David Katzenberg Sells Sunset Strip Digs To Josh Flagg

SELLER: David Katzenberg
BUYER: Josh Flagg
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $1,600,000
SIZE: 1,687 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Back in January (2013) Hollywood scion David Katzenberg—his daddy is DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, in case you didn't know—quietly acquired a multi-million dollar micro-estate above the Sunset Strip and this week the fast-budding writer/director/producer sold his Sunset Strip starter house for—we heard from an impeccable source—$1.6 million to—drum roll, please—Million Dollar Listing bad boy Josh Flagg.

Property records show 30-year old and newly single Mister Katzenberg—he and hotel heiress/handbag designer Nicky Hilton recently parted ways after four years—acquired the 1935 Spanish bungalow in June 2006, for $1,550,000. We're not sure when he first floated it but Your Mama found digital evidence the property was previously available for what appears to have been an off-market listing with a $1,959,000 asking price. The fully updated, upgraded and carefully maintained property popped up on the open market in mid-April (2013) for $1,595,000 and was removed from the market about a month later. The $1.6 million sale price now reflected in various property record data bases suggests—but does not prove, children—there were multiple offers for the modestly scaled but centrally located residence.

Technically the Katzenberg-Flagg house is in West Hollywood but, kittens and caboodles, it's really so close to the eastern border of Beverly Hills that some real estate agents might dare to describe it as—ahem—Beverly Hills adjacent. Although it's generally true that nobody walks in L.A.—not even across the damn street if it can be avoided—Mister Flagg could, if he was so inclined, put on a pair of those embroidered Tuxedo-style slipper-shoes of which he's so fond and easily amble over to the members only Soho House that's just down the block and across Sunset Boulevard. Your Mama generally feels wary about member's only clubs but it so happens, thanks to a prominent real estate agent with whom we're acquainted, Your Mama has been to the Soho House and, children, the glass-railed and tree-shaded roof top dining terrace is about as good a swanky spot as any in L.A. to see and be seen iffin seeing and being seen floats yer boat. Anyhoo...

Mister Flagg's new digs, which Your Mama just assume he's gonna share with his interior decorating man-mate Colton Thorn, are all but hidden behind high privet hedges and security gates and listing details Your Mama scared up on the internet show the 1,687 square foot house has but two bedrooms and two (renovated) bathrooms.

Listing photographs show dark stained wood floors in the sunken living/dining room that shimmer in the southeast sunshine that streams though the paned windows that are hung with the most humble of bamboo shades. Architectural detailing has been pared back, eliminated, or otherwise neutralized but the room retains a welcomed smidgen of its original architectural language with the arched red brick fireplace. Mister Katzenberg—or his decorator or his stager—set off a staid quartet of masculine brown leather club-type chairs with an eclectic collection of contemporary artwork that includes several colorful skateboard decks painted by A-list artist Takashi Murakami.

The glossy, ebony wood floors continue in to the open-concept kitchen/family room that opens through a bank of French doors to the fairly petit backyard and detached two car garage. The children will note the long work island that separates the kitchen proper from the family room lounge area is dressed with a ubiquitous orchid plant and an impressive cluster of clear glass jars filled with candy. Candy. Yum. We're sure the kitchen is lovely and well-equipped but we can't get past all that candy.

Both the kitchen/family room and the master bedroom open up to the backyard where a small patch of grass divides the house from from an elevated, open air pavilion fitted and kitted with a spa and fire pit plus the extra added conveniences of a changing room and a bathroom.

Your Mama's brief and unscientific research shows Mister Katzenberg upgraded his living situation in January (2013) when bought a newer, larger, and Hollywood pedigreed pad in the Sunset Strip area with a big of a Tinseltown pedigree (above). Property records show the thoroughly renovated and partly restored 1930s Monterey Colonial residence—located just a third of a mile up the hill from his old house—has 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms and was sold by screenwriter and producer Simon Kinberg for $3,450,000. Mister Kinberg, in case his name isn't familiar, wrote and produced the Oscar nominated Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr., penned and produced at least two installments of the X-Men franchise, and is currently at work on Star Wars Rebels, the seventh installment of the ongoing Star Wars series. Previous to Mister Kinberg the house was owned by the Ice-T's long-time manager Jorge Hinojosa and the late Caresse Henry who at one time or another managed the careers of superstars like Madonna, Ricky Martin, Jessica Simpson, Paula Abdul and Joss Stone.

As far as we can tell from a perusal of property records, scruffy-faced Mister Flagg still owns the 1,300 square foot, mid-floor two bedroom and two bathroom condo crib at the full-service, I.M. Pei-designed Century Towers complex in Century City that he co-purchased with his parents in June 2008 for $1,048,000.

Just for shits and giggles, lets have a kick recap of some of the recent real estate doings of young Mister Katzenberg's wildly right media mogul father whose real estate portfolio has been in flux the last couple of years. In February (2012) Poppa Katzenberg and his long-time missus, Marilyn, sold their nearly 10,000 square foot faux-quoined mansion in the flats of Beverly Hills—listing details generously called it a "Contemporary Mediterranean"—in February for $9,283,500 million. In August the Katzenbergs put their luxurious, 14,100 square foot faux-rustic ski-in/ski-out chalet at the Bald Eagle Club in Deer Park, UT, on the market for $20,500,000. As of today it remains on the open market at the same price.

The elder Katzenbergs still own the Gwathmey Siegel-designed compound on Malibu's super-swank Carbon Beach where former Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel recently sold his Michael Graves-designed compound a few doors down to property mad gajillionaire Larry Ellison for $36.9 million, which should give y'all some idea of what the Mister and Missus K's beach compound is worth..

In October 20009 Mister Katzenberg paid ballistic missile tycoon Si Ramo $35 million for a supremely sited 6.34 acre spread on a private promontoary above Beverly Hills. He proceeded to knock the existing 8,700 square foot house down and build a bigger, newer, better, whatever house.

listing photos (old): Lee Manning Photography for Hilton & Hyland
listing photos (new): Coldwell Banker

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