Malibu Is a Hit With TV Host
Dick Clark has purchased a 12-acre Malibu home known as Gull’s Way for close to $15 million.
The multiple Emmy-winning producer-TV host, whose hit rock ‘n’ roll show “American Bandstand” marked its 50th anniversary in May, bought Gull’s Way as an investment, Westside sources said.
The oceanfront property has been described as “one of the best building sites in Malibu.” It is bordered on three sides by the ocean.
The property also has a 6,600-square-foot main house, built in the early ‘70s, and an 1,800-square-foot guest house, built in 1956. The main house is habitable but has been neglected. There is also a caretaker’s cottage, beach house and pet cemetery on the grounds.
Gull’s Way belonged to Pepperdine University before Clark bought it. The property was given to the school when Luella “Billie” Ulrich died at age 99 in 1996. She had hoped that the university could build a conference center on the site, but Pepperdine couldn’t get city approvals.
Ulrich lived on the grounds for more than 50 years, much of it with her husband, Rick, who died earlier. The couple, who owned several mobile home parks, bought the site in the ‘40s and lived there in a trailer until they built the guest house. When the guest house was completed, they moved into it until the main house was built.
The main house, which has a fountain and several murals made with Malibu tiles, has been used as a set for many movies and such TV series as “Fantasy Island” (1978-1984). Few weddings have been held there, but the late Herve Villechaize, who played Tattoo in “Fantasy Island,” was married in front of a fireplace in the house.
The property had been on the market, at $15 million, since June 1999.
Proceeds from the Gull’s Way sale will go to the Graziadio School of Business on the new Drescher campus at Pepperdine in Malibu, according to public information.
Pepperdine was represented in the sale by Dennis Torres, and the buyer was represented by Diane Carter of Coldwell Banker, Malibu, area sources said.
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A Los Feliz replica of a 17th century villa in Italy, which was a home during the ‘20s to movie legend Norma Talmadge, has been sold to L.A. developer-designer Xorin Balbes for about $3 million.
Balbes, who recently restored the 1926 Lloyd Wright-designed Sowden House in Los Feliz, plans to bring back the glamour of Old Hollywood in the Talmadge villa.
The six-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot house, built in the early ‘20s, is a throwback to Hollywood’s Golden Age with its 28-foot-high foyer, Rococo dome fresco ceiling, gold-leaf decorated ballroom and enormous fireplaces guarded by statues that resemble the MGM lion.
The house also has been the home, at various times, of such celebrities as Jimi Hendrix and Rod McKuen, and it has been used extensively for filming. Since a UCLA professor bought the villa at an auction in 1969, however, it has been used mainly as a book repository.
Balbes has purchased and renovated 20 homes in the L.A. and Montecito areas during the past five years.
Mary Anne Singer of Coldwell Banker, Hancock Park North, represented him in buying the villa. Nevianna Christov of DBL Los Feliz had the listing.
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Ray Cooney, the prolific British playwright-actor-director-produc- er who wrote such London and international comedy hits as “Run for Your Wife” and “Wife Begins at 40,” and his artist wife, Linda, have listed their Tarzana home at just under $3.4 million.
The couple plans to move to Long Island to be near their screenwriter son, Michael, and his family. Their other son, Daniel, lives in Australia.
The Cooneys built their six-bedroom, 4,800-square-foot Tarzana house in 1999. The Spanish-style home, overlooking the San Fernando Valley, has a saltwater pool and spa, two offices, a screening room and a self-contained apartment. The garage accommodates five cars.
Ray Cooney, one of the most productive and successful modern British farce writers, also has starred in many plays in London, the U.S. and Australia. He has directed more than 20 stage productions, and he has produced 30 West End plays and musicals. Many of his works have been filmed or televised with him playing the leading roles, as in the BBC production of “Wife Begins at 40.”
His play “Caught in the Net,” a sequel to “Run for Your Wife,” premiered in London and Miami last year.
Joan Duffy of Prudential John Aaroe, Sherman Oaks, and Isobel Chanin of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, have the listing.
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Lisa Levenson, co-executive producer of the TV series “The Bachelor” and former producer of “General Hospital,” and her husband, Kenny Rosen, have purchased a Beverly Hills-area home for $720,000. Rosen, a producer of “The Weakest Link,” was a story editor for “Big Brother 2.”
The couple, in their early 30s, became first-time home buyers with their purchase. The house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms in slightly more than 1,800 square feet. Built in 1950, the mid-century modern also has views from most rooms of the grassy yard.
Sally Forster Jones of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills East, represented the buyers; Irene Tsu of the firm’s Beverly Hills North office had the listing.
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Jason Schafer, who wrote the screenplay for the independent film “Trick” (1999) and has written numerous episodes of Showtime’s controversial weekly series “Queer as Folk,” has listed his post-and-beam home, built in 1955 in the Hollywood Hills, at $595,000.
Schafer is moving back to New York, where he lived for six years after graduating from UCLA. He was born in Sacramento.
Designed by architect Joe Jordan, his house has two bedrooms in about 1,100 square feet. Schafer restored the original paint colors and replaced the carpet.
The home still has its original built-ins and a pocket door that converts a den into a guest room when needed. The fireplace surround is hand-painted, and the home also has mountain views.
Brian Walsh Linder, an architect and real estate broker, and Erik Lerner--both of Mossler, Deasy & Doe in Beverly Hills--have the listing.
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Larry Peerce, a director of such TV series as “Touched by an Angel” (2001) and the TV movie “Second Honeymoon” (2001), and his companion, Beth Sommer, have purchased a Wilshire condo for $770,000.
Peerce also directed the hit movie “Goodbye, Columbus” (1969).
The seller was Jeffrey Wong, co-owner of Warning Model Management in Beverly Hills, which has represented such models as Alessandra Ambrosio, Eva Herzigova and Kylie Bax. Wong sold his condo because he bought a Bel-Air home in December for about $2.2 million.
The two-bedroom, 1,900-square-foot condo has mahogany wood floors, a granite kitchen and fabulous city and mountain views.
Deborah Moore of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, had the listing; Beth Sommer of Prime Time Property represented herself and Peerce in buying.
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