Love Will Take Them to Reno

The Captain and Tennille have broken ground near Reno on a European-style home that he designed, and they have sold their Lake Tahoe home of seven years.

Known for their 1975 Grammy-winning hit “Love Will Keep Us Together,” their five gold albums and six gold singles, the pop duo of DARYL DRAGON and TONI TENNILLE, who have been married for 17 years, completed a Caribbean tour last Tuesday, leaving Miami just before Hurricane Andrew hit.

“We do a lot of work for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ships,” she said in a phone interview before their latest voyage. A few days before they left on the cruise, they completed a three-city tour with singer Neil Sedaka.

They also have separate careers. In May, she co-starred in the musical “Stardust” at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills. She has also performed with symphony orchestras, a jazz quartet and an 18-piece big band, while Dragon has composed film scores and overseen their successful Rumbo recording studios in Canoga Park.

“We lived in Los Angeles for many years,” she said, “but we moved up to Lake Tahoe in 1984.”

“Toni wanted to move to Tahoe, and I wanted to get out of L.A.,” Dragon said. So he designed the Tahoe home. Made of logs, it’s in a canyon with a stream.

“It was a romantic dream to think of living at Lake Tahoe,” she said, “but there were too many trips over the passes in snowstorms.”

Anyway, he said, “I’m a big fan of ‘big sky country.’ I’m not a fan of living in the trees. So every seven years, we switch. Toni gets her thing, then I get mine.”

They listed the Tahoe home at $2 million. “But we didn’t get anywhere near $2 million,” he said. “Not everyone is as entranced with logs as we are, but we got a good price, though we had to wait two years and put it off and on the market.”

Now they’re building a Tudor or French-style home in a new residential community near Reno. The one-story, 5,000-square-foot house with matching barn is expected to cost about $1 million to construct.

When they complete the home in about seven months, they’ll call it “La Maison de Lumiere,” or “House of Light,” for its many windows.

ALAN LADD JR., co-chairman of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and his wife, Cindra, have purchased a Holmby Hills home for $8 million, sources say.

The nearly 10,000-square-foot mansion on two acres was once the home of 1920s vaudevillian/comedienne Fanny Brice. Ladd Jr., son of the late actor Alan Ladd, was raised across the street from it, a source said. The asking price was $8.85 million.

They bought the English-style, Holmby Hills home from Sandra Moss, ex-wife of Jerry Moss, the M of A&M; Records.

Lyricist/composer JERRY HERMAN--who composed “Hello, Dolly!” “La Cage aux Folles” and “Mame”--has purchased a home in the hills just north of the Sunset Strip for close to its $1.9-million asking price, sources say.

A year ago last March, Herman, who owns homes in Florida and Connecticut, sold a house he owned in the same area to record mogul David Geffen.

Herman’s new home was described as “a villa with high ceilings and a beautiful back yard looking over the city.” It has two bedrooms and a wine room in about 3,500 square feet.

The seller was identified as David Foster, co-producer of the “Short Circuit” movies.

Margie Oswald and Leah Steuer of Prudential Rodeo Realty represented Foster, and Joe Kyle of Mimi Styne Associates represented Herman.

LEO CARRILLO, the late actor who played The Cisco Kid’s faithful sidekick Pancho on TV during the 1950s, built a Spanish hacienda in Santa Monica Canyon in the 1930s that has been listed at $2.59 million.

Carrillo, who died in 1961, built the gated home on 20 acres as a surprise for his wife and daughter. It is only on two acres now but has a tennis court, waterfall and pond. The house, which has been updated, has a large master bedroom and two additional suites plus maid’s quarters. There is also an apartment over the four-car garage.

Phillip Luchenbill of Jack Hupp & Associates, Beverly Hills, has the listing.

The Writers Guild of America, West, has put their longtime headquarters in West Hollywood on the market at $5.96 million.

The 7,000-plus member guild, which is looking for larger quarters, has occupied its 22,000-square-foot facility since the mid-1950s. Century City-based Entertainment Realty Corp. represents the guild.

DICK ROSENZWEIG, executive vice president of Playboy Enterprises, and his wife, Judy, have dropped the price of their Point Dume house, on an acre, from $1,095,000 to $995,000.

“We found ourselves too involved and committed to ‘in town’ activities to spend much time there,” he said of their freshly remodeled, 2,500-square-foot home, which is listed with Katie Ribnick of Fred Sands’ Malibu office. The Rosenzweigs also have a home in Beverly Hills.