Hot Property Newsletter: Resolved to sell
Although many properties are temporarily pulled off the market during the winter holidays, not everyone closes up shop. Two listings that toughed it out in today’s roundup include the onetime estate of a silent film heartthrob and the Westside property where late-night host Johnny Carson’s ex-wife hung out with writer Truman Capote.
Also keeping the “For Sale” sign up into the new year was our Home of the Week in Altadena. The 1920s house charms with the vibe of the fictitious TV show community of Mayberry, N.C. Surrounded by mature trees, the single-story traditional sits on about an acre with a guest house, an outdoor kitchen, a swimming pool and a meditation area. The list price is $2.995 million.
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– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Adding to his portfolio
Mark Cuban, the billionaire, television personality and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball franchise, has paid $19 million for an off-season getaway in Laguna Beach.
The contemporary-style ocean-view home, built in 2010, has a lower level reached by a floating glass staircase, a media room, a wet bar, a glass-enclosed wine cellar, six bedrooms and 7.75 bathrooms. A center-island kitchen, two family rooms, an office/den and a formal dining room are also within the roughly 7,900 square feet of interior space.
Lush landscaping creates a backdrop for a swimming pool and a fire pit.
Cuban, 60, co-founded the internet radio company Broadcast.com, which was sold to Yahoo during the dot-com boom of the 1990s for $5.7 billion in stock. He purchased a majority stake in the Mavericks in 2000 and has appeared on the investment reality series “Shark Tank” as a panelist since 2011.
One less resolution
Kristen Wiig has one less resolution to check off in the new year. The actress of “Saturday Night Live” fame has sold a Silver Lake home she owned in a trust for $5.225 million.
The Midcentury Modern-style house, which dates to 1954, is set up from the street on a hillside. The 3,515-square-foot floor plan holds a movie theater, an office, a light-filled kitchen, a den, three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
Wrap-around decking surveys the Silver Lake Reservoir and the infinity-edge swimming pool with a spa.
Wiig, 45, was an SNL fixture from 2005-12. The actress has been in such films as “Skeleton Twins,” “Ghostbusters” and “Downsizing.”
Ready for a new star
The original Spanish-style house was torn down a dozen years ago, but its history remains. Falcon Lair, the estate that once contained the 1920s home of early screen star Rudolph Valentino, is for sale in the Beverly Crest area at $29.5 million.
Today the site has been approved for a 30,000-square-foot-plus modern Mediterranean house designed to take advantage of natural light and the panoramic views. Features would include an expansive family and entertainment room, a wine-tasting room and a swimming pool.
An existing guest house and garage are already on the grounds, which contain olive, lemon, pomegranate and avocado trees.
Silent film actor and sex symbol Valentino died in 1926 at 31. He starred in “The Sheik,” “Blood and Sand” and “The Eagle,” among others.
Truman Capote wrote here
A Bel-Air house once owned by the late Joanne Carson, the ex-wife of “The Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson, is for sale as a remodel at $3.777 million.
The property features a flat pad with an existing 1951 single-story house and a swimming pool. The current structure is slightly more than 4,000 square feet in size and has four bedrooms and five bathrooms.
A set of plans, pending approval, is available for a 12,000-square-foot contemporary with a separate living room, a screening room, a gym, seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. A nearly 2,000-square-foot roof deck would take in panoramic views.
Joanne Carson, who died in 2015 at 83, hosted “Joanne Carson’s VIPs” from 1972-73 and was a team captain on “The Match Game” from 1968-69.
Author and actor Truman Capote, her confidant, had a writing room at the house. He died there in 1984 at the age of 59.
He tackles a buyer
Free agent linebacker NaVorro Bowman, who made three Pro Bowl teams as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, has sold his Bay Area home of five years for $3.715 million.
The French Neoclassical-style home, built in 1951, has a two-story foyer with a sweeping staircase, a formal dining room, a rec room with a wet bar, an office, five bedrooms and five bathrooms within roughly 6,000 square feet.
The house sits on about half an acre that includes a fenced sports court, a swimming pool and a pool house.
Bowman, 30, most recently played for the Oakland Raiders.
That’s a relief
Retired relief pitcher Bob Howry, who played for such Major League teams as the Cubs, the White Sox and the Giants, has sold his home in Peoria, Ariz., for $1.975 million.
The contemporary, built for the baseball player in 2008, looks like a vast warehouse in the desert from above with its flat roof covered in solar panels. The 8,771 square feet of living space includes a lounge with a wet bar, a game room, a home theater, a gym, five bedrooms and six bathrooms.
The one-acre grounds include a swimming pool with a beach entry, a spa and a putting green.
Howry, 45, appeared in 769 games during 13 MLB seasons. He retired in 2011.
From the archives
Ten years ago, singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan listed his Brentwood Park estate at $11 million. The gated main house had been extensively restored and expanded. There was a lap pool and a spa.
Twenty years ago, welterweight boxing champ Oscar De La Hoya was knocking out walls and opening up the floorplan of a Bel-Air home he bought the previous year for about $3.9 million. Built in 1990, the contemporary-style house had eight bedrooms within its nearly 11,000 square feet of living space.
What we’re reading
Curbed.com scoured the country for cool container houses for sale. Making their “best” list for 2018 were a Phoenix double-decker priced at $610,000 and a modern 4,000-square-foot home in New Jersey listed for $875,000.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson surprised his mom with a new house for Christmas, reported the Huffington Post. The second-highest-paid actor in Hollywood posted an Instagram video of her finding out.
