Tag: New York City

Ghislaine’s Trump Card

As it is revealed there is one rule for Ghislaine Maxwell and one for everyone else in the US legal system on visitations, her alleged links with the CIA and Mossad are again outed

As it is revealed that Ghislaine Maxwell has “become the first federal inmate in New York City allowed an in-person visit since the pandemic started,” it has also been outed on Twitter that one of her attorneys, Christian Everdall, has dubious links to the CIA via his previous involvement with El Chapo.

Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell also, according to the author of Jeffrey Epstein: Predator Spy Kirby Sommers, allegedly worked for the CIA and Mossad and as a result of these dodgy connections, the mucky madam could well be in line for special treatment from the US legal system.

Whilst stories to date have suggested ‘Bouncing Bob’s’ deviant daughter is complaining about her lack of email and a desk, which indicate to the contrary, this could all be part of a distraction technique. Maxwell and Epstein most certainly had power in their vast address book and whatever may be said of this vile woman, she is still attracting the support of some of them and is far from stupid.

Aside from Donald Trump “wishing her well” in a signal that suggests he knows that she has more up her sleeve, the leakage of the story about her alleged affair with Bill Clinton was another sign that Maxwell will be playing every card she can. Don’t be surprised if she appallingly pulls off some kind of coup that disgracefully gets her off the hook in the near future. Stranger things have, indeed, happened.

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August 29, 2020
A Miniature Kingdom

Private island just 75 miles from New York for sale for just £650,000; it could make an ideal downsize from Necker for Sir Richard Branson

Created from pink granite bedrock that once formed hilltops prior to the last ice age, the 365 islands that form The Thimbles in Connecticut are mostly uninhabited rest stops for migrating seals.

With 81 houses across the 23 inhabited islands, 14 of those isles have only a single residence on them and now someone with £652,000 to spare can join past residents who’ve counted President William H. Taft and purchase one named Jepson Island.

An aerial shot of Jepson Island.

Only accessible by boat from the nearby village of Stony Creek, Branford the tiny 0.77-acre island is dominated by a 962 square foot “contemporary vacation” bungalow with two bedrooms and a bathroom. It has power from a generator and passive solar power, mains ‘city’ water and is offered for sale fully furnished.

Situated just 75 miles from New York City, Jepson Island is described by agents William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty as “the ultimate easy, nearby escape.”

The Names & Numbers – Jepson Island, Branford, Connecticut, CT 06405, United States of America

May 2020 – Jepson Island is offered for sale for £652,000 ($800,000, €737,000 or درهم1.2 million) through William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. Two other islands available include 0.77-acre Wheelers Island at £2.4 million ($3 million, €2.8 million or درهم11 million) and the 1.04-acre Belden Island at £1.2 million ($1.5 million, €1.4 million or درهم5.5 million).

2016 – Offered for sale as part of an “eight island deal” for £63.5 million ($78 million, €71.9 million or درهم286.5 million) by owners Edmund and Christine Stoecklein.

Late 1990s to early 2000s – Christine Stoecklein, widow of John Svenningsen (president of the party goods manufacturer Amscan Holdings Inc), bought a number of the Thimble Islands for a total of £24.4 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110.2 million).

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May 14, 2020
Evelyn McHale (1923 – 1947)

Little is known about what drove Evelyn McHale to jump from the Empire State Building and be captured in the “most beautiful suicide [photograph] ever” on 1^st May 1947.

Berkeley, California born bookkeeper McHale was one of nine children of a divorced bank examiner. The 23-year-old worked at the Kitab Engraving Company in Pearl Street, Manhattan and was engaged to a college student discharged from the United States Army Air Force named Barry Rhodes. She seemed to have had it all, but chose to end her life from atop one of the most famous buildings in the world.

“Elegantly attired and wearing a silk scarf, white gloves and a pearl necklace… [she is said to have] carefully removed her coat and neatly folded it, next she placed her black pocketbook on top of her coat [along with her makeup compact filled with family pictures and a handbag]. At 10:40am: Patrolman John Morrisey of Traffic C, directing traffic at 34^th and 35^th Avenue, reported seeing a white scarf floating lazily down from the heavens. Moments later this peaceful, dreamy scene was brutally interrupted by a heart rendering boom” as McHale had jumped 1,050-feet to her death and a crowd had converged.

Photography student Robert Wiles is said to have run over and captured a “poignant and surreal photo.” It was the only image of his ever published and Life Magazine captioned it: “At the bottom of the Empire State Building the body of Evelyn McHale reposes in grotesque bier, her falling body punched into the top of a [United Nations Assembly Cadillac limousine].” The driver was “in a nearby drug store, thereby escaping death or serious injury” other reports added.

A note found in her pocketbook announced: “I don’t want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me. Could you destroy my body by cremation? I beg of you and my family – don’t have any service for me or remembrance for me.” She had crossed out the following: “My fiancé asked me to marry him in June. I don’t think I would make a good wife for anybody. He is much better off without me” and then ended: “Tell my father, I have too many of my mother’s tendencies.”

Of the image, one commentator later remarked: “Evelyn’s gloved hand appears to be serenely touching her pearl necklace, and her legs crossed as if taking a nap,” whilst another added: “Evelyn McHale will go down in history as something akin to a fallen angel, as poignant and iconic as Marilyn Monroe.”

She was cremated with no service, grave or memorial and her fiancé reportedly said of her: “When I kissed her goodbye, she was happy and as normal as any girl about to be married.” He remained single for the rest of his life and died in Melbourne, Florida in 2007.

Many ‘sightings’ of Evelyn McHale wearing bright red lipstick and “looking distressed” on the 86^th floor observation deck have been reported and in the years since her death, she has been recalled in the works of Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Pearl Jam and Taylor Swift amongst others.

The United Nations Assembly Cadillac limousine that the body of Evelyn McHale landed upon after falling 86 floors from the observatory deck of the Empire State Building in New York City and the original image (unedited) taken by Robert Wiles. It has been has been compared to the photograph by Malcolm Wilde Browne of the self-immolation of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức who burned himself alive at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11th June 1963.

An image clearly showing the damage to the car from above.

Joséphine Wister Faure created a ‘mixed media sculpture’ of the car that the body of Evelyn McHale hit on 1st May 1947. Her sculpture is described as: “An interpretation of the photo, revisiting the impact of the image and the trace this woman left, both literally and physically. Also being true to her last wishes in which she specifically asked not to be seen. Inside the car the radio is playing 1947 NYC broadcast.” It was exhibited at the Boite Noire Gallery in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles in 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXhxfOzkq5w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQyHyJa2tSs

April 11, 2020
Slumlord Kushner’s Broke

Jared Kushner – New York’s answer to the 1960s London slumlord Peter Rachman – shown to be unable to pay his debts just as he sticks his mucky mitts in over coronavirus

Quite rightly branded an “daddy’s boy, total nerd, unelected slumlord” and “sleazy” and “unqualified” by rising star men’s swimwear designer George Sotelo on Instagram, Jared Kushner – the dimwitted Rachman-like husband of the self-serving wench Ivanka Trump – was exposed last week by Guest of a Guest as being unable to pay his debts “right now.”

Kushner – whose father is a convicted tax evader and witness tamperer – has defaulted on the mortage of 229 West 43^rd Street, the former New York Times building, and now he’s totally without justification “playing politics” with coronavirus.

Of his input into something this thick-as-pigshit imbecile knows zilch, zero, nada about, many are rightly asking: “Why is Donald Trump allowing this moron to stick his oar in?”

Whilst Guest of a Guest suggest that their “main takeaway” from the finance problem issue is that “if the Kushners can’t afford their payments, we’re all truly screwed,” we’ll take a different tack. Instead, we’d argue, if the Kushners are indeed f**ked, the world would be a far better place. It’s most certainly time to get this ratbag family off the stage.

Pictured top: Slumlord Jared Kushner and slumlord Peter Rachman (1919 – 1962). The word ‘Rachmanism’ entered the ‘Oxford English Dictionary’ as a synonym for the “exploitation and intimidation of tenants” and today ‘Kushnerism’ will enter it as an updated example also.

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April 3, 2020
Hero of the Hour – Ty Warner

Toy manufacturing billionaire Ty Warner has most generously turned over his 368 room hotel free of charge for New York’s medical workers for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic

Ty Warner is a billionaire with a difference in that he doesn’t hoard his fortune. He’s given millions to charity and once, when he stopped a woman to ask for directions in California and discovered she needed a stem-cell procedure, he gave her the £16,000 ($20,000) required to save her life.

This week, yet again proving his selfless nature, Chicago born Warner – whose fortune comes from making the Beanie Babies range of toys – turned over a hotel he owns, the I. M. Pei designed Four Seasons New York, for the use of the city’s medical workers, doctors and nurses treating coronavirus patients.

Of why he decided to do this, Warner told Town & Country magazine:

“Many of those working in New York City have to travel long distances to and from their homes after putting in 18-hour days… They need a place close to work where they can rest and regenerate. I heard Governor Cuomo’s call to action during one of his press conferences, and there was no other option for us but do whatever we could to help.”

We join those saluting this very, very generous man and urge British business tycoons to follow Ty Warner’s lead. To date, amongst those who’ve failed in that regard in Blighty are Mike Ashley, Sir Richard Branson, Sir Philip Green and Tim Martin.

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March 26, 2020
Andrew Warren

New York socialite Andrew Warren is known primarily as the best friend of Donald Trump’s daughter, Tiffany. With 100,000 followers on Instagram and the creator of the Just Drew fashion brand, he is the son of a real estate investor and also counts fellow trustafarians Kyra Kennedy and Gaia Matisse amongst his ‘Snap Pack’ entourage.

In August 2017, after bizarrely breaking his right arm in an incident in a Fort Pond, Montauk swimming pool involving an inflatable flamingo, Warren exclaimed: “It is especially hard because I use my right hand to design and for social media.”

Previously, in 2016, he modestly remarked: “I don’t I should be judged for posting a photo like eating caviar at Claridge’s in London while it’s okay for someone to post a picture at McDonald’s… In the Hamptons, I’ll have McDonald’s. I’ll have days where I go to Six Flags. I venture to Coney Island. I’m not grossed out by anything. My mom likes to go to Ohio. We do things that people wouldn’t expect us to do.”

August 15, 2017
The Pumpkin House

Eccentric Hudson Heights, New York cliffside residence for sale for £3.33 million; at certain times of day it resembles a pumpkin

16 Chittenden Avenue, Hudson Heights, New York certainly doesn’t sound like an inspirational place to live. Though mention of this address won’t set pulses racing and despite one previous owner joking: “It’s not the White House”, whoever buys it will actually get something quite breathtaking situated on the highest natural point in Manhattan.

Offered for £3.33 million – a figure 202% higher than it sold for 17 years ago in 2000 – ‘The Pumpkin House’, as the residence is more famously known, is a freestanding cliffside structure that is described by selling agents Sotheby’s International Realty as having a “seemingly jack-o’-lantern face that glows across the Hudson [River] reflecting the light of the setting sun”.

The Pumpkin House – 16 Chittenden Avenue, Hudson Heights, New York, NY 10033, United States of America

The building in the 1930s

It is spread over 4 floors, extends to 3,144 square foot and includes 2 reception rooms, a library, a home office, a “French country style” kitchen, 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. A basement flat provides 1 reception room, a kitchen, 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom and in addition to a 2-car garage, there is a small garden, a balcony and a vast, part covered 66-foot long roof terrace.

Built on a steel foundation in 1925 by an engineer and “sort of a dreamer” named Cleveland Walcutt and referenced by The New York Times in 2008 as “a face in the crowd”, ‘The Pumpkin House’ was owned by an interior designer named William Spink from 2000 to 2011. During the renovations he orchestrated, a construction worker fell off the building and was seriously injured but what potential buyers will either love or loathe about this architectural miracle suspended over a 265-foot drop is that it truly is utterly eccentric.

The Numbers – The Pumpkin House

2000 – Sold for $1.10 million (the equivalent of $1.56 million, £1.22 million, €1.39 million or درهم5.73 million today).

2005 – Listed for $3.45 million (the equivalent of $4.32 million, £3.38 million, €3.86 million or درهم15.87 million today). Failed to sell.

2010 – Relisted for increased price of $3.90 million (the equivalent of $4.38 million, £3.43 million, €3.91 million or درهم16.09 million today).

2011 – Sold for an undisclosed sum.

August 2016 – For sale for $5.25 million (£4.11 million, €4.69 million or درهم19.28 million).

June 2017 – For sale for $4.25 million (£3.33 million, €3.79 million or درهم15.61 million).

June 19, 2017
Take Me To The Titanic

Apartment in mansion block in Sloane Square for sale for £6.2 million in spite of needing updating; it is within the building from which a Mayor of Chelsea lived and departed to his death on RMS Titanic

A third floor flat in a portered mansion block on Sloane Square has gone on sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons in spite of being decorated like a relic from the 1980s. It is situated above Hugo Boss’ flagship store and within Grade II listed Wyndham House, the building from which a former Mayor of Chelsea went to his untimely death aboard the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Previously priced at £6.5 million ($8.4 million, €7.7 million or درهم30.9 million) when marketed by Russell & Simpson in February 2016, the 2,684 square foot lateral apartment includes a 30-foot long reception room, 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and features such details as ornate ceiling friezes and plasterwork and working fireplaces. A larger 5 bedroom flat within Wyndham House sold for the staggering sum of £12 million ($15.5 million, €14.2 million or درهم57 million) in July 2015 according to Land Registry records.

Wyndham House resident and Mayor of Chelsea from 1909 to 1911 Charles Head (1869 – 1912) perished aboard RMS Titanic, his body was never recovered but a sundial was erected in his memory in nearby Cadogan Place Gardens

Aside from being one of Chelsea’s grandest residential blocks, Wyndham House was at home to one of the victims of the Titanic maritime disaster in the early 1900s and it was from here that Charles Head, Mayor of Chelsea between 1909 and 1911, went to his death in April 1912. Head, a Cambridge educated barrister turned director of Head & Co. insurance brokers and underwriters at Lloyds of London, was a well known supporter of the arts, a councilor from 1906 and had only married 18 months earlier. He travelled alone on a £42 first class ticket (the equivalent of £4,400, $5,700, €5,200 or درهم20,900 today) on the Titanic’s maiden voyage and bizarrely had taken out a £25,000 insurance policy “against ocean accidents”. His precaution left his widow very well provided for given such a sum was the equivalent of £2.6 million today ($3.4 million, €3.1 million or درهم12.4 million).

May 8, 2017
Jack Schlossberg (AKA John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg)

New York born, Yale educated Jack Schlossberg is the only grandson of JFK. The son of designer and artist Ed Schlossberg and former Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, Schlossberg co-founded ReLight New York, a non-profit organsiation that installed fluorescent lights in low-income housing developments, whilst at school and has expressed a desire to pursue a career in politics. In May 2017, he was interviewed on NBC Today and commented: “I’m inspired by my family’s legacy of public service. It’s something that I’m very proud of, but I’m still trying to make my own way, figure things out, so stay tuned”.

May 6, 2017
Gilded Glory

New York’s “last intact Gilded Age mansion” for sale for £38.75 million; it comes with a room that cannot be wiretapped

An Upper East Side “Beaux Arts palace on a small scale” described as “Manhattan’s last intact Gilded Age mansion” has gone on sale for £38.75 million ($50 million, €45.96 million or درهم183.65 million) with Douglas Elliman.

854 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, New York, NY 10065, United States of America

Offering 20,000 square foot of accommodation over nine floors, 854 Fifth Avenue stands opposite Central Park and between 66^th and 67^th Streets. It was built in 1905 for a stockbroker named Robert Livingston Beeckman and constructed by architects Warren & Wetmore at a cost of $60,000 (the equivalent of $1.6 million, £1.2 million, €1.5 million or درهم5.9 million today). The residence was landmarked by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as a “superb example of the French classic style of Louis XV” in 1966 and to this day, the 32-room property retains original features including hand-carved balustrades of white marble, ceiling frescoes of angels and clouds, an original working stove and two of the city’s first private elevators.

Robert Livingston Beeckman (1866 – 1935), Emily Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane White (1852 – 1946) and Henry White (1850 – 1927)

Sold next to George Grant in 1912 after Beeckman – later 52^nd Governor of Rhode Island – abandoned New York to spend more time at his Newport estate, Lands End, for a then record sum of $725,000 (the equivalent of $18.3 million, £14.1 million, €16.8 million or درهم67.2 million today), 854 Fifth Avenue was then offloaded to Henry White and his heiress wife Emily Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane White for the much lower sum of $450,000 in 1925 (the equivalent of $6.3 million, £4.9 million, €5.8 million or درهم23.1 million today).

Twice married financier of New York’s Sloane Hospital for Women Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane White and her ambassador husband are said to have “added their own touches” to the mansion and after she died, 854 Fifth Avenue was sold to the then nation of Yugoslavia. It has served as a government building since and was most recently used as the Permanent Mission of Serbia and Mission of Serbia to the UN.

Bombed on 11^th July 1968 but thankfully subject to little damage in that attack, the mansion still to this day features a ‘Faraday Cage’ – a secret metal-padded room where officials could meet without the fear of being wiretapped – as well as bulletproof windows to its Central Park elevation.

Last week, of the property, Tristan Harper of Douglas Elliman told The Real Deal:

“Everything is virtually intact. Whoever buys it will own a piece of New York history. [The six individuals who have already expressed interest in purchasing 854 Fifth Avenue are] all extremely high-net-worth individuals of different backgrounds”.

Once bordered by houses of a similar scale, 854 Fifth Avenue is now adjoined by two behemoth-like apartment complexes. It stands sturdy and represents a little reminder of the glorious era of Carnegies, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Whitneys.

April 28, 2017