A gated domain of sports stars, A-list actors, media billionaires and nouveau riche Angelenos -- where 11,000 square feet constitutes a "cozy" house and a developer once built a $20-million manse on spec -- is embroiled in a legal fracas that shows once and for all that money can't buy happiness.
The court battle began in May, when residents of South Beverly Park sued their confreres in North Beverly Park.
These aren't just any residents.
Among the South Beverly Park plaintiffs are Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson and movie producer Richard Zanuck and his wife, Lili.
The North Beverly Park defendants include Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, Reba McEntire, Sylvester Stallone, Barry Bonds and media moguls Haim Saban and Sumner Redstone.
The dispute was touched off when the 64-home North Beverly Park Homeowners Assn. began restricting access to a road that residents of the 16-home South Beverly Park community had been freely using for two decades.
Under the new restrictions, the southern residents themselves could continue to enter through the northern gates at Mulholland Drive. But their contractors, nannies and gardeners, according to residents, had to take detours as long as seven miles on Benedict Canyon or Coldwater Canyon drives.
The communities, which carry a Beverly Hills post office address, are actually part of the city of Los Angeles. They are nestled between Mulholland Drive and Sunset Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Drive and Beverly Glen Boulevard.
Within the gates are enormous mansions -- in Tuscan, French chateau, Spanish and modern styles -- set on large, flat lots of 1 to 3.5 acres. Of the handful of houses on the market, the most expensive is in the north, with an asking price of $50 million. The cheapest is $14 million.
Even the small and cheap mansions feature security gates and high stone walls, impeccably manicured lawns, tennis courts and pools.
"It's a super unique enclave that gives you complete security, living among your peers," said Mauricio Umansky, a real estate agent with Hilton & Hyland. "From every aspect, it's just fantastic."
Brian Adler, who helped develop the sister communities beginning in the mid-1980s, said the concept of having guards and gates was intended to make Beverly Park stand out from the other three top Westside neighborhoods, Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills and Bel-Air.
"It made sense that the highest-profile people would take interest," Adler said.
