The latest high-profile Rancho Mirage property to hit the open market was, at one time, the sun-drenched desert getaway of crooner and actor Bing Crosby. The six-bedroom getaway surfaced on the open market late last month. It is priced at $4.5 million.

Regular readers who appreciate the midcentury home style and the Palm Desert lifestyle may recall the time capsule of a house in Rancho Mirage that came to the open market on the cusp of the New Year and went to a new buyer with astonishing rapidity. Crosby’s former haunt dates to 1957, and is similar in spirit, although updates conducted have been considerable.

The home’s 6,700 sq. ft. are distributed across a single level, giving it a large footprint and a meandering layout. Original details include the stacked stone fireplace accent wall in the living room; add the prominent wet bar to the cocktail, and you have sufficient inspiration to cue up some Les Baxter on the Thorens.

Details and materials at work in and around the house: stucco, block glass, decadent wall covering, and the pocketing glass walls that open the interiors to the extravagant outdoor playground. Other amenities include a screening room and a two-and-two guest house.

The blue ribbon goes to the 1,400 sq. ft. master bedroom. It may or may not have been given the Hugh Hefner seal of approval…but we’ll assume it made the grade. It did for Jack Kennedy, who received his own dedicated wing in the home, and for Marilyn Monroe who, rumor has it, spent some time in the house too.

A number of Crosby’s onetime properties popped up on the market in the past few years; his Nevada ranch was listed in 2019 for $7.3 million and his Bay Area home surfaced with a $13.8 million ask in the spring of last year. Last summer, singer Meghan Trainor sold Crosby’s former carriage house in L.A. to actress Julie Bowen for $6 million.

Crosby was a megastar in both the film and music industries. His work includes more than 70 films and over 1,600 songs. His star power was of such magnitude that polls crowned him the “most admired man alive” in 1948. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his turn in 1944’s Going My Way.