Carolwood Estates: Summer 2023 Edition

A letter from our founders

I. INTRODUCTION

After setting a new precedent in the Los Angeles luxury real estate market with the successful launch of our Beverly Hills penthouse office late last year, Carolwood Estates continued to perform at a high level through the spring and into the summer of 2023.

Our single office of 100 elite licensed associates currently represents over $2 billion in current inventory. This season we brought some iconic properties to the market including the Wave House by Harry Gesner, the William C. Hay House by Charles H. Kyson and the House on Busch project by Preliminary Research Office

Our selective roster grew this season as we welcomed Barry Watts, Andrew Beyer, the Davis Saadian Group, Anthony Bundak, Tyler Convery, Eric Carreiro, Hanna Ginsberg and Jared Page to our firm.

Twelve of our agents and teams were ranked among the top 1% in the Nation by RealTrends' The Thousand and America’s Best (featured in the Wall Street Journal).

Our associates achieved the highest sales year to date in the neighborhoods of Beverly Hills P.O., Los Feliz, Brentwood, Holmby Hills and Hollywood Hills which include Brad Pitt's $38.5 million compound.

This unrivaled pool of diverse talent has helped us to maintain a dominant 28% market share of the $20 million+ residential market year to date in Los Angeles, a leading 20% market share of the $10 million+ market in our core neighborhoods and over $1.1 billion in total sales volume year to date.

Our sale of 2571 Wallingford Drive currently ranks as the highest sale in the City of Los Angeles and was notably sold to Hollywood power couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.

We closed 24 deals priced $10 million and above year to date and 30% of our deals priced $11 million and above were done in-house with fellow associates at Carolwood Estates

Not exclusive to just luxury, our firm has sold over $200 Million worth of properties priced $4 million and below year to date.

We invite you to enjoy our 2023 Summer Edition recapping our incredible performance over the past season.

Written August 16th, 2023

View from Our Penthouse Office in Beverly Hills

Duo behind Brad Pitt mansion sale join other top agents in move to Carolwood; Private Escrow opens for business

Marci Kays and Jonathan Mogharrabi have landed at Carolwood with a splash. As a team, they have sold over $300 million worth of listings and served as the listing agents for Brad Pitt’s $38.5 million deal in Los Feliz in April, according to media reports.

Their partnership was built around a focus on entertainment clients and celebrities.

“We met during our time at The Agency , and we quickly became friends," Mogharrabi said. "I have a lot of experience working with the top talent agents and business manager s at CAA and WME , while Marci represents many Grammy award-winning musicians so it was a natural partnership. We balance each other out very well when working with mutual clients. Richard Neutra’s Lovell Health House was a great example, that opened up a lot of new opportunities for us."

“Jonathan has over 10 years experience, and I have over 20 myself,” Kays said in a statement. “With our combined network of existing clients that we’ve carefully built over the years, we felt that a boutique firm with an emphasis on discretion and direct support would elevate our brand and approach.”

During her time at The Agency , Kays served as a key member of the listing sales team for Four Seasons Private Residences Beverly Hills and also served as Director of Sales for Ritz-Carlton Residences

Peter Zimble also recently moved from Sotheby's International Real Estate to join Carolwood . Zimble’s significant deals include a $30 million sale at 9425 Sunset Blvd where he represented the buyers. At separate times, Madonna and the founder of the Rockstar Energy Drink brand, Russell Weiner, dwelled at the estate. Zimble also represented the buyers in a 2020 deal for Priscilla Presley’s $13 million mansion in Beverly Hills.

Also moving to Carolwood is Stephen Sigoloff, formerly affiliated with Compass . He ranked in Real Trends ’ list of top agents with a sales volume of about $47 million. Before working in real estate, Sigoloff worked as a fashion photographer and was published in such magazines as Esquire and Vogue. Agent Nick Spiro will join Sigoloff.

Davis Saadian was ranked 33rd in Real Trends’ list of Top California Agents where he took in a recorded sales volume of about $179 million. Aaron Kirman recruited him in 2022 to handle his AKG Real Estate’s commercial practice.

However, Saadian chose to change his game and joined Carolwood , where his group will work on commercial and residential. Half of his six person team will focus on residential, which is Carolwood’s forte. The other half will focus on commercial deals. Saadian will equally divide time between the two markets.

“The commercial market has shifted. Investments are not penciling out as in the past couple of years because of high interest rates and inflation,” Saadian said. But in his view, the residential market is strong and offers more opportunity. He noted that many of his commercial clients have been actively buying luxury homes.

He also expressed a desire to work at a smaller boutique firm and collaborate with Carolwood agents with high media rankings and profiles.

Rising star Andrew Beyer has also affiliated with Carolwood, he most recently was affiliated with Douglas Elliman . In July, Beyer served as colisting agent in a $16.7 million deal for 831 Stone Canyon Road in Bel-Air.

Another top agent who recently joined Carolwood is Barry Watts, who formerly worked with the David Kramer Group at Hilton & Hyland.

Watts worked on deals such as a $33.5 million close on 565 North Tigertail Road and Petra Ecclestone’s recent off-market purchase in Brentwood for $30.5 Million.

Other new faces at Carolwood include Anthony Bundak, Tyler Convery and Jared Page.

Top agents from Westside Estate Agency and Carolwood, two of Beverly Hills’ most successful luxury boutique agencies, have partnered to open a new business called Private Escrow

It opened in mid-July in Beverly Hills, helmed by Gail Hershowitz, a veteran escrow officer who has been a favorite of agents at both companies. She was formerly manager at Escrow of the West

Hershowitz was not aware of another venture where agents from prominent real estate brokerages partnered to build a separate escrow business. Partners in Private Escrow at WEA include Kurt Rappaport and Stephen Shapiro, while at Carolwood they are Drew Fenton and Nick Segal. Hershowitz is also a partner.

“We know and respect each other. It made sense for us to collaborate,” Segal explained..

In January, Carolwood pitched Hershowitz with the idea of developing an escrow company. Segal said that Carolwood suggested WEA be part of the venture because they had been such a major part of her business.

The venture was shaped by a number of shared interests among the boutique agencies and from Hershowitz. For her, the strategy was to develop closer ties with top brokerages that were not affiliated with a favored escrow company.

Private Escrow will be the first escrow company Hershowitz has helmed. Currently, four people work under her, with plans to hire more.

"We felt that a boutique firm with an emphasis on discretion and direct support would elevate our brand and approach.”

- Marci Kays Kays & Mogharrabi

Carolwood Estates is comprised of 100 elite agents; all located at our single penthouse office in Beverly Hills

$1.1B+ $2B+

Carolwood Estates has taken in an impressive $1.1 Billion+ in total sales volume as of August 2023

Carolwood Estates currently represents over $2 Billion in luxury inventory; including The Manor, Cher's PCH Villa and Jennifer Lopez's Former Bel-Air Estate

Significant Sales

Our agents represented the highest sales in the City of Los Angeles , BHPO, Holmby Hills, Brentwood, Los Feliz, and Hollywood Hills in 2023 YTD

30% of our agents’ deals priced $11M+ in 2023 were conducted with fellow associates at Carolwood Estates

#1 24

Our agents have closed 24 deals priced $10 Million and above in 2023 year to date

O ur Highest Sales

Highest Sale in the History of the Eastside

2571 WALLINGFORD DR, BHPO $60,850,000

Represented the Buyer

1201 TOWER GROVE DR, BHPO $38,000,000

Represented the Buyer + Seller

55 BEVERLY PARK WAY, BHPO $34,400,000

Represented the Buyer + Seller

OFF-MARKET HOLMBY HILLS ESTATE $29,500,000

Represented the Buyer + Seller

8365 SUNSET VIEW DR, SUNSET STRIP

$25,500,000

Represented the Seller

938 N ALPINE DR, BEVERLY HILLS

$17,995,000

Represented the Seller

BRIARCLIFF MANOR, LOS FELIZ

$38,500,000

Represented the Buyer + Seller

OFF-MARKET MALIBU ESTATE

$35,000,000

Represented the Seller

Highest Sale in Brentwood 2023 YTD

OFF-MARKET BRENTWOOD ESTATE $30,500,000

Represented the Buyer

638 SIENA WAY, BEL AIR $26,000,000

Represented the Seller

OFF-MARKET BEVERLY HILLS ESTATE $22,797,000

Represented the Seller

831 STONE CANYON RD, BEL AIR

$16,750,000

Represented the Seller

The Garcia House, Hollywood Hills | $12,500,000 | Represented the Buyer

9152 JANICE PL, BHPO

$14,970,000

Represented the Seller

Highest Sale in the Hollywood Hills 2023 YTD

THE GARCIA HOUSE, HOLLYWOOD HILLS

$12,500,000

Represented the Buyer

1071 LAUREL WAY, BEVERLY HILLS

$12,026,000

Represented the Seller

2357 KIMRIDGE RD, BHPO $11,700,000

Represented the Buyer

SIERRA TOWERS PENTHOUSE

$11,000,000

Represented the Buyer

13705 ROMANY DR, PACIFIC PALISADES

$10,300,000

Represented the Seller

12838 EVANSTON ST, BRENTWOOD $13,250,000

Represented the Seller

THE CENTURY PENTHOUSE 36A $12,500,000

Represented the Buyer + Seller

1374 LAUREL WAY, BEVERLY HILLS $12,000,000*

Represented the Seller

1196 SUMMIT DR, BEVERLY HILLS $11,100,000

Represented the Buyer + Seller

321 N SALTAIR AVE, BRENTWOOD $10,900,000*

Represented the Buyer

OFF-MARKET BEVERLY HILLS ESTATE $10,000,000*

Represented the Seller

The Highest Sale in the City of Los Angeles

After a house-hunting spree spanning many months, Hollywood power couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have finally closed on a Los Angeles home for about $61 million, according to a person familiar with the deal. Spokespeople for the couple could not immediately be reached for comment.

Located in Wallingford Estates , a gated community in the Beverly Hills Post Office neighborhood, the roughly 5-acre estate has about 38,000 square feet of living space.

The estate includes 12 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, a 12-car garage and a pool, plus a sports complex with basketball and pickleball facilities, a gym and a boxing ring, according to the listing.

The property overlooks magnificent mountain views from an exclusive promontory located just minutes away from the Beverly Hills Hotel and Van Nuys private airport.

A stunning zero edge pool perfectly frames the extensive grounds & views, the listing says

The property was first listed for $135 million in 2018 and had its price cut to $74.995 million in March, according to Zillow

Records show the seller is a company tied to luxury developer Gala Asher.

Brett Lawyer of Carolwood Estates solely represented the buyers.

Lawyer recently closed multiple, high-profile deals with Leonardo DiCaprio, Katy Perry, and members of the Getty Family.

Brad Pitt Sells

Two-time Oscar winner Brad Pitt has sold the Los Feliz compound where he and Angelina Jolie raised their six children for $38.5 million. Pitt put the property up for sale just two months ago at $40 million. ET initially reported the sale (along with TMZ), and Robb Report later confirmed the transaction.

The actor/producer began piecing together the 1.9-acre compound in 1994—long before ever meeting Jolie—when he bought the estate’s 1910-built Craftsman style mansion for $1.7 million from Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira: Mistress of the Dark . Over the next roughly ten years, the Academy Award winner picked up two adjacent properties. Then, during the Jolie-Pitt union purchased two more neighboring pieces for a total of only $5 million, which makes this sale super profitable for the Seven actor.

As you would imagine, in addition to the 6,692-square-foot main house (where Pitt believes Jimi Hendrix wrote the song “May This Be Love” ) the estate contains several other structures. Strategically surrounded by mature trees and hedges, the lush property also sports a few other buildings, a large round spa next to an even larger oval swimming pool, a tennis pavilion, a skate park, and even a koi pond.

Pitt was represented by Jonathan Mogharrabi and Marci Kays of Carolwood Estates while the buyer was represented by Brett Lawyer also an agent at Carolwood Estates.

Heard about a real estate market slowdown? Pshaw! It doesn’t appear to have impacted Malibu’s famed Broad Beach, where a house that traded hands for less than $8 million five years ago has just sold again — this time, for $35 million. The fortunate offmarket sellers were film producer Oren Koules (Two and a Half Men , the Saw franchise) and his wife, restaurateur and former Top Chef Canada judge Shereen Arazm Koules.

According to property records, the spendy buyer is L.A. real estate whale Miriam Schaeffer, who already owns 11 other multimilliondollar homes, including three posh Malibu estates and multiple mansions in Hidden Hills, Beverly Hills and Brentwood. Schaeffer, 72, is the ex-wife of OPI nail polish founder George Schaeffer.

At the time Koules and Koules bought the 1970s house, it was somewhat of a seaside stinker. Nicely maintained but decoratively dated, the interiors were victims of a ’90s renovation. The couple subsequently hired Steven Kent Architects to give the place a multi-year overhaul that transformed it into a chic compound consisting of an oceanside main house and a detached two-car garage topped by an upstairs guesthouse.

Unusually, Shereen Arazm Koules and her longtime friend Lara McGraw planned and made all the interior design and decor decisions themselves, without the aid of an interior designer. That decision obviously paid off big time, and the house looks as magazine-ready as any of the posh neighboring properties. The wood-sided structure is airy and minimalist, with a soft, neutral color palette that deliciously frames ocean views through walls of glass.

Since the property was never publicly listed for sale, further details are slim. But we do know there’s an in-ground hot tub, plus an upstairs master retreat with a fireplace and private balcony. Cooper Mount of Carolwood Estates held the listing.

The Koules family is staying put on Broad Beach; per records, the couple has paid $14 million to downsize into a smaller home just a short and sandy stroll away from the house they just sold. We suspect the pair will give that place a clean-lined update, just as they did with their former Broad Beach digs and their old Hancock Park mansion, which was sold some years ago to Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.

California Pizza Kitchen Co-Founder Trades BHPO Mansion for $34.4 Million

California Pizza Kitchen co-founder Larry Flax and his wife Joan, a businesswoman, have sold their home of 27 years in the exclusive Beverly Park neighborhood for $34.4 million.

The French Manor-style home at 55 Beverly Park Way was initially listed for $48.5 million in the gated community in the Beverly Hills Post Office neighborhood known for A-lister residents such as Denzel Washington, Magic Johnson and media titan Haim Saban.

The Flaxs built the 14,000-sf mansion on an almost 3-acre lot in 1996 and reportedly have downsized to live in a condominium. In February, the asking price was cut to $42.5 million. The buyer was not identified.

Headline-grabbing sales in Beverly Park have shown aspirational pricing. Movie star Sylvester Stallone listed a Beverly Park mansion for $130 million. In 2022, Grammy award winner Adele bought it for a mere $58 million.

Mark Wahlberg listed his mansion for $87.5 million. In February, the action movie star sold his house for $55 million.

Seller and buyer were represented by Linda May of Carolwood Estates. May said the deal for 55 Beverly Park Way sidestepped pitfalls that come with aspirational pricing. The difference between the ask and the close wasn’t as large as others in the neighborhood.

“We tried to find a spot that encouraged people to take a look at it. We didn’t do what other properties had done — price ourselves out of showings. We found an asking price where we could prove value. We had comps to support it,” May said.

She also noted that after years of handling real estate deals for California Pizza Kitchen locations, the Flaxs were sophisticated sellers. “They are attuned that the market was shifting. It makes them more serious about selling,” May said.

Rihanna’s Beverly Hills Starter Home has Sold for $14.9 Million

The seven-bedroom, nine-bath contemporary home at 9152 Janice Place is located in an exclusive gated community, with stunning canyon views, and it comes with serious star power.

The nine-time Grammy award-winning, Barbadian-born pop star and entrepreneur paid around $5.1 million for the home in 2011 and then sold it for $7.65 million in 2014.

Two years later, EGOT-winner John “All of Me” Legend and model/ cookbook author Chrissy Teigen paid $14.1 million for the property in 2016. They lived here with their two kids and Teigen’s mom during part of the pandemic. After Teigen got pregnant again, the power couple listed the home for $24 million in August 2020. It sold a year later for $16.8 million.

Built in 1966, the home has gone through major renovations including upgrades by Legend and Teigen’s Hollywood interior designer. At 8,520 square feet, it features 33-foot ceilings, a sculptural staircase and design details like patterned ceilings from Thailand, oak floors and clay and steel rolled walls.

Outside, the property features a sleek saltwater pool and Jacuzzi, and an outdoor kitchen with a woodburning oven, a grill and a pergola wrapped in grapevines — all on 0.86 acres.

Inside, the home opens to a foyer that leads to a living room and sitting room separated by a statement concrete and brass fireplace. There’s also a chef’s kitchen, floor-to-ceiling windows, a large home gym, and a movie theater. The main bedroom comes with a walk-in closet, a spalike bath and a “glam room.”

The listing was held by Justin Paul Huchel of Carolwood Estates

Creative Couple Hang $12M Price on Mid-Century Modern Beverly Hills Home

Across Beverly Hills are lavish homes owned and/or previously owned by heavy hitters of the entertainment industry, from leading ladies of the silver screen to sitcom superstars to world-famous filmmakers and other behind-the-scenes movers and shakers.

Bucking that uniquely Los Angeles real estate paradigm, in the mansion-packed mountains above Beverly Hills, up past RuPaul’s opulent chateau, beyond a glitzy, moat-encircled ultra-modern mega mansion once leased by both David Beckham and Post Malone, a minimalist abode hidden amid lush plantings on a sunny, south-facing hillside has its stylish roots not in the business of show but rather in the intersected worlds of art, fashion, architecture and interior design.

Priced at $12 million, the pedigreed property is available through Drew Fenton and Delaram Rivani of Carolwood Estates

Originally designed in the mid-1960s by the not especially well-known architecture firm Frank Weber and Associates, the International-style dwelling was owned until his 1995 death by influential hotel designer James Northcutt, known for bringing residential looks to luxury hotels such as the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles and the Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach. Northcutt’s estate sold the property in 1997 for $1.45 million to Rea Laccone, cofounder of the upscale fashion label Vince

Laccone, an architecture buff who has bought and sold several homes designed and or re-designed by one famous architect or another, had the single-story structure restored and updated by L.A.’s Marmol Radziner. The original herringbone-pattern brick floors were retained but the home was altered to maximize light and capture the foliage-framed skyline views. Laccone then retained ownsership for 23 years.

After it first came for sale the year before at $9.5 million, Laccone sold the four-bedroom and threeand-a-half-bath home in early 2020 for not quite $7.8 million to powerhouse creative couple Laure Heriard Dubreuil and Aaron Young.

Heriard Dubreuil, part of the French family that makes Rémy Martin Cognac, is the founder of The Webster, an über-chic multi-brand fashion house with luxury boutiques on both coasts, while Young is a California-born artist who first rose to prominence in the early 2000s.

A spare canvas perfect for displaying the couple’s curated collection of contemporary artworks and vintage furniture, walls and ceilings are free of moldings and other ornamentation. Doorways reach grandly to the ceiling and the brick floors continue out to a long, slender loggia and around the swimming pool.

There is a minimalist fireplace in the combination living and dining room as well as in the den that’s just off the skylight-topped eat-in kitchen.

One of the guest rooms leads to a serene courtyard surrounded in lush vegetation and another has a mirrored wall that reflects the gardens outside the floor-to-ceiling walls of glass, while the main bedroom offers bespoke wooden built-ins and a roomy bathroom with a soaking tub and a marblelined shower.

The home was featured last year in Architectural Digest, as was the couple’s former home in New York, a 19th-century rowhouse in the East Village. The couple acquired the antique home in 2014 for $6.4. million from Mary-Kate Olsen’s then-boyfriend and now ex-husband Olivier Sarkozy, dressed it up in a fashionably haute-funky manner and sold it in 2019 for $7.35 million.

Los Angeles Designer Jenni Kayne Sells Santa Ynez Ranch-Style Home For $6 Million

Jenni Kayne sold her Santa Ynez Ranch-style home this week for $6 million. The Los Angelesbased designer bought the 20-acre property for $950,000 in September 2020 and spent the next year or so infusing the home with the signature style, neutral color palettes and natural materials that has made her skincare, clothing and homeoffering lines famous. Kayne said the renovations were completed in March 2022.

"We took it down to the studs and from the ground up to create a property that reflects the Jenni Kayne lifestyle. This property was curated for someone specific to come in and buy into the lifestyle. It was a successful sale from a real estate standpoint because we sold it for the asking price," Richard Ehrlich, Kayne's real estate broker husband with Carolwood Estates, said.

In addition to 360-degree views, the Ranch features a pool and spa and is optimized for indoor-outdoor living. The 3,860-square-foot, four-bedroom, five-bathroom home was listed for $6 million and sold at asking.

In 2022, Jenni Kayne won Woman's Wear Daily's Best-Performing Retailer Award (Small Cap).

While Kayne is known for her laid-back and luxurious California lifestyle brands (stars like Jessica Alba and Emma Stone embrace Kayne's clothing), this is her first redesign effort to move her brand into hotel and hospitality driven experiences and resort markets. "This was a bit of a test case for delving into that space," she said.

Julia Hunter, CEO of Jenni Kayne, located the property for this special project. Still, Kayne knew the area before Hunter located the Santa Ynez gem.

"I've been going to the Santa Ynez Valley my entire life. My godparents owned a property in Woodstock Ranch. So I love the area, the landscape, the views, the rolling hills and the live oaks. This incredible property that was utterly neglected and in foreclosure. But you could see that it had good bones, and it could be a great California ranch single-story with these beautiful, vaulted ceilings. By taking out the 1960s and 1970s and opening up all the doors and windows to nature, we could change the entire house and create an open-floor plan. But the land also made the property so special," Kayne said.

Although Kayne had a vision, the property, Ehrlich noted, was distressed and serving the needs of some local wildlife. "Now, it has been completely transformed," he said.

Kayne's creative vision is well-developed. Last year, she rolled out Pacific Natural at Home, a design book published by Rizzoli

When it came time to market the Ranch, Kayne and her team got creative, hosting editors and international influencers like L.A.-based Song of Style blogger, Forbes 30 under 30 member and top content creator Aimee Song to showcase the property and the modern California minimalism approach during the summer and fall.

"We asked influencers to come and stay and have an experience. We curated weekends with farmto-table dining, yoga retreats, and spa treatments with Oak Essentials [Kayne's beauty line launched in 2021]. The Ranch became an Instagram favorite," Ehrlich said.

While the buyer remains anonymous, Ehrlich said, the new owner bought the house fully furnished. "The buyer related to the JK lifestyle brand and wanted a turnkey, move-in-ready home," he added.

"The house is a second home for the family that bought it. Finding turnkey properties with great surfaces, great furnishings, and a great location is rare and unique. It all came together at the Ranch, making it a rare retreat, especially in Santa Ynez," Ehrlich said.

The California ranch-style home showcases the Jenni Kayne Home Collection and vintage items. "We have our Miramar sofa, Aspen chairs, Brentwood chairs, Harbor sofas and Pacific beds," Kayne said.

Ehrlich said his favorite space is the primary bedroom. "You lay in bed and have these vista views. So you can relax and watch the sun drop over the hills, and it is magical," he said.

Kayne echoed that point but added that the great room is her favorite space because the room shares the same view as the primary bedroom.

What's next for the couple? "Richard is looking for another property right now," Kayne said, laughing.

Screenwriter Scott Silver, known for Joker, The Fighter, 8 Mile and The Finest Hours , has bought a mid-century modern house owned by socialite and philanthropist Jamie Tisch for $4.99 million.

The sale comes months after the home hit the market in March for initially $7 million and about 2.5 years after Tisch initially acquired the .25-acre property. The two-story house built and designed by William Porush and Richard Kearney in 1962 sits in the Hollywood Hills, just a few blocks above the Sunset Plaza.

Tisch listed the house for approximately 2.5 times what she paid for it when it was put up for sale in June 2020. At the time, it was described as needing some updates.

Now, post renovations, the outlet reported that the 3,517-square-foot home’s main level includes an open-plan living room, dining area, kitchen, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The primary suite also features its own private balcony deck. An iron spiral staircase then connects the upper terrace to the lower patio, which has a lounge area, barbecue station and saltwater pool. Sliding glass doors opens into the home’s lower-level family room, which also includes a built-in bar, guest room, laundry room and two-vehicle carport.

Silver, nominated for two Oscars for 2011’s The Fighter and 2020’s Joker, also wrote and directed Johns and The Mod Squad in the ’90s. He also served as a writer for Todd Phillips’ upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux , starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

The seller is represented by Andrew Rhoda at Carolwood Estates

$3.3 Million Renovated Cottage in Santa Monica

A renovated 1940 cottage with two bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, on a 0.1-acre lot

Rustic Canyon is a quiet Santa Monica enclave known for its locally owned restaurants and proximity to the beach. This house is across the street from Rustic Coffee, a cafe housed in a converted Airstream trailer, and down the block from Giorgio Baldi, an Italian restaurant that has been in business since 1990.

The property is half a mile from the Eames Foundation, a design museum housed in the former home of Charles and Ray Eames, and from the Annenberg Community Beach House, a public facility on the site of an estate designed by Julia Morgan. Downtown Santa Monica is about 10 minutes away. Malibu is a half-hour drive along Pacific Coast Highway.

This house sits behind a white fence lined with mature landscaping. A gate opens into a courtyard with a wood walkway that leads to the Dutch-door entrance.

The open living area beyond has light hardwood floors, creamcolored wood walls and ceilings, and furnishings by the fashion and lifestyle designer Jenni Kayne, which are available to buy.

The kitchen, on the right side of the space, has a white enamel Aga range, open shelving and custom cabinets with integrated appliances. The adjacent dining area has a built-in banquette surrounded by windows overlooking the front courtyard. A powder room and a laundry room are also off the kitchen.

The second floor, reached by a staircase in the living area, is configured as one large primary suite, with French doors that open to a street-facing balcony. A windowed bench is built into the en suite bathroom, which has a walk-in shower.

The other bedroom is on the ground floor, with an en suite bathroom and its own exterior entrance.

The second-floor balcony is surrounded by a white-painted wood railing, and is big enough to hold chairs and a small table. The front courtyard includes a hot tub and space for separate sitting and dining areas; the landscaping that surrounds it creates a sense of privacy.

Richard Ehrlich of Carolwood Estates held the listing.

THE BRIARCREST ESTATE

Introducing the Briarcrest Estate, the pinnacle of luxury living. This exceptional property stands as a testament to elegance in restraint. With its exquisite design, the home utilizes five primary materials; travertine, oak, cedar, bronze, and steel to create a harmonious blend that seamlessly integrates the home with its natural surroundings. The result is an organic, awe-inspiring masterpiece that captivates the senses.

9051 Briarcrest Ln, Beverly Hills P.O. | $22,500,000 Resnick & Nash Hold the Listing

Famous Malibu Wave House Hits the Market for

Harry Gesner designed the iconic Mid-Century Modern home while surfing in front of the property.

An iconic Malibu, California home designed to look like cresting waves is coming on the market for $49.5 million.

Wave House was designed in the 1950s by the late architect Harry Gesner, who famously sketched plans for the home while on his surfboard, after paddling out to the surf break in front of the property, according to Zen Gesner, Harry Gesner’s son.

The Midcentury Modern home was most recently owned by Mo Ostin, an influential music executive who led Warner Bros. Records for decades. He was tapped by Frank Sinatra to oversee the singer’s Reprise label, which merged with Warner Bros. Records in 1963. He headed the company as it signed acts like Jimi Hendrix, Prince and Madonna. Ostin died in 2022 at age 95 and the property is being sold by his estate, according to his son, Michael Ostin.

The house was also previously owned by British rocker Rod Stewart, Zen Gesner said. Mr. Stewart didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The roughly 6,200-square-foot Wave House appears to hover above the beach on stilts. The main living space is a sunken circular conversation pit. A fireplace at its center, now clad in stucco, was originally made from Santa Barbara fieldstone. There are six bedrooms, including a large primary suite on the main level with a separate seating area and deck access. The property, which measures less than an acre, also has a small guesthouse and garage.

The house was originally built for local couple Gerry and Glenn Cooper, who owned a lumberyard, Zen Gesner said. While designing the house, he said, his father camped out on the site for days, observing the sand, the views, the fluctuation of the wind and the surf.

He wanted the house to “have the look of a giant wave at the very peak of its strength,” Zen Gesner said. “If you were surfing or on a boat fishing, you’d look back at the shore and see this really organic design that looked like a wave approaching the ocean.”

The home put Harry Gesner on the map, gaining him international recognition, his son said. In the late 1950s, his father got a call from Jørn Utzon, the architect behind the iconic Sydney Opera House, complimenting him on Wave House, which is widely thought to have served as an inspiration for the Australian landmark.

“My dad was totally blown away that this architect was going out of his way to reach out to him and compliment him on his design, because most architects are egomaniacs,” Zen Gesner said. “They don’t tend to tip their hat to any other architect.”

But over the years, Harry Gesner rebuffed the comparison between the two structures. “I wish people would not insist that something looks like something else, but they do. It’s human nature and a bore,” he was quoted as saying in the 2012 book “Houses of the Sundown Sea: The Architectural Vision of Harry Gesner” by Lisa Germany.

While the exterior of the home remains largely consistent with the original design, the interiors have gone through several iterations. When Stewart owned the property in the 1980s, he asked Harry Gesner to design railings for the decks. “He was very concerned that people at his parties would stumble and fall off the edge,” said the architect’s son, who grew up in the house next door, known as Sandcastle.

When the Ostins bought the Wave House in the late 1980s, they removed some of the exposed wood interiors and replaced them with white finishes to amplify the colors of the environment outside. They also replaced a pebbled roof with one made from copper shingles, which have gained a green patina over time, Zen Gesner said.

The listing comes less than a month after the adjacent Sandcastle, the Gesners’ home, came on the market for $27.5 million following the architect’s death in 2022. Zen Gesner said he thinks it is possible that the two homes could be acquired as a pair to give a buyer a larger footprint on the beach.

Neither of the homes has any landmark protection, but Zen Gesner said he is confident that prospective buyers won’t want to tear down either property. “It’s our hope that nobody ever has that intention,” he said.

Zen Gesner shares the listing with Drew Fenton of Carolwood Estates.

Commune Design Brings Western Charm to a Spanish Colonial Revival House in

Beverly Hills

As a cofounder of Commune Design , the Los Angeles firm known for its savvy mixing of vintage chic with high-end handicraft, Steven Johanknecht might be expected to know his Neutras from his Navajo rugs.

But ask him about this renovation of a 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival house in Beverly Hills, and Johanknecht — a former store designer for Barneys New York and design director for Studio Sofield — starts enthusing about his latest obsession: Thomas C. Molesworth. “You’ve got to check him out,” he says. “He did all these interiors and furnishings in the cowboy style in the 1930s and ’40s. He designed lodges in Montana and Wyoming. His furniture was just incredible.”

What pushed Johanknecht down the rabbit hole of classic Western design were his cowboy style–aficionado clients, a couple for whom he has designed several homes, most recently one near the ocean in the Pacific Palisades section of L.A. “I have always been enchanted by the West,” the wife says. “I buy cowboy art and plein air landscapes, old Western blankets, and furniture in that style. And my husband and I adore old Molesworth.”

A longtime friend of Johanknecht’s, she became one of his first clients after he founded Commune Design in 2004 with Roman Alonso and Pamela and Ramin Shamshiri (the siblings have since left to found their own firm, Studio Shamshiri). She had been looking for a home that felt more “old Los Angeles” when she discovered this one for sale on Roxbury Drive, a legendarily star-studded street whose former residents include Lucille Ball, who used to hand out Halloween candy from her front door here, and Jimmy Stewart, who grew sweet corn in his backyard.

The exterior — carved-plaster facade, wood-spindle entry door, clay roof tiles, and leaded-glass windows — was charmingly intact. “Right away, we asked Steven to come in and bring the house back to its Spanish roots,” she says. “He is so good at mixing. He brings his fashion background and uses color in such an unusual way.”

Inside, too, the house retained many of its original features, from hand-carved ceiling beams to wrought-iron chandeliers and arched doors. But previous renovations had altered the flow of the home, with some rooms chopped in two, and the 1920s tile flooring had been replaced with a patchwork of mismatched materials.

“We wanted to make it feel more holistic while still honoring its heritage,” the designer says.

A typical Commune project involves a deep dive into history. For this house, Johanknecht did extensive research into the Spanish Colonial Revival tradition in L.A., working with a tile company in Malibu to create authentic-looking octagonal terra-cotta pavers with decorative insets painted in custom motifs of white and blue. The new tilework begins in the entrance courtyard and continues through the kitchen and dining room and out to the patio in the back of the house.

“One of the great things about California homes is that indoor/outdoor experience,” he says. “It was really important to me that everything feel connected.”

The home’s palette, which ranges from vibrant hues of pink and green to more dramatic shades, such as the dining room’s earthy red, was a balancing act. The wife is “a very happy person who loves color,” Johanknecht says.

She chose the raspberry upholstery on the living room’s armchairs and the striking turquoise hue of the floor tiles in the master bath, which were inspired by the color of a piece of Bauer pottery she picked up at a flea market.

Johanknecht countered with such choices as the deep plum — Farrow & Ball’s Pelt —on the beamed master bedroom ceiling. “I arched an eyebrow when he proposed that one,” the wife admits. “But I decided to trust him. And he was right: It looks cozy, as opposed to dark, as I’d feared.”

It is the very solidity of a Spanish Colonial–style house, the designer says, that makes it such a complex design challenge. “The gestures can be so big that it is easy for things to get lost,” he says. “I really had to pay attention to scale. There is not a lot of midcentury here, but I did incorporate craft, like the Stan Bitters ceramic pots at the entrance.”

In the end, Molesworth was the key.

His cowboy motifs influenced numerous details throughout the house, from the family room’s hand-stenciled cabinetry and ceiling beams to the whipstitching on the sconce shades and the moccasin-like embroidery on a pair of armchairs. “We got exactly what we wanted and more,” says the client.

‘Kung Fu Panda’ Producer Lists

1920s Spanish Colonial in Los Feliz

After four years of ownership, Melissa Cobb has decided to hoist her elegant residence in a prime Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles onto the market. According to the listing held by Marci Kays and Jonathan Mogharrabi of Carolwood Estates, the glam Spanish-style mansion “truly embodies Hollywood’s golden era.”

The veteran entertainment industry executive—probably best known for producing the Kung Fu Panda franchise—is asking $11.5 million for the multi-level digs she picked up for nearly $6.4 million back in fall 2019.

Originally commissioned by wealthy entrepreneur William C. Hay and completed by architect Charles H. Kyson in the early 1920s, the premises were prominently featured in a 1925 Architectural Digest article. The place recently underwent an extensive renovation courtesy of its previous owner, with Cobb also sprucing up the grounds during her tenure.

Nestled on a gated hillside parcel spanning over a half-acre, the stucco and terra-cotta-roof structure features five bedrooms and five baths in almost 5,500 square feet of living space, all of it flaunting stylish interiors accented with a mix of hardwood and marble floors, hand-painted oak doors and stained-glass windows throughout.

A walkway passes through a lushly landscaped yard before emptying out at an ornate wood front door, which leads into an entry foyer displaying a staircase topped by a barrel-vaulted ceiling.

From there, highlights include a soaring fireside living room resting beneath a hand-painted coffered ceiling, and a stepdown den and seated wet bar.

A formal dining room sporting wood paneling imported from England and an ornamental tracery ceiling opens to a secondlevel veranda, and the gourmet kitchen is outfitted with highend appliances, an eat-in island and a cozy breakfast nook.

Elsewhere are a family room, library, wine cellar, home offices and staff accommodations, along with an oversized primary bedroom that houses a fireplace, an elevated closet, and a spainspired bath equipped with dual vanities, a soaking tub and glass-encased shower.

Outdoors, the grounds are laced with fruit trees, terraces and gravel pathways leading to secluded gathering spaces, and host a sunken fire-pit lounge and private pool flanked by a grassy lawn centered around a period fountain. There’s also a street-level garage for three vehicles—all just minutes away from the Griffith Observatory and Greek Theatre

Cobb joined Netflix as head of kids and family in 2017 and went on to gain recognition for helping to build the company’s animation studio. In 2022, after acquiring The Lego Movie animation studio Animal Logic, the former DreamWorks executive stepped down as vice president of animation film and currently serves as a producer for Netflix

Hot Property Malibu

HOUSE ON BUSCH PROJECT | $7,650,000

WHERE

Less than a mile inland in Bonsall Canyon, a hillside Malibu neighbourhood. Zuma Beach, a 1.8-mile county beach popular with surfers, is within walking distance.

WHAT

An architect-designed, newly built house with 5,150 sq ft of living space including four bedrooms. There is a heated outdoor atrium off the kitchen, a swimming pool and spa area.

WHY

The distinctive design incorporates glass walls and long balconies to make the most of the canyon and ocean views, while the two-acre grounds have been planted with native flora.

Designed by Preliminary Research Office 基础研究所

133 S Mapleton Dr, Holmby Hills | $65,000,000

222 Palisades Ave, Santa Monica | $13,888,888

1492 Stone Canyon Rd , Bel Air | $39,995,000

5811 Murphy Way, Malibu | $12,495,000

Kelly Osbourne, daughter of metal's first couple Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, just put her Sierra Towers condo she purchased for $4 million in 2014 back on the market for $4.8 million, according to Robb Report . Per the same publication, she scooped up the nextdoor unit in the West Hollywood building for $2.3 million just last year.

The Osbournes put their stately Hancock Park home on the market for $17.5 million last summer, but have yet to secure a buyer. Kelly is hoping to have better luck with her 2,100-square-foot unit.

Over the years the 1960s-built Sierra Towers have become a pretty popular spot among Tinseltown’s elite. Sandra Bullock, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Adam Sandler, and 'Emily in Paris' star Lily Collins have all owned units in the Jack A. Charney-designed building at some point. Balconies on each of the units of the 31-story tower afford spectacular views of the city and hills, and with a pebbled terrace and floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows, the Osbourne residence is no different.

The two-bedroom, three bath condominium has an open plan area divided into dining and lounging sections, with an enclosed all-white kitchen featuring an iridescent gray subway tile backsplash. A gracious primary bedroom with a large walk-in closet provides hillside views and a mural of blue skies and white clouds on the ceiling, while a third bedroom with light pink walls has been converted to an office.

Jonah Wilson and Josh Greer of Carolwood Estates hold the listing.

1698 Marmont Ave, Sunset Strip | $5,200,000

17728 Porto Marina Way, Pacific Palisades | $3,398,000

Sierra Towers #1903, Sunset Strip | $3,179,000

621 Mildred Ave, Venice | $3,995,000

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