The Sweet Life of A Billionaire's Baby

BUYER: Megan Ellison
LOCATION: Nightingale Drive, Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $12,600,000 (sale)
SIZE: 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: We ramble and digress today children, so get ready.

A couple of weeks ago Your Mama discussed the John Bersci designed residence that writer/executive producer Aaron Sorkin recently scooped up for $6,100,000 and in that little discussion we casually mentioned a Bird Street property that was being sold to a billionaire's daughter. Remember that children? One of Your Mama's knowledgeable sources, a chatty gentleman who calls himself The Property Pimp, revealed to us that he'd heard through the Hollywood Hills gossip grapevine that a glitzy and glassy Steve Hermann designed house on Nightingale Drive was being sold at an astronomical and record breaking price to the daughter of a big name California billionaire.

So naturally and immediately Your Mama got on the horn with a few more well placed and in the know sources and sho' enuf, Miss Megan Ellison, the young and rumored lezbeeun daughter of multi-billionaire software tycoon Larry Ellison, did indeed drop a record breaking and jaw dropping $12,600,000 for a 3 bedroom and 4 bathroom contemporary confection on Nightingale Drive overlooking the glittering carpet of lights of West Hollywood all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Now children, Your Mama truly does not care a lick whether young Miss Megan is a ladee lover or not. The Gurl can kiss on and fool with whomever she wants as far as we're concerned. What Your Mama does care about is her apparent access to Big Daddy Ellison's unfathomably deep pockets and, yes, we confess, the enviable perks of being a beloved baby of a billionaire.

If Your Mama had $12,600,000 of our Momma's money to spend on a new crib in Tinseltown–and we don't–this would certainly not be our first choice for a home. We are none the less cowed by its uniquely Los Angeles architectural decadence. We're sure some of you snotty Jealouseenas will call little Miss Megan an unworthy and spoiled rich gurl. Or worse. But Your mama asks that you think about this before gettin' all righteous: Iffin your daddy had twenty six billion bucks, wouldn't you let him buy you an obscenely expensive house? Be honest. That's right. Don't give Your Mama any of this "I'd rather work for what I have" bullshit because we know that given the opportunity, few of you would actually refuse to let your Big Daddy write that check.

Miss Megan's new digs have been for sale quite some time and although the listing information we received from Jim Nasium indicates the asking price and the sale price were the same ($12,600,000), Your Mama remembers this house was priced just over $10,000,000 in the fall of 2007. Or somewhere around ten million. Our feeble mind can hardly remember yesterday, so it certainly fails to recall the exact asking price from all those months ago.

Some of you people who are television freaks like Your Mama might remember this house was featured in The Spice Gurl's Coming to America "reality" show special. Miz Spice toured this house on her little program during her search for appropriately expensive and lavish real estate in which house her stud huzband and three children. As we (and The Property Pimp) recall, Miz Spice joked about the narrow and rail-less terrace at the rear of the property where one could too easy tumble over the sheer cliff as a result of a broken heel or one too many gin and tonics.

Developer Steve Hermann, the man responsible for the somewhat cliché and obviously designed to impress house, is well known for transforming ordinary properties in the Hollywood Hills into slick, sexy, and pricey pads. His many projects include the Devlin Drive house durty mommy Christina Aguilera called home until she and huzband Jordan Bratman recently decamped to the more family friendly Ozzy Osbourne mansion on Doheny Road in Bev Hills.

As far as we know, nobody actually lived in this house after the full scale renovation, so what we see in the photos is likely the work of a property stager with a big budget and knack for modern day-core. Or maybe, as a reader notes, it's the handiwork of Mister Hermann himself. Although it's not Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter's cup or interior design, it's admittedly quite lovely in that somewhat sterile W Hotel sort of way. What would be interesting to see is how a house like this adapts to and accommodates the personal possessions of the owner. A few books here and there, some well chosen and high-priced knick knacks from dee-luxe trips to exotic locations, Jo Malone and Keihl's lotions and potions spread across the bathroom counter tops just might work in turning this souless hotel like environment into a place to call home.

Although Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter's house gurl Svetlana would probably lose her damn mind like that poor Britney Spears trying to keep all that floor to ceiling glass free of dog nose streaks, the spine tingling fabulousity of the view is truly undeniable. As some of you architectural crazies likely do too, Your Mama notes the fully glazed prow-like living/dining/kitchen space references and pays loving homage to architect Pierre Koenig's Case Study House #22, his soo-blime tour de force widely known as the Stahl House.

Now then, let's discuss the swimming pool located in the courtyard at the center of the house. It certainly is something, isn't it? In a twisted sort of way, Your Mama likes that there are enough benches and cushions surrounding the perimeter of the courtyard that a large crowd can comfortably watch Miss Megan as she dips into her petite pool and relaxes in her spa. But to be honest, this pool area looks a little too much like the sort of "sexy" set up Mid-Western house fraus and their middle management huzbands eagerly expect to find on a Carnival cruise ship. We can perhaps live with that unfortunate association, but what we find most bothersome here is that the big view over the city can not be enjoyed while dipping in the waters and sunbathing in the nood.

Miss Megan's new neighbors include screenwriter Russell Gerwitz (Inside Man) just dumped $3,600,000 of his new found riches on a house around the corner. Real People co-host turned media mogul Byron Allen, owns but does not live in the Steve Hermann designed home next door, and up the street on Nightingale Drive is Nebil Zarif, the wine making father of Hollywood scion/club denizen/lay about Brandon Davis. Los Angeles based fashion designer Nabeel Jaber (Lords) recently paid $3,225,000 for his new Nightingale Drive digs, and property records also reveal that investment banker Ken Rickel, who happens to be Brandon Davis' step-daddy, also recently dropped a wad of cash for a house on Nightingale Drive. We can't imagine why Mister Rickel would buy the somewhat modest house because he reportedly lives at Lionsgate, the massive (and for sale) Bel Air estate that belongs to his West Coast socialite wifey Nancy Davis, who is of course the daughter of dead billionaire and Hollywood mogul Marvin Davis.

Oh children, Your Mama does go on and on today, but our mind is mush and sometimes we just can't help but to ramble. Don't like it? Too bad. We don't want to hear about it neither so go whine and complain to someone else.

P.S. We are swooning over the screening room. That is a home thee-ay-ter Your Mama could easily settle into.

Megan Ellison Loves the Ladies (Valleywag)
Stahl House (Los Angeles Times, Wikipedia)
Nancy Davis' Race to Erase MS (New York Social Diary)