Monday, January 26, 2009

Cheryl Ladd and Brian Russell List Santa Ynez Property

SELLERS: Cheryl Ladd and Brian Russell
LOCATION: Roblar Avenue, Santa Ynez, CA
PRICE: $5,795,000
SIZE: approx. 7,000 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4 full and 1 half bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: ...Exquisite yet comfortable European inspired country estate on 22 acres with panoramic views of the entire Santa Ynez Valley. This thoughtfully designed and appointed manor features soaring ceilings, grand spaciousness and an open floor plan ideal for formal or casual living.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Before Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu were taking orders on the big screen from a mysterious man named Charlie there was a ladee named Cheryl Ladd who worked her stuff as the high kicking, gun toting and criminal chasing Kris Monroe on the original and iconic boob-toob program Charlie's Angels.

Since her salad days on Charlie's Angels back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Miz Ladd has (among other endeavors) made some records, written a couple of books, hoofed it on Broadway, acted as the spokesperson for some menopause public service thing, advocated for the protection of children, and spent 5 years working her stuff on the recently axed tee-vee drama Las Vegas.

She also left the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and moved to the hoity toity hinterlands of the Santa Ynez, CA where she and her music producer huzband Brian Russell have spent the last 15+ years hunkered down in a vaguely neo-classical Italian country house like mansion that thanks to a source we'll call Vlad the Revealer Your Mama has learned they recently put on the market with an asking price of $5,795,000.

Property records show the couple picked up their 22.5 acre parcel way back in 1989 for just $459,000. Lawhd have mercy children, remember back when half a million clams really bought some real estate and not some crappy studio apartment in Queens or a tract house out in a newly created suburb of Los Angeles that's 102 miles from the office?

Anyhoo, presumably the couple spent the next several years designing and building their 7,000+ square foot house which is accessed up a long Oak tree lined private road that leads to a large gravel motor court with a fountain and a slew of potted Olive trees. Four narrow Cyprus trees flank the front door which opens to a large sky-lit entrance hall. On one side sits a grand piano and on the other a small table and chairs–who would actually sit there, we don't know–and a large and deeply upsetting painting of pears on the other. It has been quite a some time since Your Mama has run across the sorts of pear paintings that seem to pop up in celebrity owned homes in alarming numbers and we really wish it had been longer because while clearly rich and famous people love them, we just do not get the appeal of pear paintings as art regardless of how realistically they are painted.

Listing information shows the single floor residence includes four bedrooms, each with a private pooper, and another half bathroom for guests. The hilltop property offers panoramic views of the Santa Ynez Valley, which is, of course, the same neck of comely California scrub land north of Santa Barbara where notorious property princess Ellen Degeneres has owned several large ranch properties and where, all the children surely recall, Michael Jackson shacked up in an amusement park masquerading as a house called Neverland before he fled the area in the aftermath of an embarrassing child molestation trial.

Other amenities according to listing information and photos is a formal living room with very high ceilings, a wood burning fireplace and a lot of dignified but very ordinary looking beige furniture sitting on spotless beige wall to wall carpeting. The large wood floored dining features high wood beamed ceiling and stone walls which Your Mama hopes are real stone and not some nutty paint treatment meant to look like stacked stones.

Listing information reveals the gore-may kitchen is open to a large family room and dining area that despite the lack of a tee-vee looks like a well conceived and comfortably decorated room with plush velvet sofas, deliciously worn leather chairs and ottomans, a fireplace for warming the tootsies and if the children look really close, you'll note the mesmerizing views out the many large paned windows.

At the rear of the house is a covered veranda anchored by four fat and gorgeously groomed ivy covered pillars. For the most part, the design and day-core of the Ladd-Russell residence is not how Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter would choose to spend five and some million clams, but we are luh-ving those ivy wrapped pillars and can easily imagine being happily splayed out on those chaise lounges wrapped in a cashmere throw from Hermes sipping gin and tonics and watching the sun go down over the rolling hills of the Santa Ynez Valley. That, as one of Your Mama's friends we no longer talk to used to incessantly say, would not suck.

While the house is surrounded by lawns large enough to have several booze fueled and concurrent croquet tournaments, apparently Miz Ladd and Mister Russell don't care for tennis, swimming or the horsies because, oddly and despite it's 22 acres, the property does not have a swimming pool, tennis court or stabling facilities. Pity.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

who wants to be in the middle of no where? I'll stick to the city!

Anonymous said...

cheryl ladd was one of my firsts, loved that chick, way better than farrah.

Madam Pince said...

I like Cheryl Ladd -- especially her guest spots on the first year of Jesse, the late, lamented Christina Applegate NBC sitcom. The setting for her house is exquisite -- unlike Anon 1:51, I love the middle of nowhere (and actually live in an East Coast version of it). The decor isn't to my taste, but it's a lot better than some of the tripe chosen by celebs.

Anonymous said...

I can just imagine the chicken wire and pressure treated lumber under those stucco slathered columns. This place has a real styrofoam quality about it that would be hard to conceal.

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid I'm going to have to go with paint effect for the dining room walls. It is almost, but not quite, convincing.

I love the restrained, almost unwelcoming front elevation. Just imagine crunching your big BMW down that driveway at dusk. Yum.

It does need a pool and a simple rectangular one installed just beyond the patio would be divine.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is a HECK of a lot of beige. It's as if it's going out of style or something and they wanted to use it all up first. The bedroom is a *symphony* in beige. Straight people sure loves them some beige, don't they?

Anonymous said...

The view is to die for! Location, location, location

Anonymous said...

I like Cheryl Ladd, one of the classier, nicer women in Hollywood. The house is not my taste, nor is the location, but to each there own and with 22 acres, someone will buy it.

Anonymous said...

I get a "weekend get-away" vibe. A lot of those places out there are. Good wine country now too.

Anonymous said...

one can almost ignore the hideous exterior and the boring-as-a-virgin-lay decor because of those views. beautiful piece of property!

Anonymous said...

looks like she did the decor herself. Tacky Tacky Tacky!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, the house has a mausoleum look to it. Love, love, love the hilltop setting and gorgeous views though.

Anonymous said...

love the driveway (and dolly's bmw comment)- love the views! - i would paint paint paint my brains out up there. this place is great for someone who wants peace and quiet(me!). the good points definitely cancel out the bad points, so i'm not gonna pick on cheryl for the borderline snoozy decor. i have an imagination and can decorate how i like. i cannot however fill out a pair of spandex like ms. ladd.

Anonymous said...

Let's see. You can either A: Spend $60 million for an apartment in a drab grey concrete box in the middle of a city full car exhaust, urine smell and trash on the sidewalks with no land whatsoever, or B: for less than $6 million buy this place in the middle of the beautiful pristine countryside and put the other $54 million in my pocket. Not a hard choice.

Anonymous said...

when I looked at the photos (without looking at the price first) I estimated $3.8m. Yes it seems low, but I am 82% correct with a stanadrd deviation of +- 13%.

Early this month I guessed correctly the exchange of 2260 Sunet Plaza for $8.1m even when that coke head wanted $14m at one stage.

Anonymous said...

Bee-yoo-tee-ful! I'll take it!

Anonymous said...

I'll take the house, the view looks amazing. I'll also take the piano.

What kind of tool is that above the fireplace?

Anonymous said...

I had the pleasure last Fiesta to ride shotgun as my brother drove his team of mules pulling the wagon with grand marshal Cheryl and her husband Bryan in the back seat. Both beautiful, friendly people. She still looks great! They even stayed for the post parade Horseman's Rendezvous at the Carriage Museum to enjoy margaritas and music

Anonymous said...

She was my favourite angel!

Anonymous said...

$450K was for just the unimproved land maybe with a 3 wire fence and a 4x4 trail to the best build site.

Ellen's Mom decamped the valley for the bright lights of Santa Barbara last year.

The tool above the fireplace is for real big ice cubes.

As to selling in this market; to quote the RE agent from "Wall Street" "Even the rich are bitching".

Rent still live their. I was voted “first to skip grad and get out of town” in my class at SYVUHS.

Anonymous said...

Checked it on zillow.com. The house is labeled with the price and description. Here is the actual web listing -
http://www.prudentialcal.com/Listing/ListingDetail.aspx?Listing=35957959

The house is prime property. It is not up the canyon, but at the front. Has a nice view of the valley with a raised lot. However, they are surrounded by houses that most likely were not there when they built.

My uncle owned a house two canyons to the left years ago. He and Bob Eubanks where the only ones with large houses in this area back in the 70s. You could hike anywhere up there back than. No fancy white fences and lawns, just barbed wire, cattle, deer, and oak trees.

Price seems low for that prime location and acreage. Most of the lots in this area are just 10 acres. Bad time to sell.

Anonymous said...

Awful house, beautiful setting. Nice.

lil' gay boy said...

"I can just imagine the chicken wire and pressure treated lumber under those stucco slathered columns."

Snowman, I couldn't have characterized its first impression better if I tried ––– spot on. At first blush it looks like the product of the top-o'-the-line prefab kit for a Chili's.

The over-rigorously applied landscaping leaves a lot to be desired too (what were they thinking with those patio columns?)

While the overall decor is meh, it does have that "home" as opposed to "staged house" vibe going for it.

And like Madam Pince, I too love the middle of nowhere ––– even if nowhere is in the center of a 22 acre, pool-less lot with a severely formal façade featuring just enough asymmetrical symmetry to avoid offending the eye.

Anonymous said...

She's been tryining to unload this property for awhile. About 7 years ago or so, she had it listed in some high-end luxury real estate magazines, but no takers. For that price as well as the hot desert climate (which in recent years has been getting more humid -- like Fresno or something!!-- with all the newly established vineyards in the valley) she really needs a pool, even just one of those mini "endless" pools.

Anonymous said...

You can't let your pets roam out there; coyotes will eat them.

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid you all got this one wrong..I know Kenny,his mom Karen,aunt Sharon, sister Jennifer, dad,grandma,etc. I have worked with his mom for years, and was a nurse to his step-dad. Believe me when I say, Kenny is not gay...he loves the women..I know this first hand. And I was told today, that he did not buy this property.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful home. I love the area and would love to come home to that place and relax outside while enjoying the view. The price doesn't seem to bad for the location. Where is Cheryl moving to? Any idea why they're selling?

Anonymous said...

This place is closer to Los Olivos than Santa Ynez. Truly a great address, great area. It does need to be fleshed out and redecorated, though. Seems like it was bought for an investment, not as a long-term or forever home. Definitely needs a pool with covered bbq/sundeck area because that area is majorly hot in the summer.

Anonymous said...

$5.8 mill? Naaaaaa...someone will buy it just because....geez...celebrities lived in it!

I can do a whole lot better with $5.8 mil than that.