The L.A. home of Esa-Pekka Salonen, former music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has come on the market at $4.1 million.

Designed by architect Ted Tanaka, the six-bedroom, 5 ½-bathroom house in the Brentwood neighborhood has 4,695 square feet of living space. Tanaka is responsible for the towers of colored lights at the entrance to Los Angeles International Airport.

At the Salonen house, an open staircase with a semicircular glass wall at the landing bumps out of the side of the structure, and 2 ½-story-tall windows flood the living room-dining room area with natural light.

The home has the feel of a contemporary museum, with obtuse angles, curved walls, exposed trusses, clerestory windows, white-on-white bathrooms and a dramatic black-and-white kitchen.

The conductor-composer is Finnish so it seems fitting he would have a sauna. A musical staff on its door handle offers a touch of whimsy.

The property was purchased in 2002 for $1,516,000, according to public records.

Salonen, 51, is selling because he has a new position as principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and is going to be based there.

FRANKIE AVALON SELLS

PALM SPRINGS RETREAT

Singer and actor Frankie Avalon, 68, has sold his golf course retreat in La Quinta, near Palm Springs, for $955,000.

The three-bedroom, 3 ½-bathroom, 3,285-square-foot house looks out over a pool and spa to a fairway and the mountains beyond in the PGA West community. The house was built in 2002 and features an open floor plan and walls of glass.

A golfer, Avalon purchased the home in 2005 for $1,185,000, according to public records.

WRITER FOR `WEEDS'

LISTS IN LOS FELIZ

Weeds writer and executive producer Jenji Kohan and her husband, Christopher Noxon, have listed their Spanish-style home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles at $1,597,000.

The three-bedroom, 2 ½-bathroom house, built in 1927, has 2,980 square feet of living space and sits on a bluff overlooking East Hollywood. Among period details are stenciled ceiling beams, an original hand-painted mural in the foyer, a wrought-iron circular staircase and a turret sitting room.

``It's a family house,'' said Noxon, who liked the home's combination of character and room flow off the stairway. ``Everything winds around that central core.''

The pair redid the kitchen and back part of the house two years ago with the intent of keeping it largely authentic, he said. ``Although the kitchen has upgrades, we tried to maintain the original Spanish vibe.''

Springing a surprise on friends and family who gathered for what they thought was an engagement party, the couple married 13 years ago under the trellis in the front yard and are raising three children in the house. ``It's a very dear and special place,'' Noxon said.

They are selling because they have moved up to another home in the neighborhood.

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