Tinder’s Sean Rad pays $35 million for a Hollywood star’s stunning estate
Not many homes look like Yvette Mimieux’s. Not in Southern California. Not anywhere.
The colorful Bel-Air compound — a bohemian bouquet of art and architecture — surfaced for sale at $49.5 million after Mimieux, star of the 1960 film “The Time Machine,” died at 80 in January.
Records show it has a notable new owner: Tinder co-founder Sean Rad, who paid $35 million for the fanciful estate.
Rad, an L.A. native who founded the dating app in 2012, last made housing headlines when he bought a Hollywood Hills mansion from real estate powerhouse Kurt Rappaport in 2018 for $24 million. His new place is even bigger, combining two homes and two lots for a total of 1.5 acres and roughly 15,000 square feet.
The compound is tucked on an “island” of sorts in Bel-Air, where the Bel-Air Country Club golf course wraps around a coveted collection of luxury homes, creating a private haven shielded from the city. It has been dubbed “Il Sogno” — Italian for “the dream.”
Both houses shirk modern style in favor of extravagant, over-the-top Old Hollywood style.
The larger of the two is a Tuscan-style villa with hand-painted ceilings, skylights, antique plaster walls, stone-carved fireplaces and crystal chandeliers. Highlights include a sky-lit library, custom brick wine cellar and a fairytale-style primary suite under a dome.
The smaller home is a Balinese-style cottage loaded with bold colors, leafy lounges and indoor-outdoor spaces. A wraparound terrace overlooks the grounds, replete with gardens, statues, a cabana, lanai and multiple swimming pools.
Linda May of Hilton & Hyland, Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency and Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker Realty held the listing. Mary Fitzgerald and Jason Oppenheim of the Oppenheim Group, who star in Netflix’s “Selling Sunset,” represented Rad.
Mimieux, an L.A. native, gained fame for her roles in “The Time Machine,” “Where the Boys Are” and “Light in the Piazza.” She owned the home for decades with her husband, real estate magnate Howard Ruby.