Monday, July 30, 2012

Pete Wentz, (San Fernando) Valley Boy

BUYER: Pete Wentz
LOCATION: Studio City, CA
PRICE: $1,050,000
SIZE: 2,000 square feet (approx.), 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Listen chickens, we know many of y'all prefer to hear about the real estate doings of tawdry reality denizens like Teresa Giudice, Promethean sports figures like Tim Tebow and Michael Phelps and/or mega-stars like itty-bitty tweener tycoon Justin Beiber. We do too. But sometimes we gotta dip down to the lower echelons of fame if only to clear out the celebrity real estate cobwebs that sometimes clutter up the desktop of my trusty laptop computer.

One of those cobwebs to be swept away is the modest (if not exactly cheap) residence 30-something year old entrepreneurial musician Pete Wentz scooped up a few months ago for $1,050,000 in the conveniently located San Fernando Valley community of Studio City, CA.

Once upon a time Studio City was the Brooklyn of Los Angeles. Wasn't so long ago nobody rich and/or chic in New York went to Brooklyn or—heaven forfend—actually lived there and if they did they certainly didn't admit it to anyone socially or professionally important. Howevuh, like Brooklyn, over the last 10 or so year it has become a lot more geographically acceptable to live in Studio City. Of course, Brooklyn was infiltrated by arty-farty hipsters and Studio City went to young families with good jobs and ludicrously expensive, hi-tech strollers, but still there's a kind of real estate parity. Oh my, how Your Mama wanders when we have gin for breakfast...

Mister Wentz, tatted up like a convict, reached the to-date pinnacle of his success and celebrity in the mid-Aughts when he was the kohl-eyed and boy-kissing lead singer of a rock band called Fall out Boy. Remember them? Since long before and since Fall Out Boy went on a semi-permanent hiatus in 2009 and his brief marriage to "singer" and (h)actress Ashlee Simpson went kaput in 2011, Mister Wentz has stayed busy as a greeter at Wal-Mart with a new-ish experimental electropop-ska duo called Black Cards, a record label (Decaydance Records), clothing company (Clandestine Industries), a not very active film production company (Bartskull Films), and a budding bar franchise (Angels and Kings).

The  original, downtown New York City Angels and Kings closed some time ago but there are now versions in Barcelona, Chicago and Los Angeles. Interestingly, at least one of the AK bars is co-owned by celebrity gossip slinger Perez Hilton who, some may recall, frequently and regularly gave Mister Wentz's ex-wife Ashlee scathing how-tos and what-fors on the Twitter and on his ridiculously trafficked blog. Those two bitches just hated each other and now he's in business with her ex. Ouch. Anyhoo...

In June 2006 Mister Wentz, then single and in his mid-20s, dropped $1,625,000 to buy a 2,700 square foot, privately-situated bachelor pad in the Hollywood Hills. It wasn't long after he hooked up with, quickly impregnated and then married Miss Simpson, the younger and less successful sister of bubble gum pop singer turned pioneering reality tee-vee star turned retail clothing super-tycoon (and new mommy) Jessica Simpson.

He packed up and moved in to her much larger, celeb-style 7,100 square foot Beverly Hills (Post Office area) mansion just down the winding road from Demi Moore and Mark Wahlberg she'd bought in the early days of 2007 for $4,500,000. In October 2008, a few months after their May nupitals, he finally unloaded his bachelor pad in the Hollywood Hills for $1,600,000.

We're not sure where Mister Wentz went in the immediate aftermath of his split from Miz Simpson in early 2011 but we do know that she took a hair-raising loss of nearly a million bucks—not counting carrying costs, maintenance, improvements and real estate fees—when she sold her/their big house in Bev Hills in April 2011 for $3,699,000. For some celebs losing a million bucks ain't no thang to kvetch about but we can imagine for an increasingly low wattage Showbizzer like ex-Missus Wentz it might, maybe sting a little. But we digress into ex-Missus Wentz's real estate bidness yet again...

At some point Mister Wentz decamped his marital homestead in the Hills of Beverly and eventually he began to hunt for a new bachelor pad. In April of this year (2012), according to property records and previous reports, Mister Wentz shelled out a probably financially practical but very-modest-by-celeb-standards $1,050,000 to acquire an updated and upgraded 1940s cottage nestled into a quiet and thickly treed hillside above Studio City, CA.

Listing information from the time of the sale shows the two story residence—set behind that detached two car garage and a tall teak fence Your Mama imagines is now equipped with state-of-the-art security cameras—measures in at 2,000 square feet and includes 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms plus separate guest quarters with an additional bathroom. For the record, the Los Angeles County Tax Man calls it at 1,653 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.

The main, open plan living space has yellow-blond wood floors, a wood-burning fireplace (oddly) tucked under the stairs, and a wide bank of mullioned French doors that connect a pergola-shaded and wisteria draped red brick patio enveloped in a forest of trees and the full width of the rear of the residence.

We sincerely hope Mister Wentz has already made or plans to make alterations to the galley-style kitchen where listing photos from the time of his purchase show the counter tops slathered in (not entirely awful) azure tiles with bone-colored grouting and the (dated-looking) flat-front cabinets painted white. We can certainly cotton to a white kitchen cabinet, but these just look so ordinary, like Gene Simmons without all his war paint. The appliances are—or were—mid-grade and also white and the hulking, white refrigerator is, technically, located in the adjoining laundry room.

A den/potential bedroom (and bathroom) on the lower floor also open up to the lushly planted backyard. There is a second bedroom (and bathroom) upstairs along with the master suite. We're not really sure where the separate guest quarters mentioned in marketing materials are located.

Either Mister Wentz likes to tinker and putter around in a teeming, high-maintenance garden or he doesn't mind having Jefe and his brother Jaime on the property several times a week pruning, trimming, and taming the the grounds as necessary. In addition to the wisteria-draped veranda, there's a large brick terrace to the side of the house, on which the previous owners installed a very modern, free-standing outdoor fireplace, and various pathways that connect a tree-shaded spa, Japanese tea house—a teak ramada, really—a children's play house, waterfalls and an architectural koi pond.

Now children, use yer noggins, okay? The furniture and day-core seen in listing photos belongs to the seller of the property and does not reflect the personal style and/or whatever sort of decorative sensibility Mister Wentz may (or may not) have.

listing photos: Rodeo Realty

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mama, some of the richest people in show biz lived in Studio City decades ago- Gene Autry for one.

Many others too numerous to mention liked it for the close proximity to the studios- CBS and Warner Bros.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but Studio City is still GHETTO! And grungy. There may be a couple decent pockets but mostly it is for the riff-raffs of society. Perfect for a has-been like Mr. Wentz.

And "Jefe and his brother Jaime"? You slay me, Mama.

Anonymous said...

I don't know anything about the neighborhood or how close neighbors would be, but the outdoor spaces seem cozy and private. In fact, you could do a lot of living in those outdoor spaces until that kitchen is remodeled.

Anonymous said...

11:23..exactly "decades ago". Wow...Fall Out Boy must not have banked much, or that was one exspensive divorce? Im all for practical but this is depressing.

Anonymous said...

Studio City doesn't bother George Clooney.

Anonymous said...

Well, George Clooney is hardly ever there since he lives in Italy. I could handle being there for a few weeks out of the year but I would rather die than live in that dump Studio City full time.

Anonymous said...

Ouch! I live in Studio City and love it.

Anonymous said...

Wow that is a lot of landscape maintenance packed into a small space.

Anonymous said...

I had to Google a recent picture of Pete Wentz as I haven't really seen anything in some time. Rather sad when a young rocker in skinny jeans turns into a thirty-something guy in too tight pants. Somehow being over-tatted in a "grandma's bakin' cookies" kind of house doesn't make for a cozy scene. Maybe Pete will mature, the house will be updated and they'll meet somewhere in the middle.

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't he just come out? He's such a little queen.

Anonymous said...

What type of place is Toluca Lake?

Anonymous said...

And those "riff-raffs" of society surely will be slaying you as well.

Petra's said...

Yes, Studio City is mostly trashy and undesirable, but there are a few nice parts in the hills off Coldwater Canyon (before it turns into BH). Every city has its good and bad. Even BH has so-so parts, like some of the houses below Wilshire for instance.

Anonymous said...

you people are obviously haters, Studio city is one of the nicest cities in LA, far from Ghetto, and has tons of celebs and hollywood execs.

Anonymous said...

To whomever said Studio city is ghetto is Asinine. Studio City is home to george clooney, Miley Cyrus, ll cool j, Alex trebek, Zak Efron, Mila kunis, And tons of others. Studio city is an affluent neighborhood in Los Angeles. Also the Valley is becoming a lot more celebrity friendly, ie. the flocking celebs moving to the Valley. I live in Mullholland Estates so I get the best of both worlds.