RE/MAX Elite in Malibu associate Ericka Christensen represented the buyer of this beautiful Point Dume Club property, which features resort style living above Zuma Beach, now officially SOLD!  Look out for more in the Malibu Times!

RE/MAX Elite Welcomes another Elite Associate this May, Marine Janikyan! Years of experience working with the RE/MAX family make her a brilliant addition to our team of Elite Real Estate Associates, and we’re sure you’ll love her just as much as we do.

Marine specializes as an associate in our sister office in Glendale. She recently hosted a gorgeous open house in May. Check her out on Facebook, and like RE/MAX Elite for updates on Glendale and Los Angeles area Real Estate.

Welcome to the Elite Team as an agent, Marine! We are so excited to have you!

This May, RE/MAX ELITE in Malibu is thrilled to welcome the addition of Chelsea Beagles to the ELITE team! The bright Pepperdine graduate is sure to make a wonderful addition to our team of skilled associates.

Originally from Texas, Chelsea came to Malibu four years ago as a freshman at Pepperdine University. A recent graduate, Chelsea obtained a Bachelor of Science in International Business as well as completing a minor in French. As a 2^nd generation REALTOR, Chelsea’s interest and involvement in real estate began at an early age. “My dad has been a Broker for 36 years, and having him as a mentor and role model has been such an incredible learning experience.”  Chelsea joined the RE/MAX ELITE team in May 2012 as an intern, and is “beyond excited” to now be working alongside the team as a licensed agent. When she isn’t at the office or out showing property, Chelsea enjoys traveling with her family and friends, skiing, cooking and walking Zuma with her golden retriever. She can often be spotted at Coffee Bean getting her caffeine fix, or at Sunlife munching on a Hawaiian bowl.

To find out how Chelsea can assist with your Malibu Real Estate needs or how you can become a RE/MAX ELITE Malibu Real Estate associate, contact 310-456-5888.

For more information on the Malibu Music Awards & Festival, and how we are supporters, contact RE/MAX ELITE Malibu at (310) 456-5888, or stop by our office located at 22917 Pacific Coast Hwy #210 Malibu, CA 90265.
By Cody A. Garcia

A safer PCH for everyone. Next Saturday, April 13th, RE/MAX Elite, Delta Sigma Pi from Pepperdine University, and handfull of other supporters will be sponsoring a car meet that Southern California has never seen before. The event will be held outside of the Malibu Courthouse, located at 23525 Civic Center Way in Malibu, CA to help support The Emily Shane Foundation, in memory of Emily Rose Shane. Emily Rose Shane was only 13 years old when she was killed by a suicide driver on PCH just 3 years ago. Since then, her father Michael Shane has started The Emily Shane Foundation to help promote safe driving on PCH and the passing of good deeds forward. Cars for Cause: Malibu is the first event of its kind hosting car dealers, Starbucks coffee and pastries, raffles, and of course: exotic cars, all as a fundraising event for The Emily Shane Foundation. Whether you come on foot or by your newest lamborghini aventador, be sure to stop by and support a great cause.

By Cody Anthony Garcia
Head organizer and supporter of Cars for Cause: Malibu

Ranked as the number one attraction in Malibu, The Getty Villa has a history that dates back to the 1^st Century.  When oil investor J. Paul Getty first began collecting antiquity, he soon realized that his original gallery adjacent to his home in Pacific Palisades was rapidly filling up.  It is at this time that Getty consulted architect Stephen Garrett in 1968 stating, “I want to recreate The Villa de Papyri”.  The Villa de Papyri was first discovered in the 18^th Century buried under layers of hardened volcanic debris from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.  In its prime, The Villa de Papyri itself was a private house in the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum and served as the residence of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law.

With months of intense research, Stephen Garrett was able to get his hands on a descriptive map drawn by the original engineer in charge of excavations, which later served as ground plans for The Getty Villa.  The large country house envisioned by J. Paul Getty is said to be “his most prized possession”, although Getty himself never had the chance to visit his newly constructed museum.  Opened in 1974, Getty’s passing two years later left The Getty Villa to the Getty Trust, which then constructed The Getty Museum in 1997.  Still home to a rare collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities, The Getty Villa is open 10:00 am to 5:00 pm every day of the week, excluding Tuesdays.

For more information on the history of real estate in Malibu and how we can help you find real estate of your own, contact RE/MAX ELITE Malibu at (310) 456-5888, or stop by 22917 Pacific Coast Hwy #210 Malibu, CA 90265 – we’re located just 8 minutes from The Getty Villa.

By Cody Garcia

RE/MAX ELITE in Malibu’s Real Estate Associate, Ericka Christensen, is representing the buyer of this wonderful home now IN ESCROW!

This great family home is located in the desirable Point Dume Club in Malibu. The residence features resort style living with pool, tennis courts, and recreational center in the gated community overlooking Zuma Beach.

To find out how RE/MAX ELITE in Malibu can assist with your Real Estate needs, or how you can become a RE/MAX ELITE Associate, contact Opportunities@MalibuEliteRealty.com or call (310) 456-5888.

RE/MAX ELITE loves Malibu and it’s adjacent cities, such as the infamous Santa Monica. Malibu’s dear neighbor has an interesting history filled with ups and downs in the real estate market in addition to other bits of history many would not know about. To start with, Robert S. Baker and John P. Jones were the founders of the “City of the Sea”, also known as Santa Monica, in 1875. They founded a town that was fronted on the ocean and named every avenue and street after a western state. This inevitably led to the first Real Estate purchase in Santa Monica on July 15^th, 1875.

The years after 1880 allowed for business and Real Estate development to boom in the “City of the Sea”. In 1885, the first hotel of the town was built and lasted until 1887 when it was burned down. In 1893, the Long Wharf was built toward the north end of Santa Monica so that it could hold large ships, which was soon known as “Port Los Angeles”. This wharf was also deemed the longest pier in the world and even accommodated a train. Although the decision by Congress in 1897 gave San Pedro Bay the title of “Port of Los Angeles”, Long Wharf still acted as a major port of call for Los Angeles.

In 1895, “Ocean Park” was created. “Ocean Park” acted as the first amusement park and residential Real Estate project. It had multiple branches on the estate, one of which being the “Ocean Park Casino” which incorporated a racetrack and golf course. The amusement park was a great site for neighboring cities such as Malibu. The owner, Abbot Kinney, later focused on the south end of the “Ocean Park” property, also known as Venice of America, after he had a falling out with his partners.

In the 20^th century, amusement piers became extremely popular. Santa Monica had many competing amusement pier owners, trying to best the other. Some entertaining themes that were common at the amusement piers consisted with roller coasters, live entertainment, and food stands. Originally,  there were five piers in the Santa Monica area with several more down the coast. Santa Monica Pier, built in 1909, is now the last amusement pier still standing today.

The 1920’s were years where Real Estate and construction in downtown Santa Monica boomed. Many known buildings built include the Criterion Theater, Miramar Hotel, Club Casa del Mar, and Henshey’s Department Store (which no longer exists). Santa Monica also built its very own Santa Monica Airport, which was used for over 46 years. Some of the land around the coast was also used for shooting scenes in the popular television show, “Beverly Hills, 90210”.

The Great Depression led to the creation of some of the well-known sites in the neighboring cities of Malibu. Due to the wide spread unemployment and lack of finances, the people of Santa Monica turned to the amusement piers as a cheap form of entertainment. Muscle Beach was also created and attracted gymnasts and body builders who put on shows for amusement. World War II stuck up business for Santa Monica and was the economical polar opposite of the Great Depression. Papermate, along with Pacific Ocean Park opened up in the 1960’s, creating a gradual economic uprising. 

The infamous Third Street in downtown was turned into the “Santa Monica Mall” in 1965. It was an open-air three-block retail district with large parking structures. Unfortunately this, like many of Santa Monica’s businesses, was unsuccessful in the long run. Santa Monica was not developing very well despite the constant business investments and times were tough for the city. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that business started to improve and there was a visual change in the town.

The 1980’s were a time for renovation and Santa Monica was ready for a turn around by updating their existing Real Estate properties. The renovation started with repairing the Santa Monica Pier. The Pier had suffered extensive damage over the years through natural disasters and rebuilding it was a contentious effort. The total costs for rebuilding the Pier was $43 million but it was because of these repairs that the Pier is Santa Monica’s best-known landmark. The city also drafted a plan to turn the once failed “Santa Monica Mall” into a success by creating the “Santa Monica Promenade”. The Promenade was a success, so much so that taxable sales grew to over 440 percent, quadrupling the city’s revenues. This also gave headway into the increase in rent costs and property costs.

Santa Monica’s history has been a rollercoaster filled with successful innovation and near citywide failure.Despite these setbacks, the city  was persevered and now Santa Monica well-known with numerous tourist attractions and many residents. Real Estate is actively sought out within it’s boarders just like it’s neighboring cities, Malibu and Los Angeles. Santa Monica has proven that it can survive through anything and will be around for years to come.

All research taken from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Santa_Monica,_California)

 Check out this Timeline of Santa Monica’s History!

1875: Senator Jones donates 26-acre Palisades Park to the city; the first residential lot sells

for $300. In nine short months the seaside sanctuary grows to a population of 1,000.

1886: The opulent Arcadia Hotel, one of the many grand resort hotels to grace Southern California’s seashore, is built.

1887: The city of Santa Monica is incorporated — all 8.3 square miles.

1888: Initially sited for a grand hotel, Senator Jones’ famous “Miramar” mansion is built on the city block of Ocean Avenue; a landmark Miramar Moreton Bay Fig Tree marks the estate’s location today.

1893: Santa Monica’s mile-long wharf is built; the city bustles as the major port of call for Los Angeles until 1903.

1909: Santa Monica’s famed Pier opens – the oldest pleasure Pier on the West Coast – drawing an international crowd of enthusiasts.

1910: Ocean Park Bath House adorns the shore; across the street the ornate Million Dollar Pier is built (dismantled in 1970).

1920: Santa Monica is home to Hollywood’s “A” list and wealthy Easterners; population soars to 37,000.

1920: Aviation pioneer Donald W. Douglas, Sr., founds Douglas Aircraft Co., which later provided much needed jobs during World War II.

1922: Humorist Will Rogers acquires 345 acres in Rustic Canyon, builds a horse ranch and polo field for fellow players Spencer Tracy, Robert Montgomery and Walt Disney.

1924: Senator Jones’ mansion becomes the grand Miramar Hotel.

1924: Dancers from around the world flock to the newly-built 10,000 person La Monica Ballroom, built on the foot of the Pier.

1925: Santa Monica’s “Gold Coast” becomes hot realty; Greta Garbo checks into the Miramar Hotel as first U.S. residence.

1926: William Randolph Hearst builds Marion Davies a palatial Georgian- style mansion (55 rooms, 37 fireplaces) on Will Rogers State Beach.

1934: Muscle Beach ignites an international fitness craze on Santa Monica State Beach.

1955: Santa Monica inherits Will Rogers’ 345-acre State Historic Park.

1980s: Santa Monica becomes hotbed for world-class dining; two first-class beachfront hotels debut drawing international acclaim; Third Street Promenade opens in 1989.

1984: Aggressive $45 million multi-phased Pier Restoration project begins with refurbishment of the historic carousel.

1989: Third Street Promenade opens, welcoming up to 7,000 visitors daily.

1999: Massive beachfront redesign marks the millennium, including the rebirth of legendary Muscle Beach, renovation of Palisades Park and debut of two new beachfront hotels, the last properties to be built along Santa Monica’s shoreline.

2001: Big Blue Bus Downtown Transit redevelopment.

2002: New Visitor Center opens in Santa Monica Place Mall serving visitors, residents alike.

2005: Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau moves to Main Street Location.

2007: Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau celebrates 25-year anniversary

2009: Santa Monica Pier celebrates it’s Centennial

2010: Opening of the new Santa Monica Place

Data taken from santamonica.com

To find out how RE/MAX ELITE in Malibu can assist with your Real Estate needs, or how you can become a RE/MAX ELITE Associate, contact Opportunities@MalibuEliteRealty.com or call (310) 456-5888.

A FILM PRODUCER’S LAID-BACK MALIBU RETREAT

A film producer’s Malibu weekend house is a laid-back escape with elegant minimalist architecture and earthy neutral-tone interiors by designers Richard Hallberg and Barbara Wiseley

The Amazing Adventures of Avi Arad would not make a bad title for the tale of a son of Jewish refugees from Poland who grew up to become the world’s preeminent producer of superhero movies and television shows. As a youngster in Israel in the 1950s and ’60s, Arad found his escape in the products of the Marvel Comics empire. Following a stint in the Israeli army during the Six-Day War, he went on to have a successful career as a toy designer in the U.S. Then, in 1998, he, along with a business partner, gained control of Marvel in a court battle so colorful that a book, Dan Raviv’s Comic Wars, was written about it. “The rest is history,” quips Arad. He left Marvel (now owned by Disney) in 2006 and started his own eponymous film company, after having produced such blockbuster franchises as Iron Man, X-Men, Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four.

He and his wife, Joyce, a lawyer turned artist, lived in Connecticut with their three children for a time, but the Arads decided to move to California a dozen years ago, after endless commutes to Hollywood. Like more than a few hard-driving movie moguls before him, Avi was drawn to the natural beauty and tranquillity of the seaside community of Malibu. “I would have moved immediately to the beach,” the producer muses, “but one of my bribes to get Joyce to relocate here was to start with a house in the city.” First they built a place in Beverly Hills, an 18th-century-French–style mansion decorated by the Los Angeles–based Richard Hallberg and his then–business partner, Barbara Wiseley. Once that project was completed, the Arads set out for the rolling dunes of Malibu in search of a weekend retreat, the remaking of which would be entrusted to the same design team.

On a particularly photogenic stretch of land along the beach, the couple came across a modest English cottage with a sterling Hollywood pedigree—previous tenants included Casablanca producer Hal B. Wallis as well as actress Mary Tyler Moore. The setting was ideal. The pitched-roof house not so much. “We wanted something European,” Joyce explains. “Something that felt like you were really on vacation. Like on Mykonos, where the buildings relate to the water and have clear colors and a certain simplicity.”

Hallberg and Wiseley’s response to that poetic brief was to replace the cottage with a two-story white box punctuated by floor-to-ceiling bronze-framed French doors that take full advantage of the breathtaking sweep of sand, sea, and sky. Opening the front gate, in fact, reveals a sight line that leads through the house to the glittering ocean. That transparency, along with the welcoming courtyards and gardens lush with agave, ice plants, and feathery grasses, anchor the structure to its spectacular site. Several tons of stone floor tiles, reclaimed from 18th-century French châteaus, ground it further; utilized inside and out, the hardy sand-color tiles create an aesthetic link to the landscape while serving as an earthy, old-world counterpoint to the crisp, spare architecture.

The interiors are pale and airy. Visual interest derives not from pattern or color but textural variety—a furry flokati on pitted limestone, sleek petrified wood against nubby sisal—and a dynamic mash-up of furnishings and objets d’art. “There are antiques and modern things, Roman things and Chinese things,” Hallberg points out. “Though everything is disparate, the items somehow talk to each other, because they have the same kind of integrity and a naturalness that plays a huge part in creating the casual tone of this place.”

In the living room, for example, organic accents such as a craggy stone cocktail table and a gnarled Chinese root, displayed atop a white pedestal, converse with 17th-century walnut armchairs clad in pale-gray leather and custom-made club chairs dressed in brown raffia. The art is similarly catholic, ranging from contemporary works—a monotype by Seiko Tachibana, a graphic painting on burlap by Mark Hagen—to a shell mosaic to 300-year-old primitive animal drawings in gilt-wood frames.

The easygoing vibe extends outside, where the Arads can unwind beside a trickling stream, channeled through an 18th-century limestone trough, or watch the breakers roll in while relaxing on a driftwood bench set amid blooming ice plants. “Richard and Barbara brought to the table a balance between overwhelming and underwhelming, where you get this peace,” Avi observes. “Each area has its own Zen, but it all works in concert.”

If it is a little surprising to hear an action-movie magnate speak of Zen zones, it helps to remember that Avi regards the beach as the ultimate antidote to all things Hollywood—and the perfect place for playing with his young grandchildren. Which is not to say the world of superheroes is ever very far away. “Spider-Man memorabilia is my bling,” confesses the producer, who can often be spotted strolling among the dunes, a red-and-black Spidey baseball cap set firmly on his head.

Extract from Architecture Digest January 2013 issue

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/decor/2013-01/richard-hallberg-barbara-wiseley-mailbu-california-home-article