Sleep Where Legends Lived: 6 Celebrity Homes You Can Rent

These short-term rentals offer a front-row seat to cultural history

a photo of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald overlaid on a shot of their former home

Looking for a unique place to stay? Consider a short-term rental where a famous person lived. There are two rooms for rent at the Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

Courtesy Alaina Doten

Lynda Lin Grigsby,

AARP

Published June 19, 2025

For more than 30 years, David Letterman entered our living rooms for late-night jokes and conversations. Now, we can sit in his childhood living room and flip through his high school yearbook.

Before he became a TV icon, Letterman was just a kid from the Indianapolis neighborhood of Broad Ripple. For about $200 a night, fans can book a stay at his former three-bedroom home. The short-term rental house, filled with nods to Letterman’s life and career, is open to travelers and fans seeking to connect with a piece of his personal history.

When owner Krystin Wiggs purchased the home last summer, she knew she wanted to share it with the public.

“How fun would that be if this were a short-term rental?” says Wiggs. “[It’s] like living in a mini museum.”

The Letterman childhood home is a former celebrity residence available for short-term rental that offers travelers the chance to immerse themselves in the personal history of their favorite star.

David Letterman’s childhood home in the Broad Ripple neighborhood of Indianapolis is available for rent. The mural on the home reflects Letterman’s ties to the Indianapolis 500.

Chris Bucher/Courtesy Krystin Wiggs

“If you can stay in a former celebrity home … you’re suddenly inside a narrative that means something to you,” says Makarand Mody, associate professor of hospitality marketing at Boston University. “You’re not just consuming a destination; you’re inhabiting a story.”

Letterman’s long TV career resonates most with Gen Xers, who grew up with his late-night dry humor.

Many short-term rental homes are designed and decorated to look like a celebrity once lived there.

AARP has found a select few with direct ties that are especially meaningful for boomers and Gen Xers. These are the homes of stars who wrote seminal books, made timeless movies and music that impacted culture — and perhaps you, too. Ask yourself: Do you want to stay in a place an icon once called home? Check your favorite home-sharing rental company to book.

a living room with furniture and floor to ceiling windows

The living room in Howard Hughes’ home in Palm Springs, California.

Courtesy Jesus Galleres/Boutique Vacation Rentals

‘The Howard’ — Howard Hughes’ former desert home, Palm Springs, California

This secluded three-bedroom desert pad offers a peek into the mind of Howard Hughes, the famously quirky billionaire, complete with floor-mounted, propeller-shaped light switches so he didn’t have to touch them by hand.

The mint green oven is also a working artifact from the days the aviation tycoon called this place home. Hughes owned this home until he died in 1976. The legacy of his life and work is most resonant with boomers who grew up hearing stories of the aviator’s history-making Spruce Goose flight and enjoying the films made by the RKO movie studio during Hughes’ leadership. Both boomers and Gen Xers who liked the 2004 film The Aviator will also appreciate the history of the place.

Howard Hughes

AP Photo

Fun fact: Hughes and filmmaker Roman Polanski once shot a bulletproof window in the dining room to test its durability, says Jesús Galleres, the property’s executive manager. The pattern of the bullets’ impact is preserved in the window today, he says.

Insider tip: Galleres recommends visiting between November through May for temperate weather. During summer’s 100-plus-degree heat, he says, you can work your tan on one of the three outdoor decks.

Cost: Starting at $920 per night, with a three-night minimum.

The Scott and Zelda suites at the Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum do not have TVs or other modern amenities.

AARP (Courtesy Alaina Doten, 2)

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Suites, Montgomery, Alabama

This was the only house where both F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald wrote novels. Him: the final plan for Tender Is the Night. Her: Save Me the Waltz. Today, the ground floor is home to the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum. Two rentable suites named after the literary couple are upstairs. Their last family Christmas with their daughter, Scottie, was also celebrated here, says Alaina Doten, the museum’s executive director.

Know before you go: The suites are not modernized, so there are no TVs or elevators. Admission to the museum is included with your stay.

Fun fact: The Zelda suite contains furniture donated by Zelda’s friends. “It’s not just period, it does have direct historic ties,” says Doten.

Insider’s tip: Book four to six weeks in advance. The quietest time is mid-December through mid-January, Doten says.

Cost: The Scott suite starts at $95 per night, and the Zelda suite (which is bigger and has two bedrooms) starts at $100 per night.

The master bedroom in Johnny Cash’s ranch house in Casitas Springs, California, has a black ceiling.

Courtesy Lisa Kenton

Johnny Cash’s Mountain Ranch, Casitas Springs, California

In 1961, Johnny Cash moved his family to this California ranch that he helped design. His then-wife, Vivian, rhapsodized about the house’s beauty in her autobiography.

The gold glitter game room floor and their daughters’ old playhouse (which is now an outdoor bar), remain, says Lisa Kenton, the current owner. Also, still there, the black ceiling in the master bedroom. A lot of history has been preserved.

“You can sit [on] the same shower bench as Johnny did,” adds Kenton. “It’s still there.”

This summer, the property is adding a recording studio, she says.

Johnny Cash

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Cash’s musical career spans decades, but boomers may connect most with this place because of the Man in Black’s most iconic 1968 performance at Folsom Prison.

Fun fact: The ranch is also a working animal sanctuary with pigs, goats and two ostriches named A Boy Named Sue and Dolly, says Kenton.

Insider tip: Kenton thinks the best time to visit is in October for the sunsets. Not ready to commit to a stay? The owners offer guided tours for $100 per person.

Cost: $3,500 per night, three-night minimum (Look for last-minute deals.).

a living room with a piano and mid-century decor

Frank Sinatra’s Palm Springs, California, home has mid-century flair. Here, the living room of the custom-built house.

Courtesy Ron Willison

Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms Estate, Palm Springs, California

Twin Palms, Frank Sinatra’s custom-built desert home, has a piano-shaped pool and mid-century flair. It was the crooner’s getaway designed by modernist architect E. Stewart Williams.

During Sinatra’s ownership (1947-1957), the house was the setting for an infamous marital spat between Sinatra and his wife Ava Gardner, says Ron Willison, of Natural Retreats, the company that manages the house. Sinatra threw a champagne bottle and cracked the master bathroom sink. The crack is preserved today, Willison says.

Frank Sinatra

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Whiskey is also an enduring tradition here. Book the home (four bedrooms and a pool house) and a bottle of Jack Daniels (Sinatra’s favorite) will be waiting for you, Willison says. Just don’t throw the bottle. It would be too meta.

Fun fact: A scene from the 1950 film The Damned Don’t Cry starring Joan Crawford was filmed outside the house.

Insider tip: Plan your stay early. The house is often booked for events and parties such as Modernism Week, which showcases the area’s mid-century homes and estates.

Cost: $4,500 per night, with a three-night minimum.

a living room with a fireplace and white and black decor

The interior of Steve McQueen’s house in Palm Springs, California.

Courtesy Emmanuel Trentin

Steve McQueen’s Desert Retreat, Palm Springs, California

If Steve McQueen’s Hollywood career could be divided into two phases — star and icon — this house represents his ascent to legendary status, says Emmanuel Trentin, the current homeowner. Bought in 1961, this three-bedroom home is where the “King of Cool” landed his internationally acclaimed role in The Great Escape, Trentin says.

“Moments like these make the house more than just a piece of memorabilia,” says Trentin. “It’s a witness to cinematic history.”

Steve McQueen

Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

McQueen’s most iconic films were from the 1960s through the 1970s — a time that makes this place most appealing to boomers and Gen Xers to live out their coolest fantasies at his former home.

Fun fact: Photographer John Dominis captured many iconic shots at the house, including one of McQueen holding a pistol on the couch, Trentin says.

Insider tip: The pool is constructed in a Mickey Mouse shape — the result of a challenge McQueen made to the contractor to create a pool no one else would ask for, Trentin says. Dive into the pool using the original diving board, just like McQueen did.

Cost: $600 to $1,500 per night, with a two-night minimum.

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Lynda Lin Grigsby is a contributing writer who covers race and the Asian American Pacific Islander community. A former editor of a national AAPI newspaper, she has also had work appear in NBC News, CNN and the Los Angeles Times.

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