A Classic Spread in the Hedgerow

Noteworthy new listings….

If you’ve ever walked the Hedgerow, you may have noticed 240 Miramar Avenue ($17.95 million) in crook of the Y-shaped lane at the north end of Miramar Avenue. It has tremendous curb appeal even when the gate is closed. Behind the gate, a circular driveway leads to stairs up to the house. “Originally a historic one-story farmhouse [built in 1900], the residence has since been extensively updated in collaboration with the late architect Peter Becker of Becker Henson Niksto Architects and features a total of seven bedrooms and nine baths in roughly 9,000 square feet sprawled across two separate wings,” explained the Robb Report a couple of weeks ago. It feels like a B&B, due to the many-bedroomed layout (the floor plan is viewable on the listing agent’s website) and because it’s decorated like one, and I can’t imagine anyone willing to spend $18 million on it won’t want to update the kitchen, baths, and so on. Prices this high are rare in the Hedgerow, or at least they have been, and they’re usually for turnkey. But 240 Miramar Avenue makes a strong case, with its enviable location, 1.89-acre lot (with well), and the sheer size of the house. P.S. Yes, two bocce courts.

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All but one of the houses on Oak Creek Canyon—a gated, private lane above E. Mountain Drive—date from the early 21st century. The exception is 1366 Oak Creek Canyon Road ($13.5 million), designed by Chester Carjola, built in 1950, and surely added onto at some point, judging from the wing accessed via ramp. The views are phenomenal, and the common areas are winners. It needs an update, and a reorganization of some of the lesser spaces would be welcome. In the meantime, you could hole up in the idyllic two-bedroom guest house up the hill.

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The 1988 house at 1152 Hill Road ($7.895 million), a block off Butterfly Beach, sold for $2.863 million in February 2020, a.k.a. the before days. It has been thoroughly redone, with a particular emphasis on wall coverings, and there’s more character than you’d expect in such a renovation. An equally appealing guest house is linked by breezeway. The whole thing would make a sweet weekend getaway, especially once the restaurants are up and running at the Biltmore and Coral Casino.

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2749 Sycamore Canyon Road ($7.795 million), a 1978 Cape Cod just above East Valley Road, sold for $3.7 million in September 2020, and it has held up well, with timeless finishes and a livable floor plan. The likely demographic is a young family, considering the upstairs primary, two upstairs guest rooms sharing a bath, and Cold Spring School eligibility.

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The seller of 1575 East Valley Road ($5.495 million) paid $4.5 million for the 1883 three-bedroom (with one-bedroom cottage) in August 2022 and gave it a truly lovely makeover. While it has the character of an old house, it also has the coziness. Perhaps as a result, the .54-acre lot feels big.

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1426 Mountain View Road ($5.495 million) is akin to properties on those Alta Mesa streets—Harbor Hills Drive, La Vista del Oceano, et al—where you pass through a more modest area to get to the prime perches. The view here is less dramatic than on those streets, but there’s usable land down below, which is not often the case in view properties.

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The four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath main house at 4731 San Antonio Court ($4.995 million) was built in 1990, but any Mediterranean frippery—I assume there was some, judging from the columns outside the pool house—has been sanded away. Plus, the grounds earn the right to be compared to a resort. P.S. That shower reminds me of a lyric from “Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)” by Pink: “No, you can’t hop into my shower / All I ask for is one f–kin’ hour.”

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I don’t see myself living in Ojai, but if I did, I’d be most tempted by the area east of Ojai, toward Santa Paula, where it feels like the Old West. That may be why I’m drawn to 12980 Ojai Road ($3.995 million); here are moments—the wall of windows in the living room, the live-edge kitchen counter, the Brutalist pool—that show real style. Someone evidently has an issue with bathroom mirrors, though.

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And a few others worth checking out:
••• 695 Olive Road ($12 million): 1913 Monterey Colonial with two cottages on 1.78 acres in Montecito, for sale by owner as you might infer from the three amateur photos.
••• 3324 Campanil Drive ($4 million): One-acre ocean-view lot across from the north end of Sea Ranch Drive; it sold for $2.75 million a year ago as 0000 Campanil Drive.
••• 802 Olive Street ($1.5 million): Cute 1916 two-bedroom at the corner of E. De La Guerra with style to burn in the living room (below).

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