Britney Spears lists Beverly Hills home
Published Saturday October 4th, 2008
LOS ANGELES - Googling "Britney Spears" just now yielded 98,600,000 hits; Googling "President Bush," 44,600,000. Makes you wonder what's wrong with this planet, doesn't it?
Nevertheless, here's one more contribution to Google: Britney Spears, pop princess or pop pariah, has listed her Beverly Hills Post Office home for $7.9 million.
The house is in a gated community and has about 7,500 square feet, with six bedrooms and 6 1/2 bathrooms. There's a wet bar, a library, a den, high ceilings and stone and mosaic tile floors. The master bedroom has a fireplace and a loggia. Then there's the pool, spa and arbor. It is being offered for sale partially furnished and decorated. And we suspect neighbours are popping open Champagne bottles.
This is the very same house that Spears was wrenched from in January by a well-executed LAPD plan to skirt the paparazzi and have the singer involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward.
Neighbours are unlikely to forget that winter night with helicopters buzzing overhead and more than 100 paparazzi who chase Spears for a living hovering at the gates.
Spears, whose every move has been dutifully recorded by paparazzi, the courts, her fans and her detesters, was last seen looking for a new place to live in the Hidden Hills and Calabasas areas northwest of downtown L.A. Definitely gated.
The midriff-baring 26-year-old singer is planning a tour - or at least so says her mother. So maybe her new neighbours won't have the same headaches that her old neighbours had.
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Talk-show host Leeza Gibbons and her estranged husband, actor and architect Stephen Meadows, have listed their house in the Hollywood Hills at $7,395,000.
The house was listed in December 2006 at just under $8 million. It is set behind gates and up a long driveway on more than an acre that includes landscaped gardens. The 11,137-square-foot Mediterranean was built in 1926 and was once owned by Joan Crawford.
Gibbons and Meadows completely remodeled and renovated the home, which has carved moldings, hardwood floors and lots of stone and wrought iron. The main house has seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms in three stories. A detached guesthouse, built in 2000, is suitable for use as a studio or office.
Gibbons, 51, a former Southern beauty queen who still looks the part, is a former reporter and anchor for "Entertainment Tonight." She hosted the daytime talk show "Leeza" from 1994 to 2000 and now hosts the nationally syndicated radio show "Hollywood Confidential."
Meadows appeared in numerous guest roles on TV. The couple separated a few years ago.
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David Barrett, a producer and director who has worked on episodes of Cold Case, Smallville and Bionic Woman, has bought a house in Toluca Lake, an L.A. neighborhood near the city of Burbank, for $1.2 million.
The two-story traditional has four bedrooms and four bathrooms in 2,530 square feet. The newly remodeled corner property has a small saltwater pool and a detached pool house with a bathroom and kitchenette with separate street access.
Barrett was also a co-executive producer of CBS's Moonlight, a show about a vampire who works as a private investigator and falls in love with a mortal woman. Can't wait to see how Barrett decorates the place come Halloween.
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National Public Radio has this feature where they have listeners share an evocative sound with other listeners.
In this vein, I'd like to nominate the Yahoo yodel - and introduce you to the man behind it.
Jonathan Elias, a highly regarded composer in the advertising field - and in film and television as well - has sold his 5,865-square-foot Santa Monica home for $4,395,000.
The house, in a desirable area of the city, is a Mediterranean villa designed by architect Richard Landry. It has a two-story entrance with sky-lighted ceilings, dual grand staircases and Italian limestone floors. The dining room overlooks the pool and an outdoor loggia with a fireplace. The home has beamed ceilings, balconies and many custom features. There are five bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms.
In addition to the yodel-for-Yahoo ads, he also composed the Columbia Pictures' sound logo and the "moon-landing" theme used by MTV.
Elias has produced albums for Yes, Duran Duran and Grace Jones. His company, Elias Arts, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, is a premier agency for commercial branding and has provided music for such clients as Ford, GM, Nissan, Mercedes, IBM, Apple and Nike.
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There should be some incredibly mouth-watering aromas wafting from one kitchen in L.A.'s Hancock Park neighbourhood by now. Mark Peel, executive chef and owner of Campanile, has moved in.
Peel, who opened Spago in 1982 as head chef under Wolfgang Puck, has bought a classic Mediterranean for $3.1 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service. The house, built in 1920, has been extensively remodeled. There are five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a sunroom overlooking a lush backyard. The two-story home with 3,966 square feet has a large formal dining room and a recently remodeled kitchen, which we are told was redone yet again to the master chef's specifications.
Peel's wife, comedian Daphne Brogdon, is host of the TV Guide Channel's weekly series The Fashion Team. She is creator of CoolMom.com. And we're going to assume she leaves the cooking to her hubbo.
Peel is also the author of several cookbooks.
The seller, Dawn Parouse, was the executive producer of Prison Break. Daily Variety reported that she took an executive job in June at Media Rights Capital, an independent film, TV and digital studio.
Hot property by Ann Brenoff of the Los Angeles Times features the hottest celebrity real estate deals.
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