Westside Story Ends 20-Year Run
Actress-singer RITA MORENO, who co-stars with James Garner in an upcoming two-hour “Rockford Files” on CBS, and her husband, DR. LEONARD GORDON, have listed their Pacific Palisades home of nearly 20 years at $3.25 million.
The couple, married for 33 years, decided to sell the property and move to the Oakland area to be closer to their daughter, Fernanda Fisher, an actress-dancer and computer graphics artist who was married about a year ago.
Moreno, who recently earned a Cable Ace Award as best actress in a dramatic series for her work as Sister Peter Marie in the HBO series “Oz,” also appears in the upcoming movie “The Slums of Beverly Hills,” starring Alan Arkin.
During her career, Moreno, in her 60s, has earned an Oscar and a Golden Globe for “West Side Story” (1961), a Tony for “The Ritz” (1975), a Grammy for “The Electric Company” (1972) and two Emmys, one for “The Muppet Show” (1976-77) and the other for “The Rockford Files” (1977-78).
The contemporary Mediterranean-style home, in the upper Riviera section of the Palisades, is about 4,900 square feet and has a master bedroom that occupies the entire second floor with a terrace and a city, ocean and coastline view. The house was built in 1947 and has been remodeled twice.
The kitchen, described as “cucina rustica” in style, reflects Moreno’s love of Latin, classical and Mediterranean cooking, a source said.
The house has a second bedroom suite, a family room, den, maid’s quarters and recently added office-library. A new entry courtyard also was built, and the house has electronically controlled window shades as well as a solar-heated pool.
K.C. Soll at John Aaroe & Associates, Brentwood Gardens office, has the listing.
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Director DAVID STEINBERG has purchased a million-dollar home in the hills of Encino.
Steinberg, who has directed many episodes of “Seinfeld,” is director-in-residence for “Mad About You.” He also has directed recent episodes of “Friends” and “NewsRadio” and the upcoming Jennifer Tilly movie, “The Wrong Way.”
Before he became a director, Steinberg, 55, was a comedian and appeared more than 100 times on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show.” Steinberg also has been a producer and an actor.
He bought a modern-style 4,300-square-foot house with lots of glass, a pool and an 180-degree valley view. The three-bedroom house was built in 1965 and was later updated and expanded.
Denny Kagasoff of DBL, Beverly Hills, was the selling agent; Toni Heebner of Coldwell Banker-Jon Douglas Co., Encino, had the listing.
Financing was handled by Michael Pynes, Entertainment Division, Metrociti Mortgage, in West L.A. and Sherman Oaks.
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Multimillionaire oilman and former Rep. MICHAEL HUFFINGTON, who ran unsuccessfully in 1994 for the U.S. Senate, has sold his house in Montecito for close to its $5.9-million asking price, sources say.
Huffington, 50, has decided to live in his Los Angeles condo for a while, sources say. In November, he ruled out running for his former congressional seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Walter Capps, but Huffington indicated that he might pursue a state office.
He and his ex-wife, Republican pundit and columnist, Arianna Huffington, share custody of their two daughters. She bought a Brentwood home in August.
Kenneth Slaught, president of Santa Barbara-based Investec Real Estate Cos., bought the Montecito home. Investec is one of two companies that formed a partnership to develop a $23-million resort at Crystal Cove State Park in Orange County.
The Montecito home was designed and built in 1987 to resemble an Italian villa of the 1800s. The main house is about 12,000 square feet in size with a 22-foot-tall entry hall, twin circular staircases and a living room with a coffered ceiling and two carved limestone fireplaces.
Situated on about four acres with expansive lawns, a tennis court, pool, spa and ocean views, the main house has four family-bedroom suites and a staff quarters, and the pool house has two guest-bedroom suites.
Harry Kolb of Coldwell Banker-Jon Douglas Co., Montecito, and Joyce Rey, of the firm’s Beverly Hills office, had the listing, other sources said.
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Celebrity manager and movie-TV producer SANDY GALLIN has purchased two parcels in Bel-Air totaling three-plus acres for a combined price of close to $5 million, sources say.
Gallin, in his 50s, has been the personal manager of such stars as Neil Diamond, Dolly Parton and Michael Jackson. He is executive producer of the WB (Channel 5) series “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.”
He plans to build one estate on the two sites, which have a city view. One of the lots has what local real estate sources described as “a tear-down” house on it.
Gallin sold his Sunset Strip-area house in the summer for about $7 million. He had purchased the house in 1995 for about $2.4 million, then remodeled it.
June Scott of June Scott Estates, a Coldwell Banker-Jon Douglas Co., represented Gallin in that sale and in the Bel-Air purchase. Gallin has been her client for more than 15 years. She has represented him in 13 transactions. He has a Malibu home that she has had listed at $15 million.
One of the Bel-Air sites was listed by Deborah Moore, Leah and Tom Steuer and Margie Oswald, all of Coldwell Banker-Jon Douglas Co., Beverly Hills. The other was co-listed by Michael Sahakian, of the same office, and Kerstin Hudson, of the same firm but in Brentwood.
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Basketball star JASON KIDD, 24, and his wife, Joumana, have listed their home on 5.4 acres in the Bay Area city of Pleasanton for about $2.35 million.
The couple got married in the summer and bought a home in Phoenix, sources say.
He is a point guard with the Phoenix Suns, having been traded last year by the Dallas Mavericks. He went to high school in Oakland and played basketball at UC Berkeley. She is from the San Francisco area.
Kidd has owned the home for about three years. Built seven years ago, the traditional-style house has a tennis court, pool, amphitheater, movie theater, baseball diamond and a place to shoot baskets. The property is also zoned for horses.
Kyle Franklin of Fidelity Capital Real Estate, in the Bay Area town of Emeryville, has the listing.
