Fact: If you commit a parking infraction while out in Miami Beach, you are at risk of encountering a tow truck.
Your loss is Tremont Towing’s gain. The family-run company is highlighted in truTV’s South Beach Tow, which premiered Wednesday night with a launch party at the South Beach Tiki Bar inside Cheeseburger Baby.
“I can tell how well our business is doing by how many gray hairs my father has,’’ said one of the show’s stars, dispatcher Christie Ashenoff.
She also feels similar stress when furious drivers approach her window demanding their cars be released.
“I’m somewhat protected with bulletproof glass, but I’m surrounded by four walls, and I’m not sure they would stop a bullet,” she says. “If someone really crazy comes in, I kind of second-guess my security.”
Ashenoff, 28, is a main target of wrath and thinks she knows why.
“No one likes to be told that they’re wrong,” she opined. “They tend to revert to childhood, like they’re being reprimanded by their teacher or parents.”
If you think it’s tough being temporarily stripped of your wheels, try doing Ashenoff’s job 11 to 16 hours a day. “Me taking a break is pulling out a drawer and putting my feet up for five minutes,” said Ashenoff, who was born in Miami Beach.
As outraged as some Tremont visitors get, Ashenoff has developed a thick skin.
“I’m kind of used to it by now. I don’t feel scared, more like threatened. Someone will tell me they’re going to come back with a gun,’’ she said. “You see the worst version of people. They kind of snap.”
As for the rumor that some scenes are staged for entertainment purposes, Ashenoff says yes, there are indeed reenactments because many irate parties involved won’t sign off on being filmed.
But Ashenoff promises that all the antics that you see on the show have actually happened, adding, “All that goes down at my window is real.”
All in the wrist
Selena Gomez breezed into town Monday for her press junket at the Soho Beach House for voice work in the upcoming animated movie, Hotel Transylvania. Paparazzi got an eyeful of the singer/actress at Miami International Airport arrivals wearing an arm full of Jewels By Dunn bracelets. Quite a coup for the company’s owner, South Beach designer Taryn Aronson.
“I have gotten lucky enough to build relationships with a lot of celebrity stylists who pull pieces for their clients all the time,” she says.
Selena’s “arm party” consisted of a bracelets with Swarovski crystal arrows, a macrame skull, strings and gunmetal spikes.
“I love the idea of being able to mix and match different colors and styles that allows you to express yourself through your wrist,” says Aronson, whose work can be found at www.dunnwithlove.com.
Madeleine Marr



















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