has told stories of a free-spirited creative hub that has been used for film sets, to store numerous movie props, as editing rooms, to hold countless parties and has even hosted visiting members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

From its famed beachside soirees to its grassroots film club nights, the venue has become woven into the cultural fabric of Palm Beach.

Today, that rich history has been reimagined into a coastal home that honours its past while embracing contemporary beachside living.

Built in a unique architectural style known as streamline moderne, the aeroplane hangar-like building reflects the era’s fascination with air travel, mass transport, and modernity. The facade is defined by a sweeping curved roofline and subtle nautical cues.

The main residence features a vast central living space framed by a number of bedrooms and sunrooms, as well as a front dining room and kitchen. In total, there are four to five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a powder room adjoining an upstairs loft space.

Big, broad windows draw in loads of natural light and provide iconic views, plus the sounds of the beach just across the road.

Many of the original elements remain, most fittingly the polished floors of the former dance hall. In the additional building at the back of the block, there is a separate, self-contained studio with its own bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and laundry. From its elevated deck, the outlook stretches across the full sweep of Palm Beach.

Outside, the expansive 1151sq m land parcel also features established gardens with veggie patches and standalone decks for quiet contemplation.

Sitting just across the road from the beach, the property is also within walking distance of local cafes and the surf club. Palm Beach Rock Pool is at one end of the beach, with the Palm Beach Golf Club and the water airport at the other end of the peninsula.

The Palladium and Palm Beach Studio at 16 Ocean Rd, Palm Beach are listed with BJ Edwards and David Edwards of LJ Hooker Palm Beach via a private treaty campaign with a price guide of $13.5 million.

Sonny Bono’s Palm Springs Home Hits the Market for Nearly $7.5 Million

The desert residence belonged to the singer, who also served as mayor of the California city, for more than a decade.

After half a century in the same hands, The Palladium blends Art Deco heritage, cinematic history and beachfront living in one extraordinary offering.