LOCATION: Pacific Palisades, CA
PRICE: $14,469,935
SIZE: 8,030 square feet, 7 bedrooms, 7 full and 2 half bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Veteran television and movie power player J.J. Abrams has been a resident of Pacific Palisades since (at least) the late 1990s when he and his long-time missus, Kathleen McGrath Abrams, paid an unknown amount of dough for a 4,100+ square foot house on Marinette Road that they sold in 2005 for $2.625. They moved, according to the Bizzy Boys at Celebrity Address Aerial, about 3.8 miles by car to Pac Pal's quietly ritzy and celeb-approved Riviera 'hood where they shelled out $5.2 million for a somewhat smaller 3,900+ square foot residence with, as per the L.A. County Tax Man, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
Your Mama now has it on very good authority—that would be the tireless real estate yenta Yolanda Yakketyyak—that Mister and Missus Abrams and their trio of off-spring now plan to move just around the corner to a much larger house described in listing details as a "Connecticut Traditional w/ city & ocean views" and sold, as per property records, to a opaquely named trust in early February (2014) for the unnecessarily complicated figure of $14,469,935.
Mister Abrams, in case any of the children don't know, is a bespectacled former comedy writer turned two time Emmy-winning writer, producer and director known for creating a slew of popular (and lucrative) television programs and incorporating action-packed sequences, party scenes, lens flares, boxes with mysterious contents, and frequent cross-genre references to the fake frozen drink Slusho in the money-minting action/adventure/sci-fi movies he produces and/or directs.
Mister Abrams's professional credits include being the creator and writer for—among others—the television programs Felicity, Alias, Lost, Undercovers and the currently airing Fringe. In the last half decade or she he's become an increasingly in-demand director of high-concept action/adventure movies like Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8, and Mission: Impossible III as well as the upcoming, eighth installment of the never ending Star Wars movie franchise). He's also a prolific film and television producer whose credits include Felicity, Alias, Lost, Frince, Revolution, Person of Interest, Almost Human, Believe, and the next installments of the Star Wars and Mission: Impossible film franchises.
According to Box Office Mojo, the four sci-fi and action movies directed by Mister Abram between 2006 and 1003 have hauled in a worldwide box office of more than 1.5 billion bucks. Your Mama really has no idea what Mister Abram's annual income is—we imagine it is shockingly considerable—but back in 2010 he was listed at #9 on Vanity Fair's lists of top earners in Tinseltown. And that was before some of his super-sized silver screen mega-hits so none of the children should be too worried about his financial ability to buy and maintain a property like this in perpetuity. Anyhoo...
The white, clapboard-sided residence, on a .6 acre bluff-top lot behind secured gates on what is arguably one of Pacific Palisades swankier streets,* measures 8,030 square feet with a total of seven bedrooms and nine toilets in seven full and two half bathrooms.
Guests are greeted and meant to be impressed in the double-height foyer where a densely balustraded staircase curves elegantly up to a second floor gallery overlook. There are formal living and dining rooms, the former with fireplace and a long wall of floor-to-ceiling book shelves and the latter with a fireplace and floral Chinoiserie-style wall coverings. Additional (and less formal) living spaces include a study/office, a family room, and a window-lined sun room where the sellers installed a pool table.
The kitchen is certainly large and luxuriously functional with marble counter tops raised panel cabinetry, an over-sized center work island, a temperature controlled walk-in wine storage room, and a full complement of high-end appliances that include a pair of fridge-freezers and a built-in microwave oven. However, the best and most notable feature as far as this opinionated property gossip is concerned is a cozy, built-in demilune breakfast banquette with tufted upholstery and wide view over the grassy backyard.
The master suite is comprised of a bedroom large enough to accommodate a generous seating area, French doors that lead to a private terrace, extensive fitted walk-in closets, and a marble-lined bathroom with twin sink vanities, a soaking tub, separate glass-enclosed and steam-equipped shower, and a second partially frosted glass enclosure that doesn't completely hide the crapper. There are two offices with built-in decks as well as four or, maybe, five additional secondary guest/family bedrooms plus staff quarters.
At the front of the hedged and gated spread a large lawn is divided by a stone pathways and, attached to the side of the house, a porte cochere that marks the entrance to a small rear motor court and attached three car garage. At the rear, a deep, fireplaced loggia makes a soft transition from the interior spaces to the back yard where a broad lawn stretches out to a short hedge and a long eastern view over Steven Spielberg's private equestrian facility in Sullivan Canyon and towards the tight knot of towers that make up Century City.
*Other high-profile homeowners in the immediate area include Showbiz movers and shaker Ben Affleck and his wife Jennifer Garner of—coincidentally—Alias fame and fortune.
listing photos: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices