Pacific Palisades

Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso is buying 10 retail properties on three parcels in the tony town center of Pacific Palisades, according to people who know about the deal. The acquisition will give Caruso the opportunity to restyle a significant portion of the affluent neighborhood's commercial district in his vision. Caruso, owner of the upscale Grove shopping center in Los Angeles, is in escrow on a 2.8-acre collection of commercial buildings on both sides of East Swarthmore Avenue and Sunset Boulevard known as Pacific Palisades village.

Actor Dennis Quaid has put his equestrian estate in Pacific Palisades on the market at $16.9 million. A French country-style main house, a guesthouse, a studio, a barn and a corral sit on 2 lush acres with a year-round creek. There are eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms and 8,400 square feet of living space. Maids quarters above the kitchen have been converted to a gym. A covered loggia with a fireplace overlooks the swimming pool and spa. Quaid, 56, starred in "Vantage Point" (2008)

Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr., who stars in the upcoming comedy film "Boat Trip," and his wife, Sara, have put their Coldwater Canyon home on the market at just under $1.3 million. The couple decided to sell their canyon house because the Pacific Palisades home they bought for about $3.5 million in June 2000 is ready for occupancy, now that it has been refurbished and expanded. It was built in the 1940s. The canyon home was built in 1955 and is behind gates.

The Pacific Palisades home of actress Mary McDonnell and her husband, actor Randle Mell, has sold for $2 million, the Multiple Listing Service shows. The traditional house, built in 1936, has living and dining rooms with plantation shutters, an office/library, a family room and pantry off the kitchen, two downstairs bedrooms, two upstairs bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,558 square feet. The garage was converted to a music and game room. McDonnell, 58, received an Oscar nomination for supporting actress for "Dances With Wolves" (1990)

Golfer Denis Watson and his wife, attorney Susan Loggans, have been trying to take their Pacific Palisades compound off his tour for half a dozen years now, but have yet to find that pricing sweet spot. They have put the house back on the market at $13.9 million, down more than 40% from their highest asking price of $23.5 million two years ago. Built in 1982, the renovated Mediterranean-style estate, guesthouse, tennis court, pool, cabana and spa sit on 2½ acres adjacent to Will Rogers Historic State Park.

Three-time Grammy-winning country music star Brad Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, have listed their home in Pacific Palisades for $2.995 million. The restored house, built in 1925, features a two-story living room with a fireplace, beamed ceilings and stained-glass windows. The 3,394-square-foot home has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. There is a detached garage with a bonus room, a lawn and citrus trees. Singer-songwriter Paisley, 40, has toured with Reba McEntire and Taylor Swift, among others.

Perhaps they had a change of heart. Actors Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have put a Pacific Palisades property they bought two years ago on the market at $6.5 million -- minus the house. The couple purchased the lot in early 2011 for $5.7 million, public records show, and razed the existing house and swimming pool. The graded lot of more than half an acre is level and has views of the Getty, Century City and the mountains. Russell, 61, starred in "Touchback" (2011) and will star in the upcoming films “The Fix” and “Bone Tomahawk.” Hawn, 67, gained recognition among television viewers in the late 1960s for her role as a regular and dancer on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.

The longtime family home of film director and producer Sydney Pollack and his wife, Claire, has sold in Pacific Palisades less than two months after it was listed at $7.85 million. The sales price was not divulged and is not yet available in the public record. Built in 1940 and '41 and designed by Wallace Neff, the 5,200-square-foot main house retains such signature Neff details as tall chimneys, thick walls, an oval dining room and French doors in many rooms leading to gardens.

Update: Chris Ursitti, chief executive of GreenHouse Holdings, a global energy and ethanol company in San Diego, has sold a house he built on spec in Pacific Palisades. The seven-bedroom, 71/2-bathroom home came on the market at $9,495,000 in October and sold for $6 million. Adjoining Will Rogers State Park, the gated estate sits on nearly a half-acre with a swimming pool, spa and a rock waterfall with a grotto. Beyond the eco-friendly dry wall, green insulation and other sustainable materials, the home's environmental features include an on-demand hot water system that Ursitti designed.

At 6:45 a.m., Alan Smolinisky pads out to his driveway in a hillside cul-de-sac just west of the Getty Villa. He wears black-and-white-checked flannel pajama bottoms and a pristinely white T-shirt that glows like a beacon in the muted light. In one arm, he carries 15-month-old Charlie, named for billionaire investor Charles Munger. Bending carefully toward the concrete apron, Smolinisky lets Charlie scoop up three newspapers stuffed in plastic bags. As Charlie sucks on a bottle in the kitchen, Smolinisky unwraps the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, separating sections into carefully considered piles - news, features, markets coverage.