Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Pete Peterson, Image Expert | If Goldman Sachs wants to redeem its reputation, it would have to donate "at least $1 billion" to charity, says billionaire Pete Peterson. "'Only a donation that size would 'have much resonance in the public,' Peterson, the 83-year-old co-founder of Blackstone Group LP, the world's largest private-equity company, said in an interview in New York yesterday." Fair enough. But we're thinking Peterson might need to rename a concert hall or build a new hospital if he expects us to not immediately think of his fame-obsessed grandson every time we hear the name "Peterson." [Bloomberg]

PC Peterson's 'Modest' Beginnings | Reality TV brat PC Peterson is said to have deeply upset his grandfather, financier Pete Peterson, over his obnoxious performance on Bravo's NYC Prep. But just because his grandfather is a billionaire doesn't mean PC was necessarily raised living in the lap of luxury.More

• New details have emerged about Mischa Barton's involuntary trip to the hospital last week: According to the Post and the Sun, Barton was "so high on coke following a marathon three-day bender" that friends thought she might kill herself, and contacted the police. [NYP, Sun]
• Yet another fashion publicist is in legal trouble, apparently. Tim Mark Garcia, the new head of public relations for Marc Jacobs, is out on bond on "plunder" charges and is now facing extradition back to the Philippines. [P6]
• Not surprisingly, billionaire financier Pete Peterson is said to be "mortified" over how his grandson, PC, has come off on the Bravo show NYC Prep. [P6]
• French president Nicolas Sarkozy was in NYC this weekend. And he showed off his "chiseled" body when he went jogging in Central Park. [NYDN] More

Plenty of reality programs promise to show us how the rich and powerful live their lives. Very few actually end up doing that, of course. The women featured on the Real Housewives of NYC weren't part of the city's social elite before they humiliated themselves on national television—nor were they all housewives either—so they had little to lose in the end. That will change, though, when Bravo's NYC Prep, or the "real-life Gossip Girl," as Bravo has been billing it, debuts on June 23. One of the obnoxious, over-privileged teens featured on the show—the one who comes off in the worst possible light, in fact—hails from one of the city's richest and most respected families. Meet Peter Carey ("PC") Peterson, the grandson of Pete Peterson.  More

Happy Birthday | Suze Orman turns 58 today. Billionaire financier Pete Peterson is turning 83. Teen Vogue editor Amy Astley is 42. Post columnist Andrea Peyser is turning 50. Journalist Bill Moyers is 75. Mark Wahlberg is turning 38. Pete Wentz is 30. Author Chuck Klosterman is 37. Comedian Jeff Garlin is 46. Laurie Anderson, the musician and wife of Lou Reed, is 62. Actor Ron Livingston is turning 42. Art advisor Kim Heirston turns 46. Housing Works president Charles King is 50. Kristin Gore, the author and daughter of Al Gore, turns 32. Movie producer Kathleen Kennedy is 56. And Kenny G celebrates his 53rd birthday today. Weekend birthdays below: More

Michelle Obama was the main attraction at Time magazine's sixth annual 100 "most influential" ceremony at Lincoln Center last night. She was joined by a predictably massive group of A-listers, including Oprah, Harvey Weinstein, Mort Zuckerman, Steve Schwarzman, Jeff Bewkes, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Carine Roitfeld, Gayle King, Stella McCartney, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler, Jay Leno, Lorne Michaels, Jimmy Fallon and Nancy Juvonen, Charlie Rose, David Lauren and Lauren Bush, Ann Coulter, Suze Orman, Arianna Huffington, Kate Betts, Andy Serwer, Paul Krugman, Vivi Nevo and Ziyi Zhang, Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews ... More

The Savannah College of Art and Design held its Style Etoile Awards at the James Cohan Gallery on Monday night. The evening's honorees included Russell Simmons, Amanda Burden, Cornelia Guest, Robin Givhan, and William Ivey Long (left), and attendees at the event included Cynthia Rowley, Agnes Gund, Michael Fink, Yigal Azrouël, Mario Buatta, Bobby Zarem, music exec Michael Mauldin and his wife Judy, producer Tom Fontana, SCAD president Paula Wallace, Ann Slater, designer Lars Nilsson, and Russell's brother and girlfriend—Danny Simmons and Julie Henderson. [PMc, Wireimage, WWD, NYSD] More

Pete Peterson Still Alive, Still Giving Money Away | A handful of news outlets have been reporting that Michael Bloomberg is officially the "most generous living man in America," having given away a total of $235 million over the course of 2008, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Bloomberg didn't come in No. 1 on the list, though. As NY1 tells it, "Bloomberg actually ranked ninth overall on the list. He was topped by eight others who died last year and gave greater amounts away in their wills." We're guessing this news will come as a big surprise to the still-living couple that came in at No. 3, Pete Peterson and his wife, Joan Ganz Cooney. [NY1, NYT]

• Art collector Roy Judelson, the son of Gulf & Western co-founder David Judelson, and his wife Mary have sold their six-bedroom townhouse at 113 East 78th Street for $12.46 million, three months after paying $10.5 million for a smaller apartment a few blocks away. The 5,500-square-foot, five-floor residence, which originally went on the market for $17.5 million back in June, was purchased by a family trust controlled by Jim and Michael Peterson, sons of billionaire Blackstone co-founder Pete Peterson. The floorplan is after the jump. [Cityfile]
• The 5,000-square-foot Greenwich home that appeared in the 2006 movie The Good Shepherd is on the market for $11.995 million. It was originally listed for $13.25 million in September. [WSJ, Sotheby's]More

In this week's issue of Newsweek, heiress/author Holly Peterson shares a few anecdotes about how the very rich are cutting back in these turbulent economic times. The daughter of Blackstone co-founder Pete Peterson, Holly says people are now flying commercial rather than jumping on private jets, women are wearing the same dress twice, and lots of men now seem to have more time on their hands. (The proof: some guys are actually dropping their kids off at school in the morning, a job once relegated to wives and nannies.) "Everyone is just plain scared, but no one is talking specifics," she explains. "The thing about rich people is you never know exactly how rich they are or where their money is." Well, except in the case of her father, of course, who walked away with $1.9 billion in cash when his private equity firm went public last year. [Newsweek via Radar]

• Grammy-nominated singer KT Tunstall paid $1.575 million for a sixth-floor apartment at 525 East 11th Street. The two-bedroom, two-floor condo also includes a 561-square-foot terrace. [Cityfile]
  
• Pete Peterson bought an apartment on East 69th Street for $3.04 million from the Council on Foreign Relations. He won't be living there, though. (He has a $37.5 million apartment on Fifth Ave.) He'll continue leasing the co-op to the council's former president, Leslie Gelb. [Observer]
• Architect Enrique Norten put down $1.929 million for an apartment at One York Street, the Tribeca building he designed. [Observer]
• Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen are a step closer to building their dream home in California: Tom has picked up a plot in Brentwood—located on the same street as Arnold Schwarzenegger—for $11 million. [TMZ]
• Unit 615 at the Plaza sold for $8.783 million to an undisclosed buyer. [Cityfile]

• An analyst suggests Lehman may be a hostile takeover candidate; a WSJ reporter explains why that's unlikely; and another points out the difficulty involved in selling off its asset management business. [NYP, WSJ, WSJ]
• The "game of chicken" between AG Andrew Cuomo and Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs concluded yesterday with a settlement that will keep the banks out of court. [NYP]
• General Motors is officially putting Hummer up for sale. [WSJ]
• Warner Bros. is planning to make fewer (but more expensive) films. [WSJ]
• Phil Falcone's Harbinger is expanding its position in Cablevision. [Dealbook]
• Warren Buffett and Pete Peterson spoke at the premiere of IOUSA last night, a film that argues the U.S. faces economic disaster if it doesn't solve its debt issues. [Dealbook]
• Russia's biggest steelmaker will buy the Pennsylvania-based PBS Coals for $1.3 billion. [Bloomberg]

Happy Birthday! | Wunderkind chef Josh DeChellis is 35. Blackstone co-founder Pete Peterson is 82. Fashionable art advisor Kim Heirston is 45. Personal finance queen (and power lesbian) Suze Orman is 57. The Post's Andrea Peyser is 49. And Teen Vogue's Amy Astley is nearly a quarter century older than her demo. She's 41 today.