Hot Property: Peter Morton lists Beverly Hills view home for $22.5 million

By Ann Brenoff, Times Staff Writer

My answer to those who would argue that Los Angeles has no mavens of culture is Peter Morton, the creator of the first Hard Rock Cafe and those ubiquitous T-shirts. Admit it, you owned at least one.

Morton, whose papa, Arnie, was the founder of the legendary restaurant Mortons, wheels and deals high-end property no matter the economic climate. He just listed a house in Beverly Hills that he’s owned for about two years for $22.5 million.

What makes this property unique among the eight-digit listings is that it will only be shown only on clear days, according to the MLS/CLAW. The listing says the "extraordinary" view is from downtown to the ocean. And apparently they don’t really want you looking in the direction of the house, which is being sold for "land value," says the listing.

The listing offers few details about the property and notes there will be no inspections of the house. This suggests "teardown city" to those who read realty tea leaves. The two-story house on 4 acres was built in 1940, and we personally hate to see the old destroyed for the new. But the basics are: seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms in about 8,000 square feet.

The property has an extraordinary Hollywood ownership lineage as well. It once belonged to actress Marlo Thomas, who sold it to media mogul David Geffen, who flipped it over to radio tycoon Norm Pattiz, who then sold it to Morton for $18.5 million in 2006.

Mortons — the restaurant — was the subject of Julia Phillips’ 1991 book, "You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again" — the premise being that your ability to get a good table there was a barometer of your relative importance in Hollywood.

Photo: Peter Morton in his Beverly Hills office in 2006

Credit: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times

The $165 million man

Last night we complained that little has been written about Leonard M. Ross, the owner of the Beverly Hills estate offered at $165 million. Tonight we stand corrected, by a more diligent (Is there any other kind?) colleague at the L.A. Times.

Turns out Ross has been in the news -- in a case dating from 1988, the attorney-investor successfully sued the Santa Barbara News-Press for libel after the paper wrongly implied he had been investigated for defrauding investors. Key to the ruling in Ross' favor was the court's opinion that Ross was a not a public figure; the court held he was a private figure who had not sought publicity.

Which may explain, in part, why our trademark, 20-second search came up empty: Not only does the guy claim to be a private figure, but the courts have backed him up on it.

Photo Credit: RealEstalker

Ex-Hearst Crib Listed for $165 million

Does it look familiar? It should. You saw this Beverly Hills house in "The Godfather," "The Bodyguard," and "The Jerk." 

Curbed L.A.: "The former estate of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies ... is on the market for $165 million, making it the most expensive property on the market in the U.S. today."

More coverage from the L.A. Times here, and from Bloomberg here. Over at Real Estalker, the headline is "Hold On to Your Britches."

Bloomberg: "The estate, owned by financier Leonard Ross for the past three decades, has 72,000 square feet (6,689 square meters) of living space in six residences on about 6 1/2 acres."

We could go on and on listing the eye-popping details (three pools, 29 bedrooms, etc.), but really, what's the point? We're not sure who Leonard Ross is. Wikipedia has nothing on the guy and Real Estalker, which usually comes up with something pithy, has nada.

Photo Credit: Curbed L.A.

Monday Morning: A Comedy Writer Lists His Starter Home... For $3.595 Million

OK, it's not just ANY comedy writer, it's Al Jean, who is looking for a new place to display the small army of Emmy Awards he has won as a writer/producer on "The Simpsons."  RealEstalker has all the details on the property he is selling in the Beverly Hills post office area, but here's a cheat sheet:
--4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 3,800 square feet, $3.595 million
--What he paid: $1.275 million in 2001
--Rate of appreciation: 182% in 6 years.
--Schuyler Road, Beverly Hills PO
--"Exquisitely renovated by preeminent designers," "blends old Hollywood glamor with modern luxury."
--What's So Funny? RealEstalker's Your Mama is disappointed that the house is not, well, funny. "We assume that Mister Jean has a wicked and biting sense of humor.... But strangely, this house doesn't reflect that at all."
--Where Does Beverly Hills PO rank? "We know some people prefer the P.O. because properties up in the hills are more likely to have staggering views. But trust us when we tell you that some people consider living in the Post Office far worse than living in the flats below Sunset. Seriously."

Comments? Thoughts? Insights?
Photo Credit: RealEstalker

Beverly Hills Fraud: Mortgage Broker Pleads Guilty in $18.5 Million Flipping Scheme

Nothing like a Friday afternoon guilty plea to spice up the blog. A Beverly Hills mortgage banker has agreed to plead guilty to federal felony charges in what the Feds are calling a "massive mortgage fraud scheme that caused more than $18.5 million in losses to banks."

Highlights:
--Richard Maize, 53, of Beverly Hills, co-founder of Americorp Funding, will plead guilty to bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and loan fraud, and false statements on a tax return, says the U.S. Attorney's office in LA.
--The scheme allegedly involved flipping properties, first buying them at market value, then using "straw buyers" who would agree to pay vastly inflated prices.
--Five people have been previously charged in the scam, which dates to loans made from 2000 to 2002. (Do these names ring a bell: Charles Elliott Fitzgerald? Mark Alan Abrams?  They allegedly bought the homes involved in the scam, and used Maize to get mortgages for "straw buyers.")
--One example: A Bel Air home bought for $735,000, then flipped to a "straw buyer" for $2.37 million.
--Maize allegedly arranged the mortgages through other banks, and received kickbacks on the deals.
--Lehman Brothers Bank appears to have been notably asleep at the switch: It was duped into funding 40 loans involving the Maize scam, totalling $28 million, in just two years.

Comments? Thoughts? Insights?
Photo Credit: Desi on LATimes.com's Your Scene

The British Are Coming: Beckhams Find A Home in Beverly Hills

First the news: Realestalker is reporting that the Beckhams have bought a home in Beverly Hills. From Your Mama at Realestalker: "We had long heard the couple wanted to spend between $12 and $15 million, but it looks like they've blown the budget with this one having paid, we're told by a tipster right around $20,000,000. Various notes: --LA Land doesn't read British tabloids and I'm not sure which nicknames are current for the Beckhams, so I didn't try. Posh? Becks? Sexy? Whatever. --Apparently the exact address is a secret given that Beckham is so famous and has little children he wants to protect. So we run his picture, not the picture of the house. --Contrary to many media reports, the soccer team in Los Angeles is not paying Beckham $250 million over any period of time. The team only said that it's possible he could make that much money on his own... provided he endorses everything from sneakers to soft drinks to sub-prime mortgages. The New York Times has reported the team itself is paying him $27.5 million over five years.