STEALING SUNSET

After. waking up to an intruder in the bedroom one night, writer PUNCH HUTTON no longer felt safe in her family’s dream home. When they decided to sell; the most prolific thief in Hollywood history saw a golden opportunity

- PUNCH HUTTON

“TAKE SUNSET, PASS the Chateau Marmont. Make a left at the Liquor Locker and follow the road until you hit Hollywood Boulevard,” I told the driver of the Liffey Van Lines moving company when he phoned to say he would be arriving in 20 minutes. “How narrow is the street?” he asked. “Not too bad,” I told him. “But sir, there are 29 steps leading to the front door,” I cautioned, grimacing at my husband, John, who was pacing the empty living room. I put on Tom Petty and arranged the Gatorade we had purchased for the movers into color-coded groupings. When John spotted the 18-wheeler chugging up our winding road and yelled, “They’re here,” my stomach fluttered with excitement.

It was December 31, 2016, and the idea of waking up on the first day of a new year in a new house surrounded by the amassed belongings of my family of four was thrilling. A clan of sturdy Irishmen began unloading furniture that had crossed the country from our Greenwich Village apartment to the Hollywood Hills.

The foreman was our first “visitor,” and when I gave him the house tour, I introduced each room—“This is Beau’s bedroom,” “John’s secret office,” “Ellery gets the view”—in the same way the blondes on The