Events
Must See Events Curated by Leila Najafi, Eventbrite
Brite Space LA
8 days. 8 events. 1 space. Brite Space LA is coming your way. A pop-up series hosted by Eventbrite LA featuring LA’s tastemakers under one roof for a diverse event lineup. We invite you to attend one or all of the events and spread the word to your fun-loving friends. RSVP is required. www.britespacela.com Brite Space LA 7711 Melrose Ave Los Angeles, CA 90046
Barnsdall Art Park Foundation presents Barnsdall Fridays
“...a rotating series of boutique/small-production artisanal wines for tasting. Patron of the arts and unconventional spirit Aline Barnsdall would be proud to see her homestead used for this purpose when Silverlake Wine starts tastings on the west lawn at Olive Hill/ Barnsdall Park.” - LA Weekly Friday, June 20 from 5.30pm - 8.30pm Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., CA 90027
LA Street Food Fest
Sample signature bites from a curated selection of 100+ street food vendors from hot gourmet food trucks, old school carts and stands to celebrity chefs, and street inspired dishes from LA’s best restaurants. Saturday, June 28 from 4PM - 10PM Rose Bowl , 1001 Rose Bowl Dr. Pasadena, CA 91103 code EBFAN14 for $5 off
Exploring Sonoma
The diversity inside of Sonoma is unmatched. The coolest zones of the Sonoma Coast and Russian River, to the wild and diverse Alexander and Bennett Valley’s. Come and taste the extremes and see why Sonoma maybe the most exciting place to visit, and taste wine today. Sunday, June 29, from 3:30 PM to 5.30 PM Josie Restaurant, 2424 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403
LIVE & DINE L.A.
Angeleno magazine’s 12th Annual Live & Dine L.A. In celebration of The Restaurant Issue, ANGELENO will host its annual LIVE & DINE L.A. event honoring the city’s most distinguished chefs and restaurateurs of 2014 who continue to shape and evolve L.A.’s culinary scene. Guests will be treated to culinary demonstrations prepared by the celebrated chefs, which will be paired with exclusive wines and artisanal cocktails. Sunday, July 20, from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM The Fairmont, 101 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90401
More info, and tickets for all the events at eventbrite.com Leila Najafi is the LA Marketing Manager for Eventbrite, an online ticketing and event discovery website. Stay connected with her so you’ll be in the know about upcoming events and ticket discounts. Twitter: @BriteLA Facebook: facebook.com/EventbriteLA Instagram: EventbriteLA 34 FOCUS | J U N E 2 0 14
The Style That Began with His Hair
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by Tom Callaway
he theme of this issue being “fashion and style” led me to thinking about my 30-some year friendship with one of the most stylish guys I’ve ever known, Basketball Hall of Fame Coach, Pat Riley. The most fun aspect of thinking about Pat’s personal style is that I take complete credit for it…well, at least for the part of his expanding legend dealing with his much discussed and recognized hair style. Pat’s hair wasn’t always this way. Like most of us Baby Boomers, both Pat and I had gone through a life cycle of hairstyles that reflected the times we lived in, the groups we hung with, and the films we fantasized being in. Like me, I think Pat always was, and still is, a dreamer. He passed through the pompadour years of “Rebel Without a Cause”, to the athletic buzz cuts of our sports heroes of the ‘50s and ‘60s (think Mickey Mantle and Bob Pettit), the mop top hair and side burns of the 70’s (Gimme a head with hair) and eventually into the country phase (Lookin’ for Love in all the Wrong Faces) of the 80’s where this story and our friendship began. In early 1980, I had recently moved to Los Angeles from New York to continue pursuit of an acting career. I had always been a huge sports fan, (the NBA and NFL in particular), and had relished every minute of the playoff battles between my New York Knicks of DeBusschere, Reed and Bradley against the LA Lakers of Wilt and Jerry West, with Riley off the bench to back up West. So here I was, a rookie actor in LA, trying to snare lead roles in TV series and commercials. Now, several months gone by, my commercial agent called to say she had just signed the retired Lakers player, Pat Riley for commercials… information she thought I’d enjoy, being the sports junkie that I was. Pat and his wife, Chris, had invited our agent to a game and lunch just before Pat was to broadcast the game on TV and radio with Chick Hearn. She asked if my wife, Claire and I would like to join their little party. We enjoyed the Rileys immensely, and the gals, (Chris and Claire) exchanged phone numbers for a possible follow up double date, which came to pass just a couple of days later. Now it wasn’t long before we became best of friends, spending months of time together. Along the way, Pat and I realized sports, movies and acting weren’t the only interests we had in common. In our own ways, both of us had a sense of design. I had studied art history, painting and architecture, so my design sense and our home was more gallery influenced where Pat’s was more music influenced. Rhythm and Blues and Soul tunes set the tone for both the Riley home and Pat’s wardrobe. In 1979 his clothing style leaned a bit toward Super Fly with custom fitted bell bottoms, the outside leg seams, double stitched in contrasting thread, and their home was cozy and dark, with shag carpet, dim lighting effects, tall column speakers, bongo and conga drums, and sprinkled with sports memorabilia.
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t the rear, a small pool was surrounded with lush, tropical plantings, making his every plunge into the cool waters remind one of Johnny Weissmuller diving off a hanging vine. We celebrated the first of many New Year’s Eves together in 1981. As a lark, I suggested the four of us go to New Year’s a la The Great Gatsby (Scott Fitzgerald’s classic tale of the wild, 1920’s excesses of wealthy New England society). Pat wasn’t clear about what I was