A house that bears the lineage of generations of famous Hollywood stars can be the ultimate status symbol. Many film producers and top studio executives love to boast that Katharine Hepburn or Clark Gable once roamed the halls.
According to Realtor, homes that are haunted by the ghosts of Hollywood stars can create challenges when it is time to vacate and sell the house. "Celebrity owned" homes that show up frequently in real estate listings in Los Angeles have granite countertops, but it doesn't always match the public record. In today's real estate market, a rich and famous Los Angeles buyer usually wants something bigger, much bigger than a Hollywood mansion from the 1930s.
"In the Golden Age of Hollywood, from the '30s to the '60s, a mansion was 10,000 square feet," said Jeff Hyland of luxury brokerage Hilton & Hyland. The mansions listed on the market today start at 20,000 square feet. So buyers of old homes usually want them to tear down.
One example is the Bel Air mansion originally built by director Frank Caprain in 1935. The property was later owned by director Mervyn Leroy, MGM studio co-founder Louis B. Mayer, and comedian Jerry Lewis. By the time it was bought by Iris and Bernard G. Cantor from the bank in 1991, the mansion was demolished and a new 23,000-square-foot house was built. It is a neoclassical "to-die-for dream house," says Ms. Cantor, who is now president of the Iris and G. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
In the early days, Hollywood movie stars preferred locations in the center of town, just a few minutes to the city's shopping areas. Today, famous buyers tend to seek out the most inaccessible, private spots where they want to settle.
Fox News said that celebrities who are seeking privacy, now settle for hilly locations with walls and hedges, properties set above access roads, and gated communities.
The houses that are likely to trade hands between celebrities today are located in a fortress-like setting in secluded areas.
