Luxuries

When Elliot Aleskow recently checked into the Montage Beverly Hills, the Maryland doctor got a room with what seemed to be typical hotel amenities: A bed, a flat-screen TV, curtains, an alarm clock, lamps and a remote control. But there was nothing typical about the room's built-in technology. Using the remote control and an on-screen television menu, Aleskow programmed the alarm clock to play his favorite music in the morning. He also opened the curtains and set the room temperature and lighting just the way he likes it -- all by pushing a few buttons on the remote.

The purse may be the consummate accessory in New York, but in Los Angeles, where Hollywood deals are sealed while navigating traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway, the cellphone is the ultimate status symbol. Here are some that really get the cash register ringing. $28,000 to $171,550 GoldVish Illusion. For the jewelry lover who has everything, this diamond-encrusted phone comes in a solid 18-karat casing in yellow, rose or white gold with crocodile leather inlays available in 12 colors.

Put away the quarters and funnels and break out the crystal. Big spenders sip and swish rather than gulp and chug. And their bar accouterments are as swanky as their spirits. New on the shelves: $2,000 For its 130th anniversary, Veuve Clicquot is kicking its champagne up a notch. Only 3,600 bottles of this limited edition Yellowboam bubbly have been created. These labels are made of exotic leathers -- ostrich and alligator.

Some of us toss Fido some scraps off the dinner plate and call it a night. But for those channeling Leona Helmsley, the hotel magnate who left $12 million to her Maltese, Trouble, there's no shortage of over-the-top products to pamper a pet. At Three Dog Bakery in Santa Monica, owners Rocky and Hannah Keever are experts. Customers routinely ask to see the priciest pet paraphernalia, without even looking around the store.

The server shows off the charred bistecca fiorentina, then carves the massive porterhouse into finger-thick slices. At $160 for two, it's easily the most expensive steak I've ever eaten, if not the most expensive piece of aged meat in the country. Want to anoint it with horseradish sauce? Here at Carnevino, Mario Batali's new restaurant on the Strip, that'll be $5 more.

Money or no money, Eduard Strizhev wanted his Porsche. Stocks were collapsing downtown; the airwaves groaned with grim economic news; Russian finances teetered on the back of slumping oil prices and a global credit crunch. But why dwell on dreariness? Strizhev and his wife strolled serenely over the polished floors of the Porsche showroom, signed a few papers and drove off in their brand new Cayenne. Sure, Strizhev's accounting firm drew fewer clients this month.

Trying to keep up with the Joneses? Forget about that home entertainment center, bathtub television or outdoor wet bar. According to the Coldwell Banker's recently released 2007 Luxury Survey, you may need a putting green. The survey, given to 301 homeowners whose primary residences were worth more than $1 million ($2 million in California), verified a growing industry trend: The bells and whistles that come with a house matter more than its size. And the bar keeps rising.

What does $40,000 buy? If you're an average American, it's nearly your household income for a year. If you're a well-heeled traveler, it's one night at the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa, a two-story, 10,000-square-foot hideaway with a $700,000 cantilevered Jacuzzi that juts over the Las Vegas Strip, a rotating bed beneath a mirrored ceiling and around-the-clock butler service.

For the first time in four years, a gourmet extravagance -- authentic Japanese Kobe beef -- is allowed back into the United States. The question is whether anyone will care. An American "Kobe-style" brand has taken its place on restaurant menus. "We cannot meet demand," said Todd Hatoff, president of Allen Bros., which sells the premium beef to fine restaurants. "I don't see it going away, ever. It's not a fad."

When South Koreans observe the world's attempt to choke the flow of French cognac, designer watches, flashy cars and other luxuries to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, they find themselves in a familiar situation: Bitterly divided.