natalie portman

Dior fashion designer John Galliano has been fired from his role as head designer at Christian Dior after video of him using anti-Semitic language surfaced. In a short statement Sidney Toledano, Dior's president and chief executive officer, said that the remarks made by Galliano were a "total contradiction with the essential values that have always been defended by the House of Christian Dior.

Galliano also has his own eponymous label which is set to have a show on Sunday during Paris Fashion Week. According to Vogue UK, Natalie Portman, who is the face of Dior's Miss Dior Cherie fragrance, also came out against Galliano and said that she will no longer be associated with him in any way. She had planned to wear Dior on the red carpet for the Academy Awards but made a last minute switch to a Rodarte gown in light of the controversy.

Galliano spent part of Monday in a police station in Paris with his lawyer begin questioned about the incident in which he got into a scuffle with another patron at a restaurant. The video shows Galliano telling two women at the Paris cafe, "I love Hitler" and going on to say that people "like them" wouldn't be alive today because their mothers and forefathers would be gassed. Galliano appears to be drunk in the video which has surfaced on YouTube.

The shocking incident has stunned the fashion world. Galliano has always been considered a bit avant garde but he has also been credited with bringing excitement and drama to the world of couture. He has also served as a designer for Givenchy.

UPDATE: International Herald Tribune fashion writer Suzy Menkes says that Galliano is headed to rehab.

Day Five: The countdown is complete. Saturday, for reporters, the day before the Academy Awards, began at 9:00 a.m. at Santa Monica Beach. Public parking lot 5, reserved for the press, was a half-mile walk to the behemoth lunch tent pitched beside the beach. Wind off the ocean bit hard. Even towering palm trees looked cold as their branches whipped in gusts that littered Ocean Avenue with browning fronds.

The tent for the Film Independent Spirit Awards was a white plastic Quonset hut the size of an office complex. A crane huddled beside the white plastic structure that rippled in the wind. But apparently it was strong enough to hold the man standing on it three stories in the air, drawing a rope over the top.

Driving wind cut across the choppy surf, accumulating fine sand on the cement bike path. In our bones, we could feel the raw, salty proximity to the briny sea. One foreign female journalist in a short black sequined dress had goose bumps on her legs that resembled hives.
Waiting while staffed dried rain that had poured into the tent the night before, the press struggled for an hour in the bitter chill.

By 11:00 a.m.,the gray carpet arrivals corridor was flanked on one side by metal stanchions and a thousand journalists. Open at both ends it had flaps cut into the side facing the Pacific, creating a mild wind-tunnel.

"I love the weather," said director John Waters, above, a host at previous events, wearing Comme des Garcon and pants decorated with camouflage paint. "It's like a face lift." Actor Rainn Wilson, too, said he was relaxed "not to be hosting this time."

Darren Aronofsky's hit film, "Black Swan," may do more for the arts than earn Natalie Portman a slew of best-actress awards. It may in fact have helped to boost professional dance companies - at least the ones performing the ballet "Swan Lake," which the film is centered around.

To prepare for the film, Portman trained with former New York City Ballet dancer Mary Helen Bowers. That company performs "Swan Lake" each year and this year its two-week run (which will end on Saturday, Feb. 26) sold extremely well, according to City Ballet spokesman Rob Daniels. The company sold out tickets to all nine of its performances in the 2,500-seat David A. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center.

Grey Goose, the super-premium vodka blended and bottled in the celebrated Cognac region of Western France, has come up with some entertaining cocktails inspired by this year's Best Picture nominees at the Academy Awards (aka the Oscars). The drinks have been cleverly concocted to reflect the films for which they're named and the stars themselves – don't orchids remind you of Natalie Portman? Bottoms up and may the best man win....:

Blame Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and consumer confidence: all reasons why Oscar fashion is expected to be dialed way up this year.

Hollywood actresses have suffered a fashion drought for years-showing up in any ensemble that said "conspicuous consumption" was a faux pas in the midst of economic misfortunes. But, now, as consumer confidence rises, so will the ante at this year's awards ceremony, say the experts. Colors are expected to be bolder, silhouettes more distinctive, baubles flashier: In other words, Sunday's red-carpet parade is shaping up to be a good show.

In fashion, one is always emboldened by precedent. "Artists are starting to dress much more crazy, more out there and it has a ripple effect on fashion," designer Marc Bouwer told Reuters yesterday. "While you won't see a Lady Gaga outfit necessarily on the Oscar red carpet, you will see more architectural styles -- an expanded shoulder, a pronounced sleeve. The stronger power woman has emerged, and you cannot ignore that trend."

Last month's Golden Globes, to which numerous luminaries turned out in pink, rose and pale skin tones, is always a good indicator of things to come at the Oscars. But you could see more purples, greens, oranges and indigo blues, too.

As we've mentioned before, Academy-Award nominee for Best Actress, Natalie Portman has a side gig. The lovely star is also the face of the Miss Dior Cherie campaign. The print ads were photographed by Tim Walker and Sofia Coppola, who shot a previous commercial for Miss Dior Cherie handled the filming, the result of which is shown above. The Miss Dior Cherie fragrance is described as a playful, modern fragrance and has notes of green tangerine, violette, and pink jasmine with strawberry leaves and caramelized popcorn. The advertisement echoes the soft, flirty tones of the scent, showing Portman and a handsome companion kissing and Portman alone, lost in dreamy reverie while holding the perfume bottle and taking a bath with sunglasses on while "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin plays in the background.

Indiewire says that the next famous film director to hit the fragrance ad spotlight is "Black Swan" director Darren Aronofsky who directed Vincent Cassel in a promotion for Yves Saint Laurent's Perfume "La Nuit de L'Homme."

[via Now Smell This]

"Glee" actress Lea Michele piled on the jewels for the Screen Actor's Guild Awards on Sunday night. Michele, who was nominated for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series," wore a shimmering Oscar De La Renta gown. She also selected pieces from Tiffany & Co., choosing nearly $1 million in diamond jewelry. Her choices included Tiffany & Co. oval diamond lever back earrings set in platinum ($180,000) and a Tiffany & Co. pear shape diamond ring with contour split shank set in platinum ($269,000). She layered her wrist with extra sparkle, selecting a diamond bracelet with micro melee border set in platinum ($400,000), diamond deco bracelet set in platinum ($50,000) and a diamond cell bracelet set in platinum ($82,000).

With the release of the critically acclaimed "Black Swan," everyone is having a Natalie Portman moment. The always elegant star will also be the new face of the Miss Dior Cherie campaign. According to People, the print ads were photographed by Tim Walker and will come out next March. Sofia Coppola is shooting the commercials. Portman was recently on hand at the reopening celebration of Dior's 57th Street boutique in New York City and posed with Dior head designer John Galliano. The Miss Dior Cherie fragrance is described as a playful, modern fragrance and has notes of green tangerine, violette, and pink jasmine with strawberry leaves and caramelized popcorn.

"Black Swan" director Darren Aronofsky, far right, who has already created such extraordinary films as "The Wrestler" and "Requiem for a Dream," has miraculously pulled off a psychological thriller set in the unlikely, rarefied world of classical dance. Several scenes in "Black Swan" present gore and special effects which beg the audience to cover their eyes. But the heart-thumping pace, psychological intensity, and extraordinary dance footage destine the film to be a Hitchcock-level classic with possible sweep potential at the Academy Awards.

To transform the star, Natalie Portman, right, who had trained in Ballet as a child, into a dancer, Mary Helen Bowers, a prima ballerina formerly with the New York City Ballet, began training her a year before shooting started. "I put together a rigorous program, this is five to eight hours a day, six days a week," said a reed-thin Bowers, wearing a feathery gown by Balenciaga on the red carpet at the Ziegfeld Theatre at Tuesday's premiere. "We mixed ballet exercises, swimming a mile every day, ballet class, and pointe work . . . working on her swan arms, her hands . . . her upper body."

"It was a challenge getting her on pointe for the first time," Bowers offered. "So we just built up to it very slowly. You see her on pointe constantly in the film."

"I lost 20 pounds," noted Mila Kunis, below, who played opposite Portman in the embattled dance company onscreen. "I had a 1200-calorie diet, with five small portion-controlled meals a day, five teeny bird portions."

As for Portman's commitment, she mentioned that she accidentally "dislocated a rib." It necessitated an MRI, noted Aronofsky inside the Ziegfeld. Trend alert: for "The Wrestler," Mickey Rourke required three.

"And getting the effects off that they put on my back was really hard," Portman, wearing Dior, mentioned to Luxist. "Everyone else would wrap and get to go home. We had done a 16-hour day, and I'd be on point shoes. And then I'd have another hour getting my latex fake broken-out back off."

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
A Los Feliz home once owned by Clifford E. Clinton, the founder of the L.A. landmark Clifton's Cafeteria, is on the market for $1.799 million.The listing is here.
--What do Betty Grable, Stephen Stills, Jacqueline Smith and John De Lorean have in common? At one point they each lived in a Bel-Air house built in 1937. The beautifully maintained home has hit the market for $10.995 million. The listing is here.
--Singer Rachel Sweet has sold Los Pavoreales, a 1926 home designed by Wallace Neff in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, for $4.895 million. This home hit the market for $9.95 million just last year.
Comedy writer Shelley Zellman recently sold her Sherman Oaks home for $779,000.

From the NY Post:
--Natalie Portman is staying at a Union Square rental building with her dog, Whiz.
--Patti Stanger of Bravo's "Millionaire Matchmaker" is said to have been calling Hamptons brokers looking for a summer beach mansion to live and shoot in.
--Investor Chris Knight has listed his Shelter Island bayfront beach cottage for $3.5 million. The listing is here.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
Jerry Herbst, chairman and president of Las Vegas-based Terrible Herbst, has listed his Newport Beach, California home for $31.75 million. He bought the six-bedroom home for $35 million in 2008 from Nicolas Cage. The listing is here.
--Designer Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan, the creative director of Barneys New York have listed their Shelter Island beach home for $1.795 million. They bought the home for just $185,000 in 1998 but did major renovations. The listing is here.
--Mining executive Richard Adkerson and two partners have bought a roughly 18,000-acre ranch in Montana for less than $30 million. The property was originally offered for $55 million and about 97% of the deeded property has been placed under conservation easements.

From Housing Watch:
--Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade has finally sold his Pinecrest, Florida house. He bought the home in 2005 for $3.98 million and it was first listed for $8.9 million in 2007. It sold last month for a mere $2.5 million.
--Larry King transferred all his prime real estate including his Beverly Hills mansion to his soon-to-be ex-wife Shawn Southwick two years ago but now wants his real estate back.
--After seven months on the market, the 14-bedroom home next to President Barack Obama's residence in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood sold for $1.4 million.

From the Real Estalker:
--David Krumholtz of the TV show Numb3rs has listed his three-bedroom home for $1.499 million. He paid $1.715 million for the home in 2006. The listing is here.
--Former president and current Chairman of the Board of the Whitney Museum of American Art Robert Hurst and his wife Soledad have listed their Fifth Avenue duplex in New York City for $29 million. The listing is here.
--Jackson Browne has picked up a single story Spanish Colonial Revival residence in the Beverly Grove area of Los Angeles for $2.66 million.
--Interior decorator Kelly Wearstler and property developer Brad Korzen and the three other families have listed the Malibu home they all own for $21.9 million. The six-bedroom home appeared in the November 2009 issue of Metropolitan Home. The listing is here.
--Robert and Barbara Taylor Bradford have listed their four-bedroom New York City residence for $18.995 million.
--Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann have listed their five-bedroom home in the Pacific Palisades area for $6.495 million. They bought the home in 2003 for $4.474 million. The listing is here.

From Move Trends:
--Actor Jeremy Sisto has listed his 3-bedroomHollywood Hills house for $1.3 million. The listing is here.


Emeril Lagasse seems to have finally sold his New York city loft. It was listed for sale for $5.995 million when we checked it out as an estate of the day in August 2009. It was last listed at $4.85 million and the listing shows it is "contract signed."

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.

--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:
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

Gorgeous actress Natalie Portman just overpaid for a California-Medieval mini-manor (above) in L.A.'s Los Feliz. The Star Wars stunner paid $3.25 million, or $51,000 above the asking price, for the 4,866-sq.-ft., four-bed, two-bath house built in the 1930s, which was formerly owned by Dermot Mulroney and Catherine Keener, the Real Estalker reports. A brick courtyard at the front of the walled and gated property leads to the entrance of the rough-hewn stone and wood residence. The key feature is a baronial wood-paneled living room with a cathedral ceiling and large fireplace. A wide brick terrace on the garden side overlooks an inground pool, and there are two guesthouses on the property.

From the Real Estalker:
--Celebrity hairstylist Serge Normant has put his New York penthouse on West 16th Street, shown above, on the market for $4.49 million. The listing is here.
--John McCain's former home in Phoenix, Arizona will now be sold at auction on October 25. It was our estate of the day back in July.
--Teen actress Vanessa Hudgens has picked up a home in Studio City for $2.75 million. The home has six bedrooms and over 5,000 square feet.
--Rumor has it that Kimora Lee Simmons has bought herself new house in Beverly Hills.
--Will and Grace co-creator Max Mutchnick and his partner Erik Hyman have sold their Manhattan apartment for $4.1 million.
--The Harvey Mudd estate in Beverly Hills is for sale. It is our estate of the day later today.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Natali Portman has gone to contract to sell her apartment in Richard Meier's tower at 165 Charles St. The condo last had an asking price of $6.55 million.
--The price of Dunnellen Hall, Leona Helmsley's Greenwich, Connecticut home, has been lowered by $30 million to a still astounding $95 million. Check out the pictures from when it was our estate of the day back in June.
--The listing of the "Astor Suite" at the Plaza for $55 million was pulled after one day and other listings have disappeared without buyers but 26 apartments are still listed.
--The $70 million listing at the Pierre Hotel has been pulled from the Brown Harris Stevens website.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
-- Screenwriter, crime novelist and political blogger Roger L. Simon has listed his home in the Hollywood Hills for sale at $2.625 million. The listing is here.
--A Beverly Hills home built in the 1920s for Errol Flynn and now owned by composer Lee Holdridge is listed at $3.2 million. The listing is here.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Lehman Brothers Holdings' former chief financial officer, Erin Callan, is in contract to sell her two-bedroom condominium in New York's 15 Central Park West which had been listed at $12 million. Callan paid $6.48 million around three years ago.
--Ronald Tutor, chairman and chief executive of building contractor Perini Corp., paid $36.7 million for a massive, not-yet-completed house in the Beverly Park gated community which had been listed at $49 million.
--The widow of Steven T. Florio, the former CEO of Condé Nast Publications, has listed their waterfront Key Largo, Fla., vacation home on the market. We'll check this one out on Monday.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--via the Chicago Tribune, Ty Warner, founder of the Beanie Babie empire, reportedly has gone to contract to purchase the Chicago Spire's penthouse unit, which had been on the market for $40 million.
--Vivica A. Fox has her put her home in the Granada Hills area on the market for $1.45 million. Records show that the bought in 2002 for $825,500. The virtual tour is here.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Lehman's ousted president and chief operating officer Joseph M. Gregory has already his home on Park Avenue. He bought the two-bedroom apartment for $2.85 million back in 2004 and sold it earlier this month for $4.4 million. His Hamptons estate was previously our estate of the day and is on the market for $32.5 million.
--Mark Goldstein, a veteran Bear Stearns leveraged finance banker who became the co-head of its European investment banking last year has listed his apartment on Park Avenue for $12 million. He spent $5,275,000 in 2006 to buy two apartments which have now been combined. The listing is here.
--Hairstylist Guido Palau spent $1.9 million on a Chelsea brownstone duplex on West 22nd Street, according to city records
-- Democratic Party fund-raising stars Carl Spielvogel and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel are in contract to sell their seventh-floor apartment at 720 Park Avenue for around $37 million, though they paid only $20 million just two years ago.
--Last week, while the Fed was agreeing to bailout A.I.G., recently retired AIG executive vice president Robert M. Sandler bought a $3.45 million apartment at the Hampshire House on Central Park South. He and his wife, Annette, paid in cash.

From Newsday's Real LI:
--Interior designer Lorraine Kirke has lowered the price of her East Hampton mansion to $11.5 million, the latest stop on a slide down from $14.5 million last year. The listing is here (no interior pics).

From the Daily Mail:
--The Candy brothers want to convert the US Embassy site in Grosvenor Square into luxury flats after the American Ambassador announced it was moving to south London. These could become some of the most expensive units in the world.

From the Dallas Morning News:
--An interesting piece on Terrell Owens real estate investments. T.O. owns six townhouses and condos in the city, valued at more than $2.5 million based on tax records.

Has someone finally picked up Villa Versailles? The over-the-top Malibu mansion which we featured as an estate of the day back in May, is now listed as having gone to contract.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Two Trees Farm, the site of the Bridgehampton Polo Club has gone on the market for a whopping $95 million. The land is 115 acres, which has preliminary approval for 18 "estate parcels," as well as two houses, an eight-unit apartment building, three barns, two indoor riding arenas, two polo fields, a pool and a tennis court.
--Natalie Portman has put her apartment, shown above, in Richard Meier's transparent West Village tower at 165 Charles St. for $6.55 million. The listing for the three-bedroom pad is here.
--Mel B. (aka Melanie Brown or Scary Spice) is in negotiations to buy a two-bedroom apartment with a $2 million price tag at Platinum, the nearly completed Midtown condominium complex on Eighth Avenue and 46th Street.
--Heather Mills has just closed on a full-floor condo at the Richard Meier-designed 173 Perry St.
--Sports broadcaster Bob Costas has sold his Time Warner Center apartment in the south tower for $8.5 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
-- Mark Peel, executive chef and owner of Campanile, has bought a classic Mediterranean in Hancock Park that was listed for $3.1 million. Peel's wife, comedian Daphne Brogdon, is host of TV Guide Channel's weekly series "The Fashion Team." She is creator of CoolMom.com.
--Fashion designer Christian Audigier has bought a just-restored Spanish-style hacienda that had been listed for $2.15 million.
--Actress Luciana Paluzzi and Michael Solomon,former president of Warner Bros. International and co-founder of Telepictures Corp. have llisted their Beverly Hills home for $19.995 million. The 13,638-square-foot Spanish-style house was built in 1988. The property website is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--Perez Hilton recently showed off his apartment on MTV Cribs.
--Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard have put their home in Stillwater, Minnesota on the market for $1.95 million. It's our estate of the day later today.
--Film and television composer Graeme Revell has listed his Malibu estate for $27.5 million. He and his wife Brenda purchased the five acre estate in May of 2004 for $12 million. The listing is here.
--Rumor has it that Ed McMahon may have finally unloaded his home.
--via TMZ, real estate agent Josh Flagg who stars on Bravo's Million-Dollar Listing TV show has been arrested for stealing valuable paintings from listed houses.
--Pete Wentz has put his Hollywood Hills home on the market for $1.799 million. The property website is here

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Grateful Dead bassist PhilLesh and his wife, Jillspeth, paid $1,775,000 earlier this month for a condo on Prince Street near Broadway.
--Three new expensive rentals have hit the marketing charging $75,000 per month (nearly $1 million per year). At the Plaza, the founder of European operations for the clothing company Esprit, Jürgen Friedrich, put the building's largest original apartment, the Astor Suite, up for rent (he also recently put a Southampton home on the market for $67.5 million). The apartment listing is here. A duplex penthouse at 25 West Houston also went on the market for $75,000 a month, the listing is here. And there is also a $75,000 per month listing at the Waldorf Towers on East 50th Street (the listing agent Margaret H. Bay also has $95,000, $130,000 and $140,000 per month listings). The listing for the $75,000 apartment is here. The king of expensive rentals, is still the penthouse duplex at Trump Park Avenue that is being offered for $200,000 per month.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Actor Johnny Knoxville has listed his three-bedroom home in the Hollywood Hills for $1.695 million. The listing is here.
-Music producer DJ Lethal has listed his two-bedroom contemporary-style house in the Hollywood Hills for $1.35 million. He purchased the home from actor Ivan Sergei's Lankershim Blvd Trust back in 2005 for the exact same amount. The listing is here.
--Once again rumors are swirling that Dr. Phil McGraw has placed his Beverly Hills mansion on the market for $18 million in a pocket listing, which means it is private and we can't show you a listing.
--Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen's official sale price for their house in Malibu was $15.5 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Cher's Malibu mansion has hit the market for $45 million. As Big Time Listings points out, the 14,000 square foot home was on the market in early 2007 for $25 million. The listing is here.
--Artist Jennifer Bartlett has sold her Manhattan townhouse, which includes a pool and her studio, for $17 million. It was previously our estate of the day back in July of last year.
--Shaquille O'Neal has dropped the price on his Miami home from $32 million to $29 million. I'll be taking a closer look at this one on Monday as our estate of the day.

The annual Mercedes-Benz Polo Challenge will kick off at the JetOne Jets Field at the Bridgehampton Polo Club on Saturday, July 19 this year. This season's partners include Coca-Cola, Fiji Water, T-Mobile, Pernod Ricard, Ralph Lauren, Hpnotiq and Zino Platinum Cigars, and the MVP Player Award will be presented by Westin Rinehart. The matches, which will run for six consecutive Saturdays through August 23 this year, are the social mainstay of the Hamptons season and feature some of the world's best polo players competing for one of the sport's most treasured prizes. Anyone can watch from the stands, but the invitation-only V.I.P. tent is the real scene. Celebs in attendance in years previous have included Anne Hathaway, Elizabeth Hurley, Heather Graham, Howard Stern, Jared Leto, Jay Z, Jessica Alba, Mischa Barton, Natalie Portman and Prince Albert of Monaco, to name a few. All proceeds will go to a good cause, the South Fork Breast Health Coalition.