Mountain in Beverly Hills

The Mountain (The Mountain) in Beverly Hills is the highest point in the Los Angeles area and the only undeveloped area. At the top of the mountain is a huge piece of land the size of a “hundred football fields” (about 64 hectares), considered the most expensive property in Los Angeles, valued at $1 billion. The mountain has been called the “pearl of Beverly Hills”, although owning a piece of land on it has not always brought happiness to its owners: it has become “both a blessing and a curse” for its owners. Edition Vanity Fair published material about how one of the owners fought for the estate of his heirs.

Among the owners of the site was the sister of the last Shah of Iran, who wanted to build a mansion there for her brother and move to the United States, but their plans were thwarted by “Students with Molotov cocktails”: a revolution broke out. It was in Iran and it was not possible to leave Tehran.

The most famous owner of the mountain was billionaire Mark Hughes, founder of Herbalife. He died at the age of 44 after an overdose of antidepressants with alcohol.

The $400 million property, including Gore, went to his only son, Alex, who was eight years old at the time. But until his 35th birthday, the board of trustees managed the assets. This was a big problem for the mother of Alex, the third wife of billionaire Susan Hughes, winner of the Miss Miniature America pageant. After his divorce from Susan, Hughes married actress and model Jean-Claude Van Damme’s ex-wife Darcy Lapierre, who received $34 million after Hughes’ death.

Interestingly, Mountain was one of the reasons for Mark and Susan’s divorce: for example, Mark wanted to build a 50,000-square-foot Mediterranean villa with a wildlife sanctuary, a pond, and a tennis pavilion on the top of a mountain. Susan was against: Son and mother Susan had to deal with the estate’s three trustees. – Susan told reporters that the board of trustees made “arbitrary” decisions and were hostile to Alex. She also accused one of her trustees of sexual harassment. She sued to remove her trustees, but she lost.

Susan Hughes

In 2004, the trustees made a mistake and sold the Mountain to businessman Charles Dickens in a cashless deal, lending him a loan to buy the Mountain. As the judge noted in later proceedings, at this point the trustees exhibited a “grave breach of trust” that “bounded on the reckless” and “leads to a substantial loss of confidence”.

In the years that followed, Dickens defaulted on the loan, but still tried to keep The Mountain. Tower Park Properties filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and split two years later, still owning The Mountain. After the trustees lent him another loan, that too was not fully repaid. But by then, an older Alex had filed his own petition to remove the trustees. According to insiders, she admitted to her mother’s actions.

In 2010, Dickens met with Hollywood producer Victorino Noval, a previously convicted Cuban-born businessman. Noval greatly increased the prestige of the Mountain by organizing events with the participation of the stars there.

But not all were successful: for example, a charity party organized by Charlize Theron in 2014 failed: guests complained of poor food and faulty toilets. Later that year, The Mountain hosted a charity event hosted by Rihanna and featured stars like Salma Hayek, Jimmy Kimmel, Kim Kardashian, and Brad Pitt. It also hosts the post-Oscars party.

Eventually, as part of an auction, the Mark Hughes company was able to return Mountain to their property, although the lawsuit continued. But Susan is confident that her son’s legacy (now 30 years old and an independent producer and founder of Spacemaker Productions) is no longer in jeopardy. According to Susan, Alex has no specific plans for the Mountain and plans to set up a park there himself.

The article about Gor has already attracted attention on social networks: – wrote to the telegram channel “Antiglanets”.