Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [72]
Westwood, Bel Air & Brentwood
Westwood is practically synonymous with UCLA whose huge campus is hemmed in by Sunset Blvd and the Westwood Village. The village is pedestrian-friendly and pleasant enough but hardly a Latin Quarter despite the large student presence. A farmers market along Weyburn Ave livens things up on Thursday afternoons. Parking is expensive and at a premium, but you can snag an hour of free parking in the public garage at 1036 Broxton Ave.
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LONELY PLANET GETS STAR-STRUCK: OUR GUIDE TO THE STARS’ HOMES
Star-chasing isn’t usually our style, but even we admit that visiting LA just wouldn’t be the same without any celestial navigation. So here’s our own gossipy tour of the stars’ homes, custom-made just for you. Expect plenty of tall hedges and security cameras, and don’t trespass. You can indulge your inner paparazzo in about 60 minutes, 90 minutes tops.
So rev up your engines and head to the Sunset Strip, then climb up Kings Rd to No 1467 and get ready to be a ‘Paris-ite’. Yup, this is where everybody’s favorite ex-jailbird, Paris Hilton, leads her ‘simple life’. From the street at least, the house is indeed surprisingly modest and almost as beige and bland as the hotel chain she’ll one day inherit.
Double-back down to Sunset, turn right and right again on Doheny Dr where Halle Berry is having a ‘Monster’s Ball’ at No 1164, which was previously owned by Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz. All you can see through the tall Old Mexico gate are some parked cars and flowers. Berry’s almost-next-door neighbor Winona Ryder hides behind a tall, thick hedge at No 1320, but hopefully some paparazzi have snipped a hole in the foliage so you can at least see her front yard.
Up, up and up you continue on Doheny before hooking a right on Oriole Dr and a left on Oriole Way. From this hilltop perch Leonardo DiCaprio must feel quite literally like the king of the world at his modernist pad at No 9045. It’s the one at the end of the cul-de-sac but only the top portion is visible. Leo also owns the adjacent lot but got sued in 2007 for allegedly infringing upon a neighbor’s property when building a basketball court for himself.
Backtrack to Oriole Dr, then turn right on Thrasher Ave. On your right, at No 9000 just before the road veers to the left, is the 1962 concrete cube that DiCaprio buddy Tobey McGuire unloaded for a cool $10.8 million in May 2007, more than triple what he paid for it back in 2002. Nice move, Spidey! Megan Mullally (Karen on Will & Grace) lives right next door; Keanu Reeves is behind the metal fence and marble portal of No 9024; and Courtney Love used to live at No 8936.
Back down to Sunset you go, then its right on Doheny Rd. See that big white residential high-rise? That’s the celeb-studded Sierra Towers (9255 Doheny Rd) where Matthew Perry owns a condo on the 22nd floor and Elton John shelled out about $2.5 million for his unit two floors below. Views from up there are also enjoyed by Cher but no longer by Lindsay Lohan, who sold hers in February 2007 for $2.3 million.
Turn right on Hillcrest Rd to catch a glimpse of Jennifer Aniston’s home at the end of the driveway at No 1004. We’re not sure but we think it’s one of those places up on the hill. We do know that it’s a six-bedroom ‘70s house designed by modernist architect Hal Levitt, famous for gray-and-black marble floors, and that she snapped it up for a measly $13.5 million.
When Jen gets lonely, she has only a short walk to BFF Courteney Cox and her hubbie David Arquette who are at 1012 Wallace Ridge. You can get there by doubling back on Hillcrest, turning right on Drury Lane, right again on Loma Vista Dr and again right on Wallace Ridge. It’s the first house