Los Angeles graffiti artists and squatters seem to be drawn to the abandoned mansions of Hollywood producer John Powers Middleton.
The defaced domiciles are located about five miles apart in the Hollywood Hills, and residents of the posh Los Angeles neighborhood say the buildings have become eyesores.
It’s so bad that Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman, who represents the area, has warned Middleton that he’s in “egregious violation of the law,” and both the police department and building inspectors have visited the properties.
“This is a public safety issue with serious consequences for both neighbors and the surrounding community,” Raman’s office said in a statement to NBC Los Angeles. “Irresponsible property owners must take accountability for their property or face action from the city.”
If nothing else, the handiwork shows that large, abandoned buildings are canvases to Los Angeles’ graffiti artists, who earlier this year covered empty high-rises downtown with their designs.
Middleton, whose father owns the Philadelphia Phillies, could not be reached for comment, but a spokesperson for the baseball team said it had nothing to do with the abandoned structures.
“The California properties are owned by John Powers Middleton,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the station. “No other members of the Middleton family have ownership, investment, control or involvement in these properties.”
City inspectors could be seen Tuesday surveying Middleton’s multi-story mansion on North Sunset Plaza Drive, which was built in 2008 and boasts terraces overlooking the fabled Sunset Strip, an indoor pool, six bedrooms, a screening room and a wine room.
They were joined by police officers and a worker who could be seen painting over some of the graffiti festooning the outside walls.
“We had squatters, and more squatters, and then graffiti, and more graffiti,” neighborhood resident Marina Mirzuh told NBC Los Angeles.
Mizruh, who has a clear view of the defaced mansion from her home, said she and other neighbors have complained for years about the abandoned property. Records obtained by NBCLA show the property has been hit with eight notices by city inspectors since August 2022.
“I think the city should eventually repossess the house and take it down,” she said.
Middleton’s other abandoned mansion on Mulholland Drive has been empty for about a decade before squatters started moving in last year, neighbors told NBCLA. Soon, it was covered with graffiti.
NBCLA reported that Middleton bought the four-story, six-bedroom mansion with a pool in 2012. A decade later, the city’s Department of Building and Safety declared it a nuisance and ordered Middleton to build a fence to secure the property.
When he didn’t, the city erected chain-link fencing around the structure, NBCLA reported.
Middleton, 40, has had a hand since 2013 in the development of two television series and two-dozen movies, including critically acclaimed films like “Manchester by the Sea” and “The Disaster Artist” and moneymakers like “The Lego Movie,” according to the IMDB database.
Middleton has been a major Republican fundraiser, and in 2016 personally donated $227,000 to a super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump, records show. The John Powers Middleton Companies contributed an additional $150,000 to Trump that year.
