West Hollywood Magazine Spring 2016

NIEMEYER ON SUNSET

The Eccentric History of the Building Mark Mothersbaugh Calls Home

RIC ABRAMSON Shaping the City’s Form and Function

THOMAS SCHOOS

The Art of the Designer

POPSICLE

Making Style With Sticks

SPRING 2016

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S TRADE SECRETS

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Interior Designer Natasha Baradaran 24

HIDDEN GARDENS The Secret and Gated Beauty of West Hollywood Shops and Salons

THOMAS SCHOOS

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The Restaurant Designer as Artist

WAR TOYS The Provocative Art of Brian McCarty / 38 42

THE EXPERIENTIAL OFFICE Behind the Walls of NCompass

RIC ABRAMSON Negotiating His Way to Great Design / 48

ACTIVE WEAR Bringing Fashion to Spring Fitness / 52 64

NIEMEYER ON SUNSET Breast Implants to Holistic Medicine to Multi-Media Art: The Designer’s Building Mutates and Survives

WOLK MORAIS

72

From New York to West Hollywood to Give Birth to Fashion 76

SOCKS AND BOXER BRIEFS The Brothers of Related Garments Know How to Match Them

MAKING FURNITURE BY HAND

80

The Man Who Finds Style in Popsicle Sticks

BRINGING FURNITURE TO LIFE Ulrik Neumann Does It with Plants / 84 86

THE GETAWAY - OJAI Tranquility Is Only 90 Minutes Away

LOOKBOOK Street Style with Verve on Melrose

BEDTIME STORIES Karen Kuo: Busy, Crazy and Happy / 98

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Where can you go to find the very best that Southern California has to offer? Follow your dreams to a city unlike any other. Where the legendary Sunset Strip meets the stylish West Hollywood Design District. Where eclectic dining meets electric nightlife.

Leave everything that’s conventional, expected and mundane at home, and go big, go bold, go WeHo. visitwesthollywood.com

Publisher / Editor-In-Chief Henry E. Scott henry@westhollywoodmag.net Creative Director Matthew Morgan matthew@westhollywoodmag.net Beauty Editor Garret Gervais garret@westhollywoodmag.net Copy Editor Terry Randazzo Contributing Design Editor Christos Prevezanos

RESHAPE YOUR BODY, RESHAPE YOUR LIFE.

Editorial Assistant Danny Manjarrez Contributing Writers Nate Berg Tim Chan Jason Gibby Gus Heully Juliette Mutzke-Felippelli Tracy Pattin Lisa Snider Contributing Photographers Mike Allen Nate Jensen Ryan Jerome Nico Marques Brooke Mason Ian Morrison Cassandra Plavoukos Contact Us hello@westhollywoodmag.net Advertising (323) 454-7707 advertising@westhollywoodmag.net Advisory Board Chair Darren Gold (West Hollywood Design District) Advisory Board Members Amanda Browning (Nicole Miller) Christopher DiMartino (SoHo House) Alle Fister (Bollare) Thomas Lavin (Thomas Lavin Inc) Merry Norris (Art Consultant) Jorg Wallrabe (Branding Iron) Joshua Zad (Alfred)

Follow Us westhollywoodmag.net facebook.com/westhollywoodmagazine Instagram @westhollywoodmagazine Cover Photo Ian Morrison for Opus Reps

Southwest Offset Printing 13650 Gramercy Place Gardena, CA 90249-2465 West Hollywood Magazine is a publication of WHMC Inc.

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C O N T R I B U TO R S NATE BERG

Nate Berg is a Los Angeles journalist who writes about cities, architecture, urban planning, design and technology. His work has been published in publications such as the New York Times, the Guardian, Wired, Metropolis, Fast Company, Dwell and Foreign Policy. He is a former staff writer at TheAtlanticCities.com and was assistant editor at Planetizen.

Twitter @nate_berg

JASON GIBBY

Jason Gibby draws heavily from John Carpenter and the cyberpunk genre. Camp also informs his work, allowing him to playfully comment on the realities of urban life. As a native Angeleno, the perpetual motion of the Los Angeles landscape keeps his work on its toes.

TIM CHAN

Tim Chan is the founder of the arts and culture publication, Corduroy, and a regular contributor to magazines and newspapers around the world.

A native of Toronto, Canada, Tim has also worked in Montreal and New York both as a writer and creative consultant for emerging fashion and lifestyle brands. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Instagram @mrtimchan

GUS HEULLY

Gus is a West Hollywood-based designer and writer with an interest in architecture and urbanism, both historic and contemporary. His writing and outlook have been shaped by a range of experiences: as a designer in L.A. architecture offices, as a local resident and as a teacher, researcher and curator in academia.

Twitter @GusHeully

NATE JENSEN

Born and raised in the Midwest, Nate Jensen was eager to explore the world from a young age. He studied in Rome before moving to L.A. where his photography career took off. Both his personal and collaborative work have international visibility spanning advertising campaigns for fashion labels and luxury hotels to Hollywood’s A-listers.

Instagram @inn8creative

Instagram @ryan_jerome

BROOKE MASON

Instagram @photekt

Instagram @brookemasonphoto

IAN MORRISON

JULIETTE MUTZKE-FELIPPELLI

Instagram @imorrison

Instagram @jfelippelli

TRACY PATTIN

CASSANDRA PLAVOUKOS

Ian became interested in photography during high school in suburban Seattle. His passion is shooting portraits of people, be they models, neighborhood regulars or inhabitants of places he visits. Morrison lives in Los Angeles, where he regularly shoots for designer Thomas Wylde and Flaunt magazine.

Tracy Pattin is a West Hollywood-based writer/ producer specializing in everything West Hollywood. From walking tours and promoting tourism to Old Hollywood projects like Hollywood and Crime and The Garden of Allah, she’s always looking for the next fascinating West Hollywood tale. Her motto: Live a Great Story.

CHRISTOS PREVEZANOS

Christos Prevezanos began his design career in the fashion industry, producing runway shows for avant-garde designers in New York. Translating creative direction to interiors, Prevezanos headed west and trained with influential designers Brad Dunning, Ruthie Sommers and Kelly Wearstler.

He practices interior design at his L.A.-based Studio Preveza.

Instagram @cpreveza WESTHOLLYWOODMAG.NET

Ryan Jerome is a renowned celebrity and fashion photographer & co-founder of Eggy Production.

After being based in some of the fashion capitals of the world, his recent move to L.A. has had a profound effect on his photography, bringing a film-industry influenced cinematic quality to his imagery.

NICO MARQUES

Nico Marques’ background in architecture has given him an edge in drawing out subtleties of designs with his photography, and a deeper understanding and respect for what it takes to turn an initial sketch into a structure. He is a Portuguese transplant based in Los Angeles and more of his photographs can be seen at nicomarques.com.

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RYAN JEROME

Australian-born commercial and celebrity photographer Mason has been capturing images for the fashion and entertainment worlds for over 15 yrs. Her work has been featured on covers and editorial pages of magazines worldwide, including Marie Claire, Glamour, Angeleno, Vanity UK and Instinct. Mason is actively involved in the West Hollywood community.

Juliette is a Los Angeles-based interior designer who has been writing about design, art and electronic music for six years. Juliette finds inspiration in the bold colors and concepts of contemporary French designers and in the wild urban landscapes of her favorite destinations like Rio de Janeiro and Bangkok.

Cassandra Plavoukos is an L.A.-based photographer with a lifelong passion for the visual and performing arts. Her study of the formal, athletic and whimsical nature of movement is integral to her commercial work and portraiture.

Instagram @cplavoukosphotog

LISA SNIDER

Lisa Snider is an award-winning writer who lived in Ojai for 16 years. She has written magazine features, short fiction for national literary journals, a handful of one-act plays and a housing documentary which screened at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. She is currently seeking representation for her novel about a career-driven woman working at a worldclass resort in a funky New Age town.

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PUBLISHER’S LETTER HENRY E. SCOTT

Design That Is Stimulating? Provocative? Fun? That’s What West Hollywood Is All About

I

f you’re like most of us, you probably spend at least eight hours a day sitting behind a desk in an office that is designed solely for efficiency. If, that is, any thought has been given to its design at all. Sure, it meets the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act. And it’s clean. But is it stimulating? Is it thought provoking? Is it fun?

Some people in West Hollywood are lucky enough to be able to answer “yes” to those questions, especially if they work at NCompass or Thomas Schoos Design. This Spring issue of West Hollywood Magazine calls out two especially stunning examples of provocative office design, located only a few hundred feet apart on the north side of Santa Monica Boulevard in the Center City.

Schoos, best known as a restaurant designer, exhibits interesting art (some of it his) in a warm and woody space that includes a small gallery.

NCompass offers a wackier interior, with bright colors and rolling walls and an exhibit of the acrylic and phosphorescent paintings of Glenn Fox, West Hollywood’s own “outsider” artist. Perhaps what is most stunning is the outdoor space behind the Schoos office. He has taken paradise and turned it into a glamorous place to work.

This issue also takes a look at the outside, with a profile of Ric Abramson, a West Hollywood architect who manages to negotiate the city’s incredibly complex planning and development process and endure the shouts of angry opponents to development and still turn out buildings that future residents will be fighting for the city to preserve.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MIKE ALLEN

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We also asked Gus Heully, the talented architect and writer, to find a definitive answer to the nagging question (at least among architects and aficionados of the craft) of whether that round green building on Sunset Boulevard was really designed by the Oscar Niemeyer. The building houses Mark Mothersbaugh’s Mutato Muzika, which produces music for everything from films to television shows to video games. It was built as a medical office for Robert Franklyn, the man who effectively created the breast implant. But the Niemeyer connection?

Even Wikipedia is only willing to concede that the famed Brazilian designed is the “rumored” architect.

Heully, however, dug deep and turned up sketches of the building, which Niemeyer called the “Centro de Beleza” (center of beauty) from the architect’s Brazilian archives. We’ve published one of those sketches in this issue.

Finally, I want to call out Darren Gold, chair of the West Hollywood Design District’s board, who has helped us put together an advisory board that he chairs. Darren, who has an incredible knowledge of our community, has been a valuable advisor to me from the launch of West Hollywood Magazine. The advisory board consists of seven other people, each a standout in his or her own world, who will help us keep West Hollywood Magazine focused on the style and substance of this remarkable city. We are proud to list them on Page 16 of this issue.

A REFRESHING COLLECTION OF MUSIC, THEATER AND FILM TO WELCOME IN SPRING! FILM SERIES

HONORING MIKE NICHOLS

THE SOUL OF ISRAEL

DAVID ORLOWSKY TRIO: THE SOUL OF KLEZMER

March 12, 2016

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

March 24, 2016

The Graduate

CLASSICAL MUSIC @ THE WALLIS

JENNIFER KOH & SHAI WOSNER: BRIDGE TO BEETHOVEN: FINDING IDENTITY THROUGH MUSIC

THEATER @ THE WALLIS

THE REVISIONIST

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March 26, 2016

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TRADE SECRETS Interior designer and L.A. native Natasha Baradaran shares her top West Hollywood picks, her fondness for formality and how life as a traveling flamenco star might just be her true calling.

INTERVIEW BY CHRISTOS PREVEZANOS PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIKE ALLEN

Trade Secrets is West Hollywood Magazine’s look at prominent local designers and what inspires them about life here.

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“

s an interior designer, I have always fused my own taste A and sensibilities with those of my clients.

”

How would you describe your furniture line?

My furniture collection is a mix of pieces that are conversation pieces but at the same time are functional.

What was your worst job?

Never had a worst job. I always try and take something positive away from any experience.

What inspires your pieces?

My personal life is the source of inspiration, which differs from my interiors. My first collection, Natasha Baradaran, was inspired by the art of jewelry making and the facets of gems. My mother is a jewelry designer and to a certain extent it is a tribute to her.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I would love to perform as a flamenco dancer in Southern Spain, traveling from town to town.

My latest collection, Curva, is inspired by Milan, where we have a second home. It is inspired by its architecture, like Villa Necchi and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, and the well-dressed Milanese woman.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned creating your furniture and accessories line?

As an interior designer, I have always fused my own taste and sensibilities with those of my clients. I try to create spaces that reflect them and their lifestyles.

With the furniture line, I have loved exploring my own voice without this filter. These are finishes, colors, materials and lines that I love and speak to me. It has felt very liberating at this point in my career.

What’s your best seller?

LBD (Little Black Dress Chair). It is our comfortable dining chair, which has the lines of an LBD and the sabots finish it off like a good pair of heels.

Who would be your dream client?

My dream client is someone who is willing to take risks and who appreciates contemporary decorative artists. I love mixing vintage pieces, like from Gio Ponti and Edward Wormley, with our current visionaries like Hervé van der Straeten or Vincenzo De Cotiis.

At this time, I would really love to design a retail fashion space on Melrose Place, which is right by my office. It would be a mix of two worlds that inspire me everyday.

Where are you from?

I was born in Los Angeles, but my background is Iranian.

My parents immigrated to Los Angeles from Iran by the way of Milan and London.

How many siblings? Where do you fit in?

I have two younger brothers.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I am a flamenco dancer. I am working toward performing in my first show.

What was your first job?

My first job in interior design was working for a large hospitality firm cleaning up the library. I never knew so many different stones, materials and vendors existed. I truly felt like I was kid in a candy store.

What was the first design object/experience you bought with your own money?

My 1979 Rauschenberg print “From the Seat of Authority.” Still makes me happy each day I look at it from my bed.

What era in L.A. would you like to have lived in?

Right now. During the ’70s and ’80s when I was growing up in L.A., it felt so isolated.

I love how L.A. has finally found its own voice and people from all over the world now give our aesthetic and approach to design and living some recognition. So lucky to be a native Angeleno.

Is there anything you wish would come back in style?

Formality. I love that we have a more relaxed way of life here, but I love to dress up. When I visit London or even New York, I realize how informal we really are. I wish going out and dressing up meant something more like it use to be.

Is there any style you wish would go away forever?

Maybe ’80s fashion, but I feel like traitor since I was teenager during that time period.

What comes to mind when you hear West Hollywood?

It’s a culture that appreciates small boutiques and stores, not department stores. There is more personal contact and relationships. It is has a more small town energy.

What is West Hollywood’s best kept secret?

Best Matcha Tea with Almond Milk at Alfred’s, either steamed on a cold day or iced when it is 90 degrees.

Where would you take visiting family members?

Soho House for the view and the best dessert called The Mess, Matsuhisa for my favorite sushi, Violet Gray for the most well-edited selection of cosmetics. Jean de Merry to see my furniture line.

Which celebrity do you get mistaken for?

Marissa Tomei and a Bollywood actress. When I was in graduate school in New York, I had an Indian cab driver, who was convinced that I was a famous Bollywood actress. He was so in awe of seeing me that he wouldn’t let me pay for my cab fare. :) What would you name the autobiography of your life?

“A Balancing Act.”

SPRING 2016

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WALKING WEST HOLLYWOOD

SECRET GARDENS & HIDDEN SPACES Beauty on the Roof and Behind the Gate

From its gorgeous Romanesque villas and Art Deco hotels to its tree-lined streets with the Hollywood Hills as the perfect backdrop, West Hollywood is a haven for all kinds of beauty. Turns out there are outdoor treasures not immediately evident—a myriad of gardens, patios and spaces hidden in plain sight. They’re peppered among the high fashion boutiques, designer showrooms and art galleries right in the heart of the Design District.

BY TRACY PATTIN PHOTOGRAPHS BY RYAN JEROME

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The Elder Statesman

Just off Melrose on a shady side street, you’ll find a small, beautifully cultivated slice of Santa Fe. The building is a former converted bungalow designed by West Hollywood’s Commune Design. Walk through the giant angled framed glass doors in the center of this boutique and you’ll find yourself in the midst of an expansive desert-like outdoor space with cactus plants, a stone patio, glistening drainpipes and roof flashing.

607 Huntley Drive (424) 288-4221

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Eskandar

Nestled in the back of this women’s fashion boutique is a Tuscan-style garden, meticulously designed by the owner, Eskandar Nabavi. Faded terracotta stone, high walls covered in foliage and antique French mirrored windows surround this stunning outdoor space.

An olive tree in the center, grass peeking through the cut stonework hardscape and furniture bought at a Parisian flea market round out the perfect European ambiance.

8816 Melrose Avenue (310) 246-9800

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Stacey Todd

Garment and fashion boutique owner Stacey “Todd” Feldman not only designed the interior of her high-end women’s clothing store, she created this lovely outdoor space.

Bamboo trees welcome shoppers into an expansive courtyard with a giant olive tree hovering over a ten foot wooden dining table used for cocktail parties and social gatherings. Jasmine and ivy climb white walls, and two black Adirondack chairs hug the corner. Nestled in the back, Todd has turned a 1940s house, once an art gallery, into a hidden treasure with an antique bar, a claw foot pool table and a Randee St. Nicholas photo exhibit peppered amongst her simple, easy and comfortable curated collection.

454 N. Robertson Blvd.

(310) 659-8633

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Restoration Hardware

Take a break while shopping on bustling Melrose Avenue and walk through this upscale home goods and furniture store, walk up two flights of stairs, and suddenly you’re in a beautiful rooftop park and garden with olive trees, an angel sculpture and expansive views of Los Angeles. It’s open to the community as a public space.

8564 Melrose Avenue (310) 652-0323

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Seize sur Vingt

An arched ivy-and flower-covered trellis marks the walkway entrance to this men’s apparel store on the east side of the building. When you enter this treelined enclosed outdoor space you’ll find a hidden stone patio at the end of the walkway, with a raised wooden platform amongst the trees making it the perfect setting for some outdoor theatre.

Shakespeare, perhaps?

8618 Melrose Avenue (310) 657-1620

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Du Vin Wine & Spirits

This popular French wine shop of 36 years is tucked away from busy San Vicente Boulevard. Its ivy-covered entrance opens into an intimate courtyard surrounded by lovely foliage with the cottage style wine store in the back, giving it the perfect European countryside feel. This lovely outdoor space was home to the Green Cafe in the 1970s, which pioneered outdoor dining in L.A. and the healthy eating consciousness we know so well today.

540 N. San Vicente Blvd.

(310) 855-1161

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Goddard+Bragg Hair Salon (Kinara Skin Clinic & Spa)

Hidden behind this beauty salon is a Zen garden where customers can relax or even have an outdoor hair treatment.

You’re immediately immersed into a peaceful state as you sit back on one of the comfy cushioned chairs and listen to the trickling fountain amongst the palm trees. It’s a slice of heaven in the midst of the sizzle of West Hollywood.

West Hollywood’s hidden treasures are everywhere in this creative city. As you’re browsing through an art gallery, shopping at a fashion boutique, sipping wine at a café or just strolling along West Hollywood’s streets, keep your eyes open.

You never know where another hidden treasure might be.

656 N. Robertson Blvd.

(310) 321-4035

SPRING 2016

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INTERIORS

THE ART OF

THOMAS SCHOOS An Obscure Studio Houses the Designer’s Eclectic Collection

He is well known for the restaurants he has designed—Manhattan’s TAO Asian Bistro, L.A.’s Koi Restaurant, his own O-Bar in West Hollywood and now Norah, which has taken O-Bar’s place. But describing Thomas Schoos as simply a restaurant designer would be a mistake. Schoos can’t be singled out as an artist, a designer, an entrepreneur, a gallerist, an activist or a builder, because he is all of these. Schoos is a man who breaks the molds to create new molds from which he pulls stunning designs.

And he does that all from an unmarked studio tucked away on the north side of Santa Monica Boulevard between Harper and Sweetzer Avenues, known only by the life-sized silver statue of a horse outside.

When you step from the sidewalk into the Schoos studio, you leave behind the buzz of the boulevard’s traffic and the music from places like Hamburger Mary’s, which is across the street. Inside the studio, there is an unfamiliar world of mythical objects, like the full-sized leopard covered in iridescent butterflies, the giant gilded light fixtures, the floor-to-ceiling art works and other treasures, all of which are handmade by Schoos.

Between these objects and art works, a skilled team of interior designers and architects bustle about, working on the latest and greatest properties from residential palaces to award-winning hotels and restaurants such as the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica and Morimoto Napa.

Outside, behind the studio, is a hidden oasis that no one walking Santa Monica Boulevard could imagine. Glass pavilions with surroundsound and flat-screen TVs are juxtaposed with koi ponds and 100-yearold bonsai plants. There are meditation areas designated by Yucca trees

and a ten-foot-tall, intricately-detailed birdhouse, built by Schoos, that’s home to two gorgeous blue Hyacinth Macaws named Molly and Rio. The crowning jewel of the garden is the Buddhist beehive-like sculpture that Schoos welded by hand that watches over his West Hollywood sanctuary.

It looks like it could be a movie set, but in reality it’s the setting of the real life of Thomas Schoos.

Trained in stone sculpture and painting, Schoos practiced solely as an artist in the early years of his career, which eventually brought the German-born Schoos to Los Angeles in 1995. Design happened by accident after Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of actor Will Smith, purchased one of Schoos’ art pieces at his former shop on Melrose Avenue. That led to an opportunity to design the Smith’s home.

A commercial design career wasn’t far behind when Schoos was offered the chance to design the interior of Tao, the Asian-inspired mega restaurant in New York City. He approached the project with an “opposites attract approach”, foregoing the then-en-vogue-big-city-glam style for authenticity, a risky move for his first restaurant project. Instead of the typical marble floors and flashy lighting, Schoos says he “brought the downtown to midtown” by hiring a local street artist to paint the ceiling, and building and carving a large Buddha sculpture himself.

Contradicting the naysayers, the restaurant outsold the very popular Tavern on the Green in Central Park in its first year. The success of the restaurant was an important moment for Schoos because it reinforced his belief that “when you go with the grain, you fail.”

BY JULIETTE MUTZKE-FELIPPELLI PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICO MARQUES

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SPRING 2016

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FRONT CONFERENCE ROOM

you are a designer, you have to fly. “ WhenOne should never put handcuffs on a creative person.

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”

DESIGNERS’ AND ARCHITECTS’ WORKSPACE

Today, Schoos and his team work on a number of eclectic projects across many industries, yet they all feel interrelated. From his “Creation Room” in the studio, he paints large-scale works of art that will be used to promote animal rights and awareness abroad. In the adjacent art gallery, Schoos champions talented artists from around the world like photographer Micky Hoogendijk from the Netherlands. The exclusive, invitation-only gathering space is, of course, like nothing you have seen before. Instead of the empty space with white walls that characterizes most galleries, it is filled with chic custom furniture and has a warm ambiance that invites guests to sit and get comfortable while they admire the artwork on display.

In the belly of the studio, his team is developing plans for turning a building built in 1917 into a boutique hotel in San Diego. This is all part of Schoos’ vision. “When you are a designer, you have to fly. One should never put handcuffs on a creative person.”

His freedom of expression permeates every inch of his studio and his philosophy on life. “Design is living; one can’t be afraid to live.”

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OPPOSITE PAGE: SCHOOS NIGHT GALLERY, THIS PAGE: SCHOOS DESIGN’S TROPICAL GARDENS

SPRING 2016

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“GAZA CINDERELLA”

WAR TOYS

B R I A N M C C A R T Y ’ S S T OR I E S I N PL AY

BY JASON GIBBY PORTRAIT BY NATE JENSEN

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ABOVE: PHOTOGRAPHER BRIAN MCCARTY, BELOW: “MOTHER OF VIOLENCE”

SPRING 2016

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Hellfire missiles rain down on her bright blue dress. Tied up, her blonde hair flashes yellow against the bone-dry desert. She stands, a single bloom in a barren land, unaware of what’s above: toys.

Holding the strings—and the camera— Brian McCarty, creator of the War Toys project, takes the shot. Pictured is the blue-dressed, blonde-haired Cinderella, a toy found, like the missiles, right off the shelf in an active war zone.

With the help of art therapists, McCarty uses toys to reconstruct the hand-drawn accounts of war-torn children. In his tableaux are the western artifacts of Sunday morning cartoons and happily ever afters—Disney princesses and smiley-faced Legos set against a backdrop of persistent violence.

“I was able to integrate War Toys into ongoing therapy sessions,” says McCarty.

“They allowed me to come in for a week, meet with the kids, get their accounts and do the photographs. And after the photoshoot, I’d come back and use the images as a way to get them talking and sharing more. The more I can support ongoing programs for these kids, the better.”

When he’s not overseas, McCarty calls West Hollywood home. “I’ve lived here for over 17 years,” he says, “longer than anywhere else. It’s my adopted home and one that I’ve grown to love for all of its diversity.”

Before War Toys, McCarty worked for Mattel. There, in the studio, he shot Hot Wheels in white seamless. Only sometimes—usually after a lot of coaxing, says McCarty—would the company let him shoot something on location.

“I still do studio stuff,” he says, “but I really enjoy going out and the unique challenges that it brings.”

That sentiment, and with it the seeds of War Toys, emerged at Italy’s United Colors of Benetton. After art school, while working at Benetton’s Fabrica research center, McCarty was invited to do an exhibit in Croatia. “It was their

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first exhibit after the war of independence. And for the show I chose to look at off-the-shelf war toys as cultural artifacts and as a way to look at war. That’s the root of it. It was shot on location.

And the seeds of the idea stuck with me.”

For years the idea drifted in McCarty’s head. Even at Mattel-and after, in the art toy movement-the thought lingered: what about actual war toys with actual victims? Then, on a hike with close friend Paul Vesper, an answer at last materialized.

On the hike, Vesper asked: “ ‘So what are you working on?’ And I told him about War Toys, and about using art therapy and play therapy. He absolutely jumped on the idea. He

said, ‘You have to do this.’ And I wasn’t aware, all the years that I had known him, that he had such strong connections to East Jerusalem,” whose control has long been contested by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

“The first shot that I did for the whole project was after interviews with the children in East Jerusalem about a boy they knew who had been shot by the wall.”

On the ground lies the boy, plastic limbs wasted in a pool of blood. Before him stretches a ghostly profusion of toy soldiers. And behind, in concrete silhouettes, are the graffiti-etched walls of the separation barrier.

Outside the frame, while McCarty prepped the shot, a mob descended on the Kalandia checkpoint, where the Israeli military controls Palestinian access to East Jerusalem and Israel.

Tear gas and stun grenades struck the crowd,

but, tempted as he was, McCarty stayed true to his conceit: keep your eye on the toy.

“And that’s why I’m there,” he says. “There are a million photographers down in the fray, taking pictures of both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, but no one is there working with these kids. That’s my job.”

Last summer, while searching a database of images, McCarty came across what looked like his photo. On it, in Cinderella’s place, was the word ‘Caliphate.’ McCarty was inspired to create the photo by a drawing by a young girl in the Gaza war that shows her surrounded by tanks, rockets and guns.

“I discovered it completely by accident,” he says. “Initially I thought that it was an Arabic magazine or a newspaper that stole it. The only word that I could understand was ‘Caliphate,’ huge in English, and then there was a lot of Arabic text.”

But when Arabicspeaking friends translated the message, its source was not a magazine, nor a newspaper, but the Islamic State. McCarty contacted social media websites to have the photo removed, knowing that that likely would anger some people in the places in the Middle East that he visits.

“I still feel weird about making a stink about it because I go back to these places. I work with ISIS kids. And I’m going to work with them again. I don’t want a bigger bullseye on my back than there already is.”

“I don’t have any illusions about War Toys,” says McCarty. “As far as the project goes, I am completely neutral. I don’t care what flag the kids salute. It’s art directed by them. These are their characters, their experiences.”

Not knowing, one might mistake McCarty’s war toys for theater—the blonde bombshell, a rising star, and the man with the gun, an action hero. But somewhere—in a war zone, at a checkpoint—children see old friends: Legos and Disney princesses, the stories of their lives.

WAR TOYS PHOTOS: “LAST DINNER”, “REFUGEE CAMP CHILDREN” / WAR TOYS DRAWINGS: “LAST DINNER”, “TANK MOTHER”

OPPOSITE PAGE: BRIAN MCCARTY BEHIND THE SCENES OF “LAST DINNER”, ABOVE: “TIGERLILLY”

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KAE ERICKSON, COO; MATT MAYER, SVP STRATEGIC MARKETING; DONNA GRAVES, CEO

NCOMPASS THE

EXPERIENTIAL

BY JASON GIBBY PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICO MARQUES

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OFFICE

THE “CASBAH”

Moroccan drapes adorn the walls. Chalked, unintelligible letters smear a blackboard. A byzantine canvas—more tapestry than flooring—carpets the space. Four couches gather at the room’s center, circling in a bright leather mass. And behind them, as the curtains open, the sun rushes in from Santa Monica Boulevard.

What started as a kitchen vision, says Donna Graves, CEO of NCompass, grew into the building blocks of their wildly inventive West Hollywood office in a modern building on Santa Monica Boulevard across from North La Jolla Avenue. The inventive nature of the office reflects what the company is all about. It describes its mission as “undefined” and is celebrated for its work on events and other unconventional marketing activities for clients such as Activision, Neiman Marcus, Microsoft, Toyota and 7-Eleven.

With her co-founder, Kae Erickson, Graves envisioned an office off balance, with slanted walls and a motley of rich colors—a labyrinth of architectural idiosyncrasies in which losing oneself is the intention.

Outside the Moroccan oasis, known as the “casbah,” the building opens into gray sloped walls. A saltwater aquarium emits a blue glow, and the reception desk curves along the entrance.

A white gravel river juts out from the saltwater aquarium. Starry bits of white pop on the river’s black shores as it flows into the office’s wall of fame. There, golden effigies and silver lions bear witness to NCompass’s

wins—some tongue-in-cheek, like “Wish You Would Have Thought of That,” and others, such as their Grand Ex award for Call of Duty XP, a true prestige.

On the wall opposite, a frosted panel curves into the boardroom’s slanted door. Angled as it is, the door seems to defy functionality— a structural sleight of hand. Inside the room, a glass tabletop rests on the braided trunk of an old tree. “We had the whole office feng shuied,” Graves says. “And we needed a rather large piece of wood for the process, so we had the artist build this table, which is actually from a fallen Sequoia.”

Outside, the river drifts to “the park,” a raised platform covered in mossy green shag. Its mid-century decor, a mishmash of blue grass and tangerine colors, sits beneath a mounted flat screen: two eras sharing the same space. “At the office proclamation, our friend Herbie Hancock sat down in the park and played the piano,” Graves says. “He showed up a little bit late for it,” she adds with a laugh, “but he did come to the event.”

Overlooking the park are the mischievous, bug-eyed grins of a Glenn Fox collection. In one, flying saucers traverse a tribal landscape and a marbled red octopus waves its funky tentacles in another. His work, it would seem, is the wacky love child of the Cheshire Cat and Dia de los Muertos.

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“THE PARK” AND ARTWORK BY GLENN FOX

Three towering ceiling lights breathe a white glow into the space.

Beneath them, a wavy-walled corridor—one side gray, one side yellow— reaffirms the interior’s rule: keep things colorful. And, aside from the river and the lights, that rule is a brilliantly chromatic constant.

A decked-out kitchen (one of three in the office) dwells behind the park. This one boasts a full wine cooler, a kegerator, and, no doubt a favorite, a Slurpee machine. Connected to the kitchen is their compact gym, complete with a punching bag, treadmill and three-paned mirror for those perfect post-workout selfies. And for late nights or early mornings at the office, the gym’s bathroom, known as “Bora Bora” for its colors, includes a full shower.

Upstairs, the rec room—part work, part play—blends open offices with recreation. A Space Invaders arcade machine flaunts its 8-bit graphics, and beside it, a Super Smash Bros. cartridge sticks out of a beloved Nintendo 64. Several billiard balls scatter the pool table, and foosball, a crowd favorite, has its swivels ready.

“Sometimes people come back here after a night out to play a round of pool or hang out. It’s great because it creates an organic team that’s not forced,” says Graves.

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Outside the rec room, a sun rises above golden waves on a painted hallway door. A foxy red plasters the walls. Black and white photos hang behind a life-sized Call of Duty figure. He stands, combat ready, strapped with an M4, smoke grenades and a tactical knife. And nearby, behind a staircase, Elvis Presley belts sweet Southern blues into a golden microphone.

In the bathroom down the hall, a disembodied grin glows on the dark wall—another Glenn Fox piece. In fact, at NCompass, Fox’s work is as varied—and ubiquitous—as the color palette. The artist, notes Graves, also painted the doors in the office, including her own. Some, like the grin, glow under black light. And others, with the right glasses, pop in 3D. Cells float in a frosty blue ether on the doors of the upstairs kitchen cabinets. And at their side, an old-timey popcorn machine sits across from a small bar. There, Tecate waits on tap and a margarita machine stands ready.

“It’s kind of what we do—we’re experiential marketing,” says Graves.

“We take blank slates and transform them into something. And right away, in this office, where everyone else saw a big shell, we saw possibility.”

CONFERENCE ROOM WITH FALLEN SEQUOIA TABLE

“WE TAKE BLANK SLATES A N D T R A N S F O R M T H E M I N T O S O M E T H I N G .”

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SECOND FLOOR OFFICE

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UPSTAIRS REC ROOM

CREATIVE DIRECTOR PATRICK FONG’S OFFICE

FIRST FLOOR KITCHEN (SHARED WITH BILL SILVA ENTERTAINMENT)

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RIC ABRAMSON IN THE PENTHOUSE AT 1252 NORTH HARPER AVENUE GROOMING BY SARA TINTARI

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ARCHITECT RIC ABRAMSON The Man Who Deftly Negotiates West Hollywood’s Complex and Contentious Development Process

BY NATE BERG PHOTOGRAPH BY BROOKE MASON SPRING 2016

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Ric Abramson may be the developmental conscience of West Hollywood. A longtime resident, Abramson has been almost hyperactively involved in shaping the city’s urban form and function, holding volunteer positions on the General Plan Advisory Committee, the Green Building Committee, the Environmental Task Force, the Sustainable City Committee, the Public Facilities Commission and the West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation Board, all on top of running Workplays, his West Hollywood-based architecture firm. It’s a full plate, especially in a city where design and development can be spectator sports.

“I don’t think I would keep coming back unless I didn’t enjoy the punishment,” Abramson says of his work in West Hollywood.

A resident since 1989, he launched his firm in 2003 and has designed many residential, multifamily and mixed-use projects throughout West Hollywood. “I’m very interested in trying to wed the challenge of making great cities with the realities of multiple points of view.”

As West Hollywood rebounds from the recession with a strong new wave of real estate development, Abramson is hoping to find balance. There are two forces at work in the city, he says: one that wants new growth and more density, and another that wants the city to maintain its modest population and neighborhood scale.

Abramson sees room in the middle. He has two projects under development that he calls prototypes for how the city can grow and add density in a reasonable way. One is a recently approved four-townhouse project on Vista Street that manages to slip the four-level detached units onto a sliver of a lot between two large-scale multi-family buildings. The other project is a 21-unit infill apartment building on Kings Road that blends into its surroundings and uses natural ventilation and lighting in an environmentally conscious design.

“At two different scales, I think they’re showing how we can grow smartly as a city,” Abramson says. “If in fact we’re going to build new housing, let’s at least do it in a sustainable and smart-growth manner.”

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environmental conditions.

VISTA TOWNHOUSE In addition to his work on many West Hollywood task forces and commissions, Abramson has a master’s degree in architecture from UCLA, was a Fulbright Scholar, taught for a dozen years at the USC architecture school and has been working in the field since the early 1980s. In January, Abramson was elected to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows, one of the field’s highest honors.

Through this experience, he’s developed a design philosophy based around what he calls “situational city making.” Pieces of the city are like unique fingerprints, Abramson says, and each needs to be approached individually.

He tries to make his designs respond to their surroundings, to the exposure of the property, to the neighborhood context, and to the local

KINGS ROAD APARTMENT BUILDING

“ If in fact we’re going to build new housing, let’s at least do it in a sustainable and smart-growth manner.”

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HACIENDA PLACE

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“Unfortunately, the way that we zone cities, they’re generally citywide standards,” Abramson says. “I’m much more interested in what makes sense not at a citywide level, but at the neighborhood scale.”

This is evident in his work in West Hollywood. On the site of the 1920s-era Ramona Apartments on Harper Avenue, Abramson’s firm developed a 32-unit infill condo project built around the eight pre-existing units, preserving and rehabilitating a piece of the city’s history while enabling new growth. Another project, an eight-unit townhouse cluster on Hacienda Place, gives a contemporary sheen to the courtyard-style housing that is such a rich part of the city’s architectural fabric.

West Hollywood has been a leader in this type of conscientious urban design, mainly because it keeps its standards high. Abramson knows firsthand how difficult it can be to work through the city’s complicated design review process. Even with his experience on the city’s many task forces and commissions, Abramson says it has become more challenging—and frustrating—to comply with new policies and guidelines. Architects, he says, used to control about 80 percent of a design, with the rest being subject to local rules and community demands.

Today, that’s flipped.

“It’s like saying to a chef you only get to determine 20 percent of the menu but you have to cook the whole thing. They’re going to throw knives,” Abramson says. “We don’t have any sharp instruments to throw.”

But for all the new guidelines and policies his work has had to accommodate, Abramson still has a positive outlook. He’s optimistic for the future of design in West Hollywood, and thinks things will only get better.

“In the end, most architects are fundamentally problem solvers, so we’re energized by problems,” Abramson says. “For me, the more complex the problem, the more interested I tend to be.”

HAVENS GUEST HOUSE

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SHORTS BY TALE OF ESTHER SHOES BY ADIDAS TOP BY SOULLAND AT KIN BEVERLY HILLS LOCATION: BURN 60 STUDIOS, WEST HOLLYWOOD

FIT & FASHIONABLE FOR SPRING

EU

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BY LI W RA S AL P GA TS LA HS US RR : A CE BY RT IN E ,M C G T H GE U SE ER AS VE RV NT O SA N E N N AI R M DR S HA + T AM A FO B W IR R O O PL R CA A CO N M , G A RE LO RI DO AN KA VO D & UR A N AG IA B UK H EN N G O U P A E ZO IR OP EN ICH ME CY S CO CY OL NT M BY IL S AN AR SM USI AS O A T ET NG HA IN IC IR TA S TO RI O S

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TOP BY NASTY GAL BOTTOMS BY ALTERNATIVE AT KIN BEVERLY HILLS

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TOP BY NASTY GAL SHORTS BY STYLESTALKER SHOES BY ADIDAS

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JACKET BY DIESEL PANTS BY DRIFTER AT KIN BEVERLY HILLS SHOES BY NIKE

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TOP, SHORTS & JACKET BY OPENING CEREMONY SHOES BY NIKE

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TOP BY JONATHAN SIMKHAI AT KIN BEVERLY HILLS SHORTS BY NASTY GAL SHOES BY JEREMY SCOTT BY ADIDAS

TOP BY TOPSHOP AT THE GROVE OVERALLS BY WITHOUT WALLS AT URBAN OUTFITTERS

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TOP BY OPENING CEREMONY TIGHTS BY TOPSHOP AT THE GROVE SHOES BY JEFFREY CAMPBELL AT NASTY GAL

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TOP BY ZANEROBE AT KIN BEVERLY HILLS BOTTOMS AND SHOES

ROUND & ROUND FROM ARTIFICIAL BREASTS TO MULTIMEDIA, THE EVOLUTION OF OSCAR NIEMEYER’S BUILDING ON SUNSET

MARK MOTHERSBAUGH

MOTHERSBAUGH’S DEVO MEMORABILIA AND MUTATO MUZIKA RECORDING STUDIO

It’s 1984, the band Devo has put out three albums since its breakout 1980 Freedom of Choice and its hit song “Whip It” is still everywhere.

Front man Mark Mothersbaugh, with more money in his pocket than he has ever seen in his life, decides to stop staying on Iggy Pop’s couch in Malibu and buys a house in the hills above Sunset Plaza.

David Bowie and Brian Eno had brought Devo out to L.A. to help them secure their first big record deal. Now Devo is rehearsing and recording in Marina del Rey, and Mothersbaugh makes the bumpy commute from West Hollywood in a rattling, sputtering old Mercedes.

Each day he drives by a circular building on Sunset Boulevard, and each time thinks, “if I worked here I would be recording already!” Ringed by curve-topped windows, it looks like a miniature version of the L.A. Forum crossed with a carnival Gravitron. It’s round, it’s weird, and it’s for sale.

The building was then occupied by a Russian holistic medical clinic.

The clinic had put rose-tinted glass in the windows. The hideous brown and maroon striped decor featured a floor tiled with cheap cake frosting textured squares. The outside had been painted a dull putty, the color of dead skin.

Others had showed interest in the building, looking to turn its unique shape into a restaurant, club or pool hall, but each plan was abandoned due to a lack of parking. Its price constantly dropped, and when it was within his range in 1995, Mothersbaugh bought it to house Mutato Muzika, his new multimedia production company. (The name Mutato is a combination of the words Mutant and Potato.)

The idea of mutation is important to Mothersbaugh. It describes how imperfections change things from one form into the next and sums up his approach to making art and music. Mothersbaugh is an artist of diverse talents and Devo incorporated a variety of artistic media. The band itself designed all the graphics, costumes, videos, performance and music—a total package. The new space at Mutato would allow him to explore all these interests under one round roof.

The interior was refinished and a few small alterations made so it would work for music production. Since moving in, the building has hosted names like David Bowie, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, The B52s, Debbie Reynolds, Lou Rawls and numerous others. The outside was painted green, a shade of Chernobyl Cucumber chosen to neutralize the rose tint of the windows.

BY GUS HEULLY PHOTOGRAPHS BY IAN MORRISON

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ONE OF THE TOP COSMETIC SURGERY CLINICS IN THE COUNTRY, DR. FRANKLYN’S OFFICE WAS A BIRTHPLACE OF BREAST AUGMENTATION.

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OSCAR NIEMEYER’S BEAUTY CLINIC (OR CENTRO DE BELEZA) ON SUNSET BOULEVARD

At home there for the past twenty years, Mothersbaugh successfully mutated Devo into Mutato and medical clinic into multimedia art space, with only cosmetic changes. But these are only two of a huge number of transformations that happened in this building.

Originally built for Dr. Robert Alan Franklyn and designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, it housed one of the top cosmetic surgery clinics in the country and was one of the birthplaces of breast augmentation.

It’s 1967, and Dr. Robert Alan Franklyn, strolling from his office to the central sky-lit operating room, stops at the door to put on his sunglasses. The room is bright and the sky above cloudless, only the tops of palm trees peek past the oculus in the ceiling. Sunbeams shine on sterilized surgical instruments.

Franklyn looks at the blonde anesthetized on the sun-faded operating table. Surgiform breast implants that seem closer kin to florist arrangement foam lie on a metal tray. Frankyn is ready to make a star.

In the waiting room, a woman whose gleaming Harley Davidson leans in the driveway, walks in and, in an apparent reference to her breasts, asks, “Hi Mac, you fix flats?”

Cosmetic breast augmentation was a novel procedure in the 1960s, and Dr. Franklyn, as one of the few doctors to focus solely on cosmetic procedures, was the go-to entertainment industry surgeon.

In his book, Beauty Surgeon, he describes the first patient who came to him seeking breast enhancement. She was a beautiful blonde striptease dancer with a flat chest, known as “the shy one” because she never removed her padded brassiere.

She was looking for help, and Franklyn felt that the kind of psychological distress her lack of bosom caused her was rampant in the United States. There had been a cultural shift in body type preference, thanks to images of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell that had women everywhere feeling inadequate.

“I have a great sympathy for most of the people who come to me.

I may not be changing the course of the world, but my work is of inestimable value to the individuals I treat. Some of them are referred to me by psychiatrists, and sometimes they become totally different—and infinitely happier—people after an operation,” Franklyn said in a Sports Illustrated interview.

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While today we might address the damage of such a perception with therapy or a larger social campaign, Franklyn treated the symptoms of those individual women who could afford it breast by breast. He even touted the reversibility of the procedure should tastes change.

No procedure then existed that could enlarge the breasts, so he invented one. Using foamed plastic he had pilfered from the seat cushions of a WWII German fighter plane he had seen in an exhibition, he developed an implant he dubbed “Surgifoam.”

After implantation of foam from the German plane, the striptease queen became known as “Chesty” and, if Franklyn is to be believed, the confidence of added bounce in her blouse helped her to leave dancing, find a husband and live happily ever after.

Franklyn had (and continues to have) a dubious reputation in the medical community. This comes (surprisingly) less from his implantation of German aviation foam in a woman’s chest than from his habit of speaking directly to the public about his work. Franklyn put cosmetic surgery into the public’s imagination.

He was more likely to be seen pushing his procedures in the pages of the Weekly World News alongside UFO abduction stories than in a professional medical journal. He was deemed reckless and unscientific.

Despite this scorn, Franklyn was wildly successful, so much so that he could afford to construct a building for his practice on Sunset Boulevard. Not one to miss an opportunity to make an impression, the media savvy doctor proposed something big, hiring Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. *** His morning cigarillo in hand, Oscar sneaks a peek at the waitress’ backside as she walks away with the coffee pot. “French women are too skinny” he thinks to himself, his mind straying to visions of baroque proportions.

He is designing a 13-story office tower and beauty clinic for a Los Angeles surgeon and must work on the road. Looking out of the cafe window, he sees a bank of clouds roll across the sky. Where most might see a bird, a puppy or a zeppelin, Oscar has Rubenesque visions. Legs, hips, breasts and nipples explode every edge, vaporous vaginas flow open and closed in the wind.

Looking back down at his sketchpad, he quickly roughs out a series of shapes, structures, and forms inspired by these feminine-inspired hallucinations. A profile and floor plan emerge. He adjusts the form, the shape of the columns, adds windows, a figure for scale.

He sighs, no trip to California this year. The sketches will need to be developed, copied and mailed to L.A. from Paris. The letter rejecting his application for a U.S. visa is still in his briefcase.

The combination of famous architect and infamous client seems a strange fit at first and has generally been treated as myth. Why would Niemeyer, who had designed giant sculptural buildings all over Brazil, take on such a small commission in West Hollywood?

Niemeyer had been exiled and banned from working in Brazil because of his Communist activism in 1964, when a coup brought a new military government to power. He was likewise denied an entry visa to the U.S. the same year. It was during this period of exile, working from Paris, that Niemeyer designed his two California projects. Working with

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local architects by mail, he completed a house for Anne and Joseph Strick in Santa Monica and the Beauty Pavillion for Dr. Franklyn in West Hollywood.

While the Stricks hired Niemeyer as a protest to U.S. policies, Dr. Franklyn was more interested in Niemeyer for the design inspiration he found in female beauty and had contacted him before his exile in 1963.

Dr. Franklyn, in partnership with his mother Theresa, hired Niemeyer to design a 13-story office tower on their Sunset Boulevard site in West Hollywood, a significant commission for the soon-to-be-homeless architect.

“I started following Niemeyer’s work in 1943 when he was nothing,” Franklyn told Sports Illustrated.

Zoning applications describe the tower as round, with a lobby, landscaped plaza, ten floors of office space, two floors for Dr. Franklyn’s cosmetic surgery practice and a penthouse on top.

For reasons that remain unknown, the tower proposal was withdrawn

by Franklyn in 1965. The project mutated into the modest two-story circular clinic that Niemeyer stayed on to design and was constructed in 1967. Drawings of the original tower remain lost, but within the archives of the Oscar Niemeyer Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Niemeyer’s sketches for the Beauty Pavillion, or “Centro de Beleza,” show numerous versions of the two-story clinic.

Like Mark Mothersbaugh’s combination of the words Mutant and Potato to create Mutato, the combination of Dr. Franklyn and Oscar Niemeyer is a match that ended up producing a unique building.

Niemeyer’s oft-repeated personal dictum was that “form follows beauty,” and Dr. Franklyn clearly could not have agreed more. When it came to the topics of beauty and women, they were soul mates.

Niemeyer always had women and sex on his mind. Crude comments were a staple of his office, as were photographs of breasts and butts, everywhere he looked. Dr. Franklyn was obsessed with symmetry, circles and the banishment of physical imperfections.

The Beauty Pavillion reflects the inspirations of both men. Round and perfectly symmetrical, like a newly sculpted Dr. Franklyn breast, complete with nipple dome skylights and a facade ringed with vaginal window openings, the driveways gently curve under the backside. It is a mutant woman object.

Inspired by women but still a Modernist, Niemeyer was not out to build the womanly version of “Randy’s Doughnuts”—a building advertising what it housed. His vision was more universal, focused on beauty for beauty’s sake.

With the Beauty Pavillion, Niemeyer’s vision was mutated, outmaneuvered by a master of American media culture. His forms followed beauty but became metaphor. Franklyn’s involvement twisted Niemeyer’s vision, the clinic and what happened inside was a billboard for Franklyn’s work. The building ended up as much a surgically perfected woman as a Googie restaurant is a classic car.

This is not necessarily a distasteful conceit on Franklyn’s part, as it puts Niemeyer’s work in a unique light. Its mutant history also makes it a perfect home for Mothersbaugh, an artist who sees the value of mutants as creatures of progress, the way that things change from one into the next, combining two slightly different things to create an entirely new third being.

DR. ROBERT ALAN FRANKLYN

ORIGINAL SKETCHES / FUNDAÇÃO OSCAR NIEMEYER

WHEN IT CAME TO THE TOPICS OF BEAUTY AND WOMEN, NIEMEYER AND HIS CLIENT WERE SOUL MATES.

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MARK MOTHERSBAUGH

MUTATION DESCRIBES HOW IMPERFECTIONS CHANGE THINGS... AND SUMS UP MOTHERSBAUGH’S APPROACH TO MAKING ART AND MUSIC.

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DESIGNERS CLAUDE MORAIS AND BRIAN WOLK

WOLK MORAIS THIS COUPLE LEFT NEW YORK TO BIRTH A FASHION LABEL I N W E S T H O L LY W O O D

BY TIM CHAN PHOTOGRAPHS BY IAN MORRISON

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They say change always happens in the most unexpected fashion, and no one knows that better than Brian Wolk and Claude Morais.

As the award-winning duo behind New York-based label Ruffian, the two spent more than a decade building up the label from an accessories brand to a full-fledged ready-to-wear powerhouse, garnering the attention of celebrities and editors alike. But two years ago, they decided to leave it all behind—albeit temporarily—to embark on an impromptu vacation. A road trip across America turned into a permanent move to West Hollywood and the creation of a new label, Wolk Morais. The design duo hasn’t looked back since.

“We kind of dated L.A., fell in love and now we have a child called Wolk Morais,” says Brian Wolk, one half of the eponymous duo. “We never really told people we were staying here, but we found a new excitement and creativity in L.A. that made us want to try it out.”

“Wolk Morais,” their respective last names, came out of an effort to reflect something “more authentic,” a sentiment that runs through their new collection as well. With dreamy denim pieces, tomboyish skirts and charming separates that are at once retro and futuristic, the designers are firmly embracing the full spectrum of the California lifestyle. Dresses are laid back yet well tailored, inspired by architecture and the Santa Monica mountains, while a chic floral print shows up on classic shirts, but also on T-shirts and hoodies as well. The collection is fresh and flirty, and above all, fun.

“We want to dress the girl who’s at the beach during the day and then hitting the red carpet for a premiere at night,” explains Morais, speaking of the diversity in the collection.

“There’s an ability in L.A. to mix rock and roll with couture,” continues Wolk. “Add the influence of the film industry and the costumes, and you get a unique blend that really defines L.A. fashion.”

While Ruffian focused on dressing for special occasions, Wolk Morais is focused on openness and accessibility. To that end, the collection includes everything from a printed hoodie to a cocktail dress, with prices starting at under $100.

The collections are also numbered, rather than dictated by season— another byproduct of living in a city where the seasons may change, but the temperature rarely dips below 60. “It’s less about the weather and more about the mood,” Morais explains.

For now, the mood for Wolk Morais—the label—is upbeat, with overwhelming support from critics, and new celeb fans like Chloë Moretz and Cate Blanchett. The outlook for Wolk and Morais—the designers—is equally optimistic.

After leaving the hustle and bustle of New York, the two are enjoying the simple life in West Hollywood, working out of a home studio and taking daily hikes in Runyon Canyon or walking to Food Lab for a coffee or salad. While Morais has a car, they prefer taking the train downtown to the museums or out for dinner.

“We’re feeling more and more connected to the city and to our new audience,” Wolk says. “There’s an emerging cultural consciousness here that we haven’t felt in a long time,” he adds. “We felt that in Williamsburg when we first moved there many years ago. Now the same energy is here in L.A.”

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Models Gabe Le Neveu, Ella Flood, Ivy Bragin and Ben Bragin Stylist Elizabeth Stewart, Assistant Stylist Jenny Brunt Makeup by Garret Gervais for Grid Agency Using Colourpop Cosmetics Hair by Lucie Doughty for Paul Mitchell Assistant Anthony Martinez, Hair for males using Paul Mitchell

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R E L AT ED G A R M E N T S W I T H T H E S E B R O T H E R S , I T ’ S A M AT C H F O R M E N

BY TIM CHAN PHOTOGRAPHS BY RYAN JEROME

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DAVID AND MIKE APPEL

When it comes to being a gentleman, they say it’s the inside that counts, but could the saying also apply to what you wear? That’s the hope for Related Garments (RLTD), a new, West Hollywood-based apparel company that’s hoping to change the way men look at what they wear down there.

Launched in March 2015, the company is the brainchild of Mike and David Appel, two L.A. natives who also happen to be brothers (hence the “Related” part of the company name). David, who is two and a half years older, appeared on NBC’s Fashion Star and is part of the design team at the contemporary men’s shopping club, FiveFour. Mike is the founder of a boutique branding and marketing firm. They describe themselves as “a good yin and yang” when it comes to RLTD, with David taking over designing duties and Mike working on back-end logistics.

While both brothers have traveled the world working in the fashion industry, the inspiration for starting an underwear brand came a lot closer to home. “We had an epiphany when we opened the top drawer of our dressers and saw a smorgasbord of randomness,” says David. “There were boxers and socks from five, six years ago, and nothing matched.”

To fill what they saw as a gap in the marketplace, the Appels started Related Garments, headquartered on Hammond Street, which not only offers comfortable, no-frills underwear, but also matching regular and no-show socks. Packages start at $26 and include one of each item— the perfect way, the brothers explain, to put yourself together before even putting on your clothes. “Women have been wearing matching undergarments for years,” says Mike, “but it’s often the last thing guys think about. Our goal is to be the original matching garments company for men. We’re simplifying your top drawer essentials.”

The first collection from RLTD features a contemporary, mid-rise boxer brief, with a cozier fit and just the right amount of stretch. The brothers tested out three different samples, including a traditional brief design that was ditched after Mike wore it to a meeting and, he says, “felt incredibly uncomfortable the whole time.”

The boxer briefs and matching socks come in a half dozen styles, each named after other sets of brothers. The “Manning” is a classic striped design, with precise and sharp details like the quarterback siblings it’s named after. The “Hemsworth,” meantime, is strong and masculine, with a herringbone pattern set against a bold red waistband that even Thor would approve of.

RLTD joins a host of other sock and underwear startups that have launched in the past few years. But while its competitors have infiltrated the market with loud graphics and in-your-face campaigns, RLTD is taking a simpler approach to reaching its customers.

“We’re making really comfortable underwear that’s easy to wear and buy,” Mike explains. “Plus, we’re basically throwing in two pairs of matching socks.”

The slow and steady approach is paying off. The brand’s celebrity following includes everyone from Kellan Lutz and Ed Westwick to Bill Rancic and Chris Rock, and their look book features the stars from Vanderpump Rules.

And then there’s the name. “There are real people behind ‘Related Garments,’” says Mike. “It’s a company run by my brother and I, and we 100% stand behind it.”

The brand story and product seem to adhere to the same ethos. “At the end of the day,” the brothers say, “it’s what underneath that counts.”

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Model: John Economu, Two Management Grooming by Sara Tintari using Patchology, Baxter and Seven Haircare On location at JEFF Antiques

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Popsicle Art Stick by Stick

BY JASON GIBBY PHOTOGRAPHS BY NATE JENSEN

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Popsicle sticks stack in escalating levels of complexity. One wrong move and, like a house of cards, the whole thing might collapse. But one after another, tier upon tier, the sticks pile into wild shapes and sizes, working, in sync, toward the big idea. And finally, as the last piece glues into place, voilà, the sticks amass, by the thousands, into a table.

“I see them in my mind’s eye, and then, one stick at a time, the work just comes out of me,” says David Hrobowski, creator of Riffstick, a line of popsicle stick art and furniture. “I start with a concept in my head, and then I make a pattern.

Making the initial template, everything has to be perfect because if it’s off, then the entire piece is going to be off.”

Inside the table, popsicle stick bridges connect geometric figures. Hollow octagons and cog-shaped stars hover above the core. On the exterior, sticks alternate in color—some dyed red, and others stained a rich mahogany.

So tightly woven are the sticks that at first glance the table appears singular in structure—one solid mass, like concrete or metal. But up close, each individually placed stick, each notch in the whole, jumps out and visibly hollers: I am just one of many.

A long-time resident of West Hollywood, the area, says Hrobowski, is just the right fit. “This neighborhood has always worked for me because I buy and sell stuff. La Cienega, Melrose, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica—those are my clients, my friends.”

And, in case you’re wondering, Hrobowski’s work isn’t the by-product of an insatiable sweet tooth. The popsicle sticks come from the internet—thousands at a time. But way back, long before online buying, Hrobowski’s first sticks came, strangely enough, from a childhood bout with chicken pox.

Bedridden, bored and sick, nine-year-old Hrobowski received a visit from his neighbor. And with her came the first of many, many popsicle sticks—and, although she didn’t know it, the genesis of Hrobowski’s work. “She brought over some popsicle sticks and glue so I could keep myself busy,” says Hrobowski. “And I ended up making this little lamp and shade, which somehow, soon after, ended up on the local television station.”

“They even put my number at the bottom of the screen and people actually called in. I made like half a dozen of those lamps. And I don’t know what happened, but after that, for a long time I didn’t make any more.”

But years later, as luck would have it, Hrobowski encountered a box of popsicle sticks in a retail store. “The first thing I saw at the end of the aisle were these boxes.

And they were only $6 for a thousand, so I decided to make something with them.

And in an attempt to make the lamp that I remembered from when I was nine, I made a new one, the first of a set,” says Hrobowski.

On another popsicle stick table—this one resting on spiral stick columns—are Hrobowski’s twin lamps. Sticks stack one after another in a twirling climb to the shades. Notched as they are, a pulse waving on their surface, the shades wobble, like a sound wave, with each passing layer.

Elsewhere, a popsicle Christmas tree weaves in merry fractals, red and greenstained sticks ornamenting its twisted beige ‘leaves.’ On the wall, black-stick gargoyles project from an intricate and circular mirror. And beneath, on the floor, a chair contours in bisecting brown crescents—sticks bent in fierce, bold pageantry.

All of the work, says Hrobowski, comes from a place inside. And it’s in that place, he says, with no sketches and no written plan, that honesty speaks the loudest.

“The biggest accomplishments in life have always been about honesty—in art and in people. That’s when the magic happens. People buy it. People see it. People feel it. That’s where my work comes from. At the end of the day, it’s always the honesty that moves people.”

DAVID HROBOWSKI

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EXTERIORS

NEUMANN’S OWN F UR N ITUR E B LOSSOMS AS L IV ING A RT

Staring at a chair, Ulrik Neumann, founder of livingART, intuited a wild idea: “what if I brought it to life?” A little vegetation, he thought, and perhaps some floral bits, too. Soon, that one chair became three. And those three became a dozen.

“It all started with the chairs,” says Neumann. “I needed something to do, and all of the sudden, as I was puttering around, doing little jobs and reinventing myself, I got the idea to build this living art.”

Foliage erupts from the seat on one of Neumann’s chairs, and along its spine, a red succulent blooms over the green leafy undergrowth. The chair suggests a renaissance of sorts: the green, a signifier of renewed life, and the chair beneath, a celebration of what’s past.

At a glance, the chair might seem like it grew in the remnants of an atomic test city—a natural courtship of humanity’s ruins. A closer look reveals an exacting presence, however. The chair’s exposed legs, manicured impeccably, and its trimmed exterior, divulge a delicate artistic hand. The message is clear: this was no accident.

“Not long after thinking up the chairs, I got an idea for vertical gardens,” says Neumann. “And soon after, for a living art furniture line.

I had the tables, room dividers on wheels—one side was a living garden, and on the other side, it had shelves. I use crates for shelves. It’s like prison art,” he continues with a laugh, “you use what you have.”

But before constructing a furniture line, or even building his floral chairs, Neumann gleaned inspiration from the works within the Kunsthalle museum in his hometown of Recklinghausen, Germany.

“My mom worked in a museum. And as a kid, I was always crawling on all fours in the back, and I would see how they mounted the pictures.

I was always fascinated by the theater of it all. And I used to build these

little theaters, with curtains and sets that rolled in and out, to capture that backstage feeling. What I do now, really, is like that set. Every little thing is theatrical. It was always theater.”

Now, several thousand miles away from the Kunsthalle, Neumann reinvents those childhood sets in the heart of West Hollywood. “I have a workshop in West Hollywood where I do all the work. It’s a great mix: creative and home. I wanted to find a space where you could live, work, and entertain. And West Hollywood is perfect for that.”

A recent living art statue, coming in at just over eight feet tall, rolls in and out of Neumann’s home. “I just live with her,” he laughs. “I rented it out a couple of times. She’s on rollers and you have to push her around.

But she found me, actually. Some decorator threw her out in West Hollywood. There she was, this monster.”

Moss sprouts from the statue’s face and body, and its arms, held together by thin wire, jut out with bold, primal energy. A mohawk pops from its crown in green-ferned barbs. Originally a mannequin, this ‘living art statue,’ as Neumann calls it, awakens with his touch, capable of movement, growth and style.

Elsewhere, suspended by invisible string, a transparent sphere with its own burgeoning ecosystem floats above the landscape and a living art table showcases its white rock canals beneath a pane of glass. These, like his chairs, speak to the theatricality of Neumann’s work—each piece, a living, breathing scene waiting to unfold.

Neumann enacts his vision without stripping his works of their essence. The chair is still a chair; the table, the sphere, and the mannequin, although beautified, retain their form, too. But as his creations take shape, a tangible new presence emerges on their surface: life.

BY JASON GIBBY PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIKE ALLEN

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Ulrik Neuman and examples of his living art.

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THE GETAWAY: THREE DAYS IN

OJAI

NINETY MILES TO TRANQUILITY

Those seeking inner peace can certainly find it 90 miles north of Los Angeles in the eclectic enclave of Ojai, nestled in a tranquil valley surrounded by the heritage oaks of the Los Padres National Forest. Ojai’s 8,000 residents—a diverse mix of artists, healers, celebrities, retirees, moneyed hippies and multi-generation locals—call this idyllic locale home. A sort of mystical-Brigadoon-

cum-New-Age-mecca, Southern California’s last bastion of small-town utopia is the kind of place where the pursuit of bliss is taken seriously.

A recent influx of Los Angelenos has brought with it trendy new hotels, restaurants and shops, but the tried-and-true Ojai charm still reigns.

BY LISA SNIDER PHOTOGRAPHS BY NATE JENSEN

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Above Left: Ojai Ice Cream, Above Right: Post Office Tower, Below Left: Wachter Hay & Grain, Below Right: deKor & Co.

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THE GETAWAY: OJAI

DAY ONE

Above: Ojai Vineyard Tasting Room, Below: In the Field

AZU RESTAURANT 457 E. Ojai Ave. (805) 640-7987 azuojai.com

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DEKOR & CO. 105 S. Montgomery St. (805) 272-8675 dekorandco.com

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HIP VEGAN CAFÉ 928 E. Ojai Ave. (805) 646-1750 hipvegancafe.com

IN THE FIELD 730 E. Ojai Ave. (805) 403-4292 inthefieldojai.com

LAVENDER INN 210 E. Matilija St. (805) 646-6635 lavenderinn.com

OJAI VALLEY INN 905 Country Club Rd. (805) 697-8780 ojairesort.com

OJAI VINEYARD 109 S. Montgomery St. (805) 798-3947 ojaivineyard.com

RAINS 218 E Ojai Ave. (805) 646-1441 rainsofojai.com

THE GETAWAY: OJAI

BEGIN TO DECOMPRESS Arrival

Feel yourself decompress as you wind your way up the 33 into Ojai Valley. Drop your bags at either the Ojai Rancho Inn (a kitschy, newly remodeled hipster motel), the Lavender Inn (a romantic B&B serving gourmet breakfasts in the heart of downtown) or the Ojai Valley Inn (a luxurious, Five Diamond full-service resort).

Put on your hiking boots and head into town past the iconic arcade and post office tower, built by the Libbey glass tycoon in the early 1900s. Pick up a freshly-made sandwich to go from HIP Vegan Café—perhaps a seitan Reuben or an avocado hummus wrap—and drive or walk north up Signal Street to the Shelf Road trailhead, nice and wide with easy ups and downs past fragrant orange groves. Your reward for the less than four-mile roundtrip yields magnificent views of the valley.

Afternoon

Treat yourself to a leisurely wine tasting at the awardwinning Ojai Vineyard. With a fresh modern design inside and an intimate sidewalk patio, there’s plenty of room to swirl, sip and kick your feet up. The massive walk-in refrigerator displayed behind an impressive wall of glass boasts their best of their collection.

Before checking into your accommodations, enjoy shopping at the new deKor&Co. (custom-made furniture, home accessories, luxurious textiles, Stockholm cosmetics, a tea bar and a swing in the middle of the store), the new In the Field (designer clothing and home goods curated by the supermodel owner and her Hollywood husband), and Rains, Ojai’s answer to the department store. An Ojai institution, family owned since 1914, it’s the only place you’ll find a Tommy Bahama shirt, a gourmet kitchen gadget and a light bulb all under one roof.

Behind the arcade, the newly opened Porch Gallery is one of many fine art galleries in the downtown area and features rotating exhibits in a restyled historic home.

Dinner

For such a small town, there’s no shortage of great places to dine and Azu tops the list. Owner/executive chef Laurel Moore and her manager daughter, Elizabeth Haffner, offer a menu of Mediterranean tapas and creative craft cocktails. End the evening with a nightcap and live entertainment at The Vine, or enjoy a more subdued visit to Chief ’s Peak bar at Ojai Rancho Inn.

Above: Chief’s Peak bar, Ojai Rancho Inn, Below: deKor & Co.

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THE GETAWAY: OJAI

DA Y T W O

Above: Bart’s Books, Below: Tipple & Ramble

ARROW HEART YOGA 143 W. El Roblar Dr. (805) 669-8143 arrowheartyoga.com

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BART’S BOOKS 302 W Matilija St. (805) 646-3755 bartsbooksojai.com

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BOOKENDS 110 S. Pueblo Ave. (805) 640-9441 bookendsbookstore.com

ENHANCED DAY SPA 439 W. El Roblar Dr. (805) 746-6476 enhancedojai.com

FARMER & THE COOK 339 W. El Roblar Dr. (805) 640-9608 farmerandcook.com

NEW LEAF SKINCARE 307 E. Ojai Ave. (805) 640-9911 newleafojai.com

NOCCIOLA 314 El Paseo Rd. (805) 640-1648 nocciolaojai.com

OSTERIA MONTE GRAPPA 242 E Ojai Ave (805) 640-6767 omgojai.com

THE GETAWAY: OJAI

OUTDOORS: BOOKS, HIKES AND EATS Breakfast

For some local flavor, drive over to Ojai’s bohemian suburb of Meiners Oaks. The Farmer and the Cook harvests organic produce for their grocery/café, where huevos rancheros rules breakfast with hand-rolled tortillas, eggs, avocado, beans, cheese, guajillo chili salsa and pico de gallo. A bakery case displays vegan, raw and glutenfree baked goods. Take a seat on the pet-friendly patio at one of the dusty rickety outdoor tables and eavesdrop on conversations about Mercury going retrograde.

Afternoon

Grab a cup of their signature chai and head over to the nearby BookEnds Bookstore, converted from a former church. Here you’ll find new and rare books and, as the name suggests, estate-quality bookends. Another great bookstore to check out in Ojai is Bart’s, a shaded outdoor space with over 100,000 titles, most of them used.

There are about as many spas in Ojai as there are restaurants. Linger in Meiners Oaks to enjoy a massage at Enhanced Day Spa, or wander back into town for a facial at New Leaf Skin Care. If yoga is your pleasure, try Arrow Heart in Meiners Oaks or, for the more adventurous, AIReal yoga at Pilates StudiOh! in Ojai.

For more heart-pumping activity, join Trails by Potter for an easy rock climb at Foothill Crag or a downhill bike ride on a paved trail 14 miles to the ocean. Not to worry; they will drive you and your bike back up the hill!

Try lunch at Osteria Monte Grappa, where the salads and panini are made with the freshest local ingredients and are big enough to share.

Dinner

Photo: nocciolaojai.com

Before heading out to dinner, stop at Tipple & Ramble for charcuterie, wine and shopping for whimsical picnic wares. The backyard feels like an intimate ‘glampground’, complete with a restored vintage trailer they call the Canned Ham. Make your way to Ojai’s newest restaurant early enough to enjoy what the locals call the Pink Moment, the time 10 minutes before sundown when the setting sun imparts a warm rosy glow to the Topa Topa Mountains.

Nocciola sits at the top of town, where its patio lays claim to the best view of this magical daily ritual. The menu features homemade pastas and inspired entrees and the five-course tasting menu is a favorite.

Above: Tipple & Ramble, Below: Nocciola Restaurant

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THE GETAWAY: OJAI

DA Y T H R E E

Ojai Permaculture

Enjoy a soy latte at local hangout Ojai Coffee Roasting Co. with a bagel and lox plate. Cruise over to Libbey Park to watch the hippies drum, then stroll to the Farmers’ Market where produce hawkers—Pixie tangerines are in season in March—and a bluegrass band compete for your dollar bills. One of the highlights of your trip to Ojai might be a visit to Ojai

OJAI COFFEE ROASTING CO. 337 E Ojai Ave. (805) 646.4478 ojaicoffeeroastingcompany.com

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OJAI PERMACULTURE 1809 Ladera Rd. (805) 290-0832 ojaipermaculture.com

Permaculture in the East End. They are doing amazing work in the valley to bring attention to sustainable land use in drought-affected areas. They offer two-hour tours of their property as well as overnight stays complete with organic meals. You may even decide to return for a work-study-living situation.

PILATES SUDIOH! 306 E. Matilija St. (805) 907-2616 ojaipilatesandaircore.com

TIPPLE & RAMBLE 315 N. Montgomery St. (805) 319-9496 tippleandramble.com

Above: Ojai Permaculture, Below Left: Orchard field, Below Right: Ojai Rancho Inn

NADIA

MARK

DIANA

ROY

KATIE

“Lofty, flowy, relaxing.”

“Traditional, rudeboy/skinhead, Spirit of ’69.”

@dianadudirty “ Street, edgy and chic.”

@ro_baj “ Regular jacket, slacks and double buckle monk shoes.”

@katielabarge “Comfy mom chic.“

JAMIE

SABINA

DOUG

BRIANNA

DANI

@stolenrum “ Gentleman meets Keith Richards.”

@beenymwah “Relaxed, colorful, spontaneous!”

@douggiefresh21 “ Streetwear with class.”

@briannaquinnlewis “ Weird, cute, quirky.”

“ Casual, comfy.”

LOOK BOOK Style Described in Ten Words or Less

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KIM

DAVID

SNEH

CHRISTIAN

ERICA

@_ jinbaby_ “ Colorful!”

@davidpashaie “ Casual / Hawaiian chic.”

@diwanbydesign “Lots of black, navy & grey.

Plus stripes! Classic, clean, easy.”

@vitaminco “Classic, clean and vintage.”

@ericasnap “Eclectic, artistic.”

SKYLAR

SATOSHI

CHRIS

KIM

OLEG

@skye_bo “ Fun and chic!”

@satoshishigeta “Street & vintagewear mix.

High-end street style.”

@ellis_ wilson “ Rock ‘n’ roll gentleman, GQ troublemaker.”

@kim.hyeonjoo “ Not unique, but special.”

@olegjones “ Casual, cool and elegant.”

WEST HOLLYWOOD Outside Verve Coffee, 8925 Melrose Avenue | Photographs by Ryan Jerome

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Your Day just got Great.

www.thepetalworkshop.com @thepetalworkshop 310-704-3716

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VIBRANT SPACES DESIGNED TO INS P IRE EV E RY O C C A SION Imagine the twinkling lights of one of the world’s most romantic cities surrounding your Los Angeles wedding.

Andaz West Hollywood offers stylish wedding spaces, inspired service, and world-class cuisine.

START PLANNING your dream wedding today, speak with one of our Event Managers at 323-785-6058

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BEDT IME S T OR IE S Karen Kuo

KAREN KUO WITH SONS JONATHAN AND CHRISTOPHER

Karen Kuo is busy. She has two boys in school (West also reads the works of feminist writer Rebecca Walker. “I Hollywood Elementary) and manages the West Hollywood love cooking, so I love reading cookbooks,” she says. “And and New York City shops that house the lauded work of her I like reading the news. Most of the time, we can’t keep up father, artist and furniture maker Robert Kuo. And she also with the newspaper, the Economist and the various other likes to have people over for dinner in a house that features magazines that are delivered to the house.”

Kuo just finished Adé: A Love Story, written by her her sons’ skateboards, Nerf balls and tennis rackets as well as her father’s furniture-as-art. She’s also on the boards of friend, Rebecca Walker, a book about Walker’s time in Africa after graduating college. “Fabulous the West Hollywood Design District book and so sweet,” Kuo says. “About and Visit West Hollywood. “Our lives innocence and love and youth. She is a are messy, busy, crazy, happy and full of “Our lives are messy, wonderful story teller.” good food,” Kuo says. busy, crazy, happy Her son Christopher, who is ten Perhaps surprisingly, Kuo also finds and full of good food.” years old, is reading Space Case by time to read. “I love reading in bed if I Stuart Gibbs. Jonathan, who is eight, can stay awake long enough,” she says.

“Working full time plus having two kids in elementary is reading the Harry Potter series. “He devours them,” Kuo school, I am dying to pass out at night—just waiting for says “He cannot get enough and was very excited to hear the boys to fall asleep, then I can pull all of the Nerf guns, there is another book coming out.”

She prefers reading real books, printed on paper. “I will blankies and books off my bed so that I can go to bed. I’m trying to read the boys ‘The Kids Book of World Religions.’ read on my iPad if I’m traveling but I like reading a book on paper,” she says. “I am so lucky to know people who have We are doing one religion at a time.”

For her own pleasure, Kuo prefers fiction. Among her published books. A signed book is something special that favorite writers are Maria Semple and Liane Moriarty. She you keep forever.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALDO CARRERA

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GET READY FOR SPRING THE WILLIAM DINING COLLECTION

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. 471 N Robertson Blvd . West Hollywood, CA 90048 . 310.274.2461. glosterla.com

Gloster Showroom

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City of West Hollywood California 1984

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POWER TOOL The City of West Hollywood’s official app puts our city in your hands.

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