Fashion Forward! Inside—Happy Mother’s Day!
BEVERLY HILLS VOLUME XXXXVIII NUMBER 19 $135 PER YEAR - $1.25 PER COPY •
www.bhcourier.com
SINCE 1965
May 11, 2012
Courier Exclusive Report:
THIS ISSUE
Century City Subway Station $38.7 Million Payoff To JMB Westside Subway Extension Under Beverly High Explained By Hidden Details?
Fashion Forward! Inside Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus
Beverly Hills Fire Service Day will be Saurday from 1 to 4 p.m. 5
STILL LOVELY—The Beverly Hills Hotel turns 100 this Saturday and the view by the pool is still fabulous. Photo by The Beverly Hills Hotel
The Beverly Hills Hotel Hits 100; More Beautiful Than Ever By John L. Seitz When hotelier Margaret Anderson opened the doors to a newly constructed edifice amid acres of bean fields on the outskirts of a small but growing Los
Angeles, she could not have visualized what was to come. It was May 12, 1912 when The Beverly Hills Hotel welcomed its very first guest. (see ‘ BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL,’ page 8)
Beverly Hills Police Department To Hold Retirement Dinner, Honor Retirees—Page 2 GAMES GALORE—The Skirball will host Project Mah Jongg from May 17 to Sept. 2. This exhibit focuses as much on the social history of Mah Jongg in the U.S. as the games pieces and give families the opportunity to play the historic game. For more information, visit www.skir ball.org/exhibitions/project-mah-jongg.
Vidal Sassoon Died of natural causes Wednesday. 9
Joan Rivers reviews Broadways, One Man, Two Guvnors. 10 •Health & Wellness 14 •Arts & Entertainment 16 •Birthdays 26
Designer Marc Jacobs Wore A Black Lace Dress Over His White Boxer Shorts At The Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute Gala, Which Raised $11 Million For Exhibitions And Acquisitions Editorial from Rabbi Pressman AND MORE
CLASSIFIEDS • • • • •
Announcements Real Estate Rentals Sales and More
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(see ‘ JMB REALTY,’ page 12)
Will Council Give Metro “Key To The City” For Subway Testing In Beverly Hills? Study Session Tuesday
Metro Gives Beverly Hills 3.5 Hours For Subway Hearing By Marla Schevker The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has set aside three and a half hours for the Beverly Hills hearing next week, from 1:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday.
The hearing will allow Beverly Hills City Council and School District Representatives to speak out against a tunnel going under Beverly Hills High School. (see ‘HEARING,’ page 8)
Milken Conference Part II— Heirs Sue To Block UCLA Sale World Finances At Risk Of Hannah Carter Garden By Laura Coleman On Monday, the heirs of Hannah Carter filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court against the Regents of the University of California to require
George Christy, Page 6
By Marla Schevker, Beverly Hills Courier staff writer Buried deep inside the lengthy Metro Century City Station Location Report is the smoking gun that explains why the subway tunnel must go under Beverly Hills High School according to Metro. JMB Realty, owner of land on which the station would be built if Metro has its way, will get $38.7 million for just a small portion of its entire tract at the corner of Constellation Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars. The entire tract was valued at only $18.8 million by the Los Angeles County Assessor in 2011. The cryptic notation disclosing the payment is buried among hundreds of pages of Metro reports. JMB itself confirmed the subway station location for its massive new 37-story high-rise tower called the “Century City Center.” [Compare Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's touting the “Center of the City” for the proposed Metro subway station with the actual name of the JMB project disclosed Wednesday.] The Los Angeles Times has reported large campaign contributions from JMB to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, including hosting a large fundraiser for Villaraigosa in Chicago.
them to “honor their contractual obligation to preserve the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden.” Donated by former UC Regent and UCLA alum Edward (see ‘GARDEN,’ page 12)
PTA Methane Video Goes Viral By Matt Lopez With its attention-grabbing depictions of Beverly High students walking through parts of campus engulfed in flames, a PTA-funded video which challenges the science behind Metro's Westside Subway Extension plans has gone viral. The video cites concerns about methane gas and abandoned oil wells under the campus and has been viewed more than 10,000 times since being uploaded to YouTube last week. The video led a Metro spokesman to go on the defen-
sive earlier this week on KNX 1070 Radio. The spokesman said schools all over the world exist on top of subway tunnels, while ignoring the unique circumstance of BHHS, a high school full of students and teachers, sitting on top of an oil field that creates a unique situation. The video has also garnered strong reactions from different media outlets. In an opinion piece published May 7, the Los Angeles Times claimed Beverly Hills is engaging in “community hysteria” and said “logic, per(see ‘PTA,’ page 12)
By Laura Coleman Industry leaders at this year’s 15th Milken Global Conference warned that a continued decline in America’s middle class could prove catastrophic for the future
“I’M OVER T H E M O O N ,” b e a m e d S c a r l e t t Johansson during the unveiling of her star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. She was joined by her mother, sister, grandmother and The Avengers costar Jeremy Renner. More photos in G e o r g e Chr isty’s column on pages 6 and 7.
Gilbert Flores/ Celebrity
of the United States. Pundits at the four-day global conference held at The Beverly Hilton last week contended that the widening gap between (see ‘MILKEN,’ page 8)