Guess Who's House This Is

SELLER: Georges Marciano
LOCATION: 1000 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills
PRICE: $28,000,000
SIZE: 23,306 square feet, 10 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Former Harry Cohn (co-founder of Columbia Pictures) estate. Incredible "Old Hollywood" Italianate mansion. Designed by John Farquhar in 1927. Completely restored and impeccably maintained to retain its original charm and character. Grand two story entry, spectacular living room, formal dining room, family room, and professional 35mm screening room. Over two acres of manicured grounds, spectacular pool, championship tennis court, and much more. Last of its kind available. All clients much be pre-qualified.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: This Beverly Hills extravaganza does not belong to a movie star or even an industry bigwig. No babies, this is the house the 1980s designer denim craze bought. It was confirmed to the Real Estalker by a little bird in Los Angeles, that Georges Marciano, co-founder of the Guess? fashion empire, has called this pile home since the late 1980s.

Before getting to the house, Your Mama wants the children to have a little history lesson about the Marciano clan and the Guess? brand. Lawhd children, the business end of this family's life is like a story line from one of Your Mama's favorite daytime soap programs. Moroccan born and raised in France, the Marciano clan emigrated to Los Angeles in 1981-82 and opened a clothing store in Beverly Hills. It is reported the the four brothers (Georges, Maurice, Armand, and Paul) left France in order to avoid a tremendous tax bill they didn't want to pay (but eventually settled in 1986).

Almost immediately these entrepreneurial brothers jumped on the designer denim wave and were pushing high end, European style jeans at Bloomingdales and other high end retail outlets. The business exploded and the brothers got rich. In 1983, overwhelmed with the expanding business, needing capital and inexpensive manufacturing options, the Guess? brand sold 50% ownership to Jordache. That deal went sour and the Marcianos spent 5 long years in litigation in order to have control of the company returned to them.

About this time, along comes Anna Nicole Smith and the rest is advertising history. However, even with the empire expanding at an exponential rate, Georges wanted out...claiming differences in the direction of the company. In 1993, he reportedly sold his 40 percent share of the company to the other brothers for an estimated $200,000,000. Boggles the mind babies. According to his own personal website, Mr. Marciano now invests in "major real estate holdings" and counts his money. Well, his website did not say he counts his money, but Your Mama knows he do.

Now, on to the house...located smack in the middle of Beverly Hills, where the flats turn into the hills, this two acre property is spitting distance to the Beverly Hills Hotel. This is a convenient location for stumbling home from those liquid lunches at the Polo Lounge.

Your Mama would like the children to note the plastic covering the carpet on stairs in the entrance hall. We know that carpet probably cost more than a BMW, and the plastic is an effort to keep high-end house-hunter shoe dirt from getting on the rug, but hunnies, that is not a good idea. Please. This house has a price tag of $28,000,000. No one wants to be slipping and sliding on the stairs while shopping in this price range.

Your Mama would also like y'all to have a look at the kitchen. No offense intended to the Marciano family, but this kitchen is a classic case of how NOT to do it. The floor looks like linoleum and the whole business just looks like something in a big suburban house in Missouri. This room hurts Your Mama's eyes and soul.

But children, that swimming pool is dee-vine. Imagine strapping on your bikini and having your pool boy serve you a fresh avocado and tomato salad for lunch out there.

In the interest of covering all the bases, the public records for this property show the house at 14,000 square feet (rather than 23,000 as the listing shows), and as having 8 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. Your Mama is not sure why the discrepancy but we're inclined to believe the listing information as public records are often incorrect or plain old wrong.

Sources: Westside Estate Agency, answer.com, georgesmarciano.com

A Little Blog-love

Hunnies, Your Mama would like to thank a few folks and blogs that made our first San Francisco week a roaring success. In no particular order: sfist (for an amazing plug and post), city-mama, Fiona Trambeau (she may be a slut, but she knows her balls), curbed SF (all the curbed sites are amazing children, so git on over and read 'em), the gilded moose (one of Your Mama's favorite blogs), and of course glitterati gossip (because this kind lady always links us up), and gossipmomma too. You all know how your Mama's mind is going, so we've probably left some folks out, but we'll amend that when we remember.

Andre Agassi Sells At A Loss

SELLER: Andre Agassi / Steffi Graf
LOCATION: Gilmartin Drive, Tibouron, CA
PRICE: $20,000,000 (sale price)
SIZE: 10,500 square feet (main house), 2,500 square feet (staff house)
DESCRIPTION: (modified from listing agent's website) 3.5 acres of landscaped, park-like grounds; Main house built in 1976, remodeled and expanded from 1988 through 1998. Two pools, three spas, hydrotherapy waterfall, hot-tub and cold tub, steam room, stream, outdoor fireplace, built in barbecue, level lawn for golf practice; Additional detached buildings include guest quarters/office and/or gym, tennis court and cabana, pool bar, four bedroom, four bath staff house with separate gated entry. Property offers 11 bedrooms, eleven full and 2 half baths; separate, contiguous half-acre view lot included in sale.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Now this is the sort of excess Your Mama has come to expect when considering the mountains of money professional athletes earn nowadays. Children, do not mistake this expectation for some kind of judgement, because Your Mama is not going there with this one. We do not begrudge the tremendous incomes of athletes any more than we do the income of any other stupendously rich person. Mr. Andre Agassi and his lady are a class act all the way and they have earned every penny they have. Their poor bodies are falling apart as proof.

It is said Mr. Agassi wanted to purchase this estate, called "Round Hill," back in the 1990s when he was all tied up with that long-haired Brooke Sheilds lady. But apparently the former Calvin Klein model/ack-tress hated this place and discouraged him from buying. Some years later, Mr. Andre has himself a new wife and family, and the property becomes available again. He snaps it up lickety-split paying a shocking $23,000,000. Paradise found.

However, much as Mr. Andre and Ms. Steffi love and enjoy this property, the busy schedules of he and the missus do not allow them to spend much time. Their financial advisors, accutely aware of the arm and leg it costs to maintain a little-used house, advise them to sell. So only about two years after purchasing, the house goes back on the market for $24,500,000. The listing agents claim there were a number of celebrities and other high-profile folks that came and looked but, "They didn't understand what was there and what could potentially be there." Hmmm. All due respect, that just seems like some realtor-rationalization to Your Mama Maybe these monied looky loos just did not like the house, the location, or the price.

Over the next 3.5 years, the asking price is lowered several times. Then, in mid-2006 the price is lowered to $21,000,000 and a few months later it finds a buyer. The new owner is reportedly San Francisco based hedge fund honcho Stuart Peterson, and the deal is supposed to close the first week in January 2007 for a purchase price of $20,000,000. This figure is substantially less than Mr. Andre purchased the house in 2001. That should tell you something about the annual cost of maintaining this property.

By some accounts, the decor and details of the house are a bit outdated, and this apparently deterred more than a couple potential buyers. But Your Mama thinks it's more likely the maintenance this property requires. We have to wonder why anybody might want or need two swimming pools, three spas and a hot tub, not to mention the cold plunge, a stream, and that hydrotherapy waterfall. Lahwd babies, what in the world is that anyway? It is no wonder this property has a gigantic house for staff. You probably need two full time pool boys just to maintain all the water features on this property.

Now that this property has sold, the Agassi/Graf clan spend the bulk of their newly retired time at their primary residence in Las Vegas where there is a school named after him and where the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation is based. The listing agents over at super brokerage Decker Bullock created a big website for this property, but we expect it won't be online too much longer.

Sources: Marin Independent Journal, statesman.com, San Francisco Chronicle, Decker Bullock