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FRONT RUNNER Three amigos: Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis turn the tailoring tables on Sy Devore at his Hollywood store, circa 1955.
Hollywood and de-Vine In 1944, custom tailor Seymour Devoretsky opened up shop at 1533 Vine Street, where he designed uniforms for big band leaders and their orchestras. Word of his style prowess got around, and soon “Sy Devore” was crafting suits for Hollywood’s superfamous, including Nat King Cole and Rock Hudson. Ella Fitzgerald once ordered his V-neck sweaters as Christmas gifts for every member of the Count Basie band. Jerry Lewis owned one of his alpaca cardigans for each day of the week. And Dean Martin wore his custom shirts so often, the designer created a retail version, in honor of the Italian crooner, called the “Dino.” Sy Devore’s eponymously named store was a gathering place for comedians Bob Hope and Danny Kaye, who came for the impeccably tailored clothing and to try out new jokes on each other—and delighted shoppers. But Devore really hit it big when he dressed Frank Sinatra and his fast-talking, fun-loving Rat Pack for the 1960 film Ocean’s Eleven. That trend-setting film helped launch three more Sy Devore locations: Sherman Oaks, Palm Springs, and one inside Las Vegas’s Sands Hotel—a second home to Sinatra and his pals.
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Devore, who died in 1966, left an indelible mark on men’s style. Today, the last of his stores, in Studio City, continues his tradition, catering to producers and leading men like Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Wahlberg, and outfitting actors on dozens of television shows (NCIS, The Mentalist, and CSI: Miami, among them). To commemorate the late designer’s seven-decade contribution to men’s fashion, Sy Devore in Studio City proprietor Danny Marsh says: “We will honor Devore’s legacy with a fashion retrospective celebrating old and new Hollywood.” The open-to-the-public event will take place November 9 inside the Studio City store, and will include a fashion show featuring both new and vintage clothing from Devore. Custom tuxedos worn by Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Jerry Lewis will also be unveiled and placed on permanent display. Of the man who would outlast every other custom tailor of his kind, Marsh says: “He created an entire era of style through men’s clothing. We’re very privileged to be able to continue and perfect that legacy every day.” 12930 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, 818-783-2700; sydevore.com LAC
photography courtesy of sy devore
Celebrating 70 years, retro-ChiC Clothier Sy Devore Continues to dress the industry a-list. By Erika Thomas
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contents
november 2014
18 // front runner 36 // Letter from the editor-in-Chief
38 // Letter from the pubLisher
40 // ... Without Whom
this issue WouLd not have been possibLe
42 // the List
style 47 // rodeo star Italian luxury brand Brunello Cucinelli unveils a dazzling new super shop in Beverly Hills.
50 // into the Woods Nature-inspired accessories are a fall fashion fairy tale.
54 // stYLe spotLiGht Dita Von Teese debuts a retro-fab eyewear line; Iro gives fne jewelry a rock ’n’ roll twist; and more fashion news.
56 // aLLons-Y, eLodie Melrose Place boutique owner Elodie Khayat reveals the LA style destinations that she keeps coming back to.
Hermès ’s lauded n ose tells the story behind the house ’s eagerly anticipated new fragrance.
80
Actor Alessandro Nivola has two gritty dramas about to be released, just in time for awards season.
24 la-confidential-magazine.com
62 // steLLar time Hamilton Watch CEO Sylvain Dolla gives a preview of the brand’s timepieces designed for the holiday blockbuster Interstellar.
photography by Marc LeMoine
58 // eau, mY Word!
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november 2014
99
70
Andy Warhol–inspired lip candy and other edible works of art are signatures of the dessert program at the Patisserie at The Bazaar by José Andrés.
75
Waldo Fernandez’s Beverly Hills home is an art-filled paean to decorating perfection.
Frank LA subscribers receive a set of 36 art prints in a linen box, each one contributing to a conversation about a local issue.
culture 65 // IN CINEMA VERITAS At this month’s Napa Valley Film Festival, movies and Merlot come together to intoxicating effect.
68 // POP GOES THE EASEL As LA’s art set heads south for Art Basel in Miami Beach, Marc Spiegler, festival director, runs through the highlights.
70 // LA UNDER THE LENS Frank LA is enlisting local artists to create work that examines the city’s biggest issues.
THE GREAT
Alessandro Nivola goes for a double hit of awards-season glory in A Most Violent Year and Selma.
82 // WEST HOLLYWOOD BABYLON
A-list jewelry designer Loree Rodkin maps out the most meaningful places in her longtime neighborhood of West Hollywood.
86 // LA fITNESS STARS Meet fve ftness pros who are helping LA step up its wellness game.
72// LA ART ATTACK
88 // VIVA LOS GRAMMYS!
Find respite from the holiday madness at these can’t-miss museum exhibitions.
The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation explains how it’s nurturing the next generation of Shakiras and Santanas.
people 75 // THE AMAZING WALDO Decorator-to-the-superstars Waldo Fernandez reveals the secret to lasting 40 years in the competitive LA interior design world.
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80 // ALESSANDRO
invited 91 // CULTURE fLASH The city’s art smart show their love for LA><ART at its Greystone Mansion gala.
photography by aaron Smith (fernandez); JeSSiCa SampLe (Candy); tomo photoS (frank)
contents
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contents
november 2014
108 taste
“I’m sure there are people who concern themselves with such issues, but I’m not one of them,” says Tommy Lee Jones of his contrarian reputation.
99 // HOW BAZAAR! Forget that tired old brownie sundae— a t The Bazaar by José Andrés, dessert is on par with fne art.
102 // PIES À LA MOD In the hands of LA’s best bakers, pie is suddenly chic.
104 // SIX DEGREES OF SUGAR
Pastry queens Sherry Yard and Karen Hatfeld talk about their new restaurant projects—and where to fnd the best desserts in town.
106 // TASTE SPOTLIGHT Barneys New York welcomes a new ffth-foor dining spot; LACMA debuts an art-inspired dinner; and more of this month’s food news.
features 108 // THE LONE STAR Notoriously aloof Hollywood legend Tommy Lee Jones opens up about his Harvard past, his unexpected infatuations, and his new flm, The Homesman.
112 // L.A. OBSESSED! From vintage cars to rare gemstones, these four top collectors have made hunting and gathering luxury items a way of life.
120 // BIJOUX ROYALE
128 // STAYCATION… ALL I EVER WANTED!
Whether you’re looking to get ft, get fed, or get frisky, there’s a SoCal getaway that will indulge your every fantasy—no passport required.
28 la-confidential-magazine.com
photography by rainer hosch
No holiday party look is complete without a piece (or 10) of scandalously chic jewelry.
contents
november 2014
140
Prices for LA’s hautest homes are climbing to unprecedented levels, with no end to the trend in sight.
haute property 137 // THE HILLS ARE ALIVE…
As Beverly Hills enters its second century, how is its real estate scene transforming—for better or for worse?
140 // X-PENSIVE
REPORT 2014!
Nine-fgure price tags are now considered de rigueur when it comes to LA’s top tier of luxury homes.
aBode & Beyond 145 // MASS APPEAL A new WeHo design showroom blends futuristic technology with classic Euro appeal.
146 // UNDERSTATEMENT PIECES
These home shops prove that fashy décor isn’ t needed to convey a sense of stratospheric luxury.
and finally… 160 // EAT, DRINK, AND BE WEARY
ON THE COVER:
Tommy Lee Jones Photography by Rainer Hosch Photography assistance by Jared Clatworthy Grooming by Angelina Mata
30 la-confidential-magazine.com
photography by berlyn photography
Restaurants around LA are playing hard to get—so why are we falling for it?
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SPENCER BECK Editor-in-Chief Deputy Editor ERIN MAGNER Executive Managing Editor DEBORAH L. MARTIN Senior Art Director FRYDA LIDOR Photo Editor REBECCA SAHN Senior Fashion Editor LAUREN FINNEY Copy Editor WENDIE PECHARSKY Research Editor LESLIE ALEXANDER
ALISON MILLER Group Publisher Associate Publisher VALERIE ROBLES Account Directors GUY BROWN, NORMA MONTALVO, ELIZABETH MOORE, MIA PIERRE-JACQUES Account Executives ALICIA DRY, JULIA MAZUR Event Marketing Manager ANTHONY ANGELICO, MELINDA JAGGER Assistant Distribution Relations Manager JENNIFER PALMER Office Manager CAROLYN SCARBROUGH Sales and Marketing Assistant KELSEY MARRUJO
NICHE MEDIA HOLDINGS, LLC Senior Vice President and Editorial Director MANDI NORWOOD Vice President of Creative and Fashion ANN SONG Creative Director NICOLE A. WOLFSON NADBOY Executive Fashion Director SAMANTHA YANKS ART AND PHOTO
Associate Art Directors ANASTASIA TSIOUTAS CASALIGGI, ALLISON FLEMING, ADRIANA GARCIA, JUAN PARRA, JESSICA SARRO Senior Designer NATALI SUASNAVAS Designers AARON BELANDRES, SARAH LITZ Photo Director LISA ROSENTHAL BADER Photo Editors KATHERINE HAUSENBAUER-KOSTER, JODIE LOVE, SETH OLENICK, JENNIFER PAGAN Senior Staff Photographer JEFFREY CRAWFORD Senior Digital Imaging Specialist JEFFREY SPITERY Digital Imaging Specialist JEREMY DEVERATURDA Digital Imaging Assistant HTET SAN FASHION
Fashion Editor FAYE POWER Fashion Assistants CONNOR CHILDERS, LISA FERRANDINO Entertainment and Bookings Editor JULIET IZON COPY AND RESEARCH
Copy and Research Manager WENDIE PECHARSKY Copy Editors DAVID FAIRHURST, NICOLE LANCTOT, JULIA STEINER Research Editors JAMES BUSS, JUDY DEYOUNG, AVA WILLIAMS EDITORIAL OPERATIONS
Director of Editorial Operations DEBORAH L. MARTIN Director of Editorial Relations MATTHEW STEWART Editorial Assistant CHRISTINA CLEMENTE Online Executive Editor CAITLIN ROHAN Online Editors ANNA BEN YEHUDA, TRICIA CARR Senior Managing Editors DANINE ALATI, KAREN ROSE, JILL SIERACKI Managing Editors JENNIFER DEMERITT, MURAT OZTASKIN, OUSSAMA ZAHR Shelter and Design Editor SUE HOSTETLER Timepiece Editor ROBERTA NAAS ADVERTISING SALES
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing NORMAN M. MILLER Account Directors SUSAN ABRAMS, MICHELE ADDISON, CLAIRE CARLIN, KATHLEEN FLEMING, VICTORIA HENRY, KAREN LEVINE, MEREDITH MERRILL, GRACE NAPOLITANO, JEFFREY NICHOLSON, DEBORAH O’BRIEN, SHANNON PASTUSZAK, JIM SMITH Account Executives SUSANA ARAGON, MICHELLE CHALA, MORGAN CLIFFORD, JANELLE DRISCOLL, VINCE DUROCHER, IRENA HALL, SARAH HECKLER, CATHERINE KUCHAR, FENDY MESY, MARISA RANDALL, MARY RUEGG, ERIN SALINS, LAUREN SHAPIRO, CAROLINE SNECKENBERG, JACKIE VAN METER, JESSICA ZIVKOVITCH Advertising Business Manager RICHARD YONG Sales Support and Development EMMA BEHRINGER, ANA BLAGOJEVIC, EMILY BURDETT, CRISTINA CABIELLES, BRITTANY CORBETT, JAMIE HILDEBRANDT, DARA HIRSH, KARA KEARNS, MICHELLE MASS, NICHOLE MAURER, RUE MCBRIDE, STEPHEN OSTROWSKI, ELENA SENDOLO, ALEXANDRA WINTER MARKETING, PROMOTIONS, AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations LANA BERNSTEIN Vice President of Integrated Marketing EMILY MCLINTOCK Director of Integrated Marketing ROBIN KEARSE Integrated Marketing Manager JIMMY KONTOMANOLIS Director of Creative Services SCOTT ROBSON Promotions Art Designers KAITLYN RICHERT, CARLY RUSSELL Event Marketing Directors AMY FISCHER, HALEE HARCZYNSKI, LAURA MULLEN, JOANNA TUCKER, KIMMY WILSON Event Marketing Managers JUDSON BARDWELL, CHRISTIAMILDA CORREA, CRISTINA PARRA Event Marketing Coordinator BROOKE BIDDLE Event Marketing Assistant SHANA KAUFMAN ADVERTISING PRODUCTION
Vice President of Manufacturing MARIA BLONDEAUX Director of Positioning and Planning SALLY LYON Positioning and Planning Manager TARA MCCRILLIS Assistant Production Director PAUL HUNTSBERRY Production Manager BLUE UYEDA Production Artists ALISHA DAVIS, MARISSA MAHERAS, DARA RICCI Distribution Manager MATT HEMMERLING Fulfillment Manager DORIS HOLLIFIELD Traffic Supervisor ESTEE WRIGHT Traffic Coordinators JEANNE GLEESON, MALLORIE SOMMERS Circulation Research Specialist CHAD HARWOOD FINANCE
Controller DANIELLE BIXLER Finance Directors AUDREY CADY, LISA VASSEUR-MODICA Director of Credit and Collections CHRISTOPHER BEST Senior Credit and Collections Analyst MYRNA ROSADO Senior Billing Coordinator CHARLES CAGLE Senior Accountant LILY WU Junior Accountants KATHY SABAROVA, NEIL SHAH, NATASHA WARREN Accounts Payable Coordinator NADINE DEODATT ADMINISTRATION, DIGITAL, AND OPERATIONS
Director of Operations MICHAEL CAPACE Director of Human Resources STEPHANIE MITCHELL Executive Assistant ARLENE GONZALEZ Digital Producer ANTHONY PEARSON Facilities Coordinator JOUBERT GUILLAUME Chief Technology Officer JESSE TAYLOR Desktop Administrators ZACHARY CUMMO, EDGAR ROCHE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
J.P. ANDERSON (Michigan Avenue), SPENCER BECK (Aspen Peak [Acting]), ANDREA BENNETT (Vegas), KATHY BLACKWELL (Austin Way), KRISTIN DETTERLINE (Philadelphia Style), LISA PIERPONT (Boston Common), CATHERINE SABINO (Gotham), JARED SHAPIRO (Ocean Drive), ELIZABETH E. THORP (Capitol File), SAMANTHA YANKS (Hamptons) PUBLISHERS
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Managing Partner JANE GALE Chairman and Director of Photography JEFF GALE Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer JOHN P. KUSHNIR Chief Executive Officer KATHERINE NICHOLLS Copyright 2014 by Niche Media Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved. Los Angeles Confidential magazine is published eight times per year. Reproduction without permission of the publisher is prohibited. The publisher and editors are not responsible for unsolicited material, and it will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication subject to Los Angeles Confidential magazine’s right to edit. Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, photographs, and drawings. To order a subscription, please call 866-891-3144. For customer service, please inquire at losangelesconfidential@pubservice.com. To distribute Los Angeles Confidential at your business, please e-mail magazinerequest@nichemediallc.com. Los Angeles Confidential magazine is published by Niche Media Holdings, LLC., a division of Greengale Publishing, LLC. T: 310-289-7300 F: 310-289-0444 niche media holdings: 100 Church Street, Seventh Floor, New York, NY 10007 T: 646-835-5200 F: 212-780-0003
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LETTER from the Editor-in-Chief
TASTE VS. STYLE? IN THE REALMS OF FASHION AND DESIGN, IT’S AN ONGOING CONUNDRUM. This particular dialogue used to be the purview of the moneyed set; today, it seems even the hoi polloi is in on the discussion—at least in terms of “taste.” Polyester shirts, loud brocaded upholstery, and, heaven forbid, plastic slipcovers are things of the past. In their place, megastores such as Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn offer instant, well-made, inoffensive home décor for the general public—at a price point that won’t break the bank (and is certainly cheaper than hiring a decorator). Homes from high to low, hotels from two-star to four-, and public venues everywhere seem to be awash in perfectly nice… well… niceness. It’s amazing how many shades of beige exist in the rainbow. Style is a different animal altogether. What is it exactly? That’s the problem—there is no “exact” about it. At best it’s a confluence of an educated appreciation of art and beauty, a strong personal point of view, and, most trickily, the willingness to occasionally break through that beige “tyranny of taste.” The late, great editor and style icon Diana Vreeland, ensconced in her jungle-red living room in Manhattan (which was chic but not necessarily “tasteful”) opined once that “a little bit of vulgarity goes a long way.” I couldn’t agree more. Where are the real style stars these days? Hold on. They do exist. For every 10 tasteful, if boring, gowns on the red carpet, there is
usually one knockout. (Remember Nicole Kidman in that incredible John Galliano/Dior creation at the 1997 Oscars… yet to be topped?) And for every perfectly lovely, cookie-cutter, brown-beige-and-tan multimillion-dollar megamanse, there is the occasional “wow” house. Thankfully, if you can’t conjure up style intrinsically, you can indeed buy it. (That old dictum: “You either have style or you don’t”… baloney.) In this issue, we meet four fascinating collectors (see “L.A. Obsessed!,” page 112) who have style in spades. These aren’t run-of-the-mill hoarders, but rather tastemakers with a distinct— if obsessive—point of view. In the wonderful world of high-end design, enter Waldo Fernandez (see “The Amazing Waldo,” page 75). As a longtime design buff and a onetime features director of W magazine, I’ve followed, interviewed, and befriended some of the greats in the field. Sister Parish and Albert Hadley (yin + yang = divine); Mario Buatta (no one understands color better); and Renzo Mongiardino and Peter Marino (over-the-top grandeur for the very, very rich). In LA, I’m a huge fan of Peter Dunham (laid-back jet-Brit-set cool) and even Kelly Wearstler (who says former Playboy bunnies can’t have a certain élan?). But in this town, Fernandez has got “It,” in my book. For 40 years now, this charming, high-energy, Cuban-born former movie set designer has put his distinctly Californian stamp on everything from Elizabeth Taylor’s white-shag-carpeted spread in Bel-Air (she
insisted on that) to Brad and Angelina’s superswell digs to Spago and Soho House. And he keeps going, busier than ever. Durable… as befits a grand star in his own right. If you really want to get a glimpse of that rare instance where so-called “taste” and high style commingle in seeming harmony, bum an invitation to Waldo’s oh-so-mod house in Beverly Hills. From the naughty pen and inks by Jean Cocteau to the obligatory Warhols (one of Liz, natch) to those always-fun sheep by Lalanne, it’s a perfectly orchestrated set piece of chic—albeit in a decidedly un-Vreeland-esque, preternaturally pristine, Joan C. kind of way. Just wear beautiful socks…. You will be asked to leave your shoes at the front door.
SPENCER BECK
Stay up to date with all that’s going on in LA at la-confidential-magazine.com.
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRENDEN-JOHN (DE KWIATKOWSKI); AARON SMITH (FERNANDEZ)
FROM LEFT: Let’s talk taste! Celebrating the start of awards season with the always-chic Lulu deKwiatkowski at LA Confidential’s Emmys pre-party; with my fave LA homeboy, designer Waldo Fernandez. BELOW: My late decorator friend Tice Alexander once told me never to be afraid of color: my green living room in Hancock Park and a very purple library in my former house in Silver Lake.
LETTER from the Publisher 1
2 FROM LEFT:
Challenging superstitions with fashion designer Valerj Pobega and beloved LA artist Mattia Biagi at the annual LA><ART Gala at Greystone Mansion; celebrating the opening of Westime Malibu with store manager Erik Hoopingarner (LEFT) and Greg Simonian, president.
AS EACH FALL ARRIVES—AND MY DAYS ARE FILLED WITH FILM REVIEWS
ALISON MILLER Stay up to date with all that’s going on in LA at la-confidential-magazine.com.
38 LA-CONFIDENTIAL-MAGAZINE.COM
3
// this month //
ON MY RADAR 1. “Andy Warhol: Shadows,” is on view through February 15, 2015, at MOCA Grand Avenue. 2. Legendary afternoon tea at The Peninsula Beverly Hills, from 12 to 5 PM daily in The Living Room. 3. Hamilton Behind The Camera Awards, November 9 at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON KING (WESTIME)
in preparation of the annual Hamilton Behind The Camera Awards that we produce—I find myself feeling more and more nostalgic. This fantastic global event honoring the film industry on November 9 not only marks the start of awards season, but is also a reminder that the holidays will follow in short order. A product of the ’60s, I associate Thanksgiving with a much simpler time—a time before statistics about cyber week flooded my inbox and before this four-day period represented $57 billion in sales led largely by online retailers. Thanksgiving in those days was much more than a frazzled pregame show for Christmas. It truly was about celebrating at home with friends and family. Our only “consumption” was evidenced by the post-meal tightness in our waistbands, and we were entertained not by a computer screen filled with Black Friday deals, but by gathering around a black and white TV to watch Betty White and Lorne Greene host the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Last year’s number-one hashtag on Cyber Monday, #WalmartFight, could only have been a fictional storyline in The Twilight Zone rather than a reality. Now don’t get me wrong. I like my swag as much as the next person. But this year I’ve made a commitment to step back and recapture some of the magic that I used to associate with the holidays. With so many amazing retailers here in LA, I’m going to make a few days of it and visit my favorite brick-and-mortar locations. A stroll down Rodeo Drive followed by high tea at The Peninsula? Yes, please, I’ll take the lemon curd and Devonshire cream with those wild currant scones! An homage to LA-centric brands on Robertson and La Brea? Indeed, and maybe I’ll even embrace my inner tourist and lunch at The Ivy. On November 13, we’ll be cohosting our own genteel affair, Cocktails & Couture, at Westfield Topanga, showcasing some amazing up-and-coming talent from FIDM. Please consider joining us, and here’s to a lovely holiday season for all. Cheers!
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RAINER HOSCH A Los Angeles transplant by way of Vienna, Austria, photojournalist Rainer Hosch developed an interest in photography at a young age. With his work featured in international publications such as Men’s Vogue, Wired, and Interview, as well as in advertising campaigns for Microsoft, Nike, and more, Hosch shot our cover star, Tommy Lee Jones (page 108). Tommy Lee Jones can sometimes be a tough character. How did you get him to relax on set for a successful shoot? I told him my game plan; I listened to his wishes and respected them. Was he different than you expected? You never really know what to expect, but nothing that surprised me. What was your inspiration for the shoot? We photographed at his house, so I approached this with an Arnold Newman kind of angle, a man in his environment. Any funny stories from the shoot? When I asked him to lighten up a bit, he told me to f*** off, and then cracked up with a big smile. Who is on your photography bucket list? The Dalai Lama, Oprah, Ai Weiwei, the Rolling Stones…. Who is your personal inspiration for your career, and why? My dad! He was a photographer and died when I was 11 years old. I wanted his cameras to carry on the legacy.
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// November 2014
DAvID HOCHmAN
AlExANDRIA AbRAmIAN
bIll DIODAtO
Westsider David Hochman writes about Los Angeles and its celebrated citizenry for The New York Times, Esquire, and Details, among many others. He lives near the beach with his wife, a chocolatier, and son, who often has chocolate on his face. In this issue, Hochman interviews cover star Tommy Lee Jones (page 108).
Alexandria Abramian has written for the Los Angeles Times, Elle Decor online, Veranda, Sunset, The Financial Times, and was a columnist for House Beautiful. In 2012, Abramian wrote Nathan Turner’s American Style: Classic Design and Effortless Entertaining for Abrams Books. This month she profiles design legend Waldo Fernandez (“The Amazing Waldo,” page 75).
Bill Diodato is an awardwinning photographer whose work has appeared in publications such as Marie Claire, Allure, Interview, The NY Times Magazine, Travel + Leisure, and Nylon. His monograph, Care of Ward 81, about the defunct Oregon State Mental Institution (where One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was filmed), is the first of two books. The second, also focusing on the demise of institutional services, is slated for a 2015 release and tentatively titled Cremains. In this issue, Diodato photographed “Bijoux Royale,” page 120.
What was the best thing you learned about Tommy Lee Jones? He has excellent taste in furniture and is a big fan of the minimalist masters like Donald Judd. If you could only do one more interview in your career, who would it be? Elton John. If the tables were turned and you were the interviewee, who would you want to interview you, and why? Swiss-British writer and philosopher Alain de Botton because he’s the most interesting man on Twitter. If he can be succinct in 140 characters, he can probably get to the heart of things quickly in an interview.
Did you learn anything new about design icon Waldo Fernandez? I have heard Waldo speak a few times. He’s always quite reserved. In person, he was warm and full of humor. A great surprise! What is your favorite element of his design aesthetic? It is razor-clean but not at all sterile. His designs feel intimate while being striking. That’s hard to pull off. What is the most exciting design trend happening now in LA? I am insanely excited about all of the mixed-use architecture going on all over the city. The idea of living above/next to/under the shop/restaurant is such a great way to live.
What was your inspiration for this shoot? It’s the story of a mysterious and beautiful gemologist dealing in the world’s finest jewelry. Who would you love to photograph? Ed Ruscha on location, Tom Brady right before the Super Bowl, Roger Federer before a Grand Slam final. What is your go-to camera? A Hasselblad with a Phase One digital back.
photography by Michael healey photography (abraMian); bill diodato (diodato)
...wItHOut wHOm this issue would not have been possible
e s t. 1 8 1 8
ro d e o d r i ve
f i g u e roa st r e e t
we st f i e l d c e n t u ry c i ty
fas h i o n i s l a n d b ro o k s b rot h e rs.c o m
ga r d e n s o n e l pas e o
la jolla
f o ru m s h o p s at ca e sa rs
the list November 2014
Clayton Kershaw
Erin Allen
Michael Foroutan
Ben Krigler
Bob Dylan
Chad Love
Deborah Alessi
Bec Astley Clark
Melissa Rivers
Jason Yoong
Ari Seth Cohen
Shea Marie
Eddie Redmayne
Albrecht Pagenstert
Anne Sanford
Hanako Maeda
Joan Lunden
Marcia Mazzocchi
Jessica Sepel
David Alessi
Caitlin Boyd
Kelly Talbot
Pamela Salzman
Arnaud Ozharun
Quang Nguyen
Christopher George
Rachel Richardson
Sophie Simmons
Jeff Ariz
Lizzy Wingels
Stephanie Danan
Marta Goldschmied
Joannie Chen
Ashton Spatz
Justin Kern
Shane Markland
Noreen Fraser
Diane Allen
Benjamin Ezra
Tina Hay
Michael Hayworth
Prema O’Grady
Martine Hadida
Chip Wilson
Johan Gyllenkrok
Mike Maralian
Michael Moshi
Shannon Wilson
Paul Ryan
Lauren Moshi
Doran Santo
Reagan Hayes
David Casey
Kimberly Fowler
Paul Shoemaker
Armand Hadida
Brad Gietter
Kourosh Gohar
Ho Chee Boon
Phillip Lee
Alexis Johnson Le Guier
Denise Macuk
Mary McDonald
Aurélie Bidermann
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Tree Lighting Ceremony November 14 & 15 | 6pm
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Beginning November 13, the magic of the Holidays comes to life at the Disneyland® Resort where the nighttime spectacular “World of Color – Winter Dreams”, “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!”, a high energy street party with festivities and fun for everyone joins seasonal favorites like “A Christmas Fantasy Parade”, “it’s a small world” Holiday, and so much more. See why the Happiest Place on Earth just got merrier! ShopFashionIsland.com | © The Irvine Company LLC, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Fashion Island is a trademark of Irvine Company. © Disney
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461 NorTH roDeo DrIVe - BeVerLY HILLs, ca
style tastemaker A capital idea: Brunello Cucinelli’s one-of-akind breed of “humanistic capitalism” and an obsession with age-old craft have helped inform his 36-year-old luxury brand.
Rodeo StaR
This fall, iTalian fashion sTallion Brunello CuCinelli rides inTo Beverly hills wiTh a super shop-Til-you-drop.
photography courtesy of brunello cucinelli
By Erin MagnEr
On a ceramic tile beside the gates of Brunello Cucinelli’s home in Solomeo, Italy, is inscribed a quote from Socrates that reads: “Love of knowledge echoes in our hearts and nourishes great thoughts.” It’s a fitting statement for the 61-year-old fashion mogul, whose own obsession with wisdom—philosophy, in particular—has hatched a brand that operates on a far loftier plane than other major European luxury houses. To wit: His factory is located in a 14th-century castle in Solomeo, the Umbrian hamlet that his wife grew up in; over the last 29 years, he’s lovingly restored the town, brick by brick, to include a new library and theater, built to enrich the minds of the town’s 450 citizens (more than half of whom work for his company). His business operates under an ethos of “humanistic capitalism”—the company donates up to one-fifth of its profits to philanthropic projects through the Brunello Cucinelli Foundation, while manual laborers are paid around 20 percent more than the national average and are granted subsidized, four-course lunches at a restaurant-quality cafeteria. And in October 2013, Cucinelli welcomed continued on page 48
la-confidential-magazine.com 47
style tastemaker from left: Menswear on display in Cucinelli’s new Beverly Hills boutique; quietly luxurious looks from the designer’s Fall/Winter 2014/2015 men’s and women’s collections; a wall of accessories at the new flagship store on North Rodeo.
the first class to his new School of Crafts in Solomeo, which teaches skills like brick masonry, gardening, agriculture, and knitting—all in the vein of John Ruskin’s and William Morris’s Arts and Crafts Movement in the 1870s. “These skills were somehow disappearing, but in the last two to three years, something is changing,” he says. “In Italy, if you were a tailor, you’d be ashamed to say so… but a great cultural change is taking place—there is now this concept of going back to real, manual work. I think the world is [becoming more] attracted to very special, handcrafted goods.” This is undoubtedly true in Los Angeles—so it’s lucky that Cuc inelli’s brand of
handcrafted magic is now more accessible than ever, thanks to a freshly opened flagship store on Rodeo Drive. Exponentially larger than the brand’s former shop on Brighton Way, the two-story space is set to showcase a SoCal-specific mix of mens- and womenswear— heavy on understatedly opulent eveningwear and light knits, including Cucinelli’s signature kitten-soft cashmere in a spectrum of earthy hues. “I’d like you to enter the store and somehow breathe the spirit of Solomeo and the way in which we work,” he says, noting that the store’s merchandising will help tell the brand’s story. “If I buy something very expensive, I want to know where and how
48 la-confidential-magazine.com
it was manufactured. I believe this is a new way of conceiving luxury.” Exclusivity is also an important element of the store—only limited sizes will be available for a given item. “I don’t buy anything that’s too widely distributed,” explains Cucinelli. “Over the last few years, I felt that we spoke too much of ‘accessible luxury.’ In my view, luxury is something exclusive and made with grace.” Cucinelli hasn’t always been so embedded in such a rarefied world—in fact, he grew up poor with a factoryworker father who was mistreated by his boss (a catalyst for the designer’s preoccupation with treating his workers well). In 1978, at the age of 25 and with no
fashion training, he was inspired by United Colors of Benetton to create a collection of slim-fitting, vibrantly colored cashmere sweaters. “[Umbria] has a long-standing heritage for knitwear, but there was no cashmere being made [at the time],” he says. “I wanted to manufacture a product that you never throw away. You never send a cashmere pullover to the bin… you always pass it on.” Since his breakthrough debut, Cucinelli’s collection has expanded and attained worldwide popularity—particularly in LA. “Brunello is unique because you get these amazing, old-school, luxury Italian fabrics—plaids and tweeds and linens—that almost look like something my really well-dressed and chic
Italian grandfather would wear, but cut in the most modern way possible,” says stylist Ilaria Urbinati, whose clients include Bradley Cooper, Bruce Willis, and Nicolas Cage. Stylist Jeanne Yang, who’s dressed Katie Holmes, Christian Bale, and George Clooney, agrees. “Brunello is the epitome of quiet confidence,” she says. “[The clothes] don’t scream that you need attention… but rather that you’re purchasing the best.” It’s a sentiment that calls to mind another favorite quote of Cucinelli’s, this one from Emperor Hadrian: “I feel responsible for the beauty of the world.” Obligation fulfilled. 220 n. rodeo dr., beverly hills, 310-724-8118; brunellocucinelli.com LAC
photography courtesy of brunello cucinelli
“Over the last few years, I felt that we spOke tOO much Of ‘accessIble luxury.’ In my vIew, luxury Is sOmethIng exclusIve and made wIth grace.” —brunello cucinelli
STYLE Accessories THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT Make an impact by carrying a clutch covered in delicate wings. Butterfly flap bag, Valentino Garavani ($2,895). 360 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-2470103; valentino.com
INTO THE WOODS
the seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lushest accessories pull from arcadia au naturel for an enchanted moment. PhotograPhy by brian klutch fashion styling by faye Power
50â&#x20AC;&#x192; la-confidential-magazine.com
Advertising copyright © 2014 ALOR International LTD. All designs copyright © ALOR International LTD.
NORDSTROM o r F o r a r e ta i l e r n e a r yo u v i s i t a l o r . c o m o r c a l l 1 - 8 0 0 - u s a - a l o r
STYLE Accessories 1
2 BOTANY OF DESIRE
ARBOREAL ARDOR
Dark florals add a seductive edge to en elegant winter pump.
Branchlike bracelets and serpentine rings are a jewel-lover’s Eden.
4
DI-VINE POWER
RESTRAINED LUST
Gilded acorns and oak leaves cast a bewitching spell.
Caged heels confine a brilliant bouquet.
1. Minbra pump, Manolo Blahnik ($1,045). Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-550-5900; neimanmarcus.com. 2. Silver Snake citrine and red garnet ring, Le Vian ($1,365). Macy’s, 8500 Beverly Blvd., LA, 310-854-6655; macys.com. Sterling silver diamond bark cuff bracelet, Michael Aram ($2,225). Neiman Marcus, see above; michaelaram.com. 3. Necklace, Alexander McQueen ($995). 8379 Melrose Ave., LA, 323-782-4983; alexandermcqueen.com. 4. Purple velvet jeweled heels, Dolce & Gabbana ($2,995). 312 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-8888701; dolcegabbana.com
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STYLE Spotlight // ABOUT TOWN // jewelry
1
ROCKIN’ BIJOUX
JUST IN TIME FOR RESORT SEASON, DITA VON TEESE DEBUTS A RETRO-FABULOUS LUXURY EYEWEAR LINE. BY LAUREN FINNEY AND ERIN MAGNER
Dita Von Teese is an LA legend thanks to her megaglam, vintage style sensibility—one that she’s parlayed into collections of apparel, lingerie, and hosiery. This season she has sunglasses in her sights, debuting 10 styles in collaboration with—who else?— LA’s Dita eyewear (cofounder John Juniper named the 20-year-old brand after Von Teese, a longtime friend). The collection is filled with contemporary updates on styles from the ’40s and ’50s, from a circular frame reminiscent of Rita Hayworth’s to several iterations of the classic cat’s-eye. “I believe in capturing the essence of retro style in a new way,” says Von Teese. “These glasses are all vintage inspired, but they’re not your grandmother’s glasses… they’re sexy!” From $235. Solstice, Beverly Center, 310-659-8611; solsticesunglasses.com
// trend watch //
Stuart Weitzman’s beloved 5050 boot is a favorite of celebs from Emma Stone to Elizabeth Olsen— and it’s now available for personalization in-store and online. Beginning early this month, 5050 devotees can create their own style, choosing from 12 fabrications and three heel heights—the classic flat, the stacked heel, and the wedge—for the ultimate in custom chic. From $635. Beverly Center, LA, 310-289-0720; stuartweitzman.com
2
Iro sterling silver and black rhodium Canis ring with gray and black diamonds ($930).
A CUT ABOVE
Former Sally Hershberger stylist Sam DiVine has taken over LA’s former WarrenTricomi space to create Society, the city’s first members’ salon. Yearly packages range from unlimited monthly blowouts ($960/year) to a deluxe offering that includes endless blowouts, keratin treatments, cuts, and hair coloring ($2,160/year). À la carte services are also available for the commitment-phobic. 8327 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, 323-655-4555; societysalons.com
SKYLINE HIGH THESE VERTIGINOUS ARCHITECTURAL BOOTIES give DTLA’s skyscrapers a run for their money.
Sergio Rossi ($915). Bloomingdale’s, Beverly Center, LA, 310-360-2700; bloomingdales.com
54
BOOT FORCE
Roger Vivier ($1,395). South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, 714-435-1005; rogervivier.com
LA-CONFIDENTIAL-MAGAZINE.COM
Christian Louboutin ($1,245). Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-550-5900; neimanmarcus.com
Roberto Cavalli ($1,485). 362 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-276-6006; robertocavalli.com
Nicholas Kirkwood ($1,595). Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-5505900; neimanmarcus.com
Bottega Veneta ($970). 457 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-858-6533; bottegaveneta.com
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF SAM DIVINE (SOCIETY)
Specs Addiction
new in l.a.
Parisian style is the stuff that LA gals’ dreams are made of, and French brand Iro is adding to that legacy with its first fine-jewelry collection, available in its Beverly Hills and Venice stores. Classic stones and materials—think silver and diamonds—are turned into punk-inspired rings, earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, ideal for layering with Iro’s iconic biker jackets and effortlessly cool dresses. 325 N. Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-276-1885; 1319 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, 310-450-9680; iroparis.com
ARE YOU PREPARED? Interstellar.hamiltonwatch.com
STYLE Social Network “GrowinG up in paris with parents in the [fashion] industry, i was always around amazinG pieces off the runways.” —elodie khayat clockwise from left:
Elodie Khayat at her West Hollywood concept boutique; standout pieces at Elodie K. include Sophia Webster shoes and Italia Independent sunglasses; Khayat shops The Way We Wore for ’90s vintage finds.
Allons-y, Elodie With a fashion pedigree like Elodie Khayat’s, it’s hard to imagine her working in any other industry. As a niece of BCBG founder Max Azria and with ample fashion training in France, Khayat moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to create a fine-jewelry line. Since then, her business has expanded to include a concept boutique, Elodie K. (8428 Melrose Pl., West Hollywood, 323-658-5060; elodiek.com), which carries serious fashion players such as Gianvito Rossi and Sophia Webster along
with bohemian beach brands including Poupette St. Barth, Sunday Saint-Tropez, and Lolita Jaca. When not shopping her own store, the 35-year-old Khayat loves to hit up her chic Melrose Place neighbor, Isabel Marant (8454 Melrose Pl., LA, 323-651-1493; isabelmarant.com), whose pieces she’s been wearing since she started designing. “I still have items from over 10 years ago, and they are still on trend,” says Khayat. “She is classic.” For a true vintage fix, Khayat’s
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a fan of The Way We Wore (334 S. La Brea Ave., LA, 323-937-0878; thewaywewore. com). “Growing up in Paris with parents who had their own clothing line [Renato Nucci], I was always around amazing pieces off the runways from the ’90s,” she says. “The boutique sometimes has those [types of] pieces and reminds me of that time.” If formality calls, Khayat “has to do Alaia”; she also seeks out ’90s pieces from Jean Paul Gaultier and Dolce & Gabbana.
Days not spent at the shop might see Khayat pampering herself at Rapaport Dermatology (436 N. Bedford Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-2744401; rapderm.com), where she “gets the most amazing facials,” or perusing the Serge Lutens fragrance offerings at Barneys New York (9570 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-276-4400; barneys.com). She’s also frequently spotted at The Empty Vase (9033 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-278-1988; emptyvase.com), her “go-to spot for beautiful
floral arrangements,” and ModShop (5901 W. Third St., LA, 323-692-9221; modshop1. com) for classic, retro-cool furniture. She admits the store is not very off-the-beaten-path, but it’s still a favorite. This year, she’s hoping to have a wall done at Elodie K. by street artist Mr. Brainwash—née Thierry Guetta—(Denis Bloch Gallery, 9626 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, 310-270-4880; mrbrainwash.com), who is Paris-born and LA-based, just like Khayat herself. Vive LA! LAC
photography by elisabeth caren (khayat, shoes)
French-born Fashion scion and newly anointed Melrose Place boutique owner ElodiE hayat shares her go-to style sPots. By Lauren Finney
SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN! CUSP—THE NEW COOL
IT’S FALL. GET DRESSED IN THE SEASON’S NEWSMAKERS AND STYLE SHAKERS. YOU’LL FIND THEM IN OUR FRESHLY EXPANDED AND REMODELED CUSP DEPARTMENT.
BEVERLY HILLS 310.550.5900 NEIMANMARCUS.COM/CUSP #ONTHECUSP
STYLE Fragrance At his fragrance workshop in the South of France, Jean-Claude Ellena was inspired by the smell of leather used to make classic bags. right: Cuir d’Ange fragrance; the Hermès Oxer duffel.
“I realIzed that each leather had a dIfferent scent, and the most beautIful smelled of flowers.” —jean-claude ellena
A stunning new frAgrAnce from Hermès tAkes its inspirAtion from iconic leAther hAndbAgs—And sensuAl french literAture. by mandi norwood When Jean-Claude Ellena became “the nose” of Hermès 10 years ago, his first port of call was the maison’s leather vault in Paris. Providing specialized storage for the skins that form the brand’s iconic luggage and handbags, “It was a marvelous treasure,” Ellena recalls, “an Ali Baba’s cave, where each piece of leather was arranged by characteristic and color. “There, I saw and touched
the most beautiful leather, even some that weighed only a few grams in my hand, so soft that I hardly dared to handle it,” he says. “I realized that each leather, tanned naturally, had a different scent, and the most beautiful and expensive pieces smelled of flowers.... I was seized by happiness and decided right then that I wanted to create a perfume inspired by leather.” This month, 67-year-old
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Ellena’s dream is realized in the form of Cuir d’Ange (“angel leather”), a fragrance that’s both gentle and assertive, shifting between delicate heliotropes and woody hawthorn, bashful violets and narcissi, and unrestrained musk. As with all fragrances, there are layers of notes: the top notes that provide the first fragrant impression, the middle ones that form
leather,” combined with his epiphany at the Hermès vault, provided the compelling concept Ellena needed for his next fragrance masterpiece. Tell us more about the connection you make between literature and fragrance. I am a writer of smells. For me, perfume is more a poetic creation than a concept. It touches us, moves us, fires our imagination. I have a writer’s approach. I tell stories with perfume. Perfumers all use the same ingredients and raw materials. It’s their writing talent that makes the difference. Why are you inspired by the author Jean Giono? I see literature—with a capital L—as significant. It has always fueled my imagination, but it’s true I have a special relationship with Jean Giono, which must derive from our Provençal origins and how we understand the world. Why did it take 10 years to create Cuir d’Ange? continued on page 60
photography by richard schroeder (ellena); courtesy of hermès (bag, cuir d’ange)
Eau, My Word!
the heart of the scent seconds after application, and the base notes that linger long after the perfume has dried on the skin. With Cuir d’Ange, the first spray bursts into a generous— but not overly floral—bouquet that’s just sweet enough for a woman and yet robust enough for a man. Minutes later, it settles into a gorgeous veil of caramel, pipe tobacco, and a sprinkling of breezy wildflowers. It feels beautiful on the skin, too, like cool, expensive, powder-soft suede—“angel leather,” asserts Ellena, referencing the words of early-20th-century French author Jean Giono, who has been a source of inspiration for Ellena for more than three decades. In his autobiography, Jean le Blue (Blue Boy Publishing), Giono describes his father in his cobbler’s workshop, “busy making shoes in angel leather for some god with a thousand feet.” For Ellena, who compares his process of creating fragrances to that of writing a book, Giono’s phrase “angel
STYLE Fragrance from left: Jean-Claude Ellena uses
the simplest tools—pen, paper, smelling strips—and his finely tuned nose to create fragrances for Hermès; Ellena loves using both natural and artificial notes in his scents.
It’s a slow process—and very demanding. The hardest thing is [figuring out] how I am going to translate the concept into a physical presence. Until the moment comes that the product matches the idea in my head, I put it aside; I come back to it later, I work on it. That’s why it can take 10 years. Cuir d’Ange appeals to both women and men. How did you accomplish that? I don’t think smells have a gender any more than colors, sounds, or tastes do. Unfortunately, societies have created codes that we find difficult to break from. These codes are a framework that help us live in an increasingly complex world, but one from which we sometimes want to
be free. For me, perfumes are like works of art and, as such, aren’t intended for men or women, but for all mankind. In your book, The Diary of a Nose: A Year in the Life of a Parfumeur (Rizzoli, $25), you say there is a misconception that your perfumes only contain natural ingredients, nothing artificial. I see all ingredients as smells, whether they’re natural or artificial. I love them all. I don’t differentiate between them, so long as they serve my idea. The advent of chemical ingredients has given us a much broader olfactory palette. How lucky we are! What are your own personal favorite scents? The smell of human skin
60 la-confidential-magazine.com
without perfume—my wife’s and my children’s. Tell us about your studio. Why did you choose to have it in Grasse? I live and work in the South of France near Grasse, the perfume capital. I was born there. It’s an incredible space, steeped in history, filled with light and smells. The workshop I come to every morning is a house designed in the ’60s and built into the side of a hill. The workshop is open; the doors are never closed. My work tools are sheets of paper, a pencil, a fountain pen, an eraser, smelling strips, and smelling-strip holders. The laboratory is at the far end of the house, as far as possible from my office, so that I’m not distracted by the smell. I work
exclusively from memory. You have created many iconic fragrances, including Van Cleef & Arpels’s First and Bulgari’s Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert. Do you consider Cuir d’Ange to be a new classic? I sincerely hope so—to have a perfume that stands outside of time, a perfume beyond fashions and trends. What’s the difference between French and American tastes in fragrance? For Americans, the notion of cleanliness dominates. Pleasure is allowed if it’s useful—for example, smelling clean and having good longevity—whereas French-style perfuming likes
a bit of controversy and the body’s own smells. How did you finally realize your vision for Cuir d’Ange? Was it a “voilà!” moment? Suddenly, an instant will come when you say, “That’s it! That’s what I was looking for.” Creating a fragrance is a terrible and terrifying process because I’m the kind of person who is continually dissatisfied until that moment comes. And then the pleasure is very short. Like sex—French-style! cuir d’ange is number 12 in hermès’s hermessence collection of perfumes and is available exclusively in hermès stores. 434 n. rodeo dr., Beverly hills, 310-278-6440; hermes.com LAC
photography by richard schroeder
“I don’t thInk smells have a gender any more than colors, sounds, or tastes do.... for me, perfumes are lIke works of art.”—jean-claude ellena
TO ALL OF YOU WHO ENJOY LIFE RESPONSIBLY thedalmore.com
SIX CASK FINISHES. ONE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT.
STYLE Time Keeper
Stellar Time
On the eve Of big-time release Interstellar, Hamilton CeO Sylvain Dolla tells hOw the iCOniC watCh brand has played a key rOle in hOllywOOd fOr the better part Of a Century— Culminating with this mOnth’s annual behind the Camera awards. By RoBeRta Naas
Los Angeles Confidential: How did Hamilton become so firmly entrenched in Hollywood? Sylvain Dolla: Hamilton was prolific in providing watches to troops during World War I and World War II. In 1951, when the Oscarnominated movie about naval divers, Frogmen, was being filmed, it seemed a natural fit for Hamilton timepieces to be worn by the actors. It was then that our relationship with Hollywood was born. In 2006, we decided it was time to officially honor “offscreen” talent, so we launched the Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards. We are very proud to be hosting such an event in recognition of the skilled contributions and crucial role of such talent in major film productions. Does the brand still have a relationship with the aviation industry and the military? Since 1919, aviation has been and remains a large part of who we are. We work closely with leading air squadrons and French aerobatic pilot Nicolas Ivanoff, who serves as our brand ambassador. In addition, we have a strong relationship with Air Zermatt, the
Swiss mountain rescue and transport company. We are also the official timekeeping sponsor of the biggest airshow in the world: EAA AirVenture. How do your new timepieces reflect this rich heritage? We work closely with Nicolas Ivanoff and Air Zermatt to create aviation-inspired timepieces. Their expertise can be found not only in the sky, but also in the design and development of Hamilton watches, providing the brand with a great deal of insight on integrating real, relevant aviation functionality into the Khaki Aviation collection. A recent example for this is the Khaki Takeoff. This pilot watch simultaneously acts as a wristwatch, cockpit watch, and table watch. It is detachable and can be placed in the dashboard of a helicopter or airplane cockpit, and will be installed in every helicopter of Air Zermatt. Let’s talk Interstellar! As time plays such a critical role in the upcoming Christopher Nolan movie, the production team asked us to develop a unique timepiece for the character Murph (played by Jessica Chastain). More than just an accessory, the watch reveals a lot about the character and helps to build the story. In addition to this unique watch, Cooper (played by Matthew McConaughey) wears a Hamilton Khaki Pilot Day Date from our current collection. We couldn’t be more excited. For more watch features and expanded coverage, go to la-confidential-magazine.com/ watches. LAC
Sylvain Dolla, CEO of Hamilton International Ltd.; Hamilton Khaki Pilot Day Date watch, which appears in Interstellar on the wrist of Matthew McConaughey; designs for Hamilton’s custom “Murph” watch worn by Jessica Chastain in the sci-fi thriller Interstellar.
clockwise from top:
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photography and illustration courtesy of hamilton international ltd.
From military and aviation watches to star turns in more than 400 films, Hamilton timepieces are deeply ingrained in contemporary culture. On Sunday, November 9, the tradition continues as the brand celebrates the best in filmmaking from the other side of the lens at the Behind the Camera Awards at LA’s Wilshire Ebell Theatre.
culture Hottest ticket
In CInema VerItas
This monTh, hollywood’s insider seT decamps To napa To screen movies… and sip wine. By ABBy TegneliA
photography by bob Mcclenahan
Ten years after the movie Sideways single-handedly made Merlot the eyebrow-raising beverage du jour, a special anniversary screening is being planned—followed by a grand Merlot tasting with the editor of Wine Spectator magazine. Where else to host such a Dionysian collusion than at the Napa Valley Film Festival, which so seamlessly brings together movies and wine. The fourth annual fest-that-could, held November 12–16, likes to break from tradition. Yes, there will be “famous” directors (Joe Carnahan, and first-timer Chris Messina) and actors (Kevin Costner, Adam Brody, Shailene Woodley), plus appearances by awards-season contenders and movie buffs from around the world. But there are also screenings in barrel rooms and a mandatory two-and-a-half-hour break every afternoon to drink wine. Founders/Directors Brenda and Marc Lhormer are thrilled with how far the festival has come in just four years. “There are so many beautiful places in Napa Valley that come together for this,” Brenda says. “We’re totally spoiled.”
Lights, camera, Napa! Colin Farrell does the red carpet at last year’s Festival Gala, a star-studded event that includes live music, food, and wine tastings from some of the Valley’s top chefs and vintners.
Los Angeles Confidential: Have you two always loved movies? Brenda Lhormer: I went to film school as an adult, and Marc is a screenwriter. In 2007 we optioned Bottle Shock [about the famous blind tasting in Paris that ended in Napa’s favor] and shot it in 29 days. We took it to Sundance in 2008—that introduced us to Napa Valley. continued on page 66
la-confidential-magazine.com 65
CULTURE Hottest Ticket what to see
A crowd gathers at the historic Napa Valley Opera House for a Film Festival screening.
BEST OF THE FEST Festival queen Brenda Lhormer anoints her top picks.
That’s quite an introduction! Were you new to the area? We moved to Sonoma from Seattle in 2000 and took over the Sonoma Film Festival in 2001. you started the napa Valley film festival in 2011 after leaving the Sonoma film festival. Was it an immediate success? It launched successfully, which started buzz about it. Wineries have been blown away. Every year it grows. This year, we’re expecting more than 10,000 people. do you screen all of the movies yourselves? We screen 900 films. We have room for only 120, so we have to be picky. You know within 10 minutes. If you can imagine your audience walking out, we turn it off. how would you describe your audience? The kinds of people who come to wine country! We think about what they would want to see: character-driven movies that will spark conversation, good dramas. We’re not going to show horror or something really rough. We’re lifestyle-oriented, since our audience loves wine and food. Sundance is the first film festival of the year, and you bring up the rear. We’re tight with Sundance. They’ve been a big support for us, and we do a party there every year. But we have much better weather and wine!
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how else are you different? We’re a bit easier to navigate. We also have wine tastings before each screening, and there are no movies between 2:30 and 5 pm, when the wineries do their tastings. And award winners get a magnum of wine signed by the winemaker. how does all that wine affect the atmosphere? It becomes very interactive. You go see a panel, have a glass of wine. There, you bump into a director or someone who saw another movie. And you chat. Why is the festival so important to napa Valley? It’s the first event held in all [of the Valley’s] four towns simultaneously. There are wine pavilions in every spot, and the screening rooms reflect the personalities of the town. One screening is in a barrel room. do you have a favorite moment from the first three years? Billy Bush comes every year with Access hollywood. Last year, Billy was riding his bike on camera down the middle of the road in Yountville and got a ticket for not stopping at the town’s one stop sign. What wines do you like? White: Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. Red: Zinfandel and Syrah! The Napa valley Film Festival runs from November 12–16 in various locations around the valley. napavalley filmfestival.org LAC
BIG dReam, November 13:
Yountville’s Lincoln will show the frst flm of the festival, a moving, character-driven World War II drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley.
The festival marks the world premiere of this inspiring documentary, which profles young women who dedicate their lives to the maledominated felds of science, computer science, and tech.
LIke Sunday, LIke RaIn, November 13:
The dISaPPeaRance of eLeanoR RIGBy: heR & hIm, November 15:
Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester will be at the festival to support this happy narrative set in the music world, costarring Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Debra Messing. Frank Whaley directs.
Two versions of the very same story: James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain star in both Ned Benson–directed flms, which will be played back to back, depicting his and her versions of a breakup.
aLex of VenIce, November 16:
GLen camPBeLL: I’LL Be me, November 16:
The directorial debut for Chris Messina (who also stars) from The mindy Project, this charming indie romcom also features Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Don Johnson.
Actor/director James Keach presents his moving portrait piece at the historic Uptown Theatre, the venue for Campbell’s fnal performance as he struggled with Alzheimer’s. Keach and his wife, Jane Seymour, also a producer on the flm, will attend, along with other special guests.
photography by gustavo Fernandez (MovIe preMIere)
“WE SCrEEN 900 FILMS. WE hAvE rooM For 120… IF YoU CAN IMAGINE YoUr AUDIENCE WALKING oUT, WE TUrN IT oFF.” —brenda lhormer
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Culture Art Full
PoP Goes the easel
Next moNth, LA’s cuLturAti cLub joiNs the Art-worLdLy freNzy At Art bAseL iN miAmi beAch.
Since 2002, Art Basel in Miami Beach has grown and expanded at a dizzying rate. Each December, artists, gallerists and collectors converge on Miami, making the show the epicenter for art in the Western Hemisphere. Last year the four-day event broke purchase and attendance records with an estimated $3 billion in sales of paintings, photographs, and sculptures to a crowd of 75,000 art connoisseurs. Art Basel’s director, Marc Spiegler, shares insights about what we will see at this year’s ABMB (December 4–7) and how Art Basel—in Miami Beach and across the globe—is taking the art world by storm.
clockwise from top:
Yokos by Jack Early, 2012, will be among the works shown in the Galleries sector at this year’s show; ABMB Director Marc Spiegler; Artificial Rock A-63 by Zhan Wang, 2007, will also be exhibited in the Galleries sector.
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Los Angeles Confidential: What are some of the most rousing aspects of this year’s show? Marc Spiegler: With 100 percent of exhibitors in the Galleries sector—which is the main sector of the fair—reapplying, this year’s list is the strongest yet. We are delighted that a number of US galleries will be joining the show for the first time, including Michael Jon, Clifton Benevento, Simone Subal Gallery, Garth Greenan Gallery, Menconi + Schoelkopf, [and LA’s] Honor Fraser and Freedman Fitzpatrick. Following the great success of Public last year, I am excited to see this year’s edition, which is again curated by Nicholas Baume of the Public Art Fund in New York. And David Gryn of Artprojx returns with a selection of over 70 film and video works that not only will be screened in SoundScape Park on the 7,000-square-foot projection wall of the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center, but also inside the Miami Beach Convention Center in a newly designed video viewing room. How was Survey, the newest sector being unveiled this year, conceived? And what will be featured there? Survey is dedicated to precise art-historical projects. We decided to introduce the sector because we wanted to create a platform that brings more art-historical positions to the show. With all the museum groups and connoisseur collectors attending, we feel there is a real audience at our Miami Beach show for these remarkable works. How is Art Basel’s expansion into Asia with Art Basel in Hong Kong influencing this year’s ABMB? We certainly see an increase in Asian collectors attending the show in Miami Beach since
photography courtesy of art basel (spiegler); fergus Mccaffrey (early); long March space (Wang). opposite page: photography courtesy of art basel (kukje gallery exhibit); franklin parrasch gallery, shot by katharine overgaard (bengston); sara gernsbacher, courtesy Michael jon gallery (jpW3)
By Matthew Stewart
announcing going to Hong Kong [in 2011]—as well as new galleries such as Beijing Commune from China and, from Japan, Take Ninagawa and Y++ Wada Fine Arts. Last year’s ABMB broke both purchase and attendance records. What are you doing to keep the amazing momentum going in 2014? Last year was a hugely successful edition—that’s why all the galleries want to come back. We do not take this success for granted, but work very hard to keep the quality at our shows high. Immediately after each show we look at what we can do to make the event even better and improve the experience of our guests and exhibitors. What’s great about Miami Beach as an event is that there is always a lot of cultural energy, so we can collaborate with great partners from across the Americas and the rest of the world. With all this exponential growth, what are you doing to vet the galleries that participate to maintain your high standards? Across all our shows, we apply a rigorous selection process that ensures that only galleries with strong programming and a great roster of artists make it into the show. The show actually has not become bigger over the years, but the competition has certainly become harder. What is the fastest-growing segment of the art market today? What we have noticed over the past editions of our shows in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong is
clockwise from top left: Visitors get a close-up look at work in the Kukje Gallery exhibit at ABMB 2013; 2C by JPW3, 2014, and Untitled by Billy Al Bengston, 1961, will be exhibited at this year’s ABMB.
Arts District EAst Los Angeles is well represented at ABMB, and some of our hometown galleries are enlivening the sectors with cutting-edge works. FreedMAn FitzpAtrick will exhibit the works
of Lucie Stahl, which are infuenced by the visual schizophrenia of digital communication platforms and advertising vernaculars, in the Positions sector.
“collectors and curators are highly interested in the work shaped by new media.” — marc spiegler that there are very interesting impulses coming from the “digital native” generation of artists. Collectors and curators are highly interested in the work shaped by new media, new ways of dealing with aesthetics and audiences. LAC
cherry And MArtin in the Nova sector
will present a dual artist exhibition with paintings by Jennifer Boysen and wall-mounted HD monitors by Brian Bress. In their respective bodies of work, Boysen and Bress share the overwhelming sense that advertising and mass communication have fundamentally changed the goals of art practice. kohn GALLery will exhibit works by
Brooklyn-based artist Eddie Martinez and the late California-based artist Bruce Conner (1933-2008) in the Galleries sector. Martinez is a young, mostly selftaught artist whose muscular, large-scale paintings are drawn from topics such as the ever-evolving landscape of the city to major art historical movements of the 20th century, while Conner’s experimental flms bear infuences from the 1950s Beat Generation.
culture Art Full
Portrait of Meggen, Josiah and Adrian (currently living on skid row) by Tomo Fotos. clockwise from top right: Bag Lady by Bode Helm; Portrait of Ricky by Tomo Fotos; 23 to Life by Ry Rocklen; Midnight Omission by Bode Helm. inset: Want by Anna Sew Hoy.
L.A. Under the Lens
Ordinarily, an art publication isn’t a work of art in and of itself. But put enough creative minds on it, and suddenly an abstract notion becomes a gallery-worthy achievement. Case in point: Frank LA. It’s a multi-format art subscription service from the local arts organization Frank Cities that gathers artists in and around Los Angeles, gives them a concept, instructs them to open their idea faucets for maximum flow, and then gleefully gathers the results and provides them to subscribers three times a year—beginning with the inaugural December 2014 edition—in both print and object-based forms, for an annual fee of $975. The subscriber base will be limited to 2,000. Led by founders Alison Miller (also the publisher of Los Angeles Confidential), Patrick Gill, and Cindy Troesh—as well as curators Lauri Firstenberg (LA><ART), Shamim Momin (Los Angeles Nomadic Division), Mat Gleason (Coagula Curatorial), and writer Carol Cheh—Frank LA was conceived not only to provide high-end manna to famished art devotees, but also to illuminate issues in and around Los Angeles. In that effort, it selected the shopping cart—perhaps the most notable symbol of homelessness—as the focus of its first issue. The artists involved are an all-star team of area talent: Abel Alejandre, Edgar Arceneaux, Mattia Biagi, Ruben Esparza, Michelle Carla Handel, Dwyer Kilcollin, Mimi Lauter, Lipschutz & Lipschutz, Danial Nord, Ry Rocklen, Anna Sew Hoy, Cole Sternberg, and Jay Stuckey. They were asked to present their takes on the shopping cart; the issue will contain 36 total art prints—12 of them involving shopping carts—contained in a linen box. The
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larger artworks will eventually be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the LAMP Community, a nonprofit that helps the most vulnerable residents of skid row—mostly adults with mental illness—with services and housing. It’s a beacon among such organizations: the LAMP Community boasts one of the highest success rates in the country, as more than 95 percent of the people it houses stay housed for one year or more. “This platform brought to mind specific artists who live and work in the heart of the homeless community,” explains Firstenberg. It didn’t take long for Frank LA participant and artist-designer Edgar Arceneaux to see the possibilities as a work of sculpture. “I noticed it was smaller than the average cart,” he says. “I started to look at it like a wheelchair for a child, which added another layer of commentary around homelessness.” Painter-sculptors Jeff Lipschutz and his son, Mike, scanned the Internet for cart ideas. “We deconstructed what a shopping cart is,” Mike explains. “It’s isolated from its true [purpose], which is something to put food in. But people can get arrested and fined for having a shopping cart when all they want to do is keep their lives together.” Ultimately, Frank LA intends for each issue to create provocative images and forms that raise awareness of a societal issue while causing subscribers to view topics in a new way—like they will when they see San Pedro-based interdisciplinary artist Danial Nord’s shopping cart interpretation, which involves LED lights and sound. He turned his shopping cart into a screaming police car. “When I took it out for a test roll, within minutes some cops stopped me,” Nord says. frankcities.com LAC
photography by tomo fotos and bode helm
Frank La is starting a conversation around some oF the city’s biggest issues. First topic oF discussion: homeLessness. By Michael Ventre
TRENDING NOW. 9528 S. SANTA MONICA BLVD., BEVERLY HILLS, CA 90210 . 310 470 9063 . WESTBH.COM
culture the Guide Andy Warhol’s interest in repetition reached new heights of exploration with his epic work Shadows (1978-79). A series of 102 panels featuring photographs of shadows cast in Warhol’s infamous studio, The Factory, the work is dark, glamorous, and deeply immersive, even though it lacks Warhol’s typical pop-culture references. This is the first time Shadows has been exhibited on the West Coast. Through February 15. 250 S. Grand Ave., LA, 213-6211794; moca.org
National History Museum
LArt Attack!
Get a hit of artistic enliGhtenment this winter at the city’s primo museums. By Alexis Johnson le guier A+D Museum “Public Work, Lines of Desire: Peter Shire” is the first exhibition centered on multidisciplinary artist (and Echo Park native) Peter Shire’s architectural commissions. Known for his bold colors, interest in popular culture, and exuberant design aesthetic, the exhibition traces Shire’s most iconic structures, beginning with his work for the 1984 Olympics. November 8–January 31. 6032 Wilshire Blvd., LA, 323-932-9393; aplusd.org
California Science Center Forget your ticket to Italy; the ancient city of Pompeii— famous for its catastrophic volcanic destruction in 79 AD—comes to Downtown LA, replete with all the opulent trappings (garden frescoes, marble statues,
shrines, gladiator armor) of this Roman archeological wonder. Don’t miss the incredible CGI re-creation of the disaster. Through January 4. 700 Exposition Park Dr., LA, 323-724-3623; californiasciencecenter.org
The Getty Center Culled from the Getty Research Institute’s special collections, “World War I: War of Images, Images of War” juxtaposes the reality of battlefield brutality with the visual propaganda of the First World War. November 18–April 19. 1200 Getty Center Dr., LA, 310-440-7300; getty.edu
Hammer Museum New York-based artist Jim Hodges begins with the most unsuspecting of everyday materials—from doodled
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paper napkins to disassembled silk flowers—which he subtly and poignantly uses to explore issues of loss and longing as well as the creation of gay identity post-AIDS. Don’t miss talks with the artist November 12 and 19. Through January 18. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., LA, 310-4437000; hammer.ucla.edu
LACMA Covering more than two decades of French artist Pierre Huyghe’s career, this first major retrospective of his work will transform the Resnick Pavilion into a single, spectacular environment in which visitors become part of the action. Working with a focus on cinema, Huyghe delves into art’s ability to shape reality. November 23–February 22. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., LA, 323-857-6000; lacma.org
A taste of history comes in the form of this gigante exhibit— there are more than 800 works!—featuring contemporary folk art from Mexico, South America, and Portugal. “Grandes Maestros” showcases pieces of exceptional artisanship and works of Ibero-American folk art. November 9–September 13. 900 Exposition Blvd., LA, 213-763-3466; nhm.org
Norton Simon Museum The name of this exhibit— “Lock, Stock and Barrel: Norton Simon’s Purchase of Duveen Brothers Gallery”— sums it up: Millionaire industrialist, philanthropist, and art collector Norton Simon bought the whole lot of the world’s largest and most successful gallery’s inventory, library, and archive, snapping up works by European old masters and staking his (very serious) claim to build a world-class art collection based in Pasadena. Through April 27. 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, 626-449-6840; nortonsimon.org LAC
Shape ShifterS
Don’t miss these provocative gallery shows this month Lizzie Fitch & Ryan Trecartin Go for the “sculptural theater,” stay for the flm. Known for their interest in—and manipulation of—the movie-viewing experience, artists Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin investigate uniquely American architectural elements in a large-scale tentlike structure (think camping mixed with a concert stage) within which is projected a nearly 360-degree flm, shot mostly at the former Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard. The seriously artsy fick blends coming-of-age adventures with Hollywood horror movie tropes all while expanding where movies, video games, and virtual reality meet. Through November 26. Regen Projects, 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., LA, 310-276-5424; regenprojects.com
Robert Rauschenberg Works on Metal In the 1980s and 1990s, acclaimed postwar artist Robert Rauschenberg began experimenting with alternatives for traditional canvas. Using fat sheets of metal, Rauschenberg transformed pieces of industrial scrap into unique artworks. His technique utilized the material’s natural refections while manipulating the aluminum, copper, brass and bronze with the addition of silkscreened photos, paint, and chemical reactions. “Works on Metal” will be the frst major exhibition of the artist’s work on the West Coast since MOCA’s exhibit in 2006. November 1–December 13. Gagosian Gallery, 456 N. Camden Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-271-9400; gagosian.com
photography courtesy of Jim hodges
MOCA
And Still This (Detail), 2005-2008, and (right) Untitled (Gate), 1991, both by Jim Hodges, are part of the artist’s exhibit, “Give More Than You Take,” at the Hammer Museum.
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people View from the Top OCDivine! Waldo Fernandez, photographed here in his Beverly Hills home, has channeled his obsessive attention to detail into creating enviable spaces—an approach that’s found favor with Hollywood’s A+-list.
The AmAzing WAldo
ElizabEth taylor. Wolfgang Puck. Soho houSE. in an ExcluSivE intErviEW marking 40 yEarS in thE biz, dEcorator-to-thE-StarS Waldo Fernandez divulgES thE SEcrEt to hiS oWn durablE famE in thE ficklE World of high-End dESign.
photography by aaron smith
By alexandria aBramian
There isn’t much Hollywood posturing when it comes to visiting Waldo Fernandez’s Beverly Hills home. Yes, there’s the fortresslike security as well as the long driveway that slopes so dramatically that one trip up can easily count as a day’s cardio. But there are no assistants, no publicists, and no hangers-on when Fernandez opens the doors to what is arguably one of the city’s most perfectly curated domestic altars to 20th-century design. Emphasis on perfectly. As Fernandez, 60-something, stands at his home’s massive, high-gloss double doors— the ones that took precisely 17 coats of deep brown lacquer to gain their almost mirrorlike reflective quality—he’s dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, continued on page 76
la-confidential-magazine.com 75
people View from the Top Fernandez’s dining room, with its chandelier by Albert Cheuret and diptych by artist Mustafa Hulusi, reflects its owner’s preference for compelling, yet classically cool interiors. below: The immaculate pool cantilevered above Beverly Hills.
revealing well-worked biceps. But there’s nothing casual about his razorlike focus on this exquisitely appointed, no-shoes-allowed midcentury spread, where high-gloss Wenge wood floors anchor a museumlike collection of blue-chip pieces by Paul Klee, Yves Klein, Diego Giacometti, and the like. “I will admit it, I’m anal about most things,” says Fernandez, relaxing on a gently curved Jean Royère sofa that sits under a billboard-size Richard Misrach photograph as round-the-clock staff works silently in the background. “I’ll go back to clients’ homes just to plump cushions,” he says with a laugh. “I do that because I like everything just so.” Welcome to the world according to Waldo, one where every project, whether it’s for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie or a nameless Albanian billionaire, gets the exacting Fernandez treatment. What may be an OCD-like character defect to some has proven to be a career boon to Fernandez, who, after more than 40 years in the business of creating beautifully designed havens for the world’s most celebrated A-listers, is as exacting—and in demand—as ever.
“Even the smallest detail is so important to him,” says Rick Caruso, founder of the real estate development firm Caruso Affiliated, who has hired Fernandez to work on practically every megaproject of his in the past five years, including apartments in The Americana mall in Glendale and the ultraluxe penthouse unit in his 8500 Burton Way building—which reportedly rents for a cool $30,000 a month. Most recently, Caruso has conscripted Fernandez to oversee a top-to-bottom overhaul of the famed Miramar Hotel in Santa Barbara. “He has an unparalleled vision, and his attention to every last detail is impeccable.” Fernandez’s rise to the top of the decorating food chain came early. Born in Havana to a mechanical engineer father and a mother with a flair for design, Fernandez arrived in Los Angeles when he was just 17. He quickly found work as a set designer on films such as doctor dolittle and hello, dolly! Shortly contInued on page 78
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photography by aaron smith
“I have photos taken of the sIlverware drawers and lInen closets, even the correct order that colored pIllows need to go In. thIs becomes a ‘scrIpt’ for how the house should look.” —waldo fernandez
after, he met Sheldon Andelson, the wealthy political heavyweight and first openly gay UC Regent. Together, the two built a Bel-Air home for themselves, a classic 1980s spread on one of Bel-Air’s most valuable promontories, with architect Jack Warner. The home proved Fernandez’s Midas touch when it came to mansion-making: Megaproducer Michael Bay later purchased it. Early clients like Carole Bayer Sager, the überconnected songwriter, led to even bigger ones, most notably Elizabeth Taylor. “Elizabeth was truly delicious,” he says. “The first time I met her was in the early ’80s. She was in the pool using one of those foil reflectors that you used to see then.” Fernandez went on to not only decorate several homes for the actress, but also to become a close personal friend. “She’s the godmother of my child,” says Fernandez, referring to his son, whom he raised with fellow designer Trip Haenisch during their 26-year relationship. By the late ’80s, having a Waldo-designed home became a marker of Hollywood success. Clients like Goldie Hawn and Sean Connery gave way to a new crop of industry elite, including Tobey Maguire, television mogul and Sex and the City creator Darren Star, Brian Grazer, and, perhaps most famously, Brad Pitt. Today, Fernandez juggles an enviable mix of residential projects along with restaurants, hotels, and private clubs. Currently on the docket: Monique Lhuillier’s Los Angeles house; Jamie McCourt’s massive Napa and Malibu spreads; a home in London; and a Four Seasons in Bahrain for its royal family. Wolfgang Puck, who refers to Fernandez as “the quintessential Los Angeles designer [whose] work is timeless, chic, and always inspiring,” currently has the designer crisscrossing the country as he works on Puck’s The Source restaurant in
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Fernandez’s museumlike digs houses a collection of blue-chip pieces by artists such as Klee, Klein, and Giacometti. At right is a bench by Ingrid Donat. left: A poster by Barbara Kruger, Untitled (The war for me to become you), 2008, hangs behind an untitled 2012 sculpture by Enrico David.
Washington, DC, as well as the 12,000-square-foot Bel-Air villa that the restaurateur shares with his wife, Gelila. “Even though I have a good deal of work right now, I still like to spend a lot of time on each job,” he says. “It’s like a marriage. You need to trust the designer you hire.” And as with most high-profile marriages, Fernandez now has his own version of a decorating prenup: “In my contract, it says I’m entitled to photograph jobs. Before, I didn’t have that.” A small detail for some, but a critical one for Fernandez, who creates painstakingly detailed photographic look-books for each and every project. “I have photos taken of the rooms, of course, but I also include images of things like the silverware drawers and linen closets, even the correct order that colored pillows need to go in. This becomes a ‘script’ for how the house should look, and the staff can work off it to keep everything the way it should be.” Scripted living for throw pillows? For Fernandez, it’s all part of the job. “I hate ugly shit… I love perfection.” LAC
hollywood close-up: Design Don’t:
“I don’t use shag carpet in my projects. But when Elizabeth Taylor said her house had to have white shag carpeting, it went in. We had it cleaned every month for years. It was not my taste, but it was Elizabeth’s.” on BraD Pitt:
“He’s very knowledgeable. I gave Brad a lot of design books when we started working together.
Amazingly, he came back after just a few weeks and had really studied it all and formed his opinions. We started collecting from there.” Dream gig:
“I love intimate spaces and we don’t have enough of them here in LA. I’d love to redo the Chateau [Marmont]. It needs some work—but no matter what they do, it’s always packed!”
photography by aaron smith (poster, fernandez); ron galella, ltd./Wireimage (taylor); michael buckner/Wireimage (pitt)
people View from the Top
PEOPLE Talent Patrol INSIGHT Morning routine:
aniMal house:
“After we drop our kids off at the Hollywood Schoolhouse, we always go for coffee at Caffé Etc. on Selma. It’s right next to a famous recording studio and often has old rock stars standing in line for a breakfast empanada.”
“Griffth Park has a pony ride that my 4-year-old daughter really goes crazy for. They go at breakneck speed without a lead attached, but somehow no one ever seems to fall off.”
French Favorite:
“Papilles Bistro is in a little nondescript strip mall on Franklin by the 101. You’d never guess it from looking at the outside, but authentic French country cuisine gets served inside!”
road trip:
“Em [wife Emily Mortimer] loves camper vans, so we rent those a lot and drive up the coast. That’s our family getaway on any weekend we have free!”
left:
Alessandro the Great
H’wood prince-in-waiting AlessAndro nivolA goes for a king’s ransom of awards-season gold witH A Most Violent YeAr and selMA. By Juliet izon With a piercing gaze and a jawline that could cut glass, Alessandro Nivola looks every bit the Hollywood leading man. The only anomaly is that it took him so long to get there. “I’m kind of a late bloomer, as it turns out,” Nivola, 42, observes with a chuckle. “But these last few years have really felt different than everything that came before.” And for good reason: After a memorable turn as the sleazy prosecutor Anthony Amado in 2013’s American Hustle, this season finds Nivola part of two major awards-season hopefuls: crime drama A Most Violent Year and the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic Selma. But while acting has been a passion of his since the third grade, his path was unexpected considering his roots. “I spent most of my childhood in rural Vermont,” Nivola says. “There wasn’t much there except cows and farmland. It was a little bit of a lonely existence.” And while his grandfather was the celebrated Abstract Expressionist sculptor Costantino Nivola, neither of his parents was in the arts. “My dad, I think, was disgusted by all the knee-jerk liberalism
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that he’d grown up with and ended up becoming a political scientist,” Nivola notes. “The artistic gene on my dad’s side sort of skipped a generation.” Nivola attended Yale as an English major, where, in his sophomore year, he was cast in his first professional production at the Yale Rep. Soon after, he landed representation and began what he calls an “old-fashioned trajectory” to stardom. “I started out interning at summer theaters— sweeping floors and moving scenery—and then doing roles in regional theater,” he says. After his first turn on Broadway in 1995 opposite Helen Mirren in A Month in the Country, he clenched a part in the sci-fi film Face/Off. “Then, just like that, my whole career shifted to LA overnight,” he says. In A Most Violent Year, Nivola tackles one of his most prickly characters to date. He plays Peter Forente, the striving son of a mafioso, desperate to fit in with his country-club peers. The movie, which centers on the corrupt practices of heating oil companies in New York in the ’80s, also stars Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac. “I love it when films focus on a particular world that most people don’t know anything about,” Nivola says. “There was something fascinating about this kind of detail about the heating oil business; what the politics were behind it and where the violence comes from.” And while Selma may tell a story with which many more are familiar, Nivola’s character is one that he is proud to highlight. “I play John Doar, the federal prosecutor. He put his life on the line to move the civil rights movement forward,” he explains. Nivola, who is married to English actress Emily Mortimer, is also quite accomplished on the other side of the lens: He and his wife started the production company King Bee two years ago. Its first project was the HBO series Doll & Em, starring Mortimer, which has been picked up for a second season. As for working along side his partner of 15 years? “Two actors being married should be measured in dog years,” he laughs. “We’ve been married 150-odd years.” LAC
photography by Marc leMoine. styling by casey trudeau. grooMing by KozM. shot on location at crown restaurant. shirt, Rag and Bone ($275). Nordstrom, the Grove, LA, 323-930-2230; Nordstrom.com. tie, BRioni ($230). 459 N. rodeo dr., 310-271-1300; brioNi.com. pocKet square ($140) and belt (price on request), SalvatoRe FeRRagamo. 357 N rodeo dr., 310-273-9990; ferrAGAmo.com. suit, nivola’s own
Cue stardom! Along with his two cinematic turns, Nivola will be returning to the stage this season, starring alongside Bradley Cooper in The Elephant Man on Broadway.
www.1stdibs.com
PEOPLE Native
West HollyWood BaBylon Jewelry designer Loree rod in lays bare the weho gems that have inspired her a-list-approved designs. as told to Jen Jones donatelli
From Madonna to Michelle Obama, Loree Rodkin has attracted no shortage of highpowered clients to her gothic-rock jewelry pieces. (W magazine once referred to her as “the world’s most connected jewelry designer.”) But for Rodkin, life in the A-list lane is nothing new. Long before she followed her passion for precious stones, Rodkin spent many years as a celebrity interior designer and influential talent manager—having helped launch the careers of Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Downey Jr., and Brad Pitt. Though Rodkin has always worked behind the scenes, her reach as a lifestyle entrepreneur now rivals that of a Gwyneth Paltrow. Along with her jewelry, candle, and fragrance lines, Rodkin recently introduced an eyewear collection in partnership with West Hollywood–based Sama Eyewear. In fact, much of the magic happens in WeHo, where many of Rodkin’s pieces are made—and where this arbiter of Tinseltown taste chooses to live.
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On my first visit to Los Angeles, Robert Mitchum and his daughter took me to a restaurant called Scandia, just east of Doheny on Sunset. It was iconic, much like Chasen’s or The Brown Derby—all of those places were so old Hollywood. I was 18, and I thought, This is what glamour is… I want to live here. And that’s exactly what I’ve done over the last 30 years. Though I’ve moved around a lot, all of my homes have been in West Hollywood; it’s so central to everything and has such a sense of neighborhood. Right now, I live on the 28th floor of an iconic high-rise in the hills with amazing views of the ocean and all of Los Angeles. You feel like you’re in nature, but you’re in the heart of the city. Many of the people and places that have impacted me—both personally cOnTInuED On PAGE 84
photography by mark leibowitz (rodkin); Frazer harrison (chateau marmont); rick rodney (madison)
On top of the whirlwind: Jewelry maker/H’wood insider Loree Rodkin surveys her neighborhood of West Hollywood. below, from left: Rodkin finds respite from career chaos at Chateau Marmont; the designer gleans inspiration from the California-cool wares at Madison on West Third.
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PEOPLE Native Rodkin is inspired by the work of artist Robert Standish, who exhibits at Gallery Brown, near La Cienega. below: For her go-to power lunch—a chocolate birthday cake cupcake—Rodkin heads to Georgetown Cupcake on Robertson.
“When I Was 18, I thought, thIs Is What glamour Is…I Want to lIve here.” —loree rodkin
Having lived in West Hollywood for three decades, I’ve seen the social landscape change quite a bit. In the ’80s, no one went west of San Vicente; the Hard Rock Café was the hippest place in the city, which is hard to imagine now. All the young actors frequented it—from Robert Downey Jr. to Rob Lowe to Emilio Estevez. Life was one big party. As things have changed, the Chateau Marmont and Tower Bar have become my nighttime hangouts. Having spent such a long time managing actors, and now working with a large celebrity clientele, many of my friends are famous. These are industry-driven places which aren’t freakish about celebrity, so they know they won’t get hassled. It’s so wonderful to be able to eat outside, and the Chateau has the best truffle french fries I’ve ever eaten. Along with industry types, I’ve always loved how West Hollywood attracts a more unique, less conservative population and really fosters the artistic community. A perfect example is the art on the side of the new west hollywood library, created by Shepard Fairey, Kenny Scharf, and Retna; linear, architectural graffiti is always inspiring. Another local artist I admire is Robert Standish, who does beautiful orb paintings. He displays in a great little gallery called Gallery Brown, near La Cienega. (I joke that I don’t go east of La Cienega, but every once in a while, I make an exception.) All joking aside, I really do feel like I live my life in the same 10-block radius whenever I’m in Los Angeles—from my home to my studio to the restaurants I frequent. As a city chick from Chicago who spends a lot of time in New York, West Hollywood makes me feel like I’m still part of a neighborhood. LAC
Loree’s List: and professionally—are also right here in West Hollywood. Top of the list is Maxfield, which was the very first multibrand, hip fashion store in Los Angeles. [Owner] Tommy Perse has been a fashion maverick for our city; he was the one to bring all of the Japanese and Italian brands to Los Angeles. I’ve always marveled at his amazing eye and ability to curate such a spectacular art collection. Over time, Maxfield’s minimalism, sense of style, and décor have really made an impact on me; the store is built with a drab, gray color that has inspired a lot of my jewelry. Tommy launched my first jewelry collection in 1989; he took a chance on me when I was still a talent manager and [jewelrymaking] was just a hobby. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I am now. Shopping-wise, the places I donate most of my wealth to are all located on Robertson—especially
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Stacey Todd and Madison. I tend to shop at Maxfield for designer clothing, and these two stores are more casual; I really appreciate how well curated they are by their owners. Plus, Georgetown Cupcake is right across the street…what more could I ask for? Its chocolate birthday cake cupcake is the perfect lunch—you don’t have to interrupt your shopping. I’m not a big lunch eater, so cupcakes are always my go-to. My studio is also located on Robertson, and it features minimalist designs by Chahan Minassian, the well-known French interior designer. The walls are eelskin, the windows are floor-to-ceiling glass, and there’s a beautiful balcony overlooking all of Robertson. It’s meant to inspire serenity and quiet. What I do for a living is chaos, so I’m big on designing places with an absence of color. My home also has the same color palette; I call it the “House of Mouse.”
Hooray for West Hollywood! ChaTeau MarMonT (8221 Sunset Blvd., 323-
656-1010; chateaumarmont.com) Gallery Brown (140 S. Orlando Ave., 323651-1956; gallerybrown.com) GeorGeTown CupCake (143 S. Robertson Blvd., 310-271-2171; georgetowncupcake.com) MadiSon (8745 W. Third St., 310-275-1930; madisonlosangeles.com) Maxfield (8825 Melrose Ave., 310-274-8800; maxfeldla.com) STaCey Todd (454 N. Robertson Blvd., 310-
659-8633; staceytoddboutique.com) Tower Bar (8358 Sunset Blvd., 323-848-6677;
sunsettowerhotel.com) weST hollywood liBrary (625 N. San
Vicente Blvd., 310-652-5340; colapublib.org)
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PEOPLE LA Fitness Stars // ABOUT TOWN //
Old School Labs’s Tarek Sidani wants to get LA in shape the old-fashioned way. RIGHT FROM TOP: Leah Hundsness, Lauren Gill, and Libby Amelia of Out Incorporated; Heart & Hustle’s Gregg Miele.
1
FLEX APPEAL
one to watch
CALIFORNIA’S GOLDEN AGE OF BODYBUILDING INSPIRED BIZ WHIZ TARE SIDANI TO CRAFT A RETRO-MIGHTY LINE OF SUPPLEMENTS. BY KATHRYN DRURY WAGNER There was a time when “scrawny weaklings” revered Charles Atlas; when bodybuilders aimed for proportion and balance, rather than becoming superhuman creatures resembling Buffalo chicken wings—orange, bulging, and veiny. Then, “in the ’70s, the sport took a turn,” says Tarek Sidani, the 32-year-old founder and CEO of all-natural supplement company Old School Labs (oldschool labs.com). “Bodybuilding and health became separate.” He wanted to “give people a viable alternative, something that is both potent and pure.” Growing up in Beirut, Sidani’s mentor was an older cousin, who began weight lifting as a way to stay in shape during the 15-year Lebanese civil war. Sidani loved going through his cousin’s training logs and reading about places like Muscle Beach in old fitness magazines. “As the war subsided and American magazines started trickling back in, I saw the difference between the figures I’d idolized and the modern bodybuilders, whose physiques were more exaggerated and over-the-top,” says Sidani, who later became a certified personal trainer in addition to receiving degrees in business and economics. The packaging and formulas of Old School Labs’s products hark back to the golden era of bodybuilding—including Vintage Burn, a capsule designed to shed body fat while preserving muscle, and Vintage Build, a powder mix for increasing strength and aiding muscle recovery. To develop them, Sidani enlisted feedback from Muscle Beach veterans as well as bodybuilding icons like Mario da Silva, a former Mr. Uruguay. Sidani, who sells his supplements via Amazon, says he is working on expanding the line. While his office is in Beverly Hills, his workouts remain… well, old-school: lifting weights in his garage. “But I like to mix things up and take advantage of the fact that there’s a gym on every corner,” he says. “I train on the West Side, the Valley, wherever. There’s no excuse for not finding a gym in LA!”
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CHISELING HOT
Think of someone with an enviable six-pack and Gregg Miele has probably trained him or her—a few of his clients past and present include Gisele, Nick Jonas, and enough pro athletes to fill an NFL roster. And now, civilians too can be put through his grueling paces at Heart & Hustle, the new one-on-one training hub in West Hollywood that Miele founded with trainer Kevin Lilly. In addition to cutting-edge machines that aren’t found in traditional gyms, personalized diet plans—like the ones he coordinated for the world tours of Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige—are also available. heartandhustle.com—EM
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL SCHEFZ (SIDANI); COURTESY OF HEART & HUSTLE (MIELE)
Tone Ranger
Rick Owens and Lanvin might seem like curious inspiration for an activewear line—but Out Incorporated isn’t your average brand of gym gear. The Newport Beach–based fitness fashion label launched this year at the hands of Sephora alumnae Lauren Gill, Leah Hundsness, and Libby Amelia (who also worked at Australian active apparel powerhouse Lorna Jane). Their mission: to create avant-garments from high-performance fabrics that can transition seamlessly from the yoga studio to Soho House. Think laser-cut swimsuits that double as camisoles, tailored black sport jackets with gold zippers, and sweatshirts in slinky metallic fabrics. “We want to hit the gym in items without motivational motifs and limegreen detail,” proclaims the trio, whose line was picked up by Fred Segal for fall. “We want to stand out… and show women it’s okay to be sexy.” outincorporated.com —Erin Magner
FROM THE WRITER AND DIRECTOR OF LOVE & BASKETBALL
RELATIVITY MEDIA pREsEnTs A RELATIVITY MEDIA UnDIspUTED CInEMA HOMEGROWn pICTUREs pRODUCTIOn In AssOCIATIOn WITH BET FILMs A GInA pRInCE-BYTHEWOOD FILM “BEYOnD THE LIGHTs” GUGU MBATHA-RAW CAsTInG nATE pARKER MI n nI E DRI V ER COLsOn “MGK” BAKER AnD DAnnY GLOVER BY AIsHA COLEY MUsIC MUsIC EDITED COsTUME DEsIGnER sAnDRA HERnAnDEZ sUpERVIsOR JULIA MICHELs BY MARK IsHAM BY TERILYn A. sHROpsHIRE, ACE pRODUCTIOn DIRECTOR OF CODEsIGnER CECILIA MOnTIEL pHOTOGRApHY TAMI REIKER, AsC pRODUCERs KEnnETH HALsBAnD MARC AMBROsE ExECUTIVE pRODUCERs TUCKER TOOLEY MATT ALVAREZ ROBBIE BREnnER ROn BURKLE JAsOn COLBECK pRODUCED BY sTEpHAnIE ALLAIn RYAn KAVAnAUGH AMAR’E sTOUDEMIRE REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD WRITTEn AnD DIRECTED BY GInA pRInCE-BYTHEWOOD
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# BeyondTheLights
OPEN YOUR HE A RT FIND YOUR VOICE
IN THEATERS NOVEMBER 14TH
PEOPLE Spirit of Generosity
Viva Los Grammys!
On the eve Of the Latin Grammys, the Latin Grammy CuLturaL fOundatiOn has teamed up with GuCCi tO suppOrt música latina… and buddinG artistas. Latin ameriCa, the beautifuL! By Michael Ventre Sometimes you can watch the Latin Grammys and be seduced by the romance of Marc Anthony, enchanted by the imagination of Draco Rosa, and enthralled by the passion of Gaby Moreno and forget that they weren’t always nombres muy conocidos. Years before, they were unknown dreamers, brimming with talent, but starved for attention and eager for a break. Because there are so many would-be stars like them out there in the enormous worldwide Latin community, the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation was born. Actually, it was the success of the Latin Grammys—which debuted at Staples Center on September 13, 2000, and are celebrating their 15th anniversary on November 20 in Las Vegas—that spawned the foundation. The Latin Grammys focused on heart, soul, music, talent, and love, and in doing so, found itself with a budget surplus. “A couple of years ago we were able to completely balance our budget,” explains Gabriel Abaroa,
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president and CEO of The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the organization behind the Latin Grammys. “Our finance committee said, ‘Guys, remember, we’re a nonprofit. We cannot be making money or creating money for the sake of keeping a fund. I think it’s time to give back to the community.’” That got the pelota rolling. Abaroa and the Academy set out to create an entity that would help support and develop musical talent in countries where Spanish and Portuguese are spoken, a territory comprising 24 nations. But they needed a special individual whose roots were as strong in the music business as they were in the Latin community. So Abaroa called upon Manolo Diaz, a longtime music and record company executive with an extensive background in Europe and Latin America, who, among many other accomplishments, helped Julio Iglesias achieve worldwide crossover appeal in the
late 1970s. Diaz is one of those luminous names in the business who knows everybody. “We didn’t need the technical part to get things going,” Abaroa says. “I said [to Manolo], ‘We need your soul and your mind.’” Diaz agreed to help early on, but insisted he did not want to run the foundation. Now he’s running the foundation. “He said to me, ‘You S.O.B. You knew I would fall in love with this project,’” Abaroa recalls with a laugh. Diaz, who had been in semiretirement at the time, said it was an opportunity that came at the right moment, and it was one he couldn’t resist. “I’ve been in the music business all my life,” he explains. “This put a ribbon on my career, running a foundation that will be helping students with strong financial needs to maximize and optimize their music potential. It’s a dream come true for me.” He adds, “What I’m trying to do now is to establish partnerships with top superstars and artists. The
photography by robyN bECK/aFp/gEtty ImagEs; FErNaNdo saNgama/WIrEImagE (dE la FuENtE); gV Cruz/WIrEImagE For laras (pérEz)
Reigning cat and dog: El Cata and Pitbull perform at the 14th Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas.
objective is to help all those talented kids become the next Placido Domingo, the next Carlos Santana, the next Shakira, or simply become music professionals or music teachers.” The foundation is also getting a high-profile boost from Gucci. “The partnership with The Latin Recording Academy began in 2011 with the launch of a special-edition collection of timepieces and jewelry inspired by the eclectic world of Latin music,” explains Michele Sofisti, CEO of Gucci Timepieces & Jewelry, “and since then has provided for a series of initiatives celebrating Gucci’s commitment to support the music community, to preserve its heritage, and to foster the growth of young talents.” Although the seeds were planted two years ago, the foundation has only been formally up and running since March. But in that relatively short period of time, it has already made a profound difference in the lives of some young artists with several visits to Latin American countries, helping to provide support both financially and with donations of musical instruments to schools. Diaz cited one stop the foundation made, along with the band Calle 13, to a high school of modest means in Puerto Rico. They encountered a spectacularly talented percussionist named Christián
Rodriguez, who was about to end his studies because he couldn’t afford to attend university. “Calle 13 said, ‘Manolo, we have to do something for this kid. He has to study. He has to maximize his potential,’” Diaz recalls. So the foundation encouraged him to apply to Puerto Rico’s Universidad de Interamericana, where he was accepted, and it also helped him financially. “He’s now studying and is extremely happy and extremely ambitious,” Diaz says. The Latin Grammys sound glamorous—and they are. But the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, indicates Abaroa, serves as proof that they’re about a lot more than just sequins and salsa. “Since I joined this organization as a full-time employee 12 years ago,” Abaroa explains, “every time I run into someone, whether they’re friends or someone who knows me superficially, they say, ‘Aren’t you the luckiest guy on earth?’ I say, ‘Why?’ They say, ‘You must be having dinner with Ricky Martin, then having breakfast with Shakira. Then you probably go meet other stars.’ I say, ‘My business is not about that part of the entertainment industry. My job is to find the opportunity to change one person’s life a year.’ If I can do that, my personal mission is fulfilled.” latingrammy.com/en/ latin-grammy-cultural-foundation LAC
“The objecTive is To help all Those TalenTed kids become The nexT placido domingo, The nexT carlos sanTana, The nexT shakira.”
—manolo diaz
Charity register Opportunities to give. LACMA Art+FiLM GALA
What: Artist Barbara Kruger and flmmaker Quentin Tarantino will be the guests of honor at this annual Los Angeles County Museum of Art affair, cochaired by Eva Chow, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Gucci creative director Frida Giannini. Proceeds from the always-glitzy evening will help LACMA continue to provide community-focused programming that bridges the worlds of art and moviemaking. When: Saturday, November 1 Where: LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., LA Website: lacma.org
BABy2BABy GALA
What: Help provide 80,000 children with clothing and basic necessities at the third annual fundraising event for Baby2Baby, where Kate Hudson will be honored for her support of the organization. Other highlights include dinner by a crew of LA’s top chefs (think Jon Shook, Vinny Dotolo, Ludo Lefebvre, and more); a silent auction with prizes including a Retna painting and a VIP Coachella experience; and tunes by Samantha Ronson. When: Saturday, November 8 Where: Book Bindery, 8870 Washington Blvd., Culver City Website: baby2baby.org
CedArs-sinAi run For Her
What: This year marks the 10th annual Run for Her in Los Angeles, a 5K run/walk for ovarian cancer research and awareness—the largest such event in the nation. In honor of this milestone anniversary, organizers are aiming to raise at least $1 million for the Cedars-Sinai Women’s Cancer Program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. When: Sunday, November 9 Where: Pan Pacifc Park, 7600 Beverly Blvd., LA Website: runforher.kintera.org
PALey Center GALA
What: Television has played a key role in the fght for LGBT equality, and the Paley Center for Media will be celebrating the strides that have been made at its annual beneft evening. Cochaired by Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, among other media heavyweights, the evening will also mark the debut of the Paley Center’s newly expanded LGBT media collection. Chilean actor Cristián de la Fuente chats up the audience before the Latin Grammy Acoustic Sessions in Lima, Peru—an invitation-only music series that features intimate performances by top artists. right: Calle 13’s René Pérez greets students during a Latin Grammy in the Schools program in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.
When: Wednesday, November 12 Where: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., LA Website: paleycenter.org
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invited
CULTURE FLASH
The ciTy’s Top TasTemakers savored 30 new arTworks and performances during La><arT’s inauguraL gaLa aT greysTone mansion.
PhotograPhy by Stefanie Keenan/Wireimage
By Kelsey Marrujo
A striking showcase of contemporary art enriched the already gorgeous grounds of Beverly Hills’s historic Greystone Mansion at the first-ever gala celebrating independent nonprofit art space LA><ART. The event drew forth a sea of art aficionados—including Hollywood starlets Zoë Saldana and Busy Phillips—who interacted with works such as Liz Glynn’s Waltz No. 9 (Blindness), an experimental installation wherein guests could dance with costumed actors while blindfolded, and Lisa Williamson’s first public sculpture, Eleven Holes, which utilized LA’s city lights as a live backdrop to the visual display. DJ Michelle Pesce mixed beats for the cultured assemblage as they explored the estate, while partygoers refreshed themselves with beverages by Promise Wine and Bombay Sapphire. Zoë Saldana and Marco Perego
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INVITED Lauren Taschen
Sylvia Chivaratanond Marika Kielland and Filippo Brignone
Irene Neuwirth, Lauri Firstenberg, and Busy Philipps
Sarah Gavlak
Bettina Korek and Scott Sternberg Liane Weintraub, Isaac Joseph, Kelsey Lee Offield, and Jeff Snyder Valerj Pobega
Brooke Kanter
Candace Nelson
Rose McGowan
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Jessie Rabideau and Dash Manly
Ragen Mossâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artwork added a pop of color to the formal English gardens of Greystone Mansion.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEFANIE KEENAN/WIREIMAGE
Catharine and Jeffrey Soros
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INVITED
Jamie Brewer and Cheryl Hines
Now in its 11th year, the cycling benefit challenges participants on an impressive ride from Carmel to San Simeon.
Donna Gunn and Maria Shriver
Anthony K. Shriver and Stacy Powell
BEST BUDDIES CHALLENGE: HEARST CASTLE provide employment opportunities, and develop leadership skills for individuals with IDD. Author/activist Maria Shriver and California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsome served as honorary cochairs of the event, which garnered support from participants such as Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis and Tour de France pro cyclist George Hincapie.
Buddy Ambassadors Brian Hayes (SECOND FROM LEFT) and Stacy Powell were among the afternoonÕs ride participants.
Leetal Platt received $2,000 for her winning Galapagosinspired design.
Nick Verreos
This yearÕs Style Week OC continued the tradition established by the Irvine Spectrum Center in 2008 to showcase the talents of emerging local designers.
Tia Shipman
FIDM students Leetal Platt, Vanessa Puccini, Leonides Garcia, and Luar
CELEBRITY CRUISES CELEBRATES STYLE WEEK OC AS PART OF the seventh annual Style Week Orange County festivities, held at Fashion Island and the Irvine Spectrum Center, luxury cruise line Celebrity Cruises engaged pupils from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) with two design contests. The first challenged FIDM students to create gowns Kerry Doyle
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inspired by the brand’s lavish resortwear, while the second called for the crafting of garments that express Celebrity Cruises’ exotic destinations. The competitions, which culminated in two runway shows, featured Celebrity Cruises’ team manager Marilys Ward as one of the judges on the panel, as well as Project Runway star and celebrity designer Nick Verreos as the host of the latter. Alex Rastovic
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURENCE L. LEVIN (BEST BUDDIES CHALLENGE); THE LARSON GROUP (CELEBRITY CRUISES-STYLE WEEK OC) OPPOSITE PAGE: ALEX BERLINER (STARS UNDER THE STARS)
THE MISSION TO aid those with intellectual and developmental disabilities received a heartening boost when 1,500 people participated in the 11th Annual Best Buddies Challenge: Hearst Castle—a 100-mile bicycling fundraiser for nonprofit Best Buddies International. The ride raised more than $4.5 million for the group, supporting its goals to create lasting friendships,
Donna Gunn, Jamie Brewer, Sunjeet Desai, Carl Lewis, Lauren Potter, and Carter Bach
Hee Seo and Cory Stearns
Scott and Elizabeth Rahn
Tina Braswell and Geoff Swortwood Patricia Palafox and Yenny Gomez
Anita Sen, Keren Koretz and Marie Janolino
Christine Shevchenko
STARS UNDER THE STARS
Missy Barth and Beckham Thomas with Stephanie and Leon Vahn
AMERICAN BALLET THEATER hosted
its yearly benefit, “Stars Under the Stars: An Evening in Los Angeles,” at the ultramod Beverly Hills residence of Jeanne and Anthony Pritzker. On the heels of its 75th anniversary, the world-renowned company treated guests to an exclusive performance of selected dances from its repertoire, including Seven Sonatas, Cinderella, Swan Lake, and Toccare. The soirée also featured an elegant alfresco supper by Lucques for the 200-plus guests, transforming the property’s tennis court into an enchanting dining scene, courtesy of Silver Birches.
Alexandre Hammoudi and Luciana Paris
Karim Kanji and Parmis Khatibi
Barbara Guggenheim and Nadine Schiff
Veronika Part, Jane Kaczmarek, and Frances Whitford
Hayley and Michael Miller
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INVITED
LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL teamed
with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Hennessy V.S for an early screening of Columbia Pictures’ buzzed-about film The Equalizer at the Sony Backstage Theatre Linda in Culver City. Hennessy Thompson V.S treated 100 guests to custom cocktails during the VIP reception, including the “Hennessy McCall a Medic,” in honor of Denzel Washington’s starring role in the fall blockbuster.
Chris Clausey and Candice Alvarado
Joanna Cabrini and Patricia Kara
Andie Riedel and Jenny Fancy
Thuy-Anh J. Nguyen
Benjamin Walker and Nicole Chapman
John Williams
Hennessy refreshed guests with cocktails like the “Old Man in the Sea” and “The Equalizer” before the reels spun.
Julie Andrews
Anjelica Huston and Eloisa Maturen
Shohreh Aghdashloo
LA PHILHARMONIC OPENING NIGHT CONCERT AND GALA
Eric Garcetti and Amy Wakeland
THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC, helmed by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, launched into its 2014–15 season with a gala celebrating unrivaled film composer John Williams at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Focusing exclusively on Williams’s body of work, the concert program featured video installations by projection designer Netia Jones and creative studio Lightmap as well as a cameo from famous violinist Itzhak Perlman, who joined in as the orchestra performed music from Schindler’s List. Attendees included Julie Andrews, Ben Harper, and Cheyenne Jackson, among others. Wendy Burch
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Marietta Sirleaf
LA-CONFIDENTIAL-MAGAZINE.COM
Gustavo Dudamel
PHOTOGRAPHY BYEMMA ROSENBLATT AND NOEL VASQUEZ (THE EQUALIZER SCREENING); MATHEW IMAGING (LA PHILHARMONIC) OPPOSITE PAGE: JASON KING (WESTIME)
Brett King and Paul Provenzano
THE EQUALIZER SCREENING
David Merritt and Rahsaan Mitchell
Jennifer and David Levy
Erik Hoopingarner, Greg Simonian, Nicole Creamer, and Ryan Solomon
Lakhena Keo and Daisy Saenz
Jahon Pilichowski and Fredric Reshew
Alex Gavilla, Kelly Wade, and Ryan Buescher
Lucas Mendicelli and Brittany Grimes
Anna Mitchell and Greg Bailey
WESTIME MALIBU STORE OPENING
Elise Gispan and Brad Johnson
Paige Brennan and Mary Nguyen Mike Poutre
LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL
partnered with Westime to fête the luxury timepiece retailer’s new Malibu flagship. The launch, hosted by Westime President Greg Simonian, offered guests custom Malibu Mule cocktails courtesy of Tallarico Vodka as they browsed the boutique’s fine watches. Fitra Iriani and Katia Llanos
Craig Cochrane and Jack Guy
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taste this Month: Desserts! Bonbon appetit: Colorful candies, courtesy of pastry chef Kriss Harvey, are part of the dessert experience at The Bazaar. from top: White chocolate bonbons with verbena and yuzu milk chocolate; Tahitian vanilla and milk chocolate squares; and raspberry ginger lips, a sultry nod to Andy Warhol.
How Bazaar!
Thanks To visionary pasTry chef kriss harvey and an overThe-Top paTisserie, The Bazaar By josé andrés offers a desserT program ThaT is disTincTly differenT.
photography by jessica sample
by Jen Jones Donatelli
Ask pastry chef Kriss Harvey about his pièce de résistance, and he’s quick to respond: the cannelés de Bordeaux, a French delicacy he recently introduced at The Bazaar at SLS Beverly Hills after spending 15 years painstakingly perfecting its preparation. Traditionally baked in copper and beeswax, the dessert features hard chocolate on the outside and soft custard on the inside, highlighting Bora Borasourced vanilla beans that cost $500 per kilogram. Harvey and his team make 12 cannelés daily around 5 pm; the $12 dish typically sells out within five hours. “We treat it like Ferrari—we make one less than the market demands,” says Harvey. “Ours are authentic and done with respect to the tradition; it took me 15 years of practice to get it correct based on my taste memory from when I was in Paris in 1999.” The cannelés de Bordeaux are just one of many sweets offerings at The Bazaar—with 60-plus selections, the dessert menu rivals the dinner menu. It’s all part of a carefully choreographed dining circuit that concludes in The Bazaar’s dedicated patisserie. “In creating the restaurant, Philippe Starck and I wanted to create an experience that would allow guests to move from space to space as they progressed through dinner,” explains culinary director José Andrés. “I wanted it to be a place where dessert was the beginning and the end or something in between.” A typical evening might start with cocktails and tapas at Bar Centro, followed by a multicourse meal in the Rojo y Blanca dining room, and dessert at The Patisserie. Those with money left to burn can shop in the adjacent Regalo gallery, which displays everything from funky glass sneakers to $100 neon German teddy bears. Tying it all together is the Starck-designed interior, which feels at once surreal, eclectic, and bold. “People say [the restaurant is] like Willy Wonkacontinued on page 100
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TasTe clockwise from left:
Pastry chef Kriss Harvey demonstrates his passion for desserts with end-of-meal inventions that pay homage to iconic artists Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, and Mies van der Rohe; the Magic Mojito, topped with cotton candy from the restaurant’s very own machine; the counter in The Bazaar’s dedicated Patisserie, where gemlike desserts are displayed under glass cloches.
happy endings What dessert course is complete without a glass of something sweet? The Bazaar’s sommelier, albert Letizia, selects his favorite pairings. What to drink With… ChoColate
meets-Alice in Wonderland,” says general manager Mishel LeDoux. “There really isn’t anything like it. You notice something new every time.” If The Bazaar is Wonderland, Harvey is its resident Mad Hatter. Brazenly passionate and at times almost manic in his love of dessert, Harvey and his 17-person staff pride themselves on being extremely hands-on. All of the tablets, chocolates, bonbons, pralines, jams, and candy bars are handmade on-site, and the pastry team also employs tools like a $45,000 chocolate machine and a cotton candy maker to bring their creations to life. Many of the ingredients are sourced locally, such as Harry’s berries, fresh yuzu, and bergamot. “This is the gift of California,” marvels Harvey. “It’s great to be a pastry chef here.” Harvey also derives ideas from unexpected places, calling heavily on art and nature for inspiration. For instance, the raspberry ginger lips are a sultry nod to Andy Warhol, while the cannelés take their cue from artist Willem de Kooning. Harvey is also hard at work on two new desserts: a cake ode to German architect Mies van der Rohe and a candy bar with Mona Lisa eyes. “Chefs are about cooking from repertoire—it’s always ‘verse, chorus, verse’ when writing a song, but then you have someone like Jimi Hendrix come into the picture,” says Harvey, who has studied under three winners of the prestigious French M.O.F. (translated as Best Craftsmen of France) competition. “[Like Hendrix], I’m going to push the envelope and make it completely different.” His offbeat approach provides a fitting complement to the Spanish modernist cuisine served at The Bazaar, which is a longtime favorite of stars including David and Victoria Beckham,
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Berry-Based desserts
“I love ice wine with sweet berry desserts. These wines are most famously from Germany; however, there are some more affordable ice wines from Canada’s Niagara Falls region on the American market. My favorite right now is made from Cabernet—it’s like a glass of strawberry and raspberry jam with maraschino cherry and cinnamon.” the Perfect Pairing: Konzelmann Estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon ice wine CheeseCake
“How about a big, biscuit-y, croissant-y, toasty Champagne? The palate-cleansing bubbles and the bracing acidity will counter the creamy cheesecake goodness.” the Perfect Pairings: Louis Roederer NV Brut; Gosset Grande Reserve Rosé Champagne Caramelized desserts
“I have to go with sherry again here—not a sweet one, but a drier Amontillado. I love the oxidative favors of hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, caramel, and burnt orange rind, coffee, toffee, you name it.” the Perfect Pairings: Toro Albalá Amontillado Viejísimo; Bodegas Hidalgo’s La Gitana
photography by jessica sample
“PeoPle eat with their eyes. when they move over [to the Patisserie], we have their comPlete, caPtive attention.”—kriss harvey
Anne Hathaway, and Tyra Banks. “We describe [our menu] as avant-garde cooking, which is more out of the box,” says chef de cuisine Holly Jivin. “Not many chefs get to play with a blowtorch to make a Philly cheesesteak.” This fall has been an especially exciting time at The Bazaar, with the August debut of its Las Vegas outpost, Bazaar Meat at SLS Las Vegas, and the five-week celebration of its third annual White Truffle Dinner Series. Held inside SAAM (The Bazaar’s 20-person private dining room), the white truffle dinners feature a 16- to 22-course tasting menu designed by Jivin and Harvey, among others on the culinary team, that spotlights Italian imported truffles; the cost is $350 per guest. “I perceive it almost like a mini El Bulli experience,” says LeDoux, referencing the now-defunct elite restaurant in Spain where Andrés got his start. “The dinners cater to someone who appreciates the art of food and the way things look on the plate; the experience is of the same caliber as French Laundry or Per Se.” Whether a rare truffle or a plated dessert like the nitro coconut floating island, the last course is always sure to leave an impression and invoke the senses. “People eat with their eyes,” says Harvey. “When they move over [to the Patisserie], we have their complete, captive attention—and it’s great.” The Bazaar by José Andrés, 465 S. La Cienega Blvd., LA, 310-246-5555; sbe.com/ restaurants/brands/thebazaar LAC
“There are actually not a lot of red wines that can pair with chocolate; that’s a common misconception. However, a sweet PX (Pedro Ximenez) or cream sherry does wonders as a chocolate dessert pairing. You’re dealing with a thick and concentrated glass of raisin, date, and fg favors that will pack enough alcohol to clean up your palate.” the Perfect Pairings: Alvear PX Solera 1927 sherry; Sandeman Royal Ambrosante Aged 20 Years Old Solera Pedro Ximenez sherry
rich is always a good thing layer cake wines...just that and more.
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For sales and distribution information visit vintagepoint.com Š2013 One True Vine, LLC. Facebook: LayerCakeWine LayerCakeWines.com Twitter: LayerCakeWine
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taste the Dish
Pies à la Mod
Is any dessert more American than pie? The splendidly simple pastry came to America along with the earliest pioneers, when it was prized as a utilitarian superfood. However, it was not long before new innovations—like adding butter to the crust to make it flaky and seasoning fillings with all manner of spices and sweeteners—turned this once-basic dish into a decadent dessert. Since then, various American regions have put their own mark on the recipe, from the berry pies of New England to the citrus and peach pies of the South, the cream pies of the dairy-driven Midwest and, of course, that most patriotic pie of all: apple. So is it any wonder that, even in carb-conscious Los Angeles, pie is still a perennial favorite, especially around this time of year? At her Echo Park-based Valerie Confections (1665 Echo Park Ave., LA, 213-250-9365; valerieconfections.com), pastry chef Valerie Gordon is known not only for her fanciful chocolates, but also for the dainty hand pies she crafts. She also
gives a nod to a classic Angeleno dessert with her luscious version of the coconut cream pie that was served in 1929 at Bullock’s Wilshire Tea Room. “The Bullock’s Wilshire coconut cream pie was mentioned repeatedly by people whom I interviewed about historic desserts,” says Gordon, explaining its place on her menu. “It has a lovely, creamy interior with a delicate crust. There is something innocent about the coconut cream pie, an ease to it, like a pretty summer day under palm trees.” Do not let that dreamy comparison fool you, though. When it comes to baking, Gordon is a veritable edibles engineer. “There is something akin to masonry in correctly layering thick slices of fruit inside a pie,” she says. Sweet Lady Jane might look like a modest Melrose bakery from the outside, but owner Jane Lockhart takes her pies seriously (8360 Melrose Ave., LA, 323-653-7145; sweetladyjane.com). Her deep-dish, 10-inch, double-crust apple pie has become something of an LA institution. Fresh apples are given a secret sugar-spice treatment, then layered into a
“ThErE iS SoMEThing innocEnT ABouT ThE coconuT crEAM PiE, An EASE To iT, LikE A PrETTy SuMMEr dAy undEr PALM TrEES.” —valerie gordon
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By Eric rosEn
double-decker behemoth that bubbles up into a veritable Everest of fruity, crusty goodness. Also on Melrose, The Hart and the Hunter gets ample attention for its design-focused décor (7950 Melrose Ave., LA, 323-424-3055; thehartandthehunter.com). But it would be a mistake to let that distract you from the real draw at the Palihotel’s restaurant: pastry chef Sarah Lange’s too-tempting happy endings. The item that quickly became a signature—not just of the dessert menu, but also of the restaurant as a whole—is her Southern-nostalgic lemon icebox pie. A luscious, tangy lemon custard fills the crumbly graham cracker crust—perfectly balancing the sweet and sour elements—all topped with a lighter-than-air whipped meringue crust that is then finished off with the most delicate of blowtorched singes. Similarly, singular desserts offered up at the cheekily named The Pie Hole (714 Traction Ave., LA, 888-657-0586; thepieholela.com), one of the first restaurants to revive Downtown’s now-buzzing Arts District, capitalize upon a wave of comfort-food nostalgia. The inspiration for the restaurant was co-owner Matthew Heffner’s mother, Becky Grasley, who has baked pies her entire life—though, as his wife and partner (along with business partner Sean Brennan), Lindsay Hollister, says, “We want to go beyond ‘diner pie’ and blow people’s expectations of pie out of the water.” Across town, pastry superstar Zoe Nathan has made a name for herself crafting confections both rustic and refined. “Pie is comfort food at its best,” she says. Though your healthier sensibilities might navigate you to the whole-wheat fruit pies on the menu at her buzzy Santa Monica bakery-cum-restaurant, Huckleberry (1014 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, 310-451-2311; huckleberrycafe.com), its signature spicy pumpkin pies are among the most popular in town. “Around Thanksgiving, we keep it simple and comforting,” says Nathan, so you won’t find too many surprises on the menu—think autumnal flavors like apple, pumpkin, and maple-nut. “We also do take-and-bake pies at this time of year,” she says, “because there is nothing better than the smell of an apple pie baking in your own home.” Unless, of course, you’re invited to the master’s own. LAC
photography by jeff crawford
LA chefs give the quintessentiAL Autumn induLgence A modern upgrAde.
Š2012 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. 12-ADV-12221
taste On the town
Six Degrees of Sugar LA’s reigning pAstry queens, Sherry yard And aren hatfield, stir up their shAred history in the kitchen And wAx diAbetic on new their projects And the future of LA’s dessert scene. by jen jones donatelli
clockwise from top: Dessert deities Karen Hatfield (left) and Sherry Yard met over the
pastry oven at Spago in the ’90s; profiteroles topped with chocolate sauce and macarons, courtesy of Bouchon.
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You’ve both come a long way since those early days at Spago! What do each of you consider your signature dessert? Sherry Yard: For me, Kaiserschmarrn. Traditionally, it’s like a pancake—I took that tradition and added crème fraîche and booze. When I first came to Spago, Wolfgang had desserts on the menu that were more true to American [sensibilities]; I was shocked he didn’t have at least a few nods to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I convinced him to let me add that category, and the Kaiserschmarrn kicked off. It’s like that song you have to play over and over again, but it’s okay because you love it so much. Karen Hatfield: It takes a really special dessert to not get sick of it over time. At Sycamore Kitchen, we’re known for the salted caramel pecan babka roll, and another of my favorites is the lemon custard meringue tart at Hatfield’s. What are some of the most luxurious ingredients you’ve used to make an extra-decadent dish? KH: Persian mulberries have a crazy-short season and can be very expensive. Even figs now fall into that category— there’s a big difference between a mediocre and an amazing fig, and the good ones are obscenely expensive these days. SY: I once did a semifreddo with roasted royal apricots—the
photography by melissa valladares
It’s a reunion of sorts— Sherry Yard greets Karen Hatfield with a warm hug as they settle in for an afternoon of reconnecting over bubbly and a sumptuous dessert sampling at Bouchon. (When Thomas Keller’s team of pastry pros— led by executive pastry chef Sébastien Rouxel—offers you profiteroles, a plate of massive macarons, and more, you say “oui,” naturally.) The two go way back to the late ’90s, when Yard first gave Hatfield her start by training her in Spago’s kitchen—where Hatfield also met her now-husband, Quinn, with whom she co-owns Hatfield’s and The Sycamore Kitchen. “You and Quinn were one of my first pastry couples!” exclaims Yard, referring to the many relationships the Spago kitchen has spawned. “From Nancy [Silverton] and Mark [Peel] to Jason and Miho Travi, the lineage goes on and on. Now we have pastry baby showers.” Since those early matchmaking moments, there’s been plenty for the pair to catch up on: Yard left her post as Wolfgang Puck’s right hand at Spago last year to mount the ambitious 13,000-square-foot Helms Bakery project with Father’s Office restaurateur Sang Yoon, and she’s also now the vice president of culinary direction for iPic Theaters. As for Hatfield, she and her husband are preparing to debut a third restaurant, Odys & Penelope, on La Brea in December. Eavesdrop on their conversation as they dish sweetly on all things delish over Bouchon’s French delights.
Confection perfection! Yard and Hatfield toast to their new restaurant ventures. right: Bouchon’s signature cork-shaped chocolate brownie à la mode.
waiter would pour Chateau d’Yquem in a hole in the center. I’m not normally a sweet-wine lover, but there are times where you just have to dress up [your desserts]. Sherry, you turned 50 this year—what type of dessert did you eat to usher in this milestone? Sy: Sang [Yoon] and I went with a bunch of friends to Dumpling House in Gardena, where they have the most amazing dumplings with hot sauce. They surprised me with a cookies-and-cream ice cream cake with chocolate chips around the outside. I warned everyone, “There are a couple of things I don’t share: my husband, my wontons, and my ice cream cake!” From cronuts to cupcakes, Los angeles seems to follow one dessert trend after another. what’s next in your opinion? Sy: We’re about to be inundated with ice cream— it’s taking over the city! Big Gay Ice Cream is coming Downtown, Three Twins Ice Cream from San Francisco is now on Main Street in Santa Monica, and Salt & Straw from Oregon has just opened on Larchmont. Until recently, there weren’t that many places for great ice cream in Los Angeles; now there’s going to be arm wrestling at the farmers market. Speaking of trendsetting, which pastry chefs in town do you consider the forward-thinking tastemakers? Sy: From both a sweet and savory perspective, you have to give a big fat nod to Nancy Silverton—she has a gold finger with everything she tackles.
There are really too many to name; I’d say LA could go pound for pound with any city in the US. To name a few, chefs like Kriss Harvey at The Bazaar, Roxana Jullapat at Cooks County, and Della Gossett at Spago are true to their own voices. They make food they like, and they share it. You can taste the love. Kh: I appreciate innovation. When I’m looking to be inspired for Hatfield’s, I might go to Red Medicine, Spago, or Providence. For the bakery aspect, I turn to Huckleberry, Bouchon, and Amandine Cafe. I’m always out trying new places. what’s the “scoop” on your next project? Kh: My husband and I are getting ready to open our third restaurant, Odys & Penelope—inspired by the Greek myth. Part of our inspiration also came from the fact that there are these old, ornate Greek columns, which were surprising to find in an industrial space. It’s right down the street from Sycamore Kitchen, and it’s slated to open next month. So far, it’s been a lot of fun. Sy: Sang Yoon and I are opening the new Helms Bakery next summer—it’s going to have everything from a giant movie screen to a deli to a mixing mezzanine. I promised Benji, the baker, there will be a disco ball in the center. I’m also now the VP of culinary direction for iPic Theaters. I’m designing all of the kitchens, and the menu has everything from homemade hummus to lobster rolls to bao buns. I joke that people should, “Come for the food, stay for the movie.” LAC
just desserts Hatfield and Yard share their favorite sweet spots. Bouchon (235 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-271-9910; bouchonbistro.com): “There are only a few desserts I’d drive across town for, and the bakery’s kouign-amann is one of them.” —Yard Pizzeria Mozza (641 N. Highland Ave., LA, 323-297-0101; pizzeriamozza.com): “Dahlia [Narvaez] is one of my top three pastry chefs in town— she’s made some of my most memorable desserts, like the lemon gelato pie and butterscotch budino.”—Hatfeld SPago (176 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-3850880; wolfgangpuck.com): “[Executive pastry chef] Della Gossett does simple, elegant, and over-the-top all in one—I don’t know many people who can juggle that. Her favor profles just really sparkle.” —Yard SuPerBa Food & Bread (1900 S. Lincoln Blvd., LA, 310-907-5075; superbafoodand bread.com): “The everything croissant is everything—I could eat one right now.” —Yard The SycaMore KiTchen (143 S. La Brea Ave., LA, 323-939-0151; thesycamorekitchen.com): “As a baker, Karen [Hatfeld] has an exceptionally light hand. If I had to choose just one favorite, I’d pick the salted caramel pecan babka… and the buttercup [pastry]!” –Yard wP24 (900 W. Olympic Blvd., LA, 213-743-8824;
wolfgangpuck.com): “Very intricate, beautiful layered pastries.” –Hatfeld
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TASTE Spotlight // ABOUT TOWN //
FredsÕ James Beard Award-nominated Exec Chef Mark Strausman.
1
must-have
GILTY PLEASURES You don’t have to be
FAR EAST EATS
the Dos Equis man to
Ray’s & Stark Bar is offering a special evening dubbed “Japanese Gastronomy and the Art of the Samurai” on November 11 in partnership with LACMA and ArtBites. The evening includes a private tour of the museum’s exhibition of Japanese armor and a special dinner menu inspired by it. For tickets ($90 for LACMA members and $100 for nonmembers), call 323-857-6010.
enjoy a fine cigar after dinner. To that end, fine cigar purveyor Daniel Marshall created his line of Treasure Chest humidors. Each is crafted over the course
Eat at Freds
of six months and
new in l.a.
involves over 200 individual steps, from
2
sculpting the sensually
BARNEYS NEW YORK IN BEVERLY HILLS GIVES ITS FIFTH-FLOOR DINING SPACE A HOLLYWOOD-WORTHY MAKEOVER.
curved exteriors from rare burl wood to selecting the Spanish
BY ERIC ROSEN
cedar for the optimally stabilized interiors and
The closing of Barney Greengrass earlier this year marked the end of an era, but the power lunch lives on at the new Freds at Barneys New York. Taking over the just-remodeled department store’s iconic fifth-floor space (with those prime Hollywood Hills views), the new restaurant was designed by Steven Harris Architects with a custom-made, LA-inspired installation by artist Rob Pruitt. Like the New York and Chicago locations, this Freds will offer American classics with a farm-to-table twist; James Beard Award-nominated Executive Chef Mark Strausman has also created some hallmark dishes for this location, including the Beverly Hills club sandwich, made with chunks of shrimp, crab, and avocado. Beat that, Cobb salad… 9570 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-777-5877; barneys.com
permanent luster. Stock it with Marshall’s signature 24k Golden Cigars (hand-rolled in sheets of Italian gold leaf in Nicaragua) and pair with a bottle of port for the ultimate gift. danielmarshall.com ABOVE: Daniel Marshall Treasure Chest humidor, ($895).
BELLE DU JOUR
Since it was founded over 200 years ago, Perrier-Jouët has become one of Hollywood’s favorite Champagne houses. Its prestige cuvées, the iconic Belle Epoque line, are some of the wine world’s most sought-after bottles, thanks to complexly
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1,000-coat finish for
LA-CONFIDENTIAL-MAGAZINE.COM
VINO BRAVO!
Culina, the Modern Italian restaurant at Four Seasons LA, has launched a dinner series highlighting a different Italian region monthly. Tuesday through Thursday nights in November, chef Mette Williams will prepare a four-course menu paired with wines from Piedmont, selected by wine director Chris Bradford. Varietals might include crisp Arneis or earthy Barolos, matched with such dishes as duck breast with wild mushroom ravioli and white truffles. For tickets ($85), call 310-860-4000.
Perrier-Jouët taps artist Vik Muniz for its latest Belle Epoque release.
nuanced vintages and stunning artwork. This year Perrier-Jouët is releasing a rare 2005 rosé Belle Epoque featuring bespoke artwork by Brazilian visual artist Vik Muniz. Muniz created the ethereal image of a golden hummingbird encountering the
Belle Epoque bottle’s iconic anemone flower, blending the ideals of nature and enchantment that Perrier-Jouët strives for. The special-edition bottle ($350) comes in a unique presentation case, and quantities are limited. perrier-jouet.com
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAUREN PERLSTEIN (STRAUSMAN); CORDERO STUDIOS (HUMIDOR); DUSTIN DOWNING (RAY’S & STARK)
// spirits//
applying a signature
HELP THE OCEANS CATCH A BREAK WITH CHAMPION BIG WAVE SURFER MAYA GABEIRA
Maya fearlessly conquered the largest wave ever surfed by a woman. Her next challenge? To protect the ocean she calls home. Our oceans are in trouble from threats like overfshing and climate change and they need our help. Join Maya and Oceana and letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help the oceans catch a break.
www.oceana.org/catchabreak
Maya Gabeira surfs the infamous swell at North Shore, Oahu Hawaii
WWW.OCEANA.ORG/CATCHABREAK
The Lone STar
Director. Producer. Writer. Actor. Curmudgeon. Holed up on his 3,000-acre spread in San Saba, Texas, fireball moviemaker/ reluctant legend Tommy Lee Jones talks The Homesman, Harvard, horses… and yes, even Hollywood. By David Hochman Photography by Rainer Hosch
H
e famously hates being interviewed, so why is Tommy Lee Jones talking so animatedly about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? “Oh, it was my first adventure in show business, you see,” he says, and if you didn’t know better, you might actually think Jones was smiling. “I was playing Sneezy in an elementary school pageant in Rotan, Texas. We put the play on in a high school gym. A reporter came all the way from Abilene to report on it. I took the role very seriously.” Sneezy? “Sneezy. It was a big deal for me, and I’ve been devoted to being a good actor ever since.”
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“As a director, I get to be everybody’s boss... and do the things that interest me,” says Tommy Lee Jones, who began directing a decade ago and stars in/directs/produces this month’s period drama The Homesman.
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Say what you will about Jones—and people certainly do. The media loves to brand the 68-year-old Oscar winner as “ornery,” “curt,” “difficult,” and a “curmudgeon.” But maybe he’s just someone who prefers working hard at working hard, and you can’t really fault a guy for that. Think about it. If you grew up in a certain type of unfussy West Texas environment—Jones’s dad was an oil-field roughneck and his mom was a cop for a while—you, too, might find displeasure in the inane sideshow that goes along with a career in Hollywood: the red carpets, the junkets, the TMZishness of it all. Jones acts exactly like the rest of us would if the rest of us just wanted to focus on the goddamned job at hand. His latest job is a juggling act. “Correction,” Jones interrupts, and, okay, so he’s definitely direct. “I don’t look at it as juggling. I see it as filmmaking.” Either way, The Homesman meant tossing a lot of balls in the air. He is the director, a producer, a writer, and a star of the period drama set against the lonesome horizon of the Great Plains, circa 1855. Jones plays a grumbling schemer brought on to help a self-reliant frontierswoman (played by Hilary Swank) transport three mentally unstable women from Nebraska to Iowa. Put it this way: It’s not exactly a spring break road trip. The shoot was no breeze, either. The weather was so nasty in New Mexico, where part of the movie was filmed, that scenery paint froze in cans and the crew had to use protective gear to keep dust from destroying camera lenses in 60 milean-hour winds. “We spent a lot of time shivering in the wooden box we used as a wagon and thinking the weather was like a character itself,” says Grace Gummer, who plays one of the madwomen (Gummer’s mom, Meryl Streep, has a smaller role as a minister’s wife who offers to take the travelers in). “When conditions are that rough, it really tests you and pushes you beyond where you’re comfortable, even as Tommy was telling us, ‘Go, go, go.’” Jones, predictably, was fine with the situation. He thrived on it. “It wasn’t miserable for me,” he says plainly. “I had a great time photographing whatever the world did around us. We’re moviemakers and it’s not always the smoothest terrain, physically or emotionally. But cinema warriors are equipped with the engines and tires to get across it.”
J
ones was always a charge-up-the-mountain sort. Moving around Texas for his father’s work, young Tommy Lee stood out in football in a state where there’s no higher calling. He might have built a blue-collar career ( Jones worked on a garbage truck for a summer), but fortunes turned when he earned a scholarship to St. Mark’s, an elite all-boy’s prep school in Dallas. It’s where Jones started acting for real. His triple-threat status as actor/ athlete/A+ student took him all the way to Harvard. There, as every pop culture buff knows, he roomed with Al Gore and became a star offensive guard on Harvard’s football team. Jones’s standout moment was playing in the infamous Harvard-Yale game of 1968 that ended in a 29-29 tie. On the side, he managed to shine on stage in student productions of Shakespeare, O’Neill, and Pinter. From the outset of his professional career, Jones refused to put up with any bull. “When I was lucky enough to get a meeting with the casting director of Love Story, I walked into her office and before I could say a word, she said, ‘You’re not right for this part,’” Jones says. You can still hear the incredulity in his voice. Jones was going out for the role of Ryan O’Neal’s Harvard roommate, but the casting agent clearly hadn’t read his résumé. “She told me, ‘You might be a football player, but these are special football players. These guys are from the Ivy League.’ And she kicked me out.” Jones wasn’t just any Ivy player. By then he was an All-Ivy, All-East, honorable mention All-American who had done 40 plays at Harvard. He handled the situation in typical Jones fashion. “What you do in an instance like that is you call whomever that person is most afraid of,” he says. “I called a Harvard guy who knew her boss’s boss’s boss, and next thing I knew, I had the role.” By no means was Jones a typical leading man. Even in Love Story, he had crinkles at the eyes and a dark, moody presence that would soon get him
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parts playing psychos, toughs, and cowboys. He won raves as Loretta Lynn’s domineering husband in Coal Miner’s Daughter, and an Oscar nod for Oliver Stone’s JFK as a gay Dallas businessman caught up in the plot to kill Kennedy. His taut performance as the US Marshal who tracks down Harrison Ford in The Fugitive earned Jones an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1994, putting him on Hollywood’s A-list. Jones jokes—at least it sounds like a joke—that he still felt uncertain about his future in a business that sometimes felt foreign to him. “The last day of shooting on The Fugitive, I was in the basement of a hotel shouting out my lines to about 30 laundry bags hanging from the ceiling,”—it’s the backdrop to the famous final scene where Jones’s character catches Ford’s in a hotel laundry—“and I thought, ‘My God, this is so strange. I’m never gonna work again.’” As he approaches 70, Jones is fully committed. It helps that he figured out a way to run the empire from his 3,000-acre cattle and polo estate in San Saba, Texas. To get from the headquarters of his ranch to the nearest airport that can accommodate his private airplane, it takes about 40 minutes “and once I get there,” he says, “I can be in Los Angeles, with my plane parked at Santa Monica Airport, sitting at Ivy at the Shore having soft-shelled crab, in three hours.” Today he’s in the San Antonio offices of his company, Javelina Film Company. Jones is sitting at a desk designed by Donald Judd, set opposite a Josef Albers bookcase. (“I think a minimalist outlook is perfect,” he says. “I appreciate the emotions of geometry.”) Jones has five screenplays in front of him that he’s written or cowritten, and he intends to get every one made. In 2005 he directed his first feature, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a neo-Western that won
high praise from critics and top awards that year at Cannes. Directing flexes new muscles for Jones, and it’s a role that suits him perfectly. As he says, “I get to be everybody’s boss… and do the things that interest me.” That’s how he is behind the scenes, too. At San Saba, he oversees a world-class polo program that breeds, raises, and sells polo Thoroughbreds, and also hosts elite players from around the world. It’s one of two polo facilities Jones owns (the other is in Argentina). Polo as a hobby was something the actor discovered almost by accident in Los Angeles, where he lived for seven years in the 1990s. He was leasing a house at the top of Bel-Air and driving out to Simi Valley to work on his roping skills. One of the horsemen gave Jones a polo mallet, another gave him a ball, and he began tapping it around the roping arena. “Next time I looked up I had a truck, a trailer, and six horses and I was headed to Santa Barbara to play with some of the greats,” he says. He now works closely with Harvard’s polo team, inviting them to both his ranches for weeks-long practice sessions each year. Jones is an active donor at his alma maters, including St. Mark’s School, and he is honorary chairman for the annual Destination Fashion event to raise money for The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, which helps research treatments and cures for spinal cord injuries. “When you meet with success, it’s your responsibility to give back,” he says. Jones doesn’t give away much about his personal life. He is married to his third wife, Dawn Laurel, and has two adult children. He says he’s never seen Facebook or Twitter and doesn’t watch much on TV beyond CNN “for maybe five minutes a day.” Local Texas sports fans know him as a regular at Spurs basketball games, and he’s “quite impressed” by the Houston Texans football team. “I like their quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick,” he says. “Product of the Harvard football program.” With Jones’s replies growing ever more succinct, it’s clear he’s ready to move on. He is working on a thriller called Criminal with Kevin Costner and Gary Oldman and is needing to “get to it,” he says. Asked if he knows he can be intimidating, aloof, and, yes, occasionally ornery, Jones pauses a minute. Is this the moment the interview takes a dire turn? Nope. Jones stays true to being Jones. “I’m sure there are people who concern themselves with such issues,” he says, “but I’m not one of them.” LAC
“WE’RE MOVIEMAKERS AND IT’S NOT ALWAYS THE SMOOTHEST TERRAIN, PHYSICALLY OR EMOTIONALLY. BUT CINEMA WARRIORS ARE EQUIPPED WITH THE ENGINES AND TIRES TO GET ACROSS IT.”
Photography assistance by Jared Clatworthy Grooming by Angelina Mata
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clockwise from above:
Rare gemstone collector Vram Minassian painstakingly catalogs his glittering cache of sapphires, rubies, tourmalines, and more; a selection of rings utilizing stones from Minassian’s collection, including a Burmese peridot (top row, far left) and a green elbaite Paraíba tourmaline (top row, far right); Minassian in his studio; a rainbow of stones, including a 37-carat spessartite garnet, a 25.5-carat Ceylon yellow sapphire, and a 15.5-carat purple gray spinel; in addition to loose gems, Minassian also hunts down vintage jewelry like this 1960s 40-carat smokey quartz ring by Arthur King (bottom, in minassian’s right hand) and a round malachite and diamond ring from the 1970s (center, in display case).
L.A. Obsessed!
Clothes! Jewelry! Cars!... surfboards? In la-la-land, too muCh Is never enough (as long as It’s good). meet four ConnoIsseurs/ColleCtors par excellence who suffer from an obsessIve ColleCtIve afflICtIon of the hIghest dIsorder. By Kathryn Drury Wagner Photography by Mathew Scott
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Vram minassian The Gem DanDy
Gray Gallery owner Vram Minassian presides over a dazzling collection of hundreds of loose precious gemstones. Over the past 25 years, he has procured a tsavorite garnet from Kenya—200 times more rare than an emerald; a five-carat natural Burmese ruby; a magnificent specimen of spinel; and a rare Paraíba tourmaline that somehow looks liquid, vividly capturing the aquamarine waters of the Caribbean. His lifelong obsession with rare and luminous stones eventually led the 50-year-old Minassian to become a jewelry designer. He introduced us to some of his coveted (not-for-sale!) sparklers in his treasure chest of a workshop in West Hollywood. What was your first splurge? I started collecting when I graduated from the Gemological Institute of America at 23. I think my budget was $60, and I bought a single pearl. A lot of times I see a stone and get drawn to it and I figure out a way to temporarily own it, and then I hold onto it for a very long period of time before the art part comes into it and I decide what to do with it. Sometimes a stone stays with me for 10 years. The stones that stay loose, they stay loose for a reason. How do you enjoy your collection? Do you just leave them out? They are usually in individual see-through boxes. I handle them with the fingers. Just as when you are eating something delicious, sometimes you have to let go of the utensils; gemstones are the same thing. You grab it and there’s a connection. Won’t that smudge it? If the stone is cut properly, when you smudge it, you’re just making it look how it’s going to be in its natural state: on the finger of a woman. You want to go after the stones that have optimum brilliance and beauty, that fight the smudge and still scream at you. Can you pick a favorite? The tsavorite garnet from Kenya. And a 25-carat natural purple sapphire. It had originally been in a vintage piece. I didn’t separate it; it was loose when I obtained it. A lot of times, I don’t find the stones. They find me. Humans have always been collectors. Why do you think that is? For gemstone collectors, it’s that you can’t produce more gemstones. Mother Earth produced them millions of years ago and that is it. We’re trying to find whatever is left. All gemstones are miracles of nature: They exist because of cataclysmic occurrences. It’s very poetic to be holding something that occurred in such a powerful way… under such pressure and heat.
“A lot of times, i don’t find the stones. they find me.” la-confidential-magazine.com 113
“WHEN I MEET PEOPLE WHO DON’T COLLECT, I THINK THEY’RE KIND OF WEIRD.”
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Two vintage “sprint” cars in Bobby Green’s Old Crow Speed Shop in Burbank, which exists to ”preserve and promote the art and activity of land speed racing”; the shop’s mascot, originally used to advertise Old Crow whiskey; Green in his private garage, leaning against “Old Crow,” the first car he ever built, and just behind him to the left is the blue ’32 Model A Ford roadster that got Green interested in collecting and racing vintage hot rods; 10 years in the works, “Old Crow” is called a “bellytank” car because it was made from the gas tank of a WWII aircraft; racing attire Green has collected over the years; various car club jackets, including one from the Oilers, the club Green currently belongs to.
BoBBy Green
The Speed AddicT Bobby Green, 42, turned his infatuation with American history into a career. He’s partner and designer at 1933 Group, the visionaries behind highly art-directed, retrofab nightspots like Harlowe, Sassafras, and the Idle Hour. At the Old Crow Speed Shop, his private hobby garage in Burbank, he’s amassed an expertly curated collection of more than a dozen rare vintage Ford cars and trucks as well as a museum’s worth of antique signs and equipment. He started collecting 25 years ago with 1950s “land yachts,” and his cars, despite having roamed the earth for 80-plus years, are in flawless working order. They’re like time machines that propel the driver back to the adolescence of motoring—a time of innovation, derring-do, and racing goggles. Even in car-obsessed LA, Green’s singular collection stands out. What’s behind your preoccupation with all things old school? I’m a huge fan of patina and originality. The cars that are down to the primer, to me, have a million times more character than something that has been repainted. Growing up in the 1980s in the Valley, there were still tons of ’50s cars on the road, Cadillacs and Chevys. They were either restored and pink or not restored at all. What was your first car? A ’57 Chevy. I was a teenager. When it came time for my first car, I knew I wanted to buy an old car. It led me into this world of hot rods and car culture.
I have 14 cars now. And you’re into Fords? Once I’d built my first hot rod, a Model A roadster, it was exhilarating. That’s led to land speed racing. You build something that is made to go as fast as it can go for two miles in a dry lakebed, like the Bonneville Salt Flats. I’m in the Southern California Timing Association, which started in the 1930s, and I’m part of The Race of Gentlemen, a vintage-style drag race, in Wildwood, New Jersey. I’m not a hoarder; I’m a collector, so I get cars… but then I move on and trade up. What’s your favorite? It’s a ’32 Ford. It was the first year for a V8, faster than the Model A’s, and the company made a lot of improvements. It only made [this model] for one year. How much is too much to spend on a car? If you have to put it on a credit card, that’s too much. If you have to drain your bank account and only have $200 left, that’s too much. And you’ve done both? Yeah… [laughs] Yeah. Humans have always been collectors. Why do you think that is? When I meet people who don’t collect, I think they’re kind of weird. ‘You don’t collect anything?’ I think [there’s a] gene for it.
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KATHY DONAHUE BAADEN THE COCO NUT
Kathy Donahue Baaden’s obsession with vintage and contemporary Chanel has led her on a 30-year, worldwide hunt for pristine examples from the fashion house. Her immaculate collection, which takes up an entire room in her home on the Westside, is the stuff of fantasy: scores of pristine handbags, an entire chest of costume jewelry, and timeless tweed jackets, among other finds. Her expertise and connections have led her not just to collect, but also consult and broker Chanel. The 51-year-old is also very involved in LA’s philanthropy circuit, contributing to The Art of Elysium, Children’s Institute, Inc., LACMA’s Costume Council, and several other charitable organizations. What was your early life like? I was adopted—my father was a bluecollar worker for my grandfather’s company. We were on a tight budget, but it was a good life. So how did you get into high fashion? I’ve always been interested in fashion! I wore the bell-bottoms and the crop tops and thought I was so cool. In the early ’80s, my college years, I became interested in Coco Chanel. I’d read about her childhood and story, and admired the perfume and the handbags. When I graduated from USC in 1985, I started working for my dad, and I set aside money from each paycheck. Four years later, in 1989, I’d saved enough to buy my very first piece of Chanel. I went into I. Magnin and bought a classic medium flap bag in quilted lambskin with burgundy lining and gold CCs. I still have that bag. What about Chanel appeals to you? The designs are classic, timeless, and comfortable. I love the contrast between the clothing, which is more subtle and sleek, and the costume jewelry, which is bold and theatrical. I’m inspired by the fact that Chanel’s early life was not easy or beautiful, yet she created an empire that is all about ease, beauty, and confidence.
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I’m passionate about all things Chanel, but my heart really sings when it’s vintage Chanel. I love the fact that the clothes have a story. The things made in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s—those materials simply aren’t available anymore. Your collection takes up a whole room! How do you organize everything? Everything is organized by color, then style. I downsized when we recently moved from Manhattan Beach. I sold or found homes for 40 to 50 pieces and 30 bags. I’d started to get overwhelmed because I didn’t have a place for everything. If the house was on fire, what would you grab? Probably my very first Chanel flap bag. I also have a jumbo XL flap bag in lambskin from the 1980s that is really big and unique. Oh, and a vintage Chanel travel bag. I’d probably grab it and dump in some belts and as much jewelry as I could! Where are your favorite places to score finds? Decades in West Hollywood. Cameron Silver is a dear friend. I’m probably in there once or twice a month to see what he has. And What Comes Around Goes Around, Socialite Auctions, and I’ve found quite a few dealers in Japan. Most recent purchase? A tweed jacket from Decades and a CC brooch from the 1980s. When my daughter turned 21, I got her a black Chanel backpack. Humans have always been collectors. Why do you think that is? We collect for fun, for learning, for personal pleasure. For me, I have an appreciation for each and every piece. Chanel is such an identifiable world. I also love the social interaction that collecting provides, where you can share knowledge with others. It doesn’t even have to be the same genre… it’s about sharing the passion for collecting.
clockwise from top left: Kathy Donahue Baaden’s exquisite collection of Chanel includes this pair of tweed sling-back pumps; a pearl necklace, circa 1980, is displayed next to a CC logo pendant necklace, also from 1980, and a brooch from 1970; Baaden recently downsized her closet full of quilted Chanel handbags, saving only her most important pieces; signature pearl costume jewelry from the ’80s, a pearl-colored handbag from the ’90s, and a 1970s rhinestone and pearl brooch pendant; Baaden mixes vintage and contemporary Chanel pieces to splendid effect; three iconic Chanel tweed jackets from the 1980s.
“I’m InspIred by the fact that chanel’s early lIfe was not easy or beautIful, yet she created an empIre that Is all about beauty and confIdence.” la-confidential-magazine.com 117
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT:
Kristopher Tom carries a 1979 vintage Peter Schroff twin-fin complete with Jack Meyer airbrush artwork; Tom’s boards have been used in exhibitions and fashion shoots: (FROM LEFT) a 1985 Town and Country thruster shaped by Glen Minami, a 1980 twin-fin by Peter Schroff, a circa-1985 thruster by Inner Vision Board, and a quad-fin by Sea Trend Surfboards, circa 1984; Tom keeps two vintage boards in his office—a 1975 Ben Aipa Sting single-fin board (TOP) and a 1976 Local Motion single-fin by Rick Irons; artwork done by Tom’s wife, Stacie Krajchir, for one of his vintage surfboard swaps; Tom is the leading expert on vintage surfboards from the early- to late-1980s—many of which he stores in the rafters of his Mar Vista garage.
“MAYBE [COLLECTING] IS A COMPETITIVE THING BETWEEN MALES, A WAY OF SAYING, ‘I HAVE MORE THAN HE HAS!’” 118 LA-CONFIDENTIAL-MAGAZINE.COM
Kristopher tom
The Chairman of The Boards Kristopher Tom’s California-perfect Mar Vista digs radiates with vibrant colors and the promise of thrilling motion, thanks to the SoCal native’s peerless collection of vintage surfboards. After 20 years of collecting and three decades chasing waves, Tom is the world’s leading expert in boards from the 1970s and 1980s, particularly the early- to mid-1980s, when boards featured airbrushed neon art and logo designs that exemplified the quintessential Cali lifestyle. The curator of Bloomingdale’s “The Epic Eighties” exhibit in Santa Monica, which featured 25 of his vintage boards, Tom is on speed dial with magazines such as Elle and Vogue, which tap his stash of surfboards for fashion spreads. By day, the 44-year-old is a consultant with The Schoolhouse Project, a professional development company. Your first vintage board was a near-mint condition, twin-fin G&S. What jazzed you about it? Back when I started collecting in 1994, no one was interested in 1970s and ’80s boards. Everyone was collecting 1960s long boards. I went into a thrift shop and saw this 5-foot-9-inch board. It appealed to me because it was the kind of board that I rode growing up in Southern California. What does one do with a vintage surfboard?
I love to surf, and the great thing about vintage boards is that you can still ride them. Some vintage boards are totally pristine; if it’s rare and in great condition, you might not take it out, but otherwise... You specialize in boards with airbrushed artwork that represents the ’80s art scene, with neon and skate-punk influences. How many do you currently own? About 50. I’ve had up to 100, but have scaled back; you can see there are a lot of boards everywhere. They are mostly short boards; in Southern California, people tend to use short boards more. People like to collect boards by well-known shapers like Ben Aipa. How much is too much to spend on a surfboard? At a high-end surfboard auction, you might spend $5,000 to $10,000 each. How do you take care of a vintage board? The main thing is to keep it out of the sun, which can damage the finish. Humans have always been collectors. Why do you think that is? Maybe it’s a competitive thing between males, a way of saying, ‘I have more than he has!’ LAC
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BIJOUX ROYALE For her eyes only... a queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ransom in priceless jewels is a very private aFFair. PhotograPhy by bill DioDato
Gold clutch, Bulgari ($2,400). 401 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-858-9216; bulgari.com opposite page: Macrame Arabesque
top ($3,490) and macrame Arabesque skirt ($2,990), Valentino. 360 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-247-0103; valentino.com. White round and pear-shaped diamond and sapphire Bombe earrings (price on request); sapphire and white-diamond cuff (price on request); white pavĂŠ diamond shank and sapphire Bombe ring (price on request); and 20.55-carat cushion-cut yellow-diamond ring (price on request), Graff. Saks Fifth Avenue, 9600 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-205-2400; graffdiamonds.com.
Styling by MinDy SaaD
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Anthracite duchesse dress, Zac Posen ($2,590). Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-550-5900; neiman marcus.com. 18k white-gold, diamond, spinel, moonstone, and Akoya pearl Perle de RosĂŠe necklace ($696,000) and 18k white-gold, onyx, and diamond CamĂŠlia Sculpte ring ($170,000), Chanel. 400 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-278-5055; chanel.com. on tray: Wide diamond bracelet set in platinum, Tiffany & Co. ($140,000). 210 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-273-8880; tiffany.com. 18k white-gold Limelight Garden Party cupcake inspiration ring ($59,000) and 18k white-gold with brilliant-cut diamonds Rose ring ($48,200), Piaget. 323 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 424-332-4280; piaget.com. 18k white-gold and diamond Dentelle de Monogram necklace, Louis Vuitton (price on request). 295 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-859-0457; louisvuitton.com opposite page: Harmony dress,
Stella McCartney ($4,520). Saks Fifth Avenue, 9600 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-205-2400; saks.com. High Jewelry Collection 2.56-carat diamond earrings set in platinum (price on request) and High Jewelry Collection 3.27-carat diamond ring in 18k white gold, Chopard. South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, 714-432-0963; chopard.com. Reine de Naples High Jewelry watch, Breguet ($374,100). 280 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-860-9911; breguet.com
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opposite page: Dress, Emporio Armani ($1,265). 9533 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, 310-271-7790; armani.com. Platinum 55.9-carat Qipao diamond choker (price on request); platinum, diamond, aquamarine, and sapphire Secret Wonder bracelet (price on request); and 18k yellow-gold and platinum tsavorite and diamond cluster earrings (price on request), Harry Winston. South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, 714-371-1910; harrywinston.com
this page: Basilica tsavorite and
ruby earrings, Carla Amorim ($18,700). Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-550-5900; carlaamorim.com. 18k yellow-gold, diamond, and onyx Amulette de Cartier bracelet, Cartier ($82,500). South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, 714-540-8231; cartier.us. 18k white-gold, multicolor sapphire, and pavĂŠ-set white-diamond earrings from the Cascata Collection, Jacob & Co. ($61,400). Westime, 254 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-271-0000; jacobandco.com. 18k yellow- and white-gold cocktail ring with pink sapphire and diamonds, Buccellati ($99,000). 9517 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-276-7022; buccellati.com. 18k white-gold, round and pear-shaped diamond, and custom-oval blue sapphire necklace, Mimi So ($98,000). Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-550-5900; neimanmarcus.com. 18k rose-gold diamond flower earrings, Wendy Yue ($19,560). Neiman Marcus, see above; wendyyue.com. Pink-gold, diamond, morganite, white mother-of-pearl, and sapphire Gourmande Pastel ring, Dior (price on request). 309 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-859-4700; dior.com
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opposite page: Dress, Max Mara
Beauté: Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Fluid Foundation in SF03 ($65), The Sensual Skin Enhancer in SX02 ($48), Celestial Powder ($44), Creamy Glow in Isadore-Neutral Pink ($26), Eyeshadow Duo #205 ($42). Barneys, 9570 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-276-4400; barneys.com; Anastasia Beverly Hills Perfect Brow Pencil in Medium Brown ($23). Sephora, 8500 Beverly Blvd., LA, 310-657-9670; sephora.com; Dolce and Gabbana Classic Cream Lipstick in Nude ($33). Saks Fifth Avenue, 9600 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-275-4211; saksfifthavenue.com; Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Rouge Noir ($27). Chanel, 125 N. Robertson Blvd., LA, 310-278-5505; chanel.com; FarmHouse Fresh Fluffy Bunny Shea Butter Hand Cream ($14). farmhouse freshgoods.com. Moroccanoil Root Boost ($29). moroccanoil.com; Oribe Maximista Thickening Spray ($28). oribe.com. Kérastase Elixir Ultime ($56), Laque Noire Hairspray ($37). kerastase-usa.com
Styling by Mindy Saad at Celestine Agency; Hair by Anja Grassegger using Oribe haircare/House of European Hair at Factory Downtown; Makeup by Robert Greene at Kate Ryan Inc. for Kevyn Aucoin; Manicure by Casandra Lamar using Chanel Le Vernis/FarmHouse Fresh Hand Cream; Prop Styling by Veronique Zanettin at Sarah Laird & Good Company; Model Sabina Smutna at Wilhelmina NY; Shot on location at The Monarch Room; nymonarch.com
($2,090). 451 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-385-9343; maxmara.com. Bals de Legende Collection 18k white- and rose-gold Enchanteur necklace with multicolor spinels, diamonds, and pink sapphires (price on request); Bals de Legende Collection 18k white-gold Pansy earrings with diamonds and multicolor sapphires (price on request); and 18k rose-gold, spinel, pink sapphire, and diamond Oiseaux de Paradis Volutes between-the-finger ring (price on request), Van Cleef & Arpels. 300 N. Rodeo Dr., 310-276-1161; vancleefand arpels.com. 18k white-gold and oval-shaped rubellite tourmaline ring with black and white diamonds, Leviev (price on request). Available by special order, 212-763-5300; leviev.com. Diamond Carpet bracelet set in platinum, Harry Winston (price on request). South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, 714-371-1910; harrywinston.com; Beaded clutch, Elie Saab ($2,400). Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-550-5900; eliesaab.com
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Staycation....
all I ever wanted! Apparently, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no place like home, especially when you live in paradise. From the Palisades to Pasadena, Ojai to the OC, luxury hotels are catering to a new kind of well-heeled tourist: the local Angeleno.
photography Courtesy of terranea resort
by abby tegnelia
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Los AngeLes: Bon Appe-suite! LA’s drool-worthy cuisine sets the table for the yummiest foodie escapes. Eat, Stay, LovE A pair of exclusive new dining experiences makes Montage Beverly Hills an A-1 pick for a delectable weekend getaway.
Montage Beverly Hills has assembled all the perfect ingredients for a savory staycation—from a brand-new room service menu to a seductive dine-around called the Wandering Fork—all in the confines of a beautiful urban oasis. “When you’re here, you don’t realize you’re in the city,” says Pradeep Raman, executive assistant manager of food and beverage. But don’t let the resort’s bucolic setting adjacent to the Beverly Canon Gardens fool you—the Montage’s culinary cred is a match for any other big-city hotel. For one thing, its anchor restaurant is the LA outpost of Scott Conant’s Italian idol, Scarpetta. “The creativity of the chef is second to none,” Raman says. (His favorite dishes there, in addition to Scarpetta’s famous homemade spaghetti, include halibut with yellow corn puree, mushroom polenta, and roasted cauliflower with fresh uni.) Despite all of the heady Mediterranean fare that practically screams “date night,” the Montage’s alimentary offerings aren’t just for couples—the resort’s new Wandering Fork experience (only one reservation is allowed per night, Tuesday through Saturday) holds parties of up to five people. “It exposes guests to the personalities making everything happen,” Raman says. It starts with Champagne and appetizers at Parq Bar with the hotel’s executive chef, Gabriel Ask; it ends with a visit to the dapper £10 whiskey bar for a martini or single malt and a dessert pairing with the pasty chef. The main event is dinner at Scarpetta, at the chef’s table, which overlooks the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. “It’s a true experience,” Raman says, of the eight courses with wine pairings by popular Executive Chef Freddy Vargas, who will come to say hello. Getting off-property is encouraged, too, with hot spots like Spago, Mastro’s, Hakkasan, and Bouchon within walking distance. Dinner in bed is just as enticing, thanks to a new room service menu that was unveiled last month—it includes hand-tossed salads done in-room, and “TV dinner” options for kids, who may handpick items to be served in a fun, multicolored tray. As for afternoon tea? The best in the city is served at Parq, accompanied by a harpist and sometimes a pianist, too. Delectable. 225 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-4994199; montagehotels.com
The Price is Oh-sO-righT LA’s first-ever Hotel Week is the perfect excuse to pack up and, well, pig out!
The Cielo Point pool at the Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes. The hotel, which boasts spectacular views of Catalina, is a seaside foodie’s dream.
The inaugural Hotel Week LA is making it easier than ever to get away from it all and indulge—at half the price, no less. Already a popular event in New York, Hotel Week LA makes its West Coast debut November 29– December 14. Some of LA’s swankiest hotels are giving exclusive rates to lure in locals during the quiet holiday period. “Hotel Week LA’s irresistible rates are a win-win for everyone,” says Nancy J. Friedman, a hospitality PR exec and creator of Hotel Week. “The idea was enthusiastically embraced by so many terrific LA hotels, double [the number in] New York in its initial year.” Sixteen hotels are already on board, many with winning restaurants—including Mr. C Beverly Hills (The Cipriani-led Restaurant at Mr. C), Hollywood Roosevelt (25 Degrees, Public Kitchen & Bar), and The Huntley in Santa Monica (The Penthouse). hotelweekla.com
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to dine for
Get your neighborhood posh nosh at these bastions of local luxe.
For a tasteful staycation in the heart of super-wired WeHo, indulge in a stay at The London West Hollywood— and put yourself in the capable hands of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. He’s put together a 24-hour in-room dining menu that includes his sinful beef Wellington, plus fne wines and microbrews. Or venture down to his Michelin-starred eponymous restaurant for the risotto and lamb loin, flet with bone marrow, and world-famous sticky toffee pudding… followed by a nightcap at the award-winning London Bar, of course. 1020 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-854-1111; thelondonwesthollywood.com
dine-0210 Want your gourmet retreat with a side of Old-Hollywood glamour? Dorchester Collection’s Beverly Hills Hotel is famous for its celeb-packed Polo Lounge, and the daytime extravagance of the romantic Cabana Café, weekend afternoon tea, and Sunday brunch (9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310-276-2251; dorchestercollection. com). For dinner, head to L’Ermitage and check out Livello (9291 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, 310-278-3344; viceroyhotelsandresorts.com). This new Italian restaurant (top Executive Chef Mirko Paderno hails from Milan)
offers romantic patio dining year round, plus a to-die-for menu of pasta and meat classics, including lobster risotto, crab gnocchi, and melt-in-your-mouth homemade meatballs. La bella vita, BH-style!
toast of tHe Coast Nothing piques the appetite like a fresh ocean breeze. Terranea in Rancho Palos Verdes boasts views of Catalina Island and offers an eclectic variety of dining options (100 Terranea Way, Rancho Palos Verdes, 310-265-2800; terranea.com). The Asian fare at Bashi earns rave reviews for favorful garlic noodles, duck salad, and sushi rolls, while Mar’sel is popular for its lobster and Pacifc Ocean views (hint: dine al fresco). Terranea’s neighbor up north, Fairmont Miramar, brings casual luxury to Santa Monica via the madly popular Fig restaurant, which builds its menu around what’s on offer at the Westside’s most famous farmers market (101 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, 310-576777; fairmont.com). Or head farther up the coast for the chill beachy vibe at Malibu Beach Inn (22878 Pacifc Coast Hwy., Malibu, 310-456-6444; malibu beachinn.com). Dine on-property at the stunning oceanfront Carbon Club… and save time to hit up some quirky local spots, like Sip Malibu for wine tasting and Conejo Valley’s Rabbit Hole Café and Public School 805.
San Diego / orange County: Winning WeekenDerS For a sport/spa staycation to offset the holiday hedonism to come, head south to SD and the OC. Naturally. king for a stay A farmstead cheese board is one of the in-room dining options at the Montage Beverly Hills.
The pool at Dorchester Collection’s Beverly Hills Hotel, home of the iconic Polo Lounge. Prime rib from Livello at L’Ermitage.
LA dwellers flock to the Fairmont Miramar for its market-fresh Fig restaurant.
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St. Regis Monarch Beach maximizes its stunning oceanfront landscape with miles of walking trails, outdoor exercise classes—and a dazzling, award-winning, 18-hole championship golf course that will host the Oakley Southern California Open this month.
Tucked away 90 minutes south of LA, the St. Regis Monarch Beach is easy to fall in love with. “When you get down here, you’ll find a laid-back attitude backed up with five-star amenities,” says Monarch Beach Golf Links GM Eric Lohman. “And that is backed up with a really cool, inviting beach town vibe.” Indeed, everything about the Dana Point resort is designed to get guests outside and enjoying the splendid landscape and sweeping ocean
photography Courtesy of fairmont miramar hotel (miramar); the DorChester ColleCtion (Beverly hills hotel); Courtesy of st. regis monarCh BeaCh (golf Course). opposite page: Courtesy of peliCan hill (peliCan hill)
Best of West HollyWood
the south stars
For wellness, A-Z, there’s a SoCal resort for fitness fanatics… and mere mortals alike. The Resort at Pelican Hill is celebrating its fifth anniversary with indulgent golf and spa packages.
Grand del Mar’s offerings appeal to everyone, from golf fanatics to equestrians to surfers.
After hiking, biking, surfing and kayaking, relax at the Grand del Mar’s luxurious spa.
Water sports are second to none at Loews Coronado Bay Resort, where the ocean meets the bay.
At the St. Regis Monarch Beach’s award-winning golf course, every hole has an ocean view.
views—starting with those famous 18 holes. Book your own tee time or watch pros and amateurs battle it out in the Oakley Southern California Open from November 3-5. “We promote walking here,” says Lohman. “Just put your clubs in a pushcart. If you walk, you’ll get a complimentary healthy lunch at Monarch Café and a sleeve of golf balls.” The sweating doesn’t stop there—sign up for beach boot camp along the dramatic bluffs of the Pacific Ocean, yoga, Pilates, or a guided hike. “We’re right next to the beach and have miles and miles of trails and walking paths,” Lohman says. “You’ll really feel ‘away.’” Then there’s the indoor bliss. The heavenly Spa Gaucin boasts treatments for the ultimate in wellness, such as the Coastal Mediterranean Sugar Scrub, Tranquility Bath, and several types of massages. If pampering is calling your name but your partner is itching to golf, ask about the unlimited spa and/or golf packages. But keep an open mind about hitting the greens. “Our resort-type course is fun for all player types,” Lohman says. “It’s not slow or overly tough, yet it’s good enough to host professional golf events. And every hole has an ocean view.” Take us to the links. Please. 1 Monarch Beach Resort North, Dana Point, 949-234-3200; stregismb.com
Best for: AdrenAline Junkies
Best for: top-level service
San Diego’s family-friendly Grand del Mar offers tons of specials to get locals out on its lush (think hillsides sprinkled with trees and chaparrals) golf course or into its spa, including overnight package deals for fall. But that’s not all; the resort overlooks the Los Penasquitos Canyone Reserve, and the coast is fve minutes away, so arrive prepared for kayaking, surf lessons, hiking, sailing, or mountain biking. There’s even an Equestrian Center that offers rides through the preserve and lessons, plus pony rides and day camps for the kids. 5300 Grand Del Mar Ct., San Diego, 866-305-1528; thegranddelmar.com
Newport Beach offers up the stellar hot spot The Resort at Pelican Hill, which is celebrating its ffth birthday with indulgent packages centered around golf and wellness now through November 26. The luxury property’s award-winning spa has day packages to Replenish, Relax, or Invigorate— then play on one of the resort’s three courses (18 holes at nearby Oak Creek, plus 36 holes on Ocean North and South courses). Gear up for professional forecaddies, shoe attendants, and all-around impeccable service and amenities. 22701 S. Pelican Hill Road, Newport Coast, 855-315-8214; pelicanhill.com
Best for: r&r Surf & Sand Resort’s lush-a-licious suites open right onto pristine Laguna Beach for the ultimate in relaxation. Book an ocean-facing couples massage at the intimate resort’s Aquaterra Spa, or a treatment in the Vichy Waterfall Room. The setting lends itself to a meditative staycation, but the hotel’s concierge can arrange all kinds of off-site water sports as well, from surfng and stand-up paddleboarding to sailing and sport fshing. 1555 S. Coast Hwy., Laguna Beach, 855-690-7114; surfandsandresort.com
Best for: sweet seclusion Location, location, location! Loews Coronado Bay Resort sits on a private 15-acre peninsula near San Diego, boasting panoramic water views of both the Pacifc Ocean and Coronado Bay. To lure you out into the sun, there’s access to Silver Strand State Beach, a private marina, and an organic herb garden, plus gondola rides in the bay. The Aveda spa offers every treatment under the sun—plus ftness and art classes. You won’t miss the hoi polloi at all. 4000 Coronado Bay Road, Coronado, 619-424-4000; loewshotels.com
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Need proof that Santa Barbara’s Belmond El Encanto is perfectly primed for romance? George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin chose its sister property in Venice, Italy, for their recent wedding.
Central Coast: love storied Falling in love with the Eden-like Central Coast will put you in the right frame of mind for a temptingly romantic staycation. One enchanted Weekend Belmond El Encanto is the perfect setting for a wedding or a “just because” romantic interlude.
In the time it takes to catch a flight out of LAX during rush hour, you could already be enjoying your first Bellini a deux at Santa Barbara’s historic Belmond El Encanto. So grab your honey and go—Belmond’s brand of romance is hot right now on the heels of George Clooney’s wedding at its Venice locale, Belmond Hotel Cipriani. “Everything is so romantic here,” says Ali V. Kasikci, regional managing director of El Encanto. He isn’t kidding—witness the bungalow with the 80-year-old wishing well (couples are given special coins to make wishes), or the heart-shaped standing candelabra that greets twosomes celebrating a special day with 60 flickering candles. It’s no wonder so many couples get married at the picturesque resort, which consists of only 92 rooms and bungalows set on seven acres of beautifully
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landscaped grounds. Honeymooners, too, go crazy for the resort, and there’s a special “celebration” package for couples toasting an anniversary. It includes a welcome treat, breakfast in bed, and a bottle of El Encanto cuvée. “There are hammocks and swings around,” says Kasikci. “The honeymoon suite has an outdoor shower, and you can sip Champagne on the porch overlooking the Arbor. It’s beautiful.” The Arbor bursts with flowering wisteria to create the cinematic setting for the hotel’s famous “I do’s.” “Girls who are 6 or 7 when they come here say, ‘I want to have my wedding here,’” Kasikci says of the scenic spot with a koi fishpond, hummingbirds, a lily pond, and twin palms. After the ceremony, guests follow a pathway with magnificent Pacific Ocean views towards the ballroom. “We built everything,” Kasikci says of the renovations finished last year, “on the pillar of romance.” The Belmond El Encanto, which opened in 1918, also has history on its side. “There are many stories around the wishing well,” Kasikci says, as well as celebrity sightings such as Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Franklin D.
Chumash Casino Resort is a gambling chip’s throw from the Central Coast’s best vineyards.
Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy, who spent time on the property while Marilyn Monroe was a guest. (Yes). “You can choose to be seen while staying here—or hide—which makes it… very special.” 800 Alvarado Pl., Santa Barbara, 805-845-5800; belmond.com
AffAirs to remember Whatever your relationship status, a sexy Central Coast rendezvous awaits. Just Dating: As quickie getaways continue to grow in popularity, so do the methods of escape. Three powerhouse brands have just partnered up for what may be the most stylish option yet: a custom road trip trailer via AKA, Airstream2GO, and Trina Turk. (Think plush linens, Bulgari bath amenities, and a Nespresso machine.) AKA Beverly Hills residents can now get to know their lover better with AKA Mobile Suite’s five-day road trip package, which comes with plenty of scenic glamping options—including stops at Sunstone Vineyards and Ocean Mesa Campground. A ride this tricked out deserves to hit the road in style, so travelers also get a premium GMC Yukon Denali to pull their luxury Airstream along the romantic California coast. stayaka.com/mobilesuite Honeymooners: Nestled lushly into Santa Barbara’s wine country, the legendary grounds of San Ysidro Ranch await. Breakfast served every morning on your private patio, creekside cottages with Jacuzzis, lovely herb gardens for strolling; this idyllic resort is the quintessential hideaway for getting away from it all. Long a popular destination for couples because of its focus on privacy—JFK and Jackie celebrated their honeymoon here in 1953—all spa treatments are done in your bungalow (most of which have a fireplace and private balcony). There’s also a heated pool and intimate restaurant, The Stonehouse. 900 San Ysidro Lane, Montecito, 805-565-1700; sanysidroranch.com marrieD witH CHilDren:
Just east of Santa Barbara lies quaint, rural Ojai, home to the tranquil Spanish Colonial-style Ojai Valley Inn & Spa. Ditch the kids and kick off your stay with a signature “Pink Moment” cocktail, a nod to the pink that streaks the sky during sunset here, thanks to the position of the mountains. If that doesn’t sufficiently set the stage for romance, head out to the stunning Moroccan-inspired fountains and spa grounds, where a couples “Together” massage will melt away the quotidian tension of home and work. Save plenty of time for relaxing in your room—suites include heavenly fireplaces and soaking tubs. 905 Country Club Road, Ojai, 855-697-8780; ojairesort.com LAC
luck be a lady Forget Cabo. For a heady mix of spa, nightlife, dining, and gambling, hit up these Cal-fab casinos for a first-class girls’ trip. tHe CHarDonnay CirCuit It’s not much of a gamble to choose Chumash Casino Resort as the location for a girls-only trip—in addition to all the amenities that a world-class casino has to offer, it’s also situated near Santa Barbara’s prized wineries. So by day, visit the gorgeous grounds of Bridlewood Estate Winery, Gainey Vineyard, and Roblar Winery; then, chill out at Chumash’s spa (try the “Wine Therapy” menu of massages and skin treatments that use Chardonnay, grape seed, and grapefruit). Come nightfall, hit up locals’ favorite Root 246 in Solvang for dinner and drinks, or the casino’s The Willows restaurant for old-school steak or seafood—just steps away from 2,000 slot machines, dozens of table games, bingo, and poker. 3400 California 246, Santa Ynez, 805-6860855; chumashcasino.com
sHop to it The best part of a gambling getaway? Spending your spoils. About 90 minutes straight east of LA, Morongo Casino Resort Spa’s proximity to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets makes it a stellar spot for a weekend of high roller slots and shopping. But don’t stay out too late—a private casita near the pool will be calling your name the
next morning (49500 Seminole Dr., Cabazon, 951-849-3080; morongo casinoresort.com). If you want to break in your new dancing shoes, San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino boasts The Pines steakhouse (with DJ!), where Sergio D. Fernandez will be performing live salsa music November 6. 777 San Manuel Blvd., Highland, 800-3592464; sanmanuel.com
sD’s Best Bets Barona Resort & Casino is a fabulous gateway to a gals’ getaway in San Diego. Its Barona Steakhouse won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in 2013 for its stellar variety of vino; plus there’s a spa, golf, and more than 2,000 slots and 80 tables (1932 Wildcat Canyon Road, Lakeside, 619-443-2300; barona.com). Also in San Diego, tuck into a lobster brunch at Valley View Casino & Hotel before taking in the stunning Palomar Mountain view at the infnity pool (16300 Nyemii Pass Road, Valley Center, 760-291-5500; valleyviewcasino.com). And at Pala Casino Spa & Resort, grab your best girlfriend and book the full-day “Bliss Escape,” which includes a pair of hot stone massages, two facials, and a poolside cabana for the day (11154 Highway 76, Pala, 877-725-2766; palacasino.com).
The ultra-plush AKA Mobile Suite is the chicest way to road-trip up the California coast. la-confidential-magazine.com 133
S P E C I A L T R AV E L P R O M O T I O N
STAYCATIONS BEVERLY WILSHIRE, A FOUR SEASONS HOTEL In captivating Beverly Hills with Rodeo Drive boutiques glittering at the doorstep, Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel is a legendary landmark that buzzes with vitality. Enjoy exceptional culinary experiences this festive season at THE Blvd or CUT by Wolfgang Puck, afer a day of holiday shopping on Rodeo Drive. 9500 Wilshire Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 90212 310.275.5200 fourseasons.com/beverlywilshire
COLONY PALMS HOTEL
HOTEL MILO
Re-opening in 2007 afer an extensive renovation designed in collaboration with Los Angeles based Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, Colony Palms Hotel & Te Purple Palm Restaurant have regained their nobility as a stunning four-star boutique hotel & restaurant spread out over three acres of property that includes 42 rooms, 5 suites, and 8 casitas.
Te newly renovated 122-room Hotel Milo, formerly Hotel Oceana, a part of the Independent Collection, evokes a true beachside boutique experience. Te new name honors the history of its location, serving as a nod to the elements of Santa Barbara that make it such a coveted travel destination.
572 N Indian Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92262 760.969.1800, colonypalmshotel.com
202 W Cabrillo Blvd, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 805.965.4577, hotelmilosantabarbara.com
THE GRAND DEL MAR
AKA BEVERLY HILLS
TripAdvisor’s No. 1 Hotel in the United States beckons with endless warmth, Tom Fazio golf, blissful spa treatments, delicious seasonal cuisine and sun-kissed activities in San Diego. Unforgettable moments await at Te Grand Del Mar, California’s triple Five-Star resort. Fall, winter and holiday packages now available.
AKA balances the style and hospitality of an intimate hotel with the space and comfort of a fully appointed luxury condominium. Designed for long stay comfort and value, AKA ofers signature amenities such as a private terrace, en-suite dining by Spago, and a state-of-the-art screening room. All suites include fully accessorized kitchens, contemporary furnishings, and meticulous housekeeping.
5300 Grand Del Mar Ct, San Diego, CA 92130 844.399.9366, thegranddelmar.com
155 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills,CA 90210 310.385.1924, stayaka.com
This Holiday Season, Explore Culinary Offerings at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel
TAKE IN THE BEVERLY HILLS SEE-AND-BE-SEEN ATMOSPHERE
Call 310.385.3901 for reservations or visit theblvdrestaurant.com for a complete list of holiday menus
CUT by Wolfgang Puck CONTEMPORARY STEAK RESTAURANT CLASSIC WOLFGANG
For reservations or to inquire about holiday offerings, call 310.276.8500
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haute property Beverly hills Baroque and mirrors: A Spanish Revival-style Roxbury Drive estate, built in 1926 and listed for $23.5 million, is a rare remaining example of historic Beverly Hills real estate.
PhotograPhy by Unlimited Style real eState PhotograPhy
The hills Are Alive…
…with the sound of change as Beverly hills looks Back on a star-studded century. how will the world’s most famous residential Brand reinvent itself for the next 100? By Kathy a. McDonalD It’s hard to believe that Beverly Hills was once a rancho of lima bean fields and chaparral-covered grazing lands, where land cost just $400 per acre. Later master-planned as a city beautiful by architects Myron Hunt and Wilbur David Cook—the broad, tree-lined, curving streets and greenbelts are the most visible reminder of their design—it’s clear that LA’s most recognizable neighborhood has come a long way in its first 100 years. But that fame has come with a price, as the enclave’s classic homes currently face redevelopment pressures (and even extinction),
a direct result of the city’s exclusivity, soaring property values, and manicured environs. Today’s hankering for massive contemporary mansions conflicts mightily with Beverly Hills’ charming mix of architecture from earlier eras. The city’s older stock of Spanish-style, Art Deco, Midcentury Modern, and Hollywood Regency showplaces—many by master architects—are often deemed out of date and undesirable by buyers who crave tech-ready continued on page 138
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A 1926-built Italian villa is considered one of the last stalwart survivors of Beverly Hills’ golden age of real estate—when architecturally significant mansions were de rigeur. $24.995 million buys 1.24 acres of land, an Art Deco interior with light fixtures from a 16th-century Venetian castle, and a mosaic tile-lined pool and spa.
“There’s a beauTy To The ciTy, and if we’re noT careful abouT The way we sTeward These resources, we won’T have Them.”—maralee beck houses, open floor plans, and sizeable kitchens and baths. Although a new historic preservation ordinance is intended to stem the demolition of culturally significant and historic homes and preserve landmarked exteriors, many of the city’s most famed estates, like its grande dames, have already gone under the knife and are no longer recognizable. “We lost many great homes,” admits Rodeo Realty’s Josh Flagg (joshflagg.com). He believes the city’s new preservation ordinance is a good thing, but “it came a little too late. It would have been
The grand, vaulted foyer of this $23.5 million Roxbury Drive estate leads into an equally grand living room with beamed ceilings, a limestone fireplace, and five sets of French doors that overlook an expansive courtyard.
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better 15 or 20 years ago.” Notable losses include the preeminent estate Pickfair, famously built in 1919 by charter residents Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, razed and replaced in 1981; the Shusett House designed by John Lautner, which was leveled in 2010 despite preservationists’ lastditch efforts; and more recently, lyricist and composer Ira Gershwin’s North Roxbury Drive home—notable for its Hollywood Regency style and its central role in the city’s midcentury social life—was bulldozed into rubble. “Everyone wishes they’d done it sooner,” agrees Hilton & Hyland’s Jeff Hyland (hiltonhyland.com) of the preservation ordinance, which was put into place almost three years ago. Before it took effect, “It was easier to tear down a building than to get a dog license,” says Maralee Beck, chairperson of the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission. And she’s not joking. Previously, demolition could begin within days, with no reverence for the architect, the home’s past history, or its cultural significance. An imminent threat to a prized Richard Neutra–designed manse above Sunset Boulevard instigated the ordinance’s passing. “There’s a beauty to the city, and if we’re not careful about the way we steward these resources, we won’t have them,” she asserts. Beverly Hills’ most prized historic aspects are its remaining grand estates, many hidden from view behind high hedges and gates and accessed by long drives. “Richard Branson has been quoted as saying, ‘privacy is the most sought-after commodity,’”
notes Coldwell Banker’s Joyce Rey (joycerey.com). “Anyone with a degree of privacy due to their real estate is in a good place.” Rey recently represented a $25.5 million Paul Williams compound with celeb provenance—built for Bert Lahr, The wizard of oz’s Cowardly Lion, it has also been home to such notables as Paul McCartney and Melanie Griffith. Ralph Lauren redid the interiors in a Hampton-esque style, although some original details, such as a mahoganypaneled bowling alley, remain. Hyland and Jade Mills, Coldwell Banker Previews International estate director, Beverly Hills (jademillsestates.com), share a similar historic listing for a Roxbury Drive Spanish Revival–style estate (listed for $23.5 million) built in 1926—one that now has all the contemporary must-haves, including a digital media room to complement its vintage exterior and oldworld finishes (stenciled and beamed ceilings, carved limestone fireplaces). “No matter where you travel in the world, people know about Beverly Hills,” says Mills. She bought her first house in the early 1970s, when properties in the flats were selling for between $150,000 and $250,000 (the national median home price was approximately $32,500). A Chamber of Commerce member, Mills believes, “It’s really important for the city to keep the feeling of the old Beverly Hills.” She recently represented a classic 1926-built Italian villa (listed at $24.995 million) that epitomizes the city’s golden era. Set on lush gated grounds, the myriad interior details include hand-cut wood floors, an Art Deco tearoom, and a solarium reminiscent of one in the Doheny mansion. Without a doubt, the city has an international reputation as a safe real estate haven (for both commercial and residential properties), one that is financially secure as well, a comparative bargain when compared to other global cities. Hyland predicts that despite ongoing preservation issues, not only will the next 100 years see a residential real estate price upswing, but there will be even more efforts to add square footage to lots by excavating underground. “In Beverly Hills, $40 million is the new $20 million,” says Flagg, who points to 14 sales over $10 million in the first half of 2014. “Markets are cyclical, but go back to 1920, 1940, 1980—the value of Beverly Hills real estate is continually going to increase.” To paraphrase a quip from Beverly Hills’ first mayor, Will Rogers, “Real estate—there is only so much of it and no more, and they aren’t making any more.” Although some vertical developments are in the planning stages (notably a Richard Meier – designed condominium complex on the former Robinsons-May lot), the city’s residential real estate growth is finite. “It’s like beachfront… get your hands on it while it’s somewhat affordable,” advises Flagg. Hyland concurs: “Beverly Hills is the bargain capital of the world for luxury real estate.” LAC
photography by Unlimited Style real eState photography (roxbUry drive)
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Talk about sticker shock: Reflecting market reality, sellers’ egos, and perhaps a soupçon of hype, the asking price for LA’s priciest digs (a fluid list to be sure) now peaks at $150 million. Several megamansions now under construction (in the realm of 60,000-70,000 square feet) will likely exceed that number when (and if) they come to market. To term them “homes” is somewhat imprecise, as they are assuredly in the scope of midsize boutique hotels. These compoundlike properties have too-numerous-to-list features, from a dozen or more bedrooms and baths, to pools, spas, massage rooms, in-house salons, wine cellars, room-size closets, and space for a flotilla of vehicles. Finishes are exquisitely expensive throughout. Natch. Two Holmby Hills trophy properties are for sale via off-market “pocket” listings for $150 million: the supersize Manor (56,000 square feet, with parking for 100 cars), now owned by heiress Petra Ecclestone Stunt, built by Candy and Aaron Spelling; and the 10-acre/three-lot Owlwood, which comes with some serious Hollywood provenance (Sonny and Cher were former owners; Marilyn Monroe was a house guest). This stratospheric price point is not without precedent: Another Holmby Hills manse, the limestonefaced, 35,000-square-foot faux château Fleur de Lys (12 bedrooms, 15 baths on 4.6 acres) sold in March for $88.3 million after more than six years on the market. Also in 2014, The Agency’s Mauricio Umansky and Jay Harris, along with Coldwell Banker Preview International’s Ron de Salvo, represented the sale of Carolwood, Walt Disney’s former estate, which was thoroughly remade and expanded in
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2001. The selling price: a cool $74 million for the 35,000-square-foot megamansion on four acres. Of course, the city’s priciest residences are rarely found on the MLS. At the upper echelon of home sales, listings filter out through “a word-of-mouth network,” steeped in confidentiality, says Joyce Rey, Coldwell Banker Beverly Hills (joycerey.com). Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland (hiltonandhyland.com) has the historic six-acre Beverly House “quietly listed” for $135 million; the sale would include two adjacent parcels. “There are only a handful of people who can afford it and appreciate it,” says Hyland of the richly detailed Spanish and Italian Revival–style estate, once the home of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst and his paramour, Marion Davies. “Only when it’s someone who is ready, willing, and able—and who’s been vetted—do we do a showing,” explains Hyland. Forget open houses—a verified significant net worth is required just to walk in the door. “The reality is, the number of buyers is limited; it’s a very small world up there,” says The Agency’s Mauricio Umansky (theagency.com). It all comes down to who’s looking at the moment and the competition; length of time on the market does not reflect the quality of the house, rather the slim number of qualified buyers, Umansky adds. (The Agency has a $55 million, 2010-built, Mediterranean-style, 25,000-squarefoot mansion close to The Beverly Hills Hotel as an off-MLS listing.) Those rarified buyers have well-defined demands. “People want scale and the latest and greatest,” says Branden Williams (thewilliams estates.com). Modern and efficient, as
from top:
The historic six-acre Spanish and Italian Revival-style Beverly House, once the home of William Randolph Hearst, is “quietly listed” for $135 million; an $85 million spec house in Trousdale Estates boasts an underground car showroom with lift and tuntable; the $54 million La Villa Contenta, spread over four bluff-top lots in Malibu, is best seen from the air.
opposed to “old and banged up” is preferred, contends Williams, who is representing an $85 million, couture-furnished spec house by developer Bruce Makowsky. The 23,000-square-foot home is located at the summit of Trousdale Estates in Beverly Hills. Each room is framed to take in the jetliner vistas. Due to a view ordinance, there’s an almost equal amount of square footage below grade—where there are 14-foot-high ceilings, a screening room, and a car showroom with a lift and turntable. To appreciate the magnitude of these
estates, real estate agents go beyond Google Earth and drone flyovers to showcase them. Along with Aaron Kirman and Maya Hazen Manshel of Aaroe Estates (aaroe.com), Coldwell Banker’s Chris Cortazzo (chris cortazzo.com), is repping the $54 million La Villa Contenta (captured in HBO’s True Blood) on four bluff-top lots in Malibu. “It has a resortlike vibe in a stunning setting,” says Cortazzo, who has taken clients by helicopter tour to achieve the proper perspective—confirming LA’s top-of-market properties are truly out of this world. LAC
photography by nick springett (beverly house); simon berlyn (trousdale property); jeff ong/postrain productions (la villa contenta)
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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION: THE LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL GIFT GUIDE
LUXE GIVING Los Angeles Confidential’s Annual Gift Guide is a collection of items that are perennially in season, finely curated by Los Angeles’ most esteemed experts.
1
3 2
5
4 6 1. CANALI
2. 23RD STREET JEWELERS
3. MALIBU CLOTHES
When picking key pieces for a cold weather wardrobe, go for a combination of style and versatility. Canali proposes a dark blue zip-up sweater in pure cashmere with fur on the inside, geometric knit on the front, and ribbed cuffs and bottom.
Another gorgeous ring from their “Perfect Pairing” collection shown in 18 karat yellow gold. Composed of two rose cut grey Diamonds bordered by white diamonds with a touch of edgy!
Marcoliani Milano produces luxury socks, focusing on sophistication and style. This holiday season, come in to Malibu Clothes and pick up an assortment of fashionable and fun Italian made socks for that special someone. 3 for $50.
Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach 310.828.0833 23rdstreetjewelers.com
261 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 310.270.4200, canali.com
259 S Beverly Dr, Beverly Hills CA, 90212 310.278.0040 malibuclothesbh.com
4. 23RD STREET JEWELERS
5. AYDA&CO
6. AMDEN JEWELRY
The sensational custom made ring featuring a rare Old European Cut Oval Diamond weighing over 5.00 carats and seated amongst matching dazzling diamonds in Platinum!
AYDA&CO is a luxury handbag line Made in LA. Their crocodile black chain bag will add a luxe appeal to any outfit. A piece that can be worn as a BeltBag, Crossbody, or a clutch. Handsfree & Effortlessly Chic. $695
Make this Holiday Season special with a custom band by Amden Jewelry’s award winning glamour collection. This gorgeous band has a total of 2.5 carats of brilliant diamonds, available in 14K, 18k, and Platinum.
aydaandco.com facebook.com/aydaandco
amdeninc.com 213.327.0863
Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach 310.828.0833 23rdstreetjewelers.com
abode & beyond Ultra-Luxe!
Mass appeal
A sexy new high-tech showroom brings A refined euro-luxe sensibility to lA.
photography courtesy of bottega veneta
“I love that in Europe, buildings actually have presence,” says Mary Ta, cofounder of Mass Beverly, a new interior design shop opening just steps down the street from Minotti, the luxury Italian showroom she’s owned since 2004. To make Mass’s façade rival those found in Florence and Venice, Ta, along with husband/architect Lars Oliver Hypko, gave the building 23-foot-high windows and a crystallized stucco finish. But this exterior alchemy was only the beginning. After completing several design projects in Los Angeles, the duo noticed that while clients purchased the very best furniture and art for their homes, the finishes—kitchens, bathrooms, wardrobes, and lighting— were often inconsistent in quality. “We’re of the belief that the box, meaning the house, should match the level of quality of the furniture,” says Ta. “Our theme is to create a 360-degree interior design resource that adds impeccable customer service.” Offering a mix of niche Italian brands and ultraluxurious architectural furnishings, Mass caters to both high-end homeowners and
By Allyson Rees
members of the trade. The 6,300-square-foot space is separated into four sections. “Night” features exclusive furniture from Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta—the first time the brand’s furnishings have been sold outside its own stores—along with luscious Loro Piana cashmere textiles. “Day” is filled with tech-centric kitchens from Ernestomeda and organic-inspired furniture from Henge. Dubbed “the brain” by Ta, the center area is partitioned off by L’Invisibile glass doors and provides a collaborative workstation for sales specialists. A rear studio offers the latest in retail tech—a projector to show full-scale renderings, a conference room stocked with AutoCAD-capable computers, a fully functioning kitchen for events, and a hidden library of fabric swatches, tile samples, and fixtures. The showroom also caters to the influx of wealthy foreigners to LA, shifting the design vocabulary from California casual to highend international. “They’re used to staying in the best hotels; they live in modern homes,” explains Ta of her international clientele, “and they want the same level of quality here in LA.” 9000 Beverly Blvd., LA, 310-271-2172; massbeverly.com LAC
La dolce vita: Mass is the first and only retail partner for Bottega Veneta’s covetable line of home furnishings.
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abode & beyond The Guide
Matteo
Avant-garde: Home/ design shop Garde on Beverly stocks low-key, forwardthinking luxury items from hard-to-find designers.
From its Downtown LA headquarters, Matteo creates perfectly imperfect textiles. Its bed sheets, bath towels, table linens, and apparel are made out of the world’s best fabrics dyed in subtle, organic colors with names like greige, earth, and coal. 912 E. Third St., LA, 213-617-2813; matteo home.com
Quillian
Understatement Pieces
ConspiCuous luxury is out; this season’s riChest spaCes are subtly sumptuous. By Allyson Rees DAO Design Around Objects, or DAO as loyal customers call it, focuses on contemporary Italian furniture from high-end brands, including Ciat, Gervasoni, Tisettanta, and Corinto. Made mostly of natural materials like wood, stone, glass, ceramics, and metals, DAO’s furniture collection has an organic, artisanal aesthetic. 8767 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-289-8717; daohome.com
Frette For shoppers who want to model their beds after those found in five-star hotels, Frette is second to none. Since 1860, the Frenchturned-Italian brand has been outfitting the world’s most luxurious residences— including all of the European royal families’ homes— with plush, elegantly unembellished bedding,
towels, and robes. 445 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-273-8540; frette.com
Garde After ditching a career in fashion in New York City, native Angeleno Scott Sitz opened Garde, a home and design store that stocks designers hard to find in the US. From minimal Bernard Schottlander lamps to Michaël Verheyden marble trays and Tom Dixon candles, Garde’s curated product mix has a muted, unisex feel. 7418 Beverly Blvd., LA, 323-424-4667; gardeshop.com
Heath Ceramics Found in some of the world’s most critically acclaimed restaurants, including Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse, Heath is a California “institution” for spartan dinnerware,
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vases, and other ceramics. Founded by Edith Heath in Sausalito in 1948, the brand has seen renewed popularity in recent years, thanks to new owners Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey and product collaborations with artists Adam Silverman and Natalie Chanin. 7525 Beverly Blvd., LA, 323-965-0800; heath ceramics.com
JF Chen Described as “heaven on earth” for design enthusiasts, collectors, and anyone who wants to lose themselves in a sea of beautiful objects, obscure art, and inspiring furniture pieces, JF Chen is an epicenter of classic early-modern design. Showcasing the greats, including Charles and Ray Eames, Hans Wegner, Ettore Sottsass, and Donald Judd, owner Joel Chen’s curated collection is a
From the creative mind of interior-designer-to-thestars Fay Woodward, Quillian offers an eclectic mix of antique and vintage pieces mixed with higherend custom furniture. Woodward’s design style leans toward conversationstarting accessories and one-of-a-kind art, but the store’s monochrome color scheme and midcentury finds have a timeless appeal. 6710 Melrose Ave., LA, 323-272-3345; quillian designs.com
Twentieth It’s hard to miss Twentieth’s glittering bronze façade on Beverly Boulevard. After a relocation and renovation earlier this year, the iconic LA showroom’s new 6,000-square-foot space houses world-renowned designers including Marcel Wanders, Zaha Hadid, Maarten Baas, and Tejo Remy. The store also offers a smattering of pieces from emerging designers, fusing classic contemporary design with artistic innovation. 7470 Beverly Blvd., LA, 323-904-1200; twentieth.net LAC
ChiC to ChiC
Alexandra Von Furstenberg talks unadulterated luxury. How would you define understated luxury? Luxury on its own has a feeling of exclusivity, but understated luxury also has natural harmony and simplicity. Colors, silhouettes, and proportions should never feel forced or overdone. What fabrics, colors, and materials achieve this simplicity? Of course acrylic, but I also like cotton, cashmere, leather, and velvet. Start with a base palette like black, white, taupe, or gray and add bright colors. How can the average person incorporate understated luxury into his personal space? Less is more. Also focus on keeping the space comfortable and warm. I bring in inviting objects like a soft throw or pillows to add texture and dimension. Also, things from nature like orchids, crystals, or geodes elevate and blend [elements in] a room in a Zen-like way. 9001 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, 310-777-0253; alexandra vonfurstenberg.com photography by cheryl fox (von furstenberg)
favorite of Hollywood’s top set decorators. 941 N. Highland Ave., LA, 323-466-9700; jfchen.com
Reinventing THE TABLE TENNIS
EXPERIENCE
Polite Table Tennis Co. offers a stylish way to bring the game of table tennis into your home or office. Our patent-pending Model 1 Table design features the most unique way to play + display a table tennis table. It transforms from a proper table tennis table into a piece of furniture to display a chalkboard, artwork, photographs, or your company logo.
Polite
TABLE TENNIS CO.
www.playpolite.com
PR OMOTION
CULVER CITY
RESTAURANTS AND FOOD TRENDS FROM LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL
CRAVING CULVER?
E’S ISSU D S I H T EN TR
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We are, too. Seated snugly in a fourishing arts district, its distinctive restaurant row ofers a smorgasbord of tasty treats, whether a speakeasystyle date or lively happy hour is in order. And with ultra-chic décor transforming each destination into its own unique art space, dining downtown becomes an experience to engage all the senses,
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with every exquisite bite.
1. FIN
2. ALLEY
FIN was a great introduction to hip dining culture that is taking over Culver City. This Asian tapas restaurant has you feeling cool and sexy from the minute you walk through the door. With their minimalist design, dim lighting, and upbeat tunes, it’s no wonder this place was recently voted the “Westside’s best new restaurant”.
Double the fun under one roof! Located in FIN’s alley, enter an ultra chic mixology lounge, The Alley — Culver City’s new speakeasy. Serving up demi baguette sandwiches and cocktails. FIN-Alley! A great place to see and be seen. Shhh...Doors open at 6.
12223 W Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90066 310.398.8611, finculvercity.com, @fin.culvercity
12223 W Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90066 310.398.8611
3. K-ZO
4. BLAZE PIZZA
Known for Authentic Tokyo-Style Sushi and a renowned Sake selection, this chic Culver City dining destination draws sushi lovers and foodies alike. Chef/Owner, Keizo Ishiba sculpts exquisite innovations from fresh, hand-selected and often hard-to-find ingredients. Delicate and deep, K-ZO is world class.
Blaze Pizza features made-from-scratch dough and fresh artisanal ingredients. Choose from one of their signature pizzas or create your own! Blazing hot oven + dedicated pizzasmith + 180 seconds = fast-fire’d, perfectly crisp perfection.
9240 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232 310.202.8890, k-zo.com facebook.com/kzo.culvercity, Instagram: @kzorestaurant
4114 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230 310.398.1200, blazepizza.com facebook.com/blazepizza
PROMOTION
YAS FITNESS CENTER 13-Years Strong on Abbot Kinney. YAS (Yoga & Spinning®) was the frst ftness studio dedicated to the hybrid, founded in 2001 by ftness pioneer Kimberly Fowler. Her signature yoga style Yoga for Athletes® ofers a proven, succinct, balanced style of yoga that is accessible to everyone. Te YAS class (½ Spin and ½ Yoga) “Zen on Wheels” ofers the perfect blend of cardio, strength and fexibility training all in one class. Come try a Spin, Yoga for Athletes®, Ripped (Yoga plus Weights) or YAS class. First class is $10! YAS Fitness Center 1101 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice CA. 90291 310.396.6993 go2yas.com facebook.com/go2yas
VENICE on ABBOT KINNEY WWW.ABBOTKINNEYBLVD.COM
Photo cred: Rich Polk
THE JUICY LEAF
BURNING TORCH
KREATION ORGANIC KAFE
Te Juicy Leaf is not your typical garden shop. Te designs here are stunning and functional with an interior designer’s aesthetic. Te unique and inventive arrangements on display will leave you inspired, while making the perfect gif for any occasion.
A luxury boutique ofering a full lifestyle collection including washed leathers, upcycled cashmere and the exclusive distributor of Craven Iteri fne jewelry. Everything you need for beach to black tie. Vintage collectibles featuring home furnishings, bags, sunglasses and antique accessories are curated seasonally.
Kreation Kafe on Abbot Kinney is proud to serve Persian inspired cuisine and 100% USDA organic juices. Kreation juices are never pasteurized, never frozen, and never HPP. Since Kreations juices are 100% raw they are not shipped nationally.
1140 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice, CA 90291 310.907.5019 Instagram: @TeJuicyLeaf
1627 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice, CA 90291 310.399.1920 Mon-Sat 11-7 | Sun 11-5 Instagram: @burningtorch
1202 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice, CA 90291 kreationjuice.com @Kreationjuice
INVITED // trend spotlight //
MONOCHROME MADNESS “IT” GIRLS SWAPPED THEIR SUMMER BRIGHTS FOR CHIC
Jolene and George Schlatter
BLACK AND WHITE ENSEMBLES AS THEY TOASTED THE LAUNCH OF PARKER ON SPRING.
Josh Groban
Barbara Davis
Kareem AbdulJabbar
CAROUSEL OF HOPE
Jenna Dewan and Jordana Brewster Ashley Hinshaw
HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY FILLED The Beverly Hilton in support of Mercedes-Benz USA’s Carousel of Hope charity ball. At the yearly gala, which has raised more than $77 million for the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes since its inception in 1978, ex-LA Laker Earvin “Magic” Johnson received “The Brass Ring Award” for his humanitarian efforts. Also in attendance were Oscar- and Grammy-Award winning artists Jennifer Hudson, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, and Josh Groban, who performed stirring renditions of soulful hits like “Hallelujah” and “You Raise Me Up” before the philanthropic crowd.
Candace CameronBure
Diane Keaton
Jamie King
Ruby Rivera Modine and Jon Lovitz
Nikki Reed and Dawn Olivieri Jay and Mavis Leno
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Jennifer Hudson
LA-CONFIDENTIAL-MAGAZINE.COM
Kathy Griffin and Suzanne Somers
Yolanda Foster and Lisa Rinna
PHOTOGRAPHY BY WIREIMAGE (PARKER ON SPRING); AB IMAGES (CAROUSEL OF HOPE); ANDREAS BRANCH/PATRICK MCMULLAN COMPANY (FFEU 25TH ANNIVERSARY);DONATO SARDELLA/GETTY IMAGES FOR GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI DESIGN
Alana Stewart
Quintin Primo III
Russell Simmons
Clarence and Jackie Avant
Ben Rubinfeld and John Cheng
Kiera Smith and Loren Birdwell
Sean Combs
FOUNDATION FOR ETHNIC UNDERSTANDING’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY
THE FOUNDATION FOR ETHNIC UNDERSTANDING saluted its silver
anniversary with a benefit hosted by Chairman Russell Simmons at his Hollywood estate. The organization, led by Simmons, Rabbi Marc Schneier, and Secretary of the Board Ken Sunshine, aims to encourage racial
Tala Istanbouli, Susan Moralis, and Dima Hilal
harmony and strengthen intergroup relations. The event honored businessman/philanthropist Ron Burkle, Prince of Bahrain H.E. Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, activist Bana Hilal, and Chairman/ CEO of Capri Capital Partners Quintin E. Primo III for their humanitarian efforts.
Joseph Koren, Sean Combs, Rabbi Marc Schneier, Russell Simmons, H.E. Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and Ken Sunshine
Dasha German
Edward Yedid and Giorgina Fioruzzi
Brenda Song
Zanotti’s latest designs were proudly displayed on the chic new space’s white wood-paneled walls.
Cameron Silver, Brad Goreski, and Kane Lim
GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI LA SOIRÉE ITALIAN SHOE BRAND
Giuseppe Zanotti ushered in its newest boutique at Los Angeles’s Beverly Center by gathering entertainment powerhouses and fashion influencers for an inside look at the glam new outpost. Throughout the evening, celebrity stylists like Brad Goreski and Sophie Sophie Lopez
Mishael Morgan
Lopez perused the store’s collections for their A-list clients, as actress Brenda Song browsed the season’s jewelry, bags, and ready to-wear. Giuseppe Zanotti President Alain Baume was also present to help show off the space, as Champagne flowed and music pounded.
David Giampiccolo
Tonya Cornelisse
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INVITED
Jana Kramer’s vocals sweetened the party as guests perused the season’s looks.
David Rimokh and Evelyn Ungvari Blanda Eggenschwiler
Lulu deKwiatkowski
“ON THE CUSP” AT NEIMAN MARCUS NEIMAN MARCUS FÊTED the reopening of its Contemporary/
CUSP department in Beverly Hills with an exuberant bash that brought forth a crowd of local trendsetters. Country music singer Jana Kramer performed a medley of her hits at the party, which was sponsored in part by Los Angeles Confidential; guests were also treated to Lulu DK temporary tattoos and monogrammed tote bags by Blanda Eggenschwiler. DJ Lindsay Luv
Danielle Yu and Mercedes Yvette
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Ye-Hui Lu, Nick Goldenson, Keylee Sanders, and William Baynes
LA-CONFIDENTIAL-MAGAZINE.COM
Jana Kramer
CUSP showed off its autumn-inspired ensembles with live modeling throughout the night.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MOANALANI JEFFREY
Caroline Maguire and Tamara Mellon
promotion
TAGLYAN COMPLEX L.A.’s Premier Wedding and Special Events Venue
Taglyan.com | 323.978.0005 | info@taglyancomplex.com facebook.com/taglyan | instagram: #taglyancomplex
LUNA GARDENS EVENTS Floral . Events . Rentals . Design Luna Gardens Events is a full service event production company that brings a high level of creative energy and the utmost professionalism to the design, planning, and execution of all of our events. From weddings and private parties to award shows and corporate functions, Luna Gardens Events is your full service production company for all event elements, including furniture rentals and foral arrangements backed by a talented and personable staf. lunagardensevents.com | 310.281.2565 info@lunagardensevents.com #lunagardensevents
VAUCLUSE LOUNGE Sensational Entertainment. Vaucluse Lounge is the brainchild of Australian couple Brad and Claire Cox, who moved to Los Angeles in 2013. Located on the infamous Sunset Strip, they have set to bring back the glory days by focusing heavily on acoustic showcases from local and traveling bands alike as well as DJs and comics. Sit back and enjoy sensational entertainment, paired with a menu of New American/Modern Australian eats and a cocktail list complied by Brad that has already seen the venue nominated as one of the Best New Cocktail Bars in LA. 8210 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046 (323) 656 6196 | vauclusecalifornia.com Facebook: Vaucluse California Twitter: vaucluselounge Instagram: vaucluselounge
celebrations &occasions
Taglyan Cultural Complex has gained a reputation as being Southern California’s most esteemed wedding and special events venue. With delectable in-house catering, state-ofthe-art lighting and audio/visual technology, custom furniture and linens and professional staf, Taglyan is a distinctive escape to entertain up to 600 guests. Experience Timeless Elegance, coupled with Fine Dining, Impeccable Service and Unparalleled Amenities.
PROMOTION
HOITY TOITY Owner-Designer Ann Booth Luly, creates handbags and clothing in all sizes and fabrics. Her inspiration comes from eras gone by where fashion contoured a female’s body with panache and allurement. Ann’s designs fatter all fgure shapes and sizes. She credits her 20 years in business to her patrons who are addicted to the compliments they receive when wearing Ann’s clothes. Hoity Toity 4381 Tujunga Avenue Studio City, CA 91604 818-766-2503 hoitytoity.net
D OSSIER
STUDIO CITY on TUJUNGA VITELLO’S RESTAURANT Te place to be for great entertainment and fne dining, not to mention 50 years of business in Studio City. Enjoy alfresco dining while listening to live music nightly from our piano bar, or take in a live show upstairs in one of the Valley’s only true supper clubs. 4349 Tujunga Ave. Studio City, CA 91604 818.769.0905 VitellosRestaurant.com facebook.com/vitellosrestaurant
PROMOTION
CROSSFIT LOS ANGELES As one of the 10 original CrossFit gyms in the world, 2014 marks our 10th year in business. With this expertise, we have developed an innovative, context-driven methodology. Te majority of our workouts fall into the category of “practice”. While going hard most of the time can work, throwing ourselves against a wall daily can lead to injury. It isn’t sustainable. Honing movement skills in the spirit of fun and intentional virtuosity -- under the care of expert coaches-- alongside a supportive, like-minded community will give your ftness longevity and deeper meaning. Come play with the best.
Photography by Miguel Tapia
CrossFit Los Angeles 3201 Santa Monica Blvd Santa Monica, CA 90404 crossftla.com 310.260.9550, info@crossftla.com Facebook: CrossFit Los Angeles Instagram & Twitter @crossftla
D OSSIER
WESTSIDE in SANTA MONICA
DERMALOGICA ON MONTANA
LOTERIA GRILL
Pop into this cult skincare brand’s fagship store in Santa Monica to receive a complimentary Face Mapping® skin analysis from a licensed skin therapist and the perfect product regimen for your skin concerns. Te store ofers a full range of Dermalogica® products, skin treatments to ft your schedule, and more!
Lotería! Grill ofers a casually elegant, fun and relaxed atmosphere, where you can enjoy margaritas and our award-winning, Mexican regional specialties. Our restaurant was designed by Richard Altuna, and features our lotería cards with a modern twist on traditional Mexican architecture. It features an open-air bar and a dining room
1022 Montana Ave. Santa Monica, CA 90403 310-260-8682 dermalogicaonmontana.com Facebook: /dermalogicaonmontanasm
Loteria Grill Santa Monica 1251 3rd Street Promenade Santa Monica, CA 90401 t.310.393.2700 loteriagrill.com
P R O M OT I O N
A T Y O U R S ERVICE HOLIDAY PREP & PAMPERING
BEAUTIFY LA
EUROPEAN WAX CENTER
Beautify LA started as an efort to bring the local community together. our goal is to help develop long lasting relationships between consumers and local businesses, large and small, by ofering exclusive ofers and unique experiences at thousands of locations.
European Wax Center was founded a decade ago on the belief that all of us deserve beautiful, gorgeous skin by not concealing who we are, but by having the courage and confdence to reveal our natural, beautiful skin. In fact, our belief is so strong that we treat all frst-time guests to a complimentary wax. So what are you waiting for? Book yourself in for some European pampering today.
Beautify-LA.com facebook.com/BeautifyLA twitter.com/beautifyla
1513 Vine Street Los Angeles, CA 90028 213.893.8353
8000 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90046 323.848.8688
Photo by: Mario Barberio
waxcenter.com | #revealingbeautifulskin
URSULA MAYES
DERMALOGICA ON MONTANA
Based in Southern California, Ursula Mayes is widely known for her creative eye in makeup and fashion styling. Her expertise has taken her from the red carpets of Hollywood to editorial shoots, TV work on Deal Or No Deal, to blushing brides, family portraits and corporate executives. Ursula is also the founder of online retailer Cheeky Doll, www.shopcheekydoll.com.
Give your skin that healthy holiday glow with Dermalogica®. Our signature skin treatment is 100% customized to your skin’s needs. Ask about BioActiveTM Peel to dramatically smooth signs of aging, or MicroZone® Treatments to target your top skin concerns in 20 minutes.Save 10% of your frst treatment with this ad.
For more info, rates and to book Ursula for makeup, styling, or both for your upcoming holiday shoot, wedding, engagement photos and more, please visit ursulamayes.com
1022 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403 310.260.8682; dermalogicaonmontana.com Facebook: /dermalogicaonmontanasm
P R O M OT I O N
A T Y O U R S ERVICE HOLIDAY PREP & PAMPERING
STRIPT WAX BAR
ILLUME SPA
LA’s Premier Waxing Boutique Waxing * Spray Tanning * Facials Get ready for the Holidays with a wax, spray tan or signature “Flash” facial at Stript! First time customers will receive 30% of any single service when mentioning this ad. Ofer Valid through Dec 31st, 2014
Breaking free from the old world of “European” facials and “conveyer-style” spas, Illume Spa is privately owned by expert estheticians Irina Lexandra Berchik and Kathryn Serviss who share over 30 years of combined experience. Illume Spa ofers innovative hybrid of medical grade facials using advanced technology and pampering touch spastyle details throughout, as well as premium waxing and nail services. Generous loyalty program and referral rewards for all guests. Online booking is available.
8218 W Tird St., Los Angeles, 90048 844.838.8218, striptwaxbar.com Twitter: @StriptWaxBar
eSALON L.A.-based eSalon.com is revolutionizing the home hair color market, one woman at a time. Teir system is simple: Complete an online survey, and their color experts analyze your answers, along with any photos you provide. Based on your needs, they create the perfect formula to reach your desired shade. It’s blended just for you and delivered within days – for less than $20. eSalon is currently ofering complimentary in-person hair color consultations to L.A. locals. To reserve an appointment, please call 310.945.4677 or visit esalon.com.
11677 San Vicente Bvd, Ste. 300 Los Angeles, CA 90049 310.442.4646 | illumespa.com
SONYA DAKAR SKIN CLINIC Recently voted “Best in LA”, the Sonya Dakar Skin Clinic is the premier destination for those seeking serious skincare solutions, without going under the knife or needle. Sonya Dakar’s client roster boasts A-list celebrities who swear by her red carpet prepping treatments. Services include the signature Sonya Dakar Apple Stem Cell Facial as well as Total Lif Muscle Contouring Treatment, which shows impressive results afer just one session. 9975 Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212 310.553.7344, concierge@sonyadakarskinclinic.com sonyadakarskinclinic.com, Instagram: @sonyadakar
AFI FEST AFI FEST presented by Audi, takes place November 6 – 13 in the heart of Hollywood. Featuring red carpet galas, special screenings and flmmaker conversations at the Dolby Teatre, historic TCL Chinese Teatres, Egyptian Teatre and Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. AFI FEST continues it’s unprecedented ofer of free tickets to all screenings. However, only the Patron Packages will provide reserved seating at the Gala Screenings. Reserve your seat now: AFI.com
THE THEATRE AT ACE HOTEL A loving reanimation of the historic United Artists Teater, Te Teatre at Ace Hotel was created in homage to its opulent movie palace past and enlivened with thoughtful design and contemporary culture. Te Teatre’s the prime setting for an array of endeavors — live music, flm, dance and private parties. For more information, visit acehotel.com/losangeles/theatre
NOT TO BE MISSED EVENTS • HAPPENINGS • PROMOTIONS
DEJAUN JEWELERS
LOFT & BEAR
CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES
You are cordially invited to Dejaun Jewelers’ annual Watch and Jewelry Fair showcasing carefully curated pieces from the world’s top brands including Breguet, Ulysse Nardin, Zenith, Chopard, Bulgari, Omega, Mont Blanc, the world’s most perfectly cut diamond Hearts on Fire, and our very own Dejaun Couture. Stop by November 13th between 5pm and 9pm for a night flled with champagne and hors d’oeuvres.
Lof & Bear artisanal vodka is a true product of downtown Los Angeles. Distilled by one of the youngest Master Distillers in the country Paul Ryan Elliott in his private lof in the heart of the Arts District creates this ultra smooth, premium product made with sof winter wheat alongside pure California mountain spring water. With hints of full, foral sweet vanilla bean and whisper of anise.
Help heal a child this holiday. One-hundred percent of the proceeds from these beautifully designed butterfy ornaments benefts the Helping Hands Fund at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which ensures every child they treat receives the highest quality care, regardless of insurance or ability to pay. Limited quantities are available for purchase at the concierge desk at Te Grove and Te Americana at Brand from Nov. 10 Dec. 31. ($10 each, available in gold or silver color.)
Call 818.783.3960 for details or visit www.dejaun.com Westfeld Fashion Square, 14006 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Young State America YSA Distilling Co Arts District - Downtown LA www.ysa.la @ysadistillingco @lofandbear
For more information about Children’s Hospital Los Angeles or to donate, visit CHLA.org/GIVELA.
You Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Have To Be A Star To Live In The Hamptons S O L D 1 0/ 1 4
Sagaponack. $34.99M*
S O L D 9/ 1 4
Water Mill. $11.95M*
SO L D 8/ 1 4
Southampton. $3.25M*
SOLD 4/14
Sag Harbor. $9.95M*
S O L D 1 0/ 1 4
Water MIll. $7.35M*
S O L D 9/ 1 4
Bridgehampton. $6.995M*
S O L D 9/ 1 4
Bridgehampton. $5.45M*
SO L D 8/ 1 4
Bridgehampton. $3.25M*
SOLD 6/14
East Hampton. $3.25M*
SOLD 6/14
Bridgehampton. $5.95M*
SOLD 5/14
Wainscott. $2.895M*
SOLD 2/14
Water Mill. $8.95M*
Southampton to Montauk...Sagaponack to Shelter Island The Hamptons for Buyers, Sellers, Renters & Investors Gary R. DePersia Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker m: 516.380.0538 gdp@corcoran.com
Real estate agents affliated with The Corcoran Group are independent contractor sales associates and are not employees of The Corcoran Group. Equal Housing Opportunity. The Corcoran Group is a licensed real estate broker. All information furnished regarding property for sale or rent or regarding fnancing is from sources deemed reliable, but Corcoran makes no warranty or representation as to the accuracy thereof. All property information is presented subject to errors, omissions, price changes, changed property conditions, and withdrawal of the property from the market, without notice. All dimensions provided are approximate. To obtain exact dimensions, Corcoran advises you to hire a qualifed architect or engineer. 51 Main Street, East Hampton NY 11937 | 631.324.3900
And FinAlly...
Eat, Drink, anD BE WEary
At restAurAnts Across LA, when did inconvenience become the new chic?
seat you until your whole party is here.” (Of course she can; she just won’t.) At what point did we become the high school girlfriend waiting up all night by the phone for the restaurant who said he’d call? Since when did outright inconvenience and chic make this little arrangement? And why have we enabled it? I realize I sound like a curmudgeon, but I’m only operating from a base of sensible conduct I know our society subscribes to. Imagine, for instance, treating your friends this way. “Hey, do you want to have dinner next week?” “Hmm. Well, I actually don’t make plans. What I suggest is that you show up, at my house, and if I have an availability, we’ll eat.” “Like, at 7?” “I really can’t say. Sorry.” You know they have the staff to take the reservations; you know they have the book to write the reservation in. So why do they do it? And why do we let them? I wonder if, maybe, just a little bit, we like it. LAC
illustration by daniel o’leary
Everyone’s going to this restaurant—you know the one I’m talking about—where they don’t take reservations, and in order to get in, or at least have a shot at getting in, you have to get there early (i.e. earlier than everyone else) and wait in line, sometimes for hours, and sometimes, if the line is long enough, you get too hungry to wait any longer. But you’re there with friends. What will you do? You can’t leave—not after all the hours that have gone into this—but there’s a little Mexican place across the street. It stares at you, like destiny. You stare at each other—until you can’t bear it any longer. It’s 9:30, and you’re starving. Bravely, you approach the chick with the clipboard. “How much longer?” She does not consult her clipboard. “It’s hard to say.” “Can you estimate?” “I really can’t.” And it’s not just this restaurant—it’s all over. Something has happened, is happening. When did we start going for difficult restaurants? I’m not talking about tough to get a table—as with anything at a premium, limited availability is par for the course—I’m talking about they don’t want you there. I’m talking about there’s no sign out front (“Wait, is that __?” “That’s a dry cleaners.”); I’m talking about circling the block for hidden entrances and scanning old e-mails for secret passwords. And once you’re finally in, I’m talking about, “I can’t
By Sam WaSSon
160 la-confidential-magazine.com
It won’t leave you wondering if you could have done better. The new Bentley Flying Spur V8. www.BentleyBeverlyHillsEvents.com
BENTLEY BEVERLY HILLS The name ‘Bentley’ and the ‘B’ in wings device are registered trademarks. © 2014 Bentley Motors, Inc. Model shown: Flying Spur V8