The Fascinating Story of Flamingo Estate: From Hollywood Scandal to A-List Honey

Nestled high on a Los Angeles hillside, a historic been lovingly restored, from the interiors that reflect the owner’s passion for a mid-century modern aesthetic to the lush surrounding gardens, carefully planned and devoted to a sustainable lifestyle.

It has also attracted the attention of one of the world’s biggest hotel brands—though not in the way you might expect.

The Story Behind Flamingo State

Before Flamingo Estate became synonymous with a collection of wellness and lifestyle products, it was the home of Australian-born Richard Christiansen, who fell in love with the 1940s Spanish colonial mansion the first moment he saw it, even though the house was in disrepair and its expansive gardens sadly neglected.

Richard Christiansen / Illustration: Courtesy of Señor Salme

The man who owned it at the time also confessed to Christiansen that it had been used as a studio for adult films for decades. But Christiansen, an advertising executive who owned Chandelier Creative—which oversees clients including Hermès, Equinox and Maserati—saw the home’s potential while believing the backstory only added to its lore. He purchased Flamingo Estate in 2013 and dove into its restoration, inside and out.

Fast-forward almost a dozen years, and today Flamingo Estate is not only one of the most spectacular homes in Southern California.

Photo: Courtesy of Sean Hazen

It’s also a popular site for private events, largely due to Christiansen’s meticulous attention to every inch of its seven acres. Indeed, the terraced gardens, fragrant with herbs and florals that include rosemary, lavender, sweet pea and gardenia, became the essence of a range of artisanal products—candles, soaps, jams, dried fruit and honey, to name just a few—which celebrate the estate’s bounty and idyllic ambiance in equal measure.

JW Marriott Comes In

It wasn’t long before JW Marriott took notice. As one of the 36 brands in the Marriott International portfolio—a colossus that also owns The Ritz-Carlton, W Hotels, St. Regis, Autograph Collection and others across 9,000 worldwide properties—JW Marriott was seeking to distinguish itself by offering guests sensory experiences that felt uniquely tailored to its locations.

The result: a range of custom products created in an exclusive collaboration with Flamingo Estate, available both online and at select JW Marriott properties.

The Expansion candle, part of a collaboration between Flamingo Estate and JW Marriott, contains earthy notes as well as holy basil leaf and rosemary / Photo: Courtesy of Sean Hazen

“JW Marriott and Flamingo Estate are reimagining luxury hospitality by cultivating a fusion of elegance and sensorial experiences that deeply resonate with travelers seeking to elevate their path of well-being,” explains Bruce Rohr, JW Marriott’s vice president and global brand leader. “JW Marriott and Flamingo Estate have strong commonality between their guiding principles, which makes this collaboration a natural, well-balanced and symbiotic fit.”

Mind, Body, Spirit

Putting an accent on, as Rohr puts it, “allowing our guests to be present in the mind, body and spirit,” the products, in a collection dubbed Expansion, include diffusers and room sprays crafted of notes that include holy basil leaf, rosemary and white lotus flower, as well as an eight-ounce soy wax candle that includes those notes as well as earthy elements evoking a garden after a spring rain. A set of curated playlists, developed as part of the collaboration, is played at JW Marriott properties and available on Flamingo Estate’s Spotify channel.

Flamingo Estate’s on-site bee colony / Photo: Courtesy of Sean Hazen

But it’s the exclusive honey that’s garnering the lion’s share of the buzz. Christiansen’s parents had been beekeepers in Australia, so early on he saw the potential of developing a honey imbued with the notes from his gardens. Later that evolved into a category known as “celebrity honey.”

Flamingo Estate hives are transported to homes of A-list stars, where the bees collect nectar for roughly 45 days to create a honey flavored with those surroundings. Julianne Moore, Will Ferrell and LeBron James are among the program’s participants.

Expansion candle and Flamingo Estate x JW Marriott honey, with notes of holy basil leaf and bergamot / Photo: Courtesy of Sean Hazen

Because many JW Marriott hotels offer a branded JW Garden, an outdoor area that serves a dual purpose—to grow herbs and produce used by the property’s chef while also providing a serene space—creating a signature honey also seemed like a natural decision. With notes of holy basil leaf, bergamot and California wildflowers, the honey can be purchased and is used as a culinary and cocktail ingredient at hotels.

Did Christiansen imagine any of this when he first spied the property that would become today’s Flamingo Estate? “I saw what the garden could look like almost immediately,” he says. “It’s honestly just been a labor of love.”