Today Yolanda is a bit pressed for time, so let’s have a quick peek at the just-sold LA home of the world’s wealthiest busker, a fella who made his fortune via the circus. He’s Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, which transformed street performance into high art and a business juggernaut worth billions.

Believe it or not, but Yolanda has never seen a Cirque du Soleil show in her entire 98 years of life. We know that makes us sound very uncultured and unsophisticated, but it’s true. So in lieu of personal experience, we’ll have to go by the words of friends, who say the shows — you can catch them while in Las Vegas, among many other places — are otherworldly and spectacular. Take it from Mama over at Variety, who wrote about Mr. Laliberté’s Vegas mansion several years ago and said this:

Watching a Cirque du Soleil show is a bit like partaking of an illegal substance then carelessly entering and wandering wide-eyed through a death-defying and fantastical world of freaky body benders, mystical creatures on stilts and fearless aerialists whom Your Mama thinks must have less common sense than a boll weevel to even consider pouring themselves into genitalia-revealing outfits and flinging their lithe and lust-producing bodies up into the air like they don’t have a damn bone to break.

Even if Yolanda had actually seen a Cirque du Soleil show, we couldn’t describe it any better than that.

But back to Mr. Laliberté. A long time ago, we read a quote from bazillionaire educator Lynda Weinman, who said (in part): “Success is an amplifier.” So if you’re not a nice person to start, success will make you — well, even less nice. If you’re generous, success imbues you with mega-generosity. And so forth.

In Mr. Laliberté’s case, we suspect he was always a bit eccentric. And now that he’s a billionaire, said eccentricity has been amplified. Or perhaps the correct adjective is fun-loving? Judge for yourselves.

Beginning as a penniless acrobat and street performer, the Québécois Mr. Laliberté built Cirque du Soleil into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise. At one time he owned a full 90% of the outfit, but in 2015 he sold the majority of his interest to a private equity firm for a reported $1.5 billion. Along the path to billionairedom he spent $41.8 million to become Canada’s first space tourist, held the record as high-stakes poker’s biggest loser, and currently toils as a DJ and nightclub entrepreneur.

In 2009, Mr. Laliberté — who will turn 60 this year — famously sued the publishers of an unauthorized biography which “depicts him as a bed-hopping scoundrel with an inexhaustible appetite for sex, drugs, and a rock and roll lifestyle.” (If we’re being honest, Yolanda is not sure what the outcome of said lawsuit was.)

Our boy has sired a total of five children with two ex-girlfriends — Italian model Claudia Barilla and Brazilian model Rizia Moreira. And like all proper billionaires, he’s owned luxury homes all over the globe. Including this spread in the mountains above Beverly Hills, which apparently he no longer needs/wants.

Mr. Laliberté’s former 90210 residence is located at the very end of a road in the Beverly Hills Post Office neighborhood, the very same hillside road where other residents include future billionaire computer heiress Alexa Dell and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Other than an ivy-covered three-car garage, the entire property is obscured from the streetfront behind an enormous hedge.

Yolanda’s careful perusal of records suggests Mr. Laliberté acquired this place way back in 1996 for $2,267,000. In early 2018, he tossed it onto the market with a $5,750,000 pricetag. And though the property entered escrow within six weeks, it oddly took nearly one full year before the sale finally closed this February (2019) for exactly $5.4 million. The buyer hails from Mainland China.

Nearly all of this property’s value is in the views and location, Yolanda believes. The Santa Monica mountains, Century City skyline and Pacific Ocean are all visible on a clear day, and the home’s end-of-cul-de-sac location makes it desirably private. Unfortunately, the pool is pushed up a bit too close to the house (in our useless opinion).

The innards of the home, while not horrible, are not exactly to Yolanda’s taste. We count at least six different flooring types in this place, which is a lot of flooring drama for a spacious (but definitely not huge) 4,261-square-foot structure. At least the kitchen is outfitted with high-end appliances, and there’s an outdoor cabana/gym.

Like all immensely rich billionaires, Mr. Laliberté has a vast portfolio of luxury residences around the world. He’s got an atoll/private island in French Polynesia, a large villa near Ibiza, Spain, a mountaintop compound in Saint-Bruno, Quebec, and a Las Vegas manse.

But perhaps Mr. Laliberté’s most impressive property is his expansive estate at the Bluffs at Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island, which he purchased for a reported $29 million in 2007.

Listing agents: David Kramer & Andrew Buss, Hilton & Hyland

The city of Pasadena, located in LA’s oft-overlooked San Gabriel Valley, is renowned for its old-world charm, the annual Tournament of Roses, and the area’s historic architecture — particularly that of homes in the southernmost part of the city. Down yonder, below the bustling 210 freeway, the tree-dotted streets are broad and the lots exceptionally spacious. Walk down one of these roads and you’ll smell the distinct neighborhood scent — that pungent whiff of old money.

Atypical for LA, a significant portion of Pasadena’s housing stock is East Coast-style grand mansions — gracious Colonials and such. Thus, the area has become a popular filming location for all sorts of movies, TV shows, and various other productions — particularly those set back East or thereabouts.

One of the noblest old homes in all of Pasadena is the Arden Villa, a 106-year-old Palladian-style manse better-known for its appearances in movies and TV shows than for any of its actual owners. Perhaps the property’s biggest starring role was in the legendary (and legendarily campy) 1983 Dynasty lily pond catfight. “A couple of female mud wrestlers,” indeed. Watch and see for yourselves.

The estate has popped up in numerous other entertainment industry productions — including commercials, TV shows like Matlock and Knight Rider, films like Billy Madison and Terms of Endearment — but Linda Evans and Joan Collins’ Dynasty splish-splash romp remains its career-defining role.

Built in 1913 for mining tycoon and railroad heir William Kennon Jewett, the estate’s main house was designed by the acclaimed Pasadena-based architects Marston & Van Pelt. At the time, the home’s construction cost — an estimated $50,000 — was considered appallingly extravagant. Though the original estate spanned 9 acres, it was eventually subdivided and dwindled to “just” 2.5 by the 1950s.

In 1957, according to online reports, the house came to be owned by the late Coleman Morton, an investment manager for Capital Group, one of the world’s oldest, largest and most secretive hedge funds. Our Mr. Morton and his longtime wife Jane lived and entertained at the home for several decades.

Fast forward to 1993, when the house was purchased for $2,750,000 by a semi-mysterious man from Mainland China named Guang “Geoffrey” Ren. Though we know very little about Mr. Ren’s background or wealth, he is an important character in today’s story and we’ll come back to him imomentarily. Anyway, records indicate Mr. Ren lost the property to foreclosure in 1997, just four years after his purchase.

By the early 2000s, the house had passed to prolific TV/film producer Peter Tolan, who sold it (in 2006) for $11,666,000 to David Zander, a bigshot TV commercial producer. Three years later, Mr. Zander paid $1,530,000 for the half-acre lot next door, making his approximate total outlay $13.2 million.

Then in May 2013, Mr. Zander quietly sold the expanded Arden Villa estate for an unprecedented $28 million, an amount that remains the most ever paid for a house in any of LA’s valleys — both San Gabriel and San Fernando. For comparison purposes, that’s millions more than Kim and Kanye originally forked over for their giant Hidden Hills place. And it certainly made Mr. Zander’s wallet smile.

But there were a couple very odd things about that $28 million transaction.

For starters, the record-breaking buyer was none other than Geoffrey Ren, the very same enigmatic fella who apparently lost the property to foreclosure in the 1990s. We’re unsure what Mr. Ren’s attachment to the Arden Villa is, but we do know that he did not pay cash for the estate this time ’round — he financed at least $18 million of the enormous purchase price. (Yikes! That’s one hefty mortgage.)

But here’s something even more bizarre. Yolanda happens to know that Mr. Ren never moved into the Arden Villa. That’s right, kids. For the last six years, this record-breakingly amazing — and absurdly high-maintenance! — spread has sat empty and vacant. How strange is that?

Thankfully, however, it appears that the grounds and the house itself are still being nicely maintained, despite the vacant nature of the premises. The three-acre spread is supremely private, tucked away behind multiple layers of giant hedges and trees. The main house itself is amazingly preserved, despite some modern interior updates. And yes, the famed lily pond remains.

Back in June 2017, the compound unexpectedly popped up for sale with a $28 million pricetag, the exact same price that Mr. Ren paid back in 2013. Yolanda thought that was kinda odd at the time, but the fast paced nature of LA real estate made us quickly forget about the place, which did not sell.

But then — this January (2019) — the asking price dipped sharply to $19.5 million, an amount that represents a small fortune’s loss. Yes, that is $8.5 million less than Mr. Ren paid under six years ago.

Fast forward to just the other day, when we were breakin’ bread in a coffee shop with a real estate friend. As we idly chit-chatted about the market and such, our friend casually let it slip that the Arden Villa is (or was recently) in foreclosure.

What?! Yolanda nearly spit out her overpriced, lukewarm coffee. Foreclosures, y’all, still happen. But they have become increasingly uncommon since the economy recovered some years ago, and a $28 million house foreclosure is an extremely rare thing. Matter of fact, this is the biggest foreclosure we know about, second only to the Bradbury Estate mega-mansion that went under a couple years ago.

Anyway, Yolanda hopped on the internet — and boom! Records indeed confirm foreclosure activity on the Arden Villa, beginning back in 2017. At that point, Mr. Ren was already more than $3.5 million behind on his mortgage payments — yikes. There was even a public foreclosure auction scheduled for late March (2018), though it appears that was cancelled at the last minute and some refinancing was performed. In any case, Mr. Ren remains the Arden Villa‘s owner of record. For now.

So if you’re a billionaire scouting for a majorly awesome spread in LA — and you don’t mind living in Pasadena — well, you’ve got a chance to make a great deal here.

But here’s the $28 million question: why would Mr. Ren shoulder the massive mortgage payments (and maintenance costs) for an enormous luxury home he never used, only to let it sink into foreclosure four years later? That’s an utter mystery to Yolanda. But ours not to reason why, ours to simply enjoy the beautiful photographs.

A few stats: the compound has two large pools, maze-like gardens, and a total of 17,586-square-feet of living space within the two separate structures. And even at the mega-reduced $19,500,000 ask, this is still — by far — the priciest home for sale in Pasadena or even in the more expensive neighboring city of San Marino, which is just one block away. But then again, no other compound in this area compares.

As for our Mr. Ren, here’s a peek at his current main residence (which is not the Arden Villa).

Mr. Ren spends most of his time in China, but when in the USA he and his wife Dongbai Han reside in a very remote section of Pasadena: the northeast foothills bordering Angeles National Forest, on a hidden celeb-pedigreed estate. His four-acre compound is located in the little-known Villa Heights gated community and (easily) ranks as the largest and most lavish property in the enclave.

In late 2003, Mr. Ren paid former film producer Tom Shadyac — the guy who brought us blockbusters like Ace Ventura, The Nutty Professor and Bruce Almighty — $7,250,000 for this estate, which was designed by iconic architect Paul Williams way back in 1928. The compound includes a main residence of approximately 7,000-square-feet, a guest hacienda, detached garage/staff quarters, pool, pool house/cabana, formal gardens, rolling lawns and a proper north/south tennis court.

It is here where Mr. Ren currently bunks up, and we imagine where he’ll remain even after the Arden Villa is sold. For his sake, Yolanda hopes that is soon. But remember, even in the event of a full-price $19.5 million offer, Mr. Ren is staring down an $8,500,000 loss — not counting taxes, closing costs, realtor fees, upkeep bills and much more. Ouch!

Listing agents: Nicholas Cacarnakis & Jack Chang, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

It’s a sunny Friday — a perfect time to hit the beach. Let’s eschew the typical Malibu haunts and head over to Carpinteria’s Sand Point Road, way up in beautiful Santa Barbara County.

For y’all newbies, Carpinteria is a quaint little oceanside town located just southeast of the much ritzier Montecito neighborhood. Sand Point Road is a guard-gated community (more like a gated lane, really) with 25 homes, all of them oceanfront. Though there aren’t any celebrity residents — at least none of the Hollywood variety — this sandy beach is immensely coveted, so prices easily soar into the eight figures.

Take this modest beach bungalow. Originally built in 1957, it served for decades as a vacation home for the Hixon clan, a billionaire family from Pasadena.

This February (2019), the low-slung abode — which bears more than a passing resemblance to a typical manufactured home — sold for $9,725,000, otherwise known as a wee bit under $10 million. That’s a lot of money, but 2.72-acres of oceanfront Carpinteria land is also a lot of prime property.

The proud new owner is Google bigshot Jen Fitzpatrick, long one of the tech giant’s highest-ranked women. Our Ms. Fitzpatrick is also one of Google’s most senior peeps — she was among the first 30 employees hired at the company, way back in 1999. Twenty years later, we believe her to be among the ten longest-tenured employees at Google — which is now, of course, a business mega-juggernaut with nearly 100,000 employees worldwide. So that’s a pretty big deal.

Wisconsin-bred Mrs. Fitzpatrick, an engineer by trade, joined Google immediately upon her graduation from Stanford. At that time, the company was still largely unknown and she fully admits her father thought she was “crazy” for taking a job at some random start-up. Today, she serves as a Vice President of Engineering in charge of Google Maps, a position both highly enviable and (likely) highly lucrative.

Mrs. Fitzpatrick joined Google almost immediately after Marissa Mayer (Google employee #20) and — for a time — reported directly to her. The pair jointly devised an innovative, gender-inclusive hiring method, and Mrs. Fitzpatrick has said she considers Ms. Mayer her mentor.

Adorned with unfussy, mostly native landscaping, the Carpinteria place is clearly very different from a $10 million home in — for example — Beverly Hills. The property sits right between the ocean and an “ecologically important” swampland known as the Carpinteria Marsh.

The beach is sandy and wide enough to keep even the highest high tides at bay, and the home is additionally protected by a large manmade seawall.

The flat-roofed existing structure sits down a long, crunchy pebble driveway. There’s a detached two-car garage/”bunkhouse” and substantial gated courtyard with some hokey and haphazardly-arranged furniture. A short flight of steps lead up to the mildly charming bungalow, with its sweeping porch and cherry-red front door.

The house does not appear to have been professionally decorated, and Yolanda actually kinda loves seeing all the random knick-knacks and offbeat artwork that were probably collected over many years.

There are checkerboard (tile?) floors in the living and dining rooms, decidedly average appliances and materials in the kitchen, and at least one fireplace. According to records, the house spans a modest 2,300-square-feet of living space with 3 beds and 2.5 baths.

The listing gently implies the home is a potential teardown: “the present 3/2.5 home was constructed prior to the substantial protective seawall; with new construction, the 360 views would be captivating from every room,” it says. But whether Mrs. Fitzpatrick will opt to simply renovate the present humble abode or knock it down to build something of her own custom design is unknown to Yolanda.

When they’re not vacationing in Carpinteria, Mrs. Fitzpatrick and her longtime hubby (Stephen Fitzpatrick) reside up in the Silicon Valley, in the very wealthy suburban town of Hillsborough.

Records show the Fitzpatricks threw down $5,300,000 for the gated property back in 2009. The 5,800-square-foot structure has 5 beds and 4 baths, and some of their nearest big-name neighbors include venture capitalist David Marquardt, fitness guru Jenny Craig and former Charles Schwab President Timothy McCarthy.

Before Yolanda jets off for the weekend, here’s a wee bit of (unsolicited) advice: if y’all are ever in the Carpinteria area, you simply must try the lovely Padaro Beach Grill. Yes, you Fancy Nancys (and Nathans) may turn up your nose because there ain’t no valet parking, but it’s a seriously charming place with some seriously good food and views. And who knows? Perhaps you’ll even catch one of the local celebrities — Ellen DeGeneres, George Lucas, Ashton Kutcher or maybe even Mrs. Fitzpatrick — chowing down at the table next to yours one of these days.

Listing agent: Kathleen Winter, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Jen Fitzpatrick’s agents: Calcagno & Hamilton, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Since it’s the weekend, the cat’s away and the mice (Yolanda) want to play. So how about something a wee bit offbeat? Don’t fret, our regularly scheduled programming will return shortly.

We know many of our snootier readers dislike the Kardashians and deride them as being famous (and famously rich) for absolutely nothing. “No talent!!!” they scream. But Yolanda finds these people oddly fascinating. Just how have they captivated the world for so many years? Folks have been predicting the demise of their “15 minutes” for well over a decade, yet here they are — still hogging space on every website from Time Magazine to TMZ. Come on — that alone is a talent! This family is here to stay.

At this point, the Kardashians are wealthier than 90% of “A-list” celebrities, and their famously brash spending — seems like they can never buy enough mansions, exotic cars and rapper/baller baby daddies — has recently kicked into ultra-high gear. The family now presides over a real estate empire worth well in excess of $100 million, according to Yolanda’s research.

Two of the clan’s biggest spenders — Kris Jenner and her 21-year-old near-billionaire daughter Kylie Jenner — have both purchased new homes out in Hidden Hills, deep in the belly of the San Fernando Valley, and the fine folks at Architecural Digest recently got a firsthand tour of the designer-redone digs.

So while Yolanda knows certain folks would rather push a camel through a needle’s eye than read about this family, Yolanda is gonna write about them. Let’s begin with Little Miss Kylie Jenner, shall we?

Back in fall 2016, a then-19-year-old Miss Jenner paid $12,050,000 for a new monster mansion.

We wrote about the 13,200-square-foot beast when she bought it and described the spec-built home as “very fancy but slightly banal” in style. “Couldn’t Miss Jenner go for something a bit sexier?” Yolanda wrote. And it’s true. The neutral interiors, while luxurious and wholly inoffensive, verged on the matronly.

But that was then, and the house looks dramatically different now. To sex up the Cape Cod-style abode, Miss Jenner engaged the services of theatrical interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard and spent many months workin’ on a hideously expensive total redo of the place.

Well, the now-21-year-old lip kit queen’s castle is finally done, and it’s insane. The enormous structure is chock-full of name brand art and custom furniture — Yolanda can pretty much guarantee that Miss Jenner spent well into the seven figures on this job. Check out the full story on Architectural Digest .

Yowza! Even if this ain’t your style — and it certainly is not Yolanda’s style — it’s sure fun to look at. The place looks “perfect for Instagram,” as one of our friends told us. And really, ain’t that the whole point?

At least one of the home’s eight bedrooms was converted into a “glam room” and a purse closet to house Miss Jenner’s million-dollar handbag collection. And the art used as decor! Oh my. It’s all great stuff — Beau Dunn‘s condom art, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Basquiat (but does Kylie Jenner even know who Basquiat is? Apparently she does!)

We can pretty much guarantee you will never, ever see another 21-year-old with a home this ludicrous. But before we digress any further, let’s check out her mama’s new pad, which is similarly expensive but done up in a much different, more demure manner.

In late 2017, Kris Jenner ponied up nearly $10 million for a spec-built mansion elsewhere in Hidden Hills (it happens to be directly across the street from the much larger home of her daughter Kim Kardashian and son-in-law Kanye West).

Ms. Jenner still owns her old Hidden Hills house — the Mediterranean-style one made famous on Keeping Up With the Kardashians — though she only uses it for filming purposes these days. And maybe to house some of her assistants/glam squad, we dunno.

Anywho, Ms. Jenner is learning about art and architecture — for which we applaud her — and wanted a more sophisticated look in her new home. For that she hired the acclaimed Waldo Fernandez and Clements Design to imbue the property with a “calming” energy.

Yolanda confesses we absolutely love this place — we’d live there in a heartbeat, and the art, furniture and materials are all top-notch and very correct. The one (slight) criticism to be made is that everything feels a tad too impersonal. Kinda like a giant hotel suite. A beautiful five-star hotel suite, to be sure.

Watch the video and tell us if we’re wrong. Does anything in the house — other than her “proud of” sheep — have any real meaning to Ms. Jenner? It sure ain’t seem that way, but what do we know?

For more delicious pictures of the new Kris Jenner estate, check out the Architectural Digest story in full.

So there’s the properties. See y’all, that wasn’t so bad. But you haven’t heard the last from Kardashian real estate, not by a long shot. Within the past few months, Kris Jenner dropped another $12 million out in La Quinta’s exclusive Madison Club community, and Kylie Jenner just copped a $13.5 million “in-town” pad in the mountains above Beverly Hills. So we fully expect those places to be redone and eventually skip their way into a future Architectural Digest issue.

And just for kicks and giggles, check out Kourtney Kardashian’s Richard Landry-designed Calabasas mansion, also decorated by Martyn Lawrence Bullard — and also featured in Architectural Digest.

See kids, we’ve discovered the Kardashians’ talent — their knack for amassing and spending loads of money. Thankfully, they mostly invest in real estate, which helps keep Yolanda in the black.

For over a decade, “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis and Las Vegas casino tycoon Steve Wynn have been locked in a bitter series of lawsuits involving a squadron of attorneys and many millions of dollars.

The squabbling began in February 2007, when — during a wild weekend in Vegas — Mr. Francis racked up a $2 million gambling debt at one of Mr. Wynn’s casinos. Our boy refused to pay up, so Mr. Wynn eventually sued him for the cash. Mr. Francis countersued, blaming his epic losses on Mr. Wynn plying him with booze and hookers. Oh my!

A jury eventually found in Mr. Wynn’s favor, but then Mr. Francis claimed (on camera, no less) that Mr. Wynn had threatened to kill him. Naturally, another lawsuit ensued — this time Mr. Wynn sued Mr. Francis for slander — and resulted with a jury levying a $40 million judgment against Mr. Francis (the judgment was upheld on appeal, though the amount was reduced to $19 million).

Oh, in case you’re wondering what Mr. Francis thought of the hefty judgment, he opined that the “mentally retarded” jury “should be shot dead“. So there y’all have it.

Ever since his 2012 award, Mr. Wynn has been attempting to collect from Mr. Francis. Which brings us to the latter’s longtime Bel Air home, which he bought way back in 2002 for $5,450,000.

Mr. Francis has been a longtime magnet for legal and financial troubles of all sorts — Mr. Wynn is but one of his myriad creditors — and many of them involved his Bel Air mansion, which has been in and out of foreclosure for years. Yolanda will not bore y’all with the nuts and bolts of his tangled affairs, but if you really care to read more, here’s a very thorough summary. But we digress.

Anywho, Mr. Francis valiantly attempted to prevent Mr. Wynn from seizing his assets — his Girls Gone Wild company strategically filed for bankruptcy, and the Bel Air house was transferred to a shell company which transferred the property to an entirely different shell company. But the gamesmanship appears to have ended. As of this month (February 2019), by US Marshals’ deed, the property belongs to Mr. Wynn.

Now in his late 70s and legally blind, Mr. Wynn is unlikely to want the Bel Air residence for himself — anyway, he’s already got a much grander LA spread elsewhere. More on that momentarily.

Situated about midway between exclusive “Lower Bel Air” and less-desirable “Upper Bel Air”, the 1995-built contemporary lies on a tiny gated cul-de-sac. There are only three other properties on this street — one owned by hedge funder George McCabe, another by Indian “razor blade tycoon” Rocky Malhotra. The third, a 25,000-square-foot mega-mansion, is home home to legendary music producer Quincy Jones.

According to records, there are five bedrooms — all of them ensuite — and seven baths in 6,446-square-feet of living space. Though the .89-acre lot isn’t particularly huge, it does sport canyon and city lights views. The property was judged to be worth $6.7 million on its recent transfer to Mr. Wynn.

Extra-astute real estate watchers may recall this is the same house from whence Mr. Francis was kidnapped in 2004. Before being driven from the property in his own car’s trunk, he was forced to do various degrading things at gunpoint — the entire story is a bit NSFW. The kidnapper and would-be extortionist was later brought to justice, courtesy of Paris Hilton. (Only in Hollywood!)

For the last several years, Mr. Francis has been living at his 40,000-square-foot estate in Punta Mita, Mexico, so it ain’t surprising that the Bel Air property looks a bit neglected and bedraggled in recent aerial images. Still, Yolanda believes the place — even in its current decrepit condition — is probably worth somethin’ close to $10 million on the open market. Good news for Mr. Wynn, we suppose.

Speaking of Mr. Wynn, his current LA residence is a 20,000-square-foot mansion set on a private road in Beverly Hills. He paid just under $48 million for the property, which was custom-built in the early 2000s by Maurice Marciano of GUESS? jeans fame. Yolanda happens to know the compound is currently undergoing a multimillion dollar remodel of some sort.

But Mr. Wynn is currently preoccupied with troubles of his own — the multi-billionaire was caught up in the #MeToo scandal last year. Amid an “avalanche” of negative publicity — at least ten women alleged improprieties committed by him — he quickly resigned his CEO position. The Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) is currently deliberating what penalty to impose on Wynn Resorts, whose executives were repeatedly made aware of Mr. Wynn’s (alleged) indiscretions but did little in response.

As for his newly-acquired Bel Air property, we imagine Mr. Wynn will soon — perhaps once his other issues are resolved — flip the mini-estate onto the open market. Or maybe he’ll fix it up first? Regardless, if you’ve always wanted to live in the LA home of a guy who made his fortune off drunken sorority girls — and really, who hasn’t? — your chance should soon present itself.

Everyone in LA loves the Chateau Marmont hotel. The idiosyncratic Sunset Strip hotspot has been a favorite celeb hangout for decades — and the 1929 structure is listed as a Historic-Cultural Monument. Until recently, the hotel’s own website boasted a quote from Columbia Pictures founder Harry Cohn: “If you must get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont.”

Some of the Chateau’s happenings are legendary — Lindsay Lohan was banned from the premises over an unpaid $46k hotel bill, John Belushi overdosed in his room, and Britney Spears got the boot for smearing food all over her face. And that’s just the stuff we know about! Ah, if only those walls could talk.

Well, if you’ve always wanted to live the celebrity Chateau lifestyle without the confinement/drawbacks of a pricey hotel suite, you’re in luck. Directly across the street is a celeb-pedigreed villa. While not actually part of the hotel, it quite literally lies in the Chateau’s shadow — you couldn’t live any closer if you tried. And though not publicly listed for sale, the property is offered as a not-so-quiet pocket listing with a $6,995,000 ask. Originally built in 1923, the heavily renovated Tuscan-style abode (described as a “Contemporary Traditional” in the listing) has a marginally interesting history.

In 2006, actor James Franco — Yolanda knows him best for portraying Harry Osborn in Spiderman, but he’s starred in many a Hollywood blockbuster — paid about $2.4 million for the convenient casa. He remodeled the whole place in a chic, trendy manner and reportedly entertained many young women here before selling the premises (in early 2010) to the current owner.

Though set in a rather public location — it’s right under the Chateau and atop the Strip, after all — Mr. Franco’s former villa is remarkably secure, surrounded by high walls and top-notch alarm sensors plus a bevy of security cameras for celeb-style privacy.

Anyway, the current owner — who paid Mr. Franco $3,300,000 in cash for the property — is a mysterious woman named Alba di Angeli. Yolanda has previously written about this enigmatic lady, though we’ve never seen a photo of her and Google references are virtually nonexistent, which is unheard-of for a such a wealthy individual. Yolanda strongly suspects Ms. di Angeli either changed her name at some point or paid big bucks to have the internet scrubbed, which apparently can be done. (Who knew?)

We also suspect there’s a specific reason Ms. di Angeli is being so secretive. But until she puts her cards on the table, we’ll have to keep guessing as to what that is. Or perhaps a kind soul will inform us?

The only things we know for certain about Ms. di Angeli is that she showed up in California about 10 years ago with loads of cash and is now married to an LA-based personal trainer named Johannes Brugger. But we digress.

Within the snazzy shack are 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms in a roomy 5,215-square-feet of living space, per the listing. Two attached garage spaces lie out front, plus there’s a detached two-car garage and additional off-street parking for another three vehicles ’round back.

A dark-bottomed swimming pool lies just off the southern side of the residence. Although the quarter-acre lot isn’t particularly big, a good-sized lawn (perfect for the doggies!) is squeezed into one corner of the property. There are also mature trees and a surprising number of spacious verandas and patios scattered around the premises, including one with direct views of the entire Chateau, basically.

We mentioned how this home was completely redone by our boy Mr. Franco, and the interiors look mostly unchanged from 2010. However, Ms. di Angeli has made indeed made a small handful of decor tweaks. Most notably, she added a large center island (with bar-style seating) in the kitchen. The shockingly expensive La Cornue range, however, was installed during Mr. Franco’s ownership.

Sophisticated ebonized hardwood floors gleam their way throughout the entire house, and the open-concept floorplan lends each room an airy feeling. Wood-beamed ceilings lend the place some visual warmth. And that living room fireplace — oh my! It looks big enough to heat the entire house.

Ms. di Angeli also added some custom features in the upstairs master suite, including a shiny chrome stripper pole — good for exercise, y’all — a giant Marilyn Monroe painting, and a wee writing desk. The master bath is swaddled in 19th-century marble — likely quarried in some faraway land.

As y’all might expect — given her husband is a personal trainer — Ms. di Angeli also has a large gym on the premises with a convenient massage table for post-workout relaxation. Or relaxation post-arduous shopping trips on the Strip. Did we mention this place is walking distance to all the hottest WeHo spots?

Another cool outdoor feature is a covered cabana-type thing with a full kitchen and space for al fresco dining — an absolute must-have in Southern California. The BBQ will come in handy during star-studded neighborhood get-togethers — this property is located right down the road from the homes of Jimmy Kimmel and Dakota Johnson. Just to name a couple.

Back in 2015, Ms. di Angeli expanded her Sunset Strip holdings with the $2,155,000 cash purchase of the smaller villa next door, which she used as a guesthouse. That place is also available off-market (price undisclosed). So if you’ve always wanted a compound in the Hollywood foothills, here’s your opportunity.

Ms. di Angeli is selling her Chateau-adjacent complex because she has already purchased a larger estate elsewhere in Los Angeles. Back in 2016, records show our gurl forked out $7,400,000 (in cash) for a nearly two-acre gated compound in the Studio City hills. The secluded two-house property was purchased from two gentlemen: Emmy-winning screenwriter Joe Keenan (Frasier, Desperate Housewives) and his longtime partner/husband Gerry Bernardi.

For you number crunchers, this sale remains the biggest (or second-biggest?) residential transaction ever recorded in Studio City. In the three years since her acquisition, our Ms. di Angeli has thoroughly renovated the entire estate and recently moved in with Mr. Brugger.

PS — Young ladies, please take heed and don’t go trying to hawk Girl Scout cookies to this couple. Alba di Angeli has hired 24/7 armed security guards to patrol her Studio City compound. Knock on the gate and you may be shot on sight or hauled off to the clink. Or both!

Listing agents: Mauricio Umansky, Eduardo Umansky & Farrah Aldjufrie, The Agency

Today Yolanda must apologize (in advance) for flooding your inbox. We already have another fun real estate story on deck, but first we’d like to quickly tie up some loose ends.

Yesterday we gabbed about a snazzy villa adjacent to the Chateau Marmont, a place once home to actor James Franco and now owned by an enigmatic woman named Alba Di Angeli. There ain’t any information about Ms. Di Angeli available online, which is unheard-of for somebody at her wealth level. So, of course, the ever-cynical Yolanda speculated that she must’ve changed her name at some point.

Well, that story produced an unexpectedly large response. We were swiftly contacted by a knowledgable little birdie who squawked us proof of Ms. Di Angeli’s “origins”, if you will. And as we suspected, Ms. Di Angeli did indeed change her name, so let’s quickly discuss. Oh, and for those of y’all wondering why we keep talking about this lady, just listen up — because her story is actually quite interesting. Particularly since Ms. Di Angeli has some very personal connections to none other than President Donald Trump.

Alba Di Angeli is Native American by ethnicity and was born Meeka Shirae Dawson. She became Meeka Fields upon her marriage to Richard Fields, a very wealthy but somewhat reclusive businessman who has alternatively been described as a “a former talent agent turned real estate developer,” a “casino kingpin,” a “financier,” and a “casino and resort developer.” Here’s a photo of Mr. Fields, courtesy of the Boston Globe.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Fields — an ambitious fella by all accounts — forged a relationship with the Trump clan. By 1993, the two families had became so close that — according to an old Vanity Fair article — Alba Di Angeli was present in the hospital delivery room when Marla Maples gave birth to Tiffany Trump.

Mr. Fields eventually became a high-ranking employee and longtime partner of Trump. In fact, the Donald chose him to manage his brash casino expansion into south Florida. However, when Trump backed out of the deal, Mr. Fields went into business on his own — successfully opening Florida casinos, including the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa.

Trump was furious at Mr. Fields’ (alleged) treachery. And as all successful business partnerships do, the pair’s relationship eventually dissolved into a mess of lawsuits and vicious accusations. In 2004, according to a Bloomberg article entitled Trump’s Angry Apprentice, Trump sued Mr. Fields over a $1 billion stake in the casino biz — accusing him of unlawfully doing business under the Trump name. Mr. Fields sued him right back, accusing Trump of business irregularities including the improper destruction of email evidence. The pair would battle it out in court for years to come, even after Mr. Fields agreed to buy out Trump’s Marina Hotel Casino for $316 million (that deal later fell apart).

Today, about the only thing anybody seems to agree on is that Mr. Fields is now an inordinately wealthy man. While we don’t know his exact net worth, at one time our boy had lavish homes in four US states.

In 2006, Richard Fields and Alba di Angeli (then still known as Meeka Fields) paid a reported $69 million for a 1,750-acre ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Known as the Jackson Land & Cattle Ranch, the bucolic mega-estate has land stretching for miles and a world-class 52-stall equestrian center.

In 2011, just after Mr. Fields and Ms. Di Angeli divorced, the ranch was put up for sale with a $175 million asking price. According to the Wall Street Journal, it was — at that time — the most expensive real estate listing in the entire USA.

For what it’s worth — the ranch did not sell at that aggressive ask and was later removed from the market. As of today, it appears Mr. Fields still owns the property.

Also in 2006, Richard Fields and Alba Di Angeli agreed to pay $13.35 million for a penthouse apartment at 15 Central Park West, a then-brand-new luxury skyscraper that has become one of the most desirable addresses in all of Manhattan. Residents there include (or have included) Denzel Washington, Sting, Robert De Niro, Alex Rodriguez, and an array of big-name billionaires.

Unfortunately, by the time the deal closed (in June 2008), the couple were already in the process of divorcing. So they flipped the penthouse just six months later (December 2008) for a whopping $27 million to an anonymous foreign buyer.

Yes kids, Mr. Fields and Ms. Di Angeli doubled their money in just six months. Lucky them.

We are not certain when or why Ms. Dawson AKA Mrs. Fields changed her name to Alba Di Angeli, which — loosely translated — means “dawn of angels” in Italian. But it must’ve happened sometime within the past decade. Back in summer 2008, Ms. Di Angeli came to Los Angeles and purchased a multimillion dollar house in Hidden Hills — the same guard-gated neighborhood where many of the Kardashians reside. This particular property was formerly owned by “King of Sitcoms” Chuck Lorre, creator of hit shows like Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory.

But Ms. Di Angeli didn’t like Hidden Hills (or something like that). Just two years later, she sold her house at a million-dollar-plus loss, purchased James Franco’s Hollywood Hills home, installed a stripper pole and married Johannes Brugger Jr, a personal trainer 13 years her junior.

Y’all already know the rest of the story: Ms. Di Angeli and Mr. Brugger now reside in a heavily-guarded compound, which (with renovation costs) is perhaps the most valuable property in all of Studio City.

Anywho, the mystery of Ms. Di Angeli is now solved (with a big thank-you to little birdie). Someone please buy her sexy Sunset Strip house — and as for the rest of y’all, time to move on with your lives. Or maybe it’s just Yolanda who needs to move on?

Yikes. Let’s get back to the real estate.

Although far less flashy, Carpinteria’s Padaro Lane is to Santa Barbara essentially what Malibu’s Carbon Beach is to LA. At least in terms of residents. It’s an oceanfront stretch of sand where hordes of billionaire (and near-billionaire) folks congregate, many of whom are famous.

Numerous big-name entrepreneur and showbiz homeowners own on Padaro — Ellen DeGeneres, George Lucas, Christopher Lloyd, Greg Renker, Lynda Weinman, Ashton Kutcher & Mila Kunis. And many more. Home prices are correspondingly hefty, of course.

Last week, a large blufftop spread up there sold for just over $18 million — $18,125,000, to be exact — and the buyers are a Seattle-area couple named Dwayne & Terese Clark.

The Clarks are self-made entrepreneurs and philanthropists. Our Mrs. Clark is a registered nurse who owns Nurses2Go, a company that supplies nursing services to healthcare providers. And Mr. Clark is CEO and founder of Aegis Living, a company that owns and manages assisted living facilities — what some folks might call retirement centers or nursing homes, depending on how uncouth y’all are. He’s grown the company into a powerhouse that has — according to its website — over 2,000 employees, a property portfolio worth $1.5 billion and 31 locations in Washington, California and Nevada.

In his spare time, Mr. Clark blogs for The Huffington Post and has written five books and a play, according to his personal website. The Clarks are also noted philanthropists and seem like generous peeps — he once left a $3,000 tip on a $40 breakfast. Just ’cause it was Christmas.

Anyway, it seems the Clarks are not planning to move into their new $18 million Carpinteria estate anytime soon — the property is already available for lease at a rate of $45,000 per month. So if y’all fancy a temporary Santa Barbara getaway — and you’ve got the cash — perhaps this is just the thing for you.

Yolanda thinks the storybook-style mansion looks old — circa 1920s or so — but records reveal it was actually built in 1986. Last sold in 2004 for $19 million, the place was previously home to former Williams-Sonoma owner Jay McMahan and his wife Jackie. The elderly couple have since passed on — he in 2011, she in 2017 — and the property was put up for sale about three years ago with a $28.5 million ask, eventually reduced to $22 million. Along came the Clarks from up north (finally!) and the rest is history.

The first thing anyone will notice about this property is that it’s big. Like really big — 4.3 acres, to be approximate. The two-parcel, fully-landscaped estate features a whopping 350 feet of blufftop frontage overlooking the Pacific and the Santa Barbara coastline.

A wee brick porch decorated with some potted plants lies before the ornate front door. Within, the interiors are surprisingly contemporary — polished hardwood floors, whitewashed walls, vaulted ceilings and such.

The formal living and dining rooms sport large fireplaces. So does the kitchen, where we like the tile floor and top-notch appliances. Everything is white, save for the cobalt blue La Cornue range.

The estate has 6,697-square-feet of living space with four bedrooms and six baths spread between the main residence and wee 1-bed guesthouse. Really though, the main value is in the land and views — covered verandas, sweeping lawns and mature trees frame the sensational coastline vistas.

We’re not sure how folks on the estate grounds access the beach, but Yolanda imagines a hidden pathway down the cliffside exists somewhere. Atop the bluff are plenty of recreational activities — amuse yourself on the putting green, frolic on the acres of emerald lawns, gaze into the fountain.

There does not, however, appear to be a pool. But if y’all can survive without that — hello, there’s still an ocean in the backyard — $45k for monthly rent sounds reasonable. (Yikes! Did we really say that?)

Anywho. Up in the Seattle area, the Clarks’ main residence appears to be a fearsomely expensive Hunts Point compound worth well north of $20 million.

The two-parcel property contains two separate mansions — the Clarks custom-built the larger one (recently assessed at nearly $13 million) in 2010. They then (in 2016) paid $8 million for the smaller contemporary home next door. As y’all might expect, the two formerly separate properties have since been combined and together flaunt 150++ feet of frontage on hoity-toity Lake Washington. Some of the neighboring waterfront estates are owned by the likes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

Listing agent (Carpinteria rental): Sandy Stahl, Sotheby’s International Realty

In this era of $500 million giga-mansions and $238 million penthouse apartments — not to mention $60 million lawsuits over Zillow makin’ a boo-boo — a $36 million house listing just doesn’t have the same clout it once did. In fact, it can easily fly right under the radar.

Back near the dawn of time — we’re talking 2011, 2012-ish — a $30+ million asking price would’ve made all the property gossip rags. This $36.5 million place, for instance, just listed this week. Nowadays, hardly anyone even cares to write about it! Sad, these changing times. But Yolanda will do this house a solid and discuss it today — brave new world and all that.

Developed on spec by a local lady named Vera Guerin, the stately spread sits in a mega-prime section of the 90210. It’s north of Sunset Boulevard and just a quick skip to the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel.

The listing waxes poetic about the property: it is “a Legend that will be cherished for generations,” the “five year culmination of planning/construction,” and “a flawless gem” with “unparalleled quality.”

Records indicate the .51-acre lot was last sold in May 2014 for $10.1 million to Mrs. Guerin. She then razed the existing structure and hired prominent mega-mansion architect Richard Manion to design somethin’ impressive. Well, mission accomplished.

Anyway, Mrs. Guerin has lived in Beverly Hills for nearly all her life. The only child of Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the USA following WWII, her father Nathan Shapell became one of California’s most successful real estate developers, building 65,000 houses. Upon his death in 2007, Mrs. Guerin inherited his stake in Shapell Industries. At least one estimate pegs her net worth at $1.3 billion, making her one of LA’s wealthiest full-time residents.

According to Yolanda’s pal Mr. Wiki Pedia, Mrs. Guerin greatly displeased her parents when she married Paul Guerin, a gentile. But her husband converted to Judaism. And they’ve now been married for 50 years with three grown children and an array of grandchildren, so seems like things worked out well.

By the way, the Guerins themselves don’t live in today’s $36.5 million manse — they have a palatial Tuscan-style villa elsewhere in Beverly Hills. We don’t know if this spec-build was just a onetime diversion or if they’re planning to develop more fancy properties in the future. We shall see! Perhaps it all hinges on how fast they can unload this beast? And the sale price it eventually commands, of course.

Christened “The Bedford” (after the street on which it sits), the perfectly symmetrical Georgian-style pile is double-gated for security and includes six bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The lavish interiors are awash with pricey materials and exquisite finishes — there are rich walnut floors and paneled walls in the study, which features a large wet bar and a very cool chandelier with a molecular explosion sorta vibe. Attached to the study is the living room — a sizable fireplace lends a bit of coziness.

Also on the property is a subterranean garage with space for ten luxury automobiles. The listing does not specify the home’s total square footage, but it’s big — Yolanda would guess maybe 10,000-square-feet or so. But don’t quote us on that.

The dining room is perhaps the most visually arresting space in the house — check out that huge chandelier and the shimmery silver leaf walls and ceiling treatments. Across the way is the extra-big family room, and both spaces are attached to the Calacutta marble-swathed kitchen, which has dual islands and a world-class array of high-end appliances. Yolanda also loves the breakfast room, with its starburst marble floors and glassy doors.

Upstairs are five bedrooms — all of them ensuite — including the master. The vast bedroom has herringbone-patterned hardwood floors, a sitting area, and a fireplace. Then there are sumptuous his/hers bathrooms and closets — “hers” done up light and bright in white marble, “his” with a gentlemen’s club look, moody and with black marble and such. And check out “her” closet — yowza!

The half-acre mini-estate has numerous other luxe creature comforts — a wine cellar with bar, a movie theater with tiered seating, a 40-foot outdoor pool, gardens and a one-bed poolhouse (for the live-in groundskeeper or parlormaid, we presume).

Yolanda fully realizes that 99.9% of people cannot dream of affording a $36.5 million house, and so this post might seem a little useless to y’all. But it’s sure fun to look at, right? And yes — difficult as it may be to imagine — there are definitely peeps who can afford this and much more, too.

And by some measures, this place might almost seem reasonably priced. The style reminds us of the James Packer estate — also in Beverly Hills — which he purchased last year for nearly $65 million. Obviously that spread is bigger and has more fun features than this one, but still — that sale price was almost $30 million more than the ask here! Like they say, it’s a brave new world.

Listing agents: Drew Fenton & Linda May, Hilton & Hyland

Today Yolanda is a wee bit busy, so forgive us if we’re more brusque than usual with this story. But we wanted to quickly check out a fun property outside our normal, er, “realm”, and found one in up north in the Bay Area, specifically in the ludicrously wealthy town of Hillsborough.

For the geography-challenged, Hillsborough is a suburb of San Francisco — about 17 miles due south. Since its 1910 incorporation, Hillsborough (along with Atherton, Woodside, Burlingame and other neighboring suburbs) has long been a choice locale for wealthy San Francisco-ites who want to live somewhere a bit less hectic, a bit more family-friendly.

Yolanda chose to gab today’s house because we like it (duh) and it’s definitely unique. This ain’t no spec-house developer special. But more importantly, this place just sold for exactly $15 million, which is a lot of money. Even for swanky Hillsborough.

The buyers are Jeff & Katharine Wilson, a married couple in their early 40s. Our Mrs. Wilson is a therapist, and Mr. Wilson is an SF-based private equity guru and former i-banker who serves as a Senior Vice President at Vista Equity Partners, the multi-billion dollar venture capital firm co-founded by Brian Sheth and Robert F. Smith (Vista’s headquarters are in Texas, but the firm also has SF offices.)

If Mr. Sheth’s and Mr. Smith’s names sound familiar, it’s probably because Yolanda has discussed both their real estate adventures on prior occasions. But we digress.

The J-shaped mansion was custom-built in 2013 for the seller — who appears to be a family member of tech billionaire Omid Kordestani. For whatever that’s worth. The house had been on the market for the better part of a year, originally with an ask of nearly $20 million. The Wilsons got a nice discount, snagging it for the aforementioned $15,000,000.

A gated motorcourt leads to a discrete three car garage. Guests coming from the street are greeted by an exceptionally long walkway that leads past a “croquet lawn“, a bocce ball court, and two large koi ponds. Beyond all that — and a wide patio suitable for an outdoor dancefloor — is the front door, which is less ornate than all that outside drama might lead y’all to expect.

Inside, the contemporary casa keeps things minimalist with warm-ash neutral tones. Beyond the foyer is the great room and skylit kitchen — outfitted with super-fancy Miele and SubZero appliances — and behind that are formal living and dining rooms.

Unconventionally, four of the home’s five bedroom suites are located downstairs. This includes the master, which lies just aft of the great room. Upstairs is one guest/family bedroom suite, a gym and a family room (which could be converted into a home theater, Yolanda would expect). The main house has a total of 5 beds/6.5 baths in 6,415-square-feet of living space.

The backyard is HUGE. And yes, it deserves those caps. Yolanda was kinda blown away by how much space there appears to be — you’d be hard-pressed to replicate this place in jam-packed LA. The property spans 1.5 flat acres with a pool and 1.5-bath pool house (with heated floors!) just behind the main house. Beyond that (and another large lawn) are a full-size tennis court and separate sports court.

Tucked away behind the sports court — and under some giant trees of unknown species — is a guest house with a bedroom and bathroom. The place appears currently outfitted like a romper/rec room.

While this estate is certainly big, it’s also surrounded by gigantic compounds — some of which make this property look like guest quarters. A few of the Wilsons’ nearest new neighbors include bigshot real estate developer Mike Podell, Franklin Templeton CEO Greg Johnson and his sister, Franklin Resources President Jenny Johnson. (Jenny’s mega-estate is bigger than her brother’s. But not by much!)

Listing agent: Jim Arbeed, Coldwell Banker
Jeff & Katharine Wilson’s agent: Jenny Vitro, Alain Pinel Realtors

Back in January, Yolanda heard rumblings that Bruce Willis was plotting a return to LA. Unfortunately, we were unable to lock down a specific address — possibly somewhere in Beverly Hills, we were told — but now TMZ has revealed that our boy is an official Westsider, having chosen a residence in the posh neighborhood of Brentwood Park. And sure enough, records confirm that Mr. Willis (with second wife Emma Heming) paid a hefty $9,800,000 for a property that sits right atop busy-busy Sunset Boulevard.

The action film superstar — he’s perhaps best-known for his portrayal of John McClane in the Die Hard franchise, but he’s also starred in numerous cult favorites, including 1997’s The Fifth Element, which — according to one of Yolanda’s friends — is simply “the best movie ever”.

Hmmm. We’ll take his word for it!

But we digress. The brand-new Traditional is completely walled and gated for privacy and features a big motorcourt plus garage space for four vehicles. According to the listing, the mini-estate has 7 beds and 12 baths in a whopping 13,048-square-feet of living space.

A two-tone grey/white color scheme graces the front facade. The decidedly contemporary foyer has hardwood floors and a humongous custom chandelier. Both the living and family rooms have fireplaces, and the eat-in kitchen flaunts two marble islands and the full roster of high-end appliances. Adjacent to the dining room is a glassy wine closet.

Upstairs, the opulent master suite sports vaulted ceilings, yet another fireplace, dual showroom closets, an all-marble bath, and a private outdoor terrace. And check out all that recessed lighting. Oh my!

The home’s lower level sports an array of ultra-luxurious recreational amenities including an indoor swimming pool, a sauna/steam room, gym and a movie theater. An elevator provides convenient access to the main and upper floors.

While not particularly huge, the .47-acre lot is roomy enough for two cabanas, a pool/spa combo, and space for al fresco dining (an absolute must for any fancy SoCal estate).

For the past few years, Mr. Willis and Ms. Heming have primarily resided in New York, but they seem serious about returning to the West Coast. Their Manhattan penthouse was recently sold for nearly $18 million to financier Jeffrey Keswin and their sprawling upstate NY spread is currently for sale with a hefty $13 million ask.

Back in 2014, Mr. Willis sold his former Beverly Hills residence — a quirky Spanish-style tennis court estate — for a whopping $16.5 million. The buyers, incidentally, were former Restoration Hardware CEO (and current Lucky Brand jeans CEO) Carlos Alberini and his wife Andrea.

Listing agent: Santiago Arana, The Agency
Bruce Willis’s agents: Kurt Rappaport & Drew Meyers, Westside Estate Agency

Yolanda first heard it nearly two months ago from an anonymous tipster and then we heard it again — just days ago — from a very reliable source: whispers say Katy Perry has quietly sold her Runyon Canyon-adjacent compound, and the alleged buyers are famed restaurateur Michael Chow and his new (fourth) wife Vanessa Chow (née Vanessa Rano). The couple were married mere weeks ago in a lavish and somewhat star-studded Los Angeles ceremony.

Per urban legend, the May-December couple (he’s 80, she’s 30) met in an elevator and it was love at first sight for both parties. Truly. Yes, we know some of y’all cold-hearted romance skeptics pooh-pooh the notion of immediate love. But you are wrong. It really does happen! Just ask the Chows.

Mr. Chow is, of course, proprietor of the famed eponymous Chinese restaurant chain whose flagship location — situated on Camden Drive in Beverly Hills — has long been the LA dining hotspot for the see-and-be-seen crowd. Less-known is that Mr. Chow is also a bit part actor with an impressively long list of credits — most notably as an evil SPECTRE agent in the 1967 James Bond flick You Only Live Twice.

So anyway, here’s a little background on the Katy Perry compound, which is perhaps most notable for sitting right atop the Mulholland Drive entrance to Runyon Canyon, perhaps LA’s most stereotypically “LA” hiking destination. Hundreds — if not thousands — of exercise-minded folks walk right by Ms. Perry’s property on any given day.

The compound is comprised of two separate properties with two different addresses. The larger lot, with its Spanish-style main house, was long owned by Walmart heiress Sybil Robson Orr. Our Mrs. Orr — herself a hardcore real estate baller, but we digress — eventually sold the property to oil heiress Aileen Getty, who later purchased the smaller mid-century modern house next door.

In May 2013, along came Katy Perry, who paid Ms. Getty $11,200,000 for the entire shebang — $8.2 million for the big property, $3 million for the smaller one — but only lived there for a few years before attempting to flip the entire compound off-market for $15 million. It’s not yet clear to Yolanda whether the Chows’ purchase — the MLS shows they paid $9,404,000 — includes both properties or the large Spanish-style one alone. We suspect the sale price is for both lots — which would mean Ms. Perry took a huge loss — but we shall see.

And yes, we know some of y’all are a little incredulous that Mr. Chow would buy this place when he’s already got a massive Holmby Hills mansion set on what is arguably LA’s most prestigious residential street — more on that in a moment — but it seems the octogenarian is feeling frisky with his new lady-love and wants to spice things up on the residential front. And what could be sexier than the Hollywood Hills home of a global pop music superstar?

What, indeed.

A long, gated driveway leads past a security guardhouse to various outbuildings that include the Spanish/Mediterranean-style main house, a detached guesthouse with a limousine-length garage and a separate fitness building. Naturally — given its rather public location — the entire 2.33-acre property is walled, fenced and heavily fortified with security cameras and the like.

Yolanda expected Ms. Perry’s interior aesthetic to be somewhat eclectic — appropriate to a music phenom known for her visually razzle-dazzle concerts — but the decor is more restrained than we imagined. There are neutral colors, Moroccan-themed accents, Parquet de Versailles hardwood floors in the main rooms and snazzy tile in the light-filled kitchen.

The super-luxe master suite takes up the home’s entire second floor and features a sitting room with an almost unbelievably huge fireplace — it’s taller than the average adult human — a circular bedroom and a Roman-style bathroom with geometric tile floors, a fireplace and a soaking tub.

There are numerous loggias and patios scattered around the pool area. Below the main house is a terraced, expensively landscaped backyard complete with fruit trees, romantic fountains and even an outdoor amphitheater for private concerts.

For many years, Mr. Chow resided in a custom mega-mansion located on what is oft-considered LA’s priciest residential road: South Mapleton Drive in Holmby Hills. The gargantuan 30,000+ square foot manor was modeled after the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid.

Since last October (2018), the Holmby Hills manse has been listed with an unchanged $78,000,000 asking price. So if you’ve got tens of millions to spend on a gargantuan (and gargantuanly-high maintenance) LA behemoth, you know who to call.

As for Ms. Perry, she has since upgraded to an $18 million estate in a guarded (and heavily celebrified) Beverly Hills Post Office enclave. She recently paid another $7.5 million for a second property nearby, which she reportedly uses as a guesthouse. Some of her nearest neighbors include Adele, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher & Mila Kunis.

And for the last few years, Ms. Perry has been caught up in a bizarre legal drama over ownership of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a medieval village-style convent located on the neighborhood border between Los Feliz and Silver Lake — on LA’s hipster-ish Eastside.

Our gurl has long been attempting to purchase the convent, reportedly because she’d like to convert it into a massive Perry family compound. In 2015, her $14.5 million all-cash offer was accepted by the Archdiocese but flatly rejected by the nuns who occupied the property — they quickly “sold” it to an entirely different buyer. After a contentious and dramatic two-year legal battle — one of the nuns actually collapsed and died in the courtroom — Ms. Perry was cleared to acquire the eight-acre mega-estate. The transaction was reportedly awaiting Vatican approval as of last year, and Yolanda’s research indicates the deal has still not officially closed — nigh on four years after the OG purchase agreement was signed.

Listing agents (Katy Perry house): Ernie Carswell & Christopher Pickett, Douglas Elliman
Selling agent (Katy Perry house): Jacob Greene/The Altman Brothers, Douglas Elliman
Listing agents (Holmby Hills): The Altman Brothers, Douglas Elliman; Jeff Hyland, Hilton & Hyland

The Montecito/Santa Barbara area has recently seen a spate of mega-dollar real estate closings — property transfers for well into the eight figures, the latest of which went down last week. A gorgeous estate just north of the quaint downtown shops on Coast Village Road was quietly sold.

Christened El Cielito, the lavish compound was designed in 1920 by acclaimed architect George Washington Smith. The 3.28-acre property is quintessential Santa Barbara in style — Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, verdant lawns and lush foliage — and offers distant, super-narrow views of the deep blue Pacific. It’s barely even a peek-a-boo, but it’ll do. Hey, any ocean view is better than no ocean view.

Unfortunately, Yolanda spent lots of time researching this place but was unable to turn up any interesting owner names from back in the day. We’re sure a knowledgable Montecito local will happily tell us how obtuse we are and inform y’all about who built this place. It must’ve been somebody important! But for now, the name(s) shall remain a mystery.

Anywho. We do know that the estate was purchased in late 1995 by Saturday Night Fever producer John Badham, who flipped it just two years later to President Trump’s BFF Tom Barrack — a private equity bigwig and CEO of Colony Capital. In 2014, Mr. Barrack quit-claimed the property to architectural designer Laurel Beebe Barrack, one of his three (or four?) ex-wives and mama of his son Nicholas.

But Ms. Beebe Barrack didn’t hold onto the spread for very long — she has other interesting projects in the works, we imagine. By late 2016, she had slapped a $20 million pricetag on the beast. After a change of realtors and several big pricechops, the ask eventually tumbled to $15.5 million. Records show the estate was finally sold in late February (2019) for a discounted $14,500,000.

Per records, the proud new owner is Vivid Entertainment co-owner Bill Asher, an Alaska native and current Montecito resident — he and wife Julia Asher (née Mavris) currently reside on a multi-acre estate nearby. That place, sadly, was seriously impacted by the major Montecito mudslides of 2018.

But we digress — more on the Ashers’ current spread a wee bit later. For now, we know some of y’all might be wondering how this couple can afford a $8.1 million Montecito estate and a second, even larger $14.5 million compound down the street. Well, if you don’t already know what Vivid Entertainment is, allow Yolanda to explain.

Vivid is arguably the most successful adult entertainment production juggernaut in the whole wide world. And adult entertainment, of course, is better-known as porn to all you uncouth hooligans. Or filthy smut, as your grandmother would say. Vivid’s productions feature all sorts of interesting “performers“.

Perhaps Vivid’s best-known “hallmark,” if you will, is its ownership of the most (in)famous celebrity sex tapes in history. Paris Hilton, Tila Tequila and Farrah Abraham all proved to be mega-successful Vivid video stars. And Kim Kardashian’s career-kickstarting video — appropriately titled “Kim Kardashian, Superstar,” reaped untold millions for Vivid and launched her krazy klan on their path to billionairedom. It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world! And we sure do love it.

Despite the raunchy products Mr. Asher peddles, he’s got admirably refined real estate taste — as you can tell from his swanky new Montecito pad. Yolanda would love to show y’all more of it, but unfortunately the property was yanked off the MLS just prior to closing. Still, you can find plenty of tantalizing photos here, here and here for your real estate porno enjoyment. We apologize for the inconvenience.

The irregularly-shaped flag lot is completely walled for security and features three gated access points, all of them camera-watched. The main entrance — located off the main boulevard out front — features an epic long driveway that passes between tall hedges before dead-ending at a party-sized motorcourt.

Just around the corner, on a narrower side street, are two additional gates — one providing direct access to the detached garage (for the homeowners) and a discreet service entrance meant for household staff, groundskeepers and other hired help/peasant folks.

As for the home’s renovated interiors, they are done up in a casually luxe, very contemporary sort of manner. Original details are virtually nonexistent, for better or worse. Ebonized hardwood floors flow throughout the main rooms, and the kitchen has beautiful tile of a dark henna color.

Six bedrooms and eight bathrooms are spread between the main house and one-bed guesthouse, which combined total nearly 9,800-square-feet of living space. The deluxe master suite includes his-and-hers bathrooms and dressing rooms/closets.

The entire 3+ acre lot is fully and breathtakingly landscaped with emerald-green lawns, at least four reflecting fountains/pools, a proper north/south tennis court and mature specimen trees.

Back in early 2017, as already mentioned, the Ashers forked out $8.1 million for an “European Country” manor in Montecito with a guesthouse, seven-car garage and nearly 12,000-square-feet of living space.

This property is located a wee bit north of their new estate — closer to the Santa Ynez mountains — and was unfortunately mud-flooded last year. We assume the Ashers will soon be lookin’ to unload the 3.5-acre spread, but it is not yet listed on the (open) market.

Back down in Los Angeles — where Vivid is headquartered — the Ashers long resided in a charming Colonial-style house in the hoity-toity Hancock Park neighborhood.

In October (2017), the Hancock Park residence was listed with a $5,750,000 asking price. Shortly thereafter — in December — the property was sold for $5.3 million to screenwriter Russell Gewirtz, best known for writing the screenplay for Spike Lee‘s Inside Man. The Ashers continue to maintain a more modest LA home in the Hollywood Hills.

And as for Mr. Barrack, he’s also been quite busy on the real estate front in recent years.

Back in 2014, Mr. Barrack paid $24,500,000 for a brand-new Santa Monica behemoth with an indoor basketball court and other fancy gizmos. In 2017, the contemporary Colonial mega-manse (built by “starchitect” Richard Landry) was sold to entrepreneur Kirk Lazarus for a record-bruising $31+ million.

Mr. Barrack now resides in a $13 million contemporary casa above Brentwood’s Mandeville Canyon. And let’s not forget that he’s still attempting to unload Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch — now owned by his Colony Capital firm — for a newly-reduced $31 million.

Listing agents: Riskin Partners, Village Properties

For whatever reason, Yolanda always gets clicks up the wazoo whenever we write about Calabasas. So here’s a fun little ditty for all you ravenous, real estate-obsessed valley girls (and boys).

Calabasas — as most of y’all should already know — is one of LA County’s newest and most affluent cities. Many of the homes here are Tuscan or French-influenced McMansions and sit within gated communities. Indeed, there are so many gated communities in Calabasas that Yolanda cannot count them on all our fingers and toes. Thus, while the area is somewhat far-flung — at least an hour to Hollywood or Downtown LA with traffic — it’s become coveted by privacy-seeking celebrities, particularly celebrities of the professional athlete variety. Which brings us to this house.

Built in 1996, the boring original structure was thoroughly renovated and expanded in 2014, resulting in the architecturally ambiguous (but very fancy) mansion y’all see above. Let’s call it a contemporary-minded Mediterranean villa.

In May 2017, The Honest Company CEO Nick Vlahos paid $4,550,000 for the property, but only stayed one short year before unexpectedly flipping out. He eventually received $4.7 million, a $150,000 profit before realtor fees, taxes and closing costs.

The happy new homeowner, it turns out, is NFL superstar Aaron Donald.

Mr. Donald has been a professional defensive tackle since 2014. Over the past five years, the Pittsburgh native has been selected to five Pro Bowls, won the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and was twice named as the AP Defensive Player of the Year. Unsurprisingly, he is consistently ranked as one of the NFL’s top defensive players (per our pal Mr. Wiki Pedia).

All five seasons of Mr. Donald’s NFL career have been spent playing for the Rams, first on a $10 million initial contract followed by an unprecedented $135 million contract extension (signed in 2018) that was the richest defensive deal in NFL up to that point. Ka-ching!

On the personal front, Mr. Donald is still a very young man (age 27). He is unmarried but has two young children — one boy, one girl — with Jaelynn Blakey, his girlfriend since high school. We’re sure they will enjoy the big, family-sized Calabasas funhouse.

But before we get to dissectin’ the house itself, let’s check out the immediate neighborhood. Our Mr. Donald’s digs are located within the Oaks, basically the gated community to rule all other Calabasas gated communities. Divided into two sections, the hilltop enclave is the most expensive, most exclusive, most braggadocious address in town. And it’s got the community center, security team and fitness studios to prove it. The Oaks ain’t just another fancy-pants gated neighborhood — it’s a whole lifestyle.

Heck, the community even sports its own glossy “social publication” — called Inside the Oaks — a monthly lifestyle magazine compiled by Oaks residents exclusively for Oaks residents.

Anywho, prices in the regular Oaks section — where all the “ordinary” rich people live — start at $2 million for the smallest homes and top out in the $5-6 million range. Residents there include actress Katie Holmes, radio host Big Boy and ex-cop turned FBI informant Kevin Hackie.

But all the mega-rich folks reside in The Estates at the Oaks, which is a gated community within the Oaks – yes, visitors must pass through two gates to reach the homes there. Homes in the Estates are bigger and fancier than those in the Oaks. Prices have topped $10 million and residents include drummer Travis Barker, NBA star Paul Pierce, rap music mega-producer Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, Morphe cosmetics mogul Linda Tawil, two of the Kardashian sisters and Michael Jackson’s mama Katherine.

Mr. Donald’s $4.7 million casa, as y’all might have guessed, is located in the regular Oaks. We imagine he could easily afford an Estates place, but it seems our boy doesn’t want or need to spend that much moolah. Yolanda respects that. But we digress.

The 7,036-square-foot manse is privately situated up a long driveway shared with two other homes (both owned by non-famous folks). In addition to ample driveway parking, there’s a four-car garage — perfect for Mr. Donald’s $130,000 Revero Karma electric vehicle.

A sprawling foyer is intended to impress guests and the pizza delivery boy (or girl). Immediately to the right is the formal dining room; to the left is the fireplace-equipped living room.

Those allowed upstairs will find four bedrooms. The master suite sports somewhat unfashionable wall-to-wall carpeting, and there’s also a double-sided fireplace smack-dab in the middle of the room. Looks kinda hokey to Yolanda, but we’re sure it provides some nice heat. Just try to avoid trippin’ over it in the dark! We hope Mr. Donald isn’t a sleepwalker.

Back downstairs is plenty more razzle-dazzle, like a great room that combines the kitchen — check out its commercial-grade appliances and dual islands — with the family room and gaming/lounge area. Just beyond is an enormous patio with bar, BBQ and outdoor fireplace.

The ample backyard includes a broad swath of lawn and sports court, while the oversized pool has a trendy Baja shelf for sunbathing and a concrete surround. Although the .9-acre lot isn’t exceptionally huge, the property abuts open land — so this place feels fairly epic in scale.

Tech-savvy readers will also appreciate the “smarthome” automated features — all the HVAC, plumbing and lighting controls can be operated from an iPhone. Even if you’re halfway around the globe.

Before selecting his new Calabasas casa, Mr. Donald bunked up in a Thousand Oaks (CA) gated community. Just in case anyone was curious, that large tract house is owned by pharmaceutical bigwig Martin Van Trieste, CEO of Civica RX.

Listing agents: Doug Puetz & Jeffrey Vanneman, Keller Williams
Aaron Donald’s agent: Jordan Cohen, Re/Max Olson & Associates

[EDIT (3/9/19): Yolanda’s original post misstated the architect of the James Perse house. The residence was designed by the firm Nicolas, Budd, Dutton, with architect Bill Nicholas as the partner-in-charge. Our apologies for the error.]

Today is a very special day! Not only are we blessed with a beautiful Friday, but one of Yolanda’s all-time favorite LA homes has just popped up for sale. It’s the James Perse estate on Malibu’s Point Dume, and it’s just as gorgeous as we recall.

Mr. Perse is, of course, the fashion designer renowned for his eponymous luxury lifestyle brand that includes apparel, home decor and furniture. He first gained fame in the 1990s for his chicly minimalist $100 T-shirts that were inspired, per the James Perse website, by his love for minimalist architecture.

“[James Perse’s] passion for minimalist architecture influenced by warm west-coast indoor outdoor living … ultimately resulted in James’ personal design philosophy and aesthetic – low maintenance high fashion – emphasizing elegance and comfort, pairing sophistication with simplicity.”

That “low maintenance high fashion” philosophy has proven inordinately successful (and lucrative) for Mr. Perse and his brand. There are now dozens of James Perse boutiques scattered around the globe, including in all the playgrounds of the rich and/or famous: Malibu, Beverly Hills, Newport Beach, Montecito, Aspen, the Hamptons, St. Tropez, Tokyo, Vancouver and more.

And yes, in case, y’all were wondering, 47-year-old Mr. Perse does indeed adhere to a minimalist aesthetic in his personal, private life. As a bachelor, he lived in a one-bed bungalow in the Bird Streets — yep, the house really had just one bedroom — before skedaddling to today’s Malibu house upon his marriage.

Records show Mr. Perse paid exactly $16 million for the 1.2-acre spread in December 2010. The 4,209-square-foot structure was built in 2004 by “X-Files” creator Chris Carter and designed by the firm Nicolas, Budd, Dutton, with architect Bill Nicholas as the partner-in-charge. Click here for a peek at how the place looked back in the day.

Over the past eight years, Mr. & Mrs. Perse have raised their young children in this home — lucky kids! — but all good things eventually come to an end. After being leased out last summer, the property has officially hit the market with a $39,995,000 thud, otherwise known as $40 million. And it doesn’t take a math expert or Lieutenant Columbo to deduce that ol’ Persey thinks his house has appreciated by 150% in eight years. Yowza! Take a look and see if y’all agree with the aggressive ask.

The blufftop estate lies at the very end of a long cul-de-sac and is completely walled and gated. Large palm and eucalyptus trees enhance the private, park-life feel of the premises.

As for the house itself, it’s single-story and ranch-y in style, at least from the outside. The interiors wow with their unrestrained commitment to stark minimalism. Some of y’all may deride this place as “austere” or “too plain,” but Yolanda absolutely loves it. It’s totally our style. Hey, different strokes and all that.

There are five bedrooms and 5.25 baths within these walls, but we’re guessing everyone will mostly congregate in the expansive great room. That place gets all the wows with its soaring ceiling, walls of glass and expansive ocean views. And all the fancy furnishings are by James Perse. Duh!

Although there is no pool — kinda unfortunate in a $40 million listing — the property has direct access to Little Dume Beach, arguably the most scenic (and most secluded) sand strip in all of Malibu. So who needs a cement pond?

Sadly, Yolanda does not have $40 million to spend on a house. But if we had, we darn well would not be typing this nonsense up. We’d be with a realtor, touring this place right now. So if you’ve got the cash — why wait? Just go for it.

Anywho. Our boy Mr. Perse — ever the savvy marketer — is advertising this house on his own lifestyle brand’s website. And why not? It’s probably drawn thousands of eyeballs already! But even if somebody were to write him a check today, Mr. Perse would not be homeless. He’s got a $12.5 million Malibu house — also on Point Dume — this one a tennis court estate with a pool and a spa. But no ocean view.

In fall 2013, Mr. Perse paid Ellen DeGeneres $10,850,000 for a 26-acre equestrian ranch near Thousand Oaks, CA, where his Beverly Hills-bred wife Brandi Perse (nee Brandi Briskman) stables her horses and operates an animal rescue. The couple recently had the bucolic digs photographed for C Magazine.

And a couple years ago, Mr. Perse sold another chicly-redone Point Dume estate — a so-called “contemporary farmhouse” that one went to oil heiress Aileen Getty for the full $13 million asking price.

For those interested in purchasing Mr. Perse’s $40 million pad, other residents on that same cul-de-sac include soap opera scion Bradley Bell, Mexican producer Alex Garcia, auto dealership mogul Howard Keyes and Ms. Malibu herself: Barbra “The infamous Streisand Effect” Streisand, who — in true diva style — owns no fewer than three neighboring properties.

Hey, she needs storage space for all those custom spray-painted microphones.

Listing agents: Lily Harfouche & Chris Cortazzo, Coldwell Banker

San Francisco’s hustle and Silicon Valley’s bustle have driven numerous Bay Area businesspeople to seek stress relief outside of work. Transcendental meditation is all the rage up there, as are sensory deprivation tanks. Some folks even indulge in goat yoga for the low price of thirty bucks per class.

But the wealthiest tech titans achieve zen not merely through meditation or by floating in saltwater. These folks can afford to buy real estate in pricey places renowned for their relaxing atmosphere. Take the picturesque town of Woodside in San Mateo County — the equestrian-oriented village is almost completely surrounded by nature preserves and filled with mature oak, redwood and pine trees. And its laidback lifestyle contrasts sharply to that of SF’s. Yet homes there are only 35 minutes (by car) to the city and 20 minutes to Palo Alto.

Numerous bigshots have called Woodside home: Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, GoPro CEO Nick Woodman and Charles Schwab.

Another one of those lucky peeps is tech mogul Chad Hurley, who co-founded YouTube with Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. Back in 2013, Mr. Hurley paid exactly $10 million for sprawling, multi-acre estate deep in the proverbial heart of Woodside.

Besides YouTube — which he sold to Google for $1.6 billion — Mr. Hurley is likely best-known for his katastrophic Kardashian konundrum. Back in 2013, you see, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian were engaged in the middle of San Francisco’s Oracle Park. TV cameras were on hand to capture the tender scene (naturally). As was Mr. Hurley, randomly enough.

Although Mr. Hurley signed a confidentiality agreement, he secretly shot photos and video of the two lovebirds. And then he brazenly posted the images on his own site (MixBit) and even issued a boastful press release. Yes, before the special Keeping Up With The Kardashians episode even had a chance to air!

Kimye was furious at Mr. Hurley for profiting off their intimate moment (which occurred in a gigantic baseball stadium). The Wests are known for being very private people, after all. So they sued him. And they won, too, with Mr. Hurley agreeing to settle by paying them $440,000.

Not that Mr. Hurley has to worry about his check bouncing. In addition to the hundreds of millions he reaped from YouTube’s acquisition, our boy has long been married to a woman named Kathy Hurley (née Kathy Clark), the daughter of tech billionaire Jim Clark.

But we digress. Back to the real estate.

At the time of the Hurleys’ 2013 purchase, the 10.4-acre Woodside estate contained several decrepit buildings, a tennis court, a pool and numerous mature oak trees. Yolanda assumes the couple intended to raze the existing structures to make way for a lavish new compound, but that never actually happened.

Over the past six years, it appears Mr. and Mrs. Hurley have made precious few (if any) alterations to the property. Eventually they tossed the lot up for sale with a hefty $16.5 million ask. It sold in January (2019) for $14,250,000, or a $4.25 million profit before taxes, closing costs and realtor fees.

For what it’s worth, the property happens to be on the same dead-end lane as the gigantic 92-acre Flood Estate, which was quietly sold (back in late 2016) for $50 million to a buyer who remains unidentified.

So who paid the Hurleys over $14 million for their Woodside development opportunity? The big-bucks buyer, interestingly enough, happens to be the couple’s next-door neighbor. He’s a San Francisco-based gent named Matt Barger, a somewhat low-profile (but obviously very successful) financier who grew Hellman & Friedman into a multi-billion dollar private equity firm.

Mr. Barger’s current Woodside residence is a 4+ acre property with a 6,000-square-foot house. His acquisition of the Hurley property more than triples his compound’s size, though Yolanda has no idea what he plans to do with the grounds.

Anyway, records show the Hurleys also own property in New York City — they’ve got two small units in a historic West Village condo building. But their main residence appears to be a large (and in charge) French chateau-sorta thing up in the very wealthy Silicon Valley town of Atherton.

Records reveal the Hurleys paid exactly $9 million for the three-level mansion back in 2013. The 8,600-square-foot compound features all sorts of fun features — there’s a guesthouse with separate kitchen, detached art studio and lush backyard with a swimmer’s pool.

Listing agents: Shena Hurley & Susie Dews, Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty
Selling agent: Brad Miller, Alain Pinel Realtors

If you’re even semi-active on the Instagram contraption, chances are good you’ve seen an advertisement for a blue bottle of gummy bear vitamins. Typically, said bottles are being peddled by your favorite “influencer” or “Instagram model”. Even the Kardashian klan — arguably Instagram’s Holy Grail of influencers — regularly hawks them on their respective Instagram accounts. So where did these vitamins originate, how did they become so ubiquitous, and do they really work?

SugarBearHair, as the blue bottles are catchily called, is a line of vegetarian hair vitamins said to make your hair stronger, thicker and longer. The brand also claims that “the majority of our customers found their nails and skin quality improved over time while taking SugarBearHair.”

We know some of y’all probably think gummy bear hair vitamins are a ridiculous product idea. But don’t laugh. These little bears rake in very serious dough — they have become one of the most successful Instagram brands in history. And they’ve been ranked as the #1 best-selling vitamin (in their category) on all of Amazon.com. For years! So popular are they that the bears — until recently only sold online — are now available in Ulta Beauty stores nationwide. The success has also spawned a slew of other “hair vitamin” competitors, though SugarBearHair’s products remain far and away the top sellers.

Such is the nature of today’s selfie-obsessed world. Many folks — particularly young ladies — are adamant about maintaining their luscious long locks and will spend almost anything to do so.

So where does all that cash go? The names of SugarBearHair’s owners are not listed on the website. But it doesn’t take more than a couple minutes of Googlin’ to discover that behind the hair vitamin craze is a young woman from Miami known as Nicole Nightly (real name: Nicole Christine Johnson).

30-year-old Miss Nightly is CEO of Besweet Creations LLC, the holding company that owns the SugarBearHair brand. Besweet was first registered back in May 2015 by Miss Nightly and her young man-friend Dan Morris and has since made them millionaires many, many times over.

Before starting the hair vitamin craze, Miss Nightly first attempted to build a career by beauty bloggin’ on the YouTube. When that didn’t pan out, the entrepreneurial lass recognized a moneymaking opportunity in the “detox” craze currently sweeping the nation. She created Skinny Fox Detox, “a 100% organic detoxifying tea program” that gives you increased natural energy, improved skin complexion and a flatter stomach. Per the website, of course.

But the real big bucks — those mega-millions — didn’t come until Miss Nightly created SugarBearHair and began paying Instagram influencers to promote the product to their legions of millennial followers. That strategy proved inordinately lucrative — so lucrative that Miss Nightly can now afford to pay Kylie Jenner (at a rumored cost of $1 million per post) to promote her products on the social contraption.

And these cute little cubs ain’t cheap. One bottle of 60 blue bears will set y’all back $30. A six months’ supply will run you upwards of $150+. For a year? Don’t ask. You can’t afford it.

Do they actually work? The gummies appear to have good consumer reviews. But a few critics have lambasted the innocent bears for (allegedly) being overpriced and have noted that the little guys don’t provide any extra nutrients than can be obtained in a typical grocery store vitamin. And obtained for a fraction of the price, at that. Another investigation found there may actually be harmful ingredients in those cute bodies. Say it ain’t so, Miss Nightly!

But the skepticism clearly has not affected Miss Nightly’s spending abilities. Y’all may recall that we’ve written about her before. Just over a year ago — back in October 2017 — she paid $5,050,000 for an ultra-modern casa above the Sunset Strip.

Now, with a booming business and a rapidly swelling bank account, Miss Nightly (and Mr. Morris) have decided to expand their real estate investments with the $5,100,000 purchase of the property next door.

Yes, kids. Young Miss Nightly has now spent $10,150,000 on a Hollywood Hills compound — all with cash generated from some happy little hair vitamins. In less than four years.

Miss Nightly’s latest acquisition is a soaring architectural home that some may describe as a “spiky collision of A-frames.” Others have been known to call it “weirdly flowerlike in an asymmetrical way.”

In any case, the 3,708-square-foot structure was originally built in 1958 and last sold in late 2017 to high-end real estate agent Brett Oppenheim. Our Mr. Oppenheim paid $3.5 million and swiftly gave the ol’ gurl a thorough remodel before flipping her to Miss Nightly, his next-door neighbor.

At first glance, the property appears to have dual two-car garages. But then you realize that one of the garage “doors” has a gosh-darn tree growing in front of it! So that’s not a door. And if you can accurately count how many triangles are in/on this house, Yolanda will FedEx you a cookie.

The two-story house reserves its party features for the lower level, where there’s a (nearly) triangular pool, a glassy great room surrounded by an obscenely narrow catwalk, and a chicly stark kitchen with name-brand appliances and bar-style seating. Also downstairs is a guest bedroom.

Upstairs are two loft-like bedroom suites. The master has two private balconies, a fireplace and a large bathroom. Plus there are ten-odd skylights that can be opened or covered, depending on Miss Nightly’s light preference.

At night, the house lights up cinema-style, effectively complimenting LA’s gorgeous sunsets and the shimmering city lights. Not to mention those garish billboards down on the Sunset Strip!

And like many homes in the Hollywood Hills — including Miss Nightly’s other house next door — this $5.1 million residence sits hard-up on the street, on a (very) steeply-sloped lot. So there’s essentially no yard or landscaping of which to speak. That could be a good or bad thing, depending on one’s point of view.

So yes, kiddies. Hair vitamins bought young Miss Nightly — and the equally young Mr. Morris — a $10+ million compound in the Hollywood Hills. Do those bears have magic powers? (Maybe Miss Nightly will send Yolanda a free sample bottle as a thank-you for promoting her house. But probably not!)

What can the little blue bear do for you?

Listing agents: Brett & Jason Oppenheim, The Oppenheim Group
Nicole Nightly’s agent: Roger Perry, Rodeo Realty

It’s been many months since we’ve written about a house in the historic (and historically very beautiful) LA neighborhoods of Hancock Park and Windsor Square. So today we rectify that with this impressive red brick Colonial located on the finest block of what is arguably the Windsor Square’s best street.

But before dissecting the house, let’s quickly chat about its previous owner. In recent years, soaring LA home prices have enticed an onslaught of developers into trying their hand at mansion-flippin’ and spec-buildin’. One of those developers was Robert Quigg, who met with some early success — he flipped a Windsor Square home for $11.3 million in 2016 — and soon amassed no fewer than nine multimillion dollar residential projects, many of them in or near Hancock Park.

Soon, however, troubles began a-brewin’. Quigg employees and contractors kvetched about being underpaid (or in some cases, not paid at all). Folks who purchased pricey Quigg projects later discovered shoddy construction quality.

Late one cold November 2016 night, Mr. Quigg quietly fled to Australia with either his wife or mistress (depending on who you ask). He also declared bankruptcy, leaving folks back in the USA to sort out the $80 million mess.

One of Mr. Quigg’s most expensive projects was a rundown 1914 Colonial mansion he bought to expand and redo. After he fled mid-renovation, his creditor — billionaire hard-money lender Don Hankey — stepped in, taking the Windsor Square project’s reins.

Completed in early 2018, the modernized complex boasts an imposing street presence and 12,000-square-feet of extravagant living space spread over three full floors. Our Mr. Hankey initially asked an aggressive $12 million for the sprawler before settling for a much lower $9 million in late 2018. Still, according to Yolanda’s research, this was the biggest Windsor Square home sale of the year.

The buyers, it turns out. are Oscar-winning producer Michael Sugar and his wife Lauren Wall Sugar.

Mr. Sugar co-produced Spotlight, which garnered him an Academy Award for Best Picture. He also produced Cinemax’s acclaimed The Knick TV series — for that, he received a Peabody Award. Founded in 2017, his Sugar23 production outfit has several high-profile projects in development and recently scored a lucrative, multi-year deal with Netflix.

Long based in New York, the Sugars — who have a couple young kids — bought a big house in Encino two years ago. But with Mr. Sugar’s finances (and production business) rapidly on the ascent, we can see their reasons for upgrading to this pad, which is centrally located less than 10 minutes (by car) to Hollywood.

A wideset, royalty-worthy walkway leads to the column-flanked front door. Queen Elizabeth’s chariot could easily maneuver up there! Hold onto your bonnets down those steps.

On the property’s north side is a long driveway that passes under a porte-cochère before reaching the two-car garage.

The mansions’s stuffy, black-tie-attire-only front facade belies the warm, contemporary interiors. There’s a fireplace-equipped living room with comfy leather couches, a formal dining room filled with colorful urns, and a kitchen with cerulean blue cabinetry opening to a fireplace-equipped family room. There are hardwood floors throughout the residence and not one but three libraries — one on each level.

Let’s hope the Sugars like to read.

There are a total of seven beds and eight baths in the entire estate. Five of the bedrooms are upstairs, including the stunningly swank master suite, with its boutique-esque closet and resort-style bath.

Guests permitted to the full basement level are greeted by yet another library, this one adjacent to a boozy wine cellar/lounge and a mirror-walled gym.

Outside, there are both covered and open-air al fresco dining areas. Though the backyard isn’t huge — the lot size is just .41-acre, after all — it is elegantly landscaped with well-watered grass and a classy rectangular pool. Next to the pool lies the ivy-covered garage, which has upstairs guest quarters complete with a bathroom, kitchenette and small sleeping area.

As previously mentioned, the Sugars paid $5,550,000 for a brand-new Encino mansion back in March 2017. If that place looks familiar, it’s probably because Yolanda wrote about it last November (2018), when the couple lucratively flipped it to rocker John Fogerty for $6.75 million.

Listing agents: Branden & Rayni Williams, Hilton & Hyland
Michael Sugar’s agent: Oren Mordkowitz, Pinnacle Estate Properties

Although the property has never popped up on the open market — except for a short period back in 2012 — it’s long been an open secret that the lavish Beverly Hills estate of high-nosed society royals Kelly Wearstler and Brad Korzen is available for purchase. If you know the right Platinum Triangle real estate agents to call, of course.

The house — which has a history nearly as vivid as its interiors — was first listed off-market way back in early 2010 with a $50 million ask. Over the last decade, the (rumored) asking price has fluctuated anywhere from mid-$30s to nearly $60 million. Now, however, the couple have finally decided to give the high-priced rental route a whirl. And we’re talking very high-priced — $350,000 per month. (!!!)

Ms. Wearstler is, of course, the iconic LA designer famed (and occasionally defamed) for her ultra-maximalist sense of style. A former Playboy Playmate of the Month who married well, Ms. Wearstler and her fledgling interior design business first achieved recognition in the 1990s. Since then, her fame has only grown, and she’s now parlayed her design success into an eponymous lifestyle brand.

As for Mr. Korzen, he is a hotel developer who comes from a very wealthy family — his father owned one of the nation’s largest chain of bowling alleys. Mr. Korzen’s Kor development group has built hotels around the globe — nearly all them done with interior design by Ms. Wearstler. (Nothing like a wee bit of professional nepotism, right?) The Avalon Beverly Hills and the Viceroy chain of hotels/resorts are a couple of his more notable projects.

The 3.2-acre Wearstler-Korzen family estate is massive (for LA, at least) and sits in what is arguably the best neighborhood pocket of Beverly Hills: north of Sunset, south of Trousdale Estates, and just a few short blocks from WeHo and the Sunset Strip.

Records show Mr. Korzen and Ms. Wearstler purchased the 11,371-square-foot mansion way back in 2005 for $25 million, reportedly after a bidding war against a developer who plotted to raze the ol’ gurl. Rather than demolishing the premises, the Wearstler-Korzens — now in their early 50s with two teenage sons — painstakingly restored the property, transforming it into a grand family home.

Anywho, the property has already been featured in just about every shelter magazine known to mankind (and in Vogue, too) — so there are scores of photos and descriptions available online. While y’all feast on the MLS images we have selected, allow Yolanda to give a brief synopsis of the estate’s history.

Though detailed accounts vary widely, most everyone agrees that the property was designed by acclaimed architect James Dolena for actor William Powell. Completed in 1934 (or thereabouts), the original interiors were done up by Billy Haines.

Mr. Powell reportedly built the lavish compound as a lovenest for himself and Carole Lombard. However — as is often the case — the couple’s affection soon swirled down the sad toilet of love. They divorced prior to the estate’s completion and Mr. Powell began shackin’ up with Jean Harlow. Upon Harlow’s unexpected 1937 death, however, we gather the property was quickly sold off.

By the 1950s, the property had passed to Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, best-known for producing scores of James Bond flicks — including  Dr. No, Goldfinger, Your Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, and Octopussy.

Mr. Broccoli remained ensconced in the fortified compound until his 1996 passing, after which the property was leased out longterm to property-obsessed actress Diane Keaton. Eventually the fabled estate entered a state of “faded glory”. Neglect, as some uncouth folks might say.

That brings us to the mid-aughts — which is when Ms. Wearstler and Mr. Korzen acquired the beast, of course. They fixed up the fixer-upper and slapped a variety of heavy-duty asking prices on the decadent digs. As of yet, however, their efforts to secure a buyer have failed.

Back in 2016, it was widely rumored that fellow designer Tom Ford had initiated a $53 million acquisition of the property. At that price, it would’ve been among the most expensive homes ever sold in Beverly Hills. However, the escrow was eventually cancelled — for reasons unbeknownst to Yolanda.

We do know, however, that this place has cost Wearstler-Korzens a veritable fortune to maintain over the past 14 years. In addition to the millions spent on renovations, their current annual property tax bill is approximately $360,000. And they also carry an enormous mortgage on the estate, per records. Ever wondered why Ms. Wearstler’s products are so very expensive? Now you know!

Anyway, the home’s architecture has previously been described as “Georgian meets Hollywood Regency”. The multi-structure estate includes the main house, a large pool house and a detached garage with guest/staff quarters. Naturally the entire property is walled and camera-watched for privacy and security. A long gated drive gently ascends to the knoll-sited residence.

The lavishly landscaped grounds feature boxwood gardens, rolling lawns, a mature trees, fountains, a full-size tennis court, and an epically long rectangular swimming pool.

Current listing photos do not show any of the estate’s seven bedrooms and ten Art Moderne-style bathrooms, but they do display the ten-sided entrance foyer, with its starburst-pattern marble floor. Most of the public rooms feature mocha-colored hardwoods and a veritable treasure trove of gold and bronze accents.

For the low, low price of $350,000 per month, all this can be yours. Temporarily, of course. As we’ve said before when profiling other obscenely expensive rentals, Yolanda cannot imagine who is in the market for a lease this pricey. But by certain measures — just think of the $53 million asking price and $360k+ tax bill, for crying out loud! — it almost seems like a bargain.

Listing agents: Jonathan Nash & Stephen Resnick, Hilton & Hyland

A couple months ago, a large property set on one of the best (and least-trafficked) streets in the coveted Beverly Hills Flats neighborhood sold for exactly $25 million in an all-cash, off-market deal.

While this ain’t quite the biggest Flats sale ever, it’s certainly up there. Yolanda would guess it ranks among the top six or seven priciest homes ever sold south of Sunset. More interesting, however, is that this place sold barely a year ago (late 2017) for $17,086,000 — $8 million less than the most recent transfer.

The quick flipper — Black Equities real estate investor Bob Barth — does not appear to have made any significant alterations to the property, at least as far as Yolanda can tell.

So who is the big-bucks buyer, and why would they pay such an inflated price for this place? We’re not sure about the answer to that second part, but we do know all about the proud new owner. He is Eric Baker, CEO of global ticket resale juggernaut Viagogo.

And if Mr. Baker’s name sounds vaguely familiar, it’s probably because Yolanda wrote about him last March (2018) after he paid $23,500,000 in cash for another large estate in the Beverly Hills Flats.

45-year-old Mr. Baker is an entrepreneur. A very successful entrepreneur, from the looks of things. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford GSB, arguably the world’s most prestigious and selective business school. After earning his bachelor’s, he worked as a consultant for McKinsey and then had a short stint with Bain Capital.

In 2000, Mr. Baker co-founded StubHub with his Stanford classmate Jeff Fluhr. By 2005, the online event ticket exchange platform was one of the nation’s fastest-growing companies and had made Mr. Baker and Mr. Fluhr wealthy men. That same year, however, Mr. Baker was unceremoniously ousted from the company. (In 2007, however, he still made bank when StubHub was sold to eBay for $310 million.)

After his StubHub firing, Mr. Baker moved to London and and founded Viagogo, an online ticket marketplace for secondhand ticket resale. While not well-known here in the States, the company has grown to become one of the largest ticket resellers in Europe and is now estimated to be worth many hundreds of millions of dollars.

A great success story, right? Well, not quite. Despite his financial success, Mr. Baker has earned the dubious distinction of becoming one of the most disliked businessmen in Europe. Viagogo has been the target of widespread criticism and numerous lawsuits for their hidden fees and alleged price gouging. In 2018, FIFA filed a criminal complaint against the firm. And in late 2017, investigators raided Viagogo’s UK offices as part of a probe into criminal ticket scalping. Regulators in at least three countries have begun legal proceedings against the firm and its “infamously anti-consumer practices“.

Yolanda is not a fan of censorship in any form. But the last time we wrote about Mr. Baker — when he bought his first giant 90210 estate — we had to delete several reader comments. Folks in Europe found the article and were rather — ahem — “florid” in how they described Mr. Eric Baker. Oh, dear.

Born into a wealthy family, Mr. Baker was raised in the B.H. Flats neighborhood. In fact, his parents — Malcolm and Norma Baker — once owned one of the world’s largest protective services company, and they continue to reside in Mr. Baker’s childhood home, which happens to be only about ten blocks away from the $25 million spread he just purchased.

But anyway, why does Mr. Baker need not one but two massive estates in Beverly Hills — estates that are less than one mile apart, as the crow flies? We don’t know! But we sure wish we did. Until the answer presents itself, we’ll have to keep guessing.

All Yolanda can say is that we’ve been in this — ahem — “business” for a long, long time and it certainly appears that Mr. Baker is looking to park overseas profits here, in American real estate — safely away from angry consumers and regulators in Europe. Folks who are pursuing legal actions against Viagogo and may eventually attempt to seize Mr. Baker’s assets, as it were.

Worth noting that Mr. Baker’s ownership of both properties is carefully cloaked behind oddly-named trusts. And more significantly, it is Yolanda’s opinion that he overpaid on both lots to the tune of several million dollars — at least.

We don’t think most passers-by would guess this place sold for $25 million. The house has a rather demure street presence, appearing to be a pleasant (but not especially huge) Cape Cod-style manse. Leafy trees partially shield the structure from public view, and stone cladding covers the lower half of the facade. A wide brick walkway leads from the street to the wooden front door.

The 0.7-acre is large (for the Flats) and features rolling lawns, a rectangular swimming pool with raised spa, carefully clipped boxwoods, and a wee “guest casita,” as it’s described in listing materials. There’s a front-facing two-car garage and a motorcourt that can accomodate several additional vehicles.

Decor is decidedly traditional inside the 1947-built Greenway Manor, as it’s been christened. Milk chocolate-colored hardwood floors flow throughout the main level. An elegantly curved staircase graces the foyer, and the upgraded kitchen features top-notch appliances and an oversized island.

One of Yolanda’s favorite spaces is the study, with its marble fireplace, slate grey wood-paneled walls and overstuffed red velvet couch. More casual rooms include a games area w/ TV and a home theater with a giant sectional couch.

Within these walls are a total of seven beds and nine baths, all of which are done up with luxurious materials (marble, pricey stone) in a fancy — if not particularly exciting — manner.

Other recreational amenities include a lighted sports court, various loggias and red-brick patios, a BBQ and an outdoor fireplace. The guest casita sports a bedroom suite and an attached kitchenette.

As for Mr. Baker’s other Beverly Hills Flats estate — the one he bought last year for $23.5 million — Yolanda has already profiled it here. That 1.2-acre spread has a Mediterranean-ish mansion, guesthouse, pool and sports court. The property is currently vacant.

EDIT (3/16/19): Thanks to one of Yolanda’s ever-helpful readers, we’ve learned that Mr. Baker has made his $23.5 million estate available for short-term rent at a rate of $28,500 per month.

Listing & Selling agent: Fred Bernstein, Westside Estate Agency