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Sean "Diddy" Combs Can't Afford His Private Jet


Sean "Diddy" Combs' relentless (and so far fairly fruitless) pursuit of an acting career has apparently taken a toll on his finances. In the latest installment of his video blog, the rap mogul complains that the gas price explosion has forced him to forego the use of his private jet on his now frequent trips to Los Angeles to meet with movie people. "Gas prices are too f-ing high!" he complains in the clip. "If I'm flying back and forth to L.A. twice a month, that's like $200,000 - $250,000 round trip. F-k that!"

As a result, Diddy says, he's gone back to flying commercial, and throws in an appeal to his "Saudi Arabian brothers" to "please send me some oil for my jet." He then insists, "This is really happening!", filming himself boarding an American Airlines flight, adding, "and I'm in coach!" We're pretty sure Diddy, who makes $35 million a year, is joking about that last bit.

Ryan Murphy's Midcentury Modern, Estate of the Day


Writer Ryan Murphy created two shows which take a slant look at the focus on appearance, the plastic surgery drama "Nip/Tuck" and the underrated high school dark comedy "Popular" as well as writing the screenplay and directing the 2006 movie "Running With Scissors." This talented man has some lovely taste in real estate. The Real Estalker Mama reports that he bought the home in the hills above West Hollywood in 2001 which has been restored into a modern beauty. The home is tucked in a woodsy lot with plenty of privacy. The home, which was designed by modernist architect Carl Maston has big glass walls, concrete floors, and gleaming wood.

At 3,210 square feet the home might be a little small by Los Angeles mansion standards and some of the smaller rooms seem a little dark but overall it's a rather perfectly decorated with furniture that fits the era of the home. Like the Real Estalker Mama, I don't love the use of a urinal in a home bathroom and the kitchen seems like a tough place to cook dinner with more than one person. Small quibbles on a truly charming residence. It is listed at $4.195 million.

Gallery: Ryan Murphy's Midcentury Modern

Continue reading Ryan Murphy's Midcentury Modern, Estate of the Day

Spa Living Goes Hollywood


Spa living comes to Hollywood in the form of the W Hollywood Hotel & Residences. The newest Bliss Spa will be located at the new complex and will be a 4,800 square foot indulgence with seven treatment rooms, a retail beauty boutique, a nail lounge for manicures and pedicures and Bliss trademarks like a a signature menu of tension taming treatments, rhythm and blues tunes and legendary brownie buffet. Residents of the W Hollywood will have the benefit of in-home services and perks like priority booking.

The W Hollywood will have 300 rooms and 150 W Residences, a signature restaurant, a rooftop bar and pool, a PURE nightclub, fitness center, business center, concierge services and a real Hollywood detail, an outdoor silver screen for viewing movies. Owners will receive VIP access throughout the hotel. Prices range from $800,000-$8 million+ and opening is scheduled for October 2009. Check out Curbed LA for pictures of the construction.

Tables of Ten: Dining for a Cause in West Hollywood


Tables of Ten:Dining for a Cause is a unique fundraiser held by the Avenues of Art & Design and Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, CA on May 30. Designers, showrooms, restaurateurs and chefs set up tables on the outdoor plaza of the Pacific Design Center. Each chef creates unique cuisine for one table and each table is outfitted in extravagant design from distinguished designers and showrooms. This year's chefs include: Ben Ford of Ford's Filling Station, David Schanhals from The Palm West Hollywood, Javier Plascencia of Romesco, Yoshinura Kojima and Wolfgang Puck from Red Seven by Wolfgang Puck, Michael Bryant, David LeFevre of Water Grill, Kerry Simon from Simon L.A., Evan Kleiman with Café Angeli, Crustacean Beverly Hills, and Antonia Lofaso of SBE's Foxtail (and contestant on BRAVO TV's hit show "Top Chef"). Designers for the tables include Willard Ford of Ford/Brady, Leslie Frankenheimer for Architectural Digest, FIDM: Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Hutton Wilkinson for Baker Furniture, Daniel Vandenbark for Dezine, Inc., Brooke Ziccardi, Michael Berman, Tracy Murdock, Karen Brady for RL Homes, and Inner-City Arts, featuring tables decorated by the children. Proceeds from Tables of Ten will benefit Inner-City Arts and kicks off the Avenues of Art & Design's 11th Annual Art & Design Walk. on May 31. The Art and Design Walk is a free event from 4 PM to 8 PM along West Hollywood's Melrose Avenue, Robertson and Beverly Boulevards. Over 300 fashion boutiques, design/furniture showrooms, fine art/antique galleries and restaurants will open their doors to guests offering special reception, food and entertainment.

Slash's Lawsuit Special, Estate of the Day


Rock star Slash, real name, Saul Hudson, and his wife Perla have piqued the interest of real estate watchers with their lawsuit against real estate agent Gregory Holcomb and Sotheby's International Realty for misrepresentation regarding their Los Angeles home. Slash, who is the guitarist of both Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver bought the house in December of 2005 for $6,250,000. In spring of 2006, the Hudsons filed for divorce. The house went back on the market earlier this year at $6,995,000 where it has sat for a good long while and the price has now been (say it with me) slashed to $5,996,999 (with an option to lease at a ridiculous $50,000 a month). What's the problem with the home? The Hudson says that they were told the house was on a private, gated street (turns out the street is gated but not private and there are, as the lawsuit puts it "severe parking restrictions"). They also say the home is much smaller than the 7800 sq. ft. in the listing. In the lawsuit they say they never moved into the home. They allege that they suffered "grief, shame, humiliation, embarrassment, anger, worry, disappointment, nervousness, stomach disorders, backaches, loss of appetite and inability to concentrate on work" and are suing for an amount in excess of $1 million.

One has to wonder whether the couple actually checked out the five-bedroom home before buying? It's hard to say what is so wrong with this one that it inspired a lawsuit. It certainly seems like a nice celeb home. Great view, nice pool, a big kitchen, a guest house, large garages. Perhaps the home was nothing like their other home, a home in Sherman Oaks that they bought in March of 2002 for $2,150,000 and which the Real Estalker Mama reports was a very private house up a long gated driveway.

I can see why it might not be absolutely perfect for Slash, The wood beam ceilings, while lovely, can seem a little oppressive and the pool area in the back is a bit small. Petty complaints on a gorgeous home with swoonworthy details such as tiled steps and a massive arched window in the living room. Still, I suspect this lawsuit is more a case of buyer's remorse in a sluggish market than any nefarious machinations on the part of the agent. The Zillow zestimate on this one is $6,507,374. I bet Slash wishes he could get that for it.

Gallery: Slash's Lawsuit Special

Continue reading Slash's Lawsuit Special, Estate of the Day

Wolff House, Estate of the Day


I couldn't settle on a celeb house to feature for my Sunday estate so instead we are looking at one that might be a bit of candy for a celebrity with an architecture jones. The Wolff House was built by John Lautner in 1961 (you may remember the name from the recent sale of Courtney Cox Arquette and David Arquette's sale of a Lautner in Malibu). This home a three-bedroom in the Hollywood Hills, is a a modernist treasure in wood and stone and glass. The house is on a private cul-de-sac and has an amazing view. Other features include a one-bedroom guesthouse and a beautiful pool. An article in Variety from 2005 indicates that the home was sold in 2005 for around $4 million. It is listed now at $5.995 million.

Gallery: Wolff House

Continue reading Wolff House, Estate of the Day

Swarovski's Crystal Curtain for the Academy Awards

Since the night of the Academy Awards is the most star-studded event in Hollywood, it is only fitting that it be as glamorous as possible. To give this weekend's 79th annual awards ceremony some extra sparkle, Swarovski put together a giant Crystal Curtain that will be displayed on stage during the presentations. The curtain is made with over 50,000 imported Swarovski crystals and stretches 34 feet across. It weighs over 2,000-lbs.

The full stage setup for the show won't be seen until the broadcast on Sunday night, but the curtain will be setting the bar high for the rest of the decor.

Star Trek Auction Success

Christie's Star Trek memorabilia auction wrapped up yesterday with a grand total of $7,107,040 in sales, more than double what organizers were expecting to bring in. There were 1,000 lots that included costumes, props, miniatures and more from the Star Trek TV shows and movies. The highest priced item was the 78-inch-long (198-cm) model of the Starship Enterprise, which was heavily use in making the TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and sold for $576,000, far above its estimate of $15-20K. The purchase, by an anonymous bidder, is one of the "highest prices paid for any piece of Hollywood memorabilia."

Other noteworthy lots included a Klingon "Bird of Prey" ship model that sold for $307,200 and Dr. McCoy's space suit from the original series at $144,000.

Christies staff members, as well as auction participants, dressed in Star Trek costumes for the three-day event and the auction house said that its new online bidding system saw "its strongest response since it launched during the summer."

Lindsay Lohan Selling In Hollywood

sierra towersIt seems to be a trend among the young popstar set, buy an apartment, never move in and then sell. We saw it with Britney Spears, now according to People, Lindsay Lohan becomes the latest looking for a quick sale. She bought into the Sierra Towers in West Hollywood around a year ago for $1.9 million. Now she has put her three-bedroom condo on the market for $2.85 million. It doesn't look like Lohan is leaving Hollywood anytime soon, she just prefers to bunk at the nearby Chateau Marmont.

A Luxury Tattoo Parlor for Celebs?

The 20-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan thinks that the next hot celebrity trend is going to be tattoos -- as if plenty of celebrities don't have tattoos as it is -- and that they do not want to go to any old tattoo parlor to get theirs done. She is planning on opening a "classy, boutique-style" parlor of her own in Hollywood. Lohan's place will have a glass front, like a fashion shop, and will feature many of her own designs.

She also wants the shop and her designs to be a foundation for her own brand in the future.

Suri and Shiloh Sweaters

I have heard it said that there is a knitting craze among the Hollywood hot list, but it seems rather unlikely that they're sitting at home knitting sweaters when Los Angeles is in the midst of a major heat wave. But it might be true because a popular LA knitting store, Suss Designs, is now selling sweaters inspired by Suri Cruise and Shiloh Jolie- Pitt. Suri's sweater is emblazoned with her initial, while the Shiloh sweater has two cartoon faces that might represent Brangelina's other kids, Zahara and Maddox. The sweaters are selling for $109 (Shiloh) and $89 (Suri) at Suss's LA boutique.

Paris Hilton's New Home

Paris Hilton just purchased a Tuscan-style home in the Hollywood Hills for roughly $3.1 million. The house, in a gated community not too far from Cameron Diaz's pad, is loaded with posh extras, including a $43,000 Baccarat crystal chandelier in the lounge, a very classy $20,000 mirrored, four-poster bed and a 400-sq foot closet for her vast wardrobe.

The most unusual part of the home is actually the pets' living area. There is a special gated section inside the house where Paris's dogs will sit on pink pillows and drink from pink bowls. Each dog has its own personal crown, as well. Not one to exclude any of her pets, Paris has also commissioned a custom cage for her monkey, though the last time we heard about the monkey, it was supposedly being confiscated by Los Angeles officials.

Hollywood Fantasy Experience

The Hollywood Fantasy Experience allows you to live and feel like a celebrity for a few days, without actually having to work to get there. While you ponder how much some "celebrities" actually "work," let's take a look at what is offered in the package. The experience takes place over one long weekend in mid-October. You will be picked up and chauffeured in a fully-stocked limousine and stay in a superior room at the Beverly Hills Hotel, rooms which normally start at $410 per night.  After a cocktail party and an exclusive dinner at a Hollywood mansion, there will be a special, private screening of a movie. And that's only the first night!

The second day, Friday, will provide a Rodeo Drive shopping spree, meetings with star stylists/trainers/aestheticians and a Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament. If you're not too tired out from living it up, Saturday morning gives you a chance to work by taking a screen test at Paramount Studios, where you'll get a DVD of your performance. At night, you'll not only walk the red carpet to the Lili Claire Foundation Charity Gala, hosted by Matthew Perry, but you will be seated at a table with real celebrities. Sunday morning will bring brunch and a chauffeured departure.

The cost? $20,000. The memories? Priceless.

Wear Your Food, Don't Eat It

Staying slim in Hollywood is as popular as ever and healthy eating is slowly becoming the mantra of many Americans, both of which explain why, instead of stopping into McDonald's for a snack, shoppers in LA are stopping by Intuition. The boutique has offerings like the McDonald's cookie tee packed inside a happy meal box, so at least the A-list can rest easy knowing that these shirts are diet-friendly. The faux-vintage tees bear logos from old advertising campaigns and now defunct promotional characters, such as Mayor McCheese. Anyone interested can pick one up for $56.

Lindsay's $1M Hotel Bill

How do you rack up a $1 million dollar hotel bill? It's not easy, even if you're staying at the $37,000 per night Hotel Martinez in Cannes or in the $25,000 per night Bridge Suite at the Atlantis. Lindsay Lohan managed to pull off this rather impressive feat while staying at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. Apparently, the 19-year old actress "tries to keep [a] bungalow reserved on the off chance she'll pop into LA." The bungalows at the Chateau start at $1700 per night. Lohan spent a large portion of that money on things like room service - including $550 per bottle Cristal - and using the $700 per day personal chauffer service the hotel offers.

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