For Spielberg, It’s ‘Always’ Malibu
STEVEN SPIELBERG has purchased a 3-acre gated retreat on a Malibu bluff.
The property has a four-bedroom, three-bath house, built in 1955, and what has been described as “an incredible coastline view.”
The house also has a view of the producer/director’s former home on Broad Beach, which is being rebuilt after receiving damage in a fire. “I think (actress) Amy (Irving) got that house in her divorce last year from Spielberg,” a Malibu broker said.
Spielberg’s new home has lush lawns and gardens and 285 feet of private beach. The house, which is Southwestern in style, has a master suite with a spa and full gym. There are also servants quarters on the site.
Realtors were asking $25,000 a month for a short-term lease, but Spielberg was among three superstars who considered buying it, said another local broker who identified Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand as the other celebrities.
Through a trust, Spielberg paid $6 million for the property, public records show. Escrow closed a few days ago.
Stephen Blanchard, a commercial real estate developer known for his work along Ocean Front Walk--a two-block stretch of the Venice boardwalk--sold the property to Spielberg and is buying two parcels nearby for $7 million, sources said.
Alan Mark of the Fred Sands Malibu office couldn’t be reached for comment, but sources said he represented both parties in the Spielberg deal.
More on Malibu . . . JOHN HOUSEMAN’S Malibu Colony home from the late ‘30s or early ‘40s until he died in 1988 has been sold for $3.25 million, according to real estate sources.
“It was hard for Joan (his widow),” a neighbor said, “because the house was so full of mementoes--even flowers that he potted on the patio.”
Houseman, once a Vassar English professor, was best known as a movie producer/director/writer who had starring roles in such TV programs as “Paper Chase” and “The Winds of War.”
His widow sold their Malibu home, on the water, and their New York apartment and bought a house in Pacific Palisades from Jeff Berg, chairman of the talent agency ICM, realty sources added.
Carol Rapf of Jim Rapf & Associates had the listing but wouldn’t comment.
Also on the water . . . BRONSON PINCHOT, co-star of the ABC-TV sitcom “Perfect Strangers” who appeared in January in the ABC comedy “Jury Duty” with Alan Thicke, is planning to build a house similar to some he saw recently in Europe.
“He was on an extensive trip over the holidays and decided to build a Mediterranean villa reminiscent of the Greek isles on some Malibu property he already owns,” said architect Robert Earl, who is just beginning the drawings.
Earl is also designing eight houses, 6,000 to 7,000 square feet each, for a Columbia Residential Development project about to start construction at Trancas Beach.
North of Zuma Beach . . . MO OSTIN, president of Warner Records, and his wife, Evelyn, have just gotten their Malibu home updated to the tune of $2 million, estimated sources not involved in the work.
The Ostins, who also have a home in Brentwood, bought the Malibu house a couple of years ago from rock star Rod Stewart, the sources added.
The couple’s Malibu house has five bedrooms and eight baths in 7,500 square feet, built in the ‘60s. Wayne Newhouse’s Malibu construction company refurbished it, and John Patton handled the redecorating.
In a canyon . . . DAVID FOSTER, producer/arranger for Neil Diamond and other recording stars, has sold his 2-acre Malibu property near the homes of producer/director/actor Michael Landon and rock-star Pat Benatar.
Foster leased a house up the road and sold his home, with a recording studio, for its full asking price of $2.35 million, real estate sources said.
The buyers are the Robert Greers, a Malibu family with two children, who were living in a smaller version of Foster’s Tudor-style house. They plan to convert the recording studio to a guest house, sources said.
Jack Pritchett of Pritchett Realty represented Foster; Carol Rapf represented the Greers.
Once owned by LIBERACE . . . JACK H. HARRIS, who produced “The Blob” and “Beware! The Blob,” just finished remodeling the Malibu co-op he bought about 1 1/2 years ago for $295,000 from the Liberace estate.
Liberace had used the unit, next to one he occupied, for his guests. Harris spent about $250,000 redoing the 1,000-square-foot unit through Newhouse Construction Co.
Just beyond Malibu . . . HARVEY and MARILYN DIAMOND, authors of the best-selling “Fit for Life” book and diet, are planning to move from the home they built three years ago in Calabasas.
They’ve put the five-bedroom, five-bath house on the market, at $2.1 million, and are negotiating to buy in Ojai.
“The Diamonds really practice what they preach,” said Brian Panella, who listed their house through Jon Douglas Co.’s Malibu offices. “They planted thousands of dollars worth of fruit trees, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries that they use in their every-day diet.”
The 6-acre site consists of three contiguous parcels, including the one with the 7,000-square-foot, Tudor-style house.
P.S. . . .
The Original Racquet Club, the Palm Springs tennis resort that was founded in 1933 by actors CHARLES FARRELL and RALPH BELLAMY and catered to such early-Hollywood stars as Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, is for sale.
M. Larry Lawrence, whose company also owns the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, put the 25-acre Palm Springs landmark on the market last week for about $10 million.
