‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Leases House in L.A.
Eddie Murphy, who usually lives in New York, leased a house in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles (while making his latest film, “Golden Child”), Tommy Chong of Cheech & Chong bought a house in Pacific Palisades, Aldo Gucci sold his Beverly Hills home, and actor Barry Bostwick (who played the lead in the TV movie “George Washington” in 1984) bought a house in Benedict Canyon--all in December and all with the help of Stephen Shapiro of Stan Herman Associates in Beverly Hills. Who said real estate activity was slow during the holidays?
Shapiro also represented the buyers in the December sale of the popular Westside restaurant Ryan’s Place, now known as Boboli.
About that fabulous designer/boutique owner Gucci, Shapiro said:
“He’s not spending any time in L. A. anymore. He has homes in New York and Palm Beach.”
That doesn’t mean Gucci is closing his famous Rodeo Drive store. His family is running that, said Shapiro, along with Gucci’s offices and warehouse/showroom on Canon Drive (the old Bekins Building that Gucci bought a few years ago.)
Novelist Judith Krantz and her author/producer husband, Steve, just marked a triple celebration: her birthday (we’re not telling which), completion of her upcoming book “I’ll Take Manhattan,” and purchase of a 6,600-square-foot mansion in Bel-Air.
Author Irving Wallace and his wife, Sylvia, and Ernie Martin, a New York playwright, helped the Krantzes celebrate in a private party.
The Krantzes went to Europe for three or four years after Judith’s first novel, “Scruples,” sold more than 220,000 hardcover copies and 3 million paperbacks and was made into a television mini-series, and her second novel, “Princess Daisy,” brought the largest sum paid until then for paperback rights ($3.2 million). (She also wrote “Mistral’s Daughter.”)
Before leaving for Europe, the Krantzes sold their Beverly Hills home for $1.5 million through Micheline Swift, a vice president of Ron Abrams Realtors.
Swift also represented the Krantzes in the purchase of their Bel-Air mansion, which Abrams described as “a magnificent, traditional home on a cul de sac overlooking a golf course.” The Krantzes plan to do a “major remodel,” he added, “with a place for Judith’s writing staff and offices.”
Ciel Moore, from Texas, had owned the home, which the Krantzes bought after looking at 110 houses in two to three weeks, he said. They have been living in a rental house since returning a few months ago from Europe.
Patti Lewis, ex-wife of comedian/actor/director/producer Jerry Lewis, sold her huge Bel-Air home and bought a charming, smaller home in Brentwood through Walter Kray, president of Walter Kray Realty in Beverly Hills and Westwood.
“The beautiful, vivacious and perky Patti decided to leave old memories behind and embark on a new life of her own,” Kray said. “She is thrilled with her new home.”
After 25 years in her old home, she figured it was time to move on, he added.
Looking for a large condo in Manhattan? What is being touted as the “largest condominiums being offered” there are on the market at 60 East 88th St.
Expected to be completed by developer Dennis A. Herman in March, the 15-story building will only have 18 units, and six of those will be 3,500 square feet, or a full floor each in size, with five bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths. Two- and three-bedroom homes will vary from 1,624 to 1,853 square feet. Prices go from $810,000 to more than $2 million.
Manhattan-based Douglas Elliman-Gibbons & Ives Inc. is exclusive agent, and that firm plans to open a full-floor, on-site model this month.
Not many bachelors can afford to build a $4-million pad, but Bob Bronson, former owner of Bronson of California sportswear (which did an estimated $200 million worth of business the year he sold the company) and current owner of West Coast Connection and B. Bronson Inc. (also women’s fashions firms), is doing just that in the Coldwater Canyon area of Los Angeles.
Bronson paid $2 million for a 1.5-acre secluded glen that was previously owned by Peter Fonda and before that, was part of the Myrna Loy estate, and he is planning to start building a 6,000-square-foot house on the site in June or July at a cost of $2 million. Fields & Silverman AIA, which designed the on-campus UCLA Guesthouse hotel, is designing it.
In case you missed it, Frank Sinatra celebrated his 70th birthday on Dec. 12 in a very untraditional way: He helped his wife, Barbara, in ground-breaking ceremonies for the $1.3-million Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.
The 11,500-square-foot facility, which will have a special unit for abused children, is expected to be completed in July.
