Star for Spielberg, but No Horse Sense

ByABC News
December 26, 2000, 5:43 PM

December 26 -- Steven Spielberg is putting his stamp on two very different Los Angeles-area pieces of real estate: One is a long-overdue star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the other a much-disputed horse park

Allow us to explain.

It seems that Spielberg wants to do a little something special for his wife, sometime-actress Kate Capshaw, by building her a giant, five-story horse-riding ring, but his neighbors in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood are none too pleased.

"It's just astounding and obnoxious," land-use attorney John Murdock, who has been retained by several residents who disapprove of the proposed site, tells The Associated Press. "They're cutting out half the hillside to put in this riding ring the structure is completely alien to the area." The planned 27,000-square-foot building would be about six times the size of a typical home in the celebrity-strewn neighborhood, according to the AP, with Spielberg spending more than $7 million to build the dang thing, not including the cost of the land itself.

Why so costly? Why nothing less than a retractable domed roof, subterranean stables, and a spectator platform will do for Mrs. Spielberg. The couple lives in another neighborhood near Brentwood and apparently does not plan to reside on the 2.8-acre site where the eyesore, er, construction is planned.

Neighbors say they'll fight the proposal unless it's toned down. A city hearing to consider the matter is set for Jan. 4.

As for Spielberg's star, that will be bestowed in front of an approving crowd sometime in 2001.

Also just announced to receive a Walk of Fame star is former Los Angeles Laker Magic Johnson.He is being honored in the movie category, having launched the Magic Johnson Theaters chain in 1995, which brought multiplex theaters to urban neighborhoods without national theater chains. Recent additions to the famed Hollywood sidewalk include Sting and Edward James Olmos.