Inqlings | Lane top attraction on the Net

CBS3's

Alycia Lane

might not have done anything for her station's on-air ratings last week - she's on vacation, right? - but she was big business on the Internet.

Lane coverage has drawn nearly one million page views on Philly.com since last Sunday, when Phillygossip.com broke the news of the anchorwoman's arrest during a night on the town with Q102 radio host

Chris Booker

.

Add May's coverage of Bikini-gate - the imbroglio in which Lane's vacation photos, e-mailed to sports anchor

Rich Eisen

, were seen by his wife - and Lane was Philly.com's top attraction of 2007, generating about 1.5 million page views, according to stats from Omniture.

More than politics, more than war, more than crime, more than the mayoral election, more than the Eagles. Deep sigh.

Yahoo, which does not disclose raw numbers of queries, reports that Lane's traffic from Monday and Tuesday landed her in the week's top 300 searches nationally, beating Dallas Cowboys QB "

Tony Romo

" and even "Christmas trees." Hits on Booker's name rose 1,813 percent, while queries for those bikini photos - which have not surfaced - rose 3,000 percent, Yahoo says.

Spikes also were seen on "CBS3," "KYW TV" and anchor "

Chris Wragge

," a former Lane beau.

Presumably, Web traffic at their stations' sites shot up, too.

CBS3 has replaced Lane with meteorologist

Kathy Orr

to anchor New Year's Eve fireworks coverage with anchor

Larry Mendte

. That means reporter

Susan Barnett

will go out to Penn's Landing.

Veteran NBC10 medical reporter

Cherie Bank

probably has a story coming up - one she's in the middle of. She was watching

Today

in October when "I felt an explosion behind my right eye," she says. "I realized that something was terribly wrong." At Wills Eye, docs found a hemorrhage behind her retina. Ophthalmologist

Allen Ho

treated her Oct. 22, and she's awaiting a follow-up in late January to get a prognosis for her return. Bank, 57, says Ho told her that people who are very nearsighted are more suspectable to the condition. "The vision that's returning is very distorted for now," she says, adding that the worst part is behind her. For the first eight days, she says, "you have to lie down facedown 24/7." She's spending time with her daughter,

Emily

, and entertaining coworkers who visit.

Two celeb-owned houses were on the market less than a month: Chef

Georges Perrier's

Haverford place was listed for $2.1 million; he and his wife are bound for Chestnut Hill. Former Phillie

Aaron Rowand's

McMansion in Garnet Valley (the nouveau-riche name for Delco's Bethel Township) was listed for $985,000; he and his wife are buying in the San Francisco Bay area. Sale prices are not known, pending closings. Star chef

Eric Ripert

, putting an eatery in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton in mid-'08, is making noise about buying an 18th-floor condo in the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, going up next door.

The Swiss Pastry Shop, a fixture on 19th Street south of Market, has closed suddenly. Public records identify the building's new owner as

Gary Erlbaum

, whose son

Jon Erlbaum

leads the Chevra, a group serving Jewish professionals and graduate students in their 20s and 30s. The Chevra will be based at 35 S. 19th St. after five years on the Main Line.

I hear that just about every large building in the area is being scouted by

M. Night Shyamalan

, who needs four or five huge soundstages in mid-2008 when he starts shooting the first of three

Avatar

live-action films for Paramount.

Filmmaker

Natalie Paige Bentley

needs 100 extras, dressed in church clothes, for a scene for her film

The City of Motherly Love

at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at the Church of the Holy Trinity, near 19th and Walnut. E-mail

» READ MORE: cityofmotherlylove@gmail.com

to volunteer.

Nothing official yet from WYSP (94.1), but the Chicago Sun-Times reports that

Gordon Mays

, promotion coordinator and weekend/fill-in at Windy City alt-rock outlet WKQX, will start doing evenings on the rock station Jan 14. WKQX was the former home of new WYSP midday host/assistant program director

Brett "Spike" Eskin

, whose shift follows

Kidd Chris'

. No decision yet, I hear, on afternoons; it's down to two candidates - one a woman, both from out of town.

Murdered by Mumia

, the book by

Maureen Faulkner

and

Michael Smerconish

, debuted at No. 20 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction list, dated Dec. 30.

Philadelphia Magazine's

Robert Huber

credits editor

Larry Platt

for landing

Andy and Tammy Reid's

story of their sons' addiction crisis after lots of talks. Huber, who sat with the couple and their lawyer for two hours, says the Reids' story, in the January issue, should give pause to their detractors: "These parents have been dealing with it for five years, trying whatever seemed to make sense to help" sons

Britt and Garrett

. Because it's their first-person account, Huber says, they and attorney

Paul Rosen

were allowed to read it beforehand and made what he called minor changes. Also, the mag and Andy Reid acknowledge that the magazine will donate an unspecified amount to a charity.

Promising to be a good boy, prankster idol

Bam Margera

got West Chester's green light for a liquor license at his new theater, under construction. The Borough Council voted, 5-2, Wednesday to drop its opposition after Margera and business partner

Don Moore

agreed to conditions including no takeout beer sales; adequate soundproofing, cameras and security workers; and background checks on prospective employees. "We want to work with this town," says their lawyer

Bill Shehwen

, who still must take the matter to the state Liquor Control Board.

Takeo Spikes

winced through shoulder pain at his birthday party at Swanky Bubbles in Cherry Hill on Monday, a day after the Eagles linebacker tore a rotator cuff. Many Eagles and girlfriend

Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins

showed up to mark No. 51's 31st. The party spilled out of the second-floor lounge into the downstairs area, where players signed autographs for the little people.

As Fox29's holiday party at GiGi Lounge in Old City wound down late Thursday, a farewell blast for meteorologist

Rob Guarino

began. Eagles QB

A.J. Feeley

happened to be there, prompting colleagues to tease Guarino that even

he

wanted to say goodbye. Guarino's contract was not renewed. His replacement was not at the party.

John Bolaris

will start Jan. 8.

The Sixers are charity-auctioning a No. 1 jersey signed by

Miley Cyrus

at

» READ MORE: http://auctions.nba.com

. Bidding Friday started at $180.

Painter to the stars

Nelson Shanks

was feted the other night on his 70th birthday at Studio Incamminati, the Center City art school he and wife

Leona

founded five years ago. On the guest list were Comcast founder

Ralph Roberts

(now sitting for a portrait) and lawyer

Dick Sprague

, who in his remarks dismissed any thoughts of comparing Shanks to

Rembrandt

because, he said, it was unfair to Rembrandt.