Trigger has a new downtown stable
FIRST, ONE of Hollywood’s most enigmatic stars gave a voice to unrepresented screenwriters and short-film directors. And now he’s bought them a Los Angeles work-live space in which to hang their baseball caps.
In 1997, Kevin Spacey formed Trigger Street Productions, a fully funded production company, to create low-budget feature films and independent products. The cast and crew from each production share in the gross sales of the film.
Spacey bought the Triggerites a nifty new unit in the Biscuit Co. Lofts downtown. Sales price: $1.2 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service, down from the asking price of $1,335,000. The 2,400-square-foot space has three bathrooms and an open-floor plan, as currently configured.
The eight-story Biscuit building was constructed in 1925 and remodeled into 104 lofts in 2006. Units have soaring ceilings, views and lots of light and original details. There are 1-inch-thick maple floors, exposed brick walls, industrial-scale windows and copper doors. There is a pool and ground-level bars and restaurants, a market, gym and retail shops. It is next door to the Toy Factory Lofts.
Trigger Street is a reference to a street in Chatsworth where Spacey spent his boyhood and where Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (and Roy’s horse, Trigger, for those born yesterday) had their ranch.
The company’s film credits include “Fanboys,” a comedy adventure about “Star Wars” fans slated to be released in November. The company also co-produced the Emmy-nominated HBO movie “Recount” and the Spacey-starring “21,” released earlier this year.
Spacey won Oscars for his lead role in “American Beauty” (1999) and his supporting role in “The Usual Suspects” (1995).
His purchase solidifies the hip factor of the Biscuit, which has also attracted actor Nicolas Cage to lease with an option to buy the penthouse unit.
Billy Rose and H. Blair Chang of Prudential California Realty, Beverly Hills, had the listing, according to the MLS.
Cookies seal deal for the tanned one
It seems that actor George Hamilton hungers for more than just a perpetual tan.
Hamilton, who recently bought along the Wilshire Corridor, wrote into the purchase offer that the seller -- who runs a popular bakery -- had to keep him in cookies for a year.
Now why didn’t I think of that?
Details about the unit that Hamilton bought are sketchy. The strip of high-rise condos along Wilshire is hot right now, and units in the luxury building in which he purchased are listed for up to $5 million.
According to Coco Clayman-Cook, owner of LA Condo Lifestyles -- which represented the sellers -- Hamilton spent about 90 minutes in the unit munching on a selection of seller Ginger Sherak’s famous TuTu Bakery cookies, including her ginger snaps.
Her husband, William Sherak, is a producer and owner of Blue Star Entertainment.
Hamilton, represented by Jerry Jolton of Coldwell Banker Previews International, Beverly Hills, will receive cookies for a year. How perfect for the star of “Love at First Bite” (1979).
Party karma in Hollywood Hills
What is Los Angeles if not a city of velvet ropes and people willing to stand behind them?
Although we can’t credit Lonnie Moore for creating this phenomenon, it’s safe to say that he, as part of the Dolce Group, helped create the skyline of Los Angeles’ night life (and he probably owns stock in the velvet-rope factory). Moore has listed his Hollywood Hills home for sale at $3,495,000.
The Dolce Group owns some of the city’s top hot spots and some that were hot spots five minutes ago. The list of its clubs and restaurants includes the Geisha House, Les Deux, Ten Pin Alley, Ketchup, Bella Cucina Italiana and Dolce Enoteca.
To no one’s surprise, the house owned by Mr. I’m-Here-So-Let-the-Party-Begin is described by the listing agent as “a real entertainer’s paradise.”
The house has a movie theater, full gym and a one-of-a-kind red-tile-bottom pool with fire features. Yeah, I couldn’t figure that one out either.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom house has 3,250 square feet in an open floor plan.
There is a brand-new chef’s kitchen; we’re guessing Moore doesn’t stick around to cook for himself much.
The property was owned by boxer Mike Tyson about 10 years ago, according to listing agent Burt Bakman, Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills South office.
It’s the house that travel built
What do you get when you travel for a living?
Apparently, the answer is a house like the one in Sherman Oaks that Peter S. Greenberg, the travel editor for NBC’s “Today” show, built and recently listed for sale at $2,395,000.
Greenberg grew up in New England, and when he built this house about eight years ago, he wanted to replicate the coziness of his childhood home -- sans the dark, boxed-in feeling. His south-of-the-boulevard home, which was featured on HGTV, has an open floor plan, high ceilings and tons of windows. And no snowed-in winters.
The home was designed by architect Garth Sheriff and has kitchen counters made from the same granite used in a hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia; faucets identical to those in a hotel in Italy; and tiles replicated from Greenberg’s favorite hotel in Hawaii. Hmm, detect a theme here?
The house has maple floors throughout. There is a professional-quality kitchen with a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Viking range with griddle, two ovens, two Kohler sinks, two large islands and a custom-designed brass hood.
The master bedroom has a built-in teak platform bed and dressers; the master bathroom has a limestone slab counter and a picture window by the tub. The double-paned window becomes opaque at the touch of a button -- a feature Greenberg experienced at a Hawaiian hotel.
There are three bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, a den, a library, an office, a media room and a pool with a waterfall and fiber-optic lights under the rim that change color. The house has 3,400 square feet.
Lisa Sockolov of Coldwell Banker Previews International, Beverly Hills South, has the listing.
No more making waves in Malibu
The celebrity in this case is a house, the infamous Polaroid Beach House that sits on about 80 feet of Carbon Beach in Malibu and has been the scene of dozens of “be seens.”
The Polaroid house, named for its corporate owner, just came on the market at $32 million. The ownership plan -- which was to use the beach house to throw parties for young Hollywood A-listers and invite a gaggle of paparazzi to dutifully shoot photos chock-full of product placements -- ran afoul of local (rich) neighbors who objected to the around-the-clock revelry in the summer of 2007.
After a substantially more subdued summer this year, the Polaroid house, which once clutched the likes of Paris Hilton to its bosom, joined the ranks of the listed.
By next summer, all that will likely remain are the last straggler’s footprints in the sand (designer sandals?) perhaps walking out to the high water mark (where the public has access).
Actually, since the property comes with approved plans to construct a 6,000-square-foot house, you might see footprints from a bunch of construction workers there too.
Brett Esformes of Pritchett-Rapf, Malibu, is the listing agent.
--
--
ON THE WEB
Can’t wait all week for more? Throughout the week, find updates online as they break, as well as additional photos of homes from this and previous Hot Property columns, at latimes.com/realestate.
More to Read
Inside the business of entertainment
The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.