It’s hard to find, cell service is unclear, fire hazard is high, and it’s on the Ventura County line. However, Bell Canyon – the exclusive, 1,700-acre community north of Calabasas (with a gate; one entrance and exit) – is a popular magnet, whose residents include Niecy Nash, Jhené Aiko, Alyssa Milano, Trey Songz, Holly Marie Combs and Shaquille O’Neal.
This year, This is us star Chrissy Metz spends $3.5 million on a Bell Canyon mansion and iconic rapper Lil Uzi Vert spends $4.4 million on a modern home (both mansions are listed with Rodeo Realty) . After moving to Texas, Joe Rogan sold one of the two mansions he owned there. Rogan’s modern five-bedroom Mediterranean home listed with Compass traded last March for $3.45 million with a premium: $250,000 on claim.
Kevin Godley, real estate agent for Pinnacle Estate Properties, said: “It has always been a destination community for celebrities for its security, privacy and serenity. Last January, O’Neal sold his five-bedroom home, located in the Bell Canyon, for $1.85 million.
Prices range from about $1.5 million to $6 million. A lot is big and a steal compared to nearby gated communities like Hidden Hills. Call it a premium, well-tested Mayberry. The self-contained community of about 800 family sites has everything residents need: two schools, a 5-acre public park, an equestrian center, tennis courts and more than 70 miles of hiking trails. long, plus a tight rural feel.
“It’s a hidden treasure that allows you to leave the hustle, bustle and exposure behind,” says Marla Thomas, 8th Avenue broker, “a community that allows you to trade chaos. riots of Hollywood for the calm of breathtaking vistas and unparalleled chill. This is a community that allows you to stay anonymous and let your individuality be expressed in a custom home that reflects your personal taste. ”
This nearly three-acre Mediterranean-style five-bedroom home in Bell Canyon is for sale with Marla Thomas on 8th Avenue for $4.18 million.
Courtesy of John D Russell / Courtesy of 8 Avenue
Celebrities have long aspired to a home on a grand scale. During Hollywood’s Golden Age, legends like Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, and Clark Gable built vast, remote ranches in the dusty San Fernando Valley. With trails and panoramic views of the beige and brown Santa Monica Mountains Park Preserve, Bell Canyon feels the same way – and history proves it.
Once the site of the Chumash community, until 1967 it was the Ward Ranch, a working cattle ranch. That year, the developers bought the land and quickly renamed it Bell Canyon after the pioneer in the area, Charles A. Bell. The 19th-century lawyer and newspaper editor is said to have lost his arm in a shooting. They pay more homage to the canyon’s Wild West past with the names of the new development’s roads, such as Wild Stallion Road and Saddlebow Road.
Joe Rogan’s former home in Bell Canyon has been listed with Erica Fields of Compass.
Dusan Simonovic, LA . Real Estate Photo
Mid-century modernist architect Cliff May, an innovator of the now-popular California Ranch home, designed Bell Canyon’s buildings and equestrian center. He encouraged developers to lay out the plots to maintain the rural farm setting in its most natural state. “They kept the natural contours of the canyons and ridges intact to create stacked houses,” says Godley. “Also, they don’t allow sandstone walls, so all the houses are separated by hedges and mature landscaping.”
Godley added, “Due to open architectural guidelines in the community, there is a wide range of homes from modern California farmhouses to stately English Tudors.”
This story first appeared in the December 1 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.
