Don Johnson’s French Country Farmhouse!

Don Johnson’s French Country Farmhouse!

Don Johnson's French Country Farmhouse!

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Don Johnson, Miami Vice’s Sonny Crockett, brought designer stubble and pastel T-shirts under Versace linen jackets into fashion in the 1980s and helped Miami recover from years of decline. Johnson became a global pin-up, dated and recorded music with Barbra Streisand, married Melanie Griffith twice and had another hit cop show in the late 1990s in Nash Bridges.

During the five-season run of Miami Vice, Johnson was very much part of the Miami party scene, which he described as being comprised of the football team, the chief of police, U.S. congressmen, the mayor and a few of South Florida’s biggest drug dealers. Before Miami Vice became a huge Friday night hit on NBC, the city had fallen into a prolonged slump with Miami Beach’s Art Deco hotels taken over by Social Security beneficiaries, the young Cuban Marielito criminals from Castro’s prisons, and the constant drug and turf wars. The Scarface film that depicted Miami as a city of cocaine, crooked cops, corrupt bankers and out-of-control violence was more reality than fiction. Add in the Overtown/Liberty City race riots and Miami’s image was sinking fast. Between 1982 and 1986, average condo prices in Miami-Dade County fell by 33 percent. A 1986 Louis Harris poll of over 400 CEOs ranked Miami ahead of only Cleveland and Detroit as a city to start a new business. The famous beaches were empty and tourism was dead.

But then came Miami Vice and, as Johnson told Rolling Stone in a recent interview, "The whole town kind of reinvented itself in the image of the television show. Plus, you can't turn on TV without seeing some influence from Miami Vice, be it the music, the cinematography, whatever." During the filming, the South Beach Art Deco district was reborn, retaining the pastel paint colors started by Miami Vice’s set crews and Miami’s cutting edge architecture was spotlighted at the beginning of every episode for millions of viewers.

Still going strong in his new films, Cold In July, Don plays a Texan private eye/pig farmer on the trail of a snuff film killer, and in the hit comedy, The Other Woman, as Cameron Diaz’s womanising father.

Johnson and his wife of 15 years, Kelley Phleger, purchased a sprawling Montecito, California French Country farmhouse in 2013 with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately they are unable to house their horses on the three-acre estate, requiring them to board their horses off the property. Since buying the estate they have found another home where they can keep the horses and enjoy the best of both worlds at one location. They have placed their current home on the market.

The 11,229-square-foot estate is located on a cul-de-sac behind a private gate, enclosed by a hill with views of the ocean, mountains and channel islands. The four bedroom, eight bath home has a multitude of terraces with doors opening from most of the rooms with ocean views through the ancient oaks that dot the property. Named "Shack des Chênes" by the Johnsons, the grounds contain a two-level guest house, outside wood-burning fireplace, large swimming pool, basketball court, inground trampoline, play area, dog run and kennel. For more information.

Miami Vice’s heart throb who was instrumental in bringing Miami back as a glamour destination, Don Johnson, is selling his Montecito French Country estate. Priced at $14.9 million.

Source: www.theagencyre.com