The 30-year-old actress was joined at the event by Jennifer Hudson …Hope you all have a festive season filled w/ joy and cheer! #letitsparkle… FULL ARTICLE AT Just Jared Stepping out for a swanky evening, Jessica Alba hosted the Swarovski Elements Installation for Rodeo Drive 2011 Holiday Decor last night . Read more: Jessica Alba: Holiday Lighting Ceremony with Jennifer Hudson
Posts Tagged ‘ swimming-pool ’
Chris Brown Snag Sexy New Crib in Hollywood Hills
BUYER: Chris Brown LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA PRICE: $1,550,000 SIZE: 2,473 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Listen chickens, Your Mama wouldn’t know a Chris Brown ditty if it walked up, kicked us hard in the soft of our shin and called us a jive-talkin’ turkey. What little we know about the young R&B/pop musician comes exclusively from what we’ve read on the blogs and in the tabs and gossip glossies, which is to say, what we know ain’t not particularly flattering. We know he smacked (or otherwise assaulted) former gal pal Rihanna a few years ago and we know that more recently he’s worked the last nerves of at least a few of his neighbors at the 7-unit West Hollywood condo complex where in February 2011 he paid $1,600,000 for a penthouse pad with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. A few minutes research on the interweb turns up various and scads of stories about young Mister Brown (and/or his guests) parking their luxury automobiles in two of the building’s underground parking spots marked for use by handicapped folks. However, for the record, his big-name legal man Mark Geragos claims Mister Brown’s deed shows the two handicap parking spots belong to his penthouse and in September (2011) 95 of 117 pending parking tickets incurred by Mister Brown were dismissed after the a court determined the parking spaces were indeed assigned to Mister Brown’s penthouse. Mister Brown’s neighbors’ complaints do not, alas, end with the in-the-end not-illegal parking matters. They also say he and his entourage blast music at all hours of the day and night, race dogs in the building’s corridors–What?!?–and over the summer the po-po were summoned to the premises after it was reported someone carved the initials “C.B.” into the elevator doors. Mister Brown alleges it was one of his disgruntled neighbors who carved on the elevator doors in order to make him look bad. Could be. Stranger things have certainly happened. Whatever the case, Mister Brown was clearly not well liked by his neighbors and smartly opted to get out of Dodge, or out of West Hollywood anyways. The tatted-up 22-year old was widely reported to have vacated the premises in early November (2011) and in mid-November it was reported by Radar Online he’d “bought a swanky Hollywood Hills Mansion for a cool $1.5 million.” Your Mama would surely have looked right on past Mister Brown recent real estate activities–he’s not really in our orbit of interest–were it not for the rather surprising number of queries we’ve had about his new digs. It took us a day or two to get things sorted out but after a few queries, a couple of dead ends and a report on The Daily forwarded by Jezebel Justwantstoknow, Your Mama has ascertained that Mister Brown decamped to a fairly recently built and decidedly contemporary crib that clings dramatically to a precariously steep slope in a rugged (and quiet) ravine above Lake Hollywood in a neighborhood known as the Hollywood Dell. Yes, children, there is an actual (man-made) lake in Hollywood . Anyhoo, it’s not entirely clear to Your Mama if Mister Brown leased or purchased the hillside house in question but property records do indicate that a mysterious corporate entity did indeed acquire the residence in mid-October (2011) for $1,550,000. Whether he bought or rented–it does appear to Your Mama, who does not know a gnat from a violin, that he bought the sexed-up residence–Mister Brown’s ludicrously painted Lamborghini Gallardo was reported by The Daily to have been seen parked in the street-level two-car garage that has a clear glass door, which ain’t the best way to keep the prying eyes of anyone from identifying one’s easily identifiable whip, you know? The multi-level residence, designed by noted and accomplished L.A.-based architect Jay Vanos , sits high–very, very high–above the narrow and winding street. One old listing we dug up states that the top of the house soars more than 100 feet above the street, high enough to make someone with even a mild case of acrophobia to sweat like a sow and shriek with anxiety. The main portion of the house is accessible by either a butt-busting exterior staircase or private elevator that more easily whisks residents and guests up from the street level interior entry, past the separate guest quarters atop the garage to an exterior glass-railed bridge that spans a plunge-sized swimming pool and spa below and connects to the main entry to the glassy, multi-story main house. Inside there’s a double-height living room with towering walls of glass with canyon views, fireplace with flat-screen mounted above and ebony wood floors under foot. The living room is open to a sleek Boffi brand kitchen with charcoal-colored cabinetry and what looks to Your Mama like stainless steel counter tops but may very well be something else entirely. Above the kitchen there looks to be a lofted office/sitting room. The top level master suite, separated from the staircase by a glass wall that stretches from wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling, is open completely open to the bathroom that includes a free-standing soaking tub, separate glassed-in shower stall, and long, double sink vanity. It’s all terribly sexy in that Miami hotel suite sort of way but we can imagine it could be awfully annoying for a couple who have different schedules and routines to have to listen and watch their partner do their morning and/or evening ablutions. The custom-designed house is, as per listing information we teased out of the internets, was designed with a green roof and is kitted and fitted with all the latest high-tech electronic gadgetry that includes a Crestron home automation system, state-of-the art audio and video security systems, and LED lighting displays throughout including in the swimming pool and jacuzzi that lights up like a damn disco at the flip of a switch. As far as we know and/or can tell, Mister Brown has yet to lease or list his West Hollywood penthouse although we don’t expect he’ll want to keep it since at least some of the other residents of the complex seem to loathe the entertainer with every fiber of their real estate beings. listing photos: Nicholas Property Group via Southern California Homes Originally posted here: Chris Brown Snag Sexy New Crib in Hollywood Hills
Did Sally Field Do It in the West Village?
BUYER: Sally Field LOCATION: New York City, NY PRICE: $2,550,000 SIZE: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A snitchy little birdie told landed outside out window this morning and chirp-chirp-chirped that Oscar-, Emmy-, Golden Globe- and People’s Choice-award winning actress Sally Field (may have) recently snatched up a New York City pied-a-terre. Okay, truth is Your Mama actually read it in a barely-there blurb in the Gimme Shelter column of the New York Post this morning like everybody else. Property records available online reveal that just before Halloween a woman named Sally Field spent $2,550,000 to acquire a two bedroom and two bathroom cooperative apartment in one of the more refined and in-demand buildings in downtown Manhattan’s West Village. Your Mama can not confirm, however, the Sally Field who signed her famous name on the deed’s dotted line is the very same Sally Field ( Gidget, Sybil, Norma Rae, Steel Magnolias ) whose long and sometimes hilly Showbiz career has been on fire the last few years with the screaming success of the now canceled family (melo)drama Brothers & Sisters . So, for now anyways, this is just some celebrity real estate rumor and gossip, okay? Thing is, we love us some Sally Field so we can’t resist taking her real estate ball and running with it… The apartment in question sits on a high floor of an august 17-story pre-war building, a red and brown brick edifice of reassuring proportions designed by architect Robert T. Lyons, built by the Bing brothers–that makes it what’s known in local parlance as a Bing & Bing building–and completed in 1931. Handsome Art Deco-era architectural flourishes with a Greek key design embellish the facade. Originally an apartment hotel– hello Wikipedia –the building converted to a co-operative apartment house in 1987. Some of the children may recognize this building as the very same one where it was once widely rumored and reported sit-com and rom-com queen Jennifer Aniston was interested in the possible acquisition of a duplex penthouse then priced at $14,950,000. Miz Aniston did not buy the duplex. She bought, as it turns out, two apartments in another West Village Bing & Bing building. Records show the posh penthouse Miz Aniston didn’t buy was actually purchased for $12,500,000 by one of the many daughters of the very philanthropic co-founder of Purdue Pharmaceuticals , the makers of OxyContin . Anyhoo, we’re not here to speak on Miz Aniston’s sometimes fickle and inexplicable real estate ways but rather those of a lady named Sally Field who who may or may not be Sally Field and who just paid $2,550,000 for the aforementioned high-floor apartment in a fancy but relaxed pre-war building in New York’s West Village. The always informative real estate website StreetEasy shows the apartment, a successful combination between a studio and a one bedroom apartment, was listed with a price tag of $2,350,000, which means, as per our bejeweled abacus that this Miz Field paid $200,000 over the asking price. And what did her extra two hundred thousand get her y’all might wonder? Listing information shows 4-room corner apartment, fairly spacious by West Village standards where a puny 300 square foot 5th floor walk up studio apartment can easily cost $1,700 per month , has windowed exposure on four sides and carries hefty monthly maintenance charges of $2,426 per month. A long and narrow entrance hall with an excellently large walk-in coat closet directs traffic into a lofty living/dining area with beamed ceilings, large windows with pretty city views, and the first of two wood burning fireplaces in the apartment. Your Mama hopes somebody tells Miz Field that all that track lighting in the living room needs to be removed. A woman of her stature and eminence probably shouldn’t have track lighting in their home(s). Anyhoodles poodles, the simply designed but decently sized kitchen opens to the dining area over a long counter topped half with marble and half with butcher block. The dishwasher situated directly under the sink causes Your Mama’s heart to palpitate uncomfortably How does one rinse and load dishes in a set up like that anyhow? When we take into account this is a kitchen in Manhattan–and one must absolutely take in to account this is a kitchen in Manhattan and not a kitchen in a suburban mcmansion–the ugly dishwasher situation is somewhat mitigated by the full-size fridge/freezer, large window for proper light and ventilation, teeny-tiny walk-in pantry, and impressive amount of counter space. The living/dining room is flanked by bedrooms, each with two closets (including one walk-in in each room) and an attached bathroom. The master bedroom has a fireplace and a window in the walk-in closet but it’s also got green marble tile floors–What the hell?!?–and a petite, window-free bathroom. The second bedroom, only slightly smaller than the master, also has a walk-in closet plus cross-ventilation and a welcomed window in the compact bathroom where, somewhat regrettably, the stacked washer and dryer are installed. That complaint aired, we again recognize this is a New York City apartment where an inconveniently located private washer-dryer stack is immeasurably much better than no private washer-dryer stack at all. For two and a half million of our clams Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter would hope and pine for a slice of outdoor space. Otherwise, in our humble and meaningless opinion, this apartment reeks of Big Apple desirability and can easily be fashioned into a comfortable urban aerie for part- or full-time living that would appeal to just about everyone perhaps but those poor people afflicted with the dreaded Real Estate Size Queen Syndrome, a disease that often and unfortunately goes hand-in-hand with the even more infectious Real Estate Snobitis. Until recently Sally Field– the Sally Field–owned a secluded estate nestled into the rolling foothills of Malibu that she first listed in March 2009 for $6,950,000 . The estate, complete with swimming pool, tennis court, and equestrian facilities was taken off the market after just months. The private property wasn’t re-listed until May 2011 when it popped up with a new, improved and much lower asking price of $5,900,000. Property records we peeped show was sold within two months. Early reports in the celebrity real estate gossip blogs and publications like the L.A. Times show the property sold for $5,650,000 but a closer examination of online deeds and documents shows it sold for $5,909,000. Make of that what you will. As best as Your Mama can tell the horsey estate was sold to a Malibu gynecologist and a Pacific Palisades-based clinical psychologist who bills herself as a “love and happiness guru.” listing photos: Sotheby’s International Realty via StreetEasy See the article here: Did Sally Field Do It in the West Village?