jay mcinerney

RSVIP: Anthony Shriver Hosts Best Buddies Gala at Ashgrove Farm

Filed under: Events

A meaningful cause can turn an elegant evening into a transformative event. Co-host Anthony Shriver's charisma, Kennedy-family good looks, and passion for Best Buddies, an organization that encourages friendships with mentally and physically challenged individuals, as well as career training and job placement, turned the organization's third annual Hamptons gala into a kind of upbeat epiphany for guests.

Leafy bamboo in pots swayed in the breezy tents that housed the Southeast Asian-themed Best Buddies Gala at Ashgrove Farm in Watermill on Saturday, August 21. During cocktails, tables packed with silent-auction items also beckoned: tickets to watch the New York Rangers, to catch the "Addams Family" on Broadway, or see Jimmy Buffett in concert. Travel items included a round-trip flight to and from the Hamptons and brightly colored luggage so plentiful, the woman who won it wondered if it would fit into her car.

The famed Robbins Wolfe "eventeurs," caterers in common parlance, served up Masala crab cakes with pomegranate chutney, toasted coconut kahuku shrimp, and Portabello tempura. Yum. Filigreed metal lanterns with votive candles lined the covered walk to the dinner tent, where eight stems of purple orchids in jade bowls were surrounded by shimmering gold chargers on every table.

Anthony Shriver admitted that it wouldn't have been so easy to get his little daughter Carolina to fly down from Hyannis Port with him to Long Island for the Best Buddies Gala except that "Anne [Hearst McInerney, above right] gave her a little baby rabbit the last time we came." He then kidded that Hearst McInerney would provide chickens in the gift bags.

Tags: anne hearst, anthony shriver, best buddies, campion platt, Eunice Shriver, EuniceKennedyShriver, hamptons, jay mcinerney, rsvip, tatiana platt

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RSVIP: The Palace Regrets to Inform

by Jeffrey Slonim (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events

When a Prince touches down in the socially ambitious Hamptons, snagging an invite can be a slippery slope indeed.

First of all, author Jay McInerney and his wife, Anne Hearst McInerney, who feted HSH Prince Albert of Monaco this weekend, are sensational hosts, they support the arts and the environment in an enormously generous fashion, and in person, they are nothing but nice. And, especially after this regal shindig, they are the center of social swirl on the East End of Long Island.

If Truman Capote, having published "In Cold Blood," was at the zenith of his society status when he gave the black-and white-ball in 1966 at the Plaza Hotel with Katharine Graham, McInerney, who married Hearst on November 21, 2006, at 21, the former society speakeasy, is now enjoying a longer-term embrace by New York society in Manhattan and the Hamptons.

And Mr. McInerney, a wine expert and world-famous author, doesn't lord his social cachet over others, the way, say, Capote used to drop names while in a glassy-eyed stupor on "The Merv Griffin Show." Mrs. McInerney's grandfather was William Randolph Hearst, founder of the Hearst Corporation and the alleged subject of the Orson Welles classic film "Citizen Kane." During the brutally warm summer of 2010 on the East End of Long Island, Jay McInerney has quietly become a kind of Jay Gatsby.

Idyllic Setting for Princely gathering

While William Randolph Hearst was known for his zoo-like menagerie at San Simeon, the Hearst McInerneys entertain at idyllic Ashgrove Farm in Watermill, where the couple keep an emu (like an ostrich in a ballgown drape of feathers), presentation hens, and two 3-foot-tall geese, out of a fairy tale, that appear to weigh over 100 pounds each. Sadly, their pet Llama succumbed, possibly to Lyme disease, over the winter.

The sprawling shingled main house, designed by Peter Cook in the style of the original farmhouse at San Simeon, includes stone fireplaces, centuries old, collected in Europe by Mrs. McInerney's grandfather. The guesthouse is a modernist structure, recently built, with colorful 1960s-themed art, including bright squares within squares by Frank Stella.

Tags: anne hearst, Charlene Wittstock, jay mcinerney, prince albert, prince albert fiance, Prince Albert of Monaco, rsvip

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RSVIP: Party Paradise at Robert Wilson's Watermill Center

by Jeffrey Slonim (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

With a blonde upsweep, Sharon Stone appeared angelic in a backless white gown with thin black spaghetti straps during the 17th Annual Summer Benefit for Watermill Center on July 24. Stone then busted a few oddly spastic moves. "I think a bug just flew up my dress," she offered at the mike. "What an awkward moment . . . for the bug." Shades of "Basic Instinct."

Watermill Center, an endless rectangular modernist structure, began as a 30,000-square-foot Western Union research facility on a former outpost of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. Robert Wilson, considered a key figure in experimental theater, spearheaded the summer art colony and museum on the East End of New York's Long Island. He is best known for his 1976 piece "Einstein on the Beach," with music by Philip Glass.

In summer, Wilson and the Watermill Center host artists from around the globe who join the kibbutz-like arts community, where artists not only create, but also wash plates and prune trees.

During cocktails, tiki torches lit a path to dancers that decorated a maze of outdoor art installations in the woods. Created by 70 artists from 12 nations, including Kuwait, Russia, and Thailand, the vignettes interpreted the evening's ethereal "Paradiso" theme.

Tags: alec baldwin, jay mcinerney, rsvip, rufus wainwright, sharon stone, watermill center

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Sunday Real Estate Round-Up, 12/20/09

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Arlene Farkas, the ex-wife of real estate/retail heir Bruce Farkas, has cut the price of her 14-room duplex at the River House, shown above. The five-bedroom apartment was first listed for $15 million in 2008 but is now listed for $11 million.
--Judith Sheindlin, better known as "Judge Judy," has paid $6.75 million for a two-bedroom co-op at the Sherry Netherland on Fifth Avenue. The apartment had been listed for $7.999 million.
--via NY Daily News, Brooke Astor's Westchester estate, Holly Hill, first went on the market for $12.9 million but the property, which has now been emptied of Astor's furniture is listed at $10.5 million.

Gallery: Holly Hill

--via Curbed, architect Frank Gehry's former duplex at 55 Crosby Street has hit the market for $5.8 million. The listing is here.
--Jason Rabin, the apparel mogul who sold his company less than two months ago for $401 million, has now unloaded his duplex at 850 Park Avenue. Ten months after listing the five-bedroom apartment for $9.9 million, Rabin and his wife Nicole have sold it to Martha Stewart Weddings editorial director Darcy Nussbaum and her husband, attorney Andrew Nussbaum for $6.225 million.
--via Curbed, John McColgan and Moya Doherty, the husband-and-wife team behind "Riverdance," have sold their duplex penthouse at 1080 Madison Avenue. It was first for $10.5 million in July 2008 but sold for $5.85 million.
--via the NY Post, Jay McInerney has paid $1.4 million for a two-bedroom Sag Harbor cottage, which he plans to use as a writing space and children's playhouse.
--Michael Kasbar, the Miami, Florida-based chief executive of World Fuel Services, and his wife Mary, have paid $4.275 million for a two-bedroom apartment at 15 Madison Square North.
--via Curbed, a three-bedroom apartment at 15 Union Square West has sold for $7.128 million.
--Susan Berresford, the president of the $11 billion Ford Foundation up until 2008 and one of the nation's foremost experts on philanthropy, has paid $1.855 million for a two-bedroom co-op at 530 East 86th Street. The apartment first went on the market in August 2008 for $2.325 million.
--Nicolas Sayegh, a co-founder of International Delights, a company that supplies baked goods to New York hotels and gourmet stores, has paid $3.65 million for a 26th-floor apartment at the Miraval Living building at 515 East 72nd Street.
--Steven Lax, an executive vice president at the real estate financing firm Duscany Financial Group, has paid $5.25 million for a three-bedroom condo at the Heritage at Trump Place on the Upper West Side.
--The former Dakota residence of the late model/actress Ruth Ford is now on the market for $7.5 million. The listing is here.
--via Curbed, an unidentified couple has reportedly gone into contract to buy two duplex penthouses at 166 Perry Street. The apartments had been listed together for a combined $24 million.
--via New York Daily News, Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz and his wife, Jamie, have paid $1.45 million for a two-story home in Windsor Terrace.
--via the Real Deal, Billy Macklowe, the president of Macklowe Properties (and son of Harry), has sold a home he owned in Long Island's Northwest Harbor for $1.95 million. He bought the place for $1.89 million in 2002.

From the Real Estalker:
--Conservative commentator Glenn Beck has listed a six-bedroom home in New Canaan, Connecticut for $3.99 million, lower than the price he paid for it. The listing is here.
--via Curbed LA, the estate of Julius Shulman has listed his home on Woodrow Wilson Drive in Los Angeles for $2.495 million.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Art consultant Allan Schwartzman has closed on the purchase of a 12th-floor apartment at the Jean Nouvel-designed 100 11th Avenue. He paid $3.78 million for the three-bedroom spread.
--Former Vassar College president Frances Daly Fergusson has sold her two-bedroom apartment at 61 Jane Street for $1.6 million.
--Broadway producer Hal Prince and his wife, Judy, have paid $12.5 million for a seven-story townhouse at 48 East 74th Street.

From ShelterPop:

Ellen Pompeo splurges on a new house for baby

Tiger Woods's Real Estate Portfolio: What's Up for Grabs in a Divorce
Best and Worst Celebrity Real Estate Deals 2009

From the NY Post:
--Madonna is buying Kelly Klein's horse farm in the Hamptons along with an adjacent horse farm but she is also looking at a nearby house which on the market for $4.4 million. The listing is here.
--Natalie Portman wanted to rent a unit at The River Lofts, a two-building condo conversion at 416 Washington St. and 92 Laight St., but the owner of the 1,103-square-foot unit is only interested in selling.
--One of the highest-priced duplexes in architect Jean Nouvel's 23-story building at 100 11th Ave. went into contract and closed on the same day for $22 million.
--Michael Hirtenstein is renting his his 25 Bond St. bachelor pad for $50,000 a month.

From Newsday's Real LI:
--Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy has sold her Shelter Island home for $2.967 million.
--Former Mets infielder Edgardo Alfonzo has closed on the sale of his house in Little Neck, NY. The home, which had been one-and-off the market for three years, sold for $3.65 million.

Gallery: Edgardo Alfonzo in Little Neck, New York

From the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
--Former Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin has rented out his three-bedroom condo in River North for $5,150 per month.
--The faux church Lake Bluff which we profiled when it was priced at $12.5 million has had a price cut down to $10.9 million.

Gallery: This Is Not A Church

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
Dancing With The Stars host Samantha Harris has sold her Westwood home for $1.64 million It was listed at $1.595 million when we checked it out as an estate of the day.

Gallery: Samantha Harris In Westwood

--Celebrity stylist Andrea Lieberman has sold her home in the Hollywood Hills for $1,800,625.
--Salsa singer-actor-politician Rubén Blades has sold his home in the Windsor Square neighborhood of Los Angeles for $2.415 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Cher is auctioning off a property she never used at the Four Seasons' Hualalai resort in Hawaii. Concerige Auctions which is running the January 18 sale anticipates bids between $8 million and $12 million. Cher bought the 0.76-acre property in December 2004 for $2.9 million and began building the house last year.
--Also at the Hualalai resort, Kenneth Griffin, a major figure in the hedge-fund world, has paid $11.38 million for two adjacent lots overlooking the ocean.
--Palazzo Tornabuoni, a 15th-century palazzo in Florence that was home to a pope and other members of the Medici family has been converted into 38 apartments now offered for sale. Prices range from €1.06 million ($1.53 million) for a 530-square-foot one-bedroom to €5.1 million for a 1,987-square-foot two-bedroom apartment with a large terrace.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Nicolas Cage has sold a 3,480-square-foot house in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills for $1,375,000.

--Once listed at $12.9 million, the Llenroc estate in Rexford, New York recently sold for $1.87 million.

Gallery: Llenroc Estate