SELLERS: Josh Safran and Ted Alexandre
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $3.295 million
SIZE: 4,204 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms
YOUR MAMA”S NOTES: “Quantico” co-creator-writer-producer Josh Safran, as we first learned from the property gossips at Realtor.com, has put his plushly appointed, putty-colored Tudor residence in the heart of Los Angeles’ historic Hancock Park up for sale at $3.295 million. Property records and reports from the time show Mister Safran and his husband, Ted Alexandre — among other things a consulting producer on the 2008 documentary portrait “Valentino: The Last Emperor,” purchased the property in April 2010 for $2.75 million.
It seems Mister Safran, impressively credentialed with a playwriting degree from NYU, forwent a life in live theater for a successful career in the equally if not even more fickle and cutthroat television business. He wrote for and co-produced the terrifically tawdry smash hit “Gossip Girls” before he signed on as showrunner for the second and last season of the avidly and hilariously hate-watched yet still ill-fated musical melodrama “Smash.” He’s also listed as a co-writer for the — ahem— flaccid 2014 reboot of Franco Zefferelli’s iconically schmaltzy “Endless Love” (1981) and, as mentioned above, he co-created the FBI thriller “Quantico,” for which he also writes and executive produces (it was picked up for a second season earlier this month).
The two-story, circa-1929 residence, which retains many original architectural details while at the same time is chock full of modern-day conveniences and creature comforts, has four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in 4,205 square feet plus additional living space contained in a two-story detached structure. The bullet-shaped foyer has an era-appropriate magnesite-tiled floor and staircase and the jewel box of a powder room, discreetly tucked under the stairs between the foyer and dining room, is whimsically lined in spendy, zebra-print Scalamandré wall paper that sets the highly stylized vibe for the decadently decorated residence that listing details describe as a mix between “Hollywood’s magic” and “Hancock Park’s elegance.” The step-down formal living room graciously stretches more than 28 feet with ashy brown oak floors, gas fireplace, original leaded glass windows, and a vaulted ceiling with hand-stenciled wood beams. French doors open to a small courtyard shaded by a Chinese Elm and the tassel trimmed window treatments are based on original designs by celebrated decorator William “Billy” Haines according to listing details. Deep navy blue walls and ceiling conjure up a moody sort of elegance in the library/reading room that is further enhanced by a mother-of-pearl table in front of a corner fireplace and open bookshelves and writing desk fitted into a pair shallow, ogee-arched niches. The formal dining room, wrapped entirely in soigné and no doubt brutally costly hand-painted silk wall coverings and lit by a prolifically spikey, sea urchin-like chandelier that looks hungry to snatch a lavishly teased wig right off someone’s head, connects through a well-equipped butler’s pantry to a period-inspired kitchen fitted and kitted with unadorned white cabinets that extend all the way to the ceiling, slab stone countertops, classic white subway tile backsplashes, and a full complement of high-end commercial style stainless steel appliances. An adjoining breakfast room, furnished with a glammy, Chinoiserie-ish gilded bamboo dinette set, links the kitchen to the foyer as well as to a long and slender family room with built-in desk and media storage cabinetry, an integrated sound system, and French doors to the backyard.
Both of the amply proportioned family bedrooms on the second floor, one with built-in window seat and the other with private terrace, have walk-in closets and separate dressing areas and share a vintage Jack ‘n’ Jill-style bathroom while the master suite offers a pair of dressing rooms, one with marble-topped built-ins, and a modern bathroom with frameless glass shower enclosure. The small service wing behind the kitchen includes an over-sized laundry room and the home’s fourth and smallest bedroom that includes a vintage tiled en suite that makes it perfectly suited for short-term guests or a live-in domestic worker.
The grassy, tree-shaded backyard features a built-in grilling station and a fully tiled, plunge-sized swimming pool and semi-circular spa that are both electric and solar heated. What was once a detached two-car garage at the rear of the property next to the swimming pool has been repurposed as a pool house with two banks of accordion fold glass doors, a floating built-in media cabinet, refrigerator, and air-conditioned sleeping loft. Alas, as deluxely done up as the pool house may be — rivet-accented and linen-upholstered chesterfield, tufted and tassel-skirted armchairs, and a silver accent wall — it does not have a bathroom. That means any houseguest relegated to an overnight stay in the pool house will require some sort of bed pan or, at the very least, a flashlight to facilitate the inevitable, middle-of-the-night cross-the-lawn trek into the main house to make use of a restroom.
Although it does not mean they don’t, this property gossip didn’t find any obvious evidence in any of the property record data bases we perused that Misters Safran and Alexandre currently own any other properties. However, we did find documentation that indicates in late 2010, seven or so months after the Hancock Park house was acquired, Mister Safran sold a 2,255-square-foot loft in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood for $1.7625 million, an amount our handy-dandy bejeweled abacus calculates to just over $25,000 less than the $1,817,576 property records show he paid for the one-bedroom and one-bathroom condo in the spring of 2006.
Listing photos: Keller Williams
