There’s no place like Judy Garland’s old Malibu home, plus 3 other hot celeb properties

A Malibu beach house where actress-singer Judy Garland of The Wizard of Oz once lived has sold in a deal completed off-market for US$3.545 million.

The buyers are television and documentary writer-director-producer Cynthia Harrison-Wallach and her husband, real estate investment firm head Lewis Wallach.

Set on the sands in the Las Tunas Beach area, the Cape Cod-style house was built in 1947 and originally owned by Garland’s second husband, stage and film director Vincente Minnelli.

Extensively renovated three years ago, the two-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house makes the most of oceanfront living with ipe-wood decking and balconies extending from the master suite. A walled courtyard sits off the front.

Inside, the roughly 1,800 square feet of living space features white oak floors, built-ins and vaulted and beamed ceilings. A two-sided fireplace is shared by the living and dining rooms. In the kitchen, which has been updated, marble countertops are teamed with Viking stainless-steel appliances.

“It really is a special property,” says real estate agent Jory Burton of Sotheby’s International Realty, who along with Heather Shorr represented the buyers. “To find something on the sand, at this price, is pretty rare.”

Harrison-Wallach is a co-executive producer of the TV series Dogfights and a writer-producer for the documentary Rogue Waves. Wallach is president and chief executive of the property investment and management firm Professional Financial Investors.

Something to ‘smize’ about

Model and television personality Tyra Banks has sold for US$8.9 million a Pacific Palisades home she bought as an investment.

She paid US$7.35 million for the property, which sits on a half-acre bluff with panoramic ocean views, two years ago.

The tri-level house, originally built in 1950 and extensively renovated, is approached through a gated courtyard with a waterfall feature. Inside, its roughly 6,100 square feet features high ceilings, a great room, a media room and an office. There are four fireplaces – including one in the living room with a marble slab surround – five bedrooms and six bathrooms.

Wood-panelled doors open on the main floor to an expansive patio space with a fire pit, an outdoor kitchen and dining area. Manicured box hedges and formal landscaping complete the walled and gated setting.

Banks, 44, has been on a buying and selling tear as of late. Earlier this year she listed and sold a Pacific Palisades town home and bought another contemporary-style house in the area for US$6.995 million. Another home she owns in Pacific Palisades is for sale at US$4.25 million.

The California native began her career as a model before expanding into acting, producing and writing.

The 24th season of her show, America’s Next Top Model, premiered in January.

Punky bids adieu to Hancock Park spot

Actress Soleil Moon Frye of 1980s sitcom Punky Brewster fame and her husband, film and television producer Jason Goldberg, have sold their home in historic Hancock Park for US$4.507 million.

It had been listed for US$4.595 million.

Set back from the street and obscured by mature landscaping, the Spanish Revival-style house features four bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, a garden-view living room and a den.

Period fireplaces are among the original character details; exotic items such as artistic tile work and pendant lighting create a slightly Moroccan feel.

The two-storey home, built in 1919, sits on a third of an acre with an oval swimming pool, a vine-wrapped loggia, lawns and mature trees.

Tucked in a back corner is a fire pit. There’s also a detached home theatre.

Frye and Goldberg, who bought the property more than a decade ago for US$3.2 million, are just two in a line of notable names to have owned the home. Actors Elizabeth Perkins and John Malkovich are both former homeowners, records show.

Moon Frye, 41, got her start as a child actor. Goldberg, in his mid-40s, is a long-time production partner of Ashton Kutcher’s. He is co-creator and executive producer of the hidden camera series Punk’d and the reality show Beauty and the Geek.

Bel-Air joint set for a new reality

The minimalist mansion that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West sold last year is back on the market at US$18 million.

Ukrainian billionaire and aspiring singer Marina Acton is the seller. She bought it from the couple last November for US$17.8 million, records show.

Set on nearly an acre in the guard-gated community of Bel Air Crest, the property forsakes hyper-luxury flourishes for the austere. Walls of glass bring colour into the spare interior, which otherwise features a palette of white and grey.

There’s a fireplace in the two-story living room. In the centre-island kitchen, stainless-steel appliances interrupt the monochromatic scheme.

Seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms, including a massive master suite with a free-standing tub, round out the 9,000 sq ft floor plan.

In the grassy backyard, a swimming pool, spa and pavilion take in panoramic canyon and mountain views.

West and Kardashian picked up the home five years ago for US$9 million, records show. Before their renovations, it was a Mediterranean-style villa filled with wrought-iron rails, parquet floors and wood-beamed ceilings.

They currently live in Hidden Hills, where they own a large French country-style compound.

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