Reuters - New York Web site gives juicy details on city's notables

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New York Web site gives juicy details on city's notables

Thursday, Aug 14, 2008 9:59PM UTC

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Which failed presidential hopeful from New York once married his second cousin and who married the same person twice? Which New Yorker gave his girlfriend a $1 million Rolls Royce birthday gift? And which top literary agent drove a cab?

The answers are part of a new Web site, www.cityfile.com, which lists profiles of the 2,121 most notable people in New York City and has sparked questions by some wannabe movers and shakers as to why they are not on the list.

"We have had quite a few e-mails from people suggesting other people to include or (to include) themselves," said Cityfile founder Remy Stern.

While he would not name names, he said: "Society wannabes are the kinds of people who want to be on the list. They desperately want to be taken seriously."

Cityfile has sparked controversy among some of those on the list by revealing some potentially embarrassing details of their private lives and where they live, in some cases even including a picture of their front door.

"There were people who just really objected to it, found it invasive and were unhappy that we listed where they lived or the names of their kids or put up satellite imagery of their house in the Hamptons," Stern, 34, said.

"It's a little amusing when people complain because it's stuff that's really easy to find on the Internet," he said.

Stern, who was born and raised in Manhattan and called on family and friends to help fund Cityfile, said his small editorial team spent the past year determining the city's most influential people.

He likened Cityfile to the Zagat guides, which rate restaurants, clubs, bars and stores. On Cityfile, the most notable are rated by visitors to the site and on Thursday long-time Village Voice columnist Michael Musto was No. 1.

"I'm very flattered, but I don't feel that popular," Musto said, adding that he didn't have a problem with the Web site. "It's fun because it's a place for the 'bold-faced' names of New York. A place to catch up on their antics.

The most viewed profiles are currently Vogue editor Anna Wintour, businessman Aviv Nevo, socialite Tinsley Mortimer, Fox News host Shepard Smith and film producer Harvey Weinstein.

Stern said the Web site aims to be impartial and trustworthy, giving people the "straight scoop on the good the bad and the ugly."

"There's really no place to go to look up who people are and how they're connected," Stern said. "You search for people online and pull up a corporate bio that's full of the charities they donate to, but doesn't tell you the guy spent three years in jail in the '80s or he's been married eight times."

As for the New Yorker who married his second cousin, that was former mayor Rudy Giuliani. Playwright Neil Simon married the same person twice and rapper Jay-Z gave Beyonce, then his girlfriend and now his wife, a $1 million 1959 Rolls Royce for her 25th birthday.

And top New York literary agent Andrew "The Jackal" Wylie once drove a cab.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)