BIRD STREETS
THE
310.902.0616
Jennifer Aniston rented this house, now you can buy it.
Curbed LA June 2012
Jennifer Aniston is a capricious one when it comes to real estate, but one of her most unexpected moves was renting this house in the Bird Streets last summer. She had sold a modern Hal Levitt-designed house in Trousdale Estates in July 2011, supposedly moved to New York, then bought a modern A. Quincy Jones-designed house in Bel Air only six months later. (Meanwhile, while that's being remodeled, she's moved into a highly modified Hal Levitt rental in Trousdale Estates.) The woman likes modern! But last August, in between all that New York/A. Quincy Jones stuff, she and boyfriend Justin Theroux rented this rather un-modern two-bedroom, two-bathroom in the Bird Streets. The house has built-ins, multiple fireplace, vaulted ceilings, a pool and spa, a deck, and a garden. It was on the market starting in January last year at $3.299 million, then chopped to $3.099 million, and finally pulled when Aniston rented it out. Today it's back with an asking price of $2.995 million.
1441 Oriole Dr
Billionaire Software Heiress Lists One of her Excess Estates
Curbed LA April 2012
Despite being in her mid-20s, movie producer Megan Ellison, like many of her billionaire-heir peers, has already bought many lifetimes' worth of real estate. In 2008, the daughter of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison kicked off a property spree that would eventually total $32.85 over three mansions in The Birds (a Los Angeles neighborhood with avian-named streets), one of which just hit the market. Built in 1963 but eventually "designed"—as in, extensively remodeled to the point where the original bones are nearly nonexistent—by ultramodern architect Steve Hermann, the chic, glassy pad has three bedrooms, four bathrooms, 13-foot-high ceilings, a layout that wraps around a sweet-looking pool and spa, a bonkers-looking master bath, and utterly spectacular views from all vantage point. Ellison bought the place for $12.6M and is hoping to turn it for $15.5M, but that's not to say she wants out of sight, out of mind: she owns the place right next door and another nearby. What something a tad less expensive? Daddy's equestrian estate is also on the market.
9258 Nightingale Dr
4 Juicy Facts About the Hollywood Hills Bird Streets
Curbed LA October 2011
The Hollywood Reporter declares that the Bird Streets--the very fancy area above the Sunset Strip where the streets have names like Oriole, Thrasher, and Nightingale--is hotter than ever. Larry Flynt and Leonardo DiCaprio have lived there for years, but there are lots of new (rich) neighbors coming in (including two Friends-- Matthew Perry just bought, Jennifer Aniston just rented, although she also owns an investment property nearby). There are currently 15 houses for sale in the neighborhood, with asking prices ranging from $1.25 million to $18 million, and seven houses for rent. Here are a few other things you might not have known about the Birds:
- True Grit producer Megan Ellison owns two neighboring houses built by designer/developer Steve Hermann. She also "owns a third adjoining residence and has spent nearly $33 million to acquire the properties. Her dealmaking has been the subject of great speculation as residents wonder about her plans for the compound; she declined comment."
- A Keller Williams agent who repped the seller in the Perry sale, "says homes that are considered teardowns can fetch as much as $7 million if the lots offer '10 out of 10' views." Furthermore, the houses with views reach prices per square foot "typically achieved only in neighborhoods such as Malibu's Carbon Beach."
- The Bird Streets have a community group called the Doheny Dining Club. It's an open group, founded in 2008, that meets about twice a year for "progressive dinners." The DDC's founder says "We didn't think this was the kind of community that wanted to get to know their neighbors...But it seems that everybody wants that." The only member confirmed in the story is celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser.
- One of the Bird Streets most famous spots, the Blue Jay Way house where George Harrison wrote "Blue Jay Way" in 1967, is now a rental. According to Redfin, it last sold in 2009.
Is Walmart Heiress Planning a Megacompound on Two-Thirds of the Bird Streets Crown Land?
Curbed LA February 2013
There is some crazy stuff possibly brewing up near the top of the Bird Streets in the Hollywood Hills, on the "mostly flat pie shaped promontory with unimpeded panoramic canyon, city and ocean views" known as the Crown. The ever-reliable Real Estalker hears that a Walmart heiress named Sybil Robson Orr (her father was the brother of the late widow of cofounder Sam Walton) and her entrepreneur husband Matt Orr have bought up two of the three properties on the Crown and are planning to raze and rebuild a new compound.
Back in 2011, someone--allegedly the Orrs--paid $19.5 million for a Mediterranean mansion on a little over an acre in the middle of the Crown (they bought it from Russian arms dealing heiress Daria Zhukova). Then, last August, they supposedly paid $17 million for the house on the neighboring .66-acre parcel (it was once owned by Lionel Richie, but they bought it from motivational speaker Grant Cardone).
Now the word on the Bird Streets is that they plan to tear down both houses, take out the swimming pool and tennis court on the smaller property, reroute the driveway, and start all fresh. Even RE is a little shocked: "If there is any veracity to these whispers and rumors, Mister and Missus Orr coughed up a hair raising $36,500,000 for a pair of parcels that combined come to just 1.73 acres." And with that kind of money flying around, plus a prestige piece of land, they're sure to be building something completely bananas.
One last interesting footnote: the third property on the Crown is the old Ricardo Montalban estate, which sold in November 2010 and was completely remodeled into a glassy spec house. That house sold last year in the biggest residential sale of 2012, for $38.98 million ... and the buyer is still unknown.
George Harrison's Famous Blue Jay Way Rental Has Just Sold
Curbed LA March 2013
After nearly a year, the house where George Harrison wrote "Blue Jay Way" (on Blue Jay Way, natch, in the Bird Streets) has sold. Harrison was renting the house in 1967 and one night found himself waiting for friends to arrive; they'd lost their way in the foggy night. His landlord had left a Hammond organ and so he sat down to write the haunting little song that ended up on The Beatles's Magical Mystery Tour. The house came on the market in April 2012 asking $4.599 million; it comes with three bedrooms, a screening room, a pool and spa, and a library. According to Redfin, it sold last week for $3.8 million.
1567 Blue Jay Way
Jodie Foster Lists Renovated Bird Streets Home
FORBES June 2013
It comes to no surprise that the uber-private Jodie Foster owns in a super-private home. But like most stars, she couldn’t escape the headlines, even in the Hollywood Hills home.
Foster was set to play the lead in “Double Jeopardy” when, according to People magazine, producer Leonard Goldberg got a note saying she was dropping out of the movie “for medical reasons.” Foster offered no further explanation at the time.
But word quickly spread that she was pregnant with her first son, Charlie, raising questions about paternity and conception. Fortunately, Foster had an escape from the paparazzi at the Spanish villa she had just purchased, which could be discretely accessed from a rear-gated driveway.
Although it’s privacy was undoubtedly appealing to the star for some time, Foster recently listed the home,, located at 9219 Flicker Way, Los Angeles, CA 90069, for $6.399 million.
The home, located in the distinguished Bird Streets, has 4 bedrooms, 4 full baths, 2 half-baths and an attached guest suite — plenty of room for her new baby and girlfriend at the time, Cydney Bernard.
“The Silence of the Lambs” star reportedly updated part of the home soon after she bought it in 1997, while maintaining its 1930s Spanish style. Overhead beams, brick patios and a backyard pool are a few highlights, as well as a large media screening/kids’ play room.
With her second son, Christopher “Kit” Foster, entering the teenage years, Foster isn’t an empty nester quite yet. Last year she bought a new Beverly Hills home for $11.75 million, which will likely become her new primary residence.
Producer Megan Ellison Sells Off Entire Bird Streets Compound
CURBED November 2013
Young Megan Ellison is one of the few interesting film producers working these days (her company Annapurna Pictures has worked on The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, andSpring Breakers) and the daughter of Oracle chief Larry Ellison, from whom she has picked up the practice of buying real estate in bulk (Dad owns an enormous percentage of Malibu's Carbon Beach and most of the island of Lanai). From 2008 to 2011, she put together a three-house, very glassy compound up in the Bird Streets, paying a total of $32.6 million. Two of the houses were brand new and one "had a down-to-the-studs renovation in the mid-Aught[s]," according to Real Estalker. Now she's sold them and the new owners will all tear them down. (Just the kind of disposable real estate thing drove Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman from the neighborhood.) Anyway, in August, Ellison sold one house to Gateway cofounder Ted Waitt for $20.5 million, and last month she sold the remaining two to Ashley Tabor, son of British bookmaker Michael Tabor, for $26.25 million. That's a total of $46.75 million, basically just for the land, much of which is too steep to actually build on. Anyway, Ellison is supposedly looking for a new house "in the $20 million range," as well as office space in Venice.
Robin Thicke, Paula Patton List Their Hollywood Hills House for $3 Million
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER July 2014
Following months of begging for a reunion and even naming his latest album after her, Robin Thicke and his wife Paula Patton have put their house on the market.
The couple, who were married for nine years before announcing their separation in February, listed the three bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom home in the Hollywood Hills on the exclusive Bird Streets for $2.985 million.
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Perched above the Sunset Strip, the house was built in 1965 and bought by Robin's father, Alan Thicke, in the 1990s, before it was passed onto his son in 2005.
One of the bedrooms is currently being used as a recording studio by the "Blurred Lines" singer, while floor-to-ceiling windows showcase views of the impressive canyon, downtown and city below.
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Outside the colorful 3,158-square-foot property there is a private pool and spa, plus a two-car garage and gated driveway winding up the secluded cul-de-sac.
Thicke, 37, and Patton, 38, were married in 2004 after first meeting in a hip-hop club when the singer was just 16 years old. They have one son, Julian Fuego, who was born in April 2010.
In the latest effort to win back the love of his life, Thicke premiered his kid-filled "Still Madly Crazy" music video — inspired by their wedding photos — on Good Morning America earlier this month.
"We were together; we were childhood sweethearts. She's still the best person I ever met. I just thought the least I could do was to devote an album to her," he said on the morning show while promoting his latest album, Paula.
The Bird Streets news
Jodie Foster Finally Sheds Bird Streets Nest for $5 Million
VARIETY October 2014
After more than a year, several price chops and a change of high-powered real estate agents, Jodie Foster has finally sold her former home in the star-studded Bird Streets nabe for $4,995,000. The famously semi-reclusive two-time Oscar winner acquired the property in 1995 for an unknown amount from supermodel and actress Cheryl Tiegs, and first put the 6,060-square-foot red brick residence on the open market in June 2013, for $6,399,000.
Listing details show the fully updated 1930s residence, tucked privately behind locked gates and high hedges, has four bedrooms and five bathrooms in the main house, plus guest/staff quarters above the two-car attached garage.
There's a skylit entrance hall flanked by formal living and dining rooms -- both with fireplaces -- plus a small library/office, a center-island kitchen and a cavernous lower-level screening room. The rear of the Y-shaped residence horseshoes around a red-brick courtyard with tree-shaded dining terrace and lap swimming pool.
As far as this property gossip knows, Miz Foster traded the Birds for Beverly Hills, where, in late 2012, she quietly paid former HBO exec Colin Callender$11.75 million for a gated mansion high above Coldwater Canyon.
"Inspector Gadget" creator Andy Heyward and his wife, Amy, have sold their house in Hollywood Hills West for $7.1 million.
LA TIMES November 2014
Set at the end of a long gated drive in the celebrity-coveted Bird Streets neighborhood, the East Coast-inspired traditional-style house was built in 1966 and is attributed to early architect-to-the-starsPaul Williams. The more than half-acre knoll-top lot has expansive views of the cityscape.
Some 3,750 square feet of remodeled living space includes a center hall, a library/study, a screening room, an office, a gym, three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. There are fireplaces in the living room, dining room and master bedroom suite.
The grounds contain a swimming pool.
Heyward, 65, is the former head of the animation production company DiC Entertainment, which was sold in 2008. He is the chairman and chief executive of Genius Brands International, which focuses on “content with a purpose” for children.
Public records show the property was purchased in 2010 for $4.75 million.
Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency was the listing agent. Fred Bernstein of the same firm represented the buyer.
Doc Rivers Reportedly Buys Hollywood Hills Home for $8.2 Million
LA TIMES November 2014
Doc Rivers has moved to the bird streets of Hollywood, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Los Angeles Clippers coach bought a Hamptons-inspired estate perched in Hollywood Hills West for $8.2 million, according to the paper.
The property includes a 3,950-square-foot main house with four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, plus a living room, dining room, family room, den and bar, the newspaper reported. An adjacent glass-and-steel guest house is 1,845 square feet.
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For outdoor entertaining, "a seating area with a fire pit sits beside an outdoor kitchen, a bar and the spa, which appears to drop off the side of the lot," the L.A. Timesreport said.
Rivers' condo in the exclusive Beverly West tower in Westwood is listed for $6.595 million.
The 3,813-square-foot unit includes two bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a private elevator and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Los Angeles Country Club and Hollywood Hills.
Former Giants pitcher Barry Zito sells his spot in the Bird Streets
LA TIMES January 2015
Major League Baseball pitcher Barry Zito and his wife, Amber, have parted ways with their second Hollywood Hills West home in as many months, selling a house in the celebrity-coveted Bird Streets area for $2.875 million.
The 1960s contemporary, with walls of glass centering on canyon, city and ocean views, originally came to market in April at $4.375 million and was more recently priced at $3.25 million. Zito bought the property in 2010 for $2.155 million, records show.
An open-space floor plan of 4,366 square feet features double-height interiors with a chef’s kitchen and a step-down living room with a wet bar. The top-floor master suite, one of four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, is outfitted with three closets, a two-person steam shower and a fireplace.
Long terraces lined in glass flank each level of the home while a hot tub sits off of the master suite.
Josh and Matthew Altman of Hilton & Hyland, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, were the listing agents. Nathaniel Smith, also of Hilton & Hyland, represented the buyer in the sale.
Last month, Zito sold a home on Sunset Plaza Drive, which features, among other things, a hillside pitching mound, for $3.375 million. Still on the market is the free agent pitcher’s Kentfield estate, which is currently priced at $8.995 million.
Zito, 36, is aiming return to the mound in 2015 after sitting out last season. The 2002 American League Cy Young Award-winner last pitched for the San Francisco Giants, with whom he won a pair of World Series titles, in 2013.
Marvel team-up: Stan Lee and Spider-Man list Bird Streets home
LA Times March 2015
The comic-book giant has offered a home in the Bird Streets area of Hollywood Hills West for $5 million. Known to make cameo appearances in big-budget Marvel films, Lee is seen posing alongside a statue of Spider-Man in the listing photos. Entered through a foyer, the Traditional-style residence has about 5,000 square feet of living space, five bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms. Dark hardwoods and crown molding highlight the two-story floor plan, which includes a chef’s kitchen, a formal living room with floor-to-ceiling glass and two offices. The master suite features a fireplace and marble-lined bath. Hedged by tall trees, landscaped grounds contain a covered patio and a lap pool.
Lee has been in on the action as of late, divesting himself of a Midcentury home in Hollywood Hills West and buying a contemporary in the area for $4.4 million earlier this year.
He purchased the current offering in 2012 for $3.4 million, records show. Eymun Talasazan of Keller Williams Realty is the listing agent.
Lee, 92, co-created comic book superheroes such as Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man and the X-Men. The former president and chairman of Marvel Comics served as executive producer on numerous Marvel films and the TV series "Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Kelly Osbourne Is Leaving The Bird Streets
FORBES March 2015
It looks like Kelly Osbourne is leaving this home with the same speed she left E!’s Fashion Police.
The daughter of rocker Ozzy Osbourne and The Talk star Sharon Osbourne has just listed her home in the coveted “Bird Streets” of Hollywood for $1.999 million. The turnaround time? Less than a year after Kelly purchased in December 2014, reported by Realestalker.
The three-bed, three-bath spread is a contemporary stunner in the Hollywood Hills, complete with a sparkling pool, spa, and two car garage. Floor-to-ceiling windows really play into that whole “sun-soaked” vibe, as does the lush green gardens behind the house. Located at the end of a private cul-de-sac, the 2538-square-foot home is perfect for any Los Angeleno looking to avoid the paparazzi.
And according to the listing, the home is actually one half of a pair of homes that prospective buyers can snatch up as a bundle; the second house, which is also up for sale, belongs to Kelly’s sister, Aimee Osbourne. (You may remember her as the one who never participated in the family’s reality show.)
Aimee also listed her unfinished home at $1.999 million, which is a loss from the $2.350 million price tag she paid in 2007 when she purchased it from Grey’s Anatomy star Jessica Capshaw. (Hey, it’s Hollywood. If one mansion is great, then two is even better.)
Word is that the “seller’s plans have changed and the project halted.” No word on what those plans exactly are, but judging from the photos, it looks like she decided to ditch this pad mid-construction. And, as the listing reveals, these homes are priced to move quickly.
It’s possible that the ‘ol switcheroo has something to do with Osbourne’s abrupt departure from her role as co-host on Fashion Police after the recent scandal that ensued when co-host Giuliana Rancic made comments about singer Zendaya’s dreadlocks.
In March of last year, Kelly sold her West Hollywood cottage for $1.3 million after breaking up with her then-fiancé.
Winklevoss twins list place in Hollywood Hills for lease
LA Times April 2015
Internet entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have listed their view home in Hollywood Hills West for long-term lease at $150,000 a month -- offering a rare glimpse inside the residence.
The twins paid $18 million in 2012 for the contemporary-style two-story, which is in the celebrity-popular Bird Streets area.
The slightly less than 8,000 square feet of gleaming interiors feature glass pocket doors that slide open to views of the cityscape. A home theater, a bar, an office, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms are among the living spaces. Many rooms face an interior courtyard.
The third-acre site has extensive patio/deck space, a lawn and an infinity edge swimming pool with a spa.
An underground parking garage can accommodate six cars.
The brothers co-founded HarvardConnection, which was later named ConnectU. They received a $65-million cash-and-stock settlement in 2008 over claims that Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea to create Facebook.
They have since turned to venture capitalism, focusing on bitcoins. The Winklevoss twins had planned to use the residence for their venture capital headquarters, reported Variety.
