harry belafonte

Rare Martin Luther King Jr. Documents Pulled From Auction

Filed under: Auctions

Harry Belafonte was a friend of Martin Luther King Jr. and a follower of the civil rights movement but now Belafonte has come up against the King estate over King memorabilia that he was set to auction off at Sotheby's. The papers include a three-page handwritten draft of King's first anti-Vietnam war speech in 1967 and notes found in his suit pocket after his 1968 assassination. Belafonte said the papers were given to him by King and his late wife, Coretta Scott King, and that he was planning to donate the proceeds of the sale to charity. But the King estate blocked the sale of the papers, which were estimated to bring in up to 1.3 million dollars.

The estate believes the documents are "the property of the estate of Martin Luther King Jr" and were wrongly acquired. Belafonte withdrew the documents from auction. The Telegraph reports that the once-cordial relationship between the King family and Belafonte went wrong after the death of Mrs Scott King in 2006. Belafonte was asked to give the eulogy at her funeral but later was uninvited.

King's children have been at odds with each other over the estate's assets and have filed lawsuits against each other. In 2006, the King estate put 10,000 items from its collection up for public auction but withdrew them after a last-minute bid of 32 million dollars from the City of Atlanta to keep them at Morehouse College, King's alma mater.

Gallery: Documents At Auction

Source

Tags: harry belafonte, HarryBelafonte, martin luther king jr, MartinLutherKingJr

Sunday Real Estate Round-Up

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
-- Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin have sold their 8,000-square-foot condo on Harrison Street for close to its $14 million asking price. The couple purchased it in May 2005 for $7.95 million.
--The Sutton Place apartment of the late Patricia Kennedy Lawford is about to be sold for close to its $12.7 million asking price.
--Tennis player Yannick Noah is adding to his apartment paying $500,000 for the studio adjacent to his duplex apartment at 230 Central Park South.
--Agent Michael Ovitz has been looking at the Jean Nouvel-designed condos under construction at 100 11th Ave. searching for a possible penthouse.

From the NY Observer:
-- Harry Belafonte , who sold his 48-year home on West End Avenue for $10.75 million last October, has paid $5 million for neighboring apartments in the freshly converted Apple Bank Building.
--Actor Michael Imperioli and his wife, interior designer Victoria Imperioli have paid $2.4 million for a four-story walk-up at 499 Canal Street.
--Film mogul Harvey Weinstein is busily renovating the Far West Village townhouse, which he bought last June for $14.95 million.
--T-shirt seller Sunshine Megatron (formerly known as Aaron Schwarz) has sold a Soho triplex penthouse for $5.35 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--The listing for the $125 million Saperstein home Fleur de Lys in Holmby Hills is here.
--Jack White has finally 5,800-square-foot house in Detroit, Mich. for $590,000. Last time we saw it, when it was our estate of the day in October, it was listed at $930,000.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--A five-bedroom house in Toluca Lake that belonged to Damon Wayans is back on the market for $4,495,000 eight months after Wayans sold the house for $3.3 million. The listing is here.
--Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning has reduced the asking price of his 10,121-square-foot bayfront mansion in Miami, Fla. from $10 million to $9.5 million. It is our estate of the day later today.
--Mike Tyson has sold his Southwest contemporary-style house in Paradise Valley, Arizona for $2.339 million, according to the Arizona Republic.
--Roseanne Barr has paid $1,780,000 for a 46.33-acre farm in Hawaii, according to public records.
--According to Curbed LA, Josh Duhamel has listed his three-bedroom, 2,516-square-foot contemporary-style house in Brentwood neighborhood for $2,399,000. The listing is here. It has a great pool.

From the Real Estalker:
--TomKat rumors galore. Did Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes buy this palace of palace of opulence in Bel-Air? Or are they looking to build a lavish new estate.
--The Jane Wyatt estate has been purchased by Sandy Gallin, a music manager, who will most likely renovate and flip.
--Josh Duhamel and Fergie are staying in Brentwood picking up an eight-bedroom home which was listed at $5.299 million.
--Soap actress Dana Sparks and her husband Steven have listed their home in Lake Sherwood for $4.85 million
--The townhouse of the late Phyllis Cerf has now been reduced to $9.4 million from $9.9 million.
--Adam Nathanson, the son of Marc Nathanson has put his Mulholland Drive home in Los Angeles on the market for $2,350,000.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Supermodel Gisele Bündchen has sold her 4,000-square-foot Hollywood Hills home for $4 million.
--Dave "The Edge" Howell Evans of U2 has purchased a 120-acre parcel in Malibu with a cottage and a creek on it for close to $15 million.
--Lindsay Wagner, known best as "The Bionic Woman" has sold a condo in Chatsworth for $649,000.
--A Neutra designed condo near UCLA has been sold for close to $600,000.
--So far this year, seven $20-million-plus homes have sold in the Bel-Air, Brentwood, Malibu and other Westside areas. Last year at this time, there had only been two.

Tags: damon wayans, harry belafonte, josh duhamel, mike tyson, phyllis cerf, tom cruise, TomCruise

Sunday Real Estate Round-Up

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From the NY Times' Big Deal:
--Jerry Seinfeld has sold his former bachelor pad in the Bolivar for more than the asking price of $2.35 million.
--The apartment of former Miss America Bess Myerson has sold. The two-bedroom duplex in a co-op building at 3 East 71st Street was listed for $2.1 million.
--A triplex belonging to Robert and Blaine Trump is now on the market for $17 million. The apartment was originally three units at 131 East 66th Street but is now one 6,500-square-foot residence. The apartment was gutted in preparation for a new interior design plan but when the couple separated plans ceased. The apartment has a double-height living room, stained glass windows and six fireplaces.

From the New York Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Montel Williams has sold all three of his units on Riverside Blvd. He purchased three units in two buildings, at 200 and 220 Riverside Boulevard and in 2003 sold the condo at No. 200. Now he has sold off two penthouses at No. 220. He sold one penthouse for $2.275 million in June 2005 and and has sold the second for $5.7 million after a deal with his downstairs neighbors fell through.
--Harry Belafonte has cut the price on his West End Avenue apartment. It was first listed for $15 million and now the price is down to $11.75 million. The listing for the six-bedroom apartment is here.
--Doug Lebda, the president and CEO of Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp has purchased a $10.9 million Central Park West penthouse. The five-bedroom duplex has multiple exposures and wrap terraces with park and city views.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Stone Phillips has dropped the price on his apartment from $.5.5 million to $4.45 million. The prewar three-bedroom home has a terrace and a custom office. Check it out as our Estate of the Day later on.
--Lisa de Kooning, the only child of abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, has sold one of her Manhattan apartments, a two-bedroom condo on the 37th floor at 200 E. 89th St. for $1.4 million.
--Socialite Elizabeth Lindemann has found a buyer for her apartment at 730 Park Ave. for more than her asking price of $21 million.
--Billionaire Ron Burkle has been seen checking out a $30 million penthouse at the TriBeCa Summit building at 415 Greenwich St.
--David LaChapelle has sold his East Village apartment which had an asking price of $795,000.

From the LA Times's Hot Property:
--Rita Rudner and her husband, Martin Bergman have purchased a Laguna Beach home for close to its asking price of $6.3 million. The couple also has a home in a penthouse overlooking the Las Vegas Strip.
--Johnny Carson's home on Pt. Dume in Malibu is expected to go on the market for close to $42 million. The 7,100-square-foot home sits on more than 4 acres and there is also a 2,700-square-foot guesthouse.
--Some astounding rent for Beverly Hills. Kelly Wearstler, designer of such hotels as the Viceroy Santa Monica, and her husband, Brad Korzen, chief executive of the Kor Group are paying $35,000 a month for a home while their new home is being refurbished.
--Screenwriter-producer Matt Cirulnick and his fiancée, Swedish model Suzanne Arvidsson, are buying a Venice home that had a list price of around $1.5 million.
--Actress Anita Barone and her husband, actor Matthew Glave have put their Hollywood Hills home on the market for $1.049 million and plan to buy a Valley home with a yard for their children. The listing is here.

Tags: bess myerson, blaine trump, davidlachappelle, harry belafonte, jerry seinfeld, JerrySeinfeld, johnny carson, montel williams, rita rudner, RitaRudner, robert trump, ron burkle, stone phillips, StonePhillips