Early Childhood and Family Homes in San Francisco
Orenthal James Simpson was born in San Francisco, California, on July 9, 1947. During his childhood, he grew up in the public housing project known as the Cypress Projects, located in the Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco. This working-class area shaped his early years before his family moved when he was a teenager. Living in Cypress Projects during his formative period provided context for his later rise from modest beginnings to professional football stardom. Records and biographies commonly reference this address as a key part of his upbringing and early environment.
College and Early Adulthood in Southern California
After earning a football scholarship, Simpson attended the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, where he lived in on-campus housing and later off-campus residences near campus. Following graduation, he began his professional football career with the Buffalo Bills and later the San Francisco 49ers, which required temporary stays in Buffalo and a return to the Bay Area between seasons. These years established his presence in multiple regions long before he became a national celebrity, grounding his early adulthood in both California and upstate New York.
Los Angeles as His Main Residence During Fame
The Rockingham Estate and Other Beverly Hills Properties
During the height of his celebrity in the 1990s, Simpson resided primarily in the exclusive Rockingham Ranch estate in Brentwood, Los Angeles. This single-family home at 1739 Rockingham Drive became widely known during the criminal trial and subsequent civil case. He and his then-wife Nicole Brown Simpson also owned or rented other properties in the Los Angeles area, including a condo in the gentrifying Baldwin Hills neighborhood. These residences formed the backdrop of his publicized domestic and legal circumstances at the time.
Timeline of Key Los Angeles Addresses
| Address or Area | Period of Residence | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1739 Rockingham Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles | Late 1980s–1990s | Primary residence during fame and trial |
| Baldwin Hills area, Los Angeles | 1990s | Condo or rental property during marriage breakdown |
| Rockingham Ranch | 1994–1995 | Site of the murders and subsequent trial residence |
Post-Trial and Incarceration Locations
After his criminal acquittal in 1995 and civil liability in 1997, Simpson continued living in the Los Angeles area for years. When sentenced to prison in 2008 for armed robbery and other charges, he was incarcerated in multiple correctional facilities within Nevada. He served time at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada, before being transferred to the Northern Nevada Correctional Center. These facilities became his primary residences during the final phases of his legal penalties.
Later Years and Confinement in Nevada
During his imprisonment in the mid-2010s, Simpson was held at Lovelock Correctional Center, a medium-security facility in northwestern Nevada. After his release on parole in 2017, he briefly resided in a residential reentry center in the greater Las Vegas area before moving in with a son in Arizona. These later locations reflected his constrained mobility and ongoing supervision following decades of freedom in California.
Current Status and Death
OJ Simpson died on April 10, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the time of his death, he had been released from prison but remained under supervision. Most recent accounts place his last residence as a modest home in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas, consistent with parole conditions that limited where he could live. His final years were spent away from the public spotlight, marking the conclusion of a life that spanned multiple cities and legal chapters.