Friday, August 17, 2007

Gene Wilder in the Wilds of Bel Air

SELLER: Gene Wilder
LOCATION: Chalon Road, Bel Air, CA
PRICE: $2,750,000
SIZE: 2,756 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Extraordinary remodel opportunity: Sitting above the Bel Air Golf Course w/ beautiful vistas is this charming ranch house w/ the details and flair of Robert Byrd Design. Open floor plan, flex. use of space; pool, patio, grassy yard and guest cottage. Or build your Dream! Prime Location.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: We can't decide, does Gene Wilder's living room look more like the lounge of a "luxury" spa resort in Belarus, or the family room of an Appalachian millionaire?

According to property records, Mister Wilder, who is surely one of the funniest of the funny men who have ever been pushed out of his mama, purchased this property in 1976 for just $314,000, which was probably a hell of a lot of money back then. The 3 bedroom and 4.5 bathroom ranch style house is dated beyond all sense of style and taste, but children, the location is spectacular.

If the first rule of real estate is location, location, location, then this house should sell itself. Located on a bluff overlooking the western finger of the swanky Bel Air Country Club the property is admittedly not on the best part of Chalon Road. But in this neck of the Bel Air woods, that's just splitting hairs, isn't it?

Very recently put on the market for $2,750,000, we think this place is a STEAL. To be honest, we're surprised to even see this place hit the open market, because it would seem that one quick call from the listing agent to prodigious house flipper Sandy Gallin would have this place sold in a heart beat.

More than likely this property will be purchased by a developer looking to tear this place down and build a sprawling Mediterranean behemoth that pushes the edge of the property and includes an infinity edge pool hanging over the golf course. Which is all well and good if you like that sort of thing. If anyone were to ask Your Mama, and of course, no one will, we'd recommend a developer maintain the relative modesty of the house by updating and upgrading the current California ranch style.

As an aside...anyone who knows Your Mama at all, knows we love candy. All our young life we longed to meet Willy Wonka from the Chocolate Factory so he could guide us into the garden of sweet treats and chocolate rivers. We didn't even care that he was clearly crazy and not just a little pervy. It's truly a wonder we have teeth left in our head and it's prolly even more of a wonder we were never picked up by a crazy eyed stranger in a car offering us a candy bar. Because children, Your Mama was an easy target. At six years old, walking home from elementary school all on our lonesome, Your Mama would have done anything for a candy bar. An-ee-thing.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mama, to my astonisnment last night when "Fabulous Life" pulled back the curtain, I knew the Wizard!!! This turn of events make your blog even better for me. Great job Mama!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Those couches are straight out of the 80s!

Anonymous said...

A nice redo would be the way I'd go. If for no other reason than it's all on one level.

I hate having to get my lazy ass up a whack of stairs so ranchers are my preference.

so_chic_darling said...

Pull it down and build a modern minimalist glass box.

MUDNYC said...

OMG I thought that man was DEAD!!!

Anonymous said...

uuuuuggggglay
i hope someone with some taste comes along and remodels trhat living room especially. oh my i need some water.

Anonymous said...

That last paragraph was the best mama.... Keep it up... Kisses...

Anonymous said...

Now Mama, It's obvious that Gene and Gilda decorated this house back in 1983 and he hasn't had the heart to change a thing since then. I think that kind of devotion is kind of sweet.

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I'd assume that the land would be worth more than that. I actually love this part of Chalon. One of my favorite homes in Los Angeles is right down the street.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with one of the anonymous comments. I think that living room needs major help!

Anonymous said...

Okay Mama I want info on. 77 Beverly Park, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. It is listed by Mr. Umanski. Now that you are a big star I am expecting more than the pictures from Mr. Umanski's website.

Like you I am addicted to Beverly Park. This community should be listed as one of the great wonders of the world.

Umanski raves about the lot I feel different as it is small at 2 acres. It also has no view. For 50 million I would expect more land and a view.

However, the house is designed by William Hablinsky. Who has designed many estates in Beverly Park. (The house next door).

His site only shows a sketch of the estate. Which leaves me wanting more.... Now hook me up with some nice, top grade, Crackestate.

Please.

Anonymous said...

Gene Wilder. Last of the class acts in the biz.

Anonymous said...

I'm agreeing with the earlier poster - I don't think he's had the heart to change anything since Gilda Radner Wilder died.

This home was the last place she was conscious and at peace - On May 17, 1989, in the last stages of ovarian cancer that had metastasized throughout her body, her husband took her in to LA's Cedars-Sinai for a CAT scan.

With amazing precience, somehow Gilda knew if they sedated her for the scan she would never regain consciousness.

Gilda started fighting the morphine, and Gene tried to soothe her and tell her it as going to be OK, and she begged him not to let them sedate her and to take her home.

Once sedated, her fear came true - she never regained consciousness. Gene Wilder stayed with her at the hospital night and day until she died on May 20, 1989.

She never got her request to go back to her ranch house in Bel-Air.

I can excuse the man for not redecorating since then. I wouldn't either.

here's hoping someone updates the ranch, and doesn't build a monstrosity.

Anonymous said...

but hasn't he been married since gilda?

Anonymous said...

yes Gene has definitely remarried back in 1991 I believe
and still alive and oh so handsome!!

Anonymous said...

First of all, the place is beautiful in a very natural way, with it's rock and slopped roofs, the light and the transparencey in the living room, The yard is tight and private, yet very organic and has lovely curves in the landscaping and repeted in a simple kidney pool. The house is simple, compared to the luxury of the nirghborhood. The house has the same honesty and virtue that I am reminded when i think of him....He is pure, he did not need some den of pleasure or a shiny bling bling to make him happy, because Mr. Wilder knows that money isn't even Real, and niether is real estate, because we never really own it, only rent it! So he has a house that he and his wife could live happily ever after, and that is what it looks like to me. I believe he has been married and living in CT with his wife Karen for about 17 uears, so the house looks pretty vacant. Houses that are vacant always appear a bit dead.

Anonymous said...

Gene Wilder is in my estimation one of the funniest, and nicest people EVER in Hollywood. The Original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an all time epic, and one of my top 3 films of all time.

Enough about you, let's talk about ME! said...

This house, as lovely as it is, was Gene's home purchased many years before he & Gilda married. Gilda always considered her house in North Stamford, Connecticut her real home. So much so that she's buried not far away in a teen-tiny cemetary in the vicinity of her house. If Gilda wanted to "go home" it wasn't this house in Bel-Air.

Fred Cline said...

Many of Robert Byrd's homes have incredible details - thick redwood beams and lathe turned supports, sheet copper range hoods and raingutters, odd little windows and inglenooks. There might be much more to this house than the few posted photos here can show. Someone who appreaciates Robert Byrd should snag this place and do a sensitive update.