Yolanda meant to write about this one a few weeks ago, back when it was first officially listed, but we were so behind with other tales that it had to wait ’til now. (And there’s still another dozen stories sitting in our queue, but we suppose that’s a good problem to have.)
Anyway, there are numerous expensive contemporary homes available for purchase these days — especially in once-stodgy and conservative lower Bel Air — but this one is of particular interest to us because of its history, both in the very recent past and from years ago.
The structure was originally built in 1964 and last sold in 2014 for $11,100,000 at a bankruptcy sale (more on that later). The buyers then were an Iranian couple named Ardie & Tania Tavangarian.
After nearly four years spent rebuilding and expanding the residence, work was officially finished in late 2017. The blinged-out behemoth now weighs in with a mega-mansion-sized 24,922-square-feet of living space that includes 9 beds and 12 baths.
Shortly after construction was completed, Yolanda heard through the grapevine that the property was being shown to qualified buyers on the downlow by one of LA’s most successful real estate agents. The aggressive asking price, so the rumors go, was an even-steven $100 million.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The $100 million extravaganza
Then — a couple months ago — Yolanda heard from both Ollie Oxenfree and Jackie D. Ripper that the extravagant home was quietly in escrow for somewhere around $80 million. The would-be buyer? None other than Walmart heiress Paige Laurie.
For whatever reason, the escrow was obviously cancelled and Ms. Laurie hightailed it over to the Beverly Hills Post Office area, where she saved herself (and her mama) nearly $40 million by dropping “just” $41,500,000 on an enormous compound out there. See, kids, even billionaire Walmart heiresses know how to economize! But we digress.
Well, one cancelled $80 million escrow is plenty interesting. But then Yolanda heard something even crazier. We were contacted by a new tipster — let’s call him Huckleberry Finn — who whispered that not only was the house in escrow with Ms. Laurie, there was a second interested party who also quietly entered escrow on the property for roughly the same amount.
The other would-be buyers? A certain billionaire couple who own a very, very expensive home on Malibu’s Carbon Beach. Yolanda will keep their names out of this messy story since they’re nice people, but if y’all have been following this blog for some time, you can probably guess who they are.
Mr. Finn blabbed that both escrows spectacularly failed and because of that, the original realtor done lost the listing! Yikes. And as for why the two potential sales were never consummated, we’re not gonna get into the nuts and bolts — suffice to say that the buyers and sellers were unable to agree on terms.
Anywho, nearly a year after construction was wrapped up and still unsold, the palatial estate has officially been listed by a new team of high-end realtors with a significantly lower $88,000,000 pricetag.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.A $12 million price reduction (classic autos not included)!
But even before all the recent off-market escrow drama, the property has had multiple issues and plenty of bad juju. Originally constructed by noted mid-century modern architect Richard Dorman, the house was acquired in 2001 by a dude named Reagan Silber. Our Mr. Silber massaged the structure into a glassy contemporary trophy before selling it (in 2006) to Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Halsey Minor, who paid exactly $20 million for the house.
Although Mr. Minor proved himself a tech genius — his CNET business is widely believed to be the first internet company to ever make money — his talents apparently did not extend to financial management. Though once worth over $200 million, the spendthrift fella was in deep debt by 2008 and eventually declared bankruptcy. Way too many trophy properties will do that to ya.
Compounding the bankruptcy issues was the fact that his Bel Air house had serious structural problems that rendered the property utterly unlivable. Problems like rotten wooden beams, mold, a cracked retaining wall, extensive water damage and on and on. No bueno. Eventually the estate became abandoned and fell into ruins.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The abandoned Halsey Minor mansion
In 2014, the hot mess of a property was sold in bankruptcy proceedings for the aforementioned $11,100,000 — nearly $9 million less than Mr. Minor had paid eight years prior.
But anywho, the house has been resurrected and renovated down to the studs. Today, as y’all can see, it is unrecognizable. Kinda like a butterfly emerging from its ugly cocoon, eh? Take a peek.
The current listing description includes just four words: “Extraordinary Views, Extraordinary Property.”
Obviously the realtors want the pics to speak for themselves. We’ll take the hint and let them do so here. But folks, do let ol’ Yolanda know what you think.
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Clearly it’s quite a place. And it certainly ain’t meant for a minimalist. While way too theatrical for Yolanda’s humble personal tastes, we can appreciate the tens of millions that went into fashioning this palace. And we can also see why Ms. Laurie and our Malibu couple were drawn to the property.
Then again, certain features do creep us out — those glass skeletons by the pool and the birds inside, for example. (Yolanda is a Hitchcock fan).
Time will tell whether the Tavangarians are able to lure another buyer looking in this price range. Should they succeed in doing so, let’s pray for their sake that they (and their realtors) can actually close the deal. It’s not easy in the ultra-high-end market these days. But third time’s always the charm, right?
He may be an octogenarian, but the elderly Sir Anthony Hopkins can still ball out with the best of them. And he is determined to show these ignorant young’uns how it’s done on the property front. To that end, he (via blind trust) has forked out a rude $6,600,000 for a brand-new residence in the Bluffs region of posh Pacific Palisades. Just in time for Christmas! He’s no Scrooge.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Sir Anthony – still spry
Yolanda hopes that everyone already knows who Sir Anthony is — even the ditziest of y’all need no introduction, right? But just for the sake of our OCD, Sir Anthony has long been one of the most critically-acclaimed actors in Hollywood. His 50+ year career in cinema and television includes successful films such as The Mask of Zorro, The Bounty, Meet Joe Black, Magic, and 84 Charing Cross Road.
Arguably the most impressive film in Sir Anthony’s repertoire, however (and his best-known role) is 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. For his deliciously creepy portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, Sir Anthony won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The movie (and his character) have since become iconic pieces of Hollywood film history.
Born in Wales to a working-class family, Sir Anthony did poorly in school — much to his parents’ chagrin. In his early 20s, he made his acting debut at the Palace Theatre, Swansea, where he was eventually noticed by Sir Laurence Olivier, the man who would become his mentor. At Sir Laurence’s invitation, he joined the Royal National Theatre in London. And the rest is, well, history.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Sir Anthony & his longtime wife Stella
In the personal arena, Sir Anthony holds dual British and American citizenships but has resided in LA since the 1990s. And since 2003, he has been married to Colombian actress Stella Hopkins (née Arroyave), his third wife. He also has one child — an adult daughter from his first marriage — though the two have been estranged for decades.
Ever since his permanent move to LA twenty-odd years ago, Sir Anthony has bunked up in both Pacific Palisades or Malibu. And he continues to keep a significant real estate foothold in both communities. More on that foothold later — first, a peek at his impressive new Palisades digs.
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The blocky contemporary was spec-built by a non-famous local couple who are tryin’ their hand(s) at real estate development. According to the listing, there are a generous (but not overwhelming) 5,778-square-feet of interior living space spread over three distinct levels.
From the street out front, a lighted stairway transports guests and vendors to “heaven,” aka the home’s front door. Within is the open-concept main level that features sprawling living and dining areas, plus a kitchen outfitted with fancy Miele appliances. Disappearing walls of glass blur the line between the indoors and out.
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The home’s inner sanctum — aka the master suite — is located on the third level and includes a bedroom with peek-a-boo ocean views and balcony, a bathroom with glassy shower, and a spacious sitting area.
Scattered throughout the residence are four additional bedrooms and six more baths. The color scheme in the entire pad is very white and grey, which we suppose is good if y’all go in for that sort of thing.
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Down on the lower level, things get rowdy with a huge home theater, games room, a gym/yoga studio and an 800-bottle (!!) wine cellar. Sir Anthony is a recovering alcoholic who has been sober since 1975, so we expect he’ll convert that cellar into storage space for his awards, records, human bodies, etc.
Also down there is a garage with space for four luxury vehicles. Currently within the garage are two Ferraris: a black F430 Spider and a gorgeous classic Testarossa ala Miami Vice. Swoon! You keep the 430, Sir Anthony, Yolanda will take the Testarossa. Deal?
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Other luxury features include an elevator that accesses all four levels of the residence (including the 655-square-foot rooftop deck, with its lovely ocean and sunset views) and a large office.
The backyard is smaller than y’all might expect for $6.6 million — it’s downright puny, actually — but that’s typical for this tightly-packed neighborhood. And it does have the requisite outdoor lawn and pool with waterfall feature and inset spa.
Anywho, our boy is clearly fond of the Palisades — in addition to his big new manse, he’s also got a luxury condo in the ‘hood (bought a couple years ago for $1.1 million) and he continues to own his Palisades starter house, which was purchased way back in 1995 for a mere $660,000.
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The 3-bed, 2-bath cottage has just 1,748-square-feet of living space and is mostly hidden behind a thicket of trees and tall hedges.
In addition to his three Palisades properties, Sir Anthony also keeps what is likely the most valuable property in his portfolio: a multi-acre estate in Malibu’s star-studded Point Dume community. He purchased the compound back in 2001 for $3,795,000, though it has appreciated by millions since then.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Sir Anthony’s Malibu home (it’s in there somewhere, honest)
The very private blufftop home is set on one of Malibu’s most desirable streets and features unobstructed westward views that take in Zuma Beach, the Pacific Ocean, and glorious sunsets. Some of Sir Anthony’s nearest neighbors out there include Bob Dylan, Owen Wilson and Bryan Singer.
PS — If y’all need a laugh this holiday season, check out this Vice article penned by writer/blogger (and longtime Malibu resident) Merrill Markoe. Every year for the past decade, she has taken photos of her neighbor Bob Dylan’s Christmas decorations and deciphered their hidden meanings.
Her 2018 critical analysis might be the best one yet. Just sayin’.
Listing agent: Eric Knight, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anthony Hopkins’ agent: Kevin Krakower, Douglas Elliman
A few days ago, our Mama at Varietyreported that critically-lauded actress/comedian/writer Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Saturday Night Live) sold her redone Silver Lake shanty for $5,225,000, or a hefty $100,000 more than the asking price.
For those of y’all unfamiliar with the neighborhood, $5.2 million is a huge number for LA’s Eastside. It’s more than double what any other home in hipster-approved Silver Lake has fetched in the last three years. Moreover, it’s easily the second-biggest sale on record in the area, behind only the $8.55 million that the iconic — and far larger — Silvertop estate by John Lautner brought back in 2014. (FYI, Silvertop happens to be right next door to the just-sold Wiig digs).
Naturally nosy ol’ Yolanda wanted to know who the big-bucks buyer was. Well, the property was technically sold to a trust (as y’all might expect), but we managed to ferret out the new owner’s identity. He’s a guy named Tim Disney.
57-year-old Mr. Disney was born into vast wealth. Yes, kids, we’re talking those Disneys. Tim is a grand-nephew of Walt Disney, founder of the whole shebang, and a grandson of Roy O. Disney, Walt’s older brother and business partner. He’s also a son of the late billionaire Roy E. Disney, the last Disney family member to be actively involved with the company.
As for Tim, he has made a name for himself in Hollywood as a prolific independent filmmaker — he’s a screenwriter, director, and executive producer all in one. His specialty seems to be interesting documentaries, but he’s also got dramas like A Question of Faith and American Violet in his repertoire.
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Now married to his second wife Neda, with whom he has a young daughter, Mr. Disney also has a teenage son — Ciaran Disney — with his first wife, Star Trek actress Martha Hackett.
In addition to his film interests, our boy clearly has a thing for houses, too. Particularly places with interesting or unusual architecture. More on that in a little bit — first, here’s a peek at his new pad.
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Designed by relatively unknown mid-century modern architect Albert P. Martin, the house was built in 1954 as his personal residence. Records show that Ms. Wiig scooped up the 0.4-acre hillside property in 2014 for just $1,700,000, after which she hired Taalman Architecture and The Archers to transform the dated abode into a stylish casa fit for a modern lifestyle.
The decidedly retro result spans approximately 2,500-square-feet of living space with 3 beds and 2.5 baths in the main house.
From the street-level two-car garage, it’s a booty-bustin’ steep climb up a long series of stairs to reach the home’s front door. Watch your step if you’ve got arms full of groceries. (Kinda reminds us of that legendary Laurel & Hardy skit, but we digress).
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Inside the candy-apple-red front door is a wee entrance foyer and two sitting rooms: one done up as an office and the other with vintage leather chairs by a fireplace.
Also on the main level is a spacious screening room and two guest bedrooms. A slim staircase leads upstairs to the main entertaining areas and the master suite, which features a bedroom with views of the Silver Lake Reservoir, a dressing room, and a spacious bathroom.
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The airy living area upstairs includes distinct sitting and dining spaces plus a chic kitchen with high-end appliances and glassy walnut cabinetry. Floor-to-ceiling glass sliders let the indoors spill out to various pavilions outside, and there’s plenty of space for open-air dining and/or sunbathing.
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Ms. Wiig’s construction work included the addition of a new 1,000-square-foot glassy guesthouse/entertainment pavilion that is separate from the main residence and includes an additional bedroom and full bathroom. Also within there are a lounge and a sleek living room with concrete walls and hardwood floors.
Just outside the guesthouse is an expansive deck and a brand-new pool/spa combo that appears (form a distance) to be cantilevered directly over the reservoir. That’s quite something. It ain’t cheap to build a hillside pool, kids, and to build a hillside pool situated in that way — and on an ultra-steep lot like this to boot — must’ve cost Ms. Wiig a small fortune in engineering and construction fees. Thank yourselves for getting her those Bridesmaids royalty checks — y’all made this place possible.
Anywho, Mr. and Mrs. Disney currently reside in nearby Los Feliz, in a renovated 1930 Spanish estate they bought for $6,400,000 back in 2016 (below).
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For unknown reasons, the Disneys also owned a giant building near the Hancock Park neighborhood of LA. They paid $3,700,000 for the property in April 2013.
To Yolanda the place looks like a warehouse or some sort of laboratory, but the structure includes 7 beds, 5 baths, and a kitchen with fancy stainless appliances. So we suppose it could be used as a residence.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Tim Disney’s former property – near Hancock Park
Records show that Mr. Disney sold the oddball structure for $4,450,000 last year (April 2017). The buyers, in case y’all were wondering, were a non-famous local couple.
The Disneys also keep an offbeat weekend retreat in the desert community of Joshua Tree, a couple hours (by car) east of Los Angeles. The house — a foldable prefab confection — was dreamt up by Bay Area-based builder Blu Homes.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Kristen Wiig’s Case Study House, Pasadena
Ms. Wiig’s historic Pasadena residence is situated on what is oft-considered to be the most prestigious street in the city. Some of her nearest neighbors include Oscar De La Hoya, billionaire Charlie Munger (he’s Warren Buffett’s longtime right-hand man), and Elon Musk’s (former?) girlfriend Grimes.
Last month, cryptocurrency tycoon (and SF resident) Jesse Powell tweeted a mini-rant about San Francisco, its “crack-zombies,” and how “you can pay $3k/sqft for a condo but can’t stop people from literally shitting on your door.“
When BREAKER magazine caught up with Mr. Powell for an elaboration on his tweet, Mr. Powell doubled down on his disgust, saying “some people are too far gone“. And when asked whether he would ever leave the Bay Area, Mr. Powell answered in the affirmative — “For sure. I’m considering leaving the city.“
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Nary a fan of SF
Well, according to Yolanda’s research, it turns out Mr. Powell wasn’t just whistlin’ Dixie. In fact, he’s more than considered a zip code change — he’s already done sealed the deal by purchasing an impressive mansion in one of LA’s priciest neighborhoods. Records show that our boy used a mysteriously-named corporate entity to stealthily shell out $11,500,000 — all of it in cash. USD, that is. No bitcoin here.
The house in question is one of the most private properties in Brentwood’s star-studded Mandeville Canyon area. Though originally built in 1971, the property was radically renovated and expanded over the last three years by the fine folks at ANR Signature Collection. It’s basically like a brand-new mansion.
But we digress — before we start dissectin’ the residence, here’s some background on our boy.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Crypto king
For those of y’all uninformed, Mr. Powell is a very big deal in the crazy cryptocurrency world. As the CEO and co-founder of Kraken, he presides over one of the world’s most well-known bitcoin exchanges. Founded in 2011, Kraken has grown to become “the largest Bitcoin exchange in euro volume and liquidity and also trading Canadian dollars, US dollars, British pounds and Japanese yen,” per their website.
Kraken now employs more than 800 humans and is currently headquartered in the heart of SF, though Mr. Powell has publicly stated he will soon open a SoCal office in or around LA’s Silicon Beach nabe.
Now in his late 30s, shaggy-haired Mr. Powell also keeps a (infrequently updated) personal blog where he mostly posts about bitcoin and his love for video games. The blog’s headline, hilariously enough, reads “this blog has been intentionally left janky.” So there y’all have it.
Mr. Powell is a college dropout from Cal State Sacramento and founded Verge Center for the Arts — which is now Sacramento’s largest commercial fine art gallery — at the tender age of 27. He was also the founder of Lewt, Inc., which made money primarily by buying and selling items related to the video game franchise Diablo. Or so we gather. It’s also been described as “an equivalent of Amazon.com” for some video/computer games.
To be perfectly honest, Yolanda knows next to nothing about our boy’s background or family. We don’t know where he grew up, whether he’s married, if he has kids or not. That bugs our OCD-addled brain, but oh well. Maybe we’re off our game, or maybe Mr. Powell keeps that stuff on the DL. We hope it’s the latter.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Mr. Powell in Japan (photo: japansubculture.com)
Perhaps somebody who knows this dude will write in and inform Yolanda about his personal details. Until then, y’all will have to content yourselves with perusin’ pics of his fancy new Westside digs.
Oh — by the way, in addition to his dislike for San Francisco, Mr. Powell is also no fan of New York. Back in September (2018), he blasted the entire state, saying (in part), “NY is that abusive, controlling ex you broke up with 3 years ago but they keep stalking you, throwing shade on your new relationships, unable to accept that you have happily moved on and are better off without them. #getoverit.”
Good gracious! Yolanda hope Mr. Powell finds LA more agreeable, else he’ll soon run outta places to live.
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Although Mr. Powell’s new mini-estate has a Mandeville Canyon Road address, the house is actually located well off the main drag and set on a wee cul-de-sac. At the end of the street, a steep private drive shared with three other properties transports you to the residence.
The privately-situated house features a gated motorcourt, a security system, and garage parking for up to five vehicles. This is also a “smart home” with a (very expensive) automation system by Savant. Our Mr. Powell can control everything — pretty much — remotely, from the touchpad on his iPhone.
Anyway, the house features airy interiors done up in ANR’s trademark sophisticated, contemporary style. Walls of disappearing glass (they’re actually Fleetwood pocket doors) flood the living areas with California sunshine and blur the line between indoors and outdoors.
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The main house features 6 beds and 7 baths. Two of the bedrooms are located on the main level, one of them suitable as a guest/spare room and the other as maid’s quarters. Also on the main floor is a enormous kitchen that features two center islands amid acres of blondish hardwood, and elsewhere is a family room with canyon views. Somewhere tucked away is a large movie theater.
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Upstairs are four en-suite bedrooms, including the elephantine master suite with its vaulted ceiling and dramatic, pentagonal wall of glass that provides a distant city lights view.
Check out that shower in the master bath! Well, hot damn. That’s big enough for half of Kraken’s workforce to shower together! Take team bonding to the next level, Mr. Powell.
Also, that bathroom floor looks slippery. Watch your step. Nude dancing (or dancing of any kind, really) should be undertaken only with extreme caution.
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Other amenities include an office (outfitted with two iconic EggImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Chairs by Arne Jacobsen), an upstairs gym, attached guesthouse with another full bedroom and bathroom. The self-contained compound weighs in with a mansion-sized 9,393-square-feet of living space.
Out back, the .69-acre property features dual staircases leading down to a sprawling deck, plenty of space for al fresco dining, and a black-bottomed, irregularly-shaped swimming pool with inset spa.
Yolanda believes Mr. Powell also owns a residence in San Francisco — we doubt he rents — but can’t find any trace of it in property records, and not for lack of lookin’. Sorry, kids. Don’t mouth off to your gurl. It’s Christmas so just be glad you’re getting this story rather than a box of coal.
Yolanda apologizes for flooding everyone’s inbox over the last few days with story upon story. It’s just that we want to finish the year strong and get all this old junk cleared up — then we can start totally afresh in 2019. Capiche?
We know many of our readers are Jewish, but regardless of whether you go in for Christmas, Hanukkah or something else entirely — or maybe you don’t celebrate at all — your gurl wishes you happy holidays.
Anyway, your email account will be relieved to hear that we’re gonna take a couple days off to spend time with family. We may even have our first white Christmas up in Lake Arrowhead, where the peeps have a petite property. We shall see.
Before we jet off, however, we just wanted to commemorate another amazing year. We started this blog in early 2016 — after years of contemplating it — and in three years our little hobby has grown beyond what we ever imagined. And not to blow our own bugle, but in 2018 we saw record growth in subscribers, hits, and tips received. Let’s hope that momentum continues in the new year. Tell your friends, enemies, co-workers, nannies, toilet bowl scrubbers. We don’t discriminate.
Yolanda is beyond thankful for all our readers, commenters, our spider web of tipsters/informants — you know who you are! — and Patti LaBelle for her delicious sweet potato pie that we plan to enjoy tomorrow.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Big ups to Ms. LaBelle (pie available at your local Walmart)
Over the next week we’ll post several fun year-end countdown stories — the top 20 sales of the year, the biggest transaction in each of LA’s luxury neighborhoods, etc — but before all of that, here’s a quick recap of 2018’s choicest highlights, at least from Yolanda’s perspective.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Yolanda’s most popular story of 2018
2018 was undeniably the year of Cardi B. Everywhere we turned, there she was in one of her whackadoodle getups. Ms. B gained enormous fame in an incredibly short period of time — in one year, she has transformed from a random rapper into an A-list celeb. That’s the power of social media for y’all. And as her star dramatically rose, so too did that of Fashion Nova, her longtime favorite clothing brand turned business partner.
As Cardi B’s fame exploded, more and more of her followers began to notice her nonstop Fashion Nova boosting — she constantly wears their clothes, she raps about the company, she even had a sold-out collabo with them — and they began to Google the company’s enigmatic owner, who is known for shunning interviews. And many of those Cardi B followers — so we believe — stumbled across our post.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Cardi B gave Yolanda our most-viewed story of 2018 (see Richard Saghian in the background?)
Truthfully, Yolanda feels that we probably owe Cardi B a slice of the ad revenue generated by that story, but luckily she hasn’t requested anything from us. Yet.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.“Does this house make my ding-dong look small?“
Our second-most-popular story, unsurprisingly, was the post about Instagram sensation Dan Bilzerian and his new (leased) mega-mansion in Bel Air. It’s big, it’s bad, it’s bodacious, it’s bachelor-ific with a bowling alley, a tennis court and pool on the roof, and about 2,732 garage doors. Neat-o.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Laurene Powell — billionaire and Malibu fire victim
Perhaps the most horrific Southern California inferno was the Woolsey Fire, which scorched nearly 100,000 acres and destroyed 450 homes in Malibu alone. The most valuable property torched by the blaze was the $60+ million compound of Laurene Powell, widow of Steve Jobs.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The biggest deal in Southern California history
Speaking of Malibu, 2018 also saw the biggest residential real estate deal in Southern California history — yes, ever — go down on Carbon Beach. Billionaire couple Michael & Iris Smith paid $110 million (in cash, of course) for Peter Morton’s Richard Meier-designed compound.
Crazy, right? But the most ludicrous part is this ain’t even the Smiths’ only $110 million house — they’ve got another one out in the Hamptons.
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And finally, 2018 was the year we met our new best friend: former Australian actress Susan Hannaford, who lives in a huge mansion high above Beverly Hills.
Bahahaha! Sorry, Yolanda just couldn’t resist. We love a good trainwreck.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Rick Caruso’s bling-tastic Xmas lights
If y’all have a chance to swing by (or if you already live in the area) go check out the Christmas lights on Rick Caruso’s Brentwood Park estate. Every year he goes all-out with the holiday spirit, and every year there’s a row of cars lined up outside the house, all of them filled with slack-jawed gawkers.
Since 2012, it has become Yolanda’s holiday tradition to stop outside the Caruso house, turn off the car for a few minutes, and just admire the lights. It’s really quite something — pictures don’t do it justice. The longer y’all look, the more detail you see.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.…and check out those palm trees
That’s all she wrote, folks. We’ll be off the grid for the next couple days. So be good, post no bills, and don’t forget to pop back in here when the holidays are over. (That’s what she said!)
Today let’s take a peek at a renovated Spanish-style estate in the celeb-soaked (and unfortunately fire-ravaged) Malibu neighborhood of Point Dume. For those of y’all not familiar with the area, Point Dume is a very prominent promontory — a long bluff, if you will — on the coast of the seaside city. And at least half the residents there are famous, or so it seems to Yolanda.
The 1973 estate in question just sold for the $4,900,000. That’s a fairly big number by itself, but it’s all the more impressive because your gurl knows for a fact that at least one of the next-door neighbors’ homes was burned to the ground last month. The flames were (literally) in this place’s backyard. So props to the agents involved for getting this deal done so soon after the devastation.
Anyway, the new owner is longtime island boy Billy Kreutzmann — a guy who has earned an enormous fortune just by playing the drums. Born in Palo Alto, the then-teenage little drummer boy co-founded the rock band the Warlocks in 1964. That band would eventually become the Grateful Dead.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Still got it.
According to Mr. Wiki Pedia, the Grateful Dead are famed for their eclectic style, for live performances of lengthy instrumental jams, and for their devoted fan base, known as “Deadheads“. During their 30-year active history — Mr. Kreutzmann served as drummer that entire time — the band played over 2,300 concerts, earning $285 million in the 1990s alone. Since their 1995 disbandment, the group received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Now in his early 70s, Mr. Kreutzmann has lived in Hawaii for many years with his fifth wife, Aimee Sharp (they’ve now been married for at least a decade). He’s got two adult children — Stacy and Justin — from two of his prior marriages. And he has also become involved in politics — he publicly endorsed Prop 19, which would have legalized marijuana in California. “I smoke marijuana and I’m not a criminal; please vote Yes on 19,” he said.
Now that Mary Jane is legal in CA, perhaps Mr. Kreutzmann has decided on a return to his birth state to indulge legally and in peace.
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The half-acre flag lot property is set back on a long driveway shared with two other flag lot homes — one of them owned by screenwriter Stephen Blinn and the other by filmmaker Gavin Hood. Last sold in 2015 for $3.1 million, the house has been redone since then by a rich guy from Louisiana named Billy Busbice.
If any of y’all watch The Outdoor Channel or A&E, you may recognize Mr. Busbice — an avid outdoorsman and hunter — from his frequent TV appearances on those networks. Unfortunately for him, our Mr. Busbice was suspended from TV in 2015 after being caught poaching. Oh dear! (For his part, Mr. Busbice has claimed the whole situation was an accident).
But we digress — Mr. Busbice now has two things to smile about: his Malibu house didn’t burn down and he just flipped it at a nice profit.
Anywho, a gated motorcourt off the shared driveway features a two-car attached garage plus off-street parking for several more vehicles. From there, a long expanse of stairs leads past a mature lemon tree to the home’s front door. Though the property does not feature ocean views, it is walking distance to the sand and transferred with a coveted beach key to all-but-private Little Dume Beach.
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The home’s elaborate front doors lead into an open-concept entertaining area with a dining set, a fireplace-equipped formal living space, and herringbone-pattered oak floors. Walls of glass fold away to allow direct access to the private backyard. Some of the plentiful amenities out back include a firepit, pool with inset spa, a full outdoor kitchen with BBQ, and an elaborate children’s playset.
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The master suite is set in a private wing of the single-story shanty and includes a fireplace, a walk-in closet, and a fully-redone bathroom with soaking tub, dual vanities and glassy shower. Elsewhere in the 3,241-square-foot structure are three smaller bedrooms suitable for family and/or guests.
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The chic kitchen sports a farmhouse-style sink, top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances, and a center island with bar-style seating for casual dining.
Yolanda could spend all day and all night just listing the famous folks who call Point Dume home — there are so many we’ve lost count — so we’ll stick to just the folks on Mr. Kreutzmann’s wee street. Some of the homeowners within sugar-borrowing distance include composer J. Ralph, filmmaker Spike Jonze, guitarist Lee Ritenour, director Michael Preece, rich San Francisco lady (and Gwyneth Paltrow BFF) Juliet de Baubigny, director James Mangold and billionaire haircare heiress Michaeline DeJoria.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Bill Kreutzmann and Aimee Sharp’s Hawaiian farm
Before buying the Malibu spread, Mr. Kreutzmann and Ms. Sharp long lived a quiet, slow-paced life on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where they continue to maintain a multi-acre estate that includes a (relatively) modest house and a sizable organic farm.
As 2018 quickly grinds to a close, Yolanda has been busy tallying up the biggest real estate deals of the year. Down behind the Orange Curtain, the fourth-biggest transaction was a $30,500,000 splurge on a humongous Newport Coast spread. (For anyone curious, our boy Bill Gross had both the #1 biggest dealandthe #3 deal for the OC’s year. Yeah, he’s crazy rich.)
Anyway, the buyer of the $30.5 million house — much to Yolanda’s surprise — is not some billionaire business tycoon or preposterously pampered heiress. Nope, he’s actually a dude we ain’t never heard of before — a guy from Tampa, Florida named Alan Brynjolfsson.
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The son of renowned Icelandic nuclear physicist Ari Brynjolfsson, our Mr. Brynjolfsson comes from a very successful family. He’s got three older brothers, each of whom has forged a notable career in their own right: Olaf Brynjolfsson is chief of surgery at a major hospital, Erik Brynjolfsson is a famous MIT professor, and John Brynjolfsson spent many years as a Managing Director at Bill Gross’s PIMCO outfit. He’s now a millionaire many, many times over.
But the youngest Mr. Brynjolfsson likely has the highest net worth out of all his family members. In 2007, he founded VOLT Lighting, a manufacturer of lighting products (both indoor and outdoor) that has grown to become a major industry disruptor. According to one online post Yolanda found, VOLT’s annual sales are in the tens of millions and still surging. And Mr. Brynjolfsson appears to be the sole owner, which means ka-ching for his plump pocketbook.
When he’s not in the office (or spending tens of millions on massive mansions) Mr. Brynjolfsson enjoys auto racing and even owns a well-known racing team of his own — it’s called VOLT racing. Naturally.
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Now in his early 50s, our boy is married to his longtime wife Trish. The soon-to-be empty nesters have four children — two boys and two girls — ranging in age from 16 to 20.
Whether Mr. Brynjolfsson intends to make the Newport Coast manse his primary residence or if it will remain a family vacation home is a mystery to Yolanda. But we do know that a couple of his kids attend USC, so it seems likely he and the missus will be spending loads of time out yonder. And Mr. Brynjolfsson is clearly enjoying his new digs — he’s already posted a bunch of photos on the Instagram contraption, where he currently sports more than 10,000 followers.
But anywho, we digress. Point is, Mr. Brynjolfsson has done got himself a lavish new house. So shut up and take a peek.
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The gargantuan Tuscan-style pile is located within exclusive Crystal Cove — one of the OC’s swankiest guard-gated communities — and weighs in with 15,000-square-feet of living space. While that ain’t quite mega-mansion status, it’s pretty darn close.
Records reveal that the .72-acre property was last sold back in 2007, and it appears the then-buyer — bigshot businessman Nabeel Gareeb — paid a staggering $15,200,000 for the vacant land. He then spent God-only-knows how many more millions to construct the 2009-built beast y’all see in photos here.
Inside, the estate is very beige and slightly ostentatious — we’re talking rococo curtains, numerous columns and gilt-trimmed chandeliers/other assorted doodads. It’s not really Yolanda’s personal taste in decor, but we know lots of rich folks who enjoy living this way and would absolutely adore this place.
The entrance foyer is bound to impress the pizza delivery boy (or girl) with its marble floors, double-height ceiling, and hand-painted frescos above the chandelier. Beyond that, the (also double-height) great room features ocean views and one of the largest indoor aquariums Yolanda has ever seen. We know a little something about aquariums and wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if maintenance on that thing runs six figures annually, or something nearly that insane.
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Things get more serious in the formal living and dining rooms. Both spaces have fireplaces, burgundy-hued curtains and lovely area rugs. Also within the home is a mahogany-clad study, a massive kitchen with every fancy appliance known to mankind, and an outdoor living room with fireplace.
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The estate features six bedrooms — all of them en-suite — plus two downstairs powder rooms and a full outdoor bath by the pool. The upstairs master includes a frilly bedroom — all done up in pink, it is — a private (covered) balcony plus a bathroom with sauna and built-in soaking tub.
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Other resort-like amenities on the plush property include a game room with “golf simulator and racing seats” (perfect for Mr. Brynjolfsson!), a luridly opulent home theater with Vegas-like pink lighting strips in the ceiling, a mirror-walled gym, firepit and outdoor rock waterfall confection. And then, of course, there’s the centerpiece of the estate — that infinity-edged swimming pool with inset spa.
All jokes aside, the views here are spectacular and we’d wager that the pool and those vistas alone are worth a sizable chunk of the $30.5 million sale price.
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Lest we forget, there’s also a 3,300-square-foot underground garage with space for 15+ luxury automobiles. It appears that our Mr. Gareeb has eclectic taste in (black) cars — he’s got a special-edition black Mustang, an OG black Viper with the T-top, a black Porsche Panamera, and a black Maserati.
Yolanda is not sure what that black-and-red number is. It’s definitely an exotic, but it ain’t no Ferrari or Lambo. Could it be a Koenigsegg? Hmmm. Maybe one of our resident car experts will let us know.
Anywho, Yolanda did some sniffin’ around the Crystal Cove neighborhood, where we’ve previously discussed a $28 million sale. While we didn’t find any “celebrity” residents — at least none of the Hollywood variety — we did discover that many of the several dozen homes in there (nearly all of which are worth $10 million or more) are owned by Chinese people. And that’s kinda funny, kids. See, it wasn’t so long ago that Newport Beach was essentially a totally lily-white community. Some folks would look atcha sideways if you were a person of color passin’ through.
But in recent years, wealthy Asians — particularly folks from Mainland China — have fallen in love with the area, flocking there in droves. We’re not sure why they love Newport in particular, but your gurl must admit the beaches down there are beautiful — arguably more so than anything we have in Malibu. (Don’t tell any LA people we said that!)
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Alan Brynjolfsson’s Tampa manse
But we digress yet again. Back in Tampa, the Brynjolfsson family resides in the exclusive Avila Golf & Country Club community. Records show that our boy paid $1,900,000 for his home there almost exactly five years ago — toward the end of 2013.
Old listing materials (very) generously describe the mansion as an “architecturally magnificent Mediterranean masterpiece”. The 2008-built structure bulges in with a portly 9,068-square-feet of living space and features 6 beds and a total of 8 baths, exactly the same figures as his Newport Coast sprawler.
Yolanda’s favorite time of the year is upon us: recap time! Time for our fourth annual countdown of the year’s twenty biggest transactions. We spent loads of time compiling this list and we think everything is here. But if we did happen to miss a deal, we’re sure one of you smartasses will let us know. (Just kidding. We really do want to know if we missed anything, so hit us up.)
Before we get things rollin’, here are some brief comments on this year’s list.
While the ultra-high-end market has significantly slowed over the past 12 months, you wouldn’t know it from looking at these deals. Although this year’s median sale price of $36,500,000 was down by $2 million from last year’s figure, the mean price paid — buoyed by several monstrous outlier deals — topped $48 million, up a few ticks from $45.9 million in 2017.
Americans continue to constitute the majority of these buyers, but we also saw folks from Germany, Thailand, Japan, Canada, Australia, England and France spend big this year.
And finally, Malibu once again dominated the top 10 (with five entries), while Beverly Hills tied them for the overall crown (five properties on the entire list). Take a look.
20. Holmby Hills — $28.5 million
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The “quietest big deal of the year” award goes to this Holmby Hills transaction. With no fanfare, British developer Christian Candy sold his LA home to his older brother (and business partner) Nick Candy.
Listing agent: Tomer Fridman, Compass Frank Binder & Alexandra Schuck’s agent: Darryl Wilson, Rodeo Realty
18. Beverly Hills (Trousdale Estates) — $30 million
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Billionaire Bernard Arnaultcontinues to invest heavily in LA real estate, paying $30 million for a Trousdale teardown next door to another property he already owns. The sellers were a non-famous Iranian family.
17. Hollywood Hills — $31.5 million
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Screenwriter Simon Kinberg is recently divorced and ready to mingle, as one can tell by his purchase of this ultimate bachelor pad above the Sunset Strip. Sold by developer Dean McKillen, the swoopy house was designed by Paul McClean.
The sexed-up Stanley Housefetched $33 million in cash from German billionaire heir Frank Binder and his American fiancee Alexandra Schuck — the only folks to appear twice on this list.
David & Victoria Beckham jetted back across the pond after realizing a huge profit on their Beverly Hills home. The buyer — who is stillunidentified — paid cash. Yolanda has offered to trade both our firstborn and our third ex-husband Randall in return for the buyer’s name, but no luck as of yet.
13. Pacific Palisades — $33.8 million
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Beauty queen turned philanthropist Bui Simon — she was Miss Universe 1988 and is married to real estate billionaire Herb Simon — shattered the Palisades record with her big spec-mansion buy.
Listing & Selling agent: Kurt Rappaport, Westside Estate Agency
11. Beverly Hills — $35 million
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Of all the folks we’ve ever profiled on this blog, we have yet to find anyone who changes houses more frequently than Ellen DeGeneres (and her wife Portia de Rossi). This particular property was sold for a huge profit to Sue Gross, the billionaire ex-wife of “Bond King” Bill Gross.
The hills above Beverly Hills are alive with the sound of crazy Walmart money. Paige Lauriebroke the BHPO record with this one. The house also made our 2017 top 10 list, when it first sold last year for “just” $38.5 million to Scottish billionaire Sir Tom Hunter.
At 36, Ms. Laurie is also the youngest buyer to make this year’s top 20.
This was formerly the longtime home of Danny DeVito but has been completely revamped and expanded by prolific real estate investors Stuart & Stephanie Liner. The buyer, Australian billionaire James Packer, paid one of the highest prices ever recorded in Beverly Hills.
Oaktree Capital Management billionaire Bruce Karsh and his wife Marthabought this stunning Holmby Hills farmhouse. The property was custom-built for the late Hollywood producer Brad Grey, who recently succumbed to cancer.
Listing agents:Stephen Shapiro, Westside Estate Agency; Linda May, Hilton & Hyland Bruce & Martha Karsh’s agent:Linda May, Hilton & Hyland
Real estate super-agent Kurt Rappaportcustom-built this spectacular Brutalist compound on a multi-acre Malibu blufftop. The property was profiled in Architectural Digest not long before Canadian billionaire Daryl Katz found it agreeable.
Listing agent: Kurt Rappaport, Westside Estate Agency (duh)
1. Malibu — $110 million
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Unsurprisingly, Michael & Iris Smith took the crown for this mind-altering blowout deal on Carbon Beach. Let’s be real — they annihilated all their competition on this list. The sale price (paid to Hard Rock Hotel founder Peter Morton) ranks as the most ever paid for a home in all of Southern California.
Yolanda loves lists of all sorts. We have a list for just about everything in our life. Heck, we even keep a spreadsheet to track all our other spreadsheets, believe it or not. So since the year-end is a perfect excuse to make lists upon lists, here’s another one: our seven favorite homes we covered in 2018.
This was originally going to be a top five ranking, but there were so many great houses this year — yes, even persnickety Yolanda loves many homes — we had to bump it up to our top seven faves. There was just no narrowing it down any further.
Also, these were supposed to be ranked from most favorite to least favoritest — or whatever — but they’re all great and incomparable in their own way. So here they are listed alphabetically, by the owner’s names.
This historic beauty is located just above Sunset Boulevard in prime Beverly Hills. Originally built in 1926 by the legendary Roy Seldon Price, the Chimorro House — as it is known — was purchased for $12,100,000 four years ago by youthful Hyatt hotel heir Adam Pritzker.
The Hispano-Moorish-style casa was sold by Liv Ballard, the jewelry-designing ex-wife of legendary Grammy-winning songwriter/producer Glen Ballard. In the early 2000s, the Ballards hired venerable architects Tichenor & Thorp to give the ol’ gurl a facelift, surely at great cost.
Yolanda loves this place because it’s got fantastic old Hollywood bones and it’s very private — tucked away behind towering walls and gates. Plus all the nifty features it contains. Original terracotta tiles, a beautiful courtyard, even a stunning wine cellar with tasting room. And the house was originally built for a lady who used it as a speakeasy during Prohibition. How cool is that? Come on now.
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For whatever reason, Mr. Pritzker has tired of his 90210 abode and in January (2018) he put it up for sale with a $13,150,000 asking price. Since then, it’s undergone a couple changes of realtors and price adjustments. And yet there it sits, still unsold — currently asking just under $13.5 million.
Yolanda rather suspects that the problem lies not with the house or realtors — rather, it’s merely the fact that young Mr. Pritzker overpaid for the property and has not yet come to terms with that realization. But we shall see what happens.
Located in Malibu’s star-studded Ramirez Canyon, this pastoral spread was completely redone by British heir Anthony de Rothschild. Yes, kiddies, those Rothschilds — the influential folks who were the world’s wealthiest family throughout the 1800s and possessed the largest private fortune in modern history.
The 14-acre estate has ocean views, a 3,000-square-foot “rustic-chic” main house, two detached art studios/offices, mature sycamore trees, rolling lawns, an all-new swimming pool and so much more.
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In summer 2018, Mr. de Rothschild sold the $10 million property to Erica Packer, the ex-wife of Australian billionaire James Packer. Unfortunately for us (and Mrs.Packer, of course) we fear this place no longer exists, as it was right in the devastating Woolsey Fire‘s pathway. Egads — say it ain’t so!
Anthony de Rothschild’s agent: Chris Cortazzo, Coldwell Banker
3. Ellen DeGeneres’s casually luxe flip, Montecito
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Nobody changes his/her address more frequently than Ellen DeGeneres. Seems like hardly a month goes by when Yolanda isn’t discussing her latest real estate move. But the lady has great taste in homes, so we’re not complaining.
This particular home is modest by celebrity standards — it has less than 2,700-square-feet of living space. But it’s located in the proverbial heart of Montecito and sits on an acre of gorgeously landscaped land.
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Though Ms. DeGeneres owned this place a mere seven months — in fact, Yolanda is unsure if she ever spent a night here — she did manage to redo the interiors in her trademark casually luxe, neutral style. It’s a beautiful place. Not too big, not too small — just right.
The circa-1930 Spanish/Mediterranean-style confection was recently sold for $6.3 million to a wealthy widow from Chicago named Donna Lyon.
4. Hideki Tomita’s John Pawson-designed minimalism, Bel Air
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This $85 million, 20,000-square-foot mega-mansion is a bit grander than what Yolanda typically favors, but we can’t resist a good bit of stark minimalism. And the architecture here is magnificent.
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Built for Seagram’s heiress Ellen Bronfman and her longtime hubby Andrew Hauptman, the house was designed by London-based master minimalist architect John Pawson — a longtime family friend — and is one of only two homes he has built in the USA. The eight-year project (four years of design planning plus four years of construction) was completed in 2009.
The structure consists of two slender boxes — one cantilevered over the other — plus a subterranean level that features a screening room, staff quarters, a children’s playroom, and storage space. The home’s exterior is clad in stucco accented by red cedar trim.
This one ain’t quite perfect — a few rooms could use work — but the 1928 ol’ gurl has fantastic bones and has been (for the most part) tastefully updated over the past 90 years. And Yolanda loves herself a moody Gothic Tudor. (We’re big Clue fans).
This list wouldn’t be complete without at least one sophisticated mid-century modern, and actress Julie Bowen’s new house in the Hills perfectly fits that bill.
We know some of y’all are rolling your eyes to see this one on our list. But just forget about who owns it for a sec and focus on the house itself — it’s actually a really great contemporary. The floorplan is fantastic, the interiors chic without being cold, and the hedonistic 2,300-square-foot master suite is massive but not overwhelming. The romantic landscaping is nice, too. And Yolanda loves how the home is set way above the street and how the driveway passes under one wing of the house. It’s neat!
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This place was completely overhauled by the design folks at ANR Signature Collection before they sold it for $13.5 million to Little Miss Kylie Jenner (and her rapper baby daddy Travis Scott). Whatever you think of the Kardashians — or maybe you don’t think of them at all — Miss Jenner made a Yolanda-approved selection with this one. So there’s that.
Kids these days use all sorts of new-fangled ways to make money. A few years ago, dancin’ around town with a bucket atop your head would’ve gotten you thrown in the loony bin, or at least shipped out to good ol’ Hollywood Boulevard (as if that’s not the same thing, right?). But nowadays, you can make tens of millions from acting a fool — provided you have the right management team in place. And that’s just what our pal Marshmello has done.
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We joke, of course. Mr. Marshmello does more than just use a bucket as headgear. He’s a DJ with two albums and several multi-platinum singles — “Silence“, “Wolves“, “Friends” and “Happier” among them — under his belt. And in addition to his music success, he’s one of the most popular social media acts in the world, with nearly 24 million subscribers on the YouTube contraption and over 15 million followers on the Instagram bullshiz. His YouTube videos boast a cumulative total of more than 4 billion views. That’s a ton, kids. So it’s hardly surprising that Forbesestimates he hauled in $44 million over the past two years alone. Our Mr. Marshmello is prominent music manager Moe Shalizi‘s most lucrative client.
Yet despite all his wealth and success, Mr. Marshmello’s real identity (and face) remained a carefully-guarded secret for years. Very few folks really knew who he was — and those who knew kept it quiet.
In fact, it wasn’t until late last year (2017) — when Forbes published an exposé revealing that the super-rich, super-famous DJ is actually a little-known 26-year-old dude from Philadelphia named Chris Comstock — that his identity was made public. Our Mr. Comstock was outed by his real name being revealed in music royalty manager BMI’s database and Marshmello’s company being originally incorporated under Mr. Comstock in Delaware. So there y’all have it.
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Since then, Mr. Marshmello has continued with his bucket-on-head goat rodeo. His multitude of fans say it’s his trademark, his calling card. Other more unkind folks (not Yolanda!) might deride it as a gimmick for attention.
But whatever the case, young Mr. Marshmello/Comstock is winning at life. He’s young, single, famous and clearly very rich — records show he recently used a blind trust to pay $3,575,000 for a sexy starter house near the mouth of Laurel Canyon, just above WeHo and the eastern end of LA’s iconic Sunset Strip.
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Although the property’s address says Laurel Canyon Boulevard — a notoriously traffic-clogged road — the house in question actually lies on a quiet (and very narrow) side street just off the main drag, which surely helps minimize noise and pollution. Additionally, the nearly $3.6 million home is completely walled and gated for privacy. Plus there’s a security system with cameras galore.
The contemporary casa was spec-built in 2014 and sold that year for $3.1 million to Qatari businessman Fadi El Rabaa. It was our boy Mr. El Rabaa who would flip it several years later to Mr. Marshmello.
A short wooden stairway lined with bamboo and a large waterfall leads past the two-car garage to the home’s Japanese-inspired (?) front door. Wide=plank hardwood floors — blondish in color — grace the entrance foyer. Straight ahead is an “architectural” and “floating” staircase that appears to lead directly over some sort of funky indoor pond. Watch your step!
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To the left of the entryway is a dramatic double-sided fireplace, which serves as an effective divider between the formal living and dining rooms. Beyond the dining room — at the rear of the home — is the sleek kitchen, with its high-end appliances and Caesarstone countertops.
Also on the home’s downstairs level are a family room and a guest/maid’s bedroom suite.
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There are four more bedrooms upstairs — all of them ensuite — plus a central lounge-typed area and nifty skylights. The master suite sports a fireplace, a private balcony and a bathroom with a giant glass shower smack-dab in its middle.
Total square footage in the structure comes to 5,200 — generous for this tightly-packed part of town.
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The backyard isn’t particularly big — this is just a .25-acre property, after all — but it is desirably private and includes a terrace for al fresco dining, a pool/spa combo with waterfall feature, and a large firepit. Why, that’s perfect for making s’mores (and roastin’ marshmallows, naturally)!
In case he needs to borrow a gooey midnight snack, some of Mr. Marshmello’s nearest neighbors include Israeli film producer Avi Lerner, curvaceous Brazilian model Laura Soares, and Arista Records bigwig Brian Vinikoor — he’s right next door.
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Anyway, your gurl has a feeling this is just the very beginning of Mr. Marshmello’s real estate story. Any rambunctious young dude who consistently earns more than $20 million per year ain’t gonna stay in a $3.6 million house very long. But wherever Mr. Marshmello moves his bucket-hat in the next few years, Yolanda will be waiting. And while we can’t tell homeboy which house to choose, our (unsolicited) advice would be to choose wisely. Don’t choose poorly.
Yolanda was sifting through our queue of stories, trying to decide which one deserves to close out 2018. Should we chat about sick-rich talent agents, lovesick tech tycoons, a rapper in Tarzana or a humongous Newport Beach pile? Decisions, decisions. Finally, we decided to keep it simple with a proven crowd-pleaser. Give the people what they want.
Seems like what everyone wants is more Paul McClean. Anytime we gab about a house drawn up by the prolific architect, we get clicks up the wazoo. And this particular story has been sitting on our desk for the past 6+ months — we skipped over it time and time again — so here goes. It’s a McClean manse way high up in the Bird Streets, and it sold way back in April (2018) for a fat $16,950,000.
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Born and bred in Ireland, Mr. McClean first began designing LA residences a decade (or so) ago. One of his first works was the $17.5 million Birds nest owned by the late DJ Avicii and recently sold to Fashion Nova CEO Richard Saghian. Since then Mr. McClean has graduated to a whole slew of progressively larger and glassier mega-mansions — often in collaboration with developer Nile Niami — culminating in the upcoming $500 million The One project.
Mr. McClean’s homes have been purchased by the likes of Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Calvin Klein, Simon Kinberg and many lesser-known (but no less wealthy) financiers and foreign potentates.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Jay-Z & Beyonce’s $88 million Paul McClean-designed extravaganza (four outdoor pools!)
Anywho, in addition to the folks listed above, the typical buyers of Paul McClean-style contemporary homes are wealthy young entrepreneurs and silly heiresses. So Yolanda was surprised when records revealed the new owner of today’s property is actually a physician named William Kennedy. His full name, actually, is William Aloysius Kennedy III, M.D. But he prefers Dr. Kennedy so henceforth he shall be that.
Dr. Kennedy is an otolaryngologist — a doctor specializing in the ear, nose and throat, so we take it — and his primary practice is located in New York City. But he also appears to practice in LA, too. Maybe that’s the reason for his extravagant home purchase.
The good Doc is a fairly low-profile guy, so we know very little about his background and family. He’s in his late 40s, currently unmarried, originally hails from New England and is Irish by ancestry. He’s also got a taste for luxury real estate — in addition to the $17 million pad in LA, he owns at least two multi-million dollar properties on the East Coast. More on those in a minute.
It seems a bit unlikely to Yolanda that all Dr. Kennedy’s moolah comes solely from his medical practice, but what do we really know? Not much. And for what it’s worth, property records show that Dr. Kennedy is carrying a (very) hefty mortgage in the Birdies — his principal payments exceed $25,000 per month. And yes, that’s before interest. Yowza!
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The cul-de-sac property was last sold in 2015 for about $4.5 million to hotel heir James Curnin, who quickly razed the existing structure. He then recruited Mr. McClean to design a lavish spec-mansion and forked out untold millions in construction fees.
Records show the resulting contemporary has 4 beds and 7 baths in a total of 4,021-square-feet of living space, meaning this is actually one of Mr. McClean’s smaller residential works. But despite the two-level home’s (relatively) meager proportions, it still manages to feel huge thanks to the very open floorplan. [EDIT: one of our readers says the house is actually 9,000 SF, so… maybe records done made a boo-boo?]
Unfortunately for Mr. Curnin, however, the spec-house was put up for sale in late 2016 with a too-aggressive $25,500,000 asking price. It took a brutal 1.5 years and several significant pricechops (and at least one change of realtors) before the property finally transferred for the aforementioned $16.95 million, or nearly 35% less than what was originally requested. Maybe the house was just ridiculously overpriced to start, or maybe the Birdsain’t as fashionable as they once were. Or both, right?
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The home’s entryway features a glass-encased wine rack guaranteed to wow Dr. Kennedy’s less financially-fortunate friends. Just beyond that is the main (indoor) entertaining area — which is essentially one giant room with a kitchen, formal dining and loungin’ spaces.
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Somewhere on the main level lies the master bedroom, with its walls of glass and view over the distant LA basin. The marble-swaddled bathroom and spacious closet both feature large skylights.
The other three bedrooms aren’t particularly cavernous — this is meant to be the home of a wealthy bachelor(ette) or child-free couple, it would seem — but at least they all sport en-suite bathrooms.
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A broad flight of stairs leads to the party-tastic lower level, where there’s a mirror-walled gym and an attached sauna plus a cigar room (does Doc smoke?!?!) and home theater with seating for 18. Also somewhere down in the depths is a terrazzo-floored garage — or “car museum” as the listing calls it — with room for ten luxury vehicles.
Since the .3-acre lot is not particularly big, outdoor space is limited to a terrace and grassy patch of lawn. There’s also an infinity pool, though the views from it are somewhat compromised by a towering (if necessary) privacy hedge. Also somewhat disappointing is that the sightlines do not include the Pacific Ocean or the DTLA/Century City skylines. Oh well, at least there’s an elongated firepit with loads of built-in bench seating around one side of the property.
Whether Dr. Kennedy intends to make the fancy LA abode his main residence is unknown to us, but Yolanda does know that his current primary digs are located in NYC’s Midtown East neighborhood — in a new luxury condo building known simply by its address: 301 East 50th Street.
Designed by COOKFOX, the 29-story, limestone-sheathed high-rise was completed in 2016 and features 57 condos, all of them priced in the $2-$5 million range. Records show that Dr. Kennedy paid just under $3.8 million for his 24th-floor pied-a-terre, which includes 2 beds/2.5 baths in 1,690 SF of space.
Dr. Kennedy’s condo building also includes various other luxury amenities: 24-hour doorman and concierge, state-of-the-art fitness center, spa with private treatment room, sauna, tea lounge and a terrace/yoga deck.
Sounds lavish! But for those times when he’s feeling choked by the city’s congestion and pollution — y’all know what the Doc says about fresh air and sunshine — our boy also has a lovely R&R spot up in Cape Cod, specifically the slow-paced seaside town of Chatham, Massachusetts.
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Records show that Dr. Kennedy laid out $2,400,000 for his casually luxe hideaway in 2014. The 2005-built structure contains 5,584-square-feet of living space with not one but two master suites, a big ol’ kitchen with fancy Wolf appliances, a three-car garage, and nearly one acre of land. Old listing materials boast how the home is “a short walk to Chatham Village, Oyster Pond and Stage Harbor Marina.”
Chatham, a popular summer resort spot for New Englanders, also includes the famed Chatham Lighthouse. And if y’all happen to visit, do sample the fresh fish at the highly-rated Del Mar Bar & Bistro.
Listing agents (LA): Jade Mills, Coldwell Banker; Drew Fenton, Hilton & Hyland Dr. Kennedy’s agent (LA): Carrie Berkman Lewis, Douglas Elliman Listing agent (NYC): Joan Swift, Douglas Elliman Listing & Selling agent (Chatham): Helene Case, William Raveis Real Estate
Full disclosure: this transaction actually closed eons ago (way, way back in February 2017) but we’re only writing about it now because Yolanda had no idea who bought the property until just the other day. And being that this is among the largest — and certainly one of the most expensive — undeveloped estate sites in the Platinum Triangle, it’s still a worthwhile story.
Before we get into the buyer and their intentions for the property, here’s a wee bit of history.
In November 2008, Platinum Equity billionaire (and Detroit Pistons owner) Tom Gores paid $18,000,000 for a mansion in prime lower Bel Air. The following January (2009), as was first reported by the folks at the now-defunct Berg Properties blog, he paid a pompous $38,000,000 to businessman Carl Parmer for the larger manse immediately next door. For all you non-math majors, that’s a $56 million splurge.
And in typical billionaire fashion, Mr. Gores quickly knocked the smaller house down and poured millions into an extensive renovation and expansion of the larger one.
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But then Mr. Gores did something curious. In early 2014, midway through the project, he had a change of heart — or whatever — and put the entire (unfinished) spread up for sale with a $50 million pricetag.
The property did not sell. So Mr. Gores began marketing the 3.13-acre site as one of LA’s premiere teardown estate lots. Which it is, of course.
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Eventually, in October 2016, the land was sold for exactly $30 million to prominent developers Gala Asher and Ed Berman as part of a complicated asset swap that Yolanda won’t get into here. But anyway, that’s a huge loss for Mr. Gores — just $30 million for a property that he surely dumped well over $60 million into! Ouch. Although a good tax man could probably turn that mega-loss into a boon, right?
Mr. Asher and Mr. Berman held onto the estate for just four months before lucratively flipping it to an entity called “La Croix LLC”. The sale price? $35,450,000. A couple folks asked Yolanda who the buyer was, but we couldn’t figure it out. Eventually we gave up.
Fast forward to a few days ago. One of our cohorts asked whether we knew what was goin’ on with the property, so Yolanda took another peek Lo and behold, records now clearly show that the $35+ million buyers were a young married couple named Brandon Beck and Natasha (nee Fagel) Beck.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The Becks
Mr. and Mrs. Beck grew up well-off in Beverly Hills — his parents have long owned a mansion in the Flats, hers have a snazzy spread up in Trousdale Estates. Both homes are worth more than $10 million today.
The Becks — now in their mid-30s — both graduated from USC before they were married in a lavish 2009 ceremony at the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel (check out that ice bar. Holy cow!). Nowadays they have at least a couple munchkins of their own, we think.
Anywho, Mr. Beck — known to his fans as Ryze — is co-Chairman of Riot Games, which he co-founded with his USC roommate (and fellow real estate baller) Marc Merrill. Riot is best-known for its wildly popular League of Legends video game franchise.
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In 2015, Riot was completely bought out by Chinese conglomerate Tencent. That acquisition has obviously made Mr. Beck and Mr. Merrill — both of whom are still actively involved with Riot — very wealthy men. At least one website says the still-young Mr. Beck sports a net worth of $200 million. Good for him, although Riot’s marriage to Tencent has reportedly not been the happiest of unions.
But we digress. Back to the real estate issue at hand.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The $35 million Bel Air dirt
While we have no idea what the Becks are planning for their huge swath of Bel Air land, Yolanda guesses they will build some sort of extravagant familial compound to put all but the largest LA mega-mansions to shame. Some of the nearest Bel Air neighbors include Gary Winnick’s $94 million Casa Encantada and the $35 million home of Robert Blumenfield.
The Beck estate site is also but a short walk to the uber-prestigious Bel-Air Country Club, where the initiation fee will run you $150,000 and all members must adhere to a very strict dress code. Gentlemen may not wear shorts — long pants only, y’all — or the country club cops will slap them silly.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The Becks’ $21.5 million Brentwood home
While Mr. and Mrs. Beck await their new dream residence, they bunk up in a nearby “crash pad”.
Situated on Brentwood’s premier hillside street, the giant Traditional-style mansion weighs in with 15,600-square-feet of living space. Records show that the Becks paid Michael Strahan a mighty $21,500,000 for the property back in 2015. That was a good deal for Mr. Strahan — he bought the spec-manse for just $16 million and made no major changes during his one year of ownership.
Some of the Becks’ Brentwood neighbors within sugar-borrowing distance include cosmetics queen Jamie Kern Lima, Lakers co-owner Jesse Buss and “King” LeBron James.
A few days ago, good ol’ Vlad the Revealer queried Yolanda about who bought an eye-catching contemporary located way high up in the Hollywood Hills, on a quiet street just off iconic Mulholland Drive. Interestingly, records reveal the property was acquired by a mysteriously-named entity set up by a prominent Silicon Valley-based lady lawyer famous for having a very well-heeled clientele, including many of the richest people in tech.
Some of Ms. Lawyer’s clients include Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene, Google’s Sergey and Larry Brin, and Riot Games co-founder Brandon Beck. And that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. So naturally Yolanda’s curiosity was piqued.
Well, a wee bit of research reveals — much to our surprise — that the brand-new contemporary home’s proud new owner is actually a 23-year-old model named Raven Lyn Corneil.
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Young Miss Corneil was raised in Minneapolis and comes from a multi-ethnic background — she’s Native American, black, Irish and Puerto Rican. Several years ago she moved to LA and quickly took the modeling world by storm: she recently landed a coveted spot as a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, just for starters. Here’s a video of her rookie photoshoot debut, if anyone is interested.
Y’all might be wondering where Miss Corneil gets the moolah to pay cash for a $4,225,000 house, plus all her other accessories. And Yolanda is here to serve. See, there’s this guy named Jack Dorsey. He co-founded both Square and Twitter and currently serves as CEO of both companies. Forbes claims Mr. Dorsey is worth $4.1 billion, making him one of the wealthiest folks in Silicon Valley.
Now in his early 40s, Mr. Dorsey has never been married and has no children. He’s also notoriously private — some might even say secretive –about his love life, so naturally the society gossip crowd fainted dead away last September (2018) when he showed up to New York Fashion Week with none other than Miss Corneil on his arm. Well, fan Yolanda’s brow!
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We know some of y’all naysayers are scratching your heads, wondering what a model in her early 20s and a tech bazillionaire in his 40s have in common. But it’s worth noting that Mr. Dorsey worked as a fashion model himself prior to founding Twitter. Perhaps he and his lady-love share posing tips and such?
But anywho, Yolanda congratulates the happy couple on their new Hollywood Hills lovenest. The house was purchased for Miss Corneil while Mr. Dorsey continues to reside at his $10 million San Francisco pad, although we imagine he occasionally drops by to play paddy-cake. So to speak. But who knows, right?
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Spec-built in 2017 by a local developer, the glassy residence is situated on a .22-acre corner lot with views over a large swath of the San Fernando Valley. There are 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms in a roomy (but not huge) 3,730-square-feet of living space.
Called the Skywin Residence, the home was designed by ANDStudio and features a “reverse floorplan” as the listing terms it. Yolanda gathers that means that most of the home’s bedrooms/living quarters are located on the lower level, while the public rooms and entertainment spaces are upstairs.
A short stairway leads past the two-car garage (perfect for Miss Corneil’s G-Wagen) to the break-in resistant Oikos security front door — behind which is a long corridor and a loft-like staircase.
Naturally there’s also a high-end security system with multiple cameras, alarms and probably a laser grid to zap any fool who dares to come within 50 feet of the property.
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All three of the home’s guest/family bedrooms are located on the first floor, and there’s also an office space immediately to the left of the entryway that could be converted into a fifth bedroom. At the rear of the lower level is a games room with foosball table and big floppy couch.
Miss Corneil will no doubt appreciate the convenient open-concept space with the kitchen, living and dining rooms all combined into one. There are high-end Miele and Subzero appliances, exotic-looking wood cabinetry, and bar-style seating for casual dining.
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Disappearing Fleetwood walls of glass lead from the indoor space to the expansive outdoor deck, with its various seating/dining options and full outdoor kitchen. A flight of stairs carries one down to the pool/spa combo (and wee patch of grass) on the lower level.
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Also on the upper level is the home’s master suite. The bedroom has walls of glass overlooking Studio City, the walk-in closet can easily accommodate Miss Corneil’s designer wardrobe, and the bathroom has dual vanities plus a soaking tub and glass-enclosed shower.
Should our gurl deign to throw a friendly neighborhood BBQ at her new digs, the invite list would likely include producer Sam Maydew, Glee actor Chris Colfer and Modern Family actress Julie Bowen.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The happy couple
Take heed of Miss Corneil, y’all real estate watchers. She may be very young, but the lady is loaded. And her story is only just beginning. Yolanda imagines that if she maintains her relationship for a couple more years, she’ll have earned that upgrade to an eight-figure pad in the Bird Streets or even Bel Air.
As they say, the sky’s the limit — so watch Raven soar.
Listing agent: Brian Ades, Sotheby’s International Realty Raven Lyn’s agent: Ben Belack, The Agency
Sometimes Yolanda hears exceedingly random things through the real estate grapevine — stuff so random we can’t even decipher what it means. Case in point: the stunning Bird Streets abode sold last year by Friends actor Matthew Perry. Records reveal Mr. Perry made bank on this transaction — he got $12,500,000 in an all-cash deal after buying the property for just $8,500,000 and making few changes during his seven years of ownership.
The home was technically acquired by a bizarrely-named corporate entity, but our longtime informant Laurel N. Hardy says she’s quite certain — she swore it on her new latex bustier, in fact — the buyer is a Mainland Chinese fella named Wei Dong.
A quick trawl through the interwebs reveals there are at least two prominent Wei Dongs in China — one a pharmaceutical tycoon, the other a senior executive at a giant government-owned food group called COFCO. Forbes pegs the former’s net worth at $1.8 billion, so he’s certainly got the money. There was also another billionaire Wei Dong, but he rather shockingly committed suicide in 2008. So we kinda doubt he’d be buying real estate in 2018.
But anyway, our mysterious Mr. Dong — whoever he is — does not actually reside in the lavish Hollywood Hills home. Rather, the property is occupied by a young woman named Connie Jiang.
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Miss Jiang, so it appears, is still in her 20s. We know little else about her beyond that she holds a master’s degree from USC — exactly how she is connected to the phantom Mr. Dong remains unknown.
But this much is clear: Miss Jiang is a very lucky young lady to preside over a place like this. Had we written about this property last year, Yolanda thinks it would’ve made our 2018 list of favorite homes.
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Set on a quiet cul-de-sac near the tippy-top of the Birds, the 1962-built mid-century was majorly remodeled some years ago by noted firm Whipple Russell Architects. It now spans a spacious (but certainly not huge) 3,821-square-feet of living space with 3 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. The property sits rather hard-up on the street (like many Hollywood Hills homes) but features a high-end security system with cameras galore.
Per the listing, the redone structure was intended as “a modern homage to the Case Study Houses.“
There’s a two-car garage and a wee gated courtyard just before the massive, pivoting front door. Inside is an open-concept living space with the kitchen, living and dining rooms combined into one. Glossy walnut hardwood floors guide visitors to the glide-away walls of glass.
Acid green countertops in the kitchen (seen here) are a brave decorative choice that Yolanda kinda loves, although we also might hate them in a week. But the high-end Gaggenau and SubZero appliances will please any palette for years to come.
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Whatever y’all think of the house, the view here is A++ with vistas extending from the Downtown LA skyline all the way to the deep blue sea and Catalina Island (on a clear day).
Every inch of the backyard is devoted to entertaining — the terrazzo walkway past the dual fire features will wow guests, the green carpet of lawn is a nice touch, and there’s a long loggia perfect for outdoor dining. And at the very edge of the cliff, a sexy infinity pool.
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Miss Jiang’s master suite has floor-to-ceiling walls of glass — the twinkling lights of the LA basin are seemingly at the tips of her fingers. She’s also got a head-on view of the pool.
And check this out: at the yard’s far corner are two “hidden” flights of stairs leading to a catwalk tucked beneath the pool’s infinity edge — a catwalk that ends at a doorway. Ooh, spooky! Where could it lead?
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Lurking behind that door is the property’s most insane feature: the underground movie theater! The room’s ceiling mimics the starry sky, which is neat, but nobody will be looking at that. Miss Jiang’s guests will all be staring slack-jawed at the windows, which gaze directly into the depths of the swimming pool.
Pretty cool, huh? And the window panes are a beefy two inches thick, so it seems safe enough. Reminds us of a Bond flick — imagine Ernst Stavro Blofeld owning this house and filling the pool with man-eating sharks. He relaxes in the cinema, classical music blasting, a soft smile playing at his lips. Then an incompetent henchman is dumped into the tank, the aquamarine water turning a deep crimson as limbs are ripped apart like so much shredded chicken.
But we digress.
In case Miss Jiang needs to borrow a spare bucket of corn chowder, billionaire Peter Lowy and his girlfriend Sandra live right next door. Around the corner is Fashion Nova CEO Richard Saghian, and billionaire Walmart heiress Whitney Kroenke lives directly below Miss Jiang’s (bigger) house.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Down yonder…
As Yolanda was wrappin’ up this story, we discovered that the Bond Villain house is not the only LA property owned by the invisible (but obviously loaded) Mr. Dong. Just two weeks before purchasing that $12.5 million Bird Streets nest, he laid out another $12,200,000 (in cash, of course) for an estate in Beverly Hills. Yes, that’s nearly $25 million in greenbacks spent within a matter of days.
Though the 90210 property has a Benedict Canyon address, it is actually located well off the main drag — secluded down a private road shared with just three other estates, all of them owned by high-profile people. #MeToo-shamed casino mogul Steve Wynn lives next door, as does also #MeToo-shamed mega-producer Brett Ratner, and Bruce Springsteen’s LA compound lies at the road’s end.
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The hilltop Mediterranean-ish home was originally built in 1970 and is set on a forested lot spanning more than an acre of land. Its recently redesigned contemporary interiors feature vaulted ceilings and lots of (obviously staged) furniture.
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There are six bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms in the nearly 8,000-square-feet of living space, though marketing materials gently note that the home is a potential teardown (or at least a remodel). “Whether you redecorate, remodel or rebuild this property offers tremendous upside potential,” it says.
To be honest, kids, Yolanda has no clue who lives on the Beverly Hills estate. Could be the enigmatic Mr. Dong. Might be somebody else. Or maybe the place has already been leveled. We dunno! If you know, give us a shout. But if not, that’s okay too. Just sit back and enjoy the property photos.
It was a beautiful sunny Friday here in Southern California — a perfect time to embark on a weekend getaway. Wouldn’t a peaceful island destination be just the thing?
Unfortunately, Hawaii and the Caribbean are much too far for a quick trip, but Yolanda’s got the perfect remedy — right here in SoCal! Down behind the Orange Curtain, just off the coast of Newport Beach, lies one of the most expensive (and exclusive) islands on the whole dang globe. Welcome to Harbor Island.
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The small and semi-artificial island was formed about 100 years ago and is connected to the mainland by a 24/7 guard-gated bridge. This high-security land mass has some of the most exclusive and desirable residential real estate in the OC — there are fewer than 30 homes on the island, many of which sport killer views over Newport Harbor. Thus, this wee slice of paradise has attracted many of the OC’s wealthiest peeps. Residents have included billionaires like Bill Gross, Donald Bren and George Argyros.
Today we shall discuss the largest, most lavish and by far most (in)famous home there — a hulking beast at the island’s tip. Astute real estate watchers may know the property is currently listed with a fat $60 million pricetag. ($59,995,000, to be precise.) Should the house sell for anywhere close to that number, it will rank as the most ever paid for an Orange County home — besting the $55 million that auto dealership magnate Larry Van Tuyl paid for his historic Newport compound back in 2017.
But despite the sunny skies, crisp sea air and sparkling aquamarine water that surround it, the landmark manor has a dark past littered with sordid financial troubles, marital problems and even death.
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Originally completed in 1990, the house currently features 6 beds and 10 baths in approximately 16,000-square-feet of living space. (That’s huge.) The manse was built by a prominent real estate developer named Leroy Carver III, a guy who owned his own bank — Carver Savings & Loan — and loaned himself $7.9 million to build the behemoth.
Just before the house was completed, however, Mr. Carver fell into deep financial doo-doo. His bank was seized by federal regulators and declared insolvent, so he sold the brand-new estate in 1991 for $13,600,000. Archived news stories from back then suggest it was the most ever paid for an OC home.
The buyer was Taiwanese businessman George Yao. But like Mr. Carver, our Mr. Yao had some serious financial problems. Within two years, the property was in default and folks were chasing him for money.
In 1995, Mr. Yao officially lost the property to the hungry maw of foreclosure. An investment group then flipped the house in April ’96 for just $8 million — or about 60% of what it fetched five years prior — to the next owner, former FBI exec William G. Simon. But our Mr. Simon didn’t have much chance to enjoy his big new home, either — he died only one year later at the ripe old age of 84.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Big Bertha
In mid-’99, Mr. Simon’s estate sold the home for $14,000,000 to a New Jersey couple named Arnold & Debbie Simon. The Simons (no relation to the prior owner) had made a lot of money in the apparel industry and were craving some California sunshine, or so it would seem.
Though the Simons were already been having marital problems, things reportedly worsened soon after their move to Newport Beach. Not long after their big real estate splurge, they began exceptionally hostile divorce proceedings that would drag on unresolved for the better part of a decade.
Compounding the Simons’ issues was the economic recession of 2008, which strained their finances considerably. The following year, the property fell into foreclosure. And Mrs. Simon — who remained in the home while her hubby relocated elsewhere — found herself flat broke. In fact, things became so desperate that she left the home’s air conditioning off during even the hottest summer days — she couldn’t afford the electric bill.
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On a scorching afternoon in September 2009, Mrs. Simon tied a heavy-duty extension cord to the grand staircase’s balustrade and hung herself above the mansion’s foyer. Her death made big waves in Orange County society — not just because of her wealth, but because she was a major social figure in the area, throwing numerous charity fundraisers at the property.
But we digress. Despite its dark past, Mr. Simon managed to unload the property in June 2010, less than a year after his estranged wife’s demise. Records show the buyers paid a whopping $27,000,000 for the house, one of the highest prices ever paid in the OC. And this was in the midst of a recession, y’all.
Though technically owned by a blind trust, the property’s current owners are Alan and Twila True.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The Trues
Mr. and Mrs. Trues are both lifelong entrepreneurs who didn’t grow up in glamorous circumstances. Our Mr. True originally hails from Colorado, but moved to Chicago to work on the Mercantile Exchange after college. By the late 1980s, he was living and working in Asia.
As for Mrs. True, she was raised in the remote Badlands region of South Dakota — on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, otherwise known as the USA’s poorest community . (Mrs. True is Sioux by blood.)
The couple have four children: three biological and one young daughter adopted from the same Sioux tribe where Mrs. True was raised.
Before moving to their impressive Newport Beach digs, the couple long resided in China and Hong Kong, where they made their first fortune in the furniture business. The couple founded office furniture manufacturer True Innovations, a company that was acquired for an undisclosed (but undoubtedly massive) sum by Chinese conglomerate Li & Fong.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The Trues are also active philanthropists
Since moving back to the US, the Trues have dumped loads of money into the residential real estate market. By Mrs. True’s own admission, the couple preside over a portfolio of 1,000+ rental properties, most of them small Midwest homes priced in the $70,000-$80,000 range. That means the couple have dropped more than $70 million on real estate alone — not counting their $27 million OC house.
And speaking of the OC, the Trues have become tremendously involved with the local community since they moved into the neighborhood — they regularly host charity luncheons and galas at their home, and it appears they also throw an annual holiday party for their employees on the premises.
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Now, about the real estate and that $60 million asking price. Some of y’all may be inclined to scoff. But before you judge, keep in mind that the Trues completely renovated the home. And after all, this is one of the OC’s premier estates. So take a peek at the photos — whatever you think of the home’s style, the spread is certainly somethin’.
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The limestone-clad neoclassical mansion is completely walled and gated for privacy and security. There’s a nine-car underground garage, which is pretty cool, but the real star of the show are those spectacular views. The house sits on more than a half-acre of land and features formal lawns, rows of trees and a large swimming pool. There is more than 300 feet of water frontage plus a boat dock large enough to accommodate a 120-foot yacht.
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Mr. and Mrs. True poured a great deal of money into home renovations, so the newly contemporary interiors look totally different from when the Simons owned the place.
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The elegantly curved staircase is topped by a large skylight. The master suite features a mega-bedroom (it’s big enough to be a damn ballroom, seriously) and a marble-soaked bathroom.
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How serious are the Trues about selling? Yolanda does not know — but the property has been listed since last May (2018) with an unchanged asking price. Maybe they’re just testing the waters — so to speak — or perhaps they’re holding out until the right record-breakin’ buyer saunters on over.
This future buyer — whoever he or she may be — isn’t just buying the most impressive house on SoCal’s most coveted island. They’re buying a very — ahem — “colorful” legacy, too. A mostly tragic legacy, but one with an upbeat ending. After all those distressed previous owners, the Trues have lived here for eight years and are happier — and richer — than ever. Or so it would seem.
Yolanda had a hectic Sunday — our third ex-husband Randall got whacked upside the head with a dead platypus wielded by yours truly, but we digress — so all we got time for tonight is this quickie tale about a mega-successful talent agent and his actress wife. But stick around for the rest of the week. Promise it’ll be worth your while — we’ve got lots of fun material in the hopper.
For the moment, let’s discuss this sexed-up spread high in the Hollywood Hills. Located on a quiet dead-end road just off iconic Mulholland Drive, the totally redone home just sold for $5,445,000, which is a big number for this particular neck of the LA woods.
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The owners technically took title under a blind trust, but a wee bit of sniffin’ around reveals they are are A-list talent agent Jeremy Plager and actress/comedian Andrea Savage.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Jeremy Plager & Andrea Savage
Mr. Plager and Ms. Savage — both in their mid-40s — have been married for at least a decade, or basically since the dawn of time by Hollywood standards. Despite their busy careers, the couple found time to make a daughter together (the young lass is now a preteen, or “tween” as the fashionable folks would say).
Mr. Plager represents some of the biggest names in entertainment — on his client roster are Jennifer Lawrence, Gerard Butler, Sally Field and Elle & Dakota Fanning. Just to list a few of the bigger ones. Imagine how much cash he hauls in from those money makers alone!
As for Ms. Savage, she’s a very funny lady who has been acting since her teenage years. She is perhaps best-known for Hulu‘s reality TV parody series The Hotwives, and she currently stars in the TruTV comedy series I’m Sorry. Oh, and Ms. Savage is also quite the smarty-pants — she graduated from the Ivy League’s Cornell University.
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Last sold in 2015 for just $2.03 million, the 1964 structure was once a rather dowdy mid-century modern but has been radically reimagined by a local developer. Walls of glass, new outdoor entertaining areas and a stunning infinity pool are guaranteed to wow guests and the hired help alike.
Like many Hollywood Hills homes, the residence sits rather hard-up on the street. But it’s also blessed with eight off-street parking spaces and an unexpectedly deep 1.03-acre lot with extensive landscaping — the setting feels more like a remote tropical jungle than a crowded neighborhood in the LA hills.
And yes, we know the house doesn’t look particularly special — or expensive — from the street out front. But Yolanda kinda enjoys the subtlety of this property. Nobody, not even some of their closest neighbors, will ever suspect that Mr. Plager and Ms. Savage have got one of the sexiest homes around.
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Interior spaces go for the glam with high ceilings, glossy (marble?) floors and monumental walls of glass. At a button’s touch, those walls glide away to blur the line between the indoors and out.
The ultra-chic kitchen features a Chevy Suburban-sized center island with pricey Thermador appliances. Listing information indicates there are 3 beds and 3 baths in the main house, plus a downstairs media/games room which can be “easily configured as a guest suite.”
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The master bedroom sports a snazzy fireplace and disappearing walls of glass granting direct backyard access. Watch your step, though, as the pool is quite close to the house — don’t y’all dare venture out yonder if you’ve consumed than four bloody Marys in a 10 minute period.
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This place is all about the outdoor entertaining, clearly, and it excels on that front. The large lawn has a built-in firepit, and there are views over tree-choked Laurel Canyon (and beyond).
On the hillside below the pool — just down a wooden flight of stairs — lies a rockin’ open-air pavilion with wet bar, kitchen, and a huge terrace for al fresco dining. Hidden somewhere else on the lush grounds is a wee “artist’s studio” for you crazy creative types. Yolanda would just store her secret bourbon stash in that shed, but we digress yet again.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The old Savage-Plager Sherman Oaks abode
Before buying this place, Ms. Savage and Mr. Plager lived in the uber-suburban San Fernando Valley community of Sherman Oaks. Records show they picked up the Mediterranean McMansion back in 2010 for $2,415,000 and sold it in late 2016 for nearly $3 million. (The buyers were a non-famous couple, if anyone was curious.)
And some of the Savage-Plager family’s nearest new Hollywood Hills neighbors include celebrity Pastor Judah Smith — he’s livin’ large for the Lord, apparently — John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, and at least one of those whackadoodle YouTube stars.
Listing agent: Billy Rose, The Agency Jeremy Plager & Andrea Savage’s agent: Jason Villard, Keller Williams
We may be in the harshest throes of winter at the moment — it dropped below 60 degrees in LA yesterday, for goodness’ sake — but the harbingers of spring lie just around yonder corner. And in spring, as Tennyson famously penned, “a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.”
One fella who’s already got love on the brain is The Daily Show host Trevor Noah. Our Mr. Noah, who will turn 35 next month, is still a frisky young colt who happens to be newly single and ready to mingle. He’s also a smart cookie who well knows that no self-respecting LA lady will step out with a gentleman — famous or not — unless he’s got an appropriately baller car and a nice house. (We joke. Well, kinda.)
So our Mr. Noah, who plans to live a bicoastal lifestyle, has quietly dropped some (very) serious coin on a sexed-up SoCal bachelor pad. But before we discuss the house, a background check on this funny fella.
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Born and bred in South Africa, Mr. Noah is the product of a white father and a black mother. Under apartheid law, his parents’ interracial relationship was illegal at the time — his real estate mogul mama was actually jailed and fined by the government for her civil disobedience.
Mr. Noah has been honing his stand-up skills since he was a teenager, performing on a variety of TV and radio shows in his homeland. In the mid-2000s, he hosted The Real Goboza, a gossip-themed program on SABC 1. He’s also helmed game shows, reality shows, sports shows, dancing competitions, you name it. In 2011, Mr. Noah permanently relocated to the US and began conquering the bigger American pond.
Since 2015, Mr. Noah has served as host of the Comedy Central satirical news program The Daily Show, a coveted and lucrative gig that has made him one of the most recognizable comics in the USA.
If you’ve ever watched Mr. Noah’s program, y’all already know that much of his stand-up shtick involves poking fun at Donald Trump. Whether you appreciate Mr. Noah’s brand of bemused humor will likely depend on your political leanings, of course.
So Trump and Trever Noah are total opposites, and ne’er the twain shall meet. They’re the antithesis of each other! Nothing in common besides their male anatomy, right?
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.“If you got it, flaunt it” crosses party lines
But not so. There is at least one major commonality these two possess. And that is, of course, how they both enjoy livin’ it up. They share decadent and unabashedly — outrageously? — lavish lifestyles.
Mr. Noah trundles around LA in a $250,000+ Bentley Bentayga, and he’s also got a $200,000+ Lamborghini Urus as a backup vehicle. And then there’s the real estate, all $30+ million of it.
Late last year (2018), a brand-new contemporary showstopper in the Bel Air hills sold for an extremely A-list $20,500,000. The buyer’s identity is carefully shielded behind a blind trust, naturally. But as we discovered, the new owner is — you guessed it — our boy Mr. Noah.
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Well, shut Yolanda’s big mouth! $20.5 million is a whole buttload of money. In fact, that’s more than all but the most extremely rich celebrities spend on their homes. The only famous folks who throw down more are the Taylor Swifts, Beyoncés, Adam Levines and Kim Kardashians of the world. Y’all get the picture.
As an FYI, public records show that Mr. Noah has a very substantial mortgage on his new digs — to the tune of $40,000 in payments per month. And that’s principal only, before interest is even included! And it’s also in addition to the $20,000 in monthly payments he makes on his NYC condo.
Holy guacamole! Imagine having $65,000++ in monthly mortgage bills. Keep those jokes coming.
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The spec-built mansion is situated way high up in western Bel Air, on a quiet cul-de-sac shared with ten other homes, each of them worth millions. However, the only other “celebrity” on Mr. Noah’s street is Gary L. Wilson, the former CFO of Disney and chairman of Northwest Airlines. The other nine homes are owned by ordinary rich folks — doctors, lawyers, real estate investors and the like.
Records show that the 1.31-acre property was last sold in 2015 for just $3,745,000 to prominent businessman Peter Cohen of Cardinal Equities. Our Mr. Cohen razed the existing residence and set about constructing a glassy, uber-contemporary extravaganza.
The gated spread sports a Presidential-worthy security system and Control4 smart home automation. A wee motorcourt lies adjacent to a three-car garage and the imposing wooden front door.
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According to listing materials, the two-level mansion includes 10,044-square-feet of living space. (That’s very large, in case anyone was wondering.) On the lower floor, there’s a chicly minimalist kitchen with two marbleized islands, a formal dining space, great room, maid’s quarters and a home theater. Unseen in listing photographs (but lurking there somewhere) is a massive 500-gallon saltwater aquarium.
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Upstairs are four en-suite family/guest bedrooms, including the hedonistic 2,200-square-foot master suite (that’s bigger than the average American home, FYI). Our Mr. Noah will no doubt appreciate the dramatic walls of glass in his bedroom, plus the wraparound terrace. He’s also got dual bathrooms and dual closets up in there.
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The other three bedrooms also have unobstructed views, and the listing refers to one of them as an “ultra private VIP suite,” with its own private terrace. We’re not sure which VIP guest(s) Mr. Noah plans to accommodate at his new Bel Air digs, but we’re guessing Trump will not score an invite.
Yolanda is available for a weekend stay. Just in case Mr. Noah was wondering.
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The 1.31-acre hillside lot boasts sufficient space for a huge swath of lawn and the property’s centerpiece: a 62-foot infinity pool that juts out over the cliff, pointing toward the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. “Go yonder, my boy. Westside gurls are the best, and don’t get me started on those Manhattan Beach babes,” it seems to say. (Or maybe that’s just Yolanda’s early mornin’ mimosa talking.)
Yolanda believes Mr. Noah is already living on the Bel Air premises, and has even thrown a housewarming party. Some of his old South African friends — Sizwe Dhlomo and Dr. Nokukhanya Khanyile among them — have posted a slew of photos taken at this house to their respective Instagram accounts.
But anywho. The Daily Show films in NYC, so naturally Mr. Noah still keeps a pricey outpost in the Big Apple. Back in February 2017, he shelled out an impressive $10,185,500 for a duplex penthouse atop Stella Tower in the trendy Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.
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The 3-bed, 3.5-bath pied-a-terre has a sprawling outdoor terrace on the upper floor, and the master suite features a bathroom with radiant heated marble floors and sitting area with a wet bar. (Pour yourself a drink and take it to bed or into the shower! What a great concept.)
Mull over this — $30 million in luxury space for one guy. Mr. Noah saw the value! (Trump would, too, though he’d probably prefer more gold-leaf accents.) And everybody who follow this blog — maybe you’re Progressive, maybe you’re a Tea Partier, maybe you don’t give a damn — can appreciate it all.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Fellow real estate tycoons
There it is, kids. Real estate. The great unifier! Our Savior, practically the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Far be it from Yolanda to cast aspersions on people way more important than ourselves, but we just think dreary politics are a total waste. Focus on the real property, people, not some invisible wall. Then — and only then — will our hurting world begin to heal. A brighter, happier time will dawn. Can’t you see?
But before the commencement of burnin’ rubber, here’s an itty-bitty story morsel to tide you over. Professional baseball star Joey “In Flanders Fields” Votto has a new vacation house.
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In case y’all don’t know, 35-year-old Mr. Votto — he’s been with the Cincinnati Reds his entire professional career — is one of the MLB’s brightest stars. He really knows how to play with balls and bats. So to speak. According to our old pal Mr. Wiki Pedia: “At the end of the 2018 season, among all active players [Mr. Votto] was first in career on-base percentage (.427), second in OPS (.957) and walks (1,104), and fourth in batting average (.311).”
Wowzers! Calm down, Mr. Votto. We get it — you’re very good at what you do.
And in fact, Mr. Votto is so good at what he does that he currently commands the 9th-biggest sports contract in all the world. Cool — but exactly how much cheddar does that entail? Glad you asked! $225,000,000. Yes, kids, nearly a quarter of a billion bucks to strut his stuff on that diamond.
Anywho. Mr. Votto may be Canadian by birth and a Buckeye by residency, but he ain’t no dummy. He’s quite smart, in fact — he already knows that LA is the best city on earth. As such, he has elected to drop $10,500,000 on a sleek oceanfront home right on the sandy shores of the Hermosa Beach Strand.
Is Mr. Votto single? Yolanda is not sure. But he’s unmarried and child-free (as far as we know) so this place qualifies as his version of a slick SoCal bachelor pad.
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Spec-built in 2018 by local firm Moloney Development, the three-story contemporary is described as a “Coastal Modern” in marketing materials and features 3,826-square-feet of living space.
As y’all might expect — this being the coveted Strand — the house is set cheek-to-jowl with its neighbors. The lot measures a measly 0.05-acre, among the smallest we’ve ever discussed on this blog. But the upside is that Mr. Votto won’t have to worry about hiring a gardener when he’s outta town — there’s no yard at all. Unless you consider the acres of sandy beach behind his house a yard, of course.
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Luxury amenities abound within the structure: there’s a Savant home automation system, radiant heated floors, four fireplaces, an elevator servicing all three floors, Dornbracht Plumbing, Bocci lighting, Miele kitchen appliances, four (!!!) SubZero Refrigerators, and on and on.
The front door opens directly to the home’s second floor, which contains all the main public areas — living room, formal dining space, kitchen, family room. A disappearing wall of glass leads to a balcony overlooking the bike path directly underneath. Neat — as those yuppies whiz by on their rose-colored Schwinns, Mr. Votto can practice his aim by pitching baseballs at their bobbing heads.
Just kidding! Our Mr. Votto is way too mature (and smart) to engage in silliness like that.
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There are a total of 4 beds and 4.5 baths in this casa. The master suite is located on the third floor and features a wee private balcony, a glassy shower and walk-in closet.
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The home’s lower level gets the party started with a massive wet bar and a fireplace-equipped terrace. A low, bougainvillea-covered wall discourages uninvited freeloaders from joining the fun but (thankfully) does not completely eliminate the ocean views.
Some of Mr. Votto’s new Hermosa Beach neighbors include billionaire In-N-Out Burger heiress Lynsi Snyder, billionaire Rockstar energy drink founder Russ Weiner and funnyman Jimmy Kimmel, who is also Hermosa’s de facto mayor. That guy who owns not one, not two, but three different homes in the city.
Listing agent: Dennis Moloney, Strand Hill Properties Joey Votto’s agent: Kevin Pratt, Strand Hills Properties
Though we don’t write about it often, the decidedly suburban community of La Cañada Flintridge is one of Yolanda’s favorite towns in SoCal. Located northeast of Glendale — up where the SGV meets the Crescenta Valley — this wealthy area borders the pristine Angeles National Forest. As we’ve previously mentioned, Yolanda had a very close (and sadly now deceased) relative who long lived in La Cañada. So much of our childhood was spend in the city, back about a million years ago. But we digress.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Welcome to La Cañada (photo: Mike Kobeissi)
Though many La Cañada peeps are rich — there have been $10+ million mansion sales recorded there — the area does not draw many celebrities. The community is too far-flung from traditional Hollywood haunts for most entertainers. Still, there are a handful of notable residents: Oscar-winner Gore Verbinski, acclaimed actress Angela Bassett, funnyman Adam Carolla and TV actress Diane Farr.
Another famous person who calls La Cañada home — though it hasn’t yet been publicized — is the multi-talented actor/singer/writer/comedian/producer/DJ Donald Glover, also known as Childish Gambino.
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Since at least April 2016, when he purchased a multi-million dollar mid-century residence in the sleepy town, Mr. Glover has bunked up in the notorious LCF. And apparently he likes it so much that he’s already elected to throw down millions for a residential upgrade out yonder. More on the real estate in a minute — first, let’s talk about Mr. Glover himself.
Born at Edwards Air Force Base but bred in the Deep South — the suburbs of Atlanta, to be specific — 35-year-old Mr. Glover has emerged as one of the most talented and creative members of young Hollywood. His first success came through the pen — in 2006, he graduated from NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in dramatic writing.
At some point in the mid-aughts, when he was still in his early 20s, Mr. Glover sent Hollywood producer David Miner unsolicited samples of his work, including a spec script that he had written for The Simpsons. Miner and Tina Fey were impressed by Glover’s creative writing skills and invited him to join the NBC sitcom 30 Rock as a screenwriter, a job he would retain for several years.
Since then, Mr. Glover’s red-hot career has spanned the width of the entertainment industry — as a singer/rapper, he’s won a Grammy and hit #1 on the Billboard charts with This is America. As an actor, he’s won Primetime Emmys for his starring role on Atlanta — a show he also created. He’s also got two Golden Globes and five Writers Guild of America Awards to his name.
Yolanda could continue to list Mr. Glover’s accolades until the sun creeps below the horizon. But suffice to say that whether his work appeals to your personal tastes or not, the guy is indisputably talented.
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Mr. Glover and his longtime girlfriend Michelle White now have two young bambinos, so it makes sense that they’d want to upsize their residential circumstances. And with the money rolling in, Mr. Glover recently felt flush enough to splash out nearly $4.2 million — $4,188,000, to be exact — for a rather stunning property very near his current digs. In fact, the new place actually lies on the very same hillside street as the old house — it’s just a half-mile down the winding road.
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Originally built in 1983, the huge modern house was designed by acclaimed architects Buff & Hensman and is fused almost entirely from concrete and glass. Within those soaring walls are a mansion-sized 6,848-square-feet of living space — and Yolanda absolutely loves all of it. Reagan-era ’80s moderns were so difficult to do right, kids; but on those rare occasions when the architects made it work, they created timeless showstoppers. Like the one displayed here today.
In fact, one of Yolanda’s all-time favorite architects — Mexico-based Ricardo Legorreta — specialized in modern homes of this era and created some of its very best examples. Mr. Legorreta is responsible for one of Yolanda’s favorite homes in all of LA: Casa Shapiro, Brentwood Park — but as usual, we digress.
Though the La Cañada house is very large, it remains all but invisible from the street out front, tucked back at the end of a long driveway and surrounded by a dense canopy of mature oak trees. The property spans a full 4 acres of land, large enough for even A-list celebrity-sized egos.
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The house has been admirably preserved over the past 35 years and was sold to Mr. Glover by the original owners — a married Chinese couple named Allen & Kate Yuen.
Features of the main rooms include double-height ceilings, brownish tile floors, and slab-sided walls just aching for a world-class contemporary art collection. And the enormous glass windows are really quite stunning, though we imagine Consuela will curse Mr. Glover’s name every time she hauls out the ladder to spray Windex on those monsters.
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There’s a lovely outdoor loggia overlooking the forested year, an elegant dining room and a family room with a giant wet bar. The kitchen is the one room that could definitely use a complete gut job — imagine how many food scraps are stuck in the grouting on those tile countertops. Yuck!
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With 6 beds and 7 baths, the structure has plenty of space for a growing family. The master suite features a bedroom sitting area, private outdoor terrace, a walk-in closet and bathroom with built-in soaking tub.
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There are numerous outdoor living spaces scattered throughout the multi-acre estate. Enjoy al fresco dining by the gardens, sunbathe on the concrete terrace, sip champagne by the oversized pool.
As previously mentioned, Mr. Glover’s old La Cañada house — which he still owns — happens to be on the very same street as his new one. The far more modest (but also stunning) mid-century ranch is secreted down a long driveway on a full acre of land.
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The glassy abode has 3,279-square-feet of living space and a huge outdoor terrace with a pool and built-in firepit. Spectacular views — this place actually has much better vistas than the new house — take in the Angeles National Forest and its magnificent mountains.
Records show that Mr. Glover used a blind trust to pay $2,744,250 for this property in April 2016. And while Yolanda assumes he will soon attempt to unload the stylish spread, it is not currently listed.
But as they say, these things are only a matter of time.
