Paradise not lost, just sold
John Travolta and Kelly Preston have sold their estate in Hawaii to model-turned-mogul Kathy Ireland for just under $3 million.
The oceanfront estate, on Oahu, has a quarter of an acre of beach frontage. There are three bedrooms and three bathrooms in 3,400 square feet. It was built in the mid-’60s. Travolta bought the property in 1986, then added an indoor pool and a lava waterfall under a domed ceiling.
Ireland and her partners, Erik Sterling and Jason Winters, plan to turn the private residence into a corporate retreat that will be rented out as one of several Kathy Ireland Worldwide company vacation villas. The house, to be renovated, also will be a showcase for Ireland’s Hawaiian-themed design products. Her brand is known for its lines of home furnishings and clothing.
Ireland, 41, was credited recently in Forbes magazine for building her design brand into a $1-billion-a-year empire, which she started about 10 years ago designing socks. She is a former supermodel-actress and has appeared on the covers of several Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues.
She and husband Greg Olsen, a doctor, are building a home on a 100-acre parcel near their existing residence in the Santa Barbara area. Travolta and Preston own property in Brentwood, Santa Barbara and Maine.
Travolta, 51, stars as thug-turned-record exec Chili Palmer in the just-released movie “Be Cool.” Honolulu-born Preston, 42, costars with Kurt Russell in the Walt Disney action-comedy “Sky High,” scheduled for release in July. Travolta and Preston were married in 1991.
Kainoa Lee of Mary Worrall Associates, an affiliate of Sotheby’s, represented Ireland and her partners in the Hawaii purchase. Travolta and Preston were represented by Pat Choi Realty.
A chapter closes in Holmby Hills
Sidney Sheldon, the Oscar-winning screenwriter, TV series creator and bestselling novelist, has sold his Holmby Hills home in the $15-million-to-$17-million range, say Westside real estate sources not involved in the deal. The most recent asking price was $19.5 million. The estate was put on the market in August at $23 million.
Sheldon, 88, and his wife, Alexandra, decided to sell because they plan to move to smaller quarters. They have had another home for some time in Palm Springs.
The Holmby Hills home, on nearly 3 acres, has 12 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms in about 22,000 square feet. The estate also has an office, a theater, a tennis court, a pool and a guesthouse. There is a motor court with parking for at least 20 cars.
The home, built in the ‘30s, was designed by architect Paul Williams for Charles J. Correll, who played Andy on the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” radio show. Sheldon, who created the ‘60s TV show “I Dream of Jeannie” and wrote about 20 novels including “Are You Afraid of the Dark,” published in September, had owned the home since 1978. The buyer is a businessman who sold his Malibu home in January for about $20 million.
Designer holds the purse strings
Jason Schwartzman, who stars as Louis XVI opposite Kirsten Dunst in the upcoming movie “Marie-Antoinette,” has sold his Hollywood Hills home to purse designer Jana Feifer for about $1.2 million.
The house, built in 1940, has two bedrooms and two bathrooms in slightly more than 1,800 square feet. It also has an enclosed lanai that could serve as a third bedroom. The yard has a lagoon pool.
Schwartzman, 24, is the son of the late producer Jack Schwartzman and actress-director Talia Shire. His cousins include actor Nicolas Cage and actress-director Sofia Coppola, and his uncle is Francis Ford Coppola. Sofia Coppola is writing and directing “Marie-Antoinette,” which is expected to start shooting this month.
Schwartzman starred in “Rushmore” (1998) and “Slackers” (2002), and he costarred in “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001). He was cast opposite Jude Law and Naomi Watts in the comedy “I {heart} Huckabees” (2004). Schwartzman is also a member of the band Phantom Planet, whose pop anthem “California” is the theme song of the TV series “The OC.”
Feifer launched the company Jam, a collection of initial-themed handbags and accessories, in 2002. Among fans of the bags are Oprah Winfrey, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger.
Jeffrey Hobgood and Joe Cilic, both of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer, and Ron Holliman of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, had the listing, according to public records.
Give this high-rise some respect
After nine years of living in an Art Deco-style high-rise on Wilshire Boulevard, Joan Dangerfield, widow of Rodney Dangerfield, says it’s just not the same living there without the comedic icon, who died in October at 82.
She listed their “junior penthouse” in the Wilshire at about $3.4 million and put their second home, in Little Holmby Estates, on the market at nearly $2.7 million. Each is about 3,200 square feet. The condo is within walking distance of the four-bedroom, four-bathroom house, where the comedian built an indoor pool so he would have a place to swim late at night and on rainy days.
The three-bedroom, four-bathroom condo with 20-foot ceilings has a large steam room and a therapeutic spa, which Rodney Dangerfield had flown in by helicopter for his wife as a Valentine’s gift.
“We had such happy times here together,” his widow, 52, said, “and I am grateful to be taking all of those wonderful memories with me.”
The comic serenaded her in front of the fire as they looked at the city lights, she said. He wrote his jokes at the dining room table. He held informal roundtables there for such young comedians as Jim Carrey, Louie Anderson and Paul Rodriguez, who fondly called Rodney Dangerfield “The Rodfather.”
“Rodney always thought the [Wilshire] building was too high class for him,” Joan Dangerfield recalled, “and I’m sure the other homeowners will never forget the day he took an inflatable doll to the pool or the time a dozen young women dressed like prostitutes came to the concierge claiming they had appointments with Rodney.”
This caused “quite an uproar,” she said. The women were in costume for an audition Dangerfield was holding there for the role of a prostitute in one of his movies, his wife said.
Steven Levine at Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, has the listings.
Beverly Hills home not his style
John Paul Dejoria, co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems hair and salon products, has sold a Beverly Hills area home for about $4 million.
Dejoria formerly lived in the house, which he bought in the 1980s, but then he moved to Malibu. He used the Beverly Hills-area house for about a decade as a place to put up his guests. It was on the market for four years, originally at almost $4.7 million.
The house, described as Asian modern post-and-beam in style, has two master suites, a mosaic tile pool and gardens. There are five bedrooms and five bathrooms in about 4,900 square feet. The house has city, ocean, canyon and mountain views.
Joe Babajian and Kyle Grasso of Prudential-John Aaroe, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer, an entrepreneur from the Midwest. Steven Levine and Rick Hilton of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, had the listing.
To see previous columns on celebrity transactions visit latimes.com/hotproperty.
