Sixteen-time Emmy-winning “ABC7 Eyewitness News” co-anchor David Ono has shelled out slightly more than $2.1 million for a quirky compound in the northern reaches of the L.A.’s affluent Toluca Lake community. The sellers, who acquired the property in March 2013 for a bit more than $1.3 million, and originally put it up for sale in late 2015 with an in-hindsight too optimistic price of nearly $2.8 million, were Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan, a recently married pair better known in the music universe as the bubbly, über-hipster pop duo Karmin.
The pancake-flat, 0.64-acre midblock compound, once owned by renowned jazz trumpeter Manny Klein, who blew his horn for Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, includes four separate structures, and features a brick-built 1939 single-level main house of nearly 2,400 square feet, where Bing Crosby allegedly arranged his iconic rendition of “White Christmas” and, so the stories go, a slew of celebs like Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra once bellied up to the wood-topped built-in bar in the saloon-style family room. A house-wide terrace with koi pond and built-in grilling station overlooks what can only be described as an ersatz backlot. A 2,000-square-foot guesthouse — two bedrooms, bathroom, full kitchen and state-of-the-art recording studio — is dressed up as a classic Cape Cod cottage, and stands across from a substantial structure (garage, gym and storage) that is painstakingly if rather curiously adorned with a Main Street inspired façade that incorporates a bank, boutique, and café. Beyond the guesthouse and garage, at the tail end of the driveway that snakes its way between the compound’s various structures, there’s a 40-foot-long swimming pool, fire pit and pool house with changing room and bathroom.
The sellers were represented by Allyson Carter at Rodeo Realty, and the buyer by Rick Chimienti at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.
listing photos: Rani Sikolsky for Rodeo Realty
