Los Angeles magazine - November 2020

JOAN COLLINS UNCENSORED Hollywood’s Unsinkable Icon On Her #MeToo Moments PAGE 80

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CANNY, CHARISMATIC, AND CONTROVERSIAL, MICHAEL GOVAN IS LEADING A BILLION-DOLLAR CRUSADE TO REMAKE L.A.’S LANDMARK MUSEUM

CAN ANYBODY STOP HIM?

The Election Fight That May Forever Reshape L.A. Politics PAGE 68

NOV E M BE R 2020

NOV E M BE R 2020

THE MOD COUPLE

60

The Lord of LACMA Museum director Michael Govan’s quixotic, chaotic crusade to reimagine the institution for the twenty-first century has hit a few roadblocks. But no one is counting him out

BY MICHAEL SLENSKE

68

The Fierce Battle for Council District 4 A fiery progressive upstart named Nithya Raman is challenging the genial incumbent, David Ryu, for one of L.A.’s most coveted city council seats. The winner may determine the future of L.A.’s Democratic party

BY JON REGARDIE

2 L A M AG . C O M

74

Tressed to Thrill Actress Elle Lorraine, breakout star of the campy dark comedy Bad Hair, shows off her locks and some of the season’s hottest looks B Y L I N DA I M M E D I AT O

80

Joan Collins Has No Regrets In this exclusive interview, the Hollywood icon shares how she lost the role of Cleopatra by refusing to sleep with a studio chief, fell for a thenunknown Warren Beatty, and was date-raped by her future first husband

BY ANDREW GOLDMAN

M I C H A E L WA R D/G E T T Y I M AG E S

Features

Joan Collins, 27, and her 23-year-old paramour, Warren Beatty, in 1960. Their engagement crumbled soon after, but Collins held onto the ring.

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NOV E M BE R 2020

» How a mild-mannered professor from USC accidentally ignited academia’s latest culture war A PAT T Y T O M E LT F OR

Nancy Silverton’s new dry-aged Chi Spacca burger is thick, juicy, and served rare.

BY JASON MCGAHAN PAGE 13

THE BRIEF

» The prison pastimes of Lori Loughlin, former Full House actress and key figure in the USC admissions scandal; L.A.’s great exodus; and what’s next for the infamous puppybeating CEO PAGE 18

WHO LOSES IF BIDEN WINS?

» A Biden victory would dramatically reshape the city’s political power grid

BY JON REGARDIE PAGE 20

HOT TUB CONFIDENTIAL

» Hemmed in by travel restrictions and social distancing, Angelenos are making backyard amenities the latest must-haves

BY ALEXANDRIA ABRAMIAN PAGE 22

Column DEATH OF A DJ

» Erick Morillo was once an EDM god. Now he’s a cautionary tale. The wild life and tragic death of a record-spinning superstar

BY BENJAMIN SVETKEY PAGE 56

Ask Chris

The Inside Guide » Kylie Minogue’s locomotion; the unlikely winner of the

streaming wars; top chefs share their unique Thanksgiving favorites; and the rise of Porto’s bakery. PLUS: L.A.’s best barbershops and the trendiest accessory for men PAG E 2 5

» Why is Thrifty ice cream sold only at Rite Aid ?

What’s up with the yellow robots scooting around Hollywood? Our resident historian answers all your burning questions.

BY CHRIS NICHOLS PAGE 96

ON THE COVER Michael Govan at LACMA Photograph by Catherine Opie

4 L A M AG . C O M

P H O T O G R A P H E D BY K Y L E DAV I D M O R E NO

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MEDIA INDUSTRY INCORPORATED » Two of Los Angeles’s biggest trade-pub houses—Penske Media (Variety, Rolling Stone) and MRC (The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard)—have joined forces to create a new venture, PMRC, which might corner the Hollywood-coverage market. We broke this story, sending industry insiders buzzing.

BY JOSEPH KAPSCH

Column THE ‘A’ LIST

» Under pressure from parents to deliver students to top colleges, elite prep schools in L.A. and across the U.S. are brazenly inflating grades

BY MAX KUTNER

SPORTS THE EPIC STORY OF BUILDING L.A.’S PIGSKIN PALACE » It took 26 years and numerous fumbles before Los Angeles finally got its $5 billion SoFi Stadium.

BY JON REGARDIE

POLITICS QANON ISN’T GOING AWAY; IT’S GOING TO CONGRESS » Conspiracy theorists convinced that there’s a global cabal of pedophile cannibals are making major inroads in national politics.

BY JASON MCGAHAN

» From coverage of local and national politics to celebrity buzz— from L.A.’s housing issues to its dining hot spots—our website features daily, up-to-the-minute original content. Check out some of our must-read stories found only on LAMAG.COM.

DINING FRIES AND FUMES » While its food court remains closed, the Glendale Galleria has opened a dining room in its parking lot. Mall reps say sitting amid the concrete pillars and idling autos offers a “sense of normalcy.”

BY BRITTANY MARTIN 6 L A M AG . C O M

CRIME DARK SECRETS » In early June, as protests against racial injustice flared across the country, 24-year-old Robert Fuller’s body was found hanging from a tree in Poncitlán Square in Palmdale. Was it suicide or murder?

BY JED BOOKOUT

CELEBRITY THE BILLIE EILISH DOCUMENTARY HAS A DUE DATE » Apple+ paid $25 million to stream the doc, which follows the L.A. native as she plays to sold-out crowds around the world, capturing intimate moments along the way.

BY BRITTANY MARTIN

FASHION THE POLITICS OF SNEAKERS » It took about eight seconds for a photo of vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris in a pair of Chuck Taylors to go viral. A look at the history of kicks and politics.

BY LINDA IMMEDIATO

» More and more Angelenos are experimenting with alfresco dining, served onsite at local restaurants.

Here’s a roundup of the city’s top COVID-safe eateries.

BY BRITTANY MARTIN

HOUSING BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE » An L.A. neighborhood is in turmoil after residents placed boulders along an underpass to deter homeless encampments.

BY CERISE CASTLE

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Fighting Words HOW A MILD-MANNERED PROFESSOR AT USC ACCIDENTALLY IGNITED ACADEMIA’S LATEST CULTURE WAR

BY JA S O N M C G A H A N

I L LU S T R AT I O N BY JA S O N R A I S H

L A M AG . C O M 13

S C H O O L F O R S C A N DA L

L

A S T AU G US T, S O O N

after the start of the University of Southern California’s fall semester, Dr. Greg Patton, a 53-year-old professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business, was on a Zoom call, delivering an afternoon lecture on public speaking to 70 students in the fulltime master’s program.

Patton, a genial instructor and Pacific Rim business consultant, had taught at USC for over 20 years.

He had given the same lecture dozens of times before, including three times that day. His class, Communication for Management, was meant to teach students effective lectures. Coincidentally, midterm evaluskills for communicating ations were scheduled for that same in global markets. day. Alarmed, Patton went into the Patton was explaining that filler system and saw that the nèige example words, like um or er, are distracting had been mentioned in three separate because they interrupt the flow of student evaluations. “My heart just ideas when making presentations. To sank,” he says. “The last thing I want to illustrate his point, he introduced do is distract or hurt my students.” a Mandarin word that literally Patton emailed an means that, and is more apology to the entire commonly used to mean class early the next um. He says in a video “This word has morning, on August of the class that’s been 21, right around the widely circulated on social a different time that an incendiary media, “This is cultursound, a difally specific . . . Like in ferent accent,” complaint entitled “Subject: A Callous, China, the common word Patton says.

Reckless Illustration is that—that, that, that, “It never in Management that. So in China, it might crossed my Communication” be nèige—nèige, nèige, arrived in the inbox of nèige. So there’s different mind it would newly installed Dean words that you’ll hear in lead to this.”

Geoffrey Garrett. In the different countries, but letter, an anonymous they’re vocal disfluencies.” group of Patton’s Black To Patton, who has used students accused the professor of the same example for years, the class racism and harming their mental was utterly unremarkable. health by using a Chinese-language The first hint of trouble, though, word that sounded “exactly like the came near the end of the session, when word NIGGA.” Their letter referenced a student sent him a private message on the killings of George Floyd and Zoom. Some people were uncomfortBreonna Taylor and said that “social able with the Chinese example he used, awakening across the nation” had she said. A second student emailed motivated their complaint. “We are him that afternoon, suggesting he burdened to fight with our existence replace the Chinese example in future 14 L A M AG . C O M

C L A SS WA R FA R E

Above: Longtime USC business school professor, Dr. Greg Patton, in a still from the video that created a global uproar.

In China, the word nèige is a filler expression, like um. To Patton’s Black students, it sounds like a slur.

in society, in the workplace, and in America. We should not be made to fight for our sense of peace and mental well-being at Marshall,” they said. The students alleged that Patton had acted with malicious intent, a charge he vigorously denied.

Soon the story had made its way into the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and dozens of international publications. Patton declined most interview \ requests.

But in an interview with Los Angeles in September, he described the incident as a colossal misunderstanding. “This is a Chinese word that has a different sound, a different accent, different pronunciation. It never once crossed my mind it would lead to this.”

He adds, “We’re a global university. A third of our business students are international. We’re deeply entrenched on the Pacific Rim—our first Chinese student graduated in 1892.

You would expect to have examples

CO L L AG E : C H R I STO P H E R H U E S ; S C R E E N G R A B S : N E WYO R K P O ST.CO M & U S C

BUZZ

S C H O O L F O R S C A N DA L

administrators offered the Black students a host of academic alternatives, including independent research, but they pushed for the professor’s dismissal. This prompted outraged from Japanese, Korean, and Chinese letters from pro-Patton faculty brought into class. You wouldn’t be members as well as Chinese students doing your job if you didn’t.” and alumni, leaving the dean belea“He’s a white American. He knows guered and the professor in limbo. what it sounds like, right?” said Brittany, It took no time at all for the campus a graduate student involved in the controversy to metastasize into a bitter complaint letter, in an interview with international debate. The right-wing NPR. (She withheld her last name for blog Campus Reform was the first to fear of backlash.) “It was distasteful pick up the story, noting that Patton because you know what it means to had “agreed to take a short-term pause.” people. You know what it sounds like.

As the story spread, the university’s And you didn’t care how it response factionalized came off to Black students the campus and stirred in your class.” negative news coverage USC initiated The incident came of USC worldwide. Even a deep review just a month into the the The Daily Show’s tenure of Garrett, who Trevor Noah joined the of Patton’s had been poached fray. “Here’s my question decades at the amid much fanfare you,” Noah said to business school, for from the University of Chinese standup Ronny searching for Pennsylvania’s Wharton Chieng. “If ‘nèige’ is, like, signs of racial School to lead the busijust a thinking word, ness school at USC, his then isn’t that confusing insensitivity. fourth business-school to you when you listen deanship in less than to rap music?” To which ten years. The 62-yearChieng deadpanned, old Australian native is married to a “Yeah, to be honest, Trevor, sometimes woman from California, and he previmost rappers sound like they’re really ously taught at USC and UCLA. unsure of themselves.”

Soon after receiving the student’s For most of those caught up in it, complaints, Garrett suspended the controversy has been no laughing Patton from teaching the course, matter. “A lot of the faculty are nervous,” pending a USC investigation. Marshall one business professor says. “I might

C U LT U R A L E XC H A NG E

The first Chinese student graduated from USC in 1892, Patton says. Since then, wealthy students from China have brought in a significant chunk of USC’s budget.

16 L A M AG . C O M

make a verbal miscue—do I lose my job for a mistake? Is this administration going to support me?” An internal survey of 105 professors conducted by Marshall’s faculty council was leaked to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Peppered with emotional words and phrases like “livid,” “betrayed,” “scared of students,” and “scared to teach,” the report showed a loss of confidence in Garrett as a result of the affair.

Over the weekend of August 21, following a meeting with the aggrieved students, USC initiated a deep review of Patton’s decades at the business school, scrutinizing thousands of student evaluations for signs of his racial or cultural insensitivity. None were found. Some of the claims mentioned in the grievance letter—that Patton had ignored previous complaints and had erased class recordings of the incident—also proved to be untrue. (A university probe found no evidence that the students had attempted to communicate with Patton prior to lodging their complaint.)

The trouble at USC is just the latest manifestation of a much broader battle in academia, where administrators have struggled to balance a newfound commitment to confront racist microaggressions on campus with the imperative for open dialogue and academic freedom. The incident drew hundreds of letters from alumni—many of them Black—who were infuriated by what they saw as the university’s retreat from those principles. On Instagram, a Black member of USC’s class of 2024 called Patton a “scapegoat” and warned that the university’s response would be used to “gaslight” Black students with legitimate grievances. “I’ve already seen people reference this situation and say we blow everything out of proportion, when the majority of us never took issue with this situation in the first place.”

For USC, where more than 22 percent of students are from China, the controversy has had an unexpected consequence. Days after the story broke, the Chinese media jumped on the incident, offended by what they saw as USC’s disparagement of the Chinese language. “U.S. Political Correctness Implicates a Chinese Filler Word” blared a headline in China’s (CONTINUED ON PAGE 93)

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SENTENCED TO TWO MONTHS, ACTRESS LORI LOUGHLIN HAS CHOSEN A PRISON WHERE SHE CAN SLEEP IN AND LEARN TO PLAY THE UKULELE IAN SPIEGELMAN

J US T B E C AUS E

Full House star Lori Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison for her part in a colossal college-admissions scandal doesn’t mean she can’t do her time in style. A judge ge has ghlin’s approved Loughlin’s request to be he remanded to the llite Victorville Satellite Prison Camp, a rity minimum-security men facility for women just a two-hour drive from her n new $9.5 million me, Hidden Hills home, oy a where she’ll enjoy delightful array of vities. recreational activities.

Loughlin will not have to count herr time behind bars walking the yard or standing in line att the er, weight pile. Rather, te Victorville’s inmate 18 L A M AG . C O M

handbook offers an assortment of classes that can help the 56-year-old actress maintain her sleek physique (like Pilates and yoga) while bettering herself by studying painting, calligraphy, crocheting, origami, croche ceram ceramics, and cartoon drawing. draw She may also ttake advantage of sa saxophone, accordion, and ukulele lessons or train for vocations such as bicycle repair, forklift operation, dental aassistance, and wa waste management.

Th facility—which The saw five women esca in the escape mon month of March alon alone—even offers lazy Saturdays and Sund Sundays when its 300 T R I A L S E PA R AT I O N

Loughl Loughlin’s hubby, Mossimo Giannull Giannulli, is going to jail, too.

“The dream of California and the weather were enough to draw us all here and keep us here, even when it was hard,” Shapiro’s business partner, Jeremy Boreing, told Deadline.

“But it’s hubris to think you can keep making it worse and worse for people and that somehow the idea of temperate winters will be enough to make them stay forever.”

The site’s 75 staffers had until October 1 to decide whether they’d make the move, which is slated for November. Boreing expected about 80 percent

BEN SHAPIRO GOES COUNTRY AFTER YEARS OF

denouncing California and its liberal leadership, conservative talking head Ben Shapiro is finally giving up on the Golden State. This month, the 36-year-old podcasting provocateur and cofounder of the right-wing Daily Wire website is packing up his Sherman Oaks company and moving it to the more ideologically welcoming suburbs of Nashville.

G OIN‘ SOUTH

Ben Shapiro can’t afford L.A. (and thinks Angelenos are mean).

of the website’s employees to get on board, especially with the prospect of cheaper rent. “Our employees see all of the same challenges we see, and it’s even harder for them to afford this place,” he says.

Nashville has become a popular destination for right-wing gadflies, including social media

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B RU N C H I N

inmates can sleep in until the 10 a.m. head count, immediately followed by “brunch.”

Of course, not everyone is psyched about Loughlin’s cushy prison conditions or that she was allowed to serve time in a facility of her choice. LeBron James posted (and then deleted) an Instagram message pointing out the unfairness of the criminal justice system: “I’m laughing cause sometimes you have to just to stop from crying! Don’t make no damn sense to me. We just want the same treatment . . . Is that asking for too much???”

Meanwhile, Loughlin’s husband, Mossimo Giannulli, 57, has requested to do his time at a low-security male prison, the Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc. Both are required to surrender on November 19.

THE AMOUNT HOLLAND PARTNERS PAID LAST YEAR TO PURCHASE THE LANDMARK RESTAURANT TAIX IN ECHO PARK. THE DEVELOPERS’ PLAN TO RAZE THE VINTAGE BUILDING AND ERECT A NONDESCRIPT APARTMENT COMPLEX HAVE AREA RESIDENTS UP IN ARMS.

personality Tomi Lahren, who moved there from Redondo Beach earlier this year. But L.A. remains home to many other conservative media stars, like Michael Savage, Jacob Wohl, and Dennis Prager. Fox’s Lachlan Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch reside in sprawling L.A. estates— Rupert in a Bel-Air vineyard and Lachlan in the mansion that used to be featured as Jed Clampett’s home on The Beverly Hillbillies. — I . S .

no-pee area, and promised to enroll in an angermanagement program.

Soon after, he bolted from L.A. According to a statement from the SMPD posted in late September, “Mr. Previte and the animal in question no longer reside in California and have not been in the state since the beginning of our investigation.”

The city’s rich and famous are fleeing. Butt where, exactly, are they ey going?

AU U ST I N , T E XAS Spotify otify star Joe Rogan announced his move to the Lone Star State t in July July. “I just want to go somewhere in the center of the country,”” the podcaster told his audience. “Somewhere where we have a little bit more freedom.” Elon Musk hasn’t moved yet, but he’s setting up a new billion-dollar Tesla assembly plant in Austin and has sold his $62 million Bel-Air compound.

P I S M O B E AC H The original Hulk, Lou Ferrigno, recently sold his $3.8 million Santa Monica home and has decamped to the Central Coast.

E A R L I E R T H I S FA L L ,

S E C U R I T Y FO OTAG E : © SW N S ; C E L E B R I T I E S : G E T T Y I M AG E S ( E XC E P T FO R K I M KA R DAS I A N : CO U RT E SY O F E ! E N T E RTA I N M E N T ) ; J E T: CO U RT E SY O F B O M B A R D I E R

ESCAPE E FROM GELES LOS ANGELES

C A R E Y E S , M E X I CO Former Bravo star Leah Forester and her producer husband, Bill Johnson, recently moved to the Mexican beach town because, as she put it, “We didn’t want to be hanging on every announcement about what’s going to open or be closed.”

SANTA MONICA CEO’S DOG DAY AFTERNOON Jeffrey Previte, a CEO at the Santa Monica environmental firm EBI Consulting, became one of L.A.’s Most Wanted (or at least most hated) when it was revealed that the Santa Monica Police Department was investigating him for allegedly beating and choking his four-month-old puppy, Bici, in the hallway of a swanky Santa Monica condominium building.

A video of the incident was provided to the Daily Mail by a concierge at the Ocean Avenue complex, who said he could hear the dog’s cries from his desk and reported the abuse.

The next day it went viral.

Amid global outrage, an apologetic Previte stepped down from his post at EBI, admitted that he had lost his temper because the puppy had peed in a

$12 million

THE FUR FLIES

Previte with estranged dog, Bici, on tape.

Turns out both Previte and his pup are now in Boston, although they’re no longer cohabiting.

SMPD Captain Candice Cobarrubias tells Los Angeles that her department has interviewed both Previte and Bici’s current caretaker, who reports that the puppy is uninjured and “has a happy demeanor.”

SMPD detectives turned over evidence to the Los Angeles District Attorney for possible animal-abuse charges against Previte, Cobarrubias says, but the DA has sent the case back to the city attorney of Santa Monica, and it is unclear what, if any, charges this dog beater will face. — I . S .

R H I N E B EC K , N E W YO R K Talent manager Craig Dorfman moved to a picturesque town in Dutchess County, about two hours north of Manhattan. He explained, “A lot of people in the industry are reevaluating their lives and saying, ‘You know, I never really loved LA. Where would I like to live?’”

CO DY, WYO M I N G Kim Kardashian and Kanye West just purchased a “monster ranch” in the Cowboy State for $14.5 million. Rumor has it they’ve been touring schools there for their kids.

S I E R RA F O OT H I L L S Just before the pandemic hit our shores, producer Dana Brunetti moved into an Airstream in the Sierra Foothills, where he’s building a 40-acre compound. “I was over fucking L.A., and I have been for awhile,” he said. Just in case Northern California isn’t far enough away, he’s also applied for Italian citizenship. “Because Italy is part of the EU, it gives me a lot of options if the shit hits the fan.”

KAUA I , H AWA I I Pierce Brosnan and his wife, Keely Shaye, are leaving Malibu (putting their Thai-inspired 1.2-acre spread along Broad Beach on the market for $100 million) and relocating to Kauai’s North Shore. — M E R L E G I N S B E R G

L A M AG . C O M 19

Buzz

POLITICS

Who Wins (and Loses) If Biden Bumps Trump HOW A VICTORY FOR JOE WOULD RESHAPE CALIFORNIA’S POLITICAL POWER GRID

BY JON REGARDIE

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI

The longtime Biden pal could wind up with a plum gig in DC. How does Secretary of Transportation Garcetti sound? Presumably better than leading a city with an economy wrecked by COVID-19.

CITY COU COUNCIL PRESIDENT NURY MARTINEZ MA

T TH HE EY YL LO OS SE E IIF FB BIID DE EN NW WIINS NS N S!!

LARRY ELLISON LARR

The Oracle O cofounder held a $100,000-a-head Trump fundrais fundraiser at his Rancho Mirage home, prompting Oracle’s rank and an file to pull a work stoppage in protest. The president reportedly repaid re him by promoting Oracle as a key investor in TikTok’s parent company. co Ellison forfeits that kind of Trumpian logrolling in a Biden presidency.

If Garcetti d does DC, dominos start to fall in L.A. The city’s first Latina cit city council president becomes acting mayor.

JESSICA MILLAN PATTERSON

RICK CARUSO RIC

The first Latina chair of the California Republican Party takes a pragmatic approach to the job. But GOP elected officials are already vastly outnumbered in state government, and losing the White House further weakens the party’s influence in California.

The deep-pocketed mall developer has the money and Th name recognition to be a formidable candidate in a special mayo mayoral election prompted by Garcetti’s big goodbye.

CALIFORNI SECRETARY OF STATE CALIFORNIA ALEX PADI PADILLA

Speaking S ki off dominos, if Senator Kamala Harris becomes Vice President Harris, Padilla, California’s elections boss and a former L.A. councilman, could become California’s first Latino U.S. senator if Governor Gavin Newsom appoints him.

GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM

A Biden victory provides an ally in the White House and federal funds for everything from infrastructure to the environment. Bonus: no more incessant @realDonaldTrump Twitter rants.

REP. KAREN K BASS

The L.A.-based L chair of the Congressional Black Caucus made Biden’s B VP short list, and she’s generating Cabinetappointment buzz. She’s also a strong contender—along appoint with state Attorne Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Congressman Adam out Harris’s term.

Schiff—to finish o TOM STEYER

The Bay Area billionaire (and ex-presidential candidate) is a fierce environmentalist and could thrive under a White House that doesn’t believe climate change is a hoax. Watch for Steyer to finagle a climate-policy job under Biden.

LOS ANGELES RIVER

A $1.1 billion restoration project hatched during the Obama administration requires significant federal funding that dried up the day Trump was inaugurated. Biden could reopen the spigot.

20 L A M AG . C O M

PETER THIEL

The conservative tech billionaire and early Trump backer has reportedly cooled on the president, thanks to Trump’s disastrous coronavirus response. But don’t expect Biden to throw him any bouquets.

JAMIE MCCOURT

One half of the despised former owners of the Dodgers, McCourt donated more than $360,000 to Trump’s 2020 campaign. No surprise, as in 2017, Trump awarded her a lush ambassadorship. A Biden win likely prefigures her return from representing U.S. interests in France and Monaco. Au revoir!

REP. DEVIN NUNES R

The Tulare congressman, who sued a cow on Twitter a and distinguished himself as the most craven Trump water ccarrier in an adminstration teeming with them, would have to find another anot proto-authoritarian’s boots to lick after Jan. 20.

BRIAN KENNEDY

Trump’s official $30 “Make America Great Again” caps are manufactured at Kennedy’s Carson factory. After Jan. 20, Kennedy could presumably reboot with “Keep America Sane Again” hats. Just a suggestion.

TOM BARRACK

The head of financial services colossus Colony Capital chaired the president’s financially problematic (and possibly law-breaking) inauguration and welcomed to Trumpworld future felons Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. The Neverland Ranch co-owner supposedly isn’t as tight with Trump as he once was, but a Biden win instantly cancels his Oval Office entrèe.

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HEMMED IN BY TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING, ANGELENOS ARE MAKING BACKYARD HOME AMENITIES THE LATEST MUST-HAVES

BY ALEXANDRIA ABRAMIAN

F

LUS H W I T H zero-percent

clement weather, the backyard boom equity lines of credit and is showing no signs of slowing for longing to replicate visits winter. to far-flung resorts of the “We’re in 15 cities across the U.S., before-times, Los Angeles homebut Southern California is our biggest owners are driving a boom that is, market,” says Allison Messner, CEO like many other aspects of pandemic and cofounder of Yardzen, a San life, unprecedented.

Francisco-based online “This is the busiest I’ve landscape-design service been in 30 years,” says that launched in 2018.

Pool, spa, Kerri McCoy, founder of Since April, Messner and outdoor- has doubled her staff landscaping construction firm Derian GC. grill sales are while web traffic has “World events like the increased fivefold. The exploding.

9/11 tragedy and the most common pandemic Great Recession brought request? “The cocktail the construction busipool,” she says, referring ness to a halt. With the pandemic, it’s to the miniaturized swimming pool been the complete opposite.” that’s suddenly huge on Instagram, Across the country, pool construcPinterest, and TikTok. Also known as tion and outdoor-grill sales have a “spool,” a portmanteau of “spa pool,” exploded. Given L.A.’s year-round it allows homeowners without access

22 L A M AG . C O M

to sprawling square footage to take the plunge. Galvanized metal tanks designed to water livestock, repurposed as reverse-chic, above-ground mini pools, are also a hit.

For lockdown-weary home buyers, pools, spools, and spas have morphed into must-haves. “I listed a property in Laurel Canyon in November 2019 for $2.9 million,” says Deasy Penner Podley real estate agent Scott King.

“It had a guesthouse, pool, and large yard. We received one offer for $2.8 million, but that was it. We relisted it Memorial Day weekend. I didn’t change anything, and it sold in five days for $3.3 million—all cash.”

Landscape designer Patricia Benner says pandemic-era extreme garden makeovers routinely include elaborate firepits, boccie courts, yoga studios, spa rooms, saunas, and massage areas. “Outdoors is becoming indoors,” says Benner, who recently installed a canyon-spanning zipline for a family with small children.

“A lot of people want outdoor TV rooms with a fireplace and comfortable seating. I’ve been doing outdoor kitchens for a while, but now they’re including full bars, beer taps, $15,000 grills, and $5,000 pizza ovens. I’m working on a project where we’re creating a wine cellar under the swimming pool.”

Meanwhile, homeowners are diving into niche amenities. The Zero Body Bed, a $23,000 device that replicates flotation without water and is typically sold to hotels and spas, is selling out at Snyder Diamond’s Santa Monica kitchen-and-bath showroom. Hansni Thadhani, owner of Manhattan Beachbased Strand Boards, which fabricates outdoor showers from surfboards that start at $2,500, says that since the lockdown, requests from homeowners have “gone through the roof” and sales are up 30 percent.

Whether or not the tsunami of backyard gentrification will crash in a wave of depreciation once the travel industry recovers, King remains optimistic about the near future: “Right now, it’s possible to spend $50- to $75,000 on a pool and add three to four times that much to your home’s value.”

C H A D M E L LO N

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Inside Guide R E D M E NAC E

Minogue continues to shake things up on her 15th album, Disco.

´Dancing Queen P H OTO G R A P H Y BY DA R E N OT E LT D. 2 02 0

Music

In 2016, Kylie Minogue successfully sued Kylie Jenner when the cosmetics mogul tried to trademark their shared first name. Now Minogue is once again reminding the youths that she’s not to be messed with. Her new album, Disco, out November 6, finds the 52-year-old pop star still reigning supreme with infectious tracks like the shimmering single “Say Something.” It comes amid a disco revival: from Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and Carly Rae Jepsen’s imitable Dedicated Side B to Lady Gaga’s Chromatica and BTS’s insanely catchy “Dynamite,” the genre is having a moment. In these uncertain times, if you’re going to panic, you might as well do it at the—or at least while listening to—disco. — PAU L S C H R O DT

Plus ´ The Crown’s dazzling new season PAGE 32

´ Nancy Silverton’s perfect burger PAGE 40

´ Get pumped!

The city’s best gyms are now outdoors PAGE 44

L A M AG . C O M 25

STREAMING

3

1

2

4 5

The Hit Factory

WITH SHORT VIDEOS AND COLLABS WITH TOP STARS, 31-YEAR-OLD MICHAEL RATNER HAS SUCCEEDED WHERE MAJOR MOGULS HAVE FAILED: CREATING FAST, CHEAP, AND COMPELLING CONTENT FOR THE DIGITAL AGE B Y PA U L S C H R O D T

W H I L E J E F F R E Y Katzen-

berg and Meg Whitman’s Quibi has been a colossal, $1.75 billion failure, Michael Ratner is quickly cementing his position as the master of cheaply produced, snackable digital content. Since founding OBB Media in 2014, the producer-director has wrangled the likes of Kevin Hart, Ashley Graham, and Justin Bieber to make short videos and podcasts that attract millions of eyes and ears. And he’s only just getting started.

“There’s an arms race in streaming wars,” Ratner says. “When the world resumes, companies will be hungrier than ever for content, and they’ll come to people like us to create

stuff that, from greenlight to delivery, can get up on services fast. We can pump it out.”

A Long Island native and New York University film school grad, Ratner came up with the idea to use athletes to create buzzy, quick-hit digital video content while interning at Relativity Media in 2013. His first big hit with OBB came in 2016 when he sold Kevin Hart on the idea for Cold as Balls: the comedian would interview top athletes while they endured sideby-side ice baths. The show premiered in early 2018 on YouTube in partnership with Hart’s LOL Network, and quickly surpassed 100 million views. It now has over a billion views across 41 episodes and has

drawn comparisons to James Corden’s hit, Carpool Karaoke.

Now, rather than pressing Pause during the pandemic, OBB has sped ahead. When Hart could no longer meet sports stars in person, the series moved to a “cold calls” concept, in which the stand-up comedian lounges at home in a robe to chat and frequently clown around with major leagues’ finest via video. “We’re able to weather these times better than most other production companies with documentaries with smaller crews, remote recordings, virtual shoots, and different formats,” says Ratner. “I think we’ve done a good balancing act of focusing on revenuegenerating projects with a producible, limited scope.”

The content creator is currently at work on Demi Lovato’s upcoming, as-yet-unnamed docuseries—COVID precautions and all. It’s set to premiere in early 2021 and will provide an unvarnished glimpse into the singer’s personal struggles and return to music.

“It’s bizarre on set. It feels like you’re in Star Wars—there are face shields and masks, and everybody breaks every 20 minutes to have a sanitation crew come in,” Ratner says. “But I feel really lucky to be shooting. It’s a testament to Demi’s hustle because most people would go ‘Eh.’ She wanted to test us.”

Ratner and his crew are more than up to the challenge. “We’re just getting started,” he says.

The Playlist Five series from Michael Ratner to stream now.

1. THE HARDER WAY (ESPN+ )

Legendary Memphis player Penny Hardaway tries to coach his former team to glory in this inspiring docuseries.

2. JUSTIN BIEBER: SEASONS

(YouTube) This tenepisode doc looks at the pop star’s life and demons.

3. THE PURSUIT OF HEALTHINESS WITH BLAKE GRIFFIN (Audible)

On his podcast, the Detroit Pistons star talks wellness with Chelsea Handler, Michael B. Jordan, and others.

4. PRETTY BIG DEAL WITH ASHLEY GRAHAM

(YouTube) On this podcast/video series, the voluptuous model gets real with famous friends like Kim K. 5. COLD AS BALLS

(YouTube) Kevin Hart chats up A-list athletes as they endure ice baths.

Michael Ratner 26 L A M AG . C O M

I L LU S T R AT I O N BY PI X E L P U S H E R

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The Inside Guide

ART

Walls of Fame

IN THE 1920S, AN ECCENTRIC COUPLE AMASSED A MUSEUM-WORTHY COLLECTION OF PICASSOS AND DUCHAMPS IN THEIR HOLLYWOOD HILLS HOME. A NEW BOOK OFFERS A RARE LOOK AT THEIR AWE-INSPIRING INTERIORS B Y J O R D A N R I E F E

I

N T H E F I R S T H A L F of the twentieth century,

the only modern-art museum in Los Angeles was a couple’s house in the Hollywood Hills. From the 1920s until their deaths in 1953 and 1954, respectively, Louise and Walter Arensberg regularly opened their mansion to those interested in viewing their impressive collection—which featured signature pieces by French Dadaist Marcel Duchamp, cubists Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, and surrealists Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, along with roughly 4,000 rare books, including the world’s largest private library of writings by and about sixteenthcentury British philosopher Sir Francis Bacon.

“Anyone could write or call and come see the amazing Arensberg collection. And when it left, it was ten years before Los Angeles had another modern art museum,” says Mark Nelson, coauthor of the new book Hollywood Arensberg: Avant-Garde Collecting in Midcentury L.A. (October 22, Getty Publications).

The Arensbergs’ love affair with painting and sculpture began with the landmark 1913 Armory Show in New York, where they moved the following year. The exhibition gave the country its first glimpse of abstract and cubist artworks that radically challenged the status quo. The couple acquired several pieces from the exhibition, including lithographs by Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, but Duchamp’s 1912 painting Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) slipped through their fingers. That masterpiece, now considered priceless, sold for just $324 to a San Francisco man, but the Arensbergs later purchased it from him. Then they acquired two more versions of the painting from Duchamp himself.

Drawing from mutual trust funds (Walter’s family fortune derived from steel interests in Pittsburgh; Louise’s money came from her grandfather’s textile manufacturing), the two continued to acquire art at a furious pace, ultimately amassing over 40 pieces by Duchamp, as well as 17 works by Constantin Brâncusi and over a dozen Picassos.

They paid the rent on Duchamp’s Upper West Side studio

28 L A M AG . C O M

in exchange for the iconic art piece The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, which they sold before leaving New York for Los Angeles in 1921. “It was the single greatest regret of their life that they sold it to [painter and patron] Katherine Dreier,” Nelson says, “and the one thing they wanted back desperately.”

The move west was meant to be a temporary break from a profligate lifestyle that deflated their finances and threatened their relationship with extramarital affairs. For a time, they lived in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Residence A

Book: Courtesy Getty Publications; Photograph by Fred R. Dapprich. Stairway, viewed from the Second Floor, ca. 1944 (no later than January 1949). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives, Arensberg Archives (PMA-WLA), box 54. Georges Braque, Violin and Newspaper, 1912–13: © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Max Ernst, Garden Plane Trap, 1934–35: © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Lyonel Feininger, Umpferstedt II, 1914: © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Carlos Mérida, The Window, 1933: © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SOMAAP, Mexico City. Jean Metzinger, The Bathers, 1913: © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Diego Rivera, The Flowered Canoe, 1931: © 2020 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

in the arts and theater complex he was building for Aline Barnsdall on Olive Hill in East Hollywood (now known for the Hollyhock House). But Walter and Louise were bothered by the leaky roof and low ceilings, and finally moved to Hillside Avenue in 1927. Like their apartment in New York, the house became a salon for artists and cognoscenti, frequented by the likes of photographer Edward Weston, artist Man Ray, and actor Vincent Price. Unlike the Gotham apartment, though, the 5,612-square-foot abode offered ample wall space

I F T H E S E WA L L S C O U L D TA L K A massive collection of modern art hung in the Arensbergs’ Hollywood Hills home, including pieces by Diego Rivera, Georges Braque, Max Ernst, and Jean Metzinger. The house also served as a sort of salon for artists and intellectuals of the day.

to expand their collection to museum-like proportions.

The Arensbergs displayed paintings with visual puns in mind, like placing Juan Gris’s Open Window next to a window. Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 3) was hung at the top of the stairs. Beyond such obvious juxtapositions were hidden references to the game of chess, an obsession of both Walter and Duchamp. Also instrumental in the curation were philosophical and cryptographic concepts derived from Walter’s research and writings on Bacon.

As their walls filled up with modernist paintings, the Arensbergs began collecting pre-Colombian artifacts and sculptures that could be displayed on the floor.

They invited strangers in, with little care for the potential risks. “Walter really enjoyed having people come over and expend intellectual energy in considering and completing the work,” says the book’s coauthor Ellen Hoobler, associate curator at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

“He had this idea that ‘you’re welcome to come in, but I won’t give you the answer to what you’re looking for,’ ” Nelson adds.

The couple was particularly keen on opening the collection up to young people. Walter Hopps was just 15 when he first visited, laying the groundwork for his future career as a legendary curator and art dealer. Particularly taken with René Magritte’s The Six Elements hanging in the upstairs sitting room, the boy asked what it meant, to which Walter replied, “It means absolutely nothing.”

After Louise’s death, and with his own end only months away, Walter searched for an appropriate home for their collection. Interested parties included the Art Institute of Chicago and the Fogg Museum on the campus of Harvard University, Walter’s alma mater. But ultimately agreements always came to a halt: Walter believed that Francis Bacon was the true writer of Shakespeare’s canon, and he wanted that assertion maintained under any and all circumstances.

Walter “was a little crazy,” Nelson says. “And especially on this front, he was a bit paranoid.”

Ultimately, he agreed to split his collection between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Claremont College, which now displays the works at the Huntington Library in San Marino.

In 2017, the house on Hillside was purchased by San Francisco designer and architect Jonathan Browning and his husband, Marco Heithaus, also a designer.

An architectural hodgepodge, the home includes updates by numerous noteworthy designers and architects: a sunroom by Richard Neutra, a sitting room by Gregory Ain, and a carport by fellow midcentury modernist John Lautner. All were added to the original Mediterranean revival structure by William Lee Woollett, who designed downtown L.A.’s Million Dollar Theater.

Browning and Heithaus have spent the last three years restoring it as near as possible to its glory days. They eventually plan to open the house for cultural events and fundraisers.

“When we bought it, it was as bad as things get,” says Browning. “This house is truly one of those forgotten things.”

L A M AG . C O M 29

BOOKS

H OM E C O OK I NG

Washington’s debut novel, Memorial, is inspired by the various cultures and cuisines he was exposed to growing up in Houston.

Strangers in Fiction THE LIT WORLD’S NEW WUNDERKIND HAS A TALENT FOR WRITING UNCONVENTIONAL CHARACTERS

BY ROB E RT I T O

YO U H AV E N ’ T H E A R D this one before.

Bryan Washington’s new novel, Memorial, (Riverhead, October 27) is set in Houston and centers on Ben, an African American day-care worker with promiscuous tendencies, and his boyfriend, Mike, a Japanese American cook with a doughy physique and a slacker mindset. When Mike learns that his estranged father in Osaka is dying, he abruptly flies off to tend to him one day after his mom, Mitsuko—sardonic and wary about Mike’s choice in men—arrives on the couple’s doorstep. Ben 30 L A M AG . C O M

and Mitsuko become reluctant roomies, slowly bonding over meals of Japanese comfort food, which Mitsuko lovingly whips up from scratch.

Washington says he was compelled to write such a story because he hadn’t seen fictional lead characters in situations like these before. “I know that’s not the sexiest answer, but it’s really as simple as that,” he says. “It’s important for me to have these characters from these communities, which are marginalized in the States, and not have their marginalization and whatever trauma might be associated with it be the sole crux of the narrative. I wanted to write a love story and just see what could come from that.”

In his short but acclaimed career, the 27-year-old author has made a habit of writing about people and places rarely seen in contemporary fiction. His debut short-story collection, Lot, features Jamaican adulteresses, Latino hustlers, and a half-black gay narrator.

Barack Obama called it one of “I wanted his favorite books of 2019, and the to write a former president is hardly the only love story one praising Washing ton. T he Houston-based writer is one of the and just see publishing world’s brightest young what could stars. Last year, he was a recipient come from of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” prize and he won the that.”

Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Memorial has garnered critical raves and enthusiastic blurbs from a who’s who of contemporary writers, including Ocean Vuong (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous), Ann Patchett (Bel Canto), and Kiley Reid (Such a Fun Age).

The novel’s diversity of characters reflects Washington’s childhood in Houston, where his neighbors were Nigerian and French, Japanese and Vietnamese. “I had a lot of folks coming from a myriad of places, and we would all eat at each other’s houses,” says Washington, a self-described “queer baker” who has written about food for The New Yorker. “I think I’ve always been aware of race to some extent. I don’t think I had that epiphany about race that a lot of my white friends have had or that many white acquaintances seem to be having now.”

Washington is currently working on his second novel and writing scripts for a TV series based on Memorial. While film and television adaptations are known for taking unattractive characters and making them less so, Washington insists that won’t happen with lumpy Mike and not conventionally handsome Ben—though the issue has come up. “[The producers] were like, ‘Would you be comfortable with casting this actor, who may be a lovely actor but not at all the body type of Benson or Mike or any of the other characters?’” he recalls. “The answer was no.”

B RYA N WAS H I N GTO N : DA I L E Y H U B B A R D

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MIXED MEDIA

Unhappily Ever After THE NEW SEASON OF THE CROWN IS THE SHOW’S MOST COMPELLING YET, AS MARGARET THATCHER COMES TO POWER, PRINCESS DIANA EMERGES, AND THE WINDSORS GROW INCREASINGLY INSUFFERABLE

BY STEVE ERICKSON

3 2 L A M AG . C O M

DES WILLIE/NETFLIX

I

WA S T H E R E . Live long enough and a TV series of England’s most likable actresses of the moment, even as that spans the last half of the twentieth century is the cool reserve of Claire Foy (who played Elizabeth in the bound to catch up with you. The new season of The first two seasons) eludes her. We’ll probably never know Crown catches up with me in the summer of 1982 for sure whether the real Elizabeth managed the empathy when I was in London. I’d love to tell you I was five, but in Colman does when an unemployed housepainter breaks into fact I was old enough to read To the Lighthouse in Hyde Park her bedroom, not once but twice, to explain the grim realiand catch the Clash in Brixton, and it was a singularly intense ties of life under Thatcherism. As for Charles, let’s put this time. Margaret Thatcher was prime with as much surgical precision as we minister, scolding the British people can manage: He’s a dick. It’s not his that they weren’t made of sterner stuff fault he’s in love with another woman, when many were broke, out of work, but it is his fault that he makes his pissed off, and paranoid. Hours after young bride pay for it so cruelly my afternoon in Hyde Park, the IRA set when she’s already in over her head. off a bomb; and an hour after the Clash As for Thatcher, she probably would show, I was pulled over by undercover have considered being called a dick a cops in Earl’s Court who overheard me compliment, certainly preferring the tell a friend I wanted a Coke. On the male epithet to the corresponding other hand, the Brits were very puffed female one. At first, the performance up about their victory in the blink-andof an unrecognizable Gillian Anderson you-missed-it Falklands “War”—a bit seems to verge on parody. But then pathetic 40 years after holding the line Thatcher herself verged on parody, against Hitler—and when all the guys and by the second or third episode, weren’t preening with testosterone, Anderson takes up full-time residence they were swooning in love with an in Thatcher’s persona, measuring the 18-year-old English rose named Diana. psyche for curtains and prepared to After a lackluster third season, The take measurements of the soul should Dominated by Crown’s fourth is its most gripping yet, she be able to locate it. as we begin to realize maybe we don’t Series creator Peter Morgan has interlopers Maggie and like these people all that much. Given been pop culture’s reigning monarchist Di, season 4 is a bitcha choice between, say, the royals of The since he received an Oscar nomination slap upside the royal Crown and the Roys of HBO’s Succession, for writing The Queen almost 15 years head hard enough to we might find ourselves yearning ago. Sometimes writers don’t undernostalgically for the Sopranos— stand their material as well as their send any crown flying. corrupt, cold-blooded killers but less material understands them, so it’s not whiny about it. In the new season, the clear if he’s aware that this season— Windsors are irreparably dysfunctional, not only written, directed, and acted in clueless about anything resembling real life, considering thempredictably stellar fashion, but possibly the most beautifully selves beset if they have to go cut a ribbon somewhere or shake shot show ever—is the most compelling argument against someone’s hand. They’re perpetually wondering what they did monarchy since the American Revolution. Dominated by to deserve their pampered boredom. Each acts as if a royal interlopers Maggie and Di, season 4 is a bitch-slap upside scepter is lodged firmly up his or her nether regions. When the royal head hard enough to send any crown flying. Yet the newly minted Princess Di spontaneously hugs a Black boy I’ll be back for season 5 in 2022, hoping by then Western with HIV in an American hospital—the show’s most moving democracy hasn’t been rendered an altogether quaint notion moment—the royal perspective is that it’s vaguely disreputable by neofascism. In that instance, a constitutional monarchy and calculating, particularly enraging Charles, Di’s estranged might sound good by comparison. Run long enough as a TV husband and the next king of England, should he live so long. series in the twenty-first century, and history is bound to The Queen remains the most likable of the family because catch up sooner or later, whether the viewer is in London or she bears an uncanny resemblance to Olivia Colman, one L.A. or somewhere in between. You are there.

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W H E R E T O E AT N O W

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I

H AV E A F E W I hold dear: mem-

more than a particular dish, it was one of those ories of eating out just before meals that reminds you that restaurants aren’t everything changed. There was a just venues for celebrating; they’re also (and wine-soaked supper at Bar Restauperhaps more important) refuges—from dark rant; a last lunch with a sublime homes, bad jobs, or just the monotony of life. frittata at the dearly departed Bon Temps; and Eszett, like everyone else, had to shut down in an impromptu birthday dinner at Eszett.

March, which proved uniquely challenging for The last wasn’t how the night was supposed a new restaurant just hitting its stride. to go. There was supposed to be a babysitter and “Things were just starting to buzz,” laments a concert. Instead, there was a power outage and Spencer. Now, after months of struggle and the sad realization that leaving a college kid in various pivots, the restaurant is open again for darkness with a toddler isn’t “good parenting.” dining service on a new patio. It’s just SpenSo two-year-old in tow, we ended up at cer manning the fires and Sabrina doing just Eszett, a cozy new wine bar in a Silver Lake about everything else, from washing dishes to strip mall. It’s not really a place waitressing. The menu is concise, for young kids, but I wanted good but those great fries—the result booze. Thankfully, the chic setting of a labor-intensive process—are still had a high chair and warm on there along with good wine. hospitality, courtesy of Sabrina The couple long dreamed of havBezaire, who opened the restauing their own restaurant, Sabrina rant with her chef husband, Spensays, and they’re not giving up. cer, last December.

“We invested our life savings to We had various memorable open,” she says. “We put everythings: perfectly crispy wedge thing we had into making this D I N I NG DUO fries with a nori aioli; a tiny haute happen.” 3510 W. Sunset Blvd., Eszett owners Spencer and tuna melt; interesting wines. But Sabrina Bezaire.

Silver Lake, eszettla.com.

3 4 L A M AG . C O M

M A L I BU

O The meaty Montecito

Post Script VENICE

O The grill’s the thing at

this all-outdoor offshoot of Vartan Abgaryan’s Yours Truly. The menu is full of crowd-pleasers and international intrigue, from a spaetzle with grilled bone marrow and poblano to a large-format duck dish with strawberry hoisin and bao.

1515 Abbot Kinney Blvd., postscript.la.

Super Rich E C H O PA R K O This slickly branded

new Eastside spot has a tightly curated menu of onigiri, rice bowls, Japanese sparkling water, and oatmilk matcha lattes.

1814 W. Sunset Blvd., superrich.la. — H . E .

CO U RT E SY DY L A N + J E N I

R A I S I NG T H E B A R

At Eszett, elevated fries and wings complement thoughtfully curated wines and beers.

steakhouse, starters include albondigas and hamachi aguachile, and the mesquite-grilled steaks are served with pinquito beans and quinoa corn salad. The Baja influences extend to the wine list, with bottles from Mexico’s buzzy Valle de Guadalupe. 12746 Jefferson Blvd., Ste. 2200, bullandbutterfly.com.

The Inside Guide

ORDERING IN

Have Your Cake

ORDER UP! BELOVED LOCAL BAKERY PORTO’S IS NOW SHIPPING ITS DIVINE MILK’N BERRIES CONFECTION NATIONWIDE, CEMENTING ITS POSITION AS A MAJOR—AND MAJORLY DELICIOUS—PASTRY POWER PLAYER

O N E O F L . A .’ S biggest immigrant-

food success stories started in the 1960s, when Rosa Porto supported her family by baking cakes at her home in Manzanillo, Cuba, and selling them to neighbors.

After moving to L.A. in 1971, Rosa continued to sell her homemade cakes, including her classic tres leches cake. In 1976, she opened Porto’s on a stretch of Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park.

PORTO’S The beloved bakery has since grown into a mini

BY THE NUMBERS empire. There are now five locations in Southern California—Glendale, Burbank, Downey, 44 West Covina, and Buena Park—and a NorthYears since Rosa ridge outpost is under construction.

Porto (above) And after seeing the stores’ online sales spike opened her first during the pandemic, Porto’s is also focused on bakery in L.A. solidifying its new status as a national brand. At the end of September, in a major milestone for 1 .7 M I L L I O N Number of cheese the family-owned bakery, Porto’s started offering rolls the bakery nationwide shipping for its iconic Milk’N Bersells, on average, ries cake, which is a riff on the tres leches cake each month. that Rosa, who died last year, used to make.

“It really is full circle,” says Raul Porto, 60, 3 5 ,0 0 0 Rosa’s son and the company’s president. “We Pounds of butter Porto’s goes started with my mother making cakes in her through each week. home out of necessity. To now be in a position where we’re shipping cakes to all 50 states . . . it’s incredible. It’s still a family business. The cake is still based on her recipe.”

The Milk’N Berries cake debuted on the Porto’s menu in 2009, and the bakery has since sold more than a million.

The new model’s sponge is lighter than in Rosa’s original creation, and it’s less sweet and topped with whipped cream and berries instead of sugary meringue. But at its core it’s still a tres leches cake, with each layer of sponge soaked in a blend of three different dairy products—condensed milk, evaporated milk, and cream—plus a little brandy.

“We’ve just kind of enhanced the cake and moved it toward the modern taste buds,” says Tony Salazar, Porto’s vice president of operations and executive pastry chef, who started working at the company as a teenager more than 40 years ago.

Expanding its business mod-

B E R RY FA M O US On September 29,

Porto’s Bakery and Cafe started selling and shipping its famous—and even trademarked—Milk’N Berries cake nationwide via its website, portosbakery.com.

36 L A M AG . C O M

el to ship the cake nationwide puts old-school Porto’s in competition with sleekly branded bakeries like Milk Bar. But Raul says his offerings are a relative bargain: an eight-inch, three-layer Milk’N Berries cake that feeds ten to 12 people retails for $39.99, plus shipping.

“The other competitors on the market, from what I see, are a lot more expensive,” Raul says.

“We try to be very reasonable with the price. We were immigrants when we came in, and at first the majority of our customers were Cuban expatriates. It was almost like all our customers were immigrants who were broke.”

To make the cake stable enough to ship across the country, some tweaks were required.

Instead of being crowned with berries, as it is

R O SA P O RTO : B R I A N F E I N Z I M E R ; C A K E : V I C TO R SA L A Z A R

B Y A N D Y WA N G

S H I P I T: CO U RT E SY O F FO O D P U RV E YO R S

when you purchase it at the bakery, the shipped version features berries in between layers of cake. The dessert arrives frozen on a serving platter with a shipping collar to maintain its integrity. Just defrost and enjoy.

Porto’s “Cake at Home” is an extension of its hugely successful “Bake at Home” line, which launched in 2018 and includes Porto’s favorites, like its cheese rolls, along with new items, like arroz con pollo balls, not sold in the bakery.

Raul says the majority of shipped orders come from people in California who used to drive from hours away.

“I remember one incident in Downey when there were two ladies, a mother and daughter from San Diego, who came at like 4 o’clock in the morning,” he says. “Then the parking attendant came in and didn’t know what to do because they had fallen asleep in the car.”

Nationwide shipping of the Milk’N Berries cakes launched with 1,000 available cakes the first day, but there will likely be a hunger for many more. When Porto’s started selling “Bake at Home” chocolate twists in August, its initial run of 8,000 sold out in eight hours.

“If you were to ask me a year ago, I would have said the cake is going to do OK,” says Raul. “Now our expectations are much greater—it’s definitely going to be bigger than we ever imagined.”

SHIP IT!

More and more food purveyors are selling their goods directly to consumers. Whether you’re looking to give an edible gift or just treat yourself (between Zoom school and working from home, you deserve it), ordering a box of goods is a tasty way to help farmers and small businesses

MO CHIDOKI

This New York company, which recently started shipping to California, makes amazing ice-cream mochi—frozen treats encapsulated in sweet rice dough—and supplies famed restaurants like Nobu.

The beautifully presented signature collection box ($60) includes 24 mochi in a rainbow of a dozen flavors—from matcha to mango. It’s a cool, colorful alternative to a box of chocolates. Mochidoki.com.

P E T E R’S F L O R I DA S E A F O O D

For decades, Peter Jarvis’s fishing business focused on supplying top chefs like Playa Provisions’ Brooke Williamson. But with restaurants doing less business, Jarvis has shifted to selling his ultrafresh catches directly to consumers. Fish like yellowtail snapper ($37.95/pound) and stone crab (prices vary) are FedExed overnight within one day of coming out of the ocean. And unlike most seafood by mail, it’s not frozen. petersfloridaseafood.com.

G I R L & DU G

This San Marcos-based farm focuses on specialty produce, from glistening ice plant and edible flowers to rose celery.

Its offerings are beloved by local chefs like Jeremy Fox of Birdie G’s, and the farm recently started shipping nationwide.

Veggies and herbs arrive fairly clean and thoughtfully packaged—this is not your typical big box of dirt-caked greens from the CSA, though we love those, too. girlndug.com.

V I C T O RY C H E E S E

America’s cheesemakers are suffering, with sales down as much as 80 percent due to the decline in restaurant business and event cancellations. Those in the industry have banded together to launch Victory Cheese, a collective working to bring artisan cheese directly to consumers. You can buy Victory boxes from the likes of Northern California’s Cowgirl Creamery and Vermont’s Jasper Hill Farm.

Helping out never tasted so good. victorycheese.com. — H A I L E Y E B E R L A M AG . C O M 37

The Inside Guide

THANKSGIVING

SAY CHEESE > At Brandoni Pepperoni, chef Brandon Gray makes haute pizzas topped with lemon ricotta and fennel-pollen salami. But his Thanksgiving macaroni and cheese relies on a more humble ingredient to achieve a perfectly velvety texture: Velveeta. “A lot of chefs shit on Velveeta, but it’s not a true macaroni and cheese without it,” says Gray, though he admits to sometimes adding smoked gouda to keep guests on their toes. During his time cooking in the navy, Gray picked up a secret technique: “One of the shipmen would strain three quarters of the water the macaroni was cooked in, leave the last quarter of the now-starchy water, throw all the cheese in, and then mix it up,” says the chef. “You’re essentially creating a sauce with a thickened liquid.”

Beyond the Bird FROM VIETNAMESE BEEF STEW TO SPICY COCONUT CRAB, CITY CHEFS SHARE THE UNIQUE DISHES THEY’RE GRATEFUL TO HAVE ON THEIR OWN HOLIDAY TABLES

BY MALIA MENDEZ

S M O O T H TA L K E R

To make a creamy Thanksgiving mac and cheese, Gray says you’ve to got use Velveeta.

> Cassia co-owners Bryant and Kim Ng host an annual Thanksgiving potluck at their San Gabriel home that’s famous for two things: its karaoke contests and Kim’s beef stew. “Never mind that this is my profession,” says Bryant, who is also the chef at the couple’s acclaimed restaurant. “We want Kim’s stew.” The hearty riff on a traditional Vietnamese beef stew features slow-cooked short ribs, carrots, potatoes, and peas seasoned with star anise and fish sauce. The Ng’s holiday table is rounded out with everything from Vietnamese spring rolls to Bryant’s mother’s sticky rice to Porto’s Cuban pastries.

“Who cares if it matches?” says Bryant. “In fact, it’s even better if it doesn’t.”

38 L A M AG . C O M

FAMILY FUSION

CLAWS OUT > When she was growing i up in i Buena Park, k chef Sabel Braganza’s family table was a mix of American turkey alongside Filipino and Chinese dishes. Her favorite was her aunt’s spicy coconut crab. “For some reason she stopped making it. I missed it, so I started making it,” says Braganza, who heads the kitchen at West Hollywood hot spot E.P. & L.P. She prepares her childhood favorite by steaming a whole crab in a broth made of coconut milk, ginger, garlic, shallot, jalapenos, and fish sauce—a classic Filipino blend of sweetness and spice. It’s best served with rice and a glass of Prosecco. “Super simple.

The hardest part is eating it,” she says.

> “It was always a mix of Western and Chinese,” says Jon Yao, the chef-owner of Michelin-starred Kato, of his childhood Thanksgivings in Walnut. “We’d do a turkey with sticky rice and Chinese sausage stuffing.” When coming up with holiday dishes these days, Yao also mixes things up, incorporating elements of his Taiwanese mother’s cooking into traditional American dishes. For the past couple of years, he and his family have been experimenting with Chinese hot pot-style Thanksgiving dinners. “Trying to keep one foot in Chinese-Taiwanese culture and one foot in American culture was confusing when I was a kid,” Yao says. “Now I’ve found a healthy compromise between the two. That’s the real American Thanksgiving story.”

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The Inside Guide

THE DISH

A Rare Specimen NANCY SILVERTON’S NEW BURGER IS A JUICY, BARELY COOKED, PERFECTLY CONSTRUCTED MARVEL—IF YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON ONE BEFORE SHE SELLS OUT

BY HAILEY EBER

S H E M I G H T B E best known for her pizzas, pastas, breads, and salads, but Nancy Silverton loves a good burger. For years, she’s hosted regular burger parties at her home in Windsor Square, but she’s never served one at any of her current restaurants—until now. Looking to expand the pandemic takeout options at Chi Spacca, Silverton

recently added a burger to the menu. “Everyone is so bored, they’re looking for something new,” she says.

As one would expect, it’s not just any old meat-and-bun concoction but rather a precisely conceived to-go meal from the detail-obsessed chef. Here, a look at everything that goes into the Chi Spacca burger.

The Bun

The Cheese

> Though she founded La Brea Bakery y and is famous for herr way with carbs, Silverton verton doesn’t make her own buns. “The most important part of a great hamburger is that the bun is not homemade,” she says. Instead, she prefers Martin’s “Big Marty’s” buns because of their sesame seed coating and perfect dimensions for her seven-ounce burger.. ex“The ratio and the texun ture between the bun and the meat is probbrably the most important marriage in a hamburger,” she says.

> Silverton is relatively flexible when it comes to cheese.

Here, she uses extra sharp cheddar, but she says, “I also like American cheese, and I’ve been known to use gouda.”

The Lettuce > “Anyone who uses arugula or any other kind of lettuce besides iceberg needs to rethink it,” Silverton says. The lettuce, she says, is all about adding crisp texture, and only iceberg does that adequately.

The Tomato > Simple beefsteak tomatoes are sliced and seasoned with salt.

The Meat

The Pickle

The Onions

The Sauce

> Dietz & Watson’s kosher cukes are just crisp enough.

“It’s not a new pickle,” Silverton says, “but it’s still got a little bit of crunch.”

> Silverton makes what she calls “burger onions” by cooking thickly sliced yellow alliums in butter, water, and fresh thyme until they take on a bit of color but don’t caramelize. “They remind me of the onions on the old-school patty melt that I used to eat at Ships Coffee Shop on La Cienega,” she says.

> “A great hamburger is a well-lubricated hamburger, and that lubrication does not involve ketchup—it’s too sweet,” she says.

Instead, she prefers mayonnaise or aioli on both buns. On this particular specimen, she uses a slightly spicy Calabrian-chiliand-mint aioli.

T H E D E TA I L S The burger ($16 with fries) is available only for takeout on Saturdays from 11:30 to 2 p.m. at Chi Spacca. They often sell out, but you can preorder by phone. 6610 Melrose Ave., Hancock Park, chispacca.com, 323-297-1130.

40 L A M AG . C O M

> The restaurant grinds a blend of chuck, brisket, dry-aged beef trim, dry-aged beef fat, and fat from around the kidneys for optimal flavor and texture.

“There’s a little bit of funk to it, but it’s not overly funky,” says Silverton. It’s liberally seasoned with salt and pepper—“Too many people don’t season their meat enough”— packed loosely, and cooked rare on an almondwood-fired grill. “The most important thing is that, if you bite into it and don’t end up with half of the juices ruining your shorts, then we have not done our job,” says Silverton.

PH O T O GR A PH BY K Y L E DAV I D M O R E NO

The Inside Guide

LO C A L L E G E N DS

H E R E ’S T H E B E E F

Langer’s storied pastrami is actually made by RC Provisions.

meats all come from the same place.

Langer’s, for example, demands a special curing process and a smaller cut of beef belly, which tends to be leaner. The restaurant’s recipe was developed by Al Langer and Russak, then tweaked by Langer’s son, Norm, the current owner, who sings the praises of RC. “There’s nobody else in this city that I can go to and have this comfort level,” he says. “If I was to switch suppliers, I’m not going to get that same cut.”

At Brent’s Deli in Northridge and Westlake Village, RC worked collaboratively with the owner to create the most popular cut of meat on the menu, the black pastrami. It’s made by rubbing the exterior of the pastrami with a dense coating of black pepper and secret spices.

The Giamela family bought RC Provisions in 2000 and has focused on expanding the business, which has dozens of employees processing tens of thousands of pounds of beef daily. RC mostly sells wholesale to WHEN THEY NEED PASTRAMI MADE TO PRECISE SPECIFICATIONS, restaurants, but it also operates a TOP CITY DELIS LIKE LANGER’S AND CANTER’S private-label business that manufacTURN TO A LITTLE-KNOWN MEAT MAESTRO IN THE VALLEY tures products for clients including

BY JA S O N K E S S L E R major grocery chains in L.A. When you hit up your local supermarket deli H E VA L L E Y has long Monica, comes out of RC’s nondecounter, there’s a good chance you’re beenknown as a home to script plant on the corner of Victory taking a slice from RC home with you. film studios, but there’s a and Burbank boulevards, Giamela has guided different kind of producer across from Costco. “We RC Provisions from a of megahits in the area. Since the late pretty much own the local standout to a nation1950s, commercial meat processor town in the deli-meat wide powerhouse that “We pretty RC Provisions has been quietly making business,” says 48-yearsupplies top delis across much own some of L.A.’s favorite cured meats. old owner Matt Giamela. the country, like Zaidy’s in the town in The pastrami at Langer’s? It’s actuIn 1958, Alex Russak Denver and even a promially made by RC. Same goes for the opened a 5,000-square-foot the deli-meat nent New York deli whose smoked brisket at Canter’s, Brent’s, factory focusing almost name Giamela refuses business.”

Nate ’n Al’s, and almost every wellexclusively on Jewish deli to divulge. So the next MATT GIAMELA, OWNER, known deli around town. RC also cuts. The company started time you’re having a tireRC PROVISIONS produces the chili that tops the working with Langer’s some conversation with famous burgers at Original Tommy’s in the 1960s, and other New Yorkers, debating and Pink’s Hot Dogs. Even the capocustomers soon followed. the merits of your respeccollo on The Godmother, the iconic The restaurants provide RC with tive cities, casually let them know sandwich at the beloved Bay Cities precise specs, so every deli ends up with that their favorite New York pastrami Italian Deli & Bakery in Santa a unique product—even though the might actually come from Burbank.

Meet Your Meat Maker

4 2 L A M AG . C O M

CO U RT E SY L A N G E R ’ S

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MORE LOCAL GYMS AND STUDIOS ARE ADAPTING TO THE PANDEMIC

BY OFFERING ALFRESCO CLASSES WITH HIGH-END AMENITIES B Y B R I T TA N Y M A R T I N

A

S M A N Y fitness enthusi-

asts look to resume their pre-pandemic workouts, outdoor gym offerings are expanding—and being seriously upgraded. From Pilates on a rooftop with a view of the Hollywood Hills to an outdoor workout space with enough room for a post-sweat cocktail, here’s a sampling of how some Los Angeles gyms have adapted to alfresco fitness.

4 4 L A M AG . C O M

Los Angeles Athletic Club This downtown club is celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2020—but not quite in the way it originally planned. The facility recently unveiled a 26,000-square-foot outdoor gym, converting its parking garage and rooftop into workout spaces, an outdoor spa and salon area, and a beach-themed bar featuring food, drinks, and DJs. Even the private club’s beloved shoeshine man, Marco

Ramirez, will return with his own outdoor area for dress-shoe and sneaker cleaning. 431 West 7th St., downtown, laac.com.

Equinox Equinox opened its first fully outdoor club in L.A. in September. The facility, dubbed Equinox+ In the Wild, is spread across a 27,000-square-foot rooftop. Stations include strength training and a tented cardio area. Upgraded Equinox touches are present throughout, including rubber flooring and surround-sound speakers. In the Wild is currently available to All Access and Destination members in

L AAC : A L L E N DA N I E L

The Inside Guide

F I T F OR K I NG S A N D Q U E E NS

Left: Los Angeles Athletic Club has converted 26,000 square feet of usable outdoor space—including its parking garage—into a fitness mecca.

Right: Speirs Pilates holds classes on its roof, offering a view along with that burn.

S P E I R P I L AT E S : CO U RT E SY S P E I R P I L AT E S

Century City, but not to single-club members at the chain’s other locations. 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Century City, equinox.com.

Sanctuary Fitness Both the downtown L.A. and Pasadena locations are offering outdoor sessions of high-intensity interval training, boxing, and yoga. The studio’s health protocols include marking out individual workout areas for each patron and requiring instructors to lay off the hands-on adjustments. For those still not comfortable with working out around other people, Sanctu-

ary is supplementing its outdoorgym schedule with virtual classes available to stream on demand.

718 Jackson St., Arts District; 182 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, sanctuaryfitness.com.

Speir Pilates This West Hollywood studio has hauled its exercise equipment up to the rooftop, where multiple classes are held each day. Class size is limited ( just five participants at a time), and many are taught by studio cofounder Andrea Speir. The Santa Monica sister location is currently not able to offer outdoor ses-

sions. 8350 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, speirpilates.com.

Row House This rowing-machine-centered studio provides outdoor gym services at multiple branches across the city. In addition to ensuring small classes and distanced machines, Row House has instituted contactless booking and check-in procedures, sanitization of all equipment between users, and an “in good health” verification protocol for all participants. 18127 Chatsworth St., Granada Hills; 505 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica; 6451 E. Pacific Coast Hwy., Ste. C7, Long Beach., therowhouse.com.

L A M AG . C O M 45

The Inside Guide

TREND REPORT

BALENCIAGA $125 at balenciaga.com.

OFF-WHITE $110 at farfetch.com.

GALLERY DEPT. $65 at gallerydept.com.

PAUL SMITH $75 for three at paulsmith.com.

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN $115 at alexander mcqueen.com.

BOMBAS $12 at bombas.com.

VERSACE $95 at versace.com.

Footloose FOR MEN, DESIGNER SOCKS HAVE INCREASINGLY BECOME A PRICY PATH TO SELF-EXPRESSION

BY SUSAN CAMPOS

er sneakers were getting all the attention, but these days socks are stealing the show. “There’s no reason to get dressed up for anything at the moment,” says George Kotsiopoulos, former cohost of E!’s Fashion Police. “Socks are one way to still show off your personal style.”

Though sales of snazzy socks for men have been on an uptick for the past couple of years, it’s the high-end brands that are now in demand. Alexander McQueen and Gucci stores in L.A. have sold out of all their logo-emblazoned styles. But that hasn’t stopped millennials and the Gen-Z set from wanting to see what options may be available in shops on any given day. Since stores have reopened, lines of customers along Rodeo Drive can be seen winding down the street and wrapping around corners, many hoping to score socks.

Buying into the trend isn’t cheap—some socks can go for upward of $200 a pair.

46 L A M AG . C O M

“Socks do two things,” explains Kotsiopoulos about the trend. “It’s a way of giving the brand street cred.

And it allows younger buyers to splurge on low-key luxury items.”

Plus, they can add a pop of color when worn with a pair of sweats or shorts.

Many guys are even wearing them with sandals (a former fashion faux pas).

“The old white sock is so yesterday,” explains Mazik Saevitz, former owner of the streetwear store Conveyor. “It’s another accessory to wear. Some women just love seeing a guy wearing a dope sock.”

Perhaps the current interest in designer socks is the male version of the “lipstick index” for women. The term was coined by Leonard Lauder, chairman of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, who noticed a spike in lipstick sales in times of economic distress.

During the recession in the aughts, many women went crazy buying Chanel’s Vamp lipstick. During the pandemic, men are looking to socks for style and comfort.

GUCCI $155 at gucci.com.

A L L I M AG E S CO U RT E SY O F B R A N DS

N O T L O N G A G O, men’s design-

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The Inside Guide

FA S H I O N

Masked Maverick

A fan of the Twin Peaks auteur, Daddona pays homage to Lynch with these masks. For each mask sold, she’ll donate one to an essential worker in need. Plus, you’ll be saying what everyone is thinking: “This sh*t is bonkers.” $17.

Shroom Suit This cheeky psilocybincovered one-piece is made of chlorineresistant fabric and has a low scoop back. The suit’s high-cut bikini line, meanwhile, doles out large doses of skin. $45.

Comedy and Tragedy

Lady Daddona WHAT A LONG, STRANGE TRIP IT’S BEEN—THE CULT OF DESIGNER NICOLE DADDONA’S MAGIC SOCIETY

This T-shirt is inspired by the Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign in Silver Lake.

According to legend, the sign, removed in 2019, predicted how your day would go. If you passed it when the happy side was facing you, the odds were in your favor. $45.

B Y L I N D A I M M E D I AT O

ROVO C AT I V E L . A .-B A S E D DE S IG N E R Nicole Daddona started her much-hyped clothing and accessories line, Magic Society, in 2013. But it wasn’t until last year, after Daddona, who’s in her thirties, discovered a blow-up doll named Judy at a Goodwill store, that it really took off. “One day I thought about how much I liked her face and how much I wished I could wear it,” she says.

“That night I cut it off, which sounds horrible but was really quite cathartic.” Daddona hand-stitched a prototype of what would become her iconic Blow Me Bag using fabric scraps, a repurposed strap, and the face. “I wore it out to a family dinner the next night, excited to show it off, but it fell apart before the appetizers,” she says. She quickly perfected the bag after scoring a lot of dead-stock vintage inflatable dolls (including a male version named Johnny). Daddona sells the bags on Etsy (shopmagicsociety.com), along with a host of pop-culture items, some with references that only L.A. insiders will understand.

Sweet Judy Blue Eyes Made using the visage of a vintage blow-up doll, this cross-body bag is a real conversation starter.

Daddona calls the purse equal parts “useful and terrifying.” $89.

4 8 L A M AG . C O M

Patchwork Being Britney These “Conspiracy” socks are a great example of Daddona’s dark yet playful sense of humor.

They’re perfect for QAnon theorists and Spears fans alike. $10.

People who have had to go through the pandemic solo will commiserate with the sentiment expressed on this patch.

If you’re one of them, wear it proudly—you’ve earned it. $10.

P H OTOS CO U RT E SY N I CO L E DA D D O N A

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The Inside Guide

GROOMING

A Cut Above

WOMEN HAVE BEMOANED THEIR INABILITY TO GO TO SALONS SINCE THE START OF THE PANDEMIC, BUT EVEN THE MOST PRIMPAVOIDANT OF DUDES HAVE COME TO REALIZE THEY NEED MORE THAN A TRIM

BY ANDREW DUBBINS

THE BARBERSHOP CLUB

D

U R I N G T H E quarantine, every day is a bad hair day.

Your locks get tangled and your sideburns grow wispy.

You don’t recognize yourself when you pass a mirror, and wonder, “Who’s that Neanderthal?” But now that barbershops have reopened for haircuts, you can emerge from your cave a new man.

on-top, vaguely Hitler-youth cut here, but you’ll have to wait a little longer for the secret speakeasy in the back to reopen. The bar is closed due to COVID; otherwise, you’d find a dance floor, a DJ, and mixologists pouring cocktails with edgy names like Impeach 45. 10797 Washington Blvd., Culver City, blindbarber.com.

T I M E M AC H I N E

TEQUILA SUNRISE

Enter a portal back to the golden age of Hollywood at Sweeney Todd’s, where a barber pole spins in the window and jazz plays in the background as you kick your feet up in one of the vintage barber chairs. There’s been a barber at this location since 1947, says owner Todd “Sween” Lahman. The shop has had to pause its famous three-hot-towel shave for now because masks must be worn at all times, but that hasn’t kept regulars from flocking back. In its first week, the shop was booked solid. “People want to get that mess off their heads,” says Sween. 4639 Hollywood Blvd., Los Feliz, sweeneytoddsbarbershopla.com.

Within walking distance to the beach, Paper Scissors Rock Salon in Venice offers snacks, beer, or a round of tequila when owner Deb Kennedy is feeling celebratory, which is often. Maybe it’s the sea breeze or just the circus vibe of the boardwalk, but it’s hard leaving here without a smile on your face. (It helps that there’s free parking.) Kennedy is a hard-working mom, and that Venice rent is expensive, so leave her a big tip. 1711 Pacific Ave., Venice, paperscissorsrocksalon.com.

S TA R P OW E R

With its hardwood floors and vintage Koken barber chairs, Baxter Finley oozes class. It offers a simple menu of cuts and a relaxed environment. You’ll find a large selection of its original shave creams, beard oils, and razors for purchase, all born out of the Baxter of California grooming line. Think of it as a spa for discerning bros. 525 La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, baxterofcalifornia.com.

SWEENEY TODD’S

T H E B A R B E R S H O P C LU B : CO U RT E SY T H E B A R B E R S H O P C LU B ; SW E E N E Y TO D D ’ S : CO U RT E SY SW E E N E Y TO D D ’ S

DUDES ABIDE

Beverly Hills’s Gornik & Drucker was established in 1989 after a merger between two competitive barbers: Harry Drucker, who founded his shop in 1936 and whose clients included fabulously coiffed stars like Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra, and Clark Gable; and William Gornik, who wooed Tony Curtis and Peter Lawford into his shop in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. But in his old age, Drucker made peace with Gornik and asked him to combine the two businesses. Gornik & Drucker still follows its founders’ strict grooming standards, serving the “cultivated gentleman” at locations in the Beverly Hills Montage Hotel and at the Palisades Village mall. Beverly Hills Montage Hotel, 225 N. Cañon Dr., Beverly Hills; Palisades Village, 15275 Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades, gornikanddrucker.com.

HIPSTERS FROM ANOTHER MISTER

For the hep cats of L.A., a pilgrimage to Blind Barber is a must. Launched in New York’s East Village, the shop opened its Culver City outpost in 2012.

You can get that shaved-sides, long-

for 27 years, offering popular ’dos like the box fade, wave, and buzz cut. But the place is about more than haircuts.

Graham says, “The model of the shop would be to uplift, encourage, and inspire the community through the art of barbering.” 220 E. Regent St., Inglewood, 310-671-9177.

G E N T L E M E N ’ S Q UA RT E R S

True to its name, The Barbershop Club in Koreatown has the feel of an old-fashioned men’s club, with aged wood furniture, the scent of Bay Rum aftershave wafting in the air, and even a tailor on staff. Located in the Hotel Normandie, the shop’s owner, Woody Lovell, learned his craft by watching his father and grandfather. “We were tossed into manhood through the barbershop,” he says. “You learned how to talk to a fellow man . . . how to shake his hand.” Handshakes are on hold, but the friendly barbers haven’t changed a bit. Hotel Normandie, 3610 W. 6th St., Koreatown, barbershopclub.com.

H A P P Y DAYS A R E H E R E AG A I N

BOLT BARBERS

FA D E I N

As gentrification creeps into Inglewood on the heels of the new Rams stadium, pray we never lose local gems like In the Cut. Owner Trevor Graham runs the comfortable, no-frills, no-website barbershop. He’s been cutting hair here

Downtown’s Bolt Barbers is a throwback to the 1950s. You’ll still be handed a chilled beer with your cut, but for now the vintage shuffleboard is off-limits. “It’s been a difficult year,” says owner Lynn Roberts. Some downtown barbershops have had to shutter permanently. A lot of clients have fled town. Then came the looting. Someone threw a brick through Bolt’s window, narrowly missing the jukebox. Another brick lodged in the glass. “I’m leaving that one,” says Roberts. “It says we survived.” 460 S. Spring St., downtown, boltbarbers.com.

L A M AG . C O M 5 1

The Inside Guide

SHOPPING

Trying Times WHILE MANY SHOPPERS ARE STILL AVOIDING IN-STORE VISITS, VIRTUAL DRESSING ROOMS HAVE START-UPS WORKING 24/7 B Y L I N D A I M M E D I AT O

real-time image processing to create the we shop, at least temporarily. After world’s largest virtual fitting room. Users upall, safety is still a major concern. In load images of themselves, and the software a recent survey conducted by retailmaps a three-dimensional version of their research firm First Insight, 65 percent of bodies. Customers are then able “try on” women and 54 percent of men in the U.S. rethousands of garments. Brands like Adidas ported that they don’t feel comfortable going and Tommy Hilfiger are already employing into dressing rooms.

Zeekit’s technology.

As a result, e-commerce shopping and the At Rebecca Minkoff’s Beverly Grove store, current popular practice of “buy online, pick shoppers can still enjoy the traditional retail up in store” (BOPIS) is booming. According experience while limiting their interactions to Adobe Analytics, a company that scans with others by using the Zeekit’s touch-screen P I C T U R E T H AT From top: A shopper “tries on” and tracks trillions of anonymous purchases mirrors in changing rooms. Customers select lipstick at a digital beauty counat top retailers, this has led to a whopping items onscreen and have them delivered outter by tech company Perch; $497 billion in online sales since January—a side their door. (The mirrors also have the Tenth Street Hats invites customers to sample a variety of 55 percent increase from the previous year. ability to change lighting so shoppers can see lids through its app.

Between August 2019 and August 2020, BOhow their getup will look in, say, Runyon CanPIS increased by 259 percent. yon at noon or on Sunset Boulevard at nine But sales for clothing, which many prefer to try on before p.m.) The mirrors are also equipped with software that enbuying, have dropped a record 16.4 percent since the panables consumers to pay for purchases without leaving the demic hit. This has led tech companies to scramble to find safety of their sanitized try-on space. digital alternatives.

Shopify, too, recently launched its AR technology in concert Leading the way is Zeekit, which has developed an artiwith Apple’s Safari web browser. It creates 3D models so you ficial intelligence app from technology originally designed can examine every inch of an item before purchasing. Welfor the military. It combines augmented reality (AR) with come to shopping’s new normal.

5 2 L A M AG . C O M

A L L I M AG E S CO U RT E SY O F T H E B R A N DS

C

OVID -1 9 H AS CHANGED the way

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L A M AG . C O M 53

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L A M AG . C O M 55

L.A. Stories

B E NJA M I N S V E T K E Y

WOR L D R E C OR D

A legend, Morillo used to spin for crowds of thousands across the globe.

Death of a DJ I ’ V E N E V E R B E E N T O I B I Z A . I’m a middleaged guy from suburbia who grew up on ELO, not EDM. Until a couple of years ago, the only thing I knew about Erick Morillo was that he’d cowritten “I Like to Move It,” that funky little tune sung by an animated lemur in DreamWorks’ Madagascar.

And yet, as fate would have it, I may be the world’s leading expert on the once internationally famous 49-year-old DJ who used to spin records for crowds of thousands—and who was found dead inside his Miami home on September 1, just weeks after making headlines in a sexual assault scandal that crushed any hopes he had for a comeback and may have exposed a dark, sordid layer to a life that had seemed so bright and joyful, if sometimes spectacularly reckless.

In the spring of 2017, a literary agent contacted me to see 56 L A M AG . C O M

if I’d be interested in ghostwriting Morillo’s memoir. I did a little digging and discovered that there was a lot more to the guy than just a hit song in a cartoon. He’d been a pioneering force in the world of electro house music in New York the 1990s—the first to fuse it with Latin reggae—and then, in the 2000s, went on to become one of the most successful DJs in the world, earning $100,000 a show as he globetrotted through Europe, Australia, and South America. He’d launched his own successful label, Subliminal, producing scores of records by other artists (at one point collaborating with Puffy Combs) and even had his own short-lived show on MTV. From what I could tell from the clips, Morillo had, at least for a time, soared about as high into the dance-music stratosphere as one could possibly fly.

So on a warm April afternoon, I drove up into the Hollywood Hills for a meeting at Morillo’s Los Angeles home,

G E T T Y I M AG E S

ERICK MORILLO WAS ONCE AN EDM GOD. NOW HE’S A CAUTIONARY TALE. THE WILD LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF A RECORD-SPINNING SUPERSTAR

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58 L A M AG . C O M

a stunning modernist monument—all sharp angles and glass walls—perched like a hang glider over jaw-dropping 360-degree views of the city. He met me at the door looking very much like a DJ, which is to say he was shirtless and showing off his buff chest.

“I bought this house from a guy who used to be a big deal in radio,” he explained as he walked me around the property. “He was the one who invented payola. So, you know, I felt right at home.”

Over the next year or so, I spent a lot of time at that house. Morillo and I would sit at his gigantic dining room table overlooking his infinity pool and, with a tape recorder running, dive deep into every corner of his life story during a dozen or more interviews. He told me about his childhood growing up in South America (where he picked up his slight Colombian accent); his teen years in New Jersey (where he H O US E PA RT Y earned—and blew—his first small forFrom top: Celebrating Morillo’s birthday with club owner Eddie Dean and an unknown tune as a neighborhood coke dealer); woman at Pacha New York in 2008; Morillo at his humble musical beginnings (mixthe 2005 House Music Awards in London. ing tracks in his bedroom); his meteoric rise in the DJ world (partying with celebrities like Pharrell, Lenny the one about how he got banned from Kravitz, and Naomi Campbell); and, flying British Airways after shooting over the course of more than one sesup and passing out in the first-class sion, the horrifying details of his inbathroom on a plane from Miami to evitable, humiliating fall.

London. Others, though, were heartWhich is to say we talked a lot breaking. He’d been married once, about drugs. Morillo to the only woman he had been clean for at ever truly loved, but least a couple of years mere months after the when we met, but at wedding he found himSome of one point he’d been self sneaking out of the his druggie spending $20,000 a couple’s bedroom in stories month on Ketamine. the middle of the night were pretty “I’ve done a lot of hard to shoot up (once, he drugs,” he told me, got so high he literalfunny, even “and have mostly been didn’t recognize his glamorous, or ly disappointed. Cocaine wife). Not surprisingly, at least they made me nervous and the marriage didn’t last. seemed so paranoid. GHB made The physical impact me want to throw up before he died. of the drug was also or go to sleep. But Ketterrible. Morillo lost amine was different. K so much weight—in was love at first snort.”

2014, he was down to Snorting powdered Ketamine was 120 pounds—he said he looked like a bad enough, but before long he was inconcentration camp survivor. “Except jecting liquid K straight into his arm.

I’d built this concentration camp all That’s when things really began to unravby myself,” he confessed. Around that el. Some of his druggie stories were pretsame time, part of his bicep (his favorty funny, even glamorous, or at least ite injection spot) got so infected, docthey seemed so before he died. Like tors had to amputate a sizable chunk

G E T T Y I M AG E S

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of his arm. Literally, the drug took a pound of his flesh.

But there were inspirational aspects to Morillo’s tale as well. After several failed attempts at rehab, he finally found a therapist in Miami who helped him climb out from rock bottom. “He kind of looked like Kris Kringle in a button-down shirt, but the man was a psychological miracle worker,” he told me. By 2017, Morillo had become a gym rat and had rebuilt his body. He was making music again. He’d installed a recording studio on the lower floors of his L.A. house, where he mixed his first new tunes in years. He’d been producing, too, reviving his Subliminal label with new releases every couple of weeks. He had his own radio show on Sirius XM—Erick Morillo: Subliminal Sessions. And he’d been DJing again, playing gigs in Glasgow and Cartagena.

“I haven’t done K in years,” he said.

“That’s a blink of an eye in the time frame of a recovering addict. But it’s given me just enough distance to see my past with a bit of clarity: All the missed opportunities. The failed marriage and the wrecked friendships. The hundreds of thousands of dollars shoveled up my nose and injected into my arm. What a waste.”

The last time I spoke to Morillo was this past April. He called out of the blue to let me know he was back in Los Angeles (and to brag about how he’d scored a business-class ticket from Miami for just $300; he’d always been smart with money). He mentioned nothing about his legal troubles, which hadn’t yet leaked to the press. When I saw the headlines in August—that he’d been arrested for sexual assault in Miami, where he was alleged to have raped an overnight houseguest in December 2019—I couldn’t have been more shocked.

I don’t know if he’d slipped back into drugs. I don’t know anything about what happened in Miami. I don’t know how he died. All I do know is that this final chapter of Morillo’s story is about as tragic an ending as either of us could have imagined while sitting around his dining room table in that remarkable house in the hills. “I can’t dwell too much on the past,” he told me during one of our last sessions.

“I don’t have time to cry over spilled K. I’m too busy putting the pieces of my life back together.”

PBS VIDEO APP pbssocal.org/app L A M AG . C O M 59

The War Over

lacma BY

Michael Slenske

LACMA director Michael Govan is credited with turning the museum into an international landmark. But his billion-dollar renovation has bitterly divided the art world and raised questions about his motives. landscape by

portraits by

CATHERINE OPIE

CREDIT BOX

TED SOQUI

CREDIT BOX

61

LOS ANGELES M AG M O NLTAH 2 0 .1C3 O M 73

M

ichael Govan

is on calls all day, every day, without a break—conference calls, Zoom calls, multiple calls at a time even.

“I’ve mastered the art of having one call in each ear with two devices.

It’s hard, but your brain can learn to switch back and forth,” says the 57-year-old CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art during yet another call, this one with me, from his new “command central” in the dining room of his LACMA-funded Hancock Park home. “It’s hard to set down a big museum like LACMA, and a lot of issues have come up. But we’re good. I think we’re doing a good job weathering the crisis.”

The crisis Govan is referring to is not just the pandemic, which shuttered the museum on March 14, but also the one precipitated by his relentless, decade-long campaign to demolish four of the five buildings on the museum’s eastern campus and replace them with a single, sprawling, architecturally ambitious structure designed by 77-year-old Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.

Of the many controversies that have gripped the Los Angeles art world in recent years, this one—the not-entirely-transparent process that has paved the way for the Zumthor building, has been the most triggering of all. Govan’s crusade has inspired the formation of two anti-LACMA activist groups, unleashed an avalanche of critical press, and wrecked a long, multimillion-dollar relationship with a donor who played an instrumental role in the museum’s founding.

The glass-and-concrete building will be, depending on whom you believe, “a mastery of light and shadow” (Brad Pitt) or “suicide by architecture” (Los Angeles Review of Books). But however one feels about it, the $750 million David Geffen Galleries (so named because the entertainment mogul pledged $150 million to the capital campaign) is poised to become the new repository of LACMA’s vast encyclopedic collection, and a long-standing addition to the city’s cultural landscape.

Among the project’s most vocal detractors is Christopher Knight, chief art critic for the Los Angeles Times, who was awarded a Pulitzer this past spring for a series of sharply critical stories that dubbed Zumthor’s design “the Incredible Shrinking Museum” for its lack of on-site art storage and off-site curatorial offices. (While estimates vary, the new museum will also suffer a reported 10,000- to 45,000-square-foot loss of gallery space.) Proponents argue that the original campus was perpetually leaking (thus jokingly nicknamed LEAKMA), seismically vulnerable, and crammed with awkward exhibition spaces. With no funding or appetite to retrofit those crumbling structures, they say, the most efficient solution was to knock them down and start fresh.

“This was a museum with a series of buildings that had been added to and painted and patched and repainted, and it was just tired,” says Stephanie Barron, senior curator and department head of modern art, who started working at LACMA in 1976. “When it rained, we knew where to put the buckets.”

Whether the Geffen Galleries are an architecturally, curatorially, or art-historically responsible gambit is almost beside the point now that the demolition is already nearly finished. But the toll this politically fractious and chaotic process has exacted on LACMA 6 2 L A M AG . C O M

and the county, which is on the hook for $125 million for what may ultimately be a billion-dollar building (for a museum that draws less than a million visitors per year), is certainly worth further examination.

W

hen LACMA was completed in 1965, it was short on art but full of light, with unhindered views across the Ahmanson atrium in every direction. Even back then, however, the museum’s design was controversial. Had Richard F. Brown, the museum’s inaugural director, and Norton Simon, the industrialist who was one of LACMA’s chief original funders, gotten their wish, the campus would have been filled with buildings by modernist icon Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. But instead, an up-and-

THE DECONSTRUCTIONIST Michael Govan in his Miracle Mile office overlooking the demolition site.

“THERE ARE A LOT OF MISUNDERSTANDINGS,” GOVAN SAYS. “BUT I LOVE WHAT WE DO, AND THERE’S A JOY IN IT. I WON’T LET ANYBODY SPOIL THAT.”

coming Angeleno architect named William L. Pereira— the brains behind the LAX Theme Building—was hired for the job. Soon after the buildings were unveiled in 1965, Brown was forced to resign by the board of trustees in part because of public backlash against Pereira’s designs. Some of L.A.’s top artists were similarly unimpressed.

(Ed Ruscha set the new structures ablaze in his seminal painting The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire, which now resides in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC.) In those early years, says Barron, “It wasn’t a very distinguished collection. So the museum made a decision in the ’60s to focus on major special exhibitions, which it did, and built a reputation rather quickly for those.”

“I used to cut school to go to LACMA.

They had a good coffee shop downstairs that was real cheap. It was the only place a truant officer wouldn’t follow me,” remembers Billy Al Bengston, the Venicebased artist whose paintings were the subject of one of LACMA’s most notable early special exhibitions in 1968.

(It came on the heels Ed Kienholz’s landmark 1966 retrospective featuring the controversial assemblage sculpture Back Seat Dodge ’38, which depicted a couple copulating in the back seat of the car. L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors deemed the work pornographic and threatened to withhold financing to LACMA as a result. “That was a big deal,” says Bengston.)

As time passed, the campus began to grow on the public. Suspended above reflecting pools and accessed via footbridge, LACMA’s sundrenched galleries and renegade programming were eventually woven into the fabric that supported the broader L.A. art world. The affection for the museum and campus only deepened as the collection grew to become the largest encyclopedic holding west of the Mississippi, home to 142,000 objects, some dating back 6,000 years. Many Angelenos are outraged that Govan is excising this history, and especially furious that the buildings came down at the height of the pandemic.

“We always knew that when they came down there would be a bit of L A M AG . C O M 63

64 L A M AG . C O M

LACMA’S NEW LOOK Now that the old buildings on the eastern side of the museum’s campus have been razed, construction is set to begin on the new David Geffen Galleries, which Govan says are on schedule to be completed in 2023 and to open in 2024. On the south side of Wilshire, the concrete-andglass building will bridge to a 300seat theater plaza.

The north side of the structure will house 26 galleries arrayed around a 110,000-square-foot exhibition space overlooking a trio of restaurants and a wine bar downstairs.

ing blasting Govan’s plan and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors for voting unanimously to approve it. “In doing so,” the petition complained, “they ignored serious recent criticism published by the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Curbed L.A., Architectural Record, The Art Newspaper, The Architect’s Newspaper and hundreds of public comments running 83 percent against the project.” The petition garnered nearly 4,000 signatures.

Zumthor’s name, as it happens, popped up at LACMA years ago, even before Govan took over the museum in 2006. Back in 2001, Govan’s predecessor, Andrea Rich, initiated a competition to find an architect for the $200 million job of fixing or replacing the Bing Theatre, the Ahmanson, the Hammer, and the Art of the Americas buildings. Ultimately, Dutch architect and urbanist Rem Koolhaas got the gig, with a design for a tabula-rasa single structure covered by an airy, translucent tent. Money for the project never materialized, and it never got built, but Rich did take the Rotterdambased architect and five LACMA curators on

REDNDERING: BPC IMAGES

bittersweet sadness, because those buildings did a lot of good—people learned about art, they hosted memorable events,” says Govan.

For some, the loss of the familiar buildings is more bitter than sweet.

“It seems like such an affront to the community to destroy the buildings now,” says Enrique Martínez Celaya, the Cubanborn artist who won LACMA’s Young Talent Award in 1998, and whose work is in the permanent collection. “And then the final straw that makes LACMA build this building is ultimately the opinion of an actor?

Really? This town is so confused about what the role of art is.”

The actor Martínez Celaya is referring to is Brad Pitt, who showed up with Diane Keaton last April to the final county-supervisor meeting to testify on behalf of Zumthor’s vision. (Supervisor Hilda Solis posted pictures of herself with the stars on social media after voting to approve the funding.) Despite the celebrity endorsements, Change.org launched a petition shortly after the meet-

THE PLAYERS

LACMA EVENT: STEFANIE KEENAN/GETTY IMAGES; ZUMTHOR: STEPHEN SIMPSON/LONDON NEWS PICTURES/ZUMA PRESS

Peter Zumthor, the Swiss architect of the renovation, kept a low profile before his LACMA gig.

Below: Govan has cultivated VIPs like Leonardo DiCaprio, John Baldessari, Clint Eastwood, and Eva Chow, gathered here at LACMA Art+ Film Gala in 2011.

an inspiration-gathering tour of museums in London, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris. One of those curators was J. Patrice Marandel, who turned out to be a Zumthor fan; he even handed out books of Zumthor’s architecture to his colleagues during that selection process.

“They said, ‘Who is that?’” recalls Marandel, who retired as chief curator of European art after 24 years in 2017. “That was the first time most of my colleagues had heard of Zumthor. And they all returned the books to me, and that was the end of Zumthor.”

Not quite. Flash forward to 2013, when Govan startled the L.A. art world by announcing Zumthor would reimagine LACMA’s campus, buoyed by a LACMA exhibition of Zumthor’s work. “There was no competition, no choice,” notes Marandel. “Govan chose Zumthor, and the rest is history.” Nor was there any scouting trip to European museums. The curators were allowed to gather photos of museums they liked and disliked and present those to Zumthor during a single boardroom meeting.

Says Barron, “It was more of a presentation than a conversation.”

Sketches of Zumthor’s LACMA plans were unveiled at a retrospective; his original vision for the new building resembled a gigantic amoeba crawling up the north side of Miracle Mile—and it was asphalt black, supposedly taking inspiration from the neighboring La Brea Tar Pits. The design has since evolved quite a bit, into a bonewhite futuristic structure that looks more like Starfleet Academy than a home for priceless artworks and antiquities.

Right from the start, though, it rubbed some people the wrong way.

“We were dealing with an architect who was out of his depth,” says Joseph Giovannini, an architect who has served as the architecture critic for New York Magazine and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. “I’ve been in and out of the museum world for quite some time, and I felt this scheme was a little unexpected. Not only because it was a floating amoeba, but the fact that the floor plan was all scrambled.”

So what drew Govan to Zumthor in the first place? The architect, who declined to comment for this story, was awarded the Pritzker Prize (the Oscars of architecture) in 2009. But his greatest hits before the LACMA commission were the architectural equivalent of indie art flicks: fanciful buildings that are often praised as “magical” and “spiritual”—like his cast-concrete and glass-sheathed Kunsthaus Bregenz museum in Austria. But he’s done nothing on the huge scale of the LACMA project. For Govan, that wasn’t a problem.

“What Zumthor has is a tradition of creating space that feels lasting and solid, of real materials; not painted Sheetrock but, rather, concrete, hard plaster, stone,” he says. “And he contrasts that with a very subtle sense of light and shadow.”

Zumthor’s anonymity outside rarefied architecture circles also presented Govan with an opportunity: to “discover” a new and exciting talent. Govan could have picked, say, L A M AG . C O M 65

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GIOVANNINI: PATRICK MCMULLAN / GETTY IMAGES ; OPPOSITE PAGE: RICHARD SERRA, BAND, 2006, SCULPTURE, STEEL, OVERALL: 153 X 846 X 440 IN. (388.62 X 2148.84 X 1117.6 CM); PLATE THICKNESS: 2 IN. (5.08 CM), PURCHASED WITH FUNDS PROVIDED BY ELI AND EDYTHE L. BROAD (C) RICHARD SERRA, XXX - ARS WILL LIKELY GIVE YOU ADDITIONAL COPYRIGHT INFORMATION.

Frank Gehry, whom he’s worked with ing LACMA to an abandoned parking lot that for decades (they liaised on the Gugwill someday house a new theater (half the size “MICHAEL, IN HIS genheim Bilbao; and Gehry collaboof the now-demolished Bing). The bridge has rated with Govan on several LACMA HEART OF HEARTS, drawn especially heavy fire. In his scathing, projects, including the new galleries 7000-word “Suicide By Architecture” critique WANTED TO WORK that house the museum’s modern colin the New York Review of Books, Giovannini WITH ME. HE lection). But he recognized that the dismissed the slickly dramatic span as “pure Geffen would be just another note Cecil B. De Mille.”

NEVER TOLD ME in Gehry’s hit parade, and probably “It’s an iconic street,” notes Gehry. “I THAT, BUT I FELT less buzzworthy than Disney Hall or was once asked, 15 years ago, when LACMA IT. OF COURSE, HE any of the acclaimed architect’s other bought the lot across the street, how I would iconic edifices. But Govan had higher join that site. I designed a very Zen, simple HAD TO GO HIS ambitions. bridge that you almost didn’t see. Like the OWN WAY.” Before he arrived here, Govan told wings of a butterfly, it was very light. When FRANK GEHRY WSJ Magazine that “L.A. is a rung you cross an icon and cover it, that’s probably down” from other art capitals like a hot ticket for people to pounce on.”

Rome, Paris, New York—even Athens.

Many detractors also complain that “I don’t care what anybody says,” he Zumthor’s two-story lateral behemoth doesn’t said. To bring LACMA up a rung or leave a whole lot of room for art. three he wanted its new building to While offering 110,000 square feet make an entirely original statement, of continuous exhibition space and an impulse that Gehry completely various outdoor plazas, the old buildunderstands. “I looked at some of ings actually had more room for the Zumthor’s work, and it seemed museum’s ever-expanding collection. minimalist. But it seemed to have a Giovannini, who has recently become passion that exceeded the minimalsomething of an anti-Govan activist ism,” the 91-year-old architect says. (he’s behind the Citizens Brigade to “We’ll see where it goes. Michael, in Save LACMA, which collected 13,000 his heart of hearts, wanted to work signatures of support, marshaled an with me. He never told me that, but I anti-Zumthor design competition, and felt it. Of course, he had to go his own placed ads against the design in the way. I trust him because I’ve been New York Times) personally financed through it with him. He sticks to his a quantitative analysis of Zumthor’s guns, and he’ll make it work.” plans that concluded the new muThe exact nature of Zumthor’s seum would lose some 86,000 square plans, especially for the museum’s feet of gallery space, with room for interior, have, until very recently, been only 26 galleries instead of the origikept under seal. The true floor plans nal 115. Recently unearthed county rewere not made public until after the cords cited in his latest critique paint supervisor vote and period of public an even bleaker picture, suggesting MOURNING JOE comment had ended last April. Accordthere may be as little as 27,000 square Joseph Giovannini, an influential architecture critic, has emerged as one of Govan’s most ing to Govan, the delay was deliberate. feet of true gallery space. formidable foes.

He told me in March that the public According to Govan, that’s much isn’t shown “the inside of hospitals— ado about nothing. He believes that they let the experts design them. But everyone Zumthor’s “lateral spread” is the wave of the future, and he will see them. The plans will be out. People plans on using the space he does have more equitably by creatwill see this over the course of time. We’re ing new and unexpected adjacencies between the collection’s actually going to have a certain pleasure in Western classics and areas like Islamic art that few people visreleasing details and getting people excited ited on the upper floors of the Ahmanson. This nonhierarchial, about the building toward its opening.” decentralized museum may be well-suited for our current Govan took such pleasure on September 17, political moment. “When I would use phrases 10 years ago when he invited a small group of journalists like ‘structural racism’ and the museum’s ‘need to decolonize,’ on a Zoom tour to view the final layouts of the it was an uphill battle,” says Govan. “But there’s never been a clustered concrete galleries he has likened to more important time in art history, because now we have the a “European village.” The showing also added tools to do something about it.” definition to Zumthor’s controversial plans for The museum is already bringing the collection to undera bridge across Wilshire Boulevard, connectserved neighborhoods throughout L.A., be it at Charles White

indeed be jarring. But she doesn’t believe change has to be a bad thing, especially if that Picasso gets replaced (or juxtaposed) with works that aren’t normally considered part of the traditional canon. “Curators and art historians have been uprooting this linear view of art history for a long time,” she says, noting MOMA’s acclaimed rehang that juxtaposed the likes of Picasso with artists of color. “It’s a welcome change for those of us wanting to see not just diversity but a change in the way museums think about art history.”

M

Elementary, the Vincent Price Art Museum, a planned gallery at Magic Johnson Park, or utilizing LACMA trucks to spread art across the city, all of which Govan views as a dramatic expansion of LACMA’s footprint.

Naima Keith, who left her job as the director of the California African American Museum to become senior vice president of education and public programs at LACMA, believes that at least some of the fury over the new building is based in fear. Some Angelenos, she says, are understandably frightened by the tectonic shifts in the LACMA landscape; seeing their favorite Picasso disappear from its regular nook in the Ahmanson might

useum directors are the politicians of the art world, and Michael Govan’s charm and savvy political instincts have helped propel him to the top ranks of the international art scene. While his undeniable charisma and stunning command of technical data and art history should put him in league with JFK or Barack Obama, many of Govan’s detractors have compared him less charitably to Donald Trump.

“I’m not the only one to make STATE OF THE ART Govan poses next to Richard that comparison,” says Marandel.

Serra’s Band, aquired by “He’s not Obama, believe me.

LACMA in 2007. It’s one of many masterpieces the He’s not democratic at all. And ambitious director has no one you ask will give you that brought into the museum. opinion. He has a wonderful gift of speaking. He’s very eloquent.

He’s very charming. But his message is kinda scary sometimes.”

Martínez Celaya believes that Govan’s relentless push to complete the Zumthor building has been driven by his desire to burnish his own reputation. “I think he’s like the Gavin Newsom of the art world,” Martínez Celaya says. “High aspirations, very crafted persona in the world, nothing comes out of his mouth that is not calculated but somehow he always reveals his calculations.

It’s very transparent. He’s not Clinton or Obama because he’s not there yet—but he’s hoping to be. He seems so important in L.A. because he’s hanging out with celebrities. But in the international pecking (CONTINUED ON PAGE 92) L A M AG . C O M 67

David Ryu and Nithya Raman are liberal Democrats running for the same city council seat. Blue L.A., meet the future of local politics

Left and

Lefter BY JON REGARDIE PHOTOGRAPHED BY

S H AYA N A S G A R N I A

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approached last March, David Ryu had every reason to be confident. Having defeated city hall veteran Tom LaBonge’s chief of staff five years earlier in an upset victory, the first Korean American member of the Los Angeles City Council approached his reelection bid with all the trappings of incumbency: people knew Ryu’s name and his résumé, which included advocating for homeless housing projects and combating city hall corruption. History was on his side, too. A Los Angeles City Council incumbent had not lost a race since 2003. He also had that most precious election commodity: a bulging war chest. While his two competitors spent a combined $829,000 on the race, the Ryu machine dropped nearly $1.2 million—more than anyone running for any seat on the March ballot in Los Angeles. On top of that, independent groups such as unions representing police officers and firefighters spent another $200,000 filling local mailboxes with slick pro-Ryu endorsements.

Yet when the final votes were tallied, political jaws hit the electoral floor: Ryu received under 45 percent of the returns, making him only the second council incumbent this century pushed into a runoff, which occurs if neither candidate earns a majority. His challenger? First-time candidate Nithya Raman, a self-styled progressive and a Harvard- and MITeducated urban planner, who made up for a financial shortfall with an aggressive grassroots campaign that netted her 41 percent of the vote.

ingly Blue city—this race pits a liberal Democrat, Ryu, against a challenger, Raman, who, in positioning herself to his left, brings a “Feel the Bern” surge to the proceedings. There are also shades of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who, in a 2018 primary, shocked the nation by beating ten-term New York congressman Joe Crowley.

“I do think city hall politics is becoming younger and more progressive,” says Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State University, Los Angeles. “In that sense, it’s not entirely different from what’s happening in New York with House elections. But there you’ve got long-term entrenched incumbents losing Democratic primaries. That’s not entirely what’s happening here, because you’ve got two relatively fresh faces going against each other.”

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles electoral system is in the midst of a sea change. The March primary marked the first shift from voting in odd-numbered years, when participation had long been embarrassingly low—just 20 percent of eligible voters cast ballots when Mayor Eric Garcetti was reelected in 2017—to even-numbered years in order to align municipal contests with state and federal calendars.

Turnout soared, from 24,000 votes cast in the District 4 primary in 2015, to 76,660 this year. Ryu, who emerged from a 14person primary five years ago with just 3,634 votes, this time claimed 34,298 ballots. Raman received 31,502 votes.

(A third candidate, Sarah Kate Levy, notched 10,860 votes— about 14 percent.)

While the ravages of COVID-19 and President Trump’s

Although the nation’s eyes will be on the Trump-Biden battle on November 3, the Ryu-Raman face-off will likely have a greater immediate impact on the lives of the residents of the bizarrely drawn Council District 4, which sprawls from the San Fernando Valley to Silver Lake. It’s a race that reflects a more modern, diverse L.A., and perhaps prefigures the city’s political future. Traditional Republican-versus-Democrat contests have gone the way of the dodo in this overwhelm70 L A M AG . C O M

N I T H YA R A M A N : CO U RT E SY N I T H YA R A M A N

Once a shoo-in for reelection, Ryu was pushed into a runoff by Raman, an AOClike, Harvard-educated urban planner.

RIVAL FRIENDLIES

DAV I D RY U : CO U RT E SY DAV I D RY U

From left: Raman (with her children) and Ryu both identify as liberals, but Raman positions herself as the more progressive candidate.

attacks against mail-in voting inject an air of uncertainty are all jammed into the same council district. into the election, the Ryu-Raman runoff could be even more Both Ryu and Raman face the challenge of trying to competitive, as well as more challenging than the two canwin over residents of these disparate communities. Radidates’ first race. man’s path as an outsider building a community network “The number of voters who will come out to vote out to circumvent the system is the same one Ryu successfully Donald Trump is probably going to be significantly higher deployed five years ago, when he was a rookie candidate than what we saw in the primary,” says Michael Trujillo, a seeking to replace the termed-out LaBonge. veteran Democratic strategist. “There will be tens of thouRyu’s primary campaign has been criticized by local posands of voters that David Ryu and Nithya Raman are going litical observers for being outdated and inefficient. For the to have to communicate to, which makes both campaigns runoff, he replaced his lead consultant and brought in a new more expensive.” campaign manager. “I did not do enough to let voters know The Fourth district speaks to the absurdities of the L.A. councilmanic system. A 15-member Council District 4 meanders from Sherman Oaks all the way to Koreatown. council was established in 1925, and although the city’s population has since more than tripled—from about 1.23 million residents in 1930 to over 4 million today—the number of lawmakers hasn’t budged. The Fourth’s 250,000 constituents (similar in number to L.A.’s other 14 districts) is about two-and-a-half times the population that Mayor Pete Buttigieg presided over in South Bend, Indiana. The oddities are cartographic, as well. The district, which has had just three council members in 54 years (John Ferraro held the seat from 1966-2001, before term limits went into effect), was stitched together like a Frankenstein’s monster during the 2012 redistricting process. Today, Los Feliz, Universal Citywalk, the Miracle Mile, Griffith Park, parts of Koreatown, the Hollywood Hills, Laurel Canyon, and portions of Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks, among other neighborhoods, L A M AG . C O M 71

who I am, what my story is, and reintroduce myself—espebent is usually a Sisyphean task, but a global pandemic cially to all these new voters,” Ryu says. “I let my record speak that forces a shift from securing donations at in-person for itself, when in reality I should have spoken for myself.” events to online fundraising only makes the pitch of the Although he has the endorsement of Garcetti and the mamountain steeper. jority of the council, Ryu hasn’t always jelled with his colRaman moved to Los Angeles from Boston in 2013 and leagues. He was ahead of the curve in seeking to prohibit settled in Silver Lake the following year. She worked with campaign donations from real estate developers with projects the city’s chief administrative officer Miguel Santana on before the city, but when he a 2014 report that zinged CITY HAUL first brought the issue to the the city for spending a preBelow: Garcetti (left) endorsed Ryu (center) in the city council race. council floor shortly after ponderance of its homebeing elected, he couldn’t lessness funds on policing persuade even one fellow and enforcement rather council member to second than support and services. his motion. Some reforms The issue remains a drivfinally passed in 2019, but ing force for her, and when that was four years (and tent encampments mushan FBI raid of Councilman roomed in her neighborJosé Huizar’s home and ofhood, Raman helped form fice) after he first broached a community group to help the matter, and some of his those living on the streets. most significant proposals She views city governhad been watered down. ment’s response to homeRyu touts accomplishlessness as a systemic failments such as creating ure in leadership. Raman, green space in the district who most recently spent a and opening homeless housyear running the women’s ing projects, which came as rights nonprofit Time’s Up homelessness spiked in the Entertainment, said her Fourth and across the city, candidacy is less a referensparking anger in many dum on Ryu’s record than communities. Since the onher general dissatisfaction set of the pandemic, he has with city hall. unleashed a torrent of mo“On every issue,” she says, tions proposing legislation “what I saw was the same that would, among other thing: The city has an imthings, provide rent and mense amount of power to mortgage relief to COVID-impacted Angelenos, help finanmake change, to keep renters housed, to build more affordcially struggling artists, and crack down on party houses in able housing, and to address some of our environmental issues the Hollywood Hills and beyond. with incredible urgency. And instead of moving on the things Ryu’s journey to this moment borders on miraculous. As over which they had power, they chose not to act.” a child in East Hollywood, his family was sometimes on food Raman’s platform, laid out in extensive detail on her stamps. “I had to fight and claw to get here,” he says of a path website, is her response to those frustrations. In conversathat took him to UCLA and then to Rutgers to pursue a mastion, she agrees that police shouldn’t be on the front lines ter’s in public policy and administration. He avers that his of addressing homelessness. But unlike activists who have record makes him the real reformer in the race and points called for a sizable chop in the LAPD’s budget, she declines to his championing of increasing the matching funds the to specify how much she thinks law enforcement spending city provides to political candidates in an effort to level the should be reduced. When asked where on the progressive electoral playing field. Ironically, the $302,000 that Raman spectrum she falls—and if she’s in the vein of Bernie Sandand Levy together received may have helped push Ryu into ers and AOC—she deflects to her website, where the home the runoff. He doesn’t express misgivings for the position. page simply describes her as a “progressive candidate.”

“You know what? I did not run for this seat to secure my Although Ryu outspent her by an almost three-to-one job for 12 years,” he says. “That’s what the problem was. I margin in the primary, Raman benefited from her extensive didn’t want to become what I was trying to replace. ties to grassroots groups such as Ground Game L.A. and Food and Water Action as well as endorsement videos from Hollywood lefties like Natalie Portman and Jane Fonda. The L I K E M A N Y I N T H E C O R O N AV I R U S E R A , Nithya Raman campaign signs that sprouted across district lawns Raman is confronting a magnitude of multitasking—juggling months before Election Day drew the attention of LaBonge.

Zoom meetings and campaign-strategy sessions with caring “They weren’t put out two weeks before the election by a for her four-year-old twins. Running against a council incumsign company that puts them anywhere,” the former coun72 L A M AG . C O M

DAV I D RY U : CO U RT E SY DAV I D RY U

“Whether Nithya knows it or not," says Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo, “she's building the equivalent of an L.A. Squad.”

N I T H YA R A M A N : CO U RT E SY N I T H YA R A M A N

cilman says. “These were real people’s houses.” an increasingly important role in future ballots, and that Raman says that a 600-person “volunteer army” knocked a young and engaged voter base will benefit liberal canon 83,000 district doors during the campaign, including didates. Trujillo believes Raman’s campaign will inspire those in neighborhoods with historically low turnout. The others and that her path could figuratively intersect with goal, she says, was to convince people that voting in a city that of Ocasio-Cortez and result in a local version of “the council race is important. “That was our strategy, to say Squad”—the boundary-shattering quartet comprised of that people are already going to be at the polls; all we have AOC and three fellow congresswomen. “Whether Nithya to do is convince them that this race matters knows it or not, she’s building the equivalent and they deserve better than what they’ve of an L.A. Squad,” Trujillo says. been getting.”

All of which takes money. While Ryu took LESS WAS MORE Raman’s neighborhood-powered caman early lead in the runoff, raising $114,000 Above: Although paign is precisely the strategy Ryu leveraged through June 30 compared to $85,000 by outspent by Ryu three to in his first election, and there are probably Raman, documents filed Sept. 24 with the one, Raman received more similarities between the candidates City Ethics Commission revealed a stunning endorsements from than dramatic differences. Both are immireversal: Raman’s war chest now stood at prominent liberals like grants who came to the United States at the $469,000 to Ryu’s $422,000, an unambiguJane Fonda. age of six—Ryu was born in Seoul; Raman, ous validation of Raman’s broad appeal and in India—and passionately profess the need the effectiveness of her grassroots campaign. to help marginalized communities. Both deStill, for both candidates, there remains the scribe many years of work seeking to help homeless and epic uncertainty of voting during a pandemic, and whether impoverished individuals. Each advocates for protecting “Get Out the Vote” translates to “Get That Vote in the Mail.” renters against eviction during the pandemic and stressThere’s another reality, too: running for city council es the importance of adopting forward-thinking environis not the same as actually serving as a council member, mental policies. Both rail against city hall corruption and where, in addition to pushing progressive policy, there are want the council expanded beyond its 15 members. There constituents clamoring to have potholes filled and trees is some consensus that the contest is a case of “Left and trimmed. Nobody knows that better than LaBonge, who Lefter,” and that Ryu could be making a strategic error in his 15 years on the council was a ubiquitous presence by trying to outflank Raman with progressives instead of in neighborhoods across the district. He sees potential in shoring up his support among the more conservative conwhoever finishes first on November 3, but acknowledgstituents of the district. es that expectations for the office have radically changed.

No matter who wins, Sonenshein expects that grass“Both individuals are very committed as to how they see roots organizing and funding in small amounts will play the job,” he said. “It is different than how I did the job.”

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You might not have heard of actress Elle Lorraine, but you will. The Houston native is about to make waves with her breakout role in Bad Hair (premiering on Hulu, October 23). The campy dark comedy, set in 1989 L.A., follows an ambitious young Black woman and her possessed, murderous hair extensions. But Lorraine, who has appeared on Insecure and Dear White People, says the film is really a metaphor for how Black women cope with white society’s beauty standards. The petite starlet, who rocks Rapunzel-length braided locks on her Instagram feed, says she has struggled with her hair and her identity, and experimented with weaves, straightening, and even going blond (causing her hair to fall out). “Now my hair defines me in a totally different way,” she says. Here, she shines in some of the season’s most head-turning looks.

TRESSED TO

BY LINDA IMMEDIATO

PHOTOGRAPHED BY

CORINA HOWELL

FA S H I O N S T Y L I N G B Y

K R I S T I N A E . TAY L O R

PHOTOGRAPHED AT

S E C O N D H O M E H O L LYW O O D

CUSTOM FLORAL DESIGN

LUCIE DOUGHTY

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KRISTIAN LORÉN blouse, $250

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FENDI dress, $6,900 ATELIER SWAROVSKI earrings, $279, and ring, $199

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MAX MARA coatdress, $1,690 DIOR blouse, $2,000, and tie, $430 LUCIE DOUGHTY floral headpiece, price on request SARAH HENDLER ring (index finger), $3,500 NOUVEL HERITAGE ring (ring finger), $4,550 FOR STORES, SEE SHOPPING DIRECTORY ON PAGE 94

the ORIGINALS

st.

J OA N the

DIVINE In this exclusive interview for Los Angeles Magazine’s podcast, The Originals, Joan Collins unpacks how she lost the role of Cleopatra by refusing to sleep with a studio chief, her romance with the then-unknown Warren Beatty, and her date rape by her future first husband.

All before she’d turned 30

BY ANDREW GOLDMAN I L L U S T R AT E D BY C H R I S M O R R I S

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MAN TROUBLE Top: Collins with her first husband, the British actor Maxwell Reed. On their first date, Reed gave her a drugged cocktail. “The next thing I knew, I was on the sofa and he had raped me.” Below: at the height of her Dynasty fame, playing Alexis Carrington. “I loved the role.”

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After reading your memoirs, I’m not a fan of your father, the theatrical agent Joe Collins. He doesn’t sound very loving.

Nobody was a loving father who was born at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He was born in 1902. He was part of the Victorian era. You didn’t hug your children or tell them they were wonderful or beautiful or clever or fascinating. It just wasn’t done. I don’t remember being cuddled,

hugged, kissed, or read bedtime stories. You got your love and your caring from your mother—and also, in my case, my sister, Jackie. She was extremely loving, and we were very, very close.

It seems like your father went to extremes. He wasn’t effusive about your early successes.

Yes. I was voted the most beautiful girl in Britain by the association of British photographers, and they called Daddy for a quote.

WEDDING: RON CASE/GETTY IMAGES; DYNASTY LAUNCH: JEFF KRAVITZ/FILMMAGIC, INC.

paying attention to Joan Collins in 1981 after she landed her career-defining role as Dynasty’s ne plus ultra bitch, Alexis Carrington, have been deprived of one of the most sensational showbusiness stories ever told—one recounted in dribs and drabs over decades in tabloids, but more completely set out

by Collins herself in numerous memoirs, beginning with 1978’s shocking autobiography, Past Imperfect. Collins shares tales of her raping, shakedown-artist first husband; handsy studio heads; an illegal abortion with Warren Beatty; an affair with a dictator’s son; and penury narrowly averted, thanks to The Stud—a soft-core film adaptation of one of her latesister Jackie’s novels. Collins’s personal saga and career, however, never stopped unfolding.

In 2015, recognizing Collins’s charitable works, Queen Elizabeth made her a Dame Commander of the British Empire, and, just a couple of years back, Ryan Murphy showcased her overthe-top gifts in what became her latest scenery-chewing comeback in his eighth season of American Horror Story. On a recent morning in her swanky Beverly Hills apartment high above Wilshire—with her handsome, much younger, fifth husband, Percy Gibson, nearby— Dame Joan shared the highs and lows of her 87-year personal journey to goddesshood.

at the time. He was the equivalent of, let’s say, Brad Pitt, but not a very good actor. I worshipped him. My sister, Jackie, had a scrapbook with Tony Curtis, and I had Maxwell Reed. So when Larry Harvey introduced us at Danny La Rue nightclub in London, I was completely knocked out. He was tall with jet black hair. I was 18. He was 32. I was quite impressed. And then he called me the next day and asked me for a date. And, of course, I didn’t tell my parents because I knew they wouldn’t approve of me going out with a man who was so much older than me.

O

JOAN ALONE Collins at her home in Los Angeles, 2020.

Photographed by Jonas Mohr Styled by Rene Horsch

ABOVE: COLLINS WEARS ZARA DAME

He said, “Well, I’m amazed.

She’s a nice-looking girl but nothing special.” But that was the thing: Don’t get too big for your boots.

Tell me about your big break.

My big break was a movie called I Believe In You [1952], which was directed by Basil Dearden, one of the best directors in Britain. I got the role alongside these wonderful actors—Celia Johnson and Godfrey Tearle, Cecil Parker, Harry Fowler. The one

who went on to great fame was Lawrence Harvey. In fact, Larry introduced me to Maxwell Reed, who became my husband. The man who raped me.

Reed was a British actor you married in 1952. He sounds like—forgive my language—a real prick.

Believe me, I know these words! [Laughs] We were together for just a year and a half. First of all, you have to understand, he was a major movie star in England

So you landed a date with your movie crush.

What happened?

He picked me up in an amazing powder-blue Buick, an American car, which you did not see around London in those days. I said, “Where are we going?” And he said, “Oh, we’re going to the country club.” At the time, there were a lot of clubs that were in private homes, so when we drove to a house in Hanover Square I thought nothing of it. So I went in, he gave me a rum and Coke, and said, “Take a look at this book,” which was full of the most sexually explicit pictures I’d ever seen. He said, “OK, I’m going to take a shower,” which I thought was very curious. And the next thing I knew, I was on the sofa and he had raped me. And I hadn’t known anything about it because he had drugged me.

What effect did this experience have on you?

I don’t think it had much of an effect other than the

fact that I thought the actual act itself was vile. I didn’t want to tell anybody about it. I was completely ashamed. He took me home. He apologized and said, “I got carried away.”

Why were you ashamed?

Because guilt. I’m 17 or 18. I was ashamed that I had done that thing. My mother drilled it into me endlessly that men only want one thing and you don’t do anything with a man or a boy until you’re married. This was the oldfashioned attitudes of my mother.

Could you have gone to the authorities?

You didn’t go to the authorities then if you were raped. They would probably say, “Well, why did you go up to his room?”

I would have been on the front pages of all the newspapers, being this new, young actress who was getting lots of publicity. My father would have gone absolutely berserk.

And then Maxwell called me and asked me out on another date, but he said, “Don’t worry—I’ll just take you out to dinner.” He took me to the Caprice. And then we started dating, and I felt that the rape thing had been negated.

He never did it again, and he apologized profusely about it.

And then you married him.

He totally turned a new leaf. He became very kind and loving and generous and, I hate to say this, a lot of fun. Being able to laugh with somebody has always been something that I find very appealing.

I have to admit I didn’t L A M AG . C O M 83

You’ve written about how insatiable Beatty was for sex. Your friend Joanne Woodward told you that if you wanted to keep him interested, you should probably get used to having sex several times a day.

Yes. Yes, well, when you’re 21 or 22, you do, I guess, if you’re a man. We had a great relationship for like a year and half. We got engaged. I still have the ring, actually. And then we got bored with each other, as one does.

As a contract player at Fox in the ’50s, you found it very difficult to work under cofounder Darryl Zanuck. He made a move on you, correct?

Not just him. That was how it worked back then. I really didn’t think about any of it very much until this whole #MeToo movement, and then it started to come back to me. In the movies, it was 84 L A M AG . C O M

O

PINUP Collins says she validated her status as one of the world’s most desirable women by posing for Playboy in 1983. “I said, ‘This is it. I’m 49.

I won’t be taking my clothes off anymore.’”

just endemic, wasn’t it? I mean, pawing and groping and being suggestive and trying to take you out and trying to kiss you in the hallways. I mean, it wasn’t just the actors and the directors and the producers—it was all kinds of people.

At Fox, you were initially offered the Cleopatra role that eventually went to Elizabeth Taylor. But Spyros Skouras, the president of the company, told you in

very plain terms that you’d have to sleep with him to get the role.

Yeah. And so did [Fox head of production] Buddy Adler. And so did [Cleopatra producer] Walter Wanger, in a way. “You’ve got to be nice to us. We really want you to get this role, but there’s a lot of people in contention.” But I wasn’t nice to them.

That is just so unbelievably horrible to me.

It’s not unbelievable. It happens all the time.

But you resisted it.

Yes, I did. I never, ever went on the casting couch.

You’ve written that many of the roles you got at Fox were not in the best, most successful films. Do you feel like your career was negatively affected because you refused to play the game?

No, no—I took the opportunity and I ran with it.

And I did what the studio wanted. I went on the diets, dressed like they wanted me to, went out with

ARCHIVAL PLAYBOY MAGAZINE MATERIAL. COPYRIGHT © 1983 BY PLAYBOY. USED WITH PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

know that you’d also been engaged to Warren Beatty in the ’60s. He’d done very little in Hollywood back then. Did you recognize that he’d become a big star?

I sensed—yes, definitely— lots of ambition. I think I probably realized it when he told me he was 21, and then I saw his driver’s license, which he’d left out on the table. I looked at it and I said, “You’re not 21— you’re 22! Why did you lie to me?” He said, “Oh, well, there’s just so much competition, I thought that being younger would help.”

Warren was also a brilliant, brilliant networker. I’ve never been that pushy. I’d never done what I know some actresses still do—go to the producer, knock on the door, and say, “I have to have this role.”

the guys that they wanted me to—you know, Jeff Hunter, Robert Wagner— did all the pinup pictures and the photo layouts. So maybe they weren’t the greatest movies ever made, but how many young actresses at that time would have given their eyeteeth to have had that opportunity? Ask Brad Pitt or George Clooney if they were thrilled with every movie they did. I don’t think most actors are.

You met your second husband, Anthony Newley, while on a date with Robert Wagner.

Yes. I’d just broken up with Warren about three or four months earlier. We went to the theater to see Tony in Stop the World—I Want to Get Off, which was the biggest hit in the West End at that time. So we went backstage, and Tony asked us out for dinner. We went to a famous Italian trattoria, the three of us, and I became quite smitten with him. He oozed charisma.

And after marrying him in 1963, you quit acting for a while.

I was now getting to the broody stage in my life.

I’d done my seven years under contract to Fox and I wanted to have children.

I thought that he would be a really good father.

He was, more or less. But Tony was a womanizer.

But you kind of knew this going in, no?

I did, yes. But he told me that he wasn’t going to be a womanizer anymore. Tony had a problematic life. His mother tried to abort him, which she never ceased to tell him, and that gave him a certain underlying dislike of women. But I don’t want to knock Tony, because I have two marvel-

ous children—my daughter, Tara; and Alexander, as he’s now called—and they see their father’s faults. Sadly, he died at a very young age—late-60s. But we had an acrimonious divorce.

He was horrible to me. We didn’t speak for years.

In 1969, he released his autobiographical movie, Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?

The whole movie is about his desire to find the perfect girl of 17 or 18 to have sex with.

Yeah, he never made any secret about that.

You played his longsuffering wife—a part called Polyester Poontang. What did you think when you read the script?

First of all, I skimmed the script. He wanted our two children, Tara and Sacha, who were then two and four, to play the roles of Thaxted and Thumbelina. And then I thought, How could I not play the mother? They were going to be in Malta for 12 weeks. What was I going to do—stay in London?

Or go to Malta and watch another actress play basically what was me, with lines that I’d said many times? I wasn’t incredibly hurt until Universal had a private screening for me

in London. When I saw the film, I thought, “This is it. I can’t be married to him anymore.”

Not a fantastic husband.

How many fantastic husbands are there in the world really? I have a lot of girlfriends, and I can think of only one or two who really think that their husbands are fantastic. I have one now. I’m lucky.

I just met your husband, Percy. He’s one of the most charming men I’ve ever met.

Yeah. But, you know, charm is just one thing; he’s also so good and kind and warm and loving. I mean, he’s everything.

I heard a story and I’m wondering if it’s apocryphal. Somebody once asked you about the fact that Percy’s considerably younger than you . . .

I said, “If he dies, he dies.”

When we first got together, there was a lot of shock and horror about the fact that there was around 30 years’ difference in our ages. But it calmed down a lot. And now we’ve been married over 18 years and been together for 20. And that’s pretty much a record in Hollywood.

You’ve been the breadwinner in many of your marriages and have written poignantly

“I hate rich men!

They use women as an accessory. Many of them are quite cheap. And they also tend to be very ugly.”

about your financial struggles. Being famous and beautiful, you could have married a multibillionaire. Did you at any point want that kind of security?

No. I hate rich men!

Why? Because they use women as an accessory—as a doll.

They don’t really respect them. Many of them are quite cheap. And they also tend to be very ugly.

Ugly? Like physically ugly?

[Laughs] Yeah. I can be superficial that way.

I’ve noticed that about you. I was very nervous about dressing today, and I’m not sure I did a very good job.

You look very nice.

Because you’ve written about having a real eye for masculine beauty.

Yes. All the men that I’ve ever been with have been good-looking.

So given the choice, you wouldn’t take, say, a Mike Bloomberg over your fourth husband, the Swedish pop star, Peter Holm?

God, no! Peter Holm was very good-looking.

I understand he was good-looking. But this was a man who, after you separated, picketed your house with signs complaining that he was homeless. He seemed not to have any shame.

That’s true. He was basically a gigolo. I remember I was doing a miniseries called Sins in the South of France. I was doing a scene with Gene Kelly, who was playing my older husband, and Peter came out in a (CONTINUED ON PAGE 94)

L A M AG . C O M 85

THE HOT LIST L.A. MAGAZINE

P. 90

OUR MONTHLY LIST OF L.A.’S MOST ESSENTIAL RESTAURANTS

NOV

E D I T E D

BY

H A I L E Y

E B E R

WEST

tessepor

T H E B R E A K D OW N

Birdie G’s SANTA MONICA » American $$

James Beard Award–nominated chef Jeremy Fox gets personal with a sunny spot dedicated to comfort food and named after his young daughter. The high-low menu is full of playful riffs on comfort food, from a corned beef platter 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).

D Wed.-Sun. Full bar.

Broad Street Oyster Co. MALIBU » Seafood $$

If ever there were a car picnic scene, it’s at this openair spot overlooking Malibu Lagoon State Beach (and across from a SoulCycle, if we’re being honest). You can grab a great lobster roll (topped with uni or caviar if you’re feeling extra fancy), towers of raw seafood, great clam chowder, and a burger sprinkled with shio kombu (dried kelp) that shouldn’t be overlooked.

23359 Pacific Coast Hwy. (424-644-0131 or broadstreetoyster.com). L-D daily. Beer and wine.

Cassia SANTA MONICA

Assorted nigiri from The Brothers Sushi

» Southeast Asian $$$

Bryant Ng mines his Chinese Singaporean heritage, honors wife Kim’s Vietnamese background, and works in the wood-grilling technique he honed at Mozza at this grand Southeast Asian brasserie. Hunker down at a table on the patio—or treat yourself to some great takeout—to devour turmeric-marinated ocean trout or chickpea curry with scallion clay-oven bread. Wherever and however you enjoy Ng’s cooking, you won’t be disappointed. 1314 7th St. (310-3936699 or cassiala.com). D nightly. Full bar.

At press time, restaurants remained closed for indoor dining, so we’ve focused on our favorite spots for eating alfresco or ordering takeout and delivery.

W EST

EAST

Includes Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Century City, Culver City, Malibu, Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, Palms, Santa Monica, Venice, West L.A., Westwood

Includes Atwater Village, Eagle Rock, East L.A., Echo Park, Glendale, Los Feliz, Pasadena, San Gabriel Valley, Silver Lake

T H E VALLEY DOWNTOWN Includes Arts District, Bunker Hill, Chinatown, Historic Core, Little Tokyo, South Park

Includes Agoura Hills, Burbank, Calabasas, Encino, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Van Nuys

CENTRAL

SOUT H

Includes Beverly Grove, East Hollywood, Fairfax District, Hancock Park, Hollywood, Koreatown, West Hollywood

Includes Bell, Compton, Gardena, Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Torrance, Watts

Denotes restaurants with outdoor seating $ $$ $$$ $$$$

I N E X P E N S I V E (Meals under $10) M O D E R A T E (Mostly under $20) E X P E N S I V E (Mostly under $30) V E R Y E X P E N S I V E ($30 and above)

2020

cious, while the gramigna with pesto and ricotta is hearty and satisfying. 1241 5th St. (310-310-8336 or colapasta.com). L-D Mon.-Sat. Beer and wine.

Dear John’s » Steak House $$$

CULVER CITY

The good news: Josiah Citrin and Hans Röckenwagner have taken over this former Sinatra hang with their menu of steak-house classics—crab Louie, oysters Rockefeller, thick prime steaks—that pay homage to the lounge’s Rat Pack past and can be enjoyed on a sunny new patio. The bad news: the restaurant has a two-year shelf life. The building will be razed for a development in 2021. 11208 Culver Blvd. (310-8819288 or dearjohnsbar.com). D Tues.-Sat. Full bar.

Dialogue SANTA MONICA

» Eclectic $$$

› The ever-nimble Dave Beran has transformed his tasting-menu temple into a wine bar called Tidbits by Dialogue that overlooks the Third Street Promenade.

The intriguing, ever-changing menu is divided into hot, cold, and sweet dishes, and it’s heavily marketdriven: think leafy choi sum with strawberries, avocado, and tamarind. Dialogue’s haute delivery is also still on offer. 1315 3rd St., (dialogue-restaurant.com).

12-5 p.m. Wed.-Sun. Wine and beer.

Felix VENICE » Italian $$$

Evan Funke is a pasta purist who can slip Italian lessons into any meal. He now presides at Felix, a clubby, floral-patterned trattoria that occupies the former home of Joe’s. His rigatoni cacio e pepe—tubes of pasta adorned only with Pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper—nods to Roman shepherds who used the spice to keep warm, while the rigatoni all’Amatriciana with cured pork cheek sings brilliantly alongside Italian country wines. 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd. (424-387-8622 or felixla.com). D nightly. Full bar.

Colapasta » 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 deli-

86 L A M AG . C O M

Price classifications are approximate and based on the cost of a typical main course that serves one. For restaurants primarily offering multicourse family meals, the cost per person of such a meal is used.

Kato SAWTELLE

» Cal-Asian $$$

Jon Yao isn’t serving his acclaimed Taiwanese tasting menu at the moment, but he is serving up his acclaimed fare à la carte and outdoors. Kato’s new pa-

@ M E E TJA KO B

SANTA MONICA

tio menu features a tightly edited array of interesting dishes, from grilled spot prawns with spiced butter and lime to char siu wagyu beef with lettuce, herbs, and chili paste. 11925 Santa Monica Blvd.

(424-535-3041 or katorestaurant.com). D Tues.-Sat.; brunch Sat.

n/naka PALMS » Japanese $$$$ Niki Nakayama’s acclaimed kaiseki restaurant has long been one of the city’s harder-to-score reservations, so naturally its to-go meals aren’t easy to get a hold of either. But if you do nab some takeout, you’re in for a treat. The $38 bento box with sushi includes an assortment of items such as grilled miso black cod, pan-fried shrimp with sesame aioli, sashimi, and matcha-and-white-chocolate cake. The $85 kaiseki jubako features delicacies like braised Monterey Bay abalone and seared Wagyu salad. The restaurant opens up reservations for takeout meals every Saturday at 10 a.m., and they’ve been going quickly. 3455 S. Overland Ave. (310-836-6252, n-naka.com, or @nnaka restaurant). Takeout via Tock. 4:30-7 p.m. Tue.-Sat.

Guerrilla Tacos » Mexican $-$$

ARTS DISTRICT

Though founder Wes Avila recently departed, this slick counter-service spot remains fairly true to its taco-truck origins, with many old favorites—potato taquitos, tempura-battered fish tacos, a hamachi tostada—still on the menu. The complex salsas are some of the best in town, while the cocktails provide another reason to visit. Try the ahi-tuna tostada paired with a rum-spiked yuzu lemonade. 2000 E. 7th St. (213-375-3300 or guerrillatacos.com). L-D daily. Full bar.

Guerrilla Cafecito » Breakfast $-$$

ARTS DISTRICT

This new breakfast offshoot around the corner from Guerilla Tacos makes a perfectly balanced brekkie burrito that rivals the city’s long-established best.

The caramelized-milk-and-lemon doughnuts are wonderfully not-too-sweet: a doughnut even a nondoughtnut lover can love. No wonder they often sell out. 704 Mateo St. (213-375-3300 or guerrillacafecito .com). B daily.

SANTA MONICA » French $$$$

Dave Beran’s à la carte spot bucks the trends and eschews bistro clichés in favor of old-fashioned thrills—an elaborate pressed duck prepared just as Escoffier would have and served with potatoes au gratin dauphinois—and modern French fare.

The showy duck must be reserved in advance as there are a limited number of birds available each night. But there are plenty of other exciting dishes on the menu, such as the chicken liver in brioche and a beef tartare spiked with nasturtium pesto. 2732 Main St. (424-330-0020 or pasjoli.com).

L Fri-Sun.; D Wed.-Sun. Full bar.

Pizzana BRENTWOOD

» Italian $$

It’s not easy to make over the local pie joint, but 35-year-old chef Daniele Uditi has reimagined an urban standby with equal parts purism and playfulness that has become a neighborhood favorite in the process. Most impressive is the open-mindedness that has him deftly transforming the Roman pasta dish cacio e pepe into a pizza or putting a hearty short rib ragù on the Pignatiello pie. And in a real twist, appetizers and seasonal salads aren’t afterthoughts but highlights. The pizzeria is also making its famous limited-edition sub sandwiches more readily available (check Instagram) and has been making free meals for doctors and nurses. 11712 San Vicente Blvd. (310-481-7108, pizzana.com, or @pizzana).

Pickup and delivery via ChowNow. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Also at 460 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood (310-657-4662).

CHINATOWN

» Filipino $$

If you’ve followed the wave of new Filipino restaurants in the City of Angels, there’s a very good chance you’ve heard of brothers Chase and Chad Valencia. The cooking at their Far East Plaza restaurant exudes the sharp, resonant flavors of traditional Filipino food and the produce-driven aesthetic of California—Alice Waters filtered through Manila.

Thoughtfully selected natural wines perfectly complement dishes like whole fried pompano. 727 N. Broadway, Ste. 120 (213-443-6163 or lasa-la.com).

12-4 p.m. Wed.-Sun. Wine and beer.

Bavel ARTS DISTRICT

» Middle Eastern $$$

CO U RT E SY R Ö C K E N WAG N E R B A K E RY

Husband-and-wife duo Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis’s follow-up to Bestia is sort of the Godfather II of restaurants. Fans fervently debate whether the first installment or the second is superior, but one thing is certain: dishes like grilled prawns with harissa marinade and slow-roasted lamb-neck shawarma are delicious, as are the superb hummus and pita.

500 Mateo St. (213-232-4966 or baveldtla.com).

D Tues.-Sat. Full bar.

Bestia ARTS DISTRICT

» Italian $$$

The good times keep rolling at this lively spot that put the Arts District on the foodie map. It has reopened with several new items on the menu, including a decadent lamb shank with morita peppers, raisins, creamy farro, and mint gremolata. But fear not, classics like the bone marrow with spinach gnocchetti remain. 2121 E. 7th Pl. (213-514-5724 or bestiala.com).

D Tues.-Sat. Full bar.

FASHION DISTRICT

» Mexican $

At this downtown spot known for its flour tortillas, you can order à la carte or opt for affordable familystyle takeout options to make your own tacos, burritos, or chimichangas filled with chorizo, carne asada, or mesquite-grilled chicken. Wash it all down with a six-pack of Tecate or seasonal aguas frescas.

208 E. 8th St. (213-628-3710, sonoratown.com, or @sonoratownla). Curbside pickup by calling the restaurant; takeout and delivery via Caviar.

11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Beer to go.

CENTRAL Alta Adams » California Soul Food $$

Redbird

Riffing on his grandmother’s recipes, Watts native Keith Corbin slips soy and miso paste into braised oxtail and spiced cashews into baked yams. Soul food in this city is too often associated with Styrofoam containers, yet the low-lit room here, carved out of a transformed Spanish Revival building, is a lovely place to linger, as is the lovely verdant patio.

Hot sauce splashed onto skillet-fried chicken is pure pleasure, enhanced by a bourbon drink the bar tints with roasted peanuts and huckleberries. Finish the night by taking on a heroic wedge of coconut cake.

5359 W. Adams Blvd. (323-571-4999 or altaadams .com). D Wed.-Sun; brunch Sat.-Sun. Full bar.

Angelini Osteria » Italian $$$

HISTORIC CORE » New American $$$$

BEVERLY GROVE

Neal Fraser has defined his own kind of L.A. elegance over the 20 years he’s been cooking in his native city.

Setting up shop in the deconsecrated St. Vibiana Cathedral offered an opportunity to add theatrics to a space that’s contemporary and classically plush and now boasts three distinct outdoor dining areas. A delicate curried carrot broth and beluga lentils transform slices of smoked tofu from wholesome to haute, while

Gino Angelini grew up eating his grandma’s lasagna in a town outside the Adriatic city of Rimini, then came to Los Angeles to cook with Mauro Vincenti.

He’s not above finishing a crostino of lardo with truffles, but his wheelhouse is a more understated realm: soup is thick with soft potatoes, tripe is buoyed by a slow-cooked soffritto, and all the veal kidneys need is cooked-down onions and a splash of wine. 7313 Beverly Blvd. (323-297-0070 or angelinirestaurantgroup .com). L Mon.-Fri.; D nightly. Beer and wine.

WEST

Röckenwagner Bakery CULVER CITY BAKERY $$$

› Hans Röckenwagner’s European-

DOWNTOWN

Sonoratown

WEST ADAMS

Lasa Pasjoli

lamb belly spins on a spit in the former rectory. 114 E. 2nd St. (213-788-1191 or redbird.la). D Wed.-Sun. Full bar.

style cafe is a one-stop shop for everything from CSA boxes to adorable “vote” cookies and retro TV dinners from Dear John’s. If only every neighborhood had one. 12835 W. Washington Blvd., (rockenwagnermarket.com).

6:30 a.m.-4 p.m. daily.

Antico LARCHMONT VILLAGE » Italian $$

Take comfort. Some of the city’s best ice cream is now available to pick up. Chef Chad Colby has converted his East Larchmont Italian restaurant into a takeout spot for foccacia pizzas and ice cream, fashioning a makeshift pizza oven with the plancha top that used to sit on the restaurant’s hearth. The ice cream has a wonderfully smooth texture, and the flavors are spot on. The honeycomb and strawberry have garnered a lot of praise since the restaurant opened last year— and rightly so—but Colby and pastry chef Brad Ray have also been introducing flavors like cookies-andcream and pistachio. 4653 Beverly Blvd. (323-5103093, antico-la.com, antico___la). Pickup and delivery via Caviar. 3-8 p.m. Mon.-Tues., 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Wed.Sun. Wine to go.

A.O.C. BEVERLY GROVE » California $$$

Unforced and driven by culinary excellence, A.O.C. is anchored by a courtyard with soft sunlight and laurel trees. Caroline Styne’s wine list doesn’t shy away from the ecology of vineyards, while Suzanne Goin’s cooking has become indispensable. Carefully constructed salads showcase vegetables at their best, and the roasted chicken with panzanella is both an homage to San Francisco’s Zuni Café and a classic in and of itself. 8700 W. 3rd St. (310-859-9859 or aocwinebar .com). D Tues.-Sat.; brunch Sat.-Sun. Full bar.

Badmaash FAIRFAX DISTRICT

» Indian $-$$

This Indian gastropub concept comes from the father-and-sons team of Pawan, Nakul, and Arjun Mahendro, who are all well versed in the culinary

L A M AG . C O M 87

techniques of East and West. The menu features contemporary mash-ups, like a version of poutine smothered in chicken tikka, tandoori-spiced chicken wings, and a spicy lamb burger. If tradition’s your thing, you’ll be comforted by a superlative butter chicken and what they call “good ol’ saag paneer.” 418 N. Fairfax Ave., Fairfax District (213281-5185 or badmaashla.com). Takeout or delivery via Caviar and DoorDash 12-9 p.m. daily. Beer and wine to-go. Also at 108 W. 2nd St. (213-221-7466).

Brandoni Pepperoni WEST HOLLYWOOD » Pizza $$ Six nights a week, Brandon Gray turns out some of L.A.’s most exciting pizzas in the back of the WeHo Gateway shopping center. Gray, a veteran of Navy kitchens and top local restaurants like Providence, brings boundless imagination to his pies. They’re topped with premium ingredients—Jidori chicken, Sungold tomatoes, Spanish octopus—in exciting combinations. A curry-Dijonnaise dressing renders a side salad surprisingly memorable. 7100 Santa Monica Blvd., (323-306-4968 or brandoni-pepperoni .com). Pickup only. 4-8 p.m., Thurs.-Tues. Wine to go.

E.P. + L.P.

WEST HOLLYWOOD

» Pan-Asian $$$

With a killer rooftop dining area, this dual-concept restaurant and bar would probably attract scene-y crowds regardless of its menu. The Thai-ChineseFijian plates are playful and progressive, including fried-crab-curry buns and ahi-tuna-tartare crostini with kimchi relish. 603 N. La Cienega Blvd. (310855-9955 or eplosangeles.com). D nightly; brunch Sat. and Sun. Full bar.

Harold & Belle’s JEFFERSON PARK » Southern Creole $$

Lalibela

FAIRFAX DISTRICT » Ethiopian $-$$

CENTRAL

Ronan

FAIRFAX DISTRICT

Cal-Italian $$$ ›Daniel and Caitlin Cutler may hail from traditional Italian eatery Sotto, but their chic pizzeria is more offbeat, with tiki-ish cocktails, a spacious patio, and a brass crucifix above the wood-fired oven. Wonderful charred pies—including one topped with spicy ’nduja, Gorgonzola, and celery—nod as much to Buffalo as to Naples. But don’t miss out on the non-pizza dishes. Steak tartare is punched up with pistachios and briny olives, while the sea bass zarandeado served with a rotating roster of banchan is one of the city’s tastiest large-format dishes. 7315 Melrose Ave. (323-917-5100 or ronanla.com). D Mon.-Sat. Full bar.

The strip of Fairfax known as Little Ethiopia has long been dominated by the same handful of restaurants. Chef-owner Tenagne Belachew worked in a few of them before opening her own sophisticated haven, which invites with the swirling aromas of berbere and burning sage. Stretchy disks of injera— the sour, teff-flour pancake that doubles as a utensil for scooping up food by hand—arrive piled with uniquely pungent delights. There are wots, or stews, made with chicken or spiced legumes or lamb sautéed in a creamy sauce. 1025 S. Fairfax Ave. (323965-1025 or lalibelala.com). L-D daily. Beer and wine.

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, luv2eatthai.com, or @luv2eat.thaibistro). Takeout and delivery via SappClub, ChowNow, or phone.

11 a.m.- 10 p.m. daily.

Osteria Mozza/Pizzeria Mozza » Italian $$$

HANCOCK PARK

Nancy Silverton’s osteria and pizzeria may share a street corner, but their true link is a fearless approach. The osteria aims for big-city elegance, with space in the dining room for a cheese counter

CO U RT E SY R O N A N

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 harold andbelles.com). L-D daily. Full bar.

88 L A M AG . C O M

where you can order a plate of buffalo mozzarella and Sungold tomatoes. Next door it’s about pizzas with billowing crusts and toppings like fennel sausage. A parking area has recently been transformed into Piazza Mozza to offer outdoor seating. Osteria: 6602 Melrose Ave. (323-297-0100 or osteriamozza .com). D Wed.-Sun, B Sat.-Sun. Full bar. Pizzeria: 641 N. Highland Ave. (323-297-0101 or pizzeriamozza .com). D Wed.-Sun. Beer and wine.

République HANCOCK PARK » Cal-French $$$

République may be devoted to French food, but its soul is firmly rooted in Californian cuisine. Walter Manzke is as skilled at making potato and leek beignets as he is with at roasting cauliflower and local dates. At breakfast people murmur over cast-iron pots of shakshouka and drool over the pastries while waiting to be seated. At dinner the rib eye—served with soft marrow—can be had in two sizes. Afterward it’s time for Margarita Manzke’s orange-blossom cream puff. 624 S. La Brea Ave. (310-362-6115 or republiquela .com). Takeout or delivery via Tock. B-L-D daily. Full bar.

that’s now filling to-go orders for hearty fare, from perfectly marbled brisket to pulled-pork sandwiches and collard greens. You can even get a six-pack of Bud Light. 8136 W. 3rd. St. (310-855-7184, slabbarbecue. com, or @slab). Takeout and delivery via Postmates.

11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Beer and wine to go.

Son of a Gun BEVERLY GROVE » Seafood $$

» Barbecue $$

Hungry diners used to line up in the driveway of Burt Bakman’s home, desperate for a taste of his famous smoked barbecue meats. In 2018 Bakman came up from the underground, opening a sleek storefront

C H E F FAVO R I T E S CHRISTY VEGA OWNER/PROPRIETOR OF CASA VEGA

PASTRAMI REUBEN ART’S DELI “My dad and I would always go to Art’s and share

this sandwich. It’s creamy, salty, and the grilled rye bread melts in your mouth.” $20, 12224 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, artsdeli.com.

JIDORI CHICKEN WONTONS WITH SPICY SAUCE DIN TAI FUNG “It’s the perfect balance of spice and bright acidity.” $11.75, Americana at Brand, 177 Caruso Ave., Glendale, dintaifungusa.com.

Bar Restaurant » French $$$

SILVER LAKE

Chef Douglas Rankin, who worked under Ludo Lefebvre for years, strikes out on his own with this charming, pale-pink “neo-bistro” in the old Malo space in Sunset Junction. The menu features playful Gallic-ish fare, like curly fries and plump mussels Dijon atop milk toast; classic cocktails; and plenty of funky wines available by the glass. The restaurant recently expanded its already large outdoor space into the parking lot to create a festive area with plants and lights. 4326 W. Sunset Blvd.

(323-347-5557 or barrestaurant.la). D Wed.-Sun. Full bar.

Hippo » 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 picnicworthy salad. Sweet corn cappellacci are lush pasta pillows. Grilled chicken thighs and a glass of Vermentino 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. (323-5453536 or hipporestaurant.com). D nightly. Full bar.

Northern Thai Food Club EAST HOLLYWOOD » Thai $

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Offering specialty dishes unique to northern Thailand, this family-run favorite doesn’t skimp on flavor, spice, or authenticity. Tasty takeout meals include the khao soi gai (curry egg noodle with chicken), laab moo kua (minced pork), tam kha noon ( jackfruit salad), and pla salid tod (fried gourami fish). For those unfamiliar with the region’s distinct cuisine, the illustrious sticky rice is still a reliable bet. Need more incentive? Everything on the menu is less than $10. 5301 Sunset Blvd. (323-474-7212 or amphainorthernthaifood.com). Takeout and delivery via the restaurant’s website. 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. daily.

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Porridge + Puffs HISTORIC FILIPINOTOWN

» Pan-Asian $

Minh Phan’s beloved restaurant is still cooking up porridge and puffs, along with bahn mi and a set meal named in honor of the late Jonathan Gold.

Proceeds from “The Gold” go toward providing free meals to those on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle. Various provisions—from miso caramel to apricot habanero hot sauce—are on sale to help jazz up your home cooking. 2801 Beverly Blvd. (213-9085313, porridgeandpuffs.com, or @porridgeandpuffs).

Takeout via Square Up. 12-6 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

DAV E S C H W E P

C U I S I N E

EAST

HIGHLAND PARK

CRISPY KALE SALAD HEDLEY’S “The combination of the brown rice, carrots, mixed greens, and miso dressing is incredible.”$16, 640 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, hedleys restaurant.com.

T H A I

Florida-raised chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo deliver a certain brand of sun-drenched seashore nostalgia. Dropping into the nautically themed dining room for chilled peel-and-eat shrimp and a Hurricane feels as effortless as dipping your toes in the sand. There are buttery lobster rolls and fried-chicken sandwiches alongside artfully plated crudos and uni-slathered burrata. Don’t miss the yellowfin tuna–wrapped avocado in leche de tigre. 8370 W. 3rd St. (323-782-9033 or sonofagunrestaurant.com). Takeout and delivery via DoorDash and Caviar. L-D daily. Full bar.

Slab BEVERLY GROVE

NATALE E

Spoon & Pork SILVER LAKE » Filipino $$ The go-to for Filipino comfort food offers a variety of dishes, all featuring one shared ingredient: deliciousness. Spoon & Pork puts an innovative spin on some Filipino favorites—just try its adobo pork

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L A M AG . C O M 89

belly, pork belly banh mi, or lechon kawali. The dishes elegantly mix decadence with some authentic soul. 3131 W. Sunset Blvd. (323-922-6061, spoonand pork.com, or @spoonandporkla). Takeout and delivery via the restaurant’s website. 12-7 p.m. Wed.Thurs., 12-8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 12-5 p.m. Sunday. Beer and wine to go.

om 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). L Mon.-Fri. D Sat.-Sun. Full bar.

The Brothers Sushi » Sushi $$$

WOODLAND HILLS

THE VALLEY Black Market Liquor Bar » New American $$

STUDIO CITY

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 bux-

This hidden gem, reinvigorated when chef Mark Okuda took the helm in 2018, is worth traveling for.

Keep spirits up with the Hand-Roll Party home kits (there’s even one for kids), or splurge on an omakase to be enjoyed on the patio or to go. You can also order à la carte or get non-sushi items like soyglazed grilled chicken. 21418 Ventura Blvd. (818-4564509, thebrotherssushi.com, or @thebrotherssushi la). L Tues.-Fri. D Tues.-Sun.Beer, wine, and sake.

PROMOTION

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SHERMAN OAKS

» Mexican $

The Vega family’s 64-year-old institution has put up a massive tent in its parking lot to keep the margaritas flowing amidst COVID-19 restrictions. And if you prefer takeout, there’s a drive-through setup that makes it easy to pick up a plate of enchiladas or a hulking “oven-style” burrito topped with enchilada sauce and melted cheese. The expansive menu has a great selection of hearty crowd-pleasers, cocktails, and tequilas.

You might leave tipsy, but you’ll never go hungry.

13301 Ventura Blvd., (818-788-4868 or casavega.com).

L and D daily. Full bar.

Hank’s BURBANK

» Bagels $

The L.A. bagel revolution continues at this stylish new spot in the Valley that serves up carefully constructed sandwiches. Tomato, aioli, and mapleglazed bacon elevate a simple bacon, egg, and cheese, while a classic salmon-and-lox construction has thoughtful touches like salted cucumbers and pickled onions. Sammies shine with plain cream cheese, but it’s worth grabbing a tub of Hank’s “angry” spread—a spicy, slightly sweet concoction—to have in your fridge. And no cream cheese is needed for Hank’s everything jalapeno-cheddar bagel, a stunning gut bomb. 4315 Riverside Dr. (818-5883693, hanksbagels.com, or @hanksbagels). Takeout and delivery via Toast. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Tues.-Sun.

Monday, November 16

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SOUTH Ali’i Fish Company EL SEGUNDO » Seafood $$

This small, unassuming spot shames all of 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, and even a vegan poke, with tofu and sea asparagus, manages to satisfy. If you’re not looking to go raw, there are various salmon and tuna burgers to choose from, and the smoked-ahi dip with housemade potato chips is not to be missed. Perfect for picking up a beach picnic. 409 E. Grand Ave. (310-616-3484 or aliifishco.com). L-D daily; brunch Sat.-Sun. Full bar.

Fishing With Dynamite » Seafood $$$

MANHATTAN BEACH

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. On the raw bar menu you’ll find several kinds of oysters from across the country, Peruvian scallops, and Alaskan king crab legs.

1148 Manhattan Ave. (310-893-6299 or eatfwd.com).

L-D daily; brunch Sat.-Sun. Full bar.

Hotville BALDWIN HILLS CRENSHAW

Coming this November City Year Presents

Play. Drink. Give.

Mid-November Link for virtual event will be sent upon registration Join us mid-November, compete with friends or colleagues, win prizes and test your NYHKL ZJOVVS RUV^SLKNL H[ V\Y (ZZVJPH[LZ )VHYK M\UKYHPZLY 7SH` +YPUR .P]L ;OPZ M\U ÄSSLK UPNO[ PZ H NYLH[ ]PY[\HS [LHT I\PSKLY VWWVY[\UP[` ^OLYL `V\ HUK `V\Y JVSSLHN\LZ OH]L [OL JOHUJL [V ^PU V\Y ¸(YL @V\ :THY[LY ;OHU H [O .YHKLY¹ [YP]PH [V\YUHTLU[ HUK ZOHYL H ZVJPHSS` KPZ[HUJLK KYPUR ^P[O H *P[` @LHY JVJR[HPS RP[ HSS ^OPSL NP]PUN IHJR [V JVTT\UP[PLZ HJYVZZ 3VZ (UNLSLZ For registration and more information visit cityyear.la/playdrinkgive

9 0 L A M AG . C O M

» Fried chicken $

After three years of running a pop-up, Kim Prince has opened a brick-and-mortar that does her family’s legacy justice—she is 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. The sides ($5 and up), like spicy mac and cheese and kale coleslaw, are also winners. 4070 Marlton Ave. (323-792-4835 or hotvillechicken.com).

L-D Tue.-Sun. No alcohol.

Little Sister REDONDO BEACH » Asian Fusion $$

Chef and co-owner Tin Vuong deftly translates the flavors of Vietnam for a casual drinking scene. Nibble on Balinese fried meatballs with cilantro-mint chutney or fresh spring rolls with shrimp, pork, and a peanut dipping sauce, then wash it all down with a craft beer or three. 247 Avenida del Norte (424-

PROMOTION

LIST

EAST

Union PASADENA

Italian $$$ › The food shines at this cozy trattoria just off Pasadena’s main drag. Chef Chris Keyser, an acolyte of Philadelphia pasta maestro Marc Vetri, joined in 2019, keeping classics, like a great cacio e pepe topped with a precisely poached egg, on the menu while adding his own delicious dishes such as a wonderful pork ragu. The noodles all impress, but don’t miss the wild mushrooms and polenta with a sublimely delicious sherry-vinegar-and-trufflebutter sauce. 37 E. Union St. (626-7955841, unionpasadena.com, or @unionpasadena). D nightly. Beer and wine.

398-0237 or dinelittlesister.com). L-D daily. Beer, wine, and sake. Also at 523 W. 7th St., downtown (213-6283146 or dinelittlesister.com).

Love & Salt

From Left: Diane Keaton honored with the Artistic Impact award; Gloria Calderón honored with the Trailblazers Award; Frank Mancuso honored with Founders Award

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MANHATTAN BEACH » Italian $$-$$$

“Forever Love” at The Bloc

Serving pasta-centric coastal cuisine, this venture is formal enough that a waiter serves creste di gallo pasta and lighthearted enough that Larder Bakery rye toast with Cara Cara marmalade and housecultured butter aren’t out of place. Come with a crew and try one of the family-style dishes such as a gorgeous whole roasted branzino with Umbrian lentils. Don’t miss comforting desserts like Italian doughnuts with Nutella. 317 Manhattan Beach Blvd.

(310-545-5252 or loveandsaltla.com). D nightly; L Sat.-Sun. Full bar.

700 West 7th Street, DTLA Street Artist Ruben Rojas has a new installation in DTLA at The Bloc. Located on Flower Street, between 7th and 8th Streets, “Forever Love” is added to the list of must see murals in Los Angeles.

Be sure to tag @rubenrojas @theblocla for a chance to be featured on social. theblocla.com

M.B. Post

MANHATTAN BEACH » New American $$

SY D N E Y YO R KS H I R E

David LeFevre (the Arthur J, Fishing With Dynamite) cuts a swath through genres and latitudes with the gusto of someone who’s clearly pleased to be at the stove. He sears Scottish salmon with roasted garlic puree, sugar snap peas, truffle vinaigrette, and charred scallions. There’s plenty of wordplay on the menu (“Meat Me Later”), but no pun can do justice to his bacon-cheddar biscuits with maple butter. 1142 Manhattan Ave. (310-545-5405 or eatmbpost.com). D nightly; brunch Sat.-Sun. Full bar.

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L A M AG . C O M 9 1

the War Over Ovv e r

lacma ma

by Michael Slenske

LACMA director Michaell Govan Govaa n iss credited with turning the museum useum m into i ntt o ann international landmark. Butt his billionbii lll iondollar renovation has bitterly terly divided d ivii dee d the art world and raisedd questions quess tionn s about his motives.by Michael ael Slenske Sll e nss kee landscape by

AFTER

CRE C CR RE EDIT BOX ED OX OX CREDIT

CREDIT CRED C CR CRE RE EDIT E ED DIT D DI IT T BOX B BO OX

TED SOQUI portraits by

CATHERINE OPIE

6

LOS ANGELES M O NLTAH 2G 0 .1C3 O M M AG A

The War Over LACMA C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 6 7

order of the art world, the head of the Louvre, the Metropolitan, the Prado, the National Gallery are much higher positions. He’s aspiring to those.”

Govan is very much the highflying, Central Casting version of a museum director. He pilots a singleengine 1979 Beechcraft Bonanza to Catalina on weekends. Before COVID-19, he commanded a regular table at Tower Bar. He also enlisted Leonardo DiCaprio and Eva Chow to cochair the museum’s annual Guccisponsored Art + Film Gala, where individual tickets are $5,000 and tables run to $100,000. The producer Brian Grazer, a former LACMA board member, describes Govan as a creative genius. “He has an ability to inspire people and attract them to his vision that is very rare,” Grazer says. “Michael is great at doing PR at a high level,” adds Marandel. “He thinks he’s a movie star.”

And he has a lifestyle to match.

For the past six years, Govan and his wife, fashion executive Katherine Ross (they have a daughter, and Govan has another daughter from a previous marriage), have resided in a $5.6 million museum-owned mansion in Hancock Park. (Last month the museum announced it was selling the property and relocating the Govans to less pricey digs.) Govan takes home more than $1 million a year in salary; he’s the only West Coast museum director to earn as much.

But he’s also running the largest encyclopedic museum outside of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he’s spent the past 14 years at the helm of LACMA overseeing his fair share of major public projects that 92 L A M AG . C O M

have greatly expanded the museum’s profile in L.A. and across the world.

Born in North Adams, Massachusetts, Govan attended the prestigious DC prep school Sidwell Friends, then majored in art history at Williams College, where he caught the eye of Thomas Krens, the professor-turned-director of the college’s museum of art. “I would say, looking back, I had maybe 3,000 students during the 17 years I taught there,” recalls Krens today. “Michael was clearly No. 1.” When Krens was appointed director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1988, he took Govan, then 25, to New York with him, making him a deputy director. (Another young protégé, Max Hollein, would later go on to become director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.) It was a time of major expansion for the Guggenheim, with Govan helping Krens establish the Gehry satellite in Bilbao.

After six years at Krens’s side, Govan departed in 1994 to become president and director of Dia Art Foundation, where he spent the next 12 years modernizing and expanding that organization’s footprint, nearly doubling its collection and converting an old Hudson Valley Nabisco factory into the Dia:Beacon. Then, in 2006, he was GRAND DESIGNS

Buoyed by a $25 million donation from British Petroleum in 2007, Govan (far right) unveiled his new vision for LACMA to philanthropist Eli Broad (center) and other VIP supporters of the museum.

approached for the LACMA gig.

Though Rich, his predecessor, accomplished much during her six-year reign, Govan is widely credited with turning LACMA into the international landmark that it is today.

It was Govan who enlisted John Baldessari to reimagine LACMA’s logo when he first arrived. It was Govan who secured the money when Chris Burden wanted to increase the size of his Urban Light installation from 140 to 202 lamposts—it soon became the most popular public artwork in Southern California. It was Govan who engineered the epic installation of Levitated Mass, Michael Heizer’s 340-ton granite megalith excavated from a quarry near Riverside. But whatever good will these efforts marshaled in years past has been all but forgotten (or overshadowed) by the impending Zumthor megaplex.

What galls Govan’s critics most isn’t Zumthor’s floor plan or even his potentially disastrous sky bridge.

Instead they complain that Govan autocratically froze out the rest of the community and made decisions for the rebuild largely by himself.

“From the moment I set foot here, I was told that a new building was the goal of LACMA,” insists Govan, who says the board was reconsidering a plan by Renzo Piano (whom Govan tapped for the Resnick Pavilion) when he threw out “a wild card” in Zumthor. “It was a set of ideas, a philosophical-curatorial speculation, and the board had a chance to think about it and they liked it well enough

BOB RIHA JR/WIREIMAGE

BEFORE

to encourage me to develop it. They had no idea how much it would cost or how we’d get it done, but they liked my ideas.” Govan’s unshakable adherence to those ideas wrecked at least one of LACMA’s long-standing partnerships, with the billion-dollar Ahmanson Foundation, an organization that helped the museum acquire $130 million worth of European old master paintings and sculptures over six decades. Govan’s refusal to commit permanent space in the Zumthor village to Ahmanson works reportedly marred the relationship. “The foundation would have given money [to the Zumthor building],” Marandel insists. “What Michael lost is a $100 million endowment. If any other director in the world did that, they would be fired within 24 hours. It wasn’t necessary—it was just a matter of pride and stubbornness.”

Another thing that infuriates his critics is Govan’s Teflon resistance to controversy. Earlier this summer, for instance, several seasoned museum directors and top curators from as far afield as the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and SFMOMA were ousted from their jobs over alleged microaggressions, endemic racist policies, or tactless comments. Yet Govan, who has rankled at least half the L.A. art establishment with what they consider macroaggressions, has managed to survive without a scratch.

Recently, he was dinged a bit by activists on Instagram denouncing what they saw as LACMA’s lack of diversity (“All the white men using museums to grow their personal wealth”). He also found himself dealing with a brewing scandal over longtime trustee Tom Gores’s ties to the prison telecom industry. But, for the most part, none of the criticism seems to stick.

Even so, passions over Govan’s reign at LACMA are running so high that Govan’s critics sometimes find themselves feuding over who hated him first. Giovannini was originally assigned his “Suicide By Architecture” story by the Los Angeles Times, but the paper killed the piece. A few days later it published an equally critical story by veteran art critic Christopher Knight, who went on to win a Pulitzer for a half dozen columns questioning LACMA’s redesign. Giovannini later

charged that Knight’s columns had borrowed from his earlier stories.

(Knight, who has been nominated for two previous Pulitzers, declined to comment on the accusations. Times editor Norman Pearlstine angrily decried them as “pure garbage.”) In any case, Giovannini says he’s exhausted by his LACMA battles. “I’m so sick of this I can’t tell you,” he complained last spring. And yet he continued to write about it. His most recent broadside, in the New York Review of Books, debuted just as this article went to press.

But despite all the chaos and drama that follow in his wake, Govan has gracefully maneuvered through the slings and arrows of the art world. He’s particularly beloved by LACMA’s board of directors, which now includes fewer art world types and more deep-pocketed philanthropists and celebrities. (When Rick Brown served as director of LACMA during the Kennedy era, he reported to a board led by the genial Dutch still-life aficionado Edward W. Carter.

The museum’s current board is led

by Vegas hotelier Elaine Wynn and Atlanta Hawks owner Antony P. Ressler.)

While the ongoing pandemic has impacted the bottom line of many other cultural institutions, Govan says he’s confident he’ll have the budget to actually start building Zumthor’s monument, even if the recession continues. So far, he’s off to a good start. Pledges from the city and major donors like Geffen will cover $655 million of the project’s projected $750 million price tag. Govan insists that patrons tend to be more committed in times of crisis, not less. If critics want to take potshots at him, he’s OK with that. It’ll be up to future art historians to judge the value of the Miracle Mile landmark he and Zumthor are preparing to build.

When Govan arrived at LACMA, it was 120,000 square feet. If it’s three times that size when he leaves—on Wilshire and all those other decentralized locations he’s planning beyond the Fairfax area—Govan says he’ll have done his job. “All I’ve ever done is build museums,” he says. “It’s hard, it’s complex, there are a lot of misunderstandings. But I love what we do, and there’s a joy in it. So I won’t let anybody spoil that.”

Fighting Words C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 6

Global Times. On Weibo, China’s Twitter, hashtags about the controversy were shared more than 9 million times.

Ninety-four recent graduates of the MBA program, most of them Chinese, likened the university’s response to the incident to the “spurious accusations against innocent people” that shadowed Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

USC has always been reluctant to offend Chinese sensibilities. Max Nikias, USC’s former president, reportedly scrubbed photos of a historic visit by the Dalai Lama from a contemporary history of the university so as not to anger the Tibetan leader’s opponents in Beijing. International students tend to come from wealthy families that can afford to pay full tuition, and Chinese tuition dollars are an important fiscal pillar of the university.

The investigation into the professor ended without fanfare on September 25.

The university’s Office for Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Title IX concluded there was no ill intent on Patton’s part and that “the use of the Mandarin term had a legitimate pedagogical purpose.”

In a follow-up email to students and faculty, the dean appeared to tiptoe between concerns of the complainants and the strong opinions of faculty and students. Garrett described the complaint letter as “genuine and serious,” apologized for appearing to prejudge Patton, and assured students and faculty that he meant to cast no aspersions “on specific Mandarin words or on Mandarin generally.”

For the moment, the controversy has lifted, and the business school has descended into an uneasy peace. It may just be a matter of time before issues like this are litigated again at USC or on other campuses. Patton believes that the findings are an important step toward restoring his reputation, but he says his future is unclear. He will transition to teaching other programs within the business school in the spring and summer but has agreed to step away from the school’s MBA program indefinitely. “I know that I’m going to have a thousand conversations about this in the next five years. Now I just want to get back to helping my students.”

L A M AG . C O M 93

the ORIGINALS

st.

J OA N the

DIVINE In this exclusive interview for fo Los Angeles Ang nge gele less Magazine’s podcast, The he Originals, Originals Oriigin ig als iginals ls,, Joan Collins unpacks how she lost los lost the role of Cleopatra by refusing fusing too sleepp fu with a studio chief, her romance omance with ithh the then-unknown Warren en Beatty, ttyy, y, and and her date rape by her futuree first husband. husband nd.

All before she’d turned rned 30 0

BY ANDREW GOLDMAN I L L U S T R AT E D BY C H R I S M O R R I S

St. Joan the Divine

contract that he had to make at least $5,000 more than anybody else. It was really him and Linda Evans, and the rest of us were kind of just serfs.

It’s hard to imagine you as serf, having sat with you for an hour and having moments where I’ve been shaking like a leaf.

[Laughs] Yeah, I noticed you stopped shaking now.

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 8 5

teeny-weeny, minuscule, leopard-skin bikini in front of the whole crew. And Gene Kelly said, “What is that?” I said, “It’s my husband.” He had no shame.

He did do one thing, though. When I didn’t get what I thought I deserved on Dynasty, he said, “You’re not going back. You’ve got to get what you deserve.” And so I went away. And then I got the raise finally.

Initially, you weren’t really taken with Dynasty when you were first offered the role of Alexis Carrington, were you?

God, yes, I was. First of all, I’d never heard of it. My agent said, “They want you to be in Dynasty,” and I said, “What is that, a Chinese restaurant?” But I loved the role. One of the only things that upset me about playing Alexis is that so many people thought that I was just like that. Even some of the cast would say, “Oh, my God—that sounds so real. Did you really mean it when you yelled at me like that?” I said, “No, darling. It’s called acting.” And this was exacerbated by one of the producers putting out stories like, “Joan Collins threw a fur on the floor and stubbed a cigarette out in it.”

You talk about your difficult contract negotiations, but we think about Friends and how the entire cast united and said, “We’re the No. 1 show on TV, and if we go on, everybody’s going to get a million an episode.” Did the Dynasty cast have the ability to do that?

Well, no. First of all, John Forsythe had it in his contract that a) he had to be front and center of all publicity. I don’t know if you’ve looked at any of the DVDs that are out, but John Forsythe’s head is always in the middle.

No, seriously! I’ve got them here.

I’ll show you. He also had it in his 9 4 L A M AG . C O M

Well, I’ve stopped perspiring anyway. I imagine that a lot of people assume that being on Dynasty provides a fat annuity. Does it?

I wish. When we finished the show in 1989, a lawyer came to my dressing room and said, “Sign this buyout. This show will never go into syndication because no serials ever go into syndication. We’ll give you a nice three-week salary. Everybody else has signed it.” I said, “Are you kidding? John has signed it?” The lawyer said, “Yeah.” I said, “So that means that when I sign this, I will never get any residuals?” He said, “There won’t be any residuals.”

Did you have your own lawyer?

My lawyers had a look. And they said, “Well, there’s nothing you can do. All the cast have signed it.

You’re the last one they came to.” So I signed it. And, of course, Dynasty became one of the most successful shows ever. But all the residuals went to Aaron Spelling and Doug Cramer, the producers. None of them ever even called any of us when they decided to do the [CW network] reboot of Dynasty.

Last night I watched The Stud— the 1978 movie that your sister wrote and your then-husband, Ron Kass, produced. At the time it was incredibly scandalous and successful—and provided the comeback that eventually led to Dynasty. You wrote that the nudity was necessary exploitation.

Well, yes. Glenda Jackson had done a movie in which she had been totally naked. Jane Fonda had done it in Klute. Julie Christie had done nudity. This was the late ’70s—a lot of actresses were letting it all hang out. I wasn’t happy about it, but I felt that it was part of what this woman, Fontaine Khaled, would be like. Looking back on the film now, it’s not that shocking at all.

You were over 40 at this point, and in a youth-obsessed industry, totally unafraid to take your clothes off. There’s a scene in which you’re actually swinging above the pool absolutely naked in the third-act orgy scene.

Yeah, the sort of orgy scene with Oliver Tobias, Sue Lloyd, and Mark Burns. We all got absolutely drunk out of our skulls. That was the only way we could do it.

You must have enjoyed being one of the most desired women in the world after turning 40.

Well, of course! Who wouldn’t love it? That’s why I posed for Playboy after. I said, “This is it. I’m 49. I won’t be taking my clothes off anymore.”

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L A M AG . C O M 95

EMAIL YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS ABOUT L.A. TO ASKCH RIS@LAMAG.COM

Q

What is the history of Thrifty ice cream?

Why can you get it only at Rite Aid?

appeared soon after Thrifty first opened on Broadway in 1929. “It was my uncle Norman Levin’s idea to use food to bring people into the store,” recalls 102-year-old Dr. Raymond Borun. “It was a loss leader. Every corner drugstore had a soda fountain with ice cream and milkshakes where you’d sit on a stool and order a chocolate sundae.” The treat was a big hit from the Depression years through today, but Borun stays away from the stuff. “I was never an ice cream person,” he says.

Q: Are the California poppies we see beside the freeways actually wild?

A: Caltrans recently planted a bunch of the bright orange flowers along the 101 at Temple Street to attract butterflies and bees downtown, but the Eschscholzia californica that blanket the hillsides 9 6 L A M AG . C O M

along the Grapevine each spring are au naturel. Decades ago, garden clubs sprinkled poppy seeds along the 605 in Long Beach and the 134 in Glendale, and when the 105 freeway opened, dignitaries cut a ribbon made of poppies. But don’t worry—those were artificial.

Zapped!

AN INTIMATE DOCUMENTARY THAT ALMOST WASN’T

T H R I F T Y: B E T T M A N N A R C H I V E ; F R A N K Z A P PA : M I C H A E L O C H S A R C H I V E S /G E T T Y I M AG E S

T H E S C O OP While actor Adam Williams waited for filming to start on 1951’s Queen for a Day, he served ice cream at Thrifty. ”I’ve got to eat,” he said.

A: Rite Aid bought Thrifty Drug Stores in 1996 and inherited the beloved dessert, which

C H R I S ’S P I C K

Q: Why is there a big “B” carved into the Verdugo Mountains?

A: It looks permanent, but it’s actually just a few dozen white plastic fence panels laid over some landscape fabric. For generations, boys from Burbank High School’s Kiwanis club hauled a quarter ton of chalk up the hill before the fall football season to freshen up the original rocks laid down in the 1920s. Six years ago, an Eagle Scout led the effort to install the plastic fencing.

His dedicated dad has been touching up the makeshift landmark ever since.

Q: What’s up with those cute yellow robots scooting around Hollywood?

A: They come from Postmates X, the R & D division of the food-delivery giant.

Leo, Hugo, Lola, and Zoe have blinking eyes that house cameras so that their behavior can be monitored remotely

by Postmates from workstations near San Francisco. The robots, which can deliver pretty much anything except guns, live animals, and explosives, are “growing more and more autonomous,” according to Postmates spokesperson April Conyers.

O Frank Zappa spent his formative years at the edges of conservative 1950s L.A., playing music all night and literally blowing stuff up. In Zappa, a new documentary out November 27, we learn how police broke up the iconoclast’s concerts, radio stations banned his records, and the Church denounced him. There’s so much footage of daily life and cozy interviews that the film feels like a personal chat with the rock icon.

Zappa recorded and saved everything, including footage that was unseen until his family teamed up with Alex Winter, of Bill and Ted fame, who raised more than $1 million for the doc on Kickstarter.

Plenty of cash was collected for the film, too, when Zappa’s Laurel Canyon estate went up for grabs. Fans bought everything, from the late musician’s snakeskin boots to his cappuccino maker.

VOLUME 65, NUMBER 11. LOS ANGELES (ISSN 1522-9149) is published monthly by Los Angeles Magazine, LLC. Principal office: 5900 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA, and additional mailing offices. The one-year domestic subscription price is $14.95. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to LOS ANGELES, 1965 E. Avis Dr., Madison Heights, MI 48071. Not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or other materials, which must be accompanied by return postage. SUBSCRIBERS: If the Postal Service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year.

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