Njoto_Angeles

ANGELES

MAGAZINE

The Augmented Reality Issue

532 Pages of

SHOWSTOPPING

SPRING FASHION Fun, Fun looks for day

STARVED FOR LOVE

A MOTHER’S AND DAUGHTER’S BATTLE WITH FOOD DEMONS

Fashion and fame the world of

Blake Lively

what’s her story behind Gossip Girl

Trend update

50

pieces to fall in love with

GET MORE STYLE FOR LESS March 2011 Issue One No.1 Premiere Issue

Table Of Content:

5 7 8 10

Editor’s Letter START drink START food START Celeb Interview: That Guy Darian

12 START Brodovitch 14 Swag 17 Frontice 18 Cover Story: Blake Lively

22 Pershing Story 28 Beauty 30 House Ad

ANGELES

Scarve $300 Hermes

Angelica Njoto

Vice President, Publisher Associate Publisher, Marketing

Kimberly Fasting Njoto

Creative Director Angelica

Bracelet $450 Hermes Tennis Shoes $240 Lanvin

Advertising Garrett, Paula Romano Executive Beauty Director Beth McClain American fashion Director Amanda Novak

Advertising Directors Toria

Photographer Jacklyn Jessee Product Photographer Kim Joe

Fashion Photographer

Creative Services Michael Simms Marketing Director Joe MacGillis Senior Art Director Lori Key Production Director Sarah Ryan

Creative Services Director

Marketing Diego Scotti Marketing Manager Gina Spiate

Executive Marketing

Photographer Jacklyn Jessee Product Photographer Kim Joe

Fashion Photographer

Advertising Garrett, Paula Romano Executive Beauty Director Beth McClain American fashion Director Amanda Novak

Advertising Directors Toria

Pump Shoes $500 Balenciaga

Associate Publisher, Marketing

Kimberly Fasting Njoto

Creative Director Angelica

Los Angeles Angelica Njoto, Executive Director, 3360 E.Foothill Blvd Pasadena CA 91107

Branch Offices

Los Angeles Angelica Njoto, Executive Director, 3360 E.Foothill Blvd Pasadena CA 91107

Bag $1600 Balenciaga

Los Angeles Erick Tiono, Photographer, 3360 E.Foothill Blvd Pasadena CA 91107 Angeles Published by Conde Nest Chairman S.I Newhouse, Jr Chief Executive Officer Charles Townsend Los Angeles Angelica Njoto, Executive Director, 3360 E.Foothill Blvd Pasadena CA 91107

Branch Offices

Los Angeles Angelica Njoto, Executive Director, 3360 E.Foothill Blvd Pasadena CA 91107 Los Angeles Erick Tiono, Photographer, 3360 E.Foothill Blvd Pasadena CA 91107

Bracelet $210 Balenciaga

Angeles Published by Conde Nest Chairman S.I Newhouse, Jr Chief Executive Officer Charles Townsend

Branch Offices

Los Angeles Angelica Njoto, Executive Director, 3360 E.Foothill Blvd Pasadena CA 91107

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Pump Shoes $980 Christian Louboutin

Los Angeles Erick Tiono, Photographer, 3360 E.Foothill Blvd Pasadena CA 91107

Editor's Letter I came to United States in Fall 2007, everything was not what I expected I was nervous because of the culture shock.

But I overcome all my fear after I started school. I went to Pasadena College of Design while building my portfolio to apply to an art school. I applied in spring 2009 to Art Center College of Design (ACCD) in Pasadena and at Fashion Institute of Merchandising (FIDM) in downtown Los Angeles. I got accepted in both school, my parents and all my friends told me to go to ACCD because of they said ACCD is one of the top design school in United States. But my heart tells me to go to FIDM and deep down I honestly felt more comfortable in FIDM. But I come to a decision not to follow my heart and just listen to what people around me said so I went to ACCD. I didn’t enjoy it there everything just doesn’t feel right. It was really hard for me to like something that I wasn’t passionate about in the first place. I was in ACCD for a year then I decided to transfer to FIDM. I was really happy that I still got a chance to be here in this school. My experience in United States had been great I didn’t regret going to any of the school, I have learned so much and I got the experienced that I won’t get anywhere else.

But I really enjoy going to FIDM. I like the new vibe around me and I build my future here. And this Publication Design class is one of my favorite class I have always wanted to learn how to make a magazine since that what I was interested in working for in the future. I really enjoy doing photography and typography and I think I can apply all that in a magazine. This is the job that I hope I can do in my future. Making a magazine is not as easy as it look, when we have to design the whole magazine from a blank page but I really enjoy doing it because there is so much we can do in the pages and its unlimited unlike other projects.

The reason I chose Blake Lively for the cover is because I think she’s pretty and attractive. She is one of the icon these days in fashion world. She is also the model for the Chanel ad today. Tv show Gossip Girls are also popular around the crowd so I think it would catch people attention to know behind her character as Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girls.

5

START Jack Daniel

Drink Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam elementum nunc tellus, sit amet faucibus dui. Morbi tincidunt pulvinar est, vel semper magna dignissim eu. Donec in lacus nibh, id tempor purus. Vestibulum id felis elit, quis sodales ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum nulla dolor, convallis quis tincidunt vitae, venenatis a enim. In ullamcorper dolor vitae urna laoreet porttitor sit amet venenatis nisl. Maecenas dui felis, consequat eget ullamcorper nec, luctus et velit. Morbi elementum aliquet massa a lobortis. Praesent dictum eleifend elit sed rhoncus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam elementum nunc tellus, sit amet faucibus dui. Morbi tincidunt pulvinar est, vel semper magna dignissim eu. Donec in lacus nibh, id tempor purus. Vestibulum id felis elit, quis sodales ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum nulla dolor, convallis quis tincidunt vitae, venenatis a enim. In ullamcorper dolor vitae urna laoreet porttitor sit amet venenatis nisl.

Lychee Martini

Rasberry Martini

Martini Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam elementum nunc tellus, sit amet faucibus dui. Morbi tincidunt pulvinar est, vel semper magna dignissim eu. Donec in lacus nibh, id tempor purus. Vestibulum id felis elit, quis sodales ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum nulla dolor, convallis quis tincidunt vitae, venenatis a enim. In ullamcorper dolor vitae urna laoreet porttitor sit amet venenatis nisl. Maecenas dui felis, consequat eget ullamcorper nec, luctus et velit. Morbi elementum aliquet massa a lobortis.

Praesent dictum eleifend elit sed rhoncus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam elementum nunc tellus, sit amet faucibus dui. Morbi tincidunt pulvinar est, vel semper magna dignissim eu. Donec in lacus nibh, id tempor purus. Vestibulum id felis elit, quis sodales ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum nulla dolor, convallis quis tincidunt vitae, venenatis a enim. In ullamcorper dolor vitae urna laoreet porttitor sit amet venenatis nisl. Maecenas dui felis, consequat eget ullamcorper nec, luctus et velit.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam elementum nunc tellus, sit amet faucibus dui. Morbi tincidunt pulvinar est, vel semper magna dignissim eu. Donec in lacus nibh, id tempor purus. Vestibulum id felis elit, quis sodales ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum nulla dolor, convallis quis tincidunt vitae, venenatis a enim. In ullamcorper dolor vitae urna laoreet porttitor sit amet venenatis nisl. Maecenas dui felis, consequat eget ullamcorper nec, luctus et velit. Morbi elementum aliquet massa a lobortis.

Rasberry Martini

7

START

Food Target $20 Ralphs

Green Curry

Film $15 Office Depot Coffee $15 Coffee Bean

Fine Dining Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis dignissim iaculis leo, non vulputate nisl aliquet non. Aliquam eget risus nisi. Nulla quis arcu id massa ultricies pulvinar. Donec arcu ligula, gravida sed cursus ac, pretium convallis est. Nulla elit erat, pretium eu eleifend eget, ornare vitae nunc. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Sed lacus velit, lacinia eleifend tincidunt at, tempus ut leo. Quisque tempor iaculis mi id molestie. Nam sem massa, sagittis ac fringilla sit amet, feugiat viverra massa. Morbi quis libero tincidunt odio dictum dictum eget in dolor. Duis lobortis egestas scelerisque. Pellentesque auctor lacinia dolor, feugiat vehicula diam sollicitudin quis. In laoreet risus a lacus hendrerit ac bibendum turpis luctus. Morbi suscipit libero nec urna malesuada vel dapibus ligula laoreet. Suspendisse augue lacus, ornare quis sodales quis, sodales non enim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Vestibulum arcu turpis, elementum vel lacinia eget, hendrerit quis nulla. Duis a mauris enim. Nullam dapibus pharetra suscipit.

Quisque tempor iaculis mi id molestie. Nam sem massa, sagittis ac fringilla sit amet, feugiat viverra massa. Morbi quis libero tincidunt odio dictum dictum eget in dolor. Duis lobortis egestas scelerisque. Pellentesque auctor lacinia dolor, feugiat vehicula diam sollicitudin quis. hendrerit quis nulla. Duis a mauris enim. Nullam dapibus pharetra suscipit.

Asparagus

Painting $25 Target

Ring $25 Forever 21

Wooden Hand $50 Crate and Barrel

Baby Gap $30 Gap

Sausage on rice

8

Winter Jacket $80 Hollister Steak on beans

Map $20 Office Depot

9

START

that guy

darian Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis dignissim iaculis leo, non vulputate nisl aliquet non. Aliquam eget risus nisi. Nulla quis arcu id massa ultricies pulvinar. Donec arcu ligula, gravida sed cursus ac, pretium convallis est. Nulla elit erat, pretium eu eleifend eget, ornare vitae nunc. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Sed lacus velit, lacinia eleifend tincidunt at, tempus ut leo. Quisque tempor iaculis mi id molestie. Nam sem massa, sagittis ac fringilla sit amet, feugiat viverra massa. Morbi quis libero tincidunt odio dictum dictum eget in dolor. Duis lobortis egestas scelerisque. Pellentesque auctor lacinia dolor, feugiat vehicula diam sollicitudin quis. In laoreet risus a lacus hendrerit ac bibendum turpis luctus. Morbi suscipit libero nec urna malesuada vel dapibus ligula laoreet. Suspendisse augue lacus, ornare quis sodales quis, sodales non enim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Vestibulum arcu turpis, elementum vel lacinia eget, hendrerit quis nulla. Duis a mauris enim. Nullam dapibus pharetra suscipit.

Sed iaculis auctor metus, quis bibendum eros tristique non. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Cras eu nibh leo. Aenean velit dui, bibendum sit amet suscipit in, vulputate at mauris. Integer sapien massa, laoreet non bibendum vitae, auctor sit amet lectus. Sed commodo fringilla nisi vitae egestas. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Curabitur mollis porta dui, vitae varius diam pellentesque eu. Maecenas eu blandit nibh. Nullam sodales ornare tempus.Vestibulum ligula erat, accumsan sed rhoncus a, mollis in diam.

Donec placerat, augue placerat varius congue, augue lectus egestas nisl, nec sollicitudin dui sapien ac arcu. Aenean malesuada, lorem a egestas malesuada, lacus risus ornare ante, a rutrum leo dolor quis tortor. Pellentesque pharetra nunc faucibus eros posuere vulputate.

Sed iaculis auctor metus, quis bibendum eros tristique non. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Cras eu nibh leo. Aenean velit dui, bibendum sit amet suscipit in, vulputate at mauris. Integer sapien massa, laoreet non bibendum vitae, auctor sit amet lectus. Sed commodo fringilla nisi vitae egestas. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Curabitur mollis porta dui, vitae varius diam pellentesque eu. Maecenas eu blandit nibh. Nullam sodales ornare tempus.

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Photographer Designer Instructor

AlexeyBrodovitch

START Virtually the model for the modern magazine Art Director

Alexey Brodovitch was born in Russia shortly before the close of the last century. Some 73 years later he died in the remote obscurity of a small village in the south of France. For fifty years of his professional life, most of them in the United States, he was an artist, graphic designer, art director, photographer, and teacher, but above all, he was a pervasive aesthetic presence whose lasting influence was felt throughout the entire visual arts. Yet it was almost by a spin of fate that Alexey Brodovitch came to the arts. When only a callow sixteen, Alexey was caught up in the patriotic wartime fervor of 1914 Russia and ran off to join the fighting with the Russian armies.

A parental decree aborted that adventure, but in exchange Brodovitch was sent to an elite military school from which he graduated to become an officer in the Czar’s Imperial Hussars.

He was an inventor, creator, experiment, printer, architect, graphic designer, art director, set designer, interior designer, and editor.

Ironically, had it not been for that military episode in the life of Brodovitch, we might very well have been denied the gift of his extraordinary talents and the affluence of his special wisdom. For Russia, the glory of the war eventually tumbled into national agony. Revolutionary zeal replaced faded national pride. The ensuing social deluge swept up a wounded Alexey Brodovitch, who with the other members of his family was finally forced to seek refuge from the tide of change. The shattered family made its long odyssey to Paris, which had already become a haven for many Russian refugees. In contrast to ravaged Russia, Paris was a vibrant center of artistic movements and experiment. After a brief employment as a house painter, Brodovitch—still untrained and unskilled as an artist—found work as a set painter for the Ballet Russe, which was directed by its illustrious founder, Diaghilev.

This association brought him that much closer to the spirit and thrust of contemporary artistic thought.

It was not long before he was giving shape to these ideas in fabric designs and layouts for Arts et Métiers Graphiques, a vanguard review of the graphic arts published by the French typefounders Deberny and Peignot. Within a few short years, Brodovitch’s talents were to develop rapidly in several directions, finding their application in everything from drawing to interior design.

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Watch Panamera $1,600 panamera.com

Vespa Honda $14,000 honda.com Bowling Pin Goods Sport $15 goodssport.com

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Glasses Dita $70 dita.com

Baby Gap Gap $20 gap.com

T-shirt Hollister $25 hollister.com

Winter Jacket Hollister $65 hollister.com

Jar Crate & Barrel $18 crateandbarrel.com

Ipad Apple $499 apple.com

14

15

J

J

J

J Jump up for your life

Live your live to the fullest

Cover Story

Gossip Girl

Blake Lively Blake Lively (born August 25, 1987) is an American actress and model. She currently stars as Serena van der Woodsen in the book-based TV drama Gossip Girl. She has also starred in movies, including Accepted, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (as well as its sequel), The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and Ben Affleck's The Town.

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Cover Story

Sous,erena van der Woodsen: beautiful, glamorelegant young woman about town;

Glamorous, Elegant

Beautiful,

fashionable and firm but fair ruler of Manhattan’s young social elite; wooer of hearts and slayer of men with names like Trip van der Bilt; tabloid magnet and off-and-on dater of her off-and-on step-brother-and nothing even remotely like Blake Lively. For three seasons, Lively-owner of the most talked-about hair in television since the heady days of the earlyFriends Jennifer Aniston shag-has played van der Woodsen on the CW’s hit series Gossip Girl, guiding her through myriad breakups, scandals, falls from grace, and spirited comebacks amidst the show’s hyperreal vision of misspent youth in uptown New York. Now as the series enters its fourth season, the plot for Serena has begun to further thicken. Will she return from her summer vacation in Paris as a new woman, or out to settle old scores? Will she get back together with Dan? Will Nate come calling once again? What will she wear?

But just as the arc of Serena’s sordid life on Gossip Girl has brought about new priorities, changes, and directions, so too has the trajectory of Lively’s career away from the show signaled a shift in direction for the 23-yearold actress.

Born in Tarzana, California, and raised in Burbank, Lively grew up in a show-business family: Her father, Ernie, has had a long career as a character actor; her mother, Elaine, is a talent manager; and her older siblings Eric, Robyn, Jason, and Lori are all current or former actors. (Ed. note: Robyn memorably performed a now somewhat iconic rap in the ‘80s film Teen Witch.) Five years ago, at the age of just 17, she made her acting debut alongside Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Amber Tamblyn in the sleeper hit The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), a film about a group of teenage girls who, as groups of teenage girls are wont to do in movies, pass around and each wear a pair of jeans that remarkably fits everyone over the course of one very special summer. Roles in little-seen movies such as Accepted (2006), Elvis and Anabelle (2007), as well as a Traveling Pants sequel (2008) followed.

20

Recently, though, Lively’s work has taken

The life behind Serena van der Woodsen on a decidedly more ambitious scope. She shared the title role with Robin Wright in last year’s The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Rebecca Miller’s offbeat drama about a woman in the throes of a midlife crisis who recalls her youth as she sets off to rediscover who she is and what she wants (Lively played the younger version of the character). She also spent four months earlier this year in New Orleans playing the female lead in Green Lantern, Martin Campbell’s reimagining of the masked comicbook superhero whose green ring confers its wearer with certain all-consuming powers.

(As comic book aficionados know, there have been several Green Lanterns-the one in Lively’s film is played by Ryan Reynolds.)

Perhaps the most radical role Lively has taken

a hard-bitten but self-destructive 29-yearold single mother who deals drugs to get by and still harbors feelings for her disengaged, distracted former flame (although, at the rate she’s going, Serena might get there eventually).

With a heavyweight cast rounded out by Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, and Chris Cooper, The Town represents a turning point for Lively: the opportunity to play a character role in a substantial film that, perhaps more than anything she has done thus far, has forced her to venture beyond her comfort zone-and preparing for it required Lively to go to some places that Serena van der Woodsen, even at her most desperate, would fear to tread.

Affleck recently caught up with Lively as she

“When I saw my first movie, I was fine, but I thought, ‘Oh, my heavens. It’s not about just standing there on my mark and saying these lines. I need to actually act.”

—Blake Lively on yet comes in this month’s heist thriller The Town. Directed by Ben Affleck and based on Chuck Hogan’s novel Prince of Thieves, the film follows a crew of men from the blue-collar Boston neighborhood of Charlestown who conspire to rob a bank. The crew is headed up

by Doug MacRay (Affleck), a local career criminal with strong ties to the neighborhood-so strong, in fact, that the neighborhood itself, its members bound together by an implicit code of silence, provides a sort of safe house for the men as the FBI pursues them.

Things get more complicated when MacRay becomes infatuated with the bank manager (Rebecca Hall) he held at gunpoint during the heist. As his team sets off on a cat-and-mouse game with the FBI, he develops a difficult, if not entirely unrequited relationship with her that serves as the centerpiece of the film’s dramatic tension. Lively plays MacRay’s troubled ex-girlfriend, Krista, who couldn’t be more un-Serena van der Woodsen-like as

flitted between the set of Gossip Girl and the couture-week fashion shows in Paris.

21

Pershing Square 18

By Hector Meledez

the Park in the Center of the City

Pershing Square is a public park in downtown Los Angeles, California. The park is exactly one square block in size, bounded by 5th Street to the north, 6th Street to the south, Hill Street to the east, and Olive Street to the west. There is a large fountain located in the southern half of the square.

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History of Pershing Square

In the 1850s, the location was used as a camp by settlers outside of the Pueblo de Los Angeles, which was to the northeast around the La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles church, the plaza, and present day Olvera Street. 1850s surveyors drew the site as 10 individual plots of land, but in practicality it was a single 5-acre (20,000 m2) parcel. Canals distributing water from the Zanja Madre were adjacent. In 1866 the park site’s block of plots was dedicated as a public public square by Californio and new Mayor Cristobal Aguilar, and was first called La Plaza Abaja, or “The Lower Plaza.” At some point the owner of a nearby beergarden, German immigrant George “Roundhouse” Lehman, planted small native Monterey cypress trees, fruit trees, and flowering shrubs around the park, and maintained them until his death in 1882.

In 1867, St. Vincent’s College, present day Loyola Marymount University, located across the street, and the park informally became called St. Vincent’s Park. In 1870, it was officially renamed Los Angeles Park. In 1886 it was renamed 6th Street Park, and redesigned with an “official park plan” by Frederick Eaton, later the mayor. In the early 1890s it was renamed Central Park, which it was called for decades. During this period a bandstand pavilion was added for concerts and orators.

The plantings became sub-tropically lush, and the park became a shady oasis and an outdoor destination for the city. In 1894 the park was first used as the staging area for the annual crowning of the queen of ‘La Fiesta de Los Angeles,’ an event which continues now as ‘Fiesta Broadway.’

Early 1900s

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A monument to California’s 20 SpanishAmerican War dead was erected in 1900; it is allegedly modeled after a SpanishAmerican War veteran, 7th California Infantry volunteer Charlie Hammond of San Francisco, and is believed to be the oldest work of public art in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles City Council declared it a historic-cultural monument in 1990.

In 1910 the park was renovated under a design by John Parkinson, who would later design Los Angeles City Hall and Union Station. Parkinson’s design featured a three-tier fountain sculpted by Johan Caspar Lachne Gruenfeld, braced by four life-size concrete cherubs supporting a vase of cascading water.[1] In November 1918, a week after Armistice Day ended World War I, the park was renamed Pershing Square, in honor of Gen. John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing; however a plaque was not added in his honor for over four decades.

A Modern Park

In the 1920-30s tropical plants were added to the park. In 1924, a life-size bronze of a World War I doughboy, sculpted by Humberton Pedretti, was unveiled, flanked by old cannons. In 1935, a bronze cannon from the USS Constitution was added. In 1932, a statue of Ludwig van Beethoven was added to honor William Andrews Clark, Jr., founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, whose home Hazard’s Pavilion was located adjacent to the park (where the planned Park Fifth Towers are to be located).

Latter 1900s

The park was in heavy use during World War II for rallies and recruitment. Post-war the park began to decline as commercial decentralization and suburbanization took hold in the greater L.A. region, and Downtown lost importance and intensity of use.

The entire park was demolished and excavated in 1952 to build an underground parking garage. In its place was concrete topped by a thin layer of soil with a broad expanse of lawn. In 1954, Kelly Roth, a Hungarian immigrant who had owned a cigar store across from the square, donated $30,000 for twin reflecting pool water features in honor of his late wife and to thank Los Angeles for the opportunities it provided him. The Roth fountains were designed by renowned architect Stiles O. Clements.

Los Angeles in the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles.

vated in the 1950’s were sent to be used in the Disneyland ride “The Jungle Cruise.”

Pershing Square was used as a model for the “Los Angeles” level in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 video game.

A Monument in the park honors local veteran Eugene A. Obregon.

The Square was the site of the first challenge of the reality show, Who Wants to be a Superhero? (1st season).

Pershing Square was also featured in the 2010 action film, Takers.

It was featured as the starting point and exit point of the reality game show Chase.

The Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas rendition of Los Angeles features its own version of Pershing Square.

It was here that Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez met Nathaniel Ayers in 2005. Their story inspired the film The Soloist.

Pershing Square was also featured in the 1994 action film, Speed.

It was mentioned in Charles Bukowski’s novel “”Ham On Rye” as a place for religious debate Many of the palm trees that were exca-

The park continued to be neglected for safe uses. Its problems were noted during the 1960 Democratic National Convention, with nominee and future president John F. Kennedy headquartered at the Biltmore Hotel facing the park. By the 1984 Summer Olympics the park had become a serious eyesore, leading the city to spend $1 million for a temporary renovation.

Current Park

In 1992, the park was closed for a major $14.5-million redesign and renovation by architect—landscape architect Ricardo Legorreta of Mexico, and landscape architect Laurie Olin of the U.S. The new park opened in 1994 with: a 10-story purple bell tower, fountains, numerous public artworks including a walkway representing an earthquake fault line designed and executed by artist Barbara McCarren, a concert stage, a seasonal ice rink, and small plazas with seating. It is now predominantly paved expanses, with small areas of trees in raised planters.

Sidebar

Pershing Square is featured in Downtown

21

Pershing Square used to be called “Central Park”

The day at Pershing Square begins with the sky turning yellow over the buildings of the Jewelry Mart, and with a 64-year-old homeless man named Edward Reifsteck claiming his spot on one of the park’s concrete benches.

By 6:30 a.m., he’s packed up his tent on Los Angeles Street and walked the four blocks to the park. I found him there just after noon with “The Story of Bohemia,” a book from the nearby Central Library, reading, scratching his chin and looking out across a landscape of fountains and fake snow.

“I come for the peace and quiet,” he told me. And also because he and his friends on the park benches never know what they’ll see there next.

They watch loft residents walk their dogs and pigeon-hunting hawks swoop down between the office buildings. They listen to people deliver monologues — usually of the schizophrenic or religious variety.

“It’s a good vibe. Everyone’s in the Christmas spirit,” said Leon Lautalo, a park security guard from Hawaii who’s spending his first holiday season in L.A. He rattled off a list of the park’s holiday happenings: “jugglers, snow sleds, a train for the kids…”

People-watching, bench-sitting and

Christmas-celebrating are traditions that have endured for more than a century in Pershing Square’s five acres.

Until Jan. 17, you can go there to ice skate — on a rink the size of a basketball court.

Daniel Rodriguez, 16, laced up skates and promptly landed on his butt as his friends laughed. “Let’s see you top that,” he said, chuckling.

There are lots of places in L.A. that will give you a simulated Christmas in the city, with Santas, snow and even trolley cars on cobblestone streets. But most of those places are just malls, really, pretending to be something they’re not.

The temporary rink the city installed for “Downtown on Ice” sits at an authentic municipal crossroads. It’s a public park in the shadow of the Biltmore Hotel — where L.A.’s most famous crime victim, the Black Dahlia, was last seen alive, in 1947.

First laid out as a park more than a century ago, Pershing Square has hosted political protests and celebrations of civic pride going back to the time of the SpanishAmerican War. This week there were skaters speaking Spanish, Mandarin and more. And there was Tucker Fisher, a 20-year-old from New York who for an hour was the best skater on the ice. He glided backward and did

figure-eights in the sun, wearing a backpack and rose-colored glasses.

“I used to do this in Central Park,” said Fisher, a UC Davis student visiting L.A. on vacation. “It’s a pretty nice vista here. It’s not quite as crisp as New York, and that’s nice too.”

Pershing Square actually used to be called Central Park. And it’s still in the center of the city, both geographically and metaphorically, tucked between U.S. Immigration Court, the Art Deco tower of the Oviatt Building, a subway station and bus lines that reach to the edges of the city.  On my visit to Pershing Square this week, I emerged from the Metro station and found three girls flipping the bird to someone inside a No. 2 bus. They laughed and walked down Hill Street, past the spot where police drop off a bag of money for Dennis Hopper in the film “Speed.”

Hours later, at the opposite end of the square, I listened to the poetic language of three skateboarders. “Ollie up, one-eighty up, half-cab off,” called out Travis, 25, who then tried to perform that trick on the concrete stairs.

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Beauty

Toxic Beauty You've been dying to try that new shampoo that’s supposed to make your hair thick, lush and shiny. You can’t wait to use that new exfoliating scrub because the label tells you that it’s going to make your skin soft and glowing. You love that new cologne; every time you wear it you get so many compliments on how great you smell!

You love these products and how they make you look and feel, but did it ever occur to you that what you put on your hair or your skin could make you sick? Did you know these products contain chemicals, toxins and hormones that can cause anything from an unsightly rash to learning difficulties to birth defects and even cancer? Even though each product may contain a limited amount of these toxins, please keep in mind, most people use several products each day, from the moment they wake up (soap, shampoo, conditioner, shave cream, deodorant, toothpaste, hand soap, make up) until they go to bed. After many years of daily use, these toxins accumulate in your body to cause the ailments I've listed above, among many others. If they cause these concerns for adults, just imagine the damage they can do to children who are smaller and weigh less. Although each product you may use may contain a restricted amount of chemicals, hormones and toxins, they can, and many times they do cause a myriad of damage to us all.

Not only are these beauty products toxic for humans, they are toxic to the environment, as well. Many of these products are made with petroleumbased ingredients, which contributes to global warming. Did you know that if you switch just one bottle of a petroleum based product for a vegetable based product we could save 81,000 barrels of oil in one year. How’s that for incentive to switch?

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So now you decide it’s time to go “green”, you go to the health food store and purchase “Organic” or “Natural” products and you no longer have to worry about these concerns...or do you?

“Not only are these beauty products toxic for humans, they are toxic to the environment.”

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Shoes $490 Louis Vuitton

Hat $180 Gucci Bracelet Collier De Chain $900 Hermes

Belt $900 Hermes Bag $890 Alexander Wang

Watch Big Bang Hublot

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Sandals $490 Balenciaga