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South 'O the Highway (and the North too)
Soulful songstress Aretha Franklin is getting a taste of the East End's west end this summer, renting an abode in Quogue for mid-July. Respect.
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Restaurateur Nello Balan of Southampton favorite Nello's Summertime is the new front-runner to take over The Plaza Hotel's famed Oak Room and Oak Bar. He's what the French call les competent.
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Hamptonites Kimora Lee Simmons, Lisa Gastineau, Rita Cosby, and Joan Rivers will be humane-minded ladies this Saturday, attending the Help for Orphans International benefit in Southampton at the bayfront home of the Help for Orphans International director, Sarah Ehrlich. Humanitarians cum socialites Helen Gifford, Vincent Horcasitas, Sara Herbert-Galloway and Jill Zarin will host the organization's annual summer fundraiser, a cocktail reception sponsored by The Donald's Trump Vodka.
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Southampton's Mary and Frank Skillern, longtime patrons of the arts, will host an early evening reception in their lovely English gardens to welcome NBC TV's Anna Carbonell to Southampton and introduce her to the local arts scene. Award-winning chef Robert Rizzuto of NYIT's Gold Coast Catering is preparing a sumptuous menu for the al fresco affair in the Skillern's flower filled garden. Among those expected are Guild Hall's Ruth Appelhof, WHPAC's Claire Bisceglia, Nina Madison of the Parrish Art Museum, Ellen Dooley and Tom Steele of the Artists Alliance of East Hampton, Tracy Nuzzo Morgan, The North Sea Poetry Scene, artists Haim Mizrahi, Michael Knigin, William Falkenberg, The Hayground School's Lukas Weinstein, Perry Burns, Liz Bertsch, Jon Snow and composer Bruce Wolosoff.
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Padma Lakshmi, host of "Top Chef" on Bravo and wife of the recently knighted Satanic Verses writer, Salmon Rushdie, has decided to end their three-year marriage, beginning what will be the writer's fourth divorce.
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Former Westhampton resident Michael Berger has been convicted of hedge-fund fraud by the F.B.I. after a five-year chase, which ended in Austria this week.
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Anyone out on the water in Sag Harbor last Sunday might have spotted New York City Mayor and possible presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg aboard his 100-plus-foot yacht anchored right outside of Sag Harbor, sailing in Noyac Bay.
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East Hampton's Martha Stewart has put her Richard Meier-designed $35,000,000-worth of apartments on Charles Street in Greenwich Village up for sale, even though Martha has never lived in them! Looking to get a little of the Hamptons even when in New York City, Stewart is looking for a Manhattan townhouse with a garden instead. Must be tough to be Martha.
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A gathering of the East End's art fans are throwing a summer soiree for their friend, Renee Niklan, an European painter who has an exhibition in Southampton beginning late July. The international art icon is flying to Southampton from her seaside St. Tropez home to join Somers & Jonathan Farkas, Bonnie & Stewart Lane, Ann Liguori, Sheila Rosenblum and Jill and Bobby Zarin for a cocktail party toasting la dolce vita. And painting.
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Amagansett's Sarah Jessica Parker will again star as her alias Carrie Bradshaw in the long-anticipated Sex & The City movie, which is finally officially geared up to begin shooting this fall.
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East Hampton's Katie Couric is making waves with her expository New York Magazine cover article, in which she admits that in the wake of her ratings failure as CBS Evening News Anchor, she has days when she is like "Oh my God, what did I do?" Join the club, Katie.
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Jerry Seinfeld's East Hampton mansion was rated number one in OK! Magazine's list of celebrity summer homes. The list-topping abode is a heavily renovated hand-me-down from Billy Joel, and by hand-me-down I mean Seinfeld paid $32 million for it in 2000. Comedy pays.
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Hamptons beach bum Andre Balazs is soaking up the sun in a new locale. The hotel magnate paid nearly $5 million for the Maison Tropicale, an aluminium house designed by Jean Prouve, in the Pacific Tropics, where he's developing a new resort.
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Gwyneth Paltrow is limping around Amagansett this weekend after an accident in the house involving furniture put her on crutches. Oh, the dangers of domesticity.
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East Hampton entrepreneur Sean "Diddy" Combs is calling it quits with his baby mama and longtime girlfriend, model Kim Porter. Porter is already headed to the West Coast to focus on her career as an actress. Meanwhile, Combs has been spotted in London with his "just a friend," actress Sienna Miller.
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Everyone's favorite news anchor, Anderson Cooper, brunched with a friend at Westhampton Beach's Luncheonette, home of the best poached eggs and vanilla soda in the Hamptons.
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Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter, model Kiera Chaplin, celebrated her 25th birthday at Pink Elephant Southampton with sister Laura and friends. Nearby, former first daughter Chelsea Clinton let loose at 75 Main in Southampton.
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East Hampton's hot Chinese restaurant du jour, WEI FUN, had a slew of celebrity patrons this week: NBA coach Larry Brown dined with his child and their friends. Famed Chef Alfred Portale celebrated his birthday at the hip Oriental eatery on Saturday night. Musician GE Smith and his daughter were in Sunday night for some delicious dishes, as well as Mike Lynne and his wife, of New Line Cinema. Way fun.
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But reigning East Hampton hotspot Nick & Toni's held its own in terms of celebrity sightings over this past week, bringing in artist Chuck Close with his wife and friends on Tuesdsay... Rudy Giuliani and his wife, Judy Nathan, with some friends on Wednesday... Ron Perelman dining with Penny Marshall as well as Jon Bon Jovi and his wife on Wednesday... Martha Stewart - on crutches! Isaac Mizrahi with his boyfriend on Thursday... Actor Robert Benton, Starbuck's CEO Howard Schultz, Restaurateur Steven and Elie Tahari all with loved ones on Friday... Howard Stern and fiance Beth Ostrosky sharing desert on Saturday at a table by Steven Speilberg and his kids on Saturday. This week, Nick and Toni showed WEI FUN how it's done.
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