Britney Spears flips, Zac Efron flops, Steve Carell quips, Joe Jonas shops

What a HOT summer it's been, and by that, I don't mean the heat (it's actually been a record summer cool in Studio City until the last few weeks). What I mean that loads of famous new faces are moving into the area, and they're snatching up some great deals.

• Hilary Duff —who co-starred with sister Haylie in Material Girls a few years back — just proved herself to be the ultimate Valley Girl by buying a five-bedroom, five bathroom Georgian Colonial that's 5,260 square feet! The Cheaper By the Dozen starlet is tying the knot with hockey player Mike Comrie. (They're not far from where Eddie Van Halen got married at his seven-acre Studio City hills estate.)

• Also, Trainspotting hunk Kevin McKidd bought a 3 ½-bedroom house in Studio City for just under $2 mil. But before you say "there goes the neighborhood," he's moving in with his wife, and his two kids. He also is playing more family-friendly roles having just been seen as Poseidon in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

• Britney Spears made a big Ooops! when she listed her Summit Circle baby one more time on the market. She bought it for $6.75 mil in 2007 and tried to sell it a year later for $7.9. Now, the Italian Renaissance palatial estate that's 7,453-square feet is going for $5.5 mil. (Yeah, she's probably tired of all the looky-loos who walk by to take that semi-secret path into the Fryman Park hiking trails near her house.)

• Other folk who've moved out of the neighborhood include actress Melinda McGraw who was in Mad Men and Desperate Housewives, music supervisor Mark Wike who did L.I.E. and Before Sunset, Lynne Parkhurst, who was a school district exec for LAUSD, and former Herbalife exec Constantina Pair.

• Other cool classic properties for sale in the area include cowboy star Gene Autry's five-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion for $6.9 mil, and crooner Bing Crosby Estate with six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a billiard room and spa tub for $7.4 mil. Not far away Paul Williams's former four-bedroom, four-bath house is on the market. The entrance way has a huge crystal chandelier that must only be good for Short People.

• Things were not so hot for Zac Efron, who's shacking up with high school sweetheart Vanessa Hudgens. All up and down Ventura Boulevard near their love shack were billboards of his new film Charlie St. Cloud. But, when the so-so reviews came out, those billboards faded away, only to be replaced by the face of another local, Steve Carell, who scored a hit playing a total dweeb in Dinner for Schmucks.

• And, Carell didn't have to go too far from home this summer to shoot some scenes for his drama/comedy Crazy Stupid Love this summer. Locations included the Sherman Oaks Galleria and the Studio City fabu French eatery Pinot Bistro. At the Ventura Boulevard Bistro, he shot a romantic scene with Julianne Moore.

• Speaking of schmucks, Joe Jonas is on-again, off-again with Twilight vamp Ashley Greene and seen everywhere in Studio City: coming out of a gym, sipping a bit of coffee, shopping on the Coldwater Curve, sneaking into her apartment. They've denied that they're an item, but they're certainly out and about a lot. Joe has the part of Valerie Bertinelli's son in Hot in Cleveland, (being shot in front a live audience at the Radford Studios) so he's becoming as regular a fixture around Ventura Boulevard as Zac Efron skateboarding.

Coolest Thing to do this Weekend in The SC: Billy Vera is playing at Vitello's one night only (Friday). He's fantastic, so much energy! Two decades ago I went every Monday over the hill to see him on the Sunset Strip with the Beaters, and now he's in our very midst for $15.

Coolest Drink: Try the Honey Sweetened Iced Green Tea (non-alcoholic) at the Green Apple China Bistro.

Send us your celebrity shot if you catch someone around The SC.