Of all the people who knew about the big house in the middle of Los Angeles , very few had ever been inside. For over a century , the owners had been importing their chefs from France , their butlers from England . Occasionally , someone from town would be summoned through the tall gates and down the lane to repair a pipe of deliver supplies ; but for the most part , the house was like a dragon in the hills , a sleeping legend that barely touched anything beyond its line of trees . But that never stopped the stories The ceilings are forty feet high , some people would say . The bathroom faucets are made of solid gold . Every so often , one teenager would dare another to climb the fence an wander the grounds to get a look at the house. But behind those doors was not what you expected