A Shabby Chic Pad for Peri Gilpin

BUYER: Peri Gilpin
SELLER: Rachel Ashwell
LOCATION: Malibu, CA
PRICE: $3,550,000
SIZE: 1,783 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Last week the gal at the L.A. Times reported that She-ra of Shabby Chic Rachel Ashwell sold her land side beach house inside the guarded gates of the celebrity packed Malibu Colony community. Miss Ashwell is, for those ignorant of 1980s decorating trends, the gal who popularized what Your Mama calls "Grandma Sheek," a distinct decorative style that incorporates lots of white slip-covered sofas, chenille bedspreads, country cute-cute vintage linens, heavily distressed bureaus and side tables, and shimmery chandeliers for a soupçon of glamor and shine.

What Miss L.A. Times celebrity real estate reporter did not reveal is the big name buyer who forked over a few million clams for the Miss Ashwell's cottage in The Colony. According to our wonderfully well connected informant The Mistress of Maleeboo–and confirmed with a very roundabout tour through property records–the buyer is gravel voiced actress Peri Gilpin of Fraser fame and her artist huzband Christian Vincent who should absolutely not to be mistaken with hard-bodied dancer/actor Christian Vincent.

Listing information shows Miss Ashwell's Colony cottage was first listed at the beginning of March of 2010 and property records show that the deal closed quickly in early July for $3,550,000. A few quick flicks of the well worn beads of Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows that the purchase price is $875,000–a not insignificant 20%–less than She-ra of Shabby Chic's original asking price of $4,425,000.

Miss Ashwell bought the beach house in February of 2003 for $1,950,000 and while we presume she occupied the cottage herself at times, it's well established (and oft reported) that she frequently leased the home to celebs. A few of the Tinseltown hoity-toities who dumped big bucks to lease Miss Ashwell's Shabby Chic beach house include back in the saddle pop star Britney Spears who lived there during her pre-meltdown/party with Paris Hilton days, busty party princess Pam Anderson who is known among Colonyites for handing out perfectly packaged caramel apples in their own individually wrapped containers at Halloween, and the dee-voon actress Mariska Hargitay who appeared for years and years and years one of those damn Law & Order programs and who, according to the Mistress of Maleeboo, took up residence in Miss Ashwell's cottage in The Colony while she was preggers in 2006 with her baby boy.

Listing information and most previous reports indicate the modestly sized cottage measures 1,783 square feet and has a total 4 bedrooms and 4 poopers including a master suite with office area and private pooper. There is also a separate 1 bedroom and 1 pooper guest room that opens into the front garden through a Dutch door.

A lavender lined brick pathway leads from the entry gate and two-car garage, through the grassy and rose bush filled front yard and to the front door. Luscious limestone floors have been laid throughout the main living areas of the updated and upgraded but still rough around the edges cottage. The living/dining room has a fireplace and a wall of wood-framed sliding glass doors that open to the backyard, and the kitchen, all white cabinetry, open shelving and Viking brand appliances, is separated from a family room area by a breakfast counter. It's not known whether Miss Gilpin plans to retain the tired ol' Shabby Chic day-core or if–as Your Mama hopes–she'll tinker it into something a little less decoratively cliche.

The backyard, which has lovely views of the mountains that spill down to the ocean's edge and backs up to media mogul Jerry Perenchio's privately owned golf course, consists almost entirely of a large brick terrace shaded by mature trees and ringed by thick foliage. In one corner of the yard, pushed up against the house in the most upsetting and undignified manner is one of those above-ground, plug-in spa contraptions in which some people–including the Dr. Cooter and his cold-blooded sister Tee-Tee–enjoy settin' in what amounts to a boiling vat of their own filth and call it relaxing. No thank you, ma'am.

Property records show that Miss Gilpin and her huzband sold a house in West Hollywood back in 2003 for $1,367,000 and another house on Bowmont Drive in Beverly Hills in March of 2007 for $5,600,000 but the real estate trail goes dead there and Your Mama freely confesses that we don't know where Miss Gilpin and Mister Vincent currently live.

The Colony has a long, long, looooong history of celebrity residents A short list of past and current property owners with recognizable names include Barbara Stanwyk, Gloria Swanson, Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks, Sting and Trudie Styler–who at one point leased their home to Leo DiCaprio, Linda Ronstadt, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, Mel Brooks, Brian Grazer, Cicely Tyson, Rob Reiner, Jeff Bridges, Paul Reiser, Jason Statham, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, Ridley Scott, Eric Roth, Pam Anderson who is allegedly going broke due an extensive and expensive remodel of her land side property, and media mogul Jerry Perenchio owns at least a dozen homes in The Colony as well as the aforementioned private golf course that sits discreetly between The Colony and the Pacific Coast Highway. One of the current Colonyites is Miss Gilpin's former co-star, b.f.f., and bizness partner Jane Leeves (Fraser, Hot in Cleveland) who has spent the last few years re-working her inland Colony getaway into a big yellow monster.

Like many rich and (quasi) famous types in LaLa Land, Miss Ashwell seems to be on a constant real estate merry-go-round. In the early 1990s she quit-claimed an ocean front house on Carbon Beach to her now ex-husband artist/commercial director David Ashwell, and in May of 1998 she paid $1,050,00 for a inland side house in The Colony that she sold in September of 2002 for $2,200,000.

In August of 2004 she scooped up a perfectly private 3,119 square foot house on Westgate Avenue in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles for $3,170,000. Then, in October of 2007, according to property records, the Shabby Chic She-ra dumped $4,150,000 on a 5 bedroom and 3 pooper residence located just behind the Brentwood Country Mart where scads of stars such as Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Garner come to shop and nosh. In July of 20o9, presumably after completing a re-do of her new house behind the Brentwood Country Mart, Miss Ashwell sold her Westgate Avenue property to a cardiologist and a pediatrician for $2,824,400 after listing it 10 months earlier with a much higher asking price of $4,395,000.

listing photos: Pritchett & Rapf via Redfin.

Patrick Dempsey Does It Up in the Bu

BUYER: Patrick Dempsey
LOCATION: Malibu, CA
PRICE: $7,000,000
SIZE: 5,547 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: The children regularly question Your Mama about the real estate doings of a lot different famous people as if we are the damn Oracle of Delphi and know everything about everyone's bizness. Much as we'd love to promote that illusion, it simply isn't true. Our powers, we're not eager to confess, are far less potent than many of the children seem to believe.

Over the last year one of the persons we've been queried about more than anyone else is the much lusted after actor Patrick Dempsey who plays Dr. Derek Shepherd on the enormously popular hospital drama Gray's Anatomy. Not being a fan of the hospital drama genre of boob-toob fare–we do not even want to think about our aged internist schtupping his nubile nurse at work–we can't say that we know all too much about this Mister Dempsey or his Doctor character other than the poor man is saddled with the rather embarrassing nickname McDreamy by a lot of horny and under-sexed, middle-aged ladees whose huzbands probably stopped humping them 45 pounds ago.

Anyhoo, for the 6 months or so the real estate whereabouts of Mister Dempsey were a mystery to Your Mama, a real god damn sixty four thousand dollar question. Yes, we'd heard the rumors about him living in Malee-boo and we'd heard through the real estate grapevine that he was shacking up in the Sunset Strip area, but until recently we had no real intelligence about where the faux-doctor was hanging his scrubs.

In July of 2006 Mister and Missus Dempsey forked over $3,100,000 for a 3,841 square foot New England-y style domicile on Chantilly Road in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. In early 2009 they listed the property with an asking price of $3,595,000 and decamped for a rented residence on N. Bundy Drive in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. After several prodigious price chops, the Chantilly Road property finally sold in late 2009 for $2,571,500, a stunning $529,000 loss not counting the fat real estate fees that the Dempseys surely paid to their real estate people. The last we knew about the Dempsey's was in early 2010 when we heard from a reliable informant that they'd done left from their leased crib in Brentwood with their trio of youngins and headed to parts unknown.

Fast forward to this very week when we received a clandestine dispatch from Franny Francophile who directed Your Mama's limited attentions to some hard evidence as to the real estate transactions of Patty Dempsey and, as it turns, out he and the family are indeed making a nest in hills above Zuma Beach in Malibu, CA.

A little peep and poke around the property records revealed to Your Mama that back in June of 2009 Mister and Missus Dempsey dumped $7,000,000 on a 3.24 acre property that includes multi-level contemporary residence originally designed in 1972 by maverick architect Frank Gehry as the home and studio for abstract artist Ron Davis. Mister Davis sold the property in the early 1990s and it eventually landed in the hands of architecturally minded and suggestively named investor Alex Glasscock and his wife Sue who, property records reveal, paid $1,900,000 for the property in March of 2003.

Listing information provided to Your Mama by Franny Francophile shows the vaguely wedge shaped, barn-like residence measures 5,547 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 poopers including the master suite that contains dual poopers and closets, a fireplace, plasma screen tee-vee and a wide, wood framed sliding glass door that provides access to a private relaxation garden.

What's inneresting to Your Mama is that unless some sort of expansion is planned, Mister and Missus Dempsey spent seven million clams to buy a house in which two of their three shorties will need to double up in one of the secondary bedrooms. About that situation Your Mama can only tell the children that iffin we were one of Mister Dempsey's off-spring, we would most certainly grow up to be deeply resentful of having to share a damn bedroom with a sibling given that, clearly, there's plenty of dough-ray-me for all of the Dempsey children to be provided with their own private bedroom if not their own private pooper too, you know?

Anyoo, a long, gated cobblestone drive leads up to the main house where a wall of glass tucked into the chunky structure marks the front entry, a small lofted area that overlooks the voluminous, airy and maze like interior spaces that are unified by a gigantic, 20-foot by 20-foot central sky light that pierces ceiling. A staircase winds down from the entry to the "formal" living area that has reclaimed wide plank wood floors, a double height ceiling with behemoth beams, and a fireplace flanked by shelving set into the crisp, white plaster walls. The living area spills into the "formal" dining area where a wall of windows looks out onto the drought tolerant gardens all did up and done over by soo-blime landscape architect Scott Shrader who specializes in merging the vibe of a home's interior spaces with its exterior environment resulting in a seamless integration of classic California style indoor and outdoor living.

Although there really aren't any "formal" areas of the house, the more casual, family areas consist of a v-shaped galley style kitchen with thick, polished concrete counter tops and the usual coterie of high grade stainless steel appliances–including a built in Miele brand cappuccino maker–usually found in multi-million dollar dwellings. The kitchen opens into a large breakfast area and a large, elevated den that hovers over the breakfast area has built in shelving, a long wall of pane free windows, and a wall-mounted flat screen tee-vee. There are, in addition to the 3 bedrooms, two offices.

Mister Gehry clad the exterior of the house with corrugated metal and exposed wood, a combination that allows the house to both set apart and comingle with the quasi-natural landscaped environment that surrounds the house. The south side of the house opens to a colossal cobblestone terrace that meanders though the shaded and rustic landscape and a sun-bleached wooden deck that surrounds the massive swimming pool inserts a rigid order into an otherwise tangled landscape. There are tree-shaded banquettes around the swimming pool and an outdoor rain shower.

The sprawling property also includes an existing barn with three stalls, tack room and wash racks, a riding ring, two irrigated pastures, a chicken coop, and established raised bed vegetable and herb gardens accented with rose bushes and flowering vines that wrap around a long pergola. Listing information indicates the previous owners, the unfortunately named Glasscocks, submitted plans to the city of Malibu for a 3,343 square foot Laura Burkhalter designed barn with a 2nd story loft.

At the time the Mister and Missus Dempsey bought their new house in the Bu the interior day-core have been exquisitely done up and worked over by accomplished Malibu, CA and Sag Harbor, NY based decorator Michael Lee who, Your Mama thinks, owes a debt of decorative gratitude to another Michael, the late, great Michael Taylor. For those not edgumuhcated in the history of interior day-core Mister Taylor is widely and frequently credited as the creator of the "California Look," a glam meets rustic style characterized by a neutral but intricately and interestingly textured palette, huge, white upholstered pieces, stone and rough hewn wood accents, indoor trees, and sleek, sexy and clean lined elements in all the right places such as the kitchen and pooper.

Now children, before y'all start praising or dissin' on Mister Dempsey's day-core please keep in mind that the listing photos show the interior spaces as they looked when the pornographically named Mister and Missus Glasscock occupied the premises. Presumably Mister and Missus Dempsey have put their own decorative stamp on the day-core. We don't know what decorative plans the Dempsey's have (or have instituted) for their new house but Your Mama can only hope they had the good sense to hire someone with a similarly deft hand as Mister Lee. What we do know is that the Dempseys are committed to an organic Malibu lifestyle and that they employed Scott Shrader to re-work some of his original landscape design to incorporate outdoor cooking facilities and a number of sustainable elements for food-production.

Another celebrity real estate mystery solved.

photographer: Nick Springett

Barry Manilow Unloading Malee-boo Beach House

SELLER: Barry Manilow
LOCATION: Malibu Road, Malibu, CA
PRICE: $10,600,000
SIZE: 3,546 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Prime Malibu Rd location on dry, sandy beach. Stunning Contemporary compound with large courtyard garden entry. Expansive coastline views north and south. Two-story living room with fireplace, floor to ceiling ocean view glass. Media/family room, master wing with fireplace and terrace. Separate guest house with kitchen.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A week or two ago we received a covert communique from Malee-boo Barbee who tattled to Your Mama that music legend Barry Manilow listed his ocean front house in Malee-boo with an asking price of $10,900,000. A bit of research shows that the Malibu Road property has actually been on the market for more than four months already and was first listed at $12,600,000.

After getting the 411 from Malee-boo Barbee, Your Mama's big ears pricked right up because even though we can hardly bear to look at Mister Manilow with his frosted and spikey hair-don'ts, we have a soft spot in our cold and dark heart for the singer/songwriter/arranger/producer/conductor/American Idol guest artist.

See puppies, back when Your Mama was just an innocent (and thin) little lamb we would visit our high-lariously foul-mouthed Auntie Jennie who had this colossal console stereo in her living room that sat between two orange faux-velveteen swivel chairs. Come early evening, our Auntie Jennie and Your Mama's Momma would pile their hair up on their heads, strap on their high heels and head out to the Fern Bar leaving Your Mama, Sister Woman, Toddaroohoo and Cuzzin Lois with Teena the Teenage Baby-Sitter who would more often than not leave us home alone so that she could go out on a date with some muscle car driving stud with feathered hair and an impressive looking package in his painted on jeans. After all us scrappy kids gobbled up some Frosted Flakes for dinner, we'd fire up that console stereo, slide in an 8-track tape and do us some fierce karaoke performances to songs by 1970s icons like Wayne Newton, Helen Reddy and, natch, Mister Barry Manilow.

Whether y'all care for his music or not, Mister Manilow is a song singing superstar who howled out a string of hit songs like Mandy, I Write the Songs and Copacabana, all of which are on regular rotation on our iPod.

Anyhoo, we confess we weren't sure whether to believe Malee-boo Barbee's information, not because he has ever steered us in the wrong celebrity real estate direction but because while property records all point towards Mister Manilow and his long time manager (and oft alleged man-mate) Garry Kief, they do not actually show his name. We quickly got on the horn with a couple of Your Mama's impossibly well connected informants who both swore up and down that the property in question is indeed owned by Mister Barry Manilow.

Property records show the glassy, three-story contemporary crib was bought in August of 2002 for an undisclosed amount of money. However, with a leg up by Babbling Babette Your Mama was able to suss out that Mister Manilow paid $3,850,000 for the ocean front property which includes 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in the ocean side main house and another bedroom in the street side guest house where we have to assume there is another terlit because we simply do not believe Mister Manilow would force his over-night guests to dash across the courtyard and into the main house just to take a late night dump.

The front facade of the walled, gated and secured property includes a stainless steel garage door and entry gate both which look very impressive and expensive but would surely drive our entirely too volatile house gurl Svetlana to hysterics trying to keep that shit shiny and finger print free.

The 3,546 square foot house is separated from the road by a quiet courtyard between the main and guest houses. A courtyard like this is crucial in a seaside house because when the wind gets a-blowin' it's murder on wig wearers and soft talkers. A glass and stainless steel front door that looks like the entrance to a damn Saks Fifth Avenue opens to a two-story, step-down living room with polished stone floors, a fireplace, a tall wall of windows looking out over the Pacific Ocean and French doors that open to ocean side terraces with undeniably spectacular sunset views. The house also includes, according to listing information, a media/family room, office, a kitchen with high-grade appliances and upstairs the master suite includes two-walk in closets, a fireplace, a big bathroom with spa tub and steam shower and a private glass paneled terrace hanging over rugged coastline.

Listing information does not currently include any photos of the interior but Nameless Nancy, who claims to have been up in Mister Manilow's Malee-boo pad, hissed to Your Mama that it's, "gold records everywhere like some tired queen's Palm Springs hideaway." Now kittens, we don't really know if Nancy's assessment of the day-core is accurate but since Mister Manilow is indeed a tired queen with highlighted hair and a slew of gold records who lives primarily in a sprawling hillside house in Palm Springs it is a believable, if dee-lishusly catty, description.

Now then, hold on to yer britches children because we're quite sure we're about to receive a mountain of hate mail from a well organized cabal of Miz Manilow's over-fervent fans who will read Your Mama the riot act and scream like banshees about how we should leave Mister Manilow alone because he is a great artist and loving man. However, before you freaky Fanilow people start sending us angry email and clogging up our comment box with your righteous indignation, please keep in mind that Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter both love us some Mister Barry Manilow. We just think he needs a new beautician.

Malee-boo Gets the Royal Treatment

It's far too early in the a.m. for Your Mama to make heads or tales of this but there are people saying and others whispering that Britain's Prince William and his gurly-pal Kate where house hunting along the sparkling shores of Malee-boo. The reports all indicate His Highness and Not Quite Her Highness Yet took a spin around a house with 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathroom, a winding drive way leading to a 4 car garage, and a close to 8 million dollar asking price.

Does this sound to anyone besides Your Mama exactly like the Pacific Coast Highway house that Tinseltown aristocrat Leo DiCaprio bought from t-shirt purveyor James Perse in January 2007 for $6,350,000 and flipped back onto the market in November of 2008 with a wildly increased $8,999,000 asking price? Some of the children may recall that with no buyers swooping in to snatch up the bluff top spread right away, Mister DiCaprio also put the house out for long term lease at $25,000 per month.

It appears that lucky Mister DiCaprio is in escrow on that property (last priced at $7,999,000) but all reports say the princely pair are not the buyers. Sorry kids, but that's all we got on that one.

Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen Put Their Malibu Colony House on the Block

SELLERS: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen
LOCATION: Malibu Colony Road, Malibu, CA
PRICE: $18,5000,000
SIZE: 2,963 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Situated in a gated enclave on one of SoCal's most coveted beaches, this recently remodeled (2002) 5 bed, 5.5 bat retreat excels at entertaining. Open, yet intimate conversation areas, bathed in light, define the 1st floor living areas. Sparkling ktch w/TOL appliances & ample storage space. The ocnfront mster incs. romantic f/p, sun deck, walk-in closet & luxe bath area, each addtn'l br features custom finishes & bath areas w/waterworks tile & fixtures. Spacious 2nd flr family/gathering/ofc rm. Rare!

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Not only are we going to stay in Malee-bee this morning, Your Mama is going to stick with another cast member of the Cheers juggernaut. Lawhd children, we should all be so lucky to have a piece of the syndication rights of Cheers. For many years before and after the show came to an end, the re-runs could not be escaped on the boob-tube. Your Mama recalls a time not so long ago when we could not turn on the television without seeing that depressing basement bar in Boston.

Ted Danson, the over sexed ladies man owner of the bar, has long since moved beyond his role as Sam Malone on Cheers, and has had starring roles on Ink, a program Your Mama has never heard of, a long stretch as a bitter doctor on Becker, and most recently on Help Me Help You, where he plays a pompous psychiatrist with a lot of issues.

Danson's wifey is the Oscar winning actor Mary Steenburgen, who manages to work a lot without becoming food for the tabloid grist mill. See babies, it really is possible to be a successful and famous actor who lives in Los Angeles and not have the paps tailing you all the time as you speed down Sunset Boulevard on the way to Kitson.

Anyhoo, back in 1999, a few years after the couple married, they sold an ocean front house on Victoria Point Road in Malee-boo to actor Michael Madsen who recently lost the house in foreclosure. Wig wearing Ted and Miss Mary parlayed that investment into some prime Malee-boo real estate in October of 2000 when they purchased another ocean front house in The Colony, the unfathomably expensive guard gated enclave of the rich and famous.

The property records we access to do not indicate what amount they paid for the property. However, we do know the house next door sold at just about the same time for just over $4.7 million. So we can all sleep well at night knowing toupé Ted and Miss Mary will make millions on the sale of the house, which is currently listed at a mind altering $18,500,000.

For those not familiar with The Colony, the houses are smashed up next to each other on narrow and tiny lots where windows sometimes look into the windows of the neighbors' houses. Think about it. Even with clever landscaping and hedging, living in The Colony means paying $18,500,000 for a house that is so close to the next house that you might be able to see your middle aged, fat ass neighbor with a hairy back slathering cocoa butter on the 22 year old hussy with plastic boobs that he picked up the night before. And really, who needs to see that?

According to the listing information, the house underwent a renovation in 2002 and the the results are clearly stunning. Now children, the decor here is decidedly not what Your Mama would do with an ocean front house in The Colony, but it's tough to beef with what appears to be excellent taste.

The casually elegant interiors do in fact look put your feet on the sofa comfortable, but we do imagine the maid goes nuts trying to keep those glossy wood floors from getting scraped and scratched from sand tracked in from the beach.

Although we don't care for the topiary in the living room or the county style table and chairs in the family room area, we pee our pants with glee over the long, long kitchen. The all-white kitchen with the subway tile looks pleasingly antiseptic and appropriate for a room where one pounds tenderloin and beats eggs. The 72" Viking range has us screaming at the top of our lungs with envy. The Dr. Cooter and Your Mama got a Viking too, but not one as big as a Cadillac like we see here.

The property records indicate the house is just under 3,000 square feet, but looking at the pictures and the listing, which states there are 5 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms, it's tough to believe the accuracy of that number.

The Danson / Steenburgen duo also own a large house on S. Burlingame Avenue in Brentwood. The 6,718 squre foot, 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom house, purchased in May of 2002 for $3,657,5000, is not the only house on S. Burlingame Avenue the couple has owned.

In in September of 1998 the couple bought 162 S. Burlingame Avenue for $3,525,000 but quickly sold the 8,000+ square foot in May 1999 for $3,623,500. And in December of 2005, they sold the 5,509 square foot house at 226 S. Burlingame for an undisclosed sum of money. The couple appears to have purchased that house in October of 1995 for $2,995,000.

The powerhouse acting pair also have a couple of houses on Martha's Vineyard. Property records indicate they have owned one of the houses, which measures 3,935 square foot, 5 bedroom, 4.5 bathrooms, since at least 1998. Then in May of 20o2 they purchased the house next door for $3,850,000, presumably for privacy and family use.

Your Mama hasn't a clue where these two will buy next, but we can't imagine after years of owning ocean front homes in the area that they'll stray too far from the sacred sands of Malee-boo.

UPDATE: The couple sold the house in the summer of 2008 for $15,500,000.