pasadena

The Royce Opens In Pasadena

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Langham Huntington in Pasadena, California has announced the reopening of its dining room as The Royce on November 12. The restaurant features New American cuisine by Chef David Féau, formerly with The Patina Group. Chef Féau specializes in lighter California fare prepared with classic influences and refined French technique using locally-grown, seasonal produce and sustainable products from around the world. Menu items include tuna belly with green apple and quail egg; a slow-poached lobster with butter lettuce, sweet onion and pomegranate; heirloom beans with infused lemon verbena, champagne grapes and Roquefort cheese; and cod with squid ink spaghetti, Autumn greens, romano squash and citrus dashi broth.

Chef David Féau grew up cooking in the kitchen with his mother in France and served as the Executive Chef of Le Miravile, a Michelin Star-rated restaurant in Paris, and then opened Latitude 40 & Version Sud in Paris. He later moved to Lutèce in New York City before turns in Las Vegas and at Café Pinot in Los Angeles.

The Royce will be open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday with seating from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The restaurant also has a Chef's Table that offers a private dining experience for up to eight guests with a customized menu and views of Chef Féau's nightly performance in the kitchen.

Tags: david feau, langham huntington pasadena, pasadena, pasadena restaurant, the royce

The Classicist: Los Angeles' Finest Classic Estates

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Books, The Classicist, Architecture & Design

With asking prices running to the tens of millions on the rare occasions when such treasures hit the market, owning one of the classic estates of Los Angeles remains but a dream for many. Meanwhile Douglas Woods offers the next best thing in his new stunning new book Classic Homes of Los Angeles from Rizzoli, an exclusive look into some of the finest period revival residences and gardens to be found in and around the area's legendary neighborhoods. The volume's 240 full-color photographs by Melba Levick depict a panorama of richly detailed architectural styles popular in Southern California during its "Golden Age of Expansion" from 1899 to 1938, from Craftsman, Tudor, Georgian and Victorian to Spanish Colonial and Tuscan Revival. Famous landmarks are included as well as many never-before-seen gems.

The cover of the book (above) shows the Prindle House in Pasadena built by architect George Washington Smith in 1926, a pristine example of Spanish Colonial Revival style. Also included are the 1899 Doheny Mansion with its incredible glass-domed Pompeian Room, now part of Mount Saint Mary's College; the stately Huntington Mansion with its palatial great hall, now the Huntington Library museum; the estate of the great Hollywood producer and director Cecil B. DeMille which was recently listed for sale at $18 million; the elegant 1932 Fudger House in Beverly Hills where Danny Kaye lived and entertained for many years; and Frank Lloyd Wright's famed Millard House, aka La Miniatura, from 1923 in Pasadena which was our Estate of the Day in February 2009.

In his introduction to the book, author and architecture expert D.J. Waldie poses the question, "What makes a classic home of Los Angeles?" The answer, he writes, is one that "sympathetically embraces the fundamentals of life here: light, air, landscape and romance." To achieve these qualities, "architects and their clients in the first half of the twentieth century turned to various pasts that were not their own," he notes, "but without turning away from the future they thought Los Angeles represented." For the most part, Waldie writes, "they declined to engage in the culture wars of Modernism (although many great Modernist homes are part of the city's architectural heritage). Some Angeleños thought houses had other, more consoling work to do. A house that can dream for and with its owners, that can dream of both escape and shelter, makes it a classic of Los Angeles." Check out the gallery for a preview.

Gallery: Classic Homes of Los Angeles

Petitfils-Boos House, Hancock Park, 1921

Tags: architecture, Beverly Hills, books, California, Cecil B. DeMille, celebrity real estate, coffee table books, Doheny Mansion, estates, Frank Lloyd Wright, gardens, historic houses, Huntington Library, Los Angeles, movies, Pasadena, real estate, Rizzoli, Southern California, The Classicist

Los Angeles Area Condos and Townhomes Head For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

A pair of Los Angeles-area condos are getting their turn on the auction block on July 11 when Kennedy Wilson offers 30 condos from two different projects. The first auction will be for 12 townhouses and flats at Vista del Arroyo in Pasadena and then several hours later, 18 courtyard condos at Silver Spur Court in Rolling Hills Estates will go up for sale. Both auction represent deep discounts over original list prices.

Starting bids at Vista del Arroyo are set as low as $295,000 on 12 condos previously priced from $799,000 to $1,350,000. The one to three bedroom townhouses and condos up for auction provide from 2,041 to 3,585 sq. ft. of living space. The Vista del Arroyo project is located near Old Town Pasadena and the Norton Simon museum.

At Silver Spur Court the starting bids range from $275,000 to $495,000 on 18 townhouses and condos previously priced from $835,000 to $1,275,000. The two and three bedroom homes have up to 2,830 sq. ft. of living space.

Tags: condo auction, los angeles, pasadena, rolling hills estates

Pasadena Playhouse To Shut Down

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Sad news out of Southern California tonight. The Pasadena Playhouse, a theater which was founded back in 1917, will be closing on February 7 after it finishes its run of Camelot. It is the latest cultural institution to fall victim to economic turmoil. The LA Times reports that the theater company's lenders are looking at ways to clean up the financial mess including a possible bankruptcy filing.

The playhouse, which was designated in 1937 as the state theater of California, essentially ran out of cash and has more than $500,000 in debt due immediately with another $1.5 million in long-term debt including bank loans. A capital campaign raised $6 million to renovate the playhouse building itself but that fund remains separate. The playhouse had hoped for a miracle in the form of a donor who would be willing to donate $5 million in return for having naming rights to the 684-seat main stage.

The playhouse has gone dark before, including 16 years in the 1970s-1980s and but had enjoyed successes in the late 1990s and in recent years. Television and movie stars took to the stage but as the recession began to make Los Angeles culture lovers check their wallets ticket sales slowed.

On Monday the Pasadena Playhouse will host the Concert for Haiti. Proceeds will go to support three relief funds -- Save the Children, UNICEF and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund-- and tickets for the concert are $25, $50 and $100. The concert will be directed by Iona Morris, with Gerald Sternbach serving as musical director. Scheduled performers include Loretta Devine, James Barbour, Billy Blanks, Jr. , Dawnn Lewis, Shoshana Bean, Sharon Lawrence, Yvette Cason, Sharon Brown and others.

Tags: culture, pasadena, pasadena playhouse, PasadenaPlayhouse, theater

La Miniatura, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

One of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpieces is on the market. La Miniatura is the first residence to utilize Wright's textile block building system. As Curbed reported last year, the home was bought in 2000 for $1.3 million and underwent a massive renovation that may have cost as much as the purchase price. The listing calls it one of the most romantic, and creative living spaces anywhere and it certainly does offer the experience of living in a work of art. The unique textile blocks give the home an almost temple-like feel. It sits on nearly an acre of gardens in Pasadena, California. The residence and separate studio include four bedrooms, two kitchens, a living room and formal dining room. As you might expect, the Millard House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is listed at $7.733 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Gallery: La Miniatura

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Tags: california, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, frank lloyd wright, FrankLloydWright, la miniatura, LaMiniatura, pasadena

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Casa del Cielo, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Today we are checking out Casa del Cielo, a beautiful estate on the Arroyo banks in Pasadena. The home was designed by architect Sylvanus Marston in 1923 in the Spanish Revival style. As the Wall Street Journal reported the home belongs to producer Gale Ann Hurd and screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh, two people with a penchant for action/adventure movies who have a sedately lovely home. They bought the house for $5.2 million in 2001 and have renovated and restored the home while keeping its uniquely exotic style. The home has seven bedrooms, a gourmet kitchen, ornate fireplaces, ceilings with murals and pressed metal tile details,a bar, billiard room, super fantastic library, media room, gym and wine cellar. The home's three acres include gardens, terraces, a lagoon, fountains, pools, a tennis court and a guest house. This home is listed at $15 million. After the jump, their movies may be over the top but their renovation instincts are just right.

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Tags: arroyo, california real estate, CaliforniaRealEstate, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, gale ann hurd, luxury real estate, LuxuryRealEstate, pasadena, san rafael, SanRafael

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Psadena Mansion, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

We do a lot of talking about Southern California real estate on this website and it's easy to get jaded but this Pasadena estate appears to actually be worth its astronomical price tag of $52 million except for one pretty major sticking point, it's not turnkey ready. This massive home is around 35,000 square feet and is on five acres of grounds that include European-style gardens ,topiary sculptures,stained glass domed pavillions,a secluded pond w/bridge,waterfalls,fountains,statuaries,water gardens and a Grecian-style pool with cascading spa.The home is on the site of an old Pasadena mansion built in the early 1900s which was burned to the ground in the late 1980s and then reconstructed. The original land cost $45,000 in 1913 and the house cost around $38,000 to build then which was a pretty steep sum for the time. The rebuilt home includes a library, media room, wine cellar, ball room, multiple guest suites and four grand master suites, steam room and a lap pool.

[Thanks, Joe!]

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Tags: california, estate of the day, pasadena, real estate

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