Hot Property Newsletter: Now accepting returns
There’s nothing like a fresh beginning to jump-start interest in a property. This week’s offerings include several places that are returning to the Multiple Listing Service at new and improved prices. One such listing, for the desert haunt of a late Hollywood mega-producer, had an offer in hand within three days of coming back on the market.
For our Home of the Week, we set sail to Rancho Palos Verdes where a 5,000-square-foot postwar residence designed by notable modernist architect Richard Neutra and constructed for a shipbuilder is for sale at $4.1 million. The striking two-story features marine-grade mahogany beams and a view of the harbor.
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
Action on the set
The onetime Palm Desert home of late Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub reappeared on the market last week for $6.9 million and in three days had an offer in hand.
The contemporary-style home, designed and built for the mega-producer, was first listed three years ago for $16 million. More recently, it was priced at $9 million.
Bold geometric shapes and natural finishes define the exterior. At the heart of the 9,150-square-foot home is a massive common area divided by a floating fireplace. A custom-built pub, a home theater, five bedrooms and a gym are among the other living spaces.
The house sits on about 1.5 acres with two infinity-edge swimming pools.
Weintraub, who died in 2015 at 77, started his show business career as a talent agent, overseeing the tours of artists such as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan. His credits as a film producer include the “Karate Kid” and “Ocean’s Eleven” franchises.
Where Elvis paid the rent
This Palm Springs property — known as Elvis Presley’s honeymoon retreat — has been through so many price gyrations that it brings to mind the singer’s provocative hip movements during performances.
Like a hit song losing its grip on a Top 10 spot, the price has worked its way down from $9.5 million in 2014, when the lot size was 1.25 acres, to its current $3.2 million, with a lot that has shrunk to one-third of an acre.
Once hailed as the “House of Tomorrow” by Look Magazine, the 1960 home was considered avant-garde and futuristic when it was built. The 5,000 square feet of living space is divided into four rounded intersecting wings. Clerestory windows ring the living room, while walls of glass flood the step-up dining area with light. There are five bedrooms and five bathrooms.
Presley, who died in 1977 at age 42, shaped the music world with his sometimes controversial style and enduring hits, including “Hound Dog,” “Suspicious Minds” and “Burning Love.”
‘Zoolander’ producer’s habitat
Stuart Cornfeld, a producer for the “Zoolander” films, has relisted his home in the Hollywood Hills at $2.25 million. His search for a buyer started more than a year ago at an asking price of $2.65 million. He spent $400,000 for the place in 1985.
The 1930s three-story is a textbook example of the Streamline Moderne style. Curved walls, coved ceilings and sets of metal-framed windows blend with porthole cutouts and period fixtures to give the 2,771 square feet of interiors a nautical vibe.
The library/study has curved walls of bookshelves and opens to a patio. An interior portal looks in on the dining area. There are three bedrooms and four bathrooms.
Cornfeld’s film credits include “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” (2004), “Tropic Thunder” (2008) and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (2013), as well as the shows “The Meltdown With Jonah and Kumail” (2014-’16) and “Another Period” (2015-’18).
Old berth seeks new skipper
Mickey Rooney, the late actor whose nine-decade career started in silent films, probably wouldn’t recognize his old place in Westlake Village these days. The 1976 house was rebuilt from the ground up five years ago. But the view out the back would look familiar.
Priced at $2.795 million, the two-story contemporary is in a gated community. Lawn leads right to the water and a dock at the rear of the house.
The 3,190 square feet of open plan living space features vaulted ceilings. The center island in the kitchen opens to the great room. An informal eating area takes in views of the water, while the formal dining room features a skylight and clerestory windows. There are four bedrooms and four bathrooms.
Rooney, who lived to age 93, sold the property for $1.051 million in 2013 — the year before he died. His body of work includes 15 Andy Hardy films from the 1930s and ’40s, “Babes in Arms” (1939), “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961) and “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” (1963).
Her favorite room
Lisa McRee, a television journalist and anchor at Spectrum News 1, has carefully curated the den of her 6,000-square-foot Greek Revival home in Hancock Park into what she calls her “memory museum.” Emmy Awards sit beside family photos and signed letters from John Hancock and President Eisenhower. “It gives me some sort of special joy,” she says of her eclectic collection.
The room is a blend of family, career and history. Placed among the many pictures of McRee with her husband, producer Don Granger, and their two children are photographs of her with President Reagan and President Clinton. On display are signed letters from John Hancock and President Eisenhower.
From the archives
Ten years ago, a Sherman Oaks home once owned by box office star Marlon Brando came on the market at $2.8 million. The single-level 1939 home, containing five bedrooms and four bathrooms within its 3,027 square feet of living space, sat on more than a half-acre with a detached guesthouse. The swimming pool retained a diving board that Brando built for his children.
Twenty years ago, actor Gary Sinise, who gained fame playing the legless Lt. Dan in “Forrest Gump” (1994), bought a Malibu home on nearly two acres for about $2.4 million. In addition to the 6,000-square-foot Florentine-style house, there was also a 1,000-square-foot guesthouse and a sports complex with a basketball court.
Thirty years ago, the late comedian Dick Shawn’s Santa Monica home sold for slightly more than $1 million and the sale included actor Charles Laughton’s piano. Laughton and his actress wife, Elsa Lanchester, had once owned the two-bedroom ocean-view house.
What we’re reading
Actor Nicolas Cage’s onetime Pacific Heights Victorian is back on the market at $5.99 million — less than half its 2018 asking price, reports Curbed San Francisco. Exotic stained-glass windows and coved ceilings blend with the updated living spaces.
Here’s the coolest thing we’ve seen in a while: Street artist Jan Vormann uses Legos to repair structures all over the world. His colorful approach to filling former cracks and crevices can be seen at Dispatchwork, reports ApartmentTherapy.com.
ICYMI: A real estate agent is trying to sell a vacant jail in Daggett County, Utah, reports the Los Angeles Times. Asking price for the 80-bed 17,680-square-foot facility and 11-acre campus: $4.45 million.
