Mansion Where Cultists Died Is Sold at Bargain Price
Mansion Where Cultists Died Is Sold at Bargain Price Sept. 11, 1999 The mansion in which 39 members of a religious cult committed suicide 2 1/2 years ago has quietly been sold for what an official called the bargain price of $668,000, it was disclosed Friday.According to records in the San Diego County assessor's office, the property was sold in June to a local developer, William Strong.Gary Fairbanks, division chief in the assessor's office, said the land alone had been assessed at $1.4 million. "But . . . if at any time you have a stigma on the property, it will affect the value," he said.Along with their leader, Marshall Applewhite, members of the Heaven's Gate cult took their lives by swallowing a mixture of barbiturates and vodka in March 1997. They left a video indicating that their suicides were an attempt to shed their earthly "containers" so they could reach a UFO trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.The nine-bedroom, seven-bathroom house is on 3.1 acres amid what is considered some of the most expensive real estate in the country.Fairbanks called the selling price a bargain. "It's a sweeping site," he said. "You can see all the way to the ocean. If the site were by itself, we believe it would be worth every bit of $1.4 million."The man who rented the mansion to Heaven's Gate, local businessman Sam Koutchesfahani, was sent to prison last year for conspiracy and tax evasion. Seattle-based Washington Mutual took the property over through foreclosure and sold it to Strong.
Courting Love of Lakeside Living
Courting Love of Lakeside Living Aug. 29, 1999 Christopher McDonald, who co-stars in the new CBS drama series "Family Law," is nearly finished with his renovation of an old lakefront lodge that he bought last summer at Lake Arrowhead for just under $1.5 million.McDonald gutted the 6,000-square-foot house, built in the '20s, and he finished the kitchen in time to entertain there on the Fourth of July.The actor appeared in the independent movie "SLC Punk," released last spring, and he played Adam Sandler's jock nemesis in "Happy Gilmore" (1996), game-show host Jack Barry in Robert Redford's "Quiz Show" ('94) and Geena Davis' husband in "Thelma and Louise" ('91).McDonald, 44, also had a recurring role (1997-1999) as Kirstie Alley's philandering ex-husband on the NBC series "Veronica's Closet."He and his wife, Lupe, keep a Los Angeles apartment and another Lake Arrowhead home, which they plan to sell after moving into their new residence. They live full time with their three children at Lake Arrowhead.Lake Arrowhead has been a weekend and holiday get-away place for Hollywood celebrities since the 1920s, and even today such stars as Roseanne, Mike Connors, Priscilla Presley and Frankie Avalon have retreats there, and a few, including McDonald and John Hillerman, live there full time.Houses and cabins start at $100,000, and estates of several acres with lake views and boat docks range from $700,000 to about $6 million.The McDonalds' new home has a gated motor court, chauffeur's quarters, two-bedroom staff suite, five family bedrooms and a ballroom-size living room. The house was built as a mountain lodge with thick beams, pitched ceilings, a slate roof and huge fireplaces.Lynne B. Wilson & Associates handled both sides of the McDonalds' purchase.*Frankie Avalon, a longtime owner of property at Lake Arrowhead, has sold his beach retreat there and bought a larger residence on a golf course. Avalon, 59, loves to golf.The pop-rock singer first made his name during the '50s and is best remembered for his '60s "beach party" movies with Annette Funicello. He has appeared as himself in such movies as Martin Scorsese's "Casino" (1995), and he performs often on stage in Las Vegas and elsewhere.He and his wife, Kay, paid slightly under $1 million for their new 4,500-square-foot retreat.The Avalons, who are the parents of eight children and are also grandparents, have another home in Westlake Village.Sandy Palmer of Re/Max represented the Avalons in buying.*Carol Probst, a former ice skating star who founded the Blue Jay Ice Castle as one of the top ice skating training centers in the United States, has her Lake Arrowhead home on the market at $5.7 million. She has a desert home and wants to downscale.The gated Arrowhead home has six bedroom suites and a gym in about 13,000 square feet. Described as "high-tech contemporary" with glass, stainless steel and mirrors, the house has a solarium and an oval dining room with sliding glass doors. The home also has many large verandas and patios. It is on about an acre, and the property stretches to the lake.Lynne B. Wilson & Associates has the listing and also represented the Avalons in selling their former Lake Arrowhead home.*In Hawaii, another hot spot for second homes, producer Peter Guber bought 168 acres of oceanfront property, with a caretaker's house, on Kauai last year for about $7.3 million, and now he's building a 15,000-square-foot house there, island sources said.Guber, in his mid-50s, was a top executive at Sony Pictures before forming the independent production company Mandalay Entertainment with Paul Schaeffer in 1994. The pair also voiced an interest in buying the Oakland A's earlier this year.Pat Harrington of Harrington's Paradise Properties on Kauai says that the oceanfront lot market there is "limited but strong" and that sales have been "brisk" for second-home buyers.On Oahu, the second-home market also has been "wonderfully active," said Chris O'Brien of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties. "Most homes are selling subject to inspection with offers coming sight unseen, mainly from computer wealth," she said.In April, money manager Fayez Sarofim bought the former Honolulu home of the late U.S. ambassador to Italy Clare Boothe Luce for $15 million, but some of the biggest sales during the last few months have been on the Big Island. One house was sold for $13.1 million to a travel agency executive, and a 38-acre home site was sold in July for about $11 million to Nathan Myhrvold of Microsoft Corp.*In the Coachella Valley, another popular second-home area, there is a hot new listing at the Thunderbird Country Club in Palm Springs.It is the desert home of the late entrepreneur Corwin Dwight Denney, an aerospace engineer who initially flight-tested his own products, and his wife, Nanci.Denney, who died in April at 77, founded American Helicopter Co. and later orchestrated numerous mergers until he sold his Automation Industries to General Cable in 1978 for $106 million. He was a life member of the USC Board of Trustees.Besides his Palm Springs home, he lived in a penthouse of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, which he once partially owned.Priced at just under $2 million, partially furnished, the Palm Springs house is on an acre and was built in 1956 by L.A. chain saw manufacturer Robert McCulloch, who rebuilt the London Bridge at Lake Havasu, Ariz.The 7,000-square-foot house has push-button curtains, blinds, doors and windows, as well as a bar where iced wine bottles electronically rise from a cellar. The home has an air-conditioned tennis court, croquet court and a 60-by-28-foot pool.Nelda Linsk of Coldwell Banker Eadie Adams Realty in Palm Springs has the listing.Want to see previous columns on celebrity real estate transactions? Visit https://www.latimes.com/hotproperty on the Internet.
Edward H. Fickett; Award-Winning Architect Built Showplaces
Edward H. Fickett; Award-Winning Architect Built Showplaces Architecture and Design June 19, 1999 June 24, 1999 Edward H. Fickett, award-winning Los Angeles architect who created stunning residences from Malibu to Palm Springs and such resorts as the La Costa complex in Carlsbad, has died. He was 76.Fickett died in Los Angeles on May 21 of pneumonia and was buried after services June 4 at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.Establishing his architectural firm in Los Angeles in 1950, Fickett created showplace homes in the wealthiest areas of Southern California, including Beverly Hills, San Marino, Malibu and Palm Springs.When he was named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1969, he was cited for his "excellence of design, proportion and scale and the use of regional materials, redwood, adobe brick and handmade flooring tiles" and for his "continuity of detail and expression of structural elements."A former Times urban planning columnist called one of Fickett's oceanfront homes in Manhattan Beach "a modern-styled post-and-beam delight" and said it was "an excellent example of the popular 1960s style, sited and constructed with sensitivity."Fickett worked for many years designing the La Costa complex in northern San Diego County. He started with its country club, moved on to create the health spa and eventually added condominiums.In addition to La Costa, Fickett designed the Mammoth Mountain Inn, the Las Cruces Resort Hotel in La Paz, Mexico, the Hacienda Hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and the Bistro Gardens Restaurant in Beverly Hills.But his work was not limited to homes and resorts for wealthy clients. Fickett also pioneered modular and structural concepts for early low-cost housing developments that were adapted for private and government projects in the 1950s.One of his projects that received notice was the Home Magazine House for a now-defunct Los Angeles Times publication called Home Magazine. This house, built in 1957 and 1958, was an attempt by the magazine to offer readers an inside look at the construction of a contemporary Los Angeles home. As the magazine pointed out, the house was not a pace-setter, or even a research home. It was an effort to build a house with the standard materials of the day with an eye both on quality and the budget.The 2,200-square-foot home, in the Royal Highlands area of Encino, was built by Donald Buhler and Everett Johnston; the landscaping was by Warren E. Lausen, and Philip Anthony designed the pool. The Home Magazine House was featured in a number of issues of the magazine.On a massive scale, Pickett also designed the Los Angeles Harbor cargo and passenger terminals in San Pedro, garnering a 1963 award from the American Institute of Steel Construction.His other government projects included Los Angeles' University High School and master plans for Edwards and Norton Air Force bases and Murphy Canyon Heights Naval Base.He became adept not only at creating new complexes but also at expanding and renovating older and often historic facilities, and doing seismic rehabilitation on more than 20,000 residences and parts of Los Angeles' City Hall.On May 11, Fickett earned a Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award for his renovation of Fire Station No. 30 in South Los Angeles, which was built in 1913. He was to have participated today, along with City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, at the dedication of his Silver Lake Park Recreation Center.Fickett had been widely praised by former Mayor Tom Bradley and several City Council members for his work on city recreation and parks facilities, and received numerous Los Angeles and Beverly Hills beautification awards for his commercial and residential designs.The architect earned a presidential merit of honor and architectural awards from the National Assn. of Home Builders, the American Institute of Architects, the California Masonry Assn., the Pacific Coast Builders Assn., the Federal Housing Administration and such magazines as Good Housekeeping, Progressive Architecture, House and Home, Parents, Better Homes and Gardens and Practical Builder.He served as president of the Southern California and the California chapters of the American Institute of Architects, and was an architectural commissioner in Beverly Hills, a member of Gov. Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Sr.'s Housing Board for California and an architectural advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.Fickett was a popular lecturer at conferences and universities and an active arbiter of construction disputes for the American Arbitration Assn.A fourth-generation Angeleno, Fickett earned a bachelor's degree in architecture and did graduate studies in engineering and archeology at USC; he received a master's degree in city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After completing naval officer training at USC, he was commissioned a lieutenant commander and supervised construction of bases in the South Pacific by the Civil Engineering Corps (Sea Bees) during World War II.He is survived by his wife, the former Joyce Helen Steinberg.Memorial donations may be sent to the Edward H. Fickett FAIA Scholarship Fund, USC School of Architecture, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0291.
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