It’s a mad, mad city.

Say you live in Brentwood, where the population density is relatively high, even for rich folks.

And say you decide you want to stretch out a bit. Why not just buy the neighbor’s house and tear it down?

That’s what actor Dustin Hoffman has done, according to the Los Angeles Times. Hoffman bought the house next door for $2 million last July. It took him only four months to tear it down.

Now the one-time family dwelling is one of the most expensive gardens around -- Hoffman has just finished landscaping the addition, which will remain undeveloped. Hoffman’s entire 2-acre property is as inaccessible as Ishtar, guarded by dense brush and trees, as well as a fence,

This isn’t the first time Hoffman has torn down a neighboring mansion to make room for his pastimes. When the actor was building his seven-bedroom, 12,000 square-foot house a couple of years ago, he obliterated a Plantation-style house from the 1940s that once stood next door. That property became a tennis court.

I would expect this from an action hero type, but not from Tootsie!

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