Courting Love of Lakeside Living
Christopher McDonald, who co-stars in the new CBS drama series “Family Law,” is nearly finished with his renovation of an old lakefront lodge that he bought last summer at Lake Arrowhead for just under $1.5 million.
McDonald gutted the 6,000-square-foot house, built in the ‘20s, and he finished the kitchen in time to entertain there on the Fourth of July.
The actor appeared in the independent movie “SLC Punk,” released last spring, and he played Adam Sandler’s jock nemesis in “Happy Gilmore” (1996), game-show host Jack Barry in Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show” (‘94) and Geena Davis’ husband in “Thelma and Louise” (‘91).
McDonald, 44, also had a recurring role (1997-1999) as Kirstie Alley’s philandering ex-husband on the NBC series “Veronica’s Closet.”
He and his wife, Lupe, keep a Los Angeles apartment and another Lake Arrowhead home, which they plan to sell after moving into their new residence. They live full time with their three children at Lake Arrowhead.
Lake Arrowhead has been a weekend and holiday get-away place for Hollywood celebrities since the 1920s, and even today such stars as Roseanne, Mike Connors, Priscilla Presley and Frankie Avalon have retreats there, and a few, including McDonald and John Hillerman, live there full time.
Houses and cabins start at $100,000, and estates of several acres with lake views and boat docks range from $700,000 to about $6 million.
The McDonalds’ new home has a gated motor court, chauffeur’s quarters, two-bedroom staff suite, five family bedrooms and a ballroom-size living room. The house was built as a mountain lodge with thick beams, pitched ceilings, a slate roof and huge fireplaces.
Lynne B. Wilson & Associates handled both sides of the McDonalds’ purchase.
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Frankie Avalon, a longtime owner of property at Lake Arrowhead, has sold his beach retreat there and bought a larger residence on a golf course. Avalon, 59, loves to golf.
The pop-rock singer first made his name during the ‘50s and is best remembered for his ‘60s “beach party” movies with Annette Funicello. He has appeared as himself in such movies as Martin Scorsese’s “Casino” (1995), and he performs often on stage in Las Vegas and elsewhere.
He and his wife, Kay, paid slightly under $1 million for their new 4,500-square-foot retreat.
The Avalons, who are the parents of eight children and are also grandparents, have another home in Westlake Village.
Sandy Palmer of Re/Max represented the Avalons in buying.
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Carol Probst, a former ice skating star who founded the Blue Jay Ice Castle as one of the top ice skating training centers in the United States, has her Lake Arrowhead home on the market at $5.7 million. She has a desert home and wants to downscale.
The gated Arrowhead home has six bedroom suites and a gym in about 13,000 square feet. Described as “high-tech contemporary” with glass, stainless steel and mirrors, the house has a solarium and an oval dining room with sliding glass doors. The home also has many large verandas and patios. It is on about an acre, and the property stretches to the lake.
Lynne B. Wilson & Associates has the listing and also represented the Avalons in selling their former Lake Arrowhead home.
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In Hawaii, another hot spot for second homes, producer Peter Guber bought 168 acres of oceanfront property, with a caretaker’s house, on Kauai last year for about $7.3 million, and now he’s building a 15,000-square-foot house there, island sources said.
Guber, in his mid-50s, was a top executive at Sony Pictures before forming the independent production company Mandalay Entertainment with Paul Schaeffer in 1994. The pair also voiced an interest in buying the Oakland A’s earlier this year.
Pat Harrington of Harrington’s Paradise Properties on Kauai says that the oceanfront lot market there is “limited but strong” and that sales have been “brisk” for second-home buyers.
On Oahu, the second-home market also has been “wonderfully active,” said Chris O’Brien of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties. “Most homes are selling subject to inspection with offers coming sight unseen, mainly from computer wealth,” she said.
In April, money manager Fayez Sarofim bought the former Honolulu home of the late U.S. ambassador to Italy Clare Boothe Luce for $15 million, but some of the biggest sales during the last few months have been on the Big Island. One house was sold for $13.1 million to a travel agency executive, and a 38-acre home site was sold in July for about $11 million to Nathan Myhrvold of Microsoft Corp.
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In the Coachella Valley, another popular second-home area, there is a hot new listing at the Thunderbird Country Club in Palm Springs.
It is the desert home of the late entrepreneur Corwin Dwight Denney, an aerospace engineer who initially flight-tested his own products, and his wife, Nanci.
Denney, who died in April at 77, founded American Helicopter Co. and later orchestrated numerous mergers until he sold his Automation Industries to General Cable in 1978 for $106 million. He was a life member of the USC Board of Trustees.
Besides his Palm Springs home, he lived in a penthouse of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, which he once partially owned.
Priced at just under $2 million, partially furnished, the Palm Springs house is on an acre and was built in 1956 by L.A. chain saw manufacturer Robert McCulloch, who rebuilt the London Bridge at Lake Havasu, Ariz.
The 7,000-square-foot house has push-button curtains, blinds, doors and windows, as well as a bar where iced wine bottles electronically rise from a cellar. The home has an air-conditioned tennis court, croquet court and a 60-by-28-foot pool.
Nelda Linsk of Coldwell Banker Eadie Adams Realty in Palm Springs has the listing.
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