Friday, April 18, 2008

Ken Paves Heads For the Hills of Beverly

BUYER: Ken Paves
LOCATION: Mulholland Drive, Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $1,965,000
SIZE: 2,762 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Perched on top of a ridge along prestigious Mulholland Drive sits this elegant Cape Cod Contemporary designed by Robert Byrd. Flooded w/ natural light & surrounded by breathtaking views, this home has been renovated w/ the finest attention to detail. The large split-level LR is perfect for entertaining w/ vaulted ceilings, wet bar & FR doors that open to an expansive deck. Other features: 3 en-suite BRs, 4 fireplaces, brand new kitchen & baths & parking for 11 cars.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Last week while Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter whittled away the hours on sunbeds reading Vanity Fair–the one by William Makepeace Thackeray, thank you very much–and staring out at the azure waters of the Atlantic Ocean, outgoing celebrity real estate high priestess Ruth Ryon penned the last of her 1,300+ Hot Properties columns for the Los Angeles Times. The third and most interesting item in the column, tucked down at the bottom, was a bit of bizness about celebrity hair honcho Ken Paves purchasing Robert Byrd designed digs perched high on a ridge in the Hills of Beverly.

Most of you children will know Mister Ken Paves (pronounced PAY-ves) as Jessica Simpson's hair dresser and constant companion, always at the ready with a ratting comb and a battery operated set of hot rollers. But don't be fooled by what you see in the gossip glossies, because working Miss Simpson's weaves is hardly all that Miss Paves does to earn his coin. The man has also curled, colored, cut and twisted the tresses of leading ladees such as Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Alicia Silverstone, Avril "The Spitter" Lavigne, Lucy Liu, Mila Jovovich, Eva Longoria, Ashlee Simpson (natch), Kiki Dunst and many more. In addition to his eponymous salons in Bev Hills and his hometown of Clinton Township, MI, he and his gal pal Miss Simpson also hawk a line of clip in hair extensions which give all the thin haired bee-hawtchas in places like Indiana and Mississippi the opportunity to cheaply get hair as shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen and waxen as all the haired-up hotties in Hollywood with a famous (and expensive) hairdresser in their entourage.

Anyhoo, after reading Miz Ryon's report, Your Mama went a searching on the internets and with the help of Madam Beezneez discovered that He of the Heavily Processed Hair forked over $1,965,000 for a cute little Cape Cod style house that sits up a private road above Mulholland Drive. Property records and listing information reveal the somewhat rustic feeling residence measures a deliciously modest 2,762 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. Each of the bedrooms features its own private pooper which Your Mama is certain all Miss PAY-ves' hair hopping gurlfriends will appreciate after a long and exhausting evening of braiding each others' hair and clowning around clipping in kooky hair extensions.

Other notable amenities include off street parking for 11 spit shined and fiercely detailed automobiles (11!) including a three car garage, four wood burning fireplaces, a gigantic split level living room for entertaining the well coiffured troops, a dining room, den, vaulted ceilings everywhere including some of the bathrooms, and long stunning views out both the front of the house (towards Bev Hills) and the back (over the San Fernando Valley).

But it's really the outdoor spaces that for Your Mama make this house something delightful and desirable. There are porches and wrap around decks, patios and lush lawns, terraces and trellised sitting areas. There is not, however, a swimming pool. Your Mama hopes with all our might and muster that Mister PAY-ves will have a wee one installed even if he'd seldom run the risk of turning his faux blond locks green from the chlorine. We're also kinda hoping Mister PAY-ves will get rid of that statue problem at the front of the house. That might have been charming in the 1940s but not so much in the 2000s.

Your Mama isn't quite sure where Mister PAY-ves has been livin' lately, but records do show that in December of 2003 he sold a 1,760 square foot house on Beldon Drive for $875,000. Looks like Mister Paves has upped his real estate game since then.

LATER SAME DAY: Turns out there isn't any kind of an accent on Mister Paves name, so we've removed it because the least we can do is spell these people's names correctly, right?

33 comments:

Alessandra said...

Aside from the lack of a pool, it looks really lovely. Very livable.

I'd paint, of course. For Ken's sake, I hope the kitchen photo is just a bit compressed because the current configuration isn't too friendly to those of use who like to cook.

But all in all, it is a good property and reasonably priced. Kudos to Ken.

Anonymous said...

Ok, the split level living room is awkward. The flooring is terrible. The kitchen cabinets are mundane...
Would have been nice to see if they did a good job with the bathrooms...always a big thing for me.

If you did something about the parquet/carpet combo...made it feel more Cape Cod beachy it'd be OK. Not exactly my fav. style of architecture...a little boring and staid if you ask me (which ya'll didn't).

Anonymous said...

I am not feeling those parquet floors in the LR/DR. Love the ceilings though.

pch said...

This falls into the something-I'd-buy-for-myself category. The bizarre whiteface lawn jockey would disappear as soon as escrow closed, as would the parquet floors, which seem weird to me unless they're in something French and 18th-century. I'd also ditch that 70s sunken bar and wall off some of the public spaces -- it's possible for a floor plan to be too open.

Anonymous said...

Very quaint for LA!

pch said...

Also, does anyone know if the accent mark is affected? Because I have this urge to flip it around to an accent grave (Pavès) for a closer approximation of the way he pronounces it. But if that's the way the surname/pronunciation came down, lo these many years, nevermind.

Anonymous said...

It's a charming house... a nice gay decorator could make it much better. And we all know there are plenty in LA... just hope he doesn't invite his neighor Princess Frosty Locks (Lance Bass) over to decorate, because we all sayw his interior decor.

I'm picturing dark Walnut stained hardwood floors, fresh paint in light yelllows and baby blues to give it a sunny beachy feel.

Coreigh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Parker said...

Sweet, charming, livable house, great for kids - only once those parquet floors are changed. Yes, that lawn jockey too. Ugh.
I saw Ken Paves and Jessica Simpson on Larchmont Blvd. (Hancock Park) shopping for hair products (of course) and they make quite an interesting couple. Between the fake tans and the fake hair, it's shocking that he'd choose something as simple and down-to-earth as this lovely home.

Anonymous said...

Nice house, here's the Virtual Tour

Anonymous said...

He was living:

701 10th St 2 Apt Miami Beach, FL 33139

No elegance there.

Now he'll be lavishly surrounded.

Oh well.

Parker said...

Thanks for the virtual tour. I think this is a fabulous family house. I do wonder what on earth they were thinking with their horrible flooring choices. And light fixtures. And window treatments. Not diggin' that front door either, but in general, I could totally picture moving in with my brood. How wonderful too, to have your own set of stairs to run, rather than having to drive to Santa Monica :) I can't imagine how many kids' injuries would occur on those steps, or injuries from drunk partygoers. Cocktails would have to remain upstairs, closer to the house.
Also, I'm a fan of any house that has space for plenty of cars. That would get me one step closer to my dream of having a stable of German cars, plus a CJ-7.

Alessandra said...

Oh, the stairs would be so much fun to run! And I'd love to do yoga on that deck. So serene and peaceful.

Didn't notice the jockey at first but agree that it would have to go.

As for parquet, a little goes a long way, and that is a lot of it. I'm actually fond of it but not in that particular type of house.

Anonymous said...

See I think it needs MORE lawn jockeys. ;)

StPaulSnowman said...

Not enough terlits.......needs at least 18 more.

Anonymous said...

I want a lawn jockey next to every terlit - holding the roll of toilet paper.

Anonymous said...

"...shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen and waxen..."

[Knotted, polka-dotted...}

Oh Mama, you just hit my rewind back to early-1970s, Royal Alexandra Theatre - Toronto. HAIR. That was a rush. Thanks!

Now, on with business. Super nice value and a lovely empty canvas begging for some interior personality. I'd rate the staging a weak "3". Note the familiar red Adirondack chairs (stager's inventory). Could these interiors be any less imaginative?

Some fun and instant hammer-friendly opportunities might start with swingin’ at the Home Depot spindles railings in living room area.

Overall, this one really does it for me.

StPaulSnowman said...

It is always interesting to look at these homes without the piece of California paradise they sit on. I bet you could duplicate this house and hardscape for about $180,000 in the midwest........but the vegetation and sunshine.........priceless.

Alessandra said...

So true, stpaulsnowman. My Ohio relatives and friends don't get our prices until they come and visit in February and grudgingly admit that "Gee, it's nice here." Yep. Sure is.

Anonymous said...

definitely needs renovating inside, and the garden looks quite ratty

Anonymous said...

Sandpiper,

I love that you saw "Hair" at the Royal Alex. A beautiful theater, no?

Alessandra,

Your weather is lovely, but there is something so sexy about the winter, the snow, and coming home to a glass of wine and a fire.

I like the vibe. The ceilings do feel beachy. I agree that this space deserves some walls.

I'm on my deck in Toronto now, wearing flip flops, a t-shirt and digging the almost full moon and great company.

luke220 said...

At least the lawn jockey is white. Bet that is a recent condition.

It looks like a nice party house (minus the parquet floors) but it seems very close to the road. I envision a nice pool in the lower garden but guess that the logistics will be a challenge.

Mama, surely you've been to Cape Cod, this is no Cape Cod. As a New Englander, I am always amused by references to Cape Cod style. This one is a white ranch with Cape Cod shutters.

Bentley, I just arrived at my Montreal home and spent an hour shoveling snow at my back door. Guess in Toronto you're ahead of us.

Anonymous said...

fire prone area - forget it!

Anonymous said...

Luke, bummer. Montreal has been slammed this winter.

Alessandra said...

Oh, Bentley, I'll admit there's something seductive about the snow. For me, it's waking up to a snow storm and realizing that there's no where to go except back to bed.

But in reality, there's often somewhere that one must go, and then one has to tackle all the cold and slush and petty annoyances of the cold.

So, I prefer to visit winter, spend a week or two skiing and having the option of staying indoors if the mood allows...

Flip-flops, eh? I do miss those heady first days of spring when it's really not that warm but it feels like bikini weather. There's always a certain giddiness in the air.

StPaulSnowman said...

Those of us who live with snow for nearly half the year can envy your sunshine but not the traffic, 700 cc implants and spackeled faces. Give me the early morning sparkle of diamond snow in the moonlight and the crisp song of a shovel edge against the sidewalk anytime!

Anonymous said...

I will love to see a massive earthquake wipe these properties out in Beverly hills etc. Thats when I move in and by of those uninsured little old ladies in the hills

Anonymous said...

Currently, he lives on Tahoe Drive by Lake Hollywood. I see him up at the dog park with his Salukis. And this new house is just as ugly as the house he lives in now. Why does he have such bad taste in architecture?

Anonymous said...

yes no where near a Cape Cod house. I grew up on the Cape and always cringe when I read descriptions like this.

That's no lawn jockey, I actually think that is Ken Paves himself.

Anonymous said...

i'm digging it. my favorite ree, (sb) & me would be very happy there, if not i would just handcuff her to that bed.

somebody give the terrorists a heads up on this one, maybe they'll get off our backs.

Anonymous said...

Good children to not feed the troll(s?)

Keep it up and I'll have your mama make you a special treat.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Sharon Tate's house - only painted white. That beamed ceiling gives me the creeps.

Anonymous said...

I looked at this house several months ago when it was on the market - it is a strange house. You can hear the traffic on Mulholland from the yard. The floorplan is weird - there is just one big giant roundish living room/family room type area that makes no sense and the master is very small.