R is for Retsina Wine Drinking

“Welcome to Greece!” my cousin, Mike, said embracing me.

“This calls for a celebration,” my husband said hugging Mike.

“I know just the place to go,” Mike said.


PLEASE NOTE:

This blog post has been removed.

However you can find it, and more, in my collection of wine stories called Evolution of a Wine Drinker available on Amazon.com!

Thank you!
--Alicia

Buckle Your Real Estate Safety Belts...

...The Times of London reveals (via Curbed) an unfathomably rich but unnamed member of an unidentified Arab royal family is fixin' to fling his titanic central London mansion on the market in a blaze of international real estate shock, awe and publicity with a intergalactic £250,000,000 price tag. That totals, according to Your Mama's trusty currency conversion contraption, a belly ache making $381,493,000 for all us Americanos.

The elegant, 1830-ish Georgian semi-detached terrace house—is that a proper description?—stands four floors above ground with another two subterranean levels that total a downright civic 50,000 (or so) square feet. It's less than half as big as a basic Wal-Mart and it's positively miniature compared to the gargantuan royal palaces some Arab royal families maintain but it is almost as large as the White House that weighs in at around 56,000 square feet.

A Greek temple-like porte cochere on the front facade stands out like a sore thumb against the rhythmic but featureless office block that dominates and absolutely oppresses the otherwise usually coveted tail end of the swanky cul-de-sac. Worse, perhaps, is the even more disagreeable office tower that looms forbiddingly directly across the narrow lane. Ugly and menacing office buildings aside, The Times goes on to reveal that India's multi billionaire Hinduja brothers also maintain one or more lavish residences on the terrace that's just a hop, skip, and a jump down The Mall from Buckingham Palace.

 Who's to say the Arab royal will get anywhere near his sky high asking price that The Times notes is "almost double the record for a residential property in the UK."Unidentified sources told the property gossips at The Times that the owner recently refurbished the redonkulously baronial residence that will likely appeal to a sovereign wealth fund for use as and embassy or ambassadorial residence.

If Your Mama was the betting type—and we're not—we'd throw down our pennies on someone more   like an obscure multi-billionaire commodities tycoon nobody who reads Vanity Fair has ever heard of from some place most Americans—including Your Mama—could probably neither pronounce nor pick out on a map will come along and snatch that thing up so his pampered youngest daughter and her retinue of handlers and keepers will have a decent place to live while she "attends" Central St. Martins.

What do the children think? What's the profile for a  buyer of this house at a quarter billion dollars?

photo: Google

Nick Nolte Lists Quirky Malibu Compound

SELLER: Nick Nolte
LOCATION: Malibu, CA
PRICE: $8,250,000
SIZE: 6,006 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Accomplished but occasionally erratic acting three-time Oscar nominee Nick Nolte has listed a portion of his expansive, multi-acre Malibu, CA, compound with an asking price of $8,250,000.

Although Mister Nolte, now in his early 70s, remains a vital, steadily working actor with a half a dozen projects in post- or pre-production plus a 2011 Oscar nod for Warrior, the three-time Academy Award-nominee arguably reached his professional pinnacle in the 1990s with seminal roles in Affliction, The Prince of Tides, The Thin Red Line, Lorenzo's Oil, and Cape Fear. Sadly, the once hunky and devastatingly manly actor has become almost as well known in his sunset years for his sometimes eye-popping, Gary Bussey-like public appearances and occasional public tangles with heavy duty mood altering substances, such as in 2002 when Mister Nolte, then in his early sixties, was arrested for driving under the influence of what turned out to be GHB.

Property records show Mister Nolte purchased the just-over-two-acre estate in 1991 for an unknown amount of dough. An earlier discussion of the listing reveals the property was previously owned and/or occupied by Tommy Chong of bong-ed up Cheech & Chong fame, Don Felder of The Eagles and music producer David Foster whose fourth wife, Dutch model turned housewife Yolanda Foster, joined the cast for the most recent season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. But we digress...

Listing information shows the main house—a two-story number of unrecognizable architectural vernacular originally built in the mid 1960s—measures 6,006 square feet and includes four bedrooms, four bathrooms, half a dozen carved wood and stone fireplaces and garage parking for up to six cars.

An olive tree flanked electronic gate slides open to a long black top drive that shoots across the lawn to a squat, flat-roofed porte cochere that sticks off the front of the house in a manner one might too easily associate with a low-cost hotel/motel for Your Mama's particular taste in porte cocheres.

Inside the mahogany front doors one is immediately—and aggressively confronted—with a cacophonous visual avalanche of various finish work a vast collection of East Asian furnishings that define the interior spaces and result in a sometimes semi-ceremonial decorative drama of Mexican telenovela proportions.

A giant pair of identical, angry-looking carved stone Chinese dogs stand sentinel at the muscular mahogany archway that separates the the onyx-floored foyer from the ballroom-scaled living room that has a soaring 19-foot ceiling pierced by six or eight skylights over head and the marble floors criss-crosses with wood inlay under foot. A fireplace nearly tall enough to stand in anchors the room lined on two walls with wide, mahogany-trimmed arched windows filled with garden vistas.

A sturdy, thickly spindled staircase climbs to a book shelf-lined landing and master suite (above) that is nothing if not extensive: big bedroom with vaulted mahogany beamed ceiling; separate adjoining sitting room with mahogany-manteled fireplace and same vaulted mahogany beamed ceiling; private office/study with built-in work desk, second and massive mahogany fireplace and more of the vaulted mahogany beamed ceiling; and, of course, a lavish private en suite situation.

In addition to the main house Mister Nolte's compound property includes a detached structure once used as a recording studio by at least one of the property's music oriented previous owner/occupants. The building was, at some point, converted to a capacious guest house with living room—the room with corner fireplace and guitars strewn all over the place in listing photos—two bedrooms, three bathrooms, at least one kitchenette and a built-in bar next to which Mister Nolte proudly parked a vintage motorcycle that—no doubt—has a meaningful story to tell.

The expansive but haphazardly landscaped and unfussily maintained grounds stretch out to just over two flat acres that include broad swathes of lawn sprinkled with mature corral, pine and sycamore trees. There's a lagoon-style freshwater swimming pool and spa surrounded by a slate stone terrace and a lighted tennis court tightly girdled by a wind-screen equipped chain link fence.

Mister Nolte also owns the adjacent property, a fenced, gated and bougainvillea-hedged 2.1+ acre mini-compound that encompasses a dense copse, terraced terraces, extensive cutting and kitchen gardens and at least two modestly-sized structures that appear to Your Mama to be residential in nature. It's not entirely clear from property records we peeped but it appears Mister Nolte acquired this particular part of his multi-parcel compound in August 1982 for $575,000 but, honestly puppies, we're not entirely sure that's accurate. The property is not currently on the market and, so the story goes, Mister Nolte will downsize into this property when he vacates the one one currently for sale next door.

listing photos: Westside Estate Agency

Claire Danes Snags NYC Townhouse

BUYER: Claire Danes
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $6,876,000
SIZE: 3,166 square feet, 4-5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Property records—along with a helping hand from The Bizzy Boys at Celebrity Address Aerial (C.A.A.)—reveal that on the very same day that Homeland actress Claire Danes sold her nearly 4000 square foot condo-loft in a re-purposed turn of the 19th century building in the heart of New York City's Soho 'hood for $5,850,650, she and her British actor hubby Hugh Dancy (Black Hawk Down, The Big C, Hannibal) shelled out $6,876,000 for a late 19th century four story Greek Revival-style townhouse eight or nine blocks north on a narrow, tree-shaded block in the south end of the fully gentrified West Village.

The townhouse seller, according to easily accessible public property records, was David Shaffer, an enormously respected and impressively accomplished psychiatrist who was married to and procreated with famously autocratic Vogue head honcho Anna Wintour in the 1980s and 1990s. Doctor Shaffer, much to his pocketbook's delight, no doubt, acquired the house, according to property records, in late 1999 for $1,700,000. It is Mister Shaffer who is responsible for all the books and artwork and interestingly placed rugs seen throughout the house in listing photos.

Your Mama managed to dig up a floor plan on Street Easy from when Mister Shaffer unsuccessfully attempted to sell the fully renovated townhouse in 2008 and 2009 with an asking price that started at $8.3 million and plunged to $6,950,000 before it was removed from the market in March 2009. Online documentation shows Mister Shaffer gave it another go in May 2012 when he shoved the tightly sandwiched single family townhouse back up for sale on the open market with an even lower $6,900,000 price tag.

Listing details Your Mama managed to squirrel out of the interweb shows the fairly narrow but quite long townhouse measures in at 3,166 square feet. There are—by our count—4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. A second floor den/living room could easily be pressed into use as a fifth bedroom.

A claustrophobically compact entry vestibule awkwardly pops open into the simple but well-equipped and expensively finished kitchen end of the loft-like ground floor living space. Listing photos show yellow blond wood floors, a dark carved marble fireplace mantel and a handful of pilasters that, for some reason we just can't fathom, don't quite reach the remarkably high ceiling. A towering French door brings a little natural light to the room that connects though to a wee study.

A single double side-lit glass door in the second floor landing marks entry to a large, flexi-use room at the rear of the townhouse that would make a lovely if only semi-private fifth bedroom but is absolutely better suited for use—as Mister Shaffer did—as a sun-splashed library/den complete. Mister Shaffer fitted the room with a wide stretch of floor-to-ceiling book shelves to one side of the marble fireplace. French doors open to a decked terrace with through the tree tops view over the surrounding gardens. A windowless three-quarter bathroom off the high-functioning second floor stair landing is not only the primary powder room for guests but also services the also flexi-use street-side bedroom. The landing also has an inset cluster of book shelves and a closet, the home's only coat closet that eagle-eyed floor plan readers have already determined must also operate as a busy linen closet for the adjacent bedroom and bathroom.

Each of the two guest/family bedrooms on the third floor are generously proportioned and nicely outfitted with three windows and an attached bathroom. Both, however, suffer some from surprisingly scant closet space. It's an easily remedied situation but one that any one who owns or travels with a lot of clothing might find a little stifling in its current configuration.

The commodious but (unfortunately) bifurcated master suite spreads across the entire top floor of the townhouse. At the back end a large bedroom benefits from a verdant garden overlook and a substantial, custom-fitted walk-in closet/dressing room. It does not, however, have direct access to a bathroom. For that, according to the floor plan, one must traverse the entire length of the extra-wide but (semi-)public stair landing. Floor plans show a small half bathroom opens directly off the landing and an entirely separate bedroom-sized full bathroom appears to be without a proper door but is none-the-less luxuriously complete with fireplace, soaking tub and couple-sized walk-in shower.

Altogether the bohemian-tinged but decided upscale urban residence boasts three outdoor spaces: the aforementioned courtyard garden off the ground floor living/dining area; the terrace in the tree tops off the second floor library/den; and, the outdoor living pièce de résistance, a roomy roof deck with quintessential over-the-roof top views of the Village.

According to the C.A.A. boys, Miz Danes and Mister Dancy also maintain a semi-remote rural getaway near tiny Hillsdale in the scenic Columbia County, NY that property records show encompasses 4.7 acres and an 1820s era farmhouse that was last purchased in late 2009 for $525,000.

listing photos and floor plan: Douglas Elliman

Q is for Las Quintas Wine Tasting (in Portugal)

"I’m planning our vacation," I said pulling my husband toward my desk.

"Okay."

"We're going on a wine tour."

"Okay."

"To see Las Quintas!"

"… huh?"

PLEASE NOTE:

This blog post has been removed.

However you can find it, and more, in my collection of wine stories called Evolution of a Wine Drinker available on Amazon.com!

Thank you!
--Alicia

Chris Meloni Heads Wests, Lands in Beverly Hills

WHO: Chris Meloni and Sherman Williams-Meloni
LOCATION: Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: around 20 grand a month
SIZE: 6,000 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Last week Your Mama let it slip that still physically—ahem—strapping 51-year old actor Chris Meloni (True Blood, Law & Order: SVU, Oz) and his decorator wife Sherman Williams-Meloni had flipped their recently acquired 8,600+ square foot New Canaan, CT, county estate back on the market with a $4,750,000 price tag. We've subsequently heard word that Mister Meloni e famiglia have—probably temporarily—decamped CT and NYC for a spacious, Old Hollywood mini-compound situated in the so-called Flats of Beverly Hills, CA.

Just how much moolah the Meloni's fork over to their landlord each month we really can't say because we don't have a clue. Your Mama's research did turn up digital evidence the property was listed on the open market as recently as early April (2013) with an asking price of $19,500. We also have no idea if they rented the residence with its fantasia of furnishings and decorative objet or if they'll schlep in a flatbed of the sort of more contemporary furniture previous press reports on their homes would indicate.

The main house, a sprawling 1929 Spanish villa, was designed by Ralph Flewelling according to online marketing materials that also say the house's first occupants were silent screen stars Wallace Beery and Gloria Swanson. However, it appears the legendary Tinseltowners divorced in 1919, long before this house was even a glint in the architect's eye. Anyhoo...

Listing information goes on show the two story main house has an impressive foyer and stair hall and nearby powder room that is absolutely one of the most extraordinary Your Mama has ever had the good fortune on which to lay our boozy eyes. It's vivid, outlandish and gently worn to a patinated perfection. The mirrored console is gorgeous and glammy and the orange velvet upholstered ceiling is, well, insane. One might think the icing on the decorative cake might be the crystal chandelier or the shell encrusted mirror over the (blessedly) ordinary pedestal sink. Both are spectacular. It is, however, the orange velvet curtain panels and cushioned orange velvet bench that really makes the backs of Your Mama's knees sweat. Who, children, would not appreciate—nay, love a soft and luxurious spot to sit and take a breather after a long and ugly post-dinner/pre-dessert tangle with your host's guest commode? Enough of the scatological poppycock....

The approximately 6,000 square foot main house has three bedroom suites upstairs, including a deluxe master with a lavishly restored vintage bathroom that gives the slightly unnerving impression Gloria Swanson herself might just breeze in at any moment for an eyebrow touch up. There's a fourth bedroom downstairs suitable for use by a live-in domestic or for use as an office, yoga parlor, inversion chamber or any number of other things. Additional living quarters are provided in one—and possibly two—separate guest houses.

An airy, tunnel-like barrel-vaulted loggia and numerous trellis- and striped awning-shaded terraces around the house provide extensive, foliage enshrouded outdoor living, dining and lounging areas. The terraces connect to a flat, luxuriantly landscaped back yard where Your Mama spies a couple of fountains, several flagstone terraces and sitting areas including one with a built in cushioned banquette, a small patch of flat lawn just big enough for a couple of small pooches, and a rectangular green-bottom swimming pool and attached spa.

Property records show the home is owned by Grover Dale, a Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated septuagenarian actor, dancer, choreographer and theater director whose professional salad days were the 1970s and '80s. In the late sixties and early '70s Mister Dale was—allegedly—actor Anthony Perkins man-friend but he eventually married and begat a Showbiz son, actor James Badge Dale.

listing photos: Michael McNamara for Coldwell Banker Beverly Hills North

Tuesday A.M. Odds and Ends (04.23.13)

Freshly engaged nice-gay decorator/television host/author/budding home goods mogul Nate Berkus listed his itty bitty New York City one bedroom starter apartment for $699,000. (Curbed)

Daisy Fuentes has a lot more money than you might think. To wit, the Cuban bombshell just shelled out $5,750,000 for an ocean front house in Malibu, CA, with hand-carved limestone fireplaces, coral stone terraces and French oak floors. (Trulia Luxe Living)

Über artist Marina Abramovic paid fifty grand over the asking price for glassy and very contemporary new digs in downtown Manhattan. (New York Observer)

Jessica Simpson's semi-celebrity parents Joe and Tina Simpson split up last year because, turns out, he's gay. Or, at least that's the lurid scuttlebutt in all the celebrity tabs and gossip glossies. Anyhoo, the Simpsons, bless their hearts, recently sold their formerly shared mansion in Encino for $3.5 million. We really don't know what either of their future real estates plans may be but we did hear recently that ex-Missus Simpson is shacked up in a rented house in Toluca Lake. (L.A. Times)

It's no surprise that Bravo's resident reality t.v. guru Andy Cohen's pre-war two bedroom apartment in New York City's West Village is filled to the gills with name brand furniture, vintage gew-gaws, quirky personal bits and pieces and lots of pop cultural artifacts. (New York Times)