THEGROCERY STORE THAT BECAME L.A. ’S
PLUS
WHAT’S SO SCARY ABOUT BARI WEISS?
THE LION KING: THE RISE AND FALL OF P-22 CAN BILL KRAMER SAVE THE OSCARS?
A HANDS-ON GUIDE TO FINDING LOVE IN L.A.
» Check out these L.A. hot spots for under-theradar love. Plus: The Millionaire Matchmaker’s Patti Stanger shares her top dating tips.
Pickup on Aisle 6!
» Now that the pandemic is finally (mostly) over, L.A. singles are ditching dating apps and venturing into the real world in search of love—and finding it, of all places, at Erewhon supermarkets.
BY ANNABELLE GURWITCH PAGE 44
PAGE 47
Eat Your Hearts Out
» Spice up your Valentine’s Day at one of L.A.’s most romantic restaurants.
BY JOSHUA LURIE, KENNY NG, AND HEATHER PLATT PAGE 52
When Hollywood tried to sweep comedy legend Shelley Berman under the rug, his red-carpet handler took a stand.
BY HILARY HATTENBACH
How controversial columnist-turnedSubstack superstar Bari Weiss ditched her haters in New York and found peace (but not quiet) in Los Angeles.
BY BENJAMIN SVETKEYAs the international collecting class comes to town for Frieze Los Angeles and other art fairs, Los Angeles has assembled a portfolio of buzzy new galleries and ascendant artists you need to know about this month.
BY MICHAEL SLENSKE
The Lion King
› P-22’s death inspired an outpouring that reached far beyond Los Angeles.
BY JASON MCGAHANPAGE 9
The Brief
› What’s in Eric Garcetti’s future? Winnie the Pooh goes dark. David Geffen’s mystery companion. Alexander McQueen’s new collab with artist Chuck Arnoldi. Stanford goes for woke.
PAGE 12
In Like Flynt
› The late porn king Larry Flynt wasn’t exactly famous for his good taste. Still, his old gold-plated tchotchkes just fetched a fortune at an online auction.
BY JOEL STEINPAGE 14
The Price is Wrong
› L.A. realtors are increasingly listing houses with lowball “marketing prices” to stoke phony bidding wars.
BY TARA WEINGARTEN
PAGE 16
› What’s the busiest traffic day in L.A.? Is there a block in Hancock Park that has a pond behind the homes? What’s the city’s oldest barbershop? Our resident historian answers all your burning questions.
BY CHRIS NICHOLSPAGE 132
› Academy CEO Bill Kramer discusses the upcoming Oscars; Bob Marley’s “One Love” comes to L.A.; Dionne Warwick is Twitter’s unlikely new star; Frieze Los Angeles is cleared for takeoff; celebrity fashion dos and don’ts on the red carpet
PAGE 19
Tuesdays 8pm
Maer Roshan
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael Walker EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Benjamin Svetkey
MANAGING EDITOR
Eric Mercado
SENIOR EDITOR
Chris Nichols
STYLE EDITOR
Merle Ginsberg
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, LAMAG.COM
Kevin Dolak
EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Jessica Kantor
WRITERS-AT-LARGE
Peter Kiefer, Jason McGahan
ART & PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Denise Philibert
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Natalie Malins
CONTRIBUTING
PHOTO EDITORS
Greg Garry, Richard Villani
CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER
Mary Franz
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Alexandria Abramian, Steve Appleford, Hillel Aron, Christopher Beam, Alex Bhattacharji, Alex Ben Block, Steven Blum, Samuel Braslow, Susan Campos, Rene Chun, Heidi Siegmund Cuda, Trish Deitch, Matt Dickinson, Kevin Andrew Dolak, Ben Ehrenreich, Steve Erickson, Andrew Goldman, Sarah Horne Grose, Annabelle Gurwitch, Maureen Harrington, Kennedy Hill, Robert Ito, Eliyahu Kamisher, Heather Platt, Jon Regardie, Jordan Riefe, Allen Salkin, Paul Schrodt, Alex Scordelis, Michael Slenske, Bryan Smith, Joel Stein, Jean Trinh, Andy Wang, Sam Wasson, George Wayne, Rex Weiner, Jeff Weiss, Laurie Winer, Emily Young
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Shayan Asgharnia, Elisabeth Caren, Robert Carter, Andrea D ’Agosto, Dominic Bugatto, Ben Duggan, Christina Gandolfo, Jill Greenberg, Christopher Hughes, Neil Jamieson, Corina Marie, Justin Metz, Max-o-matic, Slava Mogutin, Kyle David Moreno, Elliott Morgan, Chris Morris, Catherine Opie, Jason Raish, Risko, Irvin Rivera, Edel Rodriguez, Matt Sayles, Ryan Schude, Ian Spanier, Brian Taylor, Isak Tiner, John Tsiavis, Christian Witkin
EDITORIAL INTERNS
Nora Farahdel, Jordan Mula, Josephine Tassoni
DIRECTOR OF SALES
Carly Allen
LUXURY GOODS DIRECTOR
Samantha Greenfield
INTEGRATED ACCOUNT DIRECTORS
Brittany Brombach, Jennifer Brous, Mia Pierre-Jacques, Ryan Sommer, Lauren Welling
MARKETING SERVICES
DIRECTOR, STRATEGY & PARTNERSHIPS
Susan Starling
DIGITAL ADVERTISING COORDINATORS
Catherine Donahue, M.J. Carpentier
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
Jared Polter
CREATIVE SERVICES
CREATIVE SERVICES ART DIRECTOR
Sheila Ramezani
ADMINISTRATION
OFFICE COORDINATOR
Cassandra Katris
LOS ANGELES
CUSTOM PUBLICATIONS
VICE PRESIDENT, CUSTOM CONTENT
Mitch Getz
REGIONAL SALES OFFICE
HAWAII
Justin Nakaahiki justinnakaahiki@dmhawaii.com
MIDWEST Cheryl Schuldt, CS Media cschuldt@csmediainc.com
NORTHEAST
Cynthia Donaher cynthia@donahermedia.com
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Shana Wong shanawong@me.com
SOUTHEAST
Whitney Dick wdick@texasmonthly.com
LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE, LLC
644 S. FIGUEROA ST., 3RD FLOOR, LOS ANGELES, CA 90017 323-801-0100; Fax: 323-801-0104
SUBSCRIPTIONS
866-660-6247
ADVERTISING & MARKETING 323-801-0020; Fax: 323-801-0103
CLASSIFIED/MARKETPLACE
800-407-7067; Fax: 323-801-0104
EDITORIAL & ART 323-801-0075; Fax: 323-801-0105
ENGINE VISION MEDIA
CO-FOUNDER
Mark Geragos
CO-FOUNDER
Ben Meiselas
A brand-new wedding and private event venue at Hummingbird Nest. The QVineyard package includes a 24-hour site rental, all essential rental items, a bridal dressing suite, and luxury restrooms. 2023 Saturday’s still available!
HUMMINGBIRDNESTEVENTS
photos by Gloria Mesa Photography & Rene Zadori Photography
P-22 ’S DEATH INSPIRED AN OUTPOURING THAT REACHED FAR BEYOND LOS ANGELES. BEHIND THE GLOBAL REQUIEM FOR OUR TOP CAT
BY JASON MCGAHAN
IN FEBRUARY 2012, news reached the National Park Service, which tags and tracks the mountain lion population in the Santa Monica Mountains, that a puma was hiding in plain sight in the busiest city park in Los Angeles. “It was like discovering an urban legend, like Bigfoot or the chupacabra,” says Miguel Ordeñana of the Natural History Museum of L.A. County, the wildlife biologist credited with the discovery of the mysterious cat.
No mountain lion had come close to entering Griffith Park in the ten years since the NPS started tracking their movements. Previous sightings in the Hollywood Hills—and the blurry photographs and hearsay used to back up their veracity—tended to be dismissed by wildlife experts as campfire stories.
Still, L.A. was aflutter with the idea of a feline, all silence and stealth, loping through the chaparral-choked arroyos below the Hollywood sign. In a city contorted by freeways and
traffic, the presence of a mountain lion roaming freely in the heart of L.A. was oddly comforting to Angelenos who longed for a return to a wilder, freer Los Angeles.
“P-22” was the name NPS researchers gave him when they placed a GPS radio collar around his neck after his discovery. (The “P” stands for “puma”; the “22,” his place in the sequence of mountain lions studied by NPS.) In 2015, when a Pasadena radio station presumed to rename him “Pounce de Leon” or anything sounding less like a villain in the Terminator franchise, listeners revolted and the contest was canceled.
While many communities in America would react with extreme prejudice to the presence of a large wild cat on the prowl, in celebrity-mad Los Angeles, P-22 became the toast of the town. An apex predator that fled a shrinking kingdom and risked everything for a sliver of wilderness in the middle of L.A., P-22
quickly became the most famous feline the city had produced since the MGM lion. When his image was captured by National Geographic photographer Steve Winter’s trail camera in the now-iconographic portrait with the Hollywood sign in the background, P-22 seemed to blithely acknowledge that he was already a star. As Winter marveled, “He pretty much stood there for about 20 seconds and raised up his head.” With that photo came an irresistible backstory of lonely perseverance that Hollywood usually reserves for laconic gunslingers. Male mountain lions claim 150-square-mile territories that they defend relentlessly, killing or driving off interlopers. To reach Griffith Park from his birthplace west of the 405 freeway in the Santa Monica Mountains, P-22 became the first mountain lion to successfully cross two freeways, the 405 and the 101.
“P-22 might be the first mountain lion to trend on Twitter.”
He would have had to belly through the rugged slopes from Bel-Air to Mulholland Drive, and then across the 101 near the Hollywood Bowl, and enter Griffith Park, where he beheld a virtual wildlife preserve stocked with plenty of mule deer and no competition. No wonder P-22 stuck around—he had everything an L.A. cat could want, save the prospect of a finding a mate.
Settling near the Hollywood Hills garnered him A-list neighbors, including natives Leonardo DiCaprio and Billie Eilish, who claimed him as one of their own. Alan Ruck, star of Succession, recalled glimpsing P-22 and calling after him like a stan spotting Bieber leaving Pace. By the time he was captured by Winter’s camera in one of the most reproduced nature images ever, P-22 had taken his place among L.A.’s strange pantheon of beloved locals, from Angelyne to the late Vin Scully and Kobe Bryant.
P-22’s ten-year residence in Griffith Park led to a remarkably long life for a mountain lion; by the time he was euthanized, he was estimated to be nearly 12 years old but also 30 pounds underweight and succumbing to heart and kidney disease. In his weakened state, P-22 could no longer stalk and kill deer and so had begun prowling the streets of Hollywood Hills for easier prey, killing one Chihuahua on a leash and nearly killing another being walked by its owner, who was clawed during the attack, which likely prompted the cat’s capture.
These desperate forays beyond the wildland-urban interface would be P-22’s undoing. When veterinarians discovered he had eye and skull trauma, the likely result of being struck by a car (a fate he had so pointedly escaped during his dashes across the 405 and 101), and, considering that he had a combination of critical health issues, they decided they had no choice but to euthanize him.
The response to P-22’s death was stunning: After 48,500 Twitter users mentioned his name within hours of the announcement of his death, the regional head of the National Wildlife Federation, Beth
Pratt, tweeted that “P-22 might be the first mountain lion to trend on Twitter.”
There was a memorial hike in Griffith Park, a memorial mural in East L.A., and a memorial celebration of his life planned for the Greek Theatre—even calls to claw back the name of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing from the benefactress who had donated $25 million to the monumental construction over the 101 freeway and rechristen it in honor of P-22. Even choosing P-22’s final resting place begat its own news cycle, pitting those who don’t think he should be buried in Griffith Park against Native Americans who insist he should. Not to mention the outrage generated by reports that the noble cat would be stuffed and displayed in a museum. (He won’t.)
As the face of the campaign to protect Southern California’s mountain lions, P-22 had achieved considerable fame when he still
roamed Griffith Park. But reports of his death launched an avalanche of coverage that ordinarily accompanies the passing of a superstar. The Los Angeles Times published a P-22 eulogy, of course, but so did the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, CNN, NPR, AP, Reuters, England’s Guardian, as well as Vanity Fair, and, that ultimate arbiter of celebrity, People.
In the end, something in P-22’s heroic pilgrimage struck a sympathetic chord across the world at a moment when entire populations have been beset by diasporas voluntary and involuntary, and the sanctity of borders and who can and can’t cross them called into question.
“P-22 needed to find his own turf and was willing to risk everything to get it,” says Ordeñana, the wildlife biologist who first confirmed that the big cat was lurking in Griffith Park a decade ago. “That’s why his story is legendary.”
FOR A MINUTE, IT LOOKED LIKE THE EX-MAYOR MIGHT HAVE GIVEN UP. BUT NEW DELHI DREAMS DIE HARD
BY PETER KIEFEREX-MAYOR
Eric Garcetti’s on-again-offagain trip to India appears to be on again. Maybe.
L.A.’s 52-year-old former mayor, who handed City Hall’s keys to Karen Bass in December, has been packing his bags for New Delhi ever since President Joe Biden nominated him for the ambassador post back in July 2021. But sexual harassment allegations leveled against Garcetti’s former municipal aide Rick Jacobs—and charges that Garcetti turned a blind eye toward those
allegations—have kept Garcetti’s Senate confirmation dangling for nearly a year and a half, and by the end of 2022, it looked like both Biden and Garcetti were ready to throw in the towel. Talk around town was that Biden was instead going to appoint Garcetti U.S. envoy on climate, a job that doesn’t require confirmation and may soon be vacant if rumors are true that current occupant John Kerry is ready to retire.
But now, it looks like Garcetti may have a shot at India after all. In January, Biden announced that he was resubmitting
Garcetti’s name to the Senate, which now has one more Democrat in it since the midterm elections. Will that extra seat make all the difference? Capitol Hill sources are skeptical, since it’s not just Republicans objecting to the appointment but also a couple of Dems, like Mark Kelly, who have expressed concerns. Still, in December, before the newly expanded Democratic majority took office, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer managed to squeeze together enough votes to confirm Biden’s pick for ambassador to Brazil, Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, who’d been ensnared in a scandal of her own regarding old comments that some deemed anti-Semitic. If Schumer could pull Bagley over the finish line with only 50 Democrats, shouldn’t he be able to do the same for Garcetti now that he’s got 51?
Obviously, Biden thinks so; otherwise, he wouldn’t keep nominating the guy.
THE POOH SLAYS
HE’S NOT SO CUTE anymore. Not all that cuddly. And ever since Christopher Robin moved out of the forest, he’s grown murderously bitter. That’s right, folks: Winnie the Pooh, the beloved children’s book character, has been given a Texas Chain Saw Massacre-style
makeover in a new live-action horror flick, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, due in theaters February 15.
“We’ve gone the anamorphic route—half bear, half human,” explains producer-director-writer Rhys Frake-Waterfield. “You want your villain to be [big enough to] hold something sinister and slashing away.”
The demented adaptation of the A. A. Milne story—its copyright conveniently expired in 2022—is just the latest from London-based production house Jagged Edge, which for the last couple of years has been turning publicdomain bedtime stories into Michael Myersstyle nightmares with films like Easter Bunny Massacre and Jack & Jill: The Hills of Hell. Says
who is currently hard at work on Peter Pan: Neverland Nightmare, “I’ve got a long-term goal to ruin 7 billion childhood memories.”—ANDY LEWIS
DAVID GEFFEN’S Instagram page has long been filled with the rich and famous, with everyone from Julia Roberts to Jerry Seinfeld popping up in selfies snapped on the 79-year-old mogul’s yacht. But none of those star-studded photos attracted nearly as much attention as the pic Geffen posted Christmas Day showing off his latest way-younger boyfriend, Donovan Michaels. “Merry Christmas indeed!” Geffen captioned the picture.
As it turned out, a number of social media users claimed to have recognized Michaels under a different name, identifying Geffen’s new boy toy as Brandon Foster, an exotic dancer and onetime porn star.
“He used to work at the same bar as me,” posted Morgan Le Shade, intimating that the club in question was Liquid Tampa in Florida. Another former dancer, Hunter Vance, also claimed he knew Michaels. “Brandon
L.A.’S RANKING, OUT OF 182 CITIES, IN A NEW WALLETHUB STUDY OF THE BEST TOWNS FOR SINGLES, BASED ON DATING OPPORTUNITIES, FUN AND RECREATION, AND ECONOMICS.
is his real name,” Vance told Los Angeles when we reached out. “We all danced together before he [got into] porn.”
Geffen, of course, has been known to date younger men—and is famous for treating them well. Remember how he took 26-year-old surfer Jeremy Lingvall to President Barack Obama’s 2009 state dinner?
Alas, Michaels/Foster may want to hold off on picking out a tuxedo for any future state functions; Geffen quickly deleted the photo from his Insta account after his boyfriend’s alleged porn star past was revealed.
—SHEILA MCCLEARVENICE ABSTRACT
artist Chuck Arnoldi is famous for incorporating
medium: schmattes. The 76-year-old Guggenheim Fellow was recently approached by British luxe label Alexander McQueen for a collaboration on its spring/summer 2023 line.
“They’d seen a painting of mine and wanted to use it to create dresses for women and suits and T-shirts for men,” Arnoldi says. “I had no idea who or what Alexander McQueen was. Didn’t have a clue.”
But Arnoldi’s wife, novelist Katie Arnoldi, explained who the late designer was and how his company is still producing high-end fashion, and then Arnoldi received a packet of sketches from McQueen’s design team. “I said to Katie, ‘This stuff looks pretty good.’ I told them, sure, they can use it,” he says. “They offered me 50 grand, and I said, ‘OK.’ I don’t care about
The university released a catalog of newly forbidden words and phrases as part of its Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative. The list, which triggered a furious outburst, has since been withdrawn.
nontraditional materials— like parts of trees—into his paintings. But now, he’s branching out into a new
Alexander
American “Insinuat[es] that the U.S. is the most important country in the Americas.”
Guru
“In the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, the word is a sign of respect. Using it casually negates its original value.”
Karen “Used to ridicule or demean a certain group of people based on their behaviors.”
Killing Two Birds with One Stone
“This expression normalizes violence against animals.”
Man Hours
“This term reinforces male-dominated language.”
Walk-in “Ableist language that trivializes the experience of people living with disabilities.”
You Guys
“Lumps a group of people using masculine language and/or into gender binary groups.”
the money. My lawyer told me I could have asked for four times as much!”
THE LATE PORN KING LARRY FLYNT WASN’T EXACTLY FAMOUS FOR HIS GOOD TASTE. STILL, HIS OLD GOLD-PLATED TCHOTCHKES JUST FETCHED A FORTUNE AT AN ONLINE AUCTION
BY JOEL STEINTHE MOST ridiculous part is that it worked. Not the aesthetics. No, they don’t work at all.
But Larry Flynt’s fight to be taken seriously—that totally worked.
When the porn titan died last February, his New York Times obit called him a “freespeech hero.” And now, in an even greater sign of respectability, the Hustler founder’s furniture was peddled off at an online auction in December by Abell Auction Company, the 107-year-old house that once sold the items of Hollywood royalty like Cecil B. De Mille, Jack Warner, and Barbara Stanwyck.
I am shocked at everything I see during my presale peek in November at the Flyntorabilia stored in the auction house’s 100,000-square-foot warehouse. It isn’t the 1980s Patrick Nagel cocaine-inspired sex-dungeon decor I idiotically expected.
Flynt was born to a sharecropper in rural Kentucky. He wanted respectability. So he went full dictator chic. The stuff here is VIP room
at the Bellagio. It’s all oversized and Versailles-inspired. And it’s almost all replicas.
I wonder who will possibly buy any of this. Todd Schireson, the vice president of Abell, is not worried. “Is there a value added because it’s his?” he asks, then answers his own question. “I think a lot of people are fans.”
This was not always true. If you went over to someone’s house 25 years ago and the host said, “Guess who owned that couch you’re sitting on? Larry Flynt!” you’d run straight to a dry cleaner. Flynt, after all, was a guy who, when accused of objectifying women like sides of beef, put an image of a naked woman being fed into a meat grinder on Hustler’s cover.
But Flynt’s image started being rehabilitated in 1996, when Miloš Forman made The People vs. Larry Flynt, and suddenly the man in a golden wheelchair became a First Amendment icon. Since then, Hustler went from a brown papercovered magazine to a licensed brand name. There’s a Hustler Casino and nearly 60 Hustler Hollywood stores.
“Yeah, he made porno, but porno is free on the internet now,” says Schireson. “That’s no big deal. I don’t think people are like, ‘Ew, gross, it was Larry’s.’ ”
In fact, Schireson initially guessed Flynt’s bric-a-brac could get close to the 20 percent celebrity markup he
“People aren’t like, ‘Ew, gross, it was Larry’s.’ ”
got on the items in Carol Channing’s estate. In actuality, he got way more than that. One of Flynt’s items—a 100-year-old dragon vase—fetched 25 times its estimated value, selling for an astonishing $37,500.
Schireson thinks he would have snagged an even bigger celebrity
markup for the 14-karat gold-plated wheelchair Flynt used after being shot and paralyzed in 1978. Or the placard that sat on Flynt’s desk that reads, “EVERYDAY I’M HUSTLIN.” But those more personal items remain in his house in the Hollywood Hills, where his widow still lives.
Instead, Abell got everything from Flynt’s office in the ten-story William Pereira-designed tower at Wilshire and La Cienega (before LFP Publishing Group leaves to relocate to Century City). Which, looking around this warehouse, is more than enough. Flynt was an avid antiques collector, and a good chunk of his collection ended up in his workspace. Now, after Abell’s auction, all of it—Tiffany-style lamps, knockoffs of Victorian everything, urns with figurines of captives, marble statues, jade statues, bronze statues, replicas of baroque paintings likely dashed off in China—is part of someone else’s home decor. Exactly whose isn’t known, but I got a sense from my pre-auction tour of the warehouse.
Five others were browsing Flynt’s goods while I was there, including a Chinese couple looking at the jade carvings. I also met Martin Folb, perhaps the country’s foremost collector of toy trains and a dabbler in Tiffany-style lamps. Years ago, Folb met Flynt in his Hustler office, not to talk about business or porn, but to dish about cut-glass lighting. Folb liked the guy. Apparently, everyone in the collecting racket did. He was a great buyer.
“I think if he had better advisers, he would have had more of the real McCoy,” Folb says, gazing at the cabinets. “This is the Norma Desmond version. He liked things that emulated the lifestyle of the Gilded Age.”
Apparently, Flynt wasn’t the only one: Abell is planning a second sale of Flynt’s wares by early February.
Estimated price: $300 to $500. Sold for $1,000.
Estimated price: $400 to $600. Sold for $2,000.
Estimated price: $1,000 to $1,500. Sold for $1,175.
Estimated price: $1,000 to $1,500. Sold for $37,500.
L.A. REALTORS ARE INCREASINGLY LISTING HOUSES WITH LOWBALL “MARKETING PRICES” TO STOKE PHONY BIDDING WARS
BY TARA WEINGARTEN
I RECENTLY bid on a two-bedroom condo in Palms. The price was $750,000. When my realtor told me the listing agent strongly hinted that the offer likely to be accepted hovered around $925,000 to $950,000, I became enraged by the blatant bait-and-switchiness of it all. This price suggestion by the seller’s agent came before any offers had been submitted; that putative “asking price” was actually what my agent called a “marketing price.” Not real, and not even close to what the sellers expected to get. In other words, a lie. (Spoiler alert: I didn’t get the condo.)
According to my agent, who asked not to be identified for speaking publicly about the practice,
significantly underpricing property is “very common and very standard. I’ve seen this frequently.”
One of her other clients got caught in a bait and switch where a lovely home, with a too-goodto-be-true $1 million listing price, ultimately went for more than $400,000 over asking, with 15 bidders. This is the real estate equivalent of shopping a spec script with Baz Luhrmann attached for WGA scale.
Indeed, I have bid on several of these deceptive listings; one of them sold for $1 million over asking, with 25 of us furiously vying. The agent knew he was underpricing the home by that much and played us one against the other. Unethical? Of course. “But that’s how it works sometimes,” says my agent, sheepishly.
> Now that L.A. is officially in a drought emergency, watersucking lawns are again passé. But there’s an eco-friendly alternative to yucca and gravel: fruits and vegetables.
Delivering produce to market is estimated to generate 8 percent of all man-made toxins annually. According to UCLA horticulturist Jill Morganelli, citrus trees, herbs, mustard greens,
sunflowers, and grapes are all less thirsty than a lawn. Bonus: “All this greenery absorbs carbon monoxide better than sod, so you’ll breathe cleaner air around your home,” she says.
WANT A WATER VIEW FOR MILLIONS LESS THAN MALIBU? CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITIES SMACK-DAB IN LANDLOCKED L.A.
HIGHLIGHTS Upper Franklin Canyon
Reservoir was featured in The Andy Griffith Show’s opening credits. This four-bedroom, four-bath hacienda, near the reservoir’s lower reaches, includes a koi pond and spa.
PRICE $2,950,000
CONTACT Vinny Morales, The Agency, 424-230-3700
HIGHLIGHTS Lake views from every room—is this really L.A.? Six-bedroom, eight-bath, 5,720-square-foot urban retreat with floor-toceiling windows, infinity-edge saltwater pool, plus—why not?—an elevator.
PRICE $13,000,000
CONTACT Tracey Clarke, Sotheby’s International Realty, 310-724-7000
HIGHLIGHTS Duplex with twin two-bedroom, one-bath units. The reservoir is now an urban wildlife sanctuary and a thriving refuge for local and migratory birds. Plus, there’s a 2.2-mile jogging path around the lake.
PRICE $2,300,000
CONTACT Fay Fata, Coldwell Banker Calabasas, 818-222-0023
Gustavo Dudamel, Yuja Wang, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic combine for a cycle of some of the most beloved piano showpieces ever written. Across two weekends, enjoy all four lush and virtuosic piano concertos and other Rachmaninoff favorites.
FEB 9
Piano Concerto No. 1
Symphonic Dances
FEB 10
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Symphonic Dances
FEB 11–12
LIMITED AVAILABLITY
Piano Concerto No. 2
Symphonic Dances
FEB 16–17
Piano Concerto No. 3
The Bells
Mané Galoyan, soprano
Simon Bode, tenor
Alfred Walker, bass-baritone
Los Angeles Master Chorale
Grant Gershon, Artistic Director
Jenny Wong, Associate Artistic Director
FEB 18–19
Piano Concerto No. 4
The Bells
Mané Galoyan, soprano
Simon Bode, tenor
Alfred Walker, bass-baritone
Los Angeles Master Chorale
Grant Gershon, Artistic Director
Jenny Wong, Associate Artistic Director
STEVE APPLEFORD
BILL KRAMER never imagined he would end up working in Hollywood. Still, he’d loved the movies during his boyhood in a small town outside Baltimore—his grandmother would buy him copies of Variety so he could track the week’s hits and misses.
These days, Kramer lives beneath the Hollywood sign, not far from the house where Barbara Stanwyck manipulated Fred MacMurray to murderous ends in 1944’s Double Indemnity. The latest CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can now read about himself in the trades as he attempts to navigate a movie industry upended by the pandemic and streaming. There are key initiatives in diversity and film preservation to lead, plus repair work at the Oscars after last year’s bizarre on-camera meltdown by Will Smith, until then one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars.
Though Kramer, 55, has been on the job only since July, he isn’t exactly a new face at the academy: He brought the long-delayed Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in for a hugely successful landing in September 2021 as its director and president. Now, as the academy’s CEO, “I have a completely new set of problems to solve,” he says, “but I walked in with very open eyes.”
Kramer seems suited to the task, with a lengthy history of strategic planning and fundraising—including the $250 million he raised to start museum construction in 2016. He’s also a naturally diplomatic spokesman for an industry roiled by controversies from within and without.
“This is a different moment in time for the film industry,” Kramer acknowledges with considerable understatement. Dressed in a cerulean suit and seated in the academy’s sixth-floor conference room in Beverly Hills, a wall-size photo from the set of 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia beside him, he continues, “We’ve just survived a pandemic; theatrical releases don’t look the way they used to”—2022’s North American box office was down about 35 percent from prepandemic 2019—“streaming is becoming a big part of our life. We need to evolve and be at the center of those conversations while still recognizing and supporting and preserving cinema. I think we can do all of that.”
The Academy Awards celebrate their 95th year in 2023 and remain AMPAS’s most precious asset despite the ceremony’s plunging television ratings and talk of creeping irrelevance. Viewership in 2022 increased an encouraging 58 percent from the previous year but was still the second-least-watched Oscars show in broadcast history. Meanwhile, Smith’s slapping Chris Rock onstage spawned criticism over the decision to allow the actor to tearfully pick up his Best Actor trophy minutes after the assault.
The first Oscars under Kramer’s watch will unfold March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, with Jimmy
Kimmel back as host for the first time since 2018. While it seems unlikely a comedian as thoughtful and occasionally merciless as Kimmel will let the Slap go unmentioned, the shape and content of the show have been an ongoing discussion at the academy and at ABC, which has aired the ceremony since 1976.
“We take what happened very seriously,” says Kramer. “This is about honoring the arts and sciences of cinema. We are looking at the show’s design and production to ensure that nothing like this will happen again.” That includes bringing back veteran awards show producers Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner and returning to a single, experienced host in Kimmel. “A key part of what makes a host of the Oscars successful is the nimbleness that a live-television host understands,” Kramer says. “It’s a very specific skill, and Jimmy’s brilliant at it.”
Another change the CEO promises is a reversal of the academy’s controversial decision last year to remove eight categories—including original score, makeup, and film editing—from the live broadcast, which Knives Out director Rian Johnson tweeted at the time was “absolute bullshit.” It was a failed experiment to save airtime, Kramer acknowledges, that went “against the core mission of the academy to celebrate all of the arts and sciences of moviemaking.”
“I have new problems to solve, but I walked in with very open eyes.”READY FOR HIS CLOSEUP 1. Kramer with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson; 2. In one of the academy’s two theaters;
Kramer’s arrival as CEO follows the tumultuous 11-year regime of his predecessor, Dawn Hudson, whose leadership drew equal measures of applause and criticism for her moves to modernize and diversify the academy. She bore the brunt of every controversy and misstep at the Oscars, from falling ratings and abrupt changes in producers and hosts to announcing, then immediately canceling, plans for a “Best Popular Movie” award. While Kramer inherits lingering concerns about diversity, the answers aren’t obvious. Calls for “genderless” awards (rather than Best Actor and Best Actress) to make room for nonbinary performers have been discussed, but there is no plan to make that change, he says. “At the academy, a big part of our work today is to help envision a more diverse, equitable, accessible film industry. We are always evolving, and it’s a conversation that we will constantly be having. There’s no end point to this work.”
Starting in 2024, the academy will institute “inclusion standards” for diversity in cast, crew, and other areas of production in order for films to be eligible for Best Picture consideration. “What’s giving us a lot of hope is that almost everyone we’re working with is already thinking about this on the production level,” says Kramer, who notes that all of last year’s Best Picture nominees would have qualified, even as filmmakers and academy members have criticized the rule as invasive, anti-creative, and impractical to implement. The British Academy of Film
and Television Arts will apply the same standards for its Best Film award in 2024. “We’ve locked arms with BAFTA as we’ve created this process,” Kramer adds. “This is not about legislating art.”
While the academy has no direct control over the making of movies, Kramer has worked to wield influence in other ways. When the museum was preparing to open, he personally asked Spike Lee to “christen the space” dedicated to directors with an exhibition devoted to Lee’s life and work, a shrewd conciliatory gesture considering the filmmaker’s fraught relationship with the academy, which awarded 1990’s Best Picture Oscar to the feel-good Driving Miss Daisy but didn’t nominate Do the Right Thing, Lee’s provocative dramatization of racial dynamics. (The first film shown in the museum’s state-of-the-art David Geffen Theater was a 70mm print of the director’s Malcolm X.) Kramer also oversaw an installation by Pedro Almodóvar and an upcoming exhibition with fellow Baltimore native John Waters along with other auteurs he discovered as a younger man learning to love and understand the movies.
“It’s been amazing to work with filmmakers who helped form my early notions of cinema and diverse ways of telling stories about ourselves, whether it’s being queer”—Kramer and husband Peter Cipkowski married in 2019—“or living in another country,” he says. “It has stayed with me.”
BY JORDAN RIEFE
› Bob Marley, one of the godfathers of reggae, is due for the immersive treatment. “It’s going to be amazing bringing the experience here to the U.S. for the first time and just steps from Daddy’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” says Cedella Marley, the CEO of the Bob Marley Group.
The show features the entire Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Bob Marley Archive, flush with previously unseen photos, memorabilia, a cannabis garden, a giant spliff, and the world’s largest indoor vinyl record celebrating his best-selling album Legend. Exclusive art from The Postman, Camoworks, Idiot Box, and others emphasize the reggae star’s influence on street art. It’s as close to Marley’s Jamaica as you’ll get without booking a flight.
Ovation Hollywood, bobmarleyexp.com, January 27 through April 23.
› Playwright Lee Edward Colston II chronicles a family’s spiral of denial when town pillar Pastor Albert Jones and loved
ones gather for a memorial service to honor their late daughter. But when the eldest son, whom Jones blames for her death, returns from prison, everyone is confronted with some hard
truths. Geffen Playhouse, geffenplayhouse.org, February 1 through March 5.
FILM Marlowe
› No, not Shakespeare foil Christopher Marlowe but Raymond Chandler’s other Marlowe, Philip, the one with the trench coat and fedora who’s committed to rooting out crime in Los Angeles. Oscar winner Neil Jordan directs this search for the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress, starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, and Jessica Lange In theaters February 3.
OPERA
› Acclaimed filmmaker James Gray, takes on
Mozart’s 1785 comedy of class and conjugal commitment on an Italian estate. Originally scheduled by L.A. Opera for 2020, Gray’s opera debut features costumes by celebrated fashion designer Christian Lacroix Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, February 4 through 26.
BOOKS
Unnatural History: An Alex Delaware Novel
› Author Jonathan Kellerman’s L.A. crime fighters, Dr. Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis, team up to solve the murder of a photographer whose recent folio examines the homeless and the fantasies that inspire them. The killer
could be among those exploited by the photos. February 7.
BOOKS Victory City
› Rebounding from last year’s attempt on his life, Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie is back at it with this epic tale of a motherless child who inherits the powers of her goddess namesake and conjures a fantastical empire. February 7.
› This year’s matchup takes place in Glendale, Arizona, with Rihanna serenading a sold-out stadium. Fans of the reigning champion L.A. Rams will have to wait until next year, but the L.A. Chargers have qualified for the AFC playoffs Fox, February 12.
ART
Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982
› Before there was AI, there was the mainframe, technology dedicated to making lives easier.
As with any new tool, artists pounced—writers, painters, musicians, choreographers, and filmmakers discovered new ways of reflecting
over 15 galleries, and a larger South Korean contingent than ever before. DIVERSEartLA returns with a curatorial focus on climate change. Conceptual photographer Alfredo De Stefano presents enigmatic installations in an ethereal desert setting. Evocative vermilion wrapped figures, long shadows, and scorched shrubbery auger Earth as a desert planet. On the flip side is Il Giardino Planetario, an immersive allegory of the planet as a garden. It comes courtesy of the Italian Cultural Institute and artists
Pietro Ruffo and Elia Pellegrini L.A. Convention Center, laartshow.com, February 15 through 19.
MUSIC
Cali Vibes
command, the children’s classic springs anew as orphan Mary Lennox travels from India to her uncle’s English country estate. There, with the help of some quirky companions, she penetrates the long-locked garden and uncovers family secrets from the past. Ahmanson Theatre,
centertheatregroup.org, February 19 through March 26.
› In the aftermath of 1989’s Tiananmen Square uprising, China saw unprecedented prosperity and openness under the Chinese Communist Party. Artistic expression flourished during the decade that followed, an era immortalized on film and video by artists like Weng Fen, Cao Fei, Yang Fudong, Zhu Jia, and Xu Zhen Hammer Museum, hammer.ucla.edu, February 19 through May 14.
WE’RE JAMMIN’
Bob
the world in the era preceding the PC. LACMA, lacma.org, February 12 through July 2.
› Sure, there’s that other art confab (Frieze L.A.) out in Santa Monica, but our homegrown show, now in its 28th year, features works from more than 80 galleries, museums, and nonprofits from around the world. It’s one of this month’s best places to view contemporary paintings, sculptures, works on paper, installations, photography, design, video, and performance. Jeff Robb‘s lenticular photography will be on display. New to the show is the Japanese Pavilion, debuting
› With Method Man & Redman topping the lineup, think herb. It’s what you’ll smell burning at this Long Beach music festival. This year’s roster also features Snoop Dogg, Damian Marley, Slightly Stoopid, 311, Jack Johnson, Rebelution, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, and others. Take in tunes, the salty air, and secondhand smoke. Marina Green Park, calivibesfest.com, February 17 through 19.
Expect the usual slam-dunk contest, threepoint shootout and Rising Stars Challenge. The NBA HBCU Classic pits Grambling State University against Southern University, with alumni Willis Reed and Bob Love as honorary captains. TNT, ESPN2, and NBA TV, February 17 through 19.
The Secret Garden
› Return to paradise with Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman and Grammywinning composer Lucy Simon. Under their
› Soon after the Paley Center shut its doors, popular street artist Mr. Brainwash announced plans to open his own museum. Three years later, his efforts bear colorful fruit. The inaugural exhibition, Enter Through the Museum , is a play on the Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. And yes, there is a gift shop.
mrbrainwashartmuseum.com.
WITH DECISION TO LEAVE , PARK CHAN-WOOK’S ACCLAIMED NEW RELEASE, SOUTH KOREA’S GREATEST WORKING FILMMAKER MAY HAVE ALREADY MADE THE YEAR’S BEST MOVIE
BY STEVE ERICKSON
DECISION TO LEAVE will be a revelation to anyone just catching up with Korean cinema. Asian movies in general and Korean movies in particular have been the future of film for the last quarter century, in part because the future has come to Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China at bullet-train velocity, and in the process has wiped the past clean, a blank slate on which cinema has been reimagined. In movies like Oldboy, The Handmaiden, Memories of Murder, Crush and Blush , Pietà , Snowpiercer , Train to Busan, The Villainess, On the Beach at Night Alone, and Burning—not to mention the world-rocking TV series Squid Games —the melodrama of pulp fiction mixes with the sociology of economic class, an eroticism that’s all the more explosive for how repressed it is. In Decision to Leave, the timeless sea, mountains, and fog of South Korea on one hand and the text messages, voice recordings, and smartwatches of the 21st century all have their roles in an unfolding story of identity and homicide, existential futility, and unhinged passion.
supposed to be done. Wild, irreconcilable tonal shifts abound in Parasite—are we supposed to gasp, flinch, laugh? yes—and the results are insights into human behavior that can’t be fully articulated in any language but movies. Now perhaps slightly in the shadow of Bong’s new international prominence is his occasional producer and the greatest working Korean filmmaker, Park Chan-wook. At the still productive age of 59, Park is Korea’s supreme stylist and virtuoso, following up revenge epic Oldboy with the even better revenge epic Lady Vengeance, delinquent-vampires-in-love epic Thirst , erotic lesbian epic The Handmaiden (Park’s masterpiece), epic espionage remake The Little Drummer Girl , and now the neo-noir epic Decision to Leave
These movies can be intense to a fault—Pietà and the landmark Oldboy sometimes verge on the unwatchable—but their arrival in the world’s cultural consciousness is beyond dispute. The breakthrough was 2019’s Parasite, which buried filmmaker Bong Joon-ho in Oscars for picture, director, and screenplay. Parasite is a preeminent example of how successful art is so often about being in the right place at the right time. Not the best Korean movie ever made, Parasite was nonetheless a phenomenon that struck a chord having to do with the obscene chasm between haves and have-nots for audiences whom capitalism failed and egalitarian democracy imperiled. Like most major Korean writer-directors, Bong’s filmography mixes genres of crime, horror, black satire, and science fiction in freewheeling fashion.
CANDID CAMERA
Park is the Korean new wave’s supreme virtuoso. Decision to Leave is a full blast of his cinematic lexicon.
One of the advantages of a new cinema is that it doesn’t know what’s not
Preliminarily a generic murder mystery, Decision to Leave ’s two and a half hours are a full blast of Park’s cinematic lexicon, if you’re ready for it. Narratively labyrinthine, it’s packed with minor moments that circle back (or forward) to other moments you might not notice until a second viewing, along with subplots that involve secondary relationships that bubble up to flood the blueprint of the ongoing story while paranoid imaginings mingle with what’s “really” happening—sometimes in the past, present, and future all at once. What grounds Decision to Leave are the performances of Park Hae-il’s detective, as obsessed as he is tightly wound, and particularly Tang Wei’s femme fatale, who’s ultimately as deadly to herself as to anyone else. By all rights, Tang should have been an international superstar ever since her performance in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution 15 years ago, so scorching it got her banned for a while in her native China. As with so much of Korea’s new wave, you may not immediately know what to make of Decision to Leave, but as the hours and then the days pass, you’ll find yourself unable to shake the film’s final scene—the most haunting ending in any recent cinema from anywhere—as well as the nagging suspicion that you may have just seen the year’s best movie.
Korean movies have been the future of film for 25 years.
The Digital Studio offers a full-service suite of digital advertising services designed to move our clients to the next level of success.
Opportunities include:
Our team stands ready to consult with you to customize a digital strategy that will digital marketing journey. Contact Carly Allen callen@lamag.com
BY JORDAN RIEFE
ORIGINATING ON the Paramount Studios backlot in 2018, Frieze Los Angeles landed in Beverly Hills last year and will make the hop to the Santa Monica Municipal Airport this month (February 16 to 19), when it raises the curtain on art from over 120 galleries from 22 countries. Under Frieze Director of Americas Christine Messineo, this year’s fair emphasizes twentieth-century art, often spotlighting work by practitioners who may have been previously overlooked.
The Focus section of the fair is dedicated to relatively new galleries from across the country, expanding from last year’s L.A.-only remit.
“You’re going to find Minneapolis and D.C. and Chicago in here, all cities with people showing incredible art on par with galleries working on the coasts, who will also be on view in Focus,” says returning curator Amanda Hunt, head of public engagement, learning and impact at Walker Art Center, who’s working with associate curator Sonya Tamaddon for this edition. “There’s really strong energy this year.”
DIONNE WARWICK HAS CHARMED A NEW GENERATION ON TWITTER, AND THANKS TO A NEW CNN DOCUMENTARY, DIONNE WARWICK: DON’T MAKE ME OVER , THE WRY 82-YEAR-OLD MAY GET HER DUE FOR CREATING DECADES OF POP MUSIC PERFECTION. BY
ANDREW GOLDMAN
You are hilarious on Twitter. A personal favorite: “Who is Olivia Rodrigo yelling at on Good 4 U? I would like to know who we are angry with.” I gather you are very close with your niece. Any possibility that your niece is behind the tweets?
> No. Dionne writes the tweets. And, yeah, they are funny. Anytime that I am around people, I want them to smile and laugh. And all my tweets, if you notice, end with a smile.
In 1962, Burt Bacharach discovered you singing backup, fell in love with your voice and, along with his partner,
lyricist Hal David, started writing music for you. Then, in 1973, they had a fight and split up. Did you try to mend their relationship?
> Mo Ostin, then the CEO of Warner Bros. Records, asked if I could get them to get back into the studio. I was flown to Tahoe to speak with Burt, but Burt was adamant that he wasn’t going to write with Hal any longer. Then I came back to Los Angeles, and Hal said, “I’m not going to write with Burt any longer.” It is a shame that it ended the way it ended.
Burt did write in his memoir that during that period you showed up at a concert for his then-wife, Carole Bayer Sager, and glared at her.
> That’s Burt’s opinion. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know who Carole Bayer Sager was. Nor did I care. And I was
only there at the urging of my friends, who wanted to go see what the show was about.
In 1979, you had a huge comeback with such songs as “I’ll Never Love This Way Again.” Just prior to this, were you really thinking about leaving the music business altogether?
> Absolutely. I figured that I might as well use my teaching credentials. People were no longer attracted to what I was doing, and I was still a young lady. You have to realize, in that period of time, there was a little thing called disco and a young lady named Donna Summer, who took over the recording industry.
I think your voice would’ve been great on disco records.
> No. My voice would never have made any kind of impact with disco music. As a matter of fact, that’s why I kind of did this to my nose when Barbra Streisand decided to jump into disco, which she should never
have done. That voice is for romantic, wonderful songs, not disco.
You’ve only ever been married to one man, the late actor William Elliott, but married him twice.
> Those who can’t do with, can’t do without.
The first marriage was quite short, right?
> It only lasted a few months, and I woke up one morning and decided I didn’t want to be married anymore, and I went to Mexico and got a Mexican divorce.
Was he aware of what you were up to?
> No. When I got back, he goes, “Why were you in Mexico?” I said: “Here are the papers. We are no longer married.” But then, he pursued me, which was lovely. I was in Italy, performing, and Bill was sitting in the front row. And he wooed me and moved me and asked me to marry him again. And I said, “OK.” And we got married in Italy.
In 1972, you were on the cover of Jet magazine with the headline “How Astrology Helps Her in Music and Marriage.”
> Well, I found out it doesn’t.
Is it true that because of numerology, you added an “E” to the end of Warwick in the ’70s?
> Yes. I was told it would add vibratory enhancement to my last name. At the time, my husband and I were going through a bit of turmoil—and the “E” being representative of my last name at the time, Elliott, might vibratorily bring us back together. Well, all hell broke loose with that “E,” and I said, “Let’s get rid of this ‘E.’ ” I did, and that’s when I started recording again, and all kinds of wonderful things started happening.
Back in 2011, you did The Celebrity Apprentice You did not appear to enjoy that experience.
> No, I did not. It was a lot of backbiting and craziness.
I said: “Dionne, why are you going to ruin your career here with these crazy people? Get out of this.” And that’s when I fired myself. It was so funny because Donald’s face was like, “You can’t fire yourself.” I just did!
You appeared to particularly dislike Marlee Matlin and Lisa Rinna.
> It was a case of not wanting to really be around people of that ilk, who decided that they had to be obstinate, crazy, and say silly things to each other. I said, “I don’t want to be ’round these ladies.”
Evidently, Lisa Rinna has become a big villain on her Real Housewives show. Do you watch those?
> No. I don’t watch any of that crap. I watch Gunsmoke
“My voice would never have made any kind of impact with disco music.”WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR 1. Warwick with her aunt, soul singer Cissy Houston. 2. The singer’s Twitter humor. 3. In the studio with Burt Bacharach in 1964.
A SHOWSTOPPING NEW MEXICAN RESTAURANT MAKES A DRAMATIC DEBUT
BY HEATHER PLATTTHE ENTRANCE to Mírate, the modern Mexican restaurant from the team behind Beverly Hills’ Mírame, is meant to disguise what lies ahead. Make your way up a candlelit staircase to the the bar that leads out to the mezzanine dining patio. “You can literally watch people’s jaws drop when they round the corner of our bar, and they see what’s kind of hidden behind the storefront,” says co-owner Matthew Egan.
The massive, 7,500-square-foot multilevel space is indeed stunning. “We have an upstairs agave bar that is a little bit more quiet and dark. Downstairs, we have what we’re calling Bar Mírate, which is more lively. And then we have a mezzanine dining deck with a roof that opens up. It’s an open-air dining deck with wraparound patio seating throughout the rest of the restaurant,” says Egan, who left a career in the film industry to open Mírame in 2020 with chef Joshua Gil, whom he discovered in a cookbook and subsequently befriended.
Now, after traveling all over Mexico together (Gil grew up in Rosarito, Baja
California), the two have opened their second project, founded on the same principles as their first: sustainability and the desire to bring the kind of upscale Mexican food they’ve eaten in Mexico to the U.S.— inventive food that tells a story.
At Mírate, where the menu centers around the mezcal-heavy cocktail program of star barman Max Reis (previously of Gracias Madre), this means tacos you wouldn’t find anywhere else, like skewered spicy oyster mushroom tacos arabes with ground toasted corn and sesame salsa on house-made flour tortillas.
The restaurant grinds its own masa for tortillas and uses grain from the Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project. Thick-cut yucca fries come drenched in cheesy, meaty queso. Generous bowls of hamachi aguachile ceviche with black lime and tomatillo is fresh and bright, and pairs nicely with a frothy sour papaya tequila cocktail. Every spirit on Reis’s menu comes from Mexico.
“One of our core values is that anything on our menu has to tell a unique story,” says Egan. “We always put our spin on everything we do.”
1712 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz, mirate.la.
ECHO PARK
The sandwich counter once known for its perfect egg salad sandwiches and chocolate croissants has reinvented itself. After a yearslong pandemic pivot to takeout only, the tiny spot is now serving pre-fixe Japanese breakfast, including kabocha squash and grilled fish. 1463 W. Sunset Blvd., konbi.co.
This newcomer serves organic, Californiaproduce-driven Mediterranean dishes that include spinach ravioli and avocadoinfused hummus. Three seating options (indoor, patio, or bar) make this beachside destination a hit in the making.
600 Venice Blvd., paloma-venice.com.
It’s the restaurant’s first outpost outside of New Orleans, and founder Willie Mae Seaton’s greatgranddaughter Kerry Seaton Stewart is serving her signature fried chicken along with mac and cheese and cornbread.
324 Lincoln Blvd., williemaesnola.com.
• BRACELETS
“I am wearing an Hermès bangle here as well as a diamond tennis bracelet. On the other arm, I have a vintage Hermès watch.”
• SUNGLASSES
“These are Loewe from Style Eyes Optical, a Black femaleowned eyewear boutique in New York. It’s like seeing through literal rose-tinted glasses!”
EJ JAMES , WHO OVERSEES SPECIAL PROJECTS FOR INFLUENCER MARKETING FIRM DBA, PICKED UP HIS FUNKY FASHION KNOW-HOW AT NEW YORK’S FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE MID-2000S. BUT THE 36-YEAR-OLD MARYLAND NATIVE REALLY LEARNED HOW TO DRESS FROM THE “STRONG BLACK WOMEN” WHO RAISED HIM (AND WHO GAVE HIM MOST OF HIS JEWELRY)
BY JULIUS MILLER
• CAP
“The cap is another Black-owned brand named PHEIT! “
• EARRINGS AND NECKLACES
“One necklace is a rope chain I inherited from my grandmother when she passed. The earrings are from Amazon. I will wear the most expensive to the most affordable!”
• RINGS
“The pinkie ring was given to my mother by my grandmother and then to me. This ring is really significant in the Black community because every woman had this ring. Now, to have it in my possession is a true testament to my upbringing.”
• SWEATERS
“They’re from an amazing Black creative brand, TooMK. All of my work is rooted in service to others, so I am always looking for a way to promote and highlight the creativity of my own community.”
• TANK
“This is a piece I wear every day as I am obsessed with Skims. It snaps underneath and I am too busy in life to constantly tuck my shirt in, so it works!”
• PANTS
“I wore these as part of a green sequined suit for a going-away party that a dear friend threw for me in N.Y. before I moved to L.A.”
• SHOES
“Something about these Gucci loafers spoke to the androgynous personality that I have—loafers are more of a manly style, but adding the heel speaks to women.”
THREE DECADES OF HITS AND HORRORS ON HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGEST NIGHT BY MERLE GINSBERG
ANYTHING GOES? Not.After 30 years as an observer of the Oscar red carpet—an almost95-year-old ritual—I can say with authority: Hits are classic shapes in striking colors; misses go too hard for the gusto (though Lady Gaga always gets a pass). It’s all about balance: The brighter the color or beading, the simpler the silhouette; the louder the jewelry, the quieter its canvas. Ilaria Urbinati, stylist to Ryan Reynolds and the Rock, among others, sees 2023’s Academy Awards as “the first real Oscar red carpet in years.” Hence, more actors getting paid by luxury brands. “Eighty percent of what you see is paid endorsements,” says Beverly Hills jeweler Martin Katz. “Jewelry’s trending smaller, but when the jewelry doesn’t go with the dress, big money’s changed hands.” Actors still take home $250,000 to a million bucks to vogue down the carpet. Who can resist that?
• When staying monochromatic, texture is all. Andrew Garfield’s Saint Laurent plush velvet jacket (2022) contrasted his satin shirt and shiny shoes.
THINK PINK
• While sheer dresses let it all hang out, Zoë Kravitz went full Audrey in strapless Saint Laurent (2022). As Diana Vreeland once decreed: “Elegance is refusal.”
TAKE A BOW
• All gowns are not created equal. Armani Privé’s peplum bow (2018) for Nicole Kidman gave her outfit volume, contrasting that flash of leg.
RED HANDED
• If you’re Lady Gaga, pairing downright weird accessories like gauntlet “dishwashing” gloves with a classic fairy-tale gown (Azzedine Alaïa, 2015) works. If you’re anyone else, don’t.
GOOD AS GOLD
• Leslie Odom Jr.’s doublebreasted Brioni tux (2021) was crafted with 24-karat-gold silk thread—classic fit + flamboyant fabric = fabulosity incarnate.
DON’TS SOME ATTENDEES SHOULD SEEK BETTER ADVICE.
• Angelina Jolie on her Atelier Versace gown (2012): “I had a more complicated dress, and I wore the more comfortable dress . . . I was just so comfortable.”
Maybe comfort isn’t everything.
GOING GIRLY
• Rosettes. Keyholes. Pastels. One sleeve. Sheer fabric. Froufrou. Heidi Klum’s fluff-happy Marchesa gown (2016) was labeled “a bridesmaid disaster.”
RUFFLED FEATHERS
• Kristen Wiig’s Valentino sheath with double-sided ruffles (2020) was a bold choice. The color worked—but not with that shape. The Instarazzi dubbed it “the lasagna dress.”
BABY BLUE
• Knights in bright satin? Sure. Men other than Tom Wolfe in ice cream suits? Never. We're looking at you, Kodi Smit-McPhee (Bottega Veneta, 2022).
GOTH GONE WRONG
• Goth gowns, jewelry, and guyliner don’t mix. After she donned Alexander McQueen (2002), Cosmopolitan advised: “If there’s one time to put them away, Gwyneth, it’s the Oscars.”
Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, Southern California’s favorite casino, is less than 90 minutes from wherever you are. Morongo has once again elevated the gaming, culinary, and entertainment experience in Southern California with our expansion and new dining experiences. Marvel at over 4,000 of the hottest, newest, and loosest slot machines, along with dozens of your favorite table games! Morongo welcomes guests with 310 deluxe rooms, spectacular suites, and exclusive casitas, all newly renovated and updated.
Spoil yourself at Cielo, our AAA Four Diamond and Wine Spectator views of the mountain sunsets.
The good times are rolling 24 hours a day at Good Times Café! Start your day sunny-side-up with a hearty breakfast and keep on cruisin’ through the night with an eclectic menu of inventive craft beers, masterfully mixed cocktails, and brewhouse bistro favorites like our crisp, handmade brick-oven pizza.
Visit the Marketplace by beloved celebrity chef and “Top Chef” fan with seven unique stations, including barbecue, seafood, Italian, prime rib, and more! It’s a foodie’s paradise. Journey into this all-you-canover the world. With each menu consisting of fresh and in-season ingredients, every visit will be a unique experience.
In addition, at the entrance to the Marketplace is Pescato, Morongo’s Everything at Pescato is line-caught, fresh, and of course, undeniably delicious.
Go to morongocasinoresort.com and book your stay today. Morongo! Good times!
Morongo Casino Resort & Spa
49500 Seminole Drive, Cabazon (888) 252-4499 | Morongocasinoresort.com
WHEN HOLLYWOOD TRIED TO SWEEP COMEDY LEGEND SHELLEY BERMAN UNDER THE RUG, HIS RED CARPET HANDLER TOOK A STAND
A LONELY STRING of blinking lights tacked to the side of a cubicle signaled the impending arrival of Christmas. Well, that plus the dark circles under the eyes of every employee in the film marketing department at Universal Pictures. It was December 2004, and our team had been working tirelessly to promote the upcoming release of Meet the Fockers—the hotly anticipated sequel to Meet the Parents, starring Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, and Robert De Niro.
On the Monday before the movie’s red carpet premiere, I received an email from my friend Jeff, a senior VP of publicity at Universal: “I know how much you love the old-timers, so I nominated you to accompany Shelley Berman down the red carpet at the premiere this Thursday. You’re welcome.”
It’s true, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for older adults. Raised by a cash-strapped and overwhelmed single mother, I attributed many childhood moments of joy to the generosity of grandparents and great aunts and uncles. I grew up believing that these graying arbiters of happiness had their acts together and deserved reverence.
So, of course, I considered it an honor to walk down the red carpet with 79-year-old Shelley Berman— an original gangster of comedy and the actor who played Larry David’s father on Curb Your Enthusiasm . That said, due to extreme burnout, I hoped to be excused from working that night.
VPs and higher-ranking executives were invited to attend movie premieres, but we junior staff were given work assignments at the events. After years of slogging through the ranks, I’d earned my stripes as a “Digital Marketing Director” and managed multiple fi lm campaigns a year. That meant pulling together a digital strategy, sending out trailers and fi lm stills to publishers, setting up promotions, coordinating interviews with talent and online press, and coping with the intense stress of liaising with diva fi lmmakers and shark-like publicists. By year’s end, I’d morphed into a beaten shell of myself. Luckily, I was still young, in my thirties, but even older employees were put through the same paces.
Meanwhile, I dreaded working premieres, ergo, hand-holding actors and familiarizing media outlets with the lesser-known talent in the hope of securing interviews and exposure for a movie. I generally spent the evening white-knuckling a walkie-talkie while sprinting down the red carpet in sensible flats, trying not to knock over any starlets and begging reporters to speak to B-list cast.
Since we were short-staffed in December, I accepted my fate and stopped by my boss’s office to commiserate. A senior executive VP of marketing, Kevin empathized with my year-end exhaustion. He’d been invited to the premiere as a guest but hated schmoozing and preferred to stay home. I asked if he could
skip this one. “No,” he groaned. “I need to make an appearance. But I’ll just get in and get out.”
AT THE FOCKERS gala, the red carpet stretched from Universal CityWalk to the Universal Amphitheatre. That night, the temp dipped to 57 degrees—freezing by L.A. standards—and, like the lookie-loos in knitted beanies and jackets crowded behind a gated-off fan-viewing area, I’d bundled up in a cream sweater, a navy trench coat, and wool slacks. The brisk air, Christmas trees, and red ribbons transformed CityWalk from a tourist trap into a festive winterscape, but I still longed to recline on my couch and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas for the 200th time. With the Fockers score blaring through gigantic speakers, I stood under the floodlights, shout-chatting with one of my coworkers. On-air personalities from hundreds of media outlets lined up to interview the stars, and a gaggle of photographers crammed into the “photo pit” near the entrance to capture celebrity arrivals. Prime-time TV shows like Entertainment Tonight, E! News, and Access Hollywood had pole position in the middle of the carpet. Lesserknown outlets—in 2004, these were mainly online press—were stuck at the end of the carpet, destined to miss out on the late-arriving stars who
rushed past to get to the theater. I’d just fielded another complaint when a voice barked into my headset, “Hilary, the Berman limo just arrived.” I hotfooted it over to the car drop-off area.
Out of a black town car stepped Shelley Berman, a slender fellow with a pair of bushy and expressive eyebrows. After his first major movie role in years, he’d dressed for the occasion in a charcoal pin-striped suit, navy pin-striped shirt, gray silk tie, and a paisley pocket square. He reached a hand inside the car and helped his wife step out onto the street. A whitehaired vision in a cream dress and red beaded necklace, Sarah stood an inch or two shorter than her husband. For the first time in my life, next to Sarah, I felt like an Amazon.
Shelley, though slight in build, had been a comedy heavyweight in his day. Winner of the first Grammy for spoken comedy record in 1959 and three gold records, he went on to star on Broadway, in television, and, occasionally, in films. His comedy routines focused on life’s annoyances, and he gained popularity for telephone monologues where he’d sit on a stool onstage and speak into an unplugged telephone, getting increasingly agitated with the person on the other end. My mom, a native New Yorker, plotzed when I told her the news: “Shelley Berman! A real Jewish icon from the borscht belt comedy set. I grew up listening to him.” She wasn’t alone: Shelley’s comedy style inspired
the likes of Larry David, Woody Allen, and Jerry Seinfeld. After Shelley died in 2017, Steve Martin credited him with “Changing modern stand-up.”
I introduced myself to the couple with a touch of nervousness in my voice. Talking to famous people always set me on edge, as if I dared to cross the barrier between us and them. Gossip mags love to post pics of celebs walking their dogs with the caption, “They’re just like us!” But we commoners know that even if we drag our mutt up the same Hollywood hillside as Jen Aniston, we’re still nobodies and she’ll always be somebody.
Sarah, however, put me at ease by flashing a warm smile and thanking me for my assistance.
“So, what’s the plan?” Shelley asked, pressing his shoulders back and sinking his hands in his pockets.
I explained that he’d have an hour to complete interviews before heading to the theater to watch the movie, followed by the party. I took another minute to gush about his performance as Judge Ira in the film. “You were my favorite part,” I said. “Truly hilarious.” The movie was no Oscar contender, but Shelley’s performance as a randy judge demonstrating bawdy movements in a sex therapy class taught by Barbra Streisand stood out as comedy gold to me.
“Really?” His furry brows shot up, and he smiled. “I haven’t seen it yet.”
“The movie is fun, but you really make it.”
“How wonderful,” Sarah said, tottering next to him on kitten heels.
The three of us made our way down the carpet, and I stepped out ahead to introduce Shelley to the first of many clueless twentysomething on-air personalities. Press outlets tended to ignore the supporting cast so as not to be tied up when the superstars arrived. I wanted to make sure that the reporters showed Shelley respect and took time to interview him thoughtfully. With a wave of my arm, as if presenting a king at court, I said: “This is Shelley Berman. He’s a godfather of comedy, star of the stage and screen, and a living legend.”
Shelley ambled along, but we made great strides, knocking the smaller outlets off the list. I enjoyed watching him get his 15 minutes and, as I stood on the sidelines, smalltalking with Sarah.
He wore a giddy grin and remained in high spirits through close to an hour of interviews. Fifteen minutes before we had to be at the theater, the press grew restless, checking their watches and craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the A-listers. Each time a mega celebrity showed up, the volume spiked and the atmosphere became more frenzied. Celebs and guests clogged the carpet like parade marchers in suspended animation, more interested in being seen than anything else. Photographers shouted, “Dustin, over here!” and “Ben, look this way!” followed by a strobe-light effect of camera flashes. Through my headset, the VP of special events announced, “Wrap up interviews and head to the theater.”
I rushed Shelley to the main stages for Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood , where he waited for Ben Stiller to fi nish up. Those entertainment TV shows reached millions of viewers, and every actor craved the exposure.
“How do I look?” Shelley turned to Sarah and smoothed his hair.
“Ready for your close-up.” She straightened his tie.
Suddenly, the crowd went berserk. Photographers shouted, “Babs, over here!” Barbra Streisand glided up the carpet in a light-gray fur coat over a periwinkle crepe dress, her blond, lustrous locks flowing in the breeze, and a perfectly manicured hand clamped around James Brolin’s arm. She moved at a quick clip, ignoring all the outlets in the press queue, and beelined for ET and Access. Before I had time to push Shelley onto the platform, Babs jumped the line and took his slot.
Shelley’s expressive face contorted into a mask of confusion and rage. His mouth hung open, and his blue eyes blinked repeatedly, as if he’d just awoken from a fever dream.
“It’s not fair!” he fumed. “She should wait her turn like everyone else.”
I understood his indignation. I felt it, too. This man had been waiting decades for a close-up. One would hope that elders would be lauded at these events and given preferential treatment, but Hollywood celebrates the upstagers.
To make matters worse, the red carpet was closing, and we had to get to the theater to start the screening. I certainly didn’t possess the authority to rush the one and only Barbra Streisand off the stage, and if I didn’t get Shelley to his seat tout de suite, he’d miss the beginning of the fi lm.
Priding myself as a glass-half-full kind of helper, I tried to spin the situation, telling Shelley that TV interviews are edited down and only a few seconds make screen time. Print and online will be much better, I assured him. He shook his head, and his lips twisted into a deep frown, one that seemed to drag his whole face down with it. His devastation palpable, no amount of cheerleading could change the fact that his scene
Before I had time to push Shelley onto the platform, Babs jumped the line and took his slot. “It’s not fair!” he fumed.
Thursday, February 2 7 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Halo, Downtown LA
Join Los Angeles magazine at our 10th annual Best New Restaurants event honoring the city’s most appetizing openings over the past year. The evening brings together our picks for the top 10 Best New Restaurants, past and present, to toast the chefs, taste signature dishes, and sip craft brews and creative cocktails. Must be age 21+ to attend.
For details and tickets visit lamag.com/bestnewrestaurants
Rhône WarriorsGrenache vs Syrah vs Mourvèdre
Wednesday, February 8, 7 p.m.
Tesse Restaurant, West Hollywood
Join LearnAboutWine for a true battle of Rhône wines. This evening will feature a compelling combination of fantastic producers; where you will decide which wines
via our 501(c)(3) partner.
For tickets and more information visit learnaboutwine.com
Desert WineFest
Saturday, February 25, 1 – 5 p.m.
Sunday, February 26, 12 – 4 p.m.
Civic Center Park, Palm Desert
Choose from over 200 wines and craft brews to taste. Shop artisan and lifestyle exhibitors and delectable food purveyors while enjoying a sunny day outdoors with live music. Guests also have the option of purchasing tickets to include the VIP Garden featuring limited production and higher end wines, and tasty bites.
For tickets and more information visit desertwinefest.com/tickets
Los Angeles Builders Ball ®
Wednesday, March 8
The Beverly Hilton Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) is proud to host the 2023 Los Angeles Builders Ball®, presented by City National Bank! Join us as we honor The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Mattel and Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott during this year’s gala. For tickets and more information visit aesbid.co/ELP/LABB23/Tickets
had been stolen. I felt like a failure for letting him down. Still, I hoped the rest of the night would make up for this setback.
With the movie about to start, I hustled the couple to their seats, fetched popcorn, and arranged to meet up afterward to escort them to the party. Two hours later, I waited on my charges outside the theater. Shelley emerged, his forehead lined with creases and the color drained from his skin. “They cut most of my scenes! I’m barely in the movie.” He fixed me with a deliberate glare. “You lied to me!”
Now, Babs wasn’t the only doublecrosser on his list—I was, too. A classic people-pleaser, hell-bent on spreading happiness, I was gutted to know that Shelley thought I’d lied to him. I was verklempt.
“I swear, in the cut I saw, you were fantastic,” I pleaded.
He squinted his eyes and pressed his lips together, as if the sound of my voice hurt his ears. My credibility had taken a nosedive. All I could do was try to make sure he had fun at the party.
“Once you eat something, you’ll feel better,” Sarah said, ever the supportive wife.
Alas, at the party, everything descended 20,000 leagues further under the sea. An area had been set up with cocktail bars and several heated dinner buffets emanating gassy blasts of Sterno. Guests milled around heat lamps, enjoying the festivities, replete with holiday music, wreaths, ribbons, blinking lights, and giant gift boxes on display.
Shelley surveyed the scene and immediately zeroed in on a special roped-off VIP section for the film’s stars, flanked by security guards to keep away fawning fans. He wasn’t considered A-list and didn’t have access to this elite enclave. I’d hoped to elide this omission earlier in the night by “reserving” a table close by—tossing my coat on top of it and crossing my fingers that nobody would move it.
“Have a seat, and I’ll grab you some food from the buffet,” I offered.
“Can we go in there?” Shelley pointed at his costars whooping it up behind the velvet ropes.
I wanted to chomp on a cyanide capsule and collapse, mouth frothing instead of admitting, “It’s, um, a special-access area.”
For Shelley, this was the final blow. He sighed and flashed a crestfallen look at Sarah. In that moment, all the reasons I’d fallen out of love with the job snapped into focus. I loathed “the business” for its shallowness and lack of compassion. And while I enjoyed the creative challenge from time to time, in a world plagued with struggle and inequity, it all seemed so unimportant and meaningless. Rather than celebrate the old guard who lit the path for today’s young stars, Hollywood ditched its pioneers on the cutting room floor. Legendary actresses with faded beauty died penniless. Silly movies broke box office records, and beautiful art-house films disappeared from theaters overnight.
“I want to say hello to Dustin,” Shelley said sternly, as if he suddenly remembered he was a “somebody” and I existed only to serve his needs.
This was my last shot at redemption. I had to make it happen, or else I’d end up (presumably along with Barbra Streisand) as a needleriddled voodoo doll on Shelley Berman’s dresser.
“OK, let me see what I can do.” I sped over to the VIP area, armpits soaked with sweat and several frizzy curls flying free from my poorly assembled chignon. I’m sure I had a crazed look in my eye as I ducked under the red rope and squeezed through the crowd, searching desperately for a familiar face. I spotted the talent handler for Dustin Hoffman and waved her over.
“Shelley Berman wants to say hello; can we please let him in?” I held my hands together in prayer.
Dustin Hoffman overheard, spotted his friend, and shouted, “Shelley! Come here!”
I unclipped the velvet rope for Shelley to slide in. He squared his shoulders and stood up straighter. The two men hugged, and Shelley glowed with joy. Ben Stiller came over and gave Shelley a hug, too.
From my perch outside the red ropes, in the plebian zone with Sarah, I observed this sweet scene, and I swear I saw light radiating off that
man. Tears welled in my eyes as I watched how this small gesture made Shelley’s year. Suddenly, I had an epiphany: It was time to move on. No more fraught nights on the red carpet for me. Instead, I would follow in the footsteps of my geriatric heroes and pursue my passions. Sure, I was in my thirties, but why wait until my knees had to be replaced and my feet were covered in corns to fulfill my dream of
being a writer? And so, the following Monday, I walked into Kevin’s office and gave my notice. He assumed I’d landed a better job at another studio. I explained that I’d had it with drudgery, and if he needed to get in touch, he could find me at the discount movie theater or the YMCA. He laughed at the absurdity of the idea, but I could tell, deep down, he wished he were going with me.
This three-day event presents rare and collectible books, manuscripts, letters, maps, photographs, original artwork, and all manner of paper ephemera from booksellers around the world and features exhibits of four important private California collections. www.abaa.org/cabookfair
NOW THAT THE PANDEMIC IS FINALLY (MOSTLY) OVER, L.A. SINGLES ARE DITCHING DATING APPS AND VENTURING INTO THE REAL WORLD IN SEARCH OF LOVE—AND FINDING IT IN, OF ALL PLACES, SUPERMARKETSEREWHON
BY ANNABELLE GURWITCH
A BUNCH OF OTHER PLACES TO FIND MR. OR MS. RIGHT; THE MOST RESTAURANTS;ROMANTICAND HOW FAR WOULD YOU TRAVEL FOR LOVE?
PHOTOS
BY
CORINA MARIEcialty supermarket was an ideal setting for uncoupled Angelenos to meet cute. “My clients were already making connections in the checkout line,” she says, so she saw the Monday night gatherings as an opportunity to “uplevel the vibe.”
Weber’s hardly the only one who’s picked up on Erewhon’s love connection potential. As the pandemic has finally started to fade away, L.A.’s singles have begun poking their heads up from their dating apps and venturing into the real world in search of actual face-to-face romance, the kind that doesn’t require swiping left or right but swiping nonetheless. “Between dinner and our turmeric teas, I’m out $100,” sighs one Shop & Shagger. And here on Venice Boulevard, as well as seven other locations—in Santa Monica, Fairfax,
Palisades, Calabasas, and Studio City—they have discovered that, at Erewhon, finding a prospective mate
can be as simple as sipping a $19 Maca Bomb smoothie.
“I’ve started numerous relationships here,” says one shopper who is such a well-known fixture at the stores that the staff has started referring to him as Erewhon Famous. “When you meet someone here, you know they’re following a healthy lifestyle.”
By Allen SalkinOfficially, Erewhon has no part in the Shop & Shag events, and Yentling isn’t listed on the tonic bar menu. But it’s clear that the company’s stated mission of “creating community” has gradually morphed into the promotion of outright canoodling. Indeed, every detail in the stores seems to have been deliberately—one might even say aerodynamically— designed to be dating-friendly. From its frequent-shopper program with its suggestive name (“Members with Benefits”) to the soulful musical selections (Bowie, Coldplay, Byrne), it’s an aspirational utopia devoid of adult diapers or denture creams, but where the gluten-free energy bars are as numberless as the world’s wonders and the sultry, muted lighting rivals any Ian Schrager hotel lobby.
“It all creates a sensual mood,” notes Erewhon shopper Mariah O’Brien, an interior designer. “Everyone looks better next to natural material, and the small aisles force you to interact with people. As you squeeze by, you feel people’s energy. It’s a visceral experience.”
Jason Widener, Erewhon’s VP of brand management, is a bit cagier about the company’s matchmaking intentions. “When you make healthier food choices, why wouldn’t that lead to improvements in your love life?” he says, all but winking.
Whether or not the company’s executives admit it, Erewhon has become the hottest meet market in Los Angeles. “I’m here to make a sacral connection,” says one shopper, “That’s something you can’t do in cyberspace.”
HEN MACROBIOTIC pioneersMichio and Aveline Kushi first opened it in 1969 on Beverly Boulevard—naming it after Samuel Butler’s classic 1872 utopian
Physical attraction no longer ranks among the top 5 characteristics of what singles are looking for in a partner in LA. Instead, it’s someone they can trust and confide in (90%); someone who is emotionally mature (90%); someone who can make them laugh (90%); someone who is comfortable with their own sexuality (89%); and someone who is comfortable communicating their wants and needs (89%).
L.A. singles want a partner who can say it’s very important for their partner toSOURCE: Match.com’s 2022 Singles in America survey of 5,000 singles ages 18 to 98.
novel (the title is the word “nowhere” spelled backward, except the “w” and “h” are in the wrong places)—it was anything but sexy. On the contrary, it was a hippie hangout for hard-core adherents of the strict diet. The scent of fermenting veggies hung in the air like a bad review, and it was hardly the pickup joint it is today, unless you were picking up carob chips in bulk.
But in 2011, foodie entrepreneurs Tony and Josephine Antoci purchased the company and quickly set about modernizing the brand and adding locations. Eventually, RDC Collective, the buzzy architectural firm that designed many of L.A.’s high-end pot dispensaries, was brought in to update the vibe, giving the stores a hipper, chiller, more intimate, and better-smelling ambiance. It also put some serious thought into customer flow and interaction in spaces that generally have a much smaller
At the Mid City location, marketing agent Steven Waldrop and news producer Joseph Corral like drinking juices before and after morning workouts.
Celebrating 55 years, Wally’s seduces with its gentleman’s club vibe and sophisticated clientele who come for the more than 8,000 hand-
picked varieties of wine, spirits, beer, and gourmet snacks. The store’s surfeit of top-drawer booze and food is an aphrodisiac in itself. L.A. matchmaking expert Pattie Stanger’s take: “You wanna know where the millionaires go? They go to Wally’s. Men are impressed by women who know about wine. So if you say, ‘What are [you] gonna eat tonight?’ and he says, ‘Steak,’ you respond, ‘You know, I kind
of want a Duckhorn with that.’ He’s gonna be like, ‘What?!’ ” 447 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, and 214 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica.
DOG PARKS
WEHO DOG PARK
With views of the Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood’s vest-pocket dog run is packed with a wide range of the young and old, gay and straight, professional and not. All are out to let their canine friends have a day in the sun and check each other out, which inevita-
bly leads to meet-cutes among owners when Spot and Princess take a shine to each other.
Stanger’s take: “If you’ve been walking your dog forever and you’ve never met anyone, that means that they’re not your type or you’re not their type. So take your dog for a walk in the neighborhood you want to live in.” 647 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: SILVERLAKE DOG PARK, 1863 Silver Lake Blvd., Silver Lake, and
LAUREL CANYON DOG PARK, 8260 Mulholland Dr., Beverly Crest.
Connect with potential mates by volunteering—it’s a great way to meet those with similar interests and make a direct deposit into your karma bank. Stanger’s take: “I think PROJECT ANGEL FOOD is probably the best one. And MEALS ON WHEELS. At both, you’re working in the kitchen with
footprint than most other supermarkets (the Silver Lake Erewhon, for instance, is just 12,000 square feet compared with the 50,000 square feet of the average Vons). The aisles in Erewhon aren’t numbered like other supermarkets either. Instead, the stores are staffed with swarms of young “shopping consultants” who happily escort customers to whatever product they’re seeking, plying them with friendly conversation along the way, which in turn tends to spark engagement with other shoppers.
It doesn’t hurt that a lot of Erewhon’s sculpted young employees look like they just finished practicing Ayurvedic yoga on the Ionian Sea. So, not surprisingly, Erewhon workers often find themselves being chatted up by patrons wanting to take home something spicier than turmeric root tea. Take Tamar, for example, who radiates intelligence and a “Venus on the Half-Shell” vibe and works in the supplement section of Erewhon’s Beverly Hills outpost. (I witnessed one customer slyly asking if the medicinal tonics “might make a good mix with gin.”) This kind of thing
20%
of L.A. singles are ok going somewhere close to home
of L.A. singles are ok meeting dates for TO SAVE ON GAS
from overly interested customers. (Though she currently isn’t dating, she’s managed to deftly swat away her supermarket suitors with an air of cool professionalism.)
In any case, by 2020, Erewhon had new stores sprouting up across
the city, but then, just as the chain was starting to take off, the pandemic hit L.A. Suddenly, squeezing through Erewhon’s extra-cozy aisles seemed less like a sensual dance with strangers and more like a deadly high-wire act. Like every other business here and in the rest of the country, foot traffic at the stores slowed to a crawl. Even Erewhon’s most devoted customers
people you don’t know, and interacting. UNION RESCUE MISSION is amazing downtown. Serve holiday dinners at THE LAUGH FACTORY. Sean Penn’s charity, CORE, is helping communities in crisis. If you’re gay, you want to go to the GLAAD MEDIA AWARDS or AMFAR GALA. And events for HEAL THE BAY.”
The gym of gyms is where you’ll find models
and actors and well-off men and women—or at least those who claim to be while spending $300 a month for a membership. Stanger’s take: “That gym is great. It’s a matchmaking dating club. You’d be surprised what shit goes down.” RUNYON CANYON PARK is the place to get your outdoor fitness on with the most incredible views of the city—and of hot hikers, too. Stanger’s take: “Runyon is the number one gold standard in the singles community. And you can bring your dog.” TOPGOLF, the luxury sports
entertainment complex in El Segundo, is where guys and dolls work on their swing, golf-related and otherwise. Stanger’s take: “It’s a great way for girls to learn golf because it’s very much a man’s sport. Especially if you’re standing at the range and you’re like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing.’ He’s like, ‘Let me show you how to hold the club.’ ” Equinox, 8590 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; Runyon Canyon, 2000 N. Fuller Ave., Hollywood Hills; Topgolf, 400 Pacific Coast Hwy., El Segundo, CA.
Eleven percent of married couples say they met their partners in church. Nondenominational churches like MOSAIC and AGAPE make it easier to break the ice. Stanger’s take: “If you are gonna go to a Catholic church and you’re not Catholic, good luck to you. The nondenominational ones like Agape, that’s really the way to go. Go to the church you have interest in; don’t go to a church just because you heard the hottest men are Catholic.” Mosaic,
7107 Hollywood Blvd.; Agape, Saban Theater, 8440 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills.
THE GETTY CENTER is one of the most iconic buildings in Los Angeles, and architect Richard Meier’s multiple travertine patios and viewgrabbing nooks offer plenty of opportunities to turn chance encounters into romance.
Even the tram that carries you and a carful of strangers from the parking garage to the musuem is fair game—why
retreated into their homes, resorting to Grubhub for their meals and apps like Hinge, Raya, and Match (or Pornhub) for their social needs.
But in recent months, as life in L.A. has approached something resembling normalcy, Erewhon found itself perfectly positioned to exploit a postpandemic resurgence in reallife romance. “People were enjoying solo sex 25 percent more during the pandemic, and that rate seems to be holding,” notes sexologist (and longtime Westside resident)
Dr. Rob Weiss. At the same time, he adds, “interactions on apps began trending away from hookups and toward cultivating real intimacy.” In other words, a lot of singles were both self-satisfying and sick to death of screen time. “Apps don’t allow for authenticity,” explains a Studio City Erewhon-habitué who’d met his fiancé in the parking lot. “But what’s more real than grocery shopping?” (Who cares if it’s a corporately choreographed authenticity?)
not strike up a conversation and see where it leads? Stanger’s take: “I had my second date of my last relationship there, and it was really romantic. We were drunk on boxed wine, and he threw me against the wall and made out with me. It was kind of sexy. ” 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood.
HONORABLE MENTION: THE BROAD, 221 S. Grand Avenue, Downtown.
Far from being mere places to sleep, hotels
For singles once again looking for the kind of oxytocin-charged, oneenchanting-evening-style encounters that, in pre-digital times, used to take place in singles bars and dance clubs, this kind of “dating experience,” as Weber characterizes it, can be had through Shop & Shag.
The postpandemic inaugural event on Monday night drew a slew of these neoromantics, ranging in age from early 30s to late 50s—an undeniably attractive crew in drapey garments
suggesting they were either so relaxed or smoking-hot that the fabrics were melting off their bodies. Also, there are lots and lots of dogs. Shoppers at Erewhon saunter past the numerous signs announcing Erewhon’s noanimals-inside policy without second thought. But as a regular reminded
in L.A. are often where the action is, with some of the hottest bars and restaurants—not to mention townies. Stanger’s take: “THE MAYBOURNE in Beverly Hills, on Thursday night and on Sundays, has a huge singles scene because a lot of people go to AVRA across the street. Another one would be the POLO LOUNGE, epecially at lunchtime, and the pool at THE ROOSEVELT
in Hollywood. Also the PENTHOUSE restaurant at THE HUNTLEY. In Santa Monica, CASA DEL MAR and SHUTTERS still crank. TERRANEA RESORT in Rancho Palos Verdes has a big scene in the summer and spring. So does the rooftop deck at the WALDORF ASTORIA in Beverly Hills— JEAN-GEORGES there has great food. SURF RIDER has a seductive bar scene in Malibu; so
does CALAMIGOS GUEST RANCH AND BEACH CLUB.”
Love is always in bloom at the HUNTINGTON BOTANICAL GARDENS. The Desert Garden there is where urban naturalists meet and love can take root. Tip for singles angling to go steady: 1919
CAFE, a hangout for local literati who work on their laptops while working the room. Stanger’s take: “You get both sides of the street here: male, female, gay, straight, people who are very cultured.” 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino.
Since 1948, WeHo’s be-
served as the locus for countless 12-step programs—and, inevitably, romantic rendezvous.
“I met my fi rst boyfriend at the Log Cabin,” says a 32-year veteran of meetings there. Besides providing “love, compassion and kindness from strangers,” he adds, the cabin’s Saturday night meetings can feature get-down trappings complete with disco lights and DJs, “like a full-on party in recovery.” 621 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood.
Music and passion are always in fashion at AMOEBA MUSIC. The vinyl mecca has been the scene of a whole lotta love since it reopened on Hollywood Boulevard in 2021. Management confirms that “multiple couples who met here or had their first date here have come back to take engagement photos.”
(One dude popped the question while the store cranked the lovebirds’ favorite Led Zeppelin tune.) Amoeba patrons who’ve been hit on say the musician-branded clothing section is where the most sparks fly. 6200 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.
Getting lost and found in the stacks is still a thing. At the LAST BOOKSTORE in downtown L.A., one employee met their future spouse amid exemplary customer service. At VRO-
PUPPY LOVE
In Venice, shaman Mychal Prieto and actress Jennie Jaturapatporn bond over their dogs.
me, “There’s a saying: If you’re single in L.A. and don’t have a dog, what are you doing?”
I discreetly eavesdrop on a few of the attempted sacral connections.
“I’m a van lifer,” Zian, a vegan, tells Jackson, a 37-year-old paleo devotee, extolling the virtues of her mobile housing lifestyle.
“Oh, cool, where do you shower?” he asks her.
“At your house?” she suggests with a sly smile.
While no one has yet compiled stats on the success rates of relationships struck up at Erewhon, there is anecdotal evidence that suggests some of them have staying power. Jason Stuart, a fiftysomething comedian, tells me that he once stopped into the Beverly Hills market after a gym workout and made meaningful eye contact with a fetching Italian in the snack section. Then, when Stuart sat down for a nosh outside, the Italian— who turned out to be a chef named Antonio—took one look at Stuart’s pasta lunch and said, “I could make that so much better.” Antonio did just that
MAN’S in Pasadena, SoCal’s oldest bookstore, the SRO crowds at the new TEPITO COFFEE CAFE encourage flirty bookworms to share tables. With its proximity to the Sunset Strip and perennially hot 1970s L.A. vibe, BOOK SOUP continues to be the sexiest bookstore in Los Angeles. And, truly, what is sexier than mingling with hotties who actually read books? The Last Bookstore, 453 S. Spring St., Downtown; Vroman’s, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood.
DOCKWEILER is one of the few local beaches that allows alcohol, bonfires, and dogs—the dreamy trifecta for those looking for a love match amid Southern California’s classic romantic atmopherics. Even the roar of jetliners taking off from nearby LAX serves as a reminder that the opportunity to find love is often fleeting and life won’t wait. 12000 Vista del Mar, Playa del Rey.
during their two years together, until he returned to Rome.
Juliette Hohnen, a well-known L.A. realtor, isn’t looking for love herself but has plenty of clients who are, many of whom hold memberships at fancy coteries like NeueHouse, Soho House and the San Vincente Bungalows. “But they don’t meet people to date there,” she says. Where do they meet? “The parking lot at Erewhon.”
Another longtime customer shares that he often catches shoppers in the Venice parking lot checking their hair and teeth in his Tesla’s side mirrors, which have motion-activated sensors that can record footage. (They were all probably on their way to the arbored garden, which is known as ground zero for Erewhon hotness). “I just came from a photo shoot,” hairstylist Jerrod Roberts told me as he sipped on a tropical turmeric
51% DISTANCE IS NOT AN ISSUE
of L.A. singles say they’d start a relationship with someone who lives MORE THAN 3 HOURS AWAY
42% say their stance on distance CHANGED DURING THE PANDEMIC
smoothie. “A model I know told me this is the hot place for dating.”
As it happens, there is no shortage of sexy shoppers at any of the chain’s locations. “Our client base is very attractive!” explained an employee at the Silver Lake market as we watched customers sashay through the store as if they were walking a runway rather than wandering the aisles. Everyone seemed to embody that patented Eastside loucheness—baggy silk pajama bottoms with anime characters, Miu Miu jackets, nails like knives, kitten ears over cashmere beanies. After a few minutes of this impromptu fashion show, he headed off to do his own grocery shopping at the cheaper Ralphs. “But I’d rather meet someone here,” he said, because, you know, “the attractiveness.”
Back at Shop & Shag, Mychal, a holistic life coach sporting a jade necklace gifted to him by a Mayan timekeeper, had stopped in at the tonic bar with his partner. Instead of the soup line, he favored a no less saccharine opening. “What’s your favorite chocolate?”
(It worked for me. During my visit, I scored a “Honey Mama Lavender Rose Indulgence,” a cakey confection infused with a scent reminiscent of your grandmother’s linen closet, that left me swooning.) Sure, go ahead and roll your eyes, if you must, but I found the whole evening endearing. When setting off on a new relationship, we need to see a potential partner through rosecolored glasses. But rose-petaled chocolate certainly doesn’t hurt. Maybe my Golden Milk latte just boosted whatever it was supposed to boost, but in addition to the $83 I spent on sprouted-nut snacks, I bought into what Weber, the brains behind Shop & Shag, told me about her event: “Inspiring more meaningful, loving relationships—this, to me, is the solution to all of the world’s problems!” Just remember to bring a dog.
1: There’s a line in dating that I will take to my grave. My grandmother said it, my mother said it: You only get the love you think you deserve.
2: Those who travel in packs do not get as much attention as the person who goes out alone. The secret is that there are no friends around you who are going to disrupt meeting this [person]. It’s better to be alone, and you decide yay or nay.
3: The more normal you are, the more likely you are to get into a serious relationship: “Hi, I’m Dave. I live around the corner. Can I buy you a drink?” Try to be consistent with your personality.
4: Bartenders make the best matchmakers. Tip the bartender. Lean in and say, “Hey, is there a regular here that you know is single and that you think I would be great with?” They’re bodyguards, they’re matchmakers, they’re therapists all rolled into one. So be nice to your bartender.
5: Get out of your neighborhood. Who says you can’t live in L.A. and go to Calabasas for drinks at night? Why can’t you go downtown? How about spending the evening in Santa Monica or going down to Manhattan Beach?
6: You can’t walk in with the expectation, like, “Tonight’s the night I’m gonna meet ‘the’ person.” It’s like being on vacation. When we’re on vacation, we don’t expect shit. And then what happens? You end up having a fling because you are detached from the outcome. You’re not making it Serious City. You’re just letting what happens happen.
THE FORMER HOST OF THE MILLIONAIRE MATCHMAKER SHARES HER STRATEGIES FOR FINDING LOVE IN L.A.
SEVERAL AMERICAN CITIES are known for great art or commerce or even revolution, but few can offer the same truly romantic ambiance all year-round that Los Angeles does—balmy weather, painterly light, and a stylish, laid-back atmosphere. Those things, paired with the city’s proximity to farms and vineyards, make L.A. the ideal place for an allur- ing dinner anytime of year but especially on Valentine’s Day since Angelenos are, after all, the country’s experts in creat- ing magic. Here, a range of perfect meals for perfect dates all around the city.
this sumptuous calls for sparkling wines and mocktails named “free spirits.”
2132 E. 7th Pl., Arts District, damiandtla.com
cream and pomegranate has been known to be persuasive.
122 W. 4th St., downtown, orsaandwinston.com
1100 S. Broadway, downtown, properhotel.com
This rooftop restaurant from chef Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne is, literally, a towering achievement atop downtown’s Proper Hotel. Banquettes or seats around the stylish firepit provide excellent skyline views. The Portuguese-influenced menu is also a draw, complete with cumin-spiced piri piri fried-chicken strips and crackly focaccia with white trumpet mushrooms or roasted pears. A setting
Mexico City culinary icon Enrique Olvera and his team have carved out a unique industrialchic setting in the Arts District, particularly on the plant-lined patio, where a colorful mural and scenic skylights add to the fun for diners who flock here to enjoy modern Mexican food, like luxurious lobster al pastor and uni tostada over a Caesar salad. Weekend brunch is a great time to visit, when masa-battered fried chicken is served with live marimba accompaniment. If your date’s still on the fence, the hibiscus meringue with Chantilly
Josef Centeno offers an intimate, five-course tasting menu in downtown’s Old Bank District. Couples can get comfortable in banquettes or sit near the open kitchen to interact with the folks crafting their food. The menu ostensibly draws on Japanese and Italian culinary traditions but actually casts a more global net. No two dinners are ever the same here, and diners can’t preview menus online. Centeno wouldn’t have it any other way, which adds electricity to each meal. Don’t worry about where the current menu will lead; just trust that you’re in good hands.
110 N. San Fernando Rd., Lincoln Heights, mazal.la.
Mazal is a good place to go on a double or triple date. The more plates of food covering your table
on the patio, the more it feels like you’re eating in the backyard of people who love you. The Israeli restaurant features a vegetarian menu that will satisfy all diners. The tahini is subtitled “sesame tears” on the menu, and the thick-cut, air-fried Maghrebi potatoes are served on a bed of it. For the full experience, add Moroccan carrots and beets or roasted cauliflower with cilantro sauce and labneh. For the second round, get the mozzarella flatbread
with sliced grapes and wildflower honey that’s essentially a romantic pizza. The fun is keeping the food coming. Also key here: string lights in the alleyway and lots of wine.
1360 Allison Ave., Echo Park, ototo.la
Ototo is a sake bar and izakaya that serves Japanese “drinking snacks” to enjoy with your beer, wine, or its spotlighted sake. The
salad to salty karaage, but the star of the menu is the kabocha tempura. Follow the fried food with a shaki shaki salad: shaved cabbage and fennel in a sesame dressing. But the best thing for your party to do at Ototo is to explore the many interesting sakes on the menu together. Try something new, and see where it takes you.
5955 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, providencela.com
For the ultimate special occasion, head to the city’s mecca for a blending of sustainable fare and multiple-Michelinstarred seafood. On any given night, acclaimed chef-owner Michael Cimarusti’s tasting menus dazzle. Providence is one of the last true fine dining restaurants in L.A., and experiencing
including milk-and-honey bonbons and Providence’s own house-made bean-tobar chocolate.
8700 W. 3rd St. Beverly Grove, aocwinebar.com
When it comes to making sure your sweetheart is happy on V Day, returning to the tried-and-true
wood furniture, cement, and brick accent walls are darkly lit, creating the cozy sense of a drinking tavern as warm refuge when it’s cold out, despite being in the middle of L.A. The snacks range from a Japanese-style potato
course after course in the quietly luxurious dining room is unforgettable. On February 14, Cimarusti creates unique dishes designed for romance; they’ve included “dark and mysterious” grilled wild striped bass with black truffles and “flirtatious” lychee with red raspberry and shiso. Pastry chef Mac Daniel Dimla prepares new desserts for the occasion and sweet treats for couples to take home,
is always a smart move. This Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne classic just celebrated 20 years in Los Angeles—an accomplishment achieved with attentive, consistently stellar service and Goin’s flawlessly executed cooking. Sitting by the toasty fireplace, snuggling in a comfy booth, or sharing a table on the starry patio, couples here can’t help but get lost in each other (and the Spanish fried chicken with romesco aïoli).
4880 Fountain Ave., East Hollywood, foundoyster.com.
Found Oyster is inspired by what it calls the mix of “classic East Coast seafood shacks with West Coast flavors.” It sort of does feel like that, if the “West Coast flavor” means being down the street from the Church of Scientology Celebrity
Centre. If opting for full oyster romance, this is a fun dining environment. The Baywatch Platter comes with a dozen oysters, peeland-eat prawns, and a tuna crudo—enough to feel like you had a seafood dinner without the bill breaking triple digits. Add the daily oysters, if a dozen isn’t enough, but the scallop tostada with apple and basil is a highlight. There’s wine and champagne to celebrate special occasions, but the vibe really does call for a Coors with your catch. A slice of Fat + Flour pie completes the workingclass cosplay.
204 Orange Ave., Long Beach, ellieslbc.com
Chef Jason Witzl’s tasting menu changes monthly at this snug 12-seat table in a space beside sister restaurant Ellie’s. For January, that meant an Italian-style Feast of the Seven Fishes starring Maine lobster and whole striped bass with Long Beach mushrooms. But offerings shift with the seasons and as inspiration strikes. The communal experience is the closest thing we have to a Southern-style boardinghouse meal, only this one is candlelit and comes with wine pairings. Just do as they do in Nashville: pass to the left.
DRUMMED OUT OF NEW YORK, COLUMNIST TURNED SUBSTACK SUPERSTAR BARI WEISS HAS A NEW BABY, A THRIVING MEDIA VENTURE, AND A NEW LIFE IN L.A. BUT NOW HER WORK ON THE TWITTER FILES IS ONCE AGAIN TRIGGERING HER CRITICS
“He asked if I wanted to go to the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco and look at the Twitter archive,” she says about Elon Musk’s message. “It was a Friday evening, around 6 p.m., but I was like, ‘Sure, why not?’ and ran to pack my bags. I was on an 8 p.m. flight. I was at Twitter HQ by 11 p.m. I mean, I’m a journalist—why wouldn’t I go?”
When she arrived, Musk was there to greet her, along with a few of his bodyguards, a couple of engineers, and one of his eight children, two-year-old X, who zoomed around the otherwise empty, mostly darkened Twitter offices. After they settled into a windowless, underventilated conference room on the tenth floor, the billionaire laid out his ground rules for looking at the archives. They were the same terms he’d presented to a handful of other journalists, like former Rolling Stone columnist Matt Taibbi, and they were as simple as they were seductive.
Musk would grant Weiss and her team unfettered access to Old Twitter’s internal memos and private emails regarding its content-moderation policies before he purchased the company last year, policies that had been criticized by conservatives for allegedly silencing their voices and promoting the so-called liberal-woke agenda. Weiss could plug in any search term she wanted and could write whatever she wanted about whatever she found in the archive. But she’d be required to publish it first on Twitter, in a series of 280-character tweets.
“My reaction was, ‘I can’t wait to dig into the documents,’ ” she says.
And so it was, during the last chilly weeks of 2022, that Bari Weiss, the 38-year-old former New York Times op-ed writer turned Substack superstar, the Jewish lesbian from Pittsburgh whom liberals (and some conservatives) love to loathe, got sucked into the Twitter Files—you know, the buzzy series of exposés-in-tweets that first Taibbi and then Weiss and other journalists started posting in early December and are either the most important scoop since Woodward and Bernstein covered Watergate or else a big, fat nothingburger, barely worthy of a yawn.
Like most of the controversies swirling around Weiss, where you stand depends on your political point of view.
Of course, this is hardly the first time Weiss has found herself smack in the middle of a media megastorm. Indeed, her entire career has been one gale-force squall after another, starting as far back as her student-activist days as an undergraduate at Columbia University in the mid-2000s, when she first made a name for herself protesting against professors in the Middle East studies department that she and other Jewish students accused of anti-Semitism. Even now, her critics charge that Weiss, who frequently rails against cancel culture, lobbied to get one professor fired, an accusation she firmly denies.
Years later, during the Trump era, Weiss had become one of the country’s most talked about—or shouted-about— opinion writers, particularly in pro-
gressive circles. Her dramatic public resignation from the New York Times in 2020 dropped like an A-bomb on the media establishment. Some people— well, her grandmother—still haven’t gotten over it.
Somehow, though, this latest brouhaha over the Twitter Files feels a little different—yet also entirely familiar. A self-professed centrist, Weiss once again finds herself dangling in the middle, a perennial political piñata, with just about everyone taking a whack at her.
Progressives are denouncing her as an opportunistic culture warrior stoking old grievances over Twitter as a way to boost her own brand—a brand, by the way, that includes a spanking-new website and media company, the Free Press, which Weiss launched in the middle of the uproar. (More on that later.) Meanwhile, the conservatives who initially cheered her Twitter Files reporting, seeing it as smoking-gun proof that the site had indeed been throttling their accounts, began turning on Weiss the minute her dealings with Musk went south. Which they inevitably did, as Musk continued his startling transformation into the Joker, flinging open Twitter’s doors to QAnon crazies and neo-Nazis and—the last straw for Weiss—banishing several prominent journalists from Twitter for reporting on the fact that Musk had earlier banned an account that had been keeping track of his private jet’s whereabouts.
“The old regime at Twitter governed by its own whims and biases, and it sure looks like the new regime has the same problem,” Weiss tweeted about the private-jet controversy, starting a brawl with the tech magnate who’d just a few weeks earlier invited her to rummage through his archives. “I oppose it in both cases. And I think those journalists who were reporting on a story of public importance should be reinstated.”
“Rather than rigorously pursuing truth, you are virtue-signaling to show that you are ‘good’ in the eyes of the media elite,” Musk instantly tweeted back at Weiss, clearly unaware that Weiss has never been considered remotely “good” by the media elite and probably never will be. Then, in the ultimate act of spiteful vengeance—at least for a social-media mogul—Musk stopped following her and the Free Press.
“It’s been exhausting,” Weiss says with a sigh. “It’s the classic Jewish position—I’ll never be a part of any of these tribes. But, listen, all I can do is stick to my principles. That’s all I can do. Let the chips fall where they may.”
IF WEISS truly is what her detractors claim—pure evil, the Lord Voldemort of the chattering class—she’s pretty good at disguising it, at least in person. When you meet her in the flesh, she is nothing like the finger-tenting supervillain her enemies describe.
For one thing, she’s a hugger, even with strangers bearing tape recorders who come to interview her at her home—a tasteful, casually decorated, sprawling bungalow where she’s been holed up with wife Nellie Bowles, a former Times tech reporter, since
leaving New York in 2020. In fact, she’s so fizzy and upbeat, there really is only one word that fits her, and that word, which she’d hate, is “bubbly.” But Weiss is also supersharp and hyperarticulate. She’s got the coolly casual confidence of someone accustomed to being the smartest kid in class but who has learned, over the years, not to be obnoxious about it.
In other words, she’s less Voldemort, more Hermione Granger—if Hermione had been a nice Jewish girl from Pennsylvania.
And yet, for some reason, Weiss is also insanely triggering to a lot of folks, mostly liberals. “The real defining feature of Bari Weiss is how absolutely, categorically stupid she is,” reads one typically nasty tweet from Tom Scocca, a writer who’s made a hobby out of regularly trolling Weiss online. And the hate isn’t just happening on
the internet. Before the story you’re reading was published—before it was written —its author received irate phone calls from progressive friends and colleagues who were furious that Weiss was being given a “platform” in the pages of Los Angeles magazine. One caller hung up in a flurry of obscenities. (Interestingly, though, not one of the never-Weisses to whom Los Angeles reached out agreed to be interviewed for this piece.)
But crack open the Weiss Files—her writings back when she was at the Times, as well as her pieces for Commentary magazine and her own Substack, “Common Sense”—and it’s hard to figure out what’s got everyone so unhinged. She’s pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-democracy (meaning anti-Trump), and pro-LGBTQ rights. True, she’s also pro-Israel, a position shared by a majority of Americans that’s become increasingly incendiary in academia and the media. She also defended Brett Kavanaugh—sort of—during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, arguing that it wasn’t his behavior in high school that disqualified him, but his behavior in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and has frequently pushed back against what she calls “illiberal liberalism” in media and on college campuses.
Still, it’s puzzling. Bill Maher can be as heterodox as he likes on his HBO show, and he doesn’t stir up nearly the furor that Weiss does. Joe Rogan can denounce woke culture to his heart’s content on his podcast and won’t set off this sort of red-hot rage. But if Weiss suggests in a column—not unreasonably, perhaps—that shutting down schools for nearly two years during the pandemic possibly wasn’t such a hot idea after all, it sets off such fury that you’d think she’d incited an insurrection.
“I don’t get the rage,” says writer Andrew Sullivan, who’s stirred up quite a bit of it himself with his centrist musings in New York magazine (until
he was pushed out and started his own Substack). “Maybe it’s because a young Jewish lesbian is not allowed to violate the orthodoxy and tribal identities that are now so hard-wired they have no relationship to objective reality. I think also they know she understands the social-justice left and how it operates, so she is dangerous and cannot be intimidated. Then there’s her defense of Israel.”
Weiss herself throws up her hands when asked about it.
“There are two things I’ve given up on,” she says, perched on a chair in the backyard shack she’s turned into a soundproof podcasting studio. “One is trying to figure out why I trigger people the way I do. And the second is trying to resist it when people mislabel me in some way. Because it’s maddening when you trend on Twitter as a caricature of yourself, as something totally unrecognizable to you. It’s really upsetting and disorienting. I don’t think human beings are meant to withstand that kind of incoming. I’m definitely not.”
There certainly aren’t many hints in her history as to how antagonizing liberals became one of Weiss’s superpowers. She’s always been very much a middle-of-the-road sort of gal. In fact, she literally grew up in Mr. Rogers’s neighborhood.
Her parents were in the flooring business in Squirrel Hill, the Pittsburgh suburb where Fred Rogers lived—and where, years later, in 2018, an anti-Semite shot up the Tree of Life synagogue, the temple where Weiss had been bat mitzvahed. (She wrote movingly about the tragedy in a Times column titled “When a Terrorist Comes to Your Hometown.”)
“I was a type A kid,” she says, unsurprisingly. “I was kind of a theater nerd, loved musicals, loved watching the Oscars, but I also read a lot. I was reading The New Republic when I was 12 years old. It was really great back then. Michael Kinsley was editor.”
After high school, she spent a year in Israel, working in a kibbutz kitchen. Then she headed to Columbia, where she started out dabbling in theater and dated a classmate named Kate McKinnon. “We met in a play that I did
my freshman year,” is about all she’ll say about her youthful love affair with the future Saturday Night Live star, other than, “It was a very formative relationship in many ways.”
Columbia in the mid-2000s was a hotbed of student activism, so Weiss fit right in. She helped form Columbians for Academic Freedom, a student group that made national news when it accused pro-Palestinian professors of anti-Semitic polemics (the group’s critics claimed Weiss and other members were trying to get faculty fired for their opinions). For the first time, Weiss started taking writing seriously, penning think pieces for the student newspaper, The Daily Spectator . “I always liked getting into political arguments, but I found it was way more exciting to do it on the page,” she says.
Her first gig out of school was an internship at the Wall Street Journal She ended up sticking around for a staff job, writing opinion pieces and editing book reviews. “It was a very male environment, and I was more liberal than most of the people there,” she recalls. “And I was young. I didn’t have strong feelings about stuff like the child income tax credit, which really animated people there. For years,
I wondered if there was something wrong with me because I couldn’t get it up for those sorts of subjects.”
It was around this time that Weiss, who considers herself bisexual, got married for the first time, to an environmental engineer. The marriage lasted only a couple of years, but there were apparently no hard feelings. “A total mensch” is how she describes him today.
Then, in 2016, Weiss, along with the Journal ’s Bret Stephens, got offers to join the editorial staff at the New York Times , which had been caught flat-footed by the election of Donald Trump. “We were ideological diversity hires,” she says, laughing. “There was a lot of soul-searching at the Times after Trump’s election, and there was an effort to bring in more people with different sensibilities.”
She had a different sensibility, alright. Suddenly, she went from being the most liberal writer at the Journal to being the most conservative at the Times . Still, her family was thrilled. “When I told my grandparents that I was working at the New York Times , I think it was the happiest moment of their lives,” she says. “They’re the prototypical Times readers. My grandma still doesn’t understand why I left.”
For Grandma, then, here are the reasons. From the start, Weiss says, her colleagues reacted to her hiring as if the love child of Roger Stone and Stephen Miller had taken up residence in the cubicle next to them. Weiss suspects, however, that it wasn’t
merely her middle-of-the-road politics that offended her new coworkers. “If you googled me at that point, the things you would see about me were: Jewish, Zionist, feminist, bisexual, gay, and Pittsburgh,” she says. “What is it among those descriptions that might be unpopular?” She waits a beat for an answer before giving one. “At institutions like the New York Times, ‘Zionist’ is a dirty word.”
It only got worse over time, as Weiss penned columns that many of her coworkers considered ideological apostasy. Her piece on the Women’s March, for instance, in which she flagged the anti-Semitic histories of some of the event’s organizers, didn’t win her any popularity contests among the staff. Another column defending Parks and Recreation star Aziz Ansari against what turned out to be dubious accusations of sexual assault—“Aziz Ansari is Guilty. Of Not Being a Mind Reader”—also went over like a lead balloon with her colleagues, though it did win her one notable fan. After Bill Maher saw the piece, he invited Weiss onto his show.
“I read that column and said, ‘I’m going to make her famous,’ ” Maher recalls. “And I did. I had her on the show three times that first year, and I asked the same questions you’re asking. Why is this lesbian Jewish girl now considered conservative? It wasn’t many years ago that people like Bari and I were considered down-the-middle liberals. We’re still fairly left of center. It’s not like we’re against gay marriage or anything—I mean, Bari is in one. But we live in an era of extremes, and in a lot of people’s minds, you’re either all-in or you’re not.”
Weiss’s Real Time with Bill Maher appearances were followed up by a glossy Vanity Fair profile for which she was photographed sashaying down a windswept New York City street in a red Valentino dress and Manolo Blahnik heels, looking like she’d just joined the cast of Sex and the City . That didn’t help matters back at the office, either.
“Bari was treated terribly by her coworkers the entire time she worked there, but I never thought it was because of her politics,” says Shawn McCreesh, a New York magazine writer who at that time worked at the Times as Maureen Dowd’s assistant. “If you go back and look at the stuff she was writing, none of it was that controversial. She was just writing what every sane person thought but didn’t have the balls to say. But that made her a star. Suddenly, she was on Bill Maher’s show every other week and being photographed by Vanity Fair. And that drove the staff—all these groupthinkers who were toiling away on their pious opinion pieces—nuts.
in the podcast shack. Their friendship turned romantic shortly after she and Weiss met for a drink in the West Village when Bowles was in town for a story. That also didn’t go over well at the office.
“A group of us were standing around having drinks in one of the bureaus,” Bowles recalls, “and an editor turned to me and, in front of other people, said, ‘You’re dating a Nazi. She’s a fucking Nazi!’ I tried to laugh because it was so uncomfortable and intense and aggressive. But it just got worse from there.”
SHE WAS JUST WRITING WHAT EVERY SANE PERSON THOUGHT BUT DIDN’T HAVE THE BALLS TO SAY. BUT THAT MADE HER A STAR. SUDDENLY, SHE WAS ON BILL MAHER’S SHOW EVERY OTHER WEEK. AND THAT DROVE THE STAFF AT THE TIMES NUTS. YOU CANNOT OVERSTATE HOW JEALOUS PEOPLE IN THE MEDIA ARE.”
Eventually, Weiss couldn’t take it anymore. In July 2020, she resigned in the most public way imaginable. In an open letter to Times publisher A. G. Sulzberger, Weiss laid out her grievances for all the world to see, from her colleagues’ bullying online (“Some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly ‘inclusive’ one, while others post ax emojis next to my name”) to what she saw as the paper’s embrace of progressive small-mindedness and a narrowing of its ideological tolerance. “Twitter is not on the masthead of the New York Times,” she wrote. “But Twitter has become its ultimate editor.”
You cannot overstate how jealous and petty people who work in the media are. So it just got nastier as time went on.”
Weiss did manage to make a few pals at the Times. While other colleagues were bad-mouthing her in the newsroom or openly crapping on her on the paper’s internal Slack channels, she struck up a long-distance texting relationship with Bowles, then still at the Times, who happens to be a member of a prominent San Francisco family. (She’s a descendant of nineteenth-century cattle baron Henry Miller, once the largest landowner in the U.S.)
“Bari really needed a friend,” Bowles says with a chuckle after she joins Weiss
Not surprisingly, the letter made a huge splash in New York media circles. Some of Weiss’s critics believe that was the point— they’re convinced her “self-canceling” was all part of a plot to draw attention to herself. Others dismissed her complaints in the open letter as whining. “She is literally asking the Times to prevent people at the paper from criticizing her, on the grounds that she dislikes the criticism,” wrote Noah Berlatsky in the Observer . A former Times executive editor, Jill Abramson, was even tougher on Weiss. “[She’s been] on Twitter throwing some punches herself,” she said at the time, “but if you are going to dish it out, you’ve got to be ready to take it.”
Still, there were some who quietly cheered Weiss’s audacity. “What
was she supposed to do—slink out of there?” asks McCreesh. “After putting up with shit for years, she went out swinging.”
According to Weiss, though, her quitting was a spontaneous act of desperation. “There was zero plan,” she insists. “Nothing.” In fact, Weiss caught herself so off guard with the decision to leave the Times, she found herself without health insurance. “And then Nellie, who was still at the paper, suggested we go get an instant marriage, so I could get on her insurance. We were already engaged, so that’s what we did.”
“After that, Bari was just wandering around, unemployed, sitting around the house,” Bowles says. “She was like, ‘Should I become a rabbi?’ ”
Eventually, Bowles managed to coax Weiss out of her one-bedroom walk-up apartment—and out of New York altogether. The couple headed west and resettled in Los Angeles.
“Nellie is a sixth-generation Californian,” Weiss says. “She’s from San Francisco, and if she had her druthers, we would probably be living there. But I needed to be in a place that had energy, so I picked L.A., and I’ve found it to be an unbelievably rich environment for making friends and meeting people that are building incredible things. Sure, there are more people with plastic surgery walking around than there were on the Upper West Side, but it’s the only place we could be.”
Weiss and Bowles (who converted to Judaism since meeting Weiss) have indeed made new friends here, attracting a coterie of expats from the old left and other assorted political and cultural oddballs. Weiss recently threw a party at Fia in Santa Monica to celebrate the publication of British author Douglas Murray’s latest tome, The War on the West: How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason. The guest list included renowned playwright turned nutty right-winger David Mamet,
former Love Line host turned cranky podcaster Adam Carolla, and Brian Grazer’s ex-wife, conservative novelist Gigi Levangie. Weiss has also scored an agent at CAA, guest-hosted on The View , and—the ultimate expression of acceptance in this town—was even mentioned in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm . (Larry David slams a door when he hears her name.)
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before inspiration struck, and Weiss found a new calling—although the idea came not while she was in California but at 30,000 feet on a flight to Miami. Also, it wasn’t her idea.
made a lot more money than I ever thought was possible in journalism,” she told CNN Business in October 2021. Within another year, Weiss was raking in even more bucks, with “Common Sense” swelling to 280,000 paid and free subscribers and a spinoff podcast, Honestly with Bari Weiss, drawing thousands more listeners to her conversations with everyone from Benjamin Netanyahu to Kim Kardashian.
By November 2021, Weiss was even announcing the formation of a new college to help fix America’s “broken” higher education system—University of Austin—although that endeavor still remains largely theoretical, with only a couple of summer classes held so far. (“The Twitterati have compared the University of Austin to Trump University,” quipped a speaker at a recent Commentary roast for Weiss. “That’s not fair. A semester at Trump University lasted more than two weeks.”)
AROUND THAN THERE WERE ON THE UPPER WEST SIDE, BUT IT’S THE ONLY PLACE WE COULD BE.”
“I opened a computer, noodled around with the airplane Wi-Fi, and I started a Substack for Bari, which I knew about from being a tech reporter,” Bowles says of the day in January 2021 when “Common Sense” came into being. “And I told her, ‘Here, you’re starting this.’ And Bari was like, ‘No, I don’t want to do a newsletter. It looks weak.’ And I was like, ‘No, it’s going to be great.’ ”
Bowles was right—it was great. Within a year, Weiss’s new Substack, which she named after Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet, was generating more than $800,000 annually from 14,000 paid subscribers, with another 75,000 in nonpaying followers. “I’ve
But then, she and Bowles —who by then had also resigned from the Times hit on an even bigger idea. They decided to start their own media company. “We’re going to pick up the flag that legacy news organizations have put down,” Weiss says, explaining the master plan behind the Free Press. “If you’re someone that used to read the New York Times and listen to NPR in the morning, and now you’re thinking to yourself, ‘I don’t know if I can trust what I hear or read there anymore,’ where do you go? Those people want a publication that will treat them like adults, with respect and transparency and honesty. And that’s what we’re going to try to do with the Free Press.”
“WELCOME TO the kibbutz,” Weiss says in early December, waving a hand toward a group of young reporters huddled around a kitchen island tapping on laptops. A few others are lounging on easy chairs in her living room, dangling their legs over armrests, also
I NEEDED TO BE IN A PLACE THAT HAD ENERGY, SO I PICKED LOS ANGELES. I’VE FOUND IT TO BE AN UNBELIEVABLY RICH ENVIRONMENT. SURE, THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE WITH PLASTIC SURGERY WALKING
typing into MacBooks. A couple of yapping dogs dash from room to room. Later, Weiss’s and Bowles’s threemonth-old baby girl will make a brief, loud appearance.
This is headquarters for the Free Press, or at least it will be when the brand-new media company—not just a newsletter anymore but a website with an actual full-time staff, more podcasts, and, eventually, books and live events—launches in another 24 hours or so. Originally, they had a bit more time to prepare—D-Day was scheduled for mid-December—but then a certain richest man in history texted Weiss with the Twitter Files invite and that moved the timetable up a week. After all, what better way to advertise and promote a new media venture than with the biggest media scoop of the century? Or even with a nothingburger, so long as it makes enough noise?
The point being, Weiss’s timing couldn’t have been more impeccable. Within a day or two of posting her Twitter File thread, the number of her followers more than doubled to nearly a million. Some of those clicks must have spilled over into her Free Press traffic because, within a week of launching, it was already up to 300,000 subscribers. Weiss is cagey about revealing how many of those subscriptions are paid versus free—and, clearly, a huge
chunk of them were old “Common Sense” subscribers who’d been rolled over to the Free Press, where Weiss’s “Common Sense” writings will now be a column. But even if just 20 percent are paying the $7-a-month fee, that’s more than $5 million in annual revenue. Together with a small “friends and family” loan that Weiss says helped bankroll the startup—along with a reported investment by venture capitalist and mainstream-media-hater Marc Andreessen—that should be plenty to keep the presses rolling for at least a while.
For now, Weiss’s kitchen—er, newsroom—remains a bootstrap operation, with just a dozen full-time staffers. But it’s an eclectic crew, ranging from a 67-year-old former Slate scribe to a 27-year-old former New York Post writer (that’d be Weiss’s younger sister, Suzy) to 38-year-old Andy Mills, one of the creators of the New York Times podcast The Daily. The Free Press is presenting itself as an island of calm, centrist sanity in an ocean of ideological extremism, so it’s not surprising that it tends to attract writers and editors
who sound a little fed up with media as usual in the twenty-first century.
“We are tapping into something that I think many, many Americans crave,” says one of her new hires, Peter Savodnik, a former Vanity Fair writer, “which is a thoughtful conversation about the issues of the day where you don’t have to be afraid of using the wrong word, where you’re allowed to disagree with people without hating them.”
“I don’t know where my coworkers are politically,” agrees Emily Yoffe, the former veteran Slate writer, “but we’re all on the same page about being able to have a robust conversation, about publishing things that not all of us necessarily agree with. That used to be what good journalism was all about— being provocative, telling readers something they didn’t know. That’s not so much the case anymore. And that’s a shame.”
Thanks to her short-lived adventure with Musk, Weiss is now used to writing in tweet-sized bits, so she puts it all more succinctly.
“The Free Press is for the vast majority of Americans who aren’t on the hard left and aren’t on the hard right,” she says of her latest journey down that treacherous, narrow lane known as the middle of the road. “It’s telling those people that they’re not crazy and they’re not alone.”
As the international collecting class descends upon L.A. for another season of conspicuous commerce at the London-based Frieze Fair—this year held at Santa Monica Municipal Airport, the exact spot where the Art Los Angeles Contemporary Fair once thrived—more adventuresome art lovers might want to venture to other parts of the city for a slew of shows by more organically raised L.A. artists. In these pages, Los Angeles has assembled a portfolio of buzzy new local galleries and artists— including a multimedia group atop Mount Washington, a ceramics sculptor extraordinaire in Long Beach, and a comic-critic performing at downtown’s MOCA. It’s all the aesthetic thrills of Frieze, but with none of the jet fumes.
» Since earning her MFA at CalArts a few years ago, Alicia Piller has propelled her sculpture—made from iPhone photos of flowers and press images of Black Lives Matter protests printed on resin-coated paper, archival family slides, repurposed canvases, all varieties of vinyl, jewelry, leather, and minerals—into the permanent collection of the Hammer Museum; a sprawling survey, Alicia Piller: Within, curated by Jill Moniz, at Craft Contemporary; and a recent New York Times feature naming her as one of “5 Artists to Watch at the California Biennial.” The divergent roads running throughout her oeuvre emerged from an unlikely origin story: Piller is the youngest daughter of a Jewish physician father and a Black legal secretary mother who supported his medical pursuits by enlisting an adolescent Piller to work clown gigs at birthday parties. (She uses balloons in her work to this day.) At Craft Contemporary, her examinations of capitalism, colonialism, trauma, the accumulation of material, and the sinuous layers of the body (informed by her father ’s anatomy books) will come full circle. aliciapiller.com
» In 1998, the Cuban-born artist Jorge Pardo was offered a solo show at MOCA. What he created for the show was a 3,000-square-foot property—it later became his home/studio—made of redwood, concrete, and custom Mexican tiles atop Mount Washington’s panoramic Sea View Lane. A quarter century later, current occupant Sara Lee Hantman, the gallery director and furniture designer behind the budding Prisma Studio (which she launched during the pandemic with her fiancé, Coley Brown), is carving out her own gallery in Pardo’s former studio, Sea View, with a multimedia group show called River Styx, cocurated by Matthew Brown gallery director Brandy Carstens. “Brandy and I had been talking about this boundaryless space where people can stay awhile,” says Hantman. Adds Carstens, “We want you to have a cup of coffee, walk down the nature trail. Let’s share some ideas that can inspire something new.” sea-view.us
» It’s fair to say that art criticism is not a wellspring for cutting-edge comedy. But Christina Catherine Martinez is not your typical art critic. Since she braved her first open mic in 2015, the East L.A. native has turned herself into an indemand comic whose “conceptually highbrow and physically slapstick” stand-up style also bleeds into droll reviews, an acclaimed book of confessional social commentary (Aesthetical Relations), and avant-garde performances at institutions like Human Resources (where she shot her forthcoming special How to Bake a Cake in the Digital Age) and MOCA, where she’ll give a 45-minute “walk-through” of the Iranian-born, L.A.-based painter Tala Madani’s retrospective—perhaps as her Valley Girl art-publicist alter ego, Stephanie—on February 19. “When I started taking comedy more seriously, I thought, ‘This is my exit from the art world,’ ” says Martinez. “Ironically, since I’ve been more open about both, they are actually coming together in more interesting ways.” christinacatherine.info
» Ambre Kelly was working for a creative consulting firm and Andrew Gori was an orderly at a psychiatric hospital when they met on a SoHo sidewalk in 2007. A couple years later, the now-married duo merged talents to produce a series of pop-up exhibitions inside St. Patrick’s Youth Center in Lower Manhattan that took an exciting turn after Armory Art Week offered to promote their venture if it was a fair. The duo reasoned, “Well, this could be an art fair.” They dubbed it Spring/Break Art Show and tweaked the market-driven model as a curator-driven platform. Since then, they’ve gone on to promote the work of more than 700 curators and thousands of artists over the past decade. With 11 New York shows under their belts, the bicoastal couple is planning for 75 projects in their fourth L.A. edition. “We always say three is the magic number,” says Kelly. “And last year was the third L.A. show.” springbreakartfair.com
AMBRE KELLY AND ANDREW GORI
» When Guy Rusha started his gallery, Seasons LA, just before the pandemic, it began as a pop-up with curator-driven projects that morphed into a brick-and-mortar space a year ago. Under a new name, Rusha & Co., and a new director, Patrick Kellycooper (formerly of Nicodim), the program is on a roll, with acclaimed solo presentations from Lanise Howard, Delia Brown (at Untitled Miami), and L.A.’s beloved multimedia madame Trulee Hall, who will christen the 3,100-square-foot space in a 1914 firehouse during Los Angeles Art Week. For her debut with the gallery, Plays on Foreplays, Hall will exhibit fantasy landscapes in the old bunkroom, screen 25 years’ worth of films inside the century-old fireplace lounge, and create a lush film-and-sculpture installation in the former engine bay that hints at her “sexy tiger woman, lesbian foreplay” theme. “This space came with so much character,” says Kellycooper.
“It allows artists like Trulee to play with a very unique space for exhibiting work.” rusha.co
» For 35 years, Tony Marsh was a veritable kingmaker as director of what became the Center for Contemporary Ceramics at Long Beach State. There, he “incited” monumental works from some of the most innovative artists working in clay while pushing the medium to new levels in his own practice. His body-formed terra sigillata fertility vessels, lava-like moon jars fitted with taxonomical shelves, and extremely delicate series of containers with thousands of precisely drilled holes are all on display in a new survey of his career, Brilliant Earth: The Ceramic Sculpture of Tony Marsh, at the Long Beach Museum of Art. “So many folks who work with clay settle into a comfortable position relative to cultural appropriation, or in ways that ensure an ever-consistent stylistic identity, or make work driven by technical party tricks,” says Marsh. “Most all of that is something I have worked in opposition to almost from day one.” tonymarshceramics.com
» “Usually, I do exhibitions based on a theme or a particular work of literature, but this show is sort of a collage,” says Elliott Hundley, standing in the vast studio of his biggest collage, the 18,000-square-foot live/work space he carved out of a Chinatown import warehouse—which he’s also turned into a low-stakes, high-exposure talent incubator offering elegantly installed solo shows to underrepresented, if overly talented, artists like Mimi Lauter, Yaron Michael Hakim, and Chris Miller. For his most ambitious solo turn, at Regen Projects, Hundley is turning 21 years’ worth of art and ephemera inside this industrial warren into a Wunderkammer that will include his purple foam walls tacked with collage elements and a sculpture made by bite marks from his parrot, Echo, who lends the show its title. “It’s the name of my parrot,” says Hundley, “but also this idea of something coming back, a looking back.” @elliotthundley
Birdie G’s
SANTA MONICA » American $$
James Beard Award–nominated chef Jeremy Fox gets personal with a sunny spot named after his young daughter. The high-low menu is full of playful riffs on comfort food, from mixed summer cucumbers to a matzo ball soup with carrot miso to a next-level relish tray. Don’t miss the jiggly Rose Petal pie for dessert. 2421 Michigan Ave., 310-310-3616, or birdiegsla.com. Full bar.
MALIBU » Seafood $$
If ever there was a car picnic scene, it’s at this open-air spot overlooking Malibu Lagoon State Beach. You can grab a great lobster roll (topped with uni or caviar if you’re feeling extra fancy), towers of raw seafood, delicious clam chowder, and a burger with Nueske’s bacon that shouldn’t be overlooked. 23359 Pacific Coast Hwy., 424-644-0131, or broadstreetoyster.com. Beer and wine.
Cobi’s
SANTA MONICA » Southeast Asian $$$
Coming here is like visiting a perfectly art-directed beach house where everything—from the colors on the walls to the curries on the plates—just pops. Grab a date, grab your friends, and get to the party. Don’t miss the beautifully ferocious Devil Chicken curry, amped up by both fresh and dried bird’s eye chilies and accompanied by a saucer of habanero vinegar that magically cuts the heat and enhances it at the same time. 2104 Main St., 424-238-5195, or cobis.la. Beer and wine.
Colapasta
SANTA MONICA » Italian $
It’s equally pleasant to grab and go or eat at this quiet, affordable spot that features fresh pastas topped with farmers’ market fare. The colorful, poppy-seed-sprinkled beet ravioli is delicate and delicious, while the gramignawith beef ragù is hearty and satisfying. 1241 5th St., 310-310-8336, or colapasta.com. Beer and wine.
W E S T WEST
I n cl u d e s Includes Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Century City, Culver City Malibu Culver City, Malibu, Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, Marina del Mar Palms, Santa Monica, Santa Venice, West L A , West L.A., Westwood
D O W N T O W N DOWNTOWN
I n c l u d e s Includes Aliso Village, Arts District, Aliso Arts Bunker Hill, Chinatown, Bunker Historic Core, Little Tokyo, Historic Little South Park
C E N T R A L CENTRAL
I n c l u d e s Includes Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw, Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw, Beverly Grove, East Hollywood, East Fairfax District Fairfax District, Hancock Park, Hollywood, Hancock Jefferson Park, Jefferson Koreatown, Mid City, Koreatown, Mid Mid-Wilshire Mid-Wilshire, Pico-Robertson, Virgil Village, West Hollywood West
E A S T EAST
I n c l u d e s Includes Atwater Village, Atwater Eagle Rock, East L A , East L.A., Echo Park Echo Park, Glassell Park, Glendale, Glassell Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, Lincoln Los Feliz Pasadena Feliz, Pasadena, San Gabriel Valley, San Gabriel Silver Lake
T H E V A L L E Y THE VALLEY
I n c l u d e s Includes Agoura Hills, Burbank, Agoura Calabasas Encino Calabasas, Encino, North Hollywood, North Sherman Oaks, Sherman Studio City, Toluca Lake, Studio City, Toluca Van Nuys Van Nuys, Woodland HIlls
S O U T H SOUTH
I n c l u d e s Includes Bell, Compton, El Segundo, Gardena, El Hermosa Beach Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Manhattan Torrance, Watts Watts
Dear Jane’s
MARINA DEL REY » Seafood $$$$
The sister restaurant to Dear John’s has a lively formal dining area offering a view of the marina. The room evokes a feeling of special occasions, with mannered tableside service for items like shrimp Louie salad, which gets drenched in a citrusy, homemade Thousand Island–like dressing. There also are seafood towers, fish sticks with caviar, Dungeness crab cakes, oysters Rockefeller, and a list of classic dishes like trout amandine, fish-andchips, and cioppino. 13950 Panay Way, 310-301-6442, or dearjanesla.com. Full bar.
Etta
CULVER CITY » Italian $$$
With a sprawling patio, concise menu, and various party tricks, Etta is primed for good times. You can go big and order a $120 short-rib “picnic” with accoutrements for the table or opt to have wine poured into your mouth from a large jug while a server snaps Polaroids. But you can also just pop in for a pizza or excellent pasta at the bar. 8801 Washington Blvd., 424-570-4444, or ettarestaurant.com. Full bar.
BEVERLY HILLS » Steak House $$$
Hollywood actors Ryan Phillippe and Evan Ross invested in this clubby ode-to-1970s-Baja
California Mexican steak house, where cocktail king Julian Cox makes margaritas to sip alongside snapper ceviche or New York Wagyu steak with chimichurri. 421 N. Rodeo Dr., 310-974-8020, or thehideawaybeverlyhills.com. Full bar.
BEVERLY HILLS » Steak House $$$
Prolific restaurateur Jerry Greenberg and his partners are convinced that they serve the world’s best beef. After trying their five-course, $85 Wagyu dinner featuring sustainably raised, 100 percent grass-fed beef, you might see things their way. Magnificently marbled steaks are cooked to “warm red,” which is the color of rare and the temperature of medium rare. 239 S. Beverly Dr., Ste. 100, 424-3175031, or matusteak.com. Full bar.
Ospi
VENICE » Italian $$$
Jackson Kalb’s sprawling new Italian joint brings bustle and outdoor tables to a corner along an otherwise quiet stretch. Pastas, including a spicy rigatoni alla vodka and raschiatelli with pork rib ragù, are sublime, and most travel remarkably well if you’re looking to do takeout, which is the only option for lunch. Roman-style pizzas boast a uniquely crispy, cracker-thin crust; to get the full crunch, have a slice as you drive your takeout home. 2025 Pacific Ave., 424-443-5007, or ospivenice.com. Full bar.
Asterid
BUNKER HILL » American $$
The dishes are, in some ways, a departure from the extensive fare chef Ray Garcia offered at his previous B.S. Taqueria and Broken Spanish. Here, Garcia’s expertise gets condensed into a modern California-leaning menu with dazzling seasonal starters like sunchoke rösti with crème fraîche and strawberry pepper jam. The chicken liver mousse is covered with a bouquet of grape compote, sliced pear, pickled pearl onions, and mustard, and served with sliced toasted sourdough. 141 S. Grand Ave., 213-972-3535, or asteridla.com. Full bar.
Caboco
ARTS DISTRICT » Brazilian $$
Rodrigo Oliveira and fellow chef/partner Victor Vasconcellos are here to show Los Angeles that there’s a lot more to Brazilian food than churrascarias, so they’re serving habit-forming fried tapioca cubes and a vegan stew (moqueca de caju) headlined by cashew fruit that’s startlingly complex. Wash it all down with refreshing caipirinhas—the bar makes no fewer than five different kinds. 1850 Industrial St., 213-405-1434, or cabocola.com. Full bar.
Caldo Verde
ARTS DISTRICT » Portuguese $$$
Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne have opened a Portuguese cousin to their beloved Spanish-infused A.O.C. The restaurant loads up its namesake seafood stew with local rock crab, grilled linguica, mussels, kale, and potato. A starter of Ibérico ham, anchovies, and olives is called “small plate of salty favorites” because Goin understands that you want to enjoy food that’s more intense than what you typically eat at home. 1100 S. Broadway, 213-806-1023, or properhotel.com/downtown-la. Full bar.
Camphor
ARTS DISTRICT » French/Indian $$$$
Camphor is, at its core, a French bistro where plump oysters are served in a bath of amaretto mignonette and the beef tartare comes with a side of tempura-fried herbs. Chefs Max Boonthanakit and Lijo George aim to bring something completely new to L.A.—that is, something distinctively not L.A. Camphor’s access to the spices from George’s southern Indian homeland makes it a standout. 923 E. 3rd St., Ste. 109, 213-626-8888, or camphor.la. Full bar.
Cha Cha Chá
ARTS DISTRICT » Mexican $$
The lively, plant-filled rooftop and some mezcal would make for a good night out at this Mexico City import, but chef Alejandro Guzmán, an alum of Le Comptoir, has packed his menu with quiet thrills. Carnitas get taken up a level by an orange reduction. For dessert, the carrot flan is a small revelation, a surprising, exciting riff on carrot cake. The interior bar, La Barra, offers up unique mezcal cocktails. 812 E. 3rd St., 213-548-8487, or chachacha.la. Full bar.
Girl & the Goat
ARTS DISTRICT » Eclectic $$$
Ruvueltas Pupusas
CALIFORNIA GRILL
“This is my local breakfast corner, and it’s a very simple, Salvadoran familyrun place. They make the best homemade pupusas you’ve ever eaten, and they make them by hand right in front of you.”
$2.32, 800 N. Virgil Ave., East Hollywood, ordercaliforniagrill restaurant.com.
Ceviche
CEVICHE PROJECT
“For that excellent quality, it’s at a fair price, and it’s the only place where I’ll eat ceviche other than my own. Octavio [Olivas]
is a great chef, and he serves you like you’re at a sushi bar.” $20, 2524 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake, cevicheproject.com.
Mushroom Pizza OLIVIA
“I love the creativity of everything that chef Mario Alberto presents. My favorite dish is the mushroom pizza. I’ve never tasted a crust like it—I took some home, and the next day, it tasted amazing without even heating it up!” $21, 205 S. Vermont Ave., Koreatown, oliviarestaurantla.com.
—HEATHER PLATT
At long last, Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard has brought her hit Chicago restaurant to a light, airy space and pretty patio in downtown L.A., with seating for 200. The lengthy menu is full of international intrigue and the unexpected flavor combinations for which Izard is known. Roasted beets mingle with a yuzu-kosho vinaigrette. A salmon poke features chili crunch, avocado, and strawberry. Goat makes an appearance in both a liver mousse starter and a hearty curry main. 555-3 Mateo St., 213-799-4628, or girlandthegoat.com. Full bar.
Kodō
ARTS DISTRICT » Japanese $$$
Don’t be fooled by the restaurant’s visual tranquility. The energy of Kodo¯, which translates to “heartbeat,” is boisterous because the chef, Yoya Takahashi, wanted to stay true to what a Kyoto-style izakaya would be—a fun place with traditional Japanese bar fare. A Caesar salad of Little Gem lettuce is blanketed with bonito flakes. The off-menu toro, served with a tangy cilantro sauce, minced tomato, and cucumber, has the kind of fatty, melt-in-your-mouth quality you can’t forget. 710 S. Santa Fe Ave., 213-302-8010, or kodo.la. Full bar.
Pizzeria Bianco
ARTS DISTRICT » Pizza $
Chris Bianco’s L.A. debut at ROW DTLA is a hit. During the day, a line forms for slices of his New
Best Lasik Eye Surgeon, 1999 ANDREW I. CASTER, MD
Great vision, with freedom from the hassle of glasses and contact lenses, is so easy with pain-free, state-of-the-art Lasik.
Dr. Caster is one of the most respected Lasik specialists in the United States. Dr. Caster has corrected the eyesight of many of the world’s top professional athletes and celebrities, and he can help you, too!
CasterEye.com
9100 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 265E Beverly Hills (310) 274-1221 | info@CasterVision.com
York-style takeout pizza. At night, it’s full-service dining, featuring the wood-fired pizza Bianco made famous. 1320 E. 7th St., Ste. 100, 213-372-5155, or pizzeriabianco.com. Beer and wine.
San Laurel
BUNKER HILL » California/Spanish $$$$
Chef José Andrés’s new restaurant serves pleasing California cuisine that shows off Spanish flavors. Sea urchin with raw scallops in a pool of gazpacho consommé gets a dazzling dollop of caviar. Though the food seems relatively down-to-earth considering the kind of molecular gastronomy that made Andrés famous, the cocktails are whimsical. A server pours a beaker full of liquid steam into a mezcal drink to give it an aromatic orange-thyme “cloud.” 100 S. Grand Ave., 213-349-8585, or sanlaurel.com.Full bar.
push carts of French washed-rind cheeses and carve thick slices of côte de boeuf tableside. Chef Raphael Francois sends out perfect twists on Caesar salad and plays around with menu items like hamachi crudo on a bed of sweet pickled grapes and jicama with brown butter and cilantro. 6067 Wilshire Blvd., 323-930-3080, or fannysla.com. Full bar.
Found Oyster
EAST HOLLYWOOD » Seafood $$$
This tiny oyster bar was a pre-pandemic favorite, and chef Ari Kolender’s seafood dishes still thrill when taken to go or enjoyed on the restaurant’s “boat deck.” The scallop tostada with yuzu kosho and basil is a must-order, and a bisque sauce takes the basic lobster roll to new heights. Interesting, affordable wines add to the fun. 4880 Fountain Ave., 323-522-6239, or foundoyster.com. Beer and wine.
Harold & Belle’s
JEFFERSON PARK » Southern Creole $$
Bicyclette
PICO-ROBERTSON » French $$$
Walter and Margarita Manzke’s delightful, delicious follow-up to République brings a bit of Paris to Pico. The menu is stocked with exactingly executed bistro standards: onion soup with oozy cheese, hearty short-rib bourguignon, and a luxurious bouillabaisse. Margarita’s baguettes and beautiful desserts are as great as ever. Resisting Bicyclette’s charms is futile. 9575 W. Pico Blvd., 424-500-9575, or bicyclettela.com. Full bar.
Fanny’s
MID-WILSHIRE » French $$$
While by day, Fanny’s is a café that serves salads and sandwiches, by night, it’s a glam, modern vision of an old-school Hollywood hangout. Captains in suits
For Creole-style food—a mélange of French, African, and Native American flavors—Harold & Belle’s is as close to the Dirty Coast as you’ll come on the West Coast. The crawfish étouffée in spicy gravy will have you humming zydeco, while the bourbon bread pudding will leave you with a Sazerac-worthy buzz. 2920 W. Jefferson Blvd., 323-735-9023, or haroldandbelles.com. Full bar.
Horses
HOLLYWOOD » Eclectic $$$
Located in the red-boothed space that was home to Ye Coach & Horses, the mostly European-inspired menu is rooted in both classic technique and freespirited cooking. A sobrassada panino with white American cheese and a drizzle of honey is thin, crispy, sweet, savory, creamy, and spicy—an extremely
pleasing little bite. Lumache pasta with vodka sauce gets an unexpected, delightful kick from ’nduja. 7617 W. Sunset Blvd., or horsesla.com. Full bar.
Hotville Chicken
BALDWIN HILLS/CRENSHAW » Fried chicken $ With her hot-chicken joint, Kim Prince is doing her family’s legacy justice—she’s the niece of André Prince Jeffries, owner of Nashville legend Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, where hot fried chicken is said to have originated. Prince adds spice at every step in the cooking process to produce a complex, layered flavor. Sides, like mac and cheese, are also winners. 4070 Marlton Ave., 323-792-4835, or hotvillechicken.com. No alcohol.
KinKan
VIRGIL VILLAGE » Japanese-Thai $$$$
Nan Yimcharoen became an underground sensation during the pandemic, selling jewel box–like chirashi sushi via Instagram. Now she’s got a brick-andmortar spot serving a Japanese-Thai tasting menu with exquisite courses like slices of bluefin tuna larb gorgeously assembled in the shape of a rose, and a resplendent crab curry with blue butterfly-pea-flower noodles and a sauce powered by innards and roe. 771 N. Virgil Ave., 949-793-0194, or @kinkan_la. Sake.
Kinn
KOREATOWN » Korean $$$
Chef Ki Kim uses curated ingredients to delicately weave together Korean flavors into dishes that exist in a genre all their own. At $72 for six courses, Kinn’s is one of the more affordable tasting menus around and includes an evolving, playful menu of thoughtfully crafted dishes like yellowtail in a bath of oyster sauce and charcoal-grilled Wagyu short ribs. 3905 W. 6th St., 213-291-0888, or kinn.la. Beer and wine.
Kuya Lord
EAST HOLLYWOOD » Filipino $$$
The shareable trays are a great way to experience a selection of proteins—sweet or savory sausage, grilled Caledonia blue prawns in garlic crab sauce, or chef Lord Maynard Llera’s famous lucenachon (crispy roasted pork belly)—all while sampling glistening chami noodles, tomato-cucumber salad, and wonderfully bright and vinegary pickled green papaya. Finish a meal here with tangy and sweet Filipino Calamansi key lime pie with pandan whipped cream. 5003 Melrose Ave., or kuyalord.com. No alcohol.
Luv2Eat Thai Bistro
HOLLYWOOD » Thai $$
Vibrant flavors and spices abound at this strip-mall favorite from two Phuket natives. The crab curry, with a whole crustacean swimming in a creamy pool of deliciousness, is not to be missed (it travels surprisingly well), but the expansive menu is full of winners, from the massaman curry to the Thai fried chicken with sticky rice and sweet pepper sauce. 6660 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-498-5835, or luv2eatthai.com. No alcohol.
Meteora
HANCOCK PARK » Eclectic $$$$
Chef Jordan Kahn sees Meteora as a restaurant about rediscovery. A vegetable option includes fire-cooked stone fruit served with crispy brassica leaves, grilled roses, quark, cured duck breast, and lettuce leaves for wrapping. There’s the most perfectly grilled sea bream wrapped in banana leaf. The staff, dressed in white or light earth tones, are clearly trained with precision in mind. 6703 Melrose Ave., 323-402-4311, or meteora.la. Full bar.
HOLLYWOOD » Italian $$$
With its open kitchen, Mother Wolf is like theater, where chef Evan Funke’s talent and enthusiasm for perfecting Italian cooking is the star. Because he already had a major presence locally with his Venice restaurant, Felix, many are familiar with Funke’s ricotta-and-Parmesan-stuffed squash blossoms paired with an earthy glass of Nebbiolo. 1545 Wilcox Ave., 323-410-6060, or motherwolfla.com. Full bar.
n/soto
MID CITY » Japanese $$$
Chef-owners Niki Nakayama and Carole IidaNakayama’s izakaya-inspired restaurant, n/soto, offers all of the precision and excellence that earned the pair two Michelin stars for n/naka, their modern kaiseki establishment. But n/soto exudes a more casual, relaxed spirit. Skewers are, of course, the heart of an izakaya, and the tender lamb chops and grilled shiitake mushrooms stand out. The room is filled with diners who know to order the miso-baked bone marrow with umeboshi onigiri rice balls—it lands at most tables. For dessert, the melon float—a bright-green, soda fountain-style coupe—turns heads. 4566 W. Washington Blvd., 323-879-9455, or n-soto.com. Full bar.
Saffy’s
EAST HOLLYWOOD » Middle Eastern $$$$
Chef Ori Menashe has described the food—shawarma and lamb, pork, and chicken kabobs cooked on a wood-burning stove—to be the most like what he and his wife, Genevieve Gergis, might serve to guests in their home. The meat-centric menu is complemented by vegetable-forward sides like green falafel with tahini served atop puddles of a beet zhoug. Gergis’s pastry menu is short and, well, sweet:
bergamot-chocolate cake with rose ganache, orange blossom creme caramel, and undoubtedly the best soft-serve around. 4845 Fountain Ave., 424-699-4845, or saffysla.com. Full bar.
Soulmate
WEST HOLLYWOOD » Mediterranean $$$
It’s lovely outside, and there’s a stunning new WeHo spot with a patio that can hold 75 attractive people, plus hours that go to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Starters include various jamóns and spicy paella bites. Further down the menu, there’s a lot of seafood options, from wood-fired octopus with charred romesco to salmon crudo. 631 N. Robertson Blvd., 310-734-7764, or soulmateweho.com.
Full bar.
Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery
PASADENA » Eclectic $$
This low-key charmer—the work of two alums of acclaimed San Francisco Italian joint Flour + Water—deftly mixes midwestern hospitality and European technique. The casual lunch is all about cheese and charcuterie boards and sandwiches. At dinner, excellent pastas, smartly prepared proteins, thoughtfully selected wines, and great cocktails join the party on the spacious patio. 40 W. Green St., 626-389-3839, or agnesla.com. Full bar.
SILVER LAKE » Eclectic $$
Jonathan Whitener’s Here’s Looking at You is, sadly, closed, but his thrilling cooking continues on a bustling Eastside corner. Whether you opt for smoked spare ribs, a hoki fish sandwich, or a
breakfast sandwich on pastry chef Thessa Diadem’s sublime biscuits, it’s all great. 3200 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-741-0082, or alldaybabyla.com. Full bar.
Bub and Grandma’s
GLASSELL PARK » Sandwiches $$
This sub shop serves brisket sandwiches made with the same crusty loaves of sourdough and squares of ciabatta that owner Andy Kadin sells to 150 of L.A.’s most prominent restaurants. Kadin refers to the sandwiches as “Bub subs,” which pastry chef Christopher Lier, from Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza, spent at least six months developing. Chef Zach Jarrett heads the kitchen at Bub and Grandma’s, which currently serves breakfast and lunch. 3507 Eagle Rock Blvd., or bubandgrandmas.com. No alcohol.
Dunsmoor
GLASSELL PARK » Southern American $$
“We don’t use processed foods because we try to work within the limitations from before the Gilded Age.” This culinary ethos is the force behind Brian Dunsmoor’s new restaurant, where his devotion to “heritage cookery” is on full display and activity centers on a wood-fired hearth. 3501 Eagle Rock Blvd., 323-686-6027, or dunsmoor.la. Beer and wine.
Hippo
HIGHLAND PARK » Cal-Italian $$
Hidden in a wood-trussed dining room behind Triple Beam Pizza, this Cal-Ital restaurant from Mozza vet Matt Molina balances casual and refined. Snappy wax beans are sluiced with vinaigrette for a picnic-worthy salad. Great pastas and juicy grilled chicken thighs deliver the unfussy pleasure found at the best neighborhood spots.
Eclectic regular specials like haute corn dogs add to the fun. 5916 ½ N. Figueroa St., 323-545-3536, or hipporestaurant.com. Full bar.
Jin Cook
GLENDALE » Korean $
K-Town has the highest concentration of Korean food in the U.S., but it doesn’t get all the hits. Jin Cook works wonders with “authentic Korean soul food” in Glendale. This homey restaurant brings sparkle to dishes like spicy pork. Thinly sliced meat arrives sizzling in a stone bowl and then gets crusty and caramelized and reaches hyperdrive when showered with shredded mozzarella, which magically melds with the spicy meat and enables cheese pulls galore. 310 N. Brand Blvd., 818-637-7822, or jincooks.com. Beer.
Moo’s Craft Barbecue
LINCOLN HEIGHTS » Barbecue $
Some of the best Texas barbecue is actually in L.A. Andrew and Michelle Muñoz’s brisket and beef ribs are meaty bliss that would be taken seriously in Austin. But Moo’s is very much a vital L.A. spot; the Muñozes weave in their Mexican-Angeleno roots with dishes like a cheese-and-poblano-filled beef and pork verde sausage. 2118 N. Broadway, 323-686-4133, or mooscraftbarbecue.com. Beer and wine.
Pijja Palace
SILVER LAKE » Indian-American $ Indian-American restaurateur Avish Naran brings pizza and pasta featuring the flavors of his childhood to a strip-mall sports bar. The innovative menu includes Malai rigatoni with tomato-masala sauce, pizza topped with chicken tikka, and cardamom-and-cookies soft serve. 2711 W. Sunset Blvd., or pijjapalace.com. Full bar.
Playita Mariscos
SILVER LAKE » Mexican $
The team behind the beloved local chainlet Guisados has taken over an old seafood-taco stand on a busy Eastside stretch. The results, as you might expect, are delicious and delightful. Playita has a fresh, beachy blue-and-white aesthetic and a tight menu of well-done ceviches, seafood cocktails, and fish tacos. 3143 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-928-2028, or playitamariscos.com. No alcohol.
Saso
PASADENA » Spanish $$$
The arrival of this splashy new spot suggests that the good times might soon be here again. It shares a charming, sprawling courtyard with the Pasadena Playhouse, and the seafood-heavy menu from chef Dominique Crisp, who previously worked at L&E Oyster Bar, begs for reuniting with friends on nice summer nights. Orange zest enlivens jamón Ibérico crudités, while miso butter takes grilled oysters to new heights. 37 S. El Molino Ave., 626-808-4976, or sasobistro.com. Full bar.
Sōgo Roll Bar
LOS FELIZ » Sushi $$
So¯go is hardly the only concept in town devoted to rolls, but it has mastered the form. Rice is cooked with the same careful consideration and seasoning that sushi master Kiminobu Saito uses at the high-end Sushi Note. Each fish type is thoughtfully paired with ideal accompaniments, from a tangy yuzu-pepper sauce that makes salmon sing to brandy-soaked albacore with garlic-ginger ponzu and crispy onions. 4634 Hollywood Blvd., 323-741-0088, or sogorollbar.com. Beer
( CONTINUED ON PAGE 131)
***CHOSEN TO 2019-2022 RISING STARS
The legal team of Meyer, Olson, Lowy & Meyers (MOLM) has built a national reputation for tenacious representation in family law litigation, particularly complex and contentious divorces.
handling cases that involve high-asset marital estates, child custody matters, domestic violence
skilled and experienced attorneys bring a combination of legal sophistication and empathy
to their clients, who include entertainers, executives, professionals and pro athletes.
outside the courtroom, but they also have a track record of impressive trial work. This includes handling a groundbreaking California case establishing that vested stock options should be
and a case involving an international move-away request for a parent with a minor child.
LOS
BACK L TO R: John-Patrick M. Fritz*, Eve H. Karasik*, Todd A. Frealy*, Daniel H. Reiss*, Gary E. Klausner*, Joseph M. Rothberg**, Todd M. Arnold*, Krikor J. Meshefejian*, Kurt Ramlo*
MIDDLE L TO R: David B. Golubchik*, David L. Neale*, Timothy J. Yoo*, Beth Ann R. Young*, Carmela T. Pagay*
FRONT L TO R: Edward M. Wolkowitz*, Lindsey L. Smith**, Ron Bender*, Juliet Y. Oh*
NOT PICTURED: Martin J. Brill*, David W. Levene*
*Selected to 2023 Super Lawyers **Selected to 2022 Rising Stars
Bender, Yoo & Golubchik L.L.P. is equipped to expertly handle the largest and most of bankruptcy, insolvency and reorganization options while ensuring each case has the staff effective solutions while delivering client-centered and personalized service. Most of the
Ron Bender
Martin J. Brill
David B. Golubchik
David W. Levene
David L. Neale
Edward M. Wolkowitz
Timothy J. Yoo
Beth Ann R. Young
The objective is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel. We limit the lawyer ratings to those who can be hired and retained by the public, i.e., lawyers in private practice and Legal Aid attorneys. The Super Lawyers selection process involves the steps outlined in the graphic (at right).
LEARN MORE SuperLawyers.com/SelectionProcess QUESTIONS? SL-Research@thomsonreuters.com
visit SuperLawyers.com
Search for an attorney by practice area and location, and read features on attorneys selected to our lists.
DISCLAIMER: The hiring of an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely upon the advertising or listings in this magazine. Super Lawyers does not certify or designate an attorney as a specialist, is not a title conferred on individual lawyers, and is not intended to communicate that lawyers selected will achieve better results upon the advertising or listings in the magazine.
NOMINATIONS
Diverse list of the top attorneys nominated by their own peers
INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
Evaluated by third-party research across 12 key categories
PEER EVALUATION
Reviewed by a highly credentialed Blue Ribbon Panel of attorneys
FINAL SELECTION
2.5% of attorneys selected to Rising Stars
5% of attorneys selected to Super Lawyers
*U.S. Pat. No. 8,412,564
One of LA’s leading family
• Medical Insurance Denials
• Homeowner Insurance Claims
• Life Insurance Denials
• Excess Verdict
• Disability Insurance
• Long-term Care Insurance
• Flood and Fire Insurance Claims
• Coverage Denials
• Duty to Defend
• Business Interruption Insurance
• All other types of Insurance Claims
(L to R): Ricardo Echeverria (Super Lawyers Honoree 2005-2023) Michael J. Bidart (Super Lawyers Honoree 2004-2023, Top 100 2004-2023, Top 10 2018-2023)
NOT PICTURED: Travis M. Corby (Super Lawyers Honoree 2022-2023) Danica Crittenden (Super Lawyers Honoree 2022-2023) Samuel Bruchey (Super Lawyers Honoree 2021-2023)
Ricardo Echeverria Michael J. Bidart SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TOP 10AN ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF THE LAWYERS WHO RANKED TOP OF THE LIST IN THE 2023 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SUPER LAWYERS NOMINATION, RESEARCH AND BLUE RIBBON REVIEW PROCESS.
deRubertis, David M.
DeSimone, V. James
Djang, Caroline R. Dordick, Gary A. Ellis, Andrew Esner, Stuart B. Ezra, David B. Feinberg, Irwin B.
Fraigun, Marina Kats
Friedman, Andrew H. Glaser, Patricia L. Gluck, Benjamin N.
Gold, Justin Gorin, Dmitry Gubner, Steven T.
Harrison, Genie Heimberg, Steven A. Hodes, Daniel Martin Homampour, Arash
Hueston, John C. Insul, Alan Iser, Lawrence Y.
Neumann, Martin A.
Pachulski, Richard M.
Panish, Brian J.
Pasich, Kirk
Perrochet, Lisa
Phillips, Stacy D.
Pocrass, James L.
Quigley, Mark T.
Rahn, Scott E.
Ravipudi, Rahul
Reeder, Christopher S.
Reisner, Jeffrey M.
Rickert, Kelly Chang
Ring, David M.
Robinson, Jr., Mark P.
Rothschild, Kristi D.
Rotter, Alana Hoffman
Rozansky, Nicholas A.
Russ, Larry C.
Savitt, Linda Miller
Serlin, Gerald M.
Aarons, Martin I.
Abell, Nancy L. Alder, Michael
Alexander, III, J. Bernard
Babrick, Jessica G.
Bentley, Gregory L. Bidart, Michael J.
Boyer, Holly N. Boyle, Kevin R.
Brandt, Robert C.
Broillet, Bruce A. Bronshteyn, Yasha
Brutzkus, Mark D.
Burkhalter, Alton G.
Carico, Christopher D.
Chu, Morgan
Cox, Cynthia R.
Delgado, William A.
Johnson, Neville L. Kabateck, Brian S. Kazerounian, Abbas
Keller, Jennifer L. Kiesel, Paul R. Kiley, Anne C.
Klein, Gerald A. Kobulnick, Jeffrey A. Lee, Irene Y. Lester, Mark A.
Lodise, Margaret G. MacIsaac, Suann C.
Marzban, Michael M. Masry, Louanne Matthai, Edith R. Milman, Jeffrey A. Mindel, Steven A.
Minyard, Mark E. Mizrahi, Ramit Montes de Oca, Christopher
More, Keith P.
Shapiro, William D.
Shegerian, Carney
Shore, Sussan H.
Simon, Robert T.
Spagnoli, Christine D.
Susolik, Edward
Taylor, John C.
Teukolsky, Lauren
Tuchin, Michael L.
Tuttle, Thomas W.
Waller, Marshall
Walzer, Peter M.
Wasser, Laura A.
Weber, Corey R.
Wells, Geoffrey S.
Wilson, Mark B.
Wright, Lauriann
Zitser, Diana P.
ALEXANDER, III, J. BERNARD BIDART, MICHAEL J. Shernoff Bidart Echeverria, Claremont CHU, MORGAN HARRISON, GENIE
Abell, Nancy L.
Babrick, Jessica G.
Boyer, Holly N.
Brecht, Celeste M.
Brill, Laura W.
Bryan, Sharon A. Torrance
Cox, Cynthia R.
Dai, Cornelia H.
Djang, Caroline R. Fraigun, Marina Kats
Fresch, Elaine K. Glaser, Patricia L.
Grebe, Sibylle Harrison, Genie Holley, Shawn
Keller, Jennifer L.
Kiley, Anne C. Kwan, Verlan Y.
Abel, Joshua Aitken, Darren
Aitken, Wylie A. Bentley, Gregory L.
Briggs, Steven E. Brown, Matt
Bruno, Keith J.
Burke, Sean M.
Burkhalter, Alton G.
Djang, Caroline R.
Ezra, David B.
Friedland, Todd G.
Garner, Scott B.
Gibson, Robert B.
Golden, Jeffrey I.
Golubow, Richard H.
Hodes, Daniel Martin
Hollander, Garrick A.
Leal, Dolores Y. Lee, Irene Y. Lodise, Margaret G.
Ly, Geraldine MacIsaac, Suann C. Mandles, Melanie D.
Marino, Nina Masry, Louanne Matthai, Edith R. McGaughey, Erin Meyer, Lisa Helfend
Mizrahi, Ramit Peebles, Jane
Perrochet, Lisa Phillips, Stacy D.
Ramey, Christa Haggai Reddock-Wright, Angela J.
Rickert, Kelly Chang
Rothschild, Kristi D. Rotter, Alana Hoffman
Savitt, Linda Miller
Seck, Ibiere N. Sedrish, Laura Frank
Shore, Sussan H. Spagnoli, Christine D.
Teren, Pam Teukolsky, Lauren Wasser, Laura A.
West, Michelle Marie
Whyte, Nicole
Wright, Lauriann Zitser, Diana P.
Hueston, John C. Jayakumar, Jehan N.
Johnson, Casey R. Kazerounian, Abbas Keller, Jennifer L. Kessler, Daniel J.
Klein, Gerald A. LeBoff, Michael S. Ly, Geraldine
Milman, Jeffrey A.
Minyard, Mark E. More, Keith P. Morris, Michael A.
Parke, James R.
Roberts, Jeffrey Robinson, Daniel S.
Robinson, Jr., Mark P.
Seastrom, Brian
Seastrom, Philip G.
Simon, Craig S.
Stegmeier, Eleanor A.
Stephens, John B.
Sugden, David
Susolik, Edward
Taggart, Craig A.
Torkzadeh, Reza
Tuttle, Thomas W.
West, Michelle Marie
Whyte, Nicole
Wilson, Mark B.
Winthrop, Marc J.
Zipser, Dean J.
2023 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SUPER LAWYERS 2023 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SUPER LAWYERSSince opening its doors in 1996, FMBK has grown into one of the largest family law firms in all of Southern California. Our team of over 20 attorneys is dedicated to providing cost-efficient representation while vigorously advocating for our clients—we are the family lawyers for your family.
Standing left to right: Wallace S. Fingerett*, Alex Grager*, Steven A. Mindel*, Robert C. Brandt*, Irwin B. Feinberg, Thomas L. Simpson*
Sitting left to right: Nancy L. Burt*, Megan E. Green*, Jeremy B. Kline* Selected to Super Lawyers*Certified Family Law Specialist
The list was finalized as of June 2, 2022. Only attorneys who data verified with Super Lawyers for the current year are included on the list that follows. All current selections and any updates to the list (e.g., status changes or disqualifying events) will be reflected on superlawyers.com.
Names and page numbers in RED indicate a profile on for attorneys with paid Super Lawyers or Rising Stars print advertisements.
Harris, Scott J. Kollar, Linda Randlett
McCroskey, Miranda
Osinoff, Peter R.
Saltsman, Ralph B.
Akasaka, Ron 310-504-3600
Baer, Mark
Barr, Eleanor Bassis, Lynne Susan Cerveris, Steve Corcoran, Tim
Coviello, Robert D. Derin, Greg David
Eskridge, Gayle L. Fairbank, Robert H. Friedman, Alan
Glick, Gail A.
Gray, Geoffrey Gumport, Leonard L.
Helm, Mark B. Hemminger, Pamela L.
Horowitz, Fredric R. Isaacs, Bruce A.
Judge, Sean E.
Kamine, Bernard S.
Kessler, Joan B. Kichaven, Jeff
Klerman, Lisa
Kramer, Mark
Kramer, Wendy W.
Krivis, Jeffrey
Kuhn, Steven
Kyriacou, Gig
LaBelle, Lance
LaMothe, Louise A.
Lawler, Jean M.
Levene, David W.
Levy, Leonard
Logan, Robert H.
MacDonald, Kirk S.
Madigan, Denise
Marks, Leslie Steven
Marlin, Louis M.
Mehta, Steven G.
Moorhead, Michael D.
Pearl, Steven G.
Pistone, Thomas A.
Rabin, Byron
Ratinoff, Marisa
Reddock-Wright, Angela J.
Reinglass, Michelle A.
Rosenberg, George
Rothman, Deborah J.
Saxe, Deborah C.
Schau, Jan Frankel
Schulner, Keith
Scott, Tara
Solomon, Amy Fisch
Tessier, Robert
Title, Gail Migdal
Vilendrer, Ellie K.
Vincent, Caroline
Wagner, Eve H.
Wagner, John Leo
Weinberger, Peter
Weiss, Andrew R. Williams III, Ralph O. Wolfram, Michael L.
Young, Michael D.
Tobin Ellis and Santo Riccobono are two of Southern California’s most dynamic trial attorneys, providing victims of personal injury and their families with the legal expertise needed to ensure just compensation. Together, the two award-winning attorneys have won tens of millions of dollars in awards and settlements for clients injured in vehicle and workplace accidents and by defective products and auto
“We strive to get the best results possible for clients,” says Riccobono, a co-founder of the Downtown Los Angeles Bar Association, as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association.
“We pride ourselves on taking tough cases that others turn down and getting justice for those clients that would otherwise not have been available,” says Ellis, who is a member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court and sits on the Board of Governors for the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles.
Montevideo, John Michael
Brantly, Amy T.
Caseria, Leo
Dakak, Majed
Enson, Eric P.
Gates, Sean P.
Kesselman, David W.
Mulcahy, James M.
Pepperman, Donald R.
Purdy, Andrew M.
Sergi, Gregory M.
Stockinger, Trevor
Strange, Brian R. Swanson, Daniel G.
Teruya, Kevin APPELLATE
Adelstein, Bruce
Adlai, Tarik S.
Axelrad, David M.
Azadian, James S. Bahar, Sarvenaz
Barer, Daniel Barrow, Brian P.
Batalden, Peder K. Benedon, Douglas G.
Bennett, Catherine E.
Berger, Michael M.
Bochner, Dean A.
Boorstin, Eric S.
Boutrous, Jr., Theodore J.
Boyer, Holly N.
Bray, Karen M.
Brill, Laura W.
Casparian, Thomas W.
Chamberlain, II, Harry W.R.
Clark, Meghan B. Coates, Timothy T.
Codell, David C.
Cogan, Efrat Cohen, Frederic D. Cohen, Gary J. Cole, Curtis A. Collodel, Douglas J. Cutting, Curt C. Dato, Robert M. Derrick, John
Dodd, John L.
Dunn, Jr., E. Thomas Ehrlich, Jeffrey I. Ellis, Gregory
Esner, Stuart B.
Ettinger, David S. Evanson, Blaine H.
Fischer, Dennis A.
Fleischman, Steven S. Freeman, Thomas R.
Fuller, Marjorie G.
Gerstein, Robert S.
Gonzalez, Daniel J. Grignon, Margaret
Gusdorff, Janet R. Hackett, David E.
Hart, Mark A. Heinke, Rex
Hobbs, Rachel E.
Kowal, Tim
Kraut, Nate G.
Kressel, Mark A.
Lascher, Wendy Cole
Lee, Dennis E. Levy, Barry R.
Lewis, Jeffrey
Litt, Jason R.
Mazzella, Anastasia
McKenzie, Shane Heather
Meadow, Robin
Norris, Stephen E.
Och, Gina E.
Olson, Robert A.
Orr, Cheryl A.
Pauley, Bradley S.
Pedroza, Kenneth R.
Perrochet, Lisa
Peters, Gerald Philip
Pierce, T. Peter
Pine, Beverly
Pine, Norman
Poon, Julian W.
Poster, Marc J.
Querio, John F.
Raskin, Jeffrey E.
Renick, Steven J.
Ribet, Claudia
Richland, Kent L.
Rosen, Jeremy B.
Rotter, Alana Hoffman
Saylin, Brian G.
Serlin, Gerald M.
Shafir, Felix
Shatz, Benjamin G.
Smith, Gregory R.
Stevens, Steven B.
Sungaila, Mary-Christine “M.C.”
Tardiff, Neil S.
Taylor, Jr., John A.
Tillett, Scott
Tilner, Mitchell C.
Tobisman, Cynthia E.
Watson, H. Thomas
Wright, Robert H.
Our team has earned a reputation for litigation excellence in a variety of employment and consumer law matters. With over 300 years of combined experience, our skilled attorneys have successfully individual lawsuits and class actions.
We have special expertise representing employees in sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation also has a substantial class action practice centered on employment claims arising out of wage and hour violations for employees at work.
We are passionate about helping people understand their rights. Whether you are an employee in a dispute with an employer or a consumer who has been the victim of unfair business practices, you have a right to quality representation for your legal matter. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality legal advice and representation to those who need it most. You can rely on our team of skilled and experienced attorneys to help you understand your rights and restore the balance of power.
*Chosen to 2023 Super Lawyers
**Chosen to 2022 Rising Stars
Wu, Ryan
Xanders, Edward (Ted)
Akbari, A. Ilyas Aubert, Garth W.
Bailey, Patrick E. Boladian, Vicky Goldman, Ronald L.M.
Hofer, Stephen R.
Loranger, Timothy
Pascotto, Alvaro
Terhar, Michael J.
Curtis, Linda
Jung, Curtis C.
Sanchez, David
Wolfe, Stuart B.
Andrassy, Kyra E.
Arnold, Todd M. S-3
Avery, Wesley H.
Barbarosh, Craig A.
Bello, Reem
Bender, Ron S-3
Bennett, Bruce S.
Blumenfeld, Ori
Bovitz, J. Scott
Brady, Erin N.
Brill, Martin J. S-3
Brunette, Jr., Richard W.
Bussel, Daniel J.
Caine, Andrew W.
Camhi, Howard I.
Cantor, Linda F.
Canty Murphey, Meghan
Casey, Thomas
Chenetz, Sara L. Cho, Shirley S.
Cohen, Jerome S. Davidoff, Brian L.
Davidson, Jeffrey H.
Djang, Caroline R. Dulberg, Jeffrey W.
Durrer, II, Van C.
Ehrenberg, Howard M. Faith, Jeremy W. Feld, Alan M.
Fidler, David A. Flahaut, M. Douglas Forsythe, Marc C.
Frey, Sandford L. S-53
Fritz, John-Patrick M. S-3
Garza, Oscar Geher, Thomas M.
Gilhuly, Peter M. Glaser, Barry S. Glassman, Paul R.
Glazer, Gabriel
Golden, Jeffrey I.
Golubchik, David B. S-3
Golubow, Richard H. Goodrich, David M. Gottfried, Michael I.
Grimshaw, Matthew W. Gubner, Steven T.
Haberbush, David
Haes, Chad V. Hagle, Jennifer C. Hollander, Garrick A.
Israel, Eric P.
Itkin, Robbin L. Jazayeri, Peter F. Jurich, Lance N. Kapur, Teddy M.
Karasik, Eve H. S-3
Katz, Ira Benjamin
Katzman, Steven J.
Keshishian, Talin
Kharasch, Ira D.
Klausner, Gary E. S-3
Klee, Kenneth N. Klyman, Robert
Kohanski, Joseph A. Krause, Jeffrey C.
Krieger, Jeffrey A.
Kupetz, David S. Landsberg, Ian S. Lesnick, Matthew A.
Lev, Daniel A. Lianides, Peter W.
Lobel, William N. Maizel, Samuel R.
Malo, Aaron J.
Margulies, Craig G. Marticello, Robert S.
Mastan, Peter J. Meshefejian, Krikor John S-3
Nassiri, Jennifer L.
Neale, David L. S-3
Newmark, Victoria A.
Oh, Juliet Y. S-3
O’Keefe, Sean A.
Opera, Robert E.
Pachulski, Isaac M.
Pachulski, Richard M.
Pagay, Carmela T. S-3
Pagay, Malhar S.
Patterson, Thomas E. Perry Isaacson, Misty A.
has been recognized as a 2022-2023 Super Lawyers honoree. He is an award-winning personal injury lawyer who represents clients and clients of law firms who have sustained catastrophic injuries arising from all types of motor vehicle accidents, Uber/Lyft accidents, premises liability and dog bites.
In the past three years since 2020, Danny Soong has procured more than $50 million on behalf of his clients.
Top Verdicts recognized Mr. Soong with the Number Two Personal Injury Settlement in 2020 in the amount of $41,148,845.89. In 2021, Top Verdicts recognized him with the Number Six Wrongful Death Settlement in California for a fatality trucking accident which he settled for three layers of policy limits in the amount of $5,000,000.
Mr. Soong has been a long-time member of American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an elite trial organization consisting of some of the top trial lawyers in the country. Martindale-Hubbell® has designated him with the top AV® rating since 2009.
Phelps, Kathy Bazoian
Pomerantz, Jason
Pomerantz, Jeffrey N.
Prince, Christopher E.
Pringle, John P.
Raanan, Uzzi
Rafatjoo, Hamid R. Ramlo, Kurt S-3
Ramsaur, Brett Reisner, Jeffrey M.
Reiss, Daniel H. S-3
Ringstad, Todd
Sanders, Nanette D.
Saunders, Robert
Schlecter, Daren M.
Seflin, Susan K. Seror, David Shaffer, K. John
Sharf, Mark Shechtman, Zev
Shemano, David B. Shenson, Jonathan
Shinderman, Mark Simons, Larry D.
Sokol, Robyn B. Stang, James I.
Stern, David M. Tiggs, Marcus G.
Tuchin, Michael L.
Wall, William J. Wallach, Jason
Weber, Corey R.
Weg, Howard J. Weintraub, Daniel J.
Welsh, Leonard
Winfield, William E.
Winthrop, Marc J.
Wolkowitz, Edward M. S-3
Wood, David A. Yoo, Timothy J. S-3
Young, Beth Ann R. S-3
Causey, Desiree V.
Clark, M. Erik Cohen, Leslie A. Dishbak, Donna R. Frealy, Todd S-3
Ghanooni, Eliza Havkin, Stella Heston, Richard G. Moradi-Brovia, Roksana D. Mottahedeh, Kian Oved, Shai
Peña, Leonard Selth, James Tenina, Alla Wishman, Jeffrey N.
Abdollahi, Panteha
Abel, Joshua Adli, Kavon Affeld, David W. Aitken, Darren
Aldisert, Gregory J. Aljian, Reed Almaraz, David M.
Alverson, David S.
Anderle, Kay Anderson, Bret G.
Andrade, Sean A.
Ardebili, Hajir Ashley, A. Matthew
Baker, Scott L. Barilich, Susan
Battaglia, David A.
Bauducco, Paul C.
Beaudoin, Wayne E.
Behrendt, Scott
Beitchman, David
Ben-Shahar Mayer, Sharon
Berman, Bruce A.
Berman, Daniel A.
Bertram, Christy L.
Blank, Christopher
Bonavida, Alain
Booth, Jason M.
Boxer, Joel E.
Bradley, Barry A.
Brecht, Celeste M.
Bright, James S.
Brown, Gregory G.
Burgess, James M.
Burkhalter, Alton G.
Buus, William L.
Call, Wayne W.
Cameron, Parry G.
Cappello, A. Barry
Carr, Scott H. S-7
Case, Michael
Chairez, Joseph L.
Chan, Paul S.
Chang, Cheryl S.
Chang, Cyndie
Chapman, William
Chu, Morgan
Chung, Kenneth W.
Coelho, Monisha
Cohen, Amy M.
Cohen, Jeffrey A.
Cohen, Marc S.
Cohen, Noel S.
Coleman, Jeffrey A.
Cook, Philip E.
Corley, Kanika D. Cornelius, Alexandre I.
Correll, Michelle J. Costa, Penny M.
Coyne, Jr., Joseph F.
Cumming, William
Daily, Justin E. D.
D’Arcy, Patrick J. Darnell, David J.
Daucher, Brian M.
David, Henry S.
Dean, Kristi
Delman, Dana Derby, Paul B. Dillman, Kirk D.
Doll, Gregory L.
Dresie, Lee A.
Drooks, Mark T.
Eanet, Matthew L.
Early, Eric P.
Edelman, Scott A.
Edmiston, W. Allan Edmonson, Will
Eisenhut, Mark L. Ellis, Dennis S.
Esensten, Robert Evangelis, Theane
Eyerly, Dawn B.
Ezra, Robert Falzetta, Frank
Farano, Charles Feenberg, Michael W. Feinberg, Irwin B. S-6, S-9
Feldman, Miles J.
Felton, James R. Finch, Brent M. Fine, Paul R.
Handling trade secret and business litigation with ingenuity and integrity is the hallmark of this business litigator who has secured millions for his clients. “Success comes from the relentless pursuit of improvement,” says Super Lawyers honoree John R. Walton, who often sits in the courtroom audience to study other lawyers’ closing arguments. “I also read constantly, both about my own subject areas and trial advocacy in general.” Transforming the complex fields of business litigation and intellectual property law into a form that is simple yet still accurate for juries is another skill handled deftly by this litigator who was named among the top-rated lawyers in Southern California by The American Lawyer magazine and recognized for excellence in trial advocacy by the Mayor of Lancaster, California. The Eagle Scout, with degrees from Stanford, Michigan Law School, and Kyoto University, is also fluent in Japanese and frequently represents Japanese clients in California state and federal courts.
Firestein, Michael A.
Ford, Brendan M.
Freedman, Jerry
Friedberg, Jerome H.
Friedland, Todd G.
Fugate, Jeanne A.
Gardner, Steven
Geffner, Randi
Geibelson, Michael A.
George, Eric M.
Gerber, Jonathan L.
Germain, Daniel
Gersh, Jeffrey F.
Gessin, Jesse
Gilbert, James
Gizer, Scott E. CONTINUED
Glaser, Patricia L.
Goldstein, Justin M. Gonzalez, Henry H.
Goodstein, Gary J.
Gottesman, Donald S.
Grabowski, Richard J.
Graham, Steven T. Grant, David C.
Greenberg, Alan A.
Greene, Andra B. Grodsky, Allen
Gross, Dimitri P.
Grossman, Brian
Gwynn, Jeffrey T.
Hall, Howard D.
Harder, Charles J.
Hart, William R.
Hawxhurst, Gerald E.
Hershman, Brian
Herzog, Eric A.
Hobart, C. Dana
Hodges, Ronald S. Horn, Steven J.
Hueston, John C.
Huron, Jeffrey Isaacs, Jeffrey B. Jamison, Kevin
Jannol, Henry
Jenkins, Shannon M.
Jimenez, James M.
Johnson, Beverly A.
Johnson, Neville L. S-1, S-6
Kaplan, Phillip R.
Kasendorf, Alexander S.
Kashfian, Robert A.
Kashfian, Ryan D.
Kazemi, Nahal
Keller, Jennifer L.
Kelly-Kilgore, Sarah
Kessler, Daniel J.
Kibler, Michael D. Kim, Andrew F. Kim, Eugene
Kim, John W. King, Howard E.
Kinsella, Dale F.
Klein, Gerald A.
Komorsky, Jason B. Kornfeld, Alan J.
Kozberg, Joel Kraft, Karla J.
Krakowsky, Steven P.
Krause-Leemon, David Kuo, Hubert H.
Lapidus, Daniel C.
Lapidus, Ryan
Larson, Stephen G.
Lau, Sophia S.
Lawrence, Amy B.
Lawrence, Robert Scott
ROBERT SCOTT LAWRENCE
www.lawrencebartels.com
LeBoff, Michael S.
Lee, Richard
Leff, Randall S.
Levin, Daniel B.
Liang, Jason L.
Libeu, Allison L.
Libman, David E.
Light, Harold J.
Lin, David S. S-54
Lindahl, George M.
Linzer, Kenneth A.
Litvak, William
Livingston, Daniel M.
Loewy, Robert G.
Lovell, Tre
Luczon, Diane Myint
Ly, John
Ma, Stephen
Macellaro, Theresa J.
Madnick, H. Mark
Maloney, Patrick M.
Mancini, Michael V.
Mangels, Robert E.
Marenberg, Steven
Marquart, Jaime W.
Martinez, David
Mashal, Robin
Masterson, Stephen V.
McCarthy, Daniel J.
McFee, Linda C.
McGonigle, Timothy D.
McNicholas, John P.
McRae, Marcellus
Menton, Jr., James P.
Miliband, Joel S.
Millett, Patricia A.
Mitilian, Armen G.
Monitz, Ronald
Morgenthaler, Alisa M.
Morrison, Jr., Edward F.
Mortenson, Michael D.
Moscarino, John M.
Most, Peter J.
Mower, Jon R.
Murphy, Laurie
Murphy, Paul D.
Murtagh, Paul G.
Nelson, Andrew Ryan
Nemecek, Frank W.
Neubauer, Mark A.
Nevers, Gary W.
Newell, Jr., Felton T.
Newhouse, II, Michael R.
Newman, Carol L.
Nicholson, Guy C.
Nix, Benjamin A.
Noël, Leila J. Novian, Farhad
Novicoff, Michael L. Oberst, Brett H. Odson, Robert
Oh, Henry H.
O’Hare, William S. O’Neill, William
Osher, Jeremy
Owens, Rob Owens, Stephen T.
Palmer, E. Scott
Pappas, Michael E.
Patel, Jayesh
Peterson, Mark D.
Pettis, James C. Phan, Luan K. Piper, David D.
Pitha, Martin L. Platt, Daniel A. Pomerance, Drew E.
Poole, David S. Price, William C.
Puritsky, Courtney L.
Raucher, Stephen L.
Reagan, Carole E.
Reeder, Christopher S.
Reichert, Thomas V.
Reuben, Timothy D.
Rhow, Ekwan E.
Ribakoff, David Z.
Richman, David S.
Richmond, Rick Ritter, Christopher I.
Robinson, Gregory Robinson, Jeffrey A. Rosen, David E. Rosen, James R.
Rosenthal, John Terrence A.
Ross, Peter W. Rozansky, Daniel A.
Rozansky, Nicholas A.
Rudolph, George Cooper Rus, Ronald Russell, Jason D.
Russell, L. David Ryu, Francis Saba, Ryan D.
Sachs, Michael J.
Salisian, Neal S. Sambhwani, Anand
Sauer, Gerald Schare, Allan L. Schimmel, Alan I.
Schmalz, Kurt L.
Seltzer, Marc M. Selvin, Peter S.
Shechet, Aaron Sheik, Shahrokh
Sherman, Michael A.
Siddiqui, Omar A. S-56
Singletary, Jeffrey Sittler, Ronald K. Sklaver, Steven G. Smith, Suzelle M. Soibelman, Adam J. Sopori, Priya Spach, Jr., Madison S.
Spanier, Kristen L.
Spillane, Jay Spitzer, Daniel
Stein, Michael D.
Steinbrecher, Alan K.
Stephens, John B.
Stris, Peter
Sugden, David
Swartz, Michael
Taitelman, Michael A.
Tantalo, Joel M.
Taschner, Dana
Tesser, Brandon M.
Theodora, Todd C.
Thibodo, Todd D.
Thurmond, Karl S.
Torres-Guillen, Sylvia
Turken, James H.
Urbach, Matthew S.
Van Oordt, Javier H.
Vincent, Thomas L.
Vora, Nilay U.
Wagenseller, Laine T.
Waldman, Joshua A.
Waldron, Gary A.
Walton, John R. S-17
Wang, S. Albert
Wegner, Matthew K.
Weiner, Joel R.
Weingarten, Alex M.
Weinsten, Michael E.
Weisskopf, Stephen D.
Werlin, Leslie M.
White, Darrell P.
Williams, Bart H.
Williams, J. Craig
Williams, Marc S.
Williams, Michael R.
Wilson, Jason H.
Wippler, Michael
Wolf, Ellen Kaufman
Wong, Fred A.
Woods, Daniel J.
Wu, Anita P.
Yocca, Mark W.
Yu, Jason T.
Zeldin, Kim
Zipser, Dean J.
Adams, Addison K.
Alderton, Scott W.
Alexander, Benjamin
Alleguez, Tina M.
Alvarez, Justin
Askarieh, Sarvey
Averbach, Zane S.
Babaian, Ara
Barr, Gary
Blaine, Stephen E.
Borow, Jennifer L. Borrego, Tony
Bruno, Alex
Calderon, David R. Chilingirian, Neal N.
Clement, Gregory M.
Dewey, Naomi R. Eghbali, Doron F.
Eisman, David C.
Epstein, Alan J.
Gipson, Robert E. S-53
Glassman, Jeffrey R.
Gold, Michael A.
Granato, Stephanie
Hong, Nina L.
Horwitz, Martin
Ingber, Kenneth S.
Kahan, Robert L.
Khalili, Arash
Kim, John Y.
Kim, Stuart Y.
Kurtz, Steven N.
Kurtzman, Tamara M.
Kushner, Michael
Lambirth, Timothy A.
Lanin, Ari
Lensky, Arthur
Levin, Emily S.
Lindsey, Michael K.
Mayer, Steven M.
McIlvery, John J.
Miller, Adam
Miller, Adam I.
Miller, Janice
CONTINUED ON PAGE S-22
The lawyers at Rombro & Manley LLP are compassionate and understand the emotional stress involved in family law matters. The firm handles cases including divorce, child custody and parenting time, debt and division of property, child support, spousal support, and domestic violence. Each case is unique and presents its own set of challenges. The attorneys are equipped to handle these challenges with the most effective legal approaches for their clients.
One of the firm’s founders, Roger Rombro, is included on this year’s Super Lawyers list. His inspiration to practice family law started early in his career during his own child custody battle. He understands the difficulties and stress that surround family law disputes. Through his personal experience, he is able to make the complex process more manageable for his clients.
The boutique-style firm offers personalized attention to each case and serves clients in the Los Angeles area and throughout the South Bay.
Nwankwo, Oji
Ober, Matt D.
Palazzo, Donald J.
Prietto, Jr., Miguel P. Rautiola, Beth K.
Rosner, Michael
Ruffin, Jacquelyn D.
Schell, Troy A.
Shenon, Natela
Sklar, Jeffrey A.
Smith, Almuhtada
Spillers, Katy
Stuart, Joslyn B.
Sweet, Richard J.
Tarango, Marcos M. Whitcombe, John
Williams, Scott
Wolf, Michael
Wynner, Robert E.
Zeppos, Demosthenis
Zimmet, Keith T.
Berke, Kenneth J.
Shevin, Eric D.
Welch, David R.
Ames, Dennis K.
Armstrong, II, Robert W.
Augustini, Jeff
Baker, Phillip A.
Bergsten, Robert T.
Bradley, Lindy F.
Brown, Raymond
Cirlin, Jason N. Cleeland, Bruce
Collinson, Lisa
DeGrave, Douglas M.
Deutsch, Joel D.
Donovan, Jr., William P.
Douglas, Joel B.
Dubrawski, Peter A.
Eiler, James O.
Faenza, Christopher E. S-31
Feher, Thomas P. Fiola, N. Asir
Fuchs, Douglas
Gmelich, Thomas P.
Gruppie, Guy R. Haggerty, William C.
Heck, Christopher J. Holm, Margaret M. Hoting, Shaun A.
Hummel, Chad S. Kamanski, James
Keeton, Jamie L.
Law, Yuk K. Lear, Edward O. Levitt, John S.
Long, Jayme C. Madruga, Thomas M.
Mandell, Barbara J. McNamara, Ryan M.
Morgenstern, Robert A.
Nahra, John P.
Natelborg, Kenneth Pacheco, Rod Pimstone, Gregory N.
Rhee, Jean Y. Rogan, Patrick G. Sabaitis, Frank T.
Safarian, Harry A. Scolnick, Chase A.
Seitz, Friedrich W.
Shapiro, Robert
Slaughter, William M.
WILLIAM M. SLAUGHTERwww.srllplaw.com
Smith, Alice Chen S-31
Spitz, Sherman M.
Tabatabai, Farzad
Bloom, Mark J.
Bohm, James G.
Cave, Matthew J.
Dennis, Jonathan S.
Gordon, Peter
Greene, Kenneth
Hariton, Joe
Henriks, Yana
Horwitz, Lauren
Kabateck, Brian S.
McNulty, Peter J. S-54
Mehr, Tina
Ortiz-Beljajev, Neyleen S.
Osten, Aaron L. S-7
Smith, Marilyn M.
Tashjian, Armen
Young, Steven R.
Burton, John
Campbell, Frances M.
Carr, Peter L.
Dunkerly, Erin R.
Dunn, Brian T.
Farahani, Nima
Galipo, Dale K.
Gastelum, Denisse
Harper, Caree
Hoffman, Paul L.
Martin, Areva D.
Michel, C.D.
Orange, Olu K. Parks, Shawna
Roberts, Daniel S.
Rosenbaum, Mark D.
Sobel, Carol A.
Uzeta, Maria Michelle
Williamson, Peter
Adolph, Launa S-13
Aiwazian, Edwin
Andrews, Celene Chan
Barba, Luis A.
Baum, Michael L.
Beal, Holly C.
Bleichner, Brad D.
Boucher, Raymond P.
Bradley, Marcus J.
Braun, Michael D. Carpenter, Gretchen
Chorba, Christopher
Clarkson, Ryan J. Dai, Cornelia H.
Desai, Aashish Y.
Egley, John T. Farber, Mia
Frank, Jason M.
Goodwin, Justin T.
Grant, Melissa Grombacher, Kiley L.
Haque, Kashif
Herrington, Robert J.
Humphrey, Christina S-54
Karavatos, Karen L.
Kellner, Richard L.
Kelly, Michael Louis
Koes, Daniel J.
Koncius, Jeffrey
Lander, Gregg
Levin, Jason
Lindemann, Blake J.
LippSmith, Graham B.
LippSmith, MaryBeth
Mahoney, Kevin
Mallow, Michael L.
Margulies, Jeffrey B.
CONTINUED ON PAGE S-24
Marquez, Justin F.
McCune, Richard D.
Menzies, Karen Barth
Merryman, Bryan A. Morrison, Michael S.
Ohn, Gerald S.
O’Neill, Megan Orshansky, Anthony Palmer, Melanie Meneses
Parekh, Behram V.
Puglisi, Fred R.
Renick, Randy R.
Rizkalla, Ruth
Robertson, IV, Alexander
Robinson, Daniel S.
Robinson, Jr., Mark P.
Saltzman, Stanley D.
Silberfeld, Roman M.
Sims, Scott H. Stahle, Mikael H. S-13
Stephenson, Daniel J. Szeto, Kitty
Tagvoryan, Anahit (Ana)
Tellis, Roland K. Wade, Gillian
Wang, Arnold C.
Warshaw, Daniel L.
Westerman, Jeff S. Yeremian, David
Lappen, Timothy
May, Lawrence E.
Stafford, Stephen A.
Streza, Richard E.
Fox, Deborah
Adams, Jason M.
Bailey, Terry R. Barker, T. Darren
Campbell, Nick Chen, Alexander J.
Cross, Edward H.
Dalmore, Jean A.
Darling, John
Dorse, Kevin A. Feldman, Mark A.
Fresch, Elaine K.
Ghassemian, Mahyar
Glucksman, Richard H.
Grossbart, Kenneth
Hack, Marion T.
Henning, Stephen J.
Horowitz, Jeffrey D.
Hurst, Jeffrey S. Jackson, Lee Kaneda, Joseph
Kasdan, Kenneth S.
Kavcioglu, Aren
Kavcioglu, Armenak
Kornblatt, Sara H.
Kring, Kyle D. Loewenthal, David A.
Lovett, Steven R.
Lubka, Laurence P. Mah, Richard McPherson, David F.
Meyers, Adam H.
Miller, Thomas E.
THOMAS E. MILLER
www.constructiondefects.com
Nieves, Omel A.
Orland, James J.
Pierce, David H. S-55
DAVID H. PIERCE
www.dhpierce.com
Pierce, Timothy L.
Radmacher, Brenda K.
Salamone, Mary A.
Sipes, Edward E. Sire, Jr., David J.
Smith, Eric C.
Throckmorton, Robert Tomassian, Serge
Turner, III, Glenn E.
Weissman, Robert A.
Wittbrodt, Richard J.
Zvonicek, Philip C.
Anvar, Jessica
Barker, John D.
Beck, Benjeman
Bhujwala, Shehnaz
Bontrager, Nicholas J.
Brennan, Robert F.
Friedman, Todd M.
Ibey, Jason
Imber, Daniel S.
Kaufman, Joseph A.
Kazerounian, Abbas
Martin, III, G. Thomas
Mizrahi, Guy
Mobasseri, Robert B. S-55
Naderi, Ray
Parks, Michael Starr, Robert L.
Taylor, Norman F.
Wilson, Scot D.
Chekian, Michael
Davidson, Peter A.
Friedman, Joshua
Goldberg, Marshall
Goldman, Martin F.
Jen, Jerry J.
Moldo, Byron Z.
Slates, Ronald
Weinberg, Robert
Aizman, Diana Weiss
Anderson, Eric D.
Arfa, Fay
Artan, Michael H.
Aval, Simon
Azari, Sara Bednarski, Marilyn
Berk, Blair
Berlin, Peter Blanco, Meghan
Blumenthal, Virginia
Braun, Adam Braun, Harland W. Brenner, Gregory D.
Byrne, Mark A. Carey, J. Patrick
Chambers, Dan E.
Attorneys at Hinden & Breslavsky are driven by a mission to defend the rights and dignity of injured passionately and diligently to protect people who were injured on the job, earning its reputation as The Injured Workers’ Attorneys.
deep courtroom experience, expertise in workers’ compensation and personal injury law, and compassion for its clients. They work tirelessly to secure recoveries for clients while restoring self-esteem and helping them return to their previous lifestyle. Hinden &
Chaney, Christopher
Cohen, Philip Kent
Cordova, Ron
Darden, Christopher A.
Devore, Mark S.
Diamond, David
Dolan, John Patrick
Donath, Graham D.
Dunkle, Stephen K.
Eisner, Alan
Ernenwein, Robert S.
Falangetti, Anthony J.
Ferrentino, Correen W.
Feyzjou, Kiarash
Fisch, Stephen J.
CONTINUED ON PAGE S-26
Breslavsky has nearly 65 employees, many with 25 languages. They work closely with clients during every step of their cases.
are active in the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association and Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group. The attorneys also teach others about workers’ compensation law through 100-plus seminars and 80 books and articles. Repeatedly honored to Super Lawyers, Barry H. Hinden has been selected to the 2023 Super Lawyers list.
Friedman, Stanley L.
Geller, Paul S.
Geragos, Mark
Glucksman, Jacob
Goldstein, Elana
Goldstein, Karen L. S-53
Goodman, Jacqueline
Gorin, Dmitry Grech, Jr., Paul Gunsberg, Jerod
Gurwitz, Brian
Haig, Jerome J.
Harley, Jr., Robison D.
Hashemi, Arash
Hill, Greg T. Holley, Shawn
Hong, Janet E. Houlé, Lisa
Israels, Philip D. Israels, Sam J. Jackson, Alan J.
Jonas, Glen T. Kahn, Stephen R.
Kaplan, Richard D. Kent, Jeffrey Kestenbaum, David S.
Krause, Andrew P. LaBarbera, Vincent
Lessem, Jeremy
Leventhal, Andrew B.
Levine, Stephen S-54
Manuelian, R.J. Marks, Donald B. McBroom, Katherine (Kacey)
McKesson, Winston K.
Megerditchian, Silva L. Missakian, Craig
Morrissey, Marcia A.
Murphy, David M.
Newman, Brian
Powell, Sarah E.
Ridley, Douglas H.
Rosenberg, Nicholas
Sala, Heberto A.
Salerno, Anthony V.
Sanger, Robert M.
Saros, Alison
Scafiddi, Michael
Seki, Bill S-56
Shapiro, Louis J.
Sherman, Victor
Sicat, Jocelyn H. S-56
Sitkoff, Stephen D.
Solis, Anthony M.
Soo Hoo, Mona C. Stambler, Errol H. Stokke, Allan H.
Swanson, David E.
Taylor, Scott A.
Thiagarajah, Fred
Thigpen, Craig S.
Thompson, Jared M.
Torres, David A.
Unger, Charles J.
Welbourn, T. Edward
White, Debra S.
Yakovlev, Alana S. Yeretsian, Lara
Koenig, Bo
Miller, Robert L.
Parker Harris, Kellee
Rosenfeld, Mark
Simons, Barry T.
Taylor, Christopher
CRIMINAL DEFENSE: WHITE COLLAR
Adams, Christine
Alon, Edward E.
Anand, Harvinder S.
Athey, Joel M.
Bass, Diane
Beck, Mark E.
Bell, Koren
Bienert, Jr., Thomas H.
Bird, Terry W.
Buehler, George W.
Cohen, Reuven L.
Corrigan, Kate
Cowan, Andrew S.
Daly, Bryan D.
de Bretteville, Jason
Farhang, Michael
Farhat, Vince
Fiset, Rachel L.
Gelberg, Grant
Gluck, Benjamin N.
Goldsobel, Steven M.
Handzlik, Jan Lawrence
Hanna, Nicola T.
Hanusz, John
Harris, William S.
Hochman, Nathan J.
Holscher, Mark C.
Johnston, Pamela L.
Josephs, Samuel A.
Kaufman, Gary Jay
Klein, Brian
Kreindler, Charles L.
Krieger, Eliot F.
Levine, Janet I.
Lincenberg, Gary S.
Littrell, John
Machala, Angela
Marella, Vincent J.
Marino, Nina
Medrano, Manny Miller, Kenneth
Munk, Jessica
Neuman, Ariel A.
Newhouse, Jr., George B.
Nicolaysen, Gregory
Pardo, Gabriel
Pelham, Christopher K.
Resnik, Jennifer
Riddet, James
Rim, Naeun
Rodriguez, Mario
Saunders, Daniel A. Schafler, Michael V Shallman, Daniel
Shields, Rasha Gerges Spertus, James W.
Steward, H. Dean
Sun, Brian A. Van Dyk, Nicole Rodriguez
Vandevelde, Eric D.
Vaughn, David
VonCannon, Jennie
Weinberger, Melissa A.
Werksman, Mark J.
Wiechert, David W.
Williams, Jennifer L.
Willingham, David K.
Zweiback, Michael
Artigliere, William
Bell, Melinda
Gharibian, Art
Jensen, Tamila
Kane, Gerald
Malis, Julianna M.
Nielsen, Caren R.
CONTINUED ON PAGE S-28
Siegel, Travis K.
Valentine, Kimberly
Zimring, Stuart D.
Banker, Anish J.
Bergman, Brian J.
Bergman, Gregory M.
Block, Glenn L.
Brogan, Kevin H.
Evertz, Douglas J. S-53
DOUGLAS J. EVERTZ
www.murphyevertz.com
Hazarabedian, Arthur J.
Hennessey, Patrick A.
Kuhn, Bradford B. Leifer, Michael H.
Murphy, John C. S-55
JOHN C. MURPHY
www.murphyevertz.com
Peterson, John S. S-55
JOHN S. PETERSON
www.petersonlawgroup.com
Weisberg, Gary C.
Boutwell, Sherrie
Brehm, Brent Dorian
Brucker, Alex M.
Chandler, Corinne
Dean, Ronald
Faucher, Joseph C.
Kantor, Glenn R.
Kantor, Lisa S.
Kassan, Alan E.
Mullen, Amber Busuttil
Paller Jr., Joseph L.
Schachter, Robin M.
Simpson, Roland G.
Wellington, Don
Abrams, Lauren
Ackermann, Craig
Agazanof, Asaf Alexander, III, J. Bernard
Alexis, Andrew L. Appleton, Heather
Azadian, Ani Babaian, Raymond Barber, John L.
Barnes, Kevin T.
Becerra, Joseph R. Bendavid, Sue M. Bengali, Omar H.
Berman, Jeffrey A. Birndorf Zeiler, Deborah S-52
Bokhour, Mehrdad
Brand, Ron Brooks, Scott A. S-13
Brown, Jeffrey K. Capell, Julie
Caryl, Jesse M. Chami, Pouya B. Charles, Mark Cheung, Christina
Choi, Edward
Cohen, Robert W.
Cole, William L.
Conway, Catherine A.
Crosby, William M. Davis, Heather S-29
Davis, Roxanne A.
De Castro, David M.
Dieguez, Marcelo A.
Domb, Zack I.
Donahoo, Richard E.
Drapkin, Larry C.
Elihu, Kaveh S.
Elkins, Cynthia
Fakhimi, Houman
Farber, Laura V.
Fears, Daniel F.
Fehr, Tracy L.
Feldman, Carla
Fernandez, Marta M.
Fisch, Gregg A.
Fitzgerald, Barbara A.
Flores, Michelle Lee
Friedman, Andrew H.
Gabler, Karen L.
Gage, Bradley C.
Garbacz, Greg A.
Ghozland, Jennifer L. S-33
Gitt, Cynthia E. S-53
Goldsmith, Michele M.
Golper, John B.
Gottlieb, Ira L.
Guterres, Tomas A.
Gutierrez, Alejandro P.
Gutman Dickinson, Julie
Hameed, Sayema J.
Handman, Daniel H.
Harris, Wilmer J.
Harrison, Genie
Holzman, Daniel M.
Hurevitz, Linda B.
Jaramilla, Toni J.
Jaramillo, Andrew J.
Jaurigue, Michael J.
Javanmardi, Peter A.
Johnson, Kenneth E.
Kading, Theresa A. Kahn, Brennan S.
Kantor, Eli
Kaplan, Steven J.
Kaufman, Thomas R.
Kennedy, Tracey
Kim, Briana M. Kim, Tae
Kingsley, Eric B.
Knepper, Dawn M.
Koegle, Brian Kowalski, Nate
Kraemer, Glen E.
Kramer, Jennifer
Krieger, Linda Guthmann
Krieger, Terrence
Kroll, Steven M.
La Mar, Michelle M.
Lane, Wendy E.
Lara, Linda Luna
Lee, Thomas M.
Levian, K. Kevin Levin, Adam
Levinson, Robert A.
Lim, Preston
Love, Richard A.
Magnanimo, Frank A.
Majarian, Sahag
Mallen, David
Mankin, Brian J.
May, Bruce D.
McCaffrey, Jr., Timothy B.
McCortney, Ryan D.
McGuigan, Kathryn T.
McNicholas, Matthew S.
Messiha, Dominic J.
Miller, Jon G.
Mittman, Jeremy
Moon, Kane
Mossavar, Miranda
Muller, Kirstin E.
Myers, Thomas
Naddour, Joseph G.
Narayan, Santosh
Noy, Renee
Ozhekim, Greg Paris, Andrea W. S.
Payne, James L.
Posner, Michael P. Pourati, David
Purcell, Byron M.
Rastegar, Farzad
Rehaut, Steven M.
Rose, Joe S-56
Rosenberg, Richard S. Ross, Gary Rothner, Glenn
Ryan, Timothy F.
Ryu, Young W.
Sanders, Olivia
Sargoy, Kenneth J.
Schaper, Reed E.
Scharrer, JoLynn M.
Schroeder, Beth A.
Schwettmann, Eric C.
Segall, Anthony R.
Sessions, Don
Sethness, Clifford D.
Shahabi, S. Sean
Shanberg, Ross E.
Sheldon, Geoffrey S.
Sherman, Lisa G.
Siegel, Robert A.
Silver, Stephen H.
CONTINUED ON PAGE S-30
Selected to Super Lawyers
PROTECTION LAW GROUP, LLP
237 California St. El Segundo, CA 90245
PH: (844) 294-3095 Ext. 103 heather@protectionlawgroup.com protectionlawgroup.com
A standout among other employment attorneys, Heather Davis represents employees in obtaining compensation for violations of wage and hour laws suffered at the hands of their employers. During Ms. Davis’ career solely dedicated to representing employees, she has obtained more than $75 million in settlements for her clients. Although this success confirms Ms. Davis as one of the preeminent wage and hour attorneys in California, her experience as a former defense attorney for the largest employers in the country for more than a decade sets her apart from the rest. Ms. Davis, as one of the founding partners of Protection Law Group, LLP, uses her experience as a former defense attorney to the advantage of her clients.
Smith, Gregory W.
Smith, Jay Soleymani, Navid
Sottile, Timothy B.
Sugg, Wendy A. Sullivan, Mark
Terman, Mark E.
Tiedemann, J. Scott
Toomey, Philip A. Torabian-Bashardoust, Roxanne
Traktman, Laurie A.
Von Eschen, Lisa Walraven, Larry A.
Waterman, Mark W. Wesierski, Christopher P.
Whang, Arthur Wickham, Douglas A.
Willis, Henry M.
Wirth, Gabrielle M. Withrow, Laura
Witlin, Scott J. Wong, Gregory P.
Wong, Samuel A.
Woo, Peter J. Yadidsion, Danny Yaffe, Nancy E.
Yee, Steven R. Young, Joshua F. Young-Agriesti, Summer
Zafar, Saba
Zelenski, Abigail
Zinn, Harry A.
Abbott, Leslie L. Abell, Nancy L.
Amador, Richard
Angioni, Nannina
Attal, Avi M. Ayers, Lindsay A.
Barritt, Douglas A. Beaumont, Jacqueline
Bent, Sergio Bonoli, Philip J. Brophy, Jonathan L. Bui, Thy B.
Cohen, Ellen Connon, Nicholas Craigie, Alex
DiSante, Marie D. Emry, Cynthia J. Forman, Dan M. Freudenberger, Timothy M.
Giddens, Brent M. Glazer, Gregory
Gold, Kate S. Hamer, Alison M.
Horton Thomas, Jeffrey S.
House, Calvin R.
Irizarry, Dawn M. Jamgotchian, Ronda D.
Jayakumar, Jehan N.
Jones, David G. Katunich, Lauren J. Kinaga, Patricia
Knee, Howard M.
Larsen, Shawn M. Light, Jonathan Fraser
Lubrano, Nancy N. Marca, Richard D. Melby, Donna Marie Michalski, James W.
Miller, Lee A. Moss, Jr., James R. Oncidi, Anthony J. Oster, Matt
Patton, Amy R. Pazzani, Karen J.
Pearl, II, Carmine J. (CJ) Pearlman, Barry S.
Richardson, Lyne A.
Roberts, Jr, Reginald
Rubiner, John
Salinas, Raul F.
Sandhu, Puneet K.
Savitt, Linda Miller
Silbergeld, Arthur F.
Simmons, Richard J.
Sterman, Karina B.
Talley, Kimberly M.
Tilles, Yaron M.
Trotter, Julie R.
Wortman, Jeffrey A.
Aarons, Martin I.
Abrams, Courtney
Akopyan, Ani M.
Akopyan, Michael
Allred, Gloria
Almon, Samuel
Avila, Mark S.
Avrahamy, Joseph
Azadian, George S.
GEORGE S. AZADIAN
www.azadianlawgroup.com
Bakhtiar, Ebby S.
Baltaxe, Michael F.
Banerjee, Arnab
Bansal, Sanjay
Barrera, Patricio T. D. S-52
Baumler, Nina J.
Beilke, Jared W.
Berenji, Shadie S-52
Blady, I. Benjamin
Bononi, Michael J.
Boxer, Joshua D. S-13
Brock, D. Aaron
Browne, Gina
Buchsbaum, Brent S.
www.buchsbaumhaag.com
Burrows, Christopher L.
Byrnes, Craig
Campbell, Darren J.
Chen, Kelly Y.
Chesler, Natasha
Chiang, Kevin W.
Clark, Tyler F.
Cleaver, G. Samuel
Clingo, Jennifer A.
Coble, Catherine J.
Coleman, Christina M. S-52
Collins, Dawn T.
Cordes, James H.
Cowan, Jeffrey W.
Cummings, Scott
D’Abusco, Matthew
Davidson, Benjamin
De Sario, James A.
Dean, Lauren A.
Delshad, Jonathan J.
deRubertis, David M. S-6, S-52
DeSimone, V. James
Díaz, María G.
Duchrow, David J.
DuVan-Clarke, Barbara
Elias, Imad
Engelman, Britany M.
Faber, Michael J.
Falvey, Thomas
Felahy, Allen
Foley, Shannon M.
Forootan, Shirin
Fraigun, Marina Kats
Franck, Lee
Freiman, Lawrence
Gallagher, Maryann
George, Victor L.
Gillam, Carol
Glyer, Leslie J.
Golan, Jeremy M. Goldberg, Nathan
Haag, Laurel N.
www.buchsbaumhaag.com
Hardin, James Harings, Annette
Harrison, Todd S-53
Hatcher, Jason T.
Hayes, Douglas B.
Hekmat, Joseph M.
Hennig, Robert
Ho, Daniel T.
Horacek, Angel
Horton, Laura L.
Houck, Ji-In
Jacob, Michael
Justice, Michael L.
Khalili, Dalia S-13
Kim, Do
Kim, Helen U.
Kimball, Stephen C.
Kitson, Robert M.
Koron, Boris
Kristy, James
CONTINUED ON PAGE S-32
LAUREL N. HAAGKwik, Angeline (Angie)
Lavi, Joseph
Leal, Dolores Y.
Lee, Henry S-37
Licata, Tara J.
Lipinsky, Daren H.
Lipski, Jennifer
Locklear, Tina
Lyon, Geoffrey C. Markson, Brett S. Maroko, Michael
Matern, Matthew J. S-13 Mathews, Charles T.
Milon, Joshua Mirroknian, Reza
Mizrahi, Ramit
Mochkatel, Renee
Moore, Bonita D. S-55
Moss, Dennis F.
Mozaffari, Afshin
Myer, Scott D. Nguyen, Nicole Norman, Ronald
Nosrati, Omid
Nourmand, Michael
Odell, Robert Olivares, Alicia Oliver, Jason
Ostertag, Jennifer
Palay, Daniel J.
Panitz, Eric A.
Payab, David
Pedersen, Neil
Podolsky, Daniel J.
Quigley, Mark T. S-6, S-7
Rager, Jeffrey
Rashtian, Daniel Reisman, Daniel A.
Reisner, Adam
Reyes, Jual F.
Romero, Alan
Roshanian, Neda
Rothschild, Kristi D.
Ruiz, Brandon Rumph, Randy
Rushovich, Eliot Rutten, Howard
Ruttenberg, Kenneth G.
Salute, Kevin Samani, Michelle
Sani, Sam Sansanowicz, Leonard H.
Sayas, Jr., C. Joe
Schabloski, Alyssa K. Schlehr, Sarah Schulman, Allison M.
Shah, Sandeep J. Shegerian, Carney
Shirazi, Emanuel Silverstein, Douglas N.
Spiegel, Marcus J.
Spivak, David
Srourian, Daniel Stevens, Daniel P. Stevens, Margaret P. Stormer, Dan
Strauss, Michael A. Taylor, Christopher Wren
Teren, Pam S-56
Teukolsky, Lauren
Tibor, David F.
Tsarukyan, Andy Wagner, Mark H.
Waldo, William S. Watanabe-Peagler, Lisa
Weinman, Jonathan A.
West, John S.
Yadegar, Navid
Yasuda, Stephanie E.
Yoon, Kenneth H.
Yun, Edward H.
Atkin, Jeffery R.
Abrams, Alan
Akselrud, Gregory
Alexander, L Wayne
Anderson, Peter J.
Annaguey, Maribeth
Avanzado, Melvin N.A.
Berger, Matthew
Bibicoff, Hillary S.
Bierman, Ivy Kagan
Blaha, Michael R.
Brettler, Andrew B.
Briggs, II, William J.
Browning, Kenneth L.
Carlo, Candace
Costa, Joseph P.
Coyoca, Lucia E.
Crawshaw-Sparks, Sandra A.
Crow, Alana
Darwell, Robert A.
Eagan, Todd S.
Epstein, Sara Jasper
Eskenazi, Bonnie E.
Feig, Eric J.
Fink, David E.
Firemark, Gordon
Fischer, Samuel N.
Fitzgerald, Chad R.
Freed, Tracey L.
Galsor, Matt
Genow, Richard M.
Gilbert-Lurie, Cliff
Gipson, Elliot
Gladstone, Leon Granderson, Damien
Griffith, Marissa Román
Halberstadter, David
Hansen, Thomas M.
Hazzard, Yakub
Helmer, Kenneth
Hilvert, Aleksandra
Hobel, Michael S.
Hochberg, Bill
Holmes, Jr., Henry W. Holtz, Michael D. Jacobs, Howard
Jacobs, Robert A.
Johnson, Channing D.
Jonelis, Crystal Y.
Jonelis, David B. Katz, Martin D.
Kaufman, Peter L.
Kelly, Philip M. Kirk, Wendy
Kohn, Gary Kulik, Glen L.
Lange, Robert M.
LaPolt, Dina
Lichter, Linda B.
Lindblom, Roderick
Liskin, Aaron C.
Litwak, Glenn T.
Litwak, Mark
Logan, Jeffrey K. Lowe, Steven
Mallen, Barry E.
McPherson, Edwin F. McRae, Devin A.
Meigs, Jr., John V.
Moore, Schuyler M.
Moriarty, Elisabeth A.
Myman, Robert M.
Nessim, Ronald J.
Pacitti, James D. Passin, Mark D.
Passman, Donald S.
Paterno, Peter T. Perez, Dinah
Pfeiffer, Jon
Pierce, David Albert S-55
Pine, Pierre B. Plonsker, Michael J.
Rabin, Susan
Ramer, Bruce M.
Ramo, Elsa
Reynolds, Jeremiah T.
Rosenberg, Joshua
Saltz, Michael J.
Smiley, Jr., Donald V.
Smith, Jill L.
Sommerstein, Gary
Sorrell, Paul N.
Spicer, Christopher Staton
Spiegel, Evan N.
Spitz, Jeffrey
Stein, Stanton “Larry”
Stone, Daniel G.
Stonerock, Ryan J.
Sullivan, Bryan M.
Susman, Jordan
CONTINUED ON PAGE S-34
The husband-and-wife team at Ghozland Law Firm brings over 40 years of experience in Employment & Personal Injury Law to their clients. As the result of securing several multimillion-dollar settlements and verdicts, the Ghozland Law Firm has been recognized by Top Verdict in the Top 10 for personal injury settlements in California, Top 20 for wrongful death settlements in California, and Top 100 for overall verdicts in California.
Ghozland Law Firm recognizes that individuals who have been wronged in the workplace or injured at the hands of others are often working through an overwhelming and stressful time in their lives. Ghozland Law Firm allows its clients to heal and move forward while the experienced attorneys fight for fair and just compensation.
Taylor, Joseph R.
Verbit, Larry E.
Wertheimer, Alan S.
Wodynski, Michelle L.
Yeargan, Ashley Rose
Yorn, Kevin B.
Ziffren, Kenneth
Angel, Frank P.
Arnone, James L.
Banks, Sedina L.
Bois, Thomas J.
Bond, Lisa
Brooks, Preston W.
Carstens, Douglas P.
Cranston, David E.
De Felice, Diane C.
Dennis, Patrick W.
Duchesneau, Peter R.
Ehrlich, Kenneth A.
Gest, Howard Gordon, Nicole Hoeksma
Hedgpeth, Tiffany R.
Holzer, Stephen T. Hong, Tammy M.J.
Hsiao, Peter
Kracov, Gideon
Langa, Brian
Lemieux, Jr., W. Keith
Nanney, Donald C.
Novak, Jennifer F.
Nyquist, Peter A.
O’Neill, Steven P.
Pritsker, Keith W.
Sohagi, Margaret Moore
Sommer, Scott A. Troutman, William L.
Bright, Maureen J. Dupont, Norman A. Elliott, Mark E.
Fellers, Denise G.
Oliver, Patricia K. Sinclair, Murray
Stiles, Michael J. Weaver, Elizabeth M.
Aikin, Thomas C.
Babrick, Jessica G.
Barbaro, Jr., Philip
Barry, Jared A.
Bergman, Beti S-52
Brar, Vikram Bronshteyn, Yasha
Broomer, Sarah S.
Brophy, Michael S.
Buffington, Roger
Burns, Shannon
Bush, James A.
Carico, Christopher D.
Chen, Jackson
Chung, Lynda I.
Cohen, Jeffrey S.
Cohen, Paul F.
Cohen, Robert A. Cosio, R. M. Anthony
Cutler, Stefanie S.
Depew, Brenda
Devermont, Susan B.
Forer, Jeffrey
Franklin, Terrence M.
Glowacki, John P.
Gokal, Abbas K. Gold, Justin
Gonzalez, Jamie N.
Gostanian, Amy L.
Grosberg, A. Hillary
Grossman, Scott M.
Higgins, Sean K.
Hinojosa, Lynard C. Hoffman, Nathan B.
Hogan, Steven L.
Holcomb, M. Damien
Ingham, Samuel
Kerendian, Shawn S.
Kiken, Dale
Kim, David
Kim, Ernest J.
Krasilovsky, Seth
Kristof, Kent L.
Kwan, Verlan Y.
Ladley, Candace K.
Lebowsky, Lawrence M.
Lee, Rodney C.
Lemmons, Phillip C.
Lester, Mark A.
Lodise, Margaret G.
Lumsdaine, Jennifer
Marvan, Jeff
Melnick, Cliff
Mendlin, Joyce S.
Mermelstein, F. Edie
Miliband, Nikki Presley
Morton, Amber N.
Moten, Keith J.
Muntz, Sean D.
Nelson, David C.
Ozawa, Russell
Park, Diane Y.
Rahn, Scott E. Rosen, Roger
Roshan, Benazeer (Benny)
Rummel, Blake A.
Russakow, Mark L.
Sacks, Robert N.
Sallus, Marc L.
Schindler, Trudi
Schomer, Scott P.
Shapiro, David A.
Shea, David B.
Sherak, David
Sosa, Steven C.
Stein, Matthew G.
Sternberg, Terence M.
Streisand, Adam F.
Streltzer, Adam
Swan, Rebekah
Tan, Lisa
Taylor, Joshua D.
Terzian, Edward A.
Van Brunt, Nicholas J.
Vidal, Gabrielle A.
Wickers, Rodney W.
Wolf, Kenneth S.
Wrenshall, Mathew M.
Wright, Lauriann
Yamamoto, Eric R.
Zuckerman, Michael J.
Acosta, Megan S.
Agran, Michael C.
Aikenhead, David S.
Alexander, Lisa C.
www.jaklelaw.com
Ambrecht, John W.
Asher, Afshin A.
Baker, Brad N.
Barnett, Leslie A.
Bawden, Elizabeth A.
Bazikyan, Arminé
Birmingham, Rebecca
Bishop, Leah M.
Borofsky, Gary M.
Bradford, Christopher T.
Braiker-Gordon, Bonnie
Brandlin, Brian R.
Brooke, Darrell G.
Brown, Matt
Bursk, Bonnie Marie
Byrne, John M.
Catalino, Cynthia
Chae, Chang H.
Chou, Brian Y.
Coleman, David
Cox, Cynthia R.
Crane, Kathleen D.
Cutrow, Allan B.
Daff, Leslie R.
De Francisco, Jeffrey
Dehesa, Rennee
Dominick, Thomas W.
Doyle, Mark C.
Drucker, Joelle M. CONTINUED
Edsall, David
Eisen, Jeffrey K.
Elbaz, David J.
Feinman, Abby
Feldman, Yacoba Ann
Finestone, William
Flaig, Donald W.
Forster, Jonathan S.
Frimmer, Paul N.
Fu, Jennifer C.
Gaulke, Paul
Geida, Jeffrey P. Goel, Monica
Gordon, Peta-Gay
Grebe, Sibylle
Guterman, Barry L.
Hall, Jane Beaumont
Handy, Nelson J.
Harper, Tamara
Hartmann, Wendy E.
Hartnell, Bryan
Hawekotte, Angela Hoffman, Paul Gordon
Hopkins, Esther
Horspool, J. David
Hymes, Larry S.
Johnson, Christopher B.
Johnston, Carol A.
Kabrins, Ronald M.
Kanin, Paul R.
Kass, Gail Diane
Katzenstein, Andrew M.
Keesey, Deborah
Kil, Angela
Klapach, Tali Z.
Klinger, Leslie S.
Kossoff, Kenneth
Kundani, Lalit
Leese, James K.
Levitch, Burt
Loeb, Jeffrey M.
Macdonald, Bruce M.
Magasinn, Michael L.
Magasinn, Vicki Fisher
Magee, Scott R. Martin, Agnes Ordubegian
Mashian, Fred
Masteller, Kira S. Mc Jilton, Willow A.
Meyer, Charles D. Moore, Kevin J. Mouradian, Maggie
Mulrooney, Michele M.
Nassar, William M.
Neumann, Martin A.
Noyes, Kristine M.
Offenheiser, Michael J. Passman, Josh
Pearson, Edward F.
Peebles, Jane
Pelavin, Alyse N. Pershing, Richard W. S.
Peters, Carol A.
Phillips, Mark J.
Pierson, Elizabeth T. Pitzer, Gloria S.
Port, Mitchell A.
Price, R. Sam Prouty, Erin L.
Rehmani, Suzanne Retz, Linda J.
Roehl, Cynthia
Rogers, Jr., John T.
Salvo, Alice A.
Sandoval, Dennis M.
Sawday, Jennifer
Schaller, Gordon A.
Schroff, Rebecca L.T.
Schwartz, David P.
Shore, Sussan H.
Slater, Calvin A.
Smith, Paul K.
Soffer, David
Solarz, Neil
Spiro, Randy M.
St. Clair, Grace G.
Staker, Kevin G.
Standing, Brian H.
Stern, Ellis R.
Stern, Marc M.
Strauss, Robert E.
Swatik, Mark
Tatiyants, Sona A.
Thyne, Rebecca J.
Tobisman, Stuart P.
Torii, John S.
Trytten, Steven E.
VanConas, Kendall A.
Varela, Michael P.
Vollmer, Michael V.
Weiner, Christine C.
Weintraub, William M.
Wells III, H. Neal
Wong, Wei C.
Yaroslow, Gerald M.
Young, Christopher P.
Yu, Jacqueline
Zabner, Jeffrey
Zwicker, Laura A.
Abernathy, Christopher R.
Amen, Shani Braffman
Andrews, Ashley A.
Arnold, III, Thurman W.
Atighechi, Maryam
Bagby, Douglas A.
Baghdaserians, Patrick
Balian, Andrea Fugate
Barnett, Stephanie M.
Barsegian, Ana
Bayati, Brian A.
Benavente, Robert A.
Bennett, Leon F.
Berenji, Hossein F.
Bertet, Marc André
Block, Carrie
Blum, Stephanie I.
Bohen, Mary Catherine M.
Bollinger, Jeffrey
Borsky, Robert
Brandon, Lisa E.
Brandt, Robert C.
Breddan, Matthew A.
Briggs, Steven E.
Brot, Ronald F.
Brown, Karen S.
Bryan, Sharon A. S-52
Bui, Bichhanh (Hannah)
Burch, Robert
Burt, Nancy L. S-9
Buttacavoli, Matthew S.
Castillo, Gina M.
Chason, John B.
Chazan, Alana T.
Chinen, Richard L.
Chroman, Steven
Chung, Austin H. Clunen, Kathryn E.
Cogan, Ram F.
Cooperman, Bruce E.
Cowhig, John S.
Curtin, Judi A.
Davisson, Daniel
DeBiase, Shannon M.
DeCarolis, Jr., Patrick
Djordjevich, Christina
Dockstader, Janet S-52
Dolnick, Keith E.
HENRY LEE LAW OFFICE
3731 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 930
Los Angeles, CA 90010
PH: (213) 382-0955
FX: (212) 382-0956
S-6, S-9
Donahoe, Karen Phillips
Donnelly, Douglas R.
Dresben, Fred C.
Dujan, Sonia B.
Durant, James A.
Eisenberg, Donald S.
Eisfelder, Robert W. S-53
Eliaser, James R.
Ellicott, Vernon
Epstein, Larry
Espinoza Browne, Stella
Fields, Crystal Hayes S-35
Fingerett, Wallace S. S-9
Fishbein, Gary
Fisher, Michael A.
CONTINUED ON PAGE S-38
Henry Lee carefully listens to his clients to learn, identify and help them achieve their ideal desired outcomes. Henry has supported the local Los Angeles community for over 30 years, providing trial representation for employees in their claims for unpaid wages, discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination. As an advocate for Asians, small businesses and disadvantaged clients of all backgrounds, Henry’s trial experience has helped hundreds of victims balance their lives and overcome legal turmoil.
Henry’s passions include golf, global travel with his family and renewable energy. He is a renowned international speaker on topics including climate, sustainability and energy technology and has presented to audiences including The White House, Department of Energy, NASA, The United Nations, British Parliament, Italian Parliament, and the governments of United Arab Emirates, India, Philippines and Cambodia.
Hagopian, Diana D.
Kiriakidis, Lisa
Foley, John A.
Frank, Debra S.
Freitas, Karen C.
Friedlander, Michele Cobin
Gantman, Robert
Garcia, Vincent B.
Garelick, Marc H. S-2
Garikian, Ani M.
Gelbart, Saul M.
Gibbs, Kevin
Gillespie, Kate E.
Gilligan, John J.
Ginsberg, Larry A.
Ginzburg, Alexander R.
Ginzburg, Olga
Glass, David J.
Glavin, IV, William P.
Glucksman, William J.
Gold, Aimee H.
Gold, Daniel R.
Goldman, Laurence R.
Goldwater, Douglas K.
Goodman, Diane
Grager, Alex S-9
Granowitz, Richard A.
Graves, Demetria
Green, Megan E. S-9
Greene, Vicki J.
VICKI J. GREENE
www.vgreenelaw.com
Greenwald, Jeffrey L.
Gross, Mark P.
Haapala, Michael J.
Halaby, Noelle M.
Hallett, James M.
Hammers, Barbara
Hanasab, Michael B.
Harris, Suzanne
Hatherley, Douglas A.
Hensel, Donald J.
Herring, Gregory
Hersh, Neal Raymond Hittelman, Steven G.
Hoffer, Jeffrey
Hoglin, Christopher L. S-27
CHRISTOPHER L. HOGLIN
www.hoglinlaw.com
Holmes, Robert K. Holstrom, Dayn A.
Hoover, Sarah J. Horacek, Kayla K.
Howe, Lori A. Hunter, Bret H.
Imerman, Jeff Itzkowitz, Evan C. Jacinto, R. Ross
Jacobson, Jeffery S.
Jaffe, Daniel J.
Jamra, Basel G.
Jamra, Grace A.
Jeang, Evie P.
Jessner, Gregory W. Kane, Paula
Kaplan, Janet Katz, Michelle
Kaufman, Stephen Khanna, Nitasha
Kiley, Anne C.
Klausner, Andrew
Kleeman, Dena A. S-54
Klein, Samantha
Kline, Jeremy B. S-9
Klopert, Scott M.
Koch, William A.
Kutinsky, Laurence A.
Land, Joseph
Landesman, Laura
Langlois, Joseph A.
Laurent, Donna A.
Lauzon, Peter A.
Lazarus, Steven W.
Lazor, John Adam
Lee, Sheldon
Leichter, Alexandra
Lepak, Brian P.
Lerner, Marc
Levine, Marci R.
Levy, Avi
Lipsic, Adam Philip
Loftin, A. Stephanie
Loo, Lori A.
Loos, Joan E.
Lopez, Eve
Lowy, Dana S-2
Malatesta, Ian
Mandles, Melanie D.
Mannis, Joseph
Mansfield, Baden V.
Marticorena, Casey J.
Martinez, Diana L.
McAlarnen, Julie
McCall, Lisa R.
McGaughey, Erin
McNamara, Teresa
Medina, Randy W. S-54
Melcher, Christopher
Mendell, Sandra
Meyer, Lisa Helfend S-2
Meyers, Felicia R. S-2
Mindel, Steven A. S-6, S-9 Minyard, Mark E.
Mioni, Lovette T.
Moder, Ann
Monarch, David R. Moore, Brian M.
Moore, II, Paul F.
Morris, Michael A.
Moss, Chandra L.
Munoz, Janice Murawski, Roberta L.
Murphy, Ryan Patrick
Myers, Sterling E. Nathans, Michael H.
Nellis, Vanessa Soto
Nelson, Paul Nesburn, Judith C.
Neumann, Kathy
Nia, Firoozeh “Faye” Oakman, Karen
Olson, Doreen Marie S-2
Park, Ji
Park, Susan S.
Parke, James R.
Parvex, Jr., Guy C.
Pedersen, Craig S. S-2
Petkin, Lauren S.
Phillips, Patricia
Phillips, Stacy D.
Pines, Cari M. Placencio, Denise
Pondel, Rose
Provinziano, Alphonse F.
Rale, Ronald A. Ratinoff, Joanne D.
Ravden, Debra Reape, James P.
Reitshtein, Ron
Rickert, Kelly Chang
Rios, Christi D. Robinson, Emily F.
Rogers, Dorie A.
Rombro, S. Roger S-21
Rosenberg, Charles
Ross, Terry L. Roxas, Sandy K. Royce, Kristina C.
Ryden, William S. Saei, Atousa
Sale, Lisa A. Salick, Nicholas A.
Salinas, Sandra I. Salka, Fern Topas Santucci, Robyn C.
ROBYN C. SANTUCCI
www.santuccifamilylaw.com
Sarieh, Wail
Schanz, Adam N.
Schibel, Robert L. Schwartz, Jason M.
Schwartz, Link K.
Seastrom, Brian
Seastrom, Philip G.
Seide, George N. Seide, Lonnie K. Shaffer, Christina
Shear, Leslie Ellen
Shebby, David P.
Shepard, Courtney L.
Sheridan, M. Lynda
Shornick, Melanie
Shulman, Maya
Silberfeld, Ashley M.
Silver, Michael J.
Simpson, Thomas L. S-9
Skarin, Matthew K.
Slevin, Hillary
Slusser, Anne Nakornratana S-2
Smurda, Matthew
Soodik, Lynn
Spector, Samantha F.
Spiegel, Lance S.
Spirito, Jr., Joseph P.
Stanley, Robert W.
Stanton, Harold J. S-56
Stearns, Ryan
Stegmeier, Eleanor A.
Stein, Ellyn J.
Stenzel, Anh N.
Stitch, Ronald K.
Strunk, Kerri L.
Sturman, Jeff M.
Takesh Hallin, Fahi
Terrazas, III, Joseph R.
Thomas, Edward J.
Thomas, Kendra
Thompson, Byron C.
Torabi, Mitra
Tovstein, Marc S.
Treusch, Bradford L.
Trope, Michael L.
Tsong, Ralph
Tuttle, Thomas W.
Twining, Christine V.
Velen, Rozanna M. Waller, Marshall
MARSHALL WALLER www.feinbergwaller.com
Wallin, Taylor B.
Wallis, Kerry L. Walzer, Peter M.
Wasser, Laura A.
Webster, J. Michael Wegner, Talitha Davies
Weiss, Steven L.
Whisnant, Jacqueline A.
Whyte, Nicole
Wilkins, Michael
Witting, Susan
Wolf, Douglas J. Wyman, Brandon
Yamamoto, David K.
Yang, Elizabeth
Yoda, Steven K.
Young, Kenneth M.
Zipperman, Barbara Irshay
Zitser, Diana P. S-4
Zolla, Deborah Elizabeth
Zolla, Marshall S. Zonder, Lisa
Adams, Kevin A.
Cole, Brian H.
Grinblat, Tal
Grueneberg, Susan
Gurnick, David
Kurtz, Barry
Mohajerian, Al Solish, Jonathan
Weldon, Elizabeth M.
Abrishami, Emanuel Balaban, Daniel K.
Berkes, Robert H.
Cahn, Reuben C.
Cestero, Ricardo P.
Chapman, Robert S.
Cohen, Baruch Crowther, Robyn C.
Demirjian, Kris Esbenshade, Andrew A.
Glazier, Guy Hennigan, Brian J.
Holmes, Andrew B.
Kaba, Moez M. Katz, Jared M. Kelly, Patrick M. Kossoff, Alan R.
Lack, Walter J.
Lazenby, Richard A. Lytel, Diana P. MacIsaac, Suann C.
Malzahn, Scott M. Marcus, David C.
McNeil, Malcolm Melius, Amber
Parvaneh, Ali
Pauly, Andrew S. Pfister, Robert J. Ramey, John F. Salvaty, Paul B. Segal, Lawrence
Sergenian, David A. Smith, Stephen S.
Stone, Gregory E.
Thakur, Pamela Tahim
Voss, Jr., David C.
Werderitch, Lori L.
Wiener, Robert A. Wong Yang, Debra
Lombardo, Mana Elihu
Pinkney, John O.
Barta, Theresa Bookman, Lloyd A.
Cook, Emily J.
Cowdrey, Sean D. Fenton, Benjamin J.
Fenton, Henry
Fuller, Robert Garner, Craig B.
Hapak, Christopher
Hatch, David A.
Hellow, John R.
Henninger, David P.
Hersh, Sara E. Hooper, Patric
Jurkowitz, Nicholas D.
Kadzielski, Mark A.
Kase, Beth Klein, Eric A.
Levy-Biehl, Hope R.
Lovich, Richard A.
Lundy, Jr., Robert W.
Mackin, Sarvnaz (Miriam)
Marsden, Nina Adatia
McMahon, Raymond J.
Miller, Jeremy N.
Mills, John Alfred
Nelson, Harry
Neroni, Stacie K.
Oppenheim, Charles B.
Parkins Johnson, Christine
Polisky, Robert
Rifenbark, Richard K.
Rogers-Aberman, Karlene J.
Sedley, Alan J.
Senelick, Devin M.
Shayan, Shadi
Stephenson-Laws, Joy
Ung, Diane
von Behren, William E.
Weinberg, Herbert L.
Willick, Daniel H.
Zill, Stacey L.
Arzani, Nassim
Asherson, Neville S-41
Ayala, John
Connolly, Devin M.
Damast, Sabrina
Darbinian, Anna S-41
Dayzad, Navid
Ehrenpreis, Jeffrey
JEFFREY EHRENPREIS EHRENPREIS IMMIGRATION LAW
www.ralphehrenpreis.com
Feder, Tiffany E.
Gambourian, A. Ashley
Haghighi, David M.
Haight, Catherine
Han, Susan S.
Hanlon, Daniel P. Huang, Daniel T.
Ivener, Mark A. Jacobs, Robert F.
Khosravi, John Q. Lenhert, Amy
Lucas, Cynthia Miller, Samuel
Nalbandian, Sassoun
Nelson, John C.
Padilla, Annaluisa
Piscopo, Louis
Poole, Heather L.
Razi, Mike
Sanchez, Anibal
Worldwide representation since 1977
Nowhere is this truer than at the Immigration Law Firm of Asherson, Klein & Darbinian where attorneys thrive on taking complex legal cases. For 46 years, this respected throughout the U.S. and around the world—from individuals and families to small businesses and Fortune 500 companies.
Asherson, Klein & Darbinian attorneys specialize in all aspects of immigration law and are known to utilize creative and cutting-edge solutions to immigration problems. Acknowledged by their peers with MartindaleHubbell’s® AV Preeminent® rating and selections to Super Lawyers, the lawyers’ expertise encompasses consular, immigration and federal law, including the representation of employers, employees, professionals, investors, asylum-seekers, individuals facing deportation and/or removal, criminal aliens seeking post-conviction
relief, and foreign nationals with appellate and federal litigation issues.
Senior partner Neville Asherson, an accomplished and internationally renowned attorney, has successfully championed immigrant rights for businesses and individuals alike. Managing partner Anna Darbinian has served as an immigration expert witness and is in immigration and nationality law—a testament to
Association (Immigration and International Section executive committees) and American Immigration Lawyers Association.
“IMPOSSIBILITY IS A WORD FOUND ONLY IN THE DICTIONARY OF FOOLS.” – NAPOLEON
Shusterman, Carl Silver, Darren
Stone, Lincoln L.
Tasoff, Richard Thomas, Gihan
Vashistha, Anish
Wolfsdorf, Bernard P.
Zhang, May
Abelson, Michael Bruce
Aguilera, A. Eric
Andrews, Joseph
Arnold, Larry Barbanel, Alan H.
Bark, Brian Z. Bassell, Torsten M.
Beck, Kelley K. Bidart, Michael J. S-5, S-6 Blau, David
Brower, Steven Brown, Ethan J.
Bruchey, Samuel S-5
Calkins, Mary Craig
Carmel, Rina
Cohen, Adrienne D.
Cohen, Alexander
Cohen, Michael L.
Cohen, Nancy S.
Cohn, Stephan S.
Corby, Travis M. S-5
Crane, Steven M.
Crittenden, Danica S-5
Crosner, Shaun H.
Danskin, Samuel M. Darras, Frank N.
Echeverria, Ricardo S-5
Edson, Eldon S. Eli, Daniel
Ellison, Michael W.
Erigero, Stephen J. Ezra, David B.
Ezra, Erin Mindoro Feingold, Erik B.
Ford, Caroline Hurtado
Gauntlett, David A.
Gray, Gary S. Green, Jodi S. Hansen, Lisa Kralik
Horrow, Michael B.
Israel, Mark Jones, Dennis Neil
Kalvestran, Jennifer C.
Kaneshiro, Wynn C.
Keehn, Robert F.
Kent, Ronald D. Kornfeld, Linda D.
Kosten, Ilya A. LaHendro, Gary L.
Lampkin, Lisa Leichenger, Sheryl W.
Lemieux, James P.
McInnis, Terrence R.
McKennon, Robert J.
Messner, Steven Michail, Maureen M.
Miguel, Michael Moriarty, Denis J.
O’Hanlon, Matthew B.
Oshinsky, Jerold Palmer, Pamela A. Pasich, Kirk Rees, Robert A.
Sacro, Jennifer Yu
Scheidemantle, David R.
Schneider, Spencer A.
Schrieffer, Paul K.
Scott, Robert K.
Selman, Neil
Shaneyfelt, David A.
Shernoff, William M. S-5
Simon, Craig S.
Sinnott, Randolph P.
Smith, Phillip E.
Smith, Stephen E.
Susolik, Edward
Thayer, Sandra Smith
Thomas, Scott S.
Thornton, Jr., Timothy M.
Tittmann, Raymond
Waisman, Sonia S.
Watnick, Kenneth D.
Weisberg, Gene A.
Wollitz, Howard N.
Woods, Pamela
Abel, David B.
Abrams, Ronald P.
Antoine, Heather A.
Barsky, Wayne
Briggs, Jeffrey C.
Canady, Karen S.
Cislo, Daniel M.
Cohen, Michael N.
Demirjian, Sevag
Ellrod, Anthony J.
Gabor, David R.
Goldstein, Mark
Goodman, Eric
Grabell, J. Alison
Grace, Michael K.
Greaves, Deborah E.
Hamideh, Bassil A.
Hamilton, Jennifer Hansen, Scott R. Hartmans, Eric Eagle
Heller, Susan L.
Keats, Anthony M. Keshishian, Milord
Murphey, Matthew D.
Perkowski, Peter E. Pritikin, Lance M.
Raphael, Jordan
Renfro, Aaron L.
Saivar, Jesse
Schnider, David A. Supnik, Paul D. S-56
Thompson, Ph.D., Sandra P.
Wald, Jane Shay Weinberg, Steven M. Yang, David Yedidsion, Pejman PJ Yoo, Timothy B.
Adler, Michael S. Arledge, Christopher W.
Armond, Michelle
Aronoff, David Baker, Ryan G. Bandlow, Lincoln D.
Barquist, Charles S.
Berger, Dorian S. Berman, Rod S.
Berstein, David A. Bigman, Bennett A.
Birnholz, Richard M. Bjorgum, A. Eric Bocchieri, Breton
Bonder, Todd W.
Brennan, Sterling A.
Brenner, Lee S.
Brown, Jr., William J. Brutzkus, Mark D.
Burson, Laura M.
Capoccia, Rachel M.
Carsten, Eric J. Cordrey, Gregory S.
Cunningham, Kelly W.
Dauchot, Luke L. de Bodo, Richard
de Gyarfas, Victor S. Delgado, William A.
DeVries, Michael W. Doniger, Stephen Dowling, Alan
Eichmann, Jeff Finkelstein, Mark A. Finn, Jeffrey A. Frackman, Russell J.
Franklin, Darren Frischling, Gary N.
Gerber, Seth M.
Gignac, J. Paul Gindler, David
Glasser, Lisa Sharrock
Goldberg, Perry M. Goldman, Jeffrey D.
Goldman, Jeremy
Grace, David W. Graves, Philip J. Grossbardt, Jonah A. Haberny, Sandra L.
Hankin, Marc E. Hattenbach, Benjamin W.
Hoffman, Adam S.
Holmes, James J.S. Iancu, Andrei Iser, Lawrence Y.
Johnson, Douglas L. S-1
Kagan, Jonathan S.
Kobulnick, Jeffrey A.
Korn, Gregory P.
Kroeger, Paul A. Kump, Michael J.
Lang, Marina L.
Lapple, Matthew Ledahl, Brian D.
Lee, Irene Y.
Lee, Mark S. Lesowitz, Scott M. Lord, John Lowenstein, Nathan N.
Mankey, Caroline H. Mayer, Marc E.
McFarland, Larry W.
McPhie, David Melnik, Roman
Miller, Scott R.
Miller, Todd R. Mirell, Douglas Mirzaie, Reza Mizrahi, Mark B.
Moss, Aaron J. Olson, Jeffrey M. Pagnanelli, Karin
Petrich, Louis P. Pietrini, Jill M.
Rane, Tracy B.
Raygor, Kent R.
Re, Joseph R. Rome, Eugene Rotstein, Robert H.
Russ, Larry C.
Ruttenberg, Guy Samuels, Mark A.
Sganga, Jr., John B. Shaeffer, John J. Srinivasan, Kalpana
Steinsapir, Jonathan
Thigpen, Jordanna
Thomas, Jeffrey T.
Tokoro, Jason H.
Torres, Diana
Tran, John D.
Tripodi, II, Paul D.
Turner, Ellisen S.
Van den Bosch, Carlo F.
Van Loon, Erica J.
Veregge, Peter S.
Vick, Kevin L.
Vidal, Thomas H. Viscounty, Perry J.
Wang, Benjamin T.
Wesley, Keith
Wilson, Dennis L.
Zeller, Michael T.
Zerounian, Raffi V.
Daar, Jeffery Darraby, Alexandra
Fasel, Thomas A. Leon de la Barra, Mauricio
Margolis, Mike
Abshez, Allan
Block, Alan Robert
Fogg, Andrew K.
Fraijo Jr., Alfred
Gaines, Fred
Glushon, Robert L.
Goldberg, David A.
Goldsmith, Dale
Jamieson, Stephen A.
Mamalakis, Damon P.
Merewitz, Seth Paster, Elisa L.
Reznik, Benjamin M.
Rosenthal, Deborah M.
Tepper, R. Bruce Truman, Kathleen O’Prey
DeCarolis, Matthew E.
Myers, Shayla
Bostwick, Gary
Glassman, Anthony M. Jassy, Jean-Paul
Niborski, Michael J. Sager, Kelli L.
Schumann, Kim
Wickers, IV, Alonzo
Apfelberg, Andrew M.
Berman, Joel J.
Braun, Lawrence M.
Cohen, Jeffrey H. Duboff, Allan B. Layne, Jonathan K.
Le Pore, III, Vincent J. Loss, James W.
McCarthy, Brian J.
Sands, David H.
Shaw, Kevin A. Skaist, Mark L.
Stemler, Robert
Tenner, Erin Weinstein, Joel Woronoff, Michael A.
Abrams, Jeffrey
Bergman, Beth S.
Cafferata, Reynolds T.
Choi, William C.
Glick-Atalla, Heather
Peiffer, II, John C.
Rieman, Arthur M.
Seton, Kent E.
Behar, Jeffrey S.
Braun, Jeff I.
Everett, III, Seymour B.
Gramling, Kevin J.
Harber, Stephen M.
Kaiser, Raymond
Marlatt, Michael J.
Padilla, Arturo
Pasarow, Stephen C.
Popovich, Jerry C.
Saroukhanioff, Ninos
Smith, Andrew O.
Sutton, Michael S.
Waterkotte, Grant D.
Abir, Danny
Abkarian, Albert S-23
Abron, Byron (B.J.)
Adams, III, John C.
Agnew, Jr., Gerald E.
Ahdoot, Alan
Aitken, Ashleigh E.
Aitken, Christopher R.
Aitken, Wylie A.
Akiva, Michael A.
Alder, Michael
Algorri, Ernest P.
Algorri, Mark Ananian, Garen
Apelian, Mark D. Archer, Steven D.
Ardalan, P. Christopher
Arzani, Sherwin S.
Asvar, Christopher A.
Azizi, David
Bahan, Cornelius “Neil”
Ball, Stephen C.
Bamieh, Ron
Banafsheh, H. Sean Barrett, Joseph M.
Baruch, Joel Bausch, Natalie A.
Beck, Ronald
Becker, Todd S-19
Ben-Cohen, Pejman
Bentley, Gregory L.
Bernard, Stephen
Binder, Richard C. Binder, Warren J. Biren, Matthew B.F.
Broillet, Bruce A. S-6, S-7
Bruno, Angela E.
Bruno, Keith J. Bulger, James A. Burns, Nigel
Callahan, Kevin K.
Carpenter, John C. Casey, Ryan
Casillas, Arnoldo
Chakmakis, George Chambers, Gary
Chang, Deborah Charchian, Benjamin Chase, Brian Cherepinskiy, Dmitriy
Christian, Sarah L. Chudacoff, Gregory S.
Cifarelli, Thomas Clark, Matthew C.
Clayton, Robert R.
Cohen, Bob M. Cohn, David K. Cohn, Jason D. Corwin, Scott J. Daglian, Gary K.
Douglas, Carl E.
Doyle, Conal
Drake, Benjamin
Drake, Roger D.
Dubin, Eric J.
Dunbar, Daniel W.
Easton, Brian W.
Easton, Matthew D.
Easton, W. Douglas
Effres, Steven B.
El Dabe, S. Edmond
Ellis, Andrew
Ellis, Tobin D. S-11
Ercolani, Russ W.
Ernst, Don A.
Etehad, Simon P.
Farar, Justin B.
Farzam, Joseph
Feher, Thomas S.
Fielding, Clark H.
Finaldi, Vince W.
Finnerty, Robert W.
Fiore, Jr., Mauro
Folinsky, Marni B.
Fornos, Mayra
Freeman, Stan H.
www.biren.com
Bloomfield, Todd
Bobrosky, David B. Bonholtzer, Eric C.
Booth, Roger Boyle, Kevin R.
Brandt, Brian Breiter, Brian
Brenner, Lauri
Brenner, Robert A.
Brock, Cameron Y.
Brockmeier, John A.
Danesh, Kevin Daniels, William A. Davidson, Laura Davis, Allan F.
Davis, Steven D.
De Armas, Lourdes
De Los Reyes, Anthony
Deason, Edward J. Dempsey, Thomas M.
Dervishian, Abraham Djivre, Alexis B.
Dominguez, Juan J.
Dordick, Gary A.
Ganong, Philip W.
Garcia, D. Bryan
Gasparian, Martin
Gezerseh, Rachel
Ghatan, Sharen H.
Ghozland, Michael S-33
Gibson, Robert B.
Gilbert, Daniel M. 310-553-0350
Glantz, William John
Glotzer, Joshua W.
Goldberg, Barry P.
Goldberg, Terry M.
Goldfarb, Adam S. S-53
Graham, Daniel Greene, Browne S-7
Greenman, Jeffrey
Gross, Arnold W. Habbas, Samer
Haffner, Joshua
Hagan, Christopher J.
Hanumadass, Srinivas
Harris, Ryan D.
Haselhoff, Otto L.
Hashemi, Majid
Heimanson, Ilan
Heiting, James O. Hernandez, Elizabeth
Hickey, Geoffrey S.
Hicks, Aaron Hiepler, Mark O.
Homampour, Arash
Howard, John H.
Howard, Vincent
Howell, Jonathan E.
Hurwitz, Brian Hutchinson, Nicholas M.
Jackson, Mitch
Jalilvand, Kamelia
Jaramillo, C. Mario
Jarchi, Robert D. S-7
Jarchi, Sarina Marie
Johnson, Casey R.
Johnson, Daniel W.
Johnston, Thomas J.
Jossen, Sanford
Kahn, Robert
Kanarek, Martin Karns, Michael
Karns, William
Kasparian, Aghavni V. Kaufman, Martin J.
Kazerouni, Mohammad R. (Mike)
Khorshidi, Omid Kiesel, Paul R.
Kim, Tae-Yoon
Kimura, Joshua M. Kirby, Aimee
Kitsinian, Nareg S. Klein, Candice S.
Kohan, Nicholas P.
Kornberg, Howard
Kramer, Daniel K.
Krissman, Joel Kubota, Yoshiaki
Lagstein, Eran Lalezari, Babak
Lallande, M. Lawrence Lamb, Jeffrey
Lanzetta, Tobin S-7
Lari-Joni, Nicole Lederer, David Ledger, Emery B.
Lee, Daniel J. Lewis, James W.
Liddy, Donald G. Lucas, Spencer
Lucich, Clare H.
Lundy III, Albro L. Madeksho, Christopher L.
Malyan, Christina Mandell, Laurence
Mandell, Robert J.
Manly, John C. Manouchehri, Sahm Marcus, Gerald S-54
Mardirosian, Margarit K.
Mardirossian, Garo
Margolin, William Mitchell
Marzban, Michael M.
Masry, Louanne
McCann, Shawn J. McClean, Wayne
McCormack, Brian J.
McElroy, Stephen K.
McMurray, Randy H.
McNally, Frank R. McNicholas, Patrick
Montes de Oca, Christopher
Moore, Thomas M.
Morrell, III, Rivers J.
Morris, Jr., James A. Movagar, Nick T.
Nazarian, Joseph
Nelson, Brian S.
Nevell, Todd F.
Nolan, Patrick
Novak, Sean M. S-55
Ohanian, Raffi H.
Olan, David R. Omofoma, Ese
Osborn, Timothy M.
Ounjian, Robert J.
Owen, Gregory
Paoli, William
Papanikolas, Demetrios
Papell, Ronald M.
Parker, Michael R.
Parris, R. Rex
Parris, Robert A.
Pazargad, Manee
Peck, Christopher
Penn, Michael A.
Perlstein, John J.
Pirozzi, Darren
Pocrass, James L. S-6, S-55 Poursalimi, Payam
Prentice, Chad M. Puchalt, Ivan S-7
Pulverman, Martin E.
Pulverman, Raymond J.
Rafii, Daniel J. Ramey, Christa Haggai
Ramon, Justina Ramsey, Hadi Edward
Randolph, Donald C.
Rashtian, Mason Ravipudi, Rahul
Reinard, David J.
Reza, Pierce I. Riccobono, Santo S-11
Riley, Grant K. Ring, David M.
Ritsema, Scott Robbins, Clay
Roberts, Jeffrey
Robinson, Jeoffrey L.
Rodriguez, Daniel
Rosen, Stephen Rudman, Jeffrey Ryan, Andrew
Saadian, Bobby Saghian, Edwin Sardarbegian, Henrik
Savin, Adam J. Sayre, Federico C. Seck, Ibiere N. Sedrish, Laura Frank
Shaffer, Douglas
Shapiro, Andrew L. Shapiro, William D.
Sheldon, Daniel
Sherman, Andre Sheth, Samir
Shirvanian, Narbeh
Shy, Kenneth Simon, Brad M. Simon, Robert T.
Sitzer, Andrew D. Smith, Benjamin J. Soong, Danny C. S-15
Steele, Eugenia L. Steinberger, Jeffrey
Stern, Morris M. 310-553-0350
Strongin, Eric Sullivan, Jerold (Gene)
Swartzon, Saar Sweat, Steven M. Tabibian, Sam Taillieu, Maura Taillieu, Olivier Tan, Carolyn Tannenbaum, Oz Taylor, John C.
Tedford, II, James R.
Torkzadeh, Reza Toscano, Oscar E. Traut, Eric V.
Traut, James R. Treyzon, Boris Tutuyan, Aslin
Vahdat, G. Amy Vahdat, Sasan (Sean)
Van Gelder, Alan S-7
Van Order, William
Vanni, Gregory R. Vaziri, Siamak
Wacker, Ted B.
Waks, Michael D. Wallace, Bradley S. Weatherford, Natalie
Weck, Cory R. Wegman, Atticus N.
Weinstein, Zev Y.
Weissman, I.Donald
Wells, Geoffrey S. S-6, S-7
West, Michelle Marie
Wheeler, Alexander R.
Wheeler, Timothy J. S-7
Whitehead, Ronnivashti
Williams, Antoine D.
Wolf, Jeffrey
Wright, Andrew L.
Yahoudai, Yosi
Zaret, Thomas C.
Zograbian, Erik
Zukor, Abram C.
Connely, Mark B.
Corson, Paul M.
Daehnke, Patricia Egan
DeHaas, Louis (Duke) H.
Fraser, Stephen C.
Gonzalez, Michael D.
Haskins, Angela S.
Hewitt, Stephen L.
Kelly, John C.
Lee, Tina E.
McAndrews, Thomas F.
McKenna, III, Robert L.
Poliquin, Mark
Reback, Robert C.
Stark, Edward C.
Thelen, Dennis R.
Walker, Jeffrey A.
Warford, Robert K.
Blumberg, John P.
Brown, Alan C. Bunch, Bruce M.
Burke, Sean M. Cohn, Richard A.
Donahue, Thomas
Hapuarachy, Shane
Heimberg, Steven A.
Hodes, Daniel Martin
Ikuta, Benjamin Kramer, M.D., Bradley I.
Lew, Jin N.
McMahan, Carl A. McMillan, William
Michels, Philip
Milman, Jeffrey A.
Oran, Michael
Petoyan, Marcus
Raynes, Jeffrey S. Silberberg, Marshall
MARSHALL SILBERBERG
www.silberberglaw.com
Walkon, Craig
Weinberg, Steven J.
Calareso, Christine D. Cosgrove, Philip R.
Cronin, Justin
Goldberg, Karen B.
Hua, Raymond
Larson, Arnold D.
McNulty, Elizabeth V.
Milbrodt, Jeremy D.
Santana, Carmen
Schatz, Jr., Russell W. Sipprelle, Keith A.
Spangler Khare, Viiu
Warren, Sheldon J.
Whitefield, Derek S.
Yoka, Walter M. S-31
Angarella, Steven V. Armitage, Michael
Aumais, Christopher T.
Brown, Eric Brusavich, Bruce M. Calcagnie, Kevin F.
Cathcart, Peter T.
Contreras, Erika
DeBlase, Patrick
Esfandiari, Bijan
Eyerly, Michael C.
Gonter, Jr., K. Robert Johnson, Raymond Paul
Kristensen, John
Lebovits, Moses
Liebeck, Kevin G. Lira, David R.
Lukei, Shannon M.
Michaels, Jonathan Montevideo, John A.
Padgette, Darrell M. Panish, Brian J.
Paul, Gary M.
Purdy, Stuart J.
Spagnoli, Christine D. S-6, S-7
Yuhl, Christopher P.
Bodenstein, Janette S.
Brodsky, Barry Z.
Cochran, Joan
Cole, Jonathan B.
Cole, Marshall R.
Curtis-Ives, Courtney E.
Gallardo, Tommy
Garner, Scott B.
Garrett, Robert
Ham, James I.
Hinds, Jr., Desmond J.
Matthai, Edith R.
McCarthy, Michael
Michel, Allen L.
Miller, Randall A.
Mulbarger, Mitchell F.
O’Meara, Frances M.
Pansky, Ellen A. S-55
Robinson, Jon D.
Saunders, Jennifer K.
Slyngstad, Charles E.
Sohal, Vikram
Stellwagen, Jr, Robert H.
Stewart, Brian K.
Waxler, Andrew J.
Wechsler, Zachary D.
Ackerman, Lee B.
Bradley, Elizabeth L.
Fields, Howard M.
Furman, Joshua R.
Glickman, Steven
Joyce, Erin
Makarem, Ron
Negrin, Matthew Parker, David B. Wilson, Mark B.
Abram, Steven Abril, Michael S. Ackerman, Michael S.
Adams, Adrian J. Arkow, Loryn Dunn
Arnold, Dennis B.
Arshonsky, Richard I.
Baker, Jr., William E.
Baradaran, Bob
Benjy, Bob Bloom, Steven N.
Bordy, Michael J. Bose, Erica A.
Bowerbank, John E.
Brackmann, Eve Breckheimer, Peter J.
Brody, Kevin J. Buchignani, Tony E.
Burris, Jason R. Burton, Kent
Butler, Jim
Caldwell, III, Thomas F. Carlson, Mark C. S-52
Case, Daniel A. Castelblanco, Eric E.
Cody, Marnie Christine
Cohen, Barry Corfield, Michael
Dargan, Christopher M.
Dreyfus, Caroline W.
Ecoff, Lawrence C.
Ehrhart, Kevin M.
Eisenberg, Mark S. Feldman, Lewis G.
Fields, Kenneth S.
Fileti, Thomas R.
Finkelstein, Henry D.
Fischer, Peter R. Forbes, Amy R.
Gilliland, Jr., Robert J.
Goetz, Jon E. Goodkin, Daniel L. Gordon, Marcia Z.
Graham, Alice
Gross, Jonathan S.
Grossfeld, Scott L.
Grushkin, Josh C. Guggenheim, Daniel B. Gutierrez, Javier F. Hamlin, Richard Hardwick, Craig D. Hawes, Eric
Hensley, W. Michael Heydt, Marybeth Hoefflin, Richard M.
Hummer, Laurence L.
Iaffaldano, Frank W.
Insul, Alan
Irons, John H. Iwasaka, Ryan M.T.
Jackson, F. Scott
Jackson III, William H.
Jacobson, Lawrence H.
Jimenez, Roy J.
Johnson, Stuart Juha, Damon M.
Kang, Brian H. Karavas, John D.
Kennerly, Nancy N.
Kiely, Michael J.
Kinnon, Kelly
Kirsh, Andrew T.
Klein, Michael S.
Koffman, Linda S.
Lamishaw, Matthew
Lanson, Don E.
Logue, Travis C.
Lorman, Bruce
Lurie, Steven Mackay, Lee D.
Maisnik, M. Guy
McFarlin, Timothy
Miller, Ken
Milman, Rachel S.
Minoofar, Pedram
Nicoletti, Mark
Packard, Carlisle G.
Pakfar, Nader
Paradise, Kate
Popowitz, Neil M.
Quigley, III, Edward F.
Rabkin, Michael W.
Rasmussen, Richard G.
Ravid, Nadav
R’bibo, Alain
Richardson, Kelly
Richman, James D.
Rips, Matthew
Rollman, Fredric
Roseman, Steven A.
Rosenberg, Robert
Roth, Peter J.
Roy, Dennis S.
Rutter, Paul S.
Schorr, Zachary
Sears, Jonathan
Seifert, Norbert
Shafron, Shelly Jay
Shapiro, Daniel
Sharf, Jesse
Shaw, Stacy G.
Shiner, Andrew
Shumener, Betty M.
Siegel, Leonard
Simkin, Michael
Stamato Imber, Juliana
Steckbauer, William W.
Stroffe, Jennifer V.
Strohman, Jr, Joseph L.
Stuart, Bruce C.
Sudeck, David
Swalwell, Chauncey M.
Tabibian, David
Taylor, Corey
Travillion, Tiffany N.
Treadwell, James
Tullius, Jennifer R.
Udell, Michael
Ulwelling, James K.
Valencia, Albert C.
Vesci, Adriana A.
Waldman, Ira J.
Walker, Paul R.
Ware, II, Thomas M.
Weil, Peter M.
Weinhart, Brian S.
Weissman, Seth
Westhoff, Pamela L.
Westreich, Benzion J.
Wiesel, Daniel
Williamson, Richard
Wolff, Steven G. Yashar, Pantea
Holman, Brian L.
McCune, Dana John
Smith, Ruben A. Tiffany, Marcy J.K.
Abdou, Mark Y.
Bellah Maguire, Jennifer
Cohen, Mitchell S. Noel, Gregg A.
Aidikoff, Philip M.
Aronson, Seth Bakhtiari, Ryan K.
Bartels, David T.
www.lawrencebartels.com
Buchwalter, Steve A.
Compton, Jeffrey K.
Durrant, John
Edmiston, Michael S.
Evans, Jonathan W.
Furgison, Jon C. Girard II, Robert J.
Glennon, Brian T. Gless, Michael M.
Hamilton, Joshua G.
Harrison, David
Hennigan, J. Michael
Johnson, Michele D.
Keesal, Jr., Samuel “Skip” A.
Mircheff, Alexander K.
Morris, Stanley
Morrison, Peter B.
Olivar, Jr., Harry A.
Palmer, Pamela S.
Privette, Howard M.
Reif, Brandon S.
Schneider, Marc J.
Stansbury, III, Bentley P.
Taggart, Craig A.
Tu, Michael
Tyukody, Jr., Daniel J.
Vanyo, Bruce G.
Varnen, Craig
Wagner, Avi
Weber, Robert D.
Weiner, Perrie M.
Young, Meryl L.
Aghai, Sima
Rohlfing, Lawrence D.
Aleshire, David J.
Carvalho, Sonia Rubio
Gadbois, Barbara R.
Olivarez, Rick R.
Wiener, Laurence S.
Niesley, Robert C.
Barish, Ken
Ben-Cohen, Pedram
Bowen, Justin
Brager, Dennis N.
Chung, Steven S. Cicione, Douglas D.
Dakessian, Marty Davis, Evan J.
Drabkin, Igor S.
Dyess, Jr., Robert W.
Gaswirth, Mitchell M.
Gilden, Robin C.
Giordano-Lascari, Thomas M.
Gitman, David
Givner, Bruce Holtz, David C.
Horii, Dwayne
Husband, B. Paul S-54
Johnson, Wayne R.
Kalinski, Jonathan
Karlin, Michael J.
Keligian, David L. Kessler, Warren (Skip)
Lager, Jacob
Landis, Samuel
Lee, Alexander M.
Mather, Steven R.
Mitchell, Burton A.
Moritz, Luc Morris, Michael R. Nardiello, Chad D.
Nazarian, Mayer
Nelson, Lisa O.
Newman, David Wheeler
Nitti, Thomas A.
Otero, Maria-Soledad
Rice, David Lee
Salkin, Avram
Saulino, Mark A.
Sczudlo, Paul A. Shaff, Michael E.
Shimoff, Paul M. Slavett, Gary M.
Stein, Jacob
Stein, Laurence J. Stein, Michel R.
Stigile, Cory
Swaidan, Karl I. Taylor, A. Lavar
Toscher, Steven R.
Turanchik, Lydia B.
Turanchik, Stephen J. Weiss, Michele F. L.
Weiss, Walter Zbylut, Gregory A.
Braun, Robert E.
Breyer, Amy A.
DeBre, Kevin D.
Cammarano, Dennis A.
Kehagiaras, Andrew
Lerner, Neil S.
Peacock, III, Albert E.
Piper, Glen R.
Shaffery, John H. Swain, Michael L.
Barry, Steven M. Beaton, Gifford G.
Berkowitz, Elliot S.
Burgis, Michael
Davidson, Kimberly
Dombchik, Adam D.
Feld, Benjamin
Fernandez, Abel H. Fields, Susan Eliasoff
Ford, Scott T.
Friedman, Lester J.
Ghitterman, Russell R.
Gonzalez, Jose
Goodchild, Jack S-53
Gurvey, Alan Z.
Hinden, Barry H. S-25
Jacobson, Jerry A. S-54
Kropach, William J. Ly, Geraldine
More, Keith P. Odjaghian, Tina
Richards, Joseph
Rossi, James A.
Savin, Jr., George J.
Sherry, Mark J.
Sherwin, Robert J. S-56
Snitzer, Alan B.
Stern, Lawrence
Stoody, Amy Menkes
Straatsma, B. Derek
Straussner, Aaron W.
Trejo, Beatriz A.
Vargas, Sean C.
Wallach, Cheryl L.
Wells IV, H. Neal
Yoro, James
Selected to Super Lawyers
PATRICIO T. D. BARRERA ATTORNEYS
Selected to Super Lawyers
SHADIE BERENJI BERENJI LAW FIRM, A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
CLASS ACTION/MASS TORTS
EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
Super Lawyers
Los Angeles Daily
Selected to Super Lawyers
BETI BERGMAN PENINSULA LAW, A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORPORATION
PROBATE & MEDIATION
Journal
Best Attorneys of America
Selected to Super Lawyers
DEBORAH BIRNDORF ZEILER BIRNDORF LAW OFFICES, APC
Selected to Super Lawyers
SHARON A. BRYAN LAW OFFICE OF SHARON A. BRYAN
Selected to Super Lawyers
MARK C. CARLSON CARLSON LAW GROUP, INC.
FAMILY LAW
EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: DEFENSE
ACFLS Newsletter; Family Law News;
REAL ESTATE
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY: DEFENSE
Selected to Super Lawyers
CHRISTINA M. COLEMAN LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTINA M. COLEMAN, APC
EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
BUSINESS LITIGATION EMPLOYMENT & LABOR
Selected to Super Lawyers
DAVID M. DERUBERTIS THE DERUBERTIS LAW FIRM, APC
Selected to Super Lawyers
JANET DOCKSTADER DOCKSTADER ORLICZKY
FAMILY LAW
EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
BUSINESS LITIGATION CLASS ACTION/MASS TORTS
Best Lawyers
Selected to Super Lawyers
ROBERT W. EISFELDER LAW OFFICES OF ROBERT W. EISFELDER
Selected to Super Lawyers
DOUGLAS J. EVERTZ
Selected to Super Lawyers
SANDFORD L. FREY LEECH TISHMAN
FAMILY LAW
GENERAL LITIGATION INSURANCE COVERAGE
EMINENT DOMAIN
LAND USE/ZONING
BANKRUPTCY: BUSINESS
CREDITOR DEBTOR RIGHTS BUSINESS LITIGATION
Selected to Super Lawyers
ROBERT E. GIPSON
PANCIONE
BUSINESS/CORPORATE
SECURITIES & CORPORATE FINANCE MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Selected to Super Lawyers
CYNTHIA E. GITT BROWN GITT LAW GROUP ALC
Selected to Super Lawyers
ADAM S. GOLDFARB GOLDFARB LAW
PERSONAL INJURY GENERAL: PLAINTIFF
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION: APPLICANT
ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION BUSINESS LITIGATION
Journal
Yale Law
Selected to Super Lawyers
Selected to Super Lawyers
Selected to Super Lawyers
JACK GOODCHILD
TODD HARRISON PERONA, LANGER, BECK, SERBIN AND HARRISON
CRIMINAL DEFENSE
CRIMINAL DEFENSE: WHITE COLLAR
KAREN L. GOLDSTEIN LAW OFFICES OF KAREN L. GOLDSTEIN cum laude magna cum laude
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY
PERSONAL INJURY GENERAL: PLAINTIFF
EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
EMPLOYMENT & LABOR
Selected to Super Lawyers
CHRISTINA HUMPHREY CHRISTINA HUMPHREY LAW, P.C.
Selected to Super Lawyers
B. PAUL HUSBAND
B. PAUL HUSBAND, A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
CLASS ACTION/MASS TORTS
EMPLOYMENT & LABOR
CONSUMER LAW
TAX
ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS BUSINESS LITIGATION
Selected to Super Lawyers
JERRY A. JACOBSON
P.C.
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
PERSONAL INJURY GENERAL: PLAINTIFF
Selected to Super Lawyers
DENA A. KLEEMAN
LAWYERS
Selected to Super Lawyers
STEPHEN LEVINE KNOX
Selected to Super Lawyers
DAVID S. LIN
LAW OFFICES OF DAVID S. LIN
FAMILY LAW
CRIMINAL DEFENSE
FAMILY LAW
Selected to Super Lawyers
GERALD MARCUS
THE LAW OFFICES OF GERALD L. MARCUS
Selected to Super Lawyers
PETER J. MCNULTY MCNULTY LAW FIRM
BUSINESS LITIGATION
INSURANCE COVERAGE BUSINESS/CORPORATE
PERSONAL INJURY GENERAL: PLAINTIFF
CIVIL LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
ELDER LAW
CLASS ACTION/MASS TORTS
Selected to Super Lawyers
RANDY W. MEDINA
LAW OFFICE OF RANDY W. MEDINA, APLC
FAMILY LAW
LITIGATION
Selected to Super Lawyers
ROBERT B. MOBASSERI LAW OFFICES OF ROBERT B. MOBASSERI, P.C.
Selected to Super Lawyers
BONITA D. MOORE MOORE RUDDELL LLP
Selected to Super Lawyers
CONSUMER LAW
LEMON LAW
Selected to Super Lawyers
SEAN M. NOVAK THE NOVAK LAW FIRM, P.C.
EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
BUSINESS LITIGATION INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LITIGATION
Selected to Super Lawyers
ELLEN A. PANSKY PANSKY MARKLE ATTORNEYS AT LAW
PERSONAL INJURY GENERAL: PLAINTIFF
EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF BUSINESS LITIGATION
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY: DEFENSE
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY: PLAINTIFF
Selected to Super Lawyers
DAVID ALBERT PIERCE PIERCE LAW GROUP LLP
Selected to Super Lawyers
DAVID H. PIERCE ASSOCIATES PC
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SECURITIES & CORPORATE FINANCE
CONSTRUCTION LITIGATION
BUSINESS LITIGATION GENERAL LITIGATION
EMINENT DOMAIN
LAND USE/ZONING REAL ESTATE
JOHN C. MURPHY The Best Lawyers of America
Selected to Super Lawyers
EMINENT DOMAIN
LAND USE/ZONING REAL ESTATE
JOHN S. PETERSON PETERSON LAW GROUP PC Super Lawyers The Best Lawyers in America Best Lawyers
Selected to Super Lawyers
JAMES L. POCRASS LLP
PERSONAL INJURY GENERAL: PLAINTIFF
PERSONAL INJURY PRODUCTS: PLAINTIFF AVIATION AND AEROSPACE
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 2023
Selected to Super Lawyers
JOE ROSE ROSE LAW APC
Selected to Super Lawyers
BILL SEKI
LLP
Selected to Super Lawyers
ROBERT J. SHERWIN LEWIS, MARENSTEIN, WICKE,
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
CRIMINAL DEFENSE
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
Selected to Super Lawyers
JOCELYN H. SICAT SICAT LAW
Selected to Super Lawyers
OMAR A. SIDDIQUI SIDDIQUI LAW APC
CRIMINAL DEFENSE
CIVIL LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
BUSINESS LITIGATION
GENERAL LITIGATION INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LITIGATION
Los Angeles City Firemen’s Grapevine
Selected to Super Lawyers
Selected to Super Lawyers
PAUL D. SUPNIK
LAW OFFICE OF PAUL D. SUPNIK
Selected to Super Lawyers
PAM TEREN TEREN LAW, P.C.
EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LITIGATION
ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS
Los Angeles Lawyer
FAMILY LAW
HAROLD J. STANTON STANTON LAW CORPORATION Law
Review
Where do I start my search for an attorney?
The Super Lawyers® list is comprised of the top 5% of attorneys in each state selected via a patented process that includes independent research, peer nominations, and evaluation.
The answer is SuperLawyers.com
© 2020 Thomson Reuters TR1229162/09-20
U Street Pizza
PASADENA » Pizza $$
There was a moment when U Street’s vodka pepperoni pie was a shining star of Instagram, and rightfully so: the why-haven’t-I-had-this-before combination of pepperoni and creamy vodka sauce is an easy win. Vegetable dishes, notably a Japanese eggplant with Calabrian chili agrodolce, are more than afterthoughts. Note that while the vodka pepperoni pie travels well, the clam pie is best enjoyed in-house. 33 E. Union St., 626-605-0340, or ustreetpizza.com. Full bar.
Black Market Liquor Bar
STUDIO CITY » New American $$
Some nights it seems as if half the Valley is here, enjoying the colorful patio. Top Chef graduate Antonia Lofaso’s Italian chops are visible in the buxom ricotta gnudi with brown butter and pistachios. The deep-fried fluffernutter sandwich is a reminder that food, like life, should not be taken too seriously. 11915 Ventura Blvd., 818-446-2533, or blackmarketliquorbar.com. Full bar.
The Brothers Sushi
WOODLAND HILLS » Sushi $$$
This hidden gem, reinvigorated when chef Mark Okuda took the helm in 2018, is worth traveling for. The excellent omakase is available in the restaurant, on the patio, or to go. You can also order à la carte or get non-sushi items like soy-glazed grilled chicken. 21418 Ventura Blvd., 818-456-4509, or thebrotherssushi.com. Beer, sake, and wine.
Hank’s BURBANK » Bagels $
The L.A. bagel revolution continues at this stylish spot that serves up carefully constructed sandwiches. Tomato, aioli, and maple-glazed bacon elevate a simple bacon, egg, and cheese, while a classic gravlax construction has thoughtful touches like salted cucumbers and pickled onions. Grab a tub of Hank’s “angry” spread—a spicy, slightly sweet concoction—to have in your fridge. 4315 W. Riverside Dr., 818-588-3693. Also at 13545 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, 818-588-3693, or hanksbagels.com. No alcohol.
Tel Aviv Authentic Kitchen
ENCINO » Middle Eastern $
Deeply comforting Israeli skewers, kabobs, and merguez come with a colorful and tasty array of salads showcasing produce like red cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, and pumpkin. The spicy sauces on the side work well with any- and everything. 17630 Ventura Blvd., 747-444-7001, or telavivkoshergrill.com No alcohol.
Ali’i Fish Company
EL SEGUNDO » Seafood $$
This small, unassuming spot shames all the glossy poke purveyors popping up around town to serve mediocre versions of the Hawaiian dish. Glistening cubes of tuna, flown in fresh from the Islands daily, remind you how great poke can be. The smokedahi dip with house-made potato chips is not to be missed. 409 E. Grand Ave., 310-616-3484. Also at 4437 Sepulveda Blvd., Torrance, 310-540-2323, or aliifishco.com. Beer and wine.
MANHATTAN BEACH » Seafood $$$
A premium raw bar near the beach shouldn’t be unusual, but it is. The same goes for velvety clam chowder; here, it achieves smoky richness—you can thank the Nueske’s bacon for that—without any of the floury glop. 1148 Manhattan Ave., 310-893-6299, or eatfwd.com. Full bar.
Little Coyote
LONG BEACH » Pizza $
That most amazing slice of pizza you had that one very drunken, late night in your early twenties in New York lives on . . . in Long Beach. The crust is carby perfection: tangy, crispy, thin but with a healthy puff. The concise menu doesn’t offer any revelations about what should be atop pizza but, instead, perfects the usual suspects. 2118 E. 4th St., 562-434-2009. Also at 3500 Los Coyotes Diagonal, 562-352-1555, or littlecoyotelbc.com. Beer and wine.
Ryla
HERMOSA BEACH » Eclectic $$$$
There is nothing fussy or pretentious about the menu at Ryla. The fried rice comes flecked with sweet Chinese sausage and pickled ginger and is buried in a thick dusting of shaved black truffles from Burgundy. Start a meal with Hokkaido milk bread with fish roe-nori spread and make your way down the menu to a main dish like the grilled New Zealand Tai snapper that comes in a pool of lime-coconut broth with mussels, daikon, and Fresno chiles. 1220 Hermosa Ave., 424-247-9881, or eatryla.com. Full bar.
WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS. PLEASE EMAIL US AT LETTERS@LAMAG.COM
theater and showroom on Longwood Avenue. “We played in the stream as kids, and there were ducks and crawdads. We’d send little boats down the water,” says Erika Larsen, whose family has owned the Thayer property since 1942. “It’s perennially damp. My brother recently found magic props buried in the mud.”
Q: What’s the oldest barbershop in L.A.?
A:Eight of the ten busiest freeways in the state are in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Congestion on the Santa Ana Freeway alone is responsible for almost 10 million hours of lost time every year. While the Thursday before Christmas week is busiest for most L.A. freeways, none is worse than Interstate 5. The date changes every year, but December 16 was the most congested day of 2021. Remember to always give thanks on the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving is traditionally the emptiest day of the year on L.A. freeways.
Q: Is there a block in Hancock Park that has a pond behind the homes?
A: There are plenty of cement ponds in the ritzy Brookside neighborhood, but
it’s named for the Arroyo de los Jardines, a stream that has trickled south from a natural underground spring near John Burroughs Middle
School since time immemorial. During the great flood of 1938, the water rose 11 feet and nearly destroyed magician Floyd Thayer’s
A: Seven of the ten oldest barbershops are at private clubs, with the license at the California Club downtown dating to 1943. Lolo’s on Catalina Island, which opened in 1964, has the earliest public license in L.A. County, and, according to the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, Midway Barber in Leimert Park has the oldest active license in the city. “I cut Mike Tyson’s hair,” says owner Bernie Wilkins, who opened his shop in 1965. “I cut Maury Wills’s hair. I keep it up pretty good.”
More than 40 years after everyone’s favorite Italian plumber first lit up screens in Donkey Kong, Super Nintendo World will open at Universal Studios Hollywood on February 17. The land’s single ride has doublestacked buggies based on the Mario Kart franchise, where drivers don goggles to see a universe of talking mushrooms, floating coins, and piranha plants floating around them. Maybe they’ll even catch the ghosts that once haunted historic Stage 28, which was demolished to build the new area.
Classics like The Phantom of the Opera and Dracula were filmed on this site, but today video games are more profitable than the movie and sports industries combined. So goodbye, classics; hello, joysticks.
—CHRIS NICHOLS
Nothing sparks conversation quite like great food and drink both of which are best enjoyed with good friends. Plan to join us for this spectacular culinary experience featuring a roster of celebrity and local chefs, the James Beard Gourmet Four-Course Luncheon, Saturday and Sunday Grand Tastings, Sunday Brunch, Celebrity Chef Reception, cooking demonstrations, book signings, and so much more!
palmdesertfoodandwine.com
GALE GAND
ZAC YOUNG
JAMIE GWEN
TYLER FLORENCE
AARTI SEQUEIRA FABIO VIVIANI CURTIS STONE
GLYNIS ALBRIGHT YOLANDA GAMPP AFRIM PRISTINE
LISA DAHL
