How much mid-century Modern can you stand? That's the question when looking at this unique home in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. The home belongs to Janet Charlton, a woman I idolized when I was a teenager and thought being a gossip columnist would be just about the best job in the world. Charlton was the gossip queen of Star magazine for many years. She purchased this home in 1997 for a reported $540,000. The home has been used for all sorts of photos and film shoots (including serving as Annette Benning's home in the recent movie "Running With Scissors"). It's easy to see why it would be chosen as a location, it's absolutely perfectly of the period. Which is of course the problem. As the Real Estalker Mama and his commenters have noted it's all just too much, it looks like a vintage furniture store that caters to hipster doofuses. It's all too much of a theme. The individual furniture pieces such as the Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs are all fine but put the whole shebang together and it just seems more like a two-dimensional set than the place where you kick back and cuddle up with a book and a glass of wine after a hard day. Liveable is not a word that applies here. Although I must confess a secret and shameful lust for those giant dice in the stereo room.

The five-bedroom home does have a nice open floor plan (although that tiny kitchen is suited only for those who enjoy drinking their dinner) and there is a lovely pool with a cabana. The home is listed at $2.995 million which might be a bit optimistic but this place could be a stunner in the right hands. If only Ellen DeGeneres would swoop in with her magic team of designers and rescue this place.

Not content with making handbags and clothes for her Chick by Nicky Hilton line, Paris's sister Nicky is thinking of getting into the hotel game. Nicky is planning her own boutique hotel line. The NY Daily News reported that the hotel heiress has been in talks with promoter and former Madonna gal pal Ingrid Casares and interior decorator Faye Resnick. Hilton's manager, Paul Fisher has said that she is checking out locations in Miami, Chicago and San Francisco. Given that Nicky's fashion designs are generally glittery T-shirts, hoodies and sweatpants it will be interesting to see what her visions for a hotel are.

Johnny Depp may be famous for saying that he is raising his kids in France but that he still wants them to enjoy the view when they are in Los Angeles. The LA Times reports that Depp has filed a lawsuit over plans for a retail project that might impinge on the views from his Hollywood Hills home. Depp owns a $5.4 million home on Sweetzer Ave. (the same street Morrissey lived on before putting his house on the market). Depp's claim is that the city violated environmental-quality laws by approving the development on a lot beneath his home and that his his children may be deprived of their view. Those on the other side of the debate are flabbergasted since Depp has been quoted as saying that he would not raise his children in the States. Depp lives in a  Norman-style mansion known then as "The Fairy Castle."  The proposed project, across from The Standard hotel on the Sunset Strip would be about 40 feet below Depp's house but the building would block views from the sloping bottom backyard terrace where the children would play. The project is now delayed.

It sounds like a publicity stunt but gossip newsletter Popbitch is reporting that when Jessica and Ashlee Simpson were recently in Australia they weren't too thrilled with the local cuisine. They went for dinner at the lovely Glass Brasserie in the Hilton where they were staying. Instead of indulging in the fancy fare, the girls ordered in from Pizza Hut (Jess does commercials for the company). Given that the Glass Brasserie offers everything from crab bisque to creme brulee, it sounds like the girls missed out on a treat.

A quick update on a story we have been following. Don Johnson's  real estate woes are becoming more solidified. Unless the actor manages to find a quick $14.3 million, his Woody Creek estate in Colorado will be sold by the Pitkin County public trustee. Lenders filed a motion to let the force the sale and a magistrate has ordered the sale because Johnson hasn't been paying off a  $10.6 million note. Johnson's main estate is to be sold April 26 and an adjacent property with a guest house will be sold May 10. Johnson managed to get himself out of a similar scrape in 2004 when he obtained new financing for the house and his publicist has said that this will happen again.

Pregnancy has not slowed down the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie hotel tour. This week finds them in Nambia at the Burning Shore Resort near Walvis Bay. They have taken over the whole resort with their children and five other people. A private security firm and local police officials are making sure that the couple has privacy.  The small resort has a restaurant on the beach and the rooms have ocean views. Rumors are flying that the couple may marry in this exotic location.

Brad Pitt isn’t thrilled with his living situation. While the source of the information, namely a café worker near Pitt’s Paris apartment, might not be the mostly likely candidate for Brad’s confidence, the reasons he cites are certainly valid. According to him, Pitt doesn’t like the high-rise building he shares with Angelina Jolie and their children because there is not enough space for the kids to play. He wants a yard. He wants quiet. He wants to leave Paris. Maybe Brangelina will reconsider the house in Normandy that they were looking into a few months ago, which would certainly offer the growing family more room.

Reports say that the apartment is only 1,300-sq. feet and the building has a “sickly, cabbage type smell.” The high rise is plain and utilitarian, and though it has a view of the Eiffel Tower, it is surrounded by fast food restaurants and is near a noisy metro station. No wonder he wants to leave.