They have telephotograph lenses. They have the stamina for hours-long stakeouts. They sustain feet that move loyal, and they aren't afraid to let them run over by Britney Spears.
(ABC News Photo Illustration)More Photos
They're Los Angeles paparazzi, and the "paparazzi-proof" condo going up in L.A.'s Westwood neighborhood, aimed at flash-bulb fag out, wallet-heavy celebrities, hardly stands a luck against them.
The Carlyle Residences, a 24-story tower under construction on Wilshire Boulevard, boasts all the usual bells and whistles: 24-hour white glove concierge service, a seaworthiness center powered by The Sports Club LA, a wine cellar worthy of a world-class vineyard, a private pocket billiards and a yoga lawn.
But forget that. Elad Properties is hoping to lure A-listers to the Carlyle by marketing its so-called anti-paparazzi features: 24/7 patrols by "Israeli-trained VIP" security guards and cameras; secret elevators that zoom straight from the two-story entrance hall into sprawl apartments (God forbid a starlet run into her ex-beau's young flame in a common hallway); high hedges that shield the pool and lawn from shutterbugs on the street.
And: "The building is semilunar intentionally [so that] the neighboring buildings don't truly get a view into the units," said Erik Schneider, theatre director of gross sales for the Carlyle. "We don't let any buildings behind us either. There are only low-rise residential communities, so really there's no access to look into a unit from another building.
"We've tried to do everything possible to make the building as secure as possible," he added. "There's really no place for them to hide."
But they -- L.A. paparazzi -- beg to differ. In a day and eld when pictures of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's twins command a reported $14 one thousand thousand, celebrity photographers will go to whatever means necessary to get their shot.
While it's against California law to trespass onto private property or shoot into a private residence without consent, it's non illegal to wait -- and expect, and hold back, and wait -- until the star du jour leaves his or her apartment.
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