Los Angeles Magazine - January 2023

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WHERE TO EAT NOW

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Rick Ross’s $1.5 million selfie chain, purportedly the world’s most expensive.

» From an over-the-top seafood temple to José Andrés’s latest venture, we feature a diversity of destinations for every taste, budget, and occasion.

Never mind the dumpster fire at Twitter. The richest man in the world’s bigger headache may be Tesla.

56 Cold Opening

Warner Bros. Discovery’s new CEO slashed hundreds of jobs, canceled Batgirl, and enraged Hollywood’s creative class. What will David Zaslav do for an encore?

64

The Real Bling

Hip-hop artists in L.A. and beyond inspired some of the most outrageous—and gorgeous—jewelry ever created. A remarkable new book traces its path from the DJ booth to the mainstream.

2 LAMAG.COM
JANUARY 202 3 Features
JULIA BEVERLY, LOS ANGELES, 2003
36 Elon Musk’s Crash Course
MINI MC
Best New Restaurants
L.A.’s
PAGE 44

Haile Lidow collects fashion from the past, and she wears it well.

Buzz

Gone Girl

› The trans fugitive who set o weeks of riots by disrobing in Wi Spa’s locker room bares it all in an exclusive Q&A.

BY JASON MCGAHAN AND JEREMY LEE QUINN

PAGE 11

The Brief

› Is Michael Jackson the King of Pop forever?

The L.A. Times has left the building. Brendan Fraser declines an invite. Tumbleweeds everywhere! Caviar Kaspia arrives.

PAGE 14

Our House

› Ma Maison was the celebrity-packed hot spot where a young Wolfgang Puck became as big as the stars he served.

BY COLMAN ANDREWS

PAGE 16

TikTok Dough

› When social media influencers have street cred but lack bank credit, they turn to one realtor.

BY TARA WEINGARTEN

PAGE 18

Ask Chris

› Are any of the old orange packinghouses still around? Did the Navy ban filming because of Cher? Is it legal to plant edible vegetation in a park? Our resident historian answers all your burning questions.

CHRIS NICHOLS

PAGE 108

ON THE COVER

Set Design Dane Johnson

Fashion Styling Karen Levitt

Food Styling Rebecca Farr

GREG SIEBEL; MODEL: MINJI AT PHOTOGENICS; HAIR: RYAN TANIGUCHI; MAKEUP: AMY CHIN; MANICURE: ERIN LEIGH MOFFETT; GELATIN ARTIST: JACOB SEMANS; SHOT AT ISSUE STUDIO; FASHION CREDITS: ON MODEL: DRESS LAPOINTE; EARRING & LARGE PINK RING FROM PAUMÉ LOS ANGELES; ON TABLE: PINK BAG DAFNE SAFFIANO; VINTAGE SUNGLASSES FROM LIDOW ARCHIVE; NECKLACE ON BAG VERSACE

STYLIST

4 LAMAG.COM
JANUARY 202 3 PHOTOGRAPHED BY LENKA ULRICHOVA Incoming! › As the Sundance Film Festival takes increasingly fewer risks, is it still relevant? Groundlings comedy improv is a GAS. East Hollywood is the new “It” neighborhood. Celebrity stylist Haile Lidow strikes a pose. PAGE 21
ASSISTANT: Photographed by Julia Johnson Creative Direction Greg Garry
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LAST MONTH , we published a piece about Rebecca Grossman, a Hidden Hills socialite facing vehicular homicide charges after the Mercedes she was driving struck and killed two young brothers in Westlake Village. Not everyone was happy with that story. Indeed, we’ve received hundreds of irate emails from readers. Some objected to the tone of the piece, perceiving our interview with Grossman as too sympathetic. Others complained that we photographed her for the article—the picture, they insisted, was too flattering. At least one reader felt we were too harsh on Grossman. That’d be Grossman herself, who threatened to sue us after the story came out.

I could spend the rest of this editor’s note defending the story line by line—pointing out that its tone was painstakingly neutral, that the photograph of Grossman was deliberately unglamorous, that the article made abundantly clear that the true victims of this tragedy were the two little boys and their surviving family, whose ongoing struggle to

fi nd justice in court was also a large part of the piece—but I don’t think it would do any good. Because what most people seem to be objecting to isn’t really the content of the story but the fact that we published any sort of interview with Grossman at all. Why give a heedless socialite whose recklessness behind the wheel resulted in such a horrible calamity any sort of coverage in our pages?

There’s a pretty simple answer to that question: journalism.

Rebecca Grossman is a well-known personality in Los Angeles—she’s married to one of the most revered doctors in the city, Peter H. Grossman, founder of the famous Grossman Burn Center, where Anne Heche died and Jay Leno was treated—who is about to go on trial for murder. That alone makes her a figure of intense public interest. Yes, she did an indisputably terrible thing. She may end up spending decades behind bars because of it. Nobody writing for this magazine is suggesting that she should receive any leniency or sympathy. But nobody can deny that all of the above also makes Grossman a fascinating subject, a cautionary tale illustrating how just one monumentally stupid moment in an otherwise blessed life can destroy not only innocent victims’ lives but also your own.

Some readers felt we were giving Grossman a “platform” to spin her side of the story. I don’t see it that way. I think we were navigating the nuances of a heartbreaking and, for sure, infuriating tragedy. And that’s the job of journalism—to interview and write about not just good people doing good works but also those who’ve taken a terribly wrong turn, whether it’s a socialite driving her Mercedes in the suburbs or a politician who gets caught taking bribes or an inner-city kid who ends up shooting a cop. All of them have backstories worthy of exploring. That’s our job. Your job, readers, is to listen to what these people have to say and make up your own minds about what you think of it.

8 LAMAG.COM BY MAER ROSHAN Editor’s Note PHOTOGRAPHED BY LENKA ULRICHOVA
Maer Roshan,
“The job of journalism isn’t to interview just good people but also those who’ve taken a terribly wrong turn.”

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Gone Girl

THE TRANS FUGITIVE WHO SET OFF WEEKS OF RIOTS BY DISROBING IN WI SPA’S LOCKER ROOM BARES IT ALL IN AN EXCLUSIVE Q&A

LAMAG.COM 11 ILLUSTRATED BY
ROBERT CARTER

DARREN MERAGER’S exact location is unknown. On the lam from the law, the Arcadia-born fugitive is understandably cagey about revealing any geographical information. But we definitely do know where Merager was at 10 p.m. on June 23, 2021: in a Korean bathhouse at the corner of Wilshire and South Rampart, causing a near-riot by exposing his—or was it her?—penis to a locker room full of women.

Merager, you may recall, was at the red-hot center of a huge blowup over trans rights during that summer, a controversy that captured national attention (Tucker Carlson certainly weighed in) and triggered pitched protests around Wi Spa’s K-Town-adjacent neighborhood that left storefronts shattered and led to scores of arrests (and, ultimately, a warrant for Merager’s arrest for indecent exposure). Was Merager a trans martyr simply exercising her legal right to disrobe in a women’s locker room? Or a pervert using L.A.’s progressive trans rights ordinances as a loophole to flash his private parts?

Nearly two years later, nobody has an answer to that question. But today, we do have Merager in the flesh talking about what happened that night at Wi Spa and in the weeks afterward. The following exclusive Q&A, edited for clarity, comes from several conversations with Merager taped in September.

You must have seen the protests at Wi Spa that you sparked. What was your reaction to them?

> That was the craziest thing. I was completely caught o guard by that. I live my own personal private life. I try to stay aware of the community, but I’m very much a person that doesn’t belong to any type of organization. Even put me under a transgender umbrella, and I’m very uncomfortable. [But] when they had that second protest, on July 17th, I wanted to really understand why [people were] protesting. I actually went down there just to witness it.

Where were you at the protest? With which side did you stand?

> I was very close to the epicenter. I stayed in my car.

Did you talk to anyone there?

> I was first contacted by a Black female who then went and summoned a large group to confront me. It appeared to be a mixture of antifa types as well as this Black and pink group.

Why did they confront you?

> Because maybe one of them saw me on my binoculars. They made a point to come up to my vehicle and really threaten me. They had no idea who I am.

Did you tell them you were the trans person at the heart of the whole controversy?

> I said, “I’m the whole purpose you’re here.” They

denied it. They said, “No, you’re a Proud Boy. People like us don’t drive Escalades.”

When the incident at Wi Spa first started making noise on social media, there were some outlets — like The Guardian, Slate and Insider — who speculated that it was a hoax, that you didn’t exist. How’d that make you feel?

> They said it was a hoax because no one had my name. Wi Spa doesn’t retain names of people that use the spa. They have credit card receipts, but I paid in cash; no one ever knew who I was. What people don’t realize is that I

came forward and gave my name to the LAPD.

Why did you do that?

> I guess I realized that maybe I am very important to the world—because look how important this really is. This is an injustice. I’m the victim here.

How did the LAPD respond to your tip?

> They thought it was a hoax too because they didn’t have a name. So I said, “No, it’s not a hoax; I can prove I was there because I parked on Wilshire that night and got two parking tickets. They almost towed my car!”

But then you decide to run. How come?

> With the Wi Spa warrant, I couldn’t bail out. They [were going to] put my bail to the point where it’s just through

12 LAMAG.COM 1: ©JILL CONNELLY/ZUMA WIRE BUZZ | HIS AND HERS
“I’m legally female. But I have facial hair. I have a penis.”
1

the roof. I mean, it could be close to a million dollars. There’s no way I’d ever be able to get out. That’s not turning yourself in. I said, “I’m not going to just be kidnapped. Enough is enough.”

Let’s back up a second. Should we be using male or female pronouns with you? How do you identify?

> I’m very neutral, like nonbinary, although I don’t like that word. I’m legally female. But I have facial hair. I have a penis. I have no breasts. I don’t have a feminine voice. I don’t wear makeup or dress up like a female. So imagine you’re a grocery store [clerk] and you’re bagging my groceries and you say, “Excuse me, sir . . . ” I mean, am I supposed to be o ended? That’d be ridiculous. How would this person know? But technically, for legal terms, I am she/her.

I put female on my driver’s license. But I’ve had to struggle my whole life fitting into tradtional society.

And you sleep with women?

You’re a female who has heterosexual sex with females?

> I have heterosexual sex because my penis fits in a vagina. I don’t tell women I’m with that I’m transgender because that’s not my sex. So I’m not faking anything. Gender is internal, sex is external.

But you are a convicted sex o ender, aren’t you? Weren’t you once caught without pants and masturbating while peering into the window of an 85-yearold Arcadia woman?

> So what happened was this elderly man got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, and his bathroom

overlooks another yard [and he saw me masturbating]. But even if it was masturbation, I don’t have a problem with that because that’s not illegal. It’s only illegal if you’re masturbating in someone’s face, like George Michael.

What did you think of the story Los Angeles magazine published about the skirmishes around Wi Spa?

> It was on the cover of the Christmas issue of the magazine. So I had to read it. The story was as accurate as it could be, with information they were getting. But I have a big problem with the very end, when a supposed transgender person called Bamby Salcedo talks about me.

You mean Bamby Salcedo, president and CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition, the largest trans-led

1. Demonstrators outside Wi Spa in July 2021.

2. A video feed reveals Merager’s parked SUV at the protests.

3. Bamby Salcedo, CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition, whom Merager refers to as a “supposed” transgender person.

4. Merager: “I’m very neutral, like non-binary, although I don’t like that word.”

organization in L.A.? She said in the story, “You’d think after getting arrested a bunch of times, she’d just change clothes in a stall.”

> Right. So in the article, she says she goes to Wi Spa three times a year and she gets naked in there and she never has a problem. So I spoke to Bamby Salcedo on the phone before the story came out. She admitted to me that she has boobs and she takes o her top but that she does not take o her bottoms because she has a penis. Nobody knows she’s transgender.

Nobody knows you’re transgender and you have a penis. What’s the di erence? And why do you call Bamby a “supposed” transgender person?

LAMAG.COM 13 2: COURTESY DARREN MERAGER; 3: COURTESY VILLAIN REPORT; 4. AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK
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( CONTINUED ON PAGE 107) 3 2
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The Brief

Michael’s death in 2009. And the family has been ferocious in protecting it, filing numerous lawsuits against interlopers, like Sony Music (which used the term on a posthumous 2016 Jackson release) as well a snack company that attempted to peddle popcorn on a website called kingofpop.com (the domain has since become a Jackson fan site).

The commoner Styles has yet to comment on the controversy.

L.A. TIMES TO DTLA: “SEE YA!”

now, the paper is ditching its 26-acre printing facility on Olympic Boulevard, where the presses have been rolling since the 1980s. That’s scheduled to shut down in 2024, when the Times turns its printing needs over to Southern California News Group, the Irvine-based company that also churns out paper editions of the Times’s sister publication, the San Diego Union-Tribune. The old printing plant, which has been purchased by real estate developer Atlas Capital Group for $240 million, will soon be turned into a 17-soundstage film facility.

HARRY STYLES is indisputably the hottest act in the music business right now, with multiple platinum albums and sold-out residencies at Madison Square Garden in New York and at the Forum here in L.A. So, when Rolling Stone UK dubbed him “The King of Pop” in a cover story last summer, who could possibly object?

Cue “Beat It.”

“The King of Pop is a unique achievement,” Prince Jackson, the late Michael Jackson’s 25-year-old son, told Entertainment Tonight in October, pushing back against Rolling Stone

giving his dad’s old title to Styles. “[Michael] broke boundaries. He was popular on a global basis. At one point, he was the most famous person in the world. The King of Pop is a title that I just don’t think could ever be taken.”

Prince isn’t the only member of the Jackson clan who’s been bristling at Styles’s new moniker. “There is no new King of Pop,” tweeted Michael’s nephew Taj Jackson. “The title has been retired.”

Taj and Prince may actually have a point here—the Jacksons do in fact own the title: the singer’s estate trademarked the phrase “King of Pop” shortly after

IT’S OFFICIAL, the Los Angeles Times has given up on downtown Los Angeles. First, in 2018, it abandoned its historic art deco headquarters on 1st Street, near City Hall, selling the property to Onni Group, a real estate developer that plans to build two high-rises on the site. The Times editorial sta decamped to new digs in El Segundo. And

DON’T SAVE A SEAT FOR BRENDAN FRASER

AT LEAST one movie star is continuing to boycott the Golden Globes. Although the scandalridden awards show is returning to NBC this January, Brendan Fraser, whose latest turn in The Whale is generating tons of buzz, has told GQ magazine that he has no intention of showing up.

14 LAMAG.COM
NEWS & NOTES FROM ALL OVER KING COLLAGE: GETTY IMAGES; L.A. TIMES : AP PHOTO/DAMIAN DOVARGANES
WILL THE REAL “KING OF POP” PLEASE STAND UP?
IT AND FIND
MICHAEL JACKSON’S FAMILY TELLS HARRY STYLES TO BEAT HIMSELF ANOTHER TITLE BY RYAN LEUTERITZ YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE The L.A. Times’s printing presses on Olympic Boulevard are shutting down next year in yet another sign that the Times, it is a-changing. LONG LIVE THE KING The royal battle between Harry Styles and Michael Jackson’s heirs.

“I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” he said of the group that hosts the Globes. “No, I will not participate.”

Ru alo tweeted)? Are they back on board?

At this writing, the answer is unclear, but at least one top Hollywood awards publicist is pretty sure the stars will come out. “The show will go on,” he tells Los Angeles, predicting that “much bigger stars than Brendan Fraser” will turn up at this year’s event. “The Globes are good for business. They’re good for box o ce. They’re good for ratings. Why shouldn’t they go on? The industry needs all the help it can get.”

GOT ANY WEED? SANTA MONICA DOES

Park and Lancaster,” explains Ken Pellman, a public information ocer in the L.A. County Department of Agricultural Commissioner/Weights & Measures. “We do a sweep of them every fall. They’re definitely more noticeable in drier weather.”

Pellman says the tumbleweeds aren’t dangerous—unless, of course, somebody lights a match. “Can you imagine if one caught fire,” he says, “and started rolling down, say, the Third Street Promenade?”

ending the era of the superstar majordomo.

Well, not quite forever. Denton has resurfaced as director of client relations at Caviar Kaspia, the new ultra-luxe fish-egg canteen on Melrose that opened in October. “I did some consulting,” Denton explains about how he landed the new gig. “And then I got this call . . .”

Fraser’s history is indeed harrowing; he claimed to have been groped at a 2003 luncheon by then-HFPA head Philip Berk . But will Fraser be the only no-show, or has all that furor back in 2021 over the HFPA’s lack of diversity blown over now that the organization has beefed up its equity bona fides by adding 100 new members of color? What about Tom Cruise, who went so far as to return his three Globes statuettes at the height of the boycott? Will he be attending? Or how about previous winners Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ru alo, who both posted outrage at the organization (“I cannot feel proud or happy about being a recipient of this award,”

WE KNOW that people are leaving Los Angeles in droves—in 2021, the county led the nation in population decline, with nearly 160,000 residents moving elsewhere for other parts—but tumbleweeds in the streets? Really?

Turns out those big balls of bristles rolling around the Westside aren’t a sign that L.A. is becoming a ghost town; they’re an annual occurrence caused by arid conditions and high winds. Usually, the tumbleweeds blow around the Antelope Valley and in the foothills of the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains. But they are a lot more conspicuous this year—they’ve even been spotted in Santa Monica— thanks to the continuing drought that’s made the last three years the driest on record.

“They mostly pile up in the fall in Gri th

WOULD YOU BUY A $1,000 POTATO FROM THIS MAN?

AS MAITRE D’ of Mr. Chow for 30 years, Chris Denton has been air-kissed by the biggest A-listers in Hollywood. Warren Beatty,

The callers were Sam-Ben Avrahim and Rahav Zuta, two fashion industry entrepreneurs who’d decided to open a West Hollywood outpost of the nearly 100-yearold Paris-based Caviar Kaspia, famous for its $1,000 baked potatoes and ritzy clientele. “They flew me to Paris where I worked in-house for a week,” says Denton. “It was so e ortlessly chic.”

Thanks in part to Denton’s celebrity cred,

Kaspia is already making a splash. A

“I still can’t believe my luck at where I’ve landed.”—M.G.

LAMAG.COM 15 FRASER: RODIN ECKENROTH/GETTY IMAGES; DENTON: THOMAS DROTAR
LAX’S RANKING IN A NEW STUDY OF THE WORST U.S. AIRPORTS IN TERMS OF LOST LUGGAGE. THE GOOD NEWS: AIRPORTS IN CHICAGO, LAS VEGAS, SAN DIEGO, AUSTIN, ATLANTA, AND CHARLOTTE ARE ALL WORSE. STAR CROSSED Brendan Fraser (pictured with Whale costar Sadie Sink) says he’s skipping the Golden Globes. But whether others in Hollywood will follow remains to be seen. TURNING THE TABLES Chris Denton says ciao to Mr. Chow and hello to Caviar Kaspia.
7
recent private party for designer Giambattista Valli was attended by Angela Bassett, Alexandra Daddario, Kiernan Shipka, Kaitlyn Dever and Law Roach. Gushes Denton, Jack Nicholson, Barbra Streisand, Oprah Winfrey they’ve all counted on the British-born host to save them the best table in the house (often on the same night). But two years ago, at the peak of the pandemic, Denton left Mr. Chow, forever

Our House

THAT’S JOAN Collins having lunch on the patio and Lauren Hutton two tables over. There are Jack Lemmon, Jacqueline Bisset, Swifty Lazar, Rod Stewart, Billy Wilder. Orson Welles is here, but you can’t see him; he’s eating inside, alone, hidden in an alcove just to the right of the entrance. Wolfgang Puck is in the kitchen.

Just another afternoon at Ma Maison, circa 1979.

For more than a decade, Ma Maison, which opened 50 years ago this December on Melrose Avenue at Kings Road, was L.A.’s quintessential everyone-who’s-anyone restaurant, its most glamorous celebrity sandbox—the Chasen’s or Romano ’s of the ’70s, the West Coast Elaine’s, the pre-Spago in more ways than one.

The man behind the place was a tall, handsome, deep-voiced young Frenchman named Patrick Terrail, descended from French restaurant royalty: his grandfather and greatgrandfather had run famous Paris restaurants; his uncle, Claude Terrail, was then in charge of the celebrated La Tour d’Argent. Patrick was a bit of a black sheep. He’d moved to the U.S. at 17, studied hotel management at Cornell University, and worked at the Four Seasons and El Morocco in Manhattan before heading to L.A. and taking a job with Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer. In 1973, he decided to open a restaurant of his own, borrowing part of the $40,000 start-up money from Gene Kelly, one of his Uncle Claude’s regulars in Paris.

When Ma Maison fired up its oven—singular, the kitchen was that small—no one could have predicted

what the restaurant would become. The interior, furnished on the cheap, had a generic imitation-bistro look. The front patio, where it turned out everybody wanted to sit, was a cliché of low-rent SoCal outdoor living: AstroTurf flooring, white plastic chairs, café umbrellas.

The menu was hardly more ambitious—salade Niçoise, pâté maison, brochettes of chicken and beef. Patrick himself did some of the cooking at fi rst. George Christy, reviewing the restaurant for this magazine, called the pâté “a joke” and the brochettes “tough, stringy, not especially flavorful.”

Things changed in 1975, when Patrick hired a young French-trained Austrian chef named Wolfgang Puck, who reproduced the old menu briefly but soon started turning out cream of sorrel soup, steamed oysters with

1 16 LAMAG.COM BUZZ | SO L.A. 1.: ALAN BERLINER/BEI/SHUTTERSTOCK; 2.: TESSA: DIGITAL COLLECTIONS OF THE LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY
HOW MA MAISON , A FAUX FRENCH BISTRO ON MELROSE WITH TERRIBLE FOOD, BECAME ONE OF THE BIRTHPLACES OF CALIFORNIA CUISINE
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baby vegetables, grilled chicken with sherry vinegar—dishes that might seem tame today but were cuttingedge California-nouvelle at the time. (It’s probably no accident that such future culinary stars as Mark Peel, Susan Feniger, Gordon Hamersley, and Josie Le Balch worked in Puck’s kitchen.)

For a couple of years in the latter 1970s, I had lunch every Thursday at Ma Maison, and I remember vividly the way it felt to walk into the place when it was running at full speed: exciting, a bit daunting, a little unreal, like opening a door into a secret chamber filled with everybody you’d ever heard of and being made to feel somehow at home even though you weren’t really part of the crowd.

Friday was supposed to be the day to lunch at Ma Maison, but whoever was casting Thursdays did a great job. Bisset and Lemmon were almost always there, but you’d also see Goldie Hawn, Michael Caine, Ursula Andress, Suzanne Pleshette, Ray Stark, John and Mo Dean, David Hockney (who drew one of the menu covers).

Puck’s cooking and his amiable personality, inevitably described as “puckish,” were key to the restaurant’s success. But Patrick, who wore dark, double-breasted suits with Charvet ties and red carnation boutonnieres even on hot afternoons, contributed a showman’s sense of image-building—the famously unlisted phone number, the trophycars-only parking lot. He also had a wicked sense of humor, hanging the awards Ma Maison regularly won from the Southern California Restaurant Writers Association dangerously close to the urinals in the men’s room. (When he overheard a regular joking that he preferred cheeseburgers to this fancy French stu , Patrick sent a busboy down the street to bring back a sackful and served them ceremoniously in place of whatever the guy had ordered.)

In 1981, Puck—by then a star

chef—left to open Spago with his future wife, Barbara Lazaro .

To replace him, Patrick imported Claude Segal from the Michelinstarred La Ciboulette in Paris. His food was good and the celebrities kept coming, but some of the magic seemed to be slipping away, and the restaurant su ered a major blow in 1982 when Segal’s sous-chef killed his girlfriend, actress Dominique Dunne (Joan Didion’s niece).

A rumor went around that Patrick had paid for the man’s attorney—it wasn’t true—but the a air cost the restaurant a number of prominent customers.

Celebrities still ate at Ma Maison after Segal left in 1985 (Warren Beatty threw a party there for Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston), but Patrick must have sensed that the restaurant’s time had passed, and he closed the place and sold the property late that year. Puck, of eourse, went on to become one of the most celebrated chef-restaurateurs in the world.

After licensing the Ma Maison name to the new Sofitel Hotel at Beverly and La Cienega in 1985 and running a version of the restaurant there for a few years, Patrick moved to Georgia, where he got married and, for a time, ran a bistro and a regional magazine—both now defunct. He seems to have no regrets.

“You can only run one great restaurant in your life,” he likes to say.

LAMAG.COM 17 3.: PETER BORSARI/PIP-LANDMARK MEDIA; 4., 5.: RON GALELLA/RON GALELLA COLLECTION VIA GETTY IMAGES
POWER LUNCH 1. Ma Maison chef Wolfgang Puck and owner Patrick Terrail in 1975. 2. A menu cover from the 1980s designed by French artist and Pablo Picasso muse Françoise Gilot. 3. Dudley Moore, Jackie and Joan Collins, and Michael Caine 4. Swifty Lazar 5. Tony and Leslie Curtis, and Rod Stewart
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In the ’70s, Ma Maison was L.A.’s definitive celebrity sandbox.

TikTok Dough

THE GINORMOUS

Bel-Air mansion that once might haver housed a studio chief is these days just as likely to be the home of a teenage TikTok superstar.

Just ask realtor Jonny Sorrentino, himself only 22, who’s made a budding career of finding the right digs for young internet sensations with cash to burn. What do influencers, some of whom earn $100,000 a month shilling merch like gold-dust mascara, demand in a property? “A lot of them want a huge house so they can have all their friends under one roof,” explains Sorrentino. “Usually, it’s in Sherman Oaks or Tarzana,” where there are more new properties with multiple bedrooms in which to kick it.

Sorrentino has repped influencers like Cody Orlove (with 1.8 million Instagram followers) and says that, although eager to flex their success, many young influencers don’t have established credit or even credit cards, making a real estate purchase dicey. So they lease. “They only pay cash for things and don’t understand how to build credit,” Sorrentino says. “They’ll pay $8,000, $12,000, even $25,000 per month on a lease.”

For all their extravagance, you’d think influencers would be happy campers. Not so. “A lot of them are super stressed—they only make money when something goes viral,” Sorrentino says. “They’re always looking for the next thing because, without it, they’ll have to move.”

SILVER LAKE (POOR MAN’S LOS FELIZ)

HIGHLIGHTS Straight out of a Disney fairy tale, this three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,815-square-foot Craftsman with twinkling views of downtown looks as if Snow White and her dwarfs could entertain here.

PRICE $1,495,000

CONTACT Carrabba Group at Compass, 323-899-2900

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your living-room game.

The posh panels are sold exclusively through Gregorius Pineo, the Van Cleef & Arpels of to-thetrade home furnishings. Weatherstone’s treatments feature customized

color glazes rendered in plaster or gesso that she works with specialized tools to evoke textures that mimic the play of light on concrete or the depth of layers of lacquer. gregoriuspineo.com

LAURELWOOD (POOR MAN’S TROUSDALE ESTATES)

HIGHLIGHTS This four-bedroom, three-bath, 2,566-square-foot hillside home is pure Rat Pack chic—and would command ten times the price were it located just six miles over the hill.

PRICE $2,995,000

CONTACT Marlene Geibelson, Berkshire Hathaway, 818-606-8820

EAGLE ROCK (POOR MAN’S PASADENA)

HIGHLIGHTS Just like homes in its fancypants neighbor to the east, this updated two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,374-square-foot bungalow is close to trendy restaurants and boasts dramatic Verdugo Mountain views.

PRICE $1,295,000

CONTACT Katie Crane at Compass, 310-502-2312

BUZZ | SURREAL ESTATE 18 LAMAG.COM TIKTOK: COURTESY JONNY SORRENTINO; PROPERTIES: FROM REALTORS’ WEBSITES
CASH-FLUSH INFLUENCERS WITH IFFY CREDIT TURN TO THIS TWENTYSOMETHING L.A. REALTOR TO SNAG THEIR DREAM CRIBS BY TARA WEINGARTEN
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IN THE HOUSE Sorrentino with clients and TikTok sensations the Moy Boys.
JUST DON’T CALL IT WALLPAPER

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palmdesertfoodandwine.com Join us for a spectacular culinary experience featuring a roster of celebrity and local chefs, the James Beard Gourmet Four-Course Luncheon, Saturday and Sunday Grand Tastings, Sunday Brunch, Celebrity Chef Reception, cooking demonstrations on two stages, book signings, and so much more! Calling All Food & Wine Lovers
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LAMAG.COM 21 ILLUSTRATED BY NEIL JAMIESON COLLAGE: GETTY IMAGES, PHOTOFEST, EVERETT COLLECTION, SUNDANCE INSTITUTE The Last Sundance? AMERICA’S PREEMINENT FILM FESTIVAL IS LOSING ITS COOL. YOU CAN BLAME NETFLIX. YOU CAN BLAME MARVEL. BUT THE REAL CULPRIT MIGHT BE SUNDANCE ITSELF BY PETER KIEFER Plus From sporting events to art shows, there’s plenty to do this month PAGE 24 The Groundlings celebrate 30 years of Cookin’ with GAS PAGE 26 Veteran actor Bill Nighy kills it in the new film PAGE 28 plenty to Living MOVIES

FOR DAVID PERMUT, the Sundance Film Festival is something of a religious pilgrimage. The Oscar-nominated producer of Hacksaw Ridge and a slew of other pictures has attended every year since 1991, and when he’s there he watches six movies a day, barely eats, rarely sleeps, and talks to almost no one.

“I’m like a lunatic,” he admits.

But this year, Permut won’t be attending in person. Instead, he’ll be screening the festival’s o erings online, from the comfort of his home in L.A. “The reality is,” he explains, “I can see more movies virtually than I can in the actual snow.”

Alas, Permut won’t be the only no-show in Park City, Utah, when, on January 19, Sundance kicks o its first in-person festival since the pandemic began. Indeed, this year, the once-preeminent domestic film festival—where Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez, David O. Russell, Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky, and scores of other A-list auteurs launched their careers—is facing what looks increasingly like an existential crossroads. Incredibly, people are starting to wonder if Sundance matters anymore. Even more incredibly, the answer appears to be, no, it doesn’t, at least not to Hollywood.

“Honestly, from a studio’s perspective, you’re probably better o at SXSW these days because it has an edgier feel and a younger demographic,” says a top industry publicist who’s had clients attend Sundance every year for two decades but is on the fence as to whether he’ll be going this year. “I still think Sundance can be a place of discovery for filmmakers, but I also think it’s lost some of its edge.”

When Robert Redford took over the event in 1984, it was a sleepy little get-together for movie fans called the US Film Festival. Pretty much nobody in Hollywood had heard of it, let alone were flying private jets to it. But gradually, with Redford’s backing, it became the red-hot center of the independent film world—in fact, Sundance all but invented the independent film world, turning tiny, low-budget movies like Soderbergh’s 1989 Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Tarantino’s 1992 Reservoir Dogs into crossover mainstream hits. By the early 2000s, all of Hollywood was descending on Park City every January, cutting multimillion-dollar checks for the latest undiscovered work of cinematic genius by the newest little-known indie auteur.

But the way movies are made, packaged, and sold has changed dramatically during the past five years, and the market for independent films isn’t what it used to be. You can pin part of the blame on Marvel; Hollywood’s current infatuation with jumbo-budget comic-book movies has squeezed low- and medium-budget movies o the big screen. Part of the blame also goes to Netflix and other

1

streamers, whose algorithm-based green-lighting process tends to be dictated more by data than by serendipitous screening-room discoveries.

Perhaps the biggest culprit, though, was the pandemic, which overnight forced the closure of all movie theaters, extinguishing box-o ce revenue for almost two years. Ticket sales are the lifeblood of indie movies and the primary way bets on independent films acquired at Sundance pay o .

Remember The Blair Witch Project? That film was bought by Artisan Entertainment at Sundance in 1999 for $1.1 million and went on to gross nearly $250 million worldwide. Studios are still occasionally placing those sorts of bets, and even bigger ones, but these days even when they win, they lose. Apple purchased CODA at Sundance for a record-breaking $25 million in 2021 and ended up snagging Best Picture at the Oscars. But the film’s box o ce during that COVID year ended up being a measly $2 million.

“The big question is, where is the independent film business today?” says Permut. “The audiences are starting to come back, but how independent films are doing is a big question—and those are the films that are the chief draw at Sundance.”

The audience is starting to return to theaters, that’s true, but so far, mostly for big-budget stu , especially if it

22 LAMAG.COM 1.: GEORGE PIMENTEL/WIREIMAGE; 2.: KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES; 3. MARK SAGLIOCCO/GETTY IMAGES Incoming | THE BIZ
“It was like being at your dream wedding . . . and then having a pile of shit thrown all over you.”

involves escaped genetically engineered dinosaurs or Tom Cruise in a fighter jet. Low- and mid-budget independent movies—the kind that screen at Sundance—aren’t faring nearly as well, with indie-friendly theater chains shutting down (like ArcLight) or hanging by a thread (like Laemmle, which already has closed its Pasadena location).

There is, however, still one other culprit to blame for Sundance’s recent spiral into potential irrelevance: Sundance itself.

Redford’s festival was once famous—sometimes notorious—for risk-taking. This, after all, was where, in 1995, Larry Clark premiered Kids, his super-controversial, NC-17-rated, quasi documentary that the Washington Post described as borderline child pornography. It’s where, in 2005, Michael Winterbottom premiered 9 Songs, the most sexually explicit non-pornographic film ever released (its stars performed unsimulated sexual intercourse on camera).

Even outside the screening rooms, Sundance had a reputation for cowboy antics. Like in 1996, when Harvey Weinstein got into a screaming and shoving match with a rival studio head over the rights to Scott Hicks’s schizophrenia drama Shine (“You fucker! You fucked me! You bid me up . . . you fucker!” Weinstein reportedly shouted). Or in 2009, when Variety film critic John Anderson and a film publicist named Je Dowd got into a fistfight in a Park City restaurant over the cinematic merit of an obscure documentary called Dirt! The Movie.

SUNRISE, SUNSET

Today, though, Sundance seems to have pivoted away from edgy and embraced a far more cautious attitude. So cautious, one might even use the word “cowardly.” Take, for instance, the case of Jihad Rehab, a documentary about former Guantanamo detainees that was invited to Sundance last year. The film, widely lauded by prominent critics, was directed by Meg Smaker, a first-time filmmaker who spent years in the Middle East learning Arabic but happens to be a white, blond woman from California. Muslim filmmakers took o ense at the documentary, questioning whether Smaker, a non-Arab, was qualified to make the film—prompting Sundance to do something it had never done before: apologize for showing the movie.

“For someone like me, who came from a working-class family of firefighters, getting into Sundance was beyond winning the lottery,” Smaker tells Los Angeles. “It was supposed to be life-changing, and I guess it was—just not in the way I’d hoped. It was like being at your dream wedding and getting ten feet from the altar, and then having a pile of shit thrown all over you.”

Smaker has since rebounded—she’s raised $800,000 to self-release her film—but if her experience with Sundance is at all emblematic of where the festival is heading, it does not bode well. “Sundance built its reptuation on the fact that it’s the place to showcase edgy, independent films. And if that’s gone, what are you left with? What’s the point of Sundance?” Smaker asks. “That’s why it’s been such an alarming experience and a wake-up call.”

LAMAG.COM 23 4.: THOMAS LOHNES/GETTY IMAGES FOR ZFF; 5.: JANET KNOTT/THE BOSTON GLOBE VIA GETTY IMAGES
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1. Director Steven Soderbergh with Laura San Giacomo, Andie MacDowell and Peter Gallagher at a 2009 reunion screening of Sex, Lies, and Videotape. 2. Sundance fixtures Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein in 2009. 3. Park City during the pandemic, when the festival went virtual.
4.
Jihad Rehab director Meg Smaker. 5. Clerks director Kevin Smith.
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THE TO-DO LIST

SPORTS Lakers vs. Clippers

› One five-game losing streak last fall was followed by another, leaving the Lakers barely recognizable as one of the league’s premier franchises. Beset by injuries to Dennis Schröder, Thomas Bryant, and Cole Swider, along with LeBron James’s usual aches and pains, the purple and gold have been floundering. Sure, there are rumors about Bojan Bogdanović, but is there any there there? And with Russell Westbrook relegated to sixth man, o ers are said to be streaming in, but none as sweet as the one that would have brought them John Wall, now a Clipper. Even with Kawhi Leonard’s knee injuries and ongoing groin condition, the Clippers have prevailed against the Lakers twice already this season, 103-97 and 114-101. So go cheer for one or both. They need you!

Crypto.com Arena, Jan. 24

ART The Five Directions: Lacquer Through East Asia

› Lacquer techniques and materials from the north, south, east, west, and center of East Asia have long intermingled, represented by over 80 works from Japan, China, and Korea drawn from LACMA’s permanent collection. LACMA, December 18 to April 16.

ART Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group, 1938–1945

› The Transcendentalist manifesto vowed “to carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new concepts of space,

color, light and design to imaginative realms that are idealistic and spiritual.” Works by New Mexico artists Raymond Jonson, Emil Bisttram, Agnes Pelton, and Lawren Harris aspire to abstraction grounded in the collective unconscious. LACMA, December 18 to June 19.

FICTION

The Villa: A Novel › From Rachel Hawkins, the New York Times best-selling author of The Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls, comes a murder mystery set in an Italian villa where a pair of friends are vacationing. By trying to solve an age-old murder, one of them might unwittingly inspire her own demise. January 3.

STREAMING

The Pale Blue Eye

› Based on the novel by Louis Bayard, this streamer explores Edgar Allan Poe’s short stint as a cadet at West Point (fact) assisting in a murder investigation (fiction). “He’s such a misfit.

Nobody really likes him or trusts him in West Point,” Christian Bale said of Poe at a recent press screening at the Pacific Design Center. In the film, Bale plays Detective Landor, who enlists the dark poet in solving the murder of a fellow cadet. The actor reteams with director Scott Cooper for the third time after Out of the Furnace and Hostiles, for this moody whodunit starring Harry Melling as Poe, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and the always inspiring Robert Duvall Netflix, January 6.

MOVIE M3GAN

› Horror master James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring) has created a female

Incoming | HAPPENINGS 24 LAMAG.COM
HARRY
LACQUER: ©MUSEUM
TPBE
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HARPER COLLINS; KODO: TAKASHI OKAMOTO
LAKERS AND CLIPPERS FACE OFF YOUR JANUARY CULTURAL AGENDA THE PALE BLUE EYE
THE FIVE DIRECTIONS: LACQUER THROUGH EAST ASIA

Chucky for the artificialintelligence age. A robotics engineer at a toy company builds a freaky life-size doll with a hunger for the kill. In theaters January 6.

MOVIE

A Man Called Otto

› This is the second film adaptation of the hit Swedish novel A Man Called Ove, about a lonely old grouch and SHOTGUN WEDDING

the unlikely friendship he forms with the family next door. It stars Tom Hanks as Otto, along with Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, and Mike Birbiglia In theaters January 13.

CONCERT

iHeartRadio ALTer EGO

› It’s like an epic outdoor summer music fest, only indoors in the winter. But that won’t keep Jack White, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, Fall Out Boy, Rosa Linn, CHVRCHES, Beach Weather, and Phoenix from rocking the roof o . The Forum, January 14.

DANCE

Simone Forti

› Postmodern choreographer Simone Forti gets the museum treatment in the fi rst West Coast exhibition dedicated to her career, including works on paper, videos, holograms, and performance ephemera, as well as weekly stagings of her piece Dance Constructions MOCA, January 15 to April 2.

MEMOIR

Call Me Anne

› When Anne Heche died after a car crash in L.A. last summer, she left behind memorable performances in movies like Donnie Brasco. Her legacy also includes this new memoir, a sequel to 2001’s Call Me Crazy Ellen DeGeneres, Harvey Weinstein, childhood sexual abuse—it’s all there, but so are acceptance and forgiveness. January 24.

STREAMING

Shotgun Wedding

› Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel’s luxurious destination wedding is hijacked by bad guys in this star-studded rom-com. With a supporting cast including Jennifer Coolidge, D’Arcy Carden, Melissa Hunter, Callie Hernandez, Cheech Marin, Sônia Braga, Steve Coulter, and Lenny Kravitz, love will find a way. Prime Video, January 27.

MOVIE Worlds Apart

› Gallerist Jonathan is married to Sue but has a mistress, Clarissa, whom he cannot see on account of the COVID lockdown. Forced isolation leads to a reevaluation of relationships among three couples in this comedy starring Bob Odenkirk, Radha Mitchell, and Danny Huston In theaters January 27.

THEATER The Little Foxes

› Lillian Hellman’s classic centered on three Southern siblings seething with greed and ambition gets a SoCal staging under the direction of Lisa Peterson When it premiered on Broadway in 1939, it

starred Tallulah Bankhead as the devilishly clever Regina, a role immortalized by Bette Davis in the 1941 film that received nine Oscar nominations.

South Coast Repertory, January 29 to February 26.

MEMOIR Love, Pamela

› We added the punctuation, but this is how Pamela Anderson described her memoir in an Instagram post: “I repainted scenes in detail, if it was my childhood or at the Playboy Mansion . Just one girl’s messy life—a celebration of imperfections.” The 1990s sex symbol calls the book an “unpolished attempt” by a mother, activist, and actress. January 31.

CONCERT Kodō

› Beating the traditional taiko drum for four decades, members of Kodo - reflect on the past with their One Earth Tour 2023 The program, Tsuzumi, held for two years because of COVID, traces their music to its origins in Japanese folklore blended with Chinese and Korean cultural influences dating to the sixth century.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, January 31.

LAMAG.COM 25

Still Cookin’ with Gas

“CUT!” YELLED the director. “Are you all on drugs?

Tragedy had struck Tornadoes of Eden , a ’90s-era disaster flick. An extra had sabotaged the scene by sticking out his tongue. “Can you tuck your little tongue back in your mouth?” the director asked four times. And then peals of laughter o stage stopped the action.

Turns out the movie wasn’t real. It was improvised on a Thursday night in early November by the Groundlings, L.A.’s famed comedy school and theater. Their snug 99-seat venue on Melrose brimmed at capacity for the 30th anniversary of Cookin’ with GAS, a cult show that’s seen things—and people—you wouldn’t believe.

It started with Groundling Melanie Graham, who created GAS in 1992. She’d long admired the Groundlings’ Main Company stars like Phil Hartman and Paul

Reubens, but they’d moved on. GAS mixed Groundlings, alumni, and rising stars in the Sunday Company (hence GAS ) for a night of what they loved most: improv. “Improv is kind of like heroin,” explains alum Michael McDonald. He’s talking about the high of going onstage sans script—and having it work.

Graham became the show’s first director and established its structure: two acts, six to eight players. The first act opens and closes with an improvised song, with short scenes between. The second act is usually an extended improv. Audience suggestions fuel it all.

Early on, special guests were invited in. The challenge of playing with a celebrity you’ve never met, says alum and GAS mainstay Mindy Sterling, is a thrill. “We get up there,

we don’t know who we’re gonna work with, and it’s, like, boom! Go!”

One of the first special guests was Mike Myers (who later used the Groundlings’ stage to work out his Austin Powers personae). “The Groundlings were character-based, which really spoke to me,” he says. It was here that Myers met Sterling. He loved her so much that he wrote the part of Frau Farbissina for her.

Quentin Tarantino also performed in the ’90s. “I remember him being really playful,” says GAS icon Karen Maruyama, who eventually got cast, along with Kathy Gri n and other Groundlings, in Pulp Fiction.

Big-name guests are usually won over by the Groundlings’ teamoriented approach. Paul Feig, a 2013 invitee felt nervous because he hadn’t done improv in two decades. “But they’d kind of clean up your mess,” Feig recalls, “if you shit the bed.”

To this day, the unpredictability of improv, the proximity to Hollywood, and the mystery of the celebrity guest combine for an only-in-L.A. show that’s hard to pass up.

You never know what or whom you’ll see. Perhaps Minnie Driver embodying a WNBA player. Or Jordan Peele splitting his pants. Even during lockdown, Graham’s brainchild united people who wouldn’t normally be together. Lisa Kudrow almost broke a Zoom show, as more than 200 people clamored to join.

Back in the theater, November’s anniversary show saw an electric blend of veterans and upand-comers. As actor H Michael Croner tried to stay stone-faced while begging Julian Gant to tuck in his little tongue, it was easy to see GAS ’s appeal. The joy’s infectious.

26 LAMAG.COM 1.: PAUL NATKIN/WIREIMAGE; 2.-5. COURTESY THE GROUNDLINGS; 6.:J.SCIULLI/WIREIMAGE FOR BWR PUBLIC RELATIONS Incoming | COMEDY
THE GROUNDLINGS ’ GAME-CHANGING SHOW CELEBRATES THREE DECADES OF IMPROV WITH CELEBRITY GUESTS IN L.A. BY SEAN FITZ-GERALD THE FUNNIES 1. Paul Reubens 2. Lisa Kudrow and Patrick Bristow 3. Cheryl Hines 4. Phil Hartman 5. Jennifer Coolidge 6. Will Ferrell
“The Groundlings were characterbased, which really spoke to me.”
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— Mike Myers

The End is Nighy

A STAR MASQUERADING AS A CHARACTER ACTOR, BILL NIGHY BRINGS HIS VEDDY BRITISH INSCRUTABILITY TO LIVING , A NEW ADAPTATION OF AKIRA KUROSAWA’S

IN LIVING , BILL NIGHY plays an aging bureaucrat who has six months to live. He can’t bring himself to reveal this to the people he’s supposed to be close to, like his kids, confiding instead in nearly random strangers for whom he can invent himself anew in their eyes. One is a younger guy he gets drunk with in a pub. Another is a young woman from his o ce to whom he may feel an unthreatening attraction, as everyone around him leaps to the wrong conclusions. A British version of Japanese maestro Akira Kurosawa’s 70-year-old masterpiece Ikiru, as adapted by novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, who pitched the remake to Nighy one night when they found themselves in the same cab, Living is alternately moving and misbegotten, structurally awkward, and not unlike Brendan Fraser’s The Whale, succeeds best as a vehicle for the actor at its center.

Not quite like anyone else in movies, Nighy projects the diffidence of someone who maybe aspired to be not an actor but a musician, which isn’t the case, or a writer, which is. There’s a musicality in the movement of his long frame, not so much his walk as his stance, and he’s always shared a mutual attraction with conspicuously literate properties written by Tom Stoppard or David Hare. He speaks in the cadences of someone who is at once deliberate but slightly vexed, bewildered by something about existence that only he understands; it’s not hard to believe reports that he was once o ered the role of Doctor Who. The stare of his eyes and the small smile that barely whispers to the surface of his face convey a constant bemusement that characterizes not only his day-to-day attitude but a worldview, until it erupts in rare rage such as in the climactic scene of 2011’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, when he confronts his unbearable wife and convinces you that his still waters run deep enough for that rage to have a source. His quintessential role is Johnny Worricker, the MI5 spy who came in out of the heat in the TV movie trilogy Page Eight , Turks & Caicos , and Salting the Battlefield, where the apparent amorality of his heroism disguised a moral fury that everyone persuaded themselves he didn’t have, to their own peril.

SAY WOT?

Nighy’s sti upper lip has always been marked by unmistakable flashes of Keith Richards cool.

There’s an advantage to finally becoming a star in your later years. Born working class in the English suburbs where it counts and trained as an actor in London where it also counts, Nighy didn’t register with many Americans until his washed-up rockers in 1998’s Still Crazy and then more prominently in 2003’s Love Actually, when he was well into his 50s. Now 73, he got his first starring role of any note when he was over 60. When you’ve played everything from hobbits and Nazi war criminals to mariner of doom Davy Jones and eternity’s oldest vampire, you know who you are—or you know as well as you ever will. Nighy always seemed to have the look and temperament of an obvious character actor until it became just as obvious he was more than that; sometimes stars are born—with that mix of looks, talent, charisma, and focus, was Tom Cruise ever going to be anything else?— but just as often, they’re forged of some alignment of curious coordinates. Nighy’s curious alignment finds his profile rising just in time to play dying men.

Counting down his days, so buttoned up that he’s practically choking in his collar and tie, Nighy’s bureaucrat in Living suddenly has no time to make all the connections he never made, to make his life matter in a way it never has. Nighy brings to this dying role the mystique of a lifetime: a British inscrutability that’s always been marked by fleeting but unmistakable flashes of Keith Richards cool. The tightlipped circumspection that marks so many major characters he has played is at its most laconic here, ever so precisely mapping the emotional no-man’s-land between collapse and redemption. The movie’s greatest triumph is that one of the most singular men in the movies turns out to be an everyman for the ages.

28 LAMAG.COM ILLUSTRATED BY CHRISTOPHER HUGHES Incoming | MIXED MEDIA
Nighy finds his profile rising just in time to play dying men.

Joy

Samara

Thu Feb 2 | 8pm

Christian McBride’s The Movement Revisited A Musical Portrait of Four Icons

Sat Feb 4 | 8pm

Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks

I’d Rather Lead a Band with Loudon Wainwright III

Wed Feb 8 | 8pm

Melissa Aldana Quartet JAZZ CLUB

Fri Feb 10 | 8pm

Joel Ross’ Parables JAZZ CLUB

The Parable of the Poet

Sat Feb 11 | 8pm

The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra Featuring Samara Joy

Joel Ross

Melissa Aldana Christian McBride Vince Giordano & Loudon Wainwright III

East of Eden

A TINY STRIP OF EAST HOLLYWOOD IS EMERGING AS THE CITY’S NEW HIPSTER HUB

THERE’S AN EAST SIDE zeitgeist afoot but not in Silver Lake or Echo Park. Been there, ate and shopped that. “Young people started moving to East Hollywood because they couldn’t a ord anywhere else,” explains entrepreneur Dustin Lancaster. “Rents are a ordable—that’s what’s made East Hollywood the new ‘It’ neighborhood.” Lancaster opened the area’s first boutique hotel, Hotel Covell, eight years ago, in what’s since morphed into a neighborhood Los Angeles calls “EaHo.” The 2.5-mile enclave is bound by Western Avenue, Hollywood Boulevard and the 101 freeway and encompasses Thai Town and Little Armenia. Notable landmarks: the Vista Theatre (soon to be revived by Quentin Tarantino), Barnsdall Art Park and Children’s Hospital. The stretch of stores, bars, and restaurants on Hollywood Boulevard from Hillhurst to Vermont have all sprung up in the last few years. “East Hollywood is so robust with art, flavors, cultures,” says Nicole Dougherty, co-owner of Tabula Rasa bar. “Our block is happily now one of the most walkable blocks in L.A.”

1Esqueleto Gallery

» Owner-jewelry designer Lauren Wolf opened a shop in her studio in Oakland in 2011. Now, five stores later (New York, San Diego, Echo Park, East Hollywood), all Esqueleto locations carry unique art, jewelry, crafts, and decorative objects. Wolf’s vendors are indie artisans—everything is handcrafted and individualized. The jewelry varies in price point but tends toward the artisanal; many necklaces and rings are built for stacking, including unique engagement and wedding rings for rugged individualists.

» 4618 Hollywood Blvd., shopesqueleto.com.

2Starday Vintage

» Starday’s co-owners, retro-tressed-and-dressed redhead Nicole Bernstein and husband Ben McCarthy, tool around town in two 1950s Buicks as authentically vintage as their wares: pedigreed pieces for women (Rudi Gernreich! Giorgio di Sant’Angelo!) and men, costume jewelry, handbags, hats, lingerie, snoods, California pottery, dishes, phones, and clocks. “Our collection ranges from 1920s to 1990s,” says Bernstein. “We go looking for anything old and try to save it.” Attention music bu s: one corner’s jam-packed with vintage guitars and vinyl.

» 4665 Hollywood Blvd, stardayvintage.com.

Incoming | NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH 30 LAMAG.COM

Sōgo Roll Bar

» Devour flavorful sushi rolls while they’re warm, suggest co-owners Dustin Lancaster and Sarah Dietz. “We toast the nori before we make them (yellowtail, scallop, lobster, and more); the outside’s crunchy, the rice is warm.” Order sets of three, four, five, or six. If rolls aren’t your thing, try avocado crispy rice or donburi (rice bowls with fish). “ ‘Sōgo’ means mutual in Japanese,” says Lancaster. “We locals needed some serious sushi around here.” There’s a long bar inside and outside tables for more leisurely dining.

» 4634 Hollywood Blvd., sogorollbar.com

4Little Giants

» “Lame Parents Stay Away,” warns a red neon sign at Little Giants, a chic store opened in 2021 by the Brooklyn original. But tykes and toddlers are welcome: the space is full of groovy goods for pint-size hipster newborns through ten-year-olds. The upstairs event loft (baby break dancing, anyone?) has a behemoth red S-curved slide that leads little feet into a pile of plastic balls on the first floor. There, parents and progeny can peruse Little Giants camo bucket hats, toys, books, tees, kicks, sweats, hoodies—even wee onesies.

» 4675 Hollywood Blvd., wearelittlegiants.com

5Tabula Rasa Natural Wine Bar

» The popular natural-wine bar’s been home to poets, musicians and artists for six years now, opening at 2 p.m. every day so creatives can work at the bar with the help of a glass of red, white, rosé, or orange wine. “Natural wine,” explains Nicole Dougherty (co-owner with Zach Negin) “is from family farms, handpicked, nonmanipulated—like traditional wines were made.” Tabula Rasa holds wine events and live jazz as well as weekly DJs and poetry readings featuring some of the friendly bartenders.

» 5125 Hollywood Blvd., tabularasabar.com

LAMAG.COM 31 PHOTOGRAPHED BY THOMAS DROTAR
3

Closet Case

STYLIST-TURNED-FASHION ARCHIVIST HAILE LIDOW LITERALLY LIVES IN HER CLOTHES—OR AT LEAST ALL AROUND THEM

OST PEOPLE have closets in their home. Haile Lidow has a home in her closets. The 29-year-old stylist-slash-fashion archivist has turned her Los Feliz house into a highend garment dispensary, with racks of rare designer duds filling almost every corner. Her shoe collection alone, which occupies its own wing, would have Imelda Marcos biting her knuckles with envy. These days, her outfits are also her business: her Lidow Archive supplies other stylists and their clients — like Madonna and Lady Gaga —with one-of-a-kind red carpet ensembles. The best part? Lidow can dip into the inventory whenever she wants, making her one of L.A.’s most distinctive dressers.

• BELTS

My favorite decade to source accessories from is the 1980s: they’re big, gaudy, and unapologetically over-the-top. Both of these belts are from that decade and are my favorite pieces to wear that I’ve kept in constant rotation for many years.

• BOOTS

When Marc Jacobs showed his fall 2016 and spring 2017 runway collections, I fell in love with the platform boots. I vowed to scour the internet to find a pair. Six years later, I’ve acquired 23 pairs. This particular pair—green crocodile prototypes—are probably my favorites.

• EARRINGS

My mom was the earrings queen. She’s given me a bunch, and wearing them has become special since she passed.

• HAIR

When I showed my friend and hairstylist Ricky Fraser the jumpsuit, he immediately suggested this Barbarella do.

• RINGS

These rings are the only items in my collection that are strictly personal—I don’t rent them out —so they are extra special.

• BRACELETS

These vintage 1980s ivory bracelets belonged to my grandmother, who is one of the biggest influences in my life. She was a surrealist painter who used mannequins as her primary medium and had closets full of colorful clothes.

• NAILS

There’s nothing more powerful than a set of long nails! For years, I got intricate designs on acrylics or gel extensions, but lately I’ve been sporting press-ons for shoots and special occasions.

• JUMPSUIT

I purchased this incredible 1991 Christian Lacroix catsuit from my friend who owns Farmer Jawns, one of my favorite vintage shops. I just love how it makes me look like an alien!

32 LAMAG.COM Incoming | HOW I GOT THAT LOOK PHOTOGRAPHED BY LENKA ULRICHOVA

Start Your New Year with Thrilling Music!

FRI JAN 20 8PM

Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Kurt Elling Lakecia Benjamin Christian Sands Yasushi Nakamura

Clarence Penn

An incredible roster of virtuosic jazz stars comes to Walt Disney Concert Hall.

FRI JAN 27 8PM · SUN JAN 29 2PM

John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West

Los Angeles Philharmonic John Adams, conductor Los Angeles Master Chorale

Grant Gershon, Artistic Director

John Adams explores the harsh realities and untold stories of the California Gold Rush in his latest opera.

TUE JAN 31 8PM

Kodo

The pulse-pounding rhythms of traditional Japanese drumming return with a new program, One Earth Tour 2023: Tsuzumi

For four decades, the Japanese group Kodo has shown o the extraordinary emotional and artistic range of the traditional taiko drum on stages around the world. Their new program Tsuzumi commemorates this incredible legacy, featuring pieces that trace their music back to the group’s origins.

JOHN ADAMS KODO
Tickets On Sale Now! laphil.com | 323 850 2000 Groups (10+) 323 850 2050 Programs, artists, prices, and dates subject to change.
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER

MORONGO CASINO RESORT & SPA

Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, Southern California’s favorite casino, is less than 90 minutes from wherever you are. Morongo has once again elevated the gaming, culinary, and entertainment experience in Southern California with our expansion and new dining experiences.

Marvel at over 4,000 of the hottest, newest, and loosest slot machines, along with dozens of your favorite table games! Morongo welcomes guests with 310 deluxe rooms, spectacular suites, and exclusive casitas, all newly renovated and updated.

Spoil yourself at Cielo, our AAA Four Diamond and Wine Spectator award-winning steak and seafood restaurant, which offers stunning views of the mountain sunsets.

The good times are rolling 24 hours a day at Good Times Café! Start your day sunny-side-up with a hearty breakfast and keep on cruisin’ through the night with an eclectic menu of inventive craft beers, masterfully mixed cocktails, and brewhouse bistro favorites like our crisp, handmade brick-oven pizza.

Visit the Marketplace by beloved celebrity chef and “Top Chef” fan favorite Fabio Viviani. For one price, you get to try a world of flavors with seven unique stations, including barbecue, seafood, Italian, prime rib, and more! It’s a foodie’s paradise. Journey into this all-you-caneat culinary experience and taste dishes inspired by flavors found all over the world. With each menu consisting of fresh and in-season ingredients, every visit will be a unique experience.

In addition, at the entrance to the Marketplace is Pescato, Morongo’s new oyster and seafood bar. Pescato is all about quality first. Everything at Pescato is line-caught, fresh, and of course, undeniably delicious.

Go to morongocasinoresort.com and book your stay today. Morongo! Good times!

Morongo Casino Reso & Spa 49500 Seminole Drive, Cabazon (888) 252-4499 | Morongocasinoresort.com

34 LAMAG.COM ADVERTISEMENT

TIMES FOR EVERYBODY

New Year in the

Elon Musk’s Crash Course

NEVER MIND THE DUMPSTER FIRE AT TWITTER. THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD’S BIGGER HEADACHE JUST MAY BE TESLA , WHICH LATELY SEEMS TO BE SELF-DRIVING OFF A CLIFF

ELON MUSK’S chaotic aquisition of the social-media giant Twitter late last year—which saw the replatforming of ex-president Donald Trump and a host of deporables alongside the dismissal of half of Twitter’s workforce—gave the world a bracing primer in the management style of the South Africanborn billionaire mogul. One can theorize that Musk’s notorious impulsiveness and probable poor emotional regulation might be interfering with achieving his vision of a Muskified future of space travel on demand and cars that the drive themselves, embodied by his two principal companies: Space X, the leading private spacetransport company, and Tesla, the definitive electric-vehicle brand. While both are alive and

36 LAMAG.COM Enterprise BY JAKE FLANAGIN ILLUSTRATED BY JASON RAISH

MLK DAY OF SERVICE: JOIN L.A. WORKS AT THE

LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM

Throughout the year, L.A. Works creates hands-on projects addressing the most critical issues in Los Angeles. While volunteering, Angelenos gain a deeper connection to one another and a better understanding of community needs.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

At the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1964, Dr. King passionately and persuasively addressed 15,000 Angelenos on the issues of race relations and human dignity. In 2023, L.A. Works will continue our work to honor Dr. King’s legacy by empowering Angelenos to take collective action in the fight for environmental justice.

Kick off the New Year by joining L.A. Works on January 16, 2023, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Los Angeles’ largest volunteer event celebrating the National Martin Luther King Day of Service.

For more details and to register, please visit laworks.com/MLK

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humming, the instant, just-addwater future they once o ered has yet to materialize.

In no arena is this truer than that of the driverless vehicle. What was once an inspiring moonshot that as late as 2017 Musk was touting would by now be commonplace has instead settled into a morass of regulatory scrutiny, scaled-back expectations, and fi nger-pointing over who is to blame for bringing an overhyped technology crashing back to earth. Increasingly, Tesla and its temperamental CEO are taking the heat.

Tesla took the first steps toward autonomous cars in 2014 when it began outfitting its Model S sedans with technology to automate certain functions, like acceleration, braking, and steering. The feature, evocatively dubbed “Autopilot,” combined lane-keeping assistance with elements of traditional adaptive cruise control—introduced on the 1998 Mercedes S-Class sedan—that were meant to keep vehicles inside lane lines painted on asphalt. A blog post released by the company in 2015 insisted that Autopilot was not a “self-driving” mechanism and that the driver would be “responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the car.”

The same post stated that Tesla vehicles were equipped with hardware that would allow “the introduction of self-driving technology” through incremental software releases.

Musk, ever to the frustration of his publicists, appeared to trample

the company’s cautious corporate messaging a year later by telling reporters on a conference call that he believed Autopilot to be “probably better” than human drivers. On that same call, he forecast that Teslas would be equipped to drive better than humans within three years and that, within two, it would be possible to “summon” one’s Tesla from remote locations. “eg, you’re in L.A. and the car is in N.Y.,” Musk later tweeted. The unsurprising takeaway: Teslas could already drive themselves. Soon, YouTube broadcast videos of Model S owners riding shotgun as their cars hurled down highways, driver seats serenely empty.

Then the accident reports started rolling in. In January 2016, a 23-year-old in the Chinese province of Hebei was killed while driving home from a family wedding. The Tesla Model S he was driving reportedly collided with the rear of a street sweeper. His family sued Tesla, claiming Autopilot was engaged at the time of the accident. Three months later, Joshua Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio, was killed after his Model S slammed into the side of a tractor trailer in Levy County, Florida. Brown was a Tesla enthusiast who frequently made and published

YouTube videos of himself using Autopilot, one of which was reposted by Musk to his own Twitter account that purported to show Autopilot steering to “avoid collision with a truck,” Musk wrote.

Brown’s death caught the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board, which launched an investigation. In its final report, the NTSB backtracked on its preliminary findings that Autopilot failed to apply the brakes and that Brown’s crash was not in fact a result of technological defect. Ultimately, a 2019 independent review by the Quality Control Systems Corporation disputed the NTSB’s findings, stating that collisions involving airbag deployment in fact likely increased following integration of Autopilot.

Meanwhile, scrutiny of Tesla’s driverless functionalities continue to pile up. Tests conducted by Consumer Reports found that the Autopilot feature required “significant driver intervention” and that it “lagged far behind a human driver’s skills.” The Consumer Reports test vehicle cut o nearby cars and passed some in ways that violated state laws. The magazine’s test of the “Smart Summon” feature found that a driverless Tesla often crossed lane lines, had di culty navigating parking lots, and moved “like a drunken or distracted driver.”

The National Highway Tra c Safety Administration has thus far identified 11 instances in which Tesla cars on Autopilot have struck first responders or emergency vehicles utilizing flashing lights, flares, or illuminated signage to warn of hazards. In August 2021, the agency opened an investigation into alleged safety defects with Autopilot, bolstered by calls from Congress to look into what some have described as Tesla’s deceptive marketing practices around the feature; a year earlier, a court in Germany banned Tesla from using the term “Autopilot” in its sales and marketing materials. The NHTSA also ordered

38 LAMAG.COM 1. NTSB VIA AP, FILE; 2. THE MORRIS TOWNSHIP VOLUNTEER FIRE; 3. AP PHOTO/MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ Enterprise | JAKE FLANAGIN
1 2
According to Consumer Reports , Teslas on Autopilot moved “like a drunken or distracted driver.”

the company to disclose information about any crashes involving driverless-vehicle technology in marketing materials describing its functionality.

Tesla responded to the NHTSA inquiry in October 2021, claiming the request violated its right to shield trade secrets and confidential business information. That same month, however, Tesla issued a recall for over 11,000 vehicles using its latest “Full Self-Driving,” or FSD beta software—one of the incremental upgrades to AutoPilot the company

had promised, which was installed in 160,000 Teslas whose owners had agreed to road test the program.

Soon, drivers with FSD deployed reported instances of “phantom braking,” or sudden, jarring brake initiation while in motion. A report in the Washington Post documented similar problems with FSD-equipped Teslas. The Post assembled a panel of six experts in driverless-vehicle technology, which reviewed a series of authenticated driver videos published to YouTube highlighting

2.

3.

the FSD feature. The panel identified multiple instances of concern, including a scene in which a driver appeared to be fighting FSD for control and vehicles “failing to properly interpret critical road markings and signs” as well as “ordinary pedestrian behavior.”

One video reviewed by the Post, reported to be the first recorded crash of a car equipped with FSD, showed a Tesla making an automated right turn through an intersection in San Jose, California, collide head-on with a green bollard installed to protect a bike lane from passing tra c. A video review of an FSD-equipped Model 3 sedan released by CNN likened the experience to “a little like teaching a teenager how to drive.”

Last November, Chinese lawenforcement authorities launched

UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED? 1. Wreckage of a Tesla that crashed on Autopilot. A battery fire destroys a Tesla in 2022.
3
Elon Musk

an investigation into an incident in Guangdong province, in which a Model Y sedan attempting to park suddenly took o on a two-lane road at breakneck speed before colliding with a storefront about 30 seconds later. The driver reportedly survived with injuries, but two individuals were killed in connection with the incident. Rumors swirled online that the vehicle was attempting an auto-park before it mysteriously accelerated away on its own. Tesla has claimed that logs from the vehicle in question showed that the brake pedal was not applied during the incident. Surveillance footage of the speeding Tesla show that rear brake lights were not illuminated for most of the 30-second stretch, though they turn on briefly about 23 seconds in.

Dan O’Dowd is a Santa Barbarabased engineer and CEO of Green Hills Software, which provides programming for intercontinental nuclear bombers and what he describes as “systems that require the highest degree of reliability.” O’Dowd is also founder of the Dawn Project, a software-safety advocacy organization that has kept Tesla squarely in its crosshairs over the years.

“It’s machinery that has the potential to kill many people,” he says of FSD-outfitted Tesla models. “And it is being developed with the move-fast-and-breakthings methodology of Silicon Valley. We shouldn’t be relying on that methodology when building things that many lives depend on.”

O’Dowd, who unsuccesfully ran for the California Senate last year on a platform of banning FSD from being tested on public streets, describes FSD as “terrible” and disputes Tesla’s characterization of the software as “driver assistance.”

“It drives the car for you,” he tells Los Angeles. “It just drives the car badly.”

According to Dawn Project studies of various Tesla models, FSD engages maneuvers that “would cost you your license” approximately

every eight minutes. One of the main bugs identified by O’Dowd and his team concerns FSD’s ability to read tra c signs. “It doesn’t know what a do-not-enter sign means,” he says, “So it’ll drive down a one-way-street.” FSD also comes with speed limits preprogrammed, meaning it won’t recognize or honor temporary speed limits placed in construction zones, for example. “It should not be sold,” O’Dowd insists of FSD. “This product is simply not ready to be on the road.”

Since the NHTSA launched its inquiry into the safety of FSD, the picture has gotten only gloomier for Tesla. Last February, the company announced a recall of nearly 54,000 vehicles equipped with FSD, which, in addition to its other vagaries, allows vehicles to make “dangerous and potentially fatal rolling stops at stop signs,” according to Los Angeles personal injury lawyer Peter Steinberg. To date, the company has recalled more than 1.5 million vehicles over issues with various automatic functions, including FSD. (Los Angeles reached out to Tesla for comment on current or forthcoming safety updates to Autopilot and FSD but did not receive a response prior to publication.)

Tesla is not the only electric vehicle manufacturer running into problems with implementing driverless technology. New York Times reporter Cade Metz relayed his experience riding in a driverless Chevy Bolt operated by Cruise, the rideshare service backed by General Motors, through the streets of San Francisco. Metz reported the Bolt swerved sharply to avoid a car it mistook for a pedestrian, braked without adequately decelerating at red lights, and at one point detected an imaginary accident in the road, pulled over, and promptly shut down for the night.

For Alexander Wyglinski, an associate dean for graduate studies in electrical and computer engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, the present dreary outlook for driverless technology may

not be permanent. He’s particularly bullish on research into connected and autonomous vehicles, or CAVs, which incorporate data communicated from nearby vehicles to map their environment in real time; already, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Michigan have implemented programs to adopt CAV specificaions for future autonomous vehicles.

An autonomous car’s collision avoidance system that relies on, say, 11 internally stored images of a deer jumping across the road is limited to those exact scenarios; a CAV can access thousands of images of deer, standing still and in motion, solo or in groups, to recognize and respond to the threat before a set of antlers comes crashing through the windshield. There are no consumer vehicles currently on the market that have integrated CAV technology, “but there are ton of people working on it,” Wyglinski notes.

Meanwhile, Tesla plows ahead with FSD. Last November, Musk took to his just-purchased Twitter to announce: “Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen . . . Congrats to Tesla Autopilot/AI team on achieving a major milestone!”

To which a commenter responded: “It should be illegal to ‘beta test’ shit like that on the open road.”

40 LAMAG.COM JONAS JUNGBLUT Enterprise | JAKE FLANAGIN
“It doesn’t know what a do-not-enter sign means. So it’ll drive down a oneway street.”
PARK IT Santa Barbara engineer Dan O’Dowd wants Tesla to pull its “terrible” self-driving software.

THE FOOD EVENT

PROMOTION
1. The
16th
2.
3. Mezcal
4.
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PHOTO CREDIT: RUSH VARELA AND DEVIN BERKO 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2022 1
Los Angeles magazine’s 16th annual extravaganza celebrating L.A.’s robust culinary scene.
Santa Susana Mountains in the background of the Hummingbird Nest Ranch, the venue for the
annual food event
Prince Street Pizza serving up hot slices
33 sampling out the Joven and Reposado expressions of their world class mezcals
Chef Sieger Bayer from etta on the demonstration stage along with stage host Jessica Vilchis from NBC LA’s California Live
5.
Tasty fried chicken topped with a quail egg from Poppy & Rose
6.
Demonstration stage sponsor The Mountain Valley Spring Water keeping the attendees hydrated with their high quality water in glass bottles
.
Land Rover featuring their new Defender

On Sunday, October 23, Los Angeles magazine hosted the 16th annual epicurean extravaganza, The Food Event 2022. Attendees ventured to the breathtaking Hummingbird Nest Ranch in the Santa Susana Mountains to indulge in delectable tastings from a variety of L.A. restaurants. Pours from boutique wineries, spirits, and beverages complemented the gourmet samplings of sweet and savory delights.

Additionally, guests enjoyed the Chef Demonstration Stage, hosted by California Live’s Jessica Vilchis, which featured live cooking and mixology presentations by Chef Sieger Bayer of etta, Chef Victor Muñoz of Conservatory West Hollywood and Matthew Biancaniello, proprietor of Eat Your Drink.

The culinary-focused day was complete with unique experiences including:

1

RESTAURANTS

Art of Tea

Boar Dough Tasting Room

Champion’s Curry Cookie Dough Dreams Emporium Thai Cuisine etta

FitChow

Ginger’s Divine Ice Creams

Guerrilla Tacos Hank’s Kaylin + Kaylin Pickles

Little Llama Peruvian Tacos

Luv2Eat Thai Bistro Miracle Noodle momed Poppy + Rose Prince Street Pizza Qué Padre Rainbird

STK Steakhouse The Pizza Plant Velverie Cafe

BEVERAGES

Maker’s Mark No. 46

Mario’s Hard Espresso Mezcal33

Santa Teresa 1796 St Germain Oxley Gin

The House of Suntory

The Mountain Valley Spring Water

WINERIES

Austin Hope Winery Bernardus Winery Brick & Mortar Wines Caymus Vineyards Dana V. Wines

Drew Family Cellars

ONX Wines

Ram’s Gate Winery Riboli Family Wine Sevtap Winery

T. Berkley Wines

The 50 by 50 Wines

PROMOTION
PHOTO CREDIT: RUSH VARELA AND DEVIN BERKO Silent Disco presented by Celebrity Cruises Photo Studio presented by GUESS Automotive Experience presented by Land Rover & Jaguar
2 3 6
4 5
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTICIPANTS

Opposite page 1. A picture-perfect day set the scene at the annual food event 2. FitChow and Miracle Noodle serving up tasty samples 3. Jaguar featuring their F-Type convertible 4. Celebrity Cruises danced the day away with a Silent Disco, tasty Mexican bites and a mezcal cocktail featuring Mezcall 33 5. Guess showed off a new line of eyewear at their photo and demonstration booth. Their sunglasses were a hit on this beautiful sunny day 6. The Pizza Plant featured Vegan pizza freshly made on site This page 7. Guess kept all the guests in high fashion with great bags and sunglasses 8. St. Germain making some amazing cocktails 9. Momed was a crowd favorite with their tasty bites 10. The scene in the barn was just as lively as the great lawn 11. STK serving up their award winning sliders. These sliders won best burger in our Burger Bourbon Beer battle back in May of 2022 12. etta Keeping guests cool serving up refreshing oysters along side their ice sculpture and tasty Makers 46 cocktails 13. The entrance to the great lawn made for a fun arrival at the food event 14. The House of Suntory brought out some great cocktails and set up a swanky space to enjoy cocktails at the Food Event 15. Santa Teresa Rum was serving up tasty cocktails and making sure everyone was having a great day on the cocktail dance floor area 16. Drew Family Cellars sampling some great wine varieties 17. Chef Victor Munoz of Conservatory on the demo stage. Showing guests how they can make some tasty food at home like at Conservatory 18. Guest loved lounging along the lawn lake, good times all around 19. A big party happening at the Celebrity Cruises silent disco. Celebrity Cruises knows how to keep guests entertained on land or sea 20. Makers Mark 46 made one of the best signature drinks of the day, the perfect drink for the end of a fabulous day 21. The food event is a celebration of food and drinks, but just as important, it is a celebration of life, love and the Los Angeles magazine lifestyle.

PROMOTION
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9 10 12 15 20 21 8
17 19 11
13 16
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to EAT NOW STYLIST ASSISTANT: GREG SIEBEL; EARRINGS: HOUSE OF EMMANUELE; RINGS: GEM RINGS FROM PAUMÉ LOS ANGELES; PEARL RING: KATE SPADE; CORSETED  TOP: VERSACE; SUIT: ZHIVAGO
WHAT
From an over-the-top seafood temple to scrumptious Filipino rice bowls, we feature the city’s best new restaurants and dishes for every taste, budget, and occasion
PHOTOGRAPHED BY JULIA JOHNSON BY HEATHER PLATT STYLED BY KAREN LEVITT
HAUTE DISHES 1. Asterid: Octopus 2. Sa y’s: Mixed skewers 3. n/soto: Bone marrow 4. Mother Wolf; Panzanella salad 5. San Laurel: Sea urchin 6. Asterid: Caviar 7. Asterid: Chicken liver mousse 8. San Laurel: Wild mushrooms in Laurel cream 9. San Laurel: Lobster salpicón 3 2 7 5 9 6 4 1 8 LAMAG.COM 45

• THE MENU at L.A. chef Ray Garcia’s new restaurant, Asterid, inside Walt Disney Concert Hall, is as sleek and curated as the restaurant’s design. The dishes are, in some ways, a departure from the extensive fare Garcia o ered at his previous B.S. Taqueria and Broken Spanish. Here, Garcia’s expertise gets condensed into a modern Californialeaning menu with dazzling seasonal starters like sunchoke rösti with crème fraîche and strawberry pepper jam. The chicken liver mousse is a masterpiece in a bowl covered with a bouquet of grape compote, sliced pear, pickled pearl onions, and mustard, and served with sliced toasted sourdough. The lamb shank with pomegranate, preserved lemon, and ancho chiles comes with warm flatbread and is more than enough to share. Its location inside one of the city’s iconic music venues makes it a convenient place to eat or drink before or after a show, but Asterid’s food and cocktails make it a destination all its own.

CHEFS MAX Boonthanakit and Lijo George met in 2020 while working at Alain Ducasse’s Blue in Bangkok, and now, with Camphor—their sleek, minimalist, whitewalled Arts District bistro—they’ve brought something entirely new to L.A. The stunning interior creates a lofty, transporting experience, while the chefs’ access to spices from George’s southern Indian homeland makes for extraordinary meals. After guests are greeted by a sta dressed in white, the space becomes a canvas for food plated with precision. Lobster tail is presented and finished with bisque at the table. Steak au poivre comes with cast-iron pots piled with frites and plates of steamed asparagus blanketed in béarnaise. Yes, it’s bistro fare, but Camphor is so much more. What appears to be a chocolate soufflé is actually chocolate meringue atop hazelnut ice cream, with marshmallows and toasted hazelnuts. Since opening, the restaurant has launched a brunch and a bar menu including one of the city’s most succulent burgers. It’s made of duck meat and dry-aged beef and served on a duck fat brioche bun with caramelized onions.

46 LAMAG.COM ASTERID: COURTESY ASTERID; CAMPHOR: JOSH TELLES | what to eat now • 141 S. GRAND AVE., DOWNTOWN • ASTERIDLA.COM • $$
asterid FRENCH BISTRO
• 923 E. 3RD ST., DOWNTOWN • CAMPHOR.LA • $$$$ •
AMERICAN
camphor
LAMAG.COM 47

The Dish of the Year

OUR DISH OF the year is not the most complicated or over-the-top. But the miso-baked bone marrow at n/soto, chef Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama’s modern izakaya in West Adams, has the kind of showstopping flavor that lingers on your palate and in your mind. A collaboration

with

YAKI ONIGIRI

The wedge-shaped rice ball is made of a mix of cooked Japanese short-grain rice, umeboshi, bonito flakes, and soy sauce. It’s then formed into a triangle, or onigiri, and grilled until golden.

BONE MARROW

The chef spreads a mixture of sake kasu (sake cream), a blend of red and white miso paste called awase miso, sugar, mirin, and sake onto the bone marrow before it’s cooked to a glistening caramel color.

PICKLED RED ONION

This bright-pink garnish of red onion pickled in red wine vinegar serves as a kushi naoshi (palate cleanser) after the rich bone marrow and rice.

48 LAMAG.COM PHOTOGRAPHED BY DANIELA GERSON
DEAR JANE'S: ART GRAY; KINN: JESSE HSU head chef Yoji Tajima, the dish consists of a sweet, caramelized piece of bone marrow plated beside rice with umeboshi, or pickled Japanese plum. It’s served with a spoon, and diners are instructed to scoop out the marrow and follow it with a bit of rice and pickled plum.—H.P.

dear jane’s

• THE SISTER restaurant to Dear John’s, the old-school steak house in Culver City from chef Hans and Patti Röckenwagner and chef Josiah Citrin, Dear Jane’s is an old-school seafood restaurant by the water in Marina del Rey. The separate bar is an experience in and of itself, with a roaring fireplace and a slightly more casual ambience but with food and cocktail options similar to those in the dining room. An entire side of the lively and buzzing formal dining area o ers an unobstructed view of boats moored in the marina. The multitiered room evokes a feeling of special occasions, with white tablecloths and mannered table-side service for items like shrimp Louie salad, which gets drenched in a citrusy, homemade Thousand Island–like dressing. There also are seafood towers, fish sticks with caviar, Dungeness crab cakes, oysters Rockefeller, and a list of classic dishes like trout amandine, fish-and-chips, and cioppino. Dear Jane’s successfully re-creates the nostalgic style of dining so many crave while serving food that still manages to surprise and impress.

• THERE IS only one menu at this cozy, dimly lit, 20-seat Koreatown gem where chef Ki Kim uses curated ingredients to delicately weave together Korean flavors into dishes that exist in a genre all their own. A place at the chef’s counter is ideal and provides a front-row seat for watching Kim and his team’s detailed, balletic plating. At $72 for six courses, Kinn's is one of the more a ordable tasting menus around and includes an evolving, playful menu of thoughtfully crafted dishes like yellowtail in a bath of oyster sauce and charcoal-grilled Wagyu short ribs. The menu can be upgraded with add-ons such as crispy Spanish octopus and hen of the woods mushroom confit with uni. Though the restaurant lacks a cocktail menu, it features a selection of European wines and Korean spirits that pair well with Kim’s menu.

LAMAG.COM 49 what to eat now | • 13950 PANAY WAY, MARINA DEL REY • DEARJANESLA.COM • $$$$
SEAFOOD
KOREATOWN • KINN.LA • $$$
• 3905 W. 6TH ST.,
kinn
KOREAN

kuya lord

• KUYA LORD began as a pop-up in 2019, serving Filipino street food at bars and breweries around L.A. During the pandemic, chef Lord Maynard Llera, once the sous chef at Bestia, began cooking in his garage in La Ca ñada Flintridge, and word spread quickly that his dishes were available for weekly pickups. Today, his extremely popular food has a home in a small storefront in East Hollywood. There are 21 seats for dining in, though Llera’s take-out business is hopping. The shareable trays are a great way to experience a selection of proteins— sweet or savory sausage, grilled Caledonia blue prawns in garlic crab sauce, or Llera’s famous lucenachon (crispy roasted pork belly)—all while sampling glistening chami noodles, tomato-cucumber salad, and wonderfully bright and vinegary pickled green papaya. Finish a meal here with tangy and sweet Filipino Calamansi key lime pie with pandan whipped cream. Though this brickand-mortar has been a long time coming for Llera, who had been planning to open a Filipino restaurant since leaving Bestia in 2016, it is, in many ways, just the beginning. We can’t wait to see what he does next.

MOTHER WOLF

• NAILING DOWN a reservation at chef Evan Funke’s massive, Roman-style restaurant in the heart of Hollywood isn’t easy, but you’ll be glad you did, as crowds form around the hostess station at the entrance to the 92-year-old art deco Citizen News Building. It’s worth noting, however, that the expansive bar area of this 8,600-square-foot ode to Rome is walk-in only, and there are plenty of seats from which to enjoy the same Italian splendor. Inside, the 20-foot-high ceilings with light fixtures of Murano glass make Mother Wolf unlike any other restaurant in Los Angeles. It’s exciting to step foot inside such grandeur, with tabletops of Siena marble and luxurious red-leather booths. The service is so attentive, it borders on performative. With its open kitchen, Mother Wolf is like theater, where Funke’s talent and enthusiasm for perfecting Italian cooking is the star. Because he already had a major presence locally with his Venice restaurant, Felix, many are familiar with Funke’s ricottaand-Parmesan-stu ed squash blossoms paired with an earthy glass of Nebbiolo. The food itself is not brand-new to the city, but the kind of experience he has created here most certainly is.

50 LAMAG.COM KUYA LORD: COURTESY KUYA LORD; MOTHER WOLF: COURTESY MOTHER WOLF | what to eat now • 1545 WILCOX AVE., HOLLYWOOD • MOTHERWOLFLA.COM • $$$
ITALIAN
• 5003 MELROSE AVE., EAST HOLLYWOOD • KUYALORD.COM • $$$
FILIPINO

• CHEF-OWNERS Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama’s West Adams izakaya-inspired restaurant, n/soto, o ers all of the precision and excellence that earned the pair two Michelin stars for n/naka, their modern kaiseki establishment. But n/soto exudes a more casual, relaxed spirit. The snow crab sunomono (cucumber salad) doesn’t come with a spoon, but you might secretly want one to savor every last drop of the tosazu broth. Skewers are, of course, the heart of an izakaya, and the tender lamb chops and grilled shiitake mushrooms stand out. Each dish on the menu seems more delicious than the last. The room is filled with diners who know to order the miso-baked bone marrow with umeboshi onigiri rice balls—it lands at most tables. Larger rice dishes like trout and salmon roe with parsley-like mitsuba and pickled vegetables are also available. For dessert, the melon float—a bright-green, soda fountain-style coupe—turns heads. This is the kind of meal that has you planning your return before you’ve finished eating.

LAMAG.COM 51 PHOTOGRAPHED BY DANIELA GERSON
JAPANESE n/soto • 4566 W. WASHINGTON BLVD., MID CITY • N-SOTO.COM • $$$

vegan places to eat

AVANT GARDEN BISTRO

At New York-based Overthrow Hospitality’s Melrose restaurant, chef Sarah Stearns’s seasonal menu includes roasted sweet-potato slices on a focaccia raft with cashew ricotta and spiced chutney. Expect standout cocktails like the Vista Sour, a frothy sour garnished with cacao nibs.

7469 Melrose Ave., Fairfax District, avantgardenbistro.com.

BERBERE

Tezeta “Tete”

Alemayehu expanded on her Smorgasburg L.A. success by opening this veganfusion restaurant o ering vegan tacos and sliders with Ethiopian twists.

510 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, myberbere.com.

BURGERLORDS

Brothers Max and Fred Guerrero went fully vegan in the summer of 2020 at their Chinatown stand and Highland Park diner. They introduced a plant-based “beefy” patty made with well-seasoned soy protein, but their hearty veggie patty, blended with eggplant, mushrooms, carrots, cashews, and miso, is even more vibrant.

943 N. Broadway, Ste. 102, Chinatown, and 110 N. Avenue 56, Highland Park, burgerlords.com.

HERBIE BURGER

Peter Williams partnered with Erin Harnisch on this takeout-and-delivery concept. Their marquee item, a savory burger patty featuring crimini

mushrooms and black beans, comes stacked with lettuce, tomato, onion, vegan cheddar, and pickles.

Oyster mushrooms are a crispy, creative stand-in for chicken "wings."

5660 Selmaraine Dr., Culver City, herbieburger.com.

HOLEY GRAIL DONUTS

Siblings Hana and Nile Dreiling make seasonal doughnuts with Hawaiian-grown taro that’s pounded, fermented, and fried in coconut oil. Chocolate Crunch showcases single-origin Hawaiian chocolate, cacao nibs, and sea salt. 8806 Washington Blvd., Culver City, holeygraildonuts.com.

HOT TONGUE PIZZA

Alex Koons serves vegan pizza here as he does at sister pizzeria Purgatory. His “round & thin” crust is supple with a crackly base. Koons makes cashew mozzarella, almond ricotta, and almond Parmesan in-house.

2590 Glendale Blvd., Silver Lake, hottonguepizza.com.

JUNKYARD DOG

This stylish sports bar from Real Food Daily owner Adaline Hobbs and her restaurateur dad, Paul Boettcher, o ers burgers, pizzas, and a superfood salad (romaine, kale,

sweet potatoes, and garbanzo beans with an almond-shallot dressing).

4330 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake, junkyarddogla.com.

MACIEL’S PLANT-BASED

BUTCHER & DELI

Maciel Bañales

Luna takes a holistic approach to wheatprotein-based meats.

An Italian hoagie packs “salami,” “pastrami,” Follow Your Heart Provolone, and a onetwo punch from “pepperoni” and cherry pepper spread.

5933 York Blvd., Highland Park, macielsplantbutcher.com.

SEABIRDS KITCHEN

Stephanie Morgan started with an Orange County food truck before migrating to brick-and-mortar locations in Costa Mesa and Long Beach. At her latest outpost, the mushroom taco doesn't pull any punches, dressing crusty griddled shrooms with ancho chile oil, tangy fermented curtido (Saldavoran cabbage slaw) and crumbled almond feta.

2138 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz, seabirdskitchen.com.

WOLFIE’S HOT CHICKEN

Jason Eisner parked a food truck next to his Block Party bar during the pandemic and now runs a Highland Park sports bar. His sandwiches include a fierce Seoul-inspired Korean fried “chicken” with house-made Korean barbecue sauce, spicy pickled cucumbers, and kimchi on a toasted bun.

4939 York Blvd., Highland Park, wolfieshotla.com.

RYLA: DYLAN J. HO; SAFFY'S: JOSEPH WEAVER L.A.’S VEGAN REVOLUTION HAS MOVED BEYOND ITS OFTEN UNINSPIRED HEALTH-FOOD ROOTS. NOW ANGELENOS HAVE PLENTY OF CLEVER PLANT-BASED PLAYS ON COMFORT FOODS THAT DON’T SKIMP ON FLAVOR OR FLAIR. HERE, EIGHT VEGAN RESTAURANTS, ONE TRUCK, AND A GHOST-KITCHEN OUTLET THAT DEBUTED SINCE 2020 BY JOSHUA LURIE
52 LAMAG.COM ILLUSTRATED BY LISA KOGAWA

ryla

• IN 2022 , husband-and-wife team Ray Hayashi and Cynthia Hetlinger combined their considerable culinary experiences with their Japanese and Taiwanese backgrounds to open a lively upscale restaurant in Hermosa Beach. (He previously worked at David Lefevre’s South Bay standouts M.B. Post, the Arthur J, and Fishing with Dynamite; she spent five years at Providence.) Ryla’s modern design draws a crowd to its wraparound bar where classic cocktails, like Suntory whisky Penicillins made with ginger liqueur and honey, are crafted. There is nothing fussy or pretentious about the menu at Ryla. The food is bright, inventive, and comforting. The fried rice comes flecked with sweet Chinese sausage and pickled ginger and is buried in a thick dusting of shaved black tru es from Burgundy. Start a meal with Hokkaido milk bread with fish roe-nori spread and make your way down the menu to a main dish like the grilled New Zealand Tai snapper that comes in a pool of lime-coconut broth with mussels, daikon, and Fresno chiles. Since opening, Ryla has launched a popular brunch menu with everything from cold sesame noodles to breakfast sausage sandwiches to Taiwanese dan bing (egg crêpe).

SAFFY’s

CHEF ORI Menashe had been dreaming of cooking meat on skewers since he and his wife, Genevieve Gergis, opened their other Middle Eastern restaurant, Bavel, in 2018, and Sa y’s is that dream realized. The space is as vibrant as the cocktails being poured behind the pink-tiled bar. Menashe has described the food—shawarma and lamb, pork, and chicken kabobs cooked on a wood-burning stove—to be the most like what he and Gergis might serve to guests in their home. It’s food you crave—like plates of hummus dusted with smoked paprika, Lebanese pine nuts, the spicy green hot sauce zhoug and challah that the chef spent months perfecting. The meat-centric menu is complemented by vegetable-forward sides like green falafel with tahini served atop puddles of a beet zhoug and sprinkled with dill. Keeping with the theme of simplicity, Gergis’s pastry menu is short and, well, sweet: bergamot-chocolate cake with rose ganache, orange blossom creme caramel, and undoubtedly the best soft-serve around, made with house-made bases and rotating farmers’ market-inspired flavors like sour cherry or boysenberry.

LAMAG.COM 53 • 1220 HERMOSA AVE., HERMOSA BEACH • EATRYLA.COM • $$$$
JAPANESE/TAIWANESE
• 4845 FOUNTAIN AVE., EAST HOLLYWOOD • SAFFYSLA.COM • $$$$ •
MIDDLE EASTERN
what to eat now
54 LAMAG.COM | what to eat now

Coming Attractions

A LOOK AT THE BIG THINGS THAT SOME OF L.A.'S MOST TALENTED CHEFS HAVE IN STORE FOR 2023

san laurel

• JOSÉ ANDRÉS is a chef and humanitarian busy with his endless e orts to feed people around the globe via his World Central Kitchen. He also managed to open a few new restaurants in L.A. last year, including San Laurel, which is perched on the tenth floor of the new Conrad Hotel and o ers possibly the best view one can have of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The restaurant serves pleasing California cuisine that shows o Spanish flavors. Sea urchin with raw scallops in a pool of gazpacho consommé gets a dazzling dollop of caviar. This bright, cold, refreshing mouthful of the ocean is a surefire way to start a meal here. There is a Basque cheesecake for dessert that comes served with a scoop of guava ice cream. Though the food seems relatively down-to-earth considering the kind of molecular gastronomy that made Andrés famous, the cocktails are whimsical. A server pours a beaker full of liquid steam into a mezcal drink to give it an aromatic orange-thyme “cloud.” Yes, San Laurel feels like a hotel restaurant . . . the kind you want to go out of your way for.

JOHN LIU

“At Arroz & Fun, we are excited to o er creative interpretations of traditional Latin and Asian dishes in a casual environment,” says Liu. 1822 N. Broadway, Lincoln Heights.

Kalb promises “epic caviar service,” house-baked focaccia and “somewhere for a nice cocktail” at Jemma di Mare.

11677 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood, jemmadimare.com.

ARMEN MARTIROSYAN

“I grew up in LA. Kabobs and tacos are a passion of mine,” says Martirosyan.

“Mid East Tacos is my love of two worlds on a plate.”

3536 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake, mideasttacos.com.

JASON NERONI

“Best Bet is very personal to me,” says Neroni. “From soup to nuts, my wife and I have been involved with everything. It feels like coming home.” 12565 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City.

“We want people to know Chinese street food is an artisanal craft that everyone from any class can experience,” says Robert, about Bang Bang Noodles.

9355 Culver Blvd., Culver City, bangbangnoodlesla.com.

DANIEL SON

“Japanese food doesn't need to feel uptight,” says Son of Katsu Sando, which is serving Yoshoku cuisine and Japanese convenience-store fare. 710 W. Las Tunas Dr., San Gabriel, eatkatsusando.com.

ARI KOLENDER

Expect Charleston classics like she-crab soup and tomato pudding and recipes from Grandma at Queen St., a raw bar also serving wood-fired seafood. 4701 York Blvd., Eagle Rock. —J.L.

LAMAG.COM 55 SAN LAUREL: KATRINA FREDERICK ILLUSTRATED BY CLAIRE MCCRACKEN • 100 S. GRAND AVE., DOWNTOWN • SANLAUREL.COM • $$$$
CALIFORNIA/SPANISH
ROBERT AND NELSON LEE PACO MORAN Swordfish tacos al pastor and a seafood tower stand out at Mariscos Za Za Zá, a spino of LA Cha Cha Cha. 1993 Blake Ave., Elysian Valley. JACKSON KALB

In the chaotic aftermath of the $40 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the company’s new CEO slashed hundreds of jobs and canceled anticipated movies like Batgirl, infuriating top talent.

Now, Hollywood is bracing for what Zaslav’s second act will bring.

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PHOTO BY ART STREIBER

arly last summer, the Discovery Channel’s founder and former chairman, John Hendricks, settled in with his wife and daughter for a movie at his local Regal theater in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They’d come to see

to see Elvis, the grandiose musical biopic, but the most unexpected thrill came at the very beginning: There on the screen was the new Warner Bros. Discovery logo, with the vintage “WB” shield stylized like one of the King’s jeweled belt buckles, right alongside the Discovery name, as the King’s voice unspooled in a spectral remix of “Suspicious Minds.”

“We all looked at each other when that Discovery brand came up. It was like, wow,” Hendricks says of the company name he first jotted down as a young entrepreneur in 1984. Following the examples of Ted Turner and his Cable News Network (CNN) in Atlanta and Bill Rasmussen in Connecticut with his Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), Hendricks was so convinced that there was a place on TV for the documentaries and educational films he knew were out there that he initially funded what would become Discovery with cash advances on his credit cards.

When Hendricks stepped down in 2014 as chairman of the company he led for 32 years, Discovery

Communications had grown into a massive success as home to the new genre of reality television: Deadliest MythBusters, Dirty Jobs, Naked and , the annual Shark Week bloc of man-eating programming. Its lucrative holdings grew to include a variety of other networks, from Animal Planet and TLC to the Oprah Winfrey Network. But what Hendricks witnessed at the movies that day represented something much larger: Discovery was conquering the media world.

Much of that expansion could be attributed to Hendricks’s handpicked successor as Discovery’s president and CEO. For most of his professional life, David Zaslav, 62, was regarded as a smart, media-savvy executive with many famous friends from television, film, and business, including Steven Spielberg, General Electric’s Jack Welch, and former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter. The married father of three is a news junkie and, during his two decades at NBCUniversal prior to joining Discovery, helped launch the cable news networks CNBC and MSNBC. At Discovery, Zaslav engineered the company’s purchase of a majority interest in Scripps Networks Interactive for $14.6 billion in 2018, adding HGTV, Travel Channel, and Food Network to the company’s roster. “We grew from five to six billion dollars in revenue to close to ten billion dollars,” says Hendricks.“David spearheaded the bulk of that growth.”

Once installed as Discovery’s CEO, Zaslav began quietly hammering out a merger deal with WarnerMedia’s then-owner, AT&T, a nearly yearlong process that became o cial last April. It was in fact more of a takeover than a merger, allowing Zaslav to expand Discovery’s media properties to include blue-chip brands like HBO Max, CNN, and the 99-year-old Warner Bros. movie studio. Not so

long ago, Discovery was dismissed by industry insiders as “trash TV”; now, it was swallowing a large swath of Hollywood. “A lot of people just didn’t focus on the global reach of Discovery,” says Hendricks, noting its many billions in licensing and advertising revenue, collected across more than 140 countries. “Most of us who’ve been close to Discovery knew it had that potential. But a lot of people in the marketplace were a bit surprised.”

WHEN THE merger finally closed on April 8, 2022, Discovery landed in Hollywood like an invading force; not even Jason Kilar, then CEO of WarnerMedia, knew about the merger until the news broke. Discovery had acquired the Warner properties from AT&T for $40.4 billion in cash and assumed nearly the same amount in debt. The merger instantly expanded Discovery’s reach in the accelerating streaming wars and included plans for a new service combining HBO Max and Discovery+ in 2023. By now, Zaslav’s pay package had vaulted to an astonishing $246 million, well above the already lofty $37.7 million he earned in 2020.

Once in control, Zaslav took aim at the crushing debt he’d inherited, and many of the cuts hit hard, with layo s across the combined companies (much as he’d cut 25 percent of sta when he took over as CEO of Discovery). He announced the closing of the CNN+ streaming channel just weeks into its high-profile, $300 million launch, laying o more than 300 newly hired employees. The beloved Cartoon Network was gutted, and a plethora of existing content was removed from HBO Max, including almost 200 episodes of Sesame Street. To some observers, this was just the usual turmoil that follows any major media merger—such as Disney’s $71.3 billion takeover of 20th Century Fox in 2019. Only six years earlier, AT&T had purchased Time Warner for $85.4 billion—and that was after America Online merged with the latter in 2000 for a staggering $165 billion.

58 LAMAG.COM
Catch, Afraid media world.

“Hollywood never learns from its past, and over and over again, you see people making the same mistakes,” says Stephen Galloway, former executive editor of the Hollywood Reporter and now dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film & Media Arts. “The other thing that happens frequently is one business thinks it can apply its rules to another business. They’re used to regular profit-and-loss businesses, where you can predict revenue to a certain degree. [Hollywood] doesn’t work like that. It’s extremely unpredictable.”

Warner Bros. Discovery may be another case study of why massive media mergers are often so self-destructive. After the deal is done, first on the agenda is always slashing away at some of what made the properties worthwhile, just to service the debt incurred with the purchase. Zaslav has announced his intention to find $3 billion in cuts by the end of 2023 and is already far along, targeting

duplication within the combined Warner Bros. and Discovery workforces of about 40,000.

If the initial layo s had employees on edge, what came next shook Hollywood’s creative community to

its core: Zaslav decided to cancel the , a nearly completed, trouble-free production that had finished a seven-month shoot in Glasgow, Scotland, and was gliding into postproduction for exclusive release on HBO Max. Cast and crew received no warning before the story landed in the New York Post on August 2; codirectors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi were in Morocco for El Arbi’s wedding when they found out. The nearly completed animated feature Scoob! Holiday Haunt was also scuttled.

feature film Batgirl

It turned out that Batgirl was sacrificed in part because of a “purchase accounting” maneuver that was briefly available now that the studio was under new ownership. That made for a quick and easy $70 million write-o , but the move alarmed filmmakers and other creatives about

LAMAG.COM 59 PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY NEIL JAMIESON GETTY IMAGES
COLD OPENING
former executive editor of the
Zaslav
announced his intention to find $3 billion in budget cuts by the end of 2023. It’s not lost on Warner Bros. Discovery’s rank and file that in 2021 he received a $246 million pay package billion
THE COMPANY HE KEEPS
4 5 7 6 3 2 1
Zaslav with 1. Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe, 2. Jon and Kate Goselin, 3. Robert Kennedy Jr. and wife Pamela, 4. Harry Styles, 5. Martha Stewart, 6. Irving Azo and Robert Kraft, 7. Graydon Carter.

the intentions of the new regime. Brendan Fraser, who was cast as the villain Firefly, called the decision “disappointing” and told Variety, “So what did we learn from this? Work with trusted filmmakers.” Backstage at the Emmys, Michael Keaton, who would have reprised his Batman role in the film, was diplomatic as he cradled his Best Actor trophy: “I think it was a business decision. I’m going to assume it was a good one.”

Warner Bros. Discovery defended the move as a “strategic shift” away from original features for HBO Max and a reemphasis on theatrical releases. CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels declared the machinations over canceled shows and disappearing content a media-generated controversy “blown out of proportion.” His insistence that the merged companies o ered “one of the best platforms for anyone in the creative space” was a lot less convincing when content could be so blatantly discarded for the bottom line.

Park West, according to Dirt. But now, in the year of his greatest triumph, Zaslav has gone quiet (he declined to be interviewed for this story). Last year, he participated in a single significant interview, a barely 17-minute chat on CNBC’s Squawk Box. In September, he was spotted on the red carpet with Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde at the New York premiere of Don’t Worry Darling, a comfortably profitable Warner Bros. release despite (or thanks to) some very public behind-the-scenes sniping between the cast and director.

CANCEL CULTURE

1. Leslie Grace and 2. Brendan Fraser starred in Batgirl, which Zaslav pulled ahead of its release. Zaslav earned some needed artistic cred for naming 3. director James Gunn to head DC Films.

As Zaslav arrives in Los Angeles, to take charge of the legacy movie studio now part of his media empire, he’s made requisite symbolic gestures, including personal meetings with retired studio chiefs from Paramount’s Sherry Lansing to Disney’s Robert A. Iger—that is, before Iger reassumed his CEO’s throne following the brutal dismissal of Bob Chapek, his handpicked successor, after a devastating billiondollar quarterly loss spooked the Disney board late last year. There’s also Zaslav’s $16 million purchase of Woodland, the Beverly Hills estate of the late Paramount chief and Chinatown producer Robert Evans. It was not unlike David Ge en’s 1990 purchase of the eight-acre Jack Warner estate (now owned

slap,”

Zaslav would never have done it if he

“The whole thing with the Batgirl movie shocked everyone—it was a huge slap,” says Galloway. “That said, deep down, everybody knows Zaslav would never have done it if he thought there was a way of recouping [the] money.”

Zaslav’s welcome at the various ruined half of his friendships in the other people about the toll that’s takthe last great day of his career was the

Zaslav’s welcome at the various Warner Bros. properties is now tempered with outrage and suspicion. One insider at the company, who asked not to be identified, expressed genuine sympathy: “I feel like he’s ruined half of his friendships in the last six months. And I hear from other people about the toll that’s taking on him. I can’t help but think that the last great day of his career was the day that deal closed. Every day since has been a shit show.”

ZASLAV USED to be a reliable presence in the news media and on the New York society circuit. He and his wife, Pamela, frequently entertain at their East Hampton retreat, purchased from ad man Jerry Della Femina for $24.6 million, two years after dropping $25 million on Conan O’Brien’s duplex on Central

60 LAMAG.COM
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2 1

by Je Bezos) as a sign of his commitment to the tribe. “These are symbols of where the new court is,” says Galloway. In the case of Zaslav, a native New Yorker, “it said, ‘I’m not just taking over Hollywood. I’m staking my position geographically.’ ”

Zaslav’s apparently genuine love for movies can also be read in the company’s new slogan “The stu that dreams are made of,” uttered by Humphrey Bogart in the 1941 Warner Bros. classic The Maltese Falcon, a more poetic take on what Zaslav frequently says out loud: “Content has always been our North Star.” It is telling that he wants Warner Bros. to reemphasize theatrical releases, and on that he may be ahead of the curve—as competitor Netflix again chose to walk away from potentially tens of millions in box o ce by giving the highly anticipated Knives Out sequel Glass Onion only a limited theatrical release in November.

Zaslav recognizes movie ticket dollars as real money, in contrast to the AT&T-backed Warner Bros. regime, which alienated major filmmaking talent (auteurs Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve among them) by announcing at the height of the COVID-19 panic a plan to simultaneously debut feature films in theaters and on HBO Max. That included hotly anticipated films like Villeneuve’s Dune and The Matrix Resurrections Nolan was quoted lamenting that he went from working for “the greatest movie studio” to feeding content to “the worst streaming service.” (Not for nothing was Zaslav recently spotted at lunch with Nolan and Spielberg.)

That said, Zaslav has no meaningful previous experience running a feature film company. Neither did freshly ousted Disney CEO Chapek, who rose first through the company’s home media and parks divisions before becoming Iger’s chosen heir. After Chapek spent almost 30 years at Disney, his firing was announced on a Sunday, with none of the usual pretenses allowed for a graceful departure—maybe management skills for running theme parks were not transferable to the studio’s core film and television operations after all.

With the industry facing a possible economic slowdown in 2023, a looming contract expiration with the Writers Guild of America that many have concluded will lead to a strike, the startling example of Netflix’s loss of 200,000 paid subscribers in the first quarter of last year and another 970,000 in the second, Zaslav’s leadership will be tested when he is still preoccupied with ongoing fallout from the merger. Puck Newsletter’s Matthew Belloni quoted a banker who declared that, in such a fraught environment, no newly christened

spending $70 million on features for HBO Max made no sense to his bottom line.

media CEO, especially one with a compensation package as lavish as Zaslav’s, is safe: “Chapek is first, but all these guys will be out.”

Still, if the streaming audience has hit a ceiling, Zaslav has diversity of content to lean on. And next to the likely massive box o ce for new tentpoles like the sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the possibility that Batgirl might attract some streaming subscribers was di cult to quantify in numbers recognizable to Wall Street. Zaslav has other ideas for how to fight the streaming wars, and

“It’s always possible to cut too much and damage that brand connection” with the audience, says Eric Johnson, faculty director at the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s Center for Entertainment, Media & Sports, and a 20-year veteran of Disneyowned ESPN. But with Warner Bros. Discovery’s combination of high-end HBO Max content, adventurous nonfiction Discovery+ programming, and all the assets of the former Turner Sports networks, “You’ve really created a moat around the castle,” Johnson points out. “They’re already one of the leading forces” in streaming.

always

NOTHING IN the media portfolio

Zaslav oversees has drawn more scrutiny than his stewardship of CNN. (His daughter Ali is a well-liked producer at the network.) “News is critical,” he insisted in an interview with CNBC, citing his years at NBCUniversal. “I’ve been around news for more than half of my career.”

CNN is also a profound responsibility beyond its usual $1 billion in annual profits. Its place in Zaslav’s larger streaming plans is unknown, but he’s expressed a desire to have CNN accessible on personal devices around the world. “That’s di erentiating versus a Netflix or a Disney, and it’s core to who I am,” he told Squawk Box. Observes a knowledgeable CNN sta er: “I think Zaslav’s heart is in the right place, but his wallet may be in a di erent place. He clearly feels he has to make changes that are troubling.”

The first shock came with Zaslav’s sudden shutdown of CNN+, and the loss of hundreds of jobs. A series of high-profile exits of on-air talent followed: White House correspondent John Harwood; legal analyst Je rey Toobin; and media reporter Brian Stelter, host of the network’s longestrunning show, Reliable Sources, now canceled. The public outcry was swift, with calls on social media to #BoycottCNN. It was a bad look for

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COLD OPENING
What came next shook Hollywood’s creative community to its core: Zaslav canceled the nearly completed feature film Batgirl that was gliding into postproduction after a trouble-free shoot.

Zaslav’s budding regime, as was the influence of billionaire John Malone, a major shareholder in Warner Bros. Discovery, and a past Trump supporter. In November 2021, Malone told CNBC: “I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing.” In the same interview, Malone praised Fox News.

Zaslav’s instrument of change at CNN is network chairman Chris Licht, who replaced Je Zucker, who resigned in 2018 after an internal investigation revealed he had not disclosed a consensual relationship with one of his lieutenants. It’s a big job for the former showrunner for Stephen Colbert’s Late Show on CBS. In his new role, Licht has been guiding multiple waves of layo s and grappling with why “the most trusted name in news” came in last in the ratings among the three major cable news networks during last fall’s suspensefilled midterm elections. While Licht insists to sta that all decisions are his own, the uncertainty about where CNN is headed is a constant source of anxiety in the newsroom. “The conventional wisdom inside CNN is that Chris Licht is not making the decisions, that Chris Licht is really, really good at managing up,” says a CNN sta er, who asked not to be identified. “His entire focus is about his relationship with Zaslav. With the new regime, the complaint that you hear every day is that you don’t know what they want.”

Aside from Toobin, whose career derailed after he exposed himself during a Zoom meeting in 2020, there was no obvious rationale behind the highest-profile exits—except for their willingness to criticize Trump. Harwood’s was especially puzzling, considering his decades of experience across multiple White House administrations and his years of sharp, fair critiques of both sides of the partisan divide. During his final appearance on September 2 last year, Harwood’s commentary on President Biden’s warnings that “the Republican Party right now is led by a dishonest demagogue” and that

democracy itself was under threat carried an extra punch when, later that afternoon, he tweeted that it was his final day at the network. CNN was accused of abruptly silencing a journalist for speaking the truth. Former CBS newsman Dan Rather tweeted: “What’s going on at CNN? It’s a serious question. There is a lot of speculation on directives and motives.” Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, who knew and disliked Licht from when they were both at the network, replied: “It’s a long story, but the new president is there to cut o the liberal heads.”

comfortable schmoozing at parties with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.) So far on HBO Max’s front page, CNN remains virtually invisible, with only Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? prominently displayed. Meanwhile, the network announced it was cutting back on CNN’s original series and films for cost reasons, not politics, wounding a division that created such acclaimed (and profitable) content as Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and the 2013 documentary Blackfish. Another round of layo s in December pushed out CNN political pundit Chris Cillizza and Atlantabased anchor Martin Savidge, who’d been with the network since 1996.

The anonymous CNN sta er says Harwood knew for two weeks that would be his final morning on the network; that CNN chose not to clarify the timing publicly strangely suggested that even if the personnel changes at CNN are not necessarily ideological, management doesn’t mind them appearing that way. The news business in the Trump era is complicated, and CNN is still a long way from attracting MAGA faithful to tune in for Anderson Cooper. (Zaslav has in the past been

happy, friendly brand that everyone

“If the goal is to make CNN this happy, friendly brand that everyone loves so they can be a tile on HBO Max, maybe that’s a great plan,” adds the CNN sta er. “I happen to think it’s impossible.”

Max, maybe that’s a great plan,” adds , the

WHEN THE news broke last March that Warner Bros. Discovery-owned DC Films would be cochaired by director James Gunn, who brings filmmaking chops to the executive o ces and a genuine comfort level with DC characters, hard-core comics fans were relieved. Gunn, best known for the irreverent Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad will lead the next wave of DC feature films, TV and animation with producer Peter Safran (Aquaman, Shazam!). Following the Batgirl debacle, the appointments were casual evidence that Zaslav was acknowledging the outsized power of fans to drive the fates of the comicsderived tentpoles dominating the U.S. box o ce. That same constituency was behind the public pressure that led the AT&T regime to allow Zack Snyder to complete his fourhour director’s cut of Warner Bros.’s Justice League for HBO Max. “Our job is to protect the DC brand,” Zaslav said on an earnings call last year. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”

But that didn’t stop Zaslav from purging dozens of animated series from HBO Max. Creators saw years

62 LAMAG.COM
[Zaslav] ruined half his friendships in the last sixth months, and I hear about the toll that is taking. The last great day of his career was the day the deal closed. Every day since has been a shit show.”

of work suddenly vanish. After five years on HBO, Summer Camp Island was canceled with an unaired sixth and final season completed. (It will now air in 2023 on Cartoon Network, the series’ original home.) On Twitter, creator Julia Pott vented: “We were a family of hardworking artists who wanted to make something beautiful, and HBO Max just pulled them all like we were nothing.” Adding to the resentment, many of these productions had been created under the trying conditions of peak COVID-19 protocols. Even The Day the Earth

Blew Up, an animated feature from Warner Bros. Animation, starring the company’s iconic Looney Tunes characters, was left homeless after being cut as an HBO Max original. That and an animated Batman film coproduced by J. J. Abrams are now being shopped instead to outside networks—sending proprietary legacy characters into the world to generate income to pay down the merger’s debt. The Cartoon Network was hit with a tsunami of layo s, cutting 125 jobs (a crippling 26 percent of its workforce), and the news that it was being merged with Warner Bros. Animation. While the Cartoon Network channel will remain, the merger marked the likely end of its iconic animation studio as a standalone, artist-driven operation with

its own culture, which had created decades of innovative shows, from Johnny Bravo to the grown-up cartoons of Adult Swim. To Cartoon Network viewers, with an emotional attachment to its shows from childhood onward, one of the best-known brands in TV animation was being dismantled in all but name.

EIGHT YEARS after stepping down as chairman of Discovery, Hendricks, 70, now runs Curiosity Stream, his new documentary subscription network, but remains an admirer of Zaslav as his protégé grapples with the demands and debt of a major conglomerate at a time of unprecedented uncertainty. Hendricks derides the chatter about an imminent media apocalypse as “irrational panic.”

Already, Zaslav has faced rumors that he was eyeing a sale of Warner Bros. Discovery, which he flatly denied (Iger vaguely dismissed similar rumors about selling Disney to Apple as “pure speculation”), particularly after Hollywood suffered its worst-ever non-pandemic Thanksgiving weekend at the box o ce last year. Zaslav is meanwhile consumed with making his gigantic new streaming service—combining sports and high-end drama, reality TV and international news, wild animals and superheroes—a profitable reality. He’s also shown a willingness to play hardball in negotiations as he eyes all that debt, even suggesting, “We don’t have to have the NBA” on his sports networks if the price is too high. If the fortunes of Warner Bros. Discovery don’t turn around fast enough, then none of his lieutenants should get too comfortable. But if things somehow work out as Zaslav envisions they will, look for more expansion and buying of assets, which has been this executive’s fallback since he landed in Discovery’s ranks all those years ago.

ing, “We don’t have to have the NBA” too high. If the fortunes of Warner capable than David of pulling that

“I don’t think there’s anybody more capable than David of pulling that o ,” Hendricks says. “David’s very likable, which I think has served him well. He has a way of getting people to a ‘yes.’ ”

LAMAG.COM 63 GETTY IMAGES
THE SHORT GOODBYE 1. CNN’s White House correspondent John Harwood, 2. legal analyst Je rey Toobin, and 3. media reporter and Reliable Sources host Brian Stetler. All were gone soon after Zaslav took over. alone, artist-driven operation with chatter about an imminent media
COLD OPENING 3 2 1

AMONG ITS other cultural gifts, hip-hop gave the world the dazzling accompaniment of jewelry that matched the music’s unapologetic bigness and boldness, spurning convention for sparkly street art you could wear. Never have diamonds been so ice-cold, so plentiful, crusting over rings and watch faces in a fury of flex. The artists and artisans who both inspired these creations and were inspired by them are the subject of a remarkable retrospective, Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History (Taschen). With cred-lending text by

Slick Rick, A$AP Ferg, LL Cool J, Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas, the book is an overdue chronicle of hip-hop’s aesthetic relevance beyond its beats and rhymes. As Slick Rick (aka Ricky Walters) points out in the forward: “Every culture celebrates its creative contributions in its own ways. Black culture goes above and beyond. Going big is just how we roll. This is true of our music, our dance, our sense of fashion . . . and our jewelry.”

LAMAG.COM

FROM GODFATHER TO SON Eric Lynn Wright, better known as Eazy-E, put in the work turning West Coast fl ow into an international cultural phenomenon by founding Ruthless Records and leading N.W.A, which included future stars Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. N.W.A’s 1988 debut album, Straight Outta Compton, was an instant worldwide smash and one of gangsta rap’s defi ning artifacts. Eazy died at 30, in 1995. His son, Lil Eazy-E, holds a pendant depiction of his father by Benn Baller of IF & Co.

LAMAG.COM 65 ESTEVAN ORIOL, LOS ANGELES, 2003

BIG BIZ-NESS

In the late 1980s, a young Biz Markie walked into the New York Diamond District shop of Jacob “Jacob the Jeweler” Arabo of Jacob & Co. and requested a signature piece of jewelry that would become the “Biz” ring. Biz was Jacob’s first client from the hiphop world, launching a legendary run of design collaborations between Jacob and a long list of other artists in the genre.

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BIZ MARKIE: GEORGE DUBOSE, NEW YORK, 1988; ROXANNE SHANTE: DAVID CORIO, LONDON, 1989; SLICK RICK: JANETTE BECKMAN, NEW YORK, 1988 WHO’S THAT GIRL? New York rapper Roxanne Shante name-checks herself with an eponymous hair plate and gold door-knocker statement earrings.

SOLID GOLD

A pioneer in hip-hop jewelry, Slick Rick created the draped-ingold look that became a classic of the 1980s. The New York-based Anglo-American MC popularized the large dookie rope chain while also adorning himself with crowns, scepters, and other motifs that became synonymous with hip-hop jewelry.

LAMAG.COM 67

FAR-OUT EAST

Favored by high-profile rappers from Notorious B.I.G. to Pharrell and A$AP Rocky, Japanese fashion legend Nigo’s jewelry collection includes a nameplate belt, diamond ring, and set of three BAPE (A Bathing Ape) heads by Jacob & Co. Nigo’s love for the 1968 film Planet of the Apes served as the inspiration for the BAPE logo, as well as referencing the Japanese idiom “a bathing ape in lukewarm water.”

SUPA DUPA FLY

Rapper, songwriter, and record producer Missy Elliott’s diamondencrusted gold pendant sports a metaphorically rich turntable expressed in black diamonds, with a solid gold needle and fully movable parts. By Jacob & Co.

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NIGO: GREGORY BOJORQUEZ, SHIBUYA, TOKYO, 2004; MISSY ELLIOTT: COURTESY OF JACOB. & CO.; MEGAN THEE STALLION: ZACH BOISJOLY, NEW YORK, 2018

APPEAL

LAMAG.COM 69
FLEX Megan Thee Stallion rocks “Stalli,” a 30-carat baguette diamond nameplate on a 30-karat white and rose gold Gucci Cuban link chain by Iceman Nick.
70 LAMAG.COM

DANIEL MALIKYAR, ATLANTA, 2019

OH, BABY Grammy-winning rapper and songwriter Lil Baby’s assortment of jewelry from Icebox Jewelers includes diamond Cuban link chains with a “Baby” nameplate, a Cartier Santos de Cartier skeleton custom iced-out watch, and an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chrono customized iced-out timepiece.

LAMAG.COM 71

REAL ESTATE ALL-STARS

With tens of thousands of real estate agents working in Los Angeles, choosing the right one can be a daunting task. Buying a home shouldn’t be as stressful as driving a car without brakes, which is why we commissioned Professional Research Services to contact residential real estate companies—big and small—in the region and collect the names of its top performing agents within a 12-month period. Now a purchase this huge no longer needs to be a gamble. Piece of mind is the least we can offer. Making your house a home is up to you.

72 LAMAG.COM SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CARMEN MORMINO

RODEO REALTY, INC.

Carmen Mormino is one of the most successful real estate agents in Southern California, committed to “Making Great Things Happen.”

For over 15 years, Carmen continually has focused on both stellar client service as well the nuances of the industry, resulting in being recognized in the top 1 percent of all Realtors nationwide, becoming #542 of over 400,000 licensed Realtors/brokers in all of California, as well as the recipient of Rodeo Realty’s top honor, The 2022 Chairman’s Award, ranked in the top 10 of over 1,200 agents.

Along with his know-how of the industry, Carmen has a well-versed familiarity of a wide range of areas, having his main office in Westlake Village as well as a location in Beverly Hills, to serve his clients’ needs in the best way possible.

Along with his dedication to his clients and craft, Carmen is passionate about sharing his story, both through his first book “Making Great Things Happen” (presently in the works) and through speaking engagements to inner-city students and groups, giving them insight on how he achieved this meteoric rise from to one of the most respected and successful Realtors in the country.

For his clients, for his family, for the community, Carmen is continually “Making Great Things Happen.”

TOP ONE PERCENT OF ALL AGENTS NATIONWIDE

Carmen Mormino

Rodeo Realty, Inc.

100 N. Westlake Boulevard, Suite 100a Westlake Village, CA 91361 818-693-2181 carmenmormino.com CalBRE# 01808462

LAMAG.COM 73 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

SHEARIN

Cindy Shearin of The Shearin Group has been a top-producing South Bay Real Estate professional for over 30 years and is consistently rated in the Top 1% of Realtors nationwide. Her years of experience working with buyers, sellers, and investors in home sales, purchases, and development enable her to provide expert advice and guidance to her clients. Cindy's exceptional negotiating skills, coupled with her unmatched knowledge of the South Bay (one of L.A.’s top preferred locations), ensure that one will maximize results with a seamless transaction every time.

Cindy's clients benefit from her knowledge and handson experience. Cindy emphasized, "The outcome is established during the planning and initial approach and therefore I start by being intimately involved with every little detail in the early stages."

Her many years of successful design through development efforts, combined with access to all necessary resources, are a unique addition to her abilities. She can execute projects from the ground up or simply repurpose the last desired touches in a home that can easily impact the overall presentation. No job is too small or large for Cindy and her team. With Cindy, you get a two-in-one package of a seasoned, successful Realtor combined with a gifted visionary designer who has a superb eye for detail. These attributes are a formula for success when selling or buying a home.

A ubiquitous multichannel marketing platform fuels Cindy's vast reach. Through her exclusive luxury social media marketing platforms, Cindy reaches millions of subscribers and thousands of page views. Cindy's outside-of-the-box presentation campaigns are successful.

Cindy has lived in Manhattan Beach, California, for over 30 years. She and her husband have raised their family here and understand the great honor and privilege it is to call the South Bay home. Cindy and her family are known throughout the South Bay community, as well as Los Angeles, by being involved in numerous charities and events and have served on a number of boards with an attitude of always giving back today for our future generations. They love the City of Angels and the South Bay!

Cindy Shearin

Strand Hill Forbes Global Properties

1311 Morningside Drive Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 310-200-8318

CindyShearin.com DRE# 00925580

74 LAMAG.COM SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CINDY
PRINCIPAL THE SHEARIN GROUP STRAND HILL FORBES GLOBAL PROPERTIES

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THE LIST

Daniel Beder

Sotheby’s International Realty 644137 310-213-7835 dan.beder@sir.com

Ben Belack

The Agency 1900787 424-230-3700 bbelack@theagencyre. com

Monet Berger Compass 2032913 310-498-1195 monet.berger@compass.com

Nick Collins The Agency 1922418 424-230-3700 nick@theagencyre.com

Jacob Dadon The Agency 1970038 424-230-3700 jacob.dadon@theagencyre.com

Fred Dapp The Agency 2048450 424-230-3700 fred.dapp@theagencyre.com

Tania Ferris

Coldwell Banker Realty 664167 310-713-8234 taniaferris68@aol.com

Angelo Fierro Compass 1724787 323-821-5353 angelo.fierro@compass. com

Brendan Fitzpatrick Douglas Elliman 1791703 310-850-5618 brendan.fitzpatrick@ elliman.com

Scott Goshorn Rodeo Realty 1964409 323-251-5479 scottg@rodeore.com

Basya Gradon Compass 1893478 323-447-7331 bgradon@compass. com

Lindsay Guttman The Agency 1901278 424-230-3700 lugttman@theagencyre. com

Jerry Ja e Compass 1326486 310-403-4925 jerry.ja e@compass. com

Amir Jawaherian The Agency 1899893 424-230-3700 amir@theagencyre.com

Hofit Kahn Compass 1983538 310-463-8049 hofit.kahn@compass. com

Arcadia

Joe Chiovare

Coldwell Banker Realty 1931960 626-945-2236 jchiovare@coldwellbanker.com

Imy Dulake

Coldwell Banker Realty 987845 626-664-1280 imydulakerealestate@ gmail.com

Ash Rizk

Coldwell Banker Realty 1503342 626-393-5695 arizk@coldwellbanker. com

Beverly Hills

Aren Afsharian Hilton & Hyland 1928144 310-200-9323 aren@hiltonhyland.com

Wolf Amer The Agency 2002555 424-230-3700 wolfamer@theagencyre.com

Don Ashley

Rodeo Realty 1988292 310-595-7876 donashleyre@gmail. com

Tamar Asken Avenue 8 1932133 310-801-8292 asken.tamar@gmail. com

Rochelle Atlas Maize

Nourmand & Associates 1365331 310-968-8828 rochelle@rochellemaize.com

Joseph Babajian

Rodeo Realty 813384 310-490-7800 joe@joebabajian.com

Carrie Berkman Lewis Douglas Elliman 1400262 310-435-5714 carrie.lewis@elliman. com

Fred Bernstein Westside Estate Agency 1476689 310-701-3733 fjb@weahomes.com

Lori Berris

Sotheby’s International Realty 962605 310-880-3061 lori.berris@sir.com

Heather Boyd The Agency 1836830 310-994-3140 heather@heatherboydgroup.com

Alex Brunkhorst The Agency 1457282 424-230-3700 abrunkhorst@theagencyre.com

Andrew Buss Hilton & Hyland 1999869 310-487-4437 andrew@davidkramer. com

Katelyn Byrd

Coldwell Banker Realty 2015212 541-619-1156 katelyn.byrd@camoves. com

Blair Chang The Agency 1248419 424-230-3700 bchang@theagencyre. com

Christina Collins Hilton & Hyland 1998280 310-343-3456 christina@hiltonhyland. com

Michael Collins Coldwell Banker Realty 963037 310-413-1100 Michael@MichaelCollins.com

Ron de Salvo Compass 576209 310-560-9388 ron.desalvo@compass. com

Kyle Dordick Hilton & Hyland 2039649 310-508-0966 kyle@marcnoah.com

Christopher Dyson The Agency 1762388 424-230-3700 cdyson@theagencyre. com

Richard Ehrlich Westside Estate Agency 1267136 310-968-8881 re@weahomes.com

Michael Eisenberg Keller Williams Beverly Hills 1234030 310-748-5410 mikeeisenberg@sbcglobal.net

David Emanuel Compass 1825239 818-621-9141 david@davidsellsla.com

Jill Epstein Nourmand & Associates 472171 310-779-9513 jill@jillepsteinre.com

Azy Farahmand The Agency 1958066 424-230-3700 afarahmand@theagencyre.com

Bjorn Farrugia Hilton & Hyland 1864250 310-998-7175 bjorn@bjornfarrugia. com

Drew Fenton Hilton & Hyland 1317962 310-858-5474 drew@drewfenton.com

Michael Fenton Compass 1926913 310-339-9052 michael.fenton@compass.com

Josh Flagg Douglas Elliman 1470467 310-595-3888 josh.flagg@elliman.com

Steve Frankel Coldwell Banker Realty 1195571 310-508-5008 homes@stevefrankel. com

Ziv Gabay Compass 1971047 818-825-8704 ziv.gabay@compass. com

John Galich Sotheby’s International Realty 1232383 310-385-3142 john.galich@sir.com

Steven Geller Coldwell Banker Realty 1153015 310-922-2141 steven.geller@camoves. com

Lilly Ghassemieh Compass 2058346 310-429-5452 lilly.ghassemieh@compass.com

Lilly Ghassemieh Compass 2058346 310-429-5452 lillyg@compass.com

Ginger Glass Compass 1478465 310-927-9307 ginger@gingerglass. com

Marcia Glow

Coldwell Banker Realty 1422772 310-404-4807 marcia.glow@camoves. com

Gary Gold

Coldwell Banker Realty 813554 310-741-0505 gary@soldbygold.net

Zach Goldsmith Hilton & Hyland 1454329 310-908-6860 zach@hiltonhyland.com

Arvin Haddad The Agency 1930604 424-230-3700 arvin.haddad@theagencyre.com

James Hancock Coldwell Banker Realty 946077 310-770-6351 james@jameshancock. com

Ryan Hanke Compass 1989718 323-793-1910 ryan@yourspotla.com

Jimmy Heckenberg Rodeo Realty 1910100 310-650-1116 JimmyHeck@HRGestates.com

Maria Hellmund The Agency 1920353 424-230-3700 mhellmund@theagencyre.com

Richard Hilton Hilton & Hyland 904327 310-278-3311 rick@hiltonhyland.com

Barron Hilton Hilton & Hyland 2049154 310-777-1317 barron@hiltonhyland. com

Juliette Hohnen Douglas Elliman 1772623 323-422-7147 juliette.hohnen@elliman.com

Ron Holliman

Coldwell Banker Realty 1161952 310-270-6682 rghbh@yahoo.com

Deedee Howard The Agency 1039224 424-230-3700 dhoward@theagencyre. com

Justin Paul Huchel Hilton & Hyland 1375793 310-617-4824 justin@hiltonhyland. com

Laura Kalb Hilton & Hyland 872948 810-371-9350 Laurakonline@yahoo. com

Marci Kays The Agency 1397539 424-230-3700 mkays@theagencyre. com

Mark Kitching Douglas Elliman 1742148 310-902-0221 mark.kitching@elliman. com

Richard Klug

Sotheby’s International Realty 745969 310-991-1333 richard.klug@sir.com

Vangelis Korasidis

Coldwell Banker Realty 1222626 310-405-9500 ColdwellBankerBeverlyHills@Yahoo.com

Alexa Kort Rodeo Realty 2054501 310-892-7563 alexakort@gmail.com

Angel Kou The Agency 1751969 424-230-3700 angel.kou@theagencyre.com

Leah Lail

Coldwell Banker Realty 1400267 310-849-9596 leah.lail@cbrealty.com

Brian Lane Madison Residential Realty 2038343 424-202-9949 blane@madisonresidentialre.com

Alphonso Lascano Hilton & Hyland 1723550 818-800-8848 alphonsolascano@ gmail.com

LAMAG.COM 75 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Eric Lavey

Sotheby’s International Realty 1511292 310-908-6800 eric.lavey@sir.com

Brett Lawyer Hilton & Hyland 897489 310-858-5402 brett@brettlawyer.com

Ben Lee

Coldwell Banker Realty 1808926 310-704-6580 ben@benleeproperties. com

Jordana Leigh Rodeo Realty 1239166 310-383-1701 jordana769@gmail.com

Michael J. Libow Compass 863172 310-691-7889 michael.libow@compass.com

Maya Librush Compass 1932610 818-201-5226 maya.librush@compass. com

Dena Luciano Douglas Elliman 1827352 310-600-3848 dena.luciano@elliman. com

Chad Lund Douglas Elliman 998185 310-801-2641 chad.lund@elliman.com

Peter Mac The Agency 1963649 424-230-3700 pmac@theagencyre. com

Justin Mandile

Sotheby’s International Realty 1507705 310-860-4509 j.mandile@sir.com

Chris Mara Hilton & Hyland 886282 310-858-5466 chrismara@hiltonhyland.com

Casey Markovic Compass 1955343 310-488-9627 casey.markovic@compass.com

Linda May Hilton & Hyland 475038 310-435-5932 linda@lindamay.com

Yar MESHKATY Meshkaty Coldwell Banker Realty 1060780 310-666-6394 yar.meshkaty@camoves.com

Drew Meyers

Westside Estate Agency 1865732 310-359-3879 dm@weahomes.com

Jade Mills

Coldwell Banker Realty 526877 310-285-7508 Homes@Jademills.com

Phillip Missig Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1367402 310-844-6434 phil@philmissig.com

Zac Mostame

The Agency 2110196 424-230-3700 zac.mostame@theagencyre.com

Josh Myler

The Agency 1443547 424-230-3700 jmyler@theagencyre. com

Jonathan Nash Hilton & Hyland 1943888 1-424-230-6088 jonathan@resnickandnash.com

Marc Noah Hilton & Hyland 1269495 310-968-9212 marc@marcnoah.com

Myra Nourmand Nourmand & Associates 983509 310-888-3333 myranourmand@nourmand.com

Michael Nourmand Nourmand & Associates 1281017 310-666-3294 mnourmand@nourmand.com

Lisa Optican Hilton & Hyland 1960751 310-351-6646 lisa@hiltonhyland.com

Tom O’Rourke

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 931753 310-770-0221 tomorourke@bhhscal. com

Bachir Oueida Douglas Elliman 936311 310-722-7727 bachir.oueida@elliman. com

Zizi Pak

Rodeo Realty 694610 310-226-5032 zizi@rodeore.com

Mick Partridge Hilton & Hyland 2015130 310-990-6425 Mick@hiltonhyland.com

Spencer Payson Compass 1864609 310-486-8039 spencer.payson@compass.com

Bryce Pennel Compass 2009053 310-367-1680 bp@compass.com

Adi Perez The Agency 1963659 424-230-3700 adi@theagencyre.com

Roger Perry Rodeo Realty 1882885 310-600-1553 rperry@rogerperry.com

Samuel Plouchart

Sotheby’s International Realty 1921196 310-752-3133 sam@samplouchart. com

Lea Porter Coldwell Banker Realty 932907 310-701-9212 lea.porter@cbrealty. com

Mica Rabineau Nourmand & Associates 1489710 323-816-5868 mica@micarabineau. com

Kurt Rappaport Westside Estate Agency 1036061 310-995-3214 kr@weahomes.com

Stephen Resnick Hilton & Hyland 1241282 310-210-5048 stephen@sresnick.com

David Rindenow Compass 1945264 818-915-3467 David@DavidRindenow. com

Victoria Risko Sotheby’s International Realty 1033692 310-882-0246 victoria.risko@sir.com

Chad Rogers Hilton & Hyland 1204144 310-278-3311 chad@chadrogers.tv

Billy Rose The Agency 1302611 424-230-3700 brose@theagencyre. com

Denise Rosner Compass 1902808 310-508-9482 denise@deniserosner. com

Lloyd Ross Douglas Elliman 2046500 310-499-8730 lloyd.ross@elliman.com

Jonathan Ruiz The Agency 1886713 424-230-3700 jr@theagencyre.com

Paul Salazar Hilton & Hyland 1763227 310-387-1976 paul@paulsalazargroup. com

Loree Scarborough Compass 1257913 562-225-0511 loree.scarborough@ compass.com

Scott Segall Douglas Elliman 1179028 310-480-4823 scott.segall@elliman. com

Safir Shamsi Rodeo Realty 1891229 310-400-2046 safir@shmasiproperties. com

Stephen Shapiro Westside Estate Agency 1257836 310-991-6115 ss@weahomes.com

Eric Smilay Nourmand & Associates 1710731 310-600-9172 eric@smilayproperties. com

Susan Smith Hilton & Hyland 1187140 310-492-0733 susan@susansmithrealty.com

Mark Smith Coldwell Banker Realty 1849414 323-369-5969 Mark.Smith@camoves. com

Terre Steinbeck Rodeo Realty 1188344 310-666-4094 terre.steinbeck@gmail. com

Daniel Stevenson

The Agency 1981172 424-230-3700 dstevenson@theagencyre.com

Kevin Stewart The Agency 2050755 424-230-3700 kevin.stewart@theagencyre.com

Beth Styne Coldwell Banker Realty 815705 310-367-3388 bethstyne@gmail.com

Jon Swire The Agency 1336277 424-230-3700 jswire@theagencyre. com

Feroz Taj The Agency 2004840 424-230-3700 feroz@theagencyre. com

Stuart Vetterick Hilton & Hyland 1984753 310-702-9808 Stuart@hiltonhyland. com

Alexander Vichinsky The Agency 2044570 424-230-3700 alex.v@theagencyre. com

Cory Weiss Douglas Elliman 1309146 310-922-1124 cory.weiss@elliman.com

Gayle Weiss Nourmand & Associates 1050268 310-880-7948 gaylemweiss@gmail. com

Craig White Sotheby’s International Realty 1884948 310-415-8666 craig.white@sir.com

Jonah Wilson Hilton & Hyland 1078809 310-858-5465 jonah@jonahwilson. com

Jen Winston Compass 1522987 310-944-1167 jen.winston@compass. com

Ron Wolotzky Rodeo Realty 1771815 323-646-1206 rwolotzky@rodeore. com

Kris Zacuto Compass 1972897 310-702-6299 kris@kriszacuto.com

Melissa Zee Keller Williams Beverly Hills 1451028 310-309-0099 Melissa@MelissaZeeGroup.com

Dittany Zhang-Seltzer Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1960099 310-867-0171 dee@real-dee.com

Brentwood

Melissa Alt Douglas Elliman 1019836 310-880-5923 melissa.alt@elliman. com

Anne Burkin Douglas Elliman 1802520 310-699-5062 anne.burkin@elliman. com

Gary Glass Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 933169 310-820-9343 gary@garyglassestates. com

Elisabeth Halsted Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1434953 310-463-1601 eh@elisabethhalsted. com

David Offer Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1150357 310-466-5648 doffer@davidoffer.com

Lauren Ravitz Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1352397 310-600-4581 lauren@laurenravitz. com

Ryan Sokolowski

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1859461 310-344-0898 RyanSokolowski@ bhhscal.com

Loni Wiener Rodeo Realty 1901453 818-970-3526 loniwiener@gmail.com

76 LAMAG.COM SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Stacy Blair Young

Douglas Elliman 1190242 310-367-7654 stacy.young@elliman. com

Calabasas

Heidi Adams

Coldwell Banker Realty 997097 818-461-2278 heidi91302@gmail.com

Ray Akbari The Agency 1447600 818-379-7700 ray.a@theagencyre.com

Guy Azar The Agency 1882376 818-379-7700 guy.azar@theagencyre. com

Jennifer Camp

Coldwell Banker Realty 1021828 818-633-9501 jennifer.camp@camoves.com

Bryan Castaneda

The Agency 1309833 818-379-7700 bryan.castaneda@ theagencyre.com

David Friedman

Rodeo Realty 867551 818-915-3982 davidfriedman818@ yahoo.com

Yana Galuz Keller Williams Calabasas 1454066 310-595-5522 yana@galuzgroup.com

Emil Hartoonian

The Agency 1796925 818-379-7700 ehartoonian@thegencyre.com

Michael Koshet Keller Williams Calabasas 1504747 818-915-3829 mk@laoffmarket.com

Andrew Mortaza

The Agency 1470043 818-379-7700 andrew.mortaza@ theagencyre.com

Oren Ovadia

Rodeo Realty 1893470 818-723-2706 ovadia@att.net

Milla Pariser

Rodeo Realty 2006267 818-271-1233 milla@millapariserrealestate.com

Doug Puetz Keller Williams Calabasas 995378 805-795-4455 dougpuetz@me.com

Ray Rodriguez Keller Williams Calabasas 1402283 818-581-5829 ray@lucrumre.com

David Salmanson Rodeo Realty 2024450 818-421-2170 DS4Homes@gmail.com

David Shemesh Keller Williams Calabasas 1836977 818-665-6688 iknowyourhomevalue@ gmail.com

Lisa Sorrentino

Sotheby’s International Realty 974656 818-355-4751 lisa.sorrentino@sothebys.realty

Lisa Weber Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1426568 818-378-9708 lisaweberhomes@ outlook.com

Camellia Yeroomian The Agency 2090567 818-379-7700 camellia.yeroomian@ theagencyre.com

Desiree Zuckerman Rodeo Realty 1292971 818-262-5648 desiree@dzhomes.com

Claremont

Geoff Hamill Wheeler Steffen Sotheby’s International Realty 997900 909-621-0500 Geoff@GeoffHamill. com

El Segundo Bill Ruane RE/MAX Properties 972400 310-877-2374 BRuane@EPLAHomes. com

Encino

Arthur Aslanian Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1291836 818-335-1239 realestateart@yahoo. com

Dana Coronado Equity Union 1746702 310-562-9630 dana@incomepropertiesLA.com

Shira Dunn Equity Union 2100807 424-653-0560 shirajerby@gmail.com

Scott Gorelick Concrete Real Estate 1876674 818-654-4663 scott@concreterealestateco.com

Cindy Hill Slater Equity Union 885625 818-640-4360 cindyhill@valleyapartmentsales.com

Ellen Katzman Equity Union 1258867 818-692-6203 ellenkatzman@sbcglobal.net

Adi Livyatan Rodeo Realty 1892750 818-919-4060 Ada.Livyatan@rodeore. com

Scott Nell Equity Union 1358285 818-522-2862 scott@thenellteam.com

Zeev Perez Equity Union 1932490 818-445-6909 perezeev@gmail.com

Stephanie Vitacco Equity Union 985615 818-576-1685 stephanie@teamvitacco.com

Stephanie Vitacco Equity Union 985615 818-576-1685 stephanie@teamvitacco.com

Carol Wolfe Rodeo Realty 477745 818-285-3688 Carol@CarolWolfe.com

Glendale

Dave Robles eXp Realty 1134528 213-712-4343 dave@thinkrealestategroup.com

Hermosa Beach

Rob McGarry Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1356525 310-463-8488 rob.mcgarry@vistasir. com

Dunham Stewart Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1006738 310-200-5283 dunham.stewart@ vistasir.com

Hollywood Geoff Clark Compass 1487063 323-459-3845 geoff.clark@compass. com

La Cañada Flintridge Kari Carson Compass 1903828 818-424-5537 kari@karicarson.com

Kathy Seuylemez

Coldwell Banker Realty 947297 818-378-7928 kathy.seuylemezian@ camoves.com

La Verne Nick Abbadessa RE/MAX Masters 1398872 909-292-7888 Nick@SoldByNick.com

Jenny Xu RE/MAX Masters 1258213 626-674-7368 jenny@jennyxuhome. com

Long Beach

M. Michelle Berg Redfin Corporation 1993627 310-487-6345 michelle.berg@redfin. com

Amy Black Redfin Corporation 1454740 323-854-7457 Amy.Black@Redfin.com

Gregory Eubanks Redfin Corporation 1949808 310-663-7896 gregory.eubanks@ redfin.com

Renata Fallon Redfin Corporation 1752799 562-331-1023 renara.fallon@redfin. com

Costanza GenoeseZerbi Redfin Corporation 1941438 562-221-4527 c.genoese-zerbi@ redfin.com

Dana Hughes Redfin Corporation 1940909 562-544-0582 dana.hughes@redfin. com

Robert Iles Redfin Corporation 2031379 310-497-1580 robert.iles@redfin.com

Sylva Khayalian Redfin Corporation 1323217 626-390-2545 sylva.khayalian@redfin. com

Venus Martinez Redfin Corporation 1206834 562-201-3772 venus.martinez@redfin. com

Aaron McCarty Redfin Corporation 1956114 510-673-8924 aaron.mccarty@redfin. com

Keith Muirhead Compass 1228376 562-682-1558 keith.muirhead@compass.com

Jaclyn Naidoo Redfin Corporation 1974475 310-968-0419 jaclyn.naidoo@redfin. com

Sam Najarian Redfin Corporation 1988623 626-808-5101 sam.najarian@redfin. com

Ronald Perez Redfin Corporation 1325218 818-749-2979 Ronald.Perez@Redfin. Com

Simone Poingsett Redfin Corporation 1894240 424-625-4008 simone.poingsett@ redfin.com

Thomas Royds Redfin Corporation 949407 310-738-1125 thomas.royds@redfin. com

Janice Sadler Redfin Corporation 1359319 562-397-4685 janice.sadler@redfin. com

Melissa Urena Melissa Urena & Associates 1900591 562-287-4944 melissa@jhhre.com

Brigid Van Randall Redfin Corporation 1139489 408-221-3175 Brigid.VanRandall@ Redfin.com

Paul Vieyra Redfin Corporation 1802026 323-346-7600 Paul.vieyra@redfin.com

Rick Wilkinson Redfin Corporation 1427456 310-663-9064 rick.wilkinson@redfin. com

Michelle Zabukovec Redfin Corporation 1851945 206-595-6681 Michelle.zabukovec@ redfin.com

Los Angeles

Santiago Arana The Agency 1492489 424-400-5900 santiago@theagencyre. com

Robert Baer

Coldwell Banker Realty 1334830 323-377-5661 Robert.Baer@camoves. com

Lotoya Bailey Nourmand & Associates 1963044 323-599-0089 amannle@nourmand. com

Todd Baker Coldwell Banker Realty 1446166 310-801-1475 toddbaker@coldwellbanker.com

Simon Beardmore

Sotheby’s International Realty 1321605 310-892-6454 simon.beardmore@ sir.com

Loren Bennett Redfin Corporation 1744020 818 674-0176 Loren.bennett@redfin. com

Michelle Bolotin Compass 1397141 310-463-7278 michelle.bolotin@ compass.com

Laura Brau Compass 1931500 310-650-4156 laura.brau@compass. com

Stephanie Brocato Redfin Corporation 2012858 818-395-2465 Stephanie.brocato@ redfin.com

Austin Brunkhorst The Agency 1823513 424-400-5900 austin.brunkhorst@ theagencyre.com

LAMAG.COM 77 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

John Burdick

Redfin Corporation 1983093 805-340-0486 john.burdick@redfin. com

Gina Butz

Redfin Corporation 1898280 626-244-4106 gina.butz@redfin.com

Seta Chorbajian Redfin Corporation 1419425 626-656-3255 Seta.Chorbajian@ Redfin.com

Todd Cloutier Compass 1382854 310-926-2201 todd.cloutier@compass.com

Kobi Costa Compass 1500254 818-921-5111 kobi.costa@compass. com

Jaime Cuevas The Agency 1265409 424-400-5900 jamie@theagencyre. com

Roddy de la Garza

Redfin Corporation 0 323-364-8788 roddy.delagarza@ redfin.com

Katharine Deering

Nourmand & Associates 1934262 310-382-4908 kdeering@thekostreycollection.com

Jesse Del Rio

Redfin Corporation 1252958 818-613-1243 jesse.delrio@redfin.com

Andrea Dunlop

Sotheby’s International Realty 1396262 310-560-4180 andrea.dunlop@sir.com

Jennifer Eckert

Nourmand & Associates 1512045 323-543-3697 jeneckert1@gmail.com

Jeremiah Eden

Sotheby’s International Realty 1992220 310-980-0261 jeremiah.eden@sir.com

Hugh Evans III Compass 997121 310-500-1331 Hugh@HughEvans3. com

Tara Fidanian Redfin Corporation 1966031 818-536-3456 tara.fidanian@redfin. com

Gavin Fleminger Nourmand & Associates 1240692 310-850-8053 gavinfleminger@nourmand.com

Jennifer Gainey Compass 1361195 323-559-6742 jennifer.gainey@compass.com

Evelyn Georgieva Redfin Corporation 1955913 562-310-0495 evelyn.georgieva@ redfin.com

Robert Giambalvo Redfin Corporation 1955817 626-676-6200 robert.giambalvo@ redfin.com

Alin Glogovicean Redfin Corporation 1327641 818-395-7772 alin.glogovicean@ redfin.com

Daria Greenbaum Compass 2007115 917-940-9043 daria.greenbaum@ compass.com

Lori Grzybowski Redfin Corporation 1985498 805-302-7307 lori.grzybowski@redfin. com

Nadine Guyaux Redfin Corporation 1932889 310-925-4180 nadine.guyaux@redfin. com

Michele Hall Coldwell Banker Realty 517739 310-850-1357 mhall@michelehallrealestate.com

Brock Harris Keller Williams Los Feliz 1328996 213-842-7625 brock@brockandlori. com

Joseph Harris Redfin Corporation 1252870 818-294-2205 joseph.harris@redfin. com

Kirk Hawkins NILE Technology, Inc. 1996101 818-873-6983 kirk@getkirk.com

Chris Hicks The Agency 1315836 424-400-5900 chris.hicks@theagencyre.com

Charlene Hoang

Redfin Corporation 1975534 408-209-3753 charlene.hoang@redfin. com

Rachel Hsieh Keller Williams Los Feliz 1913428 310-228-8856 jerryandrachelteam@ gmail.com

Matt Kanner Keller Williams Los Feliz 1349203 323-300-1772 mkanner@thekannergroup.com

Lindsay Katz Redfin Corporation 1921555 818-521-9931 lindsay.katz@redfin. com

Brad Keyes Keyes Real Estate 1857106 310-367-3372 brad@keyesla.com

Lisa Kirshner Compass 1159728 310-770-8066 lisa.kirshner@compass. com

Veronica Klein Compass 1218557 310-704-3554 veronica.klein@compass.com

John Kostrey Nourmand & Associates 1729039 323-785-7545 john@thekostreycollection.com

Trevor Levin Nourmand & Associates 1897050 310-866-8738 tlevin@nourmand.com

Judy Lin Young RubyHome 1914120 626-215-4466 judy@rubyhome.com

Grant Linscott Keller Williams Los Feliz 1715002 323-333-6222 offers@grantlinscott. com

Rick Llanos Coldwell Banker Realty 1123101 323-810-0828 rick.llanos@camoves. com

Jason Lorge Keller Williams Los Feliz 1703599 714-686-5807 jason@teamlorgerealestate.com

Heidi Ludwig Redfin Corporation 1400091 310-920-2129 Heidi.Ludwig@Redfin. com

Lisa Mansfield Sotheby’s International Realty 1105508 310-993-2303 lisa.mansfield@sir.com

Melissa Menard Compass 1858710 310-729-9726 melissa.menard@compass.com

Brett Miller Nourmand & Associates 1333139 310-435-3998 bmiller@nourmand.com

Mark Mintz Compass 1859203 310-991-3808 mintz@compass.com

Jonathan Mogharrabi Compass 2009871 310-633-1300 j.mogharrabi@compass. com

Julie Mollo Compass 1818207 323-459-2789 julie.mollo@compass. com

George Moreno Keller Williams Los Feliz 560275 323-394-8168 george@georgeandeileen.com

Steven Moritz Sotheby’s International Realty 928961 310-871-3636 steven.moritz@sir.com

Dana Murphy Redfin Corporation 1348375 805-750-2735 dana.murphy@redfin. com

Marisol Navar Redfin Corporation 1235054 562-688-2856 marisol.navar@redfin. com

Karl Niehaus KW Advisors 1450751 310-880-7900 KarlNiehaus@CREI.biz

Victor Nissani Redfin Corporation 1412328 310-710-8780 victor.nissani@redfin. com

Matthew O’Keefe Compass 1356816 310-429-4552 matthew.okeefe@ compass.com

Blaine Ostrander Redfin Corporation 1178207 805-358-3469 blaine.ostrander@ redfin.com

Arto Poladian Redfin Corporation 1779642 818-383-2792 arto@redfin.com

Jessica Ranuschio Redfin Corporation 1348375 661-607-3178 jessica.ranuschio@ redfin.com

Rick Raymundo Marcus & Millichap 1357019 213-943-1855 rick.raymundo@marcusmillichap.com

Ian Rhodes Keller Williams Los Feliz 1844869 323-821-4069 rhodesleadhome@ gmail.com

Griffin Riddle The Agency 1949069 424-400-5900 griffin.riddle@theagencyre.com

Josh Ritnimit Redfin Corporation 1873160 626-375-7966 josh.ritnimit@redfin. com

Tim Root Redfin Corporation 2106211 310-435-2067 tim.root@redfin.com

Patricia Ruben Sotheby’s International Realty 1262286 323-333-3801 Patricia.Ruben@sir.com

Melissa Ryan Coldwell Banker Realty 1160269 310-993-8319 MelissaRyanRealEstate@aol.com

Deirdre Salomone Maisonre 1325829 323-788-1674 deirdre@L34group.com

Jeffrey T. Sandorf Compass 1396545 310-625-4099 jeffrey.sandorf@compass.com

Vahan Saroians Keller Williams Los Feliz 1085051 323-497-6655 saroians@aol.com

Brian Schames Compass 2012778 323-633-7524 bschames@compass. com

Angela Scurry-Herrera Redfin Corporation 1462327 661-373-8026 angela.scurryherrera@ redfin.com

Brian Selem The Agency 1056044 424-400-5900 brian.selem@theagencyre.com

Shamon Shamonki Sotheby’s International Realty 1455034 310-713-4492 shamon.shamonki@ sir.com

Jamie Blake Sher The Sher Group 1362370 323-304-2455 jamie@sherhomes.com

Marianna Smith Redfin Corporation 2115194 424-390-9618 marianna.smith@redfin. com

Josh Stein-Sapir Keyes Real Estate 1979910 424-401-6165 josh@keyesla.com

Tara Switzer Coldwell Banker Realty 1422161 310-463-5527 taraswitzer@gmail.com

Samira Tapia Compass 2008942 818-642-9622 samira.tapia@compass. com

Mary Lu Tuthill Coldwell Banker Realty 556630 310-339-3327 marylu@marylututhill. com

Karen Ulloa Redfin Corporation 1395066 951-206-7842 karen.ulloa@redfin.com

78 LAMAG.COM SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Konstantine Valissarakos

Nourmand & Associates 1023114 323-252-9451 konstantine@nourmand.com

Victoria Velazquez The Agency 2038302 310-614-4240 victoriav@theagencyre. com

Justin Vold Redfin Corporation 1818571 408-221-3175 justin.vold@redfin.com

Michael Waxman Redfin Corporation 1063090 661-373-5282 michael.waxman@ redfin.com

Keri White The Agency 1491049 424-400-5900 kwhite@theagencyre. com

Ari Wintraub

Sotheby’s International Realty 1943483 310-428-5045 ari.wintraub@sir.com

Jackie Wolf Redfin Corporation 1413548 661-755-7148 jackie.wolf@redfin.com

Mary Beth Woods

Coldwell Banker Realty 470539 310-463-1599 mwoods@marybethwoods.com

Vanessa Yan Soulful Abode 1418060 310-259-4381 vanessa@soulfulabode. com

Richard Yohon

Sotheby’s International Realty 1276405 323-270-1725 Rick.Yohon@sir.com

Hooman Zahedi

Redfin Corporation 1849803 818-429-2940 hooman.zahedi@redfin. com

Los Olivos

Carole Colone

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1223216 805-708-2580 sisicc@aol.com

Laura Drammer

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1209580 805-448-7500 laura@lauradrammer. com

Claire Hanssen

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 887277 805-680-0929 clairehanssen@yahoo. com

Patricia Murphy

Sotheby’s International Realty 766586 805-680-8571 Patty.Murphy@sir.com

Malibu

Marcus Beck

Sotheby’s International Realty 971376 310-456-9405 marcus.beck@sir.com

Katie Bentzen Coldwell Banker Realty 1091411 310-804-8423 katie.bentzen@cbrealty. com

Gail Copley

Coldwell Banker Realty 943961 310-210-9336 gailcopleymalibu@ gmail.com

Alessandro Corona Douglas Elliman 1971190 805-630-2293 alessandro.corona@ elliman.com

Chris Cortazzo Compass 1190363 310-457-3995 chris.cortazzo@compass.com

Michael Cunningham

Pinnacle Estate Properties, Inc. 1291455 310-985-9340 mike@themalibuagent. com

Sandro Dazzan The Agency 1418033 424-305-5000 sandro@theagencyre. com

Irene Dazzan-Palmer The Agency 597226 424-305-5000 irene.dazzan@theagencyre.com

Karsten Demers

Coldwell Banker Realty 1962663 310-403-0306 Karsten.Demers@ camoves.com

Robert Edie Compass 1821992 310-717-1795 robert@pchestates.com

Kathy Ellis

Coldwell Banker Realty 1320487 310-804-4526 kathy.ellis@camoves. com

Ellen Francisco

Coldwell Banker Realty 709314 310-589-2464 ellen@malibuonline. com

Brian Goldberg

Pinnacle Estate Properties, Inc. 1900604 310-403-4623 brian@luxurymalibuproperty.com

Lily Harfouche Compass 1737283 310-266-7291 lh@compass.com

Eric Haskell

The Agency 1866805 424-305-5000 eric.haskell@theagencyre.com

Barry Kinyon

Sotheby’s International Realty 1097786 310-251-9254 barry.kinyon@sir.com

Lee LaPlante

Coldwell Banker Realty 1225083 310-383-3341 lee@leelaplante.com

Susan Monus

Coldwell Banker Realty 827409 310-663-1554 susan@susanmouns. com

Bill Moss

Coldwell Banker Realty 860010 310-293-5503 william.moss@camoves. com

Daniel Moss

Coldwell Banker Realty 1929872 310-600-6692 DanielMossMalibu@ gmail.com

Cooper Mount

The Agency 1956287 424-305-5000 cooper.mount@theagencyre.com

Melissa* Oliver

Coldwell Banker Realty 894644 310-403-4455 melissa.oliver@camoves.com

Luis Robledo Douglas Elliman 1890062 805-551-9784 luis.robledo@elliman. com

Shen Schulz

Sotheby’s International Realty 1327630 310-980-8809 shen@shenrealty.com

Ren Smith Coldwell Banker Realty 1329241 310-567-5704 ren.smith@cbrealty.com

Joshua Spiegel Sotheby’s International Realty 1861803 310-922-4924 Josh.Spiegel@sir.com

Jack Turturici Jr. Douglas Elliman 1265515 310-291-1517 jack.turturicijr@elliman. com

Manhattan Beach

Christine Anderson Strand Hill 2025722 310-750-5614 christine@strandhill. com

Tony Barberi Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1351812 310-529-2344 Tony.Barberi@vistasir. com

Jennifer Caras Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1466213 310-367-9129 jennifer.caras@vistasir. com

Jerry Carew 3 Leaf Realty 1374136 310-714-1416 jerry@3leafrealty.com

Kevin DaSilva Douglas Elliman 1946257 310-528-7708 kevin.dasilva@elliman. com

Becky Davidson RE/MAX Properties 1894087 310-920-9287 RDavidson@ EPLAHomes.com

Shawn Dugan Strand Hill 1749343 310-265-3428 manonthestrand@ gmail.com

Chad Fahlbusch Strand Hill 1346526 310-600-3555 chad@southbaychad. com

Charles Fisher RE/MAX Properties 1731424 310-902-7214 CharlesFisher@ EPLAHomes.com

Alexandra Gauss Strand Hill 1426014 310-418-0869 alexgauss1@gmail.com

Will Joseph Joseph Group 1934991 310-415-4655 will@josephgrp.com

Audrey Judson Strand Hill 872303 310-902-3234 homes@audreyjudson. com

David Keller RE/MAX Properties 851437 310-707-8706 DKeller@EPLAHomes. com

Lee LeGrande Palm Realty Boutique 1316971 310-930-8737 lee@leelegrande.com

Lisa Levin Strand Hill 1345434 310-463-9118 lisa@lisalevin.com

Lily Liang Strand Hill 837794 310-902-7799 lily@lilyliang.com

Jack Mangin Palm Realty Boutique 1987418 310-866-8871 jack@jackmangin.com

Andy McGuire Palm Realty Boutique 1891008 310-971-5949 andy@teammcguirerealestate.com

Steven Mullins Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1487977 310-546-7611 steven@stevenmullins. com

Kristen Novoa Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1291929 310-650-1078 kristen@southbayopenhouse.com

Michael Pennings RE/MAX Properties 990231 310-266-9600 MPennings@ EPLAHomes.com

Darren Pujalet RE/MAX Properties 1845166 310-613-1690 DPujalet@EPLAHomes. com

Jane Sager

RE/MAX Properties 1001004 310-748-0677 JSager@EPLAHomes. com

1311 Morningside Dr., Manhattan Beach 310.200.8318

Cindy@ TheShearinGroup.com CindyShearin.com

Jim Van Zanten

Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 544011 310-466-1004 vzgleads@vistasir.com

Andrew Weir Stroyke Properties Group 1988668 310-850-9694 andy@stroykeproperties.com

Sally Whitty

Palm Realty Boutique 1981074 310-387-2787 sally@sallywhittyrealestate.com

Brett Zebrowski Palm Realty Boutique 1313739 310-678-7158 Brett@PalmRealtyBoutique.com

Marina Del Rey Robin Dahlstrom RE/MAX Properties 1131013 310-890-7622 RDahlstrom@EPLAHomes.com

Jennifer Portnoy Compass 1215535 310-420-7861 jennifer.portnoy@ compass.com

Shannon Shue KW Advisors 1975849 310-853-0335 shannonshue@kw.com

Monrovia Donna Baker Douglas Elliman 1308772 626-487-0820 donna.baker@elliman. com

LAMAG.COM 79 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Cindy Shearin Strand Hill Forbes Global Properties DRE# 00925580

Oliver Wei

HomeSmart Evergreen Realty 1980763 213-400-7158 oliverwei617@gmail. com

Montecito

Lori Bowles

Coldwell Banker Realty 1961570 805-452-3884 Lori.Bowles@camoves. com

Cristal Clarke

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 968247 805-886-9378 cristal@montecito-estate.com

Dan Encell

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 976141 805-565-4896 danencell@aol.com

Josiah Hamilton Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1415235 805-284-8835 josiah@thehamiltonco. com

Dan Johnson Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 609860 805-895-5150 DanJohnson@bhhscal. com

Omid Khaki

Coldwell Banker Realty 1472496 805-698-1616 omid.khaki@camoves. com

Nancy Kogevinas

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1209514 805-450-6233 nancy@kogevinas.com

Harry Kolb

Sotheby’s International Realty 714226 805-452-2500 harry.kolb@sir.com

Sherry Lawson

Coldwell Banker Realty 1019856 805-252-4400 sherrysbrealestate@ gmail.com

Vivienne Leebosh

Sotheby’s International Realty 1229350 805-689-5613 Vivienne.Leebosh@ sir.com

Sandra Lipowski

Sotheby’s International Realty 1355215 805-403-3844 Sandy.Lipowski@Sothebys.Realty

Maureen McDermut

Sotheby’s International Realty 1175027 805-570-5545 maureen.mcdermut@ sir.com

Teresa McWilliams

Coldwell Banker Realty 285016 805-895-7038 tereska1@aol.com

Crysta Metzger

Coldwell Banker Realty 1340521 805-453-8700 crysmetz@me.com

Phyllis Noble Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1448730 805-451-2126 phyllis.noble@bhhscal. com

Chris Palme

Coldwell Banker Realty 989478 805-448-3066 chris@sbrivierahomes. com

Patrice Serrani

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1764713 805-637-5112 patrice@patriceserrani. com

Jason Siemens

Sotheby’s International Realty 1886104 805-455-1165 Jason.Siemens@sir.com

Randy Solakian

Coldwell Banker Realty 622258 805-886-6000 Randy@Montecitoestates.com

Sandy Stahl

Sotheby’s International Realty 1040095 805-689-1602 sandy.stahl@sir.com

Scott Williams Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 628741 805-451-9300 scott@scottwilliams. com

Kathleen Winter Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1022891 805-451-4663 Kathy@KathyWinter. com

Dana Zertuche

Coldwell Banker Realty 1465425 805-403-4755 dana.zertuche@camoves.com

Newhall

Tricia Fossa RE/MAX Gateway 1441052 661-702-4900

Northridge

Carol Otero

Rodeo Realty 864640 818-606-2694 carol@carolotero.com

David Rothblum RE/MAX One 1332525 818-400-0803 DR@MaxOneProperties.com

Sana Saleh

Rodeo Realty 1975947 818-324-8062 sanasaleh@rodeore. com

Sharon Stonefield

Rodeo Realty 1519125 818-621-2897 Sharonsellssfv@gmail. com

Pacific Palisades

Barbara Adler

Coldwell Banker Realty 1973248 201-562-9727 BarbaraSellsCali@ gmail.com

Heather Bell The Agency 1897826 424-325-5000 heather.bell@theagencyre.com

Laurie Hudson

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 604603 310-890-2160 lauriehudson@bhhscal. com

Eric Knight Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 977963 310-994-9410 ericknight@bhhscal. com

Sue Kohl

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 560679 310-720-3400 suekohl@gmail.com

Graham Larson Sotheby’s International Realty 1905737 310-303-9397 graham.larson@sir.com

Michelle Liberman Compass 1922406 917-692-4977 michelle.liberman@ compass.com

Ellen McCormick

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 872518 310-230-3707 ellen@ellenmccormick. com

Devin McNichol Rodeo Realty 2038322 424-835-1470 info@devinandaaron. com

Isabelle Mizrahi

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1209059 310-850-1136 isabelle@inthecanyon. com

Alexandra Pfeifer Sotheby’s International Realty 310-650-3540 alexandra.pfeifer@sir. com

Lauren Polan Coldwell Banker Realty 900834 310-926-0029 LaurenWP@aol.com

James Respondek Rodeo Realty 713972 310-488-4400 james@jamesrespondek.com

Paula Ross Jones Sotheby’s International Realty 1157578 310-880-9750 Paula.RossJones@sir. com

Marco Rufo The Agency 1362095 424-325-5000 marco@theagencyre. com

Robert Sandefer The Agency 1996491 424-325-5000 robert.sandefer@ theagencyre.com

Emil Schneeman

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1200793 310-922-3292 emil@bhhscal.com

Natasha Sizlo The Agency 1982402 424-325-5000 natasha.sizlo@theagencyre.com

Dan Urbach Compass 1147391 310-367-9865 Dan@DanUrbach.com

Trevor Zien The Agency 1980857 424-325-5000 trevor.zien@theagencyre.com

Palos Verdes Estates

Chris Adlam Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 967574 310-493-7216 chris@chrisadlam.com

Jason Buck RE/MAX Properties 1246340 310-383-2578 JasonBuck@REMAXPV. com

Tuba Ghannadi RE/MAX Properties 922882 310-686-4688 Tuba@REMAXPV.com

Lynn Kim Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1476216 310-741-2642 lynn.kim@lynnkimrealestate.com

Igor Nastaskin RE/MAX Properties 1317822 310-892-6016 INastaskin@ EPLAHomes.com

Pasadena

Michael Bell

Sotheby’s International Realty 1164731 626-354-8505 michael.bell@sir.com

Garrett Chan Compass 1959579 626-456-0056 garrett.chan@compass. com

Jack Chang Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1075478 626-818-1880 jackchang@bhhscal. com

Grace Chang Coldwell Banker Realty 1788890 626-318-2028 gchang@coldwellbanker.com

Michelle Chen Coldwell Banker Realty 1491272 626-379-7266 runjing@gmail.com

Tink Cheney Coldwell Banker Realty 1173415 626-233-2938 tinkcheney@earthlink. net

Carol Chua

Coldwell Banker Realty 908699 626-844-2222 cchua@coldwellbanker. com

Alisa Cunningham Douglas Elliman 1719178 818-472-2801 alisa.cunningham@ elliman.com

Darrell Done Coldwell Banker Realty 1233781 626-354-3551 darrell@darrelldone. com

Michele Downing Compass 1046965 626-523-6939 michele.downing@ compass.com

Lucy Mao Compass 1779052 626-831-2201 lucy.mao@compass. com

Matt McIntyre

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1844466 626-437-3643 mpmcintyre@bhhscal. com

Vera Nelson Hythe Realty 1333471 626-298-3025 vera@hytherealty.com

Chris Reisbeck The Agency 1475481 626-803-2000 chris.reisbeck@theagencyre.com

Sarah Rogers Compass 1201812 626-390-0511 sarah.rogers@compass. com

Gus Ruelas The Agency 1221146 626-803-2000 gus@theagencyre.com

Lynette Sohl

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1256496 626-665-2649 lsohl@sbcglobal.net

Nicola Speranta Compass 1274694 626-253-6746 nicola.speranta@compass.com

Laurie Stanford Turner

Coldwell Banker Realty 1919000 626-483-5269 laurieturner@coldwellbanker.com

80 LAMAG.COM SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Gordon Wang Compass 2049148 626-552-2339 gordon.wang@compass.com

Rita Whitney

The Agency 1209004 626-803-2000 rjwhitney@theagencyre.com

Sabrina Wu Compass 900733 626-688-0100 sabrina@compass.com

Natalie Wycoff The Agency 1755930 626-803-2000 nwycoff@theagencyre. com

Pico Rivera

Silvestre Madrigal Jr.

CENTURY 21 Allstars 1363650 562- 843-3495

Danny Navarro

CENTURY 21 Allstars 1938421 949-903-6633 dannyNteam@gmail. com

Dieter Von Puschendorf

CENTURY 21 Allstars 1971402 714-349-6649

Redondo Beach

Daniel Assayag

Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1762501 310-493-2100 daniel@liveinla.net

Gabrielle Herendeen

RE/MAX Properties 1325858 310-433-7313 GHerendeen@EPLAHomes.com

Gary Kooba

Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 578697 310-722-2007 gary.kooba@vistasir. com

Rolling Hills Estates

Kevin Moen

RE/MAX Properties 1014808 310-466-4656 KMoen@EPLAHomes. com

Gayle Probst RE/MAX Properties 1137236 310-977-9711 GProbst@EPLAHomes. com

Charlie Raine

RE/MAX Properties 982925 310-377-4932 CRaine@EPLAHomes. com

Mark Stoll

Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1280262 310-546-7611

Wendy Sun RE/MAX Properties 1729186 310-544-7301 WSun@REMAXPV.com

Santa Barbara

Linda Lorenzen

Coldwell Banker Realty 583737 805-886-1842 Linda@LorenzenPartners.com

Kit Peterson Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 2008932 805-689-5535 kit.peterson@bhhscal. com

Santa Monica

Cindy Ambuehl Compass 1821934 818-489-0282 cindyambuehl@compass.com

Kate Bransfield

Coldwell Banker Realty 1218699 310-395-1133 Kate@SantaMonicaListings.com

Victoria Cruz Equity Union 1887799 310-254-8124 victoria@victoriacruzhomes.com

Bill Friedman Coldwell Banker Realty 672015 213-200-2500 billfried@earthlink.net

Tracey Hennessey Compass 1017938 310-779-6375 tracey.hennessey@ compass.com

Nikki Hochstein Compass 1338003 310-968-1116 nikki.hochstein@compass.com

Benjamin Illulian KW Advisors 2003019 310-867-0474 benjamin@illulianrealty. com

Susan Kastner Compass 1237053 310-880-9227 susan.kastner@compass.com

David Kelmenson Compass 1435306 310-863-3030 kelmenson@compass. com

Stormie Leoni Compass 1949760 310-227-5996 stormie.leoni@compass.com

Gary Limjap Coldwell Banker Realty 927151 310-430-0818 gary.limjap@camoves. com

Kelly Keith Morgan KW Advisors 1898026 310-836-3638 kelly@kellymorgancommercial.com

Nancy Osborne Compass 1859960 310-795-6600 nancy.osborne@compass.com

Tara Rodgers-Culbertso Compass 1830534 310-415-9743 tara.rodgers@compass. com

Megan Silva KW Advisors 1980348 310-614-6513 megan@megansilva. com

Melanie Sommers Compass 1303647 310-418-0343 melanie.sommers@ compass.com

Dan Stueve Equity Union 1936133 310-595-5875 dan@danstueveproperties.com

Amy Um Compass 1961595 310-804-5553 amy.um@compass.com

Robin Walpert Sotheby’s International Realty 1237116 310-480-4980 robin.walpert@sir.com

Deborah Weiss KW Advisors 1367708 310-804-6470 debbie@debbieweiss. com

Sherman Oaks

Tom Barseghian Equity Union 1503467 818-472-5555 relator@tombarseghian. com

Michael Bergin Compass 1845572 310-600-0715 michael.bergin@compass.com

Phil Boroda

Coldwell Banker Realty 822192 310-968-3844 barrydantagnan@gmail. com

Dennis Chernov The Agency 1850113 818-924-2800 dennis@theagencyre. com

Barry Dantagnan Coldwell Banker Realty 1020477 818-426-8677 philip.boroda1@gmail. com

Andrew Dinsky Equity Union 1724985 310-729-3393 andrewdinsky@gmail. com

Daniel Drantch Rodeo Realty 900188 818-261-0030 homesbydad@rodeore. com

Kevin Driscoll Coldwell Banker Realty 818-398-0797 kevindriscollhomes@ gmail.com

Matt Epstein Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1121162 818-681-2000 somatt@aol.com

Jessica Felix Rodeo Realty 1779067 818-399-7214 jessica@jessicafelix. com

Cesar Gonzalez Equity Union 1864871 818-974-0681 cesar@cesarproperties. com

Michelle Hirsch Equity Union 1445587 818-512-4226 michelle@michellehirsch.com

Nicole Joel The Agency 1784589 818-924-2800 nikki.joel@theagencyre. com

Craig Knizek The Agency 1377932 818-924-2800 cknizek@theagencyre. com

Poupee Komenkul Rodeo Realty 1060862 818-482-0085 poupee.komenkul@ rodeore.com

Natalie Kraiem-Levi Equity Union 1896518 310-309-9299 natalie@nklrealestate. com

Brandon Kramer Rodeo Realty 1394280 310-663-3088 Brandon@WeSoldLA. com

Ron Maman Rodeo Realty 1344010 818-469-7021 rmaman00@hotmail. com

Andrew Manning Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 941825 818-522-3972 andrew@andrewmanning.com

Jennifer Niman Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 965903 818-448-2240 jniman.realtor@outlook. com

Michael Okun Sotheby’s International Realty 1430979 818-415-1819 michael.okun@sir.com

Ben Salem Rodeo Realty 1367073 310-765-3020 ben@bensalemproperties.com

Denise Snanoudj The Agency 1101684 818-924-2800 denise.s@theagencyre. com

Alan Taylor Compass 1369255 818-650-1603 Alan@AlanTaylorRealEstate.com

Marly Tempel Rodeo Realty 1384323 818-470-0432 marlytemp@yahoo.com

Howard Zuckerman Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1107036 310-710-8415 hwzuckerman@aol.com

Studio City

Mystoura Afolabi Coldwell Banker Realty 1515906 310-409-5650 mystoura.afolabi@ cbrealty.com

Avi Barazani

Coldwell Banker Realty Studio City 1004601 818-528-2210 avi.barazani@camoves. com

Joseph Breckner

Coldwell Banker Realty Studio City 883666 818-528-2291 Joe@JoeBreckner.com

Kofen Chang

Coldwell Banker Realty 1951860 310-916-9081 realtor@kofenchang. com

Michael Chez Compass 1244757 310-863-8300 michael.chez@compass.com

Casey Covenant Woodbridge Estates 1859825 818-308-5830 covenantestates@ gmail.com

Andy Hairabedian The Agency 1900114 747-977-3250 andy.h@theagencyre. com

Donovan Healey

Coldwell Banker Realty 1887933 310-903-1876 donovan.healey@ cbrealty.com

Donovan Healey Coldwell Banker Realty Studio City 1887933 818-621-1805 donovan.healey@ cbrealty.com

Steven Hill

Coldwell Banker Studio City 2023251 310-259-4381 steven.hill@cbrealty. com

Todd Jones Rodeo Realty 1481426 310-882-5565 todd@toddjoneshomes. com

Andrea Korchek The Agency 1311917 747-977-3250 akorchek@theagencyre.com

Nicole Nash Rodeo Realty 1399012 323-428-6398 nicole@nicolenash.com

Danielle Peretz The Agency 1897529 747-977-3250 danielle.peretz@theagencyre.com

LAMAG.COM 81 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Ingrid Sacerio

The Agency 1905431 747-977-3250 isacerio@theagencyre. com

Julie Sanders

Coldwell Banker Realty 1895602 415-694-1215 jules.sanders@cbrealty. com

Michelle Schwartz

The Agency 1889141 747-977-3250 mschwartz@theagencyre.com

Sebastian Spader The Agency 2013827 747-977-3250 sspader@theagencyre. com

Suzanna Storm

Coldwell Banker Realty 1882264 213-400-4857 suzanna.storm@cbrealty.com

Toluca Lake

Kristin Neithercut Compass 2003278 323-397-0800 kristin@kristinneithercut.com

Craig Michael Strong Compass 1450987 818-930-4050 info@strongrealtor.com

Torrance

John Briscoe

RE/MAX Properties 692202 310-918-3030 JBriscoe@EPLAHomes. com

Joe Buck Compass 1995305 310-995-1195 joebuck@compass.com

Kim Doner Compass 1828186 310-720-7933 kim.doner@compass. com

Jesse Dougherty Compass 01949609 310-995-4475 jesse.dougherty@ compass.com

Dennis Hartley Compass 836047 310-717-2319 dennis.hartley@compass.com

Gary Krill Compass 1086159 310-994-3922 gary.krill@compass. com

Ti any McGuinness

RE/MAX Properties 1947654 310-525-7653 TMcGuinness@ EPLAHomes.com

Melissa Pilon Compass 1974762 248-953-8405 melissa.pilon@compass.com

Jenny Yamada-Clayton

RE/MAX Properties 891965 310-251-3445 JYamada-Clayton@ EPLAHomes.com

Valencia Brian Palmer

RE/MAX of Valencia 1047928 616-212-3938 brian@brianpalmer.com

Venice Michael Grady

The Agency 1505317 424-835-7230 mgrady@theagencyre. com

Courtney Lingle

The Agency 1953447 424-835-7230 courtney.lingle@theagencyre.com

Allie Lutz Rosenberger

The Agency 1945014 424-835-7230 alutz@theagencyre. com

Tami Pardee

Pardee Properties 1421451 310-600-7217 tami@pardeeproperties.com

Alex Quaid The Agency 1838631 424-835-7230 alex.quaid@theagencyre.com

Colette Stevens

Pardee Properties 1702926 818-822-9186 colette@pardeeproperties.com

Kerry Ann Sullivan

Pardee Properties 1927932 310-621-2662 kerryann@pardeeproperties.com

Ventura Laurie Rutledge

Coldwell Banker Realty 1156115 805-340-4854 Laurie.Rutledge@ camoves.com

West Hollywood Yohann Bensimon Keller Williams Hollywood Hills 1966630 310-923-1550 yohann@ikonadvisors. com

Michelle Graci

The Beverly Hills Estates 1925500 818-967-8295 Michelleg@TheBeverlyHillsEstates.com

Tyler Jacobs

Sotheby’s International Realty 2019419 310-739-9580 tyler.jacobs@sir.com

Laurent Mamann Slater

The Beverly Hills Estates 1348767 310-780-9971 Laurent@LaurentSlater. com

Corey Nelson

Sotheby’s International Realty 1462372 310-927-0095 corey.nelson@sir.com

Anthony Paradise

Sotheby’s International Realty 1888369 310-279-8303 anthony.paradise@ sir.com

Matthew Paul Rodeo Realty 1394372 310-499-3579 matthewtpaul@gmail. com

Angel Salvador

The Beverly Hills Estates 1794155 818-744-1469

Angel@TheBeverlyHillsEstates.com

Shahrouz Shirdel

Sotheby’s International Realty 1999834 310-770-2262 shawn@shawnshirdel. com

Laurent Mamann Slater

The Beverly Hills Estates 1348767 310-780-9971 laurent@laurentslater. com

Kevin Stolper

The Beverly Hills Estates 2006447 310-403-9331

Kevin@TheBeverlyHillsEstates.com

Stefani Stolper

The Beverly Hills Estates 1957452 310-733-6551 Stefani@TheBeverlyHillsEstates.com

Jamie Tian

Rodeo Realty 1920120 310-717-1321 jamietian@gmail.com

Alison Turner

The Beverly Hills Estates 1953223 310-600-8229 Alison@TheBeverlyHillsEstates.com

Shauna Walters

The Beverly Hills Estates 1728600 310-775-1106 Shauna@TheBeverlyHillsEstates.com

Rayni Williams

The Beverly Hills Estates 1496786 310-626-4248 Rayni@TheBeverlyHillsEstates.com

Branden Williams

The Beverly Hills Estates 1774287 310-626-4248 BrandenWilliams@ mac.com

Trevor Wright

The Beverly Hills Estates 2042934 310-804-9693 Trevor@TheBeverlyHillsEstates.com

West Los Angeles

Reid Kaplan

RE/MAX Properties 1711288 310-883-8921 RKaplan@EPLAHomes. com

Elizabeth Marquart

RE/MAX Properties 1344207 310-246-0888 EMarquart@EPLAHomes.com

Michele Walman

RE/MAX Properties 940640 310-836-4840 MWalman@EPLAHomes.com

Westlake Village

Rosemary Allison

Coldwell Banker Realty 545184 805-479-7653 rosemaryallison@aol. com

Casey Gordon Rodeo Realty 1880153 805-750-9804 casey@rodeore.com

Sheri Karp

Sotheby’s International Realty 968763 818-232-1851 sheri.karp@sir.com

Jenna Kaye Rodeo Realty 1932772 818-307-9679 Jennakaye@rodeore. com

Leo McHale Rodeo Realty 1377546 818-621-4940 lmchale@sbcglobal.net

Brandon Haft Rodeo Realty 1485980 818-612-7690 brandonhaft@hotmail. com

Kara Katz Equity Union 2062597 619-850-4106 kara@katzgroupla.com

Roy Lhanie Equity Union 1854551 818-642-3449 listwithroy@gmail.com

Lonnie Mintz Rodeo Realty 1251366 818-298-1108 lmintz6729@aol.com

Shane Nichols Rodeo Realty 1948062 818-312-3164 Shane@SellitShane.com

Carmen Mormino

Rodeo Realty, Inc. CalBRE# 01808462 100 N. Westlake Blvd., Ste. 100a Westlake Village 818.693.2181 morminoproperties@ gmail.com carmenmormino.com

Tricia Onsgard Coldwell Banker Realty 1091321 805-559-0841 triciaonsgard@verizon. net

Troy Rosen Compass 1983667 818-835-7200 troy.rosen@compass. com

Jonah Shenson Sotheby’s International Realty 1963119 818-621-3987 Jonah.Shenson@Sir. com

Woodland Hills

David Abas Equity Union 1422571 310-968-1464 jocelyn@davidabas. com

Marty Azoulay Equity Union 1234131 818-822-2422 marty@myhousesellers. com

Dana Frank Rodeo Realty 1386144 818-618-6000 dana@danafrankhomes. com

Collin St. Johns Collin St. Johns Real Estate 1240582 818-312-2171 csj24seven@gmail.com

Agoura Hills

Joe Tishko

Finance of America NLMS # 240232 818-370-8302

Dorain Williams

Finance of America NLMS # 251389 818-317-4949

Beverly Hills

Sasan Abrams

Cohen Financial Group NLMS # 1194434 1-424-202-3843 sabrams@cohenfinancialgroup.com

Sheila Berger

Wells Fargo NLMS # 1493332 310-801-5151 Sheila@wellsfargo.com

Mark Cohen

Cohen Financial Group NLMS # 1593077 310-777-5401 cfg@cohenfinancialgroup.com

John Demaria

Wells Fargo NLMS # 486145 818-689-5001

John.Demaria@wellsfargo.com

82 LAMAG.COM SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
20 23
MORTGAGE

Dana Dukelow

Guaranteed Rate

NLMS # 252986 323-394-1909 dana.dukelow@rate. com

Ramona Edery

Wells Fargo NLMS # 1776322 310-924-8360 Ramona.Edery@wellsfargo.com

David Eghbali

Change Home Mortgage NLMS # 450328 310-889-4502 deghbali@changemtg. com

Chris Furie

Insignia Mortgage NLMS # 357449 310-989-8824 chris@insigniamortgage.com

Bill Grasska

Riviera Financial Partners Inc. NLMS # 238068 310-890-8283 bgrasska@rivierafinancial.com

Stephanie Kates

Change Home Mortgage NLMS # 481277 818-231-8960 skates@changemtg. com

Steven Maizes

Guaranteed Rate NLMS # 250590 310-467-4044 steven.maizes@rate. com

Jonathan O’Donnell

Union Bank NLMS # 301511 310-480-6863 Jonathan.ODonnell@ unionbank.com

Neil Patel

Insignia Mortgage NLMS # 1179478 424-488-3566 neil@insigniamortgage. com

Melissa Velasquez

Wells Fargo NLMS # 633920 949-293-5119 melissa.m.velasquez@ wellsfargo.com

Lisa Yacoubian

Wells Fargo NLMS # 357641 310-295-0264 lisa.yacoubian@wellsfargo.com

Burbank

May Shalhoub

Movement Mortgage NLMS # 300637 818-599-8305 may.shalhoub@movement.com

Calabasas

Rebeca Brady Priority Financial Network NLMS # 326187 818-936-3882 becky@priorityfinancial.net

Nancy Everett Wells Fargo NLMS # 374442 818-424-5626

Nancy.Everett@wellsfargo.com

Mark Johnson Homebridge Financial Services NLMS # 244919 818-532-1218 Mark.Johnson@homebridge.com

KJ Margolis Citibank NLMS # 457645 310-994-5642 kj.margolis@citi.com

Brandon Moss

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation NLMS # 611775 818-256-4330 brandon.moss@fairwaymc.com

Bryan Moss

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation NLMS # 1135360 818-723-3718 bryan.moss@fairwaymc.com

Bruce Nangle Guaranteed Rate NLMS # 267122 818-427-3116 Bruce.Nangle@grarate. com

John Wade

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation NLMS # 256688 818-404-1905 john.wade@fairwaymc. com

Century City

Peter Hoover Loan Depot NLMS # 1526844 310-806-7026 phoover@loandepot. com

Christopher Ross Chase NLMS # 1180888 805-368-9648 christopher.ross@chase. com

Claremont

Eric Kellner

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation NLMS # 471994 909-615-4993 ekellner@fairwaymc. com

Mondie Pic’l

Fairway Mortgage NLMS # 299679 626-233-1303 mondie@fairwaymc. com

Costa Mesa

Jonathan Gih Nations Lending NLMS # 1058510 951-218-2625 jonathan.gih@nationslending.com

Covina

Carlos Flores Cross Country Mortgage NLMS # 238306 626-991-7644 carlos.flores@myccmortgage.com

John Paul Sazon

Century 21 Cristal Cellar NLMS # 307997 818-648-4296 jp@cristalcellar.com

Diamond Bar

Fiona Bryan Academy Mortgage Group NLMS # 1812932 303-882-0543 fiona.bryan@academymortgage.com

Downey

Luz LLuncor New World Mortgage Branch NLMS # 227914 562-904-2500 Luz@newworld-mtg. com

El Segundo

Eric Formiller Wells Fargo NLMS # 485383 310-308-7144 Eric.Formiller@wellsfargo.com

Katie Kostelak

Wells Fargo NLMS # 1145698 310-486-9397 Katie.Kostelak@wellsfargo.com

Gary May Wells Fargo NLMS # 611774 310-808-8453 gary@wellsfargo.com

Denise Thomas Wells Fargo NLMS # 82268 424-262-2091

Denise.P.Thomas@ wellsfargo.com

Encino

Fred Schector Bank of America NLMS # 451116 424-407-4446

Glendale

Nick Bronsozian

BluPrint Home Loans NLMS # 292407 818-266-8442 nick@mybploan.com

Alan Grigorian

Provident Home Lending Group NLMS # 380549 818-389-4315 alan@plghomeloans. com

Julie Rojas Guaranteed Rate NLMS # 483738 323-855-9264 Julie.Rojas@grarate. com

Glendora David Chea SquareLend NLMS # 488339 626-600-2943 david@squarelend.com

Ephraim Farol SqaureLend NLMS # 488444 562-773-3870 emfarol@squarelend. com

Cole Strange Movment Mortgage NLMS # 1339542 626-255-5414 cole.strange@movement.com

Granada Hills Yanni Raz HML Investments NLMS # 1003404 310-619-5557 yanni@HMLInvestments.com

Hawthorne

Harold Rodriguez Chase NLMS # 613502 310-749-0764 harold.o.rodriguez@ chase.

Huntington Beach Mike Wright Arbor Financial Group NLMS # 234953 714-240-4030 mwright@arborfg.com

La Canada Flintridge Edwin Davidian House America Financial NLMS # 386418 818-585-8283 EDavidian@HouseAmericaHL.com

Fredrik Megerdichian House America NLMS # 300774 818-321-8080 Fredrik@HouseAmericaFinancial.com

Jobe Whelan House America Financial NLMS # 380749 818-974-2183 jobe@houseamericafinancial.com

Long Beach

Anthony Bell Citizens Financial NLMS # 1181532 310-748-0202 anthony@bell-mtg.com

Jorge Hernandez Guaranteed Rate NLMS # 269284 562-618-9796 jorge.hernandez@rate. com

Los Angeles

Julie Aragon Aragon Lending Team NLMS # 250691 310-340-6606 info@aragonlending. com

Simon Atik Guaranteed Rate Affinity NLMS # 961014 310-880-8414 simon.atik@grate.com

Francesco Foggia Bank of America NLMS # 278442 323-761-7701

David Lerman CalUnion Funding Inc. NLMS # 391243 323-855-4434 david@calunionfunding.com

Irvin Lopez Guild Mortgage NLMS # 457584 562-276-3027 ilopez@guildmortgage. net

Micah Raff Mortgage Capital Partners NLMS # 952625 818-808-8835 mraff@mortgcap.com

Natalie Salins Movement Mortgage NLMS # 298662 323-644-1200 Natalie.Salins@movement.com Los Gatos

Mary Pennel Change Home Mortgage NLMS # 305513 408-316-4562 mary@marypennel.com

Manhattan Beach

Joseph Archer Chase NLMS # 268431 310-713-4507 joseph.archer@chase. com

Linda Buchanan Caliber Home Loans NLMS # 303528 310-796-7591 linda.buchanan@caliberhomeloans.com

Brett Dillenberg Cross Country Mortgage NLMS # 235446 310-293-7092 brett.dillenberg@ccm. com

Rick Ellis Citibank NLMS # 295206 310-750-5959 rick.ellis@citi.com

Stepanie Green CrossCountry Mortgage NLMS # 328557 310-493-7266 stephanie.green@ccm. com

Brett Lightner

Caliber Home Loans NLMS # 303462 310-796-7593 brett.lightner@caliberhomeloans.com

Jasmine Rassekh Mortgage Capital Partners NLMS # 236173 310-308-5052 jasmine@jrassekh.com

Newport Beach

Nate Kuchera

New American Funding NLMS # 297082 949-633-6464 Nate.Kuchera@nafinc. com

Northridge

Jeff Fink LA Mortgage NLMS # 325731 818-723-1638 jeffrey.fink55@gmail. com

Ontario

Deborah E. Morgan

West Coast Mortgage Associates NLMS # 276164 909-215-7943 debwestcoast@pm.me

Pacific Palisades

Greg Roberts

Prosperity Home Mortgage NLMS # 246350 310-200-5488 Greg.Roberts@phmloans.com

Pasadena

Leslie Black

We Fund LA NLMS # 1111536 562-322-0836

Mary Bowser Wells Fargo NLMS # 447947 626-616-2537 mary.bowser@wellsfargo.com

Waleed Delawari

Delaware Pacific NLMS # 838255 626-486-1775 info@delgrp.com

Joseph Kloss

Guaranteed Rate NLMS # 352569 626-321-4224 Joseph.Kloss@grarate. com

Rob Levy

Homebridge Financial Services NLMS # 493497 818-422-1850 rob.levy@homebridge. com

LAMAG.COM 83 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Jason Priel

New American Funding NLMS # 1050960 818-312-2267 Jason.Priel@nafinc.com

John Thompson

C2 Financial Corporation NLMS # 252514 626-583-1623 john@smplmortgage. com

John Twyman Citibank NLMS # 727951 818-470-6095 john.twyman@citi.com

Redondo Beach

Jeremy Altervain

Civic Financial Services NLMS # 261164 310-890-4896 jeremy.altervain@ civicfs.com

Rolling Hills Estates

Wesley Uyema Union Bank NLMS # 723901 310-874-6189 Wesley.Uyema@unionbank.com

Santa Clarita

Mike Meena

Augusta Financial NLMS # 241370 661-714-6258 mike@augustafinancial. com

Sean Treloggen

Augusta Financial, Inc NLMS # 307521 661-291-2255 Sean@AugustaFinancial.com

Santa Monica

Steve Eckhoff

Guaranteed Rate NLMS # 261230 310-470-8080 steve.eckhoff@rate.com

Eric Otfinoski

Prosperity Home Mortgage, LLC NLMS # 254462 619-665-2343 EricO@phmloans.com

Seal Beach

Tom McMurray

C2 Financial Corporation NLMS # 39007 855-955-1340 tom@karbonfinancial. com

Sherman Oaks

Mike Hartunian Homebridge Financial Services NLMS # 247330 213-706-6624 mike.hartunian@homebridge.com

Ron Karp KPL Select NLMS # 238438 818-907-5757 rkarp@kplselect.com

Ofir Yeyni

Option One Lending NLMS # 2128416 818-769-6300 TYT@OptionOneLending.com

South Pasadena

Eddie Ajamian Journey Mortgage Advisors NLMS # 342821 626-826-5225 eddie@journeymac. com

Justin Bitensky

Equity Smart Home Loans NLMS # 1827357 323-919-5104 justinb@equitysmartloans.com

Nareg Kaprielian Huntington Mortgage Group NLMS # 757631 818-903-8204 nareg@huntingtonmtg. com

Studio City

Artin Babayan Prime Lending NLMS # 304962 800-963-4623 ababayan@primelending.com

Torrance Paul Cawthorne Homebridge Financial Services NLMS # 249035 310-499-8128 paul.cawthorne@homebridge.com

Fernando Diaz

Homebridge Financial Services NLMS # 253430 310-418-9289 Fernando.Diaz@homebridge.com

Nick Do US Bank NLMS # 485767 626-660-1685 nick.do@usbank.com

Dean Kishiyama Loan Depot NLMS # 15931 562-716-1625 dkishiyama@loandepot. com

Chris Rivera Cross Country Mortgage NLMS # 331031 310-782-4039 chris.rivera@ccm.com

Upland

Tim Harrison Cornerstone Home Lending NLMS # 170960 909-260-5252 Tim@HLCTeam.com

Valencia

Debbie Marcoux Mortgage Mom Radio NLMS # 237926 844-935-3634 questions@mortgagemomradio.com Van Nuys

V. Amayakyan Wintrust Mortgage NLMS # 675017 310-989-5522

Craig Kovler

Wintrust Mortgage NLMS # 287444 818-461-5602

West Hollywood

Larisa Lutes

Origin Point NLMS # 367680 323-821-6966 Larisa.Lutes@originpoint.com

Samantha Scherr

Origin Point NLMS # 1202073 310-968-4046 Samantha.Scherr@ originpoint.com

Westlake Village

Gary Blau

Homeowners Financial Group NLMS # 322092 818-585-8493 gblau@homeownersfg. com

John Musso Citibank NLMS # 448606 818-518-1008 john.musso@citi.com

Karen Natapoff

Homebridge Financial Services NLMS # 254553 310-849-8653 Karen.Natapoff@homebridge.com

Geoffrey Rouss Wintrust Mortgage NLMS # 285987 310-804-8181

Woodland Hills

Sam Demirjian

Priority Capital Corporation NLMS # 240052 818-426-7600 SamDemirjian@iclozloans.com

Michael Weisberg

Lend to America NLMS # 233695 805-444-4294 lend@lendtoamerica. com

20 23

TEAMS

Altadena

Teresa Fuller Team Compass 1315387 626-483-0710 teresa@teresafuller.com

Arroyo Grande

The Murphy Team Compass 1973035 805-363-1662 molly.murphy@compass. com

Beverly Hills

Aaron Kirman Group Compass 1296524 310-994-9512 aaron.kirman@compass. com

Andrew Rhoda & Associates Compass 1879250 213-915-8879 andrew.rhoda@compass. com

Aram Afshar Team

Coldwell Banker Realty 1484569 310-702-0583 aram@quintessentiallyestates.com

Bond Street Partners The Agency 01909801, 01905862 424-230-3700 james@theagencyre.com, dparnes@theagencyre.com

Brent Watson Team Coldwell Banker Realty 1183125 310-600-9119 brent@brentwatsonhomes. com

Carl Gambino Compass 1971890 646-465-1766 carl.gambino@compass. com

Chad Lund Team Douglas Elliman 998185 310-801-2641 chad.lund@elliman.com

Daniel Banchik & Amy Dantzler

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1305623 310-503-6436 d.banchik@bhhscal.com

Daniel Brown Compass 1335192 310-901-7405 dbrown@compass.com

David Kramer Group Hilton & Hyland 996960 310-691-2400 hello@davidkramergroup. com

Ernie Carswell & Associates Douglas Elliman 1111566 310-345-7500 Info@CarswellandAssociates.com

Grauman Rosenfeld Group The Agency 01469825, 01918229 424-230-3700 jgrauman@theagencyre. com, arosenfeld@theagencyre.com

Heather & Learka Douglas Elliman 1398002 323-445-3208 heatherandlearka@elliman. com

Ivan Estrada Team Douglas Elliman 1882046 323-574-2317 Ivan@IvanEstradaProperties.com

Jennifer Okhovat Compass 1866951 310-435-7399 jennifer.okhovat@compass. com

Justin Alexander Compass 1733939 970-710-1665 justin.alexander@compass. com

Justin Leigh Compass 2011147 323-365-4000 justin.leigh@compass.com

Larry Young & Associates Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 999537 310-801-9355 larry@larryyoungassociates.com

Lee Ziff RE Professionals

Keller Williams Beverly Hills 1212150 310-945-7752 david@leeziff.com

Marc Hernandez Group Compass 882850 310-993-8730 marc.hernandez@compass. com

MS Property Partners Keller Williams Beverly Hills 1261623 310-867-5589 dafna555@yahoo.com

Nancy Sanborn & Brian Joy Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 00771096 & 01324371 310-777-2858 / 818-5907303

nancy@sanbornteam.com / brianjoy@bhhscal.com

Paul Lester & Aileen Comora

The Agency 01338925, 01002982 424-230-3700 acomora@theagencyre. com, plester@theagencyre. com

Peter Maurice / Tregg Rustad

Rodeo Realty 1129738 310-623-8819 peter@petermaurice.com

Rare Properties Compass 1991628 424-230-7928 showings@rarepropertiesinc.com

Rowe | Tzadik Group Compass 986502 310-880-9185 rowetzadikgroup@compass.com

SHGroup: The Agency 02003365, 02028724 424-230-3700 nick.sandler@theagencyre. com, bhirsch@theagencyre. com

St. James + Canter Team Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 949711 310-291-1029 cristie@stjamescanter.com

Tamkin Real Estate Group Compass 1336758 310-493-4141 st@compass.com

The Brill Group Compass 960792 310-497-5166 info@brillgroup.com

The Brodsky Group Compass 1960565 310-623-2319 or.brodsky@compass.com

The Eastside Co. Compass 1391639 323-547-0330 imraan@compass.com

84 LAMAG.COM
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

The Fridman Group Compass 1750717 310-926-3777 tomer.fridman@compass. com

The Go Group Sotheby’s International Realty 1933923 310-882-8357 neyshia@neyshiago.com

The Joyce Rey Team

Coldwell Banker Realty 465013 310-285-7529 joyce@joycerey.com

The JY Group

Keller Williams Beverly Hills 1341959 323-854-4300 Info@JeffYarbrough.com

The Tom Scrocco and Randy Isaacs Team Douglas Elliman 1245433 310-259-7355 tom.scrocco@elliman.com

The Umansky Team: The Agency 1222825 424-230-3700 mumansky@theagencyre. com

Tiffany Martin, Christine Martin, Samira Gores

The Agency 01823589, 01794840, 01323193 424-230-3700 cmartin@theagencyre.com, tmartin@theagencyre.com, sgores@theagencyre.com

Tracy Tutor Team Douglas Elliman 1326769 310-595-3889 Tracy.Tutor@elliman.com

VOYAGE Real Estate Compass 1753779 310-738-3180 ari@compass.com

Douglas Elliman 1397788

Brentwood Scott Moore Group Douglas Elliman 1347535 310-678-7855 Scott.Moore@elliman.com

Burbank

The Brad Korb Real Estate Group

The Brad Korb Real Estate Group 698730 818-953-5300 brad@bradkorb.com

Calabasas

Gina Michelle and George Ouzounian:

The Agency 01503003, 01948763 818-379-7700 george.oz@theagencyre. com, gina.michelle@ theagencyre.com

Hirsch Sherman & Jared Levine

Keller Williams Calabasas Hirsch Sherman 00710184, Jared Levine 01804008 818-657-6508 charms.tan1@gmail.com

Lilach Basson Compass 1704715 818-618-9260 lilach.basson@compass. com

Shevin Team Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 671618 818-961-7271 info@theshevins.com

The Cohan Team

Coldwell Banker Realty 1208350 818-335-9777 michelle.cohan@camoves. com

The Improta Team Compass 1432200 310-597-1915 jason@improta.com

Costa Mesa

Carter Kaufman Compass 1968622 949-294-6411 carter@carterkaufman.com

El Segundo

Alex Abad Real Estate Group Compass 2098631 310-463-3204 a.abad@compass.com

Nick Phillips Properties Group Compass 1742107 310-750-4828 nick@nickphillipsproperties.com

Nicol Real Estate Group Compass 1918400 310-529-5286 scot@nicolrealestate.com

Glendale

Think Real Estate eXp Realty 1134528 213-712-4343 dave@thinkrealestategroup.com

Glendora

Maureen Haney Real Estate Team Compass 1169487 626-216-8067 maureen.haney@compass. com

Hermosa Beach Kaminsky Real Estate Group Itzsold. Inc 958114 310-427-2414 ek@itzsold.com

Lauren Forbes Group Compass 1295248 310-901-8512 lauren.forbes@compass. com

Huntington Beach

Jody Clegg Team Compass 1230876 714-515-7052 jody@jodyclegg.com

La Cañada Flintridge Haynes Group Compass 1144568 818-599-8066 carey.haynes@compass. com

The McGlashan Group Coldwell Banker Realty 1041976 818-512-2375 janice@janicemcglashan. com

Long Beach Stonick Group Compass 1363678 562-818-5763 leslie@lesismor.com

Los Angeles

Ahead of the Curve Homes Compass 1763313 310-350-4528 erica.lockhart@compass. com

Brock & Lori Harris Real Estate Team Keller Williams Los Feliz 1328996 213-842-7625 brock@brockandlori.com

Bryant \ Reichling Team Compass 1245334 323-854-1780 boni.bryant@compass.com

Canyonhaus Compass 1703353 323-203-0965 torih@compass.com

Dear LA Team Compass 1935804 323-208-1827 joanna.suhl@compass.com

Don Heller Group Compass 1198240 310-466-7809 don.heller@compass.com

Grant Linscott Group Keller Williams Realty 1715002 323-487-9222 info@grantlinscott.com

Jenna Cooper Compass 1352710 323-481-0644 jenna.cooper@compass. com

Katie Crain + John Podhor Compass 1811131 310-502-2312 katie.crain@compass.com

Laci Buller Group Compass 2008575 310-301-2330 laci@lacibullergroup.com

Lauren Reichenberg Compass 1415570 323-849-3656 REALESTATEBYLAR@ GMAIL.COM

Natalie Trabin Compass 1901052 310-415-2663 natalie.trabin@compass. com

Plus Real Estate Group Compass 1915539 949-212-8721 tyrone@plusrealestategroup.com

Rogers + Stellini + Ritt Team Compass 1710680 310-963-4205 anthony.stellini@compass. com

Shelton Wilder Group Sotheby’s International Realty 1979656 310-997-7059 shelton.wilder@sir.com

Smith & Berg Partners Compass 961954 310-500-3951 team@smithandberg.com

Solomon Property Group Douglas Elliman 1386406 310-279-7759 TEAM@SPG83.COM

Stearns + Partners Compass 1118915 310-850-9284 richard.stearns@compass. com

Stephanie Younger Group Compass 1365696 310-499-2020 stephanie@stephanieyounger.com

Stephen Sigoloff Compass 796067 310-804-8180 stephen.sigoloff@compass. com

Take Sunset Compass 1871966 323-775-6305 hello@takesunset.com

Team Lustig-Bower CBRE 409987 310 550 2556 laurie.lustig-bower@cbre. com

The Alice & Malyn Team: The Agency 0 424-400-5900 alice.cannington@theagencyre.com, malyn.dahlin@ theagencyre.com

The Altman Brothers Team Douglas Elliman 1764587 310-819-3250 MARKETING@THEALTMANBROTHERS.COM

The Jackie Smith Group Compass 1889096 213-494-7736 jackie.smith@compass.com

The Listing Group Compass 1305628 310-617-6462 nima.tehrany@compass. com

The Local Real Estate Group Compass 1431217 323-667-0700 kurt@localregroup.com

Victoria and Michael Compass 1762981 310-770-2823 michael.maguire@compass.com

Malibu

The Malibu Life Compass 1413280 310-818-5788 team@themalibulife.com

The

Compass 1836632 310-994-4247 russellandtony@compass. com

The Oliver Ferra Real Estate Group

Coldwell Banker Realty 00894644,01227825 310-403-4455, 310-4551717

melissa.oliver@camoves. com, pferra@coldwellbanker.com

The Wright Way Team Compass 935559 818-939-6415 adrian.wright@compass. com

Manhattan Beach DeRenzis Real Estate

Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1760239 310-600-7973 derenzis@vistasir.com

Gillespie Host Group

Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 426498 310-796-1617 Jack.Gillespie@VistaSIR. com

Jen Caskey Group Compass 1075946 310-200-5900 jen.caskey@compass.com

Kevin & Brigitte Pratt Strand Hill 01023090 - Kevin, 01910418 - Brigitte 310-738-2348, 310-7382348

Kpratt@strandhill.com, Bpratt@strandhill.com

The Lane Team

Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 768020 310-962-4022 bob.lane@vistasir.com

Marina Del Rey

Aria Properties KW Advisors 972387 424-247-2533 Rick@soldbyaria.com

The Suarez Team

The Suarez Team of Keller Williams Broker’s DRE: 01428775, 01433992 424-500-3131 Hello@TheSuarezTeam. com

Montecito

Calcagno & Hamilton Real Estate Group

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1499736 805-565-4000 info@homesinsantabarbara.com

LAMAG.COM 85 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Mark & Grether Group

Sotheby’s International Realty 1908615 805-570-0102 dusty.baker@sir.com

Ken Switzer Team

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1245644 805-680-4622 KSwitzer@bhhscal.com

Kerry Mormann & Associates

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 598625 805-689-3242 kerrym@coastalranch.com

Marsha Kotlyar Estate Group

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1426886 805-565-4014 home@mkgroupmontecito. com

Team Scarborough

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1182792 805-331-1465 team@teamscarborough. com

The Hamilton Co.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1415235 1-805-284-8835 home@thehamiltonco.com

Pacific Palisades

Amalfi Estates Amalfi Estates 1173073 310-293-9280 anthony@amalfiestates. com

Ryan Jancula + Trevor Montano Team Compass 1904981 310-740-9719 rt@compass.com

The Cilic Group

Sotheby’s International Realty 1421044 310-925-1402 Joe.Cilic@sir.com

THE FEIL GROUP

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1739001 310-422-0102 cfeil@thefeilgroup.com

Palos Verdes Estates Bisignano Group Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 1116110 310-990-4727 gerad@vistasir.com

Chadmar - Terry Niemann / Katherine Meier

Terry Niemann - Chadmar 1909111 310-427-4411 terryniemann@icloud.com

Palos Verdes Realty Palm Realty Boutique 01374451,01810798, 01375596 310-944-5554 contact@palosverdesrealty.com

Watts & Associates Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 966894 310-874-8775 stevewatts@vistasir.com

Pasadena

Dilsaver Group Compass 620166 626-755-7372 michael.dilsaver@compass. com

The Chang Group Compass 1822562 626-487-8100 brent@compass.com

The Holcomb Durkovic Group Douglas Elliman 1923778 310-810-4470 info@TheHDGroup.com

The LA Home Girl Compass 1734058 323-251-8626 kenya.reevescosta@ compass.com

The Sabatella Group Compass 1945152 626-394-9212 homesbycarmine@gmail. com

Thomas Atamian & Associates Compass 1739307 818-235-6325 thomas.atamian@compass. com

Tracy Do Team Coldwell Banker 1350025 323-842-4001 tracy@tracydo.com

Playa Del Rey Jesse Weinberg & Associates

Jesse Weinberg & Associates 1435805 800-804-9132 info@jesseweinberg.com

Team Tami Palm Realty Boutique 1745122 310-745-1600 Home@PlayaVistaLiving. com

Rancho Cucamonga

Briana Price Team RE/MAX Masters 1849530 999-957-9288 briana@soldbybriana.com

Rancho Palos Verdes

Jerry and Laura Yutronich Team RE/MAX Estate Properties 1218093 JYutronich@EPLAHomes. com

The Kondo Group Compass 1438455 310-740-5742 hello@thekondogroup.com

Redondo Beach

Cari & Britt Group

Vista Sotheby’s International Realty 850678 310-938-9167 contact@cariandbritt.com

GCP Team Great Castle Properties 1804169 310-866-7133 will@greatcastleprop.com

Katherine - KDM Realty 1780997 310-490-0214 km@kdmrealtygroup.com

Rolling Hills Estates

Accardo Real Estate Associates Compass 1863340 310-855-3557 tony.accardo@compass. com

Santa Barbara

Bartron Real Estate Group Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1005021 805-689-4613 team@bartrongroup.com

Glick Real Estate Associates Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 950129 805-689-7167 randy@randyglick.com

Randy Freed & Kellie Clenet

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 624274 805-895-1799 Randy@TheSantaBarbaraLifestyle.com

The Easter Team Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 917775 805-568-4955 associates@easterteamrealtors.com

The Santa Barbara Group Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 1314939 805-886-5735 info@thesantabarbaragroup.com

Santa Clarita

The Neal Weichel Group RE/MAX of Santa Clarita 1107376 661-313-4663 neal@nealweichel.com

Santa Monica

Amy Jamie Homes Compass 1084312 310-613-3071 amy.hollingsworth@ compass.com

Diana Braun Group Compass 1362342 310-866-5039 diana.braun@compass.com

Homes by Price + Hou Group Compass 1418572 310-625-8983 scott.price@compass.com

Jacqueline Chernov Team Compass 1361435 310-403-7557 jacqueline.chernov@ compass.com

Pence Hathorn Silver Luxury Property Group Compass 670728 310-403-9238 charles.pence@compass. com

Regina Vannicola Team Compass 1389034 310-625-2061 regina.vannicola@compass. com

Sam Araghi & Rudi Behdad Compass 1908976 310-415-1118 hello@SAMandRUDI.com

Stepp Commercial KW Advisors 1456379 310-463-2916 rstepp@steppcommercial. com

Team Tiffany Rochelle Compass 1247487 310-210-2213 tiffany@compass.com

The Eighty8 Group Compass 1965361 310-913-9451 info@eighty8re.com

The Miller Team KW Advisors 1389620 310-923-5353 ToddMiller22@Gmail.com

The Noel Team KW Advisors 1329053 310-994-8721 sherri@sherrinoel.com

The Raskin Group Compass 1912796 310-867-0173 brett.raskin@compass.com

The Richard Schulman Team KW Advisors 1427211 310-482-0173 schulmanrd@gmail.com

Wheeler Coberly Team Compass 1396072 310-351-6234 wheeler.coberly@compass. com

WSA Compass 420587 310-963-9944 ron@ronwynn.com

Sherman Oaks

Harriet Cameron Group Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 675971 818-380-2151 Harriet@harrietcameron. com

Sally Forster Jones Group Compass 558939 310-579-2200 sally.jones@compass.com

The Chernov Team The Agency 1850113 818-432-1524 Info@ChernovTeam.com

Torrance

Maggie Ding Team Compass 1414326 310-937-2027 Maggie@MaggieDing.com

Rob Depaoli Team Compass 1918925 310-896-5343 rob.depaoli@compass.com

Ryan Shaw Group Compass 1921437 310-963-4027 ryan.shaw@compass.com

Schneider Properties Compass 1867363 310-809-4875 nick.schneider@compass. com

Valencia Brandolino Group Compass 1259914 661-600-9410 jeff@brandolinogroup.com

The Holly Thompson Team RE/MAX of Valencia 1825192 661-714-2772 holly@scvhollly.com

The Kathy Watterson Team RE/MAX of Valencia 1022836 661-284-5066 kathy@kathywatterson. com

West Hollywood Alperin Team

Sotheby’s International Realty 923981 310-345-9425 sharona.alperin@sir.com West Los Angeles

O’Keefe Properties Compass Real Estate 1356816 310-429-4552 matthew@matthewokeefe. com

Rory Posin & Kristian Bonk RE/MAX Estate Properties 1030819 310-839-8500 RPosin@EPLAHomes.com

Westlake Village Erin Pohl & Bob Pearson Coldwell Banker Realty 827028 805-907-6928 erin@erinandbob.com

Lydia Gable Realty Group Compass 1704493 818-383-4335 lydia.gable@compass.com

Team Nicki LaPorta and Karen Crystal Compass 1346860 805-625-0304 TeamNickiandKaren@ compass.com

Woodland Hills

Marc Tahler / Ken Zietz Rodeo Realty 1077251 818-970-3000 marc@marctahler.com

86 LAMAG.COM SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION LAMAG.COM 87

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agbumds.org ASA Silver Lake 2772 Rowena Avenue, Los Angeles (323) 666-6706 appliedscholastics.org

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Calvary Baptist Church and Schools 2990 Damien Avenue, La Verne (909) 593-5346 calvarybaptist-laverne

Calvary Chapel Christian 12808 Woodruff Avenue, Downey (562) 803-6556 cccsdowney.org

Calvary Chapel Christian Academy 931 South Maple Avenue, Montebello (323) 724-8464 thearkmontebello.com

Campbell Hall 4533 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, North Hollywood (818) 980-7280 campbellhall.org

Canyon View School 762 West Cypress Street, San Dimas (909) 599-1227 mckinleycc.org

Carousel 7899 La Tijera Boulevard, Los Angeles (310) 645-9222 carouselschool.com

Carson Christian School 21828 South Avalon Boulevard, Carson (310) 609-2300 carsonchristian.com

Center for Learning Unlimited 2785 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite G, Torrance (310) 997-1900 cflu.org

Chadwick 26800 South Academy Drive, Palos Verdes Peninsula (310) 377-1543 chadwickschool.org

City of Knowledge 3285 North Garey Avenue, Pomona (909) 392-0251 cityofknowledge.com

Crane Academy of Excellence 23119 Vose Street, West Hills (818) 716-7220

Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences 1714 21st Street, Santa Monica (310) 829-7391 xrds.org

Da Vinci Design 12501 Isis Avenue, Hawthorne (310) 725-5800 davincischools.org

Delphi Academy of Los Angeles 11341 Brainard Avenue, Lake View Terrace (818) 583-1070 delphila.org

Desert Christian Schools 44662 15th Street, Lancaster (661) 948-5071 desertchristian.com

Discovery Cube 11800 Foothill Boulevard, Sylmar (818) 686-2823 discoverycube.org

Echo Horizon School 3430 McManus Avenue, Culver City (310) 838-2442 echohorizon.org

EF Academy 1505 East Howard Street, Pasadena (626) 507-9300 efacademy.org/pasadena/

The Episcopal School 6325 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles (323) 462-3752 es-la.com

Faith Baptist 7644 Farralone Avenue, Canoga Park (818) 340-6131 myfbs.org

Faith Christian Academy 6100 Florence Avenue, Bell Gardens (562) 806-7540

First Lutheran School 1300 East Colorado Street, Glendale (818) 507-9591 first-lutheran-church.com

Flintridge Preparatory School 4543 Crown Avenue, La Canada Flintridge (818) 790-1178 flintridgeprep.org

Golden Day Schools 4508 Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles (323) 296-6280

Harvard-Westlake School 700 North Faring Road, Los Angeles (818) 980-6692 Hw.com

Highland Hall Waldorf School 17100 Superior Street, Northridge (818) 349-1394 highlandhall.org

Hillcrest Christian 17531 Rinaldi Street, Granada Hills (818) 368-7071 heritage-schools.org

Hope Chapel Academy 2420 Pacific Coast Highway, Hermosa Beach (310) 374-4673 hopechapel.org

International School of Los Angeles 1105 W Riverside, Burbank (818) 994-2961 internationalschool.la

Keystone Academy 8615 East Florence, Suite 207, Downey (562) 862-7134 keystoneacademyschool.com

Lancaster Baptist School 4020 East Lancaster Boulevard, Lancaster (661) 946-4668 lancasterbaptistschool.org

Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles 3261 Overland Avenue, Los Angeles (310) 836-3464 lyceeLA.org

Lighthouse Baptist Academy 2600 North White Avenue, La Verne (909) 596-0060 lbclaverne.com

The Lighthouse Church 1220 20th Street, Santa Monica (310) 829-2767 lighthousechurch.com

Logsdon, Inc. 7600 East Graves Avenue, Rosemead (626) 572-8424

Los Angeles Master Chorale Education Program 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles (213) 972-3110 lamasterchorale.org

Los Encinos School 17100 Ventura Boulevard, Encino (818) 990-1006 losencinosschool.org

Loyola High School 1901 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles (213) 381-5121 loyolahs.edu

Los Angeles Adventist Academy 846 East El Segundo Boulevard, Los Angeles (323) 743-8818 laadventistacademy.com

88 LAMAG.COM
DIRECTORY ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Inspiring the next generation through fun and engaging STEM-based exhibits, programs, and experiences! Early Learner Zone | Traveling Exhibit Gallery | Field Trips Seasonal Programs | Science to Go Programming | STEM Club Camps | Sleepovers | Educator Workshops | Birthday Parties OPEN MONDAY – SUNDAY: 10 AM – 5 PM 11800 Foothill Blvd, Sylmar, CA 91342 www.discoverycube.org INSPECTOR TRAINING COURSE LIFT YOURSELF CHAIRS HELICOPTOR TOURS SCIENCE OF HOCKEY

Marymount High School 10643 West Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles (310) 472-1205 mhs-la.org/page

Marlborough School 250 South Rossmore Avenue, Los Angeles (323) 935-1147 marlborough.org

New Harvest Christian 11364 East Imperial Highway, Norwalk (562) 929-6034 newharvestnorwalk.church

New Open World Academy 3201 West Eighth Street, Los Angeles (213) 480-3700 now-lausd-ca.schoolloop.com

New Roads School 3131 Olympic Boulevard, Santa Monica (310) 828-5582 newroads.org

Nishiyamato Academy 2458 Lomita Boulevard, Lomita (310) 325-7040 nacus.org

Notre Dame Girls Academy 2851 Overland Avenue, Los Angeles (310) 839-5289 academy.ndasla.org

Notre Dame High School 13645 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks (818) 933-3600 ndhs.org

Oakwood School 11600 Magnolia Boulevard, North Hollywood (818) 732-3000 oakwoodschool.org

Pacific Baptist 3332 Magnolia Avenue, Long Beach (562) 426-5214 pacificbaptistschool.com

Pilgrim School 540 South Commonwealth Avenue, Los Angeles (213) 385-7351 pilgrim-school.org

Rancho Dominguez Preparatory 4110 Santa Fe Avenue, Long Beach (310) 847-6400 rdps-lausd-ca.schoolloop.com

San Fernando Valley Professional 6215 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, North Hollywood (818) 985-9485

Seton, Inc. 44751 North Date Avenue, Lancaster (661) 948-8881 setonhome.org

Shalhevet School 910 South Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles (323) 930-9333 shalhevet.org

Sierra Canyon School 11052 Independence Avenue | 20801 Rinaldi Street, Los Angeles (818) 882-8121 sierracanyonschool.org

South Bay Faith Academy 101 South Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach (310) 379-8242 homeschool-life.com

Stephen S. Wise Temple Elementary School 15500 Stephen South Wise Drive, Los Angeles (310) 476-8561 wisela.org

Sunland Christian School 13216 Leach Street, Sylmar (818) 523-6791 home-schooling.org

Village Christian Schools 8930 Village Avenue, Sun Valley (818) 767-8382 villagechristian.org

Village Glen 13130 Burbank Boulevard, Sherman Oaks (818) 781-0360 villageglen.org

Village Glen, Westside 4160 Grandview Boulevard, Los Angeles (310) 751-1101 thehelpgroup.org/school/village-glen-school

Vistamar School 737 Hawaii Street, El Segundo (310) 643-7377 vistamarschool.org

The Webb Schools 1175 West Baseline Road, Claremont (909) 482-5214 webb.org

West Hollywood College Preparatory School 1317 North Crescent Heights Boulevard, West Hollywood (323) 822-7999 westhollywoodschool.com

West Valley Christian School 22450 Sherman Way, West Hills (818) 884-4710 westvalleychristianschool.com

Wildwood School 12201 Washington Place, Los Angeles (310) 397-3134 wildwood.org

Private Colleges and UniversitiesLos Angeles County

Academy for Jewish Religion California 574 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles (213) 884-4133 ajrca.edu

American Film Institute Conservatory 2021 North Western Avenue, Los Angeles (323) 856-7600 afi.com

Antioch University 400 Corporate Pointe, Culver City (310) 578-1080 antioch.edu

Azusa Pacific University 901 East Alosta Avenue, Azusa (626) 969-3434 Apu.edu

Biola University 13800 Biola Avenue, La Mirada (562) 903-6000 biola.edu

California Institute of the Arts 24700 McBean Pkwy, Valencia (661) 255-1050 calarts.edu

California State Polytechnic Univ., Pomona 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pomona (909) 869-7659 cpp.edu

Claremont McKenna College 888 North Columbia Avenue, Claremont (909) 621-8000 Cmc.edu

Columbia College Hollywood 18618 West Oxnard Street, Tarzana (818) 345-8414 | Columbiacollege.edu

Harvey Mudd College (Claremont Colleges) 301 Platt Boulevard, Claremont (909) 621-8011 | Hmc.edu

Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion

3077 University Avenue, Los Angeles (213) 749-3424 | huc.edu

Landmark College 19 River Road South, Putney, VT (802) 387-6718 | landmark.edu

Life Pacific College 1100 West Covina Boulevard, San Dimas (909) 599-5433 | lifepacific.edu

Loyola Marymount University 1 Loyola Marymount University Drive, Los Angeles (310) 338-2700 Lmu.edu

Marymount California University 30800 Palos Verdes Drive East, Rancho Palos Verdes marymountcalifornia.edu

Mount Saint Mary’s University 12001 Chalon Road, Los Angeles (310) 954-4000 msmu.edu

Occidental College 1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles (323) 259-2500 Oxy.edu

Otis College of Art & Design 9045 Lincoln Boulevard, Los Angeles (310) 665-6800 Otis.edu

Pepperdine University 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu (310) 506-4000 Pepperdine.edu

Southern California Institute of Architecture 960 East 3rd Street, Los Angeles (213) 613-2200 sciarc.edu

Southern California University of Health Sciences 16200 Amber Valley Drive, Whittier (562) 947-8755 scuhs.edu

Touro College Los Angeles 1317 North Crescent Heights Boulevard, West Hollywood tcla.touro.edu

University of La Verne 1950 3rd Street, La Verne (909) 593-3511 Laverne.edu

University of Southern California Los Angeles (213) 740-2311 | Usc.edu

Vanguard University 55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa (714) 556-3610 | vanguard.edu

Whittier College 13406 E, Philadelphia Street, Whittier (562) 907-4200 | whittier.edu

Woodbury University 7500 North Glenoaks Boulevard, Burbank (818) 767-0888 woodbury.edu

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LANDMARK COLLEGE

19 River Road South, Putney, VT 05346 (802) 387-6718 | landmark.edu

Open House: January 6, 2023 (virtual); March 18, 2023 (on campus)

Landmark College— the college for students who learn differently—is a global leader of integrated teaching methods for students with learning differences, including dyslexia, ADHD, autism, and executive function challenges.

LC offers associate and bachelor’s degrees; online programs, including high school dual enrollment, online associate degrees, and College START, a fully online first-year of college; and summer programs for high school and college students. LC's Bay Area Success Center provides in-person or online support for neurodiverse teens and adults.

Students, faculty, and education professionals are drawn to Landmark College for its innovative educational model, which has been

developed over four decades of working with students who learn differently. LC’s curriculum, designed for students to master academic skills and strategies in a way that builds from semester to semester, helps them become confident, self-empowered, and independently successful learners. Ninety percent of Landmark College graduates are employed or in graduate school, and LC alumni graduate at a significantly higher rate when compared to other college students with learning differences.

LC's on-campus and online programs offer career support that begins during the application process and continues beyond graduation. The Office of Career Connections provides a robust menu of career and internship services designed for students who learn differently, including on- and off-campus internships and an Employment Readiness Program for students who are just starting out in the workforce.

The Landmark College Institute for Research and Training pioneers LD research and trains educators to implement student-centered best practices. LC’s Center for Neurodiversity champions cultural, social, DEI, and scholarly perspectives, which aim to strengthen an understanding of neurodivergence in the workplace and society at large. Find out why U.S. News & World Report has rated Landmark College a top college in the Northeast for Undergraduate Teaching and Innovation! Discover your learning ability at Landmark College!

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Year Founded: 1985 Grades Served: College (bachelor's and associate degrees) Current Enrollment Number: 450 Student-Faculty Ratio: 6:1 Graduation Rate: N/A Uniforms Required: N/A THE STATS Tuition: $62,720 Top Awards/Recognitions: U.S. News & World Report top college in the Northeast for Undergraduate Teaching and Innovation; Great Value Colleges ' Best Disability Friendly Schools Accreditations: New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) LAMAG.COM 91

EF ACADEMY PASADENA

INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

1505 East Howard Street, Pasadena, CA 91104 (626) 507-9300 | efacademy.org/pasadena

Open House: Saturday, February 25, 2023

EF Academy Pasadena, an international day and boarding school, opens a world of opportunities for students by providing them with a transformational, global education, thorough preparation for university and a future that knows no borders.

We believe that living and learning in an international community helps make the world a better place. Through individual and collective learning, we empower young people from all nationalities and backgrounds to realize their full potential, become open-minded individuals, and make a positive impact in their communities and in the world.

The EF Academy Pasadena campus focuses on student-centric learning and houses our signature Global Leadership program. This program prepares the next generation of global changemakers to meet the challenges of the 21st century by designing sophisticated solutions to address local and global issues. EF Academy allows students to experience the whole world in their classroom.

THE STATS

Year Founded: 2019

Grades Served: 9-12

Current Enrollment Number: 125

Student-Faculty Ratio: 13:1

Graduation Rate: Based on statistics from our New York Campus: 99%

Uniforms Required: No

Tuition: Day Student: $42,000, 5-day Boarding: $61,500, 7-day: $69,500

Accreditations: California Department of Education, MSA

THE HELP GROUP SCHOOLS

Sherman Oaks, Valley Glen, Van Nuys, and Culver City (877) 943-5747 | thehelpgroup.org

Open House: Schedule an appointment at admissions@thehelpgroup.org

At the heart of The Help Group’s efforts is the commitment to helping young people with autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities, ADHD, developmental delays, abuse, and emotional challenges fulfill their potential to lead positive, productive, and rewarding lives. The Help Group also provides affirming support to all LGBTQ+ children, young adults, and their families, including those with social and learning differences.

The Help Group’s 13 specialized day schools offer preschool, elementary, middle school, high school, and transition programs, and are certified by the California State Department of Education. The schools, located on four campuses in the Los Angeles area, provide prescriptive teaching, small classes, individualized curriculum, and enrichment activities to maximize learning, social skills development, and emotional well-being. Help Group students are grouped according to their needs and peer level in a supportive environment, and are also provided with school experiences, such as athletics, prom, and more.

The Help Group Schools include Bridgeport School, Bridgeport Vocational Center, North Hills Prep, Sunrise School, Summit View School, STEM3 Academy, Village Glen School, Westview School of Arts, and Young Learners.

Year Founded: 1975

Grades Served: Pre-K – 12+ (up to age 22)

Student-Faculty Ratio: 7:1 minimum

Tuition: Private and public funding accepted College Prep and AP Classes Offered: Yes

Accreditations: Certified by the California State Department of Education; WASC (North Hills Prep, STEM3 Academy, Summit View School, Village Glen School, Westview School of the Arts)

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THE STATS

LE LYCÉE FRANÇAIS DE LOS ANGELES

3261 Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034 (310) 836-3464 | lyceela.org

Open House: January 10, 2023, and February 16, 2023

Le Lycée (pronounced lee-say) offers a challenging international education that emphasizes collaboration, research, respect, compassion, and leadership. A blend of the sciences and arts, Le Lycée's dual curricula (International and French section programs) provide each student with the ability to learn, think, and make decisions based on a sound foundation of logic, knowledge, and character. Academics are balanced with art, drama, music, and sports, as well as strong core human values. LyceeLA students become engaged, vibrant, and productive global citizens. NO NEED TO SPEAK FRENCH TO ENROLL.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF LOS ANGELES

1105 West Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91506 (818) 994-2961 | internationalschool.la

Open House: Virtual admissions events held weekly on Thursdays and every other Tuesday.

The International School of Los Angeles is an independent, international, highquality school that offers both a French immersion track from preschool through 12th grade, which prepares students for the French Baccalauréat; and a separate international high school track that prepares students for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in grades 11 and 12. Both programs fulfill the school’s mission of producing bilingual critical thinkers who are open-minded, confident, and caring global citizens.

The school was established in 1978 as a nonprofit organization by visionaries of varied cultural backgrounds who felt that the Los Angeles community needed a school that would prepare children for life in an increasingly international environment. Our school, located across four campuses, is now recognized as one of the most academically challenging private high schools in the United States and continues its long commitment to academic excellence

THE STATS

Year Founded: 1978

Grades Served: Preschool–12th grade Current Enrollment Number: 1,050

Student-Faculty Ratio: (grade dependent) 1:8–1:12

Graduation Rate: 100% Tuition: (grade dependent) $19,895–$25,725

Top Awards/Recognitions: Of the class of 2022, 56% of students received 40 acceptances from the Top 100 Global universities (US News & World Report).

Accreditations: French Ministry of Education, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), International Baccalaureate® (IB). Member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the National Honor Society (NHS)

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Year Founded: 1964 Grades Served: preschool to 12th grade Current Enrollment Number: 775 Student-Faculty Ratio: 7:1 Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required: Yes Tuition: $25,350–$38,440
THE STATS Top Awards/Recognitions: Offer College Board AP Capstone, Classic Baccalaureate (BAC), and the Baccalaureate French International (BFI), and the U.S. High School Diploma. Six age-appropriate campuses in West Los Angeles and Pacific Palisades.
Affiliated with Theatre Raymond Kabbaz, the contemporary performance space showcasing eclectic plays, concerts, dance shows, and films. Accreditations: WASC, French Ministry of Education, NAIS, AEFE

MARLBOROUGH

250 South Rossmore Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90004 (323) 935-1147 | marlborough.org

If you ask our 530 students why they chose Marlborough, they will share 530 different reasons. That’s because there’s no “one way” to be a Marlborough student. The hallmark of a Marlborough education is not only expanding what you know—it’s about exploring all that could be. From Honors Research to Athletics, Chamber Choir to Entrepreneurship and Fabrication, and Debate to Post-Apocalyptic Literature – every student’s Marlborough experience is unique.

An independent school for girls located in the heart of Los Angeles, Marlborough offers both a middle school and upper school program on our unified campus. With students coming from hundreds of neighborhoods across the city, we embrace differences, seek commonalities, and prioritize health and kindness to positively impact each other and our world.

Guided by our legacy as a leader in girls’ education, we seek to redefine excellence and boldly envision the future as a world where equity leads education

THE STATS

Year Founded: 1889

Grades Served: 7-12

Current Enrollment Number: 530

Student-Faculty Ratio: 7:1

Graduation Rate: 100%

Uniforms Required: Yes Tuition: $47,400

Accreditations: CAIS, WASC, NAIS, ICGS

Top Awards/Recognitions:

• In July 2022, we welcomed Jennifer M. Ciccarelli as our ninth Head of School.

• The Frank & Eileen Accelerator Program for the Leaders of Tomorrow launched in 2022, providing the funding, education, and mentorship for any student interested in entrepreneurship to launch a business.

• Thanks to the Rise & Rally capital campaign, a newly renovated performing arts center (Caswell Hall) and health and well-being spaces were opened in 2021.

• During the 2021-2022 season, Marlborough Athletics celebrated nine league championships, four CIF-SS championship appearances, and one CIF-SS championship title.

SIERRA CANYON SCHOOL

11052 Independence Avenue | 20801 Rinaldi Street Chatsworth, CA 91311 (818) 882-8121 | sierracanyonschool.org

Open House: Find visiting opportunities at VisitingSC.org

Sierra Canyon School is a complete Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 experience that fully equips students to rethink the familiar and embrace the unknown. It is a place where ingenious teachers, intrepid students, and forward-thinking leaders work together to shape an education on the adventurous edge. Teachers create meaningful, hands-on learning experiences in the classroom, on the stage, on the playing field and court, and on life-changing journeys. Graduates are primed to excel at the finest colleges and universities, forge purposeful careers, and employ their unshakable optimism to improve the wider world. At Sierra Canyon School, our students gain unstoppable momentum to learn and explore, propelling them toward a lifetime of self-directed success. Year Founded: 1978

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Tuition: $20,000 to $40,770 Top Awards/Recognitions: According to Niche, Sierra Canyon School is ranked: #4 of 75 Best Private K-12 Schools in Los Angeles Area #7 of 258 Most Diverse Private High Schools in Los Angeles Area Accreditations: NAIS,
Association of Schools and Colleges THE STATS
Grades Served: Pre-K–12 Current Enrollment Number: 1,150 Student-Faculty Ratio: 8:1 Lower Campus; 9:1 Upper Campus Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required: Lower Campus (Pre-K–6) Yes; Upper Campus (7–12) Dress Code Only
CAIS, Western

39TH ANNUAL ADVANCING JUSTICE

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GALA

On October 27th, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL) celebrated their 39th Anniversary with a vibrant indoor/outdoor VIP reception at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). The theme was UNITED: ART IN ACTION, representing the power of API creativity and expression in social justice. With over 500 API guests and allies from the worlds of social justice, arts and entertainment, gathering to unite in their cause: the fight against anti-Asian hate.

The gala marked the debut of the outdoor JANM exhibit and flash card series An American Vocabulary: Words in Action by Audrey Chan and jason chu, the two fellows of the Artists at Work program, an AJSOCAL collaboration with JANM. The Joseph Ileto Courage Award was presented to Jamie Yancovitz—CEO and founder of SurvivalArts, dedicated to protecting and healing victims from violence through indigenous arts.

The night was emceed by Denise Dador, ABC7 Correspondent, and deejayed by DJ Gingee. Highlights of the evening included performances by Farishtey, Bhangra dance group, and St. James’ School Korean drummers. Guests were invited to experience the all-new, all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ alongside custom wine glass engraving. House of Suntory was pouring their signature HAKU Vodka, ROKU Gin and TOKI Suntory Whisky cocktails and Kozaemon was sampling their flight of sake offerings.

PROMOTION
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8 2 13
PHOTO
CREDITS: JOHN SALANGSANG/SHUTTERSTOCK AND FURIOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS
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Rob Bonta, Attorney General of California 2 . Guests enjoying drinks at the House of Suntory ROKU Gin bar 3. DJ Gingee, spinning at the I AM
ADVANCING
JUSTICE DJ Booth 4. Guests enjoying Kozaemon Sake 5. Guests enjoying drinks at the House of Suntory HAKU Vodka bar 6. Jamie Yancovitz (middle) receiving the Joseph IIeto Courage Award from Ish Ileto (right) and Paul Chan (left) 7. Korean Drumming Troupe performance
Custom
wine glass engraving compliments of Cadillac . Left to right: AJSOCAL CEO Connie Chung Joe and Artists at Work fellows jason chu and Audrey Chan 10. The all-new, all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ 11. The outdoor gala activation at the Japanese American National Museum
12
. Bhangara dance performance
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. House of Suntory TOKI Japanese Whisky being poured for a guest

JAN WEST

❂ Birdie G’s

SANTA MONICA » American $$

James Beard Award–nominated chef Jeremy Fox gets personal with a sunny spot named after his young daughter. The high-low menu is full of playful ri s on comfort food, from mixed summer cucumbers to a matzo ball soup with carrot miso to a next-level relish tray. Don’t miss the jiggly Rose Petal pie for dessert. 2421 Michigan Ave., 310-310-3616 , or birdiegsla.com . Full bar.

❂ Broad Street Oyster Co.

MALIBU » Seafood $$

If ever there was a car picnic scene, it’s at this open-air spot overlooking Malibu Lagoon State Beach. You can grab a great lobster roll (topped with uni or caviar if you’re feeling extra fancy), towers of raw seafood, great clam chowder, and a burger with Nueske’s bacon that shouldn’t be overlooked. 23359 Pacific Coast Hwy., 424-644-0131, or broadstreetoyster.com . Beer and wine.

❂ Cassia

SANTA MONICA » Southeast Asian $$$

Bryant Ng mines his Chinese Singaporean heritage, honors wife Kim’s Vietnamese background, and works in the wood-grilling technique he honed at Mozza at this grand Southeast Asian brasserie. Hunker down at a table on the patio—or treat yourself to some great takeout—to devour turmeric-marinated ocean trout or chickpea curry with scallion clay-oven bread. Wherever and however you enjoy Ng’s cooking, you won’t be disappointed. 1314 7th St., 310-393-6699, or cassiala.com . Full bar.

✤❂ Cobi’s

SANTA MONICA » Southeast Asian $$$

Coming here is like visiting a perfectly artdirected beach house where everything—from the colors on the walls to the curries on the plate—just pops. Grab a date, grab your friends,

WEST

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

DOWNTOWN

Includes Arts District, Bunker Hill, Chinatown, Historic Core, Little Tokyo, South Park

CENTRAL

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

EAST

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

THE VALLEY

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

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

and get to the party. Don’t miss the beautifully ferocious Devil Chicken curry, amped up by both fresh and dried bird’s eye chiles and accompanied by a saucer of habanero vinegar that magically cuts the heat and enhances it at the same time. 2104 Main St., 424-238-5195, cobis.la , or @cobis.la Beer and wine.

❂ Colapasta

SANTA MONICA » Italian $

It’s equally pleasant to grab and go or eat at this quiet, a ordable spot that features fresh pastas topped with farmers’ market fare. The colorful, poppy-seed-sprinkled beet ravioli is delicate and delicious, while the gramigna with beef ragù is hearty and satisfying. 1241 5th St., 310-310-8336, or colapasta.com . Beer and wine.

❂ Crudo e Nudo

SANTA MONICA » Seafood $$

Brian Bornemann, the 31-year-old former executive chef at Michael’s Santa Monica, has gone his own way. He and his girlfriend, Leena Culhane, have launched a sustainable neighborhood joint that’s, by turns, a co ee shop, a seafood market, and a casual restaurant where you can nibble impeccably prepared crudo, tuna tartare toasts, and vegan Caesar salads on the patio while sipping a thoughtfully selected natural wine. Though the project began as a pandemic pop-up, it’s now an exciting brick-and-mortar spot from one of the city’s most promising young toques. 2724 Main St., 310-310-2120, crudoenudo.com , or @crudo_e_nudo Beer and wine.

❂ Dear John’s

CULVER CITY » Steak House $$$

There are still good times and great food to be had at this former Sinatra hang stylishly revamped by Josiah Citrin and Hans Röckenwagner. Steakhouse classics—crab Louie, oysters Rockefeller, thick prime steaks—pay homage to the lounge’s Rat Pack past and can be enjoyed on a sunny new patio or to go. 11208 Culver Blvd., 310-881-9288, or dearjohnsbar.com . Full bar.

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THE BREAKDOWN $ $$ $$$ $$$$ INEXPENSIVE (Meals under $10) MODERATE (Mostly under $20) EXPENSIVE (Mostly under $30) VERY EXPENSIVE ($30 and above) Price classifications are approximate and based on the cost of a typical main course that serves one. For restaurants primarily offering multicourse family meals, the cost per person of such a meal is used. Restaurant hours are changing frequently. Check websites or social media accounts for the most current information. ✤ 2022 Best New Restaurant Winner ❂ Has Outdoor Seating THE HOT LIST A CONSTANTLY UPDATED ROUNDUP OF L.A.’S MOST ESSENTIAL EATERIES 2023 JAKE MICHAELS
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Donuts from Bub and Grandma’s

CULVER CITY » Italian $$$

With a sprawling patio, concise menu, and various party tricks (the restaurant calls them “moments”), Etta is primed for good times. You can go big and order a $120 short rib “picnic” with various accoutrements for the table or opt to have wine poured into your mouth from a large jug while a server snaps Polaroids. But you can also just pop in for a pizza or excellent pasta at the bar. For dessert, there are shots of tequila and coffee liquor topped with macaroon. 8801 Washington Blvd., 424-570-4444, ettarestaurant.com, or @ettarestaurant. Full bar.

❂ Felix

VENICE » Italian $$$

At Evan Funke’s clubby, floral-patterned trattoria, the rigorous dedication to tradition makes for superb focaccia and pastas. The tonnarelli cacio e pepe—strands of pasta adorned only with pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper—nods to Roman shepherds who used the spice to keep warm, while the rigatoni all’Amatriciana with bacon, tomato, and pecorino Romano sings brilliantly alongside Italian country wines. 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd., 424-387-8622, or felixla.com. Full bar.

❂ The Hideaway

BEVERLY HILLS » Steak House $$$

Hollywood actors Ryan Phillippe and Evan Ross invested in this clubby ode-to-1970s-Baja California Mexican steak house, where cocktail king Julian Cox makes margaritas to sip alongside snapper ceviche or New York Wagyu steak with chimichurri. 421 N. Rodeo Dr., thehideawaybeverlyhills.com. Full bar.

✤ Matū

BEVERLY HILLS » Steak House $$$

Prolific restaurateur Jerry Greenberg (Sugarfish, Nozawa Bar, KazuNori, Uovo, HiHo Cheeseburger) and his partners are convinced that they serve the world’s best beef, prepared in the most optimal way. After trying their five-course, $85 Wagyu dinner featuring sustainably raised, 100 percent grass-fed beef from First Light Farms in New Zealand, you might see things their way. Magnificently marbled steaks are cooked to “warm red,” which is the color of rare and the temperature of medium rare. The result is meat that’s tender, luscious, and strikingly beefy. 239 S. Beverly Dr., 424-317-5031, or matusteak.com. Full bar.

❂ Ospi

VENICE » Italian $$$

Jackson Kalb’s sprawling new Italian joint brings bustle and outdoor tables to a corner on an otherwise quiet stretch. Pastas, including a spicy rigatoni alla vodka and raschiatelli with a pork rib ragù, are sublime, and most travel remarkably well if you’re looking to do takeout, which is the only option for lunch. Roman-style pizzas boast a uniquely crispy, cracker-thin crust; to get the full crunch, have a slice as you drive your takeout home. 2025 Pacific Ave., 424-443-5007, ospivenice.com, or @ospiveni. Full bar.

❂ Pasjoli

SANTA MONICA » French $$$$

Dave Beran’s à la carte spot bucks the trends and eschews bistro clichés in favor of old-fashioned thrills—an elaborate pressed duck prepared just as Escoffier would have and served with potatoes au gratin dauphinois—and modern French fare. The showy duck must be reserved in advance as only a limited number of birds are available each night. But there are plenty of other exciting dishes on the menu, such as the chicken liver in brioche and panroasted sea bass with lobster velouté. 2732 Main St., 424-330-0020, or pasjoli.com. Full bar.

DOWNTOWN

❂ Angry Egret Dinette

CHINATOWN » Sandwiches $$

Wes Avila has left Guerrilla Tacos and is focusing on torta-esque sandwiches at this heartfelt

new venture. Standouts include the Saguaro with tempura-fried squash blossoms, heirloom tomato, market greens, ricotta cheese, and salsa China. It’s hearty and decadent but also wonderfully nuanced. There’s ample outdoor seating, but sandwiches with fried ingredients miraculously manage to remain crispy and travel well. 970 N. Broadway, Ste. 114, 213-278-0987, aedinette.com, or @angryegretdinette

Badmaash

HISTORIC

CORE » Indian $$

This Indian gastropub concept comes from the father-and-sons team of Pawan, Nakul, and Arjun Mahendro, who are all well versed in the culinary techniques of East and West. The menu features contemporary mash-ups, like a version of poutine smothered in chicken tikka, charred tandoori chicken, and braised lamb. If tradition’s your thing, you’ll be comforted by what they call Good Ol’ Saag Paneer. 108 W. 2nd St., 213-221-7466, or badmaashla.com. Beer and wine. Also at 418 N. Fairfax Ave., Fairfax District, 213-281-5185

✤ ❂ Caboco

ARTS DISTRICT » Brazilian $$

Rodrigo Oliveira and fellow chef/partner Victor Vasconcellos are here to show Los Angeles that there’s a lot more to Brazilian food than churrascarias, so they’re serving habit-forming fried tapioca cubes and a vegan stew (moqueca de caju) headlined by cashew fruit that’s startlingly complex. Wash it all down with refreshing caipirinhas— the bar makes no less than five different kinds. 1850 Industrial St., 213-405-1434, cabocola.com, or @caboco.la. Full bar.

✤ ❂ Caldo Verde

ARTS DISTRICT » Portuguese $$$

Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne have opened a Portuguese cousin to their beloved Spanish-infused A.O.C. The restaurant loads up its namesake seafood stew with a generous amount of local rock crab, grilled linguica, mussels, kale, and potato. It’s a tremendous example of the rough-andtumble food that Goin loves—dishes in which she deftly balances salt, fat, and bold flavors with California brightness. A starter of Ibérico ham, anchovies, and olives is called “small plate of salty favorites” because Goin understands that you visit restaurants to be jolted and enjoy food that’s a bit more intense than what you typically eat at home. 1100 S. Broadway, 213-806-1023, or properhotel.com/downtown-la. Full bar.

❂ Camphor

ARTS DISTRICT » French/Indian $$$$

“The main plan for this restaurant was to transport people,” says Max Boonthanakit of the new Arts District bistro he opened with Michelin-starred chef Lijo George. “Bistro” may be an understatement, given the restaurant’s stunning minimalist interior and exquisitely prepared dishes, but Camphor is, at its core, a French bistro where plump oysters are served in a bath of amaretto mignonette and the beef tartare comes with a side of tempura-fried herbs. Boonthanakit and George aim to bring something completely new to L.A.—that is, something distinctively not L.A. Camphor’s access to the spices from George’s southern Indian homeland makes it a standout. 923 E. 3rd St., Ste. 109, 213-626-8888, or camphor.la. Full bar.

❂ Cha Cha Chá

ARTS DISTRICT » Mexican $$

The huge, lively, plant-filled rooftop and some mezcal would be enough for a good night out at this Mexico City import, but chef Alejandro Guzmán, an alum of Le Comptoir, has packed his menu with quiet thrills. Carnitas get taken up a level by an orange reduction that comes at the end of the long cooking process. For dessert, the carrot flan is a small revelation, a surprising, exciting riff on carrot cake. The interior bar, La Barra, offers up unique mezcal cocktails. 812 E. 3rd St., 213-548-8487, or chachacha.la. Full bar.

❂ Girl & the Goat

ARTS DISTRICT » Eclectic $$$

At long last, Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard has brought her hit Chicago restaurant to a light, airy space and pretty patio in downtown L.A. with seating for 200. The lengthy menu is full of international intrigue and the unexpected flavor combinations for which Izard is known. Roasted beets mingle with a yuzu-kosho vinaigrette. A salmon poke features chili crunch, avocado, and strawberry. Goat makes an appearance in both a liver mousse starter and a hearty curry main. 555-3 Mateo St., 213-799-4628, girlandthegoat.com, or @girlandthegoatla. Full bar.

❂ Kodō

DOWNTOWN » Japanese $$$

Everything about the look of this new izakayastyle restaurant in the Kensho Rykn hotel is serene. But don’t be fooled by the restaurant’s visual tranquility. The energy of Kodo¯, which translates to “heartbeat,” is intentionally boisterous because the chef, Yoya Takahashi, wanted to stay true to what a Kyoto-style izakaya would be—a fun place with an upbeat vibe and traditional Japanese bar fare. So the food comes out fast and without pretense. A Caesar salad of Little Gem lettuce is blanketed with bonito flakes. The off-menu toro, served with a tangy cilantro sauce, minced tomato, and cucumber, has the kind of fatty, melt-in-your-mouth quality you can’t forget (and don’t want to). 710 S. Santa Fe Ave., 213-302-8010, or kodo.la. Full bar.

❂ Pizzeria Bianco

ARTS DISTRICT » Pizza $

Chris Bianco’s L.A. debut at ROW DTLA is a hit. During the day, a line forms for slices of his New York-style takeout pizza. At night, it’s full-service dining, featuring the wood-fired pizza Bianco made famous. 1320 E. 7th St., Ste. 100, pizzeriabianco.com.

CENTRAL

❂ Alta Adams

WEST ADAMS » California Soul Food $$

Riffing on his grandmother’s recipes, Watts native Keith Corbin loads up his gumbo with market veggies and enlivens his collard greens with a smoked oil. Hot sauce splashed onto skillet-fried chicken is pure pleasure, enhanced by a bourbon drink the bar tints with cacao-spiced bitters and Luxardo cherries. Finish the night by taking on a toasted angel food strawberry shortcake. 5359 W. Adams Blvd., 323-571-4999, or altaadams.com. Full bar.

❂ A.O.C.

BEVERLY GROVE » California $$$

Driven by culinary excellence, A.O.C. is anchored by a courtyard with soft sunlight and laurel trees. Caroline Styne’s wine list doesn’t shy away from the ecology of vineyards, while Suzanne Goin’s cooking has become indispensable. Carefully constructed salads showcase vegetables at their best, and the roasted chicken with panzanella is both an homage to San Francisco’s Zuni Café and a classic in and of itself. The bacontopped sticky bun is legendary. 8700 W. 3rd St., 310-859-9859, or aocwinebar.com. Full bar. Also at 11648 San Vicente Blvd., 310-806-6464, Brentwood.

✤ Bicyclette

PICO-ROBERTSON » French $$$

Walter and Margarita Manzke’s delightful, delicious follow-up to République brings a bit of Paris to Pico. The menu is stocked with exactingly executed bistro standards: onion soup with oozy cheese, hearty short-rib bourguignon, and a luxurious bouillabaisse. Margarita’s baguettes and beautiful desserts are as great as ever. Resisting Bicyclette’s charms is futile. 9575 W. Pico Blvd., 424-500-9575, or bicyclettela.com. Full bar.

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L.A. Works’

Martin Luther King Day of Service

January 16, 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Join L.A. Works for Los Angeles’ largest volunteer event celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. King! The event focuses on climate change and the impact of environmental racism on our community.

Events feature:

• Food Festival & Nonprofit Fair: A sampling of sustainable food at booths hosted by local restaurants + learning the impact of climate change on Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.

• Volunteer Activities: A series of eco-action stations to create environmentally friendly projects and assemble vegan meals for Angelenos in need.

For more information and to participate visit laworks.com/mlk

Brandoni Pepperoni

FAIRFAX DISTRICT » Pizza $$

Six nights a week, Brandon Gray turns out some of L.A.’s most exciting pizzas. Gray, a veteran of Navy kitchens and top local restaurants like Providence, brings boundless imagination to his pies. They’re topped with premium ingredients—Jidori chicken, Sungold tomatoes, smoked pork shoulder—in exciting combinations. A curry-Dijonnaise dressing renders a side salad surprisingly memorable. 7257 Beverly Blvd., 323-306-4968, or brandoni-pepperoni.com. Wine to go.

Chi Spacca

HANCOCK

PARK » Italian $$$$

The best Northern Italian steak restaurant in the city, Chi Spacca serves a bistecca alla Fiorentina so tender that it would make a vegan blush. In this meat-eater’s paradise, the cuisine comes courtesy of 2014 James Beard Award-winning chef Nancy Silverton, owner of Osteria Mozza, Pizzeria Mozza, and Mozza2Go. And if red meat’s not your thing, try the chicken or octopus. But if it is, take some of the cured meats home—you’ll thank us. 6610 Melrose Ave., 323-297-1133, or chispacca.com. Full bar.

❂ Fanny’s MID-WILSHIRE » French $$$

Even with a glass wall opening onto exhibits, architect Renzo Piano succeeded in creating an eatery at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures that feels quite cinematic. While by day, Fanny’s is a café that serves salads and sandwiches to museumgoers, by night, it’s a glam, modern vision of an old-school Hollywood hangout. Captains in suits push carts of gooey, French, washed-rind cow’s milk cheeses and carve thick, bloody slices of côte de boeuf tableside. But there are also plenty of modern touches. Instead of a live band, Fanny’s has a di erent DJ spinning records every night. Chef Raphael Francois (Le Cirque, Tesse) sends out perfect twists on a Caesar salad and plays around with menu items like hamachi crudo on a bed of sweet pickled grapes and jicama with brown butter and cilantro. 6067 Wilshire Blvd., 323-930-3080, or fannysla.com. Full bar.

❂ Gigi’s

HOLLYWOOD MEDIA DISTRICT » French $$$

With its sceney Sycamore Avenue location and gorgeous, illustration-lined interiors, Gigi’s could easily succeed with subpar fare. But chef Matt Bollinger’s bistro classics—like curry mussels, steak tartare, and roasted chicken—are done quite well, if priced rather high. The wine list from beverage director Kristin Olszewski, an Osteria Mozza alum, is surprisingly interesting, with various natural and biodynamic options on o er. 904 N. Sycamore Ave., 323-499-1138, gigis.la, or @gigis_la. Full bar.

Harold & Belle’s

JEFFERSON PARK » Southern Creole $$

For Creole-style food—a mélange of French, African, and Native American flavors—Harold & Belle’s is as close to the Dirty Coast as you’ll come on the West Coast. The crawfish étou ée in spicy gravy will have you humming zydeco, while the bourbon bread pudding will leave you with a Sazerac-worthy buzz. 2920 W. Jefferson Blvd., 323-735-9023, or haroldandbelles.com. Full bar.

✤ Horses

HOLLYWOOD » Eclectic

$$$

Versatile power-couple chefs Liz Johnson and Will Aghajanian have created a lively California bistro that feels both old school and of the moment. Located in the red-boothed space that was home to Ye Coach & Horses, the mostly Europeaninspired menu is rooted in both classic technique and free-spirited cooking. A sobrassada panino with white American cheese and a drizzle of honey is thin, crispy, sweet, savory, creamy, and spicy: an extremely pleasing little bite. Lumache pasta with vodka sauce gets an unexpected and delightful kick from ’nduja. 7617 W. Sunset Blvd., or horsesla.com. Full bar.

Hotville Chicken

BALDWIN HILLS/CRENSHAW » Fried chicken $

With her hot chicken joint, Kim Prince is doing her family’s legacy justice—she’s the niece of André Prince Je ries, owner of Nashville legend Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, where hot fried chicken is said to have originated. Prince adds spice at every step in the cooking process to produce a complex, layered flavor. Sides, like mac and cheese, are also winners. 4070 Marlton Ave., 323-792-4835, or hotvillechicken.com. No alcohol.

Luv2Eat Thai Bistro

HOLLYWOOD

» Thai $$

Vibrant flavors and spices abound at this stripmall favorite from two Phuket natives. The crab curry, with a whole crustacean swimming in a creamy pool of deliciousness, is not to be missed (it travels surprisingly well), but the expansive menu is full of winners, from the massaman curry to the Thai fried chicken with sticky rice and sweet pepper sauce. 6660 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-498-5835, luv2eatthai.com, or @luv2eat.thaibistro

Meteora

HANCOCK PARK » Eclectic $$$$

Chef Jordan Kahn, who received two Michelin stars for his tasting menu at Vespertine, sees Meteora as a restaurant about rediscovery. “Utilizing primordial cooking methods, we seek to generate new flavors of past experience” is an excerpt from the menu. A vegetable option includes fire-cooked stone fruit served with crispy brassica leaves, grilled roses, quark, cured duck breast, and lettuce leaves for wrapping. There’s the most perfectly grilled sea bream wrapped in banana leaf. The sta , dressed in white or light earth tones, are clearly trained with precision in mind. 6703 Melrose Ave., 323-402-4311, or meteora.la Full bar.

❂ Ronan

FAIRFAX DISTRICT » Cal-Italian $$

At Daniel and Caitlin Cutler’s chic pizzeria, the pies—especially the How ‘Nduja Want It? with spicy sausage, gorgonzola crema, green onion, and celery—are the clear stars, but it’s a big mistake not to explore the entire menu. It’s filled with delicious delights, from cacio e pepe risotto to a sea bass served with an ever-changing assortment of banchan. 7315 Melrose Ave., 323-917-5100, ronanla.com, or @ronan_la. Full bar.

❂ Son of a Gun

BEVERLY GROVE » Seafood $$

Florida-raised chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo deliver a certain brand of sun-drenched seashore nostalgia. Dropping into the nautically themed dining room for chilled peel-and-eat shrimp and a hurricane feels as e ortless as dipping your toes in the sand. There are buttery lobster rolls and fried-chicken sandwiches alongside artfully plated crudos. 8370 W. 3rd St., 323-782-9033, or sonofagunrestaurant.com. Full bar.

❂ Soulmate

WEST HOLLYWOOD » Mediterranean $$$

It’s lovely outside, and there’s a stunning new WeHo spot with a patio that can hold 75 attractive people, plus hours that go to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Starters include various jamones and spicy paella bites. Further down the menu, there’s a lot of seafood options, from wood-fired octopus with charred romesco to salmon crudo. 631 N. Robertson Blvd., 310-734-7764 , soulmateweho.com , or @soulmateweho Full bar

EAST

✤ ❂ Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery

PASADENA » Eclectic $$

This low-key charmer—the work of two alums of acclaimed San Francisco Italian joint

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Flour + Water—deftly mixes midwestern hospitality and European technique. The casual lunch is all about cheese and charcuterie boards and sandwiches. At dinner, excellent pastas, smartly prepared proteins, thoughtfully selected wines, and great cocktails join the party on the spacious patio. 40 W. Green St., 626-389-3839, agnesla.com , or @agnes_pasadena . Full bar.

❂ All Day Baby

SILVER LAKE

» Eclectic $$

Jonathan Whitener’s Here’s Looking At You is, sadly, closed, but his thrilling cooking continues on a bustling Eastside corner. Whether you opt for smoked spare ribs, a hoki fish sandwich, or a breakfast sandwich on pastry chef Thessa Diadem’s sublime biscuits, it’s all great. 3200 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-741-0082, alldaybabyla.com , or @alldaybabyla

❂ Bub and Grandma’s GLASSELL PARK » Sandwiches $$

This sub shop in Glassell Park serves plates of brisket sandwiches made with the same crusty loaves of sourdough and squares of ciabatta that owner Andy Kadin sells to 150 of L.A.’s most prominent restaurants. Kadin refers to the sandwiches as “Bub Subs,” which pastry chef Christopher Lier, from Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza, spent at least six months developing. Chef Zach Jarrett heads the kitchen at Bub and Grandma’s, which currently serves

CHEF FAVORITES DIANA BRISCOE GRACIAS MADRE

breakfast and lunch, both centered on the heavenly bread. 3507 Eagle Rock Blvd., Glassell Park, bubandgrandmas.com

Dunsmoor

GLASSELL PARK » Southern American $$

“We don’t use processed foods because we try to work within the limitations from before the Gilded Age.” This culinary ethos is the force behind Brian Dunsmoor’s new restaurant, where his devotion to “heritage cookery” is on full display and activity centers on a wood-fired hearth 3501 Eagle Rock Blvd., Glassell Park, 323-686-6027, or dunsmoor.la. Beer and wine.

❂ Eszett

SILVER LAKE » Eclectic $$

This stylish, cozy wine bar brings warm hospitality to the strip-mall space formerly occupied by Trois Familia. Chef Spencer Bezaire’s menu deftly brings in flavors from around the globe without feeling overly contrived. Chicken wings are accompanied by salsa macha. Don’t miss the big fries. 3510 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-522-6323, or eszettla.com . Beer and wine.

❂ Found Oyster

EAST HOLLYWOOD » Seafood $$$

This tiny oyster bar was a pre-pandemic favorite, and chef Ari Kolender’s seafood dishes still thrill when taken to go or enjoyed on the restaurant’s “boat deck.” The scallop tostada with yuzu kosho and basil is a mustorder, and a bisque sauce takes the basic lobster roll to new heights. Interesting, a ordable wines add to the fun. 4880 Fountain Ave., 323-486-7920, foundoyster.com , or @foundoyster Beer and wine.

❂ Hippo

HIGHLAND PARK » Cal-Italian $$

Hidden in a wood-trussed dining room behind Triple Beam Pizza, this Cal-Ital restaurant from Mozza vet Matt Molina balances casual and refined. Snappy wax beans are sluiced with vinaigrette for a picnic-worthy salad. Great pastas and juicy grilled chicken thighs deliver the unfussy pleasure found at the best neighborhood spots. Eclectic regular specials like haute corn dogs add to the fun. 5916 ½ N. Figueroa St., 323-545-3536 , or hipporestaurant.com . Full bar.

❂ Jin Cook

GLENDALE » Korean $

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10101 Venice Blvd., Culver City (310) 202-7003 998 S. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills (310) 855-9380

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“Chicken” Alfredo

JOI CAF É

This pasta has a cashew cheese sauce with plantbased “chicken” and is made from a quinoa-and-corn penne. $18, 2855 Agoura Rd., Westlake Village, joicafe.com

Figs & Feta

CROSSROADS

CALABASAS

It’s the perfect balance of salty and sweet, with whipped feta and grilled sourdough. My other must-have is the spaghetti

carbonara. The sauce is really creamy, and the “egg yolk” is made perfectly.

Figs, $16; pasta, $24, 4776 Commons Way, Calabasas, cross roadscalabasas.com

Broth Bar

REAL COCONUT KITCHEN

Broth makes a great recovery meal. You can add your favorite toppings. I like to load it with raw mushrooms and vegetables. $12, 23401 Civic Center Way, Malibu, realcoconut kitchen.com/malibu

—HEATHER PLATT

K-Town has the highest concentration of Korean food in the U.S., but it doesn’t get all the hits. Jin Cook works wonders with “authentic Korean soul food” in Glendale. This homey restaurant brings sparkle to dishes like spicy pork. Thinly sliced meat arrives sizzling in a stone bowl and then gets crusty and caramelized and reaches hyperdrive when showered with shredded mozzarella, which magically melds with the spicy meat and enables cheese pulls galore. 310 N. Brand Blvd., 818-637-7822, or jincooks.com. Beer.

✤ KinKan

VIRGIL VILLAGE » Japanese-Thai $$$$

Nan Yimcharoen became an underground sensation during the pandemic, selling jewel box–like chirashi sushi over Instagram. Now she’s got a brick-and-mortar spot serving a Japanese-Thai tasting menu with exquisite courses like slices of bluefin tuna larb gorgeously assembled in the shape of a rose, and a resplendent crab curry with blue butterfly-pea-flower noodles and a sauce powered by innards and roe. 771 N. Virgil Ave. 949-793-0194, or @kinkan_la. Sake.

✤❂ Moo’s Craft Barbecue

LINCOLN

HEIGHTS » Barbecue $

Some of the best Texas barbecue is actually in L.A. Andrew and Michelle Muñoz’s brisket and beef ribs are meaty bliss that would

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be taken seriously in Austin. But Moo’s is very much a vital L.A. spot; the Muñozes weave in their Mexican-Angeleno roots with dishes like a cheese-and-poblano-fi lled beef and pork verde sausage. 2118 N. Broadway, 323-686-4133, mooscraftbarbecue.com, or @mooscraftbarbecue. Beer and wine.

Northern Thai Food Club

EAST HOLLYWOOD » Thai $

O ering specialty dishes unique to northern Thailand, this family-run favorite doesn’t skimp on fl avor, spice, or authenticity. Tasty takeout meals include the khao soi gai (curry egg noodle with chicken), laab moo kua (minced pork), tam kha noon (jackfruit salad), and pla salid tod (fried gourami fi sh). For those unfamiliar with the region’s distinct cuisine, the illustrious sticky rice is still a reliable bet. Need incentive? Everything on the menu is less than $10. 5301 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-474-7212, or amphainorthernthaifood.com

Pijja Palace

SILVER LAKE » Indian American $

Indian American restaurateur Avish Naran brings pizza and pasta featuring the flavors of his childhood to a strip mall sports bar. The innovative menu includes Malai rigatoni with tomato-masala sauce, pizza topped with chicken tikka, and cardamom-and-cookies soft serve. 2711 W. Sunset Blvd., pijjapalace.com

❂ Playita

SILVER LAKE » Mexican $

The team behind the beloved local chainlet Guisados has taken over an old seafood taco stand on a busy Eastside stretch. The results, as you might expect, are delicious and delightful. Playita has a fresh, beachy blue-and-white aesthetic and a tight

menu of well-done ceviches, seafood cocktails, and fish tacos. 3143 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-928-2028, playitamariscos.com, or @playitamariscos

✤ ❂ Saso

PASADENA » Spanish $$$

The arrival of this splashy new spot suggests that the good times might soon be here again. It shares a charming, sprawling courtyard with the Pasadena Playhouse, and the seafood-heavy menu from chef Dominique Crisp, who previously worked at L&E Oyster Bar, begs for reuniting with friends on nice summer nights. Orange zest enlivens jamón ibérico crudités, while miso butter takes grilled oysters to new heights. 37 S. El Molino Ave., 626-808-4976, sasobistro.com, or @sasobistro. Full bar.

❂ Sōgo Roll Bar

LOS FELIZ »

Sushi $$

So¯go is hardly the only concept in town devoted to rolls, but it has mastered the form. Rice is cooked with the same careful consideration and seasoning that sushi master Kiminobu Saito uses at the highend Sushi Note, and it manages to maintain a great temperature and texture, even when being delivered. Fish is not just fresh but also flavorful, each type thoughtfully paired with ideal accompaniments, from a tangy yuzu-pepper sauce that makes salmon sing to brandy-soaked albacore with garlic-ginger ponzu and crispy onions. 4634 Hollywood Blvd., 323-741-0088, sogorollbar.com, or @sogorollbar. Beer and sake.

❂ Spoon & Pork

SILVER LAKE » Filipino $$

The go-to for Filipino comfort food o ers a variety of dishes, all featuring one shared ingredient: deliciousness. Spoon & Pork puts an innovative spin on some Filipino favorites—just try its adobo pork belly, pork belly banh mi, or lechon kawali. The dishes, which can be ordered at the counter to enjoy

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on the patio or for takeout and delivery, mix decadence with some authentic soul. 3131 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-922-6061, spoonandpork.com, or @spoonandporkla Beer and wine.

❂ Sunset Sushi

SILVER LAKE » Japanese $$$

With omakase boxes priced from $30 to $85, this new sushi place in the old Ma’am Sir space strikes the sweet spot between a ordable and indulgent and is another exciting addition to the Eastside’s growing number of quality sushi options. It’s a sister spot to Highland Park’s Ichijiku but with a more luxe vibe and a larger menu, tailor-made for takeout. 4330 W. Sunset Blvd., 323-741-8371, sunsetsushila.com, or @sunsetsushi. Beer and sake to go.

U

Street

Pizza

PASADENA » Pizza $$

There was a moment when U Street’s vodka pepperoni pie was a shining star of Instagram, and rightfully so. The why-haven’t-I-had-this-before combination of pepperoni and creamy vodka sauce is an easy win. Vegetable dishes, notably a Japanese eggplant with Calabrian chili agrodolce, are more than afterthoughts. Note that while the vodka pepperoni pie travels well, the clam pie is best enjoyed in-house. 33 E. Union St., 626-605-0430, ustreetpizza.com, or @ustreetpizza

THE VALLEY

❂ Black Market Liquor

Bar

STUDIO CITY » New American $$

Some nights it seems as if half the Valley is here, enjoying the colorful patio. Top Chef graduate Antonia Lofaso’s Italian chops are visible in

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HILIP J.
RIGGS

the buxom ricotta gnudi with brown butter and pistachios. The deep-fried flu er nutter sandwich is a reminder that food, like life, should not be taken too seriously. 11915 Ventura Blvd., 818-446-2533 , or blackmarketliquorbar.com Full bar.

❂ The Brothers Sushi

WOODLAND

HILLS » Sushi $$$

This hidden gem, reinvigorated when chef Mark Okuda took the helm in 2018, is worth traveling for. The excellent omakase is available in the restaurant on the patio or to go. You can also order à la carte or get non-sushi items like soy-glazed grilled chicken. 21418 Ventura Blvd., 818-456-4509, thebrotherssushi.com , or @thebrotherssushila . Beer, sake, and wine.

Hank’s BURBANK » Bagels $

The L.A. bagel revolution continues at this stylish spot in the Valley that serves up carefully constructed sandwiches. Tomato, aioli, and maple-glazed bacon elevate a simple bacon, egg, and cheese, while a classic salmon-and-lox construction has thoughtful touches like salted cucumbers and pickled onions. Grab a tub of Hank’s “angry” spread—a spicy, slightly sweet concoction—to have in your fridge. 4315 W. Riverside Dr., 818-588-3693 , hanksbagels.com , or @hanksbagels . Also at 13545 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, 818-588-3693.

Tel Aviv Authentic Kitchen

ENCINO

» Middle Eastern $

Deeply comforting Israeli skewers, kabobs, and merguez come with a colorful and tasty array of salads showcasing produce like red cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, and pumpkin. The spicy sauces on the side work well with any- and everything. 17630 Ventura Blvd., 818774-9400, or telavivkoshergrill.com

SOUTH

❂ Ali’i Fish Company

EL SEGUNDO

» Seafood $$

This small, unassuming spot shames all the glossy poke purveyors popping up around town to serve mediocre versions of the Hawaiian dish. Glistening cubes of tuna, flown in fresh from the islands daily, remind you how great poke can be. The smoked-ahi dip with house-made potato chips is not to be missed. 409 E. Grand Ave., 310-616-3484, or aliifishco.com

❂ Fishing With Dynamite

MANHATTAN BEACH

» Seafood $$$

A premium raw bar near the beach shouldn’t be unusual, but it is. The same goes for velvety clam chowder. Here, it achieves smoky richness—you can thank the Nueske’s bacon for that—without any of the floury glop. 1148 Manhattan Ave., 310-893-6299, or eatfwd.com . Full bar.

❂ Little Coyote

LONG BEACH »

Pizza $

That most amazing slice of pizza you had that one very drunken, late night in your early twenties in New York lives on . . . in Long Beach. The crust, made with dough cold-fermented for 48 to 72 hours, is carby perfection: tangy, crispy, thin but with a healthy pu . The concise menu doesn’t o er any revelations about what should be atop pizza but, instead, perfects the usual suspects. 2118 E. 4th St., 562-434-2009, littlecoyotelbc.com, or @littlecoyotelbc. Also at 3500 Los Coyotes Diagonal, 562-352-1555.

SO CAN YOU.

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These days, it takes a village to manage your financial world. Whether it is managing your assets with a wealth manager, navigating the ever-changing tax landscape, sorting out your estate and succession planning or picking the right life insurance, finding the right team can be a daunting task. In fact, many consumers have a hard time figuring out where to even begin.

Sometimes, a few simple questions can put you off on the right path. Asking a professional what makes working with them a unique experience can help you understand how they work and if their style meshes with your own.

This is a great place to start! Five Star Professional uses its own proprietary research methodology to name outstanding professionals, then works with publications such as Los Angeles magazine to spread the word about award winners. Each award candidate undergoes a thorough research process (detailed here) before being considered for the final list of award winners. For the complete list of winners, go to www.fivestarprofessional.com.

RESEARCH DISCLOSURES

In order to consider a broad population of high-quality wealth managers, award candidates are identified by one of three sources: firm nomination, peer nomination or prequalification based on industry standing. Self-nominations are not accepted. Los Angeles-area award candidates were identified using internal and external research data. Candidates do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final lists of Five Star Wealth Managers.

• The Five Star award is not indicative of a professional’s future performance.

• Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients’ assets.

• The inclusion of a professional on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the professional by Five Star Professional or Los Angeles magazine.

• Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any professional is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected professionals will be awarded this accomplishment by Five Star Professional in the future.

• Five Star Professional is not an advisory firm and the content of this article should not be considered financial advice. For more information on the Five Star Wealth Manager award program, research and selection criteria, go to fivestarprofessional.com/research.

• 3,629 a ward candidates in the Los Angeles area were considered for the Five Star Wealth Manager award. 155 (approximately 4% of the award candidates) were named 2023 Five Star Wealth Managers.

Award candidates who satisfied 10 objective eligibility and evaluation criteria were named 2023 Five Star Wealth Managers. Eligibility

Criteria – Required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser or a registered investment adviser representative. 2. Actively employed as a credentialed professional in the financial services industry for a minimum of five years.

3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review. 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal firm standards. 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation Criteria – Considered: 6. One-year client retention rate. 7. Five-year client retention rate. 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered. 9. Number of client households served.

10. Education and professional designations.

Regulatory Review: As defined by Five Star Professional, the wealth manager has not: been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; been convicted of a felony. Within the past 11 years the wealth manager has not: been terminated from a wealth management or financial services firm; filed for personal bankruptcy; had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them (and no more than five total pending, dismissed or denied) with any regulatory authority.

Five Star Professional conducts a regulatory review of each nominated wealth manager using the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) website. Five Star Professional also uses multiple supporting processes to help ensure that a favorable regulatory and complaint history exists. Data submitted through these processes was applied per the above criteria; each wealth manager who passes the Five Star Professional regulatory review must attest that they meet the definition of favorable regulatory history based upon the criteria listed above. Five Star Professional promotes via local advertising the opportunity for consumers to confidentially submit complaints regarding a wealth manager.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
FIVE STAR WEALTH MANAGER DETERMINATION OF AWARD WINNERS CRITERIA 2023 LOS ANGELES FIVE STAR WEALTH MANAGERS LEARN MORE AT FIVESTARPROFESSIONAL.COM — FS- 1 All candidates must demonstrate a favorable regulatory history. REGULATORY CONSUMER COMPLAINT REVIEW Candidates must complete either an online or over-the-phone interview. CANDIDATE SUBMISSION OF PRACTICE INFORMATION Candidates are evaluated on 10 objective evaluation and eligibility criteria. EVALUATION OF CANDIDATE PRACTICE All candidates are reviewed by a representative of their firm before final selection. FIRM REVIEW OF AWARD CANDIDATE LIST Three sources of nominations: – Firm nominations – Peer nominations NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES – Prequalification based on industry credentials PROPRIETARY RESEARCH PROCESS FIVE STAR PROFESSIONAL Finalization and announcement of Five Star Professional award winners. 2023 AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Financial Planning

Alberto Alvarez · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC Page 3

Percy Bolton · Percy E. Bolton Associates, Inc.

Yuji Chao · UnionBanc Investment Services Page 3

Christian Raul Cordoba · California Retirement Advisors

Bradford Daniel Creger · BFF Financial

Adam Scot Goldstein · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Victor James Hazard · Hazard Financial

Carolyn Hemann · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC Page 2

Jill Helene Kasen · The Financial Destinations Group

Sean J. Kennally · Morgan Stanley

Jean D. Koehler · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC Page 2

Arthur Dellar Kraus · Capital Intelligence Associates

Mitchell Simon Kraus · Capital Intelligence Associates

— WEALTH MANAGERS —

All award winners are listed in this publication.

Ryan Mauritz Liljegren · Ameriprise Financial Services

Jennifer Han Malek · JHM Wealth Management, Inc.

James Thomas O’Grady · Braemar Wealth Management

Jonathan F. Rowsey · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Richard J. Ryan · Morgan Stanley Page 3

Christiane Tomasi · CS TOMASI Wealth Management

Kevin R. Whitten · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Kyle J. Whitten · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Insurance

Rick H. Koff · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Investments

Timothy Fitzgerald · Fitzgerald Financial Services

Michael Andrew Grodotzke · Fitzgerald Financial Services

Jeramy Heath · Morgan Stanley

Jean D. Koehler

CLTC®, CRPC®, RICP®, Financial Advisor, Lic. 0C96997

55 E Huntington Drive, Suite 340 Arcadia, CA 91006

Office: 626-254-0455 Toll-free: 800-268-1155 jean.d.koehler@ampf.com ameripriseadvisors.com/jean.d.koehler

Confident Retirement Approach: Live Confidently Today and in the Future.

• Wealth preservation strategies and estate planning strategies

• Investments and insurance

I am passionate about working with clients to help them plan to meet their financial needs now and in the future. I will look at your entire financial picture, including cash reserves, estate planning strategies, investments, insurance and retirement planning. I also ask targeted questions and listen closely to your answers. That way, you can feel more confident that the advice I provide reflects your personal dreams and goals. Additionally, I am a 2013 – 2023 Five Star Wealth Manager.

Not FDIC or NCUA

InsuredNo Financial Institution Guarantee May Lose Value

Investors should conduct their own evaluation of a financial professional as working with a financial advisor is not a guarantee of future financial success.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.

Matthew David Heller · Willner Heller

Ivan Illan · Aligne Wealth Advisors Investment Management

Linda R. Klugman · LPL Financial

Chris Richard Luechtefeld · Morgan Stanley

Bruce A. Mandel · Wealth Enhancement Group

René Nourse · Urban Wealth Management Group

Sheryl O’Donnell · Morgan Stanley Page 3

Josh Kenneth Oder · Oder Investment Management

Millu Chang Ramirez · Urban Wealth Management Group

Laura Marie Raulinaitis · Morgan Stanley

Barak Raviv · Morgan Stanley

Maria Shtabskaya · Morgan Stanley

John Tan · LPL Financial

Steven Zorn · Oder Investment Management, LLC

Carolyn Hemann

CFP®, Private Wealth Advisor

Hemann, Preator & Associates

A private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC Los Angeles, CA 90064 Office: 310-477-2500 carolyn.f.hemann@ampf.com

Experience Makes the Difference

• Over 30 years of experience• Ameriprise Circle of Success Diamond Ring award recipient

Carolyn, a 2013 – 2020 and 2022 – 2023 Five Star Wealth Manager award winner, has been guiding clients toward financial independence for more than 30 years. She is passionate about providing timely, quality financial advice and financial planning that can lead to peace of mind for her clients.

Investment advisory products and services are made available through Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC, a registered investment adviser.

Investment products are not insured by the FDIC, NCUA or any federal agency, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed by any financial institution, and involve investment risks including possible loss of principal and fluctuation in value.

Investors should conduct their own evaluation of a financial professional as working with a financial advisor is not a guarantee of future financial success.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.

This award was issued on 12/1/2022 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 03/28/2022 through 09/23/2022. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed managers were considered for the award; 155 (4% of candidates) were named 2023 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # 2020: 3,527, 158, 5%, 12/1/19, 3/1/19 - 10/25/19; 2019: 3,528, 154, 4%, 12/1/18, 3/26/18 - 10/16/18; 2018: 2,708, 154, 6%, 12/1/17, 3/23/17 - 10/13/17; 2017: 2,351, 6%, 12/1/13, 5/22/13 - 10/16/13; 2013: 3,488, 372, 11%, 12/1/12, 5/22/12 - 10/16/12; 2012: 1,019, 176, 17%, 11/1/11, 5/22/11 - 10/16/11.

Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria – required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client’s experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by FSP or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any

ADVERTISING SECTION
SPECIAL
FS- 2 — LEARN MORE AT FIVESTARPROFESSIONAL.COM
FIVE STAR WEALTH MANAGER AWARD WINNER
YEAR WINNER 11
AWARD WINNER
FIVE STAR WEALTH MANAGER
YEAR WINNER
10
Continued on FS-4

— WEALTH MANAGERS —

CFP®,

15800 S Western Avenue Gardena, CA 90248

Phone: 310-354-4764 yuji.chao@unionbank.com

Alleviating Financial Challenges

Wealth can provide opportunities, but it can also create significant challenges. With a planning-based approach, I work closely with you to help:

• Customize an investment plan based on your unique financial goals

• Adjust your investment plan to accommodate life events and changes

• Simplify the process and help you understand your options

I’m fluent in Japanese and English, and I look forward to partnering with you.

Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor, NMLS 1252906, CA Insurance Lic. 0B98676 21250 Hawthorne Boulevard, Suite 650 Torrance, CA 90503

Phone: 310-543-0230 sheryl.o’donnell@morganstanley.com fa.morganstanley.com/sheryl.odonnell

I help clients build and retain wealth through customized investment solutions. Whether it’s asset accumulation, retirement distribution, income plans or passing wealth to charities and loved ones, there is a strategy and solution for you. I am a 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018 –2023 Five Star Wealth Manager.

©2023 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. CRC 4931595 09/22.

535 N Brand Boulevard, Suite 1000 Glendale, CA 91203

Phone: 818-662-1999 albert.d.alvarez@ampf.com www.castlewatch.com

• 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020 – 2023 Five Star Wealth Manager

• Retirement planning strategies

• Executive compensation and benefit strategies

lanner ™, and the CFP® mark (with plaque design) in the U.S.

Investment products are not insured by the FDIC, NCUA or any federal agency, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed by any financial institution, and involve investment risks including possible loss of principal and fluctuation in value.

Investors should conduct their own evaluation of a financial professional as working with a financial advisor is not a guarantee of future financial success.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.

Richard J. Ryan

Portfolio Management Director, First Vice President, Financial Advisor

21650 Oxnard Street, Suite 1800 Woodland Hills, CA 91367

Direct: 818-715-1894 richard.j.ryan@morganstanley.com fa.morganstanley.com/richard.j.ryan

Markets change. With 42 years of experience, I can be your guide through the investing jungle. My job is to help you optimize the return on your assets in a way designed to help you meet your goals while seeking to minimize the risks involved. My clients seek my assistance to do just that. I am a 2013 – 2023

©2023

Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. CRC 4975260 10/22.

questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 3,629 Los Angeles-area wealth Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2022: 3,781, 150, 4%, 12/1/21, 3/29/21 - 10/1/21; 2021: 3,574, 168, 5%, 12/1/20, 3/30/20 - 10/9/20; 287, 12%, 11/1/16, 2/25/16 - 10/24/16; 2016: 2,374, 298, 13%, 11/1/15, 5/22/15 - 10/16/15; 2015: 3,105, 327, 11%, 12/1/14, 5/22/14 - 10/16/14; 2014: 6,088, 340,

investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP’s consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP’s from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria – considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year clients. The award is not indicative of the wealth manager’s future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients’ assets. The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by FSP in the future. Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
LEARN MORE AT FIVESTARPROFESSIONAL.COM — FS- 3
FIVE STAR WEALTH MANAGER AWARD WINNER UnionBanc Investment Services LLC is an SEC-registered broker-dealer,investment adviser, member FINRA/SIPC, and subsidiary of MUFG Union Bank, N.A. NOT FDIC-InsuredNO Bank Guarantee MAY Lose Value Yuji Chao Vice President, Financial Advisor
YEAR WINNER 8
FIVE STAR WEALTH MANAGER AWARD WINNER Morgan Stanley and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Individuals should seek advice based on their particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor.
Sheryl O’Donnell
YEAR WINNER
9
FIVE STAR WEALTH MANAGER AWARD WINNER Morgan Five Star Wealth Manager award winner.
YEAR WINNER 11
FIVE STAR WEALTH MANAGER AWARD WINNER Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, C ertified f inanCial
P
Work Together to Help Put Your Goals Within Reach
We’ll
Alberto Alvarez
CRPC®, APMA®, Private
Wealth Advisor
YEAR WINNER 7 “ Financial planning is a holistic approach to financial well-being. ” — Five Star award winner

Marc Allen Ackerman · Wells Fargo Advisors

Ashkan Paul Afrasiab · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

W. Kent Althouse · Althouse Financial and Investment Services

Michael Scott Anton · Kairos Wealth Partners

Louis Philip Ashamallah · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Darnel James Bentz · Kayne Anderson Rudnick

James Edgar Berliner · Westmount Asset Management

Brandon David Bernstein · Wells Fargo Advisors

Curt Mitchell Biren · Kayne Anderson Rudnick

Bryan Hutchings Bishop · TIAA

Sean Dewayne Blackwood · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

William Daniel Bowman · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Thomas Christian Buckley · LPL Financial

Michael Burke · Morgan Stanley

Jennifer Leah Capo · Generate Wealth

Tracy Albert Chan · LPL Financial

Christina Chanpong Chanpong Stieg · Merrill Lynch

Bradley Chapman · Opus Private Wealth Group

Carolanne Marie Chavanne · Prosperity Wealth Planning

George Lee Cheng · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Rob Jeehoon Choi · Morgan Stanley

Christina Chiang Chou · Morgan Stanley

James A. Christiansen · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Robert Earl Coe · Morgan Stanley

Jed Archer Cohen · Morgan Stanley

Gary Lee Corderman · Goldman Sachs

Jonathan Tad Corob · Wells Fargo Advisors

Robert James Curtiss · SEIA

Robert Walter Dalie · Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

— WEALTH MANAGERS —

Brett Eugene Dalton · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Angela Anne Dax · Dax Wealth Management Group

Celeste Diane Despres-Sheres · Morgan Stanley

Vincent Cuomo DiCarlo · Wells Fargo Advisors

John Thomas DiCiaccio · Snowden Lane Partners

Diane Katherine Doolin · Morgan Stanley

Lee Jay Dunayer · Morgan Stanley

Stephen Ellingsen · Morgan Stanley

Deborah W. Ellis · Cogent Independent Advisors

Michelle E. Fenton · Fenton Wealth Management

Robert S. Fenton · Fenton Wealth Management

Daniel Eric Fienberg · Wells Fargo Advisors

John Christopher Fleishman · Morgan Stanley

Chris Matthew Frantz · Catalina Capital Group

Mitchell Freedman · MFAC Financial Advisors

Travis Anthony Gabler · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Dustin L. Gale · Kayne Anderson Rudnick

Jeffrey Ronald Germain · Wells Fargo Advisors

Carlos Antonio Getino · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Joel Richard Goldberg · MassMutual

Daniel L. Gracy · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Gregg Lawrence Haglund · Wells Fargo Advisors

Donald James Harrington · Fraser Financial Group

Ali Arash Hashemian · Kinetic Financial

Sayeed Hasnat · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Paul Francis Heising · Moran Heising & McElravey

Stephen George Hekimian · Morgan Stanley

David Aaron Horvitz · Cheviot Value Management

Howard Arthur Huckins · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Susan Baringer Inwood · Wells Fargo Advisors

Perry James Johnson III · Trilogy Financial Services

Dominique Brenea Jordan · First Republic Private Wealth Management

Alexander Masaru Kimura · Mercer Advisors

Farid Antonio Krizman · TIAA

Gregory Paul Kushner · Lido Advisors

Shawn Stauffer Landis · HCR Wealth Advisors

Christopher John Laubach · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Michael J. Leonard · UBS

Evan Robert Levy · Lido Advisors

John Cunningham Lindsey · Lindsey & Lindsey Wealth Management

Judith Maria Lu · Blue Zone Wealth Advisors

Bhagwati Mahendru · Mahendru Financial Group

Brent M. Mason · Mason & Assoc.

Shawn Michael McElderry · Monarch Wealth & Retirement Strategies

Alfred Lee McIntosh · McIntosh Capital Advisors

David John Medina · Stewardship Financial

Hugh Ari Meyer · Highline Wealth Partners

Selwyn Miller · Miller Financial Planning

Richard Peter Moran · Moran Heising & McElravey

Matthew James Murawski · Goodstein Wealth Management

Michael Nazarian · Wells Fargo Advisors

Paul Phillip Nelson · Viewpoint Financial Network

Mark Anthony Nordbrock · Equitable Advisors

Joe O’Boyle · O’Boyle Wealth Management

James Stuart Olson · LPL Financial

Ryan Tetsuo Onishi · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Christina Lindsey Orta · Lindsey & Lindsey Wealth Management

David Allan Papale · Wells Fargo Advisors

Roger Phillip Park · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Amit Rasik Patel · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Joseph Lavoyd Pates · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Anthony Andres Perez · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

John B. Petrick · Perennial Financial Services

Caleb Padraig Powell · Kayne Anderson Rudnick

Erika Renata Puzik · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Jorge Villarante Ragde · Morgan Stanley

Trevor R. Randall · Randall Wealth Management Group

Vicky Hung Rangsuebsin · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Michael Aaron Resnik · LPL Financial

Maarten Rietveld · LPL Financial

Jean Marie Ruimy · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Jeffrey Mark Runyan · Runyan Capital

Nicole Taylor Ryan · Cetera Advisor Networks

Charles George Salfity · LPL Financial

Jeana Nicole Schkud · Morgan Stanley

John Michael Scott · Wells Fargo Advisors

Anny Cho-Fang Shen · Morgan Stanley

Christine Cabral Stern · LPL Financial

Duc Tien Tran · Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC

Javier R. Valenzuela · Golden Eagle Wealth Management

Robert George Vogelsang · Morgan Stanley

Lewis Morton Wallensky · WallenskySpatz

Freeman Huey Welch · TSG Wealth Management

Jeffrey Joseph Westheimer · Lido Advisors

Michael Allen Wilhite · Morgan Stanley

Deborah Lynn Wilkins Betters · Morgan Stanley

Amy S. Yu · Morgan Stanley

Drew John Zager · Morgan Stanley

This award was issued on 12/1/2022 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 03/28/2022 through 09/23/2022. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 3,629 Los Angeles-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 155 (4% of candidates) were named 2023 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2022: 3,781, 150, 4%, 12/1/21, 3/29/21 - 10/1/21; 2021: 3,574, 168, 5%, 12/1/20, 3/30/20 - 10/9/20; 2020: 3,527, 158, 5%, 12/1/19, 3/1/19 - 10/25/19; 2019: 3,528, 154, 4%, 12/1/18, 3/26/18 - 10/16/18; 2018: 2,708, 154, 6%, 12/1/17, 3/23/17 - 10/13/17; 2017: 2,351, 287, 12%, 11/1/16, 2/25/16 - 10/24/16; 2016: 2,374, 298, 13%, 11/1/15, 5/22/15 - 10/16/15; 2015: 3,105, 327, 11%, 12/1/14, 5/22/14 - 10/16/14; 2014: 6,088, 340, 6%, 12/1/13, 5/22/13 - 10/16/13; 2013: 3,488, 372, 11%, 12/1/12, 5/22/12 - 10/16/12; 2012: 1,019, 176, 17%, 11/1/11, 5/22/11 - 10/16/11.

Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria – required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP’s consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP’s consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client’s experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria – considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The award is not indicative of the wealth manager’s future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients’ assets. The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by FSP or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by FSP in the future. Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
FS- 4 — LEARN MORE AT FIVESTARPROFESSIONAL.COM
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, Certified finanCial Planner™ and federally registered CFP (with plaque design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements. The Chartered Financial Consultant® credential [ChFC®] is a financial planning designation awarded by The American College.
Continued from FS-2

Darren Merager

> We can go into that, but if she’s surgically [altered] parts of her body, that’s transsexual. I know that’s a controversy in and of itself, but I can explain that.

Are you saying that transitioning either hormonally or physically somehow disqualifies someone from being authentically transgender?

> You have to understand gender identity. Everybody’s confusing your internal with your external. All these external people are doing what is being called transitioning. There’s no transition. That’s called deviation. I’m tired of that word “transitioning.” It’s a fake word that people like Bamby use. The whole point is this is how you are born.

That’s a view unlikely to win you many friends within the activist community. What do you have against plastic surgery or hormones as opposed to natural body presentation?

> I won’t be able to speak for other people, but I’d like to get inside their minds. I’d like to sit down with Caitlyn Jenner. I saw her the other day in Malibu. She’s very around. She almost hit my car. I realized it was her. I said, “Hey Caitlyn!” I didn’t get a moment because everybody else was talking to her.

What do you want to ask Caitlyn Jenner?

> What made you want to dress up? Why is Bruce Jenner now dressing up as a woman when he knows he’s going to be attracting straight men and lesbians, when that’s not what he’s been attracted to his whole life?

Let’s get back to Wi Spa—what brought you there that night?

> I reinjured my back in an unprovoked attack in Malibu, and I went to Wi Spa because it’s the only place in town you can get hot and cold treatment, which is one of the best therapies you can get for anti-inflammation.

Were you living near Koreatown?

> No. I was in the neighborhood. My local pool in the marina was closed for maintenance.

Did you go to Wi Spa often?

> No, I’ve only been there twice. I had to do physical therapy every couple of days, and I roam a lot. Wherever I happened to be, I just googled the nearest community pool and called ahead to get their transgender policy.

How soon after you arrived that night did the trouble begin?

> I arrived, like, right at 10 p.m. And Cubana Angel [one of the spa customers] started complaining within the first hour.

What did you do when you were confronted by her?

> I froze. I didn’t do anything. I looked behind my shoulder because she was behind me and she’s a large woman.

How did you escape?

> I didn’t. She left. The other women forced her to leave. They said she was causing a disturbance. I stayed there for another 11 hours.

You stayed overnight? How is that even possible?

> Late at night, it calms down. It’s very calm, [and] the people are understanding. You can stay overnight.

Cubana said she saw you exit a Jacuzzi fully nud penis was semi-erect. Is that how you remember it?

> She concocted that story. When she first described my penis that night, she said it was hanging and swinging to the left. Then she did a news conference a month later when she says for the first and only time that I was slightly erect. I think she was probably coached by her attorney or the detectives to change her story. I caught them doing the same thing to me in West Hollywood.

You’re referring to your 2019 arrest for allegedly exposing yourself to children at the West Hollywood Aquatics Center?

> In West Hollywood! One step away from Santa Monica Boulevard, where there are rainbows and guys sitting in windows with rubber balls sticking in

their mouths. You bring your kids over here, and you’re afraid they’re seeing a transgender person?

Have you considered just changing clothes in a stall or wearing a bathing suit?

> It’s not for me to adapt to society at this point. Even if it’s the polite thing to do or you want me to or there’s a controversy or whatever, if nobody else is using a shower curtain or nobody else is using a swimsuit, it’s illegal to try and make me do it. Technically, and from all perspectives, I am female, and everybody agrees with that. We’re all on equal grounds under the law.

Some might say you’re taking advantage of the good intentions of recent California law. What do you say?

> State senator Scott Wiener [D-San Francisco] is out there saying California will be a sanctuary state for places in the country where it is a crime for children to transition. I called Wiener, and I said, “You’re passing transgender laws. How about enforcing them?” Republicans hate this stu , but are the Democrats really on board with it or do they just want our vote? And even if the feminist lesbians are attacking me, which I know they are, there should be more responsible people in the L.A. County district attorney’s o ce, starting with George Gascón.

You’re on the run from the LAPD as well as the Sheri ’s Department. What’s life on the lam been like for you?

> Being on the lam doesn’t only a ect me. Back when this thing first started, I sold my car to my doctor, and then the police followed this car, dragged my doctor’s elderly father from behind the wheel, with the helicopters and news cameras on him, and held him there handcu ed for hours. He’s clearly an elderly Korean man. I’m a white guy with long, blond hair! So people close to me have also been a ected.

Your mother is in her 80s. How has this a ected her?

> You get some crazy people walking up to your door. She answered the door for the Daily Mail from London or something. I told my mom not to answer the door anymore.

LAMAG.COM 107
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13
“Why is Bruce Jenner now dressing up as a woman?”

Are any of the big orange packinghouses still around?

notes that, today, Cher’s wardrobe “would not be specifically regulated … just for safety.”

Q: Is it legal to plant edible vegetation in a park?

Tasting Old L.A.

A NEW BOOK ON THE CITY OF ANGELS FOOD

FRUITS OF LABOR

The Anaheim packinghouse back when California was the orange-packing capital of the world.

A:

The lure and lore of citrus is at the heart of so many great California stories. The nineteenth century packinghouses where oranges left L.A. were magnificent industrial buildings that often had high ceilings, skylights, and hardwood floors, perfect for converting into an antique mall, shopping center, or food hall, which is what happened to those historic buildings in Whittier, Claremont, and Anaheim, respectively. King Richard’s Antique Center might be the liveliest, with big bands, jitterbug contests, and a 1940s-style ice cream man.

Q:

A: Cher surprised everyone onboard the USS Missouri when she showed up in little more than her Bob Mackie

stockings for the “If I Could Turn Back Time” video in 1989. Aside from the sci-fi action fi lm Battleship and that Tom Cruise picture that made $1.5 billion, most shipside productions these days

are documentaries. If the Goddess of Pop ever wanted to come back, “there’s nothing that says we couldn’t do it,” says Navy spokesman Joe Scudella III. The sailor was born a few years after the fi lming but

A: Administrators not wishing to see unstable trees uproot sidewalks discourage well-intentioned gardeners from adding any landscaping to city parks. Plants with something sweet on their branches have their own problems. “We’ve had people climb into fruit trees or break the branches to get the fruit,” says city forester Leon Boroditsky. “We have an unwritten policy about edible plants,” he says. That doesn’t mean you can’t fi nd acorns, figs, and English walnuts planted by squirrels and birds or a historical grove of white grapefruit at Bee Canyon. Boroditsky has even seen Chicken of the woods mushrooms growing in Rustic Canyon and Elysian Park. “If I found a species that would taste good, I’d try it.”

● When he’s not judging TV baking shows or teaching cooking classes aboard cruise ships, chef George Geary loves to try his hand at re-creating the famous dishes from L.A.’s historic restaurants. In his new book, L.A.’s Landmark Restaurants: Celebrating the Legendary Locations Where Angelenos Have Dined for Generations from Santa Monica Press, he shares the guacamole from Casita del Campo in Silver Lake as well as main-dish favorites like Chicken Muscovite from the vanished Victor Hugo restaurant. Geary’s collection of recipes o ers the promise that we can once again taste the flavors from lost legends like Little Joe’s and the Pacific Dining Car.

VOLUME 68, NUMBER 1. LOS ANGELES (ISSN 1522-9149) is published monthly by Los Angeles Magazine, LLC. Principal office: 10100 Venice Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA, and additional mailing offices. The one-year domestic subscription price is $14.95. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to LOS ANGELES, 1965 E. Avis Dr., Madison Heights, MI 48071. Not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or other materials, which must be accompanied by return postage. SUBSCRIBERS: If the Postal Service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. Copyright © 2023 Los Angeles Magazine, LLC. All rights reserved. Best of L.A.® is a registered trademark of Los Angeles Magazine, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part of any text, photograph, or illustration without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. SUBSCRIBER SERVICE 866-660-6247. GST #R133004424. PRINTED IN THE USA.

Ask Chris EMAIL YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS ABOUT L.A. TO ASKCHRIS@LAMAG.COM
108 LAMAG.COM
Q
PACKINGHOUSE: COURTESY ANAHEIM PUBLIC LIBRARY; BOOK: SANTA MONICA PRESS
Is it true that the Navy banned filming because of Cher?

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