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Santa Monica Penthouse Oceanview, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates

There are certain landmark properties in the Los Angeles area that always cause tourists to lean far out the car window to snap a photo or two to show the folks back home. The building overhanging the Pacific Coast Highway just past Santa Monica's California Incline is one of them. Maybe it's the circular nose that hangs over the highway, or maybe it's the skinny little front legs it seems to perch on. But whatever the appeal, it's a magnet for lookie-loos. Even I find myself straining my neck upward to peek inside some of the units as I whiz by on the road.

And now the 4,000-square-foot penthouse unit has just come on the market at $4,925,000. While not as breath-taking a price-tag as faithful readers of Luxist's Estate of the Day have become accustomed to, it's a breath-taking unit in a eye-catching landmark. And for you faint-of-hearters, we have every reason to believe that the hillsides around it, despite their precarious look each time it rains, aren't going anywhere. Hey, this is L.A. Toughen up!

Billed somewhat immodestly as the most-sought after penthouse in Santa Monica, we are hard-pressed to disagree. It's the only two-story unit of its size in the building and has ocean views from every room, plus 180-degree jetliner views of the city lights. There are three large bedrooms and three bathrooms plus an over-sized master suite with two large walk-in closets, floor-to-ceiling windows, marble and hardwood floors and high ceilings. Amenities in the building include a gym, pool, spa and valet parking. There is around-the-clock security. With the main entrance on Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica restaurants and shops are a short walk away.

Next time I drive by, I hope you'll wave.

Josh and Matthew Altman of Hilton & Hyland Real Estate, Beverly Hills, have the listing.

Gallery: 101 Ocean

Tags: california real estate, estate of the day, los angeles real estate, santa monica, santa monica real estate

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Santa Monica Hotel Sold For Nearly $103 Million

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica Hotel in Santa Monica, California has new owners. The LA Times reports that the luxury 310-room hotel has been bought for $102.8 million by Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, a Maryland real estate investment trust from Regis Properties, and investment group headed by hotelier Brad Korzen. Korzen's Viceroy Hotel Group will continue to manage the hotel. Other Pebblebrook hotels include the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, the InterContinental Buckhead in Atlanta, the Hotel Monaco in Washington DC. Back in October we mentioned that the Pebblebrook Hotel Trust had picked up the Grand Hotel in Minneapolis for $33 million.

The REIT will spend $9 million to refurbish the guest rooms and common areas. The hotel began as a 10-story inn back in 1972 and was expanded in 1984, it has an $11 million renovation in 2005. Its location and reputation made this one an easy sell. In 2009, the Delfina was more than 80% occupied in 2009 with an average daily rate of $179.

Tags: hotel for sale, santa monica, sheraton delfina santa monica hotel, viceroy hotel group

Louis Vuitton Opens at Santa Monica Place

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Shopping

Louis Vuitton opened its 137th North American store and first one on the westside of Los Angeles last week on Friday (August 6th) in the newly renovated Santa Monica Place mall. Located in a prominent corner of the ground floor the design boasts a beautifully sweeping curved glass storefront and hardwood floors. The 4,139 sq ft interior is broken down into three distinct regions: a women's area with a Louis Vuitton "bag bar" along with a leather goods display and accessories spot, an elegant lounge for rare items and women's shoes, and a men's area for shoes, leather goods, accessories, and luggage.

And as if you needed another reason to go check it out it's also Louis Vuitton's first ever LEED-certified eco-friendly store.

Via ILVOELV

Gallery: Louis Vuitton at Santa Monica Place

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Tags: louis vuitton, news, santa monica, santa monica place, shopping

Casa Del Mar's Beach Club Program

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

It's been a hot weekend in Southern California and just about everyone is looking to head to the beach. The Hotel Casa del Mar in Santa Monica has created a beach club membership program offering exclusive benefits, priority access and preferred amenities. The members of Club Casa del Mar pay an annual membership fee of $2,500 per year which entitles them to pool access, fitness center access, free parking, preferred seating in the lobby lounge and Catch restaurant and 25 percent of spa services. One time benefits include a one-night penthouse stay with a facial treatment, two massages, a Thai ritual and two personal trainer or yoga sessions.

Tags: beach club, hotel casa del mar, los angeles, santa monica

Bloomingdales Creates Smaller Store For Santa Monica Mall

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Bloomingdale's is testing out a newer concept. Instead of massive department stores, the brand is building smaller stores. The next one is planned for Santa Monica, California. It will be part of the new Santa Monica Place and has a planned opening of August 6. The lure of department stores used to be the concept of endless choice but now after too much choice and surplus, the focus is on "well-edited" selections. BNET reports that the smaller store doesn't contain all the usual categories. Home goods, children's clothing and plus size merchandise have no place at the stores that is focused on moneymakers like accessories, shoes, and cosmetics.

Santa Monica Place is a 550,000-square-foot open-air mall which will have Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom as its anchor stores. Other tenants include CB2, Burberry, Tiffany & Co., Juicy Couture, Louis Vuitton, Disney and Nike. The mall's top level will have six "chef-driven" restaurants as well as other fast-casual restaurants. The top deck will also be home to a program on Friday nights during August and September called SunSets with a DJ from KCRW who will "spin tunes and provide a Happy Hour soundtrack."

Tags: bloomingdales, california, santa monica

Loew's Santa Monica Eco-friendly Spa has Soothing Rewards for Guests and Locals

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spas

The 7,000-square-foot Ocean Spa & Fitness has just reopened at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, and now provides a relaxing dose of eco-friendliness to go with its revamped facilities and salty air. Plus One Health Management oversaw the redesign and manages the spa, which means you're probably in good hands -- the same company has spent 13 years creating such oases for Merrill Lynch, Trump, and Google.

The greenness comes courtesy of the gym rebuilt with Ecoresin panels made from 40-percent post-industrial recycled resin, Armstrong sustainable ceiling tiles, Mondo recycled rubber floors, and Shaw carpet with Cradle to Cradle Certification. Even the furnishings do their part, coming from reclaimed wood.

As for the spa itself, the treatments have also gone into the revamp shop and come out more verdure. Essential oils from Red Flower are certified organic and come in numerous scents, from Indian jasmine to Icelandic moonflower. Skincare is provided by Pevonia Botanica, all of whose products are paraben- and chemical-free. Our favorite is the Beachcomber, with heated tiger clam shells used to knead away any ill you might have brought in with you. It's the best use of a clam since, well, chowder.

The extensive spa menu is filled out with the usual suspects: manicures, pedicures, a full-service hair salon with cutting, coloring and styling services, dry saunas, and eucalyptus steam rooms. But if you're committed to things of iron and muscles of steel, the gym's cardio equipment comes from Technogym, networked Expresso bikes allow for side-by-side "racing," and the group fitness studio is a playpen for adults that offers all of the c'est necessaire twisty-bendy classes.

And you don't need to be a hotel guest to take advantage; locals can join sign up for memberships, with terms as short as three months. Once you do, you'll get discounts on spa services and restaurant visits, and you can avail yourself of the guests-and-members-only pool deck whenever you wish. Put that all together -- a masseur's hands, poolside cocktails, and ocean air -- and it doesn't get more environmentally friendly than that, does it?

Gallery: Loews Santa Monica Ocean Spa & Fitness Spa

[Source: Loews]

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Tags: california, fitness, hotels, journeys, loews, loews santa monica, LoewsSantaMonica, resorts, santa monica, SantaMonica, spas

Trendy Store To Star In Reality TV Show

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

The popular Fred Segal store in Santa Monica, California will be the setting for a new reality series on the Bravo channel. The show will document the daily drama at the store covering the fashion-centered lives of the sales team as they cater to the upper class shoppers. The show will likely feature cameos by a few celebrities who make their way into the store for a little shopping. Fred Segal opened the Santa Monica store in 1985 and the store is still owned by the Segal family who will appear on the show.

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Tags: fashion, fred segal, FredSegal, reality tv, RealityTv, santa monica, SantaMonica, television

Annenberg Beach House To Open To The Public

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

This summer you don't have to be rich or well-connected to enjoy a Santa Monica beach house. The Annenberg Foundation and City of Santa Monica are opening the Annenberg Community Beach House at Santa Monica State Beach.

The beach facility will open to the public beginning April 26th, 2009 and on April 25 there will be a public opening celebration that includes a "First Splash" performance from "O™" by Cirque du Soleil in the house's historic tiled pool.

The Annenberg Community Beach House revitalizes a five-acre beachfront property. The house was originally built by William Randolph Hearst in the late 1920's for actress Marion Davies. In the late 1940s, the property was sold and become Oceanhouse, a hotel owned by Joseph Drown who eventually demolished the large mansion but kept the original guest house and pool as well as cabanas and a locker building. It was later sold to the State of California and leased for thirty years to the Sand and Sea Club until the City of Santa Monica assumed responsibility for the site in 1989. A $27.5 million Annenberg Foundation grant led to the site's rehabilitation.

The space now includes volleyball and beach tennis courts, event and meeting space, the Back on the Beach Café, children's play areas, gardens and an accessible boardwalk extending westward toward the ocean. A pool pass will cost $10 for adults, $4 for children and no membership is required.

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Tags: annenberg, beach house, BeachHouse, santa monica, SantaMonica

Julianna Margulies in Santa Monica, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Last week, we looked at a home in Santa Monica, California that was pretty charmless but this week I've got something in Santa Monica more to my (and I hope your) liking, It's the home of actress Julianna Margulies, the curly-haired brunette actress best known for her role on the NBC drama "ER." Her home is currently rented to Kyra Sedgwick, star of TNT's "The Closer" and the wife of Kevin Bacon. There's much to love about this home, which was built in 1927. It's a cozy three-bedroom with charming details like a living room with a wood beamed ceiling (the listing describes this as an "emotional living room") and a bathroom with Delft-style tiles. The small property includes a pool and directly opposite the pool is an adorable guest house with one bedroom, kitchen and bath. You might need to rent that out to afford this one, it is listed at $4.5 million which seems a bit ambitious given the fact that the main house is under 3,500 square feet.

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[via LA Times Hot Properties]

Gallery: Julianna Margulies in Santa Monica

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Wolfgang Petersen in Santa Monica, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

German director Wolfgang Petersen first made a splash in the U.S. with the movie "Das Boot" about a World War II U-boat and its crew and since then his budgets have grown larger and larger including grand spectacles such as Poseidon and Troy. That's why his comparatively modest Santa Monica home is a bit of a mystery. Is it an investment property or a flip? Is his main residence elsewhere? I'm not certain but it's hard to imagine him in this pretty but bland six-bedroom home with no pool and no home theater. It was just completed and is in a state of utter brand spanking newness with fresh carpets, freshly laid and polished floors and walls in various shades of sunny yellow. It's got some nice features, the kitchen with a granite-topped center island, a Viking range and a wine refrigerator. There is an open house for the home today. It is listed at $3.95 million.

[via The LA Times Hot Properties]

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

Gallery: Wolfgang Petersen in Santa Monica

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Tags: california real estate, CaliforniaRealEstate, celebrity real estate, CelebrityRealEstate, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, santa monica, wolfgang petersen

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Schwarzenegger May Lose His Easy Commute

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings, Celebrity Shopping

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger might be about to lose one of the perks of his job. Schwarzenegger regularly commutes by a Gulfstream IV provided by NetJets from Sacramento to Santa Monica but Bloomberg reports that a federal judge will decide on May 15 if he can continue to land at the municipal airport. The airport is a fast commute to Schwarzenegger's Brentwood home but Santa Monica city council members including the governor's brother-in-law, Bobby Shriver recently voted unanimously to ban the jets. The town of Santa Monica is now fighting the temporary restraining order obtained by the FAA that blocks enforcement of the ordinance and a U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles will decide whether to allow the ban or send the matter to trial.

Part of the problem is that the Santa Monica airport is an older, small airport that was not built to accommodate jets that land at fast speeds and there is just one runway. There hasn't been an accident involving a jet on the runway but there are homes located very nearby. The FAA which wants to use the airport to help relieve air traffic in the crowded skies over Los Angeles has offered to add a concrete-like material at either end of the runway that would slow runaway jets and to help the city buy homes to make more room for planes landing and taking off. There is also a possibility that Santa Monica may try to close the airport in 2015, when its agreement with the FAA expires although it seems unlikely that will occur. As for Schwarzenegger, it's likely he will circumvent any potential ruling by either traveling by helicopter or landing at another airport but Bobby Shriver is already anticipating some teasing complaints around family gatherings from his beefy brother-in-law.

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Tags: santa monica, SantaMonica, schwarzenegger

Lamborghini Murcielago Totaled in Crash

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

It's been a while since we had a spectacular Southern California exotic car crash. Nope, not Paris Hilton, who surrendered her Bentley this week after driving down Sunset Blvd. without her lights on. This crash involves a $275,000 Lamborghini which was totaled when the 26-year-old driver drunkenly careened into five parked cars in Santa Monica on Thursday. Witnesses reported that the 2004 Lamborghini Murcielago may have been doing 75 mph. Both driver and passenger were treated for minor injuries and the driver was arrested for drunken driving.

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Tags: accident, crash, exotic car, lamborghini, santa monica, wreck

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