Hot Property: Out of our orbit
Sometimes, stellar deals seem to put the cart before the horse. Must be nice to have enough funds on hand to buy a new place in Beverly Crest for $13.5 million without having yet sold your old Hollywood Hills compound — listed at $14 million. Now that’s a flush bank account.
In our more down-to-earth video, we meet up with Nick Fouquet, known for making hats for Hollywood stars such as Pharrell Williams, Madonna and Justin Bieber. Check out his geodesic-dome home in Topanga, where his favorite spot is the living room.
Once you’re done reading about these transactions, visit and like our Facebook page, where you can find Hot Property stories and updates throughout the week. That’s also a terrific place to leave us a tip about a celebrity home deal.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Actress plays all the parts
Actress-director-producer Eva Longoria has listed a compound in Hollywood Hills West for sale at $14 million. Earlier this month, she bought another home in the Beverly Crest area for $13.5 million.
The house she’s selling was previously owned by box office star Tom Cruise. Set on more than 2.5 acres, the European-style estate includes a three-bedroom main house, two small studios and a guesthouse.
The place she bought is a two-story house, built in 1996, that was renovated and expanded over the last year. There are eight bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and more than 11,000 square feet of contemporary living space.
Longoria, 42, this year appeared in the show “Empire” and the mini-series “Decline and Fall.” Her producer credits include “Mother Up!,” “Telenovela” and “Devious Maids.”
Johnny Depp pulls up anchor
“Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp has officially cast off from L.A.’s Historic Core district, selling the last piece of his five-unit penthouse collection atop the Eastern Columbia Building for $1.425 million.
Depp originally listed the five multi-floor penthouses within the Art Deco building last year for a combined $12.78 million. Altogether the units brought in a total of $10.88 million. That’s about $3.7 million more than what the actor-producer musician paid for the properties from 2007 to 2008.
The penthouse that just sold is now listed for lease at $5,500 a month. It features a loft-style floor plan, brickwork and exposed ductwork. Original steel-paned windows take in sweeping city views.
The story of a lovely lady
Here’s a happy ending to a “Brady Bunch” episode.
The Marina del Rey property last owned by Florence Henderson, the late actress who played the matriarch on the sitcom, has sold for $2.275 million.
Henderson and her second husband, John Kappas, were avid sailors and lived on a boat in the marina for many years before buying the house near the California Yacht Club in 2000 for $1.021 million.
Set on a gated street, the multilevel home has a great room, a family room, a library, three bedrooms and three bathrooms within 3,237 square feet of living space. The third-floor loft leads to a rooftop deck.
Henderson, who died last year at 82, is most often identified for her role as mom Carol Brady on “The Brady Bunch” (1969-1974).
Buyer snatches one up
Vinnie Jones, known for his film roles in “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch,” has sold his home in Hollywood Hills for $2.025 million.
The Midcentury-Modern-style house, built in 1958, has such features for entertaining as indoor and outdoor wet bars, patio space and an oversized kitchen.
The master suite features a walk-in closet and a sitting room for a total of four bedrooms and four bathrooms in 3,500 square feet of living space.
A cabana sits beside a kidney-shaped pool in the backyard, which includes a dining area, bench seating, televisions and a cooking station with wine chiller.
Yielding a spot on the sand
Steve Hilton, the former president of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and a grandson of late hotel giant Conrad Hilton, has sold his oceanfront home in gated Malibu Cove Colony for $8 million.
The three-story house has glass-clad decks on each floor that take in the coastline and Santa Catalina Island. Particularly impressive are the head-on ocean views from the shower.
A dramatic circular staircase wraps around a custom saltwater aquarium at the entrance of the home. An open living room with a fireplace, an office/den, four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms lie within the 3,385 square feet of living space.
A walled courtyard off the entrance contains a tiled hot tub and an outdoor fireplace.
It passes designers’ smell test
Richard and Laurie Lynn Stark, the designers behind the Chrome Hearts lifestyle brand, have bought a showplace in Malibu for $7.25 million.
Set in a gated community, the 1980s home has been renovated into a stylish modern home that looks like it doesn’t even need more designers weighing in. The Starks design line includes furniture, jewelry and accessories.
The 3,653 square feet of living space include a seamless high-ceiling great room where living and dining areas are set side-by-side, four bedrooms and four bathrooms.
The living space extends outdoors where there’s a deck with an outdoor kitchen and bar, an oversized spa and a swimming pool.
His favorite room
Nick Fouquet, hat maker to the stars, loves hanging in the living room of his circular-shaped home in Topanga. “I don’t do the norm,” said the headwear designer, who has crafted hats for Pharrell Williams, Madonna and Justin Bieber. “But at first, even I was thinking, ‘a geodesic dome?’”
From the archives
Ten years ago, L.A. Lakers legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson and his wife, Cookie, purchased what they called a “vacation home” for $7.6 million in Orange County. The newly built home, in a gated community with a private beach, had 7,700 square feet of living space, five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a deck, a wine cellar and a theater. The three-story Mediterranean also featured an elevator and a pool.
Twenty years ago, Cher broke ground on a house in Malibu. The 15,000-plus-square-foot walled home, on about two acres overlooking the ocean, was to have five bedrooms and 10 bathrooms in the main house, a full gym and projection and editing rooms.
What we’re reading
You don’t need to convert to dig this church conversion in Fowlerville, Mich. The onetime house of worship, listed on Estately.com, is now a 4,657-square-foot home with two bedrooms. The asking price is $225,000.
ICYMI: Buyers in San Diego County’s 800-acre Trevi Hills development in Lakeside are part of a new real estate experiment in which they can set aside part of their one-to-two-acre property to produce wine. A nearby winery will prune and crush the grapes, mix the blends, provide temperature-controlled storage and slap a private label on the bottles. Homeowners get half of all the wine produced. Houses in the development are 3,000 to 4,000 square feet and range in price from $935,000 to $1.1 million.
