slash

Last month I mentioned that entertainment memorabilia auction house, Julien's Auctions, would be hosting an auction dedicated to the property of legendary guitarist and musician Slash, I knew I had to go see it in person. The sale includes a variety of famous guitars, memorabilia, vehicles and personal furniture and décor from his Hollywood Hills home and the sheer breadth of material is quite stunning. Slash, it could be said, might be a bit of a rock-and-roll packet. Guitars include a custom Stravinski Fender Stratocaster estimated at $3,000-5,000; a B.C. Rich Red Mockingbird guitar estimated at $2,000-4,000; and two versions of Slash's very own Gibson and Epiphone Slash Les Paul signature model guitars in Tobacco Sunburst estimated at $4,000-6,000.

Entertainment memorabilia auction house, Julien's Auctions, is hosting an auction dedicated to the property of legendary guitarist and musician Slash. The sale includes a variety of famous guitars, memorabilia, vehicles and personal furniture and décor from his Hollywood Hills home.

Guitars include a custom Stravinski Fender Stratocaster estimated at $3,000-5,000; a B.C. Rich Red Mockingbird guitar estimated at $2,000-4,000; and two versions of Slash's very own Gibson and Epiphone Slash Les Paul signature model guitars in Tobacco Sunburst estimated at $4,000-6,000.

Nicole Murphy might be most famous for being Eddie Murphy's ex-wife (and now Michael Strahan's fiancee) but she also had a career as a model and now has launched her own line of jewelry. Murphy and her business partner Yolanda Braddy created Friendship, Love and Peace, a line of necklaces and bracelets composed of beads in a variety of materials. Prices range from under $100 for simple lava stone bead bracelets to over $6,000 for a knotted bracelet with champagne diamond-covered beads. The designs are meant to appeal to both men and women and the different textures give the pieces an organic tactile quality. The jewelry can be ordered online and is set to appear in boutiques and department stores later this year. Stars that have worn the pieces include Adam Lambert and Slash.

I've heard that Ann Brenoff who writes the LA Times Hot Property column will be winding up work in April and striking off on new adventures. I'll miss her column and hope that the LA Times finds an equally talented writer to take her place.
From the LA Times Hot Property:
Dr. Robert Rey, the plastic surgeon who stars on "Dr. 90210" has listed his Beverly Hills home, shown above, at $5.295 million. The five-bedroom home includes a large pool and spa and a pro sports gym. The listing is here.
--Author James Arthur Ray has bought the Beverly Hills home Rodney Peete and Holly Robinson Peete. It was listed at $4.25 million and sold for $4 million.
--Professional golfer Fred Couples has listed his Montecito home for $12.5 million. The listing for the nine-bedroom home with ocean views is here.
--Producer Jon Peters put up a 6.5 acre chunk of land in Beverly Hills up for sale last year for $39.5 million. It didn't sell and is now back on the market for $19.995 million complete with the architect Richard Landry's dream home plans for the property. There is already a 14-car underground garage on the property. The listing is here.

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Model/actress Milla Jovovich has dropped the price on her townhouse at 100 Greenwich Avenue. It's been on and off the market for nearly a year and was once listed at $8.75 million but now sits at $7 million. The listing is here.
--via the NY Post, artist Jeff Koons has closed on the purchase of a six-story townhouse at 11 East 67th Street for $12 million, two years after he first went into contract.
--Hedge funder Scott Bommer and his wife Donya have lowered the price of their apartment at the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South. They bought the four-bedroom unit for $28.5 million last July and put it on the market for $35 million in November. It's now listed at $29.75 million. The listing is here.
--Ivan Kaufman, the CEO of Arbor Realty Trust, and his wife Lisa, are paying $9.26 million for a four-bedroom apartment at 823 Park Avenue.
--Ira Resnick, the founder of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery, paid $10.1 million for a 37th-floor condo at the Millennium Tower on West 67th Street.
--It was once on the market for $50 million but now Lionel Pincus's 14-room duplex at the Pierre can be yours for just $35 million. The listing is here.
--Raymond Weil president Benny Shabtai really wants to sell at 870 Park Avenue. So much so that he has cut more than $13 million off the price. The 13-room contemporary Robert A.M. Stern-designed mansion has been on-and-off the market since 2004 and was once as high as $33 million. It is now listed for $19.95 million. The listing is here.
Soap opera actors Catherine Hickland and Michael Knight have sold their 12th-floor co-op at 255 West 84th Street for $2.3 million.
--The 24th-floor Trump International apartment once occupied by Rand Skolnick, the former CEO of Solgar Vitamins who died last year, has been discounted by $1 million after just a month on the market and now sits at $7.75 million. Check out the views at the listing here.
--Frederick Hill, director of Berry-Hill Galleries, has sold his two-bedroom penthouse at 43 West 64th Street for $2.55 million.
-- Karen and David Fleiss originally listed their duplex at 1030 Fifth Avenue for $47.5 million last June. They then lowered their price twice and tried selling off just the bottom floor for $15 million Then they tried selling the entire eight-bedroom unit to $25 million. Now they've re-listed the bottom floor once again for $12 million. The listing is here.
--Real estate heir Richard Mack has cut the price on his seven-floor townhouse on East 94th Street. He originally put the home up for sale for $59 million last summer but it is now listed at $42 million. The listing is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--Spice Girl Melanie Brown has put her Los Angeles home on the market. It's our estate of the day later today.
--There are rumors that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes could buy David and Victoria Beckham's home in Beverly Hills.
--Did guitar god Slash buy the home in the Mulholland Estates area of Beverly Hills belonging to Colleen Maloof? The home was listed at $8.95 million.
--Rhianna has been spotted house shopping in various locations around Los Angeles.
--Phil Maloof's Beverly Hills house has been reduced from $16.995 million to $10.865 million. The listing is here.
--Joe Maloof's Brentwood home has been reduced from $4.995 million to $4.2 million. The listing is here.
--The Bel Air mansion belonging to Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony has been reduced from $8.5 million to $7.9 million. The listing is here.
--The Harvey Mudd Estate, which was our estate of the day in October 2008 has had another price reduction. It was originally listed at $11.495 million but now sits at $7.995 million.
--Singer Lenny Kravtiz has listed at three-bedroom home in Miami Beach, Florida. The listing is here. His NYC apartment at 30 Crosby also remains on the market for $14.995 million. The listing is here.
--Designer James Perse can get you to pay over $100 for a t-shirt but can he get you to pay $4.995 million for a one-bedroom home in Los Angeles? The listing is here.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Aaron Spelling's widow Candy Spelling has put her home on the market for $150 million.
--Radio host Don Imus has listed his home in Westport, Connecticut for $30 million. The listing is here.

From ONTD:
--The Malibu home used as the exterior for the Hannah Montana television show is available for $15 million.

From the Austin Statesman:
--One of my favorite estate of the day properties, a four-floor modern townhouse in Austin is back on the market for %6.5 million. It was listed for $7.5 million when it was our estate of the day in 2007.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--via In Touch Weekly, 'Dancing with the Stars' co-host Samantha Harris and her husband, Michael Hess have paid $1,600,000 to buy a in Los Angeles west of the Century City area.
--Slash has finally sold his five-bedroom "lawsuit house" in the Hollywood Hills, possibly to San Diego Padres relief pitcher Randy Wolf.
--An update of the real estate moves of Hilary Swank, she paid $5.8 million earlier this year for a place in Pacific Palisades and told W Magazine that she left New York because of the high real estate prices (Swank and ex-hubby Chad Lowe sold their Manhattan townhouse for $7,050,000 million in January) but likely her romance with her former agent John Campisi, who is L.A.-based also had something to do with it. Nevertheless, New York magazine has spotted Swank browsing for a loft and reported that she was looking at a a two-bedroom unit in the Superior Ink development in Manhattan.
--'One Tree Hill' actors Chad Michael Murray and Sophia Bush have sold their house in Wilmington, N.C. for $730,000.
--Justin Long, who is perhaps most famous for the "I'm a Mac" ads, has paid about $1,400,000 for amid-century modern home in the Hollywood Hills.
--Nicole Richie has sold her condominium unit in the Empire West building in West Hollywood for $2,250,000.

From the Real Estalker:
--via Newsday, Patricia Kennedy Lawford's estate has sold her Southampton home for $9.8 million.
--via Luxury Real Estate, Eddie Murphy's ex-wife Nicole Murphy has sold their Sacramento area home for the highest price the Sacramento area has ever seen, $6.1 million.Most of the furnishings, including at least 20 TVs and a sleek, black, $200,000 Schimmel Pegasus grand piano were included in the deal.
--The Real Estalker Mama has nabbed some interior shots of the Golden Beach, Florida house that Ricky Martin has put on the market for $22.5 million.
--The Mama takes a look at Peter Guber's Kauai Tara Plantation. This home has sat on the market for $46.5 million for nearly 3 years, we covered it way back in February 2005.
--Amanda Peet and her screenwriter husband David Benioff have sold their Angelo View Drive house high above Holmby Hills and have purchased the former James Cagney estate above Sunset Boulevard on N. Wetherly Drive.
--50 Cent has reduced the price of his Connecticut home to $12 million from $18.5 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Nicolas Cage has pulled his Bel-Air mansion, which was listed at $35 million, off the market.
-- St. Louis Rams owner Georgia Frontiere sold her Bel-Air home for close to $30 million.
--Madonna's former home in Beverly Hills, which was redone by Diane Keaton, just closed at almost $17 million.
--Comedy writer Bill Richmond has purchased a town house overlooking the lake in Calabasas Park for close to its asking price of $1.3 million.
--Gregory Joujon-Roche, a celebrity personal trainer, has listed his Malibu condo for $2.695 million. The listing is here, the home is freshly redecorated and gorgeous.
--Peter Shin, supervising director of the TV show "Family Guy," has bought a contemporary-style house for $1.3-plus million in the Hollywood Hills.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Fashion designer Kenzo has put his Paris home on the market for 12 million euros. it is our estate of the day later today.


From the NY Times Big Deal:
--The buyer of Ricky Martin's former apartment in the Time Warner Center have signed a contract to flip it for around $17.9 million. Martin bought it in 2004 for $6.8 million and sold it in September 2006 for $9.75 million.
--Fewer than a third of the 201 coveted apartments in Robert A. M. Stern's complex 15 Central Park West near the foot of Central Park, at West 61st Street, have now closed. But of those, five apartments were put back on the market almost instantly and more listings are likely.

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.

As part of Los Angeles fashion week, one aspiring designer will be awarded a $20,000 one-year scholarship to attend FIDM/The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising this fall and to work with fashion designer Kevan Hall. The scholarship will be partially funded through an upcoming auction of one-of-a-kind Fender guitars decorated by guitarist Slash, supermodel Carolyn Murphy, pop star Mya and skater Tony Hawk.  The guitars are on display during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios and will be auctioned this spring. The saucy guitar in the center which bears plenty of pictures of women in lingerie and the words "whip me" up one side is bound to be a hot seller.