Sylvester Stallone buys adjoining Lake Sherwood parcels

He bought a property with 500 feet of lake frontage that was

listed at about $5.5 million and the adjacent lot, giving him another 150 feet of frontage, that was listed at about $1.7 million.

The house is old, and it is expected that Stallone will tear it down. The lots have many mature trees and unobstructed water views.

Stallone is no stranger to the neighborhood. He previously owned an equestrian ranch in nearby Hidden Valley.

Lake Sherwood is home to many celebrities, especially sports figures, who seem to gravitate there. Baseball legend Lenny Dykstra recently listed his Lake Sherwood Georgian estate for $24.9 million. That house was owned by hockey great Wayne Gretzky.

The community is gated and affords a high degree of privacy. The lake itself is used for boating, fishing and swimming.

Stallone, 62, a Hollywood A-lister who commands top dollar for his movies, remains best known for playing boxer Rocky Balboa and John Rambo, a soldier who specializes in revenge missions and rescues. Both characters have become part of the pop culture lexicon. The Philadelphia museum steps are now known as the "Rocky steps," and thousands of tourists visit each year to pose where Rocky punched the air in victory.

Jordan B. Cohen, estates director of Re/Max Olson & Associates in Westlake Village, represented Stallone in the purchases. Bill Carter of Sotheby's International Realty, Westlake Village, and Kevin Lehman of Prudential California Realty, Thousand Oaks, listed the properties.

It's something of a trophy home

Some say quarterbacks are made; others say they are born. Made or born, one of them is leaving the neighborhood.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer has listed his Laguna Beach ocean-view home for sale at $2,949,000.

The four-bedroom, 4 1/2 -bathroom, 4,380-square-foot Mediterranean has a panoramic hilltop view of the Pacific, Santa Catalina Island, city lights and an open canyon below. The top level has an entry deck, an ocean-view office and a two-car attached garage. The gourmet kitchen has granite counters and Viking stainless-steel appliances. There are formal dining and living rooms. The master bedroom suite occupies an entire floor and includes a cedar-lined walk-in closet, an office with a private balcony, a sitting area with a fireplace and a master bath.

The home has three fireplaces and a built-in aquarium -- answering that old question: How exactly does a professional football player relax during the off-season? By watching his fish.

The 28-year-old Palmer, a Southern California native, won the 2002 Heisman as a senior at USC. He was drafted by the Bengals with the first overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft.

Andrew Karigan of Prudential California Realty, Newport Beach, has the listing.

Pooling of stars in Acapulco enclave

Media billionaire Haim Saban is asking $12 million for an Acapulco estate that Time Warner has used to entertain clients and movie stars for decades.

Saban, a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger money- producing machine, sold Fox Family Worldwide in 2001 for $5.1 billion to Walt Disney Co. The network was renamed ABC Family Channel, and Saban personally profited by about $1.6 billion from the sale.