Downsizing in L.A. for the Love of New York

Singer-actress Courtney Love has listed her Beverly Hills-area home at just less than $4 million.

She plans to spend more time in New York, where she already has purchased a home, real estate sources say, and she is looking for a smaller place in L.A.

In March, Love is due to start filming the movies “Welcome to Collinwood” and “24 Hours,” co-starring Charlize Theron. Love, 36, also stars in the upcoming movie “Julie Johnson,” shot in New York.

She co-starred with Jim Carrey in “Man on the Moon” (1999) and Woody Harrelson in “The People vs. Larry Flynt” (1996). Love, singer Kurt Cobain’s widow, founded the rock band Hole.

The home she is selling is on more than two acres and has four bedrooms in about 5,000 square feet. Built in the ‘30s, the house was remodeled after Love bought it from comedian-actress Ellen DeGeneres for $3 million in 1997. The house also has an office, a gym and a long driveway.

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The Mt. Olympus home of the late Milton Greene, a longtime Broadway theater conductor who led orchestras for such musicals as “Fiddler on the Roof,” has been sold for $730,000.

Greene, who died in May at 87, had owned his home since it was built in 1965. The three-bedroom, 2,700-square-foot house has ocean views. The house sold the same day it was listed, at $795,000.

Greene was musical director for Broadway productions of “Fiorello,” “No Strings,” “The Rothschilds” and “Annie.” During the ‘80s, he conducted San Diego Light Opera Company productions in Balboa Park. Born in New York City, Greene worked at clubs in the Poconos and the Catskills before moving to Broadway in the ‘50s as a pianist for such shows as “The Pajama Game.”

Marilyn Watson of Celebrity Properties-Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, represented both sides of the transaction.

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John Lee Hancock, a producer of the movie “My Dog Skip” (2000), sold his Hollywood Hills house before the holidays for nearly $1.3 million and bought a Pasadena home for about $3 million.

Hancock was also a writer, executive producer and director of the TV series “Falcone” (1999-2000), and he was a writer, executive producer, director and creator of the CBS drama series “L.A. Doctors” (1998-99). In addition, he wrote the screen adaptation of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” (1997).

The home he sold has four bedrooms in about 3,400 square feet. Built in 1937, the Spanish-style house has its original tile baths, an updated kitchen and city views.

Jana Jones-Duffy and Fred Holley of Coldwell Banker Previews, Beverly Hills, co-listed the house with Julie Jones of the firm’s Sunset Strip office, and Linda Tatum, also of Coldwell Banker, was the selling agent, sources said.

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Hot Property runs Thursdays in SoCal Living and Sundays in Real Estate. Ryon may be reached at ruth.ryon@latimes.com.