Frank Sinatra

A triplex in West Hollywood that has counted both singer Frank Sinatra and film star Marilyn Monroe among its former tenants has come on the market at $4.75 million. Sinatra's and Monroe's rentals overlapped in 1961. He used his apartment as a getaway and she lived in hers, according to "Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra," written by George Jacobs, his valet at the time. The owner is Beverly Coburn, actor James Coburn's first wife. She bought the building in 1989 for $1.643 million from interior designer Kalef Alaton, who had remodeled it. The three units in the gated compound share a courtyard and patio space.

On a nearly deserted downtown block, a small brick building fronted by a curvy neon sign heralds a bygone era here: That's when the big bombs went boom and awe-struck Las Vegas residents watched the mushroom clouds billow into the bright desert sky. At the start of the Cold War, in the 1950s and early 60s, people timed their days to watch the U.S. government's nuclear explosions at the nearby Nevada Test Site. Think of it as a small-town fair with 10,000-pound bombs serving as fireworks.

Frank Sinatra has always done it his way. But which way did the producers of the upcoming "Sinatra" TV miniseries do it? Did they tell the real story of the performer's long, legendary career, or did they create a sanitized version, minus the Mafia associations, the marital infidelities and the ties to various politicos? With the imprimatur given the project by Sinatra--he cooperated in its production and has sanctioned it as an "official" biography, in lieu of a book--and with the presence of his youngest daughter, Tina, as executive producer, skeptics could be excused for expecting a fawning tale, a whitewashed rendering of the controversial entertainer's life story.

A broad-scale plan to preserve the nation's cultural heritage captured on sound recordings and to make more than a century's worth of recorded materials more widely available for educational purposes is being unveiled Wednesday at the Library of Congress in Washington. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, was scheduled to introduce the library's comprehensive National Recording Preservation Plan, the library's response to Congress' passing of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000.

Frank Sinatra has received many fabulous and deserved tributes for his extraordinary gifts as a singer from his rich and famous friends. And now a few words from his "poorest of the poor" friends on skid row. The Chairman of the Board quietly and without any publicity or fanfare sent me large amounts of money to distribute among the poor and homeless here in Los Angeles. I asked over 1,500 people on skid row (whom I see each Sunday) their reaction to Sinatra's passing. The tribute I liked the most was from a "long-timer" who said from the heart, "Of all Sinatra's songs, my favorite was his rendition of the song 'High Hopes,' because I have high hopes of getting off of skid row!"

Television marks the death of Frank Sinatra with a wide range of vintage movies and specials. KCET "Frank Sinatra--Concert for the Americas" tonight at 9, followed at 10:20 p.m. by his 1954 film "Young at Heart." KOCE "Frank Sinatra: The Very Good Years," a "Great Performances" compilation of clips from his classic TV specials, tonight at 9. A&E "Biography" presents "Frank Sinatra: His Way" today at 5 and 9 p.m.; Sunday at 11 p.m. and May 20 at 9 p.m.

The Chairman of the Board was easily bored. Frank Sinatra didn't like to dwell on things. Keeping things moving was his credo. Working in television was anything but quick, so it wasn't a medium he embraced. "I love the fact that he was very impatient," says Bill Zehme, author of 1997's "The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin'. " "That was the drawback of him doing TV. Thank God, he was uncomfortable with TV. If he had taken to it like a fish takes to water, it wouldn't have been as literally as special when he did do TV. " In the mid-'60s, Sinatra found a format on television that fit his larger-than-life persona and captured his artistry.

The Times has received 221 letters commenting on its decision not to print all of Garry Trudeau's Doon e sbury strips on Frank Sinatra; 206 criticized The Times' decision and/or praised Trudeau; 15 criticized Trudeau and/or praised Sinatra. Your temporary discontinuation of the Doonesbury strip disappoints me. If Trudeau has the guts and wit to take on Frank Sinatra, the Mafia and Ronald Reagan, you should have the guts to publish it. LANA LAWTON Pomona Editor's Note: The Times risks lawsuits again and again because taking the risk is often the only way to get important information to its readers.

When singer Nancy Sinatra put a Santa Monica compound she owned on the market last month, it appeared her boots were ready to do some walkin' — to borrow from the title of her '60s hit. But it seems they ran instead. Sinatra, the daughter of legendary entertainer Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy, sold the property in 16 days for $5 million. The asking price was $4.895 million. The Cape Cod-inspired home and guesthouse sits on a nearly half-acre flat lot off a cul-de-sac.

Michael Feinstein was, he says, just a "nobody" some three decades ago when he was hired to play a private birthday party at Chasen's for Frank Sinatra's wife, Barbara. But even in his 20s, Feinstein, now 56, was a consummate interpreter of the Great American Songbook. "I was playing as many obscure songs I could come up with to get [Sinatra's] attention," Feinstein said over the phone from his home in New York. "After an hour, he came over to me and said, 'How do you know all of those songs?

Back in 1975, when Mel Haber first opened his Palm Springs restaurant, he waited for the call that would signal true success. Three months passed before it came: “He's on his way over.” The “he” was Frank Sinatra.  In those days, said Haber, owner of Melvyn's Restaurant (200 W. Ramon Road, Palm Springs), maître d's alerted each other when Sinatra and his entourage left one restaurant night spot on the way to a next, which they often did. In a town full of megawatt stars, no one had an aura as powerful as Sinatra's - not Gregory Peck or Marlon Brando, not even Ronald Reagan.

A triplex in West Hollywood that has counted both singer Frank Sinatra and film star Marilyn Monroe among its former tenants has come on the market at $4.75 million. Sinatra's and Monroe's rentals overlapped in 1961. He used his apartment as a getaway and she lived in hers, according to "Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra," written by George Jacobs, his valet at the time. The owner is Beverly Coburn, actor James Coburn's first wife. She bought the building in 1989 for $1.643 million from interior designer Kalef Alaton, who had remodeled it. The three units in the gated compound share a courtyard and patio space.

The Golden Gate Bridge turned 75 this year, but it's not the only Golden Gate with a reason to celebrate. The Golden Gate Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas has unveiled a major expansion -- its first in 50 years -- that adds a five-story luxury tower with 16 suites to the 122-room boutique hotel. Fourteen suites honor swinging Rat Pack guests such as Frank Sinatra , Sammy Davis Jr . and Dean Martin . They include a 50-inch flat-screen TV, a California king bed and a sectional sofa with a queen-size pull-out.

He's the ultimate insider at the ultimate insider's bank, the place Frank Sinatra turned to for ransom money when his son Frank Jr. was kidnapped. Michael Jackson partied in his vault. Bram Goldsmith, 89, has seen it all at City National Bank. The son-in-law of one of the founders, he took the reins of the "bank to the stars" in the mid-1970s and remains chairman of the parent company to this day. Launched in 1954, City National's 58-year run stands out in an industry where small banks tend to get gobbled by larger rivals.

Big-band leader and trumpeter Ray Anthony has put his home in the Hollywood Hills West area on the market at $5.2 million. Custom-built for Anthony in 1975, the 3,881-square-foot house contains a den, an office, a gym, two fireplaces, two bedrooms and three bathrooms. "We built it to take advantage of the tremendous views," he said of his hillside home, which sits on about a quarter-acre on a cul-de-sac. Anthony, who turned 90 this year, used the house for years to run a business selling big-band CDs. He plans to play at a belated celebration marking his birthday this month.