LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: pocket listed at $5,000,000
SIZE: 4,300 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Rakish boutique hotelier Jason Pomeranc may not be a household name in a Kim Kardashian or Denzel Washington sort of way but he none-the-less turns up on fairly regular basis in the gossip columns on both the east and west coasts. Mister Pomeranc, for those who don't belong to or follow the bi-coastal social glitterati, owns and/or operates a long list of trés trendy boo-teek hotels much-frequented by deep-pocketed and style-minded globe trotters both famous and just rich. His many hotels include (among others) 60 Thompson, Gild Hall and Smyth in New York, the star-studded Hollywood Roosevelt in Los Angeles, the Belgraves in London, Hotel Victor in South Beach (FL), and Sax in Chicago.
Various and many media reports reveal that since its doors opened, Mister P.'s 60 Thompson—described on its website as "bohemian chic" with "modern sophistication" has been like an irresistible flame to celebrity moths like Gwnnie Paltrow, Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, and stylist-to-the-stars turned reality tee-vee queen turned sartorial mini-mogul Rachel Zoe. No doubt the public figures adore A60, the hotel's (essentially) private roof top bar and lounge open only to hotel guests, those with a membership card, and others who know people with membership cards.
Besides his obvious and screaming success as a boo-teek hotelier—the New York Observer once called Mister P. the "innkeeper for the image conscious" —the most interesting thing on the internets about Mister Pomeranc, perhaps, are the scads of reports about his posse of high-profile pals and romantic relationships with misbehaving ladies.
In the mid-Aughts he got busy for a minute or two with sometimes volatile and (newly hitched) Heathers, Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed (h)actress Shannen Doherty. Not long after catting around with Miz Doherty, Mister Pomeranc hooked up with (and later lived with) blond and mannequin thin Ali Wise, at that time a fixture on the New York social scene and a PR maven for the sexy Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana.
Anyone who reads about the glitz-and-glam set on the east and west coasts surely recalls the big brouhaha and scandal a few years ago when Miss Wise got her Louboutins in some boiling hot water after she got caught hacking into the home and mobile phones of several of her ex-boyfriends' girlfriends. (!!) In April 2010, according to various online reports, Miss Wise took a felony plea bargain to eaves dropping and computer trespassing, a deal designed to keep her from doing time in the big house.
Of course, the nefarious telecommunications doings of Miss Wise, fascinating as they may be, are entirely irrelevant to today's discussion about Mister Pomeranc's butterfly-roofed mid-century modern residence in Tinseltown quietly available for purchase, according to information we dug up, for $5,000,000. Records reveal Mister Pomeranc, a sartorially stylish, boyishly handsome, and usually scruffy-faced fella in his early forties, has maintained homes in both New York City and Los Angeles (CA) where he acquired his swinging crib the swank Sunset Plaza area above the Sunset Strip in August 2007 for $2,912,500. The pedigreed property was designed and built in 1955 for now-deceased teen idol Bobby Darin by Palm Springs-based modernist architect Bill Krisel.
As it turns out, for anyone who might give a crap, Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter (along with our long-bodied bitches Linda and Beverly) are headed to Palm Springs today where we'll spend the next 10 days or so lounging around a glassy house also designed by Bill Krisel.
Listing information from the time of Mister P.'s purchase indicates the single-story residence contains 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in 4,250 square feet while current (off-market) online listing information states there are 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms in about 4,300 square feet. The Los Angeles Times reported at the time of the purchase that Mister P. hired much lauded and applauded (mid-century) modern-minded designer Brad Dunning to do over the airy, open-plan interiors. Mister Dunning, for those who do not know, has a very fah-fah-shee-shee clientele that includes global glam-squaders Tom Ford, Demi Moore, Steven Meisel, Courtney Cox Arquette, and Sofia Coppola.
Mister Pomeranc's L-shaped, Rat Pack-era residence sits well above street-level over a two car garage and its mostly terrazzo-floored main living/entertaining spaces encompass a big ol' built-in and fully-stocked wet bar just off the entry and a barely furnished sunken "formal" living room with wall-to-wall shag carpeting, a gently pitched and beamed ceiling with clerestory windows, a pair of built-in sofa banquettes covered in platinum grey fabric, and a monumental stone fireplace wall. Converging banks of floor-to-ceiling glass sliders in both the living room and (somewhat narrow) adjoining dining room seamlessly connect to the courtyard-like backyard.
A tall snack counter separates the living/dining/bar areas from the sleek and expensively-equipped galley-style kitchen that spills into the adjacent party-sized and partially wood-paneled family room decked out in a neo-retro style with built-in planter boxes, pitched and beamed ceiling, over-sized fire box with black marble surround, and a row of minimalist wood cabinets that (we presume) hide the television, cable boxes, board games and whatever other knick-knacks and paddywhacks Mister P. keeps around but doesn't want on open display.
At least one of the two family/guest bedrooms has built-in wardrobes that flank a television that can be hidden behind disappearing pocket doors. A third bedroom was fashioned by Mister Dunning as a sparely-one private home office and listing photos show a fourth was pressed into use as fitness room with rubber mat flooring, a bunch of free weights, a wall-mounted flat-scree television, and a few fitness devices that Your Mama wouldn't know how to use if our fat ass depended on it.
One of the family/guest bedrooms was fashioned by Mister Dunning as a cozy private home office, another was utilized as a small private fitness room, and at least one of the the others has built-in wardrobes that flank a television that can be hidden behind disappearing pocket doors. A free-standing stone fireplace separate the sitting area from the sleeping area in the sizable master suite well situated for privacy at the back of the house. The attached bathroom was designed with a mirror-lined niche for the double-sink vanity with marble counter top and an over-sized marble soaking tub with glassed in (and marble-lined) steam shower, and separate cubby for the terlit.
The house, nestled on to a steep hillside, wraps on two sides around the backyard that's almost entirely paved in concrete with pebbled insets and includes a swimming pool, spa, sunbathing terraces and a lounge area with built-in gas fire pit.
listing photos: Val Riolo for Coldwell Banker / Beverly Hills South
