Can’t get away to getaway

David James Elliott, who stars in the CBS series “JAG,” and his actress wife, Nanci Chambers, have put their Palm Desert retreat on the market at just under $1.1 million.

The couple have been so busy that they haven’t spent as much time as they’d like at their getaway, which they’ve owned for about three years. The actors’ primary residence is in the Los Angeles area.

Their Palm Desert house, which was new when the couple bought it, is in the gated development of Indian Ridge Country Club.

The house has four bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms, including a detached guesthouse, in just under 3,400 square feet. The house also has a swimming pool.

Elliott, 43, plays Cmdr. Harmon “Harm” Rabb, who became a military lawyer for the judge advocate general, JAG, after night vision problems sidelined his Navy jet pilot career. Chambers played the conniving Lt. Loren Singer for several seasons. Elliot and Chambers were married in the early ‘90s, before the start of “JAG” in 1995.

Ginny Becker has the listing at Becker & Becker Realty, Palm Desert.

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Jockey easing into life in Arcadia

Jockey legend Laffit Pincay Jr., who suffered a career-ending injury in March, and his wife, Jeanine, have settled into the home they purchased in a new Arcadia community for just under $2 million.

The Pincays’ home has six bedrooms and 6 1/2 bathrooms in just under 6,000 square feet. The master suite has a wood-burning fireplace, a home office and an exercise room. A rear staircase provides access to the secondary bedrooms and the children’s study area.

The Pincays’ home is one of 31 newly built houses in the gated development of Anoakia Estates. The community is dotted with 90-year-old oak trees.

Laffit Pincay, who surpassed Bill Shoemaker as the sport’s winningest rider with victory No. 8,834 in 1999 at Hollywood Park, broke two bones in his neck in his March spill from Trampus Too in the Santa Anita Handicap. When his doctor told him that his spine had not healed well enough for him to ride again, Pincay, 56, retired after about 39 years in the saddle and a record 9,530 victories.

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Another Bel-Air property for Bing

Steve Bing, producer of the film “The Big Bounce,” has purchased what is believed to be the last house on a Bel-Air block that he has been buying parcel by parcel during the past few years.

Bing just closed escrow on the home for $13 million. The house, on slightly more than 2 acres with a pool, was built in 1938 and has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms in about 6,000 square feet.

In August 2002 Bing bought a neighboring house, on 2 acres, for about $8 million. That house, built in 1950, has five bedrooms in slightly more than 5,300 square feet.

What Bing plans to do with these properties, plus a handful of adjacent lots that he purchased in 2002, is unknown. One rumor is that he will tear down the larger houses and live in an existing 2,500-square-foot home on the street. Another is that he will turn the vacant lots into a private park.

Bing, 38, is an heir to an estimated $600-million, New York real estate fortune and is an emerging player in Democratic causes. He was executive producer of the film “Get Carter” (2000), and was a writer for the TV series “Married ... With Children.”

More recently, Bing was involved in two high-profile paternity cases, one involving British actress-model Elizabeth Hurley, the other relating to billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s ex-wife.

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Former CEO adds to his holdings

Kevin Wendle, who is still working with the dot-com entertainment company Ifilm although he stepped down as its chief executive early last year, has purchased a property next to the three-bedroom Hollywood Hills home he bought in May for about $4 million, including furnishings.

The home he bought this time was sold by Barbet Schroeder, director of “Reversal of Fortune” (1990) and “Murder by Numbers” (2002), for close to $2.8 million. The former Schroeder house, built in 1924, is on an acre and has two pools, a tennis court, a four-bedroom main house and a guest cottage.

Wendle, who lives part time in Paris, previously created a Bel-Air compound from several houses. He sold the compound in 2002 for about $21 million.

Darryl Wilson at Nelson Shelton & Associates, Beverly Hills, represented Wendle this time, and Wilson designed the house Wendle bought in May.

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Hale property has a stellar view

A one-story house with its own small observatory has been listed in Pasadena at just under $2 million.

The three-bedroom, 3,100-square-foot house was built in the 1980s. The 2,500-square-foot observatory was built in 1924 by astrophysicist George Ellery Hale, who was instrumental in the creation of the Mt. Wilson and Mt. Palomar observatories.

Known as the Hale Solar Observatory, the private, Spanish Revival structure built by the astrophysicist is a National Historic Landmark. The nearly 30,000-square-foot property sits on what was a corner of the Huntington Gardens Estate. The observatory, which has a library, could be used as a studio. Mechanical components are largely intact.

Hale built the observatory to use during his retirement. He had strong ties to the Huntington and Caltech and is known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots. He died in 1938.

Peter Martocchio of DBL Realtors, Pasadena, has the listing.

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Gubers’ 650-acre Aspen ranch sold

Hollywood film executive Peter Guber and his wife, Lynda, have sold their 650-acre Mandalay Ranch in Aspen for $46 million.

The buyers are Roland and Dawn Arnall. He is chairman of Ameriquest Capital, a financial services company. In 2002, the Arnalls bought the Pink Palace, home to singer Engelbert Humperdinck at one time and the late actress Jayne Mansfield at another. They bought the Pink Palace in Holmby Hills in the low $30-million range as part of a 10-acre compound. The Pink Palace and one of the other two houses on the 10 acres were demolished.

The Gubers, who also have a home in the L.A. area, had owned the Aspen property for 18 years. Situated between the Buttermilk and Snowmass ski resorts, the ranch features a 15,000-square-foot main residence, two guest cabins, a 3,500-square-foot barn and several vacant lots.

The producer was involved in such hit films as “Flashdance,” “Rainman” and “Batman.” In 1995, he formed Mandalay Entertainment Group, producing movies, sports events, TV shows and new media.

Robert Ritchie of Sotheby’s affiliate Coates, Reid and Waldron had the Aspen listing.

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To see previous columns on celebrity transactions visit www.latimes.com/hotproperty.