Tag Archives: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Slam Dunk- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Marina Del Rey Home For Sale

Considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time,  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was chosen as the NBA’s most valuable player six times and an NBA All-Star nineteen times during his storied twenty-season career for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. Famous for his dunking skills, he was so dominant on the UCLA Bruins varsity squad that the NCAA banned the dunk after the 7’2″ superstar led his team to a 30-0 season and the first of three college national championships. He would go on to be the #1 pick in the NBA draft in 1969 and was named the league’s Rookie of the Year. He would win five more MVP awards before becoming an assistant coach for several teams, including the Los Angeles Clippers and the Lakers.

In addition, he has made numerous appearances in film and television and published several best-selling books. 

photos- Noel Kleinman.

Now the swanky Marina del Rey pad Abdul-Jabber called home from 2011 to 2021 has hit the market. Across the street from the Ritz Carlton and the California Yacht Club, the luxe but laid back four-bedroom, three-bath residence is one of just twelve homes in an exclusive gated community. 

Kareem’s former home was thoughtfully designed for its very tall owner, featuring enlarged doorways and other modifications.

An airy open-floor plan connects the large living room and formal dining room area with a stellar kitchen, complete with granite counters, a spacious island, custom cabinets, and stainless steel appliances. Sliding doors open onto a side garden patio. 

On the second level, find hardwood floors and a stunning primary suite with a fireplace, a massive walk-in closet, and a fantastic private balcony with views of the nearby marina. The luxurious spa-inspired bathroom includes dual vanities plus a separate Jacuzzi spa tub and steam shower. A third floor offers an additional bedroom perfect for a home office, with another patio offering views of the Ritz Carlton and the marina. An oversized garage offers space for two cars and four additional outdoor parking spaces. Additional features include a whole-house water filtration system, automatic lighting, and a monitored/remote-access camera security system.

Marina del Rey is a coastal community noted for its small-craft harbor, one of the largest in North America with over 5,000 boats.

A destination for kayaking, bird-watching, and recreation of all kinds, the harbor is often visited by harbor seals, sea lions, and dolphins. The home is just steps from the harbor and the Marvin Braude bike path. A short walk takes you to Trader Joe’s, the unique shops of Abbot Kinney and several world-class restaurants. Rapper Ice Cube has a home in Marina del Rey, while other celebrities keep their luxury yachts in the local harbor and frequent its shopping and dining hotspots.  For The Silo, Bob Walsh/ friends at toptenrealestatedeals.com

The listing is held by James Allen at Compass. 

Muhammad Ali’s Beautiful LA Mansion

Widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali was named “Sportsman of the Century” by Sports Illustrated in 1999.

Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, he started boxing at the age of twelve. At eighteen, he took home gold in the 1960 Olympics before going pro. In 1964, he upset Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight champion of the world, converted to Islam, and changed his name. Citing his religious beliefs, he refused to be drafted during the Vietnam War, fighting a draft-dodging conviction all the way to the Supreme Court. His stance against the war and his prominence as a black sportsman during the civil rights era made him a hero to African Americans and the counterculture. His fancy footwork and unorthodox movement made him the world heavyweight champion three separate times between 1964 and 1978, while his brash style and poetic trash-talking influenced hip-hop music.

Outside the ring, he was nominated for two Grammys for his spoken word albums. The superstar retired from boxing in 1979 and died in 2016.

Muhammad Ali’s former mansion, a beautiful Italian Renaissance home in a prime Los Angeles neighborhood, is set to be auctioned by Concierge Auctions. Built in 1916 by John C. Austin, architect of the Griffith Observatory and LA’s City Hall, the estate much like the Champ exudes charm and grandeur. A stained glass personally designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany tops a collection of priceless architectural features, including antique fireplaces, French Empire chandeliers, and imported Italian marble.

Ali owned the home from 1979 to 1984.

Stone steps lead up to a European-style facade. Set up for entertaining in style, the mansion’s lower floor features a grand entry hall, a sun room with a glass roof, a spacious salon, an ornate formal dining room, a living room with oversized bay windows, and a den with a wet bar. The estate has hosted a parade of luminaries, including Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood and President Obama. 

Upstairs, find bedrooms and offices, including a massive primary suite with its own fireplace. The suite opens onto a columned deck that overlooks two beautifully landscaped gardens. The park-like grounds include a swimming pool, lush lawns, a pergola terrace, stone fountains, and patios. Sitting on a 1.5-acre corner lot, the 10,500-square-foot mansion and 1,000-square-foot guesthouse are surrounded by privacy hedges and nestled behind the guarded gates of Fremont Place, an exclusive gated community in Hancock Park.

Hancock Park is an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood known for its architecturally important homes.

A haven for Golden Age celebrities, some of Ali’s neighbors included Mae West, Clark Gable, and Nat King Cole, plus titans of industry A.P. Giannini (founded Bank of America) and King Gillete of Gillete Inc. Contemporary stars who call the region home include Margot Robbie and Fred Savage. Nearby options for entertainment include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Wilshire Country Club. 

Previously listed for $13.5 million usd/ $18.5 million cad, the estate will be auctioned with a reserve. Bidding will close on May 15th. 

Photos: Concierge Auctions. Article courtesy of friends at toptenrealestatedeals.com

Porsche Tower Condos Allows Owners To Take Cars Up In Elevator

 New York City is home to over 70 of the world’s billionaires, but when they want to get away to decompress, many shed their suit and tie for a guayabera, white slacks and boat shoes and head to South Florida for the white sand beaches, fine dining, yachting and golfing. Some have been heading to Sunny Isles, Florida where, according to the developer, over 20 billionaires have purchased a home at Porsche Design Tower.

What a space! What a view!
What a space! What a view!

New owners at the Porsche building were the first in North America to be able to take their cars up an elevator to their personal sky garage, including the $USD 32.5 million penthouse. Three patented Dezervators, a glass drive-in elevator rising at 600-feet per minute, will enable residents to keep an eye on their Ferraris, Porsches and Rolls Royces while sitting in their living rooms reading the Wall Street Journal and checking out the Atlantic Ocean views.

The 60th-floor Porsche penthouse comes with a huge living and dining area, state-of-the-art kitchen, family room and four ensuite bedrooms with a total of seven baths, floor-to-ceiling glass walls, 20-foot ceilings and a private people elevator. The outdoor living areas are equally impressive with a private terrace pool and roof pool, two balconies and two summer kitchens. It has two sky garages and a separate 3,000-square-foot car gallery. The gallery can be customized by the owner for fewer cars to substitute a game room or extra living space.

Porsche Tower Interior1Building amenities include a three-story lobby with glass car elevator observatory, movie theater, game room, oceanside restaurant with indoor/outdoor dining, private wine lockers, oceanside bar and lounge with fireplace and large-screen TVs, oceanfront pool with food and beverage service, Intracoastal Waterway sunset deck, virtual golf simulator, virtual car-race game, ballroom with bar and catering kitchen, oceanfront gym and yoga room, spa, sauna, steam rooms, hair salon and a car concierge available to give the luxury cars a wash and maintenance.

Porsche Tower Interior2Having broken ground in 2014, the tower is now sold out.

The penthouse is priced at $32.5 million; other units when remaining were listed for sale starting at $6.2 million. Porsche is located in Sunny Isles – a ritzy part of the Atlantic Ocean stretch of Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale condos. The developer is Dezer Development in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.

In Other Real Estate News- “San Francisco Clock Tower Penthouse”.  Few can say that they start off their dinner parties with cocktails inside a century old clock. That is to say, no one except the new owners of this historic three-level landmark loft apartment gleaned from the clock tower of a factory in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood that was converted into live-work spaces in 1992 by architect David Baker.

The historic clock tower was constructed in 1907 and the large building complex that supported it became the West Coast’s largest printing company by 1921. The owner of the business, Max Schmidt, decided to construct a penthouse level in the clock tower where natural light poured in from all four sides of the clock faces so that his lithographers would find it easier to work. In 1930, the plan for the new Bay Bridge was solidified, which would require tearing down a portion of the printing buildings, including the clock tower. Schmidt would have none of that and used his clout, threatening to move his business to the other side of the bay. The city, unwilling to lose one of their largest businesses, gave in and agreed to take the highway around Schmidt’s complex and the tower was saved. In 1992, the old factory was repurposed into 127 contemporary live/work lofts and offices. Commuters have come to depend on the clock as they travel to and from work each day.

Now for the first time in almost a quarter of a century, the penthouse is for sale. The sleek contemporary condo with spectacular city views measures in at a spacious 3,000 square feet of living space, including a room inside the clock itself and has large wrap-around terraces providing outdoor space for lounging and entertaining. The two-bedroom, two-bath residence has been designed to optimize the loft’s spaciousness with an expansive living-dining room divided by a double-sided glass fireplace with French doors opening to the terrace. Original brick walls, hardwood and polished concrete floors and built-in bookcases following the lines of the beams are highlights of the structure. Included are a gourmet kitchen with top-end appliances and space for a table, office, game room, library, large master suite and the clock room.

San Francisco’s historic registered Landmark Clock Tower four-story penthouse loft apartment with conversation piece furnished room inside the clock is listed at $8.5 million.

Visit TopTenRealEstateDeals.com for more celebrity homes and real estate news. For the Silo, Terry Walsh.

How Societies Become Consumer Cultures Through Housing

Alfred Marshall’s (Principles of Economics, 1891) view of housing still goes right to the heart of what makes housing and built environment an important anthropological topic. No artifact is so clearly multi-functional, simultaneously a utilitarian object of absolute necessity, and an item of symbolic material culture, a text of almost unending complexity.

In every house the economic, social and symbolic dimensions of behavior come together. This may be why the analysis of housing has had such a wide appeal in disciplines as diverse as social psychology, folklore, economics and engineering. Anthropologists themselves have shown a new willingness to consider the house as a key artifact in understanding the articulation of economic and social change during economic development.

An ethnocentric home.

From the perspective of our own contemporary society, surrounded by houses of all shapes and sizes, where wealth and luxury are synonymous with housing, this seems obvious and commonplace. The 1980’s television show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and journals like “Architectural Review” are odes to the home as a shrine and symbol of wealth. But just as clearly, there are societies where all the houses look alike, even though all the people are not alike. Perhaps then, the assumption that there is something natural and obvious about spending on the house and home market as a marker of prestige is ethnocentric. Why the house instead of something else?

A number of anthropological approaches attempt to place the house in a theoretical context which answer this question by relating housing to social, economic, and psychological variation and change. For example, a utilitarian approach that views the house partially as a workspace links changes in the elaboration of houses to changes in the kinds of work done in the household (Braudel 1973:201). Or if the house is seen as a reflection of how all household activities are organized and divided, then the shape of the house will change as activities are modified, differentiated, or recombined (Kent 1983, 1984).

Utilitarian houses.

An even more utilitarian perspective relates the form of the house to climate, technology and the kinds of building materials that are available (Duly 1979).  For the Silo, Richard R. Wilk.

Read on..click here and read the full PDF document on your device.

Supplemental- Complete Text  Principles of Economics (London: Macmillan and Co. 8th ed. 1920).
Author: Alfred Marshall
About This Title: This is the 8th edition of what is regarded to be the first “modern” economics textbook, leading in various editions from the 19th into the 20th century. The final 8th edition was Marshall’s most-used and most-cited.

Montreal Restaurant Renoir Is Part Of Culinary Golden Mile

SOFITEL MONTREAL GOLDEN MILE
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ON S’EN MET PLEIN LES PATTES
Chaque jeudi     Every Thursday
Du 14 au 28 avril, de 17h à 20h
From April 14 to 28, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
crabeneige.jpg
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Bar à crabe des neiges et oursins
Snow crab and sea urchins bar
Le printemps arrive, le crabe des neiges aussi ! Joignez-vous à nous au restaurant Renoir pour découvrir nos fameux cocktails ainsi que des produits sélectionnés par notre Chef Olivier Perret. 
Spring is coming, so is the snow crab! Come join us at the Renoir restaurant to discover our famous cocktails and products selected by our Chef Olivier Perret. 
Servis avec mayonnaise maison et garnitures
Served with home-made mayonnaise and garnish
30 $
Taxes et service non inclus
Taxes and service not inclued
Restaurant Renoir
1155 Sherbrooke Ouest
Montréal, H3A 2N3, Québec
SofitelMontreal.Restaurant@sofitel.com
+1 (514) 788-3038
www.Restaurant-Renoir.com
#RenoirDesNeige
#RestaurantRenoir
#SofitelMontreal
1155 Sherbrooke Ouest – Montreal – Quebec – H3A 2N3 – Montreal – Canada
Tel: +1 514 285-9000 – Fax : +1 514 289-1155 – montreal@sofitel.com – www.sofitel.com/Montreal

Real Estate Bubble? Celebrities Forced To Reduce Asking Price On Homes By Millions

Both Celine Dion and Puff Daddy have vastly reduced the prices on their mansion homes, featured this week at TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.

“Celine Drops Price on Florida Water Park Home” Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer Celine Dion and her manager husband, René Angélil, built their dream Florida home on Jupiter Island in 2010. The location offered the privacy the hard working couple wanted to relax with their children and friends and they designed an estate around a series of water features and outdoor sports activities that, along with pristine beachfront, took full advantage of the Florida sunshine and Atlantic Ocean breezes. But even for celebrities who seem to have achieved it all, life can throw curve balls.

For Sale -Now Reduced! Celine Dion's Florida home.
For Sale -Now Reduced! Celine Dion’s Florida home.

Though René had successfully fully recovered from a bout of throat cancer in 1999, it reoccurred in 2013 when he had surgery for another malignant throat tumor. Dion announced in 2014 that she would suspend her performances indefinitely due to her husband’s worsening health. In August of 2015, she resumed her Las Vegas residency at Caesar’s Palace, but lost René to cancer in January 2016 and her brother only two days later. The couple and their three children had made the Las Vegas bedroom community of Henderson their home while Dion was performing at Caesar’s Palace. She returned to the stage on February 23rd for the first time since René’s death and paid tribute to his memory and their life together in her first performance.

Their Bahamian-inspired Florida oceanfront estate was first put up for sale in 2013, the year that René was re-diagnosed, for $72.5 million. Over a period of time with no buyer interest, the price was cut to $62.5 million and recently reduced to $45.5 million.

Among many five-star features, the 5.5-acre beachfront property’s centerpiece is the 500,000 gallon water park highlighted by a slow-current lazy river connecting two pools, bridges and a twisting water slide. There is also another pool located beachside. The two-story, 10,000-square-foot main residence has five bedrooms with a second-level wraparound terrace with ocean views and multiple main level terraces. The luxurious master suite walk-in closet has automated carousels for quick access to shoes and clothing at the touch of a finger. The open-plan main level is light and airy in keeping with the subtropical climate. There are also two separate four-bedroom guest houses, tennis house, simulated golf range, pool house and beach house. Celine’s Jupiter neighbors include Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, and Palm Beach is just a few miles down the road.

Now settled in Nevada at least until the end of her Caesar’s Palace residency in 2019, Celine has stepped up her effort to sell her resort estate by engaging a new brokerage and lowering the asking price. Fenton Lang Bruner & Associates in Jupiter Island holds the listing.

“Puff Daddy’s New Jersey Mansion” Whether called Puff Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy, or his real name Sean Combs, the Grammy-winning rapper, actor and businessman is frequently in the news, whether for his recordings, his charity or his clothing line. Most recently, he has signed on as Pharrell Williams’ team adviser for season ten of “The Voice.” Listed as number one by “Forbes” as the wealthiest hip hop artist of 2015 with an estimated net worth of $735 million, Sean has reduced the price on his New Jersey mansion  several times, now at $7.89 million.

For Sale- Now Reduced!- Puff Daddy's NJ home.
For Sale- Now Reduced!- Puff Daddy’s NJ home.

Combs purchased his elaborate 3.25 acre estate in Alpine in 2004 for $6 million. Built in 1999, the home has all the glamour and amenities expected in the home of one of America’s most popular celebrities. The 8,000-square-foot home has six bedrooms, six baths, foyer with double staircase and expansive formal rooms with walls of glass filling the interior with light. The basement is the activity heart of the home with its own kitchen, wet bar, home theater, an aquarium and another bedroom with full bath. There is also an indoor basketball/racquetball court and a fully equipped gym with full bath. Outside is a swimming pool with waterfall, putting green, a lighted tennis court and a six-car attached garage. Originally, Sean put the property on the market in 2011 at $13.5 million. Without a buyer, he pulled it from the market and relisted it again in 2015 at $8.5 million. Again with no buyer, he has once again dropped the price to $7.89 million. The listing agency is Sotheby’s International in Alpine, New Jersey. For the Silo, Terry Walsh.

Visit TopTenRealEstateDeals.com for more famous, spectacular and celebrity homes and real estate news.

Celebrity Homes: Casino King’s Las Vegas Mansion Going To Auction

“Las Vegas Primm Ranch”…….Michael Jackson called it “Wonderland” and his daughter said it was “Candyland.” The 10-acre compound in a Las Vegas neighborhood of casino owners, entertainers and royalty (Wayne Newton lives nearby and the Sultan of Brunei was a neighbor) was designed to be a secure and safe haven for a family, a memorable experience for their guests and a place to safely enjoy their expensive hobbies. This was its appeal to Michael Jackson, who had sights on a Las Vegas residency show and, according to Las Vegas media, had toured the home several times. Jackson was planning on making an offer on the home when he returned from his “This Is It” London residency show scheduled to run through early 2010. However, Michael died just three weeks before the start of the tour.

Completed in 1994 for Nevada casino and resort developer Gary Primm, the compound was designed for luxury, but security was Primm’s biggest concern. Primm is a big-game hunter and car collector including the “Bonnie and Clyde Death Car” that he has displayed at several of his casinos. The home was completed soon after Las Vegas casino developer Steve Wynn’s daughter was kidnapped from the kitchen of their Las Vegas home. Primm was worried about the safety of his own two children and designed the home with a 10-foot wall surrounding the property and three gates that can be controlled by the owner, eliminating the need for round-the-clock guards who might be bought off by a rival. Throughout are security tunnels, bulletproof doors, secret rooms with entries disguised as walls or cabinets and a panic room with an oxygen supply and separate underground phone lines.

The Primm Ranch includes a main estate house with 15,000 square feet, a guest villa, grotto villa, staff quarters, horse trainer quarters, equestrian barn, arena, pens and pastures, a dog villa, grotto pool with spa, waterfall and slide, all surrounded by lush lawns and palms. There is also a garage/car showroom that will house 20 cars with its own gas station for diesel and unleaded fuels, a car wash with deionized water and mechanic’s lift. With a total living area of over 21,000 square feet, there are 10 bedrooms and 19 baths. Highlights include a beauty salon, trophy room with recorded animal sounds, driving range, 5,000-bottle wine cellar, theater, casino room, gym and sauna. The grounds include a greenhouse, outdoor kitchen adjacent to the pool with a bar and guest suite accessed under the waterfall, and a tennis court. Equestrian facilities include stalls for ten horses with training and riding areas. According to the estate’s listing agent, Jackson planned on converting the home’s underground shooting range into a recording studio.

Currently listed at $14.5 million USD, Primm Ranch will go up for auction on October 10th with no reserve. The auction company handling the sale is Concierge Auctions of New York City.

Real estate is never boring at TopTenRealEstateDeals. Check out today’s most entertaining, important and unusual real estate news stories of the week. News such as “Florida Foreclosure King Losing Home,” “Burt Reynolds Finally Sells Florida Home,” and “Exotic Islands For Sale.”

Celebrity Homes: Donald Trump’s First Mansion Is For Sale $54 Million USD

Donald Trump’s former Connecticut mansion that he bought at age 35 is for sale and featured this week at TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.
Donald Trump’s former Connecticut mansion that he bought at age 35 is for sale and featured this week at TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.

Donald Trump was born into the real estate business in 1946 in New York City where his father, Fred Trump, was a developer. Donald got a jump-start in the business while he was still in college in the 1960s working menial jobs at his father’s lower middle-class apartment complex in Cincinnati.  In 1971, he moved back to New York City where he took over his father’s company changing the name to The Trump Organization and earned a reputation as a fast-rising real estate tycoon on hotel, condominium and casino projects. In 1986, he made a deal with New York City Mayor Ed Koch to renovate Central Park’s Wollman Rink. The ice skating rink was going on its seventh year of renovations when Trump volunteered to finish and finance the restoration with his own money. He completed the job in just three months.

With his business success and wealth, Trump owns a roster of mansions. His main home is a posh three-level penthouse at Trump Tower on New York’s Fifth Avenue where he also runs his vast business operations. Also in the Gotham area, in 1996 Trump purchased a 60-room mansion in Bedford, New York with three pools and a bowling alley. He later bought Albemarle, a 23,000-square-foot mansion, vineyard and winery on 2,000 acres in Virginia for $12.7 million, a fraction of the original asking price of $100 million. Trump also keeps a large home on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

One of the interior sitting rooms in Trump's first mansion.
One of the interior sitting rooms in Trump’s first mansion.

When he isn’t running for president, firing someone or saying something controversial, Trump relaxes at his Mar-A-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida that he purchased in 1985 for $10 million. The 1920’s mansion with 62,000 square feet and over 100 rooms was originally built for Post Cereal heiress, Marjorie Merriweather Post. Trump upgraded it to a private resort with initiation fees of $100,000, annual dues of $12,000 and nightly rates up to $3,000. Mar-A-Lago guests have included Bill Clinton, Regis Philbin, Tony Bennett and Barbara Walters.

Trump was only 35 in 1982 when he and wife, Ivana, purchased their first mansion, a 5.8 acre home on a peninsula in Greenwich, Connecticut for $4 million. Always a family-oriented business, Ivana was also remodeling the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan in the early 1980s and was able to incorporate many of the same materials in the decoration of their new home creating a residence dripping in gold leaf, elegant chandeliers and crown moldings. When they divorced in 1991 after 15 years of marriage, Ivana won the mansion in the property settlement. She sold the Greenwich home for $15 million in 1998, and the mansion’s new owners immediately began a renovation to tone it down to more livable neutrals and added tennis courts as well as a 4,000-square-foot addition which includes guest suites, a lap pool and a sauna. It is currently for sale at $54 million.

Click to view on I-tunes
Click to view on I-tunes

Originally built in 1939, the 19,773-square-foot Georgian Colonial-style main house and a guest house have eight bedrooms, thirteen baths, a three-story rotunda foyer with double grand staircase, formal rooms overlooking views of the pool, grounds and Long Island Sound, home theater, a putting green, multiple terraces and patios, tennis courts and three fully-equipped staff apartments.

Awaiting a new Greenwich billionaire resident, Donald Trump’s former Connecticut mansion with major additions, six waterfront acres and private boat dock. The listing agent is Tamar Lurie of Coldwell Banker in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Real estate is never boring at TopTenRealEstateDeals. Check out today’s most entertaining, important and unusual real estate news stories of the week. News such as “Obama Vacation Home For Sale,” “Bacall’s Dakota Apartment Sells At Big Profit” and “New York’s First Penthouse.”

Visit TopTenRealEstateDeals.com for more historic, spectacular and celebrity homes.