Buzz Aldrin Finds His Space in Beverly Hills

BUZZ ALDRIN, the second man to walk on the moon, and his socialite bride of a year, Lois Driggs Aldrin, have purchased a one-bedroom pied-a-terre on the 14th floor of a 15-story Doheny Drive tower overlooking Beverly Hills.

“It has a big porch and an explosive city view,” said Nancy Elkins Hinds of the George Elkins Co. (Hinds is the daughter of the 89-year-old Elkins, who was honored last Saturday by the Americanism Educational League with its 1989 Distinguished Community Service award.)

Hinds represented the Aldrins in the purchase, which was made at close to the $239,000 asking price. Ava Markowitz of Asher Dann & Associates represented the seller.

The Aldrins are keeping their main residence in Laguna Beach, and they also have a home in Sun Valley, Ida., but they wanted a little place in town, because they travel a lot and plan to do even more, through Los Angeles International Airport, when the former astronaut’s book, “Men From Earth,” is released by Bantam in July. (Publication will coincide with the 20th anniversary of Aldrin’s mission to the moon.)

ANNE ARCHER, an Academy-Award nominee last year for her supporting role as the wife in “Fatal Attraction,” and her husband, Terry Jastrow, president of Santa Monica-based Jack Nicklaus Productions, have bought a new home in Brentwood near Mandeville Canyon.

Public records show that the one-story, ranch-style house was built in 1949 and was extensively remodeled in 1954. Transfer stamps indicate that the house was sold for $2,150,000.

It has five bedrooms and four baths in 3,672 square feet. People who have seen the property describe it as “woodsy” and “country-like,” with many doors leading to a “romantic pool.”

The Jastrows reportedly had been looking for a larger house for themselves and their family for a few years. Their former home was in Bel-Air.

Realtors involved in the transaction would not discuss the deal, but it was learned that Margie Oswald and her daughter, Tracy, represented the Jastrows in selling their Bel-Air home to a UCLA doctor and his wife, and Margie Oswald and Jay Solton, both of Merrill Lynch/Rodeo Realty, also participated in the Jastrows’ purchase.

RAY PARKER JR., probably best known for writing

the theme song to the hit movie “Ghostbusters,” is moving into his new house in the Beverly Hills Post Office area.

“It’s more of a family home than his old one, which was in Benedict Canyon,” said Stephen Shapiro of Stan Herman & Associates, who represented Parker in the estimated $1-million deal.

Shapiro also represented Parker in the sale of the songwriter’s former home in Benedict Canyon. It’s in escrow at nearly its $825,000 asking price.

Parker’s new home, built about 10 years ago, has three bedrooms and a maid’s room, a den, pool and private drive.

Shapiro completed the transaction in time to leave for Australia, where he’s going for the opening Friday of a Hard Rock cafe, in which he’s an investor.

Fashion designer DIANE FREIS just sold the Beverly Hills retail/office building where she has a boutique to Petersen Publications (publishers of such magazines as Motor Trend, Teen and Skin Diver) for about $3 million.

“She had outgrown the space and is moving to larger quarters, but I don’t know where,” said Kay Pick of Mike Silverman & Associates, who represented Freis. “Her move won’t be completed until the end of the year.”

Freis’ headquarters is in Hong Kong, where she moved about a year ago. “She had a house here, and I sold that for her, too,” Pick said.

Petersen’s new purchase, at 450 N. Camden Drive, is the latest addition to its growing investment portfolio, which includes several buildings--among them the former Screen Actors Guild headquarters on Sunset Strip and Scandia, the landmark restaurant.

YORAM and PEGGY KAHANA, owners of Shooting Star International--a celebrity photo agency, are restoring a 62-year-old Hollywood building they bought last fall for $1.1 million, and they are seeking information about its past.

“So far, we’ve had very, very little to go on,” Yoram Kahana wrote.

The three-story, Spanish-style building at 1441 N. McCadden Place has a 3,000-square-foot ballroom with 28-foot high ceiling, used until recently as a scoring studio. The Kahanas plan to restore the room and use it as a photo file and research room.

“While demolishing and probing, we found the original hand-stenciled beams and rafters, a beautiful arch covered by plywood and ceiling decorations painted over,” he said.

They also found some recording logs, listing Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Ike and Tina Turner, Bill Cosby, Hank Williams Jr. and Leslie Uggums among the notables who worked there.

The Hollywood Columbus Club first owned the place, the Kahanas learned, and it was later used by Hall-Blount Radio Productions, the Blue Network and American Broadcasting studios. “But we’d like to know more to help us restore it authentically,” Yoram Kahana said.