Newsletter: Hot Property: All aboard
Watching stars buy and sell homes from our bleacher seats reminds us of domino tiles falling.
Single transactions are part of larger chains of events — and usually lead to another future home purchase.
These ripple effects sometimes take place at a specific property, with one celebrity after another taking ownership. Other times, one individual moves up, across town or downsizes throughout a lifetime.
So sit back, grab a cup of hot joe and we’ll take you through this week’s domino show.
– Lauren Beale and Neal J. Leitereg
A two-tile pileup
Carla Gallo of “Bones” just sold her home in the Sawtelle area of L.A.’s Westside for $1.012 million after more than a dozen years of ownership.
The sale of the 1930s Spanish-style bungalow comes as no surprise. She bought an authentic 1914 Craftsman home in the Larchmont area earlier this fall for $1.775 million.
The home, built in 1931, is in the Sawtelle area of L.A.’s Westside. (Charmaine David | Inset: Getty Images)
Connecting the dots
“Pretty Little Liars” actor Ian Harding has sold his Hollywood Hills home of three years for $995,000. The secluded bungalow in the Laurel Canyon area was built in 1948 and has that star starter-home vibe.
A look through public records shows the sale comes on the heels of the 29-year-old’s purchase this summer of a newly built home in Eagle Rock with 11-foot ceilings. The loft-style house cost $1.295 million and has nearly twice the living space as his bohemian digs in the hills.
Actor Ian Harding has sold his bohemian-vibe home in Hollywood Hills.
Ian Harding has sold his bohemian-vibe home in Hollywood Hills. (Mike Kelley)
A one-two punch
George Zimmer, the former CEO of Men’s Wearhouse, has listed his oceanfront estate on the Big Island of Hawaii for sale at $35 million. The entrepreneur is selling because he recently bought singer Neil Young’s smaller compound nearby for $20 million.
The 7.45-acre Kohala Coast property Zimmer is selling has more than 1,000 feet of ocean front, a 10,000-square-foot main house, a swimming pool and natural and man-made ponds.
The 7.45-acre property has 1,000 feet of ocean frontage along the Kohala Coast. (Carolyn S. Richardson / RealTours Hawaii, LLC)
Adding to his lineup
Composer and songwriter Burt Bacharach has bought a place in Del Mar for $5.5 million that’s a quick walk (on by) to the sand.
The six-time Grammy and three-time Oscar winner, who paired with lyricist Hal David to write hits for Dionne Warwick, has homes in Pacific Palisades and Aspen, Colo.
The 1974 home is a quick walk to the beach in Del Mar. (Redfin.com)
At least three deep
Grammy winner Bruno Mars has been an active player in the real estate scene this year. He recently sold a Hollywood Regency-style contemporary on the border of Studio City and Hollywood Hills for $3,347,500 in an off-market deal.
Earlier this year he also bought a two-acre estate in Studio City for $6.5 million and sold a place in Honolulu.
Bruno Mars has sold a Hollywood Regency-style house in Hollywood Hills West for $3,347,500. (Redfin | Los Angeles Times)
One long train
When comedian Adam Carolla and his wife, Lynette Paradise, listed their Spanish Revival home for sale in Hollywood Hills at $5,299,995, we wondered if they’d bought something else.
Sure enough, they landed a house in La Cañada Flintridge a couple months back for $2.5 million.
Carolla stars in and executive produces the reality series “Catch a Contractor” and seems to churn through the homes. This makes six homes that we know he has owned in areas such as Malibu, Sherman Oaks and other parts of L.A.
Adam Carolla has bought a Midcentury Modern-style home in La Cañada Flintridge for $2.5 million. (Realtor.com | Associated Press)
An even longer train
A Malibu estate that Camille and Kelsey Grammer bought when they were married has sold for $12.94 million.
The “Frasier” star has bought and sold homes in several New York locations, Hawaii, Colorado and all over Los Angeles — more than a dozen at last count.
Kelsey Grammer bought this Malibu property with his then-wife, Camille, in 1998 — one year after they were married. (Realtor.com)
Political intrigue
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and wife Amy Wakeland are in line for a healthy return on their Echo Park home of more than a decade.
The couple, who currently reside at the Getty House in Windsor Square, listed the Daniel L. Dworsky-designed post-and-beam this week for $1.65 million. Records show they bought the house in 2000 for $345,000.
Set on about half an acre, with city and canyon views, the two-story home features such quintessential Midcentury Modern details as floor-to-ceiling windows, open-plan living spaces and beamed ceilings. Terraced gardens and an orchard make up the grounds.
Mayor Eric Garcetti has put an updated post-and-beam-style home in Echo Park on the market for $1.65 million. (Michael McNamara | Los Angeles Times)
Celebrity makeover
Actress-singer-dancer Mitzi Gaynor of “South Pacific” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business” fame bought her first home in Beverly Hills in 1960 and lived there until a couple years ago.
Since then, the 1929 Spanish Colonial villa, which she sold for close to $5 million, has undergone a major renovation and expansion. The compound is now for sale at $11.495 million.
The Spanish Colonial villa in Beverly Hills belonged to actress Mitzi Gaynor for decades.
Off-court action
Lakers part-owner and vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss has put an unfinished home in Dana Point on the market for $5.995 million.
Scheduled for completion next year, the ocean-view home will have a center-island kitchen, a massive great room, four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms in more than 4,500 square feet of living space.
The listing is the latest for the team executive, who has been in buy-and-sell mode in recent years.
The property for sale is one of four lots Buss acquired at the Strand at Headlands, a gated beachfront community, for a total of $13.5 million. Another home sale in Dana Point and a high-rise purchase at L.A. Live are among his other off-court transactions.
Jim Buss has put an unfinished home in Dana Point on the market for $5.995 million. (Realtor.com | Los Angeles Times)
From the archives
Thirty years ago this week, Greenacres, the Beverly Hills mansion once home to silent film star Harold Lloyd, came on the market for around $9 million.
The 36,000-square-foot house, with 44 rooms, a built-in pipe organ and projection facilities, would sell the following year to Ted Field, an heir of department-store magnate Marshall Field.
More recently, a Palm Springs retreat also built for Lloyd in 1925 came on the market for $3.29 million.
A decade ago, seeking more room for his family, "Crossing Jordan" star Miguel Ferrer listed his home in Nichols Canyon on the market for about $2.5 million.
The Spanish-style residence, designed by noted architect Fred Smathers and completed in 1969, eventually sold a year later for $2.15 million. Ferrer and his family would decamp to gated Hidden Hills, near the homes of actress Denise Richards and the Kardashian family.
What we’re reading
— Here's a deal you won't find in Black Friday or Cyber Monday circulars: an entire town. The Rapid City Journal brings word of an entire South Dakota town that is for sale for just $250,000, down from $399,000 a year ago. Occupying more than six acres, the town known as Swett includes a closed tavern and a haunted house.
— It's surfs up on the Big Island as the one-time home of surfing pioneer and Olympian Duke Kahanamoku has come crashing onto the market for $8.875 million, according to Hawaii News Now. Kahanamoku, considered the father of surf culture, owned the oceanfront home in Diamond Head more than a half-century ago.
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