Planes, domains (homes) and automobiles for the rich

By ANNA DAVID

The way entertainment industry professionals find to spend their dough should make most mortals green.

HOLLYWOOD HISTORY: Frank Llyod Wright Jr. designed this Los Feliz house listed for $1.575 million with Avanti Real Estate.

If private schools, a home on the Westside and full time housekeepers and nannies can be considered bare minimums for industry execs, there's plenty of room for improving on these requirements.

The first place to make the move upwards is securing the right house.

Courteney Cox-Arquette and David Arquette spent $10 million for a Malibu place built by John Lautner (a Frank Lloyd Wright protege) while Artists Management Group president Michael Ovitz shelled out $6.5 million for a three-bedroom Benedict Canyon abode. David Schwimmer forked over $5.5 million for a seven-bedroom Spanish colonial in Hancock Park while Sela Ward spent $4.9 million for a five-bedroom residence with tennis court and pool.

The list goes on: James Cameron paid $4.5 million for a five-bedroom country estate outside Santa Barbara while Adam Sandler parted with $3.1 million, plus another $650,000 for furniture and art, for a three-bedroom pad in Malibu.

If a 40 hour a week nanny isn't enough, perhaps a round-the-clock nurse or a personal chef is in order.

For that, Hollywood insiders depend on Claudia Kahn, who's run the Brentwood-based Help Co. for the past 19 years. Nannies are roughly $1,500 a week, $400 a day for round-the-clock care.

The company's services also include personal assistants for $50,000-$60,000 a year; chefs for between $50,000 and $120,000; drivers/chauffeurs for roughly $40,000; butlers for $50,000-$80,000 and estate managers for about $150,000. (The company takes a percentage of the employee's annual gross.)

"The service is perfect for busy, working people who don't want to meet 25 people and have to check out their personality and background," Kahn is quick to point out, explaining that her clientele is a fairly even mix of celebrities, agents and studio executives.

If the kids have outgrown baby nurses, perhaps it's time to call in a professional summer camp consultant. For a percentage of the summer camp's fee, camp brokers Tips on Trips and Camps will recommend, say, a circus camp in Maine or a kids' cruise around the Caribbean. Travel and tuition at these uber-camps typically runs above $1,500 per week.

When it comes time to divorce or remodel, the most lavish temporary living arrangements can be found at the Beverly Hills Hotel's Bungalow 5A, a four-bedroom presidential suite that not only has its own Jacuzzi and pool but also saw Elizabeth Taylor through six honeymoons. It's testament to the town's wealth and need for stealth that the private $4,070-a-night suite is often reserved years in advance.

Slightly downscale from there is the 2,220-square-foot presidential suite at the Four Seasons, which for $4,300 a night provides living and dining rooms, a guest bedroom, three bedrooms, a baby grand piano and an elevator that can be locked off for guests with security issues.

Sometimes, however, players feel the need to move their well-paid bodies away from it all -- which is where the spas come in. Particularly appealing to divas Barbra Streisand and Courtney Love is Escondido's Golden Door, where spa packages start at $5,725.

Further down the food chain is the all-vegetarian Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, which has packages that start at $1,502 and is visited by Alicia Silverstone, Gillian Anderson and Kate Winslet.

For out-of-town business or pleasure, execs and celebs rely on Avjet, a Burbank-based air chartering company that's considered a limousine service with airplanes. Overnight rates for Westwinds are $600 and Gulfstreams between $900-$1,299.

Some of the available aircrafts can carry up to 15 passengers (the Westwinds only seven), and all include bathrooms, stereo/bar and VCRs.

But why charter when you can own? Airplanes certainly top the list of pricey acquisitions and John Travolta, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey are members of this particular mile-high club.

WAY TO GO: This Gulfstream V jet from Avjet features DVD, fax and Playstation and can accommodate up to 14 passengers for nonstop trans-oceanic trips.

Cruise's Gulfstream IV (which is reported to have cost $28 million) contains all the amenities of a summer home, including three cabins, seating for 10, a Jacuzzi and Sony cinema.

Carrey is said to have spent $41 million for his Gulfstream V, which among its other features, contains 100% fresh air inside.

Avid aviator Travolta, it should surprise no one, takes the cake. He owns three Gulfstreams in all, piloting them himself when he goes on location. While this may seem a great deal for producers looking to save on first class tickets, it doesn't work that way.

According to a deal memo from a recent project, the actor requires two pilots on standby -- at $1,250 a day -- should he get tired. His G-11 aircraft also receives $2,000 an hour for fuel and maintenence. In fact, Travolta's such a devotee, he even named his son Jett.

Source: Variety