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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — 

It is 1956. A queue of Mexican immigrants stands at a processing station in Texas, about to be admitted to the United States as part of the bracero guest worker program. They are naked, clothes in hand, waiting for a masked attendant to douse them with DDT, an insecticide whose use would be banned in the U.S. just 16 years later.

It was this scene of casual brutality that photographer Leonard Nadel captured on film in his documentary series devoted to migrant labor (and its many abuses) in the 1950s. In the caption he submitted with the picture, he notes that the men were treated by border authorities in “much the same manner and feeling used in handling livestock.”

The DDT shower was less a ritual of disease protection than a tool of humiliation.

Nadel’s indelible image serves as moving inspiration for a large-scale painting by Los Angeles artist Rafa Esparza that greets visitors to his solo installation at MASS MoCA, the contemporary art center in North Adams, Mass.

A thick slab of adobe serves as Esparza’s canvas. His image puts a tight focus on the workers. Their strong bodies, their bowed heads, brown skin blending into brown adobe as a white cloud of poison envelopes their faces.

Esparza’s installation, “staring at the sun,” on display through the end of the year, is one of two exhibitions at MASS MoCA that contend, in different ways, with the border and the ways in which it marks division but also generates resilience and symbioses.

One floor up and a building over is a survey of work by Tijuana artist Marcos Ramirez, who goes by the name “ERRE,” a show whose most visible component is a 120-foot corrugated metal sculpture titled “Of Fence,” from 2017, which evokes the rusty red look of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

At one point, “Them and Us / Ellos y Nosotros,” as the show is titled, forces viewers to choose a path through the gallery — under signs titled “Us” and “Them.”

The two artists’ work could not be more different.

Esparza’s temple-like installation — in which he displays paintings on adobe in a gallery whose floor has also been covered in mud brick — is, to some degree, a meditation on material. Its brownness. Its earthiness. Its ephemerality. A material he uses as canvas to render portraits, not just of migrant workers but of friends and of family.

“Portraiture creates a legacy,” says the exhibition’s curator, Marco Antonio Flores. “The interesting thing is that for him to create portraits out of material that breaks and cracks, you think, what does that tell us about portraiture?”

ERRE’s show, which features an array of new and existing pieces, many produced throughout the artist’s career, reveals an artist deeply engaged in politics and policy — not to mention a mordant wit.

In a video titled “The Body of the Crime (The Black Suburban),” made in 2008, ERRE plays the victim of a cartel hit. He also plays policeman and forensic investigator. If he represents a society racked by violence at every level, he also represents that same society’s complicity. It’s a piece made more poignant by President Trump’s announcement this week that he wanted to designate the cartels terrorist groups.

Nearby sits a 2019 installation, “Orange Country,” which consists of orange prison jumpsuits in four sizes, including an infant’s onesie — an allusion to the continued detention of families and children at the U.S.-Mexico border. They serve as a stark, criminal justice counterpoint to Chris Burden’s oversized “L.A.P.D. Uniform” installation, in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

“ERRE is the perfect example of someone who lives with the border as a daily thing,” says MASS MoCA senior curator Susan Cross, “and not as a political abstraction.”

What unites Esparza and ERRE’s work is how they tackle the idea of the border as not simply a wall but as a punitive tool — the policies and procedures that are used to demonize and dehumanize. A DDT bath. A child in a cage.

As historian Greg Grandin notes in his recent book, “The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America,” “The point isn’t to actually build ‘the wall’ but to constantly announce the building of the wall.”

On a more inspiring note, both exhibitions reveal the ways in which culture can circumvent any border put in its way.

One of Esparza’s paintings shows a figure pulling back a fence. Are they tearing it down or climbing over? It’s hard to say.

And his portraits of fellow artists — such as performance artist Sebastián Hernández and singer San Cha, both from L.A. — dwell not in victimhood but in graceful empowerment.

“These people are alive today,” says Flores, “and they are creating this artistic aesthetic legacy.”

One of ERRE’s best-known works is a two-headed wooden horse that rose to a height of 30 feet, which he installed at the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing in 1997.

“Toy-an Horse” had two legs planted in Mexico and two in the U.S., with one head facing north and the other to the south. It may have faced in different directions but its body was one. A political line may divide but the cultural body remains whole.

In the gallery, the piece is represented by a photomural showing the installation from the ’90s. But ERRE re-created the heads in wood, charred them and laid them on a bed of coal, in a yin-yang arrangement, in the middle of the gallery.

Together in life. Together in death. Like adobe, it will all one day crumble to dust.

  • Where: MASS MoCA, 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, Mass.

  • When: Through December

  • massmoca.org
  • Where: MASS MoCA, 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, Mass.

  • When: On view to summer 2021

  • massmoca.org

SERIES

California Cooking With Jessica Holmes This new episode visits Osteria Bigoli for rigatoni carbonara and warm spinach bread. Then, Holmes makes lamb sloppy joes and shops at Seed Bakery for fresh baked bread. 8 p.m. The CW

Crikey! It’s the Irwins Robert feeds 44 hungry alligators, all at the same time. Also, Terri helps examine Kaitlyn the tiger and makes a thrilling discovery in this new episode. 8 p.m. Animal Planet

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II Hosts Steve Backshall, Chris Packham and Liz Bonnin try to predict what the future holds for all living things in the season finale of this nature documentary series. 9 p.m. BBC America

Amanda to the Rescue Host Amanda Giese faces one of her most challenging rescues when a puppy arrives with serious neurological issues in this new episode.10 p.m. Animal Planet

Christmas Cookie Challenge Cookie makers are challenged to create cookies perfect for a Christmas in the tropics in this new episode. 10 p.m. Food Network

SPECIALS

Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire & Legend of the Lost Tribe Ben Stiller, Hugh Grant, Britney Spears, James Belushi, Brad Garrett, Leah Remini, Jerry Stiller, James Woods, Dan Dierdorf and Dick Enberg lend their voices to the off-kilter animated story of the quest of Rudolph’s son to take his father’s place on Santa’s sleigh team. In the follow-up, Robbie opposes Blitzen’s plan for a theme park called Reindeer World. 8 p.m. CBS

The Story of Santa Claus After a toy maker and his wife are evicted from their shop by landlords, they head to an orphanage to deliver their only remaining bag of toys. When they get lost in a storm, they wind up at the North Pole, where they meet a group of elves. Ed Asner and Betty White provide voices in this encore animated special. 9 p.m. CBS

MOVIES

It’s a Wonderful Life Small-town guy George Bailey (James Stewart) defers one big dream after another to stay home, marry a local girl (Donna Reed) and run the family business. Facing financial ruin, he’s pulled from suicidal despair by angel Clarence (Henry Travers), who shows him how terrible the world would have been if he’d never been born. Lionel Barrymore also stars in director Frank Capra’s 1946 holiday classic. 8 p.m. NBC

Christmas in Rome An American tour guide (Lacey Chabert) who lives in the Eternal City leads her tourists off the beaten path once too often and loses her job just before Christmas. Luckily, she runs into a New York executive (Sam Page) who must convince the owner (Franco Nero) of a local company that he knows and understands the “real” Italy in this 2019 holiday romance. 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel

Shazam! Director David F. Sandberg delivered this charming and funny 2019 adaptation of a DC Comics property, about young Billy Batson (Asher Angel), who gains the power to turn into an adult superhero (played by Zachary Levi). Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou and Meagan Good also star. 8 p.m. HBO

Merry Liddle Christmas Kelly Rowland drew from her own recent Christmas catastrophe for this 2019 romantic comedy, in which the former Destiny’s Child member stars as a successful tech entrepreneur whose messy family descends for the holidays on her pristine new dream home. Thomas Cadrot also stars. 8 p.m. Lifetime

WEEKEND TALK

SATURDAY

Tamron Hall 9 p.m. KABC

SUNDAY

CBS News Sunday Morning A woman who used the 262 cemetery plots she inherited to help others in need; Alec Cabacungan, the face of the Shriners Hospitals for Children’s TV ads; singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette on the new Broadway show based on her breakout album “Jagged Little Pill”; a family that makes their living as catalog models; Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce discuss their new film “The Two Popes”; the Global Positioning Satellite network; the controversy over the use of the term “OK Boomer.” (N) 6 a.m. KCBS

Good Morning America (N) 6 a.m. KABC

State of the Union With Jake Tapper Impeachment, 2020 election, news of the day: Presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); impeachment, news of the day: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). (N) 6 and 9 a.m. CNN

Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.); Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.); Sandy Lerner, Ayrshire Farm (Re-Air). (N) 7 a.m. KTTV; 11 a.m., 4 and 11 p.m. Fox News Channel

Fareed Zakaria GPS Impeachment throughout history: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Rick Perlstein, David Rubenstein; what we can learn from schools in Asia; avoiding catastrophes. (N) 7 and 10 a.m. CNN

Face the Nation Presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.); Thanksgiving book panel: Authors Michael Duffy, Ruth Marcus, Jon Meacham, Susan Page, David Rubenstein. (N) 7:30 a.m. KCBS

Meet the Press (N) 8 a.m. KNBC; 3 p.m. MSNBC

This Week With George Stephanopoulos Impeachment inquiry: Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.); impeachment inquiry: Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove); panel on Trump’s actions in military war crimes cases. (N) 8 a.m. KABC

Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter Fighting conspiracy theories, defending real reporting; Bloomberg News’ coverage of founder Michael Bloomberg’s presidential bid; impeachment hearings; commonalities in the investigations into President Trump; Trump allies using religious language to describe him and his opponents. (N) 8 a.m. CNN

MediaBuzz (N) 8 a.m. and midnight Fox News Channel

60 Minutes YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki discusses the video-sharing site’s policies; homelessness in Seattle; medieval churches carved out of rock at a mysterious holy site in Ethiopia. (N) 7 p.m. KCBS

SPORTS

College football Georgia visits Georgia Tech, 9 a.m. ABC; Ohio State visits Michigan, 9 a.m. Fox; Clemson visits South Carolina, 9 a.m. ESPN; Indiana visits Purdue, 9 a.m. ESPN2; Northwestern visits Illinois, 9 a.m. FS1; Wake Forest visits Syracuse, 9:30 a.m. FS Prime; Alabama visits Auburn, 12:30 p.m. CBS; Wisconsin visits Minnesota, 12:30 p.m. ABC; Baylor visits Kansas, 12:30 p.m. ESPN; Miami visits Duke, 12:30 p.m. ESPN2; Maryland visits Michigan State, 12:30 p.m. FS1; Southern Mississippi visits Florida Atlantic, 12:30 p.m. NFL; Notre Dame visits Stanford, 1 p.m. Fox; Southern versus Grambling State, 2 p.m. NBCSP; Texas A&M visits LSU, 4 p.m. ESPN; Navy visits Houston, 4 p.m. ESPN2; Iowa State visits Kansas State, 4 p.m. FS1; Colorado visits Utah, 4:30 p.m. ABC; Oklahoma visits Oklahoma State, 5 p.m. Fox; Arizona visits Arizona State, 7 p.m. ESPN; Fresno State visits San Jose State, 7:30 p.m. ESPN2; California visits UCLA, 7:30 p.m. FS1

College basketball Lipscomb visits Xavier, 9 a.m. Fox Sports Net; Boston College visits Richmond, 11:30 a.m. NBCSP

Hockey The Winnipeg Jets visit the Kings, 7 p.m. Fox Sports Net

For more sports on TV, see the Sports section.


Julie Hagerty’s movie career has included memorable moments in cockpits (“Airplane!”) and Las Vegas casinos (“Lost in America”) but she admits she was terribly frightened by a scene in her new film, “Marriage Story,” that takes place in an ordinary living room.

Of course, the scene involves singing the Stephen Sondheim song “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” from “Company” with Scarlett Johansson and Merritt Wever, who play her daughters in the acclaimed Noah Baumbach film.

“It was fun, and it was hard,” Hagerty recalled in a recent interview. “Merritt and I were practicing and practicing. Then Scarlett came in and did it in five minutes. I don’t sing. I don’t dance. But you just want to do it for Noah, who is a genius. He’s brilliant.”

Baumbach had no idea she was nervous doing the scene. “She later revealed that she was terrified about it,” he said. But, as always, Hagerty pulled it off with grace and wit.

The actress brings needed levity to “A Marriage Story,” Baumbach’s intense chronicle of the painful disintegration of a marriage between an actress (Johansson) and a director (Adam Driver). Hagerty shines as Sandra, Johansson’s loving and girlish actress mother who is divorced from her gay husband. (The movie is currently in theaters and will be on Netflix on Dec. 6.)

The actress is now 64, though she doesn’t look much older than she did when she and Robert Hays starred in 1980’s “Airplane!” or when she and Albert Brooks got “Lost in America” in 1985. Over a meatball lunch at a tony Beverly Hills hotel, Hagerty is warm and engaging and shares her insights about how she viewed Sandra.

“She’s a wonderful mother who loves her grandson and her other grandchildren and loves her daughters,” said Hagerty. “She’s not controlling but she wants everything to be OK — how she sees it to be OK. She hasn’t grown up to understand that everybody has to find their own way.”

Baumbach said he’s been following Hagerty’s career for decades. “I loved her in ‘Airplane!’ I loved her in ‘Lost in America.’ ‘Noises Off.’ She’s great,” he said. “More recently I have seen her in a couple of Wally Shawn plays, ‘Grasses of a Thousand Colors’ and his adaptation of ‘The Master Builder.’ She was just so wonderful. It was a different quality [from her usual roles].”

Baumbach noted that Hagerty was a fun collaborator on “Marriage Story.” “She’s totally there and ready to play. She brings something that only she can do. We rehearsed a lot. She’s there, she’s prepared and at the same time up for anything, and with the best spirit about it.”

Besides Baumbach, Hagerty was effusive about her costars. “They are these young talents,” she said, delicately diving into her meatballs. “They are as sweet as they are gifted and talented. Scarlett would get us — if we were working late — soup and grilled cheese.”

Wallace Shawn, who plays an actor in Driver’s company in “Marriage Story,” has known Hagerty since the early 1990s, when they did Tom Noonan’s off-Broadway play “Wifey” and in the 1995 film version (retitled “The Wife”).

“I can’t really describe her process,” said Shawn. “She seems to be one of the most completely spontaneous actors I’ve ever met. It seems that she’s like a very young person with an incredible imagination, so that she could imagine herself into any situation the way a 10-year-old might. Everything about Julie is very paradoxical because she seems like a very naive person who might not be able to drive a car, fix a car if it breaks down. But she knows how it all works.”

Hagerty seems as an actor to be “absolutely innocent,” said Shawn, “but on the other hand, I’ve seen her act on Broadway. I know that she has an incredible, what you would call, ability to control what she does to make the audience laugh, to do whatever the director wants her to do. When you act with her, it feels as if it’s never happened before. “

Hagerty also can be seen on Disney+ in the holiday film “Noelle” as Mrs. Claus.

‘She does a lot of different things — makes sure all the elves are in order,” Hagerty explained about the role. “It’s amazing to be an adult and say, ‘I’m playing Mrs. Claus in a Disney movie.’”

Many people still remember Hagerty best as the sweetly ditzy flight attendant in the blockbuster hit comedy “Airplane!” Though the spoof was wild and crazy, codirectors Jerry and David Zucker and Jim Abrahams ran a pretty tight set.

“Howard Koch Sr. was the producer and the one who believed in the boys,” she recalled. “He was on set every day. It was a very low-budget film. You had to do it quickly. The only cut-up was Leslie Nielsen,” who played the doctor aboard the flight; he brought his whoopie cushion to the set every day.

Hagerty, who is married to composer and theatrical producer Richard Kagan, says she is “having my childhood in reverse.” She loves horses but couldn’t have a horse as a child growing up in Cincinnati. She now has three rescue horses.

Adjusting to fame didn’t come easily to Hagerty. After “Airplane!” came out, she became a fan favorite.

“Somebody asked me for my autograph and that had never happened before,” she noted. “So, I got nervous and I’m dyslexic, so I signed it, ‘West bishes, Julie Hagerty.’ The guy gave it back to me and said, ‘You spelled it wrong.’ That was my introduction to signing an autograph.”


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You won’t find one of artist Nayland Blake’s sassy rabbits, which have been a common feature of the artist’s work, in the vast collection of Altadena’s cheerful Bunny Museum. In drawings, sculptures and videos, Blake’s rabbits tend to exude a mordant humor of layered depth.

The playful title of a welcome retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, suggests how.

With a nod toward bodily orifices, “No Wrong Holes: Thirty Years of Nayland Blake” is at once sexually suggestive and sorrowful. It affirms the profound influence and satisfactions of human desire. Simultaneously, it acknowledges the deep pit of unavoidable loneliness that accompanies it — a hole in the heart.

In China, babies born during the Year of the Rabbit are said to be sensitive to beauty. In the West, given the regeneration associated with the Easter bunny and the erotic power dynamics of the Playboy logo, the bunny has long been a — you should pardon the expression — fertile symbol.

“Starting Over,” Blake’s 23-minute video projection in the final room, sweeps up all these elements (and more) into one. Dressed in a heavy, absurdly oversize bunny suit weighing 146 pounds, the artist climbs on a stage wearing tap shoes, commencing to dance until collapsing, exhausted. The volume of the tapping feet is turned way up, crashing like nonstop thunder.

The video is elegiac, the absurd suit’s heaviness equaling that of a romantic partner at the time. The rabbit frames a personal story that incorporates the physical intimacy of sexual coupling and the emotional intimacy of “starting over,” which any partnership entails. Blake carries the relationship’s weight.

Projected on the usual white gallery wall, the costume, pedestal-stage and backdrop are likewise white. With purity and innocence as context, a sweet romanticism sneaks into the raucous, noisy display of tap-dancing as fast as one can.

The video is also a wry, even poignant take on any artist’s role in offering public enactments of private truths. Blake is out there, exposed, for everyone to see — good, bad or indifferent. It’s grueling, certainly; but this self-critical work is also generous: Performance art takes its toll on everyone concerned, the artist as well as an audience standing in a room watching and waiting.

Blake is a skilled draftsman, as five selections in graphite and colored pencil from the series “After the Turner Diaries” attest. Rabbits dig in the dirt, are pulled from a magician’s hat, boil in oil.

They’re drawn in a range of styles that include vernacular formats of graffiti and cartooning. Evoked is Brer Rabbit, a character descended from African folklore and concocted at the dawn of the Jim Crow era by Joel Chandler Harris. The rabbit is a Southern trickster who survives by his shrewdness and brain power rather than muscle.

Blake’s series, begun in 1996, dates from the shocking aftermath of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Like most domestic terrorism, the attack was performed by a white supremacist. This one was enamored of “The Turner Diaries,” the infamously racist and anti-Semitic novel.

Blake, the son of an African American father and an Irish American mother, is light-skinned; the African American heritage is easily missed. Like Conceptual artist Adrian Piper, whose work has also dealt with racial passing, Blake’s conflicted life experience has informed the art in distinctive ways.

In the dominant society, which includes the art world, the New York-based artist is socially an outsider who seems to be an insider. Blake’s affinity for same-sex love, however, puts them back on the outside — Blake uses non-binary gender pronouns — especially during the 1980s, when they first emerged as an artist. The bunny is a symbol for the stereotypes of black and gay cultures as naturally oversexed.

The rabbit imagery also draws on the influential work of other artists. One is the social sculpture of German artist Joseph Beuys, who tried to explain the mysteries of painting to a dead hare gently cradled in his arms in a famous 1965 performance piece. Mike Kelley’s assemblages of used stuffed-animals are another, including fuzzy bunnies that radiate complexities of childhood longing and trauma.

The exhibition, organized by ICA LA curator Jamillah James, opens with a selection of “restraint” sculptures that Blake made in the late 1980s and early 1990s, pre-rabbit. (The artist graduated from CalArts in 1984, later moving to San Francisco for a decade before settling in New York.) Works like “Lap Dog,” a pair of dressy black shoes linked by golden chains, use the visual language of the sexual subcultures of bondage-and-discipline and sadomasochism to complicate assumptions about a spectrum of social relations.

The chains easily evoke slavery and criminality, the joined shoes tripping up the possibility of easy escape. BDSM, however, rejects coercion in favor of psychological discovery through willing participation. Both interpretations, the political and the sexual, raise an eyebrow at the ordinary rituals of conventional society, which the spiffily shined dress shoes and polished golden ornaments suggest.

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Blake has a way with creating slippery tectonics through carefully orchestrated means. Nothing stays in its prescribed lane. The “Lap Dog” shoes, in a witty installation move, stand on the floor tucked into a gallery’s corner, as if the sculpture has been left behind by a naughty boy who seems to have slipped away.

“Work Station #5” pushes the motif to hair-rising limits.

A tall, sleek, metal-and-glass table, like something from a science lab or hospital operating room, is festooned with eight meat cleavers suspended on elegant chains, four dangling from either side. A coil of black rubber hose and two black leather shin and calf guards are laid out on top, while a plastic water bottle is affixed to one end.

As you peruse the display, everything from healing to torture floats through your mind. Both prospects are tethered to conflicting notions of the risks of experimentation.

Power dynamics are the sculpture’s disconcerting subject, and the formidable forces at work include the power of aesthetics. Those are not always clear-cut.

The sculpture is emphatically Modernist in design. It’s like something conceived in a utopian spirit by the avant-garde artists of the 1920s Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, then appropriated for cruelty by Third Reich thugs and finally reissued into the upscale domestic consumer market by the minimalist manufacturers at Design Within Reach.

It’s worth noting that “Work Station #5” dates from 1989. That’s the year that artist Robert Mapplethorpe died from AIDS, one among 100,000 cases recorded by the time the derelict U.S. Congress finally created the National Commission on AIDS, after nearly a decade of deadly dithering. Blake’s wheeled sculpture is an emergency crash cart. Sex, medicine, prejudice, clinical cruelty and more are smashed together.

Perhaps the most touching work is an assemblage featuring Madame, the wisecracking puppet created by comedian Wayland Flowers, felled by AIDS a year before Mapplethorpe. Glamorous Madame, like Mae West and Sophie Tucker before her, was a vaudevillian mistress of the often-ribald double-entendre. She spoke her mind.

Madame could say what Flowers couldn’t, even though he was standing right next to her manipulating her puppet-limbs and moving his lips, a young gay man projecting through an old heterosexual lady. Blake’s sculpture, wryly titled “Magic,” displays the now-silent surrogate inside a coffin-like carrying case — sort of like the closing bracket for Judy Garland, born in a trunk at the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho. Laid out before Madame is a big, mournful mound of dried roses, Flowers in absentia.

That’s the kind of multifarious, heterogeneous quality that characterizes Blake’s best work, where puppets and bunnies are rife. One way to overcome alienation and isolation is to recognize that identity might be singular, unique to every individual — but that doesn’t mean it is fixed, static or even benign.

What it feels like to live in your body making choices is the frequent nexus between a viewer and Blake’s art. Nowhere is the experience more disturbing than in watching “Negative Bunny,” a 30-minute video that features a fluffy stuffed animal.

By turns cheerful, desperate and portentous, the rabbit looks straight into the camera and begs for sex, insisting all the while that it has been tested and can guarantee being free of HIV. At once cuddly and bullying, ridiculous and dark, frightening and fun, this inanimate toy is a bunny who is negative in more ways than one.


It’s called “juice jacking,” which may sound as innocuous as a toddler ripping the sippy cup out of a playmate’s hands, but this is very much a grownup problem, unless your kid is already using a cellphone.

Juice jacking is the devious practice by which bad guys hijack a public USB charging port and use it to steal information from your phone or tablet.

Those same ports you’re relieved to find when your electronic device is low on power have become a cause for worry.

This isn’t a new problem, experts say, but it has returned to the radar because the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office recently warned unsuspecting users about “criminals [who] load malware onto charging stations or cables they leave plugged in at the stations so they may infect the phones and other electronic devices of unsuspecting users.”

If this isn’t new, why is it an issue now? It’s not only because it’s the time of year when travel is up but also because many of us rely on those chargers to get us through long days of travel, said Ron Culler, senior director of technology and solutions at ADT CyberSecurity. (Disclosure: I am a longtime ADT home-security customer.)

And here I was, Pollyannishly (yes, that’s a word) thinking those ports, in airports, on a plane or in a coffee shop, were just good, old-fashioned human kindness, a port in a traveler’s storm.

It’s a storm, all right, but that port is no port. If it contains malware coupled with evil intent, it’s no lifeline either. In fact, it can be a life wrecker.

“Just as you wouldn’t plug an unfamiliar USB drive into your laptop, you shouldn’t plug your phone into an unfamiliar USB charger,” Paul Bischoff, a privacy advocate with Comparitech, which offers security solutions and help, said in an email. “Our devices have fewer defenses against attacks from physically connected devices than (from) attacks from the internet. The malware can also be much more severe with physical access to hardware.”

Are these guys trying to scare us? After talking with both, I don’t think so.

Consider how much business we do on our phones: We buy airline tickets on our favorite carrier, and because it’s easier, we leave our credit card information on the site so we don’t have to reenter it each time. We set up house payments using our bank’s bill-pay service. We buy a barbecue gas grill on a bus commute using the Wi-Fi on board and, again, leave credit card info on the site.

I am guilty of these things, and I am guilty of one more: charging my phone wherever I can find an open port. I vaguely recall doing that before a recent flight, and I never gave it another thought.

Because, I told myself after these interviews, is this really going to happen to me? I’ve been lucky so far, haven’t I, despite not practicing good cyber hygiene? I mean, other than the $5,000 in airline tickets someone charged to my card three years ago. And the notice from LifeLock, which monitors my accounts, that my information had appeared on the dark web. And there were the recent small-dollar deductions from my bank account that took me about a month to notice.

Time to clean up my act, including more awareness about juice jacking, which can lead to identity theft.

Those evildoers know you are “an easy target when you’re traveling,” said Mike Borromeo, vice president of Stericycle, of which Shred-it, the document destroyer, is part. “You’re in a hurry; you just need a little power to get you through the flight.”

The consequences of such a lapse may lead to co-opted identity, he said, and it can be “one of the worst things that can happen.” Imagine, he said, that you’re trying to buy a house or a car and your credit has been ruined. Or what if your bank account has been drained?

I’d rather not.

Further, said Culler of ADT Cybersecurity, you can’t always tell that something has happened to your phone. The longer the misuse goes unchecked, the greater the damage.

Besides avoiding those alluring charging points, you can thwart data thieves by using a regular plug in an outlet and your own charging cable, Culler said, or carrying a spare battery charger with you. (Do that anyway just in case your flight is delayed or you left your map app open and it sucked the life from your phone.)

Keeping yourself safe from those who would harm you? You’ve got the power.

Have a travel problem, dilemma or question? Write to [email protected]. We regret we cannot answer every inquiry.


Just when the bedraggled traveler is about to die of thirst, a desert oasis appears, complete with greenery and all you can drink. Those movie scenes may be the stuff of imagination, but the oases are real. Here are five places where you can seek some shade in the Southern California desert.

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park, about 130 miles east of Los Angeles, is home to five desert fan palm oases. Not bad considering there are only 158 in North America.

The palms can grow up to 75 feet and weigh as much as 3 tons. When visiting Joshua Tree, you can see 49 Palms Oasis, Lost Palms Oasis, Cottonwood Spring, Oasis of Mara and Munsen Canyon.

For some oases, expect a short walk. Others involve more lengthy hikes. Cottonwood Spring, a natural desert oasis, is near the park’s Cottonwood Visitor Center, and the Oasis of Mara is behind the Oasis Visitor Center in Twentynine Palms. Lost Palms Oasis, meanwhile, is a more than seven-mile roundtrip trek from the Cottonwood area, and 49 Palms Oasis is a three-mile roundtrip hike.

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Info: Joshua Tree oases,

Coachella Valley

Thousand Palms Oasis is part of the Coachella Valley Preserve, just west of Joshua Tree. The palm-filled oasis is, its website says, the second largest grove of palm trees in the Coachella Valley.

Admission to the preserve is free (donations are accepted); open from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Its visitor center, a palm log cabin known as the Palm House, was built in the 1930s.

Info: Coachella Valley Preserve

Palm Springs

Indian Canyons, just south of Palm Springs, has more than 60 miles of trails. Among them is an easy 1.2-mile walk to Andreas Canyon, among the world’s largest fan palm oases.

Along with the palms, hikers can expect to see willows, cottonwoods and sycamores. Regular ranger-led interpretive hikes are offered from now until June. Admission costs $9 per adult and $5 for children 6-12.

Info: Indian Canyons

Whitewater, Calif.

Whitewater Preserve, about a half-an-hour drive northwest of Palm Springs, is a gateway to the Sand to Snow National Monument. Snowmelt-fed Whitewater River runs through the preserve, creating an oasis from the desert landscape.

The area reopened Nov. 1 after floods earlier this year damaged the preserve’s only access road. Whitewater Canyon, however, remains in a county-mandated fire closure, which prohibits roadside parking. Visitors are encouraged to arrive early because of limited parking.

The preserve is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, except select holidays. Both admission and tent camping is free.

Info: Whitewater Preserve

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, about a two-hour drive northeast of San Diego, has an oasis star in Borrego Palm Canyon, which the California Travel and Tourism Commission calls “a watery haven fed by underground springs and shaded by California fan palms.”

As with all oasis hikes, remember to take plenty of water for the journey.

Info: Borrego Palm Canyon


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Called the Ledge House, the Bel-Air contemporary unfolds on a roughly 1-acre hillside as a series of ledges. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The 11,000-square-foot home is listed for $32.5 million. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The home features open-concept space on the main floor, lower-level spa amenities and a screening room.  

(Jim Bartsch)

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The home was built in 2014. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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It has six bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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Glass doors open to deck space and an infinity-edge swimming pool. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The screening room. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The Ledge House in Bel-Air. 

(Jim Bartsch)

This contemporary residence by architect Mark Rios was designed as a series of ledges that extend outward from a sloping hillside. Open-concept living spaces on the main level feature glass doors that seamlessly blend the interior and exterior space. On the top floor, a screening room opens to the party deck — an oversized terrace set up for outdoor entertaining.

Location: 833 Stradella Road, Los Angeles, 90077

Asking price: $32.5 million

Year built: 2014

Living area: 11,000 square feet, six bedrooms, 11 bathrooms

Lot size: 0.97 acre

Features: Open-concept floor plan; floor-to-ceiling glass doors; stone, wood and glass wall finishes; chef’s kitchen; spa/steam room; library; screening room; rooftop deck; swimming pool; Japanese-inspired gardens

About the area: In the 90077 ZIP Code, based on 17 sales, the median price for residential sales over the last month was $1.93 million, a 22.7% decrease year-over-year, according to Redfin.com

Agents: Linda May and Drew Fenton, Hilton & Hyland

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send high-resolution color photos via Dropbox.com, permission from the photographer to publish the images and a description of the house to [email protected].


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Suzanne Todd in her Pacific Palisades home. 

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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The family room/living room is Todd’s favorite. It’s a comfortable place for friends and family to gather. 

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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The home is 4,480 square feet. 

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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A gaming console with a collection of classic arcade games. 

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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Disney figurines. 

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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A young Walt Disney. 

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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“The only thing that overtakes this house — and frankly every house I’ve lived in — are books,” Todd says. 

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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Todd’s daughter, Serena, and son, Dash.  

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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Plenty of space for books. 

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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“We have a modern aesthetic, and the kids all love that, but I just love things that are clean and that I can keep very organized,” Todd says. 

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

With films grossing more than $3 billion at the box office, producer Suzanne Todd has made a career out of bringing stories to the silver screen. The living room of her Pacific Palisades home, shared with her teenage children, pays homage to her lifelong inspirations — family, books and the magical world of Disney.

Although the modern interior of her 4,480-square-foot home boasts a Marie Kondo level of organization, “fun, energy, creativity and joie de vivre” still prevail through the objects that inhabit the space.

“The only thing that overtakes this house — and frankly every house I’ve lived in — are books. There are books everywhere, but to go with my OCD, they’re all in sections,” said Todd, whose films include “Memento,” “Across The Universe” and the “Austin Powers” and “Bad Moms” franchises.

Naturally, Hollywood and the craft of filmmaking command one section of the library, while another focuses on design and style. There’s even an area devoted solely to Disney.

“I just always loved Disney and Disneyland as a kid because it was a place of imagination, celebration, lights, music, shows and fantasy,” Todd said.

“It’s interesting that I grew up to be a storyteller and a filmmaker, and that I have made so many movies for Disney,” she said. “It’s the storytelling and the characters that were at the heart of it all for me.”

Five black-and-white photos of Disneyland circa 1964 by Renie Bardeau (the park’s staff photographer of 37 years) hang on the wall, birthday gifts from her best girlfriends. One is a famous shot of Walt Disney standing in front of the castle in an empty park.

For her 40th birthday, Todd said, she “had the great privilege” of staying at Disneyland’s exclusive Dream Suite, “and took a version of that same photo but at night, all alone in the park, sitting on the ground in my pajamas.”

She gets to revisit her childhood with video-game duels against her three kids — Dash, 17, Serena, 14, and Hunter, 20 (currently away at Sarah Lawrence College) — on their Arcade Classic game table.

“I will never be as good as Dash at ‘Frogger,’ but no one can beat me at ‘Ms. Pac-Man’ or ‘Centipede,’” Todd said.

Why is your living room your favorite room?

We come together here. Sometimes we play video games; we’re all obsessed with board games. The cabinet is full of everything from Bananagrams to Apples to Apples. Sometimes we watch movies or sometimes we just have the fire on and snuggle with our pets, catch up and have good conversations.

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What’s the design inspiration in here?

Function over form. We have a modern aesthetic, and the kids all love that, but I just love things that are clean and that I can keep very organized because I’m super busy with work, kids and all the pets and everything else.

What attracted you to the Pacific Palisades?

I’m very affected by living by the water, and we drive on Pacific Coast Highway and see the ocean every day, which is very grounding and calming. I feel incredibly grateful and I joke with the kids that that’s why we pay more to live in California.

Tell me about the photo of your grandmother.

My grandmother, Joi Lansing, was an actress and was in a lot of movies with Dean Martin and the Rat Pack crowd. That still is from the movie “Marriage on the Rocks,” and the photo below it is of me as a teenager wearing my grandmother’s fancy dress from the photo. She was in the movie “Touch of Evil” very famously in the opening tracking shot. She was a contract player at MGM, which is where my original love of movies, and musicals in particular, came from. She died when I was 10.

Favorite memory in here?

I sound like a terrible person, but there were a couple of days where both Dash and Serena were sick and home from school. I made matzo ball soup and both of them were snuggled on the couch with the pets. Anytime we all spend together is my favorite time. As they get older it becomes less and less, and they’re busier doing their own things, so time that we all get to be together is fun.


Hot Property Newsletter: Homes where giants trod

November 30, 2019 | News | No Comments

Maybe it was the turkey, or the pie, or that Hot Property turned 35, but this week’s collection brings on the nostalgia big time. We launch with two for-sale properties connected to longtime fan favorites: a Lakers legend and a comic genius.

Our Home of the Week is a 1922 Silver Lake residence rebuilt as a contemporary bungalow and listed at $1.65 million. The original footprint has been extended by adding several decks. Skylights arranged in the pattern of the constellation Cancer bring natural light into the newly opened interior.

Once you’re done reading about these properties, visit and like our Facebook page, where you can find Hot Property stories and updates throughout the week.

– Neal Leitereg, Jack Flemming and Lauren Beale

A quick turn for Shaq?

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has put a Bell Canyon home he owns in a trust on the market at $2.5 million. He bought the place a year ago for $1.815 million, records show.

The hillside property spans more than an acre with a swimming pool and spa, a fire pit, a lawn and landscaping.

The Tudor-inspired house, built in 1990, has more than 5,200 square feet of updated living space, a formal entry, a vaulted-ceiling living room, a wet bar, a media room and five bedrooms.

O’Neal, 47, played for six teams during his storied NBA career, earning MVP honors once and winning a combined four titles with the Lakers and Heat. In 2011, the basketball great joined TNT’s “Inside the NBA” as an analyst. He is enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Actor’s bay-side estate

The Northern California estate of late actor and comedian Robin Williams has come up for sale at $7.25 million.

Located in Paradise Cay, the single-story Mediterranean residence sits on a double lot abutting San Francisco Bay.

The roughly 6,500-square-foot house, built in 1987, has six bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, a wood-paneled library/den and an office. A swimming pool with a spa and stone patios fill out the grounds.

Williams, who died in 2014 at 63, bought the property through a trust in 2008 for $4.05 million, public records show.

The comic rose to fame in the late 1970s starring in the sitcom “Mork & Mindy.” He is remembered for his prominent film roles in “Good Morning, Vietnam” (1987) and “Dead Poets Society” (1989). He won an Oscar for his supporting role in “Good Will Hunting” (1997).

Surgeon made the right cut

A price cut was the cure for the Lake Arrowhead listing of plastic surgeon Andrew Ordon. The Emmy-nominated host of “The Doctors” just sold his waterfront retreat for $2.2 million after trimming about $700,000 off the original asking price.

Built in the ’60s, the cabin-style home is set on a half-acre perch overlooking the lake. The 5,000-square-foot floor plan also has a great room with pitched wood ceilings, a dining area, five bedrooms and five bathrooms.

The grounds include a hot tub, a dining area and a tree-covered yard. A boat dock completes the property.

The 68-year-old physician was a regular guest on “Dr. Phil” before joining “The Doctors” in 2008.

Actress’ fire sale

The site of the home of “Orange Is the New Black” alum Lorraine Toussaint has sold in Malibu home for $600,000. The structure was destroyed in the massive 2018 Woolsey fire.

The actress tweeted at the time: “We lost our beloved home 2 nights ago…. Thanks to all for your prayers and support.”

The six-acre lot takes in coastline, ocean and mountain views. Intact amenities include a swimming pool, the septic system, a graded building site, electric service, well water and paved access.

Toussaint, 59, has had roles on shows including “Any Day Now,” “Law & Order” and “Saving Grace.” She is on the current shows “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power,” “The Village” and “Into the Badlands.”

A Palm Springs landmark

The estate of early film actor and onetime Palm Springs mayor Charles Farrell is for sale in the desert community for $3,698,900.

The Spanish Colonial Revival compound, built in 1933, has a historic landmark designation from the city. Set in the Movie Colony area, the one-acre property contains a main house with an attached casita, a courtyard and a second house for a total of 5,755 square feet of living space. Classic lighting fixtures and exposed beam ceilings retain the period vibe.

There are a total of seven bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and a half-bath including the second house, which has a living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry.

Farrell, who died in 1990 at 89, started in silent films as a bit player before successfully transitioning to talkies and television. His film work includes “7th Heaven,” the first of many films in which he starred opposite Janet Gaynor. He played the father figure in the sitcom “My Little Margie” and starred in “The Charles Farrell Show.”

No longer operating there

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Dodgers Stadium operations executive Joe Crowley has sold his Orlando home for $1.975 million. He bought the Traditional-style house from PGA golfer Trevor Immelman four years ago for $1.785 million.

Set on an acre along a golf course fairway, the 5,587-square-foot residence is fronted by a circular motor court with a fountain.

The two-story house, built in 2002 and since updated, is entered through a grand foyer. The step-down living room contains a fireplace and a wet bar. Other living spaces include a formal dining room, a home theater, a study, a family room and five bedrooms.

The Dodgers hired Crowley as senior vice president of stadium operations last year. Before that he was senior director of operations for the U.S. Tennis Assn. in Orlando.

Her favorite room

When it comes to the living room of her 6,700-square-foot Century City home, actress Chelsey Crisp of “Fresh Off the Boat” opts for informality and fun. The book-lined multifunctional space reflects her love of contemporary design and her family’s passion for playing games.

From the archives

Ten years ago, personal trainer Bob Harper of “The Biggest Loser” purchased a home in the Hollywood Hills at the slimmed-down price of $2.9 million. The three-bedroom Midcentury Modern had come on the market at $3.995 million.

Twenty years ago, heavy metal star Ozzy Osbourne bought a Beverly Hills home for about its $6.5-million asking price. The Black Sabbath front man’s new Mediterranean-style house had five bedrooms, two maid’s rooms and guest quarters in 11,000 square feet.

What we’re reading

Los Angeles will give out up to seven free trees apiece for qualifying residents as part of its own Green New Deal, reported the Los Angeles Times. The aim of the project is to plant 90,000 trees in the city over two years. More than two dozen species, most drought-tolerant, are available.

Interior barn doors may be all the rage thanks to TV house remodelers Chip and Joanna Gains, but real estate agents aren’t sold on them, according to ApartmentTherapy.com. Among concerns: They lack the privacy and sound reduction of traditional doors.


Hot Property: More than a Weeknd stay

November 30, 2019 | News | No Comments

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Abel Tesfaye, the singer-songwriter known by the stage name the Weeknd, paid $21 million for a full-floor penthouse at the Beverly West tower in Westwood. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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Each of the Beverly West penthouses was designed for a specific personality; Tesfaye’s residence is called the “Mogul.” 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The 8,215-square-foot unit boasts walls of glass, custom built-ins and a designer kitchen. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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Direct elevator access comes standard with each residence. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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Basketball great Shaquille O’Neal is asking $2.5 million for his 5,200-square-foot home in Bell Canyon. 

(Carsten Schertzer)

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The Tudor-inspired house has been extensively updated. 

(Carsten Schertzer)

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The home is set on more than an acre. 

(Carsten Schertzer)

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The home features a wet bar, a media room and contemporary artwork depicting the former NBA most valuable player. 

(Carsten Schertzer)

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A bedroom. 

(Carsten Schertzer)

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Former WCW and WWE heavyweight champion Bill Goldberg has listed his custom home in San Diego County at $3.2 million. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The home is in Bonsall. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The home is on 28 acres. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The compound features a basketball half-court. 

(Brent Haywood)

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Swimming pool. 

(Brent Haywood)

Abel Tesfaye, the singer-songwriter better known as the Weeknd, has bought one of the remaining penthouses at the Beverly West, a boutique condominium tower in Westwood, in one of the highest condo sales ever recorded in the Los Angeles area.

The “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills” singer paid $21 million — or about $2,555 a square foot — for the residence, which occupies the entire 18th floor. Select designer-curated furnishings were negotiated separately.

The sale ties real estate developer Richard Lewis’ June purchase of another Beverly West penthouse for the most expensive condo sale in L.A. County this year. The two sales are the most paid for a condo in the Los Angeles area since 2010, when Candy Spelling purchased a two-floor penthouse at the Century building in Century City for about $35 million.

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The great room. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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Floor-to-ceiling windows in the great room. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The great room at night. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The wine closet. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The bar in the great room. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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Curated artwork pops behind the bar. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The great room during the day. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The dining room. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The kitchen. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The master bedroom. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The master bathroom. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The master suite sitting room. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The master bedroom. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The master bathroom has a soaking tub. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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There are glass-enclosed showers. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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A floating vanity in the junior suite bathroom. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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A bedroom. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The junior suite. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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A bedroom. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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A bathroom. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The powder room. 

(Jim Bartsch)

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The gym. 

(Jim Bartsch)

Hilton & Hyland’s Bill Simpson, who is a listing agent for Beverly West, said people are starting to recognize and appreciate the perks, privacy and location afforded by high-rise living.

Tesfaye’s penthouse was one of four that hit the market in August and carried a price tag north of $23 million. Occupying the top floors of the 22-story high-rise, each penthouse was designed to fit a certain personality and features a unique design with curated materials and distinct color palettes.

The penthouse Tesfaye purchased is called the “Mogul” and boasts a dark, masculine palette of deep navy blue complemented by walnut wood paneling. The 8,215-square-foot residence also has a designer kitchen, imported wide-plank oak floors, high-end fixtures and direct elevator access.

Walls of floor-to-ceiling windows frame sweeping views in nearly every direction.

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Eric Jencks, the building project manager for Beverly West, said Tesfaye fits a profile similar to that of others who have bought in the building: individuals who don’t want to be in a homogeneous living space, but also don’t want to lose the privacy offered by an estate or single-family home.

“The Beverly West has no common areas besides the amenities floor,” Jencks said. “Every owner goes up on their short elevator ride to their own airspace.”

The Beverly West building, developed by United Arab Emirates real estate company Emaar Properties, has 35 units and features a 24-hour concierge, a gym and a saltwater swimming pool. On the rooftop is a helipad.

Tesfaye, 29, catapulted to stardom in the early 2010s after uploading his music on YouTube. He has won three Grammy Awards, including one for his third studio album, “Starboy.”

Jeff Hyland and Susan Pekich of Hilton & Hyland shared the listing with Simpson. Angel Salvador of the Agency represented Tesfaye in the sale.

From Big Diesel to big seller

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has put a Bell Canyon home he owns in a trust on the market for $2.5 million.

He bought the place a year ago for $1.815 million.

Nestled in the sloping hillside, the property spans more than an acre with a swimming pool and spa, a fire pit, lawn and landscaping.

The Tudor-inspired house, built in 1990, has more than 5,200 square feet of updated living space, including a formal entry, a vaulted-ceiling living room, a wet bar and a media room. A contemporary portrait of Shaq hangs above a desk in the office.

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The exterior. 

(Realtor.com)

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The backyard and swimming pool. 

(Realtor.com)

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The entry. 

(Realtor.com)

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The living room. 

(Realtor.com)

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The living room and wet bar. 

(Realtor.com)

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The living room has a fireplace. 

(Realtor.com)

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The center-island kitchen. 

(Realtor.com)

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The family room sits off the kitchen. 

(Realtor.com)

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A nook. 

(Realtor.com)

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The office. 

(Realtor.com)

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The dining room. 

(Realtor.com)

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The den/media room. 

(Realtor.com)

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The entry. 

(Realtor.com)

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The master suite. 

(Realtor.com)

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The master bathroom. 

(Realtor.com)

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The master bathroom. 

(Realtor.com)

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A bedroom. 

(Realtor.com)

Upstairs, the master suite includes two walk-in closets, a sitting area, a fireplace and a private balcony. There are five bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms in all.

O’Neal, 47, played for six teams during his storied NBA career, earning NBA MVP honors once and winning a combined four NBA titles with the Lakers and the Miami Heat. In 2011, the basketball great made a move and joined TNT’s “Inside the NBA” program as an analyst. He was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

Tomer Fridman and Jonathan Siegfried of Compass hold the listing.

Tuning in to canyon life

Len Wiseman, the filmmaker responsible for the “Underworld” series and 2012’s “Total Recall” remake, has purchased a modern home in the Laurel Canyon area for $4.6 million.

Perched above the Sunset Strip, the newly built showplace features a cold, contemporary exterior touched up with stained wood. Through a glass front door, it opens to a roughly 6,000-square-foot interior with clean lines and lots of glass.

Shades of black, white and gray color the living spaces, which include an open dining area and a sleek center-island kitchen. Custom fireplaces anchor the living room and family room. In almost every common space, walls of glass unfold to an entertainer’s backyard with a patio and infinity-edge pool.

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The family room. 

(Realtor.com)

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The living room. 

(Realtor.com)

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The dining area. 

(Realtor.com)

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The kitchen. 

(Realtor.com)

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The covered patio. 

(Realtor.com)

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The back patio. 

(Realtor.com)

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The swimming pool. 

(Realtor.com)

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The exterior. 

(Realtor.com)

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The master bedroom. 

(Realtor.com)

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The master bathroom. 

(Realtor.com)

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The second-story lounge. 

(Realtor.com)

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The rooftop deck. 

(Realtor.com)

An elevator navigates the three-story interior. Upstairs, the subdued hues continue into the master suite, which boasts a marble bathroom with skylights and a free-standing tub. The level also opens to a terrace lined with landscaping.

Above it all, a rooftop deck with a fire pit takes in sweeping canyon and mountain views. The property covers about a quarter of an acre.

Ben Belack of the Agency and Aaron Kirman of Compass held the listing. Julian Heaney of Redfin represented the buyer.

Wiseman, 46, directed “Underworld” and “Underworld: Evolution” in the 2000s and produced the next three installments in the franchise. His other credits include “Live Free or Die Hard” and episodes of the shows “Hawaii Five-O,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Lucifer” and “Swamp Thing.”

Ready to pin down a buyer

The San Diego County home of professional wrestler and actor Bill Goldberg is for sale at $3.2 million.

Located in Bonsall, roughly 40 miles north of downtown San Diego, the 28-acre property includes a single-story main house, a three-car garage, a basketball half-court and a resort-style swimming pool. A 6,800-square-foot bonus structure/car museum has space for more than 20 vehicles.

Some 15 miles of riding trails wind throughout the estate, which also holds a four-stall barn complete with feed and tack rooms.

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The pool and house. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The front of the house. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The dining room. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The living room. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The living room has a fireplace and a wet bar. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The master bedroom has a fireplace. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The master bathroom. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The family room. 

(Brent Haywood)

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French doors in the family room open to the backyard. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The swimming pool. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The resort-style pool features a water slide. 

(Brent Haywood)

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An aerial view of the property. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The four-stall barn. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The barn includes a tack room. 

(Brent Haywood)

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There’s also a feed area. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The barn. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The bonus structure/car museum has space for 20 vehicles. 

(Brent Haywood)

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The bonus structure also has a gym. 

(Brent Haywood)

The mountaintop retreat, built in 1997 for Goldberg, features updated interiors, an open floor plan and high ceilings. There’s a step-down living room, a formal dining room, an office, five bedrooms and four bathrooms.

A second kitchen, a gym and additional living quarters lie in the bonus structure/car museum.

Goldberg, 52, began his wrestling career in 1996 in the WCW and became one of the biggest names in the sport during his tenure with the now-defunct promotion. During his career in the WCW and WWE, he has won multiple champion titles, including heavyweight titles in both.

He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last year.

Richard Combs and Matthew Yunker of Hunter & Maddox International hold the listing.

Surgeon cuts long-awaited deal

A price cut was the cure for the Lake Arrowhead listing of plastic surgeon Andrew Ordon. The Emmy-nominated host of “The Doctors” just sold his waterfront retreat for $2.2 million after trimming about $700,000 off the original asking price.

Built in the 1960s, the cabin-style home enjoys a half-acre perch overlooking the lake. European-inspired interiors open to decks and terraces that take advantage of the scenic setting.

An expansive great room serves as the centerpiece. Set under high-pitched wood ceilings, it boasts a wall of windows, a wet bar and a massive stone fireplace.

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The cabin-style home overlooks Lake Arrowhead. 

(Realtor.com)

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The exterior. 

(Realtor.com)

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The great room has a massive stone fireplace. 

(Realtor.com)

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A bar. 

(Realtor.com)

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A dining area takes in a view of Lake Arrowhead. 

(Realtor.com)

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The kitchen. 

(Realtor.com)

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The family room. 

(Realtor.com)

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Decks and terraces take advantage of the scenic setting. 

(Realtor.com)

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Decks and terraces take advantage of the scenic setting. 

(Realtor.com)

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Diners can enjoy the view of Lake Arrowhead from a deck. 

(Realtor.com)

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One of the five bedrooms. 

(Realtor.com)

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One of the five bathrooms. 

(Realtor.com)

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A view of Lake Arrowhead from a deck. 

(Realtor.com)

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A bedroom. 

(Realtor.com)

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Another bedroom. 

(Realtor.com)

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A bedroom features a fireplace. 

(Realtor.com)

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A view of Lake Arrowhead. 

(Realtor.com)

The 5,000-square-foot floor plan also adds a dining area, granite kitchen, five bedrooms and five bathrooms. Upstairs are two master suites, each complete with dramatic ceilings, spa tubs and private decks.

Outside, the grounds descend to a hot tub, dining area and tree-covered yard. A boat dock completes the property.

Meghan Hardin of Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty held the listing. Sue-Ellen Knapp of CAPRE represented the buyer.

The 68-year-old physician was a regular guest on the “Dr. Phil” talk show before joining “The Doctors” in 2008. The show, which is syndicated in more than 140 countries, has been nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards multiple times.