Tasteful Friends: In the heart of LA

I first read that as 480K and thought no f'ing way.

Was this owned by a cast member of the Shahs of Sunset?

The interior design is pretty bad, but I like it overall. It's a standard LA Spanish-influenced crib, but I like it.

How exactly does the guest house have "provenance?"

Love the area and like the bones.

Love the exterior color choices.

Why did you need to show this to us?

[quote] How exactly does the guest house have "provenance?"

Either Kato Kaelin once lived in, a starlet died in it, or a big producer used it for his casting couch.

Prefer the guest house to the big house. Back yard is all pool and sort of sad. I love the neighborhood but they have over-developed this parcel. The structure to lot massing is not a good thing.

Is it adjacent to Hancock Park?

I'm intrigued by the concept of leather floors, but I just can't with the big birdcage on the front of the house.

[quote]How exactly does the guest house have "provenance?"

They have all the papers showing it was legally built with permits and everything?

What’s the neighborhood like?

I want:

1. A long roll of both “R”s

2. AREA RUGS

Handsome facade and promising curb appeal, but the interior is underscaled and underwhelming, short on architectural programming and detail and subject to some unfriendly renovations.

Characterless interior and tear garden.

The exterior is hideous. It looks like Spanish Mission, French Quarter, and Colonial resurrected as a manufactured home.

Spot on R15 - the exterior looks promising but the interior is disappointing and dull architecturally. The boring paint choices and awful furniture aren’t the real problems inside. .

I don't mind it, but there's absolutely nothing special or interesting about it whatsoever. I'd rather live in the guest house, honestly.

[quote] Is it adjacent to Hancock Park?

It is Hancock Park. Fantastic area. East of Highland, north of Wilshire, south of Melrose.

I love it but not for $4.8 million. I'd want more outdoor space.

Do you usually see shutters like that on Spanish-style houses? They looked more appropriate to a Colonial saltbox house. Other than those, I liked the exterior. There was a small corner room with a chaise longue that I would enjoy if I lived there for reading or a home office. Whoever "did" the main kitchen should be shot. I liked the dark stained wood in combination with the iron balusters for the staircase.

I do like the bar. So many glasses! They probably host many parties. I think the owners are gay.

Maybe the rooms are a mix of poorly staged and owner's things.

Guest bedroom. It's a painting of two men. Hideous décor otherwise.

I loved the exterior, I'm a fan of the 1920s Spanish revival homes in LA, then I saw the interior and about fainted. I know you can easily redecorate but I got viscerally angry at this room with dark espresso brown shelves on one wall, medium brown paint on the next, cocoa brown on the third... someone needs a good smack upside the head.

I wouldn't live in LA now.

I like Hancock Park (had a boyhood friend whose family lived there, so I was there and around that area quite a bit growing up). But if I had $4.8 million to spend on a house in L.A., no way would it be there.

I thought we'd replaced 'master bedroom' with 'primary bedroom'?

That 1984 kitchen is giving me hives.

[quote] I do like the bar. So many glasses! They probably host many parties. I think the owners are gay.

That's why the absence of outdoor space is so odd. How do you host parties with no backyard?

[quote] I like Hancock Park (had a boyhood friend whose family lived there, so I was there and around that area quite a bit growing up). But if I had $4.8 million to spend on a house in L.A., no way would it be there.

Yes. There are breathtaking homes in Hancock Park where $4.8 million would make sense. But you can live very well in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Venice or Santa Monica for $5 million. The advantage of Hancock Park is that it is in the center of the city.

I hate the flooring.

It may be Hancock Park, but when I think of "Las Palmas" I think of the sleazy area by Hollywood Blvd. with hookers and low-rent SROs.

R21 "I do like the bar. So many glasses! They probably host many parties. I think the owners are gay." How did you came to that dumb conclusion?

[quote] The advantage of Hancock Park is that it is in the center of the city.

Which is balanced out by:

The disadvantage of Hancock Park is that is is in the center of the city.

R31. It's not a dumb conclusion, it's pretty obvious. While not wonderfully decorated, the home looks more suited to men.

I can just imagine lots of hot guys draped around the swimming pool. Yes, the backyard lacks more green space but one might not notice when there are men lounging about.

Public records indicate the house is owned by ...

TAVIS SMILEY

Were any of those subordinates male?

And according to L.A. Times Hot Property column last May, the listing started out at $6.2 million.

===============================================

Signing off in Hancock Park

Talk show host Tavis Smiley, who earlier this year was ordered to pay PBS $1.5 million in a dispute over his firing, is looking to sell his home in L.A.'s historic Hancock Park neighborhood. The Spanish-style house is up for grabs at $6.2 million.

Smiley bought the property in 2006 for $3.4 million. That was two years after he began hosting his eponymous late-night talk show on PBS. Smiley was fired in 2017 amid sexual misconduct allegations, which he has strenuously denied.

Built in 1929, the two-story home features arched openings and an ivy-covered facade. The main house has seven bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms in 6,000 square feet, and the guest suite tacks on two bedrooms and a bathroom in 1,000 square feet.

Formal common spaces include a living room with a wet bar, a dining room with built-ins and a den with leather floors.

Upstairs, the master suite has a fireplace, a spacious walk-in closet and an elevator connecting to the covered patio down below. The space leads to a landscaped backyard complete with a pool, spa and fountain. A second-story balcony takes in neighborhood views.

Smiley, 53, hosted "BET Talk" on BET from 1996 to 2002, and, following a three-year stint on National Public Radio, hosted "The Tavis Smiley Show" on PBS from 2004 to 2017. He sued PBS for wrongful termination in 2017, but in March, a Washington, D.C., jury ordered him to pay the broadcaster $1.486 million for breach of contract.

This isn’t architecture it’s a building. It’s like the difference between fashion and clothes.

This is really just a collection of building materials and some neo-stylistic flourishes on top. Location is........fine. Who is buying these kinda places these days?

R36 Armie Hammer bought this one a few blocks over in 2019, then put it on the market in September 2020. Comparing the previous and current listing, nothing was done to it, and with the latest price drop, I'm not even if he'll break even.

And former Big Bang Actor, Kunal Nayar, bought this nearby one in late 2019.

It's got a wall around it, but it's actually on a fairly busy corner - the intersection of Rossmore and 6th with a traffic light.

R37 ah I see. I suppose it’s the least of Arnie’s current worries. Or at least quite far down the list. It’s just such a nothing neighbourhood. No defining features. I’ve always been confused as to why anyone would choose to live there. Maybe a misplaced idea about status?

The area is great and I like the architecture. The interior design and art need help. Drop it to about 4 million and I think it would sell.

[quote] . It’s just such a nothing neighbourhood.

It's near Miracle Mile and, while being central to everything, offers a quiet respite from the chaos of the city.

[quote] I’ve always been confused as to why anyone would choose to live there. Maybe a misplaced idea about status?

Well, I think it started with the very private, exclusive Wilshire Country Club (golf course) that was developed a little over 100 years ago. It sits sort of in the middle of Hancock Park. Then, most of these big mansions were built out from it during the 20s.

Done and done. Just bought the house. I've always wanted to live near Hancock Park!

I thought we'd replaced 'master bedroom' with 'primary bedroom'?

R26 Yes, also refer to it as they.

R37, beautiful on the outside, cold on the inside.

Like so many of the pretty faces one sees these days.

R38, I'm not crazy about the exterior of that one but I live the interior, minus the poor choices of décor.

I like a lot of things about the house, but that bar closet is tragic. Bathrooms need updating, too.

The Hammers' house is so much nicer, for the same price. Did they ever even live in that house before putting it back on the market? Do we know?

[quote[ Maybe a misplaced idea about status?

Besides the country club, another element of historical status for the neighborhood is that it's where the official residence of the Los Angeles Mayor is located ("Getty House"). (Although, some people refer to the area where that house is as "Windsor Square.") .. Over the years, I've also heard that some foreign embassies have their ambassador residence in Hancock Park. .. Don't know if that's still true.

R49 mayors house, ambassadors residences and a golf club. This is kinda what I meant by misplaced status :)

[quote] The disadvantage of Hancock Park is that is is in the center of the city.

That is not a disadvantage unless you want to be close to the Ocean. A disadvantage is living in Malibu and needing to get to DTLA or Hollywood -- any route you choose you are f*cked.

It was just reported last week that the larger of the two homes that Danny Elfman and Bridget Fonda put up for sale in October has sold. These are in a gated area of Hancock Park referred to as Fremont Place.

[quote] Well, I think it started with the very private, exclusive Wilshire Country Club (golf course) that was developed a little over 100 years ago. It sits sort of in the middle of Hancock Park. Then, most of these big mansions were built out from it during the 20s.

R42, I don't even see the comment you are responding to but Hancock Park was the original film colony it was in close proximity to all of the studios and all the stars had homes in that area. It was also close to downtown so many of the local bigwigs lived there. It was THE prestige area when Beverly Hills was wilderness, Hollywood was rank and file, and Malibu was Idaho.

R52, I love what they did with that house. It's original and arty.

R53 The comment at R42 was in reply to R39.

I agree with what you're saying about film folks, but really, I think the country club (built in 1919) is what spurred development in the area, and the houses built around it followed. Most of them appear to be dated in the 20s. OP's featured house was built in 1929. Nayar's house: 1927. Hammer's house, 1924. Elfman's house,1925.

As you can see from this photo at the Wilshire Country Club website, what is Hancock Park today was pretty much "wilderness" as well.

[quote] Over the years, I've also heard that some foreign embassies have their ambassador residence in Hancock Park

There are no embassies or ambassadors in Los Angeles. Embassies are always in the national capital.

R56 Thanks for the correction. I guess I mean a home for a foreign country's consul general.

Nice house from the outside. Needs a lot of updating inside. Nothing special, though the bedroom floor landing is cool.

The Hammer house at R37 is rather nice, certainly a more pleasant place than the OP house for the same money. Someone made the mistake of trying to "lighten the place up" with bleached floors and by painting the wooden beams and stair balustrade white. All fixable. It's a better house architecturally: what you see on the exterior carries through much of the interior, and the period detailing is of fairly good quality (which isn't always the case in L.A.) without being overwhelmingly of a specific look that would scare off all the Moderns. The house connects with the gardens well (the pool and surrounding stone veneers are a bit too much - and not enough at the same time, evidently they ran out of veneer stone and just said "fuck it, we're done here," but again that's an easy fix. The rear garden the large windows, it's a very nice house with only a few focused changes and a better decoration scheme and better lighting.

The period blue tile bathroom is a prize, and the rooms are bright and pleasant. IT's really quite a nice house, much better than I was expecting. It just needs a few key period features restored and a better presentation.

R56 I beg to differ. There are consulates all around the country. They have fewer services than an embassy in a nation's capital but there are indeed reps of foreign nations in various cities.

I've attached a list, there are a few consulates in Hancock Park.

Differences between embassies and consulates.

One of the consul residences there is the British one. The local media mentioned this one time when William & Kate were in L.A. reporting that's where they were staying.

450 S. June

r60 Repeating: There are no EMBASSIES or AMBASSADORS in Los Angeles. Do you have a reading comprehension issue?

Sometimes I scan too quickly, R63.

You, however, have a civility issue.