Page Six

Page Six reported today that Montauk locals are not so pleased that Surf Lodge, the eatery where hunky former Top Chef contestant Sam Talbot oversees the menu, is such a celebrity magnet; according to the paper, residents of Montauk—cherished for being a relatively low-key fishing hamlet—are annoyed that the restaurant has been attracting "German cars and celebrities such as Julian Schnabel, Ralph Lauren and Aida Turturro" to an area that residents like to refer to as "very raw."

Page Six claimed that the main issue is traffic around the eatery on weekends, when high-profile guests park wherever they please and have photographers and reporters following them and blocking the roadways, and that in retaliation, neighboring restaurants and bars are refusing to serve Surf Lodge partners Rob McKinley, Jaimee Mulholland and Jayma Cardoso.  read more »

Today's Page Six reports that blond Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova wants to follow in the footsteps of shirtless Vogue "intern" Sean Avery and work for Anna Wintour since "it's so inspiring to see a woman be so powerful."

According to the item, Ms. Kournikova made this plea on her blog, where she also name-checked Tom Ford as one of the "10 people she wants to work with after she retires."  read more »

Media Mob checked Ms. Kournikova's Web site, but couldn't find the quote or the list. We did, however, find a list made by Maria Sharapova, a different blond Russian tennis star, on her

Today's Page Six features an unusual phrase rarely seen in its home paper: "The Post regrets the error."

The normally biting gossip column regrets its report from March 25 that Cashmere Mafia creator Darren Star had "swiped" the premise for his ABC show from his former Sex and the City collaborator (and Observer alum) Candace Bushnell, who was developing her book Lipstick Jungle into a very similar show for NBC. (The March 25th item is cached here.) Today, the Post says:

WE reported on March 25 that TV producer Darren Star swiped the idea for "Cashmere Mafia" from Candace Bushnell, producer of "Lipstick Jungle." In fact, we were mistaken. Star was approached with the idea by ABC. The two shows were conceived independently.  read more »

Last week, Page Six reported "first" on Vogue contributing editor Lauren Davis’ upcoming wedding to Andrés Santo Domingo. Today, the Post gossip page broke the news that at the nuptials—which will take place on a private island called Baru off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia—each one of Ms. Davis’ nine bridesmaids will be dressed by a different designer! The only thing more lavish than that would be if Raul Avila, who oversees the Costume Institute gala at the Met, were hired to design the flower arrangements.

No mention anywhere in Page Six of Hillary Clinton’s 60th birthday party? While the Daily News dedicated both gossip columns to the fete, the Post only ran one item on Ms. Clinton’s birthday in today’s paper, and it begins:

“Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton mocked GOP rival Rudy Giuliani last night for his status as a Red Sox rooter, telling a crowd of thousands at a 60th-birthday bash that she isn’t ‘looking to curry favor’ with anyone.”

Huh. We’re pretty sure that when Rupert Murdoch threw his new channel, FBN, a party for turning nine-days-old the other night, Page Six was there. Then again, there were other pressing news items, like Ellen’s 10% post-Iggy-weep ratings hike, to report on.  read more »

Not so surprisingly, Ellen DeGeneres may have lost Iggy but she gained viewers. [Page Six]

Blaine Trump, wife of Donald’s brother Robert, has thrown in the towel on her marriage. [Page Six]

Play-by-play of Hillary’s 60th b-day bash at the Beacon. [Gatecrasher]

Rocker Cisco Adler ran around an L.A. club in his underwear, causing some to wonder, Why so much clothing? [Page Six]

Russell Crowe outed Leonardo DiCaprio as a 17-year-old virgin. [Page Six]

More good goss from Hillary’s party, which “rocked.” [Rush&Malloy]

Lindsay Lohan moved into the Beverly Hills Hotel…uh oh. [Page Six]

Actress Kristen Johnson (3rd Rock From the Sun) threw a tantrum onstage at the American Airlines Theater over forgetting her bleeping lines. [Page Six]

How many bold-faced names can appear in one Page Six item (or in two dining rooms)? A: 23 [Page Six]  read more »

Yesterday’s news that Us Weekly blogger Noelle Hancock (a former Observer staffer) is jumping ship to the soon-to-relaunch PageSix.com got us thinking about what the Post’s plans are for the new Web site. (We understand that the Post—through photo editor Dave Boyle; not Page Six editor Richard Johnson—has made offers to at least five Us staffers, though Ms. Hancock is the only one to jump ship thus far.) Gawker reported that the site is trying to staff up, especially on the West Coast, where TMZ currently has a stranglehold on the minutiae of what goes down every night at Les Deux.

However! A quick glance at the Nielsen/NetRatings stats for the past three months shows that the only celebrity site that’s shown growth is People.com, which had 6.5 million unique U.S. visitors in September, up by more than 1.5 million since July. TMZ’s growth appears to have stagnated in the same time period, though that site’s traffic still dwarves People’s: In July, TMZ recorded nearly 10.3 million visitors, which dipped to 9.4 million in August and jumped back up to July levels in September. By contrast, UsMagazine.com’s traffic has stagnated at around the 1 million mark since July, and Perez Hilton’s uniques have gone from 2.4 million in July to 2.2 million in September.

Taken together, the numbers point to what can only be a worrying trend for celebrity news and gossip sites: there is, perhaps, some audience fatigue. TMZ recently laid off one of its New York-based staffers, who was writing for the Web site; this staffer was told that the site was restructuring. Of course, TMZ also has its own successful venture in TMZ TV, for which Web site managing editor Harvey Levin serves as executive producer. Mr. Levin created the tabloid TV show Celebrity Justice in 2002, and some have speculated that since the show was canceled in 2005, Mr. Levin has been plotting his triumphant return to tabloid TV—an outlet that is ultimately much more lucrative than a Web site. Still, a TMZ spokeswoman told us that both the TV show and the Web site will continue moving “full-steam ahead” for the foreseeable future.  read more »

Over the weekend, Page Six reported that Hillary Clinton’s unflappable, über-fashionable top assistant Huma Abedin was recently spotted in the throes of an excited conversation with New York congressman Anthony Weiner. It's part of a recent tradition in the Post to try to find the 43-year-old bachelor a match.

In the summer of 2005, the paper reported that Mr. Weiner’s mother was “begging him to get married soon,” but he was “in no rush.”  read more »