CELEBRITY HOMES: Rita Moreno and a Westside Home Story in the Riviera

Actress Rita Moreno is best known for her role as Anita in the 1961 film West Side Story. 

The Puerto Rican-born beauty is also known in the Palisades for having nearly a two-decade run, high up on Amalfi Drive in the Riviera.

That is where Moreno and her husband, cardiologist Dr. Leonard Gordon, lived in a Mediterranean-style house that she once referred to as “the home of my heart.”

Born in 1931, she would move to New York by the late 1930s where by the time she was in her early teens she’d have appeared on a Broadway stage.

By the 1950s, she was appearing in such classic musical films as Singin’ in the Rain and The King and I, in 1952 and 1956 respectively.

During this same decade, she was also doing television parts. With West Side Story, however, came fame and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

The film also brought the actress, who is also a singer and dancer, some professional pride.

“For the first time in my life I can not only afford to say no – but even when I can’t afford to I can still say it,” she said in 1961.

“This is due to West Side Story. It’s probably the first film I’ve ever done – and I’ve done something like 17 in 14 years out here – where I can agree with someone who says it’s great,” she added.

The actress grew tired of the stereotypical Latina roles that Hollywood was offering her. “Ironically, winning the Oscar brought me no juicy new roles in Hollywood,” Moreno wrote in “Rita Moreno: A Memoir,” a book she penned in 2013.

So, after winning her Oscar, she detoured back into television work where, in addition to highly acclaimed stage and film work, she has remained busy.

Moreno and her husband moved into 1620 Amalfi around 1980.

The nearly 5,000 square feet of interior space offered plenty of room for the multi-talented Moreno to display her many entertainment awards.

In addition to her Oscar, her awards include two Emmys, a Tony, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. But don’t expect such awards to be easy to find in her house.

“I get embarrassed when I go to an actor or actress’s home and it’s filled with pictures of them,” she told the L.A. Times in 1991.

Built in 1947, the Amalfi house has been remodeled over the years. The couple’s master suite took up the entire second-level floor.

The home offered ocean and coastline views, perfect for sunrise and sunset viewing.

For Moreno, it was love at first site with the Amafi house.

The community of Pacific Palisades liked this famous resident enough that by 1988 they named her Honorary Mayor.

Moreno served as Honorary Mayor in 1988 and 1989, following Chevy Chase and preceding John Raitt with the honor.

By 1997, Moreno and husband listed the home for sale. It was time to depart and add a new home chapter to their lives.

The actress continues to deal with new chapters in her long life. Husband Gordon passed in 2010.

In January, the Screen Actors Guild presented Rita Moreno with the 50th SAG Life Achievement Award.

Michael Oldham, co-author of “Movie Star Homes: The Famous to the Forgotten” and author of the novel “The Valentino Formula, “can be reached at HollywoodLandings@sbcglobal.net.