He’s no fan of an ‘Idol’ life in L.A.
Clay Aiken is looking more mature these days since dying his strawberry-blond locks brown and getting a short haircut, but he apparently isn’t quite ready to settle down -- at least not in the San Fernando Valley home he bought for $2.3 million last fall.
The 26-year-old singer, who gained fame in 2003 as a runner-up on the TV show “American Idol,” is already selling the house. He listed it in March for $2.5 million and expects to close escrow next month.
The Mediterranean-style home was newly built when the pop singer bought it.
On more than an acre in a private, rural area of the Valley, it has plenty of room for Aiken and a number of his friends and family.
The 7,800-square-foot house has six bedrooms, 6 1/2 bathrooms, a family room and a bonus room. The grounds, zoned for horses (although Aiken has none), include a pool, a spa, a gazebo and a sports court.
It’s like a small resort, yet comfy. The master suite has a private study. There’s a fireplace in the family room. And an open floor plan.
So, why is Aiken selling? In a TV Guide interview, Aiken voiced concerns about living in what he has described as “lonely” L.A. and said he would like to go home to Raleigh, N.C., where he was a special-education teacher before being “discovered” on national TV.
The truth is, since buying the house, he’s been busy and hasn’t spent much time in L.A..
Aiken has been on his 25-city Jukebox Tour, which ends Sept. 1 in Atlantic City, N.J., and is expected to follow it with a Christmas tour.
He’s also been working on a follow-up to his 2003 debut album, “Measure of a Man.”
Since performing on “American Idol,” Aiken has enjoyed sales of more than 3.9 million CDs, running just behind Kelly Clarkson, who is the biggest-selling participant in the show so far.
Aiken is also a UNICEF ambassador, and he has been helping raise funds for the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, which he co-founded in 2003 with activist Diane Bubel to help children with developmental disabilities.
It was Bubel who persuaded Aiken to audition for “American Idol” after she heard him singing while he was caring for her autistic son, Mike.
Now that hockey’s back, he’s staying
Star player and scrappy forward Sean Avery, who joined the L.A. Kings in 2003, wants hockey fans to know how thrilled he and his teammates are to be back on the ice after the 2004-05 lockout. Avery, 25, is so happy that he’s bought a Hollywood Hills home for $989,000.
He already owns a home in his native Ontario, Canada, but says he is excited to be settling down in L.A., where he is eager to provide fans with a successful hockey season at Staples Center.
Avery’s newly renovated home was built in 1925. The Spanish bungalow has two bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms in 1,700 square feet. It has canyon and city views from most rooms.
Leah Lail of the Brill Group, Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills East, represented Avery in his home purchase. Steve Frankel and Andrew Zucker, of the same office, had the listing.
A new Valley scene for ‘CSI’ guy
With a bigger role has come a larger house. Eric Szmanda, who this last television season graduated from lab rat to full-fledged investigator on the CBS series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” has sold one house and purchased a bigger one, both in the San Fernando Valley.
Szmanda, 30, bought a Sherman Oaks home for about its asking price of $2.5 million. The house has four bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms in 3,700 square feet. The single-level, midcentury home also has Valley views, a pool, a spa, a cabana, an outdoor fireplace and sits on slightly more than an acre.
The actor sold a Studio City home for $1.5 million. It was once owned by actor Danny Aiello, who costarred in the movie “Moonstruck” (1987). Aiello had bought it for one of his three sons.
The house has four bedrooms and four bathrooms in about 2,850 square feet. The one-story home, built in the late ‘60s, is walled and gated and has a family room and a sunken living room.
Szmanda plays forensic analyst Greg Sanders on “CSI,” the first of three CSI TV series. It debuted in 2000. He made the most of his lab-tech role; as a result, it has been expanded.
A theater veteran, he had appeared in more than 20 plays by the time he turned 17 -- all while living in the small town of Mukwonago, Wis. He moved to L.A. at age 19.
Szmanda is scheduled to star opposite Mary Tyler Moore in a CBS holiday film, as yet untitled.
Rick Chimienti, estates director at Sotheby’s in Beverly Hills, represented Szmanda in selling the Studio City home and buying the Sherman Oaks property.
Singer keeps changing his tune
Has he been singing the Pink Palace blues? Engelbert Humperdinck kept his Brentwood home for only three years after selling his Holmby Hills house, the Pink Palace, where he lived for more than 30 years.
Now, a year after selling the Brentwood house, Humperdinck, 69, has purchased a 1988 home in Bel-Air for close to $3 million.
The Bel-Air home has a grand two-story entry, hardwood floors, a home theater, a billiards room, a gym and a sauna. The guest suite has a kitchen. The master bedroom has a sitting area and a fireplace.
The home also has a pool. Never mind that it isn’t heart-shaped like the one built for Jayne Mansfield at the Pink Palace.
The pool was added for the actress before Humperdinck bought the property in the 1970s. Built by crooner Rudy Vallee in 1935, the house was razed after Humperdinck sold it in 2002.
Her horoscope told her to sell?
Jeraldine Saunders, who wrote the autobiography on which “The Love Boat” TV series was based, has put her Glendale home on the market at $2.1 million.
This is the first time the home has been listed in 35 years. The 3,000-square-foot residence has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, two kitchens and two fireplaces. The house, built in the ‘50s, has a pool and city-to-mountain views.
Saunders, a bestselling author of 11 books, is an astrologer who was married briefly in the ‘60s to horoscope columnist Sydney Omarr. She replaced Omarr as a columnist when he died in 2003.
Saunders also was a high-fashion model who lectured on various subjects while on cruises. She eventually became a cruise director, and her experiences led to “The Love Boat” book and TV series.
Janine Jones of Sotheby’s International Realty, Los Feliz, has the listing.
