Los Angeles magazine - September 2021

DAVID GEFFEN’S IVY LEAGUE DRAMA

CRASH OF A COVID CON MAN EXCLUSIVE

UTLA’S CONTROVERSIAL CRUSADE TO REMAKE THE CITY’S SCHOOLS

BY JASON MCGAHAN

BY BENJAMIN SVETKEY

$5.95 SEPTEMBER 2021 L A M AG .CO M

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FALL FASHION

NINE OF HOLLYWOOD’S COOLEST NEW STARS SHOW OFF THE SEASON’S HOTTEST NEW LOOKS

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SEPTEMBER 2021

C RU Z C ON T ROL

Features 46

The Covid Con Man Early in the pandemic, a celebrity-obsessed credit fixer and D-list actor named Keith Middlebrook allegedly sought to raise millions for a bogus COVID vaccine. But when one of his “investors” turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, the curtain came down on his act.

70

The Equalizer Ambitious, audacious, and uncompromising, Cecily MyartCruz, who heads up L.A.’s teachers’ union, is on a crusade to remake education as we know it. But critics blast her as a divisive demagogue whose gamesmanship during the pandemic has taken a tragic toll on the kids she claims to fight for.

BY JASON MCGAHAN

BY MAX KUTNER

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A new gray pride movement is taking shape (thanks to geriactivists like Paulina Porizkova) as high-mileage grown-ups flex their economic and political muscle like never before. So why do Hollywood, the media, and Madison Avenue still obsessively cater to the young?

Lights, camera, fashion!

Nine of Hollywood’s freshest stars show off the season’s hottest new looks.

Gray Power!

BY BENJAMIN SVETKEY

6 L A M AG . C O M

Legends of the Fall

B Y H A R R I S O N WA L K E R

The combative leader of the L.A. teachers’ union has some parents seeing red.

Buzz

SEPTEMBER 2021

SPEAK TO MY ATTORNEY, “UNCLE ARDY”

» L.A. is awash in increasingly bizarre billboards touting personal injury attorneys. But for all the ambulance-chasing hype, they may actually serve a higher civic purpose.

BY ANDY LEWIS PAGE 15

THE BRIEF

» David Geffen makes the Yale drama school tuitionfree, but for a price; millionaire Peter Nygard may have assaulted scores of women, but his friends in Marina Del Rey miss his parties; Prince Harry hires L.A. Times alum J. R. Moehringer to write his memoir; New York Times editor Dean Baquet’s Los Angeles idyll.

PAGE 18

Ask Chris » Did the Griffith Park merry-go-ground close for good? What’s the biggest 9/11 memorial in L.A.?

Is there a school built on sacred indian land? Our resident historian answers all your burning questions.

BY CHRIS NICHOLS PAGE 104

Fall Preview

» Simu Liu is ready for Marvel stardom; what Ryan Murphy’s

Impeachment means for democracy; the République team brings Paris to Pico; fab new boutiques leading L.A.’s retail recovery; and dozens of more things to do, see, eat, and shop this season P H O T O G R A P H E D B Y WAY N E N AT H A N

8 L A M AG . C O M

ON THE COVER Paulina Porizkova photograph by Jill Greenberg.

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Editor’s Note

BY MAER ROSHAN

R E M E M B E R W H AT L I F E here was like this time last year? All of Los Angeles was masking up, sending kids to virtual school for distance learning, and navigating the stultifying perils of Zooming from home. For a brief moment last spring, as COVID receded and plague-weary revelers packed into bars and restaurants, our long national nightmare seemed to be over. “Welcome to the Roaring 20s!” cheered the L.A. Times. But it turns out the celebration was a bit premature.

Today, while 72 percent of the county’s adult population has had at least one dose of the vaccine, the Delta variant is circling the city like a great white shark, threatening to take yet another big bite out of normal life in L.A. Once again, masks are everywhere, office reopenings are on hold, and nobody knows where their kids will be spending the fall semester. In fact, as Jason McGahan reports in his profile of Cecily Myart-Cruz—the usually press-shy, always 1 2 L A M AG . C O M

“And while we’re on the subject of clothing, that’s Paulina Porizkova posing naked on the cover . . . but she’s doing it for a very good cause.”

contentious head of L.A.’s teachers’ union— there’s a possibility they’ll be stuck back on Zoom for at least part of the school year, despite the angry parent protests that have sprouted up regularly outside her UTLA headquarters. “Education,” she ominously tells Los Angeles, “is political. People don’t want to say that, but it is.”

One big change from last year, of course, is that we now have the tools to beat back the pandemic. But before Moderna and Pfizer and J. & J. arrived on the scene, at least one L.A. huckster was promising a miracle vaccine of his own. Alleged snake oil salesman Keith Middlebrook was seeking investors for a phony serum that he still claims eradicates COVID-19. “I think omniscient,” he says, by way of explaining his bogus breakthrough to Max Kutner in an exclusive exposé, “I think limitless. I think on a different scale.” At the moment, he’s awaiting trial in federal court.

Of course, there’s also plenty to celebrate about L.A. this month. After a year and a half of hanging out at home, Angelenos are finally venturing out again, with a plethora of new shops and restaurants popping up, new movies and TV to screen and stream (check out our Fall Preview), and, of course, a whole flock of freshly minted stars enjoying their first successes. We dressed a bunch of them in the hottest new styles of the season for this year’s fall fashion feature.

And while we’re on the subject of clothing, that’s former supermodel Paulina Porizkova posing naked on the cover . . . but at least she’s doing it for a good cause. The 56-year-old Czech fashion icon is hoping to draw attention to a new Gray Power movement that’s been taking shape in recent months (born, in part, on her own Instagram account), demanding that Hollywood and Madison Avenue start treating people over 50 with the respect and dignity that they deserve. As Benjamin Svetkey writes in the cover story, “There is a massive and growing population of older Americans with oceans of free time sitting on a mountain range of disposable income, waiting for the consumer culture to notice one glaringly obvious fact of economic life: gray is the new black.”

So maybe life isn’t what we expected it would be this time last year. The twenties are not roaring just yet. But thumb through these pages, and I think you’ll agree that there’s still a lot to be excited about.

Maer Roshan, Editor-in-Chief P H O T O G R A P H E D BY J I L L G R E E N B E R G

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51531_LA Magazine September – Trim Size: 8” x 10.5” – Insertion: 08/16/2021

09.21

Speak to My Attorney, “Uncle Ardy”

L.A. IS AWASH IN INCREASINGLY BIZARRE BILLBOARDS TOUTING PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEYS. BUT FOR ALL THE AMBULANCE-CHASING HYPE, THEY MAY ACTUALLY SERVE A HIGHER CIVIC PURPOSE B Y A N DY L E W I S

I L LU S T R AT I O N BY JA S O N R A I S H

L A M AG . C O M 15

BUZZ

L AW Y E R S

H O W D O Y O U F I N D A L AW Y E R

in Los Angeles? You could try asking a trusted friend for a recommendation. Or you could simply drive along Wilshire Boulevard, where so many personal injury lawyers now hawk their services with outrageous, eye-catching billboards, it’s a miracle that the Miracle Mile isn’t gridlocked by fender benders.

“WE DIDN’T MEET BY ACCIDENT,” blares one for the Pirnia Law Group, featuring a goateed hipster in sunglasses who looks more like an extra out of Reservoir Dogs than an attorney.

(In case anyone misses the Hollywood allusion, there’s another billboard that proclaims the firm is like “ ‘ENTOURAGE’ MEETS ‘SUITS’ ”). Yet another references last fall’s Bernie Sanders meme, with Sanders bundled in a parka (“DON’T GET BERNED BY INSURANCE COMPANIES”). Then there’s the one from an employment attorney that inquires, “HOSTILE BOSS? ” over a background of what looks like blood spatter. Who are these attorneys channeling Better Call Saul’s Saul Goodman? Ladies and gentleman of the jury, we present: Sweet James, Esq. and Uncle Ardy, Esq. “Some advertising that you see for lawyers does make you scratch your head,” notes law professor Adam Winkler, who teaches legal ethics and constitutional law at UCLA. “It probably hasn’t done a lot to help the image of the bar.”

Up until about 45 years ago, it was actually illegal for lawyers to advertise. But in the early 1970s, two UCLA law graduates, Leonard Jacoby and Stephen Meyers, dared to hold an open house in a Van Nuys strip mall for their new personal injury firm. The event drew so much media attention that the California bar attempted to sanction them, arguing that the publicity was an end run around

B E T T E R C A L L JAC OB

Above: Emrani, with his family at Staples Center, parlayed a billboard campaign to recruit LeBron James into serving as the team’s “official” personal injury attorney. Below: One of Pirnia’s ubiquitous outdoor ads depicting him as a Tarantino-like character.

the law. Naturally, Jacoby and Meyers took the case to court—the California Supreme Court—which ruled that preventing lawyers from promoting themselves in interviews violated their First Amendment rights. In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court threw the gates open even further, affirming in a separate case that lawyers had as much right to advertise as any other business. Back in L.A, Jacoby and Meyers celebrated that ruling by running their very first TV commercial.

That first ad (offering a consultation for just $20) was a white-shoe affair compared with the histrionics of to-

“I told my artwork guy, ‘Give me a billboard that looks like Pulp Fiction meets Ray Donovan meets Reservoir Dogs.’ ” 16 L A M AG . C O M

T H I S PAG E : @ U N C L E . A R DY; @ H E I D I A N D F R A N KS H OW. O P P OS I T E PAG E , F R O M TO P : A L L E N B E R E ZOVS KY/G E T T Y; @JACO B E M R A N I ; @ U N C L E . A R DY

day’s. L.A. attorney James Bergner— erated scads of free press for his firm. the aforementioned Sweet James— When James ultimately did sign, hired tough-guy actor Danny Trejo to Emrani was rewarded by becoming shoot an ad for his firm. “When the the team’s “official” personal injury boogey man goes to sleep at night, he lawyer, triggering a race among law checks under his bed for me,” a shirtfirms to align with the city’s sports less Trejo sneered into the camera franchises–Jacoby and Meyers landwhile cracking his knuckles. “But if I ed the Dodgers, Sweet James got the get into an accident, I’m calling the Clippers, Pirnia just signed with the boss—James Bergner.” Since then, Chargers. “the boss” has plastered his image At these mid-sized local firms, the on billboards and bus stops all over person on the billboards is actually L.A. and can be found on social mea person in the office. While Len Jadia strumming an Eddie Van Halencoby is still affiliated with the L.A. ofsigned guitar, at the track on his cusfice of Jacoby and Meyers, Irvine attom motorcycle, or posing with his torney Steven Mehr bought the right wife, Noella Bergner, a former model to use the name elsewhere in Califorwho, as it happens, was just cast as a nia, leading to confusion and bad PR regular on next season’s Real Housewhen Mehr was recently indicted for wives of Orange County. an illegal client-referral scheme. Still Personal injury attorney Ardy Pirother national partnerships like Sonia—the Beverly Hills-born Iranian kolove and Goldwater function less American who calls himself Uncle like law firms than ad houses with Ardy—portrays himself on his billlegal-referral services. boards as a problem-solving memPersonal injury lawyers measure ber of the family. “I’m your uncle success by money won, and their in the sense that if anything hapwebsites and social media are plaspens to you, whether it’s an accitered with aggregate (over $100 mildent, whether you have baby-mama lion lifetime for Pirnia), ongoing ($12 drama, whether you have a business million in June, boasts Bergner), and dispute, the first person you think individual ($6 million for an auto acof is [me],” he tells Los Angeles. Pircident for Emrani) totals. Pirnia says nia fine-tuned the demographics of the billboards are much more effihis billboard campaign so that he’s cient than outsourcing marketing Tio Ardy (Spanish) in the Inland Emto companies that charge $15,000 a S E E YO U I N C O U RT pire and Amoo Ardy (Farsi) in Westmonth for things like a 1-800-lawFrom top: Pirnia uses his “Uncle Ardy” alter ego wood. Before Pirnia started advertyer number. “I can’t point to one billto attract potential clients. Bergner (aka “Sweet sing, every time he saw a personal board and say, ‘Hey, this necessarJames”) cohosts a radio program where he answers listeners’ law-related inquiries for free. injury lawyer’s billboard, he “wantily got me this client,’ ” he concedes. ed to throw up,” he says. “Who sees “The main objective of the billboards a billboard that says, ‘Injured? Call me’ and thinks, ‘That’s was to brand.” He thinks the ads buy a young lawyer like my guy’ ?” As for his goatee-and-sunglasses persona, Pirnia himself credibility with potential clients, who, he says, decops to being a big Tarantino and Liev Schreiber fan. “I told duce, “There’s no way this guy’s putting up these billboards my artwork guy there were three movies I love: Give me a if he isn’t good at what he does.” Bergner spends $10 milbillboard that looks like Pulp Fiction meets Ray Donovan lion a year on promotional activities, according to a 2020 meets Reservoir Dogs.” lawsuit. That’s an awful lot of dough to invest in what some The OG of eye-popping lawyer billboards is arguably Jasee as glorified ambulance chasing. cob Emrani, whose “Call Jacob” ads have made him almost As tacky as these roadside distractions may seem, there as big a local celebrity as Angelyne. “We take it as a comis a positive civic upside, at least according to UCLA’s Winpliment that other attorneys are following our marketing,” kler. “They play a very important role in the delivery of leEmrani says. Perhaps his most notorious pitch was delibergal services to people of ordinary means, who don’t have ately hung upside down with the advisory, “One call to the access to law-firm culture, who don’t have lawyers in their billboard company to flip our board right side up, one call families,” he says. “They say, ‘We are ordinary people—peoto Jacob can do the same for you!” Emrani says, “Even upple of color, first-generation immigrants, people who speak side down you can still read ‘Call Jacob.’ ” another language, and who can provide you good-quality Another Emrani classic: his 2018 billboard imploring legal services in a legal system that wasn’t built for you.’ I NBA star LeBron James to sign with the Lakers, which genthink that’s very important.”

L A M AG . C O M 17

The Brief N E WS & N OT E S F R O M A L L OV E R

DAVID GEFFEN STIRS UP DRAMA AT YALE THE HOLLYWOOD MOGUL HAS PUT HIS NAME ON EVERYTHING FROM MEDICAL FACILITIES TO COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSES. BUT RECHRISTENING MERYL STREEP’S ALMA MATER MAY HAVE BEEN A BRIDGE TOO FAR B Y K A L I H AY S

DAVID GEFFEN’S

generous $150 million donation to the Yale School of Drama—now officially renamed the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale— isn’t exactly wowing the critics. Despite the fact that Geffen’s cash will for the first time make the 97-year-old Connecticut institution tuition-free for all students, there’s been a fairly universal chorus of raspberries over its rechristening. After all, this is the world-renowned campus where Meryl Streep (inset), Paul Newman, and Angela Bassett all learned to act. The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale? Seriously?

“I’m not mad about underwriting scholarships,” tweeted Baltimore Center Stage creative director 18 L A M AG . C O M

(and Yale alum) Stephanie Ybarra, who sees Geffen’s

infiltration as nothing less than cultural appropriation. “[But] renaming the school is erasure . . . full stop.” Charles McNulty, theater critic for the Los Angeles Times, griped that the Geffen-funded scholarships are likely to “overwhelmingly favor middle-class white students,” noting that “low-income students already pay no tuition.”

Of course, this is hardly the first time a wealthy patron has traded boatloads of money for name recognition, and it’s far from the first time for Geffen, who has slapped his moniker on such venerable L.A. institutions as the UCLA School of Medicine, LACMA, and the Westwood Playhouse. But typically a hall, dorm, or theater gets

THE JEFFREY EPSTEIN OF MARINA DEL REY VA N I T Y FA I R once called

him the “Hugh Hefner of down-market retail.” But turns out he’s more like the Jeffrey Epstein of Marina del Rey, at least according to his alleged victims.

Peter Nygard was indicted in December on federal charges that included “sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud or coercion.” A bevy of lawsuits filed against the VO L L E Y B A L L V I P E R

Nygard’s neighbors remember his parties fondly, even after he was indicted for sex-trafficking.

Finnish-born, Manitobaraised Nygard go even further, accusing the 80-year-old self-made clothing mogul—worth some $877 million, according to Forbes—of sexually assaulting more than 50 women (some as young as 14). The majority of the alleged crimes are said to have taken place in either Nygard’s pleasure dome in the Bahamas or here in L.A. in his Marina pied-à-terre, a three-story compound on Yawl Street, steps from the sand.

Over the years, the house has been the site of countless debauched fetes. There were poker nights into the wee hours (after guests signed nondisclosure agreements) as well as infamous “pamper parties,” where attendees were offered massages, manicures, and plenty of booze. According to civil and criminal complaints, the parties also served as a stalking ground for Nygard, who instructed employees to cherry-pick women for him. They were allegedly enticed upstairs with promises of a job or a modeling career. Some were drugged and raped by Nygard and, according to

A L L P H OTO S : G E T T Y I M AG E S ; E XC E P T FO R TO P : @ G E F F E N YA L E

W H AT ’S I N A NA M E ?

Geffen gave enough money to make the Yale drama school tuition-free, but for a price.

the donor name, not an entire department of an Ivy League school. The good news, according to Teddy Schleifer, a journalist who specializes in how billionaires spend their money, is that this old-school practice is slowly petering out.

Younger billionaires, he tells Los Angeles, “bristle at that sort of showmanship,” seeing it as “a discredited throwback to the legacy-building of the Carnegies and the Fords.”

Apparently, Geffen, 78, who seems to be ramping up his giving lately, didn’t get the memo.

NUMBER OF UKULELES GUITAR CENTER SOLD IN THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2021, AN INCREASE OF 15 PERCENT OVER THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR. THE MUCH-MALIGNED INSTRUMENT IS ENJOYING A POST-PANDEMIC BOOM DRIVEN BY MILLENNIAL WOMEN AND TIKTOK USERS.

a class action lawsuit filed last April, asked to perform scatological acts too disgusting to mention here.

Today, Nygard sits in a Canadian jail cell, awaiting extradition to the U.S. As for the house in Marina del Rey, some of Nygard’s old pals are still partying there, though the federal government recently filed papers indicating plans to seize the property. “I was playing volleyball in front of the house a few days ago,” says Danny Fitzgerald, a developer and frequent guest at Nygard’s parties. “All the same people were talking.

We miss Peter. We miss the food. Life was a party when he was around.”

—HILLEL ARON

THE GHOSTWRITER OF PRINCE’S PAST “ I A M W R I T I N G this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become,” Prince Harry announced in

the typing himself. Harry retained a ghostwriter, J. R. Moehringer, 56, a Pulitzer Prize-winning L.A. Times alum, to put actual words to paper. And he’s reportedly paying Moehringer a whopping $1 million for the job, or about 5 percent of the $20 million Harry is said to be taking in for the project (chicken feed compared with the $100 million Netflix recently paid Harry for a production deal). Is Moehringer actually worth it? Possibly. He’s already ghostwritten best-sellers for the likes of Andre Agassi and Nike founder Phil Knight while his own bestselling memoir, The Tender Bar, is being made into a movie by George Clooney (rumored to have helped arrange Moehringer’s introduction to Harry).

Neither the author nor the prince could be reached for comment. But in the past, Moehringer has offered some insight into how he picks his subjects.

“Choosing a book is like choosing a mate,” he’s said.

“We want to think there is a choice, but something else is at work. And if not fate, it’s something for which we don’t have a word.” — K . H .

BREAKING: NY TIMES EDITED FROM L.A. W R I T I N G PA RT N E R

Prince Harry is paying Moehringer $1 million to pen his memoir.

a July statement revealing that Penguin Random House would be publishing his memoir sometime in 2022.

In point of fact, it’s not likely his ex-Highness will be doing much of

New York City likes to think of itself as the center of the media-elite establishment, and there’s no more revered pillar of that establishment than the New York Times.

It stands to reason, then, that the man at the top of the paper’s masthead, executive editor Dean Baquet,

250K

would spend most of 2021 running his Manhattanheadquartered institution from . . . Los Angeles?

When Baquet, 64, purchased a $2.9 million four-bedroom house in Hancock Park in January,

the paper are less charitable. “In the early days of COVID, New York was like a war zone,” says one newsroom source. “We had an army of reporters covering the crisis, and some were perturbed that the general

C OA S TA L E L I T E New York Times editor Baquet took heat for his L.A. idyll.

some speculated that he was gunning for the top job at the Los Angeles Times, vacated last year by another venerated East Coast media icon, Norman Pearlstine.

The L.A. Times gig ultimately went to former ESPN senior vice president Kevin Merida, yet until very recently Baquet has remained ensconced in his Larchmont Village-adjacent abode—with neighbors like Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, sportswriter Bill Simmons, and mega-producer Shonda Rhimes—running the East Coast’s most essential house organ from his home on the West Coast.

“Why not be out there?” a source offered, pointing out L.A.’s superior weather and that the New York Times’s Eighth Avenue headquarters has been shuttered for the past year and a half because of COVID-19. But others at

was directing them from 2,000 miles away.”

With the L.A. Times job taken—sources say Baquet had little interest in the gig, despite playing basketball a few times with owner Patrick Soon-Shiong—his purchase of a home in Hancock Park does make L.A. seem more than just a pandemic getaway. Several sources see it as a new signal that his retirement is imminent. And that theory has the East Coast establishment now speculating on who will replace him. At the moment, the chatter is solidifying around managing editor Joe Kahn, a much respected, Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist whose father cofounded Staples. A Times lifer, Kahn has more than one strong selling point, including the fact that he definitely lives in New York. — K . H .

L A M AG . C O M 19

Buzz

S U R R E A L E S TAT E

THE CUT

1. Two wings flank a courtyard koi pond and a three-story glass elevator.

House of Vain

A DERMATOLOGIST WHO BUILT A PALACE FOR THE GODS IN BEL-AIR CALLED PALAZZO DI VISTA IS DESPERATELY TRYING TO UNLOAD IT FOR AN UNGODLY SUM. HERE ARE A FEW OF THE HOME’S HIGHLIGHTS

2. Khadavi atop the ten-foot-tall glassand-chrome DJ booth (with smoke and mist machines) that rises out of the living-room floor on a hydraulic lift. The doctor is surrounded by his $7 million NFT and digital-art collections.

1

3. Khadavi’s exotic car museum is housed in a temperature-controlled showroom that features a Transformers robot sculpture.

2

4. The seven-bedroom house opens to a pool where at night a light show inspired by Disneyland's World of Color provides entertainment. The living room has expansive views that stretch from the San Gabriel Mountains to Catalina Island.

BY C O U RT N E Y W R I G H T

20 L A M AG . C O M

3 4

TO P R OW: J O E B RYA N T; M I D D L E : J U WA N L I ; B OT TO M : M A R C A N G E L E S / A L L I M AG E S CO U RT E SY CO M PASS

A N YO N E W H O B E L I E V E S

beauty is only skin deep may want to check out the Wall Street Journal’s real estate section, which recently reported that three of the most expensive listings on the market were all owned by L.A. cosmetic surgeons. They are Raj Kanodia, whose patient list includes the Kardashians; Paul Nassif, of Botched reality-TV fame; and 48-year-old Alex Khadavi, who, in the WSJ article, was pictured happily hanging from the rafters of his Bel-Air mansion. Sadly, the Glendale-based dermatologist to Lance Bass and David Hasselhoff went on to score some lesswelcome media attention in July, when news of an altercation with his neighbors at a West Hollywood condo was splashed across the tabloids: he was arrested for making felony criminal threats. By then, Khadavi’s dream house had become more of a nightmare. Khadavi had nabbed the 21,000-square-foot estate for $16 million in 2013, hoping to turn it into a trickedout bachelor pad; but after pouring millions into refurbishments like an NFT art gallery and a levitating DJ booth, he says he can’t afford to live there. It can be yours for the fire-sale price of $87.8 million. Check it out.

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P L AY • E AT • S H O P

Coming Attractions > This fall, look out for (clockwise from top center) new restaurants from Rafael Nadal and Alice Waters, Simu Liu’s Marvel-ous debut, Jane Goodall at the Natural History Museum, Susan Orlean’s animal musings, and fresh tracks from Diana Ross. Plus, Beanie Feldstein morphs into Monica Lewinsky and Beverly Hills gets a world-class bootmaker.

FA L L P R E V I E W

The Comeback AN ABUNDANCE OF HOTLY ANTICIPATED MOVIES, ART EXHIBITIONS, RESTAURANTS, SHOPS—AND MUCH MORE—ARE OPENING AT LAST. GO FORTH AND ENJOY I L LU S T R AT I O N BY C H R I S M O R R I S L A M AG . C O M 23

Incoming

T H E P I N K F LOY D EXHIBITION: T H E I R M O R TA L REMAINS

A G E N DA

THE FALL TO-DO LIST FROM BANKSY TO THE BALLET, THE RAMS TO THE ROLLING STONES, HERE ARE THE CAN’T MISS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EVENTS IN LOS ANGELES THIS SEASON

BY JOR DA N R I E F E

A Garden Of Words: The Calligraphy Of Liu Fang Yuan Check out the new Chinese Garden art gallery, and take in this exhibition of contemporary calligraphy from 21 ink artists. The Huntington, huntington .org, through Dec. 13.

Immersive Van Gogh Van Gogh may not have intended for his masterpieces to be turned into 500,000 cubic feet of projections, 24 L A M AG . C O M

in the old Amoeba Music building, but this exhibit promises to look great on Instagram. Sunset Blvd., vangoghla.com, through Jan. 2.

The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains A retrospective of the classic boomer band and its impact on art and culture takes the form of a trippy immersive journey—naturally. Vogue Multicultural Museum, pinkfloydexhibition.com, Sept. 3-Jan. 9.

Rip Curl WSL Finals The top five waveriders of the season tackle SoCal’s famous break in the first-ever World Surfing League finals.

Winners will be decided on a single day between September 9 and 17,

RAMS VS. BEARS

whenever conditions are optimal. Lower Trestle, worldsurfleague.com, San Clemente.

Rams Vs. Bears Da Bears come to

Inglewood for the first regular-season game with fans, in the city’s shiny new $5.5 billion sports venue. SoFi Stadium, therams.com, Sept. 12.

< A G A R D E N O F W O R D S : T H E C A L L I G R A P H Y O F L I U FA N G Y U A N

C LO C KW I S E F R O M TO P : P I N K F LOY D M U S I C LT D. CO U RT E SY O F P I N K F LOY D : T H E I R M O RTA L R E M A I N S ; G E T T Y I M AG E S ; T H E H U N T I N GTO N L I B R A RY, A RT M U S E U M , A N D B OTA N I C A L G A R D E N S

Banksy: Genius Or Vandal?

The traveling show is the largest collection of the British street artist’s work anywhere. Adding to the fun, it’s taking place in a secret location. banksyexpo.com, through Dec. 27.

2021/22 SEASON

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laphil.com | 323 850 2000 Groups (10+) 323 850 2050 Programs, artists, prices, and dates subject to change.

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A G E N DA

The Rolling Stones Mick Jagger may be 78, but he and the boys are still rocking—relaunching their pandemic-derailed “No Filter” tour. SoFi Stadium, ticketmaster .com, Sept. 17.

Rashid Johnson: After This show, from one of the art world’s hottest names, will feature “Bruise Paintings,” rendered in black and blue, referencing tragic and ill-fated elements of Blackness. David Kordansky Gallery, davidkordanskygallery .com, Sept. 18-Oct. 30.

John Legend You may still be mad at Chrissy Teigen, but don’t

deprive yourself of her husband’s dreamy, EGOTwinning voice. The Greek Theatre, ticketmaster. com, Sept. 21-22.

neighborhood comes from Tony Award– nominated playwright Dominique Morisseau.

Geffen Playhouse, geffenplayhouse.org, Nov. 9-Dec. 12.

The Other Art Fair Sick of your wall art after being trapped indoors for months?

Nab some work from independent and emerging artists at reasonable prices.

Barker Hangar, theotherartfair.com, Sept. 23-26.

Carved Get your tickets early for this beloved annual event, featuring hundreds of jack-o’-lanterns along a one-mile forest path.

Descanso Gardens, descansogardens.org, Oct. 11-31.

CARVED

Ricky Gervais The British comedian always spoke his mind when he hosted the Golden Globes. Imagine what he might say now. The Orpheum,

ticketmaster.com, Oct. 20-23.

Get Out Jordan Peele’s Oscar winner gets the full, liveorchestra treatment in the perfect Halloween venue—a 1927 Gothic revival movie palace.

Theatre at Ace Hotel, laopera.org, Oct. 29-31.

The Obama Portraits The official portraits of the former president, painted by hometownartist Kehinde Wiley, and the former first lady,

by Amy Sherald, make their West Coast debuts.

LACMA, lacma.org, Nov. 7-Jan. 2.

Becoming Jane: The Evolution Of Dr. Jane Goodall Monkey (aargh, chimpanzee) around, and explore the legendary 87-year-old primatologist’s work with experiential activities and immersive displays.

Natural History Museum, nhm.org, Nov. 7-April 17.

B E C O M I N G J A N E : T H E E V O LU T I O N OF DOCTOR JANE GOODALL

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Paradise Blue In its West Coast debut, this noir tale of a Detroit nightclub in the 1940s struggling to survive in a gentrifying

Uncaged: The Untold Stories From the Cast of the Tiger King If the Netflix doc didn’t provide you with enough intel on Joe Exotic, this live show featuring various people from the film—among them Saff, who lost an arm to the big cats—should feed the beast. The Wiltern, wiltern.com, Nov. 10.

Martha Graham Dance Company One of modern dance’s finest groups returns with choreography set to Aaron Copland’s epic score Appalachian Spring.

The Soraya, thesoraya .org, Nov. 19.

THE OBAMA PORTRAIT S

Cinderella Rossini’s 1817 score is brought to life by rising mezzo-soprano Serena Malfi, with renowned basso cantante Ildebrando D’Arcangelo singing Alidoro. L.A. Opera, laopera.org, Nov. 20-Dec. 12.

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M OV I E S

Modern Marvel

SIMU LIU IS AT ONCE A TRAILBLAZING ASIAN SUPERHERO AND A BRO WHO LOVES GOOD WILL HUNTING AND BEACH VOLLEYBALL B Y PA U L S C H R O D T S E V E N Y E A R S AG O, when Simu Liu was a strug-

What was the casting process like with Marvel and Disney? > In early 2019, my manager told me that I was on a shortlist of Asian American performers who Disney and Marvel wanted to see for Shang-Chi. We got the official

request to put in an audition tape. I had zero expectations.

I remember very clearly it was two scenes from Good Will Hunting, which is one of my favorite movies. Within a couple weeks, I was told by my manager that I should go

P OW E R P L AY E R S

Liu stars in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, alongside Awkwafina and Tony Leung.

down to L.A. and meet the director, Destin Daniel Cretton. I was in the room for almost an hour, and when I left, I felt like I wanted to

SLATE EXPECTATIONS

From prestige dramas to sci-fi epics, this fall has it all The Card Counter Taxi Driver–screenwriter Paul Schrader helms what seems likely to be an awards-season favorite. Oscar Isaac stars as a military veteran and gambler whose casino life is upended by the arrival of a young man (Tye Sheridan) seeking revenge on their mutual enemy. Willem Dafoe and Tiffany Haddish have supporting roles, and Martin Scorcese is an exec producer. Sept. 10.

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The Many Saints of Newark Fourteen years after the polarizing Sopranos finale, the prequel to the HBO prestige series is here at long last. The late James

THE MANY SAINTS OF N E WA R K

Gandolfini’s son, Michael, plays a young Tony Soprano becoming a man in a ’60s Newark riven by gangs and riots. Oct. 1.

No Time to Die Daniel Craig tinkers with Q’s gadgets a final time in what he’s insisted will be his last Bond flick. With Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective season one—aka the good one) directing, and Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge contributing

throw up; it was the first time I thought I had an actual shot at booking the role. When you send in the tapes—I had done hundreds at that point, for Crazy Rich Asians, Mortal Kombat, all those movies I thought would be life-

to the screenplay, it promises to be one of the better 007 outings. Oct. 8.

The Last Duel Ridley Scott directs Matt Damon, Adam Driver, and Ben Affleck in this knight-and-squire drama.

Forever-bros Damon and Affleck collaborated on the script with Nicole Holofcener (Lovely & Amazing), who hasn’t done anything remotely like this. Intrigued yet?

Oct. 15.

Dune Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic saga has made for

some notoriously bad adaptations, but early footage of this version from Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Blade Runner 2049) looks promising.

Plus, Timothée Chalamet plays the lead. Oct. 22.

The French Dispatch Wes Anderson knows his audience. His latest is a comedy about the last days of an American literary magazine based in France. Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, Timothée Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, and Benicio del Toro are all part of the show, which

S I M U L I U : DYA N J O N G /CO U R T E SY O F M A RV E L ST U D I O S ; T H E M A N Y S A I N T S O F N E WA R K : G C I M AG E S

gling actor in Toronto, he tweeted at Marvel: “Now how about an Asian American hero?” He meant it as an offhand joke—“That tweet was just the ramblings of somebody who was very frustrated,” he says. But the cosmos took it more seriously: the 32-year-old is starring in the first Marvel flick headlined by an Asian actor, playing the titular character in the hotly anticipated Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (in theaters September 3).

“Honestly, I felt like there was no way I was not going to get the role,” says Liu, who was born in Harbin, China, and raised in Ontario, Canada. “Every fiber of my being was dedicated to doing whatever needed to be done.”

Since that fateful tweet, Liu has become famous, starring in the Canadian sitcom Kim’s Convenience. Still, he’s currently preparing for a new level of stardom. “Once September 3rd happens,” he says, “that’ll be an overnight moment—the point of no return.”

changing if I got them—you learn that the odds are not in your favor.

Why did they have you read Good Will Hunting? > I spoke to Destin about it.

Good Will Hunting is also about a character who’s doing everything he can to run away from who he really is, from family, from ideas of destiny, and the greatness within him.

What’s been your funniest fan encounter so far? > I was at the Santa Monica Pier a month ago, trying to get a game of beach volleyball going. But we just didn’t have the people. I was like, “I’m gonna put out an Instagram blast for people to join us.” What I’d hoped for was a bunch of volleyball fans . . .

What were you thinking? > I just wanted to play volleyball so badly. And, of course, what ended up happening was a bunch of people showed up who didn’t play volleyball. I think everybody who’s ever done a comic book or Marvel movie knows this, but once you give up your location, there’s this network of highly organized autograph-seekers.

There was a group of maybe seven or eight people who came with, like, 40 Marvel figu-

L AST N I G H T I N SO H O : PA R I SA TAG H I Z A D E H / FO C U S F E AT U R E S ; H O U S E O F G U CC I : M E T R O - G O L DWY N - M AY E R P I C T U R E S I N C .

received a nine-minute standing ovation at Cannes. Oct. 22 Last Night in Soho After Edgar Wright’s 2017 Baby Driver was an unexpected hit, expectations are high for this psychological horror film. Anya Taylor-Joy plays LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

rines and ten full-size posters.

And they were very clever; they came up to me at first and said, “We’d love to play some beach volleyball,” and they actually played with us for about an hour before they finally asked for autographs. By that point, I was like, “You’ve

“Japanese-y.” I pray to God no one ever sees that tape, because I probably gave the most offensive audition ever.

And I remember the director absolutely guffawing in the corner. And in that moment I felt so validated in what I was doing. It so speaks to where

we were back in . . . I think it was 2012, when I did that audition. As a community, we were just happy to be considered at all in a system that was so not designed for our inclusion.

Tony Leung, who plays your father, is the icon of Chinese acting icons. Were you terrified playing opposite him? > I was very, very terrified. I grew up watching his movies.

He’s absolutely incredible in Infernal Affairs. Tony’s whole thing is he’s able to say so much doing so little. When you look into his eyes, there’s such a well of emotional depth, I wasn’t sure I could measure up. But he’s such a kind and humble and soft-spoken person, and we got along right away. There was no ego.

Now, you’re considered an internet hottie. How does that feel? > Growing up as an Asian man, you’re taught the way the world sees you, the way you’re portrayed on TV and in movies, is that you’re the sidekick, the dork, the undesirable guy. I watched One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl and wanted to be the guy who was, for lack of a better term, “the hottie.” I craved that attention but never quite got it. So now it’s nice, but it’s a

Did you guys have any special moments on the set? > I learned he’s a massive adrenaline junkie. He has a place in Japan and goes snowboarding. I love sports and snowboarding. So it really fostered a deeper relationship. Unfortunately, COVID threw a wrench in plans of us hitting the slopes together, but once the world opens up, I’ll be on the slopes with him.

I’m sure he’ll be way better than I am.

“Growing up as an Asian man, you’re taught the way the world sees you is that you’re the sidekick, the dork, the undesirable guy.” earned it.” Nobody was good at volleyball.

Do you have any casting horror stories from when you were coming up? > Yeah, I’m ashamed of one.

Not only because of the role itself, but because of the way I reacted to it. I was 22 years old and just so desperately wanted to make it. One of the first roles I auditioned for was this short film where I played this Japanese mob boss. And the role was so offensive: the writer didn’t want the character to speak Japanese—he wanted the character to speak in gibberish that sounded vaguely Japanese. He literally said

a budding fashion designer who’s transported to 1966 London, but then past and present collapse—and not in a fun way. Oct. 29.

Eternals Fresh off her big Nomadland Oscar wins, Chloé Zhao is helming a big-budget Marvel flick about a race of immortal humanoids. The cast includes Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, and Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, the first openly gay MCU superhero. Nov. 5.

King Richard Will Smith looks eager

little embarrassing. I can’t imagine how my parents feel about it. But I’ll continue to take care of my body and try to be in shape and try to be the best version of myself.

to finally take home that Oscar playing Richard Williams, father and coach to a young Serena and Venus in this sports biopic. How sympathetic Smith’s portrait will be is still unclear. Nov. 19.

Top Gun: Maverick Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Iceman (Val Kilmer) refuse to quit in this 35-years-later sequel, which adds Jennifer Connelly as a love interest and Miles Teller as the son of the fallen Goose.

No word yet on whether there’s another shirtless volleyball scene. Nov. 19.

Soggy Bottom Details about Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest have been kept tightly under wraps, but it involves 1970s Los Angeles, Bradley Cooper as a groovy film director, and Cooper Hoffman (son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) playing a child actor. Nov. 26.

House of Gucci After being anointed a serious actress with A Star Is Born, Lady Gaga takes on the role of Patrizia Reggiani, who was convicted of arranging the murder of her ex-

HOUSE OF GUCCI

husband and the head of the Gucci fashion house, Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver). It’s the second awards contender of the season from Ridley Scott, and criminal intrigue and ostentatious ’80s looks appear to be abundant.

Nov. 24. — P. S .

L A M AG . C O M 29

TV & MUSIC

Get Back

TV’S RETURN AFTER ITS FORCED HIATUS COULD HATCH A BATCH OF INSTANT CLASSICS, OUR CRITIC PREDICTS. HERE ARE THREE SERIES THAT SHOW SERIOUS PROMISE

BY STEVE ERICKSON

T

R A D I T I O NA L LY, T H E E M M Y S not only wrap up television’s previous year but also fire the starting gun on the fall season. That’s even more true in 2021 because this is the first real season since 2019, the pandemic having delayed production of some big shows over the past 18 months.

Coinciding with new variants and anti-vax idiocy that may circumscribe this autumn’s full coming-out, the new season should nonetheless find all of us watching more interesting new TV than we have in a while: Showtime’s murder mystery, American Rust, with Jeff Daniels; Netflix’s Q-Force, an animated comedy about a gay secret agent assigned to West Hollywood; The Shrink Next Door, with Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd, on Apple+; the televisionized Chucky (God help us) on USA and SyFy; Batwoman (ditto)

on the CW; more science fiction—The 4400 and Invasion— from the CW and Apple+; Ken Burns’s documentary Muhammad Ali on PBS; and major docs about two of the most influential rock bands, The Beatles: Get Back from Peter Jackson and The Velvet Underground from Todd Haynes.

Having just returned from the future, I can tell you that one show of the following three is destined to break out as a major event. Not wanting to upset that whole space-time continuum thing, I just can’t tell you which.

Based on a septet of novels by Isaac Asimov, one of the founding authors of modern sci-fi, Foundation (premiering Sept. 24) is surely the most epic of the contenders.

Following the always stellar Jared Harris as a prophetic professor persecuted for visions born less of theology than mathematic probability, Foundation, with its almost literally infinite scope, humbles even Game of Thrones, with which the new blockbuster sometimes shares a tonal darkness as well as a complex cast of characters with silly names. As it’s a TV show and not a novel, Foundation is driven more by character than by Asimov’s ideas, and it inevitably improves on the books just by being more woman-friendly. Apple+ is all in on the show; the production values are a knockout, and at a price tag that only Harris’s

VIEWFINDER

Other notable shows returning or premiering this season What We Do in the Shadows The mockumentary is one of the funniest shows on TV, and it’s back for a third season of jaded vampires bickering and bloodsucking. FX, Sept. 2.

The Wonder Years At last, the beloved ’80s 30 L A M AG . C O M

sitcom is getting a reboot.

This time, the focus is on a middle-class Black family, with relative unknown Elisha Williams starring as a 12-year-old named Dean coming of age in racially turbulent, 1960s Alabama.

Don Cheadle narrates adult Dean’s thoughts. ABC, Sept. 22.

La Brea A giant sinkhole in the middle of Los Angeles sucks residents (including Natalie Zea) down into a dangerous, primitive land, while everyone else tries to figure out what the hell’s going on. No, it’s not the latest KTLA report, but heavy Lost vibes ensure it

QUEENS

will at least draw eyeballs on premiere night. NBC, Sept. 28.

Queens Brandy Norwood is Moesha no more. Art—or

at least an ABC musical drama—reflects life in this look at the reunion of a mega-famous, 1990s hiphop group called the Nasty Bitches. Brandy plays the fictional band’s central creative force, whose stage name is Xplicit Lyrics.

Need we say more? ABC, Oct. 19.

Succession After the delightfully shocking season 2 finale in 2019 (and several

I L LU S T R AT I O N BY NAT H A N A R I Z O NA

QUEENS: ABC

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character can calculate, it’s one of the most expensive series ever.

Woman-friendliness isn’t a challenge shared by Y: The Last Man (Sept. 13), the show from Hulu that’s just in time to take over from the once-acclaimed The Handmaid’s Tale that, now entering its fifth season, has exhausted itself. Because we just don’t have enough movies and TV inspired by comic books these days, Y is sourced from a comic published in the early 2000s about the abrupt death, mysterious as it is massive, of every breathing being with a Y chromosome except one last man and his monkey. Guys being good for one thing and one thing only, perpetuating the species becomes something of a challenge facing not only our main man (well, our only man), Yorick, but also his female bodyguard, his congresswoman mom, and the scientist trying to figure out why Yorick has survived what none of the world’s other males have. As comic-book sources go, Y is witty and provocative; we could do worse and have.

The FX anthology American Crime Story set an almost impossibly high bar for itself in its first season five years ago with The People v. O.J. Simpson—there’s never been better-acted TV. Impeachment 2018 follow-up, about asks how much The the murder of fashion titan democracy can Gianni Versace, was bound be trivialized to be less interesting, and before it the new season, Impeachment (Sept. 7), concerning vanishes. the adventures of the 42nd president’s wandering penis, rises or falls (so to speak) on a couple things: the casting of Clive Owen and Beanie Feldstein as Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (Edie Falco and Sarah Paulson as Hillary Clinton and Linda Tripp can already be judged slam dunks) and writing that, pitched between gravitas and absurdity, is more tonally adept than, say, executive producer Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood from last year. In any case, Impeachment should reveal just how much democracy can be trivialized before, particularly in a contemporary context, it threatens to vanish altogether.

production delays), the despicable rich people are finally back. Tune in for a fullon father-son war between Logan (Brian Cox) and Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong). Plus,

SUCCESSION

Alexander Skarsgård and Adrien Brody join the cast.

HBO, date TBD. Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. There’s more than one reboot from the late-’80s on the fall slate. Peyton Elizabeth Lee steps in for the oncebaby-faced Neil Patrick Harris, playing a teen balancing raging hormones with a budding medical career. This time around, the action is set in Hawaii. Disney+, date TBD.

MUSIC

Tunes to Fall For

The final months of the year will see the return of largescale touring and a jam-packed album-release schedule.

Here’s an autumnal playlist to amp you up

Halsey, “Nightmare” Halsey’s fourth album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power (out August 27), is produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, so prepare yourself for fireworks not unlike this underrated 2019 single.

Damon Albarn, “The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows” The Blur front man drops his second solo album in November, complete with this dreamy and evocative title track.

Miley Cyrus, “Nothing Else Matters” This fall, fans of Metallica’s seminal Black Album will be treated to a 50-plus-track cover album, including this Miley-fronted cut, which also features WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo, and Chad Smith.

Diana Ross, “Thank You” Yup, that Diana Ross. The living legend’s first album in 15 years is called Thank You (arriving September 10), and the feel-good title track is a delightful throwback to her Motown youth.

Little Simz, “I Love You, I Hate You” The Londoner has been tagged as a ferocious and articulate rising star in the rich UK hip-hop scene for a few years. The release of her album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert this month should see her reach new heights.

Taylor Swift, “22” Next up in Tay-Tay’s rerecording saga is a freshly cut version of Red, her classic 2012 album. It’s due out in November, just in time to spur Thanksgiving arguments about why it’s really her best album.

Phoebe Bridgers, “Garden Song” The local heroine is set to play two nights (October 21 and 22) at the Greek Theatre, and if her Saturday Night Live performance earlier in the year is any indication, she’ll smash it.

Joji, “Run” The first weekend in November, the Head in the Clouds Festival will take over the Rose Bowl to showcase the world’s biggest Asian acts. This year’s lineup features Niki, Rich Brian, and Japanese-born R&B crooner Joji.

The Time, “Jungle Love” Morris Day will bring Jungle Love and all the classics to the Greek Theatre on September 11 for a night of funk that also features Cameo and the SOS Band.

Harry Styles, “Watermelon Sugar” Styles graces the Forum with his presence November 17, 19, and 20. Los Angeles, you are a lucky thing.

— PAU L S C H R O DT L A M AG . C O M 3 1

BOOKS

BOOKIN’ GOOD

Writing Wrongs ONETIME PRIVATE EYE DON WINSLOW IS ONE OF HOLLYWOOD’S FAVORITE STORYTELLERS. HIS NEW NOVEL JUST MIGHT BE THE NEXT GODFATHER B Y J O R D A N R I E F E

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Matrix by Lauren Groff The two-time National Book Award finalist offers up a fictionalized account of the life of twelfthcentury poet Marie de France, imagining that she was cast out of the royal court and sent to an abbey to live among impoverished nuns. Sept. 7, Riverhead.

Harlem Shuffle

by Colson Whitehead The Pulitzer Prize winner’s latest novel focuses on a usedfurniture salesman who tries to earn an honest wage amid the doubledealing demimonde of 1960s Harlem. Sept. 14, Doubleday.

O N W I N S L O W ’ S new

novel covers some very familiar territory. The opening chapter of City on Fire (September 21, Harper Collins), takes place on the beach in front of the Rhode Island home in which Winslow was raised and that he purchased for himself a few years ago after living in Southern California for decades. A gangster sees a woman on the sand who is so beautiful that she sparks a Trojan-like war between two rival families in 1980s Providence.

“These stories that I had grown up around started to come back to me at the same time I was looking at classics like The Iliad and The Odyssey. And seeing these tremendous parallels with what was happening in the criminal world in New England and what was happening in ancient Greece and Rome,” Winston says, “all those things just came together.”

The book is the first in a trilogy that’s already drawing comparisons to The Godfather, and Sony Pictures bought the rights for a sum in the mid-seven figures.

At 67, Winslow is Hollywood’s scribe of the moment. He’s penned more than 20 books, many of which have been eagerly optioned by top talent. At Disney, The Force, a best-seller about the New York Police Department is in development with James Mangold attached to direct Matt Damon.

The Cartel is in the works to be an

THE SEASON’S MUSTREAD RELEASES

FX series with Ridley Scott executive producing. Winslow’s post-World War II novel, Satori, is at Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company, Appian Way. “People respond to the richness and depth of character [in his] storytelling,” says Shane Salerno, Winslow’s agent.

Before becoming a sought-after source-material maestro, Winslow worked a number of intriguing jobs, from tracking down pickpockets and small-time drug dealers as a private investigator in Times Square in the 1970s to leading safaris in Africa and hiking expeditions in China.

In recent years, he’s garnered as much attention for creating anti-Trump videos—including one in collaboration with Bruce Springsteen—as he has for his books.

His latest novel is his most personal to date and one that he could tackle only in recent years.

“Writing about your home is difficult,” he says. “You need a certain kind of distance that comes with maturity.”

All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told

by Douglas Wolk Pop-culture critic Wolk read all 27,000 Marvel comic books to assess how they reflect the sociopolitical tumult of their eras.

Oct. 5, Penguin Press.

Crossroads: A Key to All Mythologies Vol. 1

by Jonathan Franzen Love him or hate him, a Franzen epic is always a literary event. This is the first in a trilogy from the National Book Award winner that portrays two generations of a Midwestern family in crisis.

Oct. 5, Macmillan.

Silverview

by John Le Carré The legendary spy novelist passed away late last year. In his final work, a bookseller in an English seaside town has his life turned upside down by a peculiar Polish emigré.

Oct. 12, Viking.

On Animals

by Susan Orlean After entertaining us during the pandemic with her drunken Twitter antics, Orlean offers us an insightful exploration of how we relate to four-legged creatures.

Oct. 12, Avid Reader.

—J. R .

D O N W I N S LOW P O R T R A I T: R O B E R T G A L L AG H E R

Incoming

Dream it.

Find it. Love it!

Pismo Beach

Pismo Beach is located half way between Los Angeles and the Bay Area and is famous for its miles of beautiful white sand beaches, great accommodations and a rich wine region, only minutes away. Come visit Pismo Beach and try surfing, kayaking, exploring the dunes and our wonderful dining opportunities.

ExperiencePismoBeach.com

Incoming

ARTS

H O M E A L ON E

Life’s Work ASHLEY BICKERTON SHOT TO FAME IN THE 1980S, PARTYING ALONGSIDE JEFF KOONS AND DAMIEN HIRST. NOW, AS HIS ART SEES A RESURGENCE, HIS BODY IS IN RAPID DECLINE B Y M I C H A E L S L E N S K E

“ I M I G H T B E DY I N G , I don’t know,” says

Ashley Bickerton in a phone call from his hillside-home/studio compound in Bali where he’s been dealing with a neurodegenerative disease that has left him weak and wheelchair-bound. It’s a stark announcement in the run-up to his September debut at the ascendant Hollywood- and Seoul-based gallery, Various Small Fires, which began representing Bickerton in June.

“I don’t want any pity. I’m not really in the mood for that shit,” he says with resolution. “Life is to be lived and got on with, and I’m busy—too busy—for that.”

3 4 L A M AG . C O M

When not in Bali creating vibrant paintings and sculptures, the 62-yearold British-born artist and his wife and child share a home in Mount Washington. Bickerton has been unable to climb the 80 steps to the entrance for months, but his approach to art and life remain as vital as when he first gained notoriety as a young leader in the so-called neogeo wave in New York in the late ’80s and ’90s, alongside Jeff Koons and Peter Halley. His Tormented Self-Portraits (1987-88), one of which now resides in the Museum of Modern Art’s collection, combined steel, leather, and rubber sculptural facades festooned with logos from The Village Voice, Bayer, TV Guide, and Marlboro to iconic effect, sending up the Reagan era with expressionistic, if minimalist, flair.

Over the decades, Bickerton has embraced a wide range of materials and approaches, from coconuts and resin and Turneresque paintings to beach flotsam and portraits of hybridized humans.

“I’ve changed the outward stylistics on purpose, but the internal machinery, the engine itself, has never deviated,” Bickerton says. “I do not want to be a slave to a signature identifying brand look. I don’t want to be Clyfford Still making Clyfford Stills forever.”

He’s adamant that no one associate his work with “surf art,” especially after he first decamped to Bali in 1993. But that same year he did create a mathematically precise monochrome sculpture about tidal physics jokingly titled Waves Generated by Damien Hirst Thousands of Miles Away Breaking on a Reef in My Head. That piece was a nod to “crazy drunken days when [Hirst] was snorting up half the Peruvian Andes in the bathroom at the Groucho Club,” Bickerton says with a devilish laugh.

The question lingering now is not whether Bickerton will ever surf (or party) again, but whether he will live long enough to see an intelligent, historical reappraisal of his work. He’s both cynical and optimistic about it all.

“Aren’t we all just perfumed, ornamental poodles walking around on our hind legs for an uncaring plutocracy to mild applause?” he says. “Still, I take my role as a plastic philosopher seriously. We can do things like Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen have done for me. We can shape and color other peoples’ experience and provide emotional structure to how they perceive things. Those are the good parts.”

CO U R T E SY A S H L E Y B I C K E R TO N

Wall - Wall : Home (T) 1, from 2019, is part of a new Bickerton (pictured) solo show at Various Small Fires gallery in Hollywood.

PROMOTION

MEET

ACME REAL ESTATE T H E T RE N DS E T T E RS O F R E NOVATI O N R ESA L E I N LOS A N G ELES

emember the moment in 2011 when you started to look at real estate again? Foreclosures and short sales were driving prices down, your friends had horror stories about buying high and selling low, real estate agents across the city were declaring their new career choice. But you started to see some really cute properties at an affordable price in LA neighborhoods you never knew existed. There was a clearing in the market. From that clearing, ACME Real Estate emerged.

Driven by a love of affordable design and a deeply-rooted belief in the transformational power of accessible housing, ACME opened its eastside headquarters and began the task of inventing how to reshape the way buyers could see properties again--it was a reimagining of trust in a market that had publicly failed.

Buyers wanted security. ACME delivered on that dream.

Lead by tattooed and outspoken powerhouse broker/owner, Courtney Poulos, a 16-year-veteran of the real estate business, author of “Break Up! With Your Rental!”, Poulos and her hand-selected team set out to up the marketing stakes.

photography, representing the essence of the holistic lifestyle quality of a home. No home is just “a listing.”

ACME offerings have come to symbolize how buyers want to live. “We hunted for undiscovered photographers and coached them how to shoot in a way that delivers an experience. When we started, no one was doing ‘vignette’ shots for properties under a million dollars! Sellers weren’t staging and when they did, it was out of touch with the vibe of the buying public. I’m humbled to see many of the photographers and stagers we discovered early on exploding throughout the city! It’s wild.”

Silke Fernald and Dominique Madden, Broker Associates now managing the office at West Adams, are leading the charge. Remarks Madden, “From day one, ACME and its agents strive to set the highest standard in regards to market approach and client representation. Every agent receives one-on-one training and mentorship from industry vets with three decades of experience collectively to arm them with the tools to navigate the hottest housing market in the world with grace and consciousness.”

“The ACME experience is like high-end boutique shopping!

Our clients get an enthusiastic and attentive agent who genuinely cares. It’s that first-class attitude to representation that makes all the difference. Our buyers have lovingly coined the term ‘ACME house’ The word on the street is ‘I want to buy an ACME house!’

That tells you a lot about the impact we make and continue making on the real estate market. High-level service, integrity, and ethics are mandates,” asserts Fernald.

“THE ACME EXPERIENCE IS LIKE HIGH-END BOUTIQUE SHOPPING! OUR CLIENTS GET AN ENTHUSIASTIC AND ATTENTIVE AGENT WHO GENUINELY CARES.”

“I saw our industry giving up. MLS printouts at the open houses, agents disinterested in the clientele. The houses were either cheaply remodeled or not even shot professionally. It wasn’t good enough,” explains Poulos.

Poulos and her small team, now a 46-agent brokerage with two offices and an expansion brokerage in Central Florida, hired best-in-class graphic designers, generating magazine-quality brochures with emotive architectural

As prices have gone up, competitors and imitators have picked up on the magic sauce that make ACME houses so distinctive in the market. ACME continues to innovate, bringing respectful design to every neighborhood it touches, focusing on inclusion in leadership and recruitment, intensifying the training, investing more energy and effort in the quality of ACME agents and delivering a superior client experience, paying close attention to that “IT” factor that is not replicable.

Concludes Poulos, “There is no better home for invention in real estate marketing and sales than ACME. We know the value we bring to the table -- over a decade of marketing for sellers the exact homes that buyers are buying right now. It’s no accident that our listings are the most popular in the market. It’s a methodology, and we see only growth on the horizon.”

ACME can be found online at www.acme-re.com, on Instagram at @acmerealestate. Offices are located in Eagle Rock and West Adams. Break Up! With Your Rental is available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Come On Down

WITH AN ARRAY OF BIG OPENINGS—INCLUDING THREE NEW PROJECTS FROM SUZANNE GOIN AND CAROLINE STYNE NEAR THE FASHION DISTRICT—THE FUTURE OF DOWNTOWN DINING IS LOOKING BRIGHT B Y H A I L E Y E B E R

T H I S PAG E : R AY KATC H ATO R I A N ; O P P OS I T E PAG E : G I R L & T H E G OAT : H U G E G A L D O N E S ; ST E P H A N I E I Z A R D : ST E P H A N I E I Z A R D I N C . ; C A L D O V E R D E : S U Z A N N E G O I N ; ST R E E T: K I N O/ Y E SS AQ UAT I C ; S I D E B A R : A L I C E WAT E R S : G I U S E P P E C AC AC E /A F P V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; L I N CO L N C A R S O N : S I E R R A P R E S COT T; J OS I A H C I T R I N : R O M M E L D E M A N O/G E T T Y I M AG E S

Incoming R E S TA U R A N T S

C H OW D OW N

Opposite page: Styne (left) and Goin. This page, clockwise from bottom left: white trumpet focaccia from Cara Cara; berries and avo from the Girl & the Goat; Stephanie Izard; pork belly salad from the Girl & the Goat; the location for the upcoming Yess; chickpea fritters from Cara Cara.

W

H I L E C O V I D -1 9 was uniquely

devastating to downtown Los Angeles, a number of exciting restaurant openings are rejuvenating the area. At the close of the summer, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne are set to unveil two long-awaited concepts in the Kelly Wearstler-designed Proper Hotel (1100 S. Broadway, South Park, properhotel.com): a Portugal-meets-SoCal restaurant, Caldo Verde, and a rooftop lounge called Cara Cara. The signature dish at the former is the kale-and-sausage soup from which it takes its name, ratcheted up a notch with local rock crab. The duo will also oversee a lobby bar, Dalia, coming soon. These are the first downtown projects for the two industry vets who just opened a Brentwood outpost of their West Third Street hit, A.O.C. “We’re really looking forward to being a part of downtown L.A., with its energy and openness to creativity,” says Styne.

In the Arts District, another eagerly anticipated spot, Girl & the Goat (555-3 Mateo St., girlandthegoat.com), debuted in July, bringing Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard’s globe-trotting fare to an airy dining room and lovely courtyard patio. Nearby, in the former Bon Temps space, Yangban Society (712 S. Santa Fe Ave., yangbanla.com) will offer Korean American deli food from two Mélisse alums when it debuts in September.

The Arts District openings keep coming as the year draws to a close. Look out for Kensho Ryokan (710 S. Santa Fe Ave., ken sho.group), an inn with a modern izakaya called Kodo, in the old Firehouse 17 building. And the team behind the Yess Aquatic food truck—acclaimed avant garde chef Junya Yamasaki and Kino Kaetsu—will open a high-end Japanese restaurant, Yess (2001 E. 7th St.), alongside a casual spot called YESS Cafe and Wine Bar. Kaetsu also has plans for a culture space with food and cocktails, Good Brown (1509 Mateo St.).

“It’s a good place,” she says of the area, “and a good time to do something new.”

ALSO ABOUT TOWN BIG-NAME CHEFS ARE ON THE MOVE ACROSS THE CITY

Alice Waters

The legendary farm-to-table pioneer is opening the tentatively named Lulu in the courtyard of the Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, hammer.ucla.edu) at some point this fall.

Lincoln Carson

The acclaimed chef, his exacting standards, and fine French fare return in September with Mes Amis (1541 Wilcox Ave., Hollywood, mesamisla.com), in the Thompson Hollywood hotel.

Josiah Citrin

His roasted, tamarindglazed “dirty chicken” was famous at the original Mélisse and now Citrin. He’ll offer it up at an as-yetunnamed casual eatery.

(2428 Main St., Santa Monica.)

—HEATHER PLATT L A M AG . C O M 37

Incoming

R E S TA U R A N T S

FOOD NOTES

R I D E ON

Bicyclette’s bistro classics include short rib à la bourguignon (left) and a soft egg with smoked sturgeon and Kaluga caviar (inset).

French Twist

BICYCLETTE, A NEW BISTRO FROM THE RÉPUBLIQUE TEAM, PULLS OFF A SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE FEAT: MAKING WEST L.A. FEEL LIKE THE LEFT BANK B Y H E AT H E R P L AT T

W

I T H T H E I R lat-

est, Bicyclette, acclaimed République chefs Walter and Margarita Manzke have re-created Paris on Pico Boulevard, albeit with California produce.

“While the food may be done in a way that is a bit contemporary and farm-to-table, it’s rooted in France,” says Walter, who has wanted to open a classic French bistro for years. “République is much broader—there, we have dishes influenced from Japan, Mexico, Thailand, California.” At Bicyclette, he says, 38 L A M AG . C O M

“there’s no soy sauce, nothing Italian.”

The dual-concept newcomer occupies two floors of the storied building once occupied by beloved restaurants Sotto Pizzeria and Picca. On the first level, a cozy 80-seat space that débuted in late June serves escargot en croute—snails drenched in garlic butter and topped with puff pastry—and a fall-off-the-bone duck confit encircled by local cherries and beets. Margarita’s perfect baguettes and sublime tarts, plus a French-only wine list, round out the meal. Later this year, the more formal upstairs dining room will open and serve a tasting menu. Until then, there’s plenty to enjoy downstairs.

At a time when restaurants are struggling to find workers, the Manzkes have somehow managed to find staff who are not only welcoming and attentive but also speak with a French accent. Such service, together with the food and the beautiful old building, is especially transporting.

Walter says, “It really feels like you’re in another place, another city.” 9575 W. Pico Blvd., West L.A., bicyclettela.com.

Diner lovers mourned in January when it was announced that the 101 Coffee Shop would be closing. This fall, it’s coming back to life.

Zack Hall, the founderowner of Clark Street Bread, is taking over the space, but it won’t be another location of his artisanal bakery. Rather, Clark Street Diner (6145 Franklin Ave., Hollywood) will serve traditional pancakes, waffles, and French toast, made with carefully sourced ingredients: organic eggs, Hobbs’ bacon, Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project Sonoran flour.

As for the interiors, Hall says, “We’re just going to freshen it up a little bit.” — H.P.

A total baller spot The Westside is getting a new, spendy, celebrity-backed restaurant in Tatel (453 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, tatel restaurants.com). Expected to open at the end of the summer, the Spanish import counts tennis star Rafael Nadal, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, and basketball star Pau Gasol among its investors.

—HAILEY EBER

B I CYC L E T T E : A N N E F I S H B E I N ; 1 01 CO F F E E S H O P : JA R E D COWA N P H OTO G R A P H Y; N A DA L : P H OTO BY S P E E D M E D I A / I CO N S P O RTSW I R E V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; G AS O L : P H OTO BY P E D R O SA L A D O/Q UA L I T Y S P O RT I M AG E S /G E T T Y I M AG E S ; R O N A L D O : P H OTO BY F R A N SA N T I AG O - U E FA / U E FA V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S

The return of an icon

L.A.’S OWN ROASTER

RECEIVE 20% OFF AT DONFRANCISCOS.COM Use code: ILOVECOFFEE Offer valid until October 31, 2021 Also available at your favorite grocery store.

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FAMILY CRAFTED COFFEE®. SINCE 1870.

Incoming

R E S TA U R A N T S

LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION! Several local favorites are expanding

Jon & Vinny’s

The beloved pizza-and-pasta joint is heading south, with a third location opening in the former Yee’s Chinese spot (4400 W. Slauson Ave., Hyde Park, jon andvinnys.com) in the coming months.

F R E S H C AT C H

At Workshop Kitchen + Bar, Beckman applies classical techniques to local ingredients like rock cod from Dory Fleet in Newport Beach.

LIKE THE PALM SPRINGS ORIGINAL, L.A.’S WORKSHOP KITCHEN & BAR WILL FEATURE STARK, STUNNING DESIGN AND ELEGANT SEASONAL DISHES B Y TA R A S O L O M O N

I T ’ S B E E N A long time in the making,” says chef Michael Beckman, of the soonto-open Los Angeles outpost of Workshop Kitchen & Bar, an offshoot of his Palm Springs hot spot of the same name. Beckman first started looking for an L.A. venue five years ago but only found something suitable after Odys + Penelope shuttered in 2019, leaving its dramatic South La Brea Avenue space vacant. “It just has this incredible energy,” he says.

The new restaurant will feature the same menu of seasonal California fare that has made the desert Workshop a hard-to-score reservation for eight years. Dishes run the gamut from English pea risotto kissed with Meyer lemon to a wood-fired pizza topped with long beans and Humboldt Fog cheese to a grilled pork chop served with bacon-shallot marmalade, brussels sprouts, and pickled Cara Cara oranges.

“My particular flair in the kitchen 40 L A M AG . C O M

is a French-focused interpretation of California products and traditions,” says Beckman.

A third-generation Angeleno, Beckman trained in France and Germany, then worked as a private chef to Beverly Hills boldfacers for years. In 2011, he opened Workshop Kitchen + Bar in an art deco-era movie theater in Palm Springs’s Uptown Design District. The restaurant has garnered praise not just for its food but also for its gorgeous industrial interiors, which nabbed a James Beard Award in 2015.

The new 4,000-square-foot, 120seat Los Angeles restaurant is shaping up to be equally stunning, with historic bones, brick walls, and an open plan, thanks to a 22-foot, open truss ceiling. New York’s SOMA architects are overseeing the redesign. Beckman says, “It’s brutalist and modern.”

Workshop Kitchen & Bar, 127 S. La Brea Ave., Fairfax District, workshopkitchenbar.com.

HomeState

The Texas-style taqueria is on a roll. Already this year, it’s brought its queso to Pasadena (1992 Lincoln Ave., myhomestate.com) and south of the 10 (3923 W. Jefferson Blvd., West Adams). The Valley (13424-28 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks) is next.

Great White

The all-day Venice cafe is heading inland (244 N. Larchmont Blvd., Larchmont Village, greatwhitevenice.com) in early September. —H E AT H E R P L AT T

M A I N I M AG E : AU D R E Y M A R C H ; J O N & V I N N Y ’ S : L I Z B A R C L AY; U OVO : CO U RT E SY O F U OVO ; H O M E STAT E : JA KO B L AY M A N ; G R E AT W H I T E : B R E C H T VA N T H O F

Icy Hot

Uovo

The pasta specialist just debuted a third outpost (4635 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, uovo.la) and another is on the way at the Shops at Sportsmen’s Lodge (12833 Ventura Blvd., Suite 157, Studio City).

Sugarfish and HiHo Burger will be next door.

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Incoming

SHOP

What’s In Store AFTER THE LAST 18 MONTHS, SOME RETAIL THERAPY IS IN ORDER. HERE, 17 NEW SHOPS TO REFRESH YOUR WARDROBE, YOUR HOME, YOUR MEDICINE CABINET . . . AND YOUR SOUL

the WEBSTER

BY MERLE GINSBERG

S

H O P P I N G I S BAC K . In July, retail areas across L.A. saw

more foot traffic than they did a year before the pandemic, according to analytics firm Placer.ai. Insiders say Beverly Hills, in particular, is booming. “Rodeo has fared the best in all of the U.S.,” Carine Mamann, an executive director at Cushman & Wakefield Inc., told the L. A. Business Journal. It’s “the best street in the U.S., even during COVID.” Gearys is building a new 15,000-square-foot emporium on that famous street to keep up with an insatiable demand for luxury watches. “I’m feeling bullish,” says CEO Tom Blumenthal. With loads of shops opening (and reopening) across town, so are we. Have a look.

Andine

DES KOHAN

Owner-designer Elizabeth Weinstock’s leather goods and furniture shop has morphed into a tres femme Paris apartment to house her new Andine line of French-inspired loungewear and lingerie. The richly imagined residence of “a modern Frenchwoman” houses cotton and pointelle briefs, boxers, bralettes, chemises, and pajama sets for that bed-to-breakfast-to-bar life. 8159 W. Third St, Beverly Grove, shopandine .com.

Colette Jewelry

Celebrity fine jeweler Colette Steckel (Madonna, Rihanna, Kate Hudson) threw open her doors this summer, just as the French-Mexican designer celebrates 26 years in business.

The boutique carries her eponymous collection of cross and charm necklaces, signet rings, and deco initial bracelets, plus a myriad of accessory brands from Paris and Mexico City. 250 26th St., Brentwood, colettejewelry.com.

Dermalogica

One of the world’s most effective skincare brands opened a new flagship prepandemic. Now it’s back with its full line of products, including the Oprah-approved Daily Microfoliant, plus luxe treatments.

605 W. Knoll Dr., West Hollywood, dermalogica.com.

Des Kohan

Fans of the architectural clothing Desiree Kohan curated for 16 years at her Cloverdale store will be happy with her new 5,000-squarefoot Fairfax gallery space. This time, every bit is Des-handpicked: women’s clothes by Belgian Christian Wijnants, Dusan’s draped pieces, plus vintage and modern jewelry, artwork, and Kohan’s own, new furniture and candle lines. 914 N. Fairfax Ave., Fairfax District, deskohan.com.

dRA

At her recently reopened boutique at the Row, Diana Ra offers soft, sunny, perfectly tailored frocks and separates that hit the sweetspot between boho and modern. 1320 E. 7th St., downtown, draclothing.com.

PHO TO GRAPH BY WAYNE NAT HAN

ESQUIVEL

COLETTE

TER

Esquivel House

Designer George Esquivel has handcrafted shoes for the Rock, Laura Dern, and Janelle Monáe. His new 6,500-squarefoot atelier, Esquivel House, features a lounge, showroom, and workshop where you can watch the goods being made.

820 S. Sante Fe Ave., downtown, esquivelshoes.com.

Free Market

Free Market is an evolving one-stopshop collective, with 21,000 square feet of rotating fashion, food, flowers, hats, stationery, skin care, candles, and cultural installations. 12751 W. Millennium Dr., Playa Vista, freemrkt.co.

Hammitt

The SoCal company makes sleek, well-crafted leather handbags at an excellent price point:

$200 to $500. The most popular style, the VIP, comes in a range of sizes and handily converts from a crossbody bag to a clutch. 227 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach, hammitt .com.

John Lobb

The 150-year-old British label is considered the world’s finest maker of bespoke shoes.

Even ready-to-wear brogues and boots go through a 190step manufacturing process. 9530 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, johnlobb.com.

Maje at the Grove

Fans of the French It-Girl brand now have an 1,287-square-foot Grove store in which to find whimsical short skirts, collared blouses, pastel jackets, and youthful dresses. 189 The Grove

Dr., Fairfax District, us.maje.com.

Moncler

French brand Moncler, one of the first to use down feathers in outerwear for men, women, and children, is now mega-luxurious, adding a second floor for personal shopping. 340 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, moncler.com/en-us.

Paul Smith DTLA

Sir Paul Smith, famous for bright prints and sharp British tailoring, opened his second L.A. shop, this one next to the landmark Orpheum Theater. Brit artist John Booth did the pop-art décor.

844 S. Broadway, downtown, paulsmith .com/us.

Studs

This piercing studio landed in L.A. with two locales in time for the newest incarnation of the multiple-

piercing trend called earscaping. They work with needles and sell a variety of tiny gold studs. 8478-A Melrose Place, West Hollywood; 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Century City; studs.com.

Swarovski Wonderlab

A new concept from the brand behind the crystal bling, “Wonderlab” is the reinvention of the company’s shiny jewels into more fantastical and bold pieces. That goes for the stores, too.

10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Century City, swarovski.com.

Tag Heuer

Frederic Arnault, CEO of Tag Heuer (son of LVMH giant Bernard Arnault), showed off a new watch with Super Mario at the opening of South Coast’s Tag shop.

“We can’t keep them

in stock,” he says.

3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, tagheuer.com.

Tried and True Vintage

Down at the Row, Tried and True specializes in classic ’80s, ’90s, and early aughts pieces like track jackets, sports jerseys, and, of course, Air Jordans. Fans include the Strokes and Daft Punk. 777 Alameda, downtown, tried andtrueco.com.

The Webster

The giant pink building in the former Hard Rock space at the Beverly Center is designed by famed British architect Sir David Adjaye. The design of the clothes is pretty great, too—there are selections from Chanel, Dior, Celine, Paco Rabanne, and Givenchy, plus a hip and helpful staff. 8500 Beverly Blvd., Beverly Grove, thewebster.us.

L A M AG . C O M 43

O B J E T S D ’A R T

W I Z A R D RY » There’s no place like home, and no film like 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. Now you can imagine yourself in Oz with the magic of collectible handbags, T-shirts, and a ruby-slipper purse—a collaboration by Once Upon a Time in Hollywood costumer Arianne Phillips and Moschino’s Jeremy Scott.

There are also Oz T-shirts by costumers like The Favourite’s Sandy Powell, Dreamgirls’ Sharen Davis, and Life of Pi’s Arjen Bhasin.

I LIKE SPIKE » The Spike Lee Crooklyn T-Shirt in the museum store evokes his 1994 semi-autobiographical film about growing up in Brooklyn. It was designed by Fuse Green, a super-cool, graffiti-style design veteran who’s worked with Nike, Maroon 5, and Undefeated.

ACADEMY REWARDS

THE TRUE TEST OF A MUSEUM’S GREATNESS IS, OF COURSE, ITS GIFT SHOP—AND ON THAT SCORE THE ACADEMY MUSEUM STORE PROMISES TO BE A DOOZY. WHEN DOORS OPEN ON SEPTEMBER 30, MOVIE LOVERS WILL FIND RUBY-SLIPPER HANDBAGS, BLACK PANTHER-INSPIRED JEWELRY (SORRY, NO VIBRANIUM), AND SCORES OF OTHER BIG-SCREEN-RELATED KNICKKNACKS AND COLLECTIBLES

PRETTY IN PINK » This limited-edition chair melds classic midcentury design with whimsical art from Hayao Miyazaki’s award-winning 1989 film Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Miyazaki’s films will be screened at the museum in October.

BY MERLE GINSBERG

L E G O M Y O S CA R » Admit it: you’ve practiced an imaginary Oscar speech.

Who hasn’t? Now you can actually score a statuette even if you haven’t made a film. Lego artist Nathan Sawaya created this chip off the old Oscar block in 2015 for director Phil Lord, when his Lego Movie got snubbed for Best Animated Feature. “It’s okay,” Lord posted on social media, “Made my own.” Stars like Emma Stone and Oprah flipped for them.

4 4 L A M AG . C O M

SKETCHES » Housewares brand Poketo (with two downtown stores) created whimsical notebooks with sketches of the museum’s streamline moderne May Company building, created by movie illustrator I. Javier Ameijeiras (Beauty and the Beast).

I N T H E BAG » The Anatomy of an Oscar tote is festooned with factoids about everyone’s favorite Little Gold Guy: he’s 92 years old, 13.5 inches tall, weighs 8.5 lbs, and is made of gold-plated bronze on a black metal base.

G OLDEN ERA » Costume veteran Ruth Carter, Black Panther’s multi-Oscar winner, created a one-of-a-kind line of pieces with Douriean jewelry, exclusive to the museum store. “The collection recycles tile fragments from the 1939 mosaic cylinder on the building’s façade,” Carter says, “representing the ultramodern style of the time.”

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Incoming

Crime

BY MAX KUTNER

G OI NG V I R A L

Middlebrook allegedly turned to marketing fake COVID cures after a federal fraud case against him was dismissed.

The Covid Con Man EARLY IN THE PANDEMIC, A CELEBRITYOBSESSED CREDIT FIXER AND D-LIST ACTOR NAMED KEITH MIDDLEBROOK ALLEGEDLY SOUGHT TO RAISE MILLIONS FOR A BOGUS COVID VACCINE. BUT WHEN ONE OF HIS “INVESTORS” TURNED OUT TO BE AN UNDERCOVER FBI AGENT, THE CURTAIN CAME DOWN ON HIS ACT

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I N T H E E A R LY DAY S of the pandemic, as the

number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States climbed from a few hundred per day to a few thousand, Keith Middlebrook saw a business opportunity. He had previously downplayed the health crisis to his millions of social media followers, telling them to drink alkaline water and not listen to the mainstream media, which he said “will talk you into failure.” But that was before he thought he could make a trillion and a half dollars by getting investors to believe he had what the whole world wanted: a vaccine.

On March 17, 2020, Middlebrook announced on Instagram that he had developed a pill that could prevent COVID and an injectable serum that could cure it. He said he had tested the pill on someone and that it made the person “immune.”

He posted more about it over the next several days, saying in one video, while holding a syringe, “One injection of this, and the virus is dead in less than 72 hours.” These videos garnered more than 1.5 million views.

Behind the scenes, Middlebrook was talking to a potential investor named Sean, whom he understood grew marijuana and had boatloads of cash. They agreed to meet in person; Sean would come down from Portland with the money, and Middlebrook would bring samples of the vaccine. Sean said he’d double his investment to $400,000 if Middlebrook met I L LU S T R AT I O N BY E VA N S O L A NO

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with him before going to another investor. “I’ll be there in 12 hours,” Sean told him.

On March 25, Middlebrook, who lives in Orange County, drove to El Segundo. He arrived by 6 o’clock, an hour before sunset. He and Sean met up and had a brief exchange. Then FBI agents jumped out and apprehended Middlebrook. Sean was an undercover agent.

“I got, I don’t know, at least 20 guns to my back and my head and my chest,” Middlebrook later told me.

He said that in the crowd of feds, he spotted a familiar face—it belonged to the FBI agent who had arrested him years earlier on fraud charges in a case involving celebrities. According to more than a dozen interviews and lawsuits, the COVID scheme was only Middlebrook’s latest and greatest con.

Since the start of the pandemic, federal prosecutors have gone after hundreds of people illegally trying to cash in on the crisis by fraudulently seeking loans or price gouging on PPE or scamming the unemployed.

Then there are those accused of peddling fake medicine long before true vaccines became available. “We see individuals who will shamelessly exploit the misfortunes of others,” says assistant U.S. attorney Ranee Katzenstein from the major frauds section at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which is prosecuting Middlebrook’s case—the very first to come out of the pandemic.

With bulging muscles, a tan, and what a neighbor described as hair

reveals questionable claims and a trail of fraud allegations. Many of his companies are not registered. A private jet he bragged about owning had been sold for scrap years earlier.

Former clients say they never visited an office. Some of his supposed celebrity friends and clients say they don’t know him. Other clients who do know him say they wish they didn’t.

Trying to reach his supporters now is like flipping over a log and watching C LOSE the insects scatter.

E NC O U N T E R Middlebrook says he was born in Middlebrook Honolulu. As he tells it, his father (right) and Lohan at her 2011 was in the military and his family court date for moved a lot before putting down shoplifting. roots in Washington State. In the late 1980s, after high school and a brief stint as a bounty hunter, he moved that looked “spray-painted,” the to California and threw himself into 54-year-old Middlebook has described motivational books by the likes of himself as a producer, writer, actor, Tony Robbins and Donald Trump. He real estate mogul, philanthropist, began working at fitness centers and genius, super entrepreneur icon, busistarted two gyms of his own. But he nessman, and educational speaker. lost the money he made in a nasty He calls himself “the Real Iron Man,” custody battle over his daughter and a moniker he unsuccessfully tried to filed for bankruptcy in 1997. As he trademark. He has listed more than tried to recover, he figured out how to 20 businesses he started, and his clean up his credit and subsequently IMDb page cites roughly the same started a business fixing other peonumber of film and TV appearances, ple’s credit that eventually attracted almost all uncredited. He has boasted celebrity clients. about owning 19 properties, 11 cars, Middlebrook launched compaand four airplanes. He ny after company, claimed to me to have branching out from a net worth of $20 credit repair into million. Later, he said entertainment, real Middlebrook it was “in the billions.” estate, fitness, and thought he Middlebrook and law. On one of his could make a I first spoke in May websites, he kept a list 2020, on the day he of his ventures: Keith trillion and a was released on bond Middlebrook Pro half dollars from L.A.’s MetropoliSports Entertainment, if investors tan Detention Center Middlebrook Promoafter his mother put tions, Middlebrook believed he had up $150,000. “I’m Productions, Elite developed a with people that kill Platinum Portfolios, COVID vaccine. people, stab people, Iron Man Industries, heroin addicts, drug and Koi Realty, to addicts, meth addicts, name a few. cartel leaders, gang Some entities were members, child molesters, and bank more questionable than others. He robbers,” he said of his stint in jail. encouraged charitable donations “They’re not really focused on what through the Keith Middlebrook I talk about: success, wealth, favor, Foundation. There also was the Law abundance, God, goals, gratitude, givOffices of Keith Middlebrook, which ing, health, wellness, fitness, finance, advertised locations in La Jolla, business, real estate.”

Newport Beach, and Beverly Hills.

But a deeper look at Middlebrook’s He is not a lawyer (he never went to decades in Southern California college) and instead calls himself a

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Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) is proud to host the 2021 Los Angeles Builders Ball®, presented by City National Bank! Join us as we honor Clark Construction, City National Bank, and Emmy-nominated actress and director Chandra Wilson during this year’s gala.

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“legal consultant,” though California has no such category of authorized law-related service provider.

One supposed recipient of his legal services was Lindsay Lohan.

Middlebrook has long said he helped with the actress’s highly publicized shoplifting case in 2011 and once escorted her to court. Photographs show them together outside the courthouse on one occasion.

But Shawn Holley, Lohan’s lawyer at the time, says by email, “I don’t know Keith Middlebrook and don’t even remember ever hearing his name.” Lohan once told Gossip Cop something similar after Star called Middlebrook her “party pal”: “I met Keith Middlebrook once and then he started to stalk me.”

(Middlebrook insisted that Lohan and Holley knew him.)

Lohan would not be the only celebrity to distance herself. Former National Football League players Todd Wade and Obafemi Ayanbadejo deny writing the testimonials attributed to them on Middlebrook’s website. Ayanbadejo says Middle-

brook helped with his credit but er performed. A judge dismissed the seemed to have ulterior motives. case when the man was unable to “He wanted to work with celebrities serve Middlebrook papers. (Middleand athletes. That was his schtick. brook said the man lied and didn’t He wanted to be important,” Ayantake his credit advice.) The same badejo says. “I think he was trying year, an attorney named Harrison to game me and play me almost like Barnes sued Middlebrook over cona spy would play an tract fraud. “Keith asset.” (Middlebrook had this website stood by the testiwhere he was touting Lindsay monials, saying, “If his ability to fix peothey weren’t real and ple’s credit and had Lohan refuted true, I wouldn’t put all these pictures of Middlebrook’s them up.”) stars and everything claim that she For non-famous on it, so I ended up clients, Middlebrook was a client. “I giving him all this would do even less Barnes says. met [him] once money,” work. They’ve al“Nothing happened. and then he leged that he would He just disappeared.” barrage them with started to stalk (Middlebrook told celebrity photos to me that Barnes was me,” she said. win their business lying, saying, “I and then take their cleaned his credit money and run. perfect.”)

Some clients took him to court. In Those disputes didn’t slow 2011, a man in Nevada sued him for Middlebrook. And it seemed he breach of contract and fraud, claimwas no longer content to just be ing he paid Middlebrook $140,000 around celebrities—he wanted to for credit services Middlebrook nevbe one himself. “He was the most

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50 L A M AG . C O M

impressive credit repair [person] on the planet,” says Roderic Boling, an ex-convict and on-and-off associate of Middlebrook’s. “And he just decided one day that he didn’t want to be the guy behind everybody else.

He wanted to be the front guy.” So he started acting as an extra in films and on TV, according to IMDb. His acting career peaked with a role in 2010’s Iron Man 2. As “expo cop,” he had three lines and was on-screen for less than 30 seconds.

Middlebrook tried to play a celebrity off-screen, too. He posted photos and videos with fancy cars and private airplanes and haunted charity functions and movie premieres (Paul Blart: Mall Cop, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan), never missing an opportunity to pose for cameras. As Boling put it, “He’s the perfect Hollywood paparazzi leech.”

Raymond Pitesky worked for the FBI his entire career. He’d been stationed by the bureau in Pakistan in 2008 and was nearly killed when the Taliban threw a bomb into a restaurant where he was dining. By 2010, he was back in the U.S., working as a special agent in California. That’s when Middlebrook’s name first crossed his desk. Tipsters had made allegations about his credit-repair business. Pitesky began investigating and eventually discovered a person he thought might be willing to help: Boling, Middlebrook’s associate.

Pitesky was right. The ex-con walked the government through his friend’s alleged credit-repair scheme.

By October 2014, Pitesky had enough material to move on Middlebrook.

The feds arrested him on 15 counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of aggravated identity theft, four counts of using a fraudulent government seal, and one count of bankruptcy fraud.

Middlebrook pleaded not guilty.

“They lied and said that I defrauded celebrities and pro athletes when I did the exact opposite,” he told me.

“I cleaned their credit to 800 . . . and I educated them on credit and finance and business and real estate.”

The case dragged on for two years.

Then, in 2016, the government filed to dismiss on a technicality: enough time had passed that the case likely violated the Speedy Trial Act. Middlebrook declared victory. “He got his get-out-of-jail-free ticket. And

instead of letting that scare the shit out of him,” Boling says, “he immediately jumped up on top of his race car like he had just won the Indy 500 and started giving the finger to the feds.”

After the court dismissed his case, Middlebrook pivoted. In 2017, with his credit-repair companies shut down by the government, he launched Xccelerated Success, a seminar and consulting service that advertised a program on “how to get

anything you want, and much more.”

Then, in 2019, came Reverse Aging Technologies Inc., through which he touted formulas to help with memory loss, energy, metabolism, and sex drive. He tried to ride the Trump wave by painting himself as a wildly successful businessman who could share his keys to success for a price.

No longer was he gossiping to Star; now he was tweeting at Trump, who retweeted him to his millions of followers at least seven times, which

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could explain Middlebrook’s outsized social-media following. He filmed a video from the back of a Maybach he said cost $600,000. “Don’t listen to the negative news and the negative media of the coronavirus,” he said. “Trump’s already got it nipped in the bud.” He invoked the title of one of Trump’s books: “Think like a billionaire.”

When COVID hit, Middlebrook saw dollar signs. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to cash in on his pivot to self-help coach, despite his originally having downplayed the pandemic.

Now he needed investors. But he made a mistake: he called Boling.

The two had spoken since the 2014 case, and Middlebrook knew Boling had given the government information on him. Middlebrook told me Boling apologized; Boling says it was Middlebrook who reconciled. Either way, they were speaking again by mid-March 2020, when Middlebrook pitched Boling his miracle products.

“I have a cure for COVID-19,” Middlebrook told him over the phone, according to Boling’s recollection.

“No, you don’t,” Boling replied.

“Oh, yeah, I do,” Middlebrook said.

Middlebrook allegedly followed up with text messages saying his injection had cured a patient and that investors would get $200 million to $300 million for putting in $1 million.

Never mind saving humanity; they would get filthy rich.

As soon as he got off the phone, Boling called Pitesky, and the feds got right back to work; if Middlebrook was running around injecting people, they needed to act fast. Meanwhile, Middlebrook allegedly contacted more potential investors. A one-sheet he sent around listed a business entity whose directors and officers included NBA veteran Magic Johnson. He also had Boling contact people, promising him a finder’s fee. That’s when Boling brought in Sean, the undercover agent.

Middlebrook boasted on social media that he was headed to Mar-aLago for an emergency U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization from Trump. But there would be no trip to Palm Beach. Federal prosecutors charged Middlebrook with fraud for allegedly seeking investments for products and a company that didn’t exist. Quantum Prevention CV Inc. appeared to have no corporate filing; a representative for Johnson said the 5 2 L A M AG . C O M

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basketball legend had no clue who Middlebrook was.

Middlebrook had an answer for everything. Johnson had “to go into defense mode” when questioned. He suggested that we “trap” Johnson by secretly recording him on a three-way call. (Johnson’s spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.)

Middebrook still insists the COVID immunity pill and vaccine work.

But how was it that he created them when no one else had been able to?

“Because I think omniscient. I think limitless. I think on a different scale,” he says. To label him a con man is the “pathetic, horrible, negative thinking of losers,” he added. “How could I be a con man if all I do is help people?”

As his case has moved forward, Middlebrook hasn’t backed down, and neither has the government. In June 2020, a grand jury indicted him, raising the number of counts from one to 11, each with a maximum sentence of 20 years. Two weeks later, he pleaded not guilty. The trial is scheduled to begin in December.

Does Middlebrook really believe everything he says? No, according to Boling. But Middlebrook thinks he’s a good enough salesman to make you believe it. “I got to give him credit,” Boling says. “He’s one of the boldest, brashest liars that I’ve seen in my life. He’ll stand there and adamantly explain to you that it’s nighttime while you’re standing in daylight with him.”

Middlebrook declined to comment on the case other than to tell me, “I’m going to win, win, win, and win,” and that he wouldn’t change his plea. But he was no longer boasting about his connections to Floyd Mayweather and Paris Hilton. Out of his “thousands” of past clients, he couldn’t immediately name one who would vouch for him.

Middlebrook says that everyone else is lying whereas he’s told the truth about everything. Maybe he’s such a good salesman, he’s convinced even himself that what he says is true.

“I’m 100 percent real in everything I do,” he told me in one of our last conversations. “If I wasn’t, then I wouldn’t say it.”

But, months earlier, almost in passing, he had shared with me another philosophy of his, one that may explain a lot: “Perception,” he said, “is reality.”

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Saturday, September 11, 8 p.m.

Sunday, September 12, 7:30 p.m.

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2021 GUIDE TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS INSIDE: PROFILES AND STATS FROM A COLLECTION OF L.A.’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Sierra Canyon School

L A M AG . C O M 55

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INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF LOS ANGELES 1105 West Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91506 (818) 994-2961 | internationalschool.la The International School of Los Angeles is a nonprofit, independent, international preschool through 12th grade school committed to bilingual education and academic excellence in a nurturing environment. The School’s mission is to develop bilingual critical thinkers who are open-minded, confident and caring, and equipped to thrive in a diverse, competitive world.

THE STATS

Recognized as one of the most academically challenging private high schools in the United States, the International School of Los Angeles has been leading the way in bilingual education for more than 40 years. The School’s curriculum is a bilingual journey with a

Year Founded: 1978 Grades Served: Preschool–12th grade Current Enrollment Number: 1,024 Student-Faculty Ratio: Varies Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required (Yes or No): No Tuition: $19,995 - $24,900

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carefully composed trajectory in English and French. At the end of this journey, students are bilingual and bicultural, exploring concepts and transferring skills with ease in both languages.

All students study a common bilingual program from preschool through 8th grade, after which they choose one of two rigorous programs that culminates in the International Baccalaureate® Diploma or the French baccalauréat. As of the 2019-20 school year, students entering the School’s international track in ninth through 12th grade are no longer required to demonstrate proficiency in French but should display an interest in learning another language. After 10th grade, students formally apply to, and enroll in, the International Baccalaureate® Diploma Programme or the French baccalauréat program including the OIB (option internationale du baccalauréat). All choices provide demanding and well-balanced courses of study that meet the needs of highly motivated students and empower them to be successful citizens of the world.

Since 1978, the School has been instilling the love of learning in its students through small classes and low student-to-teacher ratios. With over 65 nationalities and 40 spoken languages represented across the School’s multiple Los Angeles-area campuses (Burbank, Los Feliz, Pasadena, and West Valley), students study and live in a global community every day.

Top Awards/Recognitions: Most Challenging Program in a Private High School – Jay Mathews Challenge Index (Since 2015) Accreditations: French Ministry of Education, International Baccalaureate® Diploma Programme, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS)

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THE HELP GROUP SCHOOLS Sherman Oaks, Valley Glen, Van Nuys, Culver City, and Irvine (877) 943-5747 | thehelpgroup.org Open House: Schedule an appointment at admissions@thehelpgroup.org At the heart of The Help Group’s efforts is the commitment to helping young people with special needs related to autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities, ADHD, developmental delays, abuse, and emotional challenges fulfill their potential to lead positive, productive, and rewarding lives.

The Help Group’s nine specialized day schools offer preschool, elementary, middle school, high school, and transition programs, and are certified by the California State Department of Education. The schools, located on five campuses in the Los Angeles area and Irvine, provide prescriptive teaching, small classes, individualized curriculum, and enrichment activities to maximize learning. What separates the schools from others are additional unique offerings, such as social skills training, counseling, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, career counseling and vocational education.

THE STATS

The Help Group Schools include Bridgeport School, Bridgeport Vocational Center, North Hills Prep, Sunrise School, Summit View School, STEM3 Academy, Village Glen School, Westview School of Arts, and Young Learners Preschool.

Year Founded: 1975 Grades Served: Pre-K – 12+ (up to age 22) Current Enrollment Number: 1,250 Student-Faculty Ratio: 7:1 minimum Tuition: Private and public funding accepted

College Prep and AP Classes Offered: Yes Accreditations: Certified by the California State Department of Education; WASC (North Hills Prep, STEM3 Academy, Summit View School, Village Glen School, Westview School of the Arts)

LOS ENCINOS SCHOOL 17100 Ventura Boulevard, Encino, CA 91316 (818) 990-1006 | losencinosschool.org Open House: October 6, 2021 and November 17, 2021 (check website for current dates and times)

THE STATS

Located in the heart of Encino on Ventura Boulevard, Los Encinos School is relatively small in size—one classroom for each K-6 grade—yet huge in its commitment to each individual child. The benefits of a small student-to-teacher ratio are well-known, and LES provides that crucial foundation without sacrificing any of the “big school” programs. Ever since the school was founded in 1980, the philosophy has been focused on the importance of beginnings, knowing that each child is unique, and guiding each child to reach their full potential.

Rigorous academics are integrated with a rich arts and humanities curriculum that includes drama and music, intramural sports, and STEAM. A schoolwide “Virtues & Values” initiative spans all grade levels. Watch the video of the recent sixth-grade service project at losencinosschool.org/service. And see this gem of a school for yourself at a tour or open house, fall 2021

Year Founded: 1980 Grades Served: K-6 Current Enrollment Number: 170 Student-Faculty Ratio: 7:1

Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required: No uniform (dress code in place) Tuition: $31,100 Accreditations: NAIS, CAIS, WASC

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

SIERRA CANYON SCHOOL 11052 Independence Avenue | 20801 Rinaldi Street Chatsworth, CA 91311 (818) 882-8121 | sierracanyonschool.org Open House: Reservations required at VisitingSC.org.

Lower Campus, grades Pre-K–6: Sunday, November 7, 10 a.m.

Upper Campus, grades 7–12: Saturday, November 6, 9 a.m.

THE STATS

Sierra Canyon School is a complete pre-kindergarten through grade 12 experience that fully equips students to rethink the familiar and embrace the unknown. It is a place where ingenious teachers, intrepid students, and forward-thinking leaders work together to shape an education on the adventurous edge. Teachers create meaningful, hands-on learning experiences in the classroom, on the stage, on the playing field and court, and on life-changing journeys. Graduates are primed to excel at the finest colleges and universities, forge purposeful careers, and employ their unshakable optimism to improve the wider world. At Sierra Canyon School, our students gain unstoppable momentum to learn and explore, propelling them toward a lifetime of self-directed success. We call that Learning forward.

Year Founded: 1978 Grades Served: Pre-K–12 Current Enrollment Number: 1,150 Student-Faculty Ratio: 8:1 Lower Campus; 10:1 Upper Campus Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required: Lower Campus (Pre-K–6) Yes; Upper Campus (7–12) Dress Code Only

Tuition: $16,000 to $39,200 Top Awards/Recognitions: According to Niche, Sierra Canyon School is ranked: #7 of 631 Most Diverse Private High Schools in California #10 of 179 Best Private K-12 Schools in California Accreditations: NAIS, CAIS, Western Association of Schools and Colleges

ST. JAMES’ EPISCOPAL SCHOOL 625 South St. Andrew’s Place, Los Angeles, CA 90005 (213) 382-2315 | sjsla.org Open House: Saturdays October 16, November 6, and December 4, from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

For over half a century, St. James’ Episcopal School has inspired a lifelong love of learning in our students. Our academically rigorous program is blended with a robust service learning program; our students learn in ageappropriate ways about our complicated, but beautiful world.

With team-teaching and an emphasis on the socio-emotional aspect of learning, at St. James’, every child is not only seen and heard, but affirmed and nurtured. Our kindergarten program has one of the lowest studentto-teacher ratios in Los Angeles; and all of our students participate in a rich performing arts program that includes dance, instrumental music, and theater arts.

THE STATS

An Episcopal institution, St. James’ is a faith-inclusive school; students learn about all of the world’s major religions and to hold respect for different faith traditions. Our children are encouraged to question, embrace creativity, and be joyful global citizens.

Grades: Pre-K – 6th grade Enrollment: 350 Student-Teacher Ratio: 9:1 Tech Devices for Students: 1:1 Annual Financial Aid Budget: $1.2M Zip Codes: 43

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A new gray pride movement is taking shape (thanks to geri-activists like Paulina Porizkova) as high-mileage grown-ups flex their economic and political muscle like never before. So why do Hollywood, the media, and Madison Avenue still obsessively cater to the young?

By Benjamin Svetkey

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Photographed by Jill Greenberg

C R E AT I V E D I R E C TO R : A DA G U E R I N ; P R O D U C E R : V I L L A N I P R O D U C T I O N S ; ST Y L E D BY A L I S O N B R O O KS W I T H E XC LU S I V E A RT I ST M A N AG E M E N T; ST Y L I ST ASS I STA N T: ZO E A N ASTOS ; H A I R BY F R A N K I E PAY N E AT O P U S B E AU T Y U S I N G O R I B E ; M A K E U P BY G A R R E T T G E RVA I S G A R R E T G E RVA I S FO R M C H G LO B A L U S I N G B O DY B L I N G BY S COT T B A R N E S ; N A I L S BY E R I N L E I G H M O F F E T T FO R A RT D E PA RT M E N T U S I N G O R LY; P H OTO G R A P H E D AT E D G E ST U D I OS ; O N P O R I Z KOVA , L A R G E OVA L E T H I O P I A N O PA L R I N G S E T I N 1 8 K BY G A B R I E L L A K I SS ; O M B R É G R E E N TO U R M A L I N E R I N G S E T I N 1 8 K , OVA L B LU E B O U L D E R O PA L R I N G , A N D L A R G E AQ UA M A R I N E R I N G BY LO L A B R O O KS , A L L AVA I L A B L E AT AU G U ST L . A . R E D S H O E S BY C H R I ST I A N LO U B O U T I N .

THIS NAKED SUPERMODEL IS 56 YEARS OLD. ANYBODY GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?

P R O D U C E R : V I L L A N I P R O D U C T I O N S ; ST Y L E D BY A L I S O N B R O O KS W I T H E XC LU S I V E A RT I ST M A N AG E M E N T; ST Y L I ST ASS I STA N T: ZO E A N ASTOS ; H A I R BY F R A N K I E PAY N E AT O P U S B E AU T Y U S I N G O R I B E ; M A K E U P BY G A R R E T T G E RVA I S G A R R E T G E RVA I S FO R M C H G LO B A L U S I N G B O DY B L I N G BY S COT T B A R N E S ; N A I L S BY E R I N L E I G H M O F F E T T FO R A RT D E PA RT M E N T U S I N G O R LY; P H OTO G R A P H E D AT E D G E ST U D I OS ; O N P O R I Z KOVA , L A R G E OVA L E T H I O P I A N O PA L R I N G S E T I N 1 8 K BY G A B R I E L L A K I SS ; O M B R É G R E E N TO U R M A L I N E R I N G S E T I N 1 8 K , OVA L B LU E B O U L D E R O PA L R I N G , A N D L A R G E AQ UA M A R I N E R I N G BY LO L A B R O O KS , A L L AVA I L A B L E AT AU G U ST L . A . R E D S H O E S BY C H R I ST I A N LO U B O U T I N .

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down an egg platter at Bardonna on remembers the precise moMontana Avenue in Santa Monica, ment she disappeared. she’s pretty hard to miss. These days, It was six years ago, there’s a sprinkling of crow’s-feet during a trip to Las Vegas with her around her sky-blue eyes and then-husband, Cars front man Ric a trace of crinkling around G R AY P OW E R Ocasek. “We were staying at one of her neck. But it’s exactly that 1. Mick Jagger, 78, strutting his stuff in Indio; 2. The late the big hotels,” she says, “and we all-natural, let-it-all-hang-out Ruth Bader Ginsberg, were going out for the night, and look that’s been making her Zoomer icon; 3. Madonna, I got really done up: tight black a star on Instagram, where 62, dancing on a bartop during Pride week in New dress, plunging neckline, red lips, for the past year she’s been York; 4. Alan Arkin, 87, and really high heels. I was walking creating an online ruckus by Michael Douglas, 76, in Netfix’s The Kaminsky through the casino, and I thought posting unretouched photos Method; 5. Jane Fonda, 83, I looked really hot, like I was saunof herself sans makeup. on the cover of Vogue. tering down a runway. But I wasn’t Sometimes sans clothing. getting noticed. In the past, there’d Her candid selfies and acalways been this tiny bit of friction companying ruminations on when I walked through a crowd— recent life events—the challenges of this infinitesimal moment of losing not just her husband (Ocasek awareness. But that night in Vegas, died in 2019, although their marfor the first time, there was none of riage had already fallen apart), but that; it was like nobody even saw also her home (Ocasek froze her me. Finally, one guy started walkout of his will, forcing Porizkova to ing toward me, and I thought, ‘OK, sell the New York townhouse where this is it.’ He asked me if I knew they’d lived for 30 years), and above were the restrooms were.” all else, her youth—have turned her And that was when the 56-yearIG account into something far more depressing and isolating slide down old Czech former supermodel—a meaningful than a mere fan site. It’s a demographic sinkhole. All over the woman who has appeared on no become the front line in an incipient nation, in just about every business, fewer than 21 but growing battle from tech to media to manufacturVogue covers and against ageism in ing, boomers and Gen Xers are frolicked in countAmerica. being squeezed out of the picture.

You don’t have less bikinis in the “Most of the reCorporations are culling them from pages of Sports actions have been their payrolls, Hollywood is writing to be a former Illustrated, who overwhelmingly them off the screen, advertising is supermodel, through much positive,” she says. completely ignoring (or humiliating) of the 1980s, “But the negative them. Ageism has become the last or even follow 1990s, and 2000s ones have been so socially acceptable form of discrimione on Instawas heralded mean. They’re like, nation, with over-50s being shoved as one of the ‘You’re so desperonto ice floes and sent drifting into gram, to know most exquisitely ate,’ or ‘It’s time to cultural irrelevancy. “It’s crazy,” says that getting beautiful humans retire, grandma.’

Porizkova. “It isn’t right.” on planet Earth— But I looked at Actually, it’s worse than crazy. older in Amerrealized she was those pictures of It’s stupid. Just do the math. In ica is a drag. getting older. “It myself without 2021, with Xers now entering their was,” she says, makeup or without fifties and boomers living longer “my first brush clothes, and I just than ever, older people make up 30 with invisibility.” thought, ‘Hey, I percent of the workforce. Folks over Of course, Porizkova is anything look pretty good for my age.’ ” 50—and there are 113 million of but invisible, especially in that You don’t have to be a former them in the U.S.—own 70 percent of golden Dolce & Gabbana gown she supermodel, or even follow one on the wealth, purchasing an estimated wore to the Academy Awards in Instagram, to know that getting $5.6 trillion a year in goods and serApril (her date was some guy named older in America is a drag. It always vices. Together, boomers and Xers— Aaron Sorkin). But even a few days has been. But in recent years, even let’s call them Xoomers—buy more earlier, dressed far more casually as life expectancy and quality of cars, spend more on luxury travel, in jeans and a cardigan, scarfing life have improved, it’s become a and own more electronics and 64 L A M AG . C O M

1 : P H OTO BY J E F F K R AV I TZ / F I L M M AG I C ; 2 : P H OTO BY E R I N C L A R K FO R T H E B OSTO N G LO B E V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; 3 : M AT T E O P R A N D O N I / B FA .CO M

AU L I NA P O R I Z KO VA

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4 : M I K E YA R I S H / © N E T F L I X / CO U RT E SY: E V E R E T T CO L L E C T I O N ; 5 : H A R P E R S B A Z AA R .CO M

1 : P H OTO BY J E F F K R AV I TZ / F I L M M AG I C ; 2 : P H OTO BY E R I N C L A R K FO R T H E B OSTO N G LO B E V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; 3 : M AT T E O P R A N D O N I / B FA .CO M

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homes than any other age group, accounting for a whopping 40-50 percent of all consumer spending. And their dominance over the marketplace is only expanding—sometime over the next decade or two, people over 65 will start to outnumber children under 18 for the first time in U.S. history.

And yet, despite all that, Neilsen statistics show that only 5 percent of advertising is directed at people over 50, and a lot of those ads involve Tom Selleck speaking in soothing tones about reverse mortgages.

Only about 10 percent of movies are marketed to over-50s, despite the fact that Xoomers make up 30 percent of the prepandemic moviegoing audience (75 percent when it comes to art-house films). Only about 10 percent of TV shows feature older characters with speaking parts, despite the fact that the median-age viewer for even a youth-skewing network like the CW is currently 58.3 years old.

There is, in other words, a massive and growing population of older Americans with oceans of free time

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sitting on a mountain range of disposable income, waiting for the consumer culture to notice one glaringly obvious, completely un-invisible fact of economic life: gray is the new black.

G I N G WA S N O T

always a bad thing.

Two hundred years ago, when life expectancy hovered just below 40, being older was actually quite fashionable. Why else would 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson have worn a gray wig when he signed the Declaration of Independence? He wanted to look hip.

But you don’t have to go that far back in history—pretty much any pre-World War II era will do. “When I open my father’s high school yearbook, they all look like little adults,” says 67-year-old Stanford professor Robert Pogue Harrison, who delves into historical attitudes about aging in his book Juvenescence: A Cultural History of Our Age. “Their main concern was to grow up as fast as possible because all of the benefits

and privileges and power lay with age, not with youth. Youth back then was something you wanted to navigate out of as quickly as possible.

But then, after the war, there was this huge cultural shift. For the first time in human history, the young became the model of emulation for the older population rather than the other way around.”

There are still places where age is revered: India, Greece, Palm Springs. But in most of America, that all went out the window with the birth of the baby boomers. The children of the most affluent era in American history were an irresistible target for an exploding postwar consumer economy. Comic books, pop music, fast food—many of the major pillars of contemporary American society were originally targeted at teenagers. It was also around this time, the late 1950s, that advertising began sorting consumers into age buckets—proxies for assumed interests—in a system that continues to this day. Over the decades, that marketing strategy has become more refined, especially in the digital age, when every purchase is recorded in the cloud consciousness. But one element has remained L A M AG . C O M 65

stubbornly consistent: the consumer that when older people were shown economy still considers the 18- to in ads—which wasn’t often—they 34-year-old demo the most coveted, were almost always by themselves or while over-50s are pushed off the with medical handlers. Younger folks, marketing-awareness cliff. on the other hand, were depicted in Anybody with a functioning happy, smiling, active groups. Older remote control can see the result people were always shown sitting, for themselves. Just tune into HBO never standing, and almost never in a Max, where last spring the streamer workplace setting or portrayed using launched Genera+ion, a dramedy technology (despite projections that by about a bunch of Gen-Z friends in 2030 over-50s will spend $84 billion Orange County who sext each other on computers). As AARP’s director of during high school shootings and marketing told the New York Times invent adorable ways of writing the when the study was released, once you word “fisting” with emojis. Its coturn 50, you’re “basically dead.” creator, Zelda Barnz, is all of 19 years The twisted logic behind all this old, younger than is that younger some of Norman consumers are supLear’s hats. And posedly easier to Barnz is actually sell to. They can The most comone of the more be hooked on a mon images mature players in brand early on and Hollywood right remain devoted of older peonow. Over at Hulu, to it throughout ple on TV are a 17-year-old intertheir lives, whereas net influencer— older consumers the geezers Charli D’Amelio, are presumed to be popping pills a super-famous set in their ways TikTok dancer and not worth and dialing whom most targeting. The big-numbered people under 40 key word here is have never heard presumed because cell phones in of—is about to it turns out there’s commercials. get her own show, no evidence any of while at Univerthe above is true. sal, a 15-year-old On the contrary, actress recently consumer studies got an executive producing credit conducted in the 2000s found that and even landed a production deal.

70 percent of older Americans were (That’d be Black-ish’s Marsai Martin, keen to try new products, whereas who was technically in ninth grade at younger consumers were the least the time). likely to develop any brand loyalty Meanwhile, the most common at all. Even the very idea of ageimages of older people on TV are the based preferences is fairly meandithering geezers popping pills and ingless in this day and age when dialing big-numbered cell phones in 50-year-old men are just as likely the commercials. The most blatantly to be spending their leisure time ageist ads are easy to spot, like the skateboarding than playing golf and Progressive ones in which “Dr. Rick” women in their twenties are just as counsels young homeowners on how likely to be interested in investment not to turn into their embarrassingportfolios as in bathroom cleansers. ly old parents (who can’t pronounce “Yeah, TV advertising is still the word quinoa or figure out how super old-fashioned,” notes Danielle to open a PDF file).

Wiley, CEO of the Sway Group, an In fact, in 2019, AARP combed L.A. marketing firm that specialthrough thousands of media images izes in new-fashioned digital media. and discovered ageist signals coiled “It’s not based on any kind of reality pretty much everywhere. They found in terms of what people are see6 6 L A M AG . C O M

ing and what they want to see.”

It’s not exclusively a problem with old media either. “This morning, a request came in for [a product] that they said was for women 18 to 34— they only wanted influencers 34 or under,” Wiley says. “I was like, ‘Wait a second, I’m 47 and I use that.’ But I’m not going to fight with them and force them to take someone older.

I’m trying to run a business and pay my employees.”

Another reason older people aren’t more positively portrayed in entertainment and advertising: Hardly any of them are working in those industries. Take TV, for example. A 2017 Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism survey found that only 5 percent of TV writers were over 60, while over60s accounted for just 11 percent of producers, 13 percent of show creators, and 25 percent of directors.

It’s little wonder, then, that with the exception of a few outliers—like Netflix’s The Kominsky Method, starring 76-year-old Michael Douglas and 87-year-old Alan Arkin; and the streamer’s Grace and Frankie, with 83-year-old Jane Fonda and 81-yearold Lily Tomlin—TV seems incapable of portraying older people with any more nuance than Grandpa Simpson. Not that this is a new problem.

“My peers and I are portrayed as dependent, helpless, unproductive, and demanding,” Emmy-winning actress Doris Roberts, now 90, complained to a Senate special committee on aging way back in 2002, when she was still starring as Ray Romano’s dependent, helpless, unproductive, and demanding mom in Everybody Loves Raymond. “In reality, the majority of seniors are self-sufficient, middle-class consumers with more assets than most young people.”

Hollywood may be the worst offender—it’s the one broadcasting the most odious ageist stereotypes—but the problem is hardly confined to the neighborhoods surrounding the 405. Technically, age discrimination has been illegal since Congress banned it in 1967, but who’s kidding who? Employers of every sort in

B R A D P I T T: C H R I S P I ZZ E L LO/G E T T Y I M AG E S ; B E T T E DAV I S : PA I M AG E S /G E T T Y I M AG E S ; R E D D FOXX : G E N E T R I N D L / T V G U I D E /CO U RT E SY E V E R E T T CO L L E C T I O N ; J E N N I F E R LO P E Z : E M M A M C I N T Y R E /G E T T Y I M AG E S ; C H R I S R O C K : G R E G G D E G U I R E / W I R E I M AG E /G E T T Y I M AG E S ; R A L P H M ACC H I O : R I C H P O L K /G E T T Y I M AG E S

all parts of the country have been scrapping older workers from their payrolls for decades, often using economic downturns (or, say, a pandemic) as cover. “It’s been going on since the 1980s,” says Brandeis University professor Margaret Morganroth Gullette, author of Aged by Culture and a slew of other books about aging. “Every time there’s a recession, companies start firing workers over 45 and hiring younger ones. It destroys a lot of lives.”

Again, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Whatever savings a company might accrue from trading older workers for bargain-basement youngsters are wasted when you factor in the loss of know-how and institutional memory. Plus, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that older workers are actually better workers. A 2018 study in the Harvard Business Review found that people over 40 were three times more likely than younger entrepreneurs to be successful at new business ventures. Other studies have found that while cognitive horsepower declines after 30, the loss is more than offset by knowledge and expertise, which happen to be the main predictors of job excellence.

The scientific fact is, drive and curiosity remain undiminished well into the eighties, if not beyond. Case in point: Nobody doubts that Warren Buffet is one of the most brilliant and agile minds in the world of finance. This August, he turned 91.

THE FIRST TIME I posted a photo of myself bare-faced and not that great-looking was New Year’s morning 2020,” Porizkova recalls. “I remember waking up, catching a glimpse of my face in my phone, and going, ‘Holy shit, who is that?’ I took another picture from a lower angle, and it was also beyond hideous. And then I started thinking, ‘Well, this is what you look like now. This is the truth, and you can’t pretend that it’s not.’ And I decided, ‘You know what? It’s not so bad.’

70 IS THE NEW 50 Once upon a time, Hollywood stars looked their age.

Now they just look fabulous

Clark Gable 58

VS

Brad Pitt 57

Bette Davis 50

VS

Jennifer Lopez 52

Redd Foxx 53

VS

Chris Rock 54

Pat Morita 53

VS

Ralph Macchio 57

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joined the battle, like 55-year-old And I posted it.”

Elizabeth Hurley, who posted her The picture set off “a huge boom” own seminude selfie in January. in the media, as Porizkova puts it, Predictably, it hasn’t been without with The Daily News, Fox, and other backlash. When 50-year-old Helena outlets publishing shrieking headChristensen showed up at Gigi Hadlines (“Makeup-free Supermodel id’s birthday party wearing a lacy Gets Real on Instagram”) as if she’d black bustier, a former British Vogue just unmasked herself as a lizardeditor shamed the ex-supermodel faced alien from another planet. But in the Daily Mail for not dressing there was an upside—“Suddenly, I her age. “There comes that point in had 5,000 more followers,” she says. every woman’s life when, however In subsequent months, Porizkova reluctantly, you have to hand over would post more raw photos and the fleshpot-at-the-party baton to videos of herself from her new rentthe next generation,” she said. al apartment in Manhattan’s Chelsea Still, baby steps. And even in neighborhood, showing off her gray Hollywood—epicenter of all youthroots and sagging skin (“I love my quakes—there have recently been neck wrinkles! I think they’re awesmall signs of a posome!”) as well tential awakening. as a whole lot of In fact, a whole other body parts, “I don’t like benew independent as her IG account production house, ballooned from ing dismissed the cheekily named 12,000 followLandline Pictures, ers at the start because I’m a has just sprung up, of 2020 to more certain age. with big plans to than 475,000 shoot and market today. “I think The only way a bunch of movies people were cravthat we’re goaimed at the overing that sort of 50 audience. authenticity,” she ing to cure be“Whenever a says. “Also, it was ing invisible is new studio regime the year of COcomes in, the last VID. Everybody to not take it.” thing they anwas miserable nounce is, ‘We and bored, and want to make a I was miserable bunch of movies for an older audiand bored and posting pictures ence,’’’ says Landline’s CEO Amy of what I looked like when I was Baer, a former Sony suit who has miserable and bored. So I guess that worked on such grown-up movies was relatable.” as Something’s Gotta Give (the 2003 For a lot of folks, particularly Nancy Meyers rom-com in which of a certain age, it was also inthen-66-year-old Jack Nicholson has spirational, a rousing Norma Rae a heart attack in then-57-year-old Dimoment of defiance. Or maybe ane Keaton’s Hamptons beach house more like a Howard Beale fit of and the two fall in love). “They frazzled exasperation. Either way, want to do something sexier and it put Porizkova on the vanguard of splashier. But when you dig deeper, a nascent rebellion pushing back you’ll find that movies made for on the culture’s assumptions about older audiences almost always make aging and beauty and even sexuality. money. It’s shockingly consistent go“I don’t like being invisible,” she aning back 20 years. If you make them, nounced in a video posted in April. they will come.”

“I don’t like being dismissed because The film industry has always I’m a certain age. The only way that been a smidge more accommodatwe’re going to cure being invisible is ing than TV to older audiences, and to not take it.” even older actors. Stars like Brad Pitt, A few other celebrities have 68 L A M AG . C O M

George Clooney, and Sandra Bullock, all now over 50, continue to play big, aspirational parts as their older fans continue to follow them into theaters. Nearly 50 percent of the audience for 58-year-old Tom Cruise’s last Jack Reacher action movie were over 50, and that’s hardly the sort of picture that gets screened in assistedliving facilities. Historically, male actors have had longer shelf lives in Hollywood (Harrison Ford is still cracking a whip at 79, with another Indiana Jones film due next year, while 66-year-old Denzel Washington is about to play Macbeth in Joel Cohen’s upcoming screen adaptation), but older female stars can sometimes find work, too. (Sixty-four-year-old Frances McDormand, who picked up an Oscar for Nomadland last April, will be playing Lady Macbeth.)

Nevertheless, the film industry still has a long way to go. Exhibit A: Dirty Grandpa, Lionsgate’s 2016 raunchy, R-rated comedy in which 77-year-old Robert De Niro, one of the world’s finest screen actors, was reduced to playing a horny senior who thrusts his private parts in Zach Efron’s face, spews homophobic jokes, and spends most of the film trying to get Aubrey Plaza into bed.

“I won’t be making any movies like that one,” Baer promises.

Maybe the film industry should take some notes from the music biz, which seems a bit more adept at dealing with older audiences— or at least at finding ways to take their money. Remember “Oldchella,” the 2016 festival in which the Rolling Stones, the Who, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Neil Young rocked out in the Indio desert? It sold 150,000 tickets and took in $160 million, nearly twice as much as the younger-skewing Coachella grossed that year.

HE LONG ARC OF

history may indeed bend toward justice, but if you’re over 50, chances are it’ll snap back and whack you in the nose.

ST UA RT WA L L AC E /S H U T T E R STO C K

Granted, it’s tough to make the case that older people are a marginalized demographic. For one thing, they’re about a third of the population. For another, pretty much everyone, no matter what their race, orientation, or background, will one day find themselves a member of this particular sidelined tribe (and sooner than they may think; a Medium article went viral STILL last spring after dismissing WO R K I NG 40-year-olds as “geriatric Harrison Ford, 79, is still cracking a whip, millennials”). Still, discrimicurrently shooting nation is discrimination, yet another Indiana Jones movie. and unlike every other oppressed group, older people report from the American don’t have what could Society of Plastic Surgeons. rightfully be called a movement of Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles is near their own. Yes, there’s AARP, which the top of the list of cities with the is great for counting incidents of most aesthetic procedures (with ageism in advertising and collecting 7.6 plastic surgeons per 100,000 other statistics. And, yes, technically residents), behind only Miami (8.3 the Gray Panthers are still in busiper 100,000). ness, although they haven’t made a “I used to be very judgmental peep in years. But neither is capable about it when I was younger,” says of mounting the sort of culture-shakPorizkova, who has so far avoided ing, groundswelling social crusade the knife (although she has unneeded to alter the public’s attitudes dergone collagen-enhancing laser about aging. treatments). “It’s so easy to be judgPorizkova’s Instagram postings mental when you’re 30. But now I are perhaps a start, the first emdon’t blame anybody for wanting to bers of what could eventually blow look younger. I understand doing up into a bigger campaign. But a bit of botox, a little bit of filler, the fight for cognitive equity will to feel good about yourself because have to clear one big hurdle before looking younger is more accepted it can start changing the world: by society. But, really, the way to Old people. It turns out quite a lot fix [society’s attitudes about aging] of them are lying about their age, isn’t to try to look younger—it’s even to themselves. to get the world to embrace older “The words you are looking people the way we are.” for are internalized ageism,” says That’s a pretty heavy lift considBrandeis’s Gullette. “A lot of boomering all the youth-worshipping culers identify as being younger than tural conditioning Americans have they actually are. So they want to been subjected to over the past see younger bodies on TV and in ads seven decades. But it’s not imposand movies. They take for granted sible. Standards of beauty fluctuate that younger is prettier and sexier. wildly across cultures and through Remember, their brainwashing betime. A ghostly pale complexion gan when they were in their teens.” was once considered knuckle-bitHardly shocking, then, that $16.5 ingly hot (back when only farmers billion is spent every year in Amerihad suntans), just as zaftig bodies ca on plastic surgery, more than the were once the object of people’s deentire GNP of Haiti. A huge chunk sire (back when only rich folk could of that money is coming from folks afford to eat too much). Not so long over 55, who account for two-thirds ago, most Americans thought nose of all face-lifts and about half of all rings were gross; now they’re worn eyelid surgeries, according to a 2019 by every slinky starlet shopping for

broccoli sprouts at Erehwon. The point is, beauty is a moving target.

And while nobody is suggesting that Abercrombie & Fitch will soon start hiring shirtless 70-year-olds as store greeters, it does seem plausible that aging could someday be considered attractive.

“That’s the aspiration anyway,” says the 56-year-old supermodel shoveling eggs into her mouth at Bardonna. “But to be honest, I don’t really know how to get there. It’s not really clear to me. I feel like I’m holding up this lantern on Instagram for people to follow, but I’m not sure where I’m leading them.

Maybe off a cliff?”

Ironically, it may be the younger generation that ends up pointing that lantern in the right direction.

Unlike Hollywood and Madison Avenue, a lot of today’s youth are already on board with Gray Power.

It was millennials, after all, who turned the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg into the hipster icon known as the Notorious RBG, just as it was millennials (and their younger Zoomer brothers and sisters) who anointed 79-year-old Bernie Sanders the leading voice of the progressive movement and then helped elect 78-year-old Joe Biden to the highest office in land. By the time this unripe but enlightened demographic starts entering their fifties and sixties, age-related invisibility could very well be a relic.

“That’s the fight I’m fighting,” says Porizkova. “That’s the hill I’m dying on.”

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THE

R E Z I L A U Q E AMBITIOUS, AUDACIOUS, AND UNCOMPROMISING, C E C I LY M YA R T - C R U Z , W H O H E A D S U P L . A .’ S T E A C H E R S ’ UNION, IS ON A CRUSADE TO REMAKE EDUCATION A S W E K N O W I T. B U T C R I T I C S B L A S T H E R A S A DIVISIVE DEMAGOGUE WHOSE GAMESMANSHIP DURING THE PANDEMIC HAS TAKEN A TRAGIC TOLL ON THE KIDS SHE CLAIMS TO FIGHT FOR

BY JASON MCGAHAN

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P H O T O G R A P H E D B Y S H AYA N A S G H A R N I A

» HOT FOR TEACHERS United Teachers of Los Angeles president Myart-Cruz at union headquarters.

STATE OF THE UNION

slowly removing her zebra-print face mask, the 47-year-old lightning rod for controversy calmly sets her hands on the table and begins issuing a series of incendiary statements that almost seem aerodynamically designed to grab headlines and infuriate critics. Like this one: “There is no such thing as learning loss,” she responds when asked how her insistence on keeping L.A.’s schools mostly locked down over the last year and a half may have impacted the city’s 550,000 kindergarten through 12th-grade students. “Our kids didn’t lose anything.

It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times tables. They learned resilience. They learned survival. They learned critical-thinking skills. They know the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words insurrection and coup.” She even went so far as to suggest darkly that “learning loss” is a fake crisis marketed by shadowy purveyors of clinical and classroom assessments.

Traditionally, the job of UTLA is to represent the best interests of the L.A. school system’s 33,000 teachers—to ensure that they are paid properly, that they have the resources to

do their jobs, and that their work conditions are safe. But under Myart-Cruz’s stewardship, which began when she assumed office in the summer of 2020, that purview has been expanded to include a breathtaking range of far-flung progressive issues: racial justice, Medicare for all, the millionaire tax, financial support for undocumented families, rental and eviction relief—over the last 15 months, UTLA has championed them all. Many of these may be laudable aims, or at least worth debating, but they aren’t the sort of agendas normally pursued by your neighborhood teachers’ union.

In what universe, after all, does UTLA’s recent boycott of Israel over the conflict with Hamas benefit the teachers—or students—of Los Angeles?

But by far the most controversial element of Myart-Cruz’s leadership has been her epic battle with governor Gavin Newsom and others over when and how to reopen L.A.’s schools as the pandemic alternately rages and recedes. In early March, when Newsom tried to coax teachers back into classrooms by dangling $2 billion worth of incentives for schools that reopened before April 1, Myart-Cruz dismissed his proposal as a boondoggle for wealthy neighborhoods and “a recipe for propagating structural racism.” As much of the rest of the state started bringing teachers and students back to campus full time, Myart-Cruz dug in, waiting until late April to only partly reopen for hybrid, part-time learning. When parents complained, pointing to the low incidence of COVID cases in schools that had fully reopened, Myart-Cruz dismissed their concerns as the product of their unexamined privilege.

What’s particularly alarming to parents is the prospect that L.A.’s schools might continue with hybrid learning into the fall—that Myart-Cruz is planning to drag out the battle over fully reopening by holding students “hostage,” as some parents have put it, to her expansive list of political demands.

Nothing she says during our interview will likely do much to allay those concerns. “We will be going back to the table for that conversation,” she says about the prospects for fully re-

IT IS NOT RADICAL TO ASK FOR ETHNIC STUDIES. IT’S NOT RADICAL TO ASK FOR CHILDCARE. IT’S NOT RADICAL TO ASK FOR POLICE-FREE S C H O O L S S O T H AT T H E S C H O O L S D O N ’ T F E E L C R I M I N A L I Z E D .”

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C E C I LY M YA RT- C RU Z rarely sits for interviews. When she wants to communicate with the media, which is infrequently, she usually does so through a press release or, if the situation demands, a prerecorded video.

For the most part, the famously c o n t e n t i o u s h e a d o f L . A .’s most powerful union—United Teachers Los Angeles—remains unapproachable, ensconced inside UTLA’s Wilshire Center headquarters where she controls the levers and dials of the largest, most complicated, and, these days, most divisive educational labor machine in the state—possibly the nation. ¶ Today, however, on a sunny May afternoon, Myart-Cruz is allowing a reporter inside her inner sanctum—or at least inside a glass-paneled conference room down the hall from her eleventh-floor office. And right away, she lives up to her reputation: after settling into in a swivel chair and

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opening in the fall. The end game, she insists, “is getting back into schools as safe as possible,” but she is bracingly honest about that not being her only goal. “Are there broader issues at play? Yes, there are,” she says. “Education is political. People don’t want to say that, but it is.”

SHE DOESN ’ T L OOK much like a firebrand . Short

A L L P H OTOS CO U RT E SY C E C I LY M YA RT- C R U Z

and stout, with sparkling brown eyes, brightly painted pink lips and copper-red, shoulder-length hair, she’s a Central Casting version of a kindly, cuddly schoolteacher. But when she opens LIFE-LESSONS PLAN her mouth to speak, her inflection Myart-Cruz started as a teacher before she was could send a chill down the spine of recruited to join the new, the rowdiest middle-schooler. No left-leaning leadership of UTLA in 2014. She was matter what she’s asked about, her elected president of the answers tend to sound like a stern union in 2020. Clockwise from top left: With Yusef reprimand. When the word radical Salaam; as a freshly slips into conversation, for instance, minted teacher; with President Biden; on she smacks it down as if with a California's Day of the wooden ruler. “It is not radical to ask Teacher; with students; on a rain-soaked podium for ethnic studies,” she says. “It is not during the 2019 L.A. radical to ask for childcare. It’s not teacher's strike. Her fiery rhetoric during the radical to ask for police-free schools so walkout endeared her to that students don’t feel criminalized. the socialist wing of UTLA. That is not radical; that’s just fact.”

Certainly, her backstory isn’t particularly radical. Cecily Alejandra Myart grew up in Arlington Heights—her dad was a workmen’s compensation analyst; her mom, a legal secretary—and attended the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, a fiercely competitive magnet high school. Early on, however, there were signs of rebelliousness. When her high school teachers walked out during the salary strike of 1989, Myart-Cruz ditched her classes, jumped the campus fence, and joined the protesters.

After high school, she attended Mount Saint Mary’s, a Catholic women’s college in Brentwood, working multiple jobs between classes while also helping her mother through breastcancer treatment. She graduated in 1995, earned her teaching certificate at Pepperdine, and began her career at an elementary school in Compton. Then, after several years, she ended up at Emerson Middle School in Westwood, where she taught English to gifted sixth-graders for about a decade.

“Kids complained about her because she was strict,” remembers Garry Joseph, who taught in the classroom next door to Myart-Cruz’s. “But at the end of the year, they adored her.”

Myart-Cruz's time at Emerson, with its mix of wealthy and less-affluent students, was also something of an education. At the end of the school day, teachers would watch half the student body file out one exit to be picked up by parents in expensive SUVs, while the other half departed from a different exit where yellow buses waited. “It was the kind of thing we didn’t talk about,” says Joseph. Around that time, Myart-Cruz married Saul Cruz, a mechanic. They had a son, Giovanni, now ten, and divorced after 16 years. (She asked that we not identify her son’s school to protect his safety.) Her current companion is VanCedric Williams, an elected member of the Oakland Unified School Board who was previously the treasurer of United Educators of San Francisco.

Myart-Cruz’s political education continued after she left Emerson in 2012 and joined Angeles Mesa Elementary in Crenshaw, a school thought to be difficult to staff, with high faculty turnover and low student scores. “At Emerson, we could take kids to Yosemite because of parent donations,” Myart-Cruz recalls, “but at Mesa, the parents couldn’t afford to take kids to the Aquarium of the Pacific.”

She didn’t stay at Mesa for long.

Myart-Cruz had become acquainted with an amiable left-wing union activist named Alex Caputo-Pearl, who persuaded her to join his insurgent UTLA splinter group, Union Power, an alliance of progressive teachers and administrators opposed L A M AG . C O M 73

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to charter schools and other reforms launched in the crucible of the 2008 financial crisis and the recession that followed. Those were years of financial hardship in which many young teachers were furloughed. The rise of Union Power marked a notable leftward shift in the L.A. teachers’ union, and Caputo-Pearl cleaned house from top to bottom, dispatching the incumbent leaders and what he regarded as their too-narrow focus on satisfying members’ demands for more money, better benefits, and resolving grievances. Caputo-Pearl campaigned on promises to hire lobbyists, organizers, and researchers and create a parent-community division to link their own demands to the social issues of the day that would bring massive grassroots pressure to bear on the Los Angeles Unified School District.

In 2014, when Caputo-Pearl launched a successful bid to be-

come UTLA’s new president, he persuaded Myart-Cruz to quit teaching and join his leadership team as one of his vice presidents and key advisers. For the next six years, she would chair a variety of high-profile committees, like the NEA Black Caucus, and signed on as an early member of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles.

She also became one of Caputo-Pearl’s most important generals in the teachers’ strike of 2019, the biggest since the 1989 walkout.

The strike lasted only six days, and its goals weren’t by any stretch revolutionary; teachers asked only for better pay and smaller classes. But Myart-Cruz jumped into the fray as if manning the ramparts in Les Misérables, exhorting the troops with thundering speeches about racial justice and the evils of standardized testing and becoming a favorite of the socialist wing of the union. In the end, the teachers got most of what they wanted—a marginal pay raise and an even more marginal reduction in class size—though at some cost, with the school district losing more than $100 million in state funding, which is based on attendance. By SCHOOL HELL February 2020, when CapuBelow: Maryam Qudrat received an email from to-Pearl hit his six-year term UTLA asking about her limit as UTLA president, Myracial background after Myart-Cruz claimed the art-Cruz was positioned to union was being take a run at the post herself. "stalked" by wealthy whites and Middle Theoretically, all 33,000 Easterners. Right: Reteachers in the union are alnee Bailey couldn't find lowed to vote for their presin-person learning for her autistic son, Kaled, ident. In practice, though, after UTLA discouraged turnout is minuscule. In the teachers from participating in the program. election of 2020, only 5,300 members cast ballots, or about 16 percent of the union. Myart-Cruz got 69 percent of that 16 percent, thanks in no small part to her fiery rhetoric. “The fight for racial justice is awakening a broader segment of the public to the reality of systemic racism,” she said in a speech after her election, during the height of the George Floyd protests. “Reopening schools without . . . a broader improvement of schools will be unsafe and will only deepen . . . racial and class inequalities.” The runnerup in the election, a teacher named Marisa Crabtree, advocated that the union step back from politics and focus more on solving classroom problems. She garnered 11 percent, or about 500 votes.

Still, by elevating, for the first time, a female person of color to president (Myart-Cruz’s father was Black and her mother is Mexican), the election was a groundbreaking moment for UTLA. Unfortunately, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Just 13 days af-

H E R E ’ S T H E T R O U B L E ,” S C O F F S T H E U N I O N C H I E F, “YOU CAN RECALL THE GOVERNOR. YOU CAN RECALL THE SCHOOL BOARD. BUT HOW ARE YOU GOING TO RECALL ME?” 74 L A M AG . C O M

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ter the election, Newsom signed an executive order permitting California’s school districts to initiate school closures as the pandemic surged. Three days later, LAUSD announced that it would shut down its campuses. Suddenly, Myart-Cruz found herself president of the teachers’ union during the worst educational disaster in Los Angeles history.

A FEW DAYS after our interview in Myart-Cruz's conference room, on May 23, UTLA’s headquarters was

besieged by protesters. Nearly 100 parents gathered outside the union’s office tower at Wilshire Boulevard and Berendo Street waving signs (“Cecily Myart-Cruz Doesn’t Care about Our Kids”) and chanting slogans (“We demand a seat at the table!”). Some called for Myart-Cruz’s resignation; others, for the dismantling of UTLA altogether. Still others simply asked that their voices be heard. All of them were angry and upset.

Flyers for the event started circulating a week before the rally, and during our interview, Myart-Cruz examined one of them. It was a parody of the sci-fi thriller Total Recall, with Myart-Cruz’s head photoshopped on top of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body, with smaller images of other players swirling around her—Newsom, L.A. superintendent of schools Austin Beutner, the seven members of the L.A. Board of Education. Myart-Cruz gave the flyer a brief, rueful glance, then smiled. “I love that my picture is the biggest one,” she said. “But here’s the trouble: You can recall the governor. You can recall the school board. But

how are you going to recall me?”

Technically, it is possible to impeach a UTLA president for gross malfeasance, but it has never happened. But it’s precisely that imperious attitude that infuriates so many parents. A growing faction of them have banded together to form groups like Concerned Parents Los Angeles and California Students United—the latter claims to have 1,000 members—to push back against Myart-Cruz. Some parents have gone so far as to file lawsuits, claiming that the teachers’ union has been disregarding science and slow-rolling school reopenings. “Rather than allow its members to return to class and resume teaching,” one suit alleges, “UTLA and its president Cecily Myart-Cruz have held the current well-being and future prospects of LAUSD students’ hostage.”

From the start of the pandemic, relations between parents and Myart-Cruz were strained. When schools first shut down in March 2020, other districts scrambled to fill the void with Zoom classes and other remote forms of teaching. But Myart-Cruz threw a wrench in the LAUSD’s plans by insisting that teachers in her union could not be forced to teach remotely for more than four hours a day, the fewest hours of the five largest districts in California, even though they’d continue to be paid for a full day. “[We] don’t think [it’s] healthy for students to be in front of a screen,” one of her deputies, Julie Van Winkle, later said, explaining the union’s position during a heated negotiation with the school board. (Van Winkle would soon land in hot water for posting a photo of herself in a Blue Lives Murder Tshirt that ended up on UTLA’s Instagram account). In point of fact, L.A. teachers weren’t doing a lot of remote schooling at all in those early days; they were mainly just posting videos online and making students fill out worksheets.

In the fall of 2020, UTLA finally agreed to start using live Zoom chats as a teaching format, although it was left as optional, and many teachers continued to simply post assignments. There’d been some talk among administrators in October about the possibility of resuming at least part-time in-person classes, but there was no indication UTLA would be at all receptive, and discussions were dropped after COVID-19 numbers began to spike again.

“In New York, all the schools there reopened, and then they had to close them down,” Myart-Cruz says. “We didn’t want the yo-yo effect here.”

Instead, that fall she devoted some of her energy to stumping for a major property tax hike, pouring millions of dollars in union money into the fight. (The hike was narrowly defeated at the ballot box.) It wasn’t until March of this year, when the epidemic finally started to wane, that the school system began talking about reopening again. And not just the school system: Newsom, under pressure from parents and facing a L A M AG . C O M 75

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looming recall election, was eager to get kids back in classrooms. That’s when he dangled that extra $2 billion in funding for schools opening before April 1. Many districts jumped at the money, but Myart-Cruz wouldn’t budge.

“If you condition funding on the reopening of schools, that money will only go to white and wealthier schools that do not have the transmission rates that low-income Black and brown communities do,” she explained in a video that drew national attention. “We are being unfairly targeted by people who are not experiencing this disease in the same ways as students and families are in our communities,” she went on. “If this was a rich person’s disease, we would’ve seen a very different response. We would not have the high rates of infections and deaths. Now educators are being asked to sacrifice ourselves, the safety of our students, and the safety of our schools.”

Wealthier, whiter school districts do indeed have lower COVID rates than less affluent Black and brown ones. But viewing school reopenings strictly through the lens of race creates as many problems as it addresses, since the school closings

have arguably done the most damage to those in poorer communities. This past spring, for example, an astonishing 64 percent of L.A. Unified’s middle- and high-schoolers—some 129,000 kids—were not actively engaging in the district’s online learning program, according to a report by the nonprofit advocacy group Great Public Schools (citing the LAUSD’s own internal analysis). Hardly any of the district’s 229,000 elementary school students were logging on at all. Although some of those numbers might represent wealthier families defecting to private schools, a significant portion were doubtless from disadvantaged neighborhoods with working parents and less access to technology. Two new reports—from the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and the education assessment group NWEA—show that in the past year of remote schooling, schoolchildren have fallen dramatically behind, and none more so than low-income and Black and brown kids whose parents lack the resources to create an adequate classroom learning environment at home. Keeping L.A.’s schools closed isn’t doing those communities any favors.

“The general pattern is that the kids who come from the poorest communities are the ones who have been most affected,” notes Pedro Noguera, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, who has been studying the effects of learning loss on students in L.A. “But they have not only been affected by lack of access to learning, they have also been affected by isolation, so you’ve got to think about them both together and the mental health implications.”

Case in point: Renee Bailey, a single mother of two in South L.A. Her 14-year-old son, Kaled, suffers from autism and in the past year away from the classroom has developed new and distressing behaviors, like bed-wetting and biting. She tried repeatedly to get Kaled enrolled in an in-person instruction program but her efforts came to nothing; citing safety concerns, UTLA discouraged its teachers from participating in the program. “With distance learning, he was receiving behavior-intervention services through his iPad,” she says. Frustrated that parents have been frozen out of reopening negotiations, Bailey began organizing parent rallies and attending protests at UTLA headquarters.

Pitting white, wealthy neighborhoods against poorer, more ethnic ones isn’t exactly a recipe for social equanimity. On the contrary, it tends to breed suspicion, hostility, myopia, and paranoia. Last winter, for example, as protests mounted against Myart-Cruz’s handling of remote teaching, the union leader saw it as a racial attack, not an educational dispute. She posted an article to Facebook in which a school superintendent in Chicago charged that parents pushing to get kids back in the classroom were fueled by “white-supremacist thinking.” “Right on!” Myart-Cruz wrote approvingly, going on to

U T L A I S N O T A N O R M A L U N I O N ,” S AY S A F O R M E R D I S T R I C T O F F I C I A L WHO ASKED NOT TO BE IDENTIFIED BECAUSE HE’S "SCARED" OF UTLA. “ T H E Y J U S T M A R C H T O T H E I R O W N F R E A K I N G D R U M M E R .”

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ing remotely with an adult in the room for supervision (what fed-up parents derisively called “Zoom in a Room”). MyartCruz describes the negotiations that led to this agreement as “collaborative,” characterizing them as “a thoughtful process” that “wasn’t filled with animosity.” Others have a different take on the proceedings. “It was collaborative in that we met them 90 percent of the way, not that they met us in the middle,” says L.A. school board member Nick Melvoin, who argues that the more accommodating the board has been with UTLA, the more intransigent the union has become. “We had an agreement that there should be six feet [of social distancing],” he adds. “Then the CDC goes to three feet, so the smaller districts go to three feet to get more kids back. But we can’t, because we still have this agreement and would have to go back to the negotiating table. So if you’re not willing to bargain around the clock, which they have not, then the reopenings are going to be slower.”

“UTLA is not a normal union,” agrees a former district official who asked not to be identified because he’s “scared” of UTLA. “They just march to their own freaking drummer.”

WILL L. A .’S SCHOOLS fully reopen in the fall?

claim that she and other UTLA staffers were being “stalked by wealthy, white, Middle Eastern parents.” She allegedly ordered a study to determine the ethnic backgrounds of her more vocal critics, presumably so that she could prove her point. One parent, Maryam Qudrat, who had been loudly pushing in the press for more Zoom time for kids, claims she received an odd email from a researcher at UTLA asking pointed questions about her racial background.

“I thought it was some kind of scam,” says Qudrat, whose parents immigrated here from Afghanistan. “But I reread it and realized it was real. I felt almost violated, like they were bullying me. It was clear to me that Cecily Myart-Cruz made this whole thing into some sort of racial war.” UTLA doesn’t deny conducting the study but later claimed dubiously in a statement, “This outreach by the researcher was not authorized.”

By late April, as the pandemic slowed and other districts started fully reopening, Myart-Cruz was only beginning to partially reopen L.A. Finally, after intense negotiations with the school board, an agreement was hammered out that included three hours of in-person classes for students in grades K through 6 and an unusual in-person learning format for older students in which they’d sit at desks with laptops, learnOFF WITH HER ED Opposite and above: In May, nearly 100 parents descended on UTLA's Wilshire Boulevard headquarters to protest Myart-Cruz's leadership. Some attending the rally called for her resignation. "Here's the trouble," she responded. "You can recall the governor. You can recall the school board. But how are you going to recall me?"

P H O T O G R A P H E D BY U R S U L A VA R I

As of this writing in late July, nobody knows. Negotiations have been ongoing through the summer, but judging from some of Myart-Cruz’s recent statements (like the one suggesting that hybrid learning would remain “the new normal”) as well as the fact that her own child opted out of in-person classes and is learning entirely through Zoom (and “thriving,” according to Myart-Cruz), parents may want to hold off on purchasing new lunch boxes.

While uncertainty over Delta, Lambda, and future variants may complicate matters, for the moment, at least, Cruz is abiding by the agreement to keep schools open for in-person learning. Back in July, state lawmakers passed an amended budget instructing local school districts to also offer a remote-learning option for the entirety of the next academic year. E. Toby Boyd, president of the California Teachers Association, said the measure benefits students who are “medically fragile, cannot be vaccinated, or whose parents do not feel safe sending them to school as this pandemic continues.” Black and Latino kids are expected to make up the bulk of applicants for the “health exemption,” which is a catch-all for any parent not ready to send their kids back.

At first glance, it makes sense to give worried parents an alternative to in-person learning. But education experts worry that the measure will magnify a two-tiered system, with inferior remote learning disproportionately used by families in communities of color. It's no surprise that the communities hit hardest by the virus continue to rely on remote instruction to a far greater extent than their white and more affluent peers. As the school year wound down last spring, only about 25 percent of students in Latino-majority communities returned to the classroom, compared with 80 percent in parts of the Westside, according to data from the district.

One might assume that now that nearly 80 percent of all adults in California are at least partly vaccinated, the pressure would be on UTLA to return to classrooms. But there are pressures on (CONTINUED ON PAGE 102) the other side of the negotiating table L A M AG . C O M 7 7

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AGE 32; NEVER HAVE I EVER

Richa Moorjani took up dancing at the age of five, planting the seeds for her future career as a TV star. “A big aspect of Indian classical dance is storytelling,” she says, “so that's really what introduced me to acting.

I also grew up watching Bollywood movies, so that became kind of a dream for me.” Starring in Netflix’s hit drama Never Have I Ever, Moorjani has been busy this summer, but she still finds time to spend with her husband and dog and, critically, on herself. “If I’m at home, I’ll be exercising or doing meditation; self-care is very important to me,” she says.

T H U N D E R C AT AGE 36; IT IS WHAT IT IS

Born into a family of Los Angeles artists, Grammy Awardwinning musician Thundercat has a style all his own. His many-colored robe is perhaps the only garment that can hope to compete with the vibrancy of its occupant, a man who enjoys anime, drunken fan fights at Dodgers games, and Alan Thicke theme songs.

Before his triumphant North American tour of It Is What It Is, 2020’s best progressive R&B album, Thundercat reflects on some of his failures, namely, his inability to relate to his cat: “I try to have full-on conversations with her, and I still get really, really annoyed that she hasn’t learned a lick of English.”

8 0 L A M AG . C O M

ST Y L I ST A S S I STA N TS : V I C TO R I A JAC K S O N A N D L I SA L I ; LO C AT I O N : FO R G E ST U D I O S ; O N - S E T TO U C H - U P S L AU R A R AC Z K E ; M O O R JA N I H M U ; H A I R : S I E N R E E D U FO R M A N E A D D I C TS ; M A K E U P : D E N I K A B E D R O S S I A N FO R A- F R A M E AG E N C Y; H M U FO R M A SA R A : H A I R : S I E N R E E D U FO R M A N E A D D I C TS : M A K E U P : D E N I K A B E D R O S S I A N FO R A- F R A M E AG E N C Y; N E X T S P R E A D : H M U FO R O L I V I A L I A N G : H A I R : R E N A C A L H O U N FO R A- F R A M E AG E N C Y; M A K E U P : E M I LY C H E N G FO R T H E WA L L G R O U P ; G R O O M I N G FO R E D D I E L I U : S O N I A L E E FO R E XC LU S I V E A R T I STS U S I N G A L B A 1 9 1 3

RICHA M O O R JA N I

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INDIANA MASSARA AGE 18; THE CRUSADES

Tearing up runways at 12 and starring in a popular web series by 15, actress, model, and musician Indiana Massara is a bona fide prodigy.

But the young Australian didn’t exactly seek out the limelight. “This whole thing was definitely not what I planned; I was in the waiting room for an audition for my brother, and the casting director walked out and said, ‘Hey, you guys are siblings— do you want to audition together?’ My brother and I got the job, and, after being on set, I fell in love with the creative process of acting.”

Now welcoming the spotlight, Massara is set to star alongside Rudy Pankow (Outer Banks) in Leo Milano’s upcoming dramedy, The Crusades. She plays a teenage Machiavellian whom she describes as “someone you definitely don’t want to mess with.”

O L I V I A L I A N G AGE 28; KUNG FU

Bachelorette enthusiast and former substitute teacher Olivia Liang stars as name-taking martial artist Nicky Shen in CW’s Kung Fu. “What originally got me interested in acting,” Liang confesses, “was watching the Disney channel as a child. I watched it until I was 21 years old—like way too old, way out of the target demographic. My mom said that it would never happen for me; I think subconsciously she just didn’t see a lot of Asians on TV.” Reflecting on the importance of Kung Fu and its predominantly Asian cast, Liang says, “It feels so surreal; it’s historic, which is strange to say because it took so long.”

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EDDIE LIU

AG E 2 7 ; K U N G F U, NEVER HAVE I EVER

A true doughnut fanatic, Eddie Liu will stop at nothing to find L.A.’s best, sweetest, and most innovative snack. While he loves discovering new baked gems, he’s not opposed to the classic joints. “If there’s a great doughnut spot which has been there for decades, that’s always great to hear,” he says. Liu plays Henry Yan on Kung Fu. “Growing up, I watched a lot of martial-arts flicks with Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li. That was kind of the first time I saw actors that looked like me, and it gave me the license to dream of being a storyteller,” he says.

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L LA AM MAG AG..C CO OM M 83 13

DA R R E N BARNET AGE 30; NEVER HAVE I EVER, LOVE HARD

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84 L A M AG . C O M

DA R R E N B A R N E T G R O O M I N G BY L AU R A R AC Z K E ; H M U FO R H A S S I E H A R R I S O N : H A I R : M A R I S SA M A R I N O FO R A F R A M E AG E N C Y; M A K E U P : TO N YA B R E W E R

The man behind the washboard abdomen, Darren Barnet is quickly becoming one of Hollywood’s hottest commodities.

Earning a reputation as a Brad Pitt-esque sex symbol on Mindy Kaling’s Netflix drama, Never Have I Ever, Barnet continues to disprove those who judge him by his glossy cover. “My character, Paxton, is a heartthrob, and there’s a superficiality to him. But there’s also a vulnerability, and I love playing with that.” Clearly, Barnet loves a bit of layering. He's venturing onto the big screen this fall, starring alongside Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang in the holiday-themed rom-com Love Hard.

HASSIE H A R R I S O N

AGE 31; TACOMA FD, YELLOWSTONE

While you may recognize her from her barrel-racing days on Yellowstone, Hassie Harrison is trading her ten-gallon hat for a fireproof helmet to star as Lucy McConky in the third season of Tacoma FD. “I’m the first female lead in the squad, so I think there are a lot of [outdated] gender roles that I’m trying to dispel. It’s so cool how many female firefighters have reached out to me, saying how much they appreciate what I’m doing.” With her mother running a theater company for underprivileged youths back in Texas, Harrison caught the acting bug at a young age. When she’s not on set, she enjoys a “stomp around the mountains.” But who doesn’t love a good stomp?

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C I N T H YA C A R M O N A

AGE 30; THE TAX COLLECTOR, UNTITLED NETFLIX SHOW

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86 L A M AG . C O M

H M U FO R C I N T H YA C A R M O N A ; H A I R : G U Y L E V I ; M A K E U P : R E B E C A H JA N I A N N O I N STAG R A M

This up-and-comer with the interestingly spelled first name (it’s Greek, referring to the goddess of the moon) is about to star in a hush-hush new Netflix series. But before she gets ready to plant her hands in cement on Hollywood Boulevard, she’s got some personal hurdles to overcome. “I think my biggest challenge is learning how to not stand in my own way,” she says.

“I just have to allow myself to be, organically and authentically.” Fortunately for her, Carmona has a lot of role models to choose from. “I’m in awe of watching incredibly strong female talent in this industry just go out and eat the entire world.”

FOR VIDEO INTERVIEWS AND EXCLUSIVE BEHIND THE SCENES FOOTAGE, GO TO LAMAG.COM

W YAT T OLEFF

AG E 1 8 ; I T, I A M N OT OKAY WITH THIS

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H M U FO R C I N T H YA C A R M O N A ; H A I R : G U Y L E V I ; M A K E U P : R E B E C A H JA N I A N N O I N STAG R A M

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After breaking onto the scene with his standout performance in the blockbuster horror film It, Wyatt Oleff is accustomed to showing up in high fashion. An aspiring renaissance man, he’s been taking composing classes and learning how to play the guitar. Following a foray into the Netflix empire with I Am Not Okay With This, Oleff snuck onto the indie scene this season in Jamie Sisley’s debut feature, the autobiographical Stay Awake, a hard-to-swallow story about opioid addiction.

“I think just the true nature of the story, and being able to work with the guy that lived it all, is what was most appealing about it for me,” he says.

FOR STORES, SEE THE SHOPPING DIRECTORY ON PAGE 102 L A M AG . C O M 87

THE HOT LIST

Wood-fired octopus from Soulmate

L.A. MAGAZINE

OUR MONTHLY LIST OF L.A.’S MOST ESSENTIAL RESTAURANTS E D I T E D

H A I L E Y

E B E R

WEST

Birdie G’s

SANTA MONICA » 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 stufffed 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 broad streetoyster.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., 310-3936699, or cassiala.com. Full bar.

Colapasta

SANTA MONICA » 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 deli88 L A M AG . C O M

BY

T H E B R E A K D OW N W EST

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 VALLEY Includes Agoura Hills, Burbank, Calabasas, Encino, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Van Nuys

CE NTRAL

SOUT H

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

Denotes restaurants with 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.

In the current climate, restaurant hours are changing frequently. Check websites or social media accounts for the most current information

2021

cious, while the gramigna with pesto and ricotta is hearty and satisfying. 1241 5th St., 310-310-8336, or colapasta.com. Beer and wine.

Crudo e Nudo

SANTA MONICA » Seafood $$

Brian Bornemann, the 31-year-old former executive chef at Michael’s Santa Monica, has gone his own way. He and his girlfriend, Leena Culhane, have launched a sustainable neighborhood joint that’s by turns a 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-and-mortar 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. Steak-house 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.

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., 424-387-8622, or felixla.com. Full bar.

Kato

SAWTELLE » Cal-Asian $$$

Jon Yao is now serving his acclaimed Taiwanese tasting menu outdoors. Dishes like 3 Cup Abalone and

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Dungeness crab soup are just as revelatory alfresco.

At $118 for more than a dozen courses, Yao’s prix fixe menu is one of the best deals in town. 11925 Santa Monica Blvd., 424-535-3041, or katorestaurant.com.

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—salmon-skin 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, or @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.

Pizzana

BRENTWOOD » Italian $$

It’s not easy to make over the local pie joint, but 35-year-old chef Daniele Uditi has reimagined an urban standby with equal parts purism and playfulness that has become a neighborhood favorite in the process. Most impressive is the open-mindedness that has him deftly transforming the Roman pasta dish cacio e pepe into a pizza or putting a hearty short rib ragù on the Pignatiello pie. And in a real twist, appetizers and seasonal salads aren’t afterthoughts but highlights. Don’t miss specials, like an insane chicken parm sandwich. 11712 San Vicente Blvd., 310-481-7108, pizzana.com, or @pizzana. Also at 460 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-657-4662.

Sant’olina

BEVERLY HILLS » Mediterranean $$S

The buzzy h.wood Group has taken over the rooftop at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to launch this breezy pop-up that’s likely to become a permanent fixture. Tables with views are topped with blue-and-white linens, and the menu is full of crowd-pleasing dishes: babka french toast for brunch, harissa-cured salmon, a lamb burger for dinner, or various Middle Eastern dips for any time

BOOK IT! » Comedian-winemaker Eric Wareheim shares recipes and offers guidance for sabering bottles of champagne in Foodheim: A Culinary Adventure (Ten Speed Press, September 21)

of day. The culinary team includes h.wood’s Michael Teich and David Johns, along with Burt Bakman of the beloved barbecue joint Slab. 9876 Wilshire Blvd., 310285-1260, santolinabh.com, or@santolinabh. Full bar.

DOWNTOWN Angry Egret Dinette

CHINATOWN » Sandwiches $$

Wes Avila has left Guerrilla Tacos and is focusing on torta-esque sandwiches at this heartfelt new venture.

Standouts include the Whittier Blvd: beef belly braised in star anise-laced lard for eight hours, then stuffed in a roll with horseradish cream, avocado, queso fresco, serrano chile, and red pepper escabeche. It’s hearty and decadent—especially if you opt to add a duck egg, which you should— but also wonderfully nuanced. There’s ample outdoor seating, but sandwiches with fried ingredients, like a veggie number, with squash blossom tempura, miraculously manage to remain crispy and travel well. 970 N. Broadway, Ste. 114, 213-278-0987, aedinette.com, or @angryegretdinette.

Badmaash

HISTORIC CORE » Indian $$

This Indian gastropub concept comes from the father-and-sons team of Pawan, Nakul, and Arjun Mahendro, who are all well versed in the culinary techniques of East and West. The menu features contemporary mash-ups, like a version of poutine smothered in chicken tikka, tandoori chicken wings, and a spicy lamb burger. If tradition’s your thing, you’ll be comforted by spice-stewed chickpeas, potato and pea samosas, and what they call Good Ol’ Saag Paneer.

Wash it all down with carefully curated, reasonably priced natural wines. 108 W. 2nd St., 213-221-7466, bad maashla.com, or @badmaashla. Beer and wine to go.

Also at 418 N. Fairfax Ave., Fairfax District, 213-281-5185.

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 lemongrassmarinated pork shoulder or grilled 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-and-tomato dish. Order food to go, or enjoy it on the sunny, succulent-dotted back patio. 1822 N. Broadway, gambogela.com, or @gambogela. Beer and wine.

Guerrilla Cafecito

ARTS DISTRICT » Breakfast $-$$

This newish breakfast offshoot around the corner from Guerilla Tacos makes a perfectly balanced brekkie burrito that rivals the city’s long-established best.

The doughnuts are wonderfully not-too-sweet: a doughnut even a non-doughnut lover can love.

No wonder they often sell out. 704 Mateo St., 213-3753300, or guerrillacafecito.com.

Pearl River Deli

CHINATOWN » Chinese $

Chef Johnny Lee has gained a reputation as a poultry wizard, and his succulent Hainan chicken is a highly sought-after dish. Sadly, he’s serving it only as an occasional weekend special at his tiny Far East Plaza takeout spot. But don’t despair: the ever-changing menu is full of winners, from a pork chop sandwich on a pineapple bun to a beefy, memorable rendition of mapo tofu. 727 N. Broadway, Ste. 130, 626-6889507, pearlriverdeli.com, or @prd_la.

Redbird

HISTORIC CORE

» New American $$$$

Neal Fraser has defined his own kind of L.A. elegance over the 20 years he’s been cooking in his native city. Setting up shop in the deconsecrated St. Vi-

biana Cathedral offered an opportunity to add theatrics to a space that’s contemporary and classically plush and now boasts three distinct outdoor dining areas. A delicate curried carrot broth and beluga lentils transform slices of smoked tofu from wholesome to haute, while lamb belly spins on a spit in the former rectory. 114 E. 2nd St., 213-788-1191, or redbird.la. Full bar.

Sonoratown

FASHION DISTRICT » Mexican $

At this downtown spot known for its flour tortillas, you can order à la carte or opt for affordable familystyle takeout options to make your own tacos, burritos, or chimichangas filled with chorizo, carne asada, or mesquite-grilled chicken. Wash it all down with a sixpack of Tecate or seasonal aguas frescas. 208 E. 8th St., 213-628-3710, sonoratown.com, or @sonoratownla Beer.

Superfine Pizza

FASHION DISTRICT » Pizza $

Get a quick taste of Rossoblu chef Steve Samson’s Italian-food mastery at his casual pizzeria, which serves both thin-crust slices and whole pies. The pepperoni always pleases, but the honey—with spicy salami, provolone, and Grana Padano—really thrills.

1101 S. San Pedro St., Ste. F, 323-698-5677, superfinepizza.com, or @superfinepizza.

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.

Antico Nuovo

LARCHMONT VILLAGE » Italian $$

Chef Chad Colby smartly converted his East Larchmont Italian restaurant into a takeout spot for foccacia pizzas and ice cream, fashioning a makeshift pizza oven with the plancha top that used to sit on the restaurant’s hearth. The ice cream has a wonderfully smooth texture, and the flavors are spot-on. The honeycomb and strawberry have garnered a lot of praise since the restaurant opened in 2019—and rightly so— but Colby has regularly been introduing new flavors like cookies-and-cream and pistachio. 4653 Beverly Blvd., 323-510-3093, anticonuovo-la.com, or @anticonuovo_la. Wine to go.

A.O.C.

BEVERLY GROVE » California $$$

Unforced and 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 aocwine bar.com. Full bar.

Brandoni Pepperoni WEST HOLLYWOOD » Pizza $$

Six nights a week, Brandon Gray turns out some of L.A.’s most exciting pizzas. Gray, a veteran of Navy kitchens and top local restaurants like Providence, brings boundless imagination to his pies. They’re topped with premium ingredients—Jidori chicken, Sungold tomatoes, Spanish octopus—in exciting combinations. A curry-Dijonnaise dressing renders a side salad surprisingly memorable. 5881 Saturn St., Faircrest Heights, 323-3064968, or brandoni-pepperoni.com. Wine to go.

L A M AG . C O M 89

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.

Hanchic

KOREATOWN » Korean $$

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LIGHTING LightenUp, Inc. lightenupinc.com 310.670.8515 VOX DJs voxdjs.com 877.386.9357

PHOTOGRAPHERS Jim Donnelly jimdonnellyphoto.com 209.914.3529 Kiernan Szakos ksphotograph.com 703.939.4184 Rush Varela Photography rushvarela.com 310.210.2746

VENUES The BLOC theblocla.com 213.624.2891

9 0 L A M AG . C O M

This new K-town spot infuses Korean dishes with Italian elements to create uniquely craveable dishes. Tagliatelle is tossed with kimchi and pork. A decadent spin on mac ’n’ cheese features both Korean rice cakes and elbow pasta coated in tangy Mornay sauce that’s been infused with fermented soybean paste. 2500 W. 8th St., Ste. 103, hanchic.com, or @hanchic.la.

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 haroldand belles.com. Full bar.

that’s a steal. Don’t miss the Spacca burgers, offered only on the weekends, for takeout and delivery only.

Osteria: 6602 Melrose Ave., 323-297-0100, or osteria mozza.com. Full bar. Pizzeria: 641 N. Highland Ave., 323-297-0101, or pizzeriamozza.com. Beer and wine.

République

HANCOCK PARK » Cal-French $$$

République may be devoted to French food, but its soul is firmly rooted in Californian cuisine. Walter Manzke is as skilled at making potato and leek beignets as he is at roasting cauliflower and local dates.

Meanwhile, Margarita Manzke’s breads and pastries are always spot-on. Like a fine wine, this classic L.A. restaurant just gets better and better. 624 S. La Brea Ave., 310-362-6115, or republiquela.com. Full bar.

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-

C H E F FAVO R I T E S JOSIAH CITRIN MÉLISSE, CHARCOAL VENICE

Lalibela

FAIRFAX DISTRICT » 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., 323-9651025, or lalibelala.com. Beer and wine.

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.

n/soto

WEST ADAMS » Japanese $$$$

N/naka chefs Niki Nakayama and Carol IidaNakayama have expanded. To start, n/soto was focused on offering elaborate bento boxes from a to-go window, but the duo have plans to turn it into a bustling izakaya with indoor and outdoor seating as the city opens up. For now, the bento boxes make for takeout that is both delicious and high-minded. The first box on offer was called A Taste of Home and told the story of Japanese immigrants coming to America via nearly two dozen dishes, from beef sukiyaki to pressed-mackerel sushi. It makes for a special evening in, if you’re lucky enough to score one. Preorders go live on Tock every Friday at noon and tend to sell out quickly. 4566 W. Washington Blvd., 323879-9455 , n-soto.com.

UNI EGG WITH CAVIAR PROVIDENCE It’s the most elegant bite in all of LA. The combination of the sweet, briny flavor of the sea urchin against the brininess of the caviar, along with the subtlety of the champagne in the beurre blanc, is absolutely delicious.

Brioche croutons add just the right amount of crunch. $75, 5955 Melrose Ave., Hancock Park, providencela.com.

SFINCIONE FELIX TRATTORIA It’s a Sicilian focaccia that is so unbelievably airy and light. Each bite you take evaporates like

a cloud, and you get the perfect balance of yeastiness against the fruity olive oil and flaky salt. $10, 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, felixla.com.

O.G. BREAKFAST SANDWICH LUNETTA ALL DAY It’s the perfect breakfast. The first bite hits you with all of the flavors and textures—the tangy, aged cheddar; the slight hint of salt from the thinly sliced ham; the perfectly jammy and not-toorunny fried egg; and the vibrance of the cilantro aioli against the soft challah roll. $16, 2420/2424 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, lunettasm.com.

Osteria Mozza/Mozza2Go

HANCOCK PARK » Italian $$$

Nancy Silverton aims for end-times elegance with a parking lot that’s been transformed into a piazza where you can spend an evening nibbling on pastas, pizzas, and thoughtful salads from Mozza, Chi Spacca, and Pizzeria Mozza. Mozza2Go’s expansive menu is heavy on the pizzas, with an $85 five-pizza package

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changing assortment of banchan. 7315 Melrose Ave., 323-917-5100, ronanla.com, or @ronan_la. Full bar.

Soulmate

WEST HOLLYWOOD » Mediterranean $$$

It’s lovely outside, and there’s a stunning new WeHo spot with a patio that can hold 75 attractive people, plus hours that go to midnight on Friday and 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., soulmateweho.com.. 631 N. Robertson Blvd., 310-7347764, soulmateweho.com.com, or @soulmateweho.

Full bar.

Slab

BEVERLY GROVE » Barbecue $$

Hungry diners used to line up in the driveway of Burt Bakman’s home, desperate for a taste of his famous smoked barbecue meats. In 2018, Bakman came up from the underground, opening a sleek storefront that’s now filling to-go orders for hearty fare, from perfectly marbled brisket to pulled-pork sandwiches and collard greens. You can even get a six-pack of Bud Light. 8136 W. 3rd. St., 310-855-7184, slabbarbecue.com, or @slab. Beer and wine.

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.

EAST 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., 323-347-5557. Full bar.

Daybird

WESTLAKE » Fried Chicken $

This long-anticipated casual chicken concept from Top Chef winner and Nightshade toque Mei Lin is finally open, and it was worth the wait. Lin separates her hot poultry sandwich from the flock of others in the city, thanks to uniquely crispy fried chicken that’s dusted with a memorable, Sichuan-peppercornheavy spice blend. A spicy slaw and habanero ranch dipping sauce add to the fun. 240 N. Virgil Ave., Ste. 5, daybirdla.com, or @daybirdla.

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., 323522-6323, or eszettla.com. Wine and beer.

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. Wine and beer.

NATALE E T H A I

C U I S I N E

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 picnicworthy salad. Great pastas and juicy grilled chicken thighs deliver the unfussy pleasure found at the best neighborhood spots. Eclectic regular specials like haute corn dogs add to the fun. 5916 ½ N. Figueroa St., 323-545-3536, or hipporestaurant.com. Full bar.

Maury’s Bagels SILVER LAKE » Bagels $

East Coast transplant Jason Kaplan spent a decade in L.A. before deciding he had to take matters into his own hands if he wanted a great bagel in this town. He started out as a pop-up at farmers’ markets and coffee shops, but his appropriately modestly sized, delightfully chewy bagels and quality smoked fish now have a brick-and-mortar location. On a quiet Eastside corner next door to Psychic Wines, it’s quite charming. 2829 Bellevue Ave., 323-380-9380, maurysbagels.com, or @maurys_losangeles.

Northern Thai Food Club EAST HOLLYWOOD » Thai $

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

“Readers Choice Award” - LA Times

“Best of The West Side” - The Argonaut

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

Beverly Hills: 998 S. Robertson Blvd. | (310) 855-9380 Full Bar | Valet Parking

Dine In | Delivery | Take Out | Order Online

nataleethai.com

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 more incentive? Everything on the menu is less than $10. 5301 Sunset Blvd., 323-474-7212, or amphainorthernthaifood.com.

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 » Sushi $$

LOS FELIZ

So -go is hardly the only concept in town devoted to rolls, but it has mastered the form. Rice is cooked with the same careful consideration and seasoning that sushi master Kiminobu Saito uses at the highend Sushi Note, and it manages to maintain a great temperature and texture, even when being delivered.

Fish is not just fresh but also flavorful, each type thoughtfully paired with ideal accompaniments, from a tangy yuzu-pepper sauce that makes salmon sing to brandy-soaked albacore with garlic-ginger ponzu and crispy onions. 4634 Hollywood Blvd., 323-741-0088, sogorollbar.com, or @sogorollbar. Beer and sake.

Spoon & Pork

SILVER LAKE » Filipino $$

The go-to for Filipino comfort food offers a variety of dishes, all featuring one shared ingredient: deliL A M AG . C O M 9 1

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

ciousness. 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.

Union

PASADENA

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» Italian $$$

The food shines at this cozy trattoria just off Pasadena’s main drag. Chef Chris Keyser, an acolyte of Philadelphia pasta maestro Marc Vetri, joined in 2019, keeping classics, like a great cacio e pepe, on the menu while adding his own dishes, such as a thrilling crispy octopus appetizer. Most of the eat-in menu is also available to go, and family-style meals for four are also available. The pastas all impress, but don’t miss the wild mushrooms and polenta with a sublimely delicious sherry vinegar and truffle butter sauce. 37 E. Union St., 626-795-5841, unionpasadena .com, or @unionpasadena. Wine.

THE VALLEY Black Market Liquor Bar » New American $$

STUDIO CITY

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., 818-446-2533, or blackmarketliquorbar.com. Full bar.

The Brothers Sushi » Sushi $$$

WOODLAND HILLS

This hidden gem, reinvigorated when chef Mark Okuda took the helm in 2018, is worth traveling for.

Keep spirits up with the Hand-Roll Party home kits (there’s even one for kids), or splurge on an omakase that can be enjoyed 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, wine, and sake.

Best Dry Cleaners, 1999

STEAMER CLEANERS This family-owned business is the only fully automated dry cleaner on the West Coast. Their nontoxic GreenEarth solvent could get spots off a leopard. Clothes fly across the neoclassical glass building on roller coaster conveyors.

Enjoy complimentary pick up and delivery and contactless trunk service without leaving your car. Unsurpassed service continues with amazing tailors for all your alterations needs. steamercleaners.com 13646 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks (818) 906-2345

92 L A M AG . C O M

Casa Vega

SHERMAN OAKS

» Mexican $

The Vega family’s 64-year-old institution has put up a massive tent in its parking lot to keep the margaritas flowing amidst COVID-19 restrictions. And if you prefer takeout, there’s a drive-through setup that makes it easy to pick up a plate of enchiladas or a hulking “oven-style” burrito topped with enchilada sauce and melted cheese. The expansive menu has a great selection of hearty crowd-pleasers, cocktails, and tequilas.

You might leave tipsy, but you’ll never go hungry. 13301 Ventura Blvd., 818-788-4868, or casavega.com. Full bar.

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. Sammies shine with plain cream cheese, but it’s worth grabbing a tub of Hank’s “angry” spread—a spicy, slightly sweet concoction—to have in your fridge. And no cream cheese

is needed for Hank’s everything jalapeno-cheddar bagel, a stunning gut bomb. 4315 Riverside Dr., 818-5883693, hanksbagels.com, or @hanksbagels. Also at 13545 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

SOUTH Ali’i Fish Company » Seafood $$

EL SEGUNDO

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 » Seafood $$$

MANHATTAN BEACH

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. On the menu, you’ll find several kinds of oysters from across the country, Peruvian scallops, and Alaskan king crab legs. 1148 Manhattan Ave., 310-893-6299, or eatfwd.com. Full bar.

Hotville

BALDWIN HILLS CRENSHAW

» Fried chicken $

After three years of running a pop-up, Kim Prince has opened a brick-and-mortar that does 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. The sides ($5 and up), like spicy mac and cheese and kale coleslaw, are also winners. 4070 Marlton Ave., 323-792-4835, or hotvillechicken.com. No alcohol.

Little Coyote LONG BEACH » Pizza $

That most amazing slice of pizza you had that one very drunken, late night in your early twenties in New York lives on . . . in Long Beach. The crust, made with dough cold-fermented for 48 to 72 hours, is carby perfection: tangy, crispy, thin but with a healthy puff. The concise menu doesn’t offer any revelations about what should be atop pizza, but instead perfects the usual suspects, from a generous pepperoni number to a veggie supreme that defies the form’s usual mediocrity. 2118 E. 4th St., 562-4342009, littlecoyotelbc.com, or @littlecoyotelbc.

Little Sister

REDONDO BEACH » Asian Fusion $$

Chef and co-owner Tin Vuong deftly translates the flavors of Vietnam for a casual drinking scene. Nibble on fresh spring rolls with shrimp, pork, and a peanut dipping sauce, then wash it all down with a craft beer or three. 247 Avenida del Norte, 424-398-0237, or dinelittlesister.com. Beer, wine, and sake.

Tamales Elena Y Antojitos BELL GARDENS

» Afro-Mexican $

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, ordertamaleselenayanto jitos.com, or @tamaleselenayantojitos.

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Jasmine Gevorkyan, Esq. is the founder and president of the Gevorkyan Law Firm, A.P.L.C. Early in her career, she worked as a defense attorney representing major transportation companies and insurance carriers. She has litigated and tried to verdict numerous cases involving catastrophic injury and wrongful death. This former trial experience uniquely gives her the advantage to build strong cases and fight insurance companies effectively. Jasmine established the Gevorkyan Law Firm in 2011 and she continues litigating cases representing the injured and economically disadvantaged. After fourteen years of practice, she remains dedicated to the clients she is privileged to represent. Jasmine’s areas of practice primarily include wrongful death, premises liability, catastrophic personal injury, including rideshare, trucking, transportation and other vehicle accidents.

Since 2015, Jasmine has been consecutively selected to the Los Angeles Rising Stars list by the Super Lawyers. No more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in California are selected by Super Lawyers. She also has been recognized repeatedly as Top Female Attorney in Southern California, Top 40 under 40 by the National Trial Lawyers, Top 25 Mass Tort Trial Lawyer, America’s Most Honored Professionals, Nationally Ranked Top 10 Under 40 in the field of Personal Injury by the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys, Lead Counsel in Personal Injury Law by the Lead Counsel Review, and America’s Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys.

Jasmine is admitted to practice in all State Courts of California and in the United States District Court, Central District of California. She is certified in negotiation and dispute resolution

by Pepperdine University’s Straus Institute and Westlaw. She is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), American Association for Justice (AAJ), Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA), Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (WLALA), and the California Young Lawyers Association (CYLA)

VALLEY EXECUTIVE TOWER 15260 VENTURA BLVD., SUITE 1110 SHERMAN OAKS, CALIFORNIA 91403 GEVORKYANLAW.COM . 818-905-0200 @gevorkyanlawfirm

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The objective is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel. We limit the lawyer ratings to those who can be hired and retained by the public, i.e., lawyers in private practice and Legal Aid attorneys.

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THE AARONS LAW FIRM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

TOP 100 Martin I. Aarons 2020-2021

Martin I. Aarons^, Shannon H.P. Ward*+ +Rising Stars Honoree 2017-2021 *2017-2021 The Top Women Attorneys in Southern California ^Super Lawyers Honoree 2016-2021

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We Give a Voice to the Voiceless As civil rights trial lawyers, Martin Aarons and Shannon Ward understand how a person suffering from discrimination, harassment, or a wrongful termination can be life changing. The Aarons Law Firm opened its doors in 2009 to help victims pursue the justice they deserve. “We were ‘me too’ lawyers before ‘me too’ became a household name,” Super Lawyers Top 100 honoree Aarons says. The firm’s lawyers offer a team approach and are dedicated to thoroughly investigating all details of a case. They prepare each case as if going to trial and focus on listening to their clients’ needs while showing compassion during a difficult time.

“We love what we do—working together to help people right wrongs and tell their story in the courtroom,” he says.

23801 Calabasas Road Suite 2001 Calabasas, CA 91302 PH: (818) 794-7100

aaronslawfirm.com

SUPERLAWYERS.COM

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SUPER LAWYERS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA / TOP WOMEN 2021

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TOP 50 WOMEN AN ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF THE WOMEN LAWYERS WHO RANKED TOP OF THE LIST IN THE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SUPER LAWYERS NOMINATION, RESEARCH AND BLUE RIBBON REVIEW PROCESS.

Abell, Nancy L., Paul Hastings, Los Angeles

Hanna, Mona Z., Michelman & Robinson, Irvine

Barnett, Stephanie M., Barnett Law Group, Los Angeles

Harrison, Genie, Genie Harrison Law Firm, Los Angeles

Bishop, Leah M., Loeb & Loeb, Los Angeles

Keller, Jennifer L., Keller/Anderle, Irvine

Bohen, Mary Catherine M., Law Offices of Mary Catherine M. Bohen, Los Angeles

Lee, Irene Y., Russ August & Kabat, Los Angeles

Savitt, Linda Miller, Ballard Rosenberg Golper & Savitt, Encino

Levine, Janet I., Kendall Brill & Kelly, Los Angeles

Sedrish, Laura Frank, Jacoby & Meyers, Los Angeles

Lodise, Margaret G., Sacks Glazier Franklin & Lodise, Los Angeles

Shear, Leslie Ellen, Law Office of Leslie Ellen Shear, Encino

Brill, Laura W., Kendall Brill & Kelly, Los Angeles Bryan, Sharon A., Moore Bryan Schroff & Inoue, Torrance

Ly, Geraldine, Law Office of Geraldine Ly, Santa Ana

Carlo, Candace, Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo, Los Angeles

MacIsaac, Suann C., Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump, Santa Monica

Sokol, Robyn B., Leech Tishman, Pasadena

Masry, Louanne, Masry Law Firm, Westlake Village

Spagnoli, Christine D., Greene Broillet & Wheeler, Santa Monica

Rickert, Kelly Chang, Law and Mediation Office of Kelly Chang, Pasadena Rothschild, Kristi D., Rothschild & Alwill, Santa Barbara

Boyer, Holly N., Esner Chang & Boyer, Pasadena

Coleman, Christina M., Law Offices of Christina M. Coleman, Los Angeles Cox, Cynthia R., Cox Law Group, Torrance Cuddy, Christine S., Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo, Los Angeles Ebelhar, Melinda, Benedon & Serlin, Woodland Hills Fraigun, Marina Kats, Fraigun Law Group, Sherman Oaks

Shore, Sussan H., Weinstock Manion, Los Angeles Smith, Jill L., Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo, Los Angeles

Matthai, Edith R., Robie & Matthai, Los Angeles

Teren, Pam, Teren Law, Redondo Beach

McGaughey, Erin, McGaughey & Spirito, Redondo Beach

Valentine, Kimberly, Valentine Law Group, Mission Viejo

Meyer, Lisa Helfend, Meyer Olson Lowy & Meyers, Los Angeles

Wasser, Laura A., Wasser Cooperman & Mandles, Los Angeles

Murawski, Roberta L., Law Office of Roberta L. Murawski, Los Angeles

West, Michelle M., Robinson Calcagnie, Newport Beach

Nielsen, Caren R., Rodnunsky & Associates, Woodland Hills

Whyte, Nicole, Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara, Newport Beach

Fresch, Elaine K., Selman Breitman, Los Angeles Glaser, Patricia L., Glaser Weil, Los Angeles Perrochet, Lisa, Horvitz & Levy, Burbank

Wright, Lauriann, Wright Kim Douglas, Glendale

Gonzalez, Jamie N., Oldman Cooley Sallus Birnberg Coleman & Gold, Encino

Phillips, Stacy D., Blank Rome, Los Angeles

Zitser, Diana P., Zitser Family Law Group, Los Angeles

Grebe, Sibylle, The Probate House, Torrance

Ramey, Christa Haggai, Ramey Law, Los Angeles

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SUPERLAWYERS.COM

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ATTORNEYS SELECTED TO SUPER LAWYERS AND RISING STARS WERE CHOSEN IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROCESS ON PAGE S-2.

7/13/21 9:07 AM

SP E C IAL ADV E RT ISIN G SE C T ION

UP-AND-COMING 50 WOMEN AN ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF THE WOMEN LAWYERS WHO RANKED TOP OF THE LIST IN THE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RISING STARS NOMINATION, RESEARCH AND BLUE RIBBON REVIEW PROCESS.

Aizman, Diana Weiss, Aizman Law Firm, Encino

Gusdorff, Janet R., Gusdorff Law, Westlake Village

Nogle, Megan F., Greenberg Glusker, Los Angeles

Antoine, Heather A., Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, Sherman Oaks

Hinojosa, Kelly L., Hinojosa & Forer, Los Angeles

Nowels, Sarah Jane, SJN Law, Santa Ana

Hobbs, Kristin E., Shernoff Bidart Echeverria, Claremont

Ortiz-Beljajev, Neyleen S., Beljajev Law Group, Seal Beach

Johnson, Arwen, King & Spalding, Los Angeles Katz, Corinne B., Katz Law Firm, Los Angeles

Perkins, Rebecca, Law Offices of Rebecca Perkins, Rancho Cucamonga

Bazikyan, Arminé, Bazikyan Law Group, Glendale Bekas, Zoe J., Akerman, Los Angeles Bissett, Katherine, Cox Castle & Nicholson, Los Angeles Khalili, Dalia, Matern Law Group, Manhattan Beach

Proctor, Amy E., Irell & Manella, Los Angeles

Bui, Thy B., Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete, Los Angeles

Kim, Helen U., Helen Kim Law, Los Angeles

Rayfield, (Ashley) Taylor, Manly Stewart & Finaldi, Irvine

Carson, Rebecca, Irell & Manella, Newport Beach

King, Tessa, Reisner & King, Sherman Oaks

Ricketts, Morgan E., Ricketts Law, Pasadena

Castro, Antonella A., Antonella A. Castro Esq., Corona Del Mar

Kleindienst, Katherine, Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump, Santa Monica

Samani, Michelle, Samani Law Firm, West Hollywood

Chung, Tiffany, Law Offices of Tiffany Chung, Los Angeles

Lucich, Clare H., Bentley & More, Newport Beach

Cohen, Ellen E., Jackson Lewis, Los Angeles

McCall, Lisa R., Law Offices of Lisa R. McCall, Santa Ana

Schulman, Allison M., Law Offices of Allison M. Schulman, Los Angeles

D’Agostino, Elisabeth M., Selman Breitman, Los Angeles

McKibben, Molly M., Greene Broillet & Wheeler, Santa Monica

Solmer, Lilit, Solmer, Huntington Beach

Moradi-Brovia, Roksana D., Resnik Hayes Moradi, Encino

Vartanian, Lucy A., Hahn & Hahn, Pasadena

Morrison, Lauren, Kesluk Silverstein Jacob & Morrison, Los Angeles

Vilendrer, Ellie K., Vilendrer Law, Irvine

Sbardellati, Elizabeth M., Greenberg Glusker, Los Angeles

Duel, Jasmine A., Berokim & Duel, Beverly Hills DuVan-Clarke, Barbara, Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh, Los Angeles Esmaili, Sheila, Law Offices of Sheila Esmaili, Los Angeles Mossavar, Miranda, Littler Mendelson, Los Angeles Ezra, Erin (Mindoro), Berger Kahn, Irvine

Wagner, Lindsey, Scott Wagner and Associates, Burbank Wallin, Taylor B., Meyer Olson Lowy & Meyers, Los Angeles

Mouradian, Maggie, Weinstock Manion, Los Angeles Weatherford, Natalie, Taylor & Ring, Manhattan Beach

Fund, Cathryn G., JML Law, Woodland Hills Grant, Gali, Glaser Weil, Los Angeles

Moynihan, Kerry A., Moynihan Law Office, Huntington Beach

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TOP WOMEN 2021

SORTED ALPHABETICALLY

Selected to Super Lawyers

Selected to Super Lawyers

Selected to Super Lawyers

SHADIE BERENJI

BETI BERGMAN

KAREN S. BROWN

BERENJI LAW FIRM, A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION

PENINSULA LAW, A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORPORATION

LAW OFFICE OF KAREN S. BROWN

8383 Wilshire Boulevard Suite 708 Beverly Hills, CA 90211 Tel: 310-855-3270 Fax: 310-855-3751 berenji@employeejustice.law www.employeejustice.law

10866 Wilshire Boulevard Suite 400 Los Angeles, CA 90024 Tel: 323-274-2697 Fax: 888-433-3968 karen@ksbfamlaw.com www.ksbfamlaw.com

3220 Sepulveda Boulevard Suite 203 Torrance, CA 90505 Tel: 310-694-8703 Fax: 866-449-6181 bbergman@peninsula.law www.peninsula.law

EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF

ESTATE & TRUST LITIGATION ESTATE PLANNING & PROBATE

FAMILY LAW

Shadie Berenji focuses exclusively representing employees with employment law disputes. Ms. Berenji has an array of experience in employment law litigation, with a particular emphasis on wage-and-hour violations and sex/pregnancy discrimination. As a former employment law defense attorney, Ms. Berenji understands the strategies and tactics often used to sidestep employees’ claims and she uses this insight to obtain the best possible outcome for her clients. As a result, she has successfully obtained numerous six and seven figure settlements for employees in wage-and-hour class actions, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation and whistleblower lawsuits.

Beti Bergman is the founder and principal of Peninsula Law, an elite, boutique firm specializing in probate, trusts, estates, and conservatorships. Bergman, a former civil litigator and former deputy city attorney for the City of Los Angeles, created Peninsula Law with a laser focus on probate law and built Peninsula Law into a probate powerhouse. Peninsula Law represents fiduciaries, beneficiaries, and families in litigation, planning, and settling estates. Peninsula Law embraces resolution of conflict and goes to trial when necessary. Peninsula Law’s philosophy is to treat clients with judgment, courtesy, and diligence, and to build winning cases based on exceptional strategy, analysis, and persuasion. Bergman also mediates and is available via Zoom for dispute resolution conferences.

Attorney Karen Brown is sought after for representation of complex family law matters. For over 20 years of her 45-year career, she was a civil litigator and entertainment attorney. As such, she brings a wide breadth of knowledge and exposure to many fields of law. She services the general Southern California community from her West Los Angeles practice with the objective to resolve and settle cases economically. When necessary, she is also known as a tough, knowledgeable, and aggressive litigator. Ms. Brown has an extensive background representing clients in difficult family law matters, such as high conflict divorce, custody disputes and move-aways, domestic abuse, high-net-worth financial disputes, and pre-and post-nuptial agreements.

SUPER LAWYERS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA / TOP WOMEN 2021

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SP E C IAL ADV E RT ISIN G SE C T ION

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TOP WOMEN 2021 Selected to Super Lawyers

SORTED ALPHABETICALLY Selected to Super Lawyers

Selected to Super Lawyers

MARYANN GALLAGHER

CYNTHIA E. GITT

KAREN L. GOLDSTEIN

LAW OFFICES OF MARYANN GALLAGHER

BROWN GITT LAW GROUP ALC

LAW OFFICES OF KAREN L. GOLDSTEIN

205 South Broadway Suite 920 Los Angeles, CA 90012 Tel: 213-626-1810 Fax: 213-626-0961 mail@mpg-law.com www.mpgallagherlaw.com

155 North Lake Avenue Suite 800 Pasadena, CA 91101 Tel: 626-993-6792 Fax: 626-229-1917 cgitt@browngitt.com www.browngitt.com

1645 North Vine Street Suite 306 Los Angeles, CA 90028 Tel: 888-445-6313 Fax: 323-467-7229 kgoldstein@klgcriminaldefense.com www.klgcriminaldefense.com

EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF

EMPLOYMENT & LABOR ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION BUSINESS LITIGATION

CRIMINAL DEFENSE CRIMINAL DEFENSE: WHITE COLLAR

Maryann P. Gallagher has been a plaintiff’s attorney practicing Employment Litigation for over 30 Years. She has tried over 40 cases to verdict. In addition to employment verdicts, she has verdicts in products liability, personal injury, labor code violations, medical malpractice, and construction accidents.

Ms. Gallagher has followed her passion for representing employees in all kinds of discrimination and harassment cases. Ms. Gallagher has worked to protect victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault for over 30 years. It is her passion. Ms. Gallagher has held many Fortune 500 companies responsible for gender discrimination, age discrimination, race discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, disability discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment.

Cynthia Gitt and her colleagues at Brown Gitt Law Group work with clients to prevent problems, but they are also tough and successful litigators and negotiators when needed. They are thorough and experienced workplace investigators. The firm represents primarily companies in all areas of employment law, and they have many years of experience that enables them to see the whole picture. Ms. Gitt is also an arbitrator for AAA, ARC and NAM, a mediator for ARC and NAM, and enjoys the opportunity to resolve cases quickly and fairly.

Ms. Goldstein is an experienced, aggressive trial lawyer practicing state and federal criminal defense since 2003. She fights hard to obtain victories for her clients accused of serious crimes ranging from murder, child molestation, and white-collar offenses to gang-related crimes, rape, child pornography, and RICO cases. She has a strong reputation in the community for fighting the most challenging of sex crimes cases and remaining undaunted in the face of overwhelming odds. Ms. Goldstein also represents indigent clients in both federal and state court as a member of the Central Justice Act (CJA) conflict panel and the Indigent Criminal Defense Appointment (ICDA) panel. She graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center and magna cum laude from Georgetown University.

Selected to Super Lawyers

DENA A. KLEEMAN KLEEMAN • KREMEN FAMILY LAWYERS

Selected to Super Lawyers

THERESA J. MACELLARO THE MACELLARO FIRM, P.C.

Selected to Rising Stars

KRYSTALE ROSAL LAW OFFICES OF MAURO FIORE, JR.

499 North Canon Drive Suite 200 Beverly Hills, CA 90210 Tel: 310-247-0727 Fax: 310-887-7012 dak@kleemanlaw.com www.kleemanlaw.com

1748 Preuss Road Los Angeles, CA 90035 Tel: 310-399-8585 Fax: 310-399-8686 tmacellaro@macellarolaw.com www.MacellaroLaw.com

136 East Lemon Avenue Monrovia, CA 91016 Tel: 626-856-5856 krosal@fiorelegal.com www.fiorelegal.com

FAMILY LAW

BUSINESS LITIGATION GENERAL LITIGATION ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

PERSONAL INJURY GENERAL: PLAINTIFF

Dena A. Kleeman has practiced family law since her 1983 graduation from Stanford Law School, becoming a California Certified Family Law Specialist in 1994. Ms. Kleeman handles complex divorce matters involving business valuation, divorce taxation, real property, and complex compensation, benefits, intellectual property and child custody issues. She prepares premarital agreements to structure her clients’ financial arrangements during marriage and prevent divorce-related problems that might otherwise ensue.

Ms. Kleeman aggressively represents her clients in litigation when called for. She teams with experts from other disciplines to assure that her clients receive the most knowledgeable, professional services for all facets of their family law case.

Theresa Macellaro is a business and entertainment attorney who handles high-profile litigation in both state and federal court. A Forbes entity selected and interviewed Macellaro as one of America’s Most Influential Women, as did a Fortune entity for America’s Best CEOs and Best Corporate Lawyers.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Comerica Bank jointly presented her with their Best of Los Angeles Women’s Business Award for excelling in the legal profession. Los Angeles CityBeat magazine has called her a powerhouse litigator. Macellaro and her cases can be read about in the Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily Journal, New York Daily Journal, and Chicago Tribune, among other publications.

Krystale L. Rosal manages the injury litigation department at her firm since 2011 and has extensive litigation experience in premises liability, wrongful death, dog bite and auto collision matters. Ms. Rosal also has extensive trial experience and in dealing with insurance companies. She routinely obtains top dollar settlements for her clients and is familiar with the tactics used to undervalue the pain and suffering accident victims are forced to endure. She is a proud member of CAALA, LACBA and CAOC. She is active in charitable causes involving children and is an honorary board member of the LATLC and serves on the advisory committee of the Brain Society of Southern California, a non-profit dedicated to improving the lives of brain injured victims.

Selected to Rising Stars

Selected to Super Lawyers

AMY L. SULAHIAN

PAM TEREN

SULAHIAN LAW

TEREN LAW, P.C.

810 East Walnut Street Pasadena, CA 91101 Tel: 626-584-9710 Fax: 626-584-9574 amy@sulahianlaw.com www.sulahianlaw.com

225 Avenue I Suite 203 Redondo Beach, CA 90277 Tel: 310-543-2300 Fax: 310-543-2303 pam@terenlawgroup.com www.terenlawgroup.com

BUSINESS/CORPORATE TAX

EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: DEFENSE

Ms. Sulahian founded Sulahian Law, a firm focusing on business, corporate, tax and civil litigation. Whether it’s guidance or a strong advocate in court, each client is given the highest attention. Her clients comprise from individuals to large corporations. She has extensive experience in negotiating major business contracts, tax compliance and handling complex litigation issues. Among notable honors and awards, Ms. Sulahian received; 2021 Lawyers of Distinction, 2021 Rising Stars, Pasadena Weekly’s “Reader’s Choice 2020”, and editorial features in the Arroyo Magazine, August 2020 and “Gems of Pasadena”, December 2020. Graduating from CSULA with a bachelor’s in business, she pursued law at Glendale University College of Law, receiving her J.D.

Pam Teren has dedicated her career to advancing employees’ rights by prosecuting claims for sexual harassment, sex/race/ age/disability and other forms of illegal discrimination as well as claims for illegal retaliation, wage theft and Covid-19 claims.

Ms. Teren began her career defending employee claims and uses her defense experience to avoid defense traps. Ms. Teren enjoys a perfect record in avoiding summary judgment motions and an excellent trial record. Ms. Teren’s experience, writing skills, aggressive representation and plain-English communication style empowers her clients with knowledge and maximizes their settlements and verdicts.

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STATE OF THE UNION

LOS ANGELES

THE

EQUALIZER AMBITIOUS, AUDACIOUS, AND UNCOMPROMISING, C E C I LY M YA R T - C R U Z , W H O H E A D S U P L . A .’ S T E A C H E R S ’ UNION, IS ON A CRUSADE TO REMAKE EDUCATION A S W E K N O W I T. B U T C R I T I C S B L A S T H E R A S A DIVISIVE DEMAGOGUE WHOSE GAMESMANSHIP DURING THE PANDEMIC HAS TAKEN A TRAGIC TOLL ON THE KIDS SHE CLAIMS TO FIGHT FOR »

BY JASON MCGAHAN

P H O T O G R A P H E D B Y S H AYA N A S G H A R N I A

HOT FOR TEACHERS United Teachers of Los Angeles president Myart-Cruz at union headquarters.

70 L A M AG . C O M

The Equalizer C O N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 7 7

as well. Members of the board of education are elected, many of them with the support of UTLA, and if any harbor ambitions for larger public office, making nice with the teachers’ union is essential.

“Board members are looking at a political life down the road, and if they want a future in the Democratic Party, they have to tread carefully,” notes Katie Braude, chief executive of SpeakUp, a parent advocacy group that often clashes with UTLA. “They have to be very careful about not being characterized as anti-union. That accounts for some of the softness on the board, which gives the superintendent less power to negotiate.”

That may also explain why Beutner, the superintendent who had been negotiating with UTLA throughout the pandemic, stepped down on June 30. The former L.A. Times publisher and ex-first deputy mayor cooked up some fairly innovative responses to the crisis, like convincing local PBS affiliates to broadcast educational programs for students during the day and making sure every L.A. student who needed one was given access to an internet-connected laptop. More recently, he’d been pushing to take advantage of $5.4 billion in public funds being offered to schools this fall if they make up for lost learning time by shortening vacations, extending school days, or even adding weekend classes. But after a year and a half of dealing with the teachers’ union—and a school board that union helped to elect— Beutner clearly had had enough.

“UTLA leadership were asked to consider all the different ways to [return to classrooms] with full pay, including pension benefits for any additional work, extending the school year or school day, regular Saturday school, or shortening the long Thanksgiving or January breaks,” he said in his resignation statement in May. “They would not agree to any of these.”

A school-board source familiar with 102 L A M AG . C O M

the negotiations tells Los Angeles that UTLA is adhering to its agreement to reopen schools this fall (with a remotelearning option for parents who want it). There’s been no backtracking but rather back-patting from union leaders who feel the current panic over the Delta variant validates their hard-fought safety measures.

Unlike Randi Weingarden, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, UTLA is not opposed to a vaccine mandate for teachers, though Myart-Cruz pointedly stops short of endorsing mandates herself. (The decision, she points out, was made by the union’s board of directors.) “We encourage all folks who can, to get vaccinated to keep our educational community healthy and safe,” she says.

When a new superintendent is chosen by the school board, he or she will

have to tangle with the woman sitting in the conference room at UTLA headquarters. And right now she holds the cards and she knows it. In the end, Myart-Cruz may not get everything she wants—not even UTLA is powerful enough to end the conflict in the Middle East or even raise taxes on the wealthy—but it’s abundantly clear from the last year and a half how far she’s willing to go to push her agenda. For good or ill, she is a woman with a vision and a powerful drive to make it real. “If our union is stigmatized, I’m glad. I will wear that as a badge of honor,” she says.

Her old friend from Emerson Middle School, Garry Joseph, puts it best. “Cecily wishes the world could be more like a classroom where she could get people to break down the boundaries between them and make them into a community,” he says. “With her in charge.”

Shopping Directory PAGE 78: STELLA MCCARTNEY coat, $2,500, at saksfifthavenue.com. NANUSHKA dress, $875, at nanushka.com. TORY BURCH boots, $648, at Tory Burch, Beverly Hills, (310) 274-2394, or toryburch.com. TIFFANY & CO. ring, $5,200, and earrings, $5,500, at Tiffany & Co. stores or tiffany.com. PAGE 79: THE ELDER STATESMAN coat, $3,790, at theelderstatesman.com. BOSSI shirt, $425, at fwrd.com.

MOUTY pants, $332, at mouty-paris.com.

BIRKENSTOCK sandals, $150, at birkenstock. com. THE CROWN COLLECTION ring, $11,000, bracelets, $3,000 to $9,500, and necklace, $35,000, at thecrowncollection.com. VENESSA ARIZAGA necklace, $250, at venessaarizaga. com. GUCCI hair clips, artist’s own. PAGES 8081: MAX MARA cape, $4,890, at Max Mara, Beverly Hills, (310) 385-9342, or maxmara.com. GUCCI jumpsuit, $2,100, and lingerie set, $1,100, at select Gucci stores or gucci.com. JIMMY CHOO boots, $975, at select Jimmy Choo stores or jimmychoo.com. TIFFANY & CO. ring, $2,100, earrings, $2,500, and necklaces, $12,800 to $17,900, at select Tiffany & Co. stores or tiffany.com. PAGE 82: LOUIS VUITTON jacket and dress, price upon request, skirt, $3,000, at select Louis Vuitton stores or louisvuitton.com. JIMMY CHOO boots, $1,325, at select Jimmy Choo stores or jimmychoo.com. CARTIER ring, $9,500, single earrings, $2,790 and $10,500, and bracelet, $27,500, at cartier.com. PAGE 83: LOUIS VUITTON MEN coat, $4,800, and pants, $945, at select Louis Vuitton stores or louisvuitton.com. RALPH LAUREN sweater, $995, at ralphlauren.com. JIMMY CHOO shoes, $750, at select Jimmy Choo stores or jimmychoo.com. PAGE 84: DIOR coat, price upon request, turtleneck, $1,350, and pants, price upon request, at select Dior Men stores or dior.com. GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI shoes, $995, at giuseppezanotti.com.

PAGE 85: TORY BURCH coat, $1,298, at Tory Burch, Beverly Hills, (310) 274-2394, or toryburch.com.

CHRISTOPHER KANE dress, price upon request, at christopherkane.com. GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI boots, $1,595, at giuseppezanotti.com. PAGE 86: FENDI coat, $7,200, bra top, $580, and skirt, $2,550, at fendi. com. CASADEI shoes $595, at casadei.com. CARTIER necklace, $19,100, and earrings, $4,100, at cartier. com. PAGE 87: PRADA coat, $3,650, and turtleneck, $1,390, at select Prada stores or prada.com. RALPH LAUREN sweater, $995, at ralphlauren.com. GUCCI pants, $4,100, and boots, $1,190, at select Gucci stores or gucci.com. NADRI necklaces, $74 and $85, at nadri.com. AJOA BY NADRI ear cuff set, $45, at nadri.com.

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Q

E MAI L YOUR BURNI NG QUEST IONS ABOUT L.A. TO ASKCH RIS@LAMAG.COM

Did the Griffith Park merry-go-round close for good?

CHRIS’S PICK

Terrifying Toys VINCENT PRICE GETS DOLLED UP ● The release of new Funko Pops is greeted with the same hysteria as Fairfax sneaker drops. The limitededition, four-inch vinyl figures of Disney characters, cereal mascots, and sports stars have been known to fetch five figures on the resale market.

The Funko company store on Hollywood Boulevard is the ultimate pop culture sugar high, a supermarketsized overdose of zany characters and real-life cartoons like Bob Ross and Mr. T, all placed in Instagrammable settings. Follow the maze, and everybody from Colonel Sanders to Rick James is in the house. This month, the menagerie is joined by the menacingly magisterial Vincent Price. The late House of Wax actor, art collector, and cookbook author is memorialized in three ounces of polyvinyl chloride sure to become an instant collectible.

T H E C I RC L E G A M E

A:

Diablo, the Unicorn, and the 66 other hand-carved merry-goground horses are leaping again after their long COVID nap. While the carousel was closed, co-owner Rosemary West received an offer to ship the 95-year-old attraction out of the country, but she kept the reins firmly in L.A. She spent the time repainting the horses, some of which date to 1895 and feature real horsehair. She enlisted experts to tune the band organ and replace the tractor parts that power the eternal race. “We need more people to come and have fun. If only we had 3-D glasses, people might feel like they’re going over Mount Rushmore,” West says of the vintage ride at vintage prices. “We need the $2 rides.” West loves hosting parties inside the historic dome, but alcohol is strictly prohibited. “Can you imagine someone getting woozy at 14 miles per hour?” she says.

Q: What’s the biggest 9/11 memorial in L.A.?

A: When the last of the World Trade Center debris was removed, the New York Port Authority held back a few tons for memorials. Fire Station 88 in Sherman Oaks and Rosemead City Hall have I beams from Ground Zero on display. The Reagan library has a 14-foot girder and parts of 104 L A M AG . C O M

the airplanes that destroyed it nearby.

The Beverly Hills Fire Department has an elaborate sculpture garden with stone replicas of the Pentagon and the Twin Towers—and is hosting a big memorial this month with singers, a flyover, and a 21-gun salute. The “biggest” is probably a massive, 22-foot, threepronged steel beam from the World

Trade Center lobby that sits solemnly outside the LAFD training center in Elysian Park.

Q: Is there a school built on sacred Indian land?

A: Skulls, unearthed alongside bowls and beads, were often discarded during construction projects until a state ruling in 1974 that protected ancient cemeteries. Human

remains continue to rest under a trailer park in Malibu, an equestrian center in Sunland, and even the 405 freeway.

“For modern Native Americans,” says archeologist Al Knight, “any site where their ancestors lived and died is sacred.”

Knight discovered a pictograph at a school in the Valley but keeps the location secret to deter looters. Bones have been found under what became Playa Vista Elementary School. University High School is home to a centuries-old natural spring that was the center of a village and is now a museum. Tribes gather there every Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

M E R RY- G O - R O U N D : S U L F I AT I M AG N U S O N /G E T T Y I M AG E S

At the first Elysian Park Love-In on March 26, 1967, a woman offers popcorn to a man riding the carousel.

VOLUME 66, NUMBER 9. 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.

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