Luxury

Almost a year ago, Shaun White and his longtime partner, The Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev, jointly purchased an updated midcentury modern home secluded high in the hills above Hollywood. So it’s hardly surprising that White’s old house—a smaller but no less stylish and glass-walled midcentury modern elsewhere in the Hollywood Hills—has now popped up for sale, asking exactly $5 million.

White bought his former bachelor pad in 2018, paying $3.8 million, and has since given the circa-1955 post and beam-style structure a much-needed contemporary makeover, transforming the dowdy and dated interiors into terrazzo-floored and white-walled open spaces that more accurately reflect the home’s groovy heyday.

Due to the floor-to-ceiling windows throughout that flood the place with natural light, the house feels larger than its cozy stats would suggest. Per tax records and listing information, the structure has three bedrooms and two bathrooms in less than 1,900 square feet.

The house itself lies out of public view, shielded from passersby by a concrete wall and a gated entryway.

Google Earth

Tucked away on a little-known cul-de-sac in the Outpost Estates neighborhood, the 0.33-acre property offers a two-car carport and a petite driveway. The house itself is screened off from the street via a cement block wall painted a crisp white, while a gated walkway leads past a long thicket of bamboo on its way to the front door.

Once inside the residence, guests will be wowed by the combo living/dining/kitchen area, which is essentially one huge room full of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Hollywood and the L.A. skyline. The kitchen sports new cabinetry and premium stainless appliances, while sliding glass doors effortlessly blur the line between indoors and out.

Neither of the bedrooms or bathrooms are particularly large, but they all are nicely updated. At least one of the bedrooms has direct access to the backyard, where a classic kidney-shaped pool reigns supreme and is surrounded by tropically-landscaped patio area ideal for dedicated sunbathers. Beyond that, a big grassy lawn tumbles down to a fire-pit seating area with more big views of the city lights.

In an odd coincidence—or maybe it’s really not—White’s for-sale Hollywood Hills home happens to sit right next door to much larger contemporary mansion that he also used to own. After buying that larger house in 2015 for $6.4 million, White flipped the place two years later for $6.7 million to Shark Tank judge Robert Herjavec, who eventually sold the house at a loss to its current owner, a non-famous businessman.

White, 37, is a retired professional snowboarder and three-time Olympic gold medalist in half-pipe snowboarding. The San Diego native is also an entrepreneur with an ownership stake in Mammoth Mountain and his own lifestyle brand.  More

About six months ago, Hollywood producer/director Jon M. Chu dropped $11 million to buy Halsey’s lush estate in the semi-remote mountains between Malibu and Calabasas. So it’s hardly surprising that the prolific filmmaker—he’s best known as the director of the 2018 blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians—has now sold his old house, a smaller but likewise gated and lush estate in the same general neighborhood as Halsey’s former spread.

Tucked into the unincorporated region known as Monte Nido, the nearly 2.7-acre ranch is about as quiet and secluded as any property in the greater L.A. area, set at the very end of a hidden cul-de-sac accessed via a whimsical wooden bridge. Screened behind stone walls and big gates, the estate features a Craftsman-style main house originally built in 1954, per tax records. Painted a rich henna color with teal trim, the nearly 4,800-square-foot structure packs in five bedrooms, lustrous pine floors, and numerous custom upgrades.

The house sold for just a hair under $5 million, a healthy jump over the $3.7 million Chu paid for the place just over three years ago. Per records, the buyer is an LLC linked to New Jersey-based real estate developer Robert Paulus.

Secreted away behind gates and ancient trees, the bucolic property spans about 2.7 acres.

Google Earth

On the main level, the house offers an airy living room is accented by massive wooden ceiling beams, triangular clerestory windows, a stone fireplace, and two sets of glassy French doors leading to the gardens. Likewise, the formal dining room also sports French doors of its own and a vaulted ceiling, while the adjoining kitchen has a distinctly 2000s flare with speckled granite countertops, plus custom cabinetry and top-of-the-line Wolf and SubZero appliances.

There’s also a huge den with enough space for large-scale events, and somewhere lies a so-called “bonus den,” with wood-paneled walls and big picture windows, that could be a home office or library. For social-distanced exercising, Chu and his wife Kristin (née Hodge) will enjoy a private gym. Upstairs, the master bedroom includes a cinematic wraparound wall of windows with  views of the oak tree-studded grounds, and shoehorned into one corner of the room is a unique circular banquette-style lounge, perfect for curling up with a good book. For its part, the master bath is somewhat dated but offers dual vanities, redwood cabinetry, and a built-in soaking tub overlooked by skylights.

But the real star of the property show are the sprawling, ultra-private grounds, which contain native plantings, a canopy of mature oaks, fields of California poppies, and a fruit/veggie garden with plum, peach, and apricot trees. Various play and picnic areas line the trail to the far rear of the property, where there’s a large swimmer’s pool set into a stone patio, plus a BBQ and spa. Elsewhere on the lot is a detached five-car garage, plus off-street parking for several more vehicles.

Chu, 41, was born and raised by a Taiwanese mother and a Mainland Chinese father in California’s Silicon Valley. Before “Crazy Rich Asians,” he was perhaps best-known for directing the second and third installments of the critically-panned “Step Up” film series, in addition to directing Justin Bieber’s lucrative 2011 and 2013 concert films. More