Hollywood's favorite billboard - the Hollywood sign itself - will have its soul ripped apart by the real estate market, the facet that erected LA's most famous monument to begin with. In a paradox only a movie executive could dream up, the 85 year-old icon, birthed with the intention to promote Los Angeles' growing housing market, is now being threatened by developers who want to disturb the pristine backdrop and forbade future generations of hikers to pass by the 45-foot word. The Chicago-based investment group that owns the 138 acres behind the sign has put the land up for sale for $22 million.

 

Activists and environmentalists are beside themselves about the possible McMansionization of their beloved Cahuenga Peak (once owned by Howard Hughes). While Lady Liberty presides over New York and the Eiffel Tower illuminates the City of Lights, the Hollywood sign is guardian to Tinseltown. In the sign's birth, as in its potential death, money has proven to be the true icon of Hollywood, creating and destroying the drive of our fragile city... More >> ..

New mother, singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera, has listed her Hollywood Hills home on the market for $7,995,000. Maybe her new maternal instinct and desire for a more child-friendly abode is behind the decision to switch nests along with her son, Max, and husband, music marketer, Jordan Bratman. Her elevated, architectural mid-century house doesn't appear to be at all child-friendly. The 6,500 square feet home has a gym, a pool (a virtual death-trap for toddlers) and a 12-person spa with a fireplace (look, but don't touch the pretty flame, darling). There are also 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms, making it hard to find junior when he crawls away. The master bedroom is 1,200 square feet, and there's an 18 seat professional screening room. Christina's newfound motherhood inspired her to change appearances, so living quarters seems only natural.

Oh, the wedding of Ashlee Simpson! We joyously speculated so many details: a buffet of Taco Bell and cornbread, morning sickness while exchanging vows, black nail polish on the groom, and Milli Vanilli not singing the lyrics of "Shout." Unfortunately, our fantasies have been tarnished by the $1.4 million dollar deal between Joe Simpson and People Magazine for the photos of his teen daughter's wedding- a true documentation of the rushed nuptials.

 

With two offsprings' flailing careers under his belt, Joe Simpson, manager, father, some kind of minister, and soon-to-be grandfather, had to somehow pull in cash for his daughter's shotgun wedding. People would only pay up if sister Jessica attended the wedding with her semi-boyfriend and football star, Tony Romo. The two split before the wedding, but pretended to date again so Papa Simpson could collect his cash under the magazine's demands.

 

A picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case $1... More >> ..

After living under the tiny frame of Angelina, the unborn Jolie-Pitt twins will need a much larger home for their time on Earth. Enter the power couple's latest signing: a three year lease on a $60 million mansion perched on 1,000 acres in the South of France, where many speculate Jolie will give birth within the next few months.

 

The colossal home, complete with 35 bedrooms, a lake, a moat, twenty fountains, an indoor pool, a banquet hall and a producing vineyard will hopefully be large enough to hold whatever future children the two plan to have or adopt (if memory serves, Pitt mentioned staffing an entire soccer team with his family. Or is that football in France?). The pre-Roman masterpiece in the Provence region, known as the Chateau Miraval, provides an apt stronghold from the paparazzi with a network of hidden tunnels, aqueducts, and cascading stonewall terraces. In this fairy tale land, King Brad and Queen Angelina will reign over their private kingdom, away from the fanfare of attention they've worked their whole lives to construct... More >> ..

Remember Britney's last staged comeback in Las Vegas? When she arrived to dance rehearsal five hours late and four margaritas deep? When she lip synced shamelessly, meandered with a total lack of choreography, and then fell off stage while scurrying to the dressing room?

 

Fast forward about 100 Arby's trips and 300gallons of Frappacinos, and Britney is refueled for her Vegas return, staging another comeback to prove that her last year of craziness was naught for ought. Last week, Spears met with the Maloof brothers, Palms Hotel owners and obviously risky businessmen. The two sides are in talks to offer Spears $10 million for a six-show comeback, provided that Britney will get in shape, clean up, and abide by the strict performance schedule. According to an insider, "Britney hopes to get in shape and make a splashy comeback in Las Vegas. She wants the show to be full of high energy and flashy costume changes... More >> ..

Columbia student Masha Markova believed she had lost her $11k blond mink coat, a gift from her grandmother, after attending a private party at 1Oak in the Meatpacking district on January 26, only to see pictures of Lindsay Lohan wearing her coat in OK! magazine two weeks later. Markova told The Post that she remembers sitting next to the star at the birthday party held for a close friend of oil heir Stavros Niarchos, Lohan's former flame. Markova discovered the loss of the mink when she went to retrieve it from a communal coat bin before leaving (would you throw your $11 million mink into something called a "communal coat bin?"). After seeing the first picture of Lohan with her jacket, Markova surfed the internet and found photos of Lohan arriving at 1Oak sporting a plain black jacket, and several more photos of the star wearing the mink later that night while party-hopping around NYC. Club owners promised to retrieve Markova's missing mink, but only delivered results after she threatened to get her lawyer involved... More >> ..

Actress Denise Richards has been making the media rounds for her new E! reality show, It's Complicated. But it's not like she needs the money. Richards reportedly receives $60,000 per month in alimony from ex-husband, Charlie Sheen, as well as $52,000 per month in child support for their two daughters, Sam and Lola. That adds up to $112,000 per month, which can buy a pretty lavish lifestyle - and fund an ongoing ugly battle with Sheen. As Richards now knows, nothing pays off like a messy, public divorce from another celebrity. Makes me wonder if that's why she married him in the first place. Sure, Ferris Bueller-era Charlie was a bad boy to die for, but post-Wall Street he'd surely lost his sheen. Richards' foresight inspires me.

If you have around $4 million dollars to spend, why not make an appointment to view the Gyllenhaal's home for sale in the Hollywood Hills? Or, if you're like me, and you only have $4 dollars, why not make an appointment to view Jake Gyllenhaal in his parents' home in the Hollywood Hills? The Oscar nominated star has been flouncing around in his pajamas, showing potential buyers his parent's 3,000 square foot home, the asking price of which has dropped from $4.2 million to $3,795,000. Jake's parents, poet and director, Stephen Gyllenhaal, and Academy Award nominated screenwriter, Naomi Foner, are trying to unload their five bedroom, three bathroom, modern light-filled home with a chef's kitchen. The pad is situated on an acre with stunning landscaping by Hollywood designer, Jay Griffith, and magnificent views of the city. But who cares? We want Jake to show us the living room light fixtures, the intricate garden design, the vast kitchen counter space, and the sumptuous master bedroom in nothing but silk pajama bottoms... More >> ..

The retro-style Wall Street Burger Shoppe on Water Street has just added a new item to its bar menu: The Richard Nouveau Burger. Named for the master of extravagance and luxury in New York, the $175 Richard Nouveau Burger rightfully takes the title of New York's Most Expensive Burger.

Each 10-ounce patty of the Richard Nouveau is carefully formed from100% Kobe-raised beef. That means the Wagyu cattle were hand-massaged and beer-fed to create the most tender, perfectly marbled meat available. The Wall Street Burger Shoppe sears the burger to a perfect medium rare (anything more and this delicate meat will dry-out). The patty is placed atop a brioche bun with a generous layer of foie gras, shaved truffles, and aged gruyere cheese. The top of the bun is spread with a homemade truffled mayonnaise and real gold leaf flakes from Japan. The whole extravagance is garnished with an additional heavy handed helping of truffles and more gold leaf... More >> ..

First, it was Martha Stewart and then Wesley Snipes. Will the Reverend Al Sharpton be the latest celebrity to go to jail? Looks like its time for Baptist minister/political activist to hire a new accountant, and maybe a good lawyer, too. The Associated Press has just reported that Al Sharpton owes $1.5 million in unpaid back taxes. Sharpton supposedly owes $931,000 in federal income taxes and $366,000 to New York State, while his company, Rev. Al Communications, owes another $176,000 to the state. Perhaps he would have remembered to pay up on time if he wasn't so busy getting arrested while snarling New York City traffic. In the meantime, maybe The Rev and Wesley Snipes could be cell-mates!

Recently Pocket Change reported on the divorce settlement of former Bay Watch star and soon-to-be member of AA, David Hasselhoff, and his wife of sixteen years, Pamela Bach The pricey divorce settlement set The Hoff back $1 million, plus $25,000 a month in spousal and child support for his ex-wife and their two teenage daughters. Now it looks like the actor is trying to cut a few corners financially. On Wednesday, May 7th, Hasselhoff filed papers with L.A. County Court requesting that his $8,400 in legal fees be deducted from the amount he's been ordered to pay Bach. Leave it to The Hoff to try to weasel out of paying his lawyer. But with that much alimony looming on the horizon, we don't blame the guy for wanting to pinch a few pennies.

Founded by 26-year old Harry Morton, son of Hard Rock Café's Peter Morton, Pink Taco is almost as irreverent as the name itself: hand-painted statues of the Virgin Mary brightly color the traditional Mexican atmosphere, juxtaposed by a young Hollywood clientele blasphemously toasting in the name of female anatomy. In a similar spirit, Pink Taco offers the "Anigav" - a pinnacle of margarita perfection slyly laced with impiety (spell "Anigav" backwards and you'll see what we mean.)

Not offered on the written menu, the Anigav starts with three ounces of Gran Patron Bordeos tequila, a limited edition bottle that sells for $100 a shot. Next comes a half-ounce of Grand Marnier Cent Cinquantenaire, the French liquor's award-winning Special Sesquicentennial Edition. To dilute the mixture, the Anigav is blended with the juice of two limes, two oranges, and one lemon, all hand-peeled and pitted... More >> ..

The past year has been a tough legal year for actress Anne Hathaway's Italian boyfriend, businessman Raffaello Follieri. On April 30, Follieri agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit levied by supermarket tycoon, billionaire Ron Burkle. Follieri was sued by Burkle last year for allegedly using money that had been invested into a joint venture to buy and sell distressed Catholic properties to instead support Follieri's lavish lifestyle. The case was dismissed by a Baltimore judge after the pair reached an agreement.

 

But not all of Follieri's legal troubles are wrapped up so easily. He's still working to clear up his arrest for trying to pass a bad check for $250,000 in April, claiming the incident was a "misunderstanding."

Want to smell like Britney Spears? Yeah, me neither. But apparently lots of people do. Brit Brit's fragrance line outsold every other celebrity scent on the market last year (Celine, say it isn't so!), in spite of shaving her head, stripping in public, multiple trips to rehab, a disastrous performance at the VMAs, losing custody of her children and control of her estate, and flashing her vag more times than a Thai-hooker. Yes, somehow everyone's favorite train wreck managed to make $84 million off of her fragrance alone. Think of all the hot pink cowboy boots she can buy with that kind of money!

 

Needless to say, this news should squash all those bankruptcy rumors.

 

Seriously though, I'm glad that Brit seems to be getting better. Maybe the success of her perfumes will kick-start a much needed career comeback.

Angelina Jolie has been attracting a lot of positive attention lately with her do-gooding for the UN, adopting children from third-world countries, and envy-inducing relationship with the uber-hot Brad Pitt. We'd almost forgotten that the jet setting mother of four, who is currently expecting fraternal twins, used to be famous for being a bad-girl. Anyone remember her wearing a vial of ex-hubby, Billy Bob Thorton's blood around her neck? What about that time she made out with her brother at the Oscars? Would a video of Ange doing heroin remind you of her checkered-past (or surprise you in the least)?

 

Sources say that an old video of the star snorting and smoking heroin is about to surface. The video shows Jolie, then in her twenties and about to break out in films like Gia and Girl, Interrupted, snorting lines, cooking heroin on tin-foil, then smoking the fumes through a tube. But wait, it gets better. After doing the junk, Jolie then says, "Wow, this is really good smack - not that cheap crap that's been stepped on... More >> ..