Steven Cojocaru's New Digs in the Hills

BUYER: Steven "Cojo" Cojocaru
LOCATION: Rising Glen Road, Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $3,800,000
SIZE: 3,850 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Mid-Century Modern ground up restore. Pvt and secluded. Long pvt and gtd drive. Former celeb owned. No expense spared. Done w/ warmth, style and comfort. 2 romantic and scap mstr suites and 1 gst ste all w/ own pvt bth. Chef's kit offers the ultmt in design & function feat all Viking appls. Media rm/lounge with 92" proj screen & wet bar, indr/outdr russound stereo sys. Automtd fpl. Soaring ceils. Flat grassy yard. Lrg open spaces lead out to seamless connection to infinity pl.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Back in mid-May, Your Mama discussed the Spanish style house in the hilly section of Hollywood Boulevard which famous fashion diva and celebrity sissy boy Steven Cojocaru had on the market for $2,995,000 after reducing the asking price from $3,150,000. According to property records, Miss Cojo finally unloaded the property in June of 2007 for $2,900,029. Naturally, Your Mama wondered where this peacock would be moving his heavy duty arsenal of lip gloss and hair products.

Then, out of the blue like manna from heaven, we learned in Ruth Ryon's most recent Hot Properties column in the in Los Angeles Times, that Miss Cojo had indeed purchased another house up in the Hills of Hollywood. Details in Miz Ryon's report were slim, but with the help of our Fairy Godmother in Bel Air and our always accurate informant Lucy Spillerguts, Your Mama was able to track down the location and the listing of Miss Cojo's new lair.

Property records and listing information indicate that Miss Cojo purchased this house in March of 2007 even before closing on his Hollywood Boulevard residence. Located on Rising Glen Road just north of Sunset Boulevard, the house sits on a private flag lot overlooking the twists of turns of treacherous Sunset Plaza Drive, a road so terrifying Your Mama will not drive it after dark for fear of being mutilated in a head on collision with a married middle aged industry executive with hair plugs, a Porsche, and a prosty in the passenger seat.

Obviously the 40 something year old Miss Cojo has no such fears, because the hyper active fashion maven with the new kidney just paid $3,800,000 for a freshly remodeled mid-century modern house that measures 3,850 square feet and includes 3 sexy bedrooms and 3.5 lovely bathrooms. Interestingly Miz Ryon reported that the house had 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, but our sources and information say something different. Hmm.

Property records reveal that the house with a butterfly winged roof line as flamboyant as Miss Cojo himself, was previously owned by gifted actor Brock Peters, who met his maker in 2005. The house was subsequently purchased for $1,625,016 in November of 2005 and given a head to toe make over before being placed on the market for a whopping $4,299,000. Listing information reveals that the house was later reduced to $3,999,000 before Miss Cojo stepped up with his Louis Vuitton bag to pay $3,800,000 for the property. For all the mathmatically challenged children, Cojo's purchase price is more than twice the seller's purchase price. Certainly, the seller put considerable money into the renovation and carrying costs, but that is still a shockingly large mark up and represents just another example of the Los Angeles real estate market gone wild.

Your Mama recognizes and sees Cojo as a certain type of stereotype and caricature of a gay man, but we happily confess to having a soft spot in our cold heart for Miss Thing. In the homophobic Hollywood world where big and little name celebs alike commonly hide their homosexuality, this man dared to flat iron his hair, put on a satin suit and a face full of make up and present himself and succeed in the world on such mainstream television shows as that ridiculous The Today Show, who shamefully fired Cojo just weeks after his first kidney transplant.

Ever the lemonade maker who deftly turns a raw deal into a perfectly tailored pair of skinny jeans, this glamazon has gone on to bigger and better things at Entertainment Tonight where he offers pithy and motor mouthed fashion reports on the sartorial wins and losses of the Hollywood elite and discusses the questionable fashion choices of all the poorly and scantily dressed starvelets that clutter up the red carpet.

We wish Miss Cojo a long life in the new house. And Coho hunny, please invite Your Mama over to your new house. We have some amazing detoxifying green tea that'll help your new kidney stay pink and lovely.

UPDATE: Robert Wagner and Jill St. John

Yesterday, Your Mama discussed the reported sale of Mister Robert Wagner and Jill St. John's Brentwood ranchette. We admitted to being a tad short on information about the property and the sale, and as such we put feelers out with our extended circle of contacts in the Brentwood area to cough up some information.

From a tipster we'll affectionately call The Savannah Snitch, Your Mama received a vintage Architectural Digest magazine that featured the Wagner/St. John ranchette, including photos and all sorts of information about the property. Please keep in mind children that the photos above are from the mid 1980s and may or may not have any resemblance to how the house looked more recently and prior to the recent sale.

According to the article that accompanied the photographs, Mister Wagner bought this house after the tragic and mysterious death of Miz Natalie Wood. Soon after purchasing the 1.6 acre, two parcel property, the dapper actor was able to persuade Cliff May, the king of California ranches and the original architect for the house, to design several extensions to the main house which more then doubled the length of the house. May also added at least one fireplace, bringing the total number to six. Which, of course, sounds lovely and romantic, but children, just imagine the deforestation required to keep all six of these fireplaces ablaze.

Additionally, and according to the article, Mister May designed a fully self sufficient guest house, over-hauled and extended the stables, added a detached office for Mister Wagner, remodeled the kitchen, added a sitting room for one daughter and a bath/dressing area for another. Finally, Mister May added a pigeon tower that was identical to the one he designed and built on his own Sullivan Canyon property called "Mandalay." No babies, we don't know what a pigeon tower is either, and can't imagine why anyone would want to build a structure that houses or in any way fosters the promulgation of pigeons. Your Mama deeply loves all the animals of the world, but we love the naughty pigeons just a little less.

Shortly after we posted yesterday's discussion of the Wagner/St. John ranchette, Your Mama heard from our old–and we mean O.L.D. old–friend Louella Hopper, who we know from our pre-historic days at Vassar. Ms. Louella tells Your Mama that she hears that the property sold in the $12,000,000 range and not the $15,000,000 that has been reported far and wide.

Ms. Louella also told Your Mama some shocking, defamatory and not repeatable rumors and secrets about Mister Wagner that Your Mama would not dare repeat. Your Mama just about had a stroke after hearing the smutty gossip and had to pour a big stiff gin and tonic, heavy on the lime and gin, in order to return to our right mind. Although we were stunned into silence, Your Mama was not at all surprised Ms. Louella would go there, afterall, we know the old gurl always did have a taste for the sordid vulgarities of life. Our dear Ms. Louella happens to be privy to all things deliciously scandalous and salacious in the world of Los Angeles real estate, and has recently started her own little blog called LA Real Estate Undercover, which discusses the literal and figurative ins and outs of the Los Angeles real estate scene. Dear Ms. Louella has always had her bejeweled ear to the ground and her pencil skirt over her head, so trust Your Mama when we tell you that ol' Louella Hopper knows of what she speaks...unless she doesn't, in which case she lies. Either way the children are going to L.O.V.E. Louella Hopper's wild ride!

Robert Wagner and Jill St. John Sell Their Brentwood Ranchette

SELLERS: Robert Wagner and Jill St. John
LOCATION: Old Oak Road, Brentwood, CA
PRICE: approx. $15,000,000
SIZE: 4,556 square feet, 6 bedrooms 5 bathrooms (main house); 2,448 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (guest house)

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: That Ruth Ryon at the LA Times is getting awfully clever discussing properties in her Hot Properties column that were never on the open market. Obviously that just chaps Your Mama because it makes it so much more difficult for us to chase down information for the children. One such recent property sale is the Brentwood ranchette owned by aging actor Robert Wagner and his wifey, Jill St. John, which Miz Ryon reports has been sold for "close to $15,000,000."

Your Mama is undeterred. We endeavor to scratch and claw until we get the answers we want from our vast web of sources, informants and tipsters. Although in this case, we must confess, it is proving to be a little more difficult that we had anticipated, and there is just so much Your Mama still does not know about this property.

Mister Wagner of course is probably best known for his role as the super rich Jonathan Hart in the cheesy 1980s crime drama Hart to Hart which co-starred the legendary and awesome Stephanie Powers. On a more personal level Mister Wagner is undoubtedly remembered as the twice married to huzband of Natalie Wood, who fell off the couple's yacht Splendour and mysteriously and tragically drown while sailing off the coast of Catalina with that wonderfully disarming and kooky actor Christopher Walkin. Ironically and sadly, Splendour was the very same boat on which the couple wed for the second time in 1972.

Since the Wagner property, which spans two parcels comprising 1.6 acres, was never on the open market, Your Mama is sorry to report we do not have a single photo of the 5 bedroom and 6 bathroom house that was designed by Cliff May, the undisputed king of the classic California ranch house who pioneered the notion of indoor/outdoor living.

According to Miz Ryon, the one story house was designed and built by the amazing Mister May for himself and his family in 1940 and later remodeled several years later. In 1953, according to Miz Ryon, the May family vacated the premises for another, much more lavish home in horsey Sullivan Canyon which lies between Brentwood and Pacific Palisades. May's estate, called "Mandalay," has been torn down, although there are still a fair number of Cliff May ranchos tucked up into Sullivan Canyon.

Interestingly, Miz Ryon, who did note that the sale included two adjacent parcels, did not mention that the second parcel includes a 2,448 square foot guest house with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Thanks to our Fairy Godmother in Brentwood, Your Mama was able to get our grubby hands on a few photos of the guest house (below).
Property records indicate that in April of 1983 Mister Wagner paid just $220,000 for the property with the main house. It's unclear to Your Mama whether the purchase of the second parcel with the guest house occurred at the same time or at a later date. Anyone? What is also unclear to Your Mama is whether the guest house was also designed and built by Cliff May. Records indicate the guest house was built in 1946 and the interior photos with the saltillo tile floors and vaulted and beamed ceilings do lead us to believe this is also a Cliff May structure, but again, we don't know.

As of Monday morning, we also don't have any answers about who paid such a huge some of money for a property that backs up to bizzy and loud Sunset Boulevard. Which means we really know frustratingly little more than what Miz Ryon reported. So all you Brentwood people, please, give Your Mama a shout on the email and fill in some of the gaps. After all, the children want to know, and Your Mama just hates looking like an ignorant fool with egg on our face because we aren't able to come up with proper information.

Sources: LA Times, Rancho Style, Internet Movie Data Base