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Closing His Bel-Air Wing
By Ruth Ryon, Times Staff Writer
JOHN SPENCER, who plays presidential chief of staff Leo McGarry in the Emmy-winning NBC series 'The West Wing,' has put his Bel-Air home on the market at $849,000.
Spencer listed the home because he bought a larger $2 million house in the Hollywood Hills area, real estate sources said.
The Bel-Air home has two bedrooms and three bathrooms in 1,821 square feet.
Built in 1962 but remodeled recently, the home's kitchen has granite counters, a sunny breakfast area and French doors that overlook a pool. The house also has a master suite with a steam shower, spa tub and walk-in cedar closet. The living and dining rooms have high ceilings and wood floors, and the living room has a fireplace.
Spencer has called the home a good-luck charm for his career. He has owned the home, previously owned by actress Jill Clayburgh, since 1998.
He has been a member of the ensemble cast of 'The West Wing' since the show first aired in 1999. In 1998, he played the patriarch of an Irish Catholic family in the short-lived NBC drama 'Trinity.' From 1990-94, he played lawyer Tommy Mullaney on the NBC series 'L.A. Law.'
Spencer, 55, also has had an extensive career on stage and in film. In 1986, he starred in the Broadway production, 'Execution of Justice,' playing Dan White, the San Francisco city councilman who killed Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Last year, Spencer played a jazz musician in the L.A. premiere of the play 'Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine.'
He has appeared in such movies as 'WarGames' (1983), 'Sea of Love' (1989), 'The Rock' (1996) and 'The Negotiator' (1998).
Monty Iceman has the listing on Spencer's Bel-Air home at Prudential California Realty, John Aaroe Division, in Encino.
* * * * * * MORRIS CHESTNUT, who stars with Lil' Bow Wow in the recently released movie 'Like Mike' and co-stars with Steven Seagal in the upcoming fall film 'Half Past Dead,' has purchased a Calabasas estate for about $1.5 million and has sold his former Granada Hills home for close to $769,000.
Chestnut, who made his movie debut about 10 years ago playing the doomed high school athlete Ricky Baker in John Singleton's movie 'Boyz N the Hood,' bought a five-bedroom, $1.5-million home with a pool, spa and waterfall.
Built in 1995, the 4,700-square-foot home also has 4-1/2 bathrooms, a family room, a library, a breakfast room, three fireplaces and mountain views.
The Granada Hills home, built in 2000, has five bedrooms and four bathrooms in nearly 3,900 square feet. It is on 1.5 acres.
Chestnut, 33, also has appeared in the TV movie 'The Killing Yard' (2001), and such feature films as 'The Brothers' (2001), 'The Best Man' (1999), 'G.I. Jane' (1997) and 'Under Siege 2: Dark Territory' (1995).
Chestnut and his Diversified Managed Investments partner Dewayne Brady are developing other movies and a program to aid, develop and help inner-city residents to realize homeownership.
Brady, also at Excel Properties in Tarzana, represented Chestnut in his purchase and sale. Jim Pascucci, at Re/Max Centre Estates in Calabasas, had the Calabasas listing.
* * * * * * JOSH RANDALL, who plays Ed's friend Mike on the NBC comedy series 'Ed,' and his wife, actress CLAIRE RANKIN, have become first-time home buyers with their purchase of a two-bedroom home near Hancock Park for $479,000.
The couple bought the home from Edward L. McDonnell, producer of such movies as 'Insomnia' (2002) and 'Three Kings' (1999).
McDonnell moved to a larger home that he purchased in the Hollywood Hills.
The home that Randall and Rankin bought is Country English in style and has two bedrooms and 1-3/4 bathrooms in slightly more than 1,000 square feet.
Built in 1942, the home was recently refurbished and has a new kitchen, central air-conditioning and an alarm system. The house also has a fireplace.
Randall, 30, made his breakthrough in 2000 with a regular role as the young doctor on 'Ed.'
Rankin has made guest appearances on such TV shows as 'The District' (2000), 'Ally McBeal' (1997) and 'The Drew Carey Show' (1995).
Steven Kipnis of DBL Realtors, Sunset, represented the buyers; Carl Williams of the same firm had the listing and represented McDonnell in buying.
* * * * * * VERONICA HAMEL, an Eileen Ford model for 10 years before she played public defender Joyce Davenport on the NBC series 'Hill Street Blues' (1981-87), has sold a Westside home listed at slightly more than $3 million.
Hamel, who has had recent recurring roles on the TV series 'Philly' and 'The Fugitive,' had owned the home since 1996.
Built in 1928, the Mediterranean-style villa has four bedrooms and four bathrooms in 3,700 square feet.
The house also has a pool, rolling lawns, rose gardens and a master suite with a balcony.
In May, Hamel, 58, appeared on 'Third Watch' with other former cast members of 'Hill Street Blues' to help celebrate NBC's 75th anniversary.
* * * * * * DAVID LIFT, co-creator of the TV series 'The King of Queens' and a writer-executive producer of the upcoming Touchstone Television series 'Regular Joe,' has purchased a Sunset Strip-area home for $3 million.
The newly built home has three bedrooms and 4-1/2 bathrooms in 6,000 square feet.
The front door is reached by a stone path surrounded by water. The house also has a mezzanine and glass wall that looks out to a manicured lawn, pool and city views.
Victor Kaminoff, David Gordon and J. Reisman at Coldwell Banker, Sunset, had the listing. Sharona Alperin at DBL, Sunset, represented Litt, sources said.
* * * * * * STEVE BELLAMY, president and founder of the soon-to-be-launched Tennis Channel cable network, and his wife, BETH HERR, have put their Pacific Palisades estate on the market at just under $1.6 million.
He will host a pro-celebrity tennis match today at the Manhattan Beach Country Club. She is a former NCAA singles champion.
They have lived in the home with their four sons for five years. The couple are selling because they moved to a five-bedroom, four-bathroom home that they bought at the Tennis Estates in Palisades Highlands.
The home they are selling has four bedrooms and 4-1/2 bathrooms in just under 2,900 square feet. Built in 1979, the Tudor-style home on a cul-de-sac has mountain, city and ocean views.
It also has a north-south tennis court that has hosted some of the more interesting games in town. Recent players have included Anna Kournikova, John Lloyd, Sally Field, Hilary Swank, Mike Ovitz and Chad Lowe.
Adidas recently used the court for magazine ads and TV commercials, and Tennis Magazine has featured the property in multiple photo shoots.
The tennis cabana, which has a remodeled kitchen, was used as a recording studio. It could serve as an extra bedroom, screening room or studio.
The half-acre grounds also have more than 50 fruit trees.
Anthony Margules of AM Realty represented the Bellamys in buying their new home. Robert Radcliffe at DBL, Santa Monica, has the listing on the Palisades home they have for sale.
* * * * * * FROM THE NEW YORK OBSERVER...
Burden Sells Party Pad
by Blair Golson
Manhattan socialites will soon have one more fabulous address to scratch out of their black books: SUSAN BURDEN, widow of the businessman, politician and Vanderbilt heir CARTER BURDEN, has put her stately 11-room co-op at 1020 Fifth Avenue on the market for $23.5 million.
The apartment was famously redone in the 1980’s by elite design darling Mark Hampton. Views of Central Park certainly helped, as did the grand 17-foot-high mahogany-paneled living room. But it was the Hampton touch that made the place.
'It’s the most beautiful apartment Mark Hampton ever did,' socialite and Vanity Fair society scribe Nan Kempner, Burden’s close friend, gushed to The Observer. 'I’m sorry she’s selling it. It’s so beautiful, but I guess it’s a little bit big for her …. It was just always lovely, and she’s a divine woman.'
In addition to her practice as a family psychologist, Burden sits on the boards of the Burden Center for the Aging and New Yorkers for Children, an organization that supplements welfare services to city children. Burden’s husband, Carter Burden, who died in 1996, was a City Councilman from 1969 to 1978; the managing partner of William A.M. Burden & Company; and also owned The Village Voice and New York Magazine.
Mr. Burden’s first wife, Amanda Burden, is the new director of the Department of City Planning and chairwoman of its Planning Commission. Calls to Susan Burden were not returned, and her broker, Kathy Steinberg of Edward Lee Cave Realty, declined to comment.
Burden and her late husband bought the apartment for $4.9 million in 1990. Its three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, eat-in kitchen, formal dining room and 'gentleman’s study/dressing room' take up the entire 11th floor. Many of the doors have pediments, and columns flank the entrance to the apartment’s double-height living room, which is being marketed (in a rare understatement) as 'perfect for couples that entertain.'
As apartments in the famous building with views of the park are extremely rare, news of this apartment coming on the market spread quickly through luxury real-estate circles. Built in 1925 by Warren & Wetmore, the primary architects of Grand Central Terminal, 1020 Fifth sits across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the building contains 13 luxury apartments.
The duplex maisonette apartment on the first floor of 1020 Fifth is also currently on the market for $5.8 million. Its brokers at the Corcoran Group declined comment on the owners.
* * * * * * Seagram’s Heir to Sell Townhouse for $27M.
Seagram heir MATTHEW BRONFMAN is getting ready to move out of his second house in six months. This February, as the tabloids buzzed that his wife, Lisa Belzberg, was having an affair with Bill Clinton, Bronfman separated from her and moved out of their Katonah, New York, home.
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