For a few years in the 1960s, William Thoreson III owned this house. In an article in the San Francisco Examiner, Paul Drexler described Thoreson as "a man with the face of a movie star and the mind of a serial killer."

Thoreson collected weapons. According to Drexler, when authorities raided this house, they found the largest private arsenal in U.S. history: 37-millimeter cannons, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, submachine guns, mortars, anti-tank rifles, grenade launchers and 668,000 rounds of ammunition. The FBI estimated that the house contained 70 tons of armaments.