Beverly Hills Is Her Playground

Jenny McCarthy, who appears in the upcoming movie “Diamonds” with Dan Aykroyd and Kirk Douglas, has purchased a Beverly Hills home for about $2 million, according to local real estate sources not involved in the transaction.

McCarthy, 26, went from being named Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1994 to co-hosting “Singled Out,” the MTV Generation-X version of “The Dating Game” (1995-97).

She headlined MTV’s comedy-variety “Jenny McCarthy Show” (1997) and then starred in her own NBC series, “Jenny” (1997-98). She also wrote the book “Jen-X” (Harper Collins) in 1997.

“Diamonds,” due to be released during winter of 2000, finished filming in January, when McCarthy announced her engagement to the film’s director, John Asher.

The house she bought is described as “a gorgeous old Spanish” home built in the 1920s but recently restored. It has four bedrooms in about 4,000 square feet.

The house had been listed by Barry Peele of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, and McCarthy was represented by Sam Kelly of Coldwell Banker-Jon Douglas, Sunset Strip, other sources said.

“Armageddon” director Michael Bay has listed his Brentwood home at just under $2.7 million. He’s selling because he plans to buy a bigger house with more land.

Bay, 34, also directed the movies “Bad Boys” (1995) and “The Rock” (1996). Last year, he signed a two-year multimillion-dollar producing and directing deal with Disney, which includes TV development.

Bay has owned his Brentwood home since 1992, when it was built. He has completely remodeled the 4,000-square-foot home, which has four bedrooms and a guest cottage, which he uses as a screening room.

The contemporary wood, concrete, steel and tinted-glass house has a second floor accessed via a bridge in a steel and glass atrium. The master suite overlooks the pool. The home has been featured on several architectural tours.

David Offer of Prudential-John Aaroe & Associates, Brentwood, has the listing.

Diandra Douglas, who separated from actor Michael Douglas in 1997 after 20 years of marriage, has put their longtime Montecito home on the market at $9.5 million.

The house, which they bought in 1977, was built in the 1920s and has a 52-foot-long galleria, library, butler’s pantry and four family bedrooms, including a master suite with a sitting room. The house also has a two-bedroom staff wing, a guest apartment and pool house.

The seven-acre grounds have a tennis court, pool, spa, Japanese water gardens, a fenced dog run, a vegetable and herb garden, citrus orchard and room for horses.

She decided to sell the home because she wants a change of pace, real estate sources said. She has been active in local charities and has sponsored many benefits.

The Spanish Mediterranean-style home is co-listed by Harry Kolb at Sotheby’s International Realty, Montecito, and Randy Solakian of Coldwell Banker Previews, Montecito.

The Beverly Hills home of late theater impresario Stan Seiden and his wife, Rivka, has been sold for about $1.8 million. Seiden was president of Nederlander Cos. West from 1975 until last year, when he died at age 76. His widow has moved to a Century City condo, which she purchased.

Stan Seiden was called the dean of local commercial theater presenters. Through Nederlander, he handled bookings at the Pantages, Wilshire and Henry Fonda theaters as well as events at other venues.

The 4,000-square-foot-plus home has four bedrooms, maid’s quarters, a guest house and a pool. It was purchased by an attorney and his information-specialist wife.

Leah and Tom Steuer of Coldwell Banker-Jon Douglas Co., Beverly Hills, had the listing.

Stephen Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency, which Shapiro just formed with Kurt Rappaport, represented the buyers. Shapiro and Rappaport formerly worked together at Stan Herman-Stephen Shapiro & Associates.

Westside Estate Agency has offices at 202 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, in the original William Morris building, which housed producer Robert Evans’ offices when he was working on the movie “Chinatown” (1974).

The longtime Beverly Hills home of the late UCLA history professor Albert Hoxie, who had a profound influence on basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and numerous other students, has been sold for $3 million.

Hoxie, who died in January at 86, lived in the home, except when he was in the Army and at college, for 70 years. The house was next door to late actor Jimmy Stewart’s longtime home, which was recently torn down.

Abdul-Jabbar, a student of Hoxie’s during the ‘60s, has credited the professor with inspiring him to write the book “Black Profiles in Courage.” A world traveler and aficionado of art and architecture, Hoxie was well known for his lively lectures on Western civilization.

Hoxie, who taught at UCLA from 1950 to 1996, left his house to the UCLA Foundation, which sold it to an L.A. businessman. The buyer plans to restore the house, which was built in 1925 and has eight bedrooms in about 5,600 square feet, public records say. The house had been listed with DBL, Beverly Hills.

Peter Ford, actor-builder son of actor Glenn Ford and the late dancer-actress Eleanor Powell, and his wife, Lynda, have sold their Sunset Strip-area home for about $1.4 million.

The couple first listed their home in 1996 when they moved into his father’s Beverly Hills house to keep the veteran actor, then turning 80, company.

The home, built in 1991 by Peter Ford in the Craftsman style of Greene & Greene, has four bedrooms in about 3,700 square feet.

June Scott and Mark Goldsmith of June Scott Estates, a Coldwell Banker-Jon Douglas Co. in Beverly Hills, had the listing.