November 6, 2011
Rumor has it sitcom star and romcom queen Jennifer Aniston caught a costly case of the Celebrity Real Estate Fickle. Since she landed a co-starring role (and earned many tens of millions of dollars from) Friends Miz Aniston has lived primarily in Los Angeles. In April of this year (2011), with an itch to spend more time in The Big Apple where her actor man-beau Justin Theroux ( American Psycho, Six Feet Under, John Adams mini-series) resides, Miz Aniston coughed up $2,069,084 for a 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom apartment directly below a compact 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom penthouse with wrap around terraces that she bought at the same time from hairstyling honcho Sally Hershberger for $4,950,000. The plan, presumably, was to combine the two small apartments located in a top-notch Bing & Bing building in the West Village into a still not particularly large duplex penthouse with 270 degree views from downtown to Midtown Manhattan. Alas, Miz Aniston has reportedly changed her real estate mind and signed contracts to acquire a pricey pad in a particularly posh building that overlooks private, pristine and historic Gramercy Park . The high-style, full-service building was developed by boutique hotelier and property developer Ian Schrager, designed by soo-blime minimalist architect John Pawson and has only 23 apartments (some have been combined). Residents have access to the copious amenities of the adjacent Gramercy Park Hotel –once funky now terribly chic and owned by Mister Shrager, natch–including room service, housekeeping, valet parking with car wash services, event planning and butler services, personal shopping and delivery services, and membership to the hotel spa and David Barton gym. We assume the apartment comes with a key to gated Gramercy Park across the street. Listing information shows the apartment Miz Aniston is (allegedly) on the cusp of acquiring, listed at a superstar-sized $8,700,000, measures 2,873 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and pocketbook punishing monthly maintenance and common charges of $11,258. Gorgeous wood floors run throughout the apartment that has generous 11’8″ ceilings and over-sized windows with park and courtyard views. The contemporary crib features a long entrance gallery with nearby powder pooper, and a large living/dining room with fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows, a sleek center island eat-in kitchen. The park view master suite has a walk-in closet/dressing room larger than some New York City studio apartments and an attached bathroom with two sinks, a tub for two and separate shower cubicle. Each of the two guest rooms–both set up as a nursery by the seller–has large windows and en suite terliting and bathing facility. We imagine (and hope) Miz Aniston will bring in her team of smart architects and nice, gay decorators to remove the twee and toile-ish day-core of the seller and replace it with something more appropriate for a gal whose tastes run more towards modern than Connecticut country house in the city. Other residents–or at least owners–of apartments in the swank building include blue chip gallerist Alexander Acquavella and German-born but Paris-based haute fashion über-icon Karl Lagerfeld who has his little (or never) used unit in the building currently on the market with an asking price of $5,200,000 . We can’t fathom why Miz Aniston would switch real estate gears and head for Gramercy Park so quickly after spending more than seven million clams on two downtown apartments but, if we’ve said it once we’ve said to 56,417 times, such are the often fickle and inexplicable real estate ways of the rich and/or famous. Back on the left coast Your Mama hears through the celebrity real estate gossip grapevine Miz Aniston has gone on the hunt for a new Tinseltown residence to lay her perfectly-maintained tresses after she was kissed by the real estate leprechaun in June (2011) when she sold her just renovated Beverly Hills, CA mansion to a mutual fund mogul from Orange County for a gasp-worthy $35,000,000 after just two months on the open market with an even more gaspy price tag of $42,000,000 . More than one of Your Mama’s many Platinum Triangle informants have snitched to us that Miz Aniston has peeped and poked around a number of deluxe homes in the ten million dollar range including a one-acre ridge-top spread in Beverly Hills owned by the scion of a prominent Los Angeles family as well as a sleek and sexy Hal Leavitt-designed house in the Trousdale Estates area of Bev Hills owned by AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips, decorated by Kelly Wearstler and recently acquired for well over $10,000,000 by music industry super-tycoon Simon Cowell. Until she picks and purchases a fancy-pants new pad in Los Angeles, Miz Aniston and Mister Theroux have leased a temporary love nest in the form a modestly sized but still quite pricey gated residence near the tippy-top of the star-studded Bird Streets neighborhood above the Sunset Strip. We don’t know what the couple coughs up each month for the 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom ranch-style residence but we do know it was last available with a $20,000 per month price tag. Once again, we’re not sure why Miz Aniston would opt to cough up twenty grand a month to rent a house when she has long owned another residence in the Bird Street neighborhood that is, buy our rudimentary calculations, just over half a mile from her and Mister Theroux’s rental. But again, who are we to make sense of the wacky ways of celebrities and other high profile peeps with pockets deep enough to indulge their every real estate whim and desire? listing photos and floor plan: Prudential Douglas Elliman More: Weekend Nugget Number Two: Jennifer Aniston
Tags: aniston, apartment, beverly hills, beverly hills ca, celebrity, century city, city, mister-theroux, news, real-estate, sunset, weekend-nugget, west hollywood
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November 6, 2011
Trang Nguyen, owner of Exquisite Orchids and Succulents, with some of her designs in her display room at the nursery. More here: Gardening: New Torrance nursery focuses on orchids and succulents
Tags: alleged-sexual, appid, beverly hills, board, designs, facebook, nursery-focuses, trang, trang-nguyen
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November 6, 2011
School board candidates are preparing for the upcoming election and the City Council is still fighting the proposal to place a subway under Beverly Hills High School. Here are the top stories from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5. 1. Is there too much leftover Halloween candy hanging around at your home? Patch has some ideas for ways to get rid of it . 2. Beverly Hills police determined that an alleged sexual assault at the Montage Hotel was a “baseless” claim. 3. Nearly 1,500 residents have already voted by mail in the Nov. 8 election for three seats on the Board of Education. 4. The City Council has reiterated its pledge to keep up opposition against tunneling under BHHS. 5. In more council news, the panel has postponed its vote on a proposed ordinance that addresses the height of trees and foliage in the Trousdale Estates . Also, did you remember to set your clocks back one hour? Daylight saving time is over . Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . See more here: Week in Review: Board of Ed Election, Subway Opposition and Hillside Views
Tags: alleged-sexual, beverly hills, board, facebook, halloween, review, tunneling-under
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November 6, 2011
Beverly Hills is literally a city within a city. Surrounded by Los Angeles like a rare solitaire diamond, it sparkles in the California sun, its many facets beckoning all to admire its lavish shops and restaurants that line Rodeo Drive . Continue reading here: Trip tracker
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November 6, 2011
In this Jan. 16, 2011 file photo, actress Zooey Deschanel, left, and her husband, singer Ben Gibbard attend the 2011 HBO Golden Globe Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. See the rest here: Zooey Deschanel separates from musician husband
Tags: appid, attend-the-2011, beverly hills, beverly hills news, ca news, gibbard, golden-globe, the-rest
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November 6, 2011
In a new exhibit titled ” The World of Breads ,” culinary school students at The Art Institute of California-Inland Empire have elevated loaves of bread to the status of art work in the school’s visual arts gallery. View original post here: S.B. COUNTY: Breads of the World exhibited
Tags: beverly hills, beverly hills news, breads, culinary-school, empire, institute, new-exhibit, news, original-post, school, the-school, the-status, visual-arts
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November 5, 2011
A 6-year-old boy escaped from the clutches of a man who kidnapped him out of his backyard yesterday by biting his hand, according to sheriff’s deputies. The man put his hand over the boy’s mouth to keep him from screaming, but the boy bit him and ran back home. more › See the original post here: 6-Year-Old Bites His Kidnapper, Escapes Safely
Tags: article, beverly hills, bites, burglar-made, clutches, from-screaming, his-backyard, home-more, kidnapper, scrap, swiped-the-hard, the-clutches, ucla
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November 5, 2011
UCLA is now warning 16,000 patients that a burglar made off with their personal medical records two months ago, according to the Associated Press . When the doctor’s home was burglarized, the thief swiped the hard drive with the medical records — and the scrap of paper right next to it with the password. Whoops. more › Link: Burglar Makes Off With Records for 16,000 Patients in the UCLA Health System
Tags: article, beverly hills, burglar-made, burglar-makes, california, health, health-system, local news, news, password, scrap, swiped-the-hard, ucla
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November 5, 2011
Evangelical missionary David Herzog stooped to a new low deceiving the Jewish community with ads which intentionally avoided any mention of their Christian evangelical agenda. Read more from the original source: Don’t be fooled
Tags: beverly hills, chairman, christian, david-herzog, deceiving-the-jewish, facebook, food, local news, mayor-william, planning
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November 5, 2011
The debate between residents in the Trousdale Estates with high trees and foliage—and their neighbors who seek to restore hillside views—was on the City Council’s agenda Thursday. Members agreed to postpone a vote on a proposed ordinance that addresses the issue after a hearty discussion with city staff, community members and the city attorney. After research by the Planning Commission and city staff, along with public hearings, the “roof height plus one foot with a maximum of 15 feet,” as Vice Mayor William Brien phrased it, is the proposed rule for foliage that may block a neighbor’s view. Residents from both sides of the issue who attended the meeting pointed out “roadblocks” in the proposed ordinance’s legal language. “This ordinance raises many thorny policy questions, and there are certainly pros and cons to many, if not all, of the decisions that are made with regard to the issues that have been raised,” City Attorney Larry Wiener said. Several specific possible adjustments Wiener raised and council members discussed were: Adding wording in the ordinance to allow for access to a foliage owner’s property in order to determine the height of potentially view-obstructing trees or shrubs. Changes to a home’s roof height that would affect a foliage owner’s maximum height for trees or shrubs. Issues pertaining to tree growth and trimming that reflect a foliage owners compliance with the ordinance. Concern over more specifically clarifying how to determine when the city is actually required to settle disputes between neighbors over view restoration via the code enforcement process. The cost to homeowners trying to restore a view, which could climb to six figures if the matter has to go to court, because provisions in the ordinance shift the financial burden of enforcing the law to residents. The council will consider the ordinance again at its Nov. 15 meeting. Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . View original post here: Council Postpones Vote on Trousdale View Ordinance
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