vanessa hudgens

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."

Land Rover and Range Rover added an extra dose of style to two of Fashion Week's hottest shows with a fleet of vehicles for VIPs. The new Land Rover LR4 was the starring attraction at the Rag & Bone show in Soho, sponsored by the famed UK SUV marque, where beauties like model Jessica Stam (above) and Mad Men's Jon Hamm made the scene. And at the presentation by Marchesa, designed by Georgina Chapman, Range Rovers and Range Rover Sports provided luxe transportation for the likes of actresses Vanessa Hudgens and Michele Trachtenberg, musician Eve, socialite and TV personality Olivia Palermo, and model Irina Lazareanu. At both venues the vehicles sported the designer's logos, and when lined up impressively outside got nearly as much attention as the scenesters themselves.

"Land Rover is expanding its marketing profile with, for the first time, supporting a fashion house, Rag & Bone, during New York Fashion Week," noted Stuart Schorr, vice president of communications and public affairs, Jaguar Land Rover North America. "The Rag & Bone brand, led by Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, is admired for its refined and versatile aesthetic. Both Land Rover and Rag & Bone were born in England and enjoy massive global appeal. The Land Rover LR4 has evolved a distinct design heritage that is rooted in both authentic luxury and rugged capability. Similarly, through Rag & Bone, Marcus and David have established a legacy through high levels of skill and craftsmanship." Might we dare to hope for a Ltd. Rag & Bone Edition LR4 edition in the near future....?

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.