Archival portrait source: Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection; estate exterior via JustLuxe; kitchen and garage photographs by Slava Blazer Photography, via the Daily News.
In my first year of blogging, I covered Joseph Barbera’s Studio City estate when it first appeared for sale in 2011, following the animator’s death in 2006. Fifteen years later, the Fryman Canyon property has resurfaced in the news with a reported $12 million asking price.
There is one wrinkle: I haven’t been able to find the recently reported offering on the MLS. The Redfin property page also displays an off-market status. The $12 million figure reflects October’s published coverage, rather than a currently confirmed active listing. A Los Angeles Times advertisement from September 2026 also shows the home at $12 million; see the newspaper clippings below.
A return to the blog’s early days
My June 3, 2011 post was one of the early celebrity real estate stories in the blog’s inaugural year. The estate was then offered for $6,795,000.
The garage immediately caught my attention. My original coverage described approximately 7,200 square feet of garage space and a replica of Barbera’s Hanna-Barbera studio office. The expansive garage remains a standout feature today.
I returned to the property in June 2013, when it was asking $5.5 million. The combination of animation history, spacious grounds and that enormous garage made it a memorable estate to follow.
That 2013 post also mentioned Barbera’s former home in Sherman Oaks’ Longridge Estates, a separate property from the Fryman Canyon estate featured here.
Hanna and Barbera: historical photographs
A brief listing history
Redfin fills in several chapters between those early posts and the latest headlines. Its displayed history includes these events:
The home returned at $5.5 million in June 2013 and sold for $4.95 million in July 2014. Redfin later records sale listings at $10.588 million in 2019 and 2020, followed by a $50,000-per-month rental offering in April 2025. Those later listings were removed; removal alone does not establish a sale or lease.
These entries document advertised prices and listing changes; a removed listing does not establish that a sale or lease occurred. See Redfin’s sale and listing history.
The newspaper advertisements tell another part of the story
The advertising clippings preserve asking prices that do not all match the figures in Redfin’s displayed timeline. A clipping labeled November 3, 2013 advertises $5.3 million; one labeled December 7, 2019 shows $10.75 million, compared with Redfin’s $10.588 million entry. A Nourmand & Associates clipping labeled September 26, 2026 advertises $12 million, before the October news coverage. These are advertised figures, not additional completed sales.
Newspaper clippings
Ownership and the 2014 sale
The property-history report lists a transfer from the Baer family trust to Joseph and Sheila Barbera on March 18, 1994, followed by transfers involving the couple and their trust. For the $4.95 million sale, it identifies Sunghwa Woo as buyer and Sheila H. Barbera and the Barbera Revocable Living Trust as sellers, with an April 25, 2014 transaction date and July 18, 2014 recording date. Redfin uses the latter as its sale date. The underlying deeds have not been independently reviewed.
The $12 million offering makes headlines
Hoodline’s October 17 coverage, following the Daily News’ October 16 report, identifies the property as the Storyboard Estate. Hoodline also links to this blog’s 2013 post, connecting the latest reporting with our earlier coverage.
The reported $12 million asking price is $7.05 million above the 2014 sale—approximately a 142% increase. That compares an asking price with a completed transaction, rather than documenting a realized return.
Citing the Daily News, Hoodline reports that Byrd Homes, led by Gary Byrd, completed the residence for the Barberas in the late 1980s. This provides a more specific construction account than the broad Byrd attribution in my original coverage.
Inside the Storyboard Estate
JustLuxe’s October 15 feature describes an approximately 7,000-square-foot Tudor main residence, with exposed beams, stone fireplaces and hardwood floors. A detached guest house adds approximately 2,000 square feet.
Outside are a motor court, tennis court, pool and spa, while the garage reportedly accommodates more than 25 vehicles. The offering also includes the neighboring parcel at 12001 Briarvale Lane, bringing the grounds to nearly two acres.
JustLuxe identifies Rochelle Atlas Maize of Nourmand & Associates and Jayden Mo of Keller Williams as the listing agents at the time of its report.
Published measurements vary. Redfin’s older record gives 6,899 square feet, while October coverage describes the main house and guest accommodations separately. These figures should be read in their source context rather than treated as a single verified measurement.
Property photo gallery
From Fryman Canyon to the Hanna-Barbera studio
The replica studio office mentioned in my original post provides a connection to another local landmark: the Hanna-Barbera building at 3400 Cahuenga Boulevard.
In his firsthand history of the building, former Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert credits architect Arthur Froelich with its 1963 design.
Seibert recalls admiring the studio during visits to Los Angeles in the 1980s. After becoming president in 1992, he added enormous character banners that helped attract the attention of passing tour buses.
A larger transformation followed in 1994. Supervising producer
Buzz Potamkin suggested bright exterior colors, and architect
Christopher Coe helped emphasize the building’s Googie character.
Seibert remembers Bill Hanna’s pleased reaction:
Well, it finally looks like we work in a cartoon studio!
Following the 1996 Turner–Time Warner merger, Seibert proposed that Nickelodeon acquire the property. By then, he recalls, it had been sold to a developer and Nickelodeon had committed to a Burbank location.
Hanna-Barbera studio photo gallery
Studio photographs: Fred Seibert’s Hanna-Barbera building album on Flickr.
Back where this story began
For all the changing prices and listing dates, this is still the estate that caught my attention in the blog’s early days. Its animation connection, wooded grounds and extraordinary garage make it worth revisiting—even while the latest listing status remains unresolved.
Explore more properties and their histories in the Celebrity Homes of the San Fernando Valley archive.
Post a Comment