July 2009
Overheard—July 2009
“Actually, I’ve slept with women from all the Axis powers,” said a smoker in front of the Red Lion Tavern in Silver Lake. Read what else was overheard this month...
Categories: Overheard
No One Is Auto Immune
Lexus? Mercedes? Jeep? Going through the stress of buying a car in L.A. is actually an opportunity to ask yourself some serious questions—and a good reason to answer them correctly.
Categories: My L.A.
Where There’s Smoke...
Santa Monica's Tinder Box tobacco shop goes back a long way. But to diehard smokers, it's just as fresh and welcoming as the day they walked in. Who cares if the world is changing around it?
Categories: Back/Story / City Landmarks / L.A. History
Greg Kurstin
Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Greg Kurstin has worked with artists as diverse as Ben Harper, Jane’s Addiction, Kylie Minogue and Pink. Now he's producing Lily Allen. What's his secret?
Categories: Interviews / Music / Turn It Up
The Style List—July 2009
Must-haves for summer, including spray-on makeup, T-shirts and totes for good causes, Kiehl's sunflower recovery pak and shopping for high-end vintage dresses.
Categories: Beauty / Design / Fashion / Shopping / The Style List
culture(d)—July 2009
Arts and Culture Editor Mayer Rus highlights and latest art and design of Erika Brunson, Martin Brudnizki, Trina Turk and Larry Johnson.
Categories: Art / Culture / culture(d) / Design
palate—July 2009
Lora Zarubin's picks for the best snacks and beverages for summer, including Spanish beers, Sue Moore's top dogs in Glendale, Scoops gelato and Argentine grilling.
Categories: Drinks / Entertaining / Food / palate
Richard ShapiroGrand Tour
Richard Shapiro’s Holmby Hills manse delivers an object lesson in the masterful pairing of art and design.
Categories: Art / Design / Photos / Pictorials
Tastemakers 2009 Sharon Johnston & Mark Lee
Without a trademark style, architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee challenge the lone-draftsman romantic ideal. “Our common thread is that we try to have as much complexity in a project as possible while maintaining its coherence and directness." A winning formula indeed.
Categories: Architecture
Tastemakers 2009 Walead Beshty
Walead Beshty’s presence in Los Angeles is a boon not only for his students at Art Center College of Design but for the entire art community.
Categories: Art
Tastemakers 2009 Jason Kilar
Jason Kilar didn't set out to best YouTube. In crafting Hulu, he leveraged access to a library of premium content, stayed away from user-generated video, offered limited commercials and created a uniquely clean cinematic experience. Who's winning now?
Categories: Digital
Tastemakers 2009 Conan O’Brien
Conan O'Brien’s “Run Across America” Tonight Show debut on June 1 was an entrance that simply had to be YouTube’d, Hulu’d and savored. (Google it now if you missed it—I’ll wait.) The man is on a mission.
Categories: Humor / Television / TV
Tastemakers 2009 José Andrés
The last time a restaurant and chef got the kind of buzz José Andrés is getting for the Bazaar was when Wolfgang Puck opened Spago on Sunset, and people were eating duck pizza in droves.
Categories: Food
Tastemakers 2009 Geoff McFetridge
Graphic artist Geoff McFetridge favors softly contoured animalistic characters and line-drawn, Sgt. Pepper’s– reminiscent figures—a style that's well suited to clients of every ilk.
Tastemakers 2009 Katy Rodriguez
Katy Rodriguez's eponymous line has been a favorite of New York fashion editors since 2006, when the “Criss Cross” cocktail dress debuted and quickly became a must-have for Hollywood’s young and restless.
Categories: Fashion
Tastemakers 2009 Commune
The founding of Commune—the West Hollywood design firm that, in five years, has built a portfolio that includes residential interiors, shops, a restaurant, a hotel and sundry “branding” strategies—could make a good setup for a movie.
Categories: Design
Tastemakers 2009 Michael Maltzan
From his offices in Silver Lake, Maltzan has developed one of the most groundbreaking architectural practices in the nation—an achievement that led to his being named a finalist for the 2009 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award.
Categories: Architecture
Tastemakers 2009 Liseanne Frankfurt
The people who frequent Liseanne Frankfurt's Venice boutique, LFrank, on Abbot Kinney “are looking for significance and quality—not for something trendy or mass produced.” And they find it.
Categories: Design
Tastemakers 2009 Fatima Robinson
Fatima Robinson lives to stay in touch with vibrant young dancers. One of the places they flock to is her aptly named dance studio, Foresight—where “money doesn’t matter. and creativity is king.” Hence the birth of the jerk movement.
Tastemakers 2009 Cedd Moses
Cedd Moses launched the Westside martini lounge Liquid Kitty in 1996 and had a satori moment. Since then, he has opened a string of landmark watering holes—from the Golden Gopher and Seven Grand to the Varnish and the Doheny.
Categories: Drinks
Tastemakers 2009 Guillermo Uribe
With an eye toward community, Guillermo Uribe conceived his Boyle Heights club, Eastside Luv Wine Bar y Queso, as a space for Mexican-Americans to celebrate their past and their present.
Tastemakers 2009 Arianne Phillips
Known for her fluency in both costume design and print-editorial styling, Arianne Phillips has an aesthetic that consistently defies the safe and expected, including a 12-year collaboration with Madonna.
Tastemakers 2009 Ann Philbin
In one decade, Ann Philbin turned oil baron Armand Hammer’s roundly despised vanity project into the hippest and most dynamic cultural institution in town—UCLA's Hammer Museum.
Categories: Art
Tastemakers 2009 Bettina Korek
Bettina Korek, founder of ForYourArt, became a “metacurator" and has expanded with a marketing division called FYAworld. FYA is a supporting partner of the Watts House Project, an urban revitalization of homes in Los Angeles.
Categories: Art
Tastemakers 2009 Andreas Mitisek
“When you go see a film, you want to see something new,” says Long Beach Opera director Andreas Mitisek. “So, why should you always want to see the same opera?” He's got a point.
Categories: Music
Tastemakers 2009 Sue Naegle
With the success of Six Feet Under and True Blood charging the way, Sue Naegle, president of HBO Entertainment, is overseeing Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire and the fantasy Game of Thrones—and taking the cable net back to the top.
Categories: Television / TV
Tastemakers 2009 Daniel Siegel, M.D.
Executive director of Mindsight and codirector of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, Daniel Siegel digs into how one's mind can be channeled to help the whole body.
Categories: Health+Wellness
Tastemakers 2009 Cash Warren
Business partners with Baron Davis. Married to Jessica Alba. Modest as he is in person, Cash Warren has grand aspirations: to redefine Los Angeles culture and create new entertainment: “The next cultural explosion will be fueled by homegrown talent.”
Tastemakers 2009 Eric Shanks
Eric Shanks, EVP of DirecTV's entertainment division, has rescued canceled shows with loyal fan bases—Showtime’s Sleeper Cell and ABC’s Wonderland—and given them another window. His aim is simple: Keep quality content alive.
Categories: Television / TV
Tastemakers 2009 The Berrics
To bring skateboarding back to its roots, Steve Berra and Eric Koston founded the Berrics, a private skate park at a downtown L.A. warehouse, to give the pros a place to practice and to film videos without police interference.
Tastemakers 2009 Ryan Kavanaugh
He passed on a recording contract, but Ryan Kavanaugh launched Relativity Media, the company that has financed or produced and distributed more than 100 films—and racked up more than $7.4 billion. Not a bad trade-off.
Tastemakers 2009 Sally McQuillan
Ask any number of decorating heavyweights, and they’ll tell you fiercely inventive fabric designer Sally McQuillan, known for setting trends in color and pattern, is a home-furnishings sensation.
Categories: Design / Interior / Interiors+Interior Design
Tastemakers 2009 James Krug
James Krug’s Falcon Waterfree Technologies, makes urinals that require no running water, thanks to a biodegradable sealant liquid whose density is lower than urine's. Who doesn't love that?
Categories: Technology
Tastemakers 2009 Tim Leiweke
The head of AEG, Tim Leiweke has overseen the creation of the Staples Center, Nokia Theatre and more, and next year he'll open a dual hotel complex—part Ritz-Carlton, part Marriott—that he believes will alter the downtown area in a major way.
Tastemakers 2009 Jason Nadler
As head of UTA Online, Jason Nadler scours for the homegrown talents who make YouTube hits and then he tracks the auteurs for potential commercial deals. In short, he's a Web starmaker.
Tastemakers 2009 Elon Musk
Inc. magazine’s 2007 Entrepreneur of the Year is a master tinkerer, from cofounding Paypal to designing rockets in El Segundo. Now as head of Tesla Motors, he's about to set the electric-car market on its ear.
Categories: Automotive / Cars / Technology
(Don’t) Show Him the Money
Bruin pitching phenom Gerrit Cole—a die-hard Yankee fan—said no to a massive offer from New York's MLB powerhouse. But why?
Categories: Good Sport / Sports
Eric Idle’s Motivation
Eric Idle—a "vaguely straight man" who loves his musical theater—takes us back to waiting for the awards to roll in for his beloved Monty Python's Spamalot on its big Tony year. How long would he have to stew?
Categories: My Best Story / Theater
