Madonna recently moved into my neighborhood. She purchased a gigantic townhouse, on 81 Street between Lexington and Third Avenues, for about $40 million, which she gutted and renovated. It’s a stately brick home with a great many windows, a two-car garage and a big backyard. (These are rare commodities in Manhattan.) Since I walk down that street many times a month, I’ve watched the renovation process from the start. It’s always fun to look at the beautiful architecture of private residences on the Upper East Side.
A few days ago, I noticed an addition to Madonna’s new home: An imposing black metal gate in front of the place, with two official signs–a few feet from each other–that say exactly the same thing: Don’t park or your vehicle will be towed away, at your expense. In case you miss the two signs, our new neighbor has the words “NO PARKING” written in cement–TWICE–at the curb. I’m surprised Madonna didn’t memorialize her hand print while she was at it. Her private Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
0 Responses to “She sure is a material girl”
Toby Wollin says:
She did the exact same thing when she (while still married to Guy Richie) bought an estate in Scotland. Now, in the UK, by history and tradition, footpaths that are on socalled private property cannot be closed off. As a matter of fact, landowners must keep them maintained for the public because they are ‘public thoroughfares’ and in most cases, we are talking paths that local people have been using to go from one place to another for literally over 1000 years. But Mrs. Richie didn’t WANT the hoipoloi on her property and tried fencing them off, which got her and Mr. Madonna is a peck of trouble. But then again, they also got divorced and sold the place anyway. So, this is not a surprise to me at all. But again – if she didn’t want people actually seeing her or brushing up against her and so on, she probably should have bought a place up on the Tughill Plateau in the trees where no one could see her at all. But perhaps that is not the point.
Kate Line Snider says:
I have a neighbor like this. Everybody has weird neighbors. Celebrities are ordinary people with extraordinary jobs! Some make better neighbors than others.