Celebrity Lifestyle Designer
Inspiration is priceless, but at the Getty Villa they give it away for free. 
Most people have heard of the Getty Museum, but the Getty Villa which re-opened its doors in 2006, is a new chapter in museum delectability. 
Located in the beautiful Pacific Palisades, situated on luscious landscaped ocean front property, the Getty Villa offers ocean scented breezes, awe inspiring Art and a wide variety of programing including concerts and lectures. 
Did I mention it's free? This is a great place to go on a date, or spend an afternoon with the kids, and best of all this is the perfect place to go when you need to take a little "you" time. 
On a sunny afternoon at the Villa you can easily convince yourself that you have taken an expensive vacation to the isle of Greece. 
What a wonderful, inexpensive way to recharge your batteries.
Most people have heard of the Getty Museum, but the Getty Villa which re-opened its doors in 2006, is a new chapter in museum delectability. Located in the beautiful Pacific Palisades, situated on luscious landscaped ocean front property, the Getty Villa offers ocean scented breezes, awe inspiring Art and a wide variety of programing including concerts and lectures. Did I mention it's free? This is a great place to go on a date, or spend an afternoon with the kids, and best of all this is the perfect place to go when you need to take a little "you" time. On a sunny afternoon at the Villa you can easily convince yourself that you have taken an expensive vacation to the isle of Greece. What a wonderful, inexpensive way to recharge your batteries.
When you see the opulent gardens, and the Grecian, Roman and Etruscan statuary you can't help but marvel at how much money it took to create such an amazing non-profit extravaganza of eye candy. 
It's mind boggling.
It's mind boggling. 
The Getty Villa has just had a massive renovation. It closed in 1997 and after $275 million, yes million, was spent, the new incarnation of the museum reopened in 2006. The new version sports an amphitheater, a restaurant and an entire new wing.
J. Paul Getty, whose renowned riches paid for both the Getty Villa and the Getty Center was a visionary in more ways than one. 
He was born into a wealthy family but by the age of 25 he was a millionaire in his own right. At 26 he decided to retire in order to pursue his true passion, being a playboy! 
Retirement didn't last long but being a playboy did. Getty made a number of shrewd business decisions that lead to his legendary wealth. 
During the depression he acquired companies and properties at rock bottom prices, then in the late 40's he began amassing mineral rights in the Middle East. 
At that time there were no oil fields in the Middle East, Getty invested over 30 million dollars into drills and derricks, sure that it would be worthwhile. For over four years there was no success. Can you imagine 30 million dollars in 1949? 
People must have thought he was crazy. Crazy like a fox. Starting in 1953 those oil fields produced more than 16 million barrels of oil a year. Wealth beyond reason. 
Fortunately for all of us Getty used a great deal of his money to buy artifacts and to endow his philanthropic efforts. The Getty Villa is a spectacular jewel in the Getty Legacy.
Treat yourself to it as soon as you can.
He was born into a wealthy family but by the age of 25 he was a millionaire in his own right. At 26 he decided to retire in order to pursue his true passion, being a playboy! Retirement didn't last long but being a playboy did. Getty made a number of shrewd business decisions that lead to his legendary wealth. During the depression he acquired companies and properties at rock bottom prices, then in the late 40's he began amassing mineral rights in the Middle East. At that time there were no oil fields in the Middle East, Getty invested over 30 million dollars into drills and derricks, sure that it would be worthwhile. For over four years there was no success. Can you imagine 30 million dollars in 1949? People must have thought he was crazy. Crazy like a fox. Starting in 1953 those oil fields produced more than 16 million barrels of oil a year. Wealth beyond reason. Fortunately for all of us Getty used a great deal of his money to buy artifacts and to endow his philanthropic efforts. The Getty Villa is a spectacular jewel in the Getty Legacy. Treat yourself to it as soon as you can. 
The truth is that when you let the light in sometimes you notice...let's just say...spring cleaning is 
I want a door in my office that opens to a sunny garden with the ocean lingering in the distance! But take a look at this office! 
Time to Spring clean...but not this weekend! This weekend enjoy the light, and the warm air. Next week we can start on spring cleaning.
If your budget and your lifestyle don't support having an antique rug (let's face it 
They're economical, beautiful and durable. My favorite place to shop for reproductions is 
Their shop on 
Turks and Cacaos is an amazing enclave of spectacular island villas owned by a small group of uber celebrities and the wildly successful. The homes on the island are the penultimate of island sophisticated chic. And the high priestess of it all, living in the island castle of any one's dreams is Donna Karan. 
You can't even imagine. And I can't even describe...but I have to. It was that....ugh....there are no words. 
I can just tell you it was so beautiful and so elegant that it made me emotional. And the smell...the smell...I will never forget the smell. 
It smelled like money, fresh, clean, ocean scented money.
This is the playground for success beyond measure, the reward for talent unrestrained. The day of my private tour coincided with the departure of one of Hollywood's elite actors and his family,
who had been enjoying a brief stay. I can't even repeat the amount of money it takes to rent the villa for one night, a number that I guarantee would catch your breath, but I assure you it's worth every penny.
Look at this carved stone wall tile. 
Where else can you see something like this?
Robert is a very talented and versatile designer. 
I've used his lamps for several clients.
better known as The Meatpacking District. 
This is an area of the City that has been experiencing an amazing transformation over the last decade. 
In the early 1900's the area was home to over 259 slaughterhouses and packing plants,
by the 1980's it was an area that was known for sex clubs, drug dealing and prostitution.
Then in the late 1990's 
What a difference a designer can make.
Gansevoort Market is now widely considered the hottest, trendiest place to be in New York City. 
For shopping there are dozens of high-end boutiques to choose from such as 
It used to be an elevated freight railroad 
developed under the aegis of Robert Moses, now it is an incredible greenway modeled after Paris' Promenade Plantée. 
The High Line park isn't finished, when it is done it will continue from the former 34th Street freight yard, near the Javits Convention Center, through the neighborhood of Chelsea to Gansevoort Street (one block below West 12th Street) in the Meat Packing District of the West Village. 
For now just the southernmost section is open while the middle section is still being refurbished.
You can get to the High Line park from five different stairways or an auxiliary elevator on 16th Street. 
The park is lush with naturalized plantings that are inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the unused tracks. 
Spectacular, unexpected views of the city and the Hudson River can be seen along the pebble-dashed concrete walkways. 
The old tracks are incorporated into the park creating a unique perspective of what once was. 
It is nothing short of a work of art. 
