ryan seacrest

Ryan Seacrest On The Move In Los Angeles?

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

The Real Estalker broke the news that Ryan Seacrest has listed his Hollywood Hills home with an asking price of $14.95 million. Seacrest bought the home in the Nichols Canyon area in 2006 for $11.5 million from Kevin Costner. He made some renovations and the home appeared in Architectural Digest in January 2008 with a smiling Seacrest showing off his trophy home. Gawker has the photo shoot images.

The Mediterranean-style mansion was originally built in 1974 and has six bedrooms according to the listing. Seacrest calls the home Casa di Pace (House of Peace) and hired interior designer Jeff Andrews to do over the home. Andrews has additional images of the home on his website. The home has the sedate and luxurious look of a boutique hotel. So far I haven't been able to track down the official listing but the hunt is on.

Tags: celebrity real estate, hollywood hills, los angeles real estate, ryan seacrest

Sprinkles: The Original Cupcake Bakery

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Los Angeles, Ca.-based Sprinkles has been nominated for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Cupcake.

Sprinkles is a favorite of Hollywood stars from Tyra Banks, Russell Crowe and Paris Hilton to Katie Holmes, Oprah Winfrey and Teri Hatcher, all of who proclaim love for the sumptuous treats. "I love Sprinkles Cupcakes," says Banks. "I am addicted to them." Ryan Seacrest is a fan, too. "These are not just cupcakes, they're a lifestyle," he says. Barbra Streisand once sent a box of Sprinkle's cupcakes to Oprah Winfrey. Oprah enjoyed them so much she ordered enough to share with her entire studio audience. Sprinkles is also known for its star topped variety served at Oscar parties.

Luxist readers describe the cupcakes this way:

"Amazingly delicious and beautiful with a variety of flavors."
"The best cupcakes anywhere! Long lines, but worth the wait. Their butter with vanilla frosting will change your life."
"The original luxury cupcake store."
"Their entire range of flavors is executed masterfully, from classics like Red Velvet to more exotic editions like chai latte. The cake is light and not too sweet with rich frostings that balance each other perfectly."

Company founders Candace and Charles Nelson opened the first Sprinkles in Beverly Hills in April 2005. People thought the couple were crazy to open a cupcakes-only bakery in the middle of "thin city" at a time with low carb mania was at its peak. Despite naysayers, they sold out within hours of opening, and sales haven't slowed since. Today, Sprinkles is known as much for its long lines and devoted fans as for its delicious cupcakes. Sprinkles is credited with inspiring a national cupcake craze as reported by the New York Times, USA Today, the Today Show and Nightline.

Gallery: More from Sprinkles

Sprinkles evokes the memory of European bakeries flooded with the smell of baked goods and awash in natural light, with a modern touch. Its cupcakes are baked in small batches throughout the day, so that they will be as fresh as possible for Sprinkles' devoted customers. The cupcakes are handcrafted from the finest ingredients, including sweet cream butter, bittersweet Belgian chocolate, pure Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, fresh bananas and carrots, real strawberries and natural citrus zests.

Sprinkles offers more than 20 tantalizing flavors (15 or so of which are on sale on any given day), from simple vanilla to creative chai latte. Topped with Sprinkles' trademark modern dots, rich chocolate sprinkles from France or seasonal sugar decorations, Sprinkles Cupcakes are perfect for occasions of any kind.

Sprinkles' famous gift box is a sleek rectangular box that holds one dozen freshly baked cupcakes. The bakery also offers a tray, produced by Heller in a variety of colors, that fits right into the gift box and can be kept to display the cupcakes.

Sprinkles also offers signature cupcake mixes in red velvet, vanilla, dark chocolate and lemon. The mixes are made from the same high quality ingredients used in Sprinkles bakeries and are complete with Sprinkle's trademark modern dots. In addition to Sprinkles shops, the mixes are sold at Williams-Sonoma's 250 stores nationwide and in Canada.

Its original store is two blocks west of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, but today, Sprinkles has six additional locations in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Newport Beach, Scottsdale and Palo Alto. More locations will be opening soon in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Denver, Kansas City, London, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.

Vote for the company you believe makes the best cupcakes. Readers' Choice Winners will be announced on March 1st.

Tags: awards-main, Barbra Streisand, BarbraStreisand, best cupcake, BestCupcake, beverly hills, BeverlyHills, candace nelson, CandaceNelson, charles nelson, CharlesNelson, katie holmes, KatieHolmes, luxist-awards, oprah winfrey, Oprah Winfrey Show, OprahWinfrey, OprahWinfreyShow, oscars, paris hilton, ParisHilton, russell crowe, RussellCrowe, ryan seacrest, RyanSeacrest, sprinkles, sweets-main, teri hatcher, TeriHatcher, tyra banks, TyraBanks

Ventura Backless Stool

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

The Ventura Backless Stool is sleek and modern, outfitted with a metallic colored fiberglass seat and stainless steel swivel base. It is available in twelve colors, so it can easily blend in to most contemporary homes. The shape is meant to cradle your body weight and, despite the fact that it is backless, comfortably support you in the same way as an ergonomic chair. The key selling point of the chair design, aside from its flashy look, is that this design was used for interviews on American Idol. Whether you want a chair because Ryan Seacrest sat in it is up to you, but a more appealing thought is that all your favorite contestants sat there, too. It's too bad that you don't get an Idol with the chair, but it's probably best that it hasn't been branded with the show's name or anything. Price: $79.

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Tags: american idol, AmericanIdol, backless, chair, ryan seacrest, stool

Auction Napa Valley

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Auctions

It's time once again for Napa's annual big wine auction, Auction Napa Valley. Last year's auction brought in over $10 million with items like a walk-on part in Desperate Housewives and a chance to purchase the final collaboration of the Mondavi brothers. This year's main event is scheduled for June 3 but for the first time, you don't have to be there to take part in the fun. There are a variety of lots online. Want five liters of the 2003 Amuse Bouche? How about a package from Larry Bird and Mitch Cosentino that includes autographed bottles of their Legends Meritage Red, a signed Larry Bird basketball and tickets to an Indiana Pacers game? There are all sorts of lots for wine lovers whether you are looking to increase your cellar or experience life as a winemaker for the day.

Of course if you bid online you miss out on one fabulous party hosted by the one-and-only Ryan Seacrest as well as the more blockbuster lots which tie together wine with events like a private concert from Alan Parsons, being read to by Isabel Allende or a walk-on part in the Geena Davis show "Commander In Chief." The full weekend package which starts Thursday with a hospitality event and includes the Friday auction and festival, the Saturday Good Morning Napa event, all of Saturday night's events and the Sunday open houses at wineries throughout the area as well as a catalog and bidding paddle. The package costs $7,500.

[via Napa Valley Register]

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Tags: amuse bouche, duckhorn, far niente, geena davis, napa valley, NapaValley, ryan seacrest, wine, wine auction

Sunday Real Estate Round-Up

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Another case of famous sells to famous.Kevin Costner has sold his Hollywood Hills home there to Ryan Seacrest for $11.5 million.
--Conductor Zubin Mehta and his wife have sold their Malibu getaway for $15 million. The home sold the first day it went on the market.
--Film producer Charles Roven has sold his Beverly Hills-area home for around its $9.5-million asking price.
--Lou Diamond Phillips has sold his home in Monteria Estates, a gated community in Chatsworth, for $2.1 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Nice discount! One of New York's $50 million listing has been reduced to $39 million. Real-estate developer and former WorldCom director Francesco Galesi is eager to sell. Does Galesi overestimate the value of his properties? He originally listed a Southampton mansion for $45 million and ended selling (to Calvin Klein) for $28.9 million.
--Calvin Klein's daughter Marci is buying a SoHo condo for around $10 million. Klein is a senior producer and chief talent booker at Saturday Night Live.
-- Iris Cantor, the widow of Cantor Fitzgerald founder B. Gerald "Bernie" Cantor is in a bidding war for a penthouse with a $14 million asking price which is being built at 110 Central Park South.
--Bear Stearns CEO James Cayne becomes the latest deep-pocketed person to buy an apartment at the plaza. He is spending $25 million for a 5,000 square foot space that will be available for occupancy next year.
--Thomas Siebel, founder of Siebel Systems, is buying the entire 79th floor of the Time Warner Center's south tower for $29 million. He is also buying half of a lower floor for around $16 million.

From the NY Times Big Deal:
--Everyone's talking about the Time Warner Center, it's officially sold out with a total sales of over $1 billion. The building might be the best place in New York to meet a billionaire.The very monied who will live there include J. Joe Ricketts who founded Ameritrade (floor 78); as mentioned by Braden Keil of the NY Post, Thomas Siebel (floor 79) and Time Warner Center developer Steven Ross (floor 80); as well as John W. Kluge, No. 52 on the Forbes list of billionaires and Jon L. Stryker No. 428 on the Forbes list with $1.8 billion and David Martinez who spent $54.7 million. on two floors of raw space.
--Joseph M. Jacobs, a hedge fund manager who once planned to build the biggest house in Greenwich, Conn., has now spent $13.6 million on a three-bedroom apartment at 1 Central Park West, the Trump International Hotel and Tower. He also owns a home in the Conyers Farms section of Greenwich that he planned to live in while building their now-scrapped 39,000 square foot mega manse.

Tags: california real estate, calvin klein, celebrity real estate, kevin costner, new york real estate, real estate, RealEstate, ryan seacrest, time warner center