Remodeling

On busy Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, some well-kept facades conceal a secret. Behind the Mediterranean with wooden doors, the white stucco two-story with a red tile roof, the long wall obscuring a three-structure compound, hides a singular, massive wealth fueled by obsession. This is Larry Ellison territory, where a Bay Area billionaire with seemingly endless patience and resources is buying up the best spots along Malibu's 21 miles of coast. PHOTOS: Expensive things Ellison has bought The Oracle Corp.

We Americans have long told ourselves that we are a God-favored people, a churchgoing, moral people. But last week when the old cardinals of Roman Catholicism looked for the future of their church, they looked south. And what we Americans heard, as if for the first time, is that the spiritual center of Christianity is in the Southern Hemisphere, not with us in the north. How could that be? Despite the drug addiction of Americans - an addiction second to none that has destabilized Latin America from Bolivia to Colombia to Mexico - we assume the moral high ground in the Americas.

CORONADO, Calif. -- The U.S. Navy has decided to spend as much as $600,000 for landscaping and architectural modifications to obscure the fact that one its building complexes looks like a swastika from the air. The four L-shaped buildings, constructed in the late 1960s, are part of the amphibious base at Coronado and serve as barracks for Seabees. From the ground and from inside nearby buildings, the controversial shape cannot be seen.

This 1950s home was taken down to the studs and remodeled into a sleek contemporary. Sliding walls of glass and ample skylights are among features of the light-filled house. Location: 2847 Mandeville Canyon Road, Brentwood 90049 Asking price: $2.15 million Year rebuilt: 2010 Remodel architect: Zoltan Pali House size: Two bedrooms, three bathrooms, 2,283 square feet Lot size: 9,507 square feet Features: Family/television room with built-in hidden desk, dining room soffit with lighting system, tile and bamboo floors, breakfast bar, separate prep/service kitchen with second refrigerator, saline pool and spa, waterfall, copper plumbing, new roof, tankless water heater About the area: Last year, 338 single-family homes sold in the 90049 ZIP Code at a median price of $1.79 million, according to DataQuick.

To hear Max Wong talk, one would think she is describing some fabulous possession in her 1924 bungalow in Silver Lake. "Every day I look at it when I come home. It's like a piece of art to me. I don't get tired of it." Her art is not hanging on a wall, decorating a shelf or even standing on the floor. It is the floor. Linoleum, no less. Wong's kitchen floor is covered with black linoleum with an inlaid red border and bamboo motif detailed right down to life-size dragonflies.

For Sale: 360 N. Rockingham, one of the best-known addresses in the world during the O.J. Period of the late 20th century. Shown by appointment only, to pre-qualified buyers. And to everyone else over national television. After five weeks of renovation, an Orange County contractor will wrap up work today at O.J.

Hundreds of home improvement specialists will offer products and advice to home improvers at the 34th Annual Home Remodeling & Decorating Show . The show will feature an Eco-Expo with environmentally friendly products. Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St. $7.75. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sat., 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Sun. (818) 557-2950. www.thehomeshow.com.

I've never laughed so much at a newspaper article as I did at Ellen Switkes' "Read the Fine Print Before You Buy," Dec. 3. I laughed, I howled and tears came to my eyes. I have put off remodeling my bathroom for eight years--more out of cost than inconvenience. However, I found her article downright hilarious and I believed every word of it too. It was just too funny not to be true. Ellen Switkes is the Erma Bombeck of bathroom remodeling. Every word was a delight to read. KATHY NAGY Burbank

The remodeling of Woo's house in Silver Lake (two houses up from mine) is a long way from "mansionization"; he is simply taking what was essentially a sort of stand-alone garage apartment with a tiny yard, and building it into what looks to be a nice but unobtrusive house with no damaging effect on the long-settled neighborhood. CHARLES PALMER, Los Angeles

Homeowners and rental property owners spent a record $233 billion in 2003 on remodeling, according to a new report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard. The latest report in the Improving America's Housing series, "The Changing Structure of the Home Remodeling Industry," noted that baby boomers still account for more than half of all the spending.

The job started with a water leak - and ended in the total remodel of the 1,800-square-foot Malibu town house. Jackie Gould, who had lived in the beachfront home since 1976, called Erla Dögg Ingjaldsdóttir and Tryggvi Thorsteinsson, the husband-and-wife principals of the Santa Monica architecture firm Minarc, and asked them to help with a little repair work related to the leak. "Mold-proof me," she remembered saying. But it wasn't so easy. "The place was basically taken over by mold - the whole building, including the furniture," Thorsteinsson said.

Everyone needs a hobby. Actor Jeremy Renner has put his latest house remodeling project on the market in Holmby Hills at $24.95 million. The Roaring '20s Art Deco-style mansion includes a wine cellar, a theater, five fireplaces, six bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and 10,005 square feet of living space. The two-acre property features gates, a cobblestone driveway and a swimming pool with spa. Renner, 42, was nominated for Oscars for his work in "The Hurt Locker" (2008) and "The Town" (2010)

The popular neighborhood West Hollywood bar and restaurant, The Hudson, is set to reopen Thursday after owners Beau Laughlin and Brett Cranston closed it down three weeks ago for an extensive remodel of the decor and the menu. Open since October 2009, The Hudson has become a popular local hangout, but Laughlin and Cranston wanted to freshen it up by removing a false ceiling to reveal the structure's original wood beams and A-frame roof, a move that adds an additional 8 feet of space above diners' heads.

There is not a whole lot about the Dodger Stadium renovation that the Dodgers haven't already discussed, so Tuesday's news conference mostly focused on the details. Which is probably good, because anyone who glanced out the Stadium Club windows at the construction going on and considered the big picture would have to wonder how it can possibly be completed in time for the Dodgers' March 28 exhibition game against the Angels. The giant holes inside each foul line remain open, and the stadium remains cut out to the loge level.

Billionaire entrepreneur and inventor Elon Musk has bought a mansion in Bel-Air for $17 million. Built in 1990 and remodeled with entertaining in mind, the 20,248-square-foot manse features a two-story library, a theater, a library/study, a wine cellar, a gym, seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. The 1.7-acre property includes a tennis court, a swimming pool and an expansive motor court. Musk, 41, founded Hawthorne rocket maker SpaceX. He co-founded electric car company Telsa Motors and the Internet payment company that would become PayPal.

Face-lift fever is sweeping the fast-food industry as aging establishments swap ketchup-smudged Formica for mood lighting and gleaming stainless steel - all in the pursuit of profit. In a tough economy, picky consumers are being selective about where they spend their cash. Many tired outlets are losing sales to flashier competitors, experts said, forcing them to spruce up or lose out. Taco Bell is testing eateries, including one in Redwood City, Calif., that glow purple at night to attract the bar crowd.

Irma Acosta's life had been torn into two distinct pieces - the sunny times that came before a gunman walked into the Seal Beach salon where she worked and the emotionally hollowed-out days that came in its wake. But one day in November, about six weeks after the murderous rampage that left workers and customers dead, Acosta got a phone call that opened a path for putting those pieces together. It was Sandi Fannin, who owned Salon Meritage with her husband, Randy. He had been one of the eight people killed that fall afternoon.

"The Newsroom" executive producer Alan Poul has listed his house in the Hollywood Hills at $989,000. The Midcentury Modern-style home opens to city and mountain views. The remodeled house features built-in art and book shelves, a fireplace, French-style doors, a balcony, three bedrooms, three bathrooms and 1,784 square feet of living space. Poul, 58, also has been a producer and director for "Six Feet Under" (2001-05) and "Swingtown" (2008). HBO's "The Newsroom" has been renewed for a second season.