Bird Streets

Throughout their lengthy lives together, Golden-Age Hollywood couple Stanley Rubin and Kathleen Hughes racked up many accomplishments between them—he as a prolific film/TV writer and producer who helped run the Writers and Producers guilds and garnered one of the first Emmys ever awarded, and she as an actress who’s probably best known for her turns in the cult film It Came from Outer Space and as Henry Blake’s wife Lorraine in M*A*S*H.

Rubin passed away back in 2014 at age 96, and early last year, Hughes sold their longtime marital home in the coveted Bird Streets area of Los Angeles for nearly $5 million. Now their longtime Hollywood Hills property high above the Sunset Strip has once again popped up for sale after a thorough remodel with a $6 million jump in price, asking a speck under $11 million. The listing is held by Weston Littlefield and Alex Howe of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California.

Completely rebuilt down to the studs, the home features sleek custom-poured terrazzo floors and a newly designed kitchen.

Matthew Momberger

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Originally designed and built for the couple in the late 1950s by lesser-known architect Richard Frazer, the midcentury-modern home is tucked away at the end of a secluded cul-de-sac street, amid a half-acre parcel of land carved into the hillside. Inside, four bedrooms and an equal number of baths can be found in almost 3,500 square feet of single-level living space that’s been meticulously remodeled by its current owner, Philippe Naouri of the preservation-minded development firm Maison d’Artiste.

A walkway passes through a sculpture-clad entryway before emptying out at bright orange double doors. Once inside, stylish interiors boasting custom-poured terrazzo floors are highlighted by a spacious living area anchored by a massive stone fireplace and floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors spilling out to a slender covered patio. An adjacent dining area connects to the streamlined kitchen, which has a center island equipped with a sink and a cooktop, plus ebony-hued appliances encased within a wood-paneled wall.

The cactus-laced backyard is centered around a pool and spa overlooking panoramic city views.

Matthew Momberger

Holding court on the other side of the living room fireplace is an office space with built-in shelving, and elsewhere is a glass-lined primary suite that has a walk-in closet, as well as a spa-like bath sporting dual vanities, an open two-person shower, and access to an outdoor shower. Also available on the desert-inspired grounds, which overlook unobstructed city and canyon views, are a freeform pool, a raised spa, a Baja shelf-like water feature, and a fire pit conversation area; and out front is a gated motor court flanked by carport parking for two vehicles.

Click here for more photos of the Hollywood Hills residence.

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Last year, Ariana Grande spent nearly $5 million to buy a secluded Hollywood Hills house from Cameron Diaz. So it’s not entirely surprising that the frequent real estate buyer and seller has now opted to unload her other hillside home, this one a cottage-sized structure in the trendy Bird Streets neighborhood, located roughly 1.5 miles due west of her new place.

Though it was never on the market, records reveal the Bird Streets place sold for $8.3 million to Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the Puerto Rican rapper better known to his millions of worldwide fans as Bad Bunny. Unfortunately for Grande, that sales price is significantly less than the $8.9 million she paid for the very private house less than two years ago, back in early 2021. When coupled with L.A.’s controversial new mansion tax and other inevitable closing costs, it’s clear that the 30-year-old Florida native lost more than $1 million on her short ownership of the 0.74-acre property.

Because the deal was finalized off-market and the house never publicly offered for sale, details and photos are few. But tax records confirm the property consists of three contiguous parcels of land that cling to a steep hillside, with vertigo-inducing vistas. The only structure on the lot is a low-slung cottage that was built in 1946 and spans less than 1,600 square feet of living space, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Built in the 1940s, the humble ranch-style house was extensively renovated in 2020.

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We do know, however, that the cottage was extensively renovated circa 2020, and now sports a lovely sort of rustic-meets-contemporary sort of style. There’s also a very large outdoor patio, plus a two-car attached garage and a dark-bottom swimming pool.

Indisputably the home’s most unique feature is its ultra-private setting, as it sits behind an extraordinarily long gated driveway. The entire property is invisible from the public road behind tall hedges and trees, although from its hillside perch the house has great views over the bustling Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, and beyond.

In addition to his new Bird Streets pied-à-terre, Bad Bunny also maintains a significantly larger estate elsewhere in the Hollywood Hills, acquired just last year for nearly $9 million. While we don’t know whether the 29-year-old music superstar intends to keep or sell that place, he can certainly afford to maintain both properties. In 2022, his touring efforts grossed $230 million, and he also had the bestselling album globally, exceeding competition from Beyoncé, Drake and BTS. More

This property surely deserves more respect! Almost nine months after it first hit the market with a nearly $18 million price tag, Joan Dangerfield’s contemporary art deco residence in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles has lingered on the market with no takers. But now it’s popped up for sale again, this time with freshly staged interiors, updated listing photos, a new agent and substantially reduced $17 million ask.

The widow of legendary comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who passed away in 2004 due to heart surgery complications, plucked up the premises some 18 years ago for $6.25 million. She recently told The Wall Street Journal, “I stepped 3 feet into the house and I knew it was the place for me…It swept me away.”

So why hasn’t the estate sold? Though it’s comparably priced with other homes in the area, perhaps one reason is because the full-price offers she has received to date have included complicated contingencies, per WSJ, such as requiring her to provide seller financing. “I figured it would sell in a week, but didn’t quite work out that way,” she has said, adding that it’s been a shock “to just watch it sit there on the market.”

The two-story structure has been described in previous listings as a “rarified art deco contemporary home.”

Built in 2004, and designed by John Andrews Group Architects, the two-story white structure features four bedrooms and six baths in around 5,400 square feet of living space boasting floor-to-ceiling walls of glass providing jetliner views stretching from Downtown L.A. to the ocean and Catalina Island.

Tucked securely away behind lush greenery, on a corner parcel spanning over a quarter-acre of land on the coveted front row of the Bird Streets enclave of L.A., the dwelling is accessed via a gated driveway that empties out at a spacious motorcourt flanked by a two-car garage. A striking art deco-inspired entryway then opens via a glassy front door into a double-height foyer, which displays a circular skylight sporting a dangling chandelier and curving wrought-iron staircase heading up to the primary living area.

A central living room is accented by a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows framing picturesque vistas.

From there, a fireside living room is lined with retractable glass doors opening seamlessly to a backyard decked out with an infinity-edge pool and spa nestled alongside a fire-pit and bust of Dangerfield himself, plus a terrazzo-clad patio ideal for al fresco lounging and entertaining; and other highlights include a formal dining room, as well as a sleekly designed gourmet kitchen outfitted with top-tier stainless appliances, a center island and breakfast nook bathed in natural sunlight.

Sequestered off by itself is a massive primary bedroom suite, which comes complete with a fireplace, “boutique-worthy” closet, and luxe bath equipped with dual vanities, a soaking tub and an oversized shower. Rounding it all out down below: a plush movie theater and direct access to the attached garage.

The listing is held by Aaron Kirman of AKG | Christie’s International Real Estate.

Click here for more photos of Joan Dangerfield’s House. More