A smartly maintained and updated, 1940s bungalow in L.A.’s affluent Toluca Lake community that is owned by deft comedy actress turned critically acclaimed leading lady Melissa McCarthy has popped up as a short-term furnished rental at $10,000 per month. The 2019 “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Oscar nominee, also nominated in 2012 for her scatologically memorable role in “Bridesmaids,” paid $780,000 for the property in mid-2009, right about the same time she and her husband, “Tammy” writer, director, producer and actor Ben Falcone, sold a stately 1940s Georgian villa in L.A.’s desirable Los Feliz area for close to $2.5 million to “Bad Teacher” director/producer Jake Kasdan. Behind a vertically slatted fence and secured entry gates, the approximately 2,200 square foot three bedroom and three bathroom single-level residence is obscured in a fetching tangle of foliage atop a street-level two-car garage converted to flexible living space with hardwood floors, air conditioning and an attached bathroom.
Sophisticated and upscale yet comfortably relaxed interiors are grounded with polished, deep brown hardwood floors and feature plush upholstered furnishings, a curated collection of eye-catching light fixtures and a variety of attractively worn vintage carpets. The formal living room is anchored by a fireplace while the boldly wallpapered dining area is informally open to an almost entirely black and white kitchen fitted with up-to-date top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances and arranged around a work island crafted from an industrial trolley cart topped by a deliciously thick slab of lightly veined white marble. Beyond the dining area and kitchen is a cozily proportioned den with a wall of French doors that opens to the backyard as well as a small office with a full wall of floor-to-ceiling storage and display cubicles.
Two average-sized guest bedrooms are served by a pair of renovated, vintage-style bathrooms while the master bedroom, wallpapered in an over-scaled tulip pattern similar to that in the dining room and once described by McCarthy as “the tiniest bedroom on earth,” includes a fitted walk-in closet and another vintage-style bathroom with marble-topped vanity, claw-footed soaking tub and glassed in, penny-tiled shower.
Shielded from the prying eyes of neighbors by mature trees and towering stands of bamboo, the verdantly faux-grassed, low-maintenance backyard offers a long and slender curtained pergola for shady lounging and dining and a swimming pool surrounded by a sinuous fence and flower bed lorded over by a couple of cheeky pink plastic flamingos.
McCarthy and Falcone packed up their family and decamped the property some time ago for a much more grand, three-story East Coast-style shingle-clad mansion in another area of Toluca Lake they custom built behind gates on about an acre with a swimming pool and tennis court they snatched up in late 2012 for a tetch more than $3.5 million from now deceased actor, songwriter and game show host Alan Thicke.
Listing photos: Core Real Estate Group
