Hugh and Kimberley Hefner sell personal residence
Hugh Hefner and his wife, Kimberley, have sold their personal residence, just a hop away from the Playboy Mansion next door in Holmby Hills, for $18 million. The buyer is Daren Metropoulos, a25-year-old entrepreneur who will be moving from Beverly Hills.
The son of equity investor C. Dean Metropoulos, he originally intended to purchase the estate for the value of its 2.3 acres but now plans to keep the 7,300-square-foot English Manor-style house. The two-story home, built in 1929, has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms and sits behind gates on a flat site that backs up to the Los Angeles Country Club.
There is a formal living room, a dining room, a library, his-and-her powder rooms and a media room with a film projector and screen that drops from the ceiling. Interior treatments include maple paneling, leaded-glass windows and a hand-carved staircase. The master suite overlooks the gardens and grounds, which include a swimming pool.
Metropoulos, who has worked with his father and older brother Evan from a young age helping reinvigorate such household brands as Chef Boyardee and Bumble Bee tuna, is a fan of muscle cars. The property includes a large motor court and a three-car garage where he can house his collection.
Holmby Hills was conceived as a development of exclusive estates by Broadway department store founder Arthur Letts. The Hefner residence was designed by Arthur R. Kelly for the sister of Arthur Letts Jr., the original owner of the Playboy Mansion. It had been listed since early March at $27,995,000.
The Hefners bought the property in 1996 for an undisclosed sum. It was priced then at $17.25 million.
Hugh Hefner, 83, is the founder of Playboy Enterprises. Kimberley Conrad Hefner, 47, was Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in January 1988 and was Playmate of the Year in 1989. They have been separated for a decade.
Joyce Rey and Stacy Gottula of Coldwell Banker Previews International, Beverly Hills, had the listing. Jeffrey Hyland and Rachel Maslan of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer.
Someone new is living for the city
A Los Feliz home owned by singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder has sold for $2,407,000.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom house of 4,511 square feet, described as Mission-style on the Multiple Listing Service, was built in 1928. A tiki room on the bottom level of the two-story home leads to a swimming pool with a large yard, gated parking and a one-bedroom guesthouse. There are city light views, and arched windows look out onto the less-than-half-acre of grounds.
The record producer, instrumentalist and winner of 22 Grammy awards performed in January at a concert in Washington, D.C., the weekend before President Obama’s inauguration and last month at Michael Jackson’s memorial service at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Wonder, 59, received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in February. Among his early Motown hits were “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” (1970), “Superstition” (1972) and “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” (1973). He appeared on “American Idol” in 2006 and this year on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
Public records show Wonder is the owner of about a dozen residential and commercial properties in the Los Angeles area.
The listing agent was Melody A. McCully of Universal Realty, according to the MLS, and the buyer was represented by Dorothy Carter and Michael Orland, both of Keller Williams Realty, Los Feliz.
He’s dancing his way back east
Actor Barry Miller’s wood, stone and glass retreat in the Hollywood Hills is for sale at $2,125,000.
The 1963 home, which underwent a down-to-the-studs remodel by architect Robert Kerr early this year, has a courtyard entry with a fountain, hand-distressed walnut floors and a dramatic two-story wall of glass in the stairwell overlooking trees and a stream.
The window configurations identify the home as Kerr’s design, Miller said. “It’s kind of a motif the way his windows are shaped.”
There are three bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms. Oversized French doors open to a deck.
The actor purchased the two-story home from “The King of Queens” creator David Litt in March for $1.95 million and had been making the home his own with custom changes to the exterior, kitchen, bathrooms and lighting, among other alterations.
“I sanded off some of the rougher edges,” Miller said. He used more earth tones inside and out to blend with the setting of the home, which is surrounded by oak trees and “has browns, olives and green all around it.” The pine cladding on the front of the house was replaced with redwood. He also redid the fountain, replacing the royal blue tiles with grays and powder blue in keeping with the color palette.
He has enjoyed the response from neighbors. “I thought the changes were subtle, but people really do notice the difference from the previous house,” he said.
Miller, 51, has had roles in “Saturday Night Fever” (1977), “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988), “Flawless” (1999) and “The Devil and Daniel Webster” (2004).
At 27, he won Broadway’s “triple crown” -- the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Circle Critics Award and the Tony Award -- for his stage debut in 1985 in “Biloxi Blues,” the second part of the Neil Simon trilogy that also included “Brighton Beach Memoirs” and “Broadway Bound.” He had a leading role as one of the five central students in the original Oscar-winning version of “Fame” (1980), directed by Alan Parker.
He is selling because he is considering relocating back East to work on a play.
“It’s an actor’s life,” Miller said. “One minute you are living one sort of life here, and then fate steps in. I had every intention of living in the house.”
Valerie Friedman of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, is the listing agent.
KISSing the house goodbye
Actress Pamela Bowen has listed her Bel-Air home at $5,495,000.
The five-bedroom, 5 1/2 -bathroom traditional house, with 4,307 square feet of living space, sits on a knoll and was built in 1952, according to the MLS. It has a swimming pool, a guesthouse and 180-degree views extending from downtown to the Pacific.
The gated house was purchased in 2003 for $2,435,000.
Bowen is the ex-wife of KISS frontman Paul Stanley. Her nearly two decades of television guest appearances include spots on “Six Feet Under” in 2003, “Everybody Loves Raymond” (1997) and “Days of Our Lives” (1986-87).
