Open Housing January 5 of 7

Never heard of Bowmont Estates? Me neither but it was my loss. Bowmont Estates is a very small gated community with very large homes and very big views right off of Mulholland. It would be very easy to access Studio City or Beverly Hills. There is no guard but it is still quite private and in my opinion that makes things less ostentatious.

 This house was utterly stunning. Situated on the ridge with lush gardens, you feel as if you have no neighbors. This house is like the smart jock everyone hated, the one who does is all and actually does it well.

Um, yes please. 

I had to search my brain to find flaws. Sure, Mediterranean is not everyone’s cup of tea. And the layout does not surprise, it only affirms where everything ought to be with a few quirks. But I couldn’t argue with the amazing open living room that flowed into the large yard with sexy, curving infinity pool and cabanas or the guesthouse that connected to the real gym and theatre/ game room.

This looks better in person. Like, a lot better. 

Not shown, the amazing view out those windows. 

But lets talk about that pool. It curves with the hill, a black pebble infinity pool that makes one want to swim naked for days and take in your views. You have views of either Beverly Park or Beverly Ridge, I’m not sure which but it is quite fun to survey the mansions in the distance. 

(Note: On later survey, thats Beverly Ridge with Beverly Park in the distance.) 

There is a huge USEABLE yard, an amazing view; the house isn’t ugly, SOLD. It actually feels like 13 million bucks. 

 

Facade is okay. Quality doesn't show in these pictures. 

Yes, that is a two car garage. The other 2 car garage is attached to the guesthouse further down the driveway. 

All photos credit to their respective owners. 

Open Housing January 4 of 7

581 Chalette Drive

Okay, confession time. The Trousdale Estates, in spite of some phenomenal views and renovated homes, just doesn't do it for me. It doesn't feel like Beverly Hills, more like a more conservative Hollywood with bigger yards to me. But what do I know?

Entry. Yes, that would be a carport to your left in a nearly 8 million dollar home. 

That brings us to the heart of the problem. Regardless of my tastes, the price is high. It’s a nice house. It really is. Just not worth 8 million bucks of nice. That is a very optimistic price for a home that has a carport. 


Not included: the weird hipsters outside posing with a motorcycle. 

Layout is pretty solid. Dual living rooms open onto a terrace and pool with debatably clearer (though less expansive) views than the Nightingale House. 

Kitchen. Yes, everything in this house is white. 

Red wine party? I think not. 

Open cabana thing off to one side of the pool. 

I guess its a study? 

All the bedrooms are good sized and the layout is solid. The home is blindingly white in terms of color and décor and could use some color to make it friendlier. 

All photos credit to respective owners. 

Open Housing January 3 of 7

Leaving the Bird Streets took me on a nice long detour of impossibly narrow blind corners to this house:
9126 Cordell Drive

Somewhat average front facade with tiny garden. 

There is a four car garage, which is really nice in Hollywood where parking is at a premium. 

It is not inspiring, though not a bad house overall. It would be fine in Studio City or Burbank, but in the Hollywood Hills it feels lackluster. Or maybe that is just coming off the high of the Bird Streets?

Every room looks like this. This home would really benefit from some staging, I found myself wondering about the function of some rooms. 

It is a big Spanish house (about 5,200 sqft) with terraces. Solid open layout, nothing unusual. Four bedrooms and a curving infinity pool with a sort of cabana thing. 

It is too close to Sunset Blvd to muster any awe-inspiring views but has a decent view. Not shown, the neighbors roof below. You could probably walk to the Strip, though that would defeat the point of showing up in the leased black Rover with the big rims, no? The asking of nearly 5 million is high. 

Hope you like yellow.... 

...and wood floors. 

Not shown: the bathtub rests on wood blocks. 

This is Hollywood for goodness sake, up your game! 

All photos credit to their respective owners. 

Open Houses January 2 of 7

9353 Nightingale Drive

In the course of driving from Robin Drive to Nightingale Drive, I sort of fell in love with the Dohney Estates in general. It reminds me of Sunset Plaza, only with well paved streets and a little less hilly. In my opinion Nightingale Drive is perhaps the best Bird Street, full of architecturally distinct homes with amazing views.

No front yard but a gate with plenty of obvious cameras in the typical Hollywood fashion. 

Doesn't look like much from the street. 

Upon entering, it takes all of five seconds to realize this is an extremely over the top home. But it doesn't really matter much since all you want to do is walk to the terrace and take in the view. 

Just look at the view. 

Yes, that pool is barely a lap pool. Yes, it appears to be on the neighbors roof. Yes, it works because the view. The fire-pit is one of many. 

Another fire pit. 

The entry opens onto a huge living/dining/game area, which opens onto that terrace. 

The terrace is what makes the home.

The top floor is completed by a master suite, guest room, powder room with his and hers stalls, and a large kitchen. The glass floor in the game room is undeniably cool.  

Round beds and odd round rooms compliment the design. The master suite is huge with stunning views, though the closet backs up onto the foyer, which I found odd. For a quick getaway? 

 

Very sexy bathroom. 

In fact all the bedrooms and stairs are odd. There is a lot of wasted space. The only way between floors is an absurdly small, spiral staircase or an elevator off of the game room.

Yes, that is a two story theatre/lounge thing with a stripper pole. 

Yes it is cool, but feels very narrow. 

Glass ceiling not shown. 

The two story bar and wine cellar with glass floors feel like a waste when you consider there are only two real bedrooms (though the listing brags four, some of the things they deem bedrooms would take some work to make or are little more than stair foyers right now). 

 Little spa off of the gym. 

Overall, this is a very specific home for a specific. Let's face it, anyone spending 10+ million in Hollywood probably isn't concerned about bedrooms. They want entertaining spaces. And this is a phenomenal place to entertain. 

All photos credit to respective owners. 

Like, Valley Homes

Here are a few homes that intrigued me. They just happen to be located in the Valley.

11244 Briarcliff Lane 

This one has been on the market since the dawn of time according to my estimates. It is located in a small gated community off Laurel Canyon. Yes, Laurel Canyon. Just thinking about getting around makes me grip my imaginary steering wheel and honk in righteous indignation.

Front entry by the pool does not bode well. 

Big tennis court. 

I actually toured this one a while back. I didn't hate it, even with the absurd amount of ornamentation. 

However the kitchen is literally right off the foyer which feels strange at this asking price. 

I think they were asking about 9 million, give me 130 Delfern Drive any day. 

12240 Viewcrest Road. 

I really like how they resisted the urge to add tons of faux-Spanish add ons. The facade is sedate. The little iron balconies are a nice touch. 

Did I mention the 3,695,000 million ask? 

Oy vey. I refuse to say that is impossible, since I laughed at the idea of Candy Spelling selling her monstrous pile of crap The Manor for anything over 50 million. 

Thank you, Petra Ecclastone. 

For your price of admission, you get 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms in almost 6,000 sqft on a 19,000 sqft lot. And no pool and a two car garage. Not that I'm cynical. 

All the appliances and such look top notch. Doubt it was ever lived in. 

11400 Sunshine Terrace 

Yes, I am tardy to this party. It belonged to some actress or something, so the blogosphere went nuts. 

For 10 million dollars (yes, 10. Yes, this is still Studio City), the lucky buyer will get 5 bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms rolled into 7,600 sqft and plopped at the top of a very, very gated driveway on a 3 acre lot. That nice infinity pool completes the package. 

I find a few flaws in this home, but I like a few things too. 

I cannot complain about the interior, nor the view. 

I can complain about the fact that you sit only one street away from Ventura Blvd and all the traffic. 

I can also complain about the lack of amenities for a house of this price point. That pool is nice but where is my tennis court, pool house, gym, media room, game room, etc.... 

This facade is unnerving. Someone please explain why. 

All photos credit to respective owners. 

Open Houses January (1 of 7)

Nothing quite like starting up the new year by looking at a bevy of new houses I can't afford. My little hunt for homes took me along the unnecessarily complicated bowel that is Laurel Canyon and up many of the impossibly narrow and poorly kept streets to the unfriendly homes that are Hollywood.

Now don't get me wrong, Hollywood is fine. I love the views. Its just the myriad of leased Bentleys and Rovers and impossibly good looking people overspending that throws me off. And Hollywood Hills has an absurd turnover rate.

Which somehow took us from the mansions of Sunset Plaza to the strange, hippie homes in the bottom of the canyon to the Doheny Estates.

You know its fancy, it says 'estates'. 

Which took us the 9229 Robin Drive.

That facade is really unfriendly in person. Tinted windows do not work on a home. 

Fortunately the rest of the home is better inside. The layout is open and has a nice living room, large dining room and small but absurdly nice Miele kitchen where no one ever cooked. In fact, the home looks brand new. Every room seems to have sliding glass opening onto somewhere.

Unfortunately you are on the right side of the street, which means instead of a breathtaking "Bird Street view' you get:

Small pool is better than nothing. Yard backs up onto steep hill. Outdoor kitchen is to the right. This yard also features an unnecessary amount of fire pits. 

The overall layout is unsurprising. There are two large master bedrooms with very nice bathrooms, a media room and two more bedrooms. 

The bathrooms look better in person. I swear. 

The additional bedrooms are weird, boasting skylights and sidelong glances of windows. 

4 beds, 4400 sqft, 4 point something million. 

It’s a very specific Hollywood home; they will only live there for two years so I don’t think it matters much. It was nice, but a tad cold and not stunning. 

A new Ferrari comes with the house. Vroom.  

Tune in next time, when things get even more over the top. 

All photos credit to their respective owners. 

Open Housing (August) Final

So I saved the best for last. Not on purpose, we simply happened to see the best house last.

Introducing 130 Delfern Dr.
This is Beverly Hills done right. Look at that lawn. You can barely even see the pool from the main house.

This home is just off Sunset, right by Harvard Westlake and all the absurd mansions. Its about 8000 sqft on a 52000 sqft lot. Yep, over an acre in LA (and it sold for under 10 million!) Gotta love the land value.

Nice little gravel drive leads to guest parking. Yes, that garage is detached. That would need fixing. 

This is the entry room. It looks better in person. Trust me.

Frankly I have my doubts that a Country styled estate needs an Oriental reception hall, but who knows?

The layout is grand and solid with more storage spaces than you can shake an umbrella at. 

This reception room opens onto dining and absolutely huge living. It didn't echo, but it was darn close.  Off of the living is a good sized library with lots of shelves.

Huge master suite with 2 bathrooms and 2 closets. Probably bigger than my house. However the bathrooms felt like they could use some updating. 

The Eat in Italian kitchen is out of character with rest of house. It is bright red in an otherwise sedate house. But the quality is good and it opens onto the family room and terrace with outdoor kitchen. 

 There is also a game room with theatre and a bedroom designated as gym. If that bugs you, you can expand. 

The upper floor reached by grand curving stair. There are three large bedrooms and spare room, all older and need some touch ups. If you wanted, you could add a whole bunch of square footage up there. 

Outside there is a rolling green lawn with fountains that leads down to a lagoon pool with beach entry but no tub. There is a one bedroom guest house that overlooks the tennis court, which is North South and very nice. A pool house faces the pool and buts on the tennis court wall. Yes, you need a separate guest house and pool house. 

I want it (sigh). 

Feel free to check out the rest of the listing photos:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/130-Delfern-Dr-90077/home/6824227

All photos credit to their respective owners. 

Open Housing (August) 2.5 of 4

9917 Sunset Blvd. sounds more regal than it is. I think of - 

 However we are more akin to =

Gotta love the photo saturation. 

First things first, access sucks. You will live right on Sunset Blvd and be painfully aware of that pretty much every day. So after parking (an ordeal) and getting dirty-eyed by somebody's maid, we were finally able to see this place. 

First things first you see this tile on every surface: 

Worst of the 80s. 

+ Fountain in entry. 

+ Realtor giving dirty eye

= Just leave. 

Goodbye and good riddance. 

All photos credit of respectful owners. 

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Open Housing (August) Part 2 of 4

Today we will take a look at 805 N Alta Drive in Beverly Hills.

Mmmm... gotta love the stucco. 

Anyways, the place is located on a small street off Sunset Blvd but was surprisingly quiet. I think we are seeing the end of a somewhat frightening remodel.

The foyer feels more akin to a hotel lobby. The empty room is the dining room, kitchen is right through those double doors. 

The hotel foyer opens onto living room and a family room. To the left is a library with huge master behind, facing pool. The master suite has overdosed on marble. To the right is a dining room and large kitchen that opens onto it. Nicely done huge kitchen is very nice. Grand stair between dining and family. 

The 2^nd floor has bedrooms, though not nearly as nice. It felt unfinished as if they ran out of money. Media room with many nice chairs, though the roughly hewn hole for the projector feels tacky. There is a guest house across from kitchen, currently used as gym. There is a room above which conncets to level 2 of the main house and forms porte cochere to nowhere. 

Which brings us to the weird part. The layout is quite solid. You would just need some more work to finish it, right? WRONG. There is no garage, only odd covered parking for three cars (maybe) bumper to bumper. That’s just bizarre, especially given the price. This is a nearly 7 million dollar Beverly Hills manse, not a little starter bungalow. Compromise should not exist in the echelon. To add insult to injury there is no real room to expand. The home is 7000 sqft on 19000 lot.

Gotta love the bleak backyard. Where are the trees?

 Pool out back has odd glass features. You can't buy taste. 

Covered cabana thing is a nice touch. Overall, this house just feels unfinished.