A ‘60s pad fit for a teen spy
Frankie Muniz, who stars in the title role of the Fox sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle,” has put his Westside home on the market at close to $6 million, and he is in escrow to buy a house nearby that is listed in the mid-$4-million range.
The house Muniz, 18, is selling was built in the 1920s as a Mediterranean, but it was extensively remodeled before the actor bought it about a year ago.
During the remodeling, the home was turned into a Tuscan-style villa with five bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms in just under 6,000 square feet. The gated estate has a 4,500-square-foot main house and a newly built one-bedroom guesthouse and pool area.
A six-car garage also was built during the remodeling. Muniz was known as a car collector almost before he was old enough to drive.
The house Muniz is buying also underwent a major renovation and has sophisticated security features that would appeal to the actor’s character as a boy trained to perform special operations for the government in “Agent Cody Banks” (2003) and “Agent Cody Banks: Destination London,” released in March.
The house, built in the ‘60s, has a surround-sound system throughout and city views from the pool.
The four-bedroom, five-bathroom house is slightly less than 4,000 square feet, according to public records.
Lawyer takes over for ex-Dodger
Former L.A. Dodgers right fielder Brian Jordan, who signed in December with the Texas Rangers, has sold his Altadena home for $1.4 million, about the same amount that his one-year baseball contract guarantees.
The buyers are attorney Matthew Geragos and his wife, Karen. He specializes in civil litigation and is a law partner and the brother of Mark Geragos, the defense attorney in the Scott Peterson murder trial.
The contemporary-style house has six bedrooms and six bathrooms in about 5,400 square feet, built in 2003. The two-level house, in the foothills, also has a home office, music room, walk-in pantry, family room with fireplace, library and master bedroom suite with sitting room and gym.
It is in a new, gated community, and its upgrades include marble and granite finishes. The home also has canyon, city and mountain views.
Maggie Navarro of Coldwell Banker, Old Pasadena, had the listing.
Glamour cloaks Los Feliz villa
The Cedars, a 1926 Los Feliz villa said to have been a home of silent-screen star Norma Talmadge, has been sold for nearly its $5,995,000 asking price.
The seller, L.A.-based designer-developer Xorin Balbes, refurbished the home after restoring his own residence, the nearby Sowden House, designed in 1926 by architect Lloyd Wright. The buyer of the Cedars was described as a fashion designer.
The walled and gated Cedars has six bedrooms and 6 1/2 bathrooms in about 10,000 square feet.
The house, on a half-acre knoll, has a detached guesthouse, a wine cellar, a motor court, stained-glass windows, arched doorways and a media room.
It has a 28-foot-tall foyer, a Rococo dome fresco ceiling, a gold-leaf-decorated ballroom, a solarium and walk-in fireplaces guarded by statues resembling the MGM lion.
Francis R. Gibbons of Prudential John Aaroe, Los Feliz, and Joe Babajian of the firm’s Beverly Hills office shared the listing.
Kristen Morley of DBL, Sunset, represented the buyer.
The Hilton life comes to Bel-Air
Rick and Kathy Hilton, parents of hotel heiress Paris, have purchased a Bel-Air home for slightly less than $10 million.
The couple, who were living primarily in New York, bought the Bel-Air home so they could be closer to Hollywood to be part of a reality TV show scheduled to air on NBC in November. Kathy will star in the still-untitled show, known as “The Hilton Project.” Her husband, a partner in the Beverly Hills real estate firm Hilton & Hyland, will be one of the producers.
Their new home, on slightly more than an acre behind gates, was built in the 1930s and has four bedrooms, a gym, a tennis court and a two-bedroom, two-bathroom guesthouse, where Paris may sometimes stay.
Since costarring with Nicole Richie in Fox’s first season of “The Simple Life,” Paris has appeared in “The Simple Life 2” and Disney’s “Raising Helen,” and she was cast in the Joel Silver-produced “House of Wax,” due to be released in October.
Raymond Bekeris of John Bruce Nelson & Associates represented the seller.
Fine-tuning
his priorities
Tomas Delgado, a third-generation guitar-maker and owner of the 70-year-old family-owned shop Candelas Guitars in East L.A., has listed a Los Feliz lot with city views at $469,000.
Delgado had planned to build a family home on the lot, but business is up, and there is no time to build, he said. The lot comes with plans for a 3,400-square-foot Mediterranean-style house.
Michael Tunick of DBL Realtors, Sunset, has the listing.
To see previous columns, visit latimes.com/hotproperty.
