Courtyard

The glamour of old Hollywood and a bountiful garden lie behind the walls of this 1929 Spanish Revival villa in Los Feliz, built around a courtyard. The entrance to the property looks like an ordinary front door, but it leads to a courtyard and the house. Once inside, there are two ways into the house — either down a flight of stairs to the courtyard, or across a patio that leads to a second-floor entrance. At the bottom of the stairs, facing the courtyard, is an office that was created out of basement space.

Taking its cues from Teatro La Fenice, an opera house in Venice, this Italian Renaissance-style estate was recently doubled in size. Five courtyards bring the living space outdoors to take advantage of the ocean and coastline views. Location: 6019 Avenida Cresta, La Jolla 92037 Asking price: $14.95 million House size: Six bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, 10,000 square feet Lot size: 0.41 of an acre Features: Ornate wrought-ironwork, Venetian chandeliers and sconces, murals, lead- and stained-glass windows, home theater, wine cellar, two master bedrooms, butler's pantry.

Looking to cut costs for his start-up software company, David Fishman moved his office into his Brentwood home and set up work in a corner of the master bedroom -- an arrangement that wife Lara says quickly became too claustrophobic for everyone. "He was getting cabin fever, and I was getting sick of his stuff overtaking our room," says Lara Fishman, an interior designer and owner of Storm Interiors/Designers Call. With two young children and no available space inside, Lara decided to push the boundaries of the live-work concept further -- right out the door, in fact, and into the garden.

With tourism on the rise in downtown Los Angeles, construction is set to begin on a $172-million Marriott hotel complex that has even bigger aspirations than when it was announced almost a year ago. Downtown's thriving hotel market can be seen in the long-anticipated development near the L.A. Live entertainment complex and Staples Center, which has grown by a floor and 15 additional rooms from the original plan. Now set to be 23 stories, the tower on Olympic Boulevard will house a 174-room Courtyard by Marriott and a 218-room Residence Inn by Marriott under one roof when it opens in summer 2014.

A home owned by the family of the late Albert Heschong, the Emmy-winning production designer for television, film and theater who headed the art department at CBS for more than two decades, is for sale in Encino at $1.15 million. Heschong designed and fabricated the custom woodwork in the interiors including coffered ceilings, moldings and built-in cabinets and bookcases. On the market for the first time in 40 years, the gated ranch house was designed for Hollywood-style entertaining.

A circular garden courtyard enclosed by soaring steel-ribbed walls of glass is the dramatic focal point of a Beverly Hills house by modernist Malibu architect Ed Niles. The home was commissioned by Los Angeles developer Raffi Cohen and completed earlier this year. Set on a promontory with unobstructed views from Mid-City to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the three-level home is an amalgamation of sharp geometric lines highlighted by a nested pair of rounded glass walls. Tinted a Mediterranean blue, the glass walls are framed with steel beams and rise above the home's upper level.

Police on Thursday identified the teenager shot in a suspected gang-related attack as Frederick Ruiz, 18, of Santa Ana. Ruiz was found Wednesday afternoon shot in the head and torso in the courtyard of an apartment complex in the 3000 block of South Sycamore Street and declared dead at the scene. Police have no suspects. -- Tony Barboza

In his Aug. 12 letter, architect Barton Myers claimed that his joint venture at the Center for the Performing Arts in Portland houses the first courtyard theater in the United States. He is correct. Named the Winningstad Showcase Theatre, it is an elegant interpretation of London's Cottesloe at the National Theatre complex. The courtyard form may be described as a stack of single-row galleries enveloping a flat floor that can be converted to tiered orchestra seating. Peter Kamnitzer's Keck Theater at Occidental College in Los Angeles shares a common parent with Portland, yet differs by combining this form with a full-sized proscenium "flytower."

Regarding Architect's Viewpoint, "Time to Permit More Livable Lots," Feb. 25: This unimaginative case for the end of lot setbacks doesn't acknowledge one of the key purposes of setbacks: neighbors. Many builders seem to think that a home can be a claustrophobic island alone in the universe of its lot. No neighbors, no neighborhood and no benefit to considering other people's investments. Just fill the lot right up to the wall of the neighbor's house and eliminate their creativity and options.

I appreciated the remarks made by Sam Hall Kaplan in a recent column about West Hollywood's new courtyard housing regulations ("Welcome Mats Out for New Courtyards," May 6). We strongly believe that Los Angeles developers can provide better housing than they have been, and we will try to demonstrate that belief with our rules. In many ways, we view West Hollywood as an urban design laboratory for Greater Los Angeles. We do not believe that zoning regulations should be rigid and unalterable for decades, but rather should be viewed as fluid and reflective of new knowledge.

Here they come: the relatives. And they're hungry too. So where are you going to feed them? Why not one of the new generation of brunches that have been popping up at some very good restaurants lately? Brunch is convivial and fun, not to mention much less expensive than taking the crowd to a full-on dinner. Here are a few suggestions to get you started. Playa: Start things off at this smart, casual Latin restaurant from Rivera's John Sedlar with blue corn muffins and dreamy almond butter.

Professional golfer Fred Couples has listed his second home in La Quinta at $4.195 million. The Spanish-style villa has a courtyard with a fountain. The nearly half-acre site has mountain views, a swimming pool with a spa and a fire pit. Interior features include limestone and wood floors, arched windows, a great room with an oversized stone fireplace, a wine room and two master suites with stone fireplaces and terraces. There are four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms. The approximately 5,200-square-foot house is being sold furnished.

Southwestern Law School, which occupies one of Los Angeles' most famous buildings, has announced plans to expand its quarters with construction of student housing. The move marks a breakthrough in the evolution of the century-old institution into a law school with an authentic 24-hour campus, officials said. Southwestern expects to start work in December on a $20-million project to create 133 apartments, an outdoor courtyard and underground parking next to the school's two main buildings.

Television personality Brooke Mueller has sold the gated Los Feliz home she once shared with her ex-husband Charlie Sheen for an undisclosed amount. The buyer is actor Simon Helberg of "The Big Bang Theory. " The restored 4,179-square-foot villa has four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms. A fountain stands in the tiled front courtyard of the Mediterranean-style home, built in 1927. Inside, the dramatic two-story entry has wood floors and a vaulted ceiling. The step-down living room features a fireplace and wood-beamed ceiling.

Update: A former home of silent film star Clara Bow has sold for $6,375,000. The Spanish-style house in Bel-Air came on the market in early July at $6,995,000. Built in 1928, the Moorish-influenced residence includes a courtyard, a ballroom, a rooftop deck, enclosed sleeping porches, six bedrooms and 71/2 bathrooms in 8,900 square feet. A guesthouse with a bedroom and bathroom sits above the three-car garage for a total of 9,450 square feet of living space. At nearly three-quarters of an acre, the gated lot has a pool with a sun deck and a motor court.

"Dancing With the Stars" co-host Brooke Burke and actor David Charvet have listed their Malibu house for $12.5 million. Designed to evoke the south of France, where Charvet was born, the chateau-style home is in the Serra Retreat neighborhood. An 18th century fountain and sculpture courtyard sit outside the 6,769-square-foot house, which is reached from a gated stone driveway. More than three-quarters of an acre includes extensive lawns, a 200-bush rose garden, an orchard, a pool and a cabana.

Regarding David W. Harlowe's letter (July 19) on the Paris Louvre expansion by I.M. Pei: The criticism of the pyramid entry designed to provide access to the two wings of the Louvre was thoroughly covered at the opening several years ago and applauded by the Parisians once they discovered the logic of choice to visit either wing. The incidental joys of the underground facilities such as cafeterias, toilet rooms, bookstore and a host of administrative spaces were not a "vast maze of intimate rooms stuffed with art" since the expanded hanging spaces for art were provided by the old Louvre wing vacated by the Finance Ministry and moved to a new building in the Bercy District.

This is Los Angeles' Peruvian moment, an embrace of Andean flavors prophesied long ago by food futurists who proclaimed the cuisine to be the next big thing. There have always been pockets of our sprawling geography where ceviche is scattered with giant kernels of corn and jugs of chicha morada stain teeth a pleasant purple. But this is a citywide shift in culinary consciousness. It coalesced at Mo-Chica. Ricardo Zarate's restaurant reshaped the notions of Peruvian food with sushi-grade fish mounded in a tart puddle of citrus, and quinoa cut with crème fraîche and stirred just until it resembled risotto.

An Oregon developer plans to build a 22-story hotel near the L.A. Live entertainment center to serve a growing number of visitors to downtown Los Angeles. Marriott International Inc. would operate the proposed 377-room hotel on Olympic Boulevard under two of the company's brands: Residence Inn by Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott. Construction on the nearly $120-million project is set to begin next March and be completed by 2014. It would be built and owned by a consortium led by Williams/Dame & Associates, the Portland, Ore., developer that built the condominium towers Evo, Luma and Elleven near Staples Center in the South Park district of downtown.