Russian Refugees Fleeing 15 CPW?
With their trophy properties being eyed by Western governments due to Vladimir Putin‘s unprovoked war on Ukraine, Russian oligarchs are scrambling their yachts and jets and, according to the New York Post‘s real estate watcher Jennifer Gould, quietly shopping their trophy apartments and homes. Among the several friends-of-Putin who’ve protected their cratering rubles by trading […]
Eric Adams Aide a Ukranian-born Oligarch Mouthpiece
Ukraine-born lawyer Edward Mermelstein, a key advisor to New York Mayor Eric Adams, is a fascinating fellow whom I interviewed for House of Outrageous Fortune, my book on 15 Central Park West. That was back in the days when Ukranians still worked with Russia’s kleptocrats, rather than shooting at them. But the building’s developers gave […]
R.I.P. Jacques Silberstein
It’s been a bad week all around, and on the personal front there is the shocking news of the death of Jacques Silberstein, a puckish French fashion photographer and later, Los Angeles-based painter. I first met Jacques while researching Model, and he remained a friend (he’s pictured at the Unreal Estate book party at the […]
Food Fight
The beloved and creative London restaurateur Jeremy King (co-owner of my favorite UK eatery, The Wolseley) found himself at war last week with a Thai hospitality conglomerate, with Richard Caring, who cooks up restaurant takeovers, and has gobbled up restaurants formerly owned by King and partner Chris Corbin, as well as the late Mark Birley’s […]
Epstein, Maxwell, Brunel: The Never-Ending Scandal
With the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell over her role–if any–in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual predation providing more dirty details daily, Epstein’s other alleged rabbateur, model agent Jean-Luc Brunel, still in French custody as the criminal case against him proceeds, and multiple documentaries in production about Brunel, his Elite Models counterparts Gerald Marie (target of a civil […]
All in the Family
Former treasury guy for the still-an-asshole guy Steven Mnuchin has finally offloaded his long-empty 740 Park Avenue apartment, writes real estate reporter Kim Velsey. The 8th and 9th floor A-line duplex, in his family for three generations, has been sold to a member of another longtime 740 family, Lacey Tisch, daughter of Andrew, whose uncle […]
740 Park Prez Rand Araskog, RIP
Rand Araskog, longtime president of the board of directors of the 740 Park cooperative, has died at age 89, reports the New York Times. The former chief executive of ITT, he owned a sixth floor duplex, once the home of “Black Jack” and Janet Bouvier, and the childhood home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and sister […]
Book Bits
Two of my books have earned press “hits” this week. An obituary by Penelope Green of modeling agent Barbara Stone put Model back in the New York Times. And Jennifer Gould of the New York Post references 740 Park in her report on former Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin‘s long, and finally-successful effort, to sell a […]
Suddenly, Last Sumner
The listing of the late Viacom mogul Sumner Redstone’s estate in Beverly Park, near Beverly Hills, for $27.9 million, caused the Hollywood Reporter to revisit Unreal Estate’s opening chapter, in which Sylvester Stallone bought the same property after racist neighbors rose up in fear when Death Row founder Suge Knight almost bought it. Read all […]
Hack Flack
The recent hack of my website continues to reverberate, and the Cast of Characters for 740 Park is currently offline, but IT wizards are at work on restoring it. Apologies, and thanks to Mark David of Dirt who alerted me to the page’s disappearance while sharing some news of the Park Avenue fortress.