Polishing another 1928 gem

Diane Keaton, a nominee for a best actress Oscar at tonight’s Academy Awards, has purchased a Laguna Beach oceanfront retreat for about $7.5 million.

The actress, who was nominated for her role opposite Jack Nicholson in “Something’s Gotta Give,� bought a Spanish-style house built in 1928. The home has four bedrooms plus a sleeping porch and 4 1/2 bathrooms in nearly 3,300 square feet. It also has original Catalina tiles, leaded windows and a boathouse on the sand.

Keaton, who won a best actress Oscar for her starring part in “Annie Hall� (1977), is also known for buying and restoring fine old houses. A 1920s Spanish-style house she refurbished in Beverly Hills is on the market at nearly $10 million. The current owner, Madonna, bought a bigger home nearby.

Keaton, 58, grew up in Santa Ana looking at model houses with her late father, Jack Hall, a civil engineer who became a real estate broker. He liked to skin-dive in Laguna, where Keaton bought her first beach house for about $1.7 million in 2001. After refurbishing it, she sold that house, also built in the ‘20s, for $2.1 million.

She is putting the finishing touches on restoration of a Spanish-style Bel-Air house built in 1928.

Don Stratton and Michael Krauchenko of Coldwell Banker, North Laguna Beach, represented Keaton in buying and selling the Laguna homes.

Buying, selling is music to his ears

Broadway composer-lyricist Jerry Herman, who wrote songs for such musicals as “Hello, Dolly!� and “Mame,� has sold his Beverly Hills home for just under $6 million, and he has purchased a nearby condominium for $3 million.

Herman, who also loves buying and refurbishing homes, has owned and redesigned about 30, several of them as a business in Key West, Fla.

The house he just sold was built in 1963 and was owned at various times by Laurence Harvey, Totie Fields and Joan Collins. The one-story, 8,000-square-foot house is on nearly 2 acres behind gates and has a guesthouse, studio and city views. Herman had owned the property since December 2000.

The condo he purchased is in a four-story building in which there is one unit per floor. Each is 5,000 to 6,000 square feet. The building was constructed several years ago.

Raymond Bekeris of John Bruce Nelson & Associates and Leah Steuer of Prudential John Aaroe represented Herman in his sale and purchase.

From the diner to his own kitchen

Scott Patterson, who plays diner owner Luke Danes on the WB’s “Gilmore Girls,� recently became a first-time buyer with his purchase of a Hollywood Hills home for close to its $1.3-million asking price

The house, built in 1961, has four bedrooms and five bathrooms in about 3,500 square feet. The contemporary-style home also has a pool and San Fernando Valley views.

Patterson is doing some remodeling work to the house, which he is also redecorating.

The actor, 45, appeared on a number of series before being cast in “Gilmore Girls� in 2000. Among the series were “Seinfeld� and “Will & Grace.�

Kathrin Nicholson of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, represented Patterson in buying, and Robert Howell of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills East, had the listing.

A larger house, same jurisdiction

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito, who presided at O.J. Simpson’s criminal trial in 1995, and his wife, retired Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Margaret York, have sold their Craftsman-style home in Pasadena for close to its asking price of $1.7 million. The couple bought a larger house in the same neighborhood.

The house they sold was built in 1911. It has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a living room with a Batchelder-tiled inglenook, a library with its original built-in bookcases, a family room, a swimming pool and a teahouse with green roof tiles imported from Japan.

John and Marion Fairbanks represented the buyers, an industrialist and his family from the East Coast, and Cynthia York Shadian, the Itos’ daughter, represented them as the sellers. All of the agents are in Coldwell Banker’s Pasadena/Lake Avenue office.

No joke, mom gets the condominium

Byron Allen, who appeared as a stand-up comic at age 18 on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson� and hosted the NBC-TV show “Real People� (1979-1984) before he started producing the syndicated TV series “Beautiful Homes and Great Estates,� has purchased a home in the Hollywood Hills for about its $3.8-million asking price. Allen is giving his Century City condominium to his mother, Carolyn Folks, Allen’s representative said.

Allen bought a house, built in 2001, with four bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in 3,800 square feet. Architect Richard Landry designed the home, which also has formal dining, breakfast and media rooms.

Allen, 42, still performs stand-up comedy at the Laugh Factory on Sunset Strip. He is also executive producer of eight syndicated TV programs, three of which he hosts.

Hollywood’s very magical estate

The Houdini estate, a legendary property in Hollywood, has come on the market at just under $4 million.

The nearly 5-acre Laurel Canyon site, where the late magician Harry Houdini was reported to have lived at one time, has had numerous owners over the years, including an antiques dealer from Georgia who thought the number 7 was lucky, so he listed the place in 1998 at $1,777,777.77.

There have been a couple of owners since then, including the current one, who restored a rock quarry and a stream on the park-like grounds, which also have stone fountains, walkways, caves, a restored two-bedroom living quarters and a 2,060-square-foot building used as an office. There are plans for an 11,000-square-foot mansion.

The original 40-room mansion and guesthouse burned in the ‘50s. The mansion was built from 1911 to 1924 by a department store owner who held stock, reportedly along with Houdini, in the Laurel Canyon Land Co., the earliest owner of record.

Houdini is also said to have lived in the guesthouse while making two movies in 1919. He made five films before his death in 1926.

Victoria Silver, Jennifer Quick and Brenden Morris of Coldwell Banker, Hollywood Hills, have the listing.

To see previous columns on celebrity transactions visit latimes.com/hotproperty.