Compound

"Open Hose With Cheese and Wine" "First Peeview Sunday" "Call for Privates Showing" One misplaced letter in your entry in the local Multiple Listing Service can be comical, such as "Three bedroom, one badroom," a listing that Jane Peters of Power Brokers International in Pasadena discovered. Or it can be fatal. For example, if your house is listed on Polar Lane when it is actually on Poplar, your place may never be found, even if it is turnkey and well priced. The same holds true if the school district is incorrect, the ZIP Code is wrong, the number of bedrooms is misstated or the map coordinates are inaccurate.

The former live-work compound of artist Sam Francis is on the market in Santa Monica at $18.75 million. The reinvented property features two houses, waterfalls, a bridge, glass walkways over stream beds and Japanese gardens on nearly half an acre. There are eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a bar, a media room, an office, a wine cellar and a sauna in an 8,000-square-foot main house and a 4,400-square-foot secondary home. Francis, who died in 1994 at 71, was a painter, muralist and printmaker whose works were influenced by Abstract Expressionists and, later, Zen Buddhism.

The 14 people who died of fungal meningitis after they were injected with an apparently tainted steroid surely had no idea that their medication hadn't come from a regular pharmaceutical company that meets federal standards for safety and efficacy. Rather, it had been produced by one of the nation's "compounding pharmacies," which used to be small operations producing customized versions of drugs for people whose particular medical issues made it difficult for them to take standard medications.

Spokesman to the stars Howard Bragman has listed his gated house in Hollywood Hills West at $2.845 million. The contemporary compound features vaulted ceilings, an open dining room and kitchen, a screening room, floor-to-ceiling built-in book shelves, two fireplaces, four bedrooms and four bathrooms in 4,000 square feet of living space. There is a heated swimming pool surrounded by deck space for outdoor dining and entertaining. Bragman, 56, founded the public relations firm Fifteen Minutes in 2005 and is vice chairman of Reputation.com.

It took more than two years and several price cuts, but a compound in Malibu owned by now-divorced couple Mel Gibson and Robyn Moore Gibson has sold for $9,261,250. The property had been listed in March 2010 at $14.5 million. The buyer is recently divorced reality TV producer Mike Fleiss. Described as an "old world hacienda," the main house features hand-painted details, stone and hardwood floors, several fireplaces, six bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms. The master suite has a sitting room with a fireplace and two walk-in closets.

Someone must have written the offer that made Barry Manilow sing. The crooner-pianist-producer has sold his beachfront compound in Malibu for $5.45 million. Built in 1976, the gated contemporary sits on a promontory with a detached guesthouse. Features include a step-down two-story living room with walls of glass to take in the ocean view, vaulted ceilings, five bedrooms, 41/2 bathrooms and 3,546 square feet of living space. Manilow, 69, is a prolific song and ad jingle writer.

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Jerry Brown's tax proposal is terrible public policy. Plain and simple. But it offers the only plausible path to rescuing California schools from more painful budget slashing. So it's not so simple. Politics is the art of the possible, to quote the 19th century German politician Otto Von Bismarck. Brown's Proposition 30 is a political work of art crafted to meet the voters' approval Nov. 6. "This is the politics of the practical, the doable," says the ballot measure's chief campaign strategist, Ace Smith.

Grammy-winning singer Sheryl Crow has listed her compound in Hollywood Hills West at $15.95 million. The 11-acre property includes a Spanish Revival main house, a 1909 Craftsman, a cottage built in 1885, an infinity-style swimming pool and a pergola with a fireplace and barbecue. The main residence, built in 1914, features a two-story foyer with wrought-iron stair railings, a step-down living room, original Spanish tiles, beam ceilings, a library, a wine cellar, a music room, four bedrooms and 31/2 bathrooms.

The membership roll in Malibu's unofficial Billionaire's Beach club is shrinking. Former Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Terry Semel and his wife, Jane , have sold their spot to Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison , who already has eight other houses along Carbon Beach. The couple, who had most recently priced their Michael Graves-designed oceanfront compound at $40 million, sold for $36,943,890. The sale is the most expensive so far this year in Malibu. The three-quarter-acre lot includes three structures.

The membership roll in Malibu's unofficial Billionaire's Beach club is shrinking. Former Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Terry Semel and his wife, Jane, have sold their spot to Oracle Corp. head Larry Ellison, who already owns numerous homes along Carbon Beach. The couple, who had most recently priced their Michael Graves-designed oceanfront compound at $40 million, sold for $36,943,890. The sale is the most expensive so far this year in Malibu. The three-quarter-acre lot includes three structures.