B arry Levinson has come a long way from the knotty pine club room and marble front stoop. All the way, in fact, to "10,000 sf on 2 level acres, pool, guest quarters, separate studio, 7BR, 8 full & 3 half baths," just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
The filmmaker moved from that spread seven years ago to a place in West Redding, Conn. But to Sotheby's International Realty, the California property will always be Levinson's home. "The Barry Levinson Estate," as it's called on the Sotheby's Web site, is listed at $17.5 million.
"It's kind of retained its stature as the Barry Levinson estate," said listing agent Bill Bullock. "That's what it's known as."
The house sits in the phenomenally expensive but low-key town of Ross, a Marin County burg rich enough to sustain several glorious restaurants but small enough not to rate postal delivery.
"You have to go to the post office to get your mail there," Bullock said.
If picking up the mail is part of the charm, so is not having to pick up the mail, or the laundry, or groceries or anything else. "These folks have staff, full-time staff, many of them," Bullock said. "They send their staff down there, but it might not be unusual to see Sean Penn down at the post office."
Levinson moved to Ross in the mid-1990s and sold the home in 2001, said Bullock, Levinson's listing agent. The filmmaker-owner added to the appeal the last time the place changed hands.
"In fact, he had his Oscar sitting in there in his study on one of the shelves in there," Bullock said. "It was kind of an interesting side note when people came to see the house."
Some "very wealthy woman" - Bullock wasn't saying who - bought the house from Levinson and is selling it now. But even after it sells again, Bullock expects the Levinson name to stick.
"We sold Andre Agassi's house last year. That's still known as the Agassi estate."
Former Dixon spokesman returns to the airwaves
Former mayoral spokesman and radio host Anthony McCarthy is back to public affairs and the public airwaves.
The Anthony McCarthy Show, a news talk program, debuted last week on WEAA. It airs Fridays from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
McCarthy has hosted several radio shows over the years, on the Morgan State station and on WYPR, and worked for Sheila Dixon when she was City Council president. In January 2007, he became Dixon's communications director. He left after several months, when he became the subject of a police investigation, which did not result in charges.
