RICH CRIBS
Tony Soprano's shrink slept here. Lorraine Bracco, the
actress who plays mob psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the HBO series "The
Sopranos," is selling her five-bedroom, 4 1/2-bathroom postmodern home in
Bridgehampton for $3.25 million. Bracco, a 1972 graduate of Hicksville High
School, bought the house for $1.6 million in 2004 from Anne Hearst,
granddaughter of publishing czar William Randolph Hearst.
Listing agent Tara Newman of Prudential Douglas Elliman says the house is
on an acre facing an 11-acre agricultural preserve, so "it's like being on 12
acres ... it's one of the most private properties in the area."
The Butter Lane home has a media room, a high-end kitchen, a heated pool
and an outdoor Jacuzzi. Newman says it's "elegant but cozy."
"It's probably one of the nicest properties I've listed," she says.
DESIGN OF THE TIMES. Blew your entire bonus on that house by the water and
now need somewhere for guests to sit? Relax, you don't have pay a fortune on
furnishings, advises Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor and judge
on "Top Design," Bravo TV's new reality show. "Design is easier in the
Hamptons," she says. "It doesn't have to be over the top. ... You can shop at
Target or Pottery Barn. ... You don't have to spend a lot to decorate your
beach house."
Russell has spent many summers in Amagansett, and says she loves the
"eclectic style" and "amazing shops" and the East End's mix of high- and
low-end stores. "You can't go wrong," she says.
- LAURA MANN
TOTAL RECALL. Robert W. Rust, the retired U.S. attorney who once saved
President-elect John F. Kennedy's life and is selling 55 acres of waterfront
property in the Village of North Haven for $80 million, has fond memories of
the property inherited from his aunt.
Some memories, how-ever, include times when he wasn't even there.
Rust, who helped track down a man police believed intended to harm JFK, has
lived in the Miami area most of his adult life, but he would occasionally
visit New York to spend time with relatives. The family includes 20 children
and grandchildren. The apartments his relatives owned in Manhattan couldn't
hold them all.
"I would send them out to North Haven to spend some time," he says. "At
least there they would all fit." - JAMES BERNSTEIN