After more than fifteen years, Keenen Ivory Wayans, perhaps best known, still, as an Emmy-winning co-creator, writer and star of the groundbreaking early 1990s ensemble sketch comedy series “In Living Color,” has decided it’s high-time to part ways with a family-sized home in a sought-after pocket of L.A.’s Tarzana suburb.
Newly listed at almost $3.2 million, and tucked into a small gated enclave of a few dozen homes, all built in a similar cross-Mediterranean style, the roughly 6,200-square-foot manse presides over almost half an acre that backs up to the one of the tree-shaded fairways of the El Caballero Country Club. Tax records indicate Wayans paid $2.6 million for the five-bedroom and seven-bath home that is available through Geoffrey Gilstrap and Christopher De Bruno at Dwell California Real Estate & Investments.
Two side-facing two-car garages stick off the front of the Spanish Colonial-esque-style manse where flamboyantly fluted stone pilasters flank a heavy-duty wrought iron and glass door that unsurprisingly swings open to what has arguably become the most unnecessary and ubiquitous feature of suburban mansions, a double-height foyer. A second-floor arched gallery overlooks the cavernous space that’s flooded with natural light all day long thanks to a Suburu-sized industrial skylight.
A fairly petite formal sitting room, with dark-stained wood beams across the flat ceiling, is primed for entertaining with a walk-in wet bar and a carved stone fireplace the color of wet sand. As in the adjoining dining room, with its minimalist modern light fixture, French doors lead to the backyard. Showcasing a graphic mix of glossy black granite counters, white marble tile backsplashes and an array of high-end (though not brand-new) appliances, the kitchen flows easily around a large island to a sunny informal dining area and family room with another carved stone fireplace the color of wet sand, more dark-stained wood beams across the ceiling and several more sets of French doors to the backyard.
There’s at least one en-suite bedroom on the main floor, whereas the main bedroom sprawls across the second floor with two fireplaces, one in the bedroom and another in a separate sitting room. The suite also offers a private terrace, a spacious walk-in closet and a luxury (if somewhat dated) bathroom finished with ordinary beige floor tiles, rust-colored marble accents and a subtly eye-catching geometric wall covering behind the makeup vanity.
An arched colonnade runs around the back of the house and provides a shaded respite that overlooks a swimming pool surrounded by checkerboard pattern stone terracing. There’s a huge outdoor fireplace alongside the poolside spa and a sport court is discretely nipped away in a corner of the yard behind one of the garages.
Wayans, along with a couple of his brothers, Shawn and Marlon Wayans, developed the blockbuster “Scary Movie” slasher satire franchise, the first two of which Keenen directed. After a seven or eight year hiatus, the sixty-something-year-old actor, comedian and filmmaker is newly back in the game, having co-wrote most of and executive produced all of the episodes of the third, most recent season of the Tracy Morgan and Tiffany Haddish starring TBS comedy series “The Last O.G.”