California’s drop-dead gorgeous, casually aristocratic and conspicuously expensive seaside community of Montecito has long attracted deep-pocketed Hollywood heavyweights looking for a serene getaway less than two hours outside of Los Angeles. Oprah Winfrey presides over a baronial estate she calls The Promised Land; Rob Lowe is a long-time resident who, after he sold his longtime estate for a whopping $44.5 million to private equity tycoon Jack McGinley last year, paid a combined $18.2 million for two properties; And, of course, Ellen DeGeneres has bought and sold more multimillion homes in Montecito than anyone would care to count, including a Tudor villa she sold to Ariana Grande last year for $6.9 million.
However, Montecito’s less ballyhooed, more New Age-y and not quite as pricey, though hardly inexpensive nearby cousin Ojai, nestled into a small valley up against the Topa Topa Mountains less than 90 miles outside L.A and about 15 miles north of Ventura, has long been a popular if slightly under-the-radar getaway for showbiz types: Oscar winner Anne Hathaway has a stunning Alpine-inspired Craftsman that was recently featured in both Architectural Digest and Vogue; powerhouse producer Jerry Bruckheimer maintains a 400-ish acre ranch property; “Dumb and Dumber” director Peter Farrelly dropped $2.4 million on a two-plus acre estate just outside the quaint downtown district a few years ago; and Adam Levine has peeped at least one of the area’s more expensive and stylishly rehabbed homes.
One of the sleepy and artsy resort community’s long-time residents, per tax records, is Will Gluck, screenwriter, director and producer of the 2014 remake of “Annie” and the 2018 live-action/computer animated box office hit “Peter Rabbit” as well its recently released (and not yet quite as successful) sequel. Coming up on 14 years ago, around the time he co-created the short-lived sitcoms “The Loop” and “The Michael J. Fox Show,” Gluck and his writer wife Trista Gladden ponied up a tetch more than $1.4 million for a secluded mid-century home that, after it was first and quietly tossed on the market earlier this year at $3.2 million, is now up for grabs at $2.9 million.
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Image Credit: Redfin Listings held by Robin Williams of LIV Sotheby’s International Realty show the nearly three-quarter-acre spread, squirrelled down a private road and secreted down a long driveway with a seasonal barranca, is anchored by an almost 3,000-square-foot updated mid-1960s California ranch house contemporary with four bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, plus a detached guesthouse.
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Image Credit: Redfin Comfortable and colorfully furnished, the combination living room and dining room showcases wide-plank hardwood floorboards beneath a beamed and vaulted ceiling. A whitewashed brick fireplace sports a fetchingly curved raised hearth, and the dining area sits next to a wall of big windows that frame up a lush view of the surrounding gardens.
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Image Credit: Redfin The relatively compact kitchen is up to date with glossy wooden countertops, high-end stainless-steel appliances, simple snow-white cabinets jazzed up with cherry-red pulls. A Dutch door adds country-house ambiance, and, in the adjoining breakfast area, a deep-cushioned built-in banquette is the perfect early morning spot to cozy up with coffee and a book, or more likely nowadays, an iPad.
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Image Credit: Redfin Guest bedrooms are clustered together at one end of the house, while the primary suite is privately located at the opposite end with pink satin drapes that pull back to reveal French doors to a slender stone balcony with peaceful mountain and valley views. There’s a Venetian plastered corner fireplace in the bedroom, and the bathroom has a soaking tub next to a picture window with meditative views into the surrounding trees.
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Image Credit: Redfin -
Image Credit: Redfin A screened porch enhances an indoor-outdoor lifestyle, the swimming pool provides a cool oasis during the heat of the summer and a pair of boulders provides a rugged backdrop to a small pond.
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Image Credit: Redfin -
Image Credit: Redfin Guests are comfortably and privately accommodated in a detached guesthouse just beyond the pool. The bathroom is spacious and compartmentalized, and floor-to-ceiling sliding panels allow the light, bright and clean-lined main room to be divided into two separate spaces.
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Image Credit: Redfin -
Image Credit: Redfin -
Image Credit: Redfin About a year and a half ago, after nearly a year on the market at slowly declining prices, the Glucks sold their contemporary home in L.A.’s Outpost Estates neighborhood for almost $2.5 million to Netflix executive Peter Friedlander, and just before the pandemic they moved into a brand-new, 7,500-square-foot solar-powered architectural home designed by Gluck’s innovative and acclaimed architect father Peter Gluck and his New York-based architecture, construction and development firm Gluck+.
Cleverly notched into a steep, multiacre hillside parcel bought seven years ago for $1.7 million and long deemed unbuildable, the two-story structure is largely hidden in the hillside and topped by dynamic glass-walled pavilion that houses the home’s public spaces. Recently featured in The Hollywood Reporter, the striking residence has four bedrooms, two offices, a state-of-the-art screening room, of course, unobstructed views that sweep from the Hollywood sign to clear across the San Fernando Valley.