Diva Ditching Beach Scene

Pop superstar DIANA ROSS has put her Malibu home on the market at $2.8 million.

It was listed in early 1996 at a bit more than $3 million, but then the 53-year-old diva, who first made her mark in the ‘60s as lead singer of the Supremes, took the house off of the market.

“She doesn’t need a home on the beach, because she’s traveling all of the time, giving concerts,� a source said. “She only uses it when she’s here for work. She was here for 10 days in November.� Since then, the house has been rented out.

Ross, also an actress who most recently received an Emmy nomination for her role as a paranoid schizophrenic in the ABC movie “Out of Darkness� (1994), maintains her primary residence in Connecticut, sources have said. She has five children, ages 9 to 25.

Ross has owned the Malibu house about 10 years. She bought it soon after it was remodeled by its former owner, John Perenchio, son of Hollywood entrepreneur Jerry Perenchio.

Built in 1976, the house also was owned at one time by British actor Richard Harris, who leased it to billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian, sources have said.

The Cape Cod-style house has four bedrooms and four baths in about 2,500 square feet. The master suite, which is on the second floor, has a sandbox next to a balcony facing the ocean.

The gray clapboard home is listed with James Rapf of Pritchett-Rapf & Associates, Malibu.

Emmy-winning actress SALLY STRUTHERS, who was on tour last year playing the cranky teacher in a revival of the musical “Grease,� has sold her Brentwood home for close to its asking price of about $3 million, sources say.

Built in 1938, the traditional-style home, behind gates, has seven bedrooms, a den, study, six fireplaces and a detached office-studio-guest house in a bit more than 6,800 square feet.

Struthers, 49, became a household name as the miniskirted daughter of Archie Bunker and the wife of a character played by Rob Reiner in the ‘70s sitcom “All in the Family.�

More recently, she played Charlene, the teenage dinosaur, in ABC’s animated “Dinosaurs� and Mother Goose in the TV special “The New Adventures of Mother Goose.� She is often seen on TV as a spokesperson for the Save the Children foundation.

Singer-entertainer CHARO has put her Beverly Hills house up for lease at $9,500 a month, furnished.

The “cuchi-cuchi girl� has owned the home since about 1970, when she was married to the bandleader Xavier Cugat. Charo rents it out much of the time because she lives primarily near Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii, where she has a restaurant.

Built in 1931, the Spanish-style home in Beverly Hills has some tiles imported from Spain and some doors and windows from a convent school in Spain, which Spanish-born Charo attended.

The 8,000-square-foot-plus house also has two master suites; four guest bedroom suites; a maid’s quarters; game room and bar, which overlook a yard and pool; an office, exercise room; and several cedar closets.

Mike Silverman and Kay Pick share the listing at Mike Silverman Estates, a Coldwell Banker-Jon Douglas Co., Beverly Hills.

A nearly finished, 50,000-square-foot house in La Jolla, first listed in March at $27 million and then taken off the market, has been re-listed at $25 million.

The house, on a 5.5-acre bluff overlooking the ocean, has a steel frame on three levels and 30 major rooms and guest suites. There is a library, entry rotunda, music room, wine cellar, billiard and video rooms, a gym with sauna and steam rooms, and a catering kitchen.

The home also has a tennis court, pool with fountains and 30-car subterranean garage with service area.

Harry Eberlin, founder of Super Shops Automotive Performance Centers, had been building the home for himself and his family, but it took him more than six years to find the site and get the building permits, and during the interim, he decided to live elsewhere.

Jeff Hyland at Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, has the listing.

High-end home sales were up in 1997 on the Westside, including Malibu, and this year is looking even more promising, judging by the number of asking prices above $10 million and the number of $5-million-plus offers on the table.

Among the December closings: O.J. SIMPSON’s house, for just under its $3.95-million asking price. Ken Abdala, an investment banker, is the new owner, sources say, and he may change the address and do some work on the house to make it look different from the street. He plans to live there with his family.

Another high-end home that was set to close late in the year was sold to actor PATRICK STEWART, sources say. Situated in Pacific Palisades, the five-bedroom home, built in 1996, sold, with multiple offers, for $4.25 million.

The high-end market is recovering strongly, although selling prices are still playing catch-up with volume, said Cecelia Waeschle of Previews, a division of Coldwell Banker-Jon Douglas Co., Beverly Hills. Waeschle has tracked the Westside’s $2.5-million-plus home sales since 1987.

During 1997, there were 39 home sales at $5 million or more each in contrast with 17 in 1996, but there were 46 in pre-recession 1989, she noted.

As for $2.5-million-plus home sales, there were 170 in 1997 in contrast with 137 in 1996, she said.

Last year, two Westside homes sold for more than $10 million, including billionaire PAUL ALLEN’s $20-million purchase of a 120-acre estate with a Wallace Neff-designed house, built in the ‘20s, and the $14-million sale of a 6-acre, Malibu beachfront property.