A Twist in Her Reality

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Reality TV star and singer Heidi Montag  has been hiding out by the beach this summer at a Malibu place she rented for $25,000 a month, according to the Multiple Listing Service. But she moved on in late August, and the gated contemporary is back on the market at $5.5 million.

Yes, that's Heidi of "The Hills," as in Heidi and Spencer, as in soon-to-be divorced Heidi. Lost? Let's back up: Montag began dating fellow cast member Spencer Pratt while working on "The Hills" (2006-10). The pair eloped to Mexico in 2008 and, just for good measure, got married again stateside last year. In July, she filed for divorce.

The acre-plus property where she made her summer home has a saltwater lap pool, tropical landscaping and mature trees. The kitchen has a blue glass sink, an eat-at island and a skylight; the master suite has a two-sided fireplace, a wet bar, dual closets, a sunken tub and shower for two. There are 6,636 square feet of living space in which to lose oneself. The five-bedroom, six-bathroom house, built in 1972, is also available for lease at $19,500 a month, furnished, with a year lease.

Montag, 23, released the album "Superficial" early this year.

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Like Living at the Jetsons'

David W. Higgins, the president of production at Sobini Films, has listed his Midcentury home in Sherman Oaks, Calif., at $949,000.

He bought the 1956 Edward Fickett-designed house nine years ago from the original owner, the late animator and director Brad Case.

"It was in a state of complete disrepair but still made a strong impact -- the wide-open spaces, the walls of glass, but most especially the color palette," Higgins said of the 1,919-square-foot residence. Case had worked with Fickett to pick out the bold colors.

In restoring the home, Higgins made some minor changes, such as adding bamboo floors, updating the bathrooms and putting a patterned linoleum floor in the kitchen. But he kept the original colors, including the original turquoise O'Keefe & Merritt stove and cooktop.

"We even purchased the Cases' Midcentury living room furniture and had it reupholstered in colors that matched the original fabric," he said. "However, we did make one change -- the bright yellow beams had been a dark gray-blue, which we felt was too heavy a color."

Having inspired Case's work in the '60s and '70s, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house had a similar effect on Higgins, who used it as the basis for his movie "Hard Candy" (2005). Higgins said he and the writer "blocked out every scene in the home, with the idea being that, in a worst-case scenario, we would shoot the film in our home." Ultimately, the movie was shot on a soundstage.

Higgins is the producer and writer of "Burning Bright" (2010) and was co-producer of "Momma's House" (2000) and "Big Momma's House 2" (2006).

Case, who died in 2006 at age 93, worked as an animator and sequence director in films and TV shows stretching from "Pinocchio" (1940) to an episode of "The Tick" (1994) and including "Jetsons: The Movie" (1990).

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Artist opts for an at-home Studio

Los Angeles artist Chad Robertson and his wife, Kathryn Bakken, have put their Beachwood Canyon-area house on the market at $1,297,000.

The dramatic 3,400-square-foot, three-story home features two office spaces, a sleeping loft, a wall of windows two stories high and canyon views. The master bedroom suite has a tub that appears to float within its space. The three-bedroom, 3 1/2-bathroom house sits on about a third of an acre with grottos and waterfalls.

Robertson is represented by Western Project in Culver City and has had national and international shows in locations such as Seattle, New York, London, Stockholm and Munich. His paintings, called Mash-Ups, combine photography with images from the Internet.

The couple is selling because they bought a property that has a self-contained art studio. They purchased the Beachwood Canyon-area house in 2004 for $1,179,000, according to public records.

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Cutting a deal in Holmby Hills

Update: Internet pioneer David Bohnett has sold his Holmby Hills compound to art dealer Larry Gagosian for $15.5 million, according to public records.

The technology entrepreneur and philanthropist had put the restored Holmby Hills estate on the market in December at $18.9 million.

Designed by A. Quincy Jones in the mid-'50s for Academy Award-winning actor Gary Cooper, the wood, stone and glass house has a canopied walkway that leads to the entrance. The living room features a terrazzo floor, a raised stone fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the swimming pool. The master bedroom suite has two bathrooms, a gym and walk-through closets. There are four bedrooms, 5 1/2 bathrooms and 5,721 square feet of living space.

The roughly 4-acre wooded site was accumulated by Bohnett through the purchase of adjacent properties, including the site of singer Barbara Streisand's former mansion, which was razed. Paths and low rock walls traverse the grounds and gardens.

Bohnett, 54, co-founded GeoCities, a Web hosting service that was acquired by Yahoo in a $3.9-billion stock deal more than a decade ago. He is chief executive of OVGuide.com, an Internet directory and search engine, and is active in causes supporting AIDS research and the arts.

Gagosian, 65, owns the Gagosian Gallery chain, which has locations in the U.S. and Europe.

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