Formal Dining Room

What does 2,500 or 5,000 square feet of house look and feel like? Until you start looking at houses, these are just numbers. If you live in a 2,500-square-foot house, you'll have a better sense of this size than other buyers. But if your house was built 15 or 20 years ago, you'll be in for some surprises when you start looking at new homes. The first thing you'll notice when you drive into a new subdivision is the lot size: smaller and narrower.

La Belle Vie, the mammoth Bel-Air residence built in 1993 for philanthropist Iris Cantor by her husband, Bernard Gerald Cantor, has sold for $40 million, public records show. The sale is one of the highest this year in Los Angeles County. The mansion had been marketed at $53 million since 2009. It was designed to house the Cantors' extensive art collections. The 35,000 square feet of living space include a three-story entry hall, a formal library, a media room, a gym, a billiards room, a beauty salon, three kitchens, 12 fireplaces, nine bedrooms, 21 bathrooms and a staff wing.

Following a well-worn plot line since the mortgage meltdown, actress Lena Headey recently sold her Hollywood Hills West home for 25% less than she paid in 2008. The updated Midcentury Modern-style home, on about a quarter of an acre, sold for $1.349 million. Features include vaulted ceilings, walls of glass, an open-plan layout, a living room fireplace and a bar. The kitchen opens to a media/family room with skylights. There are three bedrooms, 21/2 bathrooms and 2,507 square feet of living space.

12602 Magnolia Drive, 92555 Listed for: $290,000 Size: Six bedrooms and four bathrooms in 3,447 square feet Lot size: 0.2 acres (8,712 square feet) Features: Built in 2006, the two-story has an open-plan kitchen with center island, a family-room fireplace and a three-car attached garage. MLS ID: K10006205 13543 Altivo St., 92555 Listed for: $299,900 Size: Six bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms in 3,570 square feet Lot size: 0.23 acres (10,019 square feet)

The bride was Mexican. The groom was Iranian. Vanessa Domenech of Best Dream Weddings brought in mariachis and belly dancers. The Woodland Hills wedding planner has done Latin weddings and Filipino weddings. She'd like to try her hand at Chinese ones. And although she's planned Sikh nuptials, she has yet to do Hindu - which is why she signed up for "Indian Weddings 101. " CITY BEAT: More stories from the city Knowledge of white dresses and waltzes may be all you need in some places.

The longtime family home of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" actor Morey Amsterdam has come on the market at $6,495,000. The Beverly Hills Midcentury classic, with many of the original features and décor from the time of the comedian's purchase nearly a half-century ago, has a '60s vibe. The single-story house was a place where guests could feel at home. " Ronald Reagan would stop by to visit, and Dad would tell him jokes standing in the kitchen," said son Gregory Amsterdam, who lived there through his college years and beyond.

Even the rich love a half-off sale. A transaction in the mid-$30-million range in Beverly Hills just set the mark for the highest-priced residential closing so far this year in L.A. County. The 36,000-square-foot house, which came on the market two years ago at $68.5 million, was built by C. Frederick Wehba, who co-founded the international real estate investment firm BentleyForbes. It was most recently priced at $49.5 million. The sale is far from the realm of Candy Spelling's $85-million mega-deal last year of the Manor in Holmby Hills, which went to British heiress and socialite Petra Ecclestone.

Maxim's de Paris Hotel is officially open, following ceremonies in Palm Springs' Desert Fashion Plaza shopping mall. Designed by Richard Pedroza & Associates, Los Angeles, the $38-million luxury property is the first of five all-suite hotels to be developed and operated by the Pratt Hotels under an exclusive licensing agreement with Pierre Cardin.

Sex Discrimination Suit: Attorney Gloria Allred filed a class-action sex discrimination lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to require two restaurants, Ma Maison/Sofitel Hotel & Restaurant and Citrus, to hire women, not just men, to wait on tables. The suit was filed on behalf of Kellye McKinna, 29, who said she was never permitted to wait on tables in the formal dining room at Ma Maison. (Filed March 5, 1990, Case No. C754109)

A gated Corona del Mar home with eight fireplaces and a 60-foot waterfall has come on the market for $19 million. Among the ocean-view house's custom features are the marble flooring design and carved ceiling in the formal dining room and wood-beam ceilings elsewhere. The 10,921-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa includes a gift-wrapping room, a beauty salon, the guest/maid's quarters, a butler's pantry, offices, a sauna, eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and a full basement. The property is about a third of an acre with a saltwater pool, a spa and a six-car garage.