Yolanda has said it before, and she’ll say it again. Celebrities loooove the Beverly Hills Post Office area in the hills above the city. The privacy, the views, the gated communities, the proximity to other famous friends, it’s just a slam dunk on so many levels.
So when a big house in an (in)famously celeb-choked B.H.P.O. gated community sold this month for an A-list $9,948,000, Yolanda naturally just had to know who the buyer was. Our curiosity was piqued when we saw that the powerfully rich new owner had cloaked their identity behind a blind trust fronted by a well-known celebrity business manager. Who could it be?!
Turns out it’s a child actress turned grown-up actress turned entrepreneur named Jessica Alba. Honest! (Sorry, Yolanda couldn’t resist.)
Clik here to view.
Now kiddies, if you’ve never heard of Ms. Alba before, we ain’t sure what rock you’ve been living under. Ms. Alba is a very famous lady who has honed her acting chops — such as they are — in quality films such as Honey (2003), Sin City (2005), Fantastic Four (2005), Into the Blue (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) and Good Luck Chuck (2007). For this she has been rewarded with a Golden globe nomination and a win for the 2011 Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress.
Don’t think that we are attempting to throw shade or that we have anything against Ms. Alba. Quite the contrary! It is Yolanda’s opinion that she is one of the most naturally beautiful actresses in Hollywood. And not that we have anything against transplants, but Yolanda also likes that Ms. Alba was born and raised in LA (County). The San Gabriel Valley, to be precise. Our Ms. Alba hails from leafy Claremont (CA), and she graduated from Claremont High School. She’s a real California treasure!
But these days, Ms. Alba doesn’t act much anymore. Instead, she’s focused on (co-)running her high-profile consumer goods business The Honest Company, of which she is the public face. The firm (of which she reportedly owns about 15%) generates an estimated $300 million in revenue each and every year. And 15% of a $300 million revenue company ain’t nothin’ to snicker at, y’all.
However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Ms. Alba’s business venture. Honest as they may be, her business had a rather rough 2016. Though there had been much talk of an impending IPO or company sale at the beginning of the year, neither failed to materialize. Perhaps that is due to the negative press the Honest Co. received, including an unfavorable Wall Street Journal investigation, critical scrutiny and allegations of fraud by other news sources, and a series of lawsuits that accused the firm of being, well, dishonest. The horror!
All the same, the business has made Ms. Alba enormously rich and it’s because of that — and not her acting career — is how she can afford a $10 million house in B.H.P.O. without breaking a sweat. At least that’s what Yolanda surmises.
But let’s stop digressing now while we’re ahead.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
We hate to say this, really we do. But just because Ms. Alba is beautiful does not mean that her house is equally so. As a matter of fact, Yolanda finds her new house to be downright hideous. At least from the outside.
Although it is described in listing materials “East Coast inspired Hamptons Traditional Masterpiece” — whatever that is — this ain’t no masterpiece. The 2005-built 8,829-square-foot porker has an odd sort of Dutch gambrel roof and mixed with the itty-bitty windows and those stone chimney eyesores it’s just a place that could give Yolanda nightmares. Why, Ms. Alba, with all your money, why?!?!
Well, we can tell you why. It’s because the house has a great location — it’s located in the exclusive gated community of Oak Pass Road, where other celebrity homeowners include Jon Voight, Channing Tatum, Demi Moore, Bertrum Van Munster, and Lisa Vanderpump (who lives right next door). Harry Styles lived in the community for a couple years before selling his house and high-tailing it down to the Sunset Strip.
Anyway, Ms. Alba’s big ugly new house was sold to her by big-time movie producer (and serial house flipper) Mike Medavoy and his very social wife Irena Medavoy.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Things better indoors with a classy black-and-white checkerboard marble floor in the foyer and large formal living and family rooms. Both rooms have fireplaces and hardwood floors and both open to the lovely private backyard via French doors. The interiors, in case you were wondering, were “Ralph Lauren-inspired”, according to marketing materials.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
The gourmet kitchen has top-of-the-line appliances and opens to both a breakfast nook and the formal dining room with chandelier and fireplace.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Other residential creature comforts include a lounge-type room (media room?) and what appears to be a family room/library hybrid.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
The master bedroom sports what appears to be beige carpet (yikes!) and has a fireplace and balcony with views over the backyard and beyond, out to the sea. The master bedroom has a built-in soaking tub and an enormous glass-enclosed shower with two rainfall showerheads and numerous jets to scrub y’all clean.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Also included on the 1.85-acre grounds is a two-story guest house with another three car garages The upstairs seems to be one giant combo living room/bedroom/office.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
The best part of the property is the backyard, no doubt, which has a large, flat lawn –perfect for the kiddies or doggies — and a pool with spa. Then there are those stunning sunsets and over-the-trees views. By the way, Ms. Alba’s new house looms directly over Lisa Vanderpump’s posher pad.
Clik here to view.
Ms. Alba is quite the real estate baller, in case y’all didn’t already know. In addition to her new $10 million main residence, she’s also got three more properties in the Beverly Post Office area: a 2,286-square-foot house that was her first-ever home purchase and that regularly pops up for lease, her former main residence that she bought for a bit over $4 million in 2008, and a 12-acre vacant hillside parcel of land that she bought for $2,000,000 in 2012. As far as we know, that land remains vacant and undeveloped.
Yolanda is not sure where the Medavoys plan to move, but they’ve owned so many homes all over LA that we can only imagine they’ll soon be spending the big bucks somewhere nearby. They owned a custom-built pad in Beverly Park that they sold to Isaac Oberfeld; they flipped a house in Mulholland Estates to Charlie Sheen; they raked in a major profit when they sold their Trousdale Estates house to Saudi Prince Salman bin AbdulAziz; they owned in Bel air; and now they’re out of the Oak Pass road gated community in favor of Jessica Alba’s cash.
What’s next? Bird Streets? Brentwood? The flats of Beverly Hills?
C’est la vie. Honestly…
Mr. Medavoy’s agents: Jade Mills & Joyce Rey, Coldwell Banker
Ms. Alba’s agent: Mark Alba, Alba Realty