Located in southern Manhattan just south of Central Park this area is one of the most coveted real estate locations in the world.  Just two blocks from Columbus Circle and the Museum of Modern Art, the central location also sports a nearby subway stop.  Plus incredible views of southern Manhattan and Central Park of course.

Few buildings in Manhattan have as bizarre and varied history as The Ansonia located on the once bohemian Upper West Side of the city.  Built in 1899 in the Beaux Arts style, it was originally a residential hotel with 3,000 rooms an urban farm on the roof featuring 500 chickens.  It was so luxurious it had its own curator of art who handled the properties over 600 paintings.

The Ansonia has had many celebrated residents, including baseball player Babe Ruth; writer Theodore Dreiser, in 1912; the leader of the Bahá'í Faith `Abdu'l-Bahá; Nobel prize winner in literature Isaac Bashevitz Singer; conductor Arturo Toscanini; composer Igor Stravinsky; fashion designer Koos van den Akker; and Italian tenor Enrico Caruso.  It was also infamous as the place the "black sox" scandal was plotted to throw the 1919 World Series.

By the mid-twentieth-century, the grand apartments had mostly been divided into studios and one-bedroom units, almost all of which retained their original architectural detail. After a short debate in the 1960s, a proposal to demolish the building was fought off by its many musical and artistic residents. From 1977 until 1980, The Ansonia Hotel's basement was home to Plato's Retreat, an open door swinger sex club. In 1985, then Mayor Ed Koch shut the club down due to "health concerns" for "public safety." Prior to Plato's Retreat, the building housed the Continental Baths, operated by Steve Ostrow, a gay bathhouse where Bette Midler provided musical entertainment early in her career, with Barry Manilow as her accompanist.

By the 1970s it had fallen into disrepair like so much of Manhattan and was not up to code.  Fortunately a $21 million starter  investment began bringing the building back.

In 1992, the Ansonia was converted to a condominium apartment building with 430 apartments. By 2007, most of the rent-controlled apartment tenants had moved out, and the small apartments were sold to buyers who purchased clusters of small apartments and threw them together to recreate grand apartments like those shown in the photos below.

The Colonnade's street level retailers make for some stylish neighbours - Chanel, Cartier and Prada call this home, too. Yorkville is renowned for its fine dining, trendy boutiques and stellar cafŽes. There's a proliferation of culture and art as well as plenty of pampering, including some of the city's finest spas and salons. Minutes walk to Holt Renfrew Centre and the Colonnade shopping destinations on Bloor Street. On the Yonge/Bloor Subway line, living at the crossroads of Toronto's downtown core offers great advantages - whether it's for work or play, everything is close to home and easy to access.

Featuring some of the most expensive real estate in Southern California and the United States, the Hollywood Hills and its iconic sign are instantly recognizable.  The higher up the hills you go the more expensive the land becomes and the better the views get. 

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Forest Hills is considered to be one the prime residential areas for the wealthy in Toronto. This rich Toronto neighbourhood conveys a definite upscale and posh outlook with beautiful landscapes and huge, elegant homes with well-kept, manicured lawns. The neighbourhood also boasts some of the best schools in the country. The average home costs more than $2.3 million. Census data from Statistics Canada states an average income for all private households in Forest Hill to be $101,631, compared to the $40,704 average income in Toronto's Census Metropolitan Area.

Newport Beach is a coastal city in Orange County, California, United States. Its population was 85,287 at the 2010 census. Newport Beach is home to Newport Harbor and Balboa Island. The city is bordered on the west by Huntington Beach at the Santa Ana River; on the north by Costa Mesa, John Wayne Airport, the City of Irvine and UC Irvine; and on the east by Crystal Cove State Park.

Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands, which are located in the northwestern corner of Washington state in San Juan County, Washington, United States.  The state supports island access through the Washington State Ferries system. In addition, the island can be accessed through a variety of private air and sea charter services. It has a land area of 57.3 square miles (148.4 km²) and a population of 5,387 (2010 census).

Rancho Santa Fe is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California, United States, within the San Diego metropolitan area. The population was 3,117 at the 2010 census. The CDP is primarily residential with a few shopping blocks, a middle and elementary school, and several restaurants.  With a median income of $189,000 in the 2010 census it is no surprise than Rancho Santa Fe is home to some massively luxurious properties as the photos below demonstrate.

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