Hot Property: Shuffling the deck
For those of you who keep tabs on the ultra-riche, stratosphere sector of the SoCal housing market, the top just got a haircut. The most expensive home for sale in America is no longer the larger-than-life spec mansion that debuted a year ago in Bel-Air at $250 million. A price cut to $188 million leaves the Manor in Holmby Hills as the high-price leader at $200 million.
This week’s roundup will be slightly more down to earth and includes an architectural gem in Los Feliz that just sold for nearly $4.7 million, a writer’s Culver City home with a dance studio and a former pro baseball player’s vacation playground in Big Bear.
For a peek inside a $3.795-million house for sale, Hot Property’s Home of the Week takes you to a newly built contemporary in Venice with an angled front and mixed-medium siding that pops against bright accent lighting. Check out the Fox 11 video to explore the gleaming interior details.
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 J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
A drop in the bucket
Ellen Pompeo, who stars on “Grey’s Anatomy,” is asking $2.795 million for a 1920s Spanish-style villa in the Hollywood Hills. In case you are wondering, that’s chump change for her. In January the actress signed a $20-million contract with ABC.
Set above the street, the 1923 house contains 2,456 square feet of living space with a two-story living room, a formal dining room, a walk-in pantry, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
A heated saltwater swimming pool fills one side of the property. Fruit and olive trees complete the grounds.
Pompeo, 48, is known for her long-running role as Dr. Meredith Grey on the medical drama show.
Next chapter for landmark
One of the L.A.’s most distinctive homes, the Sowden Residence in Los Feliz, has sold for $4.698 million.
Designed by architect Lloyd Wright, who studied under his father Frank Lloyd Wright, the 1920s house evokes a Mayan temple with its pyramid-like shape.
Concrete blocks stamped with symbols for elements such as water, earth and air are used liberally inside and outside the structure.
Set behind original copper doors is 5,600 square feet of renovated living space. Four wings of the house create a large rectangle enclosing a courtyard swimming pool. There are four bedrooms, six bathrooms, maid’s quarters and an office.
The home has been a location for television and film shoots. The property has even been suggested as the possible site where Elizabeth Short, the victim in the notorious 1947 “Black Dahlia” slaying, met her end.
A model house
Flemish Belgian model and actress Astrid Bryan has sold a home in Hollywood Hills West for $3.5 million.
The 1960s ranch house has a midcentury modern vibe with an open floor plan, vaulted ceilings and expansive windows. The 2,395 square feet of living space include three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
Designed for entertaining, the backyard has a heated swimming pool, dining and lounge areas, a fire pit and a wet bar.
Bryan, 35, starred on and was executive producer of the Belgian TV reality series “Astrid in Wonderland.” She has a fragrance by the same name and the clothing line Astrid Black Label.
He met a buyer
“How I Met Your Mother” co-creator and producer Craig Thomas has sold his Culver City home for $1.665 million.
Built in 1938, the Traditional home has 2,078 square feet of beach chic interiors. Other living spaces include living, dining and family rooms, an office, four bedrooms and four bathrooms.
A dance/yoga studio was converted from a garage. It features custom barn doors and an artist’s loft with sound-deadening walls.
Thomas, 46, is also known for his work on “The Goodwin Games” (2013), “Oliver Beene” (2003-04) and “Late Show With David Letterman” (1997-2002).
‘Baretta’s’ old beat
The former Studio City home of actor Robert Blake has sold for $3.35 million — well above the asking price of $2.995 million.
The 1937 ranch-style residence is where the onetime “Baretta” star was living when his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, was fatally shot outside a Studio City restaurant in 2001. The actor was charged with the crime. He was acquitted in criminal court, but found liable for wrongful death in a California civil court.
The updated house of more than 5,000 square feet is designed for indoor-outdoor living with an infinity-edge swimming pool and a wood-fired pizza oven. Also on the property is a two-story guest house that holds a studio, office, gym and game room. There are five bedrooms and six bathrooms.
A place to chill
Former Major League Baseball player Xavier Nady has a vacation home listed in Big Bear at $789,900.
Part ski chalet, part log home, the house has four bedrooms and four bathrooms within its 3,423 square feet of living space.
Logs trim out the doors and windows, adding a rustic touch to the décor.
Nady, 39, was an outfielder and first baseman for teams including the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.
Her favorite room
Actress Tiya Sircar loves her Hollywood Hills living room, where Texas meets India. An open archway leads to the sunny space that captures her bicultural upbringing and reveals objects and art including gold armadillos, a longhorn skull bowl and various depictions of the Hindu deity Shiva. “It feels like different parts of my life all put together in a mishmash in one room,” said the star of the new ABC series “Alex, Inc.”
“It feels like different parts of my life all put together in a mishmash,” the Texas-raised actress, whose parents are from India, says of her living room.
From the archives
Ten years ago, comic actor Dan Aykroyd wrapped up a whirlwind of real estate buying and selling by listing his 3,400-square-foot, three-story condo on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for $7 million. It had four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms and unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State and Chrysler buildings.
Twenty years ago, “Wheel of Fortune” co-host Vanna White put her Beverly Hills-area home on the market at just under $3.3 million. The 7,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style house had five bedrooms and seven bathrooms as well as a pool and a tennis court.
What we’re reading
Six months after superstar Prince died in April 2016, his residence and recording complex near Minneapolis opened to the public for tours. Paisley Park now features a gift shop, a restaurant and party space, all operated by the overseers of Graceland, reports the Washington Post.
Here’s another creative reuse: A century-year old train caboose has been converted into a summer home with one bedroom, one bathroom and 192 square feet of living space in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. This variation on a tiny house, which comes with an adjacent cottage and two acres of land, is listed on Estately.com at $124,900.
ICYMI: So just what real estate was it that Fox News host Sean Hannity might have spent time discussing with Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen? Many outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, covered the story.
