Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Beverly D'Angelo Used to Live Here

SELLER: Beverly D'Angelo
LOCATION: Coldwater Canyon Drive, Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $2,569,800
SIZE: 4,045 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Feel the romance as you walk through the enclosed courtyard that leads to the formal entry of this two-story home. The spiral staircase grabs your eyes. As you step down into the large living room with fire[lace and beautiful beamed ceiling you retreat in the courtyard view. This home is great for entertaining with formal dining room, large patio, pool and flat grassy yard as well as circular drive with off street parking. A master suite, and maids quarters with private entrances boast this 1920s Spanish Mediterranean.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Although we hear through the gossip grapevine there are several notable purchases in the works, our celebrity real estate well is running a little dry–as it often does this time of year. So, Your Mama has decided to dip deep into our archives and discuss the Beverly Hills (Post Office) home that beauteous actress Beverly D'Angelo listed for sale earlier this year after purchasing ghost busting actor Dan Aykroyd's rumored to be haunted house in the Hollywood Hills.

The children should be aware that Miz D'Angelo's Coldwater Canyon Drive property is not currently on the open market. Do you hear that? It is NOT currently on the open market. However, back in April of 2008, Miz D'Angelo listed the 4,045 square foot Spanish Mediterranean style casa with the wonky and wacky asking price of $2,569,800 where it sat for several months before being removed from the MLS.

While Miz D'Angelo has lately appeared on several episodes of Entourage, one of those upsettingly ubiquitous Law & Order programs AND as the voice of country singing wannabe Lurleen Lumpkin on The Simpsons, she is–for better or worse–probably best known for appearing in the five National Lampoon "Vacation" films in which she rather geniusly portrayed buck-toothed mommy Ellen Griswold.

Property records and reports from the time show that back in January of 2009, Miz D'Angelo forked over $3,800,000 for Dan Aykroyd's multi-parcel Woodrow Wilson Drive property that had previously been owned by Big Mama Cass (Eliot) and Beatle Ringo Starr. Mister Aykroyd, who is married to former actress Donna Dixon (Bosom Buddies), has long maintained that ghosts inhabit the 4,828 square foot house. Hmm. Maybe they do, maybe they don't.

Once Miz D'Angelo closed on her new house in the Hollywood Hills, she was no longer in need of her Beverly Hills (Post Office) residence on bizzy Coldwater Canyon Drive which property records show she purchased in October of 2005 for $2,350,000.

Believe it or not, we first became aware of this house sometime in the late spring or early summer, before Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter packed up and moved west. While out visiting and doing a little bizness, we very distinctly remember driving past this house on several occasions when it had a sign out front that stated, "I'm gorgeous inside." Seriously children, it did. That is probably the very best real estate sign we have ever seen.

Well children, the bones of this 5 bedroom and 4.5 bathroom charmer might be gorgeous–or at least attractive–but from what we can see Miz D'Angelo's decorating abilities, unfortunately, leave Your Mama with a burning need to quickly jot down a list of nice gay decorators who can help her do up her home in a manner befitting a ladee as rich and famous as she is.

Anyhoo, listing information for the house indicates that guests are greeted in a double height entry with a lovely Norma Desmond style curving staircase with oak treads and a wrought iron banister. The living room features a high beamed ceiling, fireplace and french doors that open to the walled and gated front courtyard. There's few things we appreciate more than a walled and gated front courtyard where our long bodied bitches Linda and Beverly can yip and nip at anyone who might try to approach the house. However this property's heavily trafficked Coldwater Canyon Drive location ensures the courtyard is anything but serene during the morning and afternoon rush hours.

The all white and lackluster looking kitchen features stainless steel appliances, natch, and a large picture window overlooking the back yard where listing information reveals there is a 21-foot rock waterfall. Miz D'Angelo has a couple of kids sired by Oscar winning actor Al Pacino so it makes a certain amount of sense the heated swimming pool has been surrounded by one of those horrid child protective fences. We know that those things save baby's lives, but surely some clever industrial designer could develop a more attractive option than a 4-foot tall mesh enclosure that makes the otherwise pleasant looking swimming pool look like the damn seal tank at the fish and chips place Your Mama's momma used to take us when we were children.

Listing information also indicates the detached two car garage has been converted into a fully functional office space with WiFi, intercom and a 4-line bizness phone system. Miz D'Angelo is clearly a very bizzy ladee. For those who feel the need to have a live-in domestic, the "maid's quarters" boast a private entrance which we know deep in our feet our bossy house gurl Svetlana would use to squirrel her mustachioed man-friend in late at night.

It remains to be seen whether Miz D'Angelo will re-list this property or hold it until the not particularly solid real estate market stabilizes. Whatever the case, we've got that list of nice gay decorators for Miz D'Angelo that she can make use of on her new Hollywood Hills hideaway.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do not understand what Beverly Hills (Post Office) means. Is the actual property not within Beverly Hills proper?

Anonymous said...

I do not understand what Beverly Hills (Post Office) means. Is the actual property not within Beverly Hills proper?

Anonymous said...

I used to live in the playhouse until they found me.

TonyV said...

Mama,
You need to fix that typo. Should be "back in January of 2008..." :-)

pch said...

10:16, BHPO, which (mostly) covers an area that stretches north to Mulholland Drive, is "Beverly Hills" only for the purpose of mail delivery. Otherwise, it's City of Los Angeles.

The strangest sign I've seen on Coldwater: "Price drops $10,000 every Friday" or something like that. Might still be there.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is...

On that one wall, one has to ask "Got Clutter?"

StPaulSnowman said...

I am repeatedly amazed at what people try to peddle as a "grand, sweeping staircase." It is a powerful image and may help to hook a potential buyer..........even if there isn't one inside.

Anonymous said...

I'm always amazed at the photos people choose to post to advertise their homes... if the clutter room is the best one they could get in the house besides the boring corner of the kitchen & that random entryway shot, I'm already skeptical about the rest of the house. And how hard is it to take down the mesh kid-guard around the pool just to snap a photo & then put it back up? They're just poles stuck in the ground... Bad, bad realtor for letting these pictures be the advertising...

Anonymous said...

The realtor pictures are a mess. Agree: how hard is it to remove the kid fence? Cheap Wal-Mart bamboo shades in a multi million dollar house? A kitchen shot that says rental tract home? Oh, and tidy up the place. At least stack the extra crap up in a corner away from the camera's view.

The whole place looks like a mid-Wilshire fixer, not a BH multi-million.

Anonymous said...

It looks like a charming place that could really be fixed up nicely.

Too bad it's being listed by an amateur realtor.

SitDownKaren said...

In these harsh times in real estate, couldn't she just rent the place out?

I agree with the others, there is sooo much that could be done to actually SELL it. It doesn't seem as though she really wants to get rid of it.

Anonymous said...

Love Beverly D'Angelo, Hate her house. Too much clutter and the Realtor should be shot, those pictures are bad.

Her new house on Woodrow Wilson Drive, ghosts or no ghosts, is much nicer.

She should just rent her former house out, cover the taxes and maintenance, maybe make a little extra money to cover a few trips to the dermatologist.

Anonymous said...

This is the worst house you have shown on here, really!

Anonymous said...

IMHO, far from the worst shown on the site but definitely in the running for worst job by a broker on presenting a house for sale.

Reminds me of one Mama didn't feature where the broker told us the seller refused to let anyone clean or touch anything. The house looked like an old hermit had been living in it for decades AND it was priced almost 3 times as much as this one.

Anonymous said...

At least Mz D'Anjello put away the ashtrays and her bleach bottles before the photo shoot.......that's something.

Mama's Kiwi Kid said...

You're never too old for braces.

Anonymous said...

For such a pretty lady what a mess of a house! Are these selling shots for real??? Was it too much effort to move all that shit, take a photo, then move it back???

I did more effort to rent my room out on craigslist - but hey, I got 50+ responses that day, Bev has 0.

Anonymous said...

Buck-toothed? She's got a slight overbite. Looks damned cute on her too.

Anonymous said...

Boo-ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I need to move to LA. In NY, $2.5M buys you a 3 bed (if you're lucky) 2.5 bath, 1800 sf condo with street views. In LA you get a mansion with an actual YARD and crazy ass views!!!! WTF?

Anonymous said...

NYNY is ok to live there for a couple of years so you can tell the grandchildren you lived there.

Otherwise you are pissing up a wall to get ahead.

Better cities to live around the world where the dollar goes alot further.

Anonymous said...

Meh. So not impressed.

lil' gay boy said...

Even from the air it's meh.

Each photo tells a story ––– of a lazy realtor. The courtyard; if the left edge of the photo weren't cut off by the wall, it would have appeared more spacious. The staircase; it's crooked, for God's sake. The living room; an uninteresting corner that reveals nothing of its charm. The kitchen; prominently features the trash can. The clutter room; 'nuff said. The back yard; framed to look like the side of a garage. And the pool; aside from the child guard, it fails to play up the penis shape, it's only selling point IMHO.

justlovely said...

Mama, I love this site! I lived up Coldwater for 23 years on one of the girl-named streets and this site is my primary source for keeping up with doings in the old 'hood (and all of "Hollywood" for that matter).

I don't miss the rush hour on Coldwater one little bit. I used to time my departures and arrivals to avoid it if I had the choice. Otherwise you just sit. And when traffic moves, it's NOISY for the places right on Coldwater itself.

I must have driven past the D'Angelo house a million times. At some point many years ago it was face-lifted and I recall thinking at the time that they kind of drained all the charm out of it.

Keep up the good work and say hello to Dr. Cooter for me.

Anonymous said...

I didn't know DeAngelo lived there. I drove by because it is the house that inspired Ghostbusters. That is interesting though!