Los Angeles Magazine - June 2022 by The Lifestyle Magazines of SoCal

YES, YES, YES—NO!

THE FALL OF HOLLYWOOD’S ORGASM CULT

SUNNY DELIGHTS

OUR INDISPENSABLE GUIDE TO SUMMER IN THE CITY

E S U MO

D E P P A R T , HOW MICKEY BECAME THE LATEST CASUALTY IN AMERICA’S CULTURE WARS BY PETER KIEFER

$5.95 JUNE 2022 L A M AG .CO M

J U N E 202 2

CRUEL POOLS

Water evaporating from L.A.’s swimming pools wastes millions of gallons a year.

For two years, a flamboyant, out-of-work rock guitarist rode out the pandemic in our Hollywood Hills home. Then, one day, he was gone.

Woke employees are picketing. Right-wing activists are planning a boycott. Florida’s governor revoked the company’s tax breaks. In the middle is new CEO Bob Chapek, who suddenly finds himself ruler of the unhappiest place on earth.

SoCal’s most enduring lifestyle trope is also a major contributor to our state’s water emergency. A homeowner recounts his battle to turn his pool from blue to green, and finds a happy ending

The Rock Star Next Door

BY R O S E C R A N S B A L DW I N

Bringing Down the Mouse

BY P E T E R K I E F E R

The Problem with Pools

BY M I K E S AG E R

Inside Hollywood’s Orgasm Cult With the support of stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Daedone built a lucrative empire on the promise of a 15-minute female orgasm. But what seemed like sexual salvation to some was denounced as sexploitation by many others. BY M I C K B R OW N

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A R C A I D I M A G E S /A L A M Y S T O C K P H O T O

Features

J U N E 202 2

Buzz The Undead

› Once-banished actors

BUCK IT!

This season, there’s no such thing as “clashing” when it comes to color in clothing.

and artists are suddenly making a comeback. (Take a bow, Mel Gibson!) But does that mean cancel culture is finally over?

Leather Prada Triangle bag, $2,200; raffia bucket hat, $775; long twill dress, $3,000. All from prada.com.

BY JOEL STEIN PAGE 11

The Brief

› Was Nika Soon-Shiong

behind a controversial endorsement at her father’s newspaper? Plus, striking strippers, kvetching influencers, and pennypinching at Netflix. PAGE 14

›

King of the Castle

Randy Pitchford, a magician

turned video-game mogul, just bought L.A.’s legendary Magic Castle. But he still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

BY CHRIS NICHOLS PAGE 16

Ask Chris › Have any famous actors ever

run for office in Los Angeles? Is that vegan Mexican restaurant in WeHo, Gracias Madre, related to the one in San Francisco? What are those concrete-and-metal boxes in the middle of the Arroyo Seco streambed? Our resident historian answers all your burning questions. BY CHRIS NICHOLS PAGE 92

Incoming!

explodes; why we love rock-star biopics; fancy potato pancakes; delicious wines from obscure grapes; six of the summer’s coolest fashion trends; and more PAG E 2 1 4 L A M AG.C OM

ON THE COVER Illustrated by Justin Metz

CO U RTE SY PR ADA .

› Molly Shannon’s happy places; an 82-year-old artist’s career

Maer Roshan

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF C R E AT I V E DI R E C T OR

Ada Guerin EXECUTIVE EDITOR EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

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Editor’s Note

BY MAER ROSHAN

A F T E R 3 0 Y E A R S as a reporter and editor, I’ve grown accustomed to taking a little flak from readers. I’ve always believed it was part of the job description of a journalist—if I’m not occasionally riling people up, I’m not earning my paycheck. But in recent years, those attacks have taken a decidedly darker turn. In 2020, a preelection story on QAnon generated scores of angry calls and death threats. More recently, Steve Appleford’s sober profile of canceled pop star Ryan Adams also triggered a flurry of complaints. But even I was surprised by the firestorm unleashed by a short online piece we recently published about an unremarkable campaign for city controller. We simply noted that one of the candidates, Kevin Mejia, a crusading 31-year-old CPA who’d been endorsed by the Los Angeles Times, had expressed some pernicious positions, including that the LAPD was a front for white supremacy, that Joe Biden was a racist and rapist, and that Bashar alAssad wasn’t really the genocidal killer that the imperialist American media had made him out to be. (For more on Mejia, read Jason McGahan’s report on page 14.) What surprised me most about the 8 L A M AG.C OM

“Quaint as it sounds, I came of age as a reporter at a time when values like impartiality and fairness were the bedrock principles of journalism.”

reaction to this story was that the crazy backlash it ignited wasn’t from the right but from the left—and that it was directed straight at me in shockingly personal ways. Suddenly, I found myself at the center of a psychotic Twitter storm, particularly after someone posted a picture of me at a party for Radar, a magazine I founded in the early 2000s, standing next to Jeffrey Epstein, one of a dozen investors in the publication. When the picture was taken, the billionaire’s proclivities for underage girls was not widely known—I certainly wasn’t aware of them— but that didn’t seem to strike any of the commenters in 2022 as relevant information. “WOW. LOOK AT THIS GROSS PEDO SUPPORTER!” posted one in all caps. “Just curious how many times you decided to visit [Epstein’s] island to satisfy your need to exploit little girls?” asked another. (For the record, I have never been to Little Saint James Island, which I’m guessing was not a haven for gay men.) Lost in this spirited exchange was the fact that two years after the photo was taken, Radar became the first magazine in the country to run a cover story raising questions about Epstein’s problematic private life. And not just his, but that of Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, and Kevin Spacey. Also lost on this group of moralizing lefty posters was that guilt by association was once a bludgeon wielded by right-wingers like Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn. As unsettling as it is to find yourself being publicly libeled, I don’t see myself as a victim. I know what I signed up for when I became a journalist. But the experience has made me think about all the damage this sort of absurd piling-on has been doing to our country in recent years. How our discourse is now controled by extremists on both sides of the aisle. Quaint as it sounds, I came of age as a reporter at a time when values like impartiality and fairness were the bedrock principles of journalism. They’re still the values that I—and this magazine—do our best to uphold today, regardless of the blowback. Whatever your politics, enjoy this month’s issue. It was written and edited the old-fashioned way—without an agenda.

Maer Roshan, Editor-in-Chief

Giannis Antetokounmpo

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THREE YEARS IN A ROW. It’s one thing to be honored as an esteemed Forbes Travel Guide award-winning resort. It’s another to be honored for three consecutive years.

2022

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2022

AGUACALIENTECASINOS.COM

06.22

The Undead ONCE-BANISHED ACTORS AND ARTISTS ARE SUDDENLY MAKING A COMEBACK. (TAKE A BOW, MEL GIBSON!) BUT DOES THAT MEAN CANCEL CULTURE IS FINALLY OVER? BY JOEL STEIN

I L LU S T R AT E D BY C H R I S M O R R I S

L A M AG . C O M 1 1

R E T U R N E N G AG E M E N T S

H R E E Y E A R S A G O, when the filmmakers behind the documentary Finding Neverland accused Michael Jackson of being a pedophile, smart, thoughtful people debated whether they could ever listen to his music again. I couldn’t figure out how exactly that would work—was I supposed to erase “Beat It” from my mind? Rewire my brain so that instead of associating the song with dancing at bar mitzvahs, I thought only of pedophilia? Could I at least listen to the Eddie Van Halen solo, since he didn’t do anything wrong? I never did figure out the answer, but it turns out that I didn’t have to. Because on February 1 of this year, MJ: The Musical debuted on Broadway. Since then, a whole cavalcade of once-canceled stars started moonwalking their way back into the mainstream. Louis C.K., banished in 2017 for masturbating in front of unwilling visitors, won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album in April. That same month, Charlie Rose, who allegedly turned his PBS studio into “a sexual hunting ground,” launched a new interview series on his website—with no less a get than Warren Buffett. Around that same time, accused sexual assaulter Alexander Wang had a fashion show in L.A., and Mel Gibson, whose list of offenses includes antisemitism, homophobia, and domestic battery, opened Father Stu, a new movie with Mark Wahlberg. And in May, alleged sexual predator Ryan Adams played Carnegie Hall. Why are they being let back in now? Is it pushback against cancel culture that went too far? Are liberals letting their guard down now that Donald Trump isn’t president? Are institutions getting too weak to gatekeep? Is the speed of consumerism so fast that we’ve already arrived at the same place we eventually did with composer Richard Wagner, which is basically, “He didn’t do any Nazi stuff to me personally.” Like so much with cancel culture, it’s all very confusing. Some of these men did horrible things. Some were merely inappropriate. And I need to parse it all out, because I’ve been conscripted into enacting some of their punishment myself—a rock has been shoved into my hand to throw at the sinner by the voices insisting that I expunge offenders from my entertainment choices. Obviously, people who do bad things should face some sort of consequence. But not all crimes are created equal. I’m not entirely sure what Alison Roman did to get herself suspended from the New York Times—something about calling Marie Kondo and Chrissy Teigen, both Asians, “sellouts”—but I’m pretty certain it wasn’t nearly as bad as 1 2 L A M AG . C O M

1 2

what Matt Lauer did. Still, we’re giving out life sentences to all of them. That’s not an effective system of justice. The rules of cancel culture appear to me entirely arbitrary. For instance, picking on Jews isn’t cancelable. Nick Cannon spouted conspiracy theories about Jews controlling finance and didn’t miss a day of hosting The Masked Singer. Ice Cube never stopped working, no matter what he said about God’s chosen people. And Gibson—who’d been publicly dumped by his superagent, Ari Emanuel (who went so far as to call for his former client’s “shunning” in Hollywood)—has a whole slew of projects lined up after Father Stu, including directing and starring in the upcoming Lethal Weapon 5 and appearing in a John Wick prequel. If the Jews can’t keep Gibson out of Hollywood, what hope is there in keeping anyone out of anywhere? Also, how long are cancellations supposed to last? I mean, Michael Vick returned to the NFL and was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year just two seasons after going to jail for running a dogfighting ring. But Kevin Spacey, who’s never been convicted in court of anything, looks like he’ll be spending eternity in isolation, seen only in those weird Christmas Eve videos he keeps posting on YouTube. T O T RY T O detangle some of these questions, I called

a few of the canceled people I know personally—which I was a little nervous about admitting to in this article. I was hoping they fell more on the Alison Roman end of the spectrum than the Louis C.K. side.

A L E X A N D E R WA N G : TAY LO R H I L L /G E T T Y I M AG E S ; LO U I S C K : A N D R E W H O L B R O O K E /G E T T Y I M AG E S ; M E L G I B S O N : A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S

BUZZ

PRODIG A L SONS

1. Alexander Wang at the 2018 NYC Pride March. 2. Protesters hold up photos of alleged predators during the NYC Women’s March, 2018. 3. A table laden with cream cheese and bagels was part of a Jimmy Kimmel Live show in 2006. Gibson had apologized after being caught in an anti-Semitic rant. 4. Harvey Weinstein and Charlie Rose in 2014. 5. Michael Jackson leaving an arraignment in Santa Maria in 2004, where pled not guilty to a grand jury indictiment of several child molestation charges.

C H A R L I E R O S E : N I C H O L A S H U N T/ PAT R I C K M C M U L L A N V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; M I C H A E L JAC K S O N : V I N C E B U CC I /G E T T Y I M AG E S

Julia is hilarious and filthy and sweet and badass, but One of them, Stephen Elliot, has yet to be uncanceled. she said that if she could do it over, she would have never He’s a writer and teacher who hasn’t taught or been pubtold the New York Times about what happened. Because it lished since suing the creator of the crowdsourced Google turns out cancel-culture victims sometimes find themselves spreadsheet “Shitty Media Men,” which accused him of getting canceled along with the perpetrators. rape in 2017, even though no actual person has ever come “Powerful people encouraged us to do this,” she said. forward. “Just to know that Louis C.K. is getting back to life “The argument they made was ‘You’re helping other at all makes me feel good,” he said. “And it’s good for society women.’ How can you say no to that? They were like, ‘If because it pushes back against our punitive instincts.” you go out there naked, it will help women all over the Mike Pesca has come back from banishment, having world. We will support you.’ And then they’re gone. And started independently putting out his podcast, The Gist, on you have to run down the street comJanuary 24. A year earlier, Slate fired him pletely naked for the rest of your life. for his internal Slack messages defending trying to work in comedy.” Donald McNeil, who was pressured out of “Just to know What she wants far more than Louis his job by the staff at the New York Times that Louis C.K. is C.K. not working again is for people to after saying the N-word out loud when getting back to stop talking about Louis C.K. working talking about people who said that word. again. Because every time they do, she Pesca doubts that there will ever be an life at all makes me becomes the victim all over again. After appropriate banishment time or method feel good,” he all, every institution that might hire of rehabilitation that will please everyone. said. “And it’s good her has to factor in the cost of doing “We’re so fractured, there is no such for society.” business with two female comedians thing as societal forgiveness,” he said. that some people hate for taking down But he noted that it is possible to try to Louis C.K. rebuild your business once the Twitter “Dana and I thought that if we stayed quiet, it would mob has moved on to the next target. “The driving force go away. But because he doesn’t go away, it doesn’t go in so many cancellations is the perceived risk to the instiaway for us,” she says. “I didn’t run for the position of politution; they worry about the possibility of it boiling over. cymaker. We didn’t ask to carry this torch. Can someone With these kind of feckless intuitions, the fecklessness please fucking take it?” swings one way, and the fecklessness swings another way, After talking to all these people, I don’t find cancel and the person can be reintegrated.” culture any less confusing. But one thing is becoming Then I called my friend Julia Wolov, who was more of clearer to me: cancel culture does damage—not just to the a reluctant canceler than a cancelee. She and her comedy perpetrators, but to everyone. Maybe someday soon, we’ll partner, Dana Goodman, went to Louis C.K.’s hotel room find our way to a more subtle form of teaching people to be during the Aspen Comedy Festival, where he started maskind—one that is itself a lot more kind. turbating in front of them. L A M AG . C O M 1 3

The Brief N E W S & N O T E S F R O M A L L OV E R

Soon-Shiong increasingly serves as an unofficial adviser to the L.A. Times.

THE IVANKA OF THE L.A.TIMES? NIKA SOON-SHIONG AND THE CONTROVERSIAL ENDORSEMENT AT HER FATHER’S NEWSPAPER BY JA S O N M C G A H A N

THE LAST

time the Los Angeles Times went to the mat for a reform-minded insurgent politician, their endorsement helped elect George Gascón, the increasingly unpopular D.A. who’s currently fighting off his second recall campaign. So last April, when the Times editorial board endorsed Kenneth Mejia for the office of city controller, some observers wondered if history was repeating itself. The 31-year-old accountant, a political novice beloved by lefty Twitter, seemed an unlikely choice to oversee the city’s finances. But Mejia had a friend in high places. Nika SoonShiong, the 29-year-old daughter of billionaire Times publisher Dr. Patrick 1 4 L A M AG . C O M

Soon-Shiong, was one of his

most vocal supporters. The day after the Times endorsed Mejia, a pair of reporters there recovered a trove of incendiary tweets that Mejia had posted during the last presidential election, when he was an enthusiastic backer of the Green Party and its 2020 nominee. The tweets, which he has since deleted, labeled Joe Biden “a rapist & racist” and asserted that “the police exist to uphold white supremacy.” In another memorable post, Mejia even defended Syrian leader Bashar alAssad against charges that he gassed his own people, The Times’s endorsement of Mejia came as Nika—a community activist dubbed the “WeHo Ivanka” by a colleague—was becoming

increasingly involved as an unofficial adviser to the media company her father bought in 2018. At the height of the citywide unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Nika upbraided her dad’s employees on Twitter. “Absolutely the wrong messaging @latimes,” she wrote in a tweet repudiating the use of the word “looting” in coverage of the unrest. The Times subsequently changed its style guidelines to specify when the word could be used. In an interview with Los Angeles, Nika said she was not involved in the Mejia endorsement. “I don’t have a formal role at the L. A. Times,” she said. “These questions about my role and my future are questions I think about, and I don’t have an answer to them.” Meanwhile, the Times’s endorsement features prominently in Mejia’s campaign materials. And Nika’s support is hardly a secret—her name appears among a list of supporters on Mejia’s campaign website. Last April, she

retweeted a post from Tara Reade, a widely discredited

former Biden staffer who accused the then-senator of rape 29 years ago. A few days later, she retweeted a smear popular among Mejia supporters that falsely claimed L.A. councilman Paul Koretz, one of Mejia’s foes in the race, was a buddy of Ed Buck, the WeHo political operative sentenced to 30 years for drug and sex crimes. Rob Wilcox, another candidate for controller, made Mejia’s 2020 tweets public in April and has called on him to withdraw. But its unlikely that Mejia will do that anytime soon; he leads the pack in fundraising and is considered a front-runner for the post.

STRIKING STRIPPERS

L . A . L A B O R unions could learn a thing or two about holding management’s feet to the fire by visiting North Hollywood strip club Star Garden, where upset dancers have been protesting unsafe working conditions—including rodent infestation and dangerous

MEJIA WILLIKERS!

After its endorsement of Mejia for city controller, one has to wonder who’s in charge at the Los Angeles Times? I L LU S T R AT E D BY B R I A N TAY L O R

M E J I A FO R CO N T R O L L E R .CO M

FA M I LY TIES

NUMBER OF BILLIONAIRES IN CALIFORNIA, AS OF APRIL—MORE THAN ANY OTHER STATE IN THE U.S. UNSURPRISINGLY, TECH TYCOONS DOMINATE: AT NO. 1 ARE GOOGLE C0FOUNDERS LARRY PAGE AND SERGEY BRIN, FOLLOWED BY META FOUNDER MARK ZUCKERBERG AND FORMER GOOGLE CEO ERIC SCHMIDT.

holes in the stage—by picketing outside the club dressed as giant rats and construction workers. The dispute began in mid-March after two dancers—stage-named Selena and Reagan—were fired after complaining to their bosses about customers filming dancers while they performed and men loitering after closing. In response, 19 of the

one Star Garden dancer, Sofia, told Jezebel.com. “They act as though if we don’t make the quota, then [we can be] fired at any moment.” — S H E I L A M CC L E A R

SUFFER THE INFLUENCERS

T H E R E ’ S nothing quite

like influencers kvetching, and there was little joy among them at the

first seat’ ” on the buses. Kapsch’s dispatches went viral, and soon TikTok was brimming with videos of people “shoving, shouting, yanking,” influencer Averie Bishop posted. A beleaguered security guard complained: “I don’t know who the F these people are.” Revolve chalked up the chaos—which some compared to the notorious Fyre Festival—to safety requirements that limited the movements of the buses. “We promise to do better,” the company said. — M I C H A E L WA L K E R

BLUM: SHOW TALENT THE MONEY

T H E Y WO R K H A R D F O R T H E M O N E Y

# ST R I P P E R ST R I K E N O H O ; B LU M : DAV I D L I V I N G STO N /G E T T Y I M AG E S

Exotic dancers protest working conditions at a North Hollywood club.

remaining 24 strippers signed a petition demanding safety improvements, like fixing the gaping cracks in the dance floor. The club owners responded by locking them out, the dancers say. So they took their grievances to the street, using their unique stagecraft to draw attention to their plight. Along with dressing to redress the safety issues at the club, they’ve filed formal charges with the National Labor Relations Board. “My impression is that [management has] always placed profit over safety,”

Revolve Festival, an invitation-only event held near this year’s Coachella. The trouble stemmed from a requirement that invitees could attend only via dedicated shuttle buses. As the event began, Joseph Kapsch, Los Angeles’ s online editor, relayed anguished real-time complaints from “influencers stranded in the dirt with no water, under the hot sun for HOURS, waiting for buses that aren’t coming.” Particularly poignant was that “security had crowds of influencers yelling ‘how important they were and they deserved the

NETFLIX employees have been in a state of panic since news broke that the high-flying streamer had run into unexpected turbulence. In April, Netflix founder Reed Hastings announced that the streamer not only missed its lowball target of 2.5 million subscribers in this year’s first quarter, but actually shed roughly 640,000 subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. Since then, the company’s stock plummeted by 70 percent. According to Netflix sources, the company is sharply pruning its content-acquisition budgets and billion-dollar promotional efforts, and shelving high-priced projects in development. Netflix staff had ballooned by 21 percent last year, so the company recently laid off an unspecified number of marketing

186

employees, who departed with two weeks of severance. More layoffs are expected. The uncertainty has some remaining staff-¦ ers nervously eyeing the exits, and rivals report a surge in applications from Netflix employees. To right the ship, Hastings has been considering some big changes, like cutting down on shared passwords and opening the platform to advertising. But superproducer Jason Blum has some free advice for him. Blum is CEO of Blumhouse, the prolific production company whose sharethe-wealth business model has led to some profoundly profitable

S H OW T H E M T H E M O N E Y

Superproducer Jason Blum calls on Netflix to share profits with talent.

movies. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Blum said Netflix could boost creativity and savings by cutting creators in on the profits of their work. “Pay them handsomely for success,” Blum said. “You’ll pay less up front and find an increase in the quality of the work.” —KEVIN ANDREW DOLAK L A M AG . C O M 1 5

BUZZ

O LD HAU NTS

King of the Castle

RANDY PITCHFORD, A MAGICIAN TURNED VIDEO-GAME MOGUL, JUST BOUGHT L.A.’S LEGENDARY MAGIC CASTLE. BUT HE STILL HAS A FEW TRICKS UP HIS SLEEVE

CAP KICKER

Caption Bold for better legibility on top of tk images.

BY CHRIS NICHOLS

H E 113-Y E A R - O L D Gothic chateau looms high

on a hill, just a block off Hollywood Boulevard. Six decades ago, comedy writer Milt Larsen was gazI T ’S A D E A L Pitchford, a former ing out his office window and thought the spooky magician himself, mansion looked perfect for the magic club he and his TV prohas big plans for the ducer brother, Bill, were dreaming about. Today, the Magic Magic Castle. Castle sprawls over four floors of L.A.’s Historic-Cultural Monument No. 406, and generations of magic enthusiasts, movie folk, and those in the know have been able to visit, if video games, working on some popular titles including Duke they gained membership or scored a guest pass to the world’s Nukem before founding Gearbox in 1999. His breakout game, greatest hideout for wizards. the Mad Max-style looter shooter Borderlands, spawned Four generations of the Larsen family have performed three sequels and a prequel and sold 48 million copies, genmagic. William Larsen gave up his law practice to travel the erating over $1 billion in sales. vaudeville circuit with his wife and their children, Milt and Recently, Pitchford stepped back from game operations to Bill Jr., in the 1930s. Granddaughter Erika Larsen has been helm the company’s film and TV division, Gearbox Studios. president of the board for the Academy of Magical Arts (the Then, earlier this year, he sold the company to Swedish game nonprofit that runs the club) and has continued the tradition conglomerate Embracer for $1.3 billion. of hosting the Brookledge Follies, private variety shows at the (In the last few years, Pitchford became entangled in a family’s home theater near Hancock Park. legal dispute with a company lawyer and childMilt, now 91, can still be found at the Castle’s hood friend. There were accusations of financial Palace Bar most nights. He has compared his relaand sexual improprieties, but the case was settled “‘I know tionship with his brother to that of Walt and Roy in 2019. “All misunderstandings between the parRandy has Disney—that is, the creative side needs the finanties have been corrected,” they said in a statement. cial genius to make the vision come to life. But “And apologies were exchanged.”) a day job,’ Bill died in the ’90s, and the financial situation Pitchford is a longtime friend of the Larsen says David became precarious when the club was saddled family, having purchased the magic magazine, Copperfield. Genii, that was founded by William Larsen Sr. with costly repairs from a fire in 2011. Then the land the club rented, which included neighboring more than 85 years ago. And his love for the fam‘But in my Yamashiro restaurant, was offered for sale. The mind, he’s a ily goes deep—he built a home in Frisco, Texas, property was eventually split up, and the famed modeled after the Larsen home. “Erika has taught magician.’” me a lot,” says Pitchford. “The environment she Japanese restaurant sold. But the financial instability continued. has at Brookledge is one where lots of incredible Enter video-game mogul Randy Pitchford, the performers try their material on really discerning CEO of Gearbox Entertainment. He just bought the Magic private crowds.” Pitchford flies some of those artists to his Texas Castle. The deal includes the land and landmark building, as replica for command performances. well as the trademarks and intellectual property. Erika, who will serve as president of the new entity, echoes “For as long as I’ve known about the Magic Castle, it’s been the sentiment. “Randy’s purchase of the Magic Castle brings a bit precarious,” says superstar magician David Copperfield. the heart and soul back. All the magicians flocked to L.A. to “I always worried about it. Now I don’t need to. [Randy] has learn at the feet of the masters, and we’ll bring people out who a day job, but in my mind, he’s a magician.” have vast knowledge and give them a place to stay. Everything Pitchford is a longtime castle member who began his career is going to be done under Milt’s artistic direction. as a professional magician at the castle and at the Wizardz “And a lot more crazy gimmicks are coming back—that’s club at Universal CityWalk. After pivoting to study computer true to the original vision. We are definitely bringing the fart programming, he decamped to Texas and began designing machine back.”

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P H O T O G R A P H BY K A R I H E N D L E R

Second home ownership 1 8 for / the cost

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A C C O R D I N G to a recent Redfin survey, almost 12 percent of all first-time home buyers reported selling cryptocurrency to make a down payment on a house, a trend that Nurit Coombe says is poised to explode in Los Angeles. “We’re seeing a growing number of these people cashing out virtual assets

for starter homes that go anywhere from $1 million to $4 million,” says the managing partner at the Agency, who specializes in cryptocurrency transactions. While some of L.A.’s priciest homes have been purchased by crypto royalty like Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, who bought a sprawling Bel-Air estate for $133 million in December 2021, it’s the new breed of crypto-flush, cashpoor buyers that may alter the real estate landscape. “These are people mostly under 35 who may not even have a job or income to qualify for a loan,” Coombe says. “What they do have is tons of cash, mostly in Bitcoin or Ethereum, and suddenly that’s giving them access to an asset that’s anything but virtual.”

22M

S A N TA M O N I C A H I G H L I G H T S This sprawling 1924 estate in

Santa Monica Canyon is set back from San Vicente Boulevard and overlooks the Riviera Country Club. Presumably, golfers won’t mistake the ornate Spanish colonial revival design of the seven-bedroom house (plus a guest casita) for the clubhouse.

P R I C E $22,000,000 CO N TAC T David Offer, Berkshire Hathaway,

310-820-9341

9.4M

PA L O S V E R D E S

E X P E R I E N C E M AY M A K E M A D O N N A EVEN RICHER

H I G H L I G H TS This 7,465-square-foot Tuscan-

> Is Madonna joining the ranks of celebrity house flippers like Ellen DeGeneres? The casual evidence suggests she’s got the moves. Last year, the pop legend dropped $19.3 million to buy The Weeknd’s colossal 12,500-square-foot Hidden Hills compound (seven bedrooms, eight baths, screening room, wine cellar). Now, the Material Girl has listed the property at $25.9 million, a tidy 34 percent profit, if she gets her price.

inspired villa perched above the Palos Verdes Golf Club commands mountain, city, and ocean views of the entire L.A. Basin. The 7.5-bath, seven-bedroom property bristles with balconies, patios, and a pool with infinity spa, perfect for extreme entertaining.

P R I C E $9,399,000 CO N TAC T Lily Liang, Christie’s, 310-373-3333

S O H O H O U S E WA S J U S T T H E B E G I N N I N G

Can L.A. support three new private clubs? We’re about to find out > Not that there’s a lack of exclusivity in this town, but L.A. is getting a fresh batch of private clubs. First up, Soho House’s new WeHo branch, Holloway House—a revamp of the old Palihouse on Holloway Drive—opened in late spring with 34 hotel-style rooms and art by local artists on the walls. Meanwhile, the NeueHouse chain of haute private workspace/social clubs is opening a Venice Beach outpost this summer at 73 Market Street,

where actor-producer Tony Bill established a storied artists’ collective in the ’70s. Finally, Jeff Klein, he of Sunset Tower and the mighty San Vicente Bungalows, is

5.9M

extending the SVB brand to Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica next year at a members-only club atop an unspecified high-rise overlooking the Pacific. —MERLE GINSBERG

HOLLOWAY HOUSE

PA S A D E N A H I G H L I G H T S Take in the seventh fair-

way at the Annandale Golf Club from this 7,000-square-foot retreat designed by Dwight James Baum, grandson of the acclaimed architect, and William Hamilton Arthur. This marks the first time the property will change hands since its completion in 1984.

P R I C E $5,900,000 CO N TAC T Sarah Rogers, Compass,

626-390-0511 —J E N N I F E R

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S M A L L TA L K

AWinning Emmy EMMY ROSSUM STARS AS ANGELYNE IN A SHOW BASED (A BIT) ON THE LIFE OF THE BILLBOARD ICON

BY GRAC I E H ADLAND

Plus › Molly Shannon’s favorite things in L.A.

PAGE 24

› Delicious wines made from grapes you’ve never heard of

PAGE 36

› Six of summer’s

coolest fashion trends

PAGE 38

P H O T O G R A P H E D BY C O R I NA M A R I E

L A M AG . C O M 2 1

Incoming

S M A L L TA L K

H E N N E W Y O R K actress

SELF-MADE

LEGEND Emmy Rossum first began Rossum as Angelyne popping into L.A. for auditions in a scene from Peacock’s new miniseries as a teen, she had no clue what loosely based on to make of Angelyne. “I started to see a the iconic billboard bunch of her billboards all over, and I’d queen’s life. ask people who she was,” she remembers. “Everyone responded with something like, ‘Well, that’s just Angelyne.’ I’d be like, ‘So what does she do?’ And they’d be like, ‘She’s Angelyne.’ ” A couple of decades later, it’s still a little unclear what exactly Angelyne does, aside from continuing to do whatever it is she’s been doing since the 1980s—namely, advertising herself on billboards, zooming around town in a pink Corvette, posing for photos with fans (for a small fee), and occasionally running for governor (as she did last year during the recall election). But Rossum, 35, is starring as the self-made celebrity anyway, in Angelyne, Peacock’s new five-part miniseries, released “They said, ‘We’re going to do it with or without you, in full on May 19, that could finally make L.A.’s mystery and we want you to have the money,’ ” Angelyne says, billboard blonde the bona fide star she’s always guerrilladescribing how the negotiations with Rossum and the netmarketed herself to be, even if it doesn’t add much clarity work “freaked” her. Still, she adds, “I’m not stupid. I took to the question of who she actually is. the money.” “I didn’t feel like I was interested in making a biopic,” As far as Rossum is concerned, though, Angelyne is explains Rossum, who coproduced the series with her husmuch more than merely a pioneering self-promoter; she’s a band, Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail. “I was not interested savvy businesswoman, a proto-influencer, light-years ahead in telling her life story. I was interested in telling this kind of today’s social-media stars in shaping their own brands. of kaleidoscopic narrative of all the different stories that are “I think she’s incredibly intelligent,” gushes Rossum, out there about her—which may or may not be true—and who dropped out of high school (Spence, one of the toniest the tension between all those conflicting narratives.” private schools in New York) to pursue acting and subseThere are plenty of stories, all right, like the one that quently found more than a little success in shaping her own inspired the show—a 2017 article in The Hollywood brand. She sang with Placido Domingo Reporter, in which investigative journalist and Luciano Pavarotti at eight, had a part Gary Baum (who became a consultant on in As the World Turns at 11, made her the series) uncovered pieces of Angelyne’s Rossum’s screen debut at 13 in a Disney Channel closely guarded past, including the fact that five-part biopic movie called Genius, and has been workher real name is Ronia Tamar Goldberg, may turn a ing steadily ever since in films like The Day that she was born in Poland in 1950, and that she immigrated to the U.S. with her kitschy L.A. icon After Tomorrow, The Phantom of the Opera, Poseidon, and Beautiful Creatures, while family when she was eight years old. Unless, into a bona fide also pursuing a side gig as a recording artist. of course, those facts turn out to be false, national star. “She’s very evaluating in every situation,” which is kind of what Angelyne asserted Rossum says of Angelyne. “I really respect when Baum’s story came out, going on that level of care with which she has curated KPCC radio to vaguely dispute everything her image. She’s purer than some of the influencers now from Baum’s description of her profession (“I am not an because she’s never sold out. According to Angelyne, comactress; I inspire people”) to her birthplace (“I was born panies like Playboy and Coca-Cola came knocking. But she with mystique”). knew that if the deal wasn’t what she wanted, she wouldn’t Not surprisingly, Angelyne doesn’t seem totally on be able to exert the kind of control that she wanted.” board with the Peacock show either despite the fact The deal she made with Peacock doesn’t give Angelyne that she signed a contract with the network giving it the much control either, but she’ll get that on a documentary rights to use her name, her quotes, her billboards, her she’s producing on her own. “She told me, ‘I want you to be songs (yes, she’s released a dozen or so singles, including able to tell whatever story you want to,’ ” says Rossum. “ ‘It’s “Pink,” “Sex Goddess,” and “Bimbo Baby”) and assorted just, you know, never going to be my story.’ ” other trademarks.

2 2 L A M AG . C O M

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Incoming

GOING OUT

FUNNY GIRL

In her new memoir, Shannon talks about both tragedy and success.

SNL STAR, COMEDIAN , AND BLOCKBUSTER AUTHOR MOLLY SHANNON ON THE L.A. HAUNTS THAT MAKE HER HAPPY

Favorite department store? > We dress up our 2 4 L A M AG . C O M

dog in a shirt and tie and bring her to Nordstrom. They have a great return policy, and if you go there a lot, they call you a “Nordy Girl.” Best Thai food? > Sanamluang Cafe is in a strip mall on Hollywood Boulevard, and it’s fantastic with real, legit food from Thailand. It’s open until

Favorite spa? Olympic Spa is just for women and unbelievable. They have a rock-salt room, a steam room, and an infrared sauna. It’s a great place to meet a girlfriend.

Favorite place to celebrate your birthday? > Craig’s feels like a place in New York City. It feels so homey to me. Amazing cocktails and delicious honey fried chicken. Supermarket? > I love Bristol Farms in Santa Monica. It's huge, and the staff is really friendly. I used to give out samples at a market, so I know it's not always easy. Best shoe repair? > I take all my purses and shoes to Arturo’s Shoe Fixx in Beverly

Best swim? Annenberg Community Beach House. Marion Davies was William Randolph Hearst’s mistress, and I like swimming in a mistress’s pool. It has a really deep end. Sometimes, we bring a little picnic and have

Favorite getaway? I just want to go sit in Descanso Gardens and do creative visualizations. I’m dreaming about going back there. I always want to be in nature.

4 o’clock in the morning, and it’s simple and delicious. They have great chicken with peanut sauce, the service is fast, and it’s cheap.

Favorite breakfast? > It’s like a different world when I go to Farmshop. I feel like I’m in a Nora Ephron movie—it’s so Westside fancy. Last time I was there, I was like “Omigod, there’s Jim Carrey!”

a nice dinner on the beach after. Beauty shop? > Larchmont Beauty Center has the greatest shampoo, conditioner, nail polish, and barrettes. You just want to buy everything. Favorite amusement park ? > There are never long lines at Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s so fun and mellow—I prefer it mellow. Favorite latenight dinner? > Everything closes so early. HMS Bounty turned out to be the best place after a book reading. I love the fish and chips. Jewish deli ? > Who doesn’t love a good pastrami sandwich from Canter’s? Their matzo ball soup is my go-to when I’m sick. —CHRIS NICHOLS

P H O T O G R A P H BY C O R E Y N I C KO L S

B O O K I N S E T: CO U R T E SY M O L LY S H A N N O N ; I N STAG R A M .CO M / D E S C A N S O G A R D E N S ; I N STAG R A M .CO M /O LY M P I C S PA _ O F F I C I A L ; I N STAG R A M .CO M /A N N E N B E R G CO M M U N I T Y B E AC H H O U S E

My Favorite Things

Hills. It’s a family business. If you have a gorgeous purse or spent a lot of money on shoes, they will make them look new again. They’re the best in the biz. It’s cash only, so I walked in there like, “I got a lotta cash and I’m ready!” They’re nice, and they call me Shannon.

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Incoming

MIXED MEDIA

Can’t Stop the Music FROM ELTON JOHN TO QUEEN, HOLLYWOOD HAS LONG BEEN IN LOVE WITH ROCK STARS. BUT BAZ LUHRMANN’S ELVIS MAY BE THE MUSIC BIOPIC TO END ALL BIOPICS B Y S T E V E E R I C K S O N

2 6 L A M AG . C O M

CO U R T E SY WA R N E R B R O S . P I C T U R E S

Day to bring matters full circle half a century later with her L L T H E WAY from Australia, Elvis surfs in on nominated performance in The United States vs. Billie Holia wave of audacity, which will surprise no one day. Holiday is an exemplar of what attracts Hollywood—the familiar with the movies of writer-director Baz wracked pain of her singing tapped into the same tragedy and Luhrmann. Elvis Presley was the most mythic drama that became the stuff of the movies about her. Loretta self-made American since F. Scott Fitzgerald’s romantic Lynn, Ray Charles, Édith Piaf, and Judy Garland all led lives antihero Jay Gatsby, the subject of Luhrmann’s last movie, tumultuous enough to win Oscars for Sissy Spacek, Jamie except Presley was real: a Southern high school weirdo in Foxx, Marion Cotillard, and Renée Zellweger, respectively, eyeliner and bolero pants turned truck driver turned musical with Rami Malek’s Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody messiah who did nothing much but change the world. Only being most impressive in sharp the Beatles a decade later would contrast with how slipshod the exceed Presley’s impact, unifying movie actually was. and transforming a generation Sometimes a musician’s perand Western culture. sona is either so elusive or indelIn the seven decades since Preible that the movies don’t know sley first hit, his reputation has how to capture it. Despite several survived its original controversies attempts, nobody has cracked the only to court new ones about the chameleonic David Bowie, and way he mashed up Black church Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan hymns and white-trash honkyvehicle is mired in development. tonk, Tin Pan Alley and backstreet Martin Scorsese finally abanballads. What Presley, more than doned his labor of love, Sinatra, anyone, made clear was how much which, given rumors of John Traeveryone around the world loves volta in the lead, may have been American music however they just as well. Nobody ever was more otherwise feel about America. indelible than Presley, a problem Music and movies have had Luhrmann has solved in Elvis by a relationship characterized by making the singer the third-most mutual envy ever since Presley, important character in the film. who wanted nothing more than to The second is Presley’s manager, be a movie star, made movie stars Love it or hate it, Elvis is Colonel Tom Parker, played by want to become rock stars. The musical biopic has been gatherunlike any other movie you’ll Tom Hanks in the strangest perhe’s given, less a poring steam lately; music has been see this summer, or this year, formance trayal than an interpretation that’s called the purest art form because or maybe this decade. equal parts oracle, fraud, psychotic it makes the greatest emotional carny barker, and dabbler in the impact in the most mysterious of dark arts. ways, and audiences are enthralled Of course, the most important character in Luhrmann’s by backstage stories of their favorite singers. Off the top of movie is Baz Luhrmann. As with The Great Gatsby, in which your head, name five biopics about movie stars, assuming you the director managed the unlikely task of being true to both can think of one. Now name ten about musicians, assuming his own vision and Fitzgerald’s, Elvis makes the most sense you can stop at ten. if you watch it as a spectacular fever dream that imagines Actors find these roles irresistible, often giving perforLuhrmann as the King of Rock and Roll in the form of Austin mances so routinely stellar as to be taken for granted, such as Butler, cast in the part over higher-profile competition from Jennifer Hudson’s Aretha Franklin (Respect), Taron Egerton’s West Side Story’s Ansel Elgort and Whiplash’s Miles Teller. Elton John (Rocketman), Joaquin Phoenix’s Johnny Cash Luhrmann makes us deal with Presley not on Presley’s terms (Walk the Line), and Chadwick BoseA L L H A I L T H E K I NG but on Luhrmann’s, and he may be the only filmmaker who man’s superb James Brown (Get on Austin Butler as Elvis could do that. Love it or hate it, Elvis isn’t like any other movie Up). Way back in the ’70s, Diana Ross Presley and Tom Hanks as his manager, Colonel Tom you’ll see this summer or this year or maybe this decade: the got an Oscar nomination for her film Parker, in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic to end all biopics, as Presley himself was the musical debut as the great Billie Holiday in upcoming biopic about star to end all stars. Lady Sings the Blues, only for Andra the legendary singer.

Portraits of Metro Riders by Local Artists celebrates Metro’s community of transit riders.

Gregg Chadwick, Frida Cano (E Line)

Alepsis Hernández, Monday Morning

Sheila Karbassian, Beautiful Santa Monica

> Experience over 40 rider portraits on buses and trains and in stations, all over LA County and at metro.net/weare. > Tag a selfie #SomosWeAreLA to join in Metro’s portrait exhibition and share your journey. > Learn about Metro Art opportunities at metro.net/art.

#MetroArtLA @Metro.Art.LA

Incoming

HAPPENINGS

THE TO-DO LIST YOUR JUNE CULTURAL AGENDA BY JOR DA N R I E F E

VIEW › For Cheech Marin, it’s been 30 years in the making. No, we’re not talking about the Cheech & Chong’s Cannabis Company, founded with comedy partner Tommy Chong, but the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture—aka The Cheech—Marin’s new 61,420-square-foot museum in Riverside. It houses 500 pieces from his collection of Chicano art, including works by Patssi Valdez, Carlos Almaraz, Frank Romero, Sandy Rodriguez, and Gilbert “Magu” Luján. About modern art museums that exclude people of color, Marin says, “If we don’t see pictures of our culture on the walls, that means they’re not talking to us. So why should we listen to them?” He adds, “This is a museum that’s talking to you and everybody at the same time.”

3581 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside. Opens June 18. SEE

presenter Death of Classical aims to inject new life into the performing arts with its unique interpretations of works by underrepresented artists. The world premiere of Houses of Zodiac unites composer Paola Prestini—“visionary in chief” of National Sawdust—with some first-class talent, including New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin and filmmaker Murat Eyuboglu, for an immersive exploration of mind, body, and nature. Colburn School, June 4 through 5.

READ

HOUSES OF ZODIAC

2 8 L A M AG . C O M

› In The Island, an

Australia vacation becomes a fight for life

when a family of four decamps to an isolated island for some sightseeing. After a fatal accident, they’re targeted by a clan of cutthroats bent on revenge. Novelist Adrian McKinty’s 2019 hit, The Chain, was a New York Times best-seller, and The Island is set to become a series on Hulu.

SEE

› The city’s premiere

contemporary dance company, L.A. Dance

year, and is celebrating with new shows, including Be Here Now, a preview of recent work by renowned cofounder and artistic director Benjamin Millepied—formerly of the Paris Opera Ballet—set to music by composer Andy Akiho. L.A. Dance Project, June 2 through 24.

HEAR

› For Aida, the consum-

mate Verdi classic set in Egypt, expect a little local flavor—hieroglyphic backdrops by renowned L.A. street artist RETNA. L.A. Opera, Through June 12.

VIEW

A long time chronicler of California life and culture, photographer

TH E ARREST OF T HE PAL ETEROS: COURTESY THE RIV ERS IDE ART MU SEUM; H OUSE S OF ZOD IAC: MURAT EYUB OGLU; TH E I SLAND : COURTESY LITTLE, B ROWN AND COMPANY

Project, turns ten this

› The innovative music

activists, prostitutes, lesbians, drag queens, and trans individuals. Leica Gallery, June 3 through August 1.

SEE

› For Mozart Dances, Mark Morris chose three works from the final decade of Mozart’s short life— Piano Concerto no. 11, Sonata for Two Pianos, and a world-premiere interpretation set to Piano Concerto no. 27. One of the preeminent choreographers of our time, Morris has created 22 ballet commissions in his career, eight of which have been for the San Francisco Ballet and three for ABT. The Broad Stage, June 9 through 12.

SEE

› The “James” of the

FRANK ROMERO'S 1996 PAINTING THE ARREST OF THE PALETEROS.

Anthony Friedkin presents The Gay Essay, a deep dive into gay culture in L.A. and San Francisco captured around the time of

TAKASHI MURAKAMI

Stonewall. Friedkin was in his early twenties in the late ’60s and early ’70s, when he shot this collection of figures—couples,

title is Laker star LeBron James, but playwright Rajiv Joseph’s latest, King James, isn’t about basketball. Instead, it’s an exploration of the friendship between two Cleveland Cavaliers fans who bond over the team’s all-time greatest player. Joseph’s 2009 play, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, earned three Tony noms and a Pulitzer nod on Broadway, where Robin Williams starred. Mark Taper Forum, June 1 through July 3.

the permanent collection, mostly, as well as immersive environments from the artist’s studio. Accompanying the show is This Is Not America’s Flag, featuring works by more than 20 artists who both celebrate and question the meaning of Old Glory. The Broad, May 21 through Sep 25.

WAT C H

› Filmmaker Baz

Luhrmann chose Austin Butler to play the King of Rock and Roll in Elvis. Don’t know him? He played Manson family killer Tex Watson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The highpowered supporting cast includes Tom Hanks, and The Power of the Dog Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee. In theaters June 24.

LISTEN

› Though she passed

in 1996, inimitable jazz

vocalist Ella Fitzgerald has a new live album coming out—Ella at the

Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook.

Upon finishing her 1958 studio album, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book, she took to the stage at the Hollywood Bowl on August 16 of that year to perform selections with a full orchestra conducted and arranged by Paul Weston. In record stores June 22.

HEAR

› Catch the New Jersey

pop star Halsey on her Love and Power Tour singing dancy hit tunes off her recent If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power album. Representing a return to the singer’s pop roots, the new show is her first since the Manic World Tour was canceled in 2021 due to COVID-19. Hollywood Bowl, June 21.

CHRIS STAPLETON

HEAR

› The Central Park Five

began at Long Beach Opera in 2019 and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. If you missed it then, now’s your chance to catch composer Anthony Davis and librettist Richard Wesley’s contemporary opera about five teens wrongfully jailed for assault. Directed by The Morning Show’s Desean Terry. Long Beach Opera, June 18, 19, and 25.

VIEW

› Japanese pop artist

Takashi Murakami never fails to delight with his cartoonish figures and colorful smiling flowers. In Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow, the Broad

exhibits pieces from

HEAR

› Winner of eight Grammy Awards, Chris

Stapleton is the new king of country music, a

crossover star who’s penned hits for Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift and teamed up with Jennifer Hudson, Justin Timberlake, and Adele. His four albums in the past five years include 2020’s Starting Over, a Grammy winner for Best Country Album. Joining Stapleton for the L.A. version of his All-American Road Show are country stalwarts Dwight Yoakam, the Dirty Knobs, and Mike Campbell. Kia Forum, June 10.

L A M AG . C O M 2 9

French Lessons

INVITED TO SHOW SEVEN OF HER PAINTINGS AT THE VENICE BIENNALE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME, 82-YEAR-OLD JESSIE HOMER FRENCH IS WORKING HARDER THAN EVER AS HER CAREER EXPLODES BY MICHAEL SLENSKE

S T U D I O V I S I T with Jessie Homer French is not for the faint of heart . . . or stomach. From the suburban sprawl of Palm Desert, it’s a ten-mile climb up the Roy Wilson Memorial Highway, whose hairpin switchbacks overlook mile-deep ravines. When you make it to the top of Pinyon Crest, punishing winds push flaxen dust devils in every direction, amplifying the otherworldliness of the place. “You made it,” says Homer French, almost incredulous, as she greets me in the driveway. Her eyes are bright; her pewter hair, long and flowing. Her light and art-filled home has none of her in-demand, folk-inflected paintings on display; it is, however, chockablock with those of friends like Billy Al Bengston, Chuck Arnoldi, Laddie John Dill, Don Bachardy, Joe Goode, and the late Peter Alexander. In the past five years, after five-plus decades of toiling away as 3 0 L A M AG . C O M

a self-described “regional narrative painter,” this consummate outsider has finally made it to the white-hot center of the international art world. At 82, the New York-born artist was selected to participate in the 2022 Venice Biennale, where she’s showing seven paintings, one of an offshore oil rig engulfed in flames and another of wolves and deer roaming Chernobyl. Her humorous, delicately rendered paintings recall those of Grandma Moses, with the technical finesse of Jonas Wood, and the understated, if incisive, wit of her old pal Ed Ruscha. In other words, they’re the perfect antidote to a world on the brink of collapse. And on the heels of Venice, Homer French will have a solo show in July at VSF Texas, followed by another this fall at Massimo de Carlo in Milan. “My granddaughter is going to be in Venice in my place—I don’t really travel. If I were going to travel, it P H O T O G R A P H E D BY RYA N S C H U D E

ARTIST

| Incoming

model/artist who appeared in campaigns for Nina Blanchard and the first-ever Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. “He almost married Carol Lynley three times before he met me,” jokes Homer French. A month after their first date, though, they were on their honeymoon at the Puerto Vallarta estate of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. “We actually took our honeymoon before we got married because that’s the smart thing to do—you want to make sure it’s going to work out, to see if you can travel together,” she says. A month after the Mexican odyssey, they married at the L.A. County Courthouse on Valentine’s Day. “That night, we went to our manager’s business party. That was our wedding.” They spent the next 30 years raising four children on an idyllic 2½-acre estate in Beverly Hills, where Jessie planted fields of wildflowers and Robin installed a decagon studio for his wife that later became the subject of many bucolic paintings. After they moved to Vancouver Island for a decade, the family home became a place of Hollywood lore: Drew Barrymore almost burned it down while living there with Tom Green, and the subterranean guesthouse Robin built became the pandemic studio of its current owner, Bill Maher. “It was heaven,” she says of the time that marked the beginning of her professional career, which began in 1976 at Ankrum Gallery. While some Hollywood spouses might enjoy the spoils of their proximity to stardom, Homer French spent the past half-century making 1,200 multimedia works: she painted in the bedroom every day OLD MASTER Homer French in her Mountain and made tapestries, rugs or quilts at night. Most of her Center garage studio. paintings come from visions or wanderings: she started painting fires after witnessing a prescribed burn in Beverly Hills in the late ’70s, then sharpened that narrative on the heels of the Rodney King verdict with Prescription Burn, would be to fish,” says Homer French, who’s been obsesSouth Central. She began painting funerals after her first sively fly-fishing since the 1970s. Until a few years ago, daughter, Valentina, passed away at age six of complicashe’d spend 100 days a year between Canada’s Cowichan, tions from cerebral palsy, and then went deep on her love Oregon’s Mckenzie River, or any tributary in the Sierras. of rural post offices from upstate New York to Pinyon Crest She’s lived in all of these places, so wildlife and water are on the heels of the Trump administration subverting the constant subjects of her paintings, which typically foreUSPS for votes. ground nature over man’s folly, be it a stealth “I can’t just sit around and do nothing,” bomber flying over the desert or Noah’s Ark says Homer French, who doesn’t use a comfilled only with animals. puter or a cell phone. “I don’t like heavy-handed political stuff; “‘I can’t just Today, there are a handful of paintings in I come at it sideways,” she says, as she relaxes sit around and the studio waiting to be shipped to Dallas on a fainting couch in her garage studio. “It’s do nothing,’ and Milan: a tender portrait of her childinsane,” she adds of the recent critical and Homer French hood dog, Daisy Mae, the summer she killed market attention on her work (her solo booth 23 woodchucks; rock-filled landscapes by with VSF at the 2020 Frieze New York fair says.” their old home in La Quinta; scenes of a sold out during the preview). She admits, “It group of nun beekeepers from Redwoods doesn’t seem so important since Robin died Abbey harvesting honey in Whitethorn (“It’s last Labor Day.” really good, I bought a whole case”); and a half-painted She’s referring to her husband of 52 years, Robin French, work in progress featuring an Our Lady of Guadalupe who worked as an agent for Marlon Brando, Elizabeth statue on the hill above Robin’s gravesite. Taylor, Elton John, and Montgomery Clift, among other Though Robin, French’s de facto manager for decades, luminaries, before becoming the chief of production at might have urged her to put it out in the world, Jessie says, Paramount. The couple met in 1969 when producer Ray “That one should maybe stay in the family.” Stark set the young agent up on a date with this 29-year-old L A M AG . C O M 3 1

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W H E R E TO E AT N OW

New & Notable Bar Maruno S I LV E R L A K E

● Osteria Mozza alums

Chris Feldmeier and David Rosoff have revived their muchlauded tapas spot, this time in Silver Lake. Meals typically start with Iberian tinned fish and are best paired with playful martinis. 3705 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake, barmoruno-la.com

Lost in Spice

Mes Amis H O L LY WO O D

B Y H E AT H E R P L AT T

H E M A I N plan for this restaurant was to transport people,” says Max Boonthanakit, of the new Arts District bistro, Camphor, that he opened with Michelin-starred chef Lijo George. “Bistro” is an understatement, given the restaurant’s stunning minimalist interior and exquisitely prepared dishes, though Camphor is, at its core, a French bistro, however lofty and futuristic, where plump oysters are served in a bath of amaretto mignonette and the beef tartare comes with a side of tempura-fried herbs. When guests enter the sleek, white-walled dining room, they’re met by hosts and servers dressed entirely in white. The feeling is tranquil and transportive, even a little disorienting—is this Los Angeles or Paris? Some tables are laden with steak au poivre and small cast-iron pots piled with frites. What appears to be a chocolate souffle floats on a tray through the dining room; in fact, it’s a chocolate meringue atop hazelnut ice cream, with marshmallows and toasted hazelnuts. Maybe Paris? Boonthanakit, known locally for his work F RU I T S D E M E R Mussels with white at the now-shuttered wine and bacon at Nightshade and his Boonthanakit and famous chili crisp Boon George’s Camphor. 3 2 L A M AG . C O M

sauce, and George, met in 2020 while working at Alain Ducasse’s Blue in Bangkok. With Camphor, the two aim to bring something completely new to L.A.—that is, something distinctively not L.A. “We were just trying to create our own flavor identity,” Boonthanakit says. “Because once you open up a restaurant anywhere in the world, you’re forced to use the ingredients that everyone else is using in the vicinity.” This is George’s first U.S. restaurant, and when he arrived in the city from abroad, Boonthanakit made a point of not taking him to the many wonderful restaurants in Los Angeles. “It was kind of beautiful to bring Lijo straight into the restaurant without trying foods from other places—just to keep ourselves focused.” Regardless of the influence Los Angeles may or may not have on the two chefs’ cooking, Camphor’s access to the spices from George’s southern Indian homeland makes it stand out. “Every restaurant here has spices in their pantry,” Boonthanakit says, “but they don’t have spices from Kerala. They don’t have cardamom that smells like our cardamom. So our recipes will taste different, no matter what.”

● With nods to Paris

and Lyon by way of the nearby Hollywood Farmers’ Market, acclaimed chef Lincoln Carson creates a lively environment with upscale brasserie food and cocktails. 1541 Wilcox Ave., Hollywood, mesamisla.com.

N/soto

W E S T A DA M S

● The pop-up from

N/naka duo Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama, serving izakaya-inspired small plates (below) and mains like misobaked bone marrow, now has a permanent home in West Adams. 4566 W. Washington Blvd., West Adams, n-soto.com.

923 E. 3rd St., Ste. 109, downtown, camphor-la. P H O T O G R A P H E D BY J O S H T E L L E S

N /S OTO : A L I C I A C H O

TWO ACCOMPLISHED CHEFS WANTED THEIR TONY FRENCH RESTAURANT, CAMPHOR, TO TRANSPORT DINERS TO A GLAMOROUS, FAR-AWAY PLACE—PARIS MAYBE? SOUTH INDIA? WHEREVER, YOU WON’T FIND FLAVORS LIKE THESE ANYWHERE ELSE IN L.A.

Back on the Block 47th Annual Block Party

HONORING ENTREPRENEURS, PHILANTHROPISTS & COMMUNITY LEADERS

JANET CROWN and STEVE ROBINSON WITH THE LARRY POWELL SPIRIT OF CONCERN AWARD

SATURDAY EVENING, JULY 9TH, 2022 | 6pm

CELEBRATING

PARAMOUNT STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD • Over 60 great food, dessert, and beverage purveyors oﬀering tastes of their signature dishes and drinks • Entertainment featuring the Tom Nolan Band, D’ City Sound & Events, and the Vibrato Grill Jazz stage • The Best of LA®2022 on Los Angeles magazine’s street featuring food & wine tastings, luxury lounge seating and casino-style gaming • Interactive ‘Streetmosphere’ and activities for all ages including the Zacuto Group’s live and silent auctions with over 150 great items and packages • Concern Foundation has raised and granted over $70 million to support over 1,000 cancer research scientists and their projects FOOD

Dulan’s on Crenshaw

Maria’s Italian Kitchen

Dazzling Donuts

Milagro Tequila

1212 Santa Monica

Factor’s Famous Deli

Miracle Noodle

Nuda Tequila

Banana Leaf LA

Farm Fresh To You

Pink’s Famous Hot Dogs

DeLuscious Cookies & Milk

Bar Hayama

FERRARINI CAFÉ Beverly Hills

Porta Via

Just Jan’s

Robeks Juice

Bé Ù Beyond Meat Bridgetown Roti California Sushi Academy Casablanca Restaurant & Catering Chef Reina Chick-fil-A Conservatory West Hollywood Co-opportunity Market & Deli Drago Group

Fogo de Chao Fresh Brothers Gion Beverly Hills Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ Dining H&H Brazilian Steakhouse

Sant’olina SLAB Someone’s in the Kitchen STK Los Angeles The Grill on the Alley The Palm Beverly Hills Vibrato Grill Jazz

Hotville Chicken Ike’s Love and Sandwiches La Boheme West Hollywood Little Llama Peruvian Tacos

DESSERT Bertha Mae’s Brownie Co. Brontë Bakes BuzzBar Café Dulce

La Provence Mamala’s Mandel Bread, the Jewish biscotti Mykie’s coffee-bakerycatering

BEVERAGE Brewery X Buzz Box Deutsch Family Dulce Vida Tequila Halyard Brewing Humboldt Distillery Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits

For more information about Concern Foundation, the Block Party and how you can get involved, visit our website at: concernfoundation.org/block-party

Pasquini Espresso Co. Suja Juice Tequila Cabal LLC Tito’s Handmade Vodka Weaver’s Coffee and Tea Participants confirmed as of print deadline

Incoming

COMFORT FOOD

Not Your Bubbe’s Latkes

L.A. CHEFS ARE COOKING UP DELUXE TAKES ON THE HUMBLE POTATO PANCAKE B Y J O S H UA L U R I E

R E AT I V E chefs are

adding glitz to humble potato pancakes, hash browns, and latkes, coming at the dish from different directions. Leading examples from four forwardthinking chefs build on time-tested methods and include personal, often luxurious flourishes.

A L AT K E G O I N G O N

Sqirl’s 11-inch latke tot.

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SL I NG I N’ I T

Ospi chef Jackson Kalb calls his potato pancake a “giant, buttery hash brown.”

At Ospi, chef Jackson Kalb and his wife, Melissa, serve a “giant, buttery hash brown” inspired by his Jewish upbringing for weekend brunch. Kalb loves latkes with salmon and created an oversized version that he manages to keep lacy and light. This russet-potato rectangle resembles a nest, aided by clarified butter and two types of starch. Kalb lashes each hash brown with tangy dill labneh; drapes it with vivid, citrus-cured Ora King salmon gravlax; and garnishes it with pickled red onions, capers, and crunchy sliced cucumbers to achieve balance. » 2025 Pacific Ave., Venice, 424-443-5007, ospivenice.com.

SQIRL chef Jessica Koslow and her crew went big to craft an 11-inch latke tot—a russet-potato slab blended with flax flour, almond milk, and potato starch that still maintains “the taste of nostalgia.” They steam batches in their combination oven, then slice and fry them, resulting in tots with a soft center and crispy coat. SQIRL serves each slab with house-made crème fraîche swirled with parsley juice, Tsar Nicoulai Caviar trout roe, and an optional side of Frog Hollow Farm warren pear and quince butter for sweet contrast. A vegan version is available with a smoked-Marcona-almond schmear and punchy market-driven giardiniera. » 720 N. Virgil Ave., East Hollywood, 323-284-8147, sqirlla.com.

When Yang’s Kitchen co-owner Chris Yang and chef Elaine Chang developed a knockout hash brown for their breakfast plate, they also created a canvas. With dry-aged smoked salmon from The Joint Seafood already on hand, they combined the two and built from there. Now they shred Kennebec potatoes before par cooking, pressing, freezing, and deepfrying them until they’re crispy, buttery planks. At that point, they top them off with luscious smoked-salmon belly; tart, preserved Meyer lemon crème fraîche; marinated trout roe; dill; and chives. » 12 W. Main St., Alhambra, 626-281-1035, yangskitchenla.com.

S P U D A RT

Breakfast hash browns from Yang’s Kitchen.

CRISPY DREAM

CO U R T E SY O F O S P I : M A X M I L L A ; CO U R T E SY O F YA N G ’ S K I TC H E N ; CO U R T E SY O F R É P U B L I Q U E ; CO U R T E SY O F S Q I R L

République serves an especially refined latke for breakfast.

République co-owner Walter Manzke’s mom was born in Germany and made potato pancakes for him as a boy in San Diego. At the multifaceted Mid City restaurant and bakery he runs with his wife, Margarita, grated Yukon Gold potatoes are soaked overnight in order to max out the crispiness when they’re deep-fried later. For this signature dish from the breakfast menu, available daily until 2 p.m., République garnishes potato pancakes with smoked salmon, salmon roe, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, shaved red onions, and dill. » 624 S. La Brea Ave., Hancock Park, 310-362-6115, republiquela.com. L A M AG . C O M 3 5

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WINE

Grapes of Worth

TIRED OF THE SAME OLD CAB OR PINOT? HERE ARE SEV EN VARIETIES YOU’VE (PROBABLY) NEVER HEARD OF THAT ARE AS GOOD OR BETTER BY COLMAN ANDREWS

N T I L T H E L AT E twentieth century, the average California wine drinker came into contact with only a handful of the 10,000 grape varieties that are used to produce wine: cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, zinfandel, chardonnay, maybe an occasional dribble of chenin blanc, Riesling, or petite sirah. Italy’s pinot grigio made its first appearance in the U.S. only in 1977; sauvignon blanc, merlot, and Syrah didn’t become major players here until the 1990s. Now, sommeliers around town are gently steering diners away from yet another glass of chardonnay to appealing wines made from lesser-known grape varieties from around the world. “I love mencía,” says Caroline Styne, co-owner and wine director of the Lucques Group (A.O.C., Caldo Verde). “It has so much versatility. It picks up the minerals in the soil and makes fantastic food wines. I think of it as a great stand-in for pinot noir.” Besides mencía, grown mostly in northwestern Spain, Styne points to wines made from varieties like assyrtiko from Greece—“A fun wine; so beautiful and bright”; carignan, born in Spain but also now common in the South of France, which Styne hails as “just such a good barbecue wine”; and Sicily’s signature grape, nero d’Avola: “A vivid expression of its terroir” and “a wine we should all be drinking more of.” Here are brief notes on mencía, assyrtiko, Carignan, nero d’Avola, and three other comparatively obscure grape varieties that are well worth knowing.

REDS Nero d’Avola

• Traditionally, the wines made from

this quintessential Sicilian grape are rich and tannic, with plenty of alcohol and often a raisiny or dried-fig character. Wines made from grapes grown 3 6 L A M AG . C O M

at higher elevations tend to be more elegant. Recommended: Planeta La Segreta, $14, and COS Nero di Lupo, $30.

Carignan

• A popular blending grape in France’s Rhône and Languedoc-Roussillon region and in Spain’s Priorat (and long a staple of California jug wines, but don’t hold that against it), Carignan typically yields meaty, spicy wines with juicy, blackberrylike fruit. Recommended: Iché Les Hérètiques VdP de l’Hérault, $10, and Terroir al Límit Arbossar Carignan Priorat, $100.

Mencía

• Expect a brilliant, dark-red hue, appealing floral aromas, and flavors of cherry and strawberry in this up-and-coming Spanish cultivar. Wines made from mencía grapes will sit well with lovers of pinot noir or Barolo. Recommended: Mencía “El Mismo” Trasto, La Osa, $22, and Guimaro Finca Meixeman, $40.

Tannat

• As its name suggests, the tannat grape produces highly tannic wines, typically earthy and jammy, especially in its homeland of Madiran in southwestern France. It’s also now widely used in Uruguay, where it’s usually vinified in a pleasant, lighter style. Recommended: Establecimiento Juanico 2018 Don Pascual Coastal Tannat (Uruguay), $15, and Domaine LabrancheLaffont Madiran Vieilles Vignes, $27.

WHITES Assyrtiko

• Crisp and fresh, with a distinct mineral character, assyrtiko—especially from its probable birthplace, the island of Santorini—is a perfect partner for grilled fish or shrimp. Recommended: Tselepos Canava Chrissou “Vieilles Vignes” Santorini Assyrtiko, $35, and Assyrtiko by Gaia “Wild Ferment,” $42.

Marsanne

• Marsanne is key in

hermitage blanc and other whites in the northern Rhône. Santa Barbara County vintner Bob Lindquist was a marsanne pioneer in California back in 1987 and still makes the state’s definitive version. In France and Australia, as well as here, marsanne can be crafted into complex wines, worthy of aging, that evoke aromas of roasted almonds and ripe peaches. Recommended: Lindquist Family Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard Marsanne, $38, and M. Chapoutier Chante-Alouette Hermitage, $100.

Torrontés

• Grown primarily in

northern Argentina, torrontés grapes produce lush, fresh, intensely aromatic wines—think jasmine or peach blossoms but less cloying. They’re generally inexpensive, easy to like, and delicious with Thai or Chinese food or just for sipping on a warm afternoon. Recommended: Bodega Colomé, $10, and Susana Balbo Crios, $13.

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3/5/19 5:01 PM

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STYLE

Cuckoo for Color Pops FIVE OF THE SUMMER’S COOLEST, HOTTEST, AND BRIGHTEST FASHION TRENDS BY MERLE GINSBERG

W O Y E A R S of lolling around at home draped in faded sweatpants or pajamas left us all clamoring for vibrancy: Technicolor yellows and oranges, pour-on-the-pigment pinks, a crazy kaleidoscope of purples, blues, and greens. Now summer 2022 is delivering. Forget blending in—an explosion of rainbow colors has worked its way even into makeup. While soft clothes may stick around, they’re now splashed with runaway rainbows and flourishing with flowers. Plus there’s plenty of shapely tailoring for those who spent the pandemic doing virtual workouts. We break down the trends, all reminiscent of that American mix of ’60s through ’90s, with a heavy dose of Woodstock for good measure. No shrinking violets allowed.

CO U R T E SY O F B R A N D S

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1 . B U C K E TS A N D B AG S

3 . F LOW E R P OW E R

2. NEON DREAMS

4. NEW HUES

We’ve seen lively bags and hats in summers past. But this season is a horse of many different, richer colors. Bucket hats refuse to go away— especially in multicolor stripes, like Prada’s Triangle. This summer’s leather bags are small, like the Saint Laurent Monogram hobo bag in painter’s hues of soft pastels and rainbow brights. A good investment since they work year round in sunny L.A. Hat, $650, bergdorfgoodman.com; bag, $2,150, ysl.com.

Call them Day-Glo, neon, or ultraviolet: these glow-in-the-dark tones began to gain popularity in the late 1940s when Procter & Gamble packaged Tide in a torrid tone called blaze orange. Then they became associated with lava lamps and psychedelic visions. After that came a flood of neons in ads and rock posters, courtesy of Peter Max and Andy Warhol. In the ’80s, designer Stephen Sprouse rekindled the colors, dressing Debbie Harry in neon, which precipitated the next wave of fluorescent flamboyance—like Karen Millen’s satin jacket and Le Superbe’s Staying Golden gown. Jacket, $380, karenmillen.com; gown, $495, shoplesuperbe.com.

All the things you thought never “went together” are now actually married: lavender and lime. Blueberry and avocado. Orange and slides like the ones by Farm Rio for Nordstrom. Printed pieces such as the St. Laurent men’s Teddy jacket in floral crepe make today so bright, you gotta wear shades—particularly if they’re from Dolce & Gabbana. Slides, $145, nordstrom.com; jacket, $5,790, ysl.com; sunglasses, price upon request, davidclukow.com. Crayola colors are everywhere, from designer pieces like Prada sandals and Gucci’s bamboo 1947 bag to mainstream fast fashion like Mango’s kelly green pants. Consider them a wakeup call to whatever remaining optimism we can find out there. Pink doesn’t go with orange? Violet and green clash? Clashing doesn’t exist anymore, the louder the merrier. For once, it’s all about fun. Sandals, $690, prada.com; bag, $4,500, gucci.com; trousers, $60, mango.com. 5 . S U M M E R W E L L- S U I T E D

Sure, the power suit is dead—too dark, too somber. Today, suits come in pastels and neons—some in wild prints, some monochromatic (like this Marcell von Berlin suit in neon-green). Now, you won’t just looker sharper—you’ll look brighter. Jacket, $850, and flared pants, $520, marcellvonberlin.com.

L A M AG . C O M 3 9

C L E A N L I V I NG

Design with Nature, an installation at the 60th Salone Del Mobile, will examine ecological issues in the home. Below: Illustrator Emiliano Ponzi designed six posters for the fair, one for each decade. This one pays tribute to the 1960s.

The Grande Design

N I N T E R NAT I O NA L audience of trendsetters, designers, architects, artists, and industry experts will again meet in Milan for the renowned Salone Del Mobile, when the 60th edition opens on June 7. The five-day show is the go-to event for those serious about design—the largest and most significant design and furniture fair in the world. “The presentations of furniture are unlike anywhere else,” says Michael Lin, owner of two West Hollywood gallery showrooms, Boundary and Junction. Lin attends the Salone Del Mobile every year. Sustainability will be the theme throughout every aspect of the fair. Everyone participating will feature recyclable materials. No carpets, no fancy booths. Innovation, not excess, is the objective. In fact, for the 60th anniversary, a special exhibit curated by esteemed Italian 4 0 L A M AG . C O M

architect Mario Cucinella will be not only a space where attendees gather but also an environment for addressing sustainability. Called Design with Nature, the installation will examine ecological issues in the home and our cities. Now, with L.A. homes doing double and triple duty for a variety of functions—working, entertaining, exercising, preparing meals with friends and family— Angelenos are more obsessed with their habitats than ever. Despite shipping woes, a few of the objects from the Supersalone, a prequel to the fair held last September during Milan Design Week, made it into West Hollywood’s best design shops.

1. Back to the Future

Memphis was a seminal design movement of the twentieth century (and the only one whose name was taken from a Bob Dylan song). Memphis style was created in 1980 by a group of leading

T H I S PAG E : M A R I O C U C I N E L L A A R C H I T E C TS

THE WORLD’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS FURNITURE-DESIGN SHOW IS HAPPENING IN MILAN THIS MONTH, BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO LEAVE L.A. TO EXPERIENCE IT B Y D O N N A PA U L

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brands enlisted the creative genius of Copenhagen’s GamFratesi studio to design this must-have car accessory. Now when you’re stuck on the 405, at least your mind can be transported by beautiful Mediterranean scents. The diffuser, encased in Poltrona Frau’s signature Pelle Frau leather, can be easily attached to the interior of your car. There are nine scents available. $175, Poltrona Frau, 8840 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-858-1433.

5. First Class

countries, this look feels right at home in L.A. From $5,690, Janus et Cie, 8933 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-652-7090.

This timeless masterpiece was designed in 1954 by renowned Italian architect Gio Ponti. Known as the Round D.154.5 chair, it’s now being reissued by Molteni&C in collaboration with the Gio Ponti Archives. On a sentimental note, this chair was used within the the Alitalia passenger terminal in Milan and the Alitalia offices in Manhattan. $6,222, Molteni&C, 147 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-273-5038.

3. Cherry Bomb

6. Off the Walls

M E M P H I S C H A I R , CO U R T E SY J U N C T I O N G A L L E RY; S O L A R I A C H A I R , S PA R K L E R L A N T E R N , PA N TO N E C H A I R , CO U R T E SY P O LT R O N A F R AU. D I F F U S E R : T UA L A H JA R N Ø. R O U N D D.1 5 4 . 5 C H A I R : D O N N A PAU L

6 architects whose designs used vivid color, geometry, abstract shapes and bold patterns. “The ’70s and ’80s are coming back in a big way, so Memphis makes sense,” says Lin of the Memphis chair, designed by Michele De Lucchi, on sale in his shop. $2,240, Junction, 461 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-881-6199.

2. Patio Living

The launch of Poltrona Frau’s first outdoor furniture collection, Boundless Living, is an ideal match for L.A.’s indoor/outdoor lifestyle. The Solaria collection was designed by esteemed Milan-based architecture duo Ludovica Serafini and Roberto Palomba. With its repeated woven motif, evocative of the tradition of wicker and rattan furnishings found in Mediterranean

This woven lantern from the Poltrona Frau Sparkler Collection by Kensaku Oshiro was inspired by Japanese hand-held fireworks. An example of form and function, the lantern, being a glowing sculptural object, provides more than illumination. $2,710, Janus et Cie, 8933 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-652-7090.

4. Truly Transporting

When Poltrona Frau and Acqua di Parma collaborated to create the Airound car diffuser, they must have had Angelenos in mind. Both

In a bold move, Poltrona Frau presents a new, limited-edition armchair upholstered in a digitally produced pattern created by Spanish artist Felipe Pantone. Known for his deft use of color, Pantone infused new life into the brand’s iconic Archibald chair from 2009. Pantone’s vivid pattern (done in his signature style, originating from graffiti) has been printed on chrome-free leather, making it sustainable. There are only 110 chairs in production. $12,100 Poltrona Frau, 8840 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood. 310-858-1433. L A M AG . C O M 4 1

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H OW I G O T T H AT L O O K

All in the Family

RANDI MOLOFSKY AND SIX-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, GOLDIE SLENSKE, ARE BOTH ICONS OF STYLE, EACH IN THEIR OWN AUTHENTIC WAY BY MERLE GINSBERG

H I S I S N O T another case

of “mommy and me” style. “Nobody can tell Goldie what to wear,” says Molofsky. “Not even me.” Molofsky, 44, is the well-connected owner of For Future Reference, a fine-jewelry brand development agency for independent designers. Goldie’s dad is the art writer and man-about-town Michael Slenske. Their passion for art and design was adopted early on by their six-yearold daughter, Goldie, who regularly turns up alongside them at all the hottest L.A. openings. But Goldie seems to have been born with personal style. “I don’t want to be a model,” she says. “I want to be a designer.” Her aesthetic? “I like to wear fancy, sparkly stuff: flowers, jewels, pink. And gold shoes, for my name. I don’t like jeans—they’re way too tight.” Mother and daughter may share manicurists (Ibiza Nails in WeHo) and a tailor (Francisco’s on Melrose), but that’s about it. Molofsky’s many looks start with jewelry, then lean toward vintage and color, with a large dose of 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s thrown in.

“I don’t like jeans—they’re way too tight.” 4 2 L A M AG . C O M

C LOT H I N G Molofsky: The jacket’s vintage Oleg Cassini. I collect vintage beaded jackets. The T-shirt is a 1980s Heartconcert shirt. I shop Etsy, Recess, Pickwick Vintage Show, and Happy Isles for vintage. The leather pants are new, by Etro. Goldie: My dress was a gift from my grandmother Mische. She also got me a sewing machine, so I can sew beads onto my plain dresses. They don’t have style! SHOES Molofsky: These are satin Chanel pumps with clear Lucite heels. The perfect pump! Goldie’s ballet flats were handpainted with her initials by L.A. artist Theodore Boyer, a gift from his family, who are close friends. Goldie: See, my initials are in rose gold. That’s to go with my pink outfit. Rose gold is my favorite right now. And I always wear headbands. Sometimes two. H A N D B AG S Molofsky: This is a 1950s Hermès Kelly bag, with a detachable contemporary Hermès bag strap made from Cavale canvas and calfskin. I only see them on resale sites. I got Goldie’s purse from the Tucson Gem shows; it has little bits of turquoise and coral and is made from brass. Goldie: I like purses with beads and sparkle. I prefer cross-body. J E W E L RY Molofsky: I always wear mismatched earrings. One is a diamond hanging from a small hoop and one is a Tahitian pearl hanging from a small hoop. I made them. Goldie’s plastic necklace was made by L.A. artist Yassi Mandazi, her 14-karat gold heart necklace is from the L.A. jewelry store Excalibur. Goldie: My earrings are clip-ons. They’re flat and plastic, so they don’t hurt. M O R E J E W E L RY Molofsky: I’ve curated my charm necklace for years—gold charms with initials representing my family; a Jacquie Aiche; a Mateo zodiac piece. My rings are by jewelry designers I represent: Brent Neale, Harwell Godfrey, and L.A.’s Retrouvai. My watch is vintage Bulgari. Goldie: I made some of my beaded bracelets, one’s from Shakey’s Pizza. My rings are from Super Smalls. I think the gems are real! (Molofsky: They’re not.) P H O T O G R A P H E D BY I RV I N R I V E R A

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Step inside Conrad at Resorts World Las Vegas and the senses immediately engage. Waiting there: mesmerizing art at every turn, plus accommodations, dining and a spa that transport visitors to bliss and beyond. A “swirlonic state” greets from the Conrad Lobby. It’s here visitors encounter “Holos” by David Spriggs, a sculpture comprised of 20, painted transparent planes. These spiraling particles come together, creating a ολοσ, the Greek word that translates to whole.

Senses now finely tuned, exploring more of the property is called for, starting with accommodations. The Conrad’s 1,496 guestrooms and suites range from 550 to 2,800 square feet, and attention has been paid 50 L A M AG . C O M

Meander through Resorts World and there’s much to discover. Catch sight of a spherical sculpture and curiosity takes hold. Upon closer inspection reality hits, this work, “Red Beetle,” from Indonesian artist Ichwan Noor is a compressed Volkswagen Beetle. Happily, it’s in proximity of one of the property’s 40 food and beverage experiences, Kusa Nori. Step inside to savor the flavors of Japan with a menu featuring sushi, teppanyaki, yakitori, robata, and more.

by Bekah Wright

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RESORTS WORLD DINING When it comes to dining on the Las Vegas Strip, only the most illustrious food options will do. Allow your dining curiosities to journey over to Resorts World Las Vegas for a globally curated lineup of premier food and beverage destinations.

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Todd English's Olives

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Naked City

BY ROSECRANS BALDWIN

HAIRBNB

Guitarist Andrew Berkeley Martin and the author reunite in Beachwood Canyon, where they shared a house during the darkest months of the pandemic.

The Rock Star Next Door

FOR TWO YEARS, A FLAMBOYANT, OUT-OF-WORK ROCK GUITARIST RODE OUT THE PANDEMIC IN OUR HOLLYWOOD HILLS HOME. THEN, ONE DAY, HE WAS GONE

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M Y W I F E A N D I spent

most of lockdown with a rock star in our basement. In March 2020, Andrew Berkeley Martin arrived in a vintage Mercedes convertible—a tall, white guy in his early thirties who looked like something out of the ’80s: skintight pants; hair so messy, so moussed, he might have toweldried it that morning with mayonnaise. P H O T O G R A P H E D BY M I C H E L L E G R O S KO P F

PROMOTION

UPCOMING EVENTS & PROMOTIONS SPONSORED BY LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE

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17th Annual LA WineFest Saturday, June 4, 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Sunday, June 5, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Harry Bridges Memorial Park, Long Beach

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2022 Last Remaining Seats Weekends, June 4 – 18 Various Times Historic Theatres in Downtown L.A.

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An Evening Among the Roses Friday, June 10, 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

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After a two-year hiatus, The Huntington is thrilled to announce the return of its Annual “An Evening Among the Roses”, an elegant garden party which kicks oﬀ Pride Month by celebrating The Huntington’s LGBTQ+ community members. The evening will feature cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dancing and a special performance! For tickets and more information visit huntington.org/among-the-roses

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RIDE: Dance to End Hunger Saturday, June 18, 6:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. City Market Social House, Los Angeles

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Our house sits on a quiet street in Beachwood Canyon, below the Hollywood Sign. Andrew moved in, and soon we heard him through the floorboards playing Jimi Hendrix solos. I’d see him when he set out for a jog—tiny shorts, glamour sunglasses, enormous hair—a brunette Rod Stewart impersonator flashing the canyon with his hamstrings. Eventually, we got to know him. He’d had his own bands and been a guitarist for hire. He told wild stories about what it was like performing for thousands of screaming fans (so amazing), and what it’s like to audition for David Lee Roth (not so amazing). Andrew’s life, it seemed, was “so beautiful” or “so insane”— when he was excited, his vocabulary sounded borrowed from an acid dealer’s inspiration calendar. Not that we cared. At the height of pandemic fear, amid the daily death counts, it felt like we’d taken in the most colorful, life-filled human in the world. Then abruptly our rock star was dying, too.

ODD COUPLE

Martin and Baldwin hit the streets in Beachwood Canyon. Below: Martin shreds with Palaye Royale, his pre-lockdown band.

T H E L A S T two years have been a haunting. Many lost friends and family members; everybody lost time. Society was divided into those who were desperately needed for the sake of humanity, and those for whom humanity had little need at all. Touring musicians like Andrew were definitely not needed. In 2020, with arenas and clubs closed, the live-music industry lost more than $30 billion. In the UK, one in three music industry workers lost jobs. A drummer friend became a teacher; a singer-songwriter friend became a manager at Dodger Stadium, when it was the city’s largest COVID-19 testing site. In the streaming era, with shavings of pennies paid for a song, live performances had become a working musician’s most reliable source of income. Suddenly, those were canceled for two years, with some fearing three. Electric guitars simply don’t influence the culture like they once did. The industry turned years ago to rap, pop, and EDM to make its profits. And yet, Los Angeles remains, at least in part, a rock town. L.A. gave the world hair metal and hard-core punk. 6 0 L A M AG . C O M

The Byrds and the Beach Boys. The Go-Go’s and Guns N’ Roses. Rock and roll may not be Los Angeles the way Hollywood is Los Angeles or how Motown is Detroit and country is Nashville, but it’s close. Our house was long ago divided into two apartments. My wife, Rachel, and I rent the top half. The downstairs has long been home to a rotating cast of musicians. Singer-songwriter Alexandra Savior. Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa. The composer-producer Drew Erickson, who sometimes played Bach in the middle of the afternoon. One night, pre-pandemic, I went down for a party, and every room throbbed. When I went to use the bathroom, out came The Weeknd. Upstairs, perhaps the best feature is a large terrace. Soon after Andrew arrived, we started inviting him up

for socially distanced cocktails. (Our first interaction did not go great. He was playing guitar one morning, and I texted him, asking if he could turn it down. “You were like, ‘Hey, it’s a little loud,’ he recalled. “I was like, ‘What the fuck?’ ”) We learned that Andrew played lead guitar in the biggest emo band we’d never heard of: Palaye Royale, a family act of three brothers, formed when the guys were teenagers. Andrew joined in 2018. The group was touring Europe for its 2020 album, The Bastards, when the lockdown struck.

(INSET) ALANA LOPEZ / COURTESY ANDREW BERKELEY MARTIN

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Andrew seemed an unlikely fit, as though My Chemical Romance had hired a young Keith Richards. His previous band had seemed much more his style: Moon Honey, a psychedelic-rock group formed in his home state of Louisiana. Moon Honey was the reason Andrew moved to Los Angeles in the first place. They’d had a record deal, raves in the New York Times and on NPR, then it all fell apart unexpectedly, including his relationship with the lead singer, his girlfriend of nine years. The disappointment was crushing, Andrew said—and that’s when he decided to become a guitarist for hire. (He received a gold record for his contributions to The Bastards.) “I started to realize that writing for someone else is the highest form of songwriting—you have to get inside of someone else, make them feel safe with your creation.” As Lockdown Spring became Lockdown Summer, Andrew started visiting more regularly. He’d climb the stairs in full glam-daddy attire: see-through blouse and a white suit, maybe a fake-fur coat and any number of scarves. Was it all an act? Flamboyance in the face of mask mandates? One rock star cliché Andrew didn’t fulfill, we learned, was cocaine. He’d never tried it, he said, mainly because his father was a rock-and-roll Beetlejuice, a man in his seventies who’d appear at his son’s concerts then attempt to climb onstage and sing “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?” Andrew showed us an Airbnb review where the owners explained why they wouldn’t rent to his dad again—citing a baggie of white powder, drops of blood on the toilet, and a pair of men’s underwear discarded near the Jacuzzi. Maybe Andrew’s disinterest in hard drugs, I wondered, was a healthy middle finger to the previous generation. But Andrew wasn’t healthy. Six months after he arrived, he’d lost weight—a lot of it. Cocktail hour, autumn in Los Angeles, he’d shiver by our fireplace wrapped in a faux-fur blanket. Friends told him they were worried. (Naturally, a few others from the scene also told him how fabulous his cheekbones looked.) The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Rachel staged an intervention. Andrew was open to it and saw several doctors.

Diagnoses were scattered: maybe canOur rock star stayed in the islands cer, maybe an eating disorder, maybe for five months. He cooked meals, something else. What Andrew learned saw doctors, took long walks. “One was that his pituitary gland had day, they’re talking about kidney disessentially shut down. “The endocriease or if it was cancer,” he recalled. nologist said it was extreme adrenal “I was terrified. I didn’t know if I had fatigue. Being in a different country another chance at life.” every day, not sleeping,” he said. And then, April 2021, Andrew Basically, Andrew had been on the returned to Los Angeles, and to the road for too long. Forced to stop, he’d terrace. As the sun set behind him, become unhinged. he looked exactly the “The issue is you same—Beatle boots, don’t know your big hair—yet also As the lockdown mental health is sufdifferent. His cheeks ground on, fering,” Andrew later and chest and arms told me. “You’re being had filled out; his Andrew visited praised all the time. skin had a glow that regularly, Posting on Instagram, was more radiant, less dressed in full and everyone tells vampiric. He’d found glam-daddy: you how great you an apartment in Echo are. You have to have Park, he said, and white suit, fur a really deep sense embracing a new coat, any number was of self to take on chapter; he’d experiof scarves. people’s love for you.” enced what he I asked him what he’d called a “psychedelic thought his underlyego death.” ing problem was. “I think there was a And now he’s rocking. Andrew loneliness, a major sadness,” he said. left at the end of January for a year “A loss of what I was.” of concerts across the States, the UK, After the intervention, Andrew the festival circuit. In the weeks prior disappeared. Born in New Orleans, to his departure, the hair became he’d grown up mostly in the Cayman bigger, the scarves ever more plentiIslands, and that’s where he flew to ful. Even his ego seemed amplified: convalesce. People asked after him— one of his last nights in L.A., he if he’d said anything about when he summoned friends to a bar to say was coming back. We didn’t have an goodbye, then disappeared just when answer. Our rock star was gone. people arrived. It wasn’t atypical behavior for him, frankly, but did he ● ● ● ● need to post footage later on social media of him partying elsewhere, with a more select crew? But maybe O N E T H I N G I didn’t see coming, that’s what he needed to do to cut late-pandemic, was the return strings. A vintage rock star who’s of rock, but here it comes: Look at polite and reliable would be a pretty Machine Gun Kelly, now a rocker, strange rock star. not a rapper. Look at Olivia Rodrigo But then, he called me from the and “good 4 u,” the first rock track to road, literally on the night before top the Billboard Hot 100 in maybe this article was due. It was the guy a decade. Avril Lavigne has a new I remembered from when we first album out and will be one of the top met: vulnerable, thoughtful, inquiracts in October’s emo-driven When ing. The tour was going well, he said, We Were Young festival in Las Vegas, but one night he’d slipped and fallen alongside Paramore, My Chemical off the stage. He asked after Rachel, Romance, Dashboard Confessional— wished me sweet dreams. and Palaye Royale. The past always plagues the Why is emo popular again? Maybe present. Maybe the pandemic isn’t after lockdown, there’s a longing to done with us, but I’m tired of feelbe narcissists in real life, not just on ing haunted. Who doesn’t want to be Twitter. When We Were Young sold out reborn and climb out of the debris? almost immediately, as if a collective I know our basement is a lot quieter yearning had seized on an opportunity now, and I don’t necessarily prefer it to gather in the name of excess, pagthat way. eantry, and some Cure-lite wailing. L A M AG . C O M 6 1

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Bringing Down the Mouse

WOKE EMPLOYEES ARE PICKETING THE MAGIC KINGDOM. RIGHT-WING ACTIVISTS ARE PLANNING A NATIONAL BOYCOTT. AND FLORIDA’S POSTURING GOVERNOR JUST REVOKED THE COMPANY’S TAX BREAKS. CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE IS DISNEY’S NEW CEO, BOB CHAPEK, WHO SUDDENLY FINDS HIMSELF RULER OF THE UNHAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH.

BY PETER KIEFER I L L U S T R AT E D BY JUSTIN METZ

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R E U T E R S /O C TAV I O J O N E S

F B O B C H A P E K ’ S career was a ride at Disneyland, the climb to the top would take 28 years, and the stomach-churning plunge to the bottom would last just about three days. The 61-year-old Disney CEO, known among the studio’s rank and file for his deep understanding of the business, no-nonsense demeanor, and unparalleled expertise with systems management—not to mention his kind of adorable resemblance to Felonius Gru, the shinyheaded master thief in Universal’s Despicable Me movies—may well be the unluckiest mogul in Hollywood. DISNEY For starters, he had the misfortune of sucSPECIAL From left: Supporters ceeding Bob Iger, the polished, well-liked, of DeSantis’s Don’t creative-friendly chief executive who reigned Say Gay law at a rally over one of the most financially and artistioutside Disney World in Orlando this year; cally successful eras in Disney history. Iger’s at another rally in accomplishments during his 15-year tenure Orlando, protestors were so staggering—greenlighting monster hit urge Disney to publicly speak out after monster hit, growing the company with against the bill. a series of brand-expanding acquisitions like Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Fox—Chapek really had no place to go but down. And, boy, does he seem to be going down, cursed by a series of misfortunes graver than anything Maleficent could Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new piece of legislation conjure in her most wicked spells. forbidding schools from teaching sexual orientation or On February 25, 2020, after nearly three decades gender identity in kindergarten through third grade—the of climbing the corporate ladder—first as director of marso-called Don’t Say Gay law—Chapek declined to push keting in the home-video division, then as president of back, despite Disney World being one of the state’s largest consumer products, and then as head of parks and resorts— employers. “Corporate statements do very little to change Chapek was finally handed the keys to the castle. But within outcomes or minds,” he wrote in a statement to employees, days of taking command as CEO, as if foreshadowing explaining his attempt at principled neutrality. disasters to come, a boat on the Jungle Cruise ride sunk. That limp response infuriated many of Disney’s gay and Then two PeopleMovers in Tomorrowland collided, the trans staffers, who staged walkouts over what they saw as Haunted Mansion malfunctioned and had to be closed for their leader’s fecklessness in the face of an assault on their several days, and the Doom Buggies on the Omnimover civil rights. Within a few weeks, Chapek flip-flopped, issualso went on the fritz. No injuries were reported in any of ing a new message openly advocating against the Florida these incidents, but the snickering headlines made Chapek’s law. That, in turn, triggered the Conservative right, putting first week in office something less than idyllic. Chapek and his company in the crosshairs of DeSantis and Of course, all of that was nothing compared with the his QAnon goons, many of whom already believed Disney catastrophe coming just a week later. On March 15, the was part of a global pedophilia conspiracy to turn children pandemic put the whole country, including movie theaters gay. They quickly launched a national boycott. and amusement parks, into lockdown, clamping shut virtuThroughout this past spring, the battle continued to heat ally all of Disney’s revenue streams with the exception of its up, with Florida passing additional legislation stripping cable-TV channels and newly launched Disney+ streaming Orlando’s Disney World of its tax breaks and revoking the service. Suddenly, the man in charge of the biggest, most special self-governing status that has permitted the theme successful entertainment conglomerate in the world found park to police itself for the last 50 years. Meantime, here in himself ordering executive pay cuts and worker furloughs. California, Disney’s Burbank complex became ground zero Obviously, none of the above was Chapek’s fault—it for a series of demonstrations by both the far left and far was just a biblical-like flood of bad fortune. But the next right. One week, scores of gay and trans protesters, many of disaster, the biggest of all and possibly the most dangerthem employees, marched near the giant mouse ears at the ous threat Disney has ever faced—certainly the largest PR Disney gate on Alameda Avenue, waving placards pleadfiasco in the company’s history—was something Chapek ing for Disney to “Protect LGBTQ+ Rights.” Another week, might have avoided. This past March, when Florida

P H E L A N M . E B E N H AC K /A P I M AG E S FO R A I D S H E A LT H C A R E FO U N DAT I O N

hundreds of anti-Disney activists gathered at the same spot, blasting Christian rock from the back of flatbed trucks and waving “Don’t Tread on Me” signs, their rage fueled by coverage on Fox News, which ran dozens of stories on the protests over just one weekend. And squeezed in the middle of it all, ensconced in his 6th-floor C-suite in the Seven Dwarfs Building on the Disney lot, no doubt banging his head on his desk, was Chapek, the company-manturned-CEO, whose only crime had been to try to keep politics out of the Magic Kingdom. Come to think of it, unlucky doesn’t even begin to cover it. Y O U K N O W who else wanted

be harmful in any way to any group or any country,” he told the committee. “We have large audiences of children and different groups, and we try to keep them as free from anything that would offend anybody as possible. We work hard to see that nothing of that sort creeps in.” In retrospect, Walt did a pretty crummy job of monitoring content. Early Disney films like Fantasia, The Jungle Book, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, and especially Song of the South were full of what would now be considered racist and sexist stereotypes (some of these films are now shown on Disney+ with disclaimers acknowledging their “harmful impact”). Even into the 1980s and early 1990s, films like The Little Mermaid and Pocahontas still contained questionable portrayals. In the original version of 1992’s Aladdin, for instance, the young thief sings about Arabs cutting off ears— “It’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home”—before the lyrics got cut for the home video release. At one point in the 1990s, though, there was a shift in consciousness at Disney—the once-conservative, family values company became woke at a time when the rest of the business community was still in deep REM slumber. Two full decades before the Supreme Court legalized gay

You know who else wanted to keep politics out of Disney? A guy named Walt.

to keep politics out of Disney? A guy named Walt. Back in 1947, Walt Disney—“A silent Republican,” according to Bob Gurr, a 90-year-old amusement-ride designer who worked with him for 12 years—testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. The man who invented Mickey Mouse took a few swipes at labor unions (he wanted to keep them out of his company as well) and then offered assurances about his studio’s vigilance over its all-American content. “We watch so that nothing gets into the films that would

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marriage, Disney started extending health-care benefits to gay partners. They also allowed gay and lesbian groups to sponsor a once-a-year Gay Day at Disney World, an unofficial celebration of same-sex relationships that was driving Florida conservatives crazy long before anybody had ever heard of Ron DeSantis. This is when the first conservative anti-Disney protests began—and not just in Florida. In 1995, the American Life League, in Virginia, launched a much-covered boycott against the company, mailing out nearly a million cards to supporters claiming that Disney was planting subliminal sex messages in its animated films. They saw an erection in The Little Mermaid, the word “sex” spelled out in a cloud of dust in The Lion King, and a hidBALL AND den verbal message in Aladdin: Just before the CHAIN OF hero whisks Princess Jasmine onto his magic COMMAND Walt Disney Company carpet, he supposedly mumbles, “Good teenagCEO Bob Chapek and ers, take off your clothes.” Most people simply Executive Chairman Bob Iger at the heard the words, “Scat, good tiger, take off and Magic Kingdom in go,” but whatever. Orlando, 2021. The point here is, the culture war currently embroiling Disney, with all its weird accusations of secret sexual messaging to kids, goes way back. Of course, these kooky conspiracy theories are figments of overactive, possibly repressed imaginations—honestly, there is no erection in The Little Mermaid. But last March, symbol for American families and, as such, a perfect target footage of an internal Disney diversity and inclusion for a symbolic war,” he wrote to Los Angeles. “Our objecmeeting was leaked to prominent conservative activist tive is to degrade the Disney brand, inflict measurable Christopher Rufo—the take-no-prisoners right-wing agitadamage to the company, and put a price on corporate tor famous for his battles against critical race theory—who wokeness—which will serve as a cautionary tale for other posted it for his 333,000 Twitter followers. The anti-Disney executives who activists had finally might be considerfound what they ing elevating critical considered to be a race and gender smoking gun. The theories into official video showed an corporate ideology. animation execuWe have already tive praising Disney’s accomplished much inclusiveness and of this.” talking about addThat last sentence ing more gay leads is debatable. While into the company’s Disney, like all media programming. companies, took a The conservahuge hit during the tive media pounced, pandemic, it’s still a massive operation, valued at nearly inaccurately quoting the executive as promising a 50 $170 billion and has announced a $33 billion budget for percent increase in gay characters. Fox News host Laura content in 2022. Ingraham went on the air to accuse Disney of “pushing a But Rufo may have a point about one thing. Even within sexual agenda” on youngsters. Tucker Carlson took it even Disney, some have started raising questions about whether further. “They have a sexual agenda for six-year-old chilthe company has grown too woke for its own good. Putting dren,” he announced on his show. “You’d think that’s illegal Minnie Mouse in a Hillary Clinton-like pantsuit and banin some way. It’s certainly immoral. It’s creepy as hell. And ning the words “boys and girls” in park announcements yet they are the country’s leading purveyor of children’s strike even a lot of liberal observers as a tad excessive. It’s programming. That’s a problem, no?” not just an issue at Disney; “institutional capture”—when Rufo, who was Carlson’s guest on that evening’s probig corporations bend over backward to placate small gram, declined to be interviewed for this article, but he did but radical and politically plugged-in segments of their send some pretty frank emails explaining what he hoped to workforces—has been spreading through the corporate achieve by making the video public. “Disney is a powerful 6 6 L A M AG . C O M

G E R A R D O M O R A /G E T T Y I M AG E S

They saw an erection in The Little Mermaid, the word “sex” spelled out in a cloud of dust in The Lion King . . .

culture of a lot of media companies. But the problem seems especially acute—or maybe it’s simply more visible to the public—at this one. “Many normal meetings were canceled to make room for special all-hands Zoom calls about [the Florida] bill,” says one Imagineer who grew so alarmed by the politicking going on at Disney that he wrote an anonymous (and widely shared) post about it for a website called Quillette. “Looking back at my Outlook calendar, over five days I had seven separate meetings that overrode everything else. They were the same formula over and over. They opened with an apologetic executive, followed by a couple of stories of anguish from cast members in the division, followed by a panel of DEI experts and execs promising support and internal changes, and closing with the same apologetic executive vowing to do better.” According to this Imagineer, the atmosphere at Disney has grown so oppressively sensitive, some employees are fleeing. “There’s the tired adage of the frog and boiling water, and I think it fits here,” he says. “The company has been trending in this direction for a while, but it’s been slow . . . Now, it’s boiling.”

W H E N R O N D E S A N T I S runs for president in 2024, as he almost certainly will (unless Donald Trump gets in the way), he can list one dubious achievement above all the rest: he really did invent a better mousetrap. Of course, Republicans—and, to a lesser degree, Democrats—have been playing the culture-war game for decades, leveraging emotionally charged issues like

abortion, gay marriage, and school prayer, to rile up their bases. For the GOP, that grassroots ire has usually been directed at so-called coastal elites—university professors, economists, the mainstream media, government officials, pretty much anybody who believes in climate science. It’s been a deeply cynical but powerfully effective strategy that’s paid off time and time again, most recently last year in the Virginia gubernatorial race, where Republican Glenn Youngkin sailed into office by trashing the curriculum of his state’s school board. What DeSantis has pulled off, though, is much more clever and far more diabolical. He’s tapped into his red state’s distrust of the establishment, married it to wacko QAnon conspiracy theories about the left’s supposedly gay pedophilia agenda, and aimed all that right-wing angst at a hallowed institution with an outsized profile in Florida. You know, the one in Orlando with Splash Mountain and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Exactly when DeSantis first hatched his anti-Disney crusade is unclear, but it might have been sometime last year when he suspended local COVID restrictions, including mask requirements, at amusement parks. Disney World ignored him and kept its mask mandates in place, all but inviting a fight. Or it could have been last March, when he passed his bill forbidding teachers in Florida from discussing gay or trans issues in elementary schools and kindergartens. (His press secretary described it as an “anti-grooming” measure, yet another dog whistle at the vicious stereotype of gays as child molesters.) DeSantis may not have anticipated the reaction the law would trigger at Disney, but he was certainly savvy enough to take advantage of it. It seemed, in fact, as if he’d laid a trap that unlucky Chapek stumbled right into. “It’s a fair question,” says Marty Kaplan, a former Disney executive and currently a media professor at USC’s Norman Lear Center, when asked if Chapek had been suckered into a culture brawl by DeSantis. “The Republicans will push this as far as they can. So the challenge for [Democrats] is to not enable this strategy. The Republicans are being disingenuous and deceptive and fanning dangerous flames, and they’re doing it solely for political reasons.” DeSantis has been pushing it, all right—doubling down on his feud with Chapek by passing more laws in April that take away Disney World’s special tax advantages and void the Reedy Creek Improvement District agreement that, since 1967, has granted the theme park extraordinary powers to build its own roads, open its own fire department, set its own building codes, and run its own wastewater-treatment plants. Sure, it’s a crazy move for Florida from a fiscal point of view. For starters, it may well scuttle Disney’s plans to move a big chunk of its workforce—mainly Imagineers, the creatives who design the theme-park rides and attractions—to Orlando, which would have been a boon to Florida’s economy. It will also force the state to raise taxes in Orange and Osceola counties, where Disney World is located, by at least a billion dollars—the amount of Disney debt Florida will have to assume in order to take over the property. Additionally, the two counties will now be on the L A M AG . C O M 6 7

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and particularly its decision to speak out against the Don’t Say Gay legislation. “Anything as outrageous and offensive as this law—that’s provoked so much turmoil nationally—forced Disney to take a stand, even if it didn’t want to,” he says, adding that “The Walt Disney Corporation is going to be around long after Ron DeSantis is gone.” For once, Hiaasen is in complete agreement with The National Review, a conservative bastion for decades, which has also criticized DeSantis’s gaybaiting, with Charles C. W. Cooke describing the Don’t Say Gay battle in an April commentary as “an ugly and ill-conceived mistake” and likening it to a “tantrum.”

S C E N E : J E F F G R I TC H E N /O R A N G E CO U N T Y R E G I ST E R V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; P O ST E R : L M P C V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; L A DY A N D T H E T R A M P : U N I T E D A R C H I V E S G M B H /A L A M Y STO C K P H OTO

hook for all the bills for infrastructure and services that Disney had been picking up all these years. On the other hand, Orange and Osceola happen to be Democratic counties, so DeSantis likely doesn’t care. “When my 14-year-old or my ten-year-old ask for special privileges, they behave and don’t expect those special privileges when they act like jerks,” says Florida representative and DeSantis-ally Randy Fine, explaining the logic behind the state’s takeover of Disney World territory. “Disney is learning they are a guest in this state.” So far, DeSantis’s Disney-demonizing strategy seems to be paying off, at least if fundraising is any indication. He’s pulled in more than $105 million for his campaign for reelection in November, a record in Florida politics. But there is a potential downside. Before Disney froze all political contributions in the state in response to the Don’t Say Gay law, it was signing big checks to both Democrats and Republicans, donating a total of $4.5 million in the state. (Even DeSantis got $100,000.) “DeSantis has a lot of money, so maybe he doesn’t need Disney,” notes best-selling mystery author Carl Hiaasen, who lives in Vero Beach. “But there are a lot of politicians in Florida that do.” Including a lot of down-ballot Republicans. Also, the problem with energizing one’s base with culture-war issues is that it can backfire, energizing your opponent’s base even more and sometimes even splitting your own supporters. And there are some signs of that happening in Florida. Even a dyed-in-the-wool Disney hater like Hiaasen—a liberal who once wrote a whole book, Team Rodent, about Disney’s destructive influence on his home state—has come around to defending the company

Clockwise: The original “wench auction” scene from Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland (Disney has since amended the scene, which is now simply an “auction”); an old poster from Song of the South; two Siamese cats insensitively portrayed as evil in Lady and the Tramp.

relished Disney’s battle with DeSantis and had certain distinct advantages as a political street fighter—like charm, wit, good looks, and a fierce ally in Zenia Mucha, Disney’s former chief communications officer, a widely feared figure both in and out of Disney. (Chapek’s comm director, Geoff Morrell, was ejected from the job just before this story went to press.) “Chapek is a good man, but he doesn’t give a shit about being out at Hollywood events, nor does he want profiles of him K I D - U N F R I E N D LY written up in magazines,” says one Disney A Mickey Mouse doll caught in executive who didn’t want to be identia trap at a rally in support of Florida’s Republican-backed fied. “He certainly isn’t the kind of guy Don’t Say Gay law. who’s going to write a memoir about his achievements. That’s just not who he is.” C H A P E K I S N O T a likely gay rights But some within the company maintain that Chapek’s hero. For one thing, he’s not gay. For another, he’s shown biggest challenge, both as CEO and a political combatant, is zero interest in politics, aside from the office variety that that Iger (who published his memoir in 2019) left behind a helped him scale the heights of the Disney company. And poison pill that no successor, no matter how gifted or chariseven then, Chapek’s skill set appears fairly limited. matic, could swallow. With one foot out the door, Iger issued His ascension to CEO wasn’t so much a Succession-style a personal pledge to make inclusion and diversity a comcorporate knife fight between bloodthirsty competitors as pany priority at Disney, adding new departments focused it was a blandly civilized CV bakeoff. Compared with his entirely on equity, giving small but vocal segments of the two assumed rivals for the job—former Disney COO Tom workforce more power to steer corporate policy to their own Scaggs and former direct-to-consumer division chairman agendas. Equally problematic for Chapek is the fact that Kevin Mayer—Chapek simply had the weightier résumé. So far, three Democratic hopefuls will be competing in August’s Florida primary for the privilege of facing off against DeSantis in November and the chance to repeal his Don’t Say Gay law: former Republican governor-turned-U.S. representative Charlie Crist, Florida agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried, and Florida state senator Annette Taddeo. But whichever one of them ends up being DeSantis’s challenger is almost irrelevant. Because the person DeSantis will really be running against is Disney CEO Bob Chapek.

R E U T E R S /O C TAV I O J O N E S

According to one Imagineer, the atmosphere at Disney has grown so oppressively sensitive, some employees are fleeing. Which wasn’t terribly surprising considering he had spent two-thirds of his career toiling at the Mouse House. In the 1990s and 2000s, he focused on milking as much money as possible out of Disney’s home-video business, developing the studio’s “vault” strategy (strategically withholding certain popular titles from release in order to gin up demand) and then overseeing the transition of Disney’s vast library from VHS to DVD. In 2010, he moved on to Disney’s consumer products, and then, in 2011, was put in charge of the resorts and theme parks, opening Shanghai Disney in 2016 and launching Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Disneyland and Disney World in 2019. Word around the Disney lot is that while Chapek possesses a broad knowledge of the company and is skilled at system implementation, he is not exactly a Henry V-type inspirational leader. Or even an Iger II. He’s said to struggle with people skills, doesn’t fully understand creative psychology, and, in general, is not nearly as much fun to lunch with as was his predecessor. Iger, in fact, would have probably

even after his retirement, Iger never quite left the building, sticking around to second-guess the new boss—tweeting his opposition to the Don’t Say Gay law back when Chapek was still trying to stay out of the fight—and, in general, making a nuisance of himself. Not surprisingly, Chapek’s own future at Disney is something of an open question at the moment. His contract, for which he was paid $32.5 million last year, expires in 2023. The good news for Chapek is that it seems unlikely Disney’s board of directors would replace him after just three years. The bad news: if the battle with DeSantis escalates to the point where it seriously endangers the company’s bottom line, anything’s possible. But if Chapek can somehow find a way to cool tempers both with the right-wing activists in Florida, who believe he’s the leader of a secret pedophilia cabal, and with the left-wing within his own company, who believe he’s a traitor to the woke movement, then he should come out of this current crisis just fine. All he needs is a little luck. L A M AG . C O M 6 9

The Problem with Pools Southern California’s most enduring lifestyle trope is also a major contributor to our state’s worsening water emergency. A homeowner recounts his lonely battle to turn his seldom-used pool from blue to green . . . and finds an unexpected happy ending

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P H O T O G R A P H BY L AW R E N C E A N D E R S O N

CO U R T E SY E STO

BY M I K E SAG E R

TA K I N G T H E PLUNGE

Seventy percent of the state’s 1.18 million swimming pools are located in Southern Calfornia, 250,000 of them in L.A.

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I have sinned against nature, humanity, against good (but not common) sense. I have wasted water. So much water. And now we’re running out.

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E M B A S SY P I C T U R E S CO R P O R AT I O N / P H OTO F E ST

Forgive me. I have sinned.

Every five to ten days, depending on the weather, I add water to my swimming pool. There is no leak. The water just evaporates. The hotter and windier the weather, the faster it vanishes, literally, into thin air. An average pool, 33 by 18 feet, loses about a quarter of an inch of water every day—approximately 600 gallons per week. My pool is about 40 percent smaller, but the idea’s the same: it’s a huge waste. But I have no choice. If I don’t level-up the water, and it falls below the intake, the filter system starts sucking air and makes an other-worldly slurping screech, loud enough to wake me (and my neighbors) in the middle of the night, when the pump is cheapest to run. So that’s my burden. Filling. Filling. Sisyphus with a water spigot. And I’ve been doing it for 25 years. Just like everyone else with a swimming pool.

“In Hollywood movies from Sunset Boulevard to Boogie Nights, the swimming pool is never just a pool but a literal and figurative mirror of the culture.”

POOL BOY

Dustin Hoffman, as the shiftless Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate. Lazing around the family pool the summer after his graduation was Benjamin’s passiveaggressive rejection of his parents’ ambitions for him.

According to a 2015 report from Metrostudy Inc., there are 1.18 million pools in the nation-state of California. About 70 percent are in Southern California. In Los Angeles, where swimming pools are as much a part of the cultural tapestry as palm trees, celebrities, and drought, there are an estimated quarter million private pools, according to Bloomberg. That’s a lot of water. I’m no tree hugger, but it’s really fucking bugging me I’ve done the research. I can’t drain my pool. I can’t fill it with dirt. And I can’t cover it. For various reasons I will explain, there is no good solution I can find. Except one. Honestly, it seems kind of crazy. But I think I’m going for it.

I A R R I V E D I N C A L I F O R N I A in 1997 from the East Coast with a pocket full of serendipitous Hollywood

dollars—another thread woven into our cultural tapestry: great good fortune. For the previous two decades, I’d been living in a restored brick row house in Washington, D.C. High ceilings. Original floors. Crack, hookers, homeless. By the time we added a stroller, the boho glam was wearing thin. Then I found myself in the wrong neighborhood one night and was beaten by a gaggle of shadowy figures. I vowed to find a way out. A few months later, a magazine story I wrote was optioned for the movies. Shortly thereafter came another option and a first-look deal. I put most of the proceeds down on a house in San Diego. It wasn’t a big place: three beds, two baths, a pool. With the pool came that distinctly SoCal amenity, a pool house. The pool house became my office. Sitting here for the past 25 years, I’ve written a dozen books and scores of articles. I’ve done the hard work every day that has made my life satisfying, through good times and bad. I love these rooms. I’m here almost every day. I even work half a day on my birthday because this is what makes me happy. The swimming pool? In all that time, I’ve used the pool about 100 times. Here in coastal San Diego, it’s usually in the sixties and seventies, so the pool water is cold. It’s too expensive to heat (more climatic waste). The beach is close. And it turned out we were a sports family; during my son’s years at home, we were always traveling to games and tournaments. Nobody had time to lounge around the pool. And, truly, though I love the way the pool sparkles in the sunlight, I’m kind of like, Fuck swimming, you know? I think this attitude stems from my experience as a child at summer camp, when I was overweight, and the swimming counselors were overzealous. Even though my swimming pool has not often been used, I’ve still had to keep it maintained and filled. I’ve had to resurface the pool and the attendant deck—when I bought the house, the whole area was an eyesore. Several times, I’ve bought new pumps, new filters, new automatic sweepers, new hoses for the sweepers (apparently the raccoons like to bite the hoses to find water, which I really don’t understand, since the hose is already floating in several thousand gallons of water—I thought animals were smarter). I’ve had the same pool guy for 24 years. He visits twice a month. He’s given me a fair price. Let’s say his name: Phil Gardiner. A more reliable and affable guy you could not meet. Over the decades, we’ve gone gray together. He doesn’t swim either. The thing is, when you’re lucky enough to find yourself typing in your dream office in your dream house, and you even L A M AG . C O M 7 3

manage to keep it after the divorce, you can’t expect everything to be perfect. And so I’ve rationalized: the pool house comes with the pool. And then I fill it up again.

O N T H O S E O CC A S I O N S when I’m struggling with my sins, I’m often reminded of the aerial photos of the SoCal suburbs I’ve seen: a patchwork of fenced-in oases of private space, the heart of each a cool body of glistening aquamarine. In one of the many locations around the globe where water has always been a precious commodity, it seems natural that the swimming pool—the average containing about 15,000 gallons of water—would become a sign of status and good living. The earliest mention of a swimming pool in the L.A. Times’s archives is a reference, in a January 1914 item, to a “pretentious mansion” of 35 rooms being built in Beverly Hills. It had 12 bathrooms and a pool. And a three-mile frontage. In 1920, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford built Pickfair, the model upon which all subsequent celebrity fantasy digs would lean. It included a 100-by-55-foot pool with a sandy beach on one side. Not to be outdone, William Randolph Hearst built two iconic pools at San Simeon in 1924, complete with marble colonnades and the facade of a Greco-Roman temple. As World War II ended and the baby boom began, America got to work building its consumer economy with inexpensive land and cheap mortgages from the GI Bill. Along the way, the development of more-advanced technologies would contribute to a pool-building boom. In the ensuing years, rounded pools would replace boxy ones; and then, kidney-shaped would become the rage, followed with fanfare by the introduction of the infinity pool. “The flowering of the Southern California lifestyle, especially after World War II, made the swimming pool the ornament of the Good Life, not the Unreachable Life,” writes Pat Morrison, who for nearly 50 years has chronicled Los Angeles life for the L.A. Times and KPCC. “As with a convertible or a college education, your regular Joe could now afford a pool.” And so it was that the swimming pool joined the Pacific Ocean, outlaw motorcycle culture, beach volleyball, palm trees, valet parking, the Ferris wheel at the Santa Monica Pier, and the Real Housewives of Orange County in the iconography of Southern California. As portrayed by Hollywood, of course, a pool is never just a pool, but a literal and figurative mirror of the culture. In Sunset Boulevard (1950), a screenwriter, played by William

Holden, lured into working on an impossible script by a fading movie star, floats dead in the pool behind her mansion, a watery symbol of his doomed aspirations. In The Graduate (1967), Dustin Hoffman’s character sunbathes, clueless and enervated, on a raft in his parents’ pool in Pasadena, his future as blank as the cloudless sky above. John Cheever’s short story The Swimmer (1968), which became a cult classic film starring Burt Lancaster, is a study of suburban malaise in the late 1960s through the lens of the ubiquitous backyard pool. Tim Curry’s Frank N. Furter, in his bustier and bicep-length fishnet gloves, paddles an inner tube around a glowing pool, singing

“In the past 25 years, I’ve written a dozen books in my pool house. In all that time, I’ve used the swimming pool about 100 times.” 7 4 L A M AG . C O M

“Don’t Dream It, Be It,” as the prelude to a watery orgy with a corps of beautiful boys in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Likewise, Morrison writes, “The crowded, chlorinated, deep-end water in Boogie Nights (1997) memorializes porn, pools, and the 1970s San Fernando Valley, the suburban birthplace of a pool paradise as close as your back door.” Later would come David Hockney’s ever-collectible pools on canvas and his newly restored mural on the bottom of the Roosevelt Hotel pool in Hollywood; the nightclubs centered around pools at the Mondrian and the Standard hotels, a trend possibly inspired by ordinances ending smoking

ADULT SWIM

CO U R T E SY H U LU

Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg in a promotional photo for the 2020 comedy Palm Springs.

indoors at bars and restaurants; the empty pools and outcast skateboarders of Lords of Dogtown (2005); hip-hop music videos; MTV’s Cribs . . . As Jerry Scoggins sings in the theme song from The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-71): Swimmin’ pools, movie stars. This is us.

TO DAY, E V E RYO N E K N OWS California faces a critical

shortage of water and that climate change makes it worse— the hotter it is, the faster the water evaporates, the more fresh water we need to pump out of the already diminished water table and reservoirs, the dryer the earth becomes. (According to scientists, our land mass is actually shriveling and sinking.) Last summer, researchers found, the heat-driven atmospheric “thirst” in the western portion of the U.S. reached the same level as during the Dust Bowl summer of 1936— another moment in history when the signs of Armageddon were drawing nigh. Though December’s unexpected surge of record-breaking rain and snow eased drought conditions somewhat, dry weather soon returned. The months of January and February 2022 were the driest ever recorded in most of California, and state water officials are now expecting a third year of severe drought, the shrinking water supplies fueling the threat of extreme wildfire. Coming out of California’s traditional winter rainy season, says State Water Resources Control Board deputy director Erik Ekdahl, we’ve had the driest winter in California in “more than 100 years of records, almost by an order of four.” These dry months follow the driest 22-year period in the American Southwest in 1,200 years—a megadrought that researchers say has been greatly intensified by climate change and the release of greenhouse gases. In late April, Southern California officials took the unprecedented step of declaring a water-shortage emergency and ordered outdoor usage restricted, starting June 1, to just one day a week for about six-million residents in parts of Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino counties. And yet, in 2021, the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety issued 2,878 permits for new pool construction. And over the past eight years, even as the drought worsened, the number of permits issued has steadily risen. The 2021 number is double that from 2013.

I LIVE ALONE, EXCEPT for the occasional visits by friends and family. I don’t let the faucet run when I brush my teeth. I wash my face every morning and evening in cold water (I replaced the tank heater with a tankless one to save energy), take showers under five minutes, use the dishwasher once every two weeks, do two loads of laundry every two weeks, and let the yellow mellow before flushing. Even so, according to my water bill, I used 98 HCF (hundred cubic feet) of water last year. A single HCF is approximately equal to 748 gallons. That means I used 73,304 gallons. That’s 200 gallons a day. L A M AG . C O M 7 5

According to a 2015 study by the nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California, Californians average 146 gallons a day per capita. Part of my water goes to landscaping. About 25 percent of my property is xeriscaped and irrigated. Aside from the rocks in the small front yard, the rest is natural canyon I do not irrigate. So it’s not hard to figure out that most of my water is going into the damn pool. And then, into thin air. So what to do? My pool was dug into the side of a hill of California sage and coastal scrub more than 40 years ago by the previous owner. If I empty the pool, a small pond will develop at the bottom, a breeding ground for mosquitos and other nasty stuff. With the water gone, the pressure and weight would change; the gunite that forms the pool could begin to buckle. Or the land under the pool could shift. (From my house, the topography slopes downward to the flatlands and other houses.) Also, when emptied, in-ground pools made of gunite are susceptible to popping out of the ground. Can you imagine? I could fill the pool with dirt—but here again, the change in weight and pressure could become a disastrous factor. And even if I did fill it in—killing about 6 percent of my home’s resale value—the pool is situated in such a way that the fill dirt would have to be carried from the front curb in five-gallon buckets, around the house, and down 27 steps. (Or perhaps lifted by crane?) The next logical choice would seem to be a cover. I could deal

REMAKING A SPLASH

Photographer Tim Street-Porter shot this homage to David Hockney’s A Bigger Splash at the William Cody Glass House in Palm Springs.

7 6 L A M AG . C O M

with drilling the anchor holes in the deck. But you know what happens here when we leave our cars parked outside, right? The particulate haze that makes for such great sunsets leaves a fine snow of dust and crud on our cars and everything else. As it is now, the crud falls into the water, and is whisked away by the vacuum, into the filter. If I put a cover on the pool, all the crud would settle on the cover. Added to the dew and marine moisture we get most mornings—along with leaves and debris that tend to blow from the neighbors’ houses into my yard—the cover would become a dirty, soupy mess. Surely cleaning it would take a lot of water. And who would do it and for how much? Last summer, Phil the pool man suggested “liquid solar shade.” It costs about $45 a gallon. You pour in several ounces every two weeks, and the chemical formula, which is said to be nontoxic, creates an invisible, one-molecule-thick barrier that helps conserve water and retain heat. One company says its product reduces evaporation by up to 85 percent. This past summer was the hottest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I had to refill the pool for 30 minutes every six or seven days.

W H E N P H I L A N D I W E R E having the conversation about covers last year, he mentioned something about “floating balls.” (We had a good laugh—by nature we both have solitary jobs and enjoy our occasional version of office comradery.)

“The Rhombos float lazily around the confines of my pool, pushed in different directions by the shifting breeze.”

Apparently, you fill a body of water with these balls, and they function in the same manner as the liquid solar shade, floating like very large molecules, the combined mass creating a cover that cuts down evaporation. I wondered: What if I got the balls and didn’t fill the entire pool area? If I filled it, say, 80 percent, maybe that way I would get year-round coverage, cut down dramatically on evaporation, and Phil could still do his job. The schmutz from the sky could be ameliorated by jostling the balls in place and letting the vacuum do the rest. And I, along with a friend or loved one, could still have a piece of exposed pool to jump into those four days a year when the late-summer heat wave kicks in. Surely, floating around like a hippo on a hot day, the water line just beneath your nostrils, is one of the abiding pleasures of the SoCal lifestyle.

R H O M B O S P O O L : CO U R T E SY M I K E SAG E R

TURNS OUT YOU CALL them shade balls, or solar shades,

or segmented covers. Originally known as bird balls, they were developed more than 50 years ago to prevent birds from landing on toxic tailing ponds produced by mining operations. Since then, they’ve been used all over the world, mostly in municipal and industrial settings or in bodies of water near airports, to cut down on bird traffic around runways. When deployed, you get something that looks like a giant version of the ball pit at McDonald’s—only, instead of being Skittle-colored, they are more commonly manufactured in shades of gray. As it happens, shade balls are already in use around Los Angeles. In 2014 and 2015, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power put 96 million shade balls into its largest reservoir (Las Virgenes) in order to meet rules issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which requires large reservoirs of treated water to be covered. The LADWP says that in addition to reducing evaporation, the balls also reduce algae growth, cutting down on the need for chemical additives. While some of the balls were eventually removed, there are still 96 million in use at the Los Angeles Reservoir, which is said to be the largest deployment of shade balls on earth. Googling around, I found a firm called Advanced Water Treatment Technologies. They had three different kinds of balls. I filled out the contact form.

“ H E L LO M I K E : I A P O LO G I Z E but we are currently not

selling our covers for residential purposes. If things change in the near future, I will be sure to let you know.” P H O T O G R A P H BY T I M S T R E E T - P O RT E R

THROWING SHADE

Adding these floating rhomboids to the author’s pool dramatically reduced evaporation and cut his water usage by thousands of gallons. He left a pocket of water exposed for the occasional plunge.

Not to be a butt pain, I replied, but what if I pay full freight for the product and will sign any needed liability waivers. There are millions of residential pools in California. Please. I’m wasting so much water. It’s becoming an obsession. OK, I didn’t write that last sentence. But it was not untrue. Robert Infante was my correspondent. He replied ten minutes later from his office in Harlingen, Texas: “Hello Mike: I completely understand. I myself want nothing more than to be able to provide our products to anyone and everyone for all uses.” First of all, he continued, the four-inch-diameter balls were out of favor. There had been incidents. Like the time high winds blew the balls out of a body of water and all over a highway. Also, being round, they don’t fit together perfectly; the shape is inefficient. However, Infante continued, AWTT also carries two new designs. One is a flat-ish, flying-saucer-looking hexagonal tile, the Hexprotect Aqua. The other is a three-dimensional rhomboid shape, the Hexoshield Rhombo 66. Kind of rounded, kind of angular, it has 12 sides. The Rhombos—as Infante called them with perceptible affection—would be best for a residential pool. (CO N T I N U E D O N PAG E 9 1 )

L A M AG . C O M 7 7

Inside Hollywood’s

Orgasm Cult By Mick Brown

With the support of stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Daedone built a lucrative empire on the promise of a 15-minute female orgasm. But what seemed like sexual salvation to some was denounced as sexploitation by many others

BUSINESS OR PLEASURE?

Daedone, founder of the multimillion-dollar company, OneTaste, surrounded by “OMing” couples.

P H O T O G R A P H BY T I M O T H Y A R C H I BA L D

L A M AG . C O M 7 9

n 2011, an American author and businesswoman named Nicole Daedone gave a TEDx talk in San Francisco in which she spoke of her plans to build an empire on the female orgasm. A tall, self-assured woman in her early forties, dressed in a black silk pantsuit, auburn hair falling to her shoulders, Daedone did not, of course, put it quite like that. In the course of the talk, which has since been watched more than two million times on YouTube, Daedone, who had recently published a book entitled Slow Sex: The Art and Craft of the Female Orgasm—and was standing in front of two glowing, vulva-shaped lights—described how, at a party in 1998, she had met a man who practiced what he called “contemplative sexuality.” He invited her to lie down unclothed, shone a light on her vagina, and proceeded to describe her “colors” in some detail (“Your outer labia are coral . . . ”). He then stroked

GOOPY

Gwyneth Paltrow at a Goop Lab screening in L.A. in 2020. Paltrow, whose lifestyle company was forced to retract false claims it made about the benefits of its $66 yoni egg (above), endorsed Daedone’s OneTaste.

8 0 L A M AG . C O M

her clitoris “no firmer than you would stroke your eyelid.” “I had never been looked at or felt that kind of compassion in that area before,” Daedone told her audience—nicely dressed people in their thirties and forties, nodding thoughtfully and bathed in a selfcongratulatory aura, as TEDx audiences are wont to be. “I just broke open, and the feeling was pure and clean.” This story, which would come to be repeated, in Daedone’s words, “thousands of times,” was subject to variation. Sometimes the man would be a Buddhist, sometimes a monk, and at others, in her words, “a cute guy” who delivered “the best pickup line I’d ever heard.” But the result was always the same. “For the first time in my life,” she said, “I

GWY N E T H PA LT R OW: P H OTO BY R AC H E L M U R R AY/G E T T Y I M AG E S ; E G G : G O O P.CO M

felt like I had access to that hunger that was underneath all of my other hungers, which is a fundamental hunger to connect to another human being. “And then I had a moment of thinking, I want to know how to live here in this place, and, in my philanthropic way, I want everyone else to know how to live here. “Female orgasm,” she continued, “is vital for every single woman on the planet.” A truth apparently “so undeniable that I had to bring it to the world.” And bring it to the world she did. In 2004, Daedone founded a group called OneTaste, disseminating (it’s hard to go far in this tale without stumbling inadvertently across a double entendre) the practice of what she called orgasmic meditation, or OM. At its peak, OneTaste was reported to be making $12 million a year; it had centers in nine cities, including New York, San Francisco, and London, and was endorsed by no less a personage than the high priestess of the vagina, Gwyneth Paltrow. But the organization has now shut down following accusations by former members of the group, with the FBI reportedly investigating allegations of sex-trafficking, prostitution, and violation of labor laws. Those of a delicate disposition may choose to turn away at this point. For this is a story of idealism and desire, of California sex communes and three-hour orgasms, of the search for Eden and the worms in the apple of power and money. It is also very, very bizarre.

orgasm), friendship, sensuality & living pleasurably since 1992.” The group was largely modeled on another “intentional community” in Northern California called Lafayette Morehouse, which had been founded in the ’60s by a man named Victor Baranco—described in a 1971 Rolling Stone investigation as a former used-car salesman and “peddler of phony jewelry.” It later styled itself as the More University, offering accredited PhDs in “sensuality and lifestyles.” Particular attention was paid to the part the clitoris plays in the female orgasm. Baranco devised a technique called “deliberate orgasm,” or “do-ing,” in which a woman would undress from the waist down and a man would stroke her clitoris. In exchange, the strokee would give the stroker a token or a small gift. It was reported that in 1976 a commune member named Diana claimed that she was able to sustain a continuous orgasm for three hours, “not including cigarette breaks.”

“The focus was how to have a great sex life”

Former students of Baranco set up their own practices and groups, among them the Welcomed Consensus. “They taught a philosophy of communal living, relationships and communication,” says Ken Blackman, who lived at the commune for nine years and would later join Nicole Daedone at OneTaste, “but the focus was sex, how to have a great sex life, and that’s where clitoral stroking came in. The idea that both of us are going to put our attention on the woman’s body, that it can be a complete experience, Three-hour orgasms and there’s nothing that she owes me in return—these were (not including cigarette breaks) highly innovative ideas.” Daedone lived at the Welcomed Consensus for two years. Daedone grew up in the Northern Californian town of Los She also spent time at Morehouse, allegedly suggesting to Gatos with her mother, a single parent. At 16, she had sex Baranco that she should be his successor. But the proposal for the first time, got pregnant, and had an abortion. She came to nothing. studied semantics at San Francisco State University and, Morehouse and the Welcomed Consensus, Blackman with a friend, opened an art gallery in the city. She was 27 says, regarded themselves as “the elite connoisseurs of when she learned that her estranged father was dying of exquisite gourmet sex. They had cancer in prison after being conno desire to be mainstream.” But victed of molesting two young Daedone had bigger ideas. “She girls. Daedone has said he had “He then stroked wanted to reach hundreds of never harmed her as a child, but her clitoris ‘no firmer thousands—millions—of people,” with his death, “everything in my recalls Blackman. reality just collapsed.” than you would stroke To this end, she packaged the She turned her attention to technique that she called orgasspiritual matters, studying the your eyelid.’ ” mic meditation. A woman lies on Kabbalah and Buddhism. By what Daedone called “a nest” of her account, she was planning to pillows and “butterflies” her legs, draping one leg over the become a nun at a Zen Buddhist center in San Francisco. knee of a man, who is fully clothed, seated beside her. He (“Now,” she joked later, “they just call me ‘the nun that gets sets a timer. Wearing latex gloves smeared with lubricant, some.’ ”) Then she met the man at the party. he then strokes “the upper left quadrant” of the clitoris. Since the 1950s, San Francisco had been a petri dish for While Diana had scaled the Himalayan peak of the threealternative thinking, countercultures, and free-love comhour orgasm, Daedone set the clock at a more modest 15 munes, steeped in libertarian ideas that would continue to minutes. flourish in the tech community of Silicon Valley. In 2004, along with a business partner, she set up In 1998, Daedone joined a group called the Welcomed OneTaste Urban Retreat, in a loft building in a grungy part Consensus—according to its Facebook page, “Researchers/ of San Francisco favored by internet start-ups, promoting instructors of Deliberate Orgasm (specializing in female L A M AG . C O M 8 1

T H E WA G E S O F L O V E

Blackman, in an earlier life as a software engineer, says OMing “resonated particularly deeply with techies. Silicon OM as “a way to make orgasm, Valley was a really great place connection, and sensuality to market because we could sustainable.” The commutalk in terms of having a new nity quickly grew to number operating system for human around 50 men and women, connection.” most in their late twenties Along with OMing came and early thirties, OMing therapy-style exercises and two or three times a day with group encounters dressed various “research” partners, in bromides about personal showering communally, and growth. “Have you ever negotiating whose turn it was considered it might be your to do the washing up. responsibility as a woman to More “OM houses” folsit in your power?” Daedone lowed, offering tuition in can be seen asking one new OMing for groups often numinductee—mystifyingly—in a bering up to 50 people, the promotional video. women lying on their backs in Sessions would include the nests and being stroked any“Daedone was sensitive to exercise of “obnosing,” or noticthing but furiously, to a rising ing the obvious, which involved chorus of moans and sighs. cult accusations . . . comlooking at someone and listing Prospective OMers were plaining that ‘everybody their physical characterisoffered a menu of services tics—the color of their eyes, the and events. An introductory treated me like a guru. I’d flush in their cheeks—before workshop cost $195; a weekwake up, and people would shifting attention to obnosing long ‘urban monk’ program, female genitalia. $2,000; or you could train to come sit on my bed.’ ” In the 1970s and 1980s, become a certified coach for “tantric sex” had been a $16,000. There were how-to buzz phrase—an esoteric spiritual practice that had been DVDs, One Stroke lubricant, and OM pillow sets to build co-opted, misinterpreted, and packaged as a shortcut to nests. sexual bliss, the stuff of a hundred Cosmopolitan cover Men stroked women, and sometimes women stroked lines. Daedone described OM as “beyond tantra: sexualwomen; nobody stroked men. But everybody paid. ity in the post new age,” But the intimation that OM was a Blackman, who became OneTaste’s lead instructor, the quasi-spiritual practice was unmistakable. The very name Stravinsky of stroking, described in a Facebook post how a OM was the same as the sacred syllable in Hinduism and man would enjoy OMing, “not vicariously, for the pleasure Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists, Daedone claimed he’s giving her, and not for the side benefits (many though (incorrectly), “use orgasm as a metaphor for enlightenment they be). He actually starts to feel something in his body because it’s the only time the filters are removed.” Media from being in direct physical contact with a woman in took the hint: “Work your way into nirvana with orgasmic orgasm that . . . feels good.” meditation,” read one magazine headline. OM was the universal panacea for the adventurous and Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness website, Goop, has interthe repressed, the sexually liberated and the sexually inseviewed Daedone cure, the needy, the lonely, and the damaged. Daedone preferred to talk about “sensation” and “connection” rather than sex. At Morehouse and the Welcomed Consensus, sex had been the raison d’être. But the way A hit in Hollywood Daedone talked about OM, it seemed it had hardly anything to do with sex at all, but a practice that existed in Young and not-so-young women—their bank balances another, altogether less messy and less emotionally complibowing under the weight of Pilates classes, acid facials, and cated realm of “wellness.” juicing whatever fruit from the Amazon happened to be “This idea that OM isn’t sex served a purpose,” says fashionable that week—came seeking the answer to what Blackman, who left OneTaste in 2014 to set up his own Daedone had spelled out in her TEDx talk as “the Western practice as a relationship coach. “It was saying that two woman’s mantra: I work too hard, I eat too much, I diet people who would never say yes to having sex together too much, I drink too much, I shop too much, I give too could potentially have an OM. much—and still there’s this sense of hunger that I can’t “The other thing was having this almost ritualized series touch.” 8 2 L A M AG . C O M

GABRIELA HASBUN

The price for an introductory workshop in orgasmic meditation began at $195. You could train to become a certified coach for $16,000.

of steps, which made it feel safe for any two people to do this. You set up the nest, you set a timer, say a few words of a specific kind and then announce that you’re going to put your finger down. “Early on, we had strict safeguards in place so that both people understood this was going to be a complete experience, and if you want to continue with something beyond that, you end the OM, you get dressed, you leave the room—there’s no sneaking in anything else.” Daedone’s 2011 TEDx talk was an unalloyed sales pitch. “I say just try it,” she said, her voice carefully calibrated to convey just the right mixture of enthusiasm, earnestness, and the promise of deliverance. “I mean, really, the worst thing you have to lose is just 15 minutes of your life. The best thing you have to lose is that sense of hopelessness that you will ever”—deep breath—”be reached deep inside.” Khloé Kardashian was said to swear by OM, but its most celebrated champion was Paltrow. Goop was famous for selling jade vaginal eggs and the This Smells Like My Vagina candle—a “funny, gorgeous, sexy, and beautifully unexpected scent,” with “geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with damask rose and ambrette seed”—ran interviews with Daedone. She talked of how, just as there had been a move from processed to whole foods, from mere fitness to yoga, OM had “shifted sex out of the dark, under the covers, from the shameful and often consumptive places where it used to be, and into the light.” Daedone was at the heart of everything—a charismatic figure who could seemingly light up people’s lives with the simple gift of her attention. Some within OneTaste described her as “a God figure.”

S LOW S E X : G RA N D C E N T RA L P U B L I S H I N G ; T H E N E W M A N : YO U T U B E

“The object is to get the man to stop focusing on his own pleasure” In 2016, she came to London to give a talk at OneTaste’s British operation. The author Isabel Losada, who was working on her own book about sexuality, Sensation, had read Daedone’s Slow Sex and been “blown away” by it, so she arranged a meeting. Daedone, she says, was “like a wonderful red setter leaping out of a car. I admired her enormously. She’s elegant, warm, clever and very attentive.” At the first introductory event Losada attended with her partner, Daedone and the female leader of the London group demonstrated the technique. Over the following six months, Losada would attend a number of OneTaste events in London and San Francisco. “I know this sounds strange to many men,” she says. “But you need to bear in mind that lots of women, for whatever reason, haven’t experienced much sexual pleasure in their relationships. What this technique does, because it’s nonpenetrative, it’s not intimidating for women and reintroduces them to the fact that they can experience pleasure

through their body. The object is to get the man to stop focusing on his own pleasure and to really tune in with a woman’s body. And for me personally and many other women I know, it was very helpful.” The suggestion that OneTaste was a cult had been bruited almost since it began, with posts appearing on cult-busting sites alleging it was a moneymaking operation posing as a therapeutic practice. In 2009, a feature in the New York Times called “The Pleasure Principle” talked to former member Elana Auerbach, who described Daedone’s powerful influence on its members and how they came to “exude Nicoleness.” The article quoted Auerbach and her husband, Bill Press, as saying they had left OneTaste to pursue a life

S I Z E M A T T E R S At its peak, OneTaste was reported to be making

$12 million a year and had centers in nine cities around the world.

that was “heart-focused rather than genital-focused.” The couple responded in a letter, stating they had actually left because “we found the environment manipulative, unhealthy, and disempowering,” adding, “we in no way endorse the programs OneTaste offers or encourage anyone to join.” Daedone was sensitive to the cult accusations. At one point, she moved out of the OM house to live with her sometime boyfriend, Reese Jones, a Silicon Valley investor who bankrolled OneTaste in its early years, complaining that “everybody treated me like a guru. I’d wake up, and people would come sit on my bed.” When Losada asked her directly if OneTaste was a cult, Losada says Daedone “just laughed.”

A damning investigation But some people at the heart of the operation could see her missionary zeal transforming into something more extreme. Another early member, who wished to remain anonymous, described her to me as “power-drunk” and a “narcissist” who appeared to want primarily to be “adored and have lifelong disciples.” The cult trappings became ever more pronounced. In 2015, Daedone organized a series of events called Magic (CO N T I N U E D O N PAG E 9 1 )

L A M AG . C O M 8 3

THE HOT LIST » American $$

James Beard Award–nominated chef Jeremy Fox gets personal with a sunny spot dedicated to comfort food and named after his young daughter. The high-low menu is full of playful riffs on comfort food, from a decadent stuffed latke called the Goldbar 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 openair spot overlooking Malibu Lagoon State Beach (and across from a SoulCycle, if we’re being honest). 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 sprinkled with shio kombu (dried kelp) 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 art-directed beach house where everything—from the colors 84 L A M AG.C OM

THE BREAKDOWN WEST

EAST

Includes Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Century City, Culver City, Malibu, Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, Palms, Santa Monica, Venice, West L.A., Westwood

Includes Atwater Village, Eagle Rock, East L.A., Echo Park, Glendale, Los Feliz, Pasadena, San Gabriel Valley, Silver Lake

DOWNTOWN Includes Arts District, Bunker Hill, Chinatown, Historic Core, Little Tokyo, South Park

T H E VA L L E Y Includes Agoura Hills, Burbank, Calabasas, Encino, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Van Nuys

CENTRAL

SOUTH

Includes Beverly Grove, East Hollywood, Fairfax District, Hancock Park, Hollywood, Koreatown, West Hollywood

Includes Bell, Compton, Gardena, Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Torrance, Watts

✤ 2022 Best New Restaurant Winner ❂ Has Outdoor Seating $ $$ $$$ $$$$

I N E X P E N S I V E (Meals under $10) M O D E R A T E (Mostly under $20) E X P E N S I V E (Mostly under $30) V E R Y E X P E N S I V E ($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

on the walls to the curries on the plate—just pops. Grab a date, grab your friends, 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 along with ghost peppers and accompanied by a saucer of habanero vinegar that magically cuts the heat and enhances it at the same time. 2104 Main St., cobis.la, or @cobis.la. Beer and wine.

❂ Colapasta

» Italian $ It’s equally pleasant to grab and go or eat at this quiet, affordable 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 pesto and ricotta is hearty and satisfying. 1241 5th St., 310-310-8336, or colapasta.com. Beer and wine. SANTA MONICA

❂ 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 coffee 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-andmortar spot from one of the city’s most promising young toques. 2724 Main St., crudoenudo.com, or @crudo_e_nudo. Beer and wine.

❂ Dear John’s CULVER CITY » Steak House $$$

There’s 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.

S Y D N E Y YO R K S H I R E

WEST SANTA MONICA

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A CO N S TA N T LY U P DAT ED R O U N D U P O F L . A .’ S M OS T E S S EN T I A L E AT ER I E S

JUNE

❂ Birdie G’s

Petaluma pie at U Street Pizza

❂ Etta

CULVER CITY

» Italian $$$

With a sprawling patio, lengthy 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 topped with rainbow-sprinkled shortbread cookies. 8801 Washington Blvd., 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 rigatoni cacio e pepe—tubes 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 cured pork cheek sings brilliantly alongside Italian country wines. 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd., 424-3878622, or felixla.com. Full bar.

✤ Matū

» Steak $$$ 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, $78 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., matusteak.com. Full Bar.

BEVERLY HILLS

❂ Mírame

BEVERLY HILLS » Mexican $$$ Joshua Gil is cooking exciting, contemporary Mexican fare with market-driven ingredients and serving them on a stunning patio. Dishes are imaginative but not overly contrived—salmonskin chicharrón with fermented garlic aioli; a divine slow-cooked Heritage Farms pork shoulder served with a black-lime gastrique, celtuce, and hearty, richly flavorful frijoles charros cooked with a pig’s head. The latter is available as part of Mírame’s to-go family meal, which includes house-made tortillas; a memorable riff on Caesar salad with pork chicharrón, roasted vegetables and goat cheese; chocolate flan; and an adorable little bottle of margaritas. At just $105 for two people, it’s an amazingly affordable way to sample Gil’s cooking. 419 N. Canon Dr., 310-230-5035, mirame.la. 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 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 a complex lobster, mussel, and clam bisque with shaved fennel and tarragon. 2732 Main St., 424-330-0020, or pasjoli.com. Full bar.

DOWNTOWN ❂ Angry Egret Dinette CHINATOWN » Sandwiches $$

NATALE E T H A I

C U I S I N E

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 macha. 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, 213278-0987, 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, tandoori chicken wings, and a spicy lamb burger. If tradition’s your thing, you’ll be comforted by what they call Good Ol’ Saag Paneer. 108 W. 2nd St., 213-2217466, badmaashla.com. Beer and wine. Also at 418 N. Fairfax Ave., 213-281-5185, Fairfax District.

✤❂ Caboco

ARTS DISTRICT

“The Best of Culver City” 9 Years in a Row - Culver City News

“Readers Choice Award” - LA Times

» 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.

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Venice: 10101 Venice Blvd. | (310) 202-7003 Full Bar | Sushi Bar

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✤❂ 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-and-tumble food that Goin loves—dishes in which she deftly balances salt, fat, and bold flavors with California brightness. A starter of Iberico ham, anchovies, and olives is called “a 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, 213-8061023, or properhotel.com/downtownla. Full bar.

H A L L O F FA M E 1 9 9 6 - 2 0 2 1

❂ 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 newly opened interior bar, La Barra, offers up unique mezcal cocktails. 812 E. 3rd St., 213-548-8487, or chachacha.la. Full bar.

❂ Gamboge

LINCOLN HEIGHTS » Cambodian $ The Cambodian sandwiches known as numpang, which are somewhat similar to Vietnamese banh mi, are the speciality at this charming new deli. Crusty bolillo bread is a vessel for proteins like lemongrass-marinated pork shoulder or grilled

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trumpet mushrooms, along with condiments like Maggi mayo, chili jam, and carrot-and-papaya slaw. The menu is full of delights beyond sandwiches, including rice bowls; a great shredded chicken salad with cabbage, peanuts, and a citrus-and-fish-sauce dressing; and a memorable braised-sardines-andtomato dish. Order food to go, or enjoy it on the sunny, succulent-dotted back patio. 1822 N. Broadway, 323-576-2073, or gambogela.com. Beer and wine.

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. or bicyclettela.com. Full bar.

Brandoni Pepperoni WEST HOLLYWOOD » Pizza $$

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. Soul food in this city is too often associated with Styrofoam containers, but this verdant patio, is a lovely place to linger. Hot sauce splashed onto skillet-fried chicken is pure pleasure, enhanced by a bourbon drink the bar tints with roasted peanuts and huckleberries. Finish the night by taking on a heroic wedge of coconut cake. 5359 W. Adams Blvd., 323-571-4999, or altaadams.com. Full bar.

❂ A.O.C.

✤ Bicyclette

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. 8700 W. 3rd St., 310-859-9859, or aocwinebar.com. Full bar. Also at 11648 San Vicente Blvd., 310-806-6464, Brentwood.

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, Spanish octopus—in exciting combinations. A curry-Dijonnaise dressing renders a side salad surprisingly memorable. 5881 Saturn St., 323-306-4968, or brandoni-pepperoni.com. Wine to go.

❂ 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 offer. 904. N. Sycamore Ave., 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 étouffée 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 (who earned extensive national acclaim at Freedman’s) and Will Aghajanian (formerly the chef de cuisine at Vespertine) 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 restaurant exudes vintage Hollywood glamour. The mostly European-inspired menu is rooted in both classic technique and freespirited 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.

Lalibela

» Ethiopian $-$$ The strip of Fairfax known as Little Ethiopia has long been dominated by the same handful of restaurants. Chef-owner Tenagne Belachew worked in a few of them before opening her own sophisticated haven, which invites with the swirling aromas of berbere and burning sage. Stretchy disks of injera—the sour, teff-flour pancake that doubles as a utensil for scooping up food by hand—arrive piled with uniquely pungent delights. There are wots, or stews, made with chicken or spiced legumes or lamb sautéed in a creamy sauce. 1025 S. Fairfax Ave., 323-965-1025, or lalibelala.com. Beer and wine. FAIRFAX DISTRICT

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Luv2Eat Thai Bistro HOLLYWOOD » Thai $$

Vibrant flavors and spices abound at this strip-mall 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.

❂ Ronan

FAIRFAX DISTRICT » Cal-Italian $$ At Daniel and Caitlin Cutler’s chic pizzeria, the pies—especially the How ‘Nduja Like 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 effortless 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

» 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 Friday and

WEST HOLLYWOOD

Saturdays. Starters include various jamones and spicy paella bites. Further down the menu, there’s 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 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 hot catfish 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.

❂ Bar Restaurant SILVER LAKE » French $$$

Chef Douglas Rankin, who worked under Ludo Lefebvre for years, struck out on his own with this charming “neo bistro” in the old Malo space in Sunset Junction. The menu features playful

Gallic-ish fare, like curly fries and plump mussels Dijon atop milk toast; classic cocktails; and plenty of funky wines available by the glass. A large parking-lot seating area has huge plants, twinkling lights, and good vibes. Somehow it manages to feel both festive and safe. 4326 W. Sunset Blvd. or 323-3475557. Full bar.

❂ 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, grilled Broccolini is dusted with furikake. 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 must-order, and a bisque sauce takes the basic lobster roll to new heights. Interesting, affordable 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.

❂ Playita

Eclectic regular specials like haute corn dogs add to the fun. 5916 ½ N. Figueroa St., 323-545-3536, or hipporestaurant.com. Full bar.

SILVER LAKE

✤ 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-andmortar 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-peaflower noodles and a sauce powered by innards and roe. 771 N. Virgil Ave. 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 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-filled pork verde sausage. 2118 N. Broadway, mooscraftbarbecue.com, or @mooscraftbarbecue. Beer and wine.

Northern Thai Food Club EAST HOLLYWOOD » Thai $

Offering specialty dishes unique to northern Thailand, this family-run favorite doesn’t skimp on flavor, 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 fish). 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., 323-4747212, or amphainorthernthaifood.com.

» 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., 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 jamon iberico crudite, 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 high-end 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 garlicginger 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 offers 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 lechón kawali. The dishes, which can be ordered at the counter to enjoy on the patio or for takeout and delivery, elegantly 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 affordable 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 in the spring 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.

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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 the buxom ricotta gnudi with brown butter and pistachios. The deep-fried fluffernutter sandwich is a reminder that food, like life, should not be taken too seriously. 11915 Ventura Blvd., 818-4462533, 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 Riverside Dr., 818-588-3693, hanksbagels.com, or @hanksbagels. Also at 13545 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

Tel Aviv Authentic Chef Kitchen ENCINO » Middle Eastern $

Deeply comforting Israeli beef stews and merguez come with a colorful and tasty array of salads showcasing produce like red cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, and pumpkin. The spicy sauces that come on the side work well with anyand everything. 17630 Ventura Blvd., 747-444-7001, or telavivkoshergrill.com.

SOUTH ❂ Ali’i Fish Company EL SEGUNDO » Seafood $$

This small, unassuming spot shames all of 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. Perfect for picking up a beach picnic. 409 E. Grand Ave., 310-616-3484, or aliifishco.com.

❂ Fishing With Dynamite MANHATTAN BEACH » Seafood $$$

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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., 310-8936299, or eatfwd.com. Full bar.

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Hotville

» Fried chicken $ With her hot chicken joint, Kim Prince is doing her family’s legacy justice—she’s the niece of André Prince Jeffries, 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. BALDWIN HILLS CRENSHAW

❂ Little Coyote LONG BEACH » Pizza $

I could eat this every day. It’s creamy and crisp and umami: everything you want in a Caesar salad but turned up to 11.

$3.75, 1521 Griffith Park Blvd., Silver Lake, 323-668-1128..

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 puff. The concise menu doesn’t offer 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.

Mango Sticky Rice

❂ Tamales Elena Y Antojitos BELL GARDENS » Afro-Mexican $

$13, 1356 Allison Ave., Echo Park, hello@ tsubakila.com.

You really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu here, but I’ve been dreaming of the mango sticky rice since I first had it months ago.

Japanese “Caesar” Salad TSUBAKI

Lotus Root Salad C O U R T E S Y B O TA N I C A

PINE & CR ANE

This side dish packs a crunchy, spicy punch. It’s not always available at P&C—if you can’t find it there,

check its sister restaurant, Joy, in Highland Park.

ANAJAK THAI

$12, 14704 Ventura, Blvd., Sherman Oaks, anajakthai.com. — H E AT H E R P L AT T

This small spot, with counter service, a drivethrough window, and a patio purports to be the only Afro-Mexican restaurant in the area. It focuses on a distinct cuisine from a part of Guerrero to which former slaves fled. Pozoles are rich and slightly thick, and the memorable pork tamales with red sauce are wrapped in fire-tinged banana leaves that impart a hint of smoke. 81801 Garfield Ave., 562-0674-3043, ordertamaleselenayantojitos.com, or @tamaleselenayantojitos. WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS. PLEASE EMAIL US AT LETTERS@LAMAG.COM L A M AG.C OM 89

The Problem with Pools CO N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 7 7

The problems with residential sales, he went on to explain, mostly involve scale and shipping. AWTT’s orders usually contain hundreds of thousands of units, even millions. They lose money on small lots. Plus, with shipping, I’d end up paying twice the amount for delivery as I’d pay for the Rhombos themselves. They hadn’t sold to a residential customer since before 2018, Infante said. One concern keeping the Rhombos out of the home market, aside from the usual questions of liability, was bad publicity: a snide/humorous viral video on YouTube, made by a guy who overfilled a swimming pool with 10,000 shade balls (purchased from a different company) and then tried to swim in them, with results that put one in mind of the revived Jackass. So far, there have been 27 million views. Company-wide, the feeling seemed to be: Who needs this crap? “On the brighter side,” Infante wrote in closing, “we have been in discussions with local distributors who might be willing to purchase from us in volume.” Sensing this tiny crack of daylight, I pressed—leaning heavily on the notion that the company had a duty to humanity to make their product available to the masses . . . starting with me. A few days later, I received an email. “Hello, Mike: Thank you for your patience. I have received authorization from Matt to proceed with your quote.”

I WAS N OT E X P EC T I N G a French

accent. Matthieu Alirol, 41, is the president of AWTT and the inventor of the Rhombos. Raised in France, he received his master’s degree in polymer

9 0 L A M AG . C O M

engineering from the University of Southern Mississippi. Early on, he decided to focus his attention on water. Business brought him face to face with the balls for the first time. Though used all over the world, solar balls, even when weighted, tend to stack or roll in high winds. Arcane as it is to most of us, it is a problem that Alirol was trained to solve. In 2007, he began developing what would become—after much playing around with plastic shapes in kiddie pools—the company’s line of products. “I was looking for geometry that would float, would not stack, and where each element would connect to each other and create a perfect cover with zero gap in it,” he says. Since incorporating in 2010, AWTT has supplied its segmented pool covers all over the world. Alirol says the company ships 1.5 million to 2 million square feet of them per year. Locally, you can find 7.5 million square feet of its top-of-the-line Rhombo Hexoshield 66 covering the Citrus Reservoir near the Redlands airport in San Bernadino. The Rhombos are four inches in diameter, with 12 rhomboid sides. When empty, each weighs 66 grams (about the weight of a C battery). When filled with water—which helps stabilize them in windy conditions—each is 266 grams, about half a pound. The Rhombos are molded of high-density polyethylene, the same thermoplastic polymer widely used for plastic bottles, milk jugs, cutting boards, and plumbing and irrigation pipe. To prevent the sun’s ultraviolet light from degrading the plastic, carbon is added to the molecular structure, giving the Rhombos a fashionable graphite color and a 20-year minimum life. The website promises a decrease in evaporation of “up to 99 percent.” Alirol tells me: “If you have to refill once in the entire summer, I’d be surprised.”

T H E R H O M B O S C O S T me about $1,000. Shipping from the factory in Tijuana, across the border, 29 miles away from my house, cost $1,200. This is one reason AWTT doesn’t usually sell to homeowners; whether shipping one or 26 pallets, the fee to cross the border is the same per load.

In any case, my Rhombos were finally here—three huge blue industrial bags, six feet tall, each secured to its own 4-by-4-foot pallet. By the grace of God, someone had made a mistake and sent me the non-water-filled Rhombos. Without the water, the balls are 2,000 pounds lighter. Now, instead of needing an entire crew with buckets to hump them down from the street to the pool (or perhaps lifted by crane?), I could get by with two guys and gardenvariety trash cans. Six weeks later, I stand in the golden light of the California sunset, observing my Rhombos at work. It seemed kind of crazy at first— 3,880 rhomboids floating in my pool—but actually, in situ, their graphite color beautifully compliments the color of the gunite, which has always mirrored the color of the ocean, a half mile distant as the seagull flies. In this time, I have grown fond of my Rhombos. They strike me as oddly beautiful, bringing to mind a sculptural installation, a study in shapes and kinetics, a harmonious melding of form and content. Given the 90 percent coverage—the extra room left for ease of cleaning and occasional dips—the Rhombos are in constant motion, floating around the confines of the pool, pushed in changing directions by the shifting breeze. Some Rhombos travel alone, others in pairs or triplets; others are rafted up like so many sailboats tied together at happy hour. As the day goes by, the Rhombos drift and kiss, giving off a plastic-y tinkle, a faint, musical note reminiscent of a wind chime. They combine and recombine into shifting rows and patterns, the multifaceted rhomboid faces angling off in different directions as the sun makes its way across the sky. Equally artful is my new water bill. As of this writing, in mid-April, in this record-setting dry season, I have yet to add even one drop of water to the pool. One year ago, during this payment period, I used 10,472 gallons of water; this time, I used 8,228. My neighborhood average is 28,993. If my math is correct, that’s a 24 percent decrease in my water usage. Watching the Rhombos play around the pool, the sun dropping behind the horizon, I feel the weight of my sins at last beginning to leave my shoulders.

Inside Hollywood’s Orgasm Cult CO N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 75

School, naming a handful of the inner circle as “priests and priestesses of orgasm.” Buddhist teachings hold that the future Buddha will be called Maitreya. Daedone told the group that Maitreya would not be a person—it would be the OneTaste community, who would “heal the world” through orgasm. By 2017, OneTaste had become a flourishing business. The company had some 150 staff members, including salespeople, promoting a variety of different courses such as retreats and coaching programs costing up to $60,000 a year. The Nicole Daedone Intensive, offering personal instruction in stroking by Daedone herself, cost up to $36,000. But that year, Daedone stepped down as CEO of OneTaste, ostensibly to work on a book, selling her stake in the company to three OneTaste members. The following year, Bloomberg Businessweek published an investigation in which former members described how sales staff, working on commission, sometimes seven days a week, would spend hours calling people who had attended one OneTaste event, pressuring them to sign up for the next, more expensive class. Potential customers, it was alleged, were referred to as “marks”— the grifter’s term for targets. The sales staff were “lions” or “fluffers”—a pornindustry term. “You fluff someone to get them energetically and emotionally hard,” one former salesperson told Bloomberg. “You were the dangled bait, like, ‘You can have more of this if you buy this.’ ” Potential customers were told

that money was just “an emotional obstacle” and urged to take out multiple credit cards to pay for courses. Some talked of racking up debt of up to $150,000. The Bloomberg investigation also revealed that, in 2015, OneTaste had paid a $325,000 out-of-court settlement to a former staff member who said that she had been ordered to sleep with prospective male customers and suffered sexual assault and harassment, as well as other labor violations while on the job. OneTaste replied that the settlement was confidential but that it had never required any employee to engage in a sexual act. The company said that it no longer organized group OMs or leased communal homes in its own name. Once an “edgy lifestyle community,” it was now “a legitimate business.”

New Allegations of Abusive Practices A BBC Radio 4 podcast, The Orgasm Cult, launched in November 2020, brought further allegations of sales staff being coerced into having sex with wealthy men to entice them to take courses, including one allegation of a young woman being forced into having sex with multiple partners. A woman in “full power,” it was allegedly said, should be able to have sex with anyone “because the orgasm is so strong that it alchemizes everything.” OMing and sleeping with strangers could even “heal” childhood trauma—“blowing your lines clean.” “Nicole was training us to see the world the way that she does,” one former staff member told Nastaran Tavakoli-Far, the presenter of the podcast. “In her eyes, there’s no difference between pleasure and pain; there’s no such thing as good and no such thing as evil. It’s all just orgasm. It’s all just God. She truly does not believe that she’s done any harm because she does not see harm.” Responding to the BBC program, a lawyer for OneTaste said, “All allegations of abusive practices are completely false. OneTaste is an organization that helped individuals to increase health, happiness, and connection through methods combining

mindfulness and sexuality.” In October 2018, a few months after the Bloomberg exposé was published, OneTaste announced it was closing all of its U.S. offices and had stopped offering in-person courses and retreats, saying instead it would be focusing on online education to reach a wider audience. But the OneTaste website no longer exists. In its place, there is now a new organization, called the Institute of OM, set up by former OneTaste members, which describes itself as “an education company dedicated to helping people increase health, happiness, and connection through Orgasmic Meditation (OM).” The website includes links to Daedone’s TEDx talk and her book, Slow Sex; endorsements from satisfied customers—“OM cured me of suicidal depression”; and a primer on OMing theory, practice, and etiquette (“Once the strokee is in the nest, stroker mindfully enters nest by stepping over and across strokee with their left foot and sits down next to the strokee . . . ). Anjuli Ayer, formerly one of the owners of OneTaste, was listed on the Institute of OM’s website as the organization’s CEO. Joanna Van Vleck, who was formerly the CEO at OneTaste and who once described it as “the Whole Foods of sexuality,” is listed on her LinkedIn profile as its “director of reach.” Attempts were made to reach Van Vleck and Ayer, but the Institute of OM did not respond to numerous email requests. And Nicole Daedone? Despite all the controversy, she now seems to be doing OK. In the last few years, she’s purchased several pricey properties in California, including a bungalow with an open floor plan in Venice. Still, in April, she filed a libel suit against the BBC, complaining that the broadcaster had described OneTaste as a “destructive sex cult.” But the cult of orgasm she founded continues to thrive. “Learn to OM for free,” reads an offer on the IOM website. “Get started in your own home with our official guide to orgasmic meditation.” A version of this story originally appeared in The Daily Telegraph. ©Mick Brown/Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021. L A M AG . C O M 9 1

EMAIL YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS ABOUT L.A. TO ASKCHRIS@LAMAG.COM

Have any famous actors ever run for office in Los Angeles? and I have energy and it’s L.A.,” Mosier says. They’re more set it and forget it.” Mosier hopes to expand mom and dad’s other no-carne creation, Café Gratitude, nationwide.

Every mayor of L.A. for the last century has an IMDb page, and Betty White and Walter Matthau were both named honorary mayors. Still, more actors wanted to run for office but couldn’t: Before Ronald Reagan repealed it in 1987, the Fairness Doctrine forced stations to give free airtime to the opponent of anyone already on TV. So KCOP aired only non-Sulu episodes of Star Trek when George Takei ran for city council in 1973. “There are a couple of episodes where I go crazy,” Takei said. “If [my opponent] wants to go on TV and do that, he’s welcome.” After 1987, the 2003 California governor’s race was star-studded, with Gary Coleman, comedian Gallagher, Angelyne, and porn star Mary Carey running against Arnold Schwarzenegger. Q: Is that famous vegan Mexican restaurant in WeHo, Gracias Madre, related to the one in San Francisco? A: Both sprouted from the same plant-based family tree, but the 9 2 L A M AG . C O M

owners of the Bay Area original have turned their attention to agriculture, while the L.A. operation is run by their kids. “My parents are in their seventies,” co-owner Cary Mosier says.

“They’re gentleman farmers.” The Southern California restaurant is larger and fancier, creating unique dishes like hearts-of-palm crab cakes and Coconut Chicharrón. “I’m 38

Where the Bagel Began A HISTORY OF THE JEWISH DELI AT THE SKIRBAL ● The Buck Benny,

G E O R G E TA K E I : CO U R T E SY JA PA N E S E A M E R I C A N N AT I O N A L M U S E U M ; D E L I S I G N : CO U R T E SY VA L L E Y R E L I C S M U S E U M

ENTERPRISE

Star Trek actor George Takei lost his run for L.A. city council in 1973 by 1,675 votes. Later, he was appointed to the Southern California Rapid Transit District board.

Q: What are those metal-andconcrete boxes in the middle of the Arroyo Seco riverbed? A: The Arroyo Seco (or “dry creek”) is kept extra seco by a big underdrain system that prevents groundwater from crashing through the concrete riverbed. Fast-moving water could wash away the paving and leave a soft bottom friendly to trees and animals, but it was deadly floods in the 1930s that got it paved in the first place, and there’s no telling when those will hit again. Pasadena assistant city engineer Brent Maue tells me those cigar box-shaped protrusions act as “a pressure release valve,” like a pipe that reroutes the natural stream safely to the surface where it finds its way to the L.A. River and eventually Long Beach harbor.

CHRIS’S PICK

the Fisherman’s Folly, the Bronx Special. How I always marveled at the delicacies on the giant menu at Canter’s as a kid. That tome, along with a peach waitress uniform, a vintage cash register, and even the old cigarette machine from the Fairfax institution’s Kibitz Room are currently on display at “I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli, at the Skirball Center through September 4. The exhibit traces the journey of kugel, rugelach, and pickle purveyors from Europe to New York in the nineteenth century, and the midcentury deli mania that brought us longgone L.A. favorites Junior’s, Billy’s, and Drexler’s, as well as the new wave of artisanal delis serving up everything from horseradish micheladas to chicken-fried shawarma.

VOLUME 67, NUMBER 6. 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 © 2022 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.

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