‘Making Sense’ Podcaster Sam Harris Unloads Longtime Santa Monica Mansion

Now that he’s finally finished building a far more lavish estate in Pacific Palisades, it’s no surprise that Sam Harris and his wife Annaka have sold their longtime home in nearby Santa Monica. The couple made short work of unloading the sumptuous property; it hit the market last month and just transferred for $7.8 million, a bit under the $8 million list price. For now, the spendy new owner remains unidentified.

Harris, 55, is a Los Angeles native who holds a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from UCLA. Born into wealth as the son of “Golden Girls” creator Susan Harris, he first came to public prominence in the early 2000s, topping New York Times’ bestsellers list with his book “The End of Faith,” a critique of all religious belief. Since then, Harris has become “one of the West’s best-known atheists,” with his mega-popular “Making Sense” podcast and “Waking Up” meditation app only heightening his fame.

Though he sports legions of fans, Harris has occasionally attracted controversy throughout his career, most recently with comments he made regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop, Donald Trump and media censorship.

As for the real estate, records reveal Harris bought his now-former Santa Monica home in late 2008, shortly after it was built, paying exactly $5 million; over the last 14 years, it doesn’t appear he made many significant changes to the premises. However, he did install a lush and colorful cacophony of plantings that surround the envelope the entire property, including towering walls of bamboo and other subtropical flora.  The home’s two-car attached garage is also now equipped with a Tesla charger.

The residence itself is mansion-sized, with five bedrooms and seven baths in more than 7,000 square feet. There are three dedicated levels to the home, including a subterranean floor that packs in a movie theater, gym and a library with its own wet bar. Upstairs, the structure is currently configured with two work-from-home offices, plus open living spaces that include a vast living room, a dining room and a chef’s kitchen. Most every room in the home is blessed with lustrous hardwood floors, and a multitude of glass sliding doors open to various parts of the lush yard.

The penthouse-level primary suite has treetop views, as does what the listing refers to as a “bonus” rooftop deck. Out back, the plunge pool is completely surrounded by that bamboo wall, which offers the homeowners essentially unlimited sunbathing privacy.

Sited on a corner lot in a particularly prime part of eastern Santa Monica, the house is also walking distance from both the Brentwood Country Mart and a multitude of shopping and dining destinations on Montana Avenue.