Johnny Cash’s ranch with famous black toilet lists for $1.79M

The man in black’s former home is up for sale — famous commode included. 

A ranch-style estate where Johnny Cash spent six years has been freshly listed — and it boasts an abundance of original details. 

This Ventura, California, property was built for the country king in 1961 as a rural escape for him and his first wife, Vivian Liberto. The secluded, 4,500-square-foot house is located up a private driveway, tucked away in the hills and reportedly built to exact specifications mapped out by Cash himself. 

The double-gabled, small-town sanctuary is set on six acres and has been left significantly untouched since Cash, Vivian and their three daughters lived there: Glitter-painted ceilings, a wall-mounted turntable and intercom system, curved brick family-room fireplace, custom kitchen and living room built-ins all number among features unchanged since the Cash’s time in the country home. 

The high-windowed, “wood-paneled studio where Johnny sequestered himself to write many of his hit songs is timelessly preserved,” as is his “famous black commode,” according to the listing, which is held by Douglas Elliman agents Adam McKaig and Melissa Borders and currently listed for $1.795 million. 

In all there are 4½ baths, one office and five bedrooms, including two distinct bedroom suites, a result of Johnny and Vivian’s differing sleeping habits — and styles. While his still has a dark-tiled shower, the dark-colored toilet and original period wallpaper, hers offers more of a “pastel feminine sensibility.” 

The grounds offer views of the village of Casitas Springs below, the Ojai Valley beyond, a swimming pool and livestock-ready fields and corrals. The hillside barbecue area periodically produces spent shells from Cash’s time teaching his daughters to shoot there, and “longtime locals recount stories of Johnny setting up speakers on the hillside outside the house, and playing concerts for the townspeople down below.” 

While the listing makes no mention of ghosts, Cash — who passed away in 2003 at age 71, and welcomed a baby in the house while attempting to salvage his marriage to Vivian — can be felt in the space. The agents note that in the house, his spirit looms large.