Beach House

Their internationally recognized names sell music and movie tickets. They promote perfumes and presidents. But when it comes to selling their own houses, celebrities often find that their cachet doesn't pull in the cash. Actors Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell haven't found a buyer for their Malibu beach house, which comes with a raft of celeb-friendly amenities including a covered outdoor living room, a spa-like bath retreat and a meditation room. So the couple have nipped $3.5 million from last year's price, listing the Balinese-influenced oceanfront spread at $11.2 million.

Their internationally recognized names sell music and movie tickets. They promote perfumes and presidents. But when it comes to selling their own houses, celebrities often find that their cachet doesn't pull in the cash. Actors Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell haven't found a buyer for their Malibu beach house, which comes with a raft of celeb-friendly amenities including a covered outdoor living room, a spa-like bath retreat and a meditation room. So the couple have nipped $3.5 million from last year's price, listing the Balinese-influenced oceanfront spread at $11.2 million.

A beach house owned by the late entertainment lawyer Harold Berkowitz is on the market in Malibu at $13.9 million. The Mediterranean house has 40 feet of beachfront and a raised deck for taking in the ocean views. The master bedroom suite includes a sitting area, a fireplace and dual bathrooms. Two detached guesthouses have kitchenettes and boost the listing to a total of five bedrooms and 61/2 bathrooms. Berkowitz, who died in last year at 92, was known for his negotiation skills.

Dear Mom: It's always been impossible to buy you a gift for Mother's Day or any other occasion, because there's so little you ever wanted or needed, and how many flannel nightgowns can any woman use? There must be half a dozen stores within 10 miles of your house where you set records for returning gifts from family members. And so we switched to flowers, which even the Queen of Returns can't give back. I hope they've arrived by now. But here's a little something extra.

A gated Mediterranean owned by actor Pierce Brosnan has come on the market in Malibu at $3.9 million. Designed as an artist's retreat, the two-story beach house includes a separate space that can be used as an office or media room. The living room has soaring wood-beam ceilings, walls of glass, a fireplace, plank oak flooring, built-in cabinetry and two balconies with ocean and mountain views. Skylights and picture windows bring light into the kitchen. The master suite includes a sitting area, balconies and a bathroom fireplace.

Actress Sandra Will Carradine has listed her beach house in Carpinteria's gated Rincon Point community for $4.29 million. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom cottage and one-bedroom, one-bathroom guest quarters sit on more than a quarter acre bordering the Rincon Creek estuary and the Pacific. The grounds include a Balinese-style temple, exotic gardens and a koi pond. Carradine spent years enhancing the property, which includes a 200-year-old cypress tree, redwoods, pines, palms, magnolia and olive trees and a rose garden.

A Malibu beach house owned by actress Judy Garland when she was married to film and stage director Vincente Minnelli has sold for $1,475,000. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom, Cape Cod-style home of 1,300 square feet is on Las Tunas Beach. There are expansive decks overlooking the ocean, high ceilings and hardwood floors. The living room and master bedroom have wood-burning fireplaces. The property also has a courtyard and direct beach access. The grant deed shows that Judy Garland Minnelli purchased the then newly built house in November 1947.

From the road, the Ackerberg House in Malibu is just another blank wall, although a little more elegant than its neighbors. But from the beach, the house is an exuberant mass of big windows that open to the view of the ocean. Holding together this beach palace is a tight grid of rational organization executed by the master of elegant modernism, architect Richard Meier. Together with fellow New Yorker Charles Gwathmey, Meier invented the modern beach house.

Howie Mandel, now into his eighth month as host of a syndicated talk-variety show, and his wife, Terry, have listed their Malibu retreat of five years at just under $4 million. "They're selling because he works 14 hours a day, and he has been to the beach eight nights in two years," said listing agent Jay Rubenstein of Coldwell Banker's Malibu West office. When Mandel, 43, isn't doing his show, he is often on the road as a comic.

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks slept here as well as in their famous Pickfair in Beverly Hills: Here is a Santa Monica house, where a $500,000 interior design job was being finished last week. "It was their beach house, and they lived here in the summers," interior designer Bobi Leonard said of the Hollywood couple who entertained royalty and other distinguished guests while they were married from 1920 to 1936.

Actors Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have put their Malibu beach house back on the market, chopping $3.5 million from last year to price it at $11.2 million. The Balinese-inspired home faces sand dunes and the ocean. The 4,300-square-foot house, built in 1978 and renovated in 2005, is entered through a gated courtyard. Features include a screening room, a bar, a gym, an office and a detached guest house. The master suite has floor-to-ceiling windows and a beachfront balcony for a total of four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms.

Here are some good places for eating experiences: Local eatery. Hawaiian Style Cafe, Waimea. This low-key breakfast joint is an obsession with those who have tried it. Lines of locals form on weekends, and the place closes when it runs out of food. The Loco Moco (eggs, hamburger and gravy over rice) is the "local food" you are looking for. (808) 885- 4295. Romantic dinner. CanoeHouse, Mauna Lani Bay Hotel. A beachside location, indoor-outdoor seating, live Hawaiian music and plenty of fresh fish make CanoeHouse the place for a romantic splurge or special occasion.

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have sold their oceanfront house in Malibu for $7.925 million. Listed at $10 million last year, the price had been reduced to $8.795 million. The three-story beach house features a walled garden, five bedrooms, five bathrooms and 4,500 square feet of living space. The master bedroom suite and a wood-paneled library take up the entire second floor. Songwriter Ozzy Osbourne, 63, was the lead singer for the heavy metal group Black Sabbath before launching his solo career.

Set along 38 feet of sand, this beach house makes the most of its location with floor-to-ceiling glass walls and doors facing the water. There are even ocean views from the glass-enclosed shower and free-standing tub in the third-floor master bedroom suite. Location: 5107 Ocean Front Walk, Marina del Rey 90292 Asking price: $8.65 million Year built: 2010 House size: Four bedrooms, 51/2 bathrooms, 5,863 square feet Lot size: 3,644 square feet Features: Three-stop elevator, three balconies, two fireplaces, floating-style stairs, dual refrigerators, media room with surround sound, electric blinds, sliding doors, side lawn, three-car garage, two-spot carport.

Comic actor David Spade has listed his Malibu beach home for $13.5 million. It joins more than three dozen other houses for sale in the coastal city priced at $10 million and up. The two-story house features a cylindrical staircase, four fireplaces and beach-facing balconies and decks. Built in 1996, the four-bedroom, 31/2-bathroom home of more than 3,700 square feet sits on a quarter-acre lot with a pool. Spade, 47, stars as single friend Russell on the romantic comedy "Rules of Engagement" (2007 to present)

Actor Tony Danza has sold his longtime Malibu beach house for $8 million. It came on the market in July at $9.1 million. The 1949 traditional main house, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, sits on 50 feet of beachfront. The entire second level of the home is a master suite including a sitting area, fireplace and deck. The property also has two detached guest suites for a total of about 3,000 square feet of living space. Danza, 60, won TV fans with his roles in the sitcoms "Taxi" (1978-83)

The Beach House, perched above the sands of Laguna Beach, has come a long way since it was launched in the summer of 1968. This one-time vacation home of '30s actor/comedian Slim Summerville first attracted patrons mostly with its homey charm and sweeping panorama of the Pacific. But over the years it's the menu that has kept the diners coming.

With the summer tourist crush over, the beaches have become ours again. With the weather still pleasant--at least, in between El Nino's outbursts--this can be the best time of year to enjoy dining by the sea. I recently discovered a couple of beach restaurants that show the range of our seaside dining. They have quite different appeals. The Beach House in Laguna Beach is romantically gorgeous and ambitious; River's End in Seal Beach is humble and delightful.

Two-time Stanley Cup winner Oleg Tverdovsky has sold his Manhattan Beach house for $2,065,000. Built in 2006, the Spanish-style house opens to a wood-burning fireplace in the backyard. Beams from a Virginia farmhouse more than 100 years old were used in the vaulted ceiling of the master bedroom. The 3,350-square-foot home has five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The Ukrainian-born defenseman, 35, played with the Los Angeles Kings and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim among other National Hockey League teams.

In what could be the first of several housing sales, Jamie McCourt unloaded her swimming pool in Holmby Hills — and the nearly 8,400-square-foot house that goes with it — for $6,525,000 in August, public records show. Jamie and ex-husband Frank McCourt bought the gated property in 2004 for $6.5 million to create a compound of nearly five acres that included a pool. The Bostonians' main residence, a Palladian-style villa of 20,000 square feet next door, was purchased for about $25 million.