LOCATION: West Hollywood, CA
PRICE: $2,900,000
SIZE: 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms (total)
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: The British are coming! The British are coming! Well, British sketch comedy king Matt Lucas is coming to West Hollywood anyways.
Mister Lucas, a pudgy, pasty-faced, bald-pated and utterly fearless comedian has toiled in Britain's Big Business of Show since the mid-1990s. He rocketed to comedic fame in the mid-Noughts when he co-created, co-wrote, and co-starred in the super-smart, toilet-humored, and deliciously un-p.c. sketch comedy program Little Britain.
On Little Britain, canceled in 2006, Mister Lucas portrayed a slew of jaw-dropping sad-sack characters including Andy Pipkin, a slovenly middle-aged man who pretends to be disabled, and Vicky Pollard, a pink track suit-wearing chav teenager with a brassy blond pony tail and a rat-a-tat-tat motor-mouth. Little Britain had a brief run on American television (2007-2008) but British Humor–caps intended–doesn't always fly with the American telly watching audience and the show was canceled after a single season.
More recently Mister Lucas appeared as both Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and as Kristen Wiig's sublimely creepy roommate Gil in this year's mega-hit Bridesmaids. He currently does it up as a variety of characters on BBC America's Come Fly with Me, a tawdry mock-reality spoof based on a pair of British documentaries about the airline industries. We haven't watched much of the show but what we have viewed makes Your Mama need a nerve pill in all the best and worst ways.
Mister Lucas giddily hinted in the fall of 2010 to Jimmy Fallon he might want to drop any pretense of artistic integrity, "move a bit" to Los Angeles, and "sell out" for fame and fortune. Subsequently, in late August of this year, Mister Lucas announced he planned to move to America–to Hollywood–in order to "make a go of it over there."
We don't know Mister Lucas so we haven't a clue what his professional opportunities or commitments may be but it does appear the man plans to plant some proper real estate roots in Tinseltown. Deeds and documents Your Mama rather randomly ran across show in mid-September (2011) the dryly quick-witted 40-ish year old British comedy phenom dropped a star-sized $2,900,000 on a celebrity-style compound on one of the most desirable streets in West Hollywood, CA.
Your Mama thinks two point nine million is an ass-load of dinero for a house without a swimming pool. But, children, when considering the high price we must also consider Mister Lucas' centrally located and privately situated stateside compound is a veritable Los Angeles Residential Real Estate Unicorn: The compound is actually and in complete truth located in short walking distance to all sorts of places an upscale (and possibly homosexual) resident might want to go like Trader Joe's, the dry cleaner, a fancy gym, well-stocked pharmacy, City Hall for parking permits, and the Pacific Design Center for high-end decorating doo-dads, gew-gaws and hoozy-goozies. Dining options accessible without a car are myriad and include the Restaurant at the Sunset Marquis and the original Barney's Beanery not to mention Nobu and a Koo Koo Roo with outdoor seating.
Anyhoo, the two-residence compound was sold by the estate of recently deceased vocalist/songwriter Gil Garfield whose claim to fame was a few top 10 single hits in the 1950s with a trio called The Cheers. Bert Convey was a third of the trio before he became a game show host. Redfin shows Mister Garfield purchased the property in April 2007 for $3,499,000, a number that means Mister Garfield's estate took a substantial $600,000-plus loss on the property.
Anyhoodles poodles, we digress and we're here to discuss Mister Lucas and his new American bolt hole. Listing information for the gated and high-hedged property shows the main house, a single-story Spanish-style casa, was built in 1928 and includes 3 bedrooms and 2.75 bathrooms. The Los Angeles County Tax Man shows the house measures 2,245 square feet, which may or may not be accurate. The living and entertaining areas of the main house include a large living room with vaulted ceiling and fireplace, formal dining room plus a circular breakfast room, and a state-of-the-art kitchen with stainless steel cabinetry and a massive work island with a view of a courtyard garden through a vast and very contemporary wall of glass.
Lush landscaping, secluded courtyards, open terraces, and a variety of pathways and fountains surround and separate the main house from the unusually large two-story guest house near the back of the property. Listing information shows the guest house encompasses a living area, kitchenette, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom and a roof top terrace accessed by a swooping exterior staircase.
When queried, Señor ToTellyousomething whispered to Your Mama the guest house is "close to" 2,000 square feet and that the lower level, a loft-like space with kitchenette, was used by Mister Garfield as an art studio where he made abstract paintings. The second floor–previously occupied according to Señor ToTellyousomething by Mister Garfield's private chef/man Friday–contains a bathroom, bedroom and living area that opens through wide banks of sliding windows to a sunny roof terrace with tree top views. Sadly, as mentioned above, the property does not currently have a swimming pool. It should and if Mister Lucas wants Your Mama to shove our big ol' backside into a swimsuit for a pool party–and we're absolutely certain he does not–we recommend the newly expatriated actor add one before next summer. Just a thought.
Welcome to Hollywood Mister Lucas.
listing photos (Lucas compound): Rodeo Realty
listing phtoos (Woolf-designed residence): Coldwell Banker / Beverly Hills North
