Actor to sell his landmark
Oscar-winning actor Cliff Robertson has put a La Jolla oceanfront home that he has owned for 40 years on the market at $25 million.
The actor, who was born and raised in La Jolla, has been using the home as a rental. He lives on Long Island.
“He just decided that it is time to turn the reins over to a new family,” said listing agent Kate Woods.
The home, on 1.4 acres with rolling lawns and sandy beach, is a registered landmark. Its main house, gatehouse, entry walls and circular drive were completed in 1922 for Philip Barber, a member of a shipping family from the East Coast.
Robertson, who named the home Casa de la Paz (House of Peace) for its tranquillity, restored the exterior and refurbished the interiors with the help of Thomas L. Shepherd. The original home was designed by J.H. Nicholson. Robertson completed the historical designation last year.
The nearly 5,900-square-foot home is behind an iron gate. The main house has seven bedrooms, five bathrooms and three fireplaces. It has hand-painted wall designs in character with its Spanish Colonial architecture. The home also has a full basement and two-car garage plus other parking on the grounds, which have mature landscaping, statuary, a reflecting pond and fountains.
Robertson, who won a best actor Oscar for his role as a mentally challenged man in the movie “Charly” (1968), has a recurring role in the new NBC series “The Lyon’s Den,” starring Rob Lowe. Robertson plays the firm’s head of security, Hal Malloy.
President Kennedy picked Robertson to play him as a young man in the 1963 biopic “PT 109.” More recently, Robertson, in his 70s, played Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben in the movie “Spider-Man” (2002).
Kate Woods of Ursula K. Younie Co., Real Estate, in La Jolla has the listing.
A sale from the racing circuit
John Kocinski, a 1997 superbike world champion with team Castrol Honda, has sold his Beverly Hills-area home for close to its asking price of $7 million.
The house was built in 1987 and was designed by architect Richard Landry. The walled and gated French villa, on 3.1 acres, has four bedrooms and five bathrooms in slightly more than 6,000 square feet. The home also has a guesthouse and a theater system. The grounds have topiary gardens, hand-carved statues, stone walkways and a pool.
Kocinski, 35, won the 250-cc Grand Prix crown in 1990 and the 500-cc main event in 1993 at Laguna Seca. He then switched to superbikes and, in 2001 and 2002, was a Yamaha test rider, developing prototypes and new competition motorcycles. This year, he has been taking a break from motor sports.
Bob Hurwitz of Hurwitz James, Beverly Hills, handled both sides of the transaction.
Dreyfuss siblings join as developers
Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss, his brother Lorin and their sister, Cathy, are part of a development-investment team working on a 12-home project on 15 acres in Rancho Mirage near Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope drives.
“Our plan is to design and build one of the estates for the family,” said Lorin Dreyfuss, who is also a writer and producer.
The hacienda-style homes, known collectively as Los Ranchos at Rancho Mirage, will be about 6,000 square feet and will have guesthouses, saltwater pools and outdoor cooking and entertainment areas. The homes, to be completed next year, are expected to sell from $2.4 million to $3.4 million each.
The family has completed refurbishing a mid-century home in Palm Springs, which is on the market at just under $1.3 million. “We bought the house recently and decided to remodel and sell it, to put the funds into the larger houses in Rancho Mirage, one of which will become our family compound,” Lorin Dreyfuss said.
The 4,500-square-foot house, in the Old Las Palmas area of Palm Springs, has a master suite with two spas, a sauna and a fireplace. The home also has a pool; its guesthouse has a full kitchen.
Richard Dreyfuss won a best actor Oscar for “The Goodbye Girl” (1977). More recently, he starred in the TV series “The Education of Max Bickford” (2001-2002), and he was featured in the TV special “The John Garfield Story,” which aired in February.
Record exec cuts a new groove
Eddie Rosenblatt, the former senior vice president of Warner Records who helped David Geffen start Geffen Records, and his wife, Bobbie, have put their Montecito home on the market at just under $7.4 million.
The Rosenblatts have lived in Montecito since he retired as president and chairman of Geffen Records in the late 1990s. They are selling because they purchased a nearby home, which they are revamping.
The home they listed has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms in about 6,500 square feet. The Country French estate, with terraces and mountain views, is on nearly 4 acres along a private lane. The home, built in 1987, also has a sunroom, a guesthouse and a pool.
Eddie Rosenblatt worked with such artists as Joni Mitchell, the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, Van Halen and Cher.
Rebecca Riskin and John McGowan have the listing at Village Properties in Montecito.
Designer’s canyon home is sold
The Nichols Canyon home of the late Emmy-winning production designer Bob Keene has been sold for its asking price of about $1.4 million.
The Country French-style home has two bedrooms, an office and a studio-guesthouse.
Keene, a prolific production designer in live television, died earlier this year. He was the production designer for the Grammy Awards for nearly 20 years. He worked on several Academy Awards shows and designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
The home was sold to Emmy-nominated hair stylist Michael Reitz and writer-director Gregg Masuak. Reitz recently won a makeup and hair stylist award for his inventive designs for the TV show “Alias.” Masuak is in pre-production for the movie “Jammed in Zero,” which he wrote.
Verna Cornelius of Prudential John Aaroe, Pacific Design Center, represented the buyers; Elizabeth and Victor Leon of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, represented Keene’s estate.
To see previous columns on celebrity transactions visit www.latimes.com/hotproperty.
