Details
December 2003
By Anna David

Hollywood's Hot New Address

     The view from Tobey Maguire's Los Angeles living room is surprisingly serene. An entire wall of sliding doors overlooks the infinity pool- one of those black bottom jobs that gives the illusion of water cascading over the edge. Past the pool, the sky opens to dramatic view of the valley below. While the traffic congeals on Sunset Boulevard, just a five-minute electric car ride down the hill, the only sound you'll hear from Maguire's backyard are a few chatty sparrows and a leaf blower in the distance.
     Step outside the heavy wooden gates that guard his $3.7 million digs, however, and things get a little frenzied.
     Maguire, along with many red-carpet rovers, has moved into a section of the Hollywood Hills known as the bird streets, a cluster of narrow switchbacks with names like Thrasher, Blue Jay, Oriole, Warbler, and Mockingbird. Though the neighborhood has seen its share of celebs in residence- George Harrison wrote Blue Jay Way when he stayed here in 1967; Madonna paid property taxes for most of the nineties- never before have so many well-compensated thespians clamored to roost in this avain enclave.
     Last February Courtney Cox Arquette got into a less-than-friendly bidding war with Ellen DeGeneres over a modern stone-and-glass house. The asking price for the four-bedroom Kip Kelly design was under $4.3 million; Cox Arquette had to cough up $4.5 million before she could move in.
     And she's not the only one hearing the birdcall. Keanu Reeves laid down $5 million for his 5,000-square-foot lodgings; Leonardo DiCaprio dropped $3 million for his three-bedroom abode, the very home in which the material girl once hung her hat.
     Most of the houses in the neighborhood would be considered tract houses anywhere else, and you have people paying more than $1,000 per square foot for them, says Aileen Comora of the Westside Estate Agency, (If you were to buy a 5,000-square-foot home in, say, Iowa City, it might sell for $275,000. You do the math.)
     And the cash just keeps on flowing, Barry Sloane of Sotheby's International Realty estimates that the premium bird-street homes have rien in value by roughly a million dollars in the past year and a half-that is since, Maguire, Cox Arquette, and Reeves rolled in. Though it depends on who it is in the area, in general, having celebrities in the neighborhood almost always adds to the value, he says.
     Besides getting to live next door to Spider-Man, what's the big deal? Location, for one. With the Strip less than a mile away, the polymorphously wealthy can have the peacefulness of the country and still feel like they're part of the Gnat Pack, It's like SoHo in the suburbs, says Bennett Carr of Prudential Estate Properties. Privacy is also a draw. Some homes are tucked away in the hillside, guarded by palm trees, strategic hedges, or towering electric fences.
     And unlike many mansions in Beverly Hills and Bel Air, the bird-street abodes- mostly sixties style structures with flat roofs and stucco walls look like they could be in Anywhere Upper-Middle-Class, USA. If you think of a Bel Air estate with the long driveway, there are only four or five houses on the bird streets that would fit that bill, says Sloane. The bulk of them are simple constructions that have been played with one way or another.
     Of course, some of the homes have movie-star touches. Maguire's pad includes a screening room with a special drawer that has very kind of candy you can imagine, reports one visitor. Those who O.D. on Milk Duds can take a trip to his this-is-how-I-stopped-looking-scrawny home gym. (DiCaprio also has a personal gym, but it's main attraction is a ping pong table.) Cox Arquette took one of her house's two garages and converted in into a walk in closet.
     Other signs theres serious money in the hood. Consider the million-dollar teardown, when a buyer shells out green for a home, runs it over with a bulldozer, then builds a seven-figure house in its place. It's the basic law of supply and demand, says Sloane. When the land is so valuablethat it's highest and best use is to support a larger house, the forces of money will make that happen.
     By most accounts, stars mix well with their non-famous neighbors. Although Dicaprio and company are reportedly known for their late-night post clubbing hoop games, resident Mike Gleason insists these are people who care about their community. If Leo or Tobey ar having a party there will be 10 electric cars parked in front of their house. And you'll never hear any noise.
     When Madonna was a resident she didn't exactly feel the love. After a battle of wills, she was ordered to cut a hedge that gave her privacy but partially blocked her neighbor's view. Shortly after acquiescing, she flew the coop for Los Feliz. DiCaprio. meanwhile, has his own way of dealing with the neighbors. Last summer he doled out nearly $4 million to buy the three-bedroom house next door. No word on whether he plans to tear it down.