Madonna’s coming home. Well, sort of. She was a (part-time) fixture here in the ’90s, and her presence arguably made Miami the celebrity hotspot it has since become. Here’s an update on some of the places and people she used to know.
The House: Madonna bought her Coconut Grove Mediterranean-style villa (north of Vizcaya and down the street from Sly Stallone — who moved, too) for $4.9 million in 1992. In July 2000, it sold for $7.5 million to a dog. That’s right. Gunther the German shepherd (and head of Gunther Corp.) now shares the estate with the Burgundians, a wannabe pop group. Their biggest hit so far: buying Madonna’s home.
The Pals: Ingrid Casares got her big break as one of Madonna’s gal pals in Sex, her risque coffee-table book. Now SoBe nightlife royalty (she owned or helped in the success of restaurants Joia and Touch and nightclubs Liquid and Barroom, to name a few), she recently followed in Madonna’s footsteps and became a mother.
Meanwhile, bud Rosie O’Donnell, who used to spend Thanksgivings in the Grove with Madonna, is Miami’s newest star, with requisite Star Island home (next door to the Estefans).
The Hangout: Co-owner of the Blue Door at the Delano Hotel in the mid-’90s, Madonna celebrated her 37th birthday there in 1995 with her then-new beau Carlos Leon (and later the father of daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon). At the time, the Ian Schrager-owned hotel had undergone a $30 million renovation and become the A-list of chic celeb hangouts. Six years later, it still is.
The Church: When daughter Lourdes was christened at St. Jude Melkite Catholic Church in downtown Miami in January 1997, only an intimate group of family and friends knew about the hush-hush ceremony. Big difference from last year, when Madonna and Guy Ritchie baptized their 4-month-old son, Rocco, at Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland the day before their wedding. The worldwide press got a photo of the happy family leaving the church.
The Guy in the Book: One of the most famous pages of Sex was a shot on an Aventura beach of a topless Madonna wearing shiny silver hot pants. She’s wrapped around a topless Vanilla Ice, the rapper who used to live on Star Island. He’s into heavy metal now and lives in Davie.
The Yoga Instructor: Wayne Krassner, Madonna’s yoga instructor at Crunch on South Beach, got something of a career boost after working with her. He now owns a Miami Beach studio, Shakti Yoga Loft.
