Hot Property newsletter: Real estate remains a much-needed distraction

OK. So most of us are going a little stir crazy. Open houses have been canceled, deals have been put on hold. Yet it’s apparent to us that there is still more housing news to unearth. Up this week are transactions involving an Oscar-winning actress, a Beach Boy and other names of note.

Our Home of the Week in Brentwood takes its design cues from traditional Danish architecture. The substantial copper-roofed house, set among trees on nearly two-thirds of an acre, is listed at $11.995 million.

Once you’re done reading about these deals, visit and like our Facebook page, where you can find Hot Property stories and updates throughout the week.

— Neal Leitereg, Jack Flemming and Lauren Beale

Shh-unning the limelight

Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts has quietly sold a Malibu property she owned in a trust for $8 million in a transaction outside the Multiple Listing Service.

The roughly one-acre estate sits near the actress’ longtime residence in the Point Dume area. The property contains a three-bedroom ranch house, gardens and a riding ring. A motor court and large grassy field fill the front yard.

The property had been in the process of foreclosure when Roberts bought it in 2015 for $6.84 million.

Roberts, 52, has scores of film credits including “Steel Magnolias,” “Pretty Woman” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” She won an Academy Award for her leading role in the 2001 film “Erin Brockovich.”

Love’s, at first sight?

Singer-songwriter Mike Love of Beach Boys fame has listed his three-acre estate in Rancho Santa Fe for sale at $8.65 million.

The 17,500-square-foot mansion has ocean, mountain and golf course views. The three stories include a dramatic foyer with dual staircases, a two-story great room and 11 bedrooms.

A tennis court, a guesthouse and a swimming pool with a swim-up bar complete the grounds.

Love, 79, is a founding member of the rock ’n’ roll band that popularized the “California sound.” The Grammy-winning group’s scores of hits include “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “California Girls,” “Good Vibrations” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”

His home is expendable

Actor-director Dolph Lundgren of the “Rocky” and “Expendables” film franchises has put his contemporary home in Hollywood Hills West on the market for $4.465 million.

The steel, glass and concrete three-story is topped by a rooftop deck that takes in the cityscape.

High ceilings, a floating staircase and limestone and oak floors are among details in the 5,230-square-foot open-plan living space. The living room looks onto a side swimming pool with a waterfall feature. There are four bedrooms, six bathrooms and a lower-level theater and game room.

Lundgren, 62, will reprise his role as the machine-like Soviet boxer Ivan Drago from “Rocky IV” in the upcoming “Creed II.” The Swedish actor will also appear in “Aquaman” and the fourth installment of “The Expendables,” due out this year.

Encino pad has a Petty-gree

Tom Petty’s former Encino pad has traded hands for the third time in four years, selling for its highest price yet: $4.895 million.

The current seller, Grammy-winning producer Randy Spendlove, bought the property two years ago for $4.485 million. A year earlier, the nearly one-acre estate sold for $2.575 million.

The 11,500 square feet of modern living space includes a two-story great room, a wine cellar, a gym, a yoga studio, a game room, a vocal booth, a massage room and six bedrooms. The landscaped property of nearly an acre contains a cabana, a bar, a fire pit and a swimming pool.

Petty, who died in 2017 at 66, sold more than 80 million records during his prolific career as both a solo artist and with his band the Heartbreakers. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s hits include “I Won’t Back Down,” “Free Fallin’” and “American Girl.”

Lineman lines up a fast sale

Former Chargers lineman Nick Hardwick quickly sold his house in the San Diego area for $2.015 million. He had an offer in hand about a week after listing, records show.

The 3,717 square feet of remodeled space includes a kitchen with a breakfast nook, a dining room with paneled walls, an indoor-outdoor family room with a fireplace, a glass-walled living room, four bedrooms and four bathrooms.

The landscaped yard holds a saltwater pool, a fire pit, a lounge and an outdoor kitchen with a grill.

Hardwick, 38, played for Purdue before being drafted by the Chargers in 2004. The center played 136 games with the team through 11 seasons, reaching the Pro Bowl in 2006.

Her favorite room

Actress Cristina Rodlo, whose recent shows include Amazon’s “Too Old to Die Young,” AMC’s “The Terror: Infamy” and Paramount Network’s “68 Whiskey,” is used to life on the move. So she keeps her East Hollywood apartment of two years minimally decorated. Her sunny living room is simple and white with a circular gold-rimmed mirror, photographs and a “2016 Guide to Manhattan” street map.

Actress Cristina Rodlo relaxes in her favorite room at her East Hollywood apartment.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

From the archives

Ten years ago, “Ugly Betty” star America Ferrera was losing the braces, wrapping up her role on the ABC sitcom and moving to New York. The actress listed her 3,427-square-foot Hollywood Hills house, with two master closets, at $1.599 million.

Thirty years ago, actress Faye Dunaway bought a home described as “a perfect, stone Connecticut farmhouse in a prime Beverly Hills Post Office Area location” for about $2.5 million. The home, built in 1937, had been recently remodeled and contained three bedrooms within its three stories.

What we’re reading

Some homeowners are trying to brighten the mood in their neighborhoods by putting their Christmas lights back up, reports House Beautiful. The Twitter-fueled response to the spread of COVID-19 adheres to social-distancing rules and gives the homebound a reason to hop in the car for an evening drive.

Apartment Therapy gave a home stager $100 to see what she’d pick to put some finishing touches on a bedroom. Among items she picked up at her Ikea spree were a pillow, a plant stand, a basket, a vase and a wall map.