Friday, March 1, 2013

TMZ Boss Harvey Levin Lists Sunset Strip Digs

SELLER: Harvey Levin
LOCATION: Lost Angeles, CA
PRICE: $5,300,000
SIZE: 2,996 square feet, 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It has come to Your Mama's attention that attorney, legal analyst and celebrity gossip bigwig Harvey Levin—he's the co-founder, owner and managing editor at TMZ—has hoisted his long-time home in West Hollywood, CA on the market with a celebrity-style $5,300,000 asking price.

Property records indicate Mister Levin picked up the house way back in 1998 for $950,000 and almost immediately added his longtime man-friend, chiropractor Andy Maurer—or Mauer, depending on what documentation you look at online—to the deed and documentation.

Current listing details shows the three bedroom and three bathroom Spanish style mini-villa was originally built in 1937, measures in at a modest-by-rich-folks standard 2,996 square feet and sits well above the street on a .31 acre up sloping lot behind high hedges and electronic driveway gates. The house happens to be just a few doors down, ironically enough, from the gated and fortified mini-estate Halle Berry owns and—so the stories go—has available off market with a $15 million price tag.

Intricately patterned and vibrantly colored tile floors in the entrance hall stretch into a sun-splashed loggia with a perfect row of three arched French doors that open a flagstone terrace that surrounds the heated swimming pool and spa.

The sunken living room has wood floors and a hulking stone fireplace not to mention lots of masculine looking brown furniture and several of the many framed Italian movie posters or Euro-advertisements—or whatever they are—that are hung throughout the house.

We don't care so much for the red tile floors in the formal dining room but we do appreciate the generous scale of the room that has over-sized windows on three sides and opens onto a lushly planted terrace with a direct view up towards a rolling swathe of tree-ringed lawn. The red tile flooring continues into the fairly compact informal family quarters that include a smallish but well-equipped kitchen with granite counter tops and top-grade appliance. A short, two-seat breakfast counter peninsula separates the kitchen from a petite den/tee-vee viewing lounge that opens to the rear terraces and gardens and is currently furnished by Mister Levin and Maurer—or Mauer or whatever—with a sectional sofa upholstered in eggplant colored velvet.

There are two guest/family bedrooms and two guest/family bathrooms slathered in period-perfect vintage tiles. The second floor master suite has a small sitting area, two sets of French doors that open to Juliet balconies with verdant garden views, a custom-fitted walk-in closet and a spacious bathroom with exposed wood vaulted ceiling, his and his sinks, a soaking tub set into a bay window and a separate shower separated from the rest of the bathroom by a tiled pony way. Frankly, we prefer a bit more privacy in our showering space, but we're not living here so...

Other features include a built-in home office nook with custom-built desk and cabinetry, a separate laundry room so large and luxurious that it could make most hauefraus pee their mom jeans with envy, a basement level bonus room with extra storage and an attached two-car garage with direct entry. The house is pre-wired for sound with individual controls in each room and secured with a celeb-style state of the art system and intercom.

Your Mama's research shows Mister Levin and Mister Mauer (or Maurer or whatever) also own a nearly 1,800 square foot condo in a beachside building in Marina del Rey (CA) that they snatched up for $1,200,000 in 2003.

We have absolutely no inside intel into the matter but Your Mama would bet both our long bodied bitches, Linda and Beverly, that Mister Levin and his long term male companion will trade up to an even more impressive estate with a larger house and more extensive grounds. We shall see...

listing photos: Keller Williams / Beverly Hills

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who can blame them for wanting to move after seeing the outrageous place next door...

Anonymous said...

I'm more than intrigued knowing Mr. L. is 1/2 of a Hollywood (gay) couple. I should presume that Mama would never leave us hanging w/o details about the new abode these scions of WEHO choose for their next lair. But I write to make that very request, inquiring minds wanna know where in the TMZ will Mr. & Mr. TMZ drop their bundles of Peoples' Court and chiropractic millions, and on what. Please Mama follow this story like the frenzied paps that Mr. L gleefully sics on his So. Cal neighbors.

Anonymous said...

Overpriced to the MAX! Is he crazy?! I think yes.

Anonymous said...

Location is good but house is ugly and small. Worth 3.5 tops.

lil' gay boy said...

Again my least favorite style, but proof positive that good gay sensibilities can put lipstick on a pig & come up with something that is disturbingly alluring...

...i need a shower.

Anonymous said...

What??? is he crazy?? Its a tiny house with a mansion sized price tag. Frankly I find the man creapy on his TMZ show when hes trying to look and act young and eyeing all the male staffers.

Petra's said...

The house is overpriced by about 100%.

Anonymous said...

Good for Harv. Money is money no matter how you make it and this was easy money. I know TMZ is moving their offices down to Playa Vista soon so the condo makes sense but I hope they continue to live large on the west side.
JM

Anonymous said...

PS
The vintage French advertising poster above the fireplace is a rare shape and design. Very hot. But having them throughout the house? Boring. C'mon guys, have some fun!!!
JM

Anonymous said...

Lets not forget or at least inform you that the price of a property is not what you think you would pay or even what its worth..the price a home is worth is entirely what someone is willing to pay for it..location..and the pedigree of this homes neighbors most surely call for a big price and considering the size of the lot it very surely may be land value and its no secret far more has been paid for far less .

StPaulSnowman said...

Whenever I have seen Mr. Levin's gappy smile during my channel surfing I am always reminded of those wonderful Muppet rats...........and I really don't mean it in a bad way. I have always loved those rats.

Anonymous said...

The house looks pretty cool and very authentic, not that bastardized faux spanish you see everywhere with that ridiculous gayfare spin. And the neighborhood is packed full of celebs. The house alone, maybe not worth it, but the lot size and the authentic architecture and tiles kind of put it on-par with some of the old spanish homes in Beverly Hills that you can pay far more for in a far less cool neighborhood. I also just happen to love a good "real" Spanish home.

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Anonymous said...

Tamara Ecclestone's house is on MLS for 299K Monthly on Bellagio Road... some juicy pics of interiors

Anonymous said...

Tamara Ecclestone's house is on MLS for 299K Monthly on Bellagio Road... some juicy pics of interiors

Little Miss Smoke and Mirrors said...

I love this house.

Anonymous said...

This man is what is wrong with America. He is vile scum and does not deserve the wealth he's acquired at all. It's all come at the expense of others misfortune that he uses for his own personal gain. It's despicable. Not to mention that this place is way overpriced.

Anonymous said...

The price for this is pure crack pipe. Clearly he is gay, why doesn't he just come out and admit it already? And yes, like almost all lawyers, he is vile predatory scum that profits off of the misfortune of others. May he burn in hell.

Anonymous said...

Soooo overpriced. this is NOT the bird streets. houses in this area usually go for about 1000/sq. foot or a little more.

recent examples:

9212 Cordell - 3800 sf sold for 3.7
1355 doheny - 3200 sf sold for 3.45
1161 doheny - 4800 sf sold for 4.9

the lot is not particularly big here either, and the house is boring.

MamasBoy said...

Fascinating post, and comments from hilarious to poignant and back again. Mama--your blog is the spice of the www!

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Anonymous said...

Is L.A. in another epic real estate bubble or something? $1769/sqft for that house? In that location? HAHAHAHA!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Uhm...maybe before you start spewing your hate look at a few articles online. Harvey is out and has been out forever! What does it matter to you anyway? Jealous much?!

Anonymous said...

Umm. Land not squarefootage. .31 acre is huge in LA