From Shared Bath to Palisades Manse

Soviet Union-born comic YAKOV SMIRNOFF, who just got back to Los Angeles after performing in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, has purchased a home in Pacific Palisades for $2.4 million and listed his house near the Sunset Strip at $1,795,000.

“We’re moving because of the neighborhood,� he said with a chuckle. “We want a better place for Linda to push the baby cart.�

The comedian and his wife, Linda, are expecting their first child in the fall, about the same time that a cable TV special in which he stars will be aired on Showtime Entertainment.

“She is my first wife, and this was my first house,� he said by the swimming pool and aviary of the home that he put on the market. “It’s been nice living here, but it’s time to move on.�

Their new residence is in a more family-oriented neighborhood, on the 18th hole of the Riviera Country Club, he said.

Among his new neighbors are actress Goldie Hawn and actor Tom Hanks, with whom Smirnoff appeared in the movie “The Money Pit.� Smirnoff was also in “Moscow on the Hudson,� with Robin Williams; “Brewster’s Millions,� with Richard Pryor, and “Heartburn,� with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep.

Smirnoff bought a ranch-style house with three bedrooms and maid’s quarters in 3,500 square feet. “The people who owned it are moving to Connecticut,� said Joey Coons of Prudential Rodeo Realty, who represented the comedian.

“We’ll have to do some things to our new home, which was built in the mid-’50s,� Smirnoff said, “but it’s clean and sturdy, something like a Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver house. And it’s one story, which will be better for our child.�

His Sunset Strip-area house, built in the ‘20s but rehabbed since he bought it six years ago, has three stories and about 5,000 square feet, with three bedrooms, maid’s quarters, a downstairs office and 4 1/2 baths.

“When I lived in Russia, we shared one bath with five other families, and here I’ve had almost five baths. It’s mind-boggling,� he said. “You want to say, ‘What a country.’ �

He and his parents lived for 26 years in one room of a communal apartment building until they immigrated to the United States in 1977. He became a U.S. citizen in 1986.

His enthusiasm for this country is reflected in the doorbell of his Sunset Strip-area house, which plays “God Bless America.�

The home is listed with Cheryl Crane and Jana Jones at Alvarez, Hyland & Young, Beverly Hills.

PETER MAX, one of America’s most famous contemporary artists, has bought a home in Bel-Air for $2,725,000.

Max lives primarily in a Manhattan penthouse, but he also has a house in The Hamptons and a country home in Connecticut. He plans to live in his Bel-Air home when he visits Los Angeles a few times a year.

The Mediterranean-style home has five bedrooms and five baths in about 5,000 square feet. It also has a courtyard entry and a large, rock waterfall that flows into a 60-foot-long swimming pool.

Built in the ‘20s, the home was recently restored.

Kurt Rappaport and Chris Furie of Prudential Rodeo Realty handled both sides of the transaction.

Novelist IRIS RAINER DART (“Beaches,� “The Boys in the Mailroom,� “ ‘Til the Real Thing Comes Along�) and her husband, businessman Stephen Dart, have put their Sherman Oaks home on the market and are moving to Pebble Beach.

They’ve been remodeling a house there that they bought last spring for about the same price as their Sherman Oaks house, a source said. Their Sherman Oaks house is listed at $1,495,000.

“I lived in this house for 20 years--raised my son (Greg Wolf) and did a lot of my writing here, so it would be real tough to leave if we weren’t moving with our little one (5-year-old daughter) to where we have family,� she said.

Her husband’s mother, Jane, lives in Pebble Beach. She’s the widow of Justin Dart, Stephen’s father and an adviser to President Reagan.

“For me, it will be the same job, different location,� Iris Rainer Dart said, “and my husband is very involved in Republican politics; that won’t change. He’s also in the international pay-TV business and flies all over the world, so I might as well be where I can look out and see the ocean.�

Their Pebble Beach home is on the ocean and has a view from every room. “It’s 1926 vintage, so it had a lot of internal stuff that had to be done, such as remodeling the bathrooms,� she said, describing the house as “a Mediterranean white stucco with a red tile roof.�

Years ago, when she bought the Sherman Oaks home, she saw it described as “a Connecticut farmhouse on a secluded wooded knoll.� “And I thought, that’s for me,� she said.

The four-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath house with a writer’s studio or library and a pool is listed with Annette Mott at Jon Douglas Co.’s Upper Bel-Air office.