Actor David Berman, who portrayed Asst. Medical Examiner David “Super Dave” Phillips in nearly 300 episodes of the heavily syndicated and still quite popular crime series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” has put his home in the foothills between L.A.’s historic Beachwood and Bronson Canyons up for sale at hare’s breath below $2.2 million. Berman, who also served as the show’s head researcher and recently popped up as another coroner character on “The Black List,” acquired the ever so slightly more than 2,400-square-foot home coming up on seven years ago for a wee bit above $1.38 million.
Discreetly squirreled down a gated drive shared with just a few other houses, and burrowed into a steep hillside with sweeping views, the solar-powered three-bedroom and three-bath home is entered via a sunken courtyard.
The spacious, wood-floored living room features a vaulted ceiling, an unadorned fireplace and a wide bank of floor-to-ceiling windows that fold open accordion-style to slender deck with a knock-your-socks-off view of the downtown skyline. The deck wraps around to the side of the house where a covered lounge does double-duty as an outdoor movie theater thanks to a retractable movie screen.
The dining room’s cinematically wide picture window frames a picturesque cluster of palm trees, and the adjoining kitchen is up to date with high-end accouterment and tons of natural light from a couple of skylights in the raised ceiling.
A small home theater just inside the front door features sound-baffling crimson fabric on the walls and tiered seating in puffy buff-colored reclining sofas. And, beyond the dining room lies a cozily proportioned guest bedroom or home office and bathroom. Two more bedrooms and baths downstairs include an ample main bedroom complete with fireplace, updated bathroom and walk-in closet. French doors provide a convenient short cut from the main bedroom to the backyard hot tub.
The two-story home’s high perch allows for sweeping city and, on a clear day, ocean views from most rooms, and much al fresco hay has been made with the precipitous slope below the house. A stone dining terrace alongside the house overlooks a prettily planted hillside zigzagged with long flights of steps and sloping, grapevine-lined paths that wind their way to a couple of serenely sun-dappled garden patios.
The listing is held by Mia Capanna and Garrett McKechnie of Wish Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.