Former astronaut John Glenn, the first American in space, sent these books to The Little Auction That Could (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

The list of those who signed their favorite childhood books and shipped then to Stuart for a charity auction reads like a pop culture Top 100: Poet Maya Angelou; The Apprentice’s Donald Trump; golfer Tiger Woods; former First Lady Barbara Bush; her son, former Gov. Jeb Bush; chimp lover Jane Goodall; former Miami Heat star Shaquille O’Neal; Pres. Barack Obama; Nike’s Phil Knight; Hollywood stars Sean Connery, Steve Martin and Robert Wagner; TV news readers Katie Couric and Brian Williams; Palm Beach musician Jimmy Buffett; and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, among others.

In all, a total 60 A-listers contributed. It took time, nearly two years, said organizer Karla Preissman. The first to respond to her requests was Jeb Bush, who shipped her The Travels of Babar. The last? The prez. Obama rush-mailed a pop up book of the White House two weeks ago.

Dubbed The Little Auction That Could (after the children’s book The Little Engine That Could), the event ends Nov. 20 with the auctioning of the books at the Lyric Theatre. Proceeds go to the Hibiscus Children’s Center, a shelter for abused and neglected children. Until then, the books are exhibited at Stuart’s Elliott Museum.

For more info about the auction and the celebs, and what they liked to read, check out this website.

And see Page2Live’s photos by Michele Sandberg of Thursday night’s preview of what’s for sale:

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Satan protecting the vodka bar? A good call with this crowd! (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

Nearly 400 people — culled mostly from local young society — passed the gates of party hell Friday night for the Ann Norton Sculpture Garden’s yearly bash known as Devil’s Night.

Devil’s Night is, bar none, one of the best Halloween-themed event in SoFla. I’m told students from the Dreyfoos School of the Arts spent most of the week decorating with ghouls and skeletons and graves and spider webs a garden that seems to have been designed only for this party.

And as they do every year, the dark nooks and crannies filled up, on the late side, with those seeking a little privacy.

At $160-per, the affair is the Gentlemen of the Garden’s richest fundraiser of the year. Proceeds go to the waterfront sculpture museum.

Check out Page2Live’s largest ever party photo-gallery, by Michele Sandberg:

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Trista Rehn was the first star of the wildly successful reality TV series The Bachelorette, an ABC show in which viewers got to watch a woman pick a potential husband. In the end, she picked Ryan Sutter, a Colorado firefighter and model. This is what they looked like then:

(Courtesy ABC)

A year later, the two were married during one of reality TV’s most watched specials. It seems theirs is one of the only relationships made for TV that actually endured. Wanna see them now? Look below or click (Read more…)

Love at first bite? (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

It was Beetlejuice meets high society at Saturday night’s pre-Halloween party in Boca Raton, on the $4.5 million Intracoastal property of shoe king Bob Campbell. One popular guest: The fresh-out-of-prison, tax evading land baron Jim Batmasian, who looked like a poor man’s version of Dracula. More than 200 people paid $175-a-head to visit the Love at First Bite soiree, and bought auction items to benefit The ARC of Palm Beach County. The non-profit is dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities. The party kicked off a wild Halloween week in Palm Beach County. The big one is Friday at West Palm Beach’s Ann Norton Sculpture Garden, where the Gentlemen of the Garden hold their yearly Devil’s Night. Until then, check below for the Page2Live gallery of Campbell’s spooky party, by Michele Sandberg:

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(Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

If just about everyone out there is going broke, lovers of fine Italian cars haven’t heard. They packed the new Ferrari Maserati of Fort Lauderdale on North Federal Highway Thursday night for a look at some of the Bucking Horse’s most famous sets of wheels. Among them, a yellow 275 GTB Competizione, one of possibly three left in the world; a $3 million-FXX; and a $1.5 million-Enzo. Check out Page2Live’s Michele Sandberg’s photo gallery below.

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Local gal Brooke Mueller Sheen with Charlie Sheen at Saturday's bat mitzvah in Mar-a-Lago

TV star Charlie Sheen, he of the CBS hit sitcom Two and a Half Men, quietly slipped into Palm Beach over the weekend for a bat mitzvah, of all things.

Well, 13-year-old Sydney Wolofsky’s soiree wasn’t just any old bat mitzvah.

Gov. Charlie Crist and first lady Carole Rome tore up the dance floor with dozens of pubescent teens.

And there were nearly 300 guests in the grand ballroom of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Saturday night for the Jewish rite-of-passage. Guests, including 70 of Sydney’s classmates at the Palm Beach Day Academy and family friends from Australia, Hungary, Puerto Rico, Aspen and the Hamptons, munched on filet mignon while gawking at Sheen.

The themes: Hollywood! The color: pink!

“Sydney wants to be an actress,” said mom, Moira Fiore. “She’s such a drama queen that we just had to have that theme.”

Instead of a red carpet, guest walked on a pink one into the banquet. Sydney was carried in on a pink throne before being serenaded by professional singer John Fiore, Moira’s hubby.

Sheen’s co-star on Two and a Half Men, Jon Cryer, send his regards by video along with: Apocalypse Now’s Martin Sheen, Trump, TV host Regis Philbin, big screen hottie Rebecca Gayheart (Urban Legends) and her husband, Grey’s Anatomy’s Eric Dane.

Up-and-coming dancer/actress Rachele Brooke Smith, star of a Bring It On cheerleading film, performed her dance routine as the surprise entertainment.

Wolfosky is the sister of Sheen’s wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen, a former Benjamin School cheerleader.

Check out Page2Live’s exclusive photo gallery of the party, by Christopher Fay:

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Would be U.S. Senator Charlie Crist with the missus

Miami Heat President Pat Riley, team superstar Dwyane Wade and retired Heatster Alonzo Mourning at the Miami Children's Hospital Gala (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

The sideshow of Dwyane Wade making it sorta official that he’s dating C-list actress Gabrielle Union didn’t distract from the true nature of Friday’s fund-raiser for the famed Miami Children’s Hospital, a traditional kickoff of SoFla’s social season.

More than 400 well-heeled South Floridians plunked down $1,000-per for the black tie at the Biltmore Hotel. They watched Wade getting inducted into the hospital’s Hall of Fame for his work with children. And they heard Oprah Winfrey protege Charice, a 17-year-old singer, perform in a voice that puts Whitney Houston’s to shame.

Hard to believe, but the gala was scaled down from last year, when the party on the floor of the AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami featured pop superstar Beyonce.

Still, the guest list this time around wasn’t too shabby. It included Miami Heat head honcho Pat Riley and retired Miami Heat tall-head Alonzo Mourning, who flashed a photo of his month-old son Alijah to anyone who’d offer congratulations.

Organizers already knew they wouldn’t be able to equal last year’s loot, a SoFla-record $12 million. But they tried hard, with clever things like the $1,000 lemonade glass (Frangelico, Stoli, lemonade — and a diamond).

For a slew of pictures of the gala by Michele Sandberg, look below

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Ball chairman Juan Carlos Mas and wife Vivian

Co-owner Rocco Mangel welcomes folks at Reef Road Thursday (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

The grand opening of a new restaurant/bar in West Palm Beach’s nightlife district Thursday night brought in so many people that the party spilled out onto the street.

The new place, Reef Road and Rum Bar, sprung into the space recently left vacant by Clematis Social. It specializes in Florida seafood as well as rum. No fewer than 100 brands of the Caribbean firewater are offered.

Reef Road is the brainchild of well-known nightlife entrepreneurs Cleve Mash, Rocco Mangel, Todd Herbst and Bill Watson. The latter two are partners in Big Time Restaurant Group (City Oyster, City Cellar, Big City Tavern, Grease). Mash is a partner in Monarchy, Lost Weekend and Dr. Feelgood’s, all on Clematis. Mangel owns Rocco’s Tacos and Grease, also on Clematis.

What’s with these guys? Do they want to own the entire street?

“We understand what’s missing on Clematis,” Mash said, “and everything we’re building compliments the previous parts. The restaurants aren’t taking business from one another. They only bring more people to Clematis and everybody benefits.”

Check out Michele Sandberg’s gallery of Thursday’s opening below. Yes, that’s Vanilla Ice on the first two pictures. Reef Road, by the way, opens to the public tonight.

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Laura and Rob Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice)

Salsa star and Miami Dolphins part owner Marc Anthony tries to make it discreet as he kisses wife Jennifer Lopez on Monday during the game against the stinking New York Jets. More pictures of couple in their stadium suite in the gallery below.

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Anthony sings the national anthem Monday night

Anna Loeb (Courtesy finest.se)

Does this young woman appear distraught over her pending divorce?

Nick Loeb

Anna Loeb, the model-material wife of Florida Senate candidate Nick Loeb, filed divorce papers in a Palm Beach family court in Delray Beach, citing “irreconcilable differences” as pictures of her partying in her native Sweden appeared online.

Trust-funder Nick and the bombshell were married four years ago in the office of West Palm Beach lawyer Michael Walsh, who now represents the former Anna Pettersson in the split.

Rumors were abounding all summer that the wannabe pol and the wife were splitsville. While the two were attached at the hip earlier in the campaign, Anna started spending more time in her native European country. Then pictures of her partying up a storm in Stockholm turned up on the Swedish nightlife site finest.se.

To see the pictures, more on the story and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)