South O' the Highway (and the North too)

Every Hamptonite knows that noisy neighbors can put a damper on a day out East, and Billy Joel is no exception. The successful singer and his wife, Katie Lee Joel, have just gone to contract to buy an oceanfront property, with an asking price of $12.9 million, next door to the Sagaponack digs that Joel surprised his wife with last Spring. The 1.2-acre property in contract includes 120 feet of oceanfront land and a cottage. Industry insiders are expecting the piano man to build a music studio on the property.

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Continuing the ongoing trend of high-end, mod boutiques along East Hampton's Main Street, James Perse is expected to be the next designer to open shop on the block. The L.A. fashion house will reportedly open their East Hampton store this Spring. The arch enemy of Us Weekly, In Touch magazine, threw its fifth anniversary party Wednesday night. The celebrity magazine had Kanye West perform his hits at Manhattan's Tenjune nightclub for the soiree.

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The South Fork Breast Health Coalition's 3rd Annual Birdhouse Auction will be taking place October 13 at the Southampton Cultural Center. Benevolent patrons will be bidding on birdhouses designed by a plethora of politicians, artists, news anchors, athletes and actors, including David Salle, Carolyn Beegan, James de Martis, Eric Ernst, Dennis Oppenheim, Karyn Mannix, Paton Miller, Gil Ferrer, Nacho Figeraus, Whitey Ford, Aretha Franklin, Betsey Johnson, Eva La Rue, Mandy Moore, Morgan Pressel, Ann Curry, Brooke Shields, Donald Trump, Renee Zellweger, Maurice Du Bois, Rudy and Judith Giuliani, The LI Ducks, The NY Knicks and The NY Jets.

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Long Islandite Lindsay Lohan has completed her rehabilitation inpatient treatment at Utah's Cirque Lodge Treatment Center. The 21-year-old pop culture icon has headed home to Merrick, New York and is reportedly purchasing a West Village waterfront pad to call her own East Coast home.

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Wealthy South American Francisco D'Agostino, who dropped $36,000 for an 11-day stay at a waterfront rental in Sag Harbor, is suing the home's owner Walter Schupfer, President of a Manhattan management agency, since, allegedly, Schupfer left a foul and putrid situation inside his Maple Lane mansion.

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Last Sunday evening saw Sag Harbor's highly anticipated Save Sag Harbor Benefit at the Whaler's Church. The sold out event included impassioned speeches by many Sag Harbor community leaders opposing the planned move into the community of a giant CVS store. There was a performance by local singer/songwriter Alexa Ray Joel. Joel's mother, Christie Brinkley, was among the benefit's attendees and she applauded and sang along like any proud mother. The benefit also featured an auction of high-end goods from local stores and food donated by Sag Harbor restaurants. All proceeds were donated to the Save Sag Harbor Campaign.

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Kevin McAllister of Peconic Baykeeper helped raise $10,000 at the 10th Annual Baykeeper's Lobster Bash last Friday. The event was held in Southampton at Skip Pollefsen's restaurant The Lobster Inn, which is rumored to have been sold to Cornell University to be used as a bay and marine research center. However, the transaction has not yet been confirmed.

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Keeping the Manhattan real estate bubble strong, the six-level, limestone-clad mansion at 8 E. 62nd Street that Madonna had her sights set on, has just sold for its asking price of $35 million to one lucky and wealthy buyer who beat out the material girl in a bidding war. The seller is Emilio Ambasz , who bought the mansion in 1992 for $3.5 million.

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Gordon's, the popular long-time Amagansett restaurant, has been sold by owner/chef George A. Polychronopoulos, who used to be a waiter at the famous Stork Club in New York when Sy Presten was its publicist. At a reunion with George, Sy told him, "You are the biggest named restaurateur in the Hamptons. Who else has 16 letters in his name?" Snarky!

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These days, even after-hours havoc is going green. Club Le Baron, the world's first "green nightclub," made entirely from recycled materials, is opening in New York on Tenth Avenue in December. The club already has a location in Paris, a hotspot making waves as the locale of Mary-Kate Olsen's recent make-out session with a "scruffy" mystery man.

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