Ann Curry
Sarah Jessica Parker Blows Off Benefit For Fallen Baghdad Activist
Far be it from actress Sarah Jessica Parker to do something so clichéd as show up at her Sex and the City co-star Chris Noth’s bar, the Cutting Room, on West 24th Street—despite her position as honorary host of a benefit concert there, also on Monday, June 16.
A number of other entertainment luminaries, including the comedian and writer Al Franken, and the actresses Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman, likewise lent their names, if not their presence, to the charity event, a fund-raiser for the fledgling Andi Foundation, which provides scholarships in memory of Andrea Parhamovich, a young activist with the Washington-based National Democratic Institute who was killed during an ambush on her convoy in Baghdad last year. read more »
Brad Pitt Ignores Toxicity on Today
Brad Pitt took to the Today show this morning, where he chatted with Ann Curry about his new foundation, called “Make it Right,” which plans to build some 150 “green” homes in New Orleans’ battered 9th Ward. Curiously, there was no talk of the high toxicity levels in the soil, which was recently reported in The Observer. Mr. Pitt did, however, did tell Ms. Curry that the charitable project is taking priority over his film career at the moment. “Sure, I guess so. Right now, this is the focus, and we’re going to see this thing through.” Hopefully Make it Right can make the foundation right before people move in.
Hatchet-Job Katie Couric Bio Hits Bookstores Next Tuesday
The Daily News has some nuggets from Ed Klein's latest Unauthorized Biography. He continues to stalk powerful women in this portrait of Katie Couric, which hits bookstores a week from today.
The News writes:
The most shocking tale in author Edward Klein's unauthorized biography, "Katie: The Real Story," is that Couric's marriage to Jay Monahan was on the rocks long before he died of cancer in 1998. read more »
The Transom
The Transom
Thursday: Stavros III's Grandpa, Today's Ann Curry, Hammarskjold's Milkshakes
Neighbor from hell. [Trent]
- Why should Brooklyn get all the gargantuan $1 billion developments? The City Council has approved plans for Long Island City's Silvercup Studios. The name says it all: 2.7 million square feet of television and film fun, 665,000 square feet for commercial space, plus 1,000 units of housing. And a roof terrace for the grateful Queens public. (Crain's)
- Cute little Ann Curry is being sued by her neighbors on West 71st--though technically she hasn't even moved to the block yet. It usually takes us years to alienate those in our immediate proximity, though to be fair we've rarely done home construction which forces out 25-year tenants nearby. (Also we usually move into our $2.9 million townhouses in less than 32 months.) (NY Daily News)
- Why the enormous photograph of Paris Hilton in a Post commercial real estate column? Because a non-profit named after Ms. Hilton's ex-boyfriend's grandfather has bought the 22nd floor at 645 Madison. Equally bewildering: the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation paid $105 per foot. (NY Post)
- Frank Bruni gets nostalgic for the simpler times, when Dad--or any gentleman--could provide guests a price-free menu when hosting at a restaurant. "Giving her a menu that didn't show how much the lobster cost was considered a laudable act of chivalry," Mr. Bruni explains. A hex on "women's liberation"! A hex on The Four Seasons and its liberal sensibilities! (NY Times)
- The riveting milkshake saga continues: The Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Park have failed (at least for now) in their effort to stop a milkshake vendor from setting up shop in the pretty D.H. Plaza. Those shakes are so tasty, yet so controversial. (NY Sun) - Max Abelson read more »
Ann Curry's Loud Renovations
Today hostess Ann Curry is in trouble with the neighbors for renovations on her West 71st Street townhouse, Page Six reports today.
It's folded into a report about turmoil at The Today Show.
But we were interested in what she's actually doing to the place and--lo and behold!--it was erstwhile Manhattan Transfers reporter Gabriel Sherman who first reported Ms. Curry's purchase.
She and her software-executive husband Brian Wilson bought the 6,000-square-foot place, built in 1894, for $2.9 million, but it was configured as apartments and Ms. Curry is remaking it into a single-family with a 600-square-foot roof terrace and a private rear garden. read more »
"It's a turn-of-the-century house with much of its original charm intact, but it needs tremendous T.L.C.," Ms. Curry told Gabe in our Jan. 19, 2004 issue. "I can already see the making of a home for my family."
But can she hear it?
