At home in the Hollywood Hills

Jonny Beardsall discovers what, and where, the English expats buy when the bright lights of Los Angeles beckon

Alex Hardcastle has taken the plunge. “Four weeks ago I moved into this crumbling paean to bad taste in the Hollywood Hills,” jokes the award-winning 40-year-old television director, who, at the press of a button, marvels as his outdoor pool cover rolls away at high speed. With the hit show, Lead Balloon and Not Going Out among his credits, Hardcastle’s career took him to Los Angeles four years ago. He sold his house in Chelsea’s Edith Grove and moved to the entertainment capital of the world to direct the US version of The Office, and later, the hit comedy series Parks and Recreation, screened in the UK on BBC Four. “When I first got to LA, I stayed in the hypnotist Paul McKenna’s guesthouse, who is a friend. I was there for a year, which is pretty normal behaviour over here,” he says. He then rented for two years near Chateau Marmont, the fashionable hotel on Sunset Boulevard. Renting was a mammoth expense. “I was paying around $4,000-$5,000 a month, so decided I had to get around to buying. In the States, mortgages are taxdeductible, which is terrific,” he says. In Christopher Dyson, he had engaged a top estate agent, or “realtor”. “He’s originally from Manchester – he found houses for Robbie Williams and Gordon Ramsay. I stressed I didn’t have their budgets but made it clear what I was after,” he says. But most astonishing was how little Hardcastle paid for this charming Spanish colonial revival-style house off leafy Laurel Canyon. In this exclusive district loved by the Hollywood A-list for almost a century, homes exchange for tens of millions so the $1.7million (a shade over £1million) he paid for his rambling white-painted stucco fourbedroom home was a snip. There was no catch. “It was rundown and had this awful Moroccanvibe – it was just a case of seeing beyond the worst bits,” he continues. “I’m going to try to recreate a Thirties feel to it inside,” he says, aware that these environs are steeped in motion picture folklore. “Errol Flynn lived over there and Anthony Perkins almost next door,” he adds. “It’s a super part of town – the other day I met Eric Idle, who lives very close.” Inside there is a large open fireplace beside which sits a basket of sawn logs. “I cut down some trees in the garden so I’ve a good supply of wood that will last me five years,” he says. His pride and joy is a set of steel elevator doors, which he believes started life in a Frank Lloyd Wright building, probably salvaged from one of the several acclaimed architect designers in Los Angeles. “The previous owner wanted to take them with him but I wasn’t going to let that happen,” he laughs. His builders and painters are already here. “I’m instructing everyone and generally getting in the way,” he says. The gardens extend to just over half an acre and are going to look exquisite. “I’ve a friend who is a landscaper, who is going to create a Mediterranean garden, On Franklin Avenue with stunning views, two-bedrooms, threebathrooms with pool, deck area, spa and fire pit. A dramatic staircase Having a vision: Alex Hardcastle could see the potential in his new Spanish-style villa in LA’s Laurel Canyon despite it being a little rundown connects the two decks. $3.99m (£2.6m) (sothebyshomes.com). An entertainer’s retreat above the Sunset Strip Contemporary flair throughout a planting orange, lemon and olive trees and stands of giant agapanthus, which will look amazing.” But others with unlimited budgets often prefer the sea air. In Malibu, the affluent 21-mile-long beach community in north-west LA, prices start at an eyewatering $15million and stretch to over $50million. Here I meet Jack Pritchett, the largest independent agent in Malibu who has been selling to the stars for 40 years. “You can’t take photos,” he warns, pointing from his beach-front office one-storey villa with resort-like pool terrace with commanding, unobstructed views of the Los Angeles Basin to Downtown $5.99m (£3.85m) (sothebyshomes.com). window at Leonardo DiCaprio’s place, once home to the late Larry Hagman. His office is in The Colony, a gated community of 100 homes squeezed between the highway and seafront where, ironically, even the super-rich cannot prevent the public from strolling along the water’s edge. This is where John McEnroe and Tom Hanks also have homes. Close by is Carbon beach, also known as Billionaires’ Beach, which is just a mile long. This is where super-rich movie mogul Larry Ellison has been spending $200-$250million buying mansions and the only boutique hotel. “Amazingly he bought eight to 10 of them in the last two weeks,” says the agent. Pritchett is an old hand. “In the Seventies, Barbra Streisand walked in one day unannounced. I sold her a house nearby at Point Dume and then three more.” he says. The paparazzi are never far away. “I’d once been showing a place to Brad and Angelina near here. When we came out into the street, the doors of three parked cars flew open and out jumped a posse of photographers. It happens all the time,” he says. This year he is cock-a-hoop. In the spring he completed his biggest deal when he sold a Mediterranean villa in six acres on Paradise Cove for $36.5million in cash to an Englishman. It first came on to the market at $55million, then down to $45million after a year. “The owner picked the numbers, which often means nothing,” he explains. “You just expose a place and hope someone comes.” So who did? “No chance. I can’t say but he’s huge in entertainment,” he chuckles. So would Hardcastle consider Malibu? “The Colony is ridiculously overpriced and the houses are too close. If I had $20million – I’m just $19.9million short – I’d buy a big clifftop house with a long winding staircase down to the beach like the one Cher has. For now, Hollywood is closer to the studios so I’m sitting tight.”