Beachwood Canyon Castle Lowers Drawbridge

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In the market for a castle on a hill? Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.’s Jay Faires and his soon-to-be ex-wife, TV personality Debbie Matenoupoulous, are trying to sell the 5,485-square-foot castle, turrets and all, that they bought for a tidy $2.9 million in 2002.

They put it on the market in June 2008 at $7.5 million, but since castles are arguably an acquired taste, it languished. It just re-entered the market at $4.7 million, a relative bargain compared with another castle listed at $9.5 million just up the street in Beachwood Canyon.

The Faires-Matenoupoulous’ castle is known locally as Wolf’s Lair, but because of the association with Hitler’s bunker of the same name, the owners and their listing agent plan to call it something else. It was actually named after L. Milton Wolf, the developer of Hollywoodland, as this neighborhood that he created in the 1920s was once called. Wolf was also the guy who put up the Hollywood sign – and the 4,000 flashing electric light bulbs to illuminate it – as he hailed people to come to see his new development. (Imagine, the Hollywood sign could have said Levittown had the developer been from the East Coast.)

But I digress. The castle sits on 3.3 acres and includes a two-bedroom guest house designed by famed architect John Lautner. There is a heart-shaped black-bottom swimming pool, befitting 1920s Hollywood royalty. The developer, reputed to be quite the ladies’ man, kept a secret apartment under the gatehouse.

Faires is president of the music division at Lions Gate, responsible for the studio’s film and TV soundtracks and scores. His team has received multiple Oscar and Grammy nominations.

Ernie Carswell of Teles Properties, Beverly Hills, has the listing.

Barefoot Dream House

Annette Cook, who founded the Barefoot Dreams line of children’s products in 1994, has sold an oceanview contemporary in Malibu for $3 million.

Her first product, the Signature Receiving Blanket, became a nationally recognized brand, landing her a spot on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and on Oprah’s Favorite Things list – a jackpot for product sales.

Cook’s story is indeed a rags-to-riches tale. Barefoot Dreams was born out of her need to pay off $85,000 in student loans and find a way to move past her parents’ tragic deaths six months apart. Cook said that her dad, also an entrepreneur although arguably not as successful, was her inspiration. They both started their businesses in their garages.

She always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and decided that the best way to get beyond the grief over losing both parents so suddenly was to celebrate life – the birth of a baby. The product was intended to be the best baby gift ever, a cozy, comforting, chic blanket.

The 4,089-square-foot gated home she just sold has four bedrooms and four baths, and sits on 1.5 acres. There is a separate guest suite above the three-car garage with a den, bathroom and kitchen. Cook and her husband, Stan, own two other Malibu properties.

Mike Cunningham of Pritchett Rapf & Associates Malibu was the listing agent.

The Big W

Chalk up another buyer for the W Hollywood Residences. Reno R. Rolle, chief executive of Red Rock Pictures, a film finance, production and distribution company, just purchased a 987-square-foot studio that he intends to use as a second home.

Pricing on the studios range from $730,000 to $753,000.

Rolle previously was chief exec for Shop America USA, which specialized in long- and short-form infomercial marketing. He co-created the book and marketing campaign for “Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” The book held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times best-seller list for 18 weeks in 2005 and 2006, and has sold more than 9 million copies, according to Forbes Magazine.

Ann Brenoff can be reached at [email protected]

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