The Bay Area Home Where Francis Ford Coppola Wrote ‘The Godfather’ Wants You to Make an Offer
Jane and Joel Rosenberg already had an offer pending on a house in San Francisco in the early 2000s when they ran across a particularly enticing residence for sale in the charming Marin County city of Mill Valley, about 14 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The entrepreneurial couple—known for co-creating Mashuga Nuts, cinnamon- and sugar-spiced pecans packaged with Yiddish witticisms—went to see it and discovered "a home deeply connected to the land and full of possibility." They immediately withdrew their San Francisco offer and doled out $2.9 million for the circa 1907 property.
They weren't the first to be lured in by 8 Laurel Street. Oscar-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola put down stakes there from 1970 until the early 1980s and wrote much of the screenplay for The Godfather in a detached cottage affectionately dubbed the Nest. His close friend, director George Lucas, also edited the 1973 hit American Graffiti with his ex-wife, Marcia, in a carriage house above the garage. Jefferson Starship musician Pete Sears and his family even occupied the place at one time.
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Coppola penned part of the screenplay for "The Godfather" in the property's detached cottage.
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"I've met many people over the years who have told me about the many evenings they spent here enjoying conversation, wine, and food during those early creative times," Joel Rosenberg said in a statement. "We continued that tradition by hosting the Mill Valley Film Festival, inviting visiting directors and actors to stay on the property in the cottage and carriage house. It has been an inspirational place to live and we considered ourselves to be responsible to carry on the tradition."
After more than two decades, the storied compound is now ready for its next steward, having just hit the market with a nearly $6.8 million price tag. Carey Hagglund Condy of Compass holds the listing , which comprises a main home; Coppola's former detached writing cottage with a fireplace, kitchen, and full bath; and the one-bedroom, one-bath carriage house atop the three-bay garage with its own address, living and dining area, kitchen, and balcony.
The main home is centered on a great room with combined living and dining areas.
Set on almost a third of an acre at the corner of Laurel Street and Throckmorton Avenue, near the city's bustling downtown village, the roughly 3,200-square-foot primary dwelling showcases thoughtfully renovated interiors with rustic dark hardwood floors and old-growth redwood throughout. A spacious, light-filled great room with combined living and dining areas serves as a centerpiece, with an adjacent kitchen sporting sage-hued cabinetry, green veined-marble countertops, premium appliances, and a breakfast banquette.
An upstairs primary suite has a balcony, a separate office, a trio of walk-in closets, a custom dressing room, and a Calacatta Gold marble bathroom with radiant-heated porcelain tile floors. Two bedrooms with French doors opening to the outdoors share a bath, while the lower level comes with a laundry room, a wine fridge, and a flexible space that could be used as a media room, a studio, or a workspace.
A vintage-style kitchen has sage cabinetry and premium appliances surrounding a butcher-block island.
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Not to be left out are the picturesque landscaped grounds, which are laced with fruit and redwood trees and host a deck with a water fountain, a bluestone terrace ideal for alfresco entertaining, vegetable garden troughs, a flat grassy lawn, meandering pathways, and a striking birch tree that is believed to be among the largest in Marin County. A well and a pump are also tied into an irrigation system.
Today, Coppola primarily owns and operates the historic Inglenook winery, a 1,700-acre estate with 235 acres of vineyards in Napa Valley's Rutherford AVA. He also maintains the Domaine de Broglie winery in Oregon's Willamette Valley, though he sold his larger Sonoma-based Francis Ford Coppola Winery portfolio to Delicato Family Wines in 2021 to help fund his film Megalopolis .
Click here for more photos of the Mill Valley residence.
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