Judy Garland's rented home, Chelsea

Here I am on the very busy King’s Road in Chelsea where Judy Garland lived in the early sixties. She lived here with her husband Sid Luft and three children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joe Luft.

Judy was in her late thirties when she rented it having moved from a grand detached house in the Holmby Hills in California. They’d lived there in small grandeur for eight years but couldn't afford the staff and maintenance. They relocated here to Chelsea where everything was cheaper (what ?!!) The stayed here for about a year and wanted to live in England permanently but their plans fell through. They returned to America to live in The Dakota building in New York.

By the end of her life Judy was back renting a small house in Chelsea about a mile away. By 1969 she performed a five-week run at the Talk of the Town nightclub in London. She died only twelve days after her 47^th birthday and three months after marrying her fifth husband.

Though this house is probably worth millions of pounds the King's Road was noisy with traffic when I passed by. It took a few attempts to get a photograph of the road without queues of cars blocking the view. I'm sure Chelsea was quieter and had the air of a town when Judy lived here. There's no mention of her on the blue plaque as the owner for 28 years was the film director Sir Carol Reed. This was his main house and died in its walls of a heart attack.

To see where Judy died please click this link : http://johnhalley.uk/Death%20-%20Judy%20Garland%20deathspot.htm