Yeah, it really was hot yesterday. Palm Springs or Las Vegas style hot. After one of the coolest summers on record we finally got the big heat. Officially it reached 113 degrees although this photo from the LA Times shows 121 degrees.
Obviously there were a couple of options for staying cool
And no this wasn't my option (picture snagged from google, I only wish that this was me frolicking on the beach) The other option was to dress in summer clothes and stay inside an air conditioned office, which I happily did.
Here's the photo that I tried to post yesterday but my computer was having no part of it. (Ah... little does my hijacked virus ridden hard drive know, but it is being replaced by a newer, faster, and more powerful hard drive this coming weekend, my new trophy computer if you will) But I digress. Here is the estate jewelry that I wanted to show you.
I love this necklace because it is reversible, so in the photo I was wearing it on the reverse side with white enamel instead of the dressier sapphires. This is a great piece because it can be worn with both casual and dressier styles. And, did I mention that it is Garrard.
And, a gold wire bracelet, a vintage classic from Gucci.
I'm pretty sure that I had the exact same style bracelet made out of elephant hair when I was 11 years old and the epitome of all things cool, or so I thought. I like it better in 18K.
The weather has changed already. There are clouds from the ocean this morning and our dry burning heat is over. We are expecting only 90 degrees today.
What's the second most fun thing that you can do in the evening in Los Angeles for free? Yep, you guessed it
Last night I was fortunate enough to have a private tour of the Griffith Park Observatory, which has just celebrated its 75th anniversary. Even if the city sky was so ridden with fog that the telescope was useless, I could still enjoy observatory's exhibits amid the 1935 Art Deco architecture. Apparently winter has started already in Southern California so it was time to drag out the winter wardrobe. Naturally, I managed to action some jewelry that would work with my wool cardigan and skirt in jewel tones of ruby and sapphire. So voila, the photo. Yes it is me at the event in my chunky faceted ruby bead necklace. Does the photo look a bit odd, but I've been photoshopped onto a photo with a different vista from the observatory. I liked this background better because you can see the Hollywood sign in the background. (Question: as long as I was photoshopping myself, why didn't I make myself taller, thinner and younger like a Rlaph Lauren model?)
Also, not to be missed at the Griffith Observatory, the Light of the Valkyries show at the planetarium set to the music of Wagner's Ring, that was created to coincide with the Ring Cycle that was presented by the LA Opera.
When the sun refuses to come out...which it has for weeks The Gérôme exhibit at the Getty Museum And why Gérôme? Because he painted amazing Orientalist paintings
and portraits
and pure cheesecake
From the Getty website Through most of the 20th century, however, Gérôme's critical reputation was tarnished by his alleged commercialism and his stubborn opposition to the triumphant avant-garde movements of Impressionism and Postimpressionism. The first comprehensive exhibition of his work in almost 40 years, this exhibition offers the opportunity to reconsider the variety and complexity of Gérôme's masterful oeuvre.
I totally feel like I've had an all media week...first an interview with an accessories editor of a local luxe magazine, then a meeting with the managing director of a major Asian newspaper, rounded out by last night's party-fundraiser hosted by Bel Air Magazine for Children's Hospital.
I didn't even know that there was a Bel Air Magazine...I mean seriously, how many high end luxe magazines can the city of Los Angeles support between Angelino, LA Confidential, Genlux, C, and the rest of the high end group. Well anyhoo, the magazine does exist, and as you can imagine it is full of high end real estate and luxe travel and product ads.
The event was held at a swanky Bel Air estate which also just happens to be on the market
for the very small sum of $26 million. Here's a photo of the house from the MLS.
And here are a couple of photos from my iPhone.
The views from the veranda and the sunken pool were magnificent but it was all rather surreal and deja-vu-ish as the house was a couple of houses down the hill from my first house in Bel Air, and few houses up the hill from my last house in Bel Air. And looking around at the items at the silent auction, and then at the majority of the crowd at the party, platinum blonded mini skirted twenty something girls, euro types and associated wanna be's, all I could think of was "there goes the neighborhood"...but you know, in a good way, as it was all for charity.
Naturally, I had no idea what to wear to this type of event, so I stuck with my stalwart Kevan Hall dress from 2 seasons ago, simple black mules, a Karen Millen jacket and vintage Gucci snakeskin bag.
And for jewelry I opted for yellow and blackened gold flexible tubogas choker necklace and matching bracelets with diamonds, and a big pair of diamond earrings.
Thankfully the weekend is finally here, with no more events planned except for a family barbecue for Father's Day, and I can spend it dressed in my cargo shorts, birkenstocks and t-shirt!
WTF is wrong with the men in this city? After the Lakers pull off a spectacular win against the Celtics this is what we get and we are the city with the winning team
note the flag being carried by these hooligans
and is this car storm really necessary? (notice the lack of female involvement)
For the record, in spite of the fact that I've mocked him in the past, I am totally on team Kobe.
but I still have nothing good to say about Tiger and feel sorry for his love child by his porn star
When I was a child we had sports stars that we could look up to like Arthur Ashe.
Now, we professional athletes who can't keep it in their pants.
We live in a world of extremes, where men have either been emasculated or have become hyper male.
With my inner Trad coming out I wonder, what happened to the gentleman
and to the philosophy and practice of good sportsmanship?
I had never really stopped to think about the fact that Los Angeles really is a theatre town... not in the way of London or New York, with their well defined theatre districts, debuts and big productions. LA is all about small productions where the local acting populace can hone their craft. Across the city, in tiny theatres from Venice Beach to Hollywood to Downtown, you can find all kinds of plays, from the obscure to the well known. And that's what I got on two subsequent evenings this week. First was the well known...David Hare's "The Blue Room", a play about sex that was anything but sexy. I liked the idea of the play with only one actor and one actress playing multiple parts that interacted in a quick succession of scenes.
The Girl (Irene) (Scene I & X) The Cab Driver (Fred) (Scene I & II) The Au Pair (Marie) (Scene II & III) The Student (Anton) (Scene III & IV) The Married Woman (Emma) (Scene IV & V) The Politician (Charles)(Scene V & VI) The Model (Kelly) (Scene VI & VII) The Playwright (Robert) (Scene VII & VIII) The Actress (Scene VIII & IX) The Aristocrat (Malcolm) (Scene IX & X)
Considering the intimacy of the scenes, staged in the tiny Odyssey Theater in Westwood where the audience was seated no more that a few feet away from the actors, I would have thought that it would have been easy to have been drawn into the play as it progressed. Unfortunately I was bored by scene VII and just didn't give a damn about any of these characters and who they were screwing and why.
Fortunately it was a play in one act.
The next night I was off to another adventure in theater in Hollywood.
Now to drag me into Hollywood for anything is no small thing and I'm glad that I went just to remind myself that culture (good and bad) is everywhere and that the borders of the city don't end at Doheny Drive.Luckily, preceding a theater experience from hell, was a nice dinner at Cafe des Artistes, a charming restaurant with a decent frenchy menu and lovely service. After hoovering down my dinner and two much needed glasses of wine, it was off to see the "Buffalo Hole" the Arena Stage at Theatre of Arts.
Here's the description
A Dirty Bloody Black Comedy. From his outpost single wide, 30 miles from nowhere in freezing Foxholm, North Dakota, Braggert Strong awaits the arrival of his family to say their last goodbyes to a father, Patton L. Strong, Medal of Honor “winner” who has been a little less than “fatherly.” Between vicious dog bites, a mother who arrives 60 and pregnant, a sissy brother who won’t leave, and a sister who’s rode hard and put away wet, Braggert has little if no idea what he’s in for. A story of revenge, “dog food” and…amputation.
I don't even know what to say about this horrendously bad black comedy. It was insulting on so many levels, with characters so cliche that it made the playwright and lead actor, Robert Riechel Jr., just look like a smug ignoramus. The play was insulting to men, to veterans, to medal of honor winners, to fathers, to Midwesterners, etc. in a way that only a hip Hollywood writer would think was clever. But we've all seen these stock white trash characters before, so there was nothing daring or amusing in this production.
Out of politeness I didn't walk out.
Thank God for netflix so I could watch Balzac's "Cousin Bette" at home in my comfy bed after sitting through that pathetic play. Yeah, give me a well acted classic film over a wanna be edgy play any day.
I have been trying to write this post for three days but little overtaxed brain doesn't seem to be able to put into words the point I am trying to make. But here's the gist of it. In Los Angeles, a huge city in terms of population and geographic area, certain demographic clusters exist. One of these clusters is what I call the privileged west side private school/private club demographic. My son falls on the fringe into this demographic and through some weird 'six degrees of separation' he has this huge network of friends and acquaintances, many of whom I would describe as members of LA's young and entitled.
So on with my story Last Sunday afternoon my son and his girlfriend hosted their first family barbecue at his recently purchased townhouse in Brentwood. Here's a photo of his living room.
Here he is at the barbecue demonstrating his grilling techniques to his grandfather.
You can see from this photo that my son is pretty much a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. He has suits and some dressier clothes appropriate for his work, but in his off time he mostly dresses like a skater boy.
He is very diligent, getting up at 5:00-5:30 every morning to work New York hours. In the afternoons he goes to the gym or rides his skateboard for exercise, and at night he studies. His girlfriend, the lovely lawyer, is equally hard working and puts in 10 hour days at her family law practice.
They are a no nonsense kind of couple who do real things to get ahead in their lives.
Recently, as a result of the recession (and probably some bad behavior), one of my son's friends lost his job in high end residential real estate. This young man needed a place to stay part time and store some stuff and my son generously offered him the guest suite on the 4th floor of his townhouse.
This friend/house guest is now "working" for another friend who happens to be some guy named Spencer Pratt...and he is getting paid in clothes, specifically in Spencer Pratt's discarded wardrobe from last season.
So of course I just had to get the grand tour of the closet.
What you can not see here is that the clothes have barely been worn...most are new with the tags still on them.
The dresser not only holds shoes, the drawers are full of sweaters, ties and belts. And what these photos don't show are that the labels are Prada, Loro Piana, Alexander McQueen, Rag & Bone and more.
Here's a pair of never been worn Louis Vuitton white leather driving mocs with the golden LV logo....because you know, every 20 something year old man needs a pair or two. Amazing how they match the white parka with the 22 karat gold snaps and zipper with the $7,500 price tag hanging from it.
Then we have the suits, lots of them by Dolce & Gabanna, Armani and Gucci.
And silly me, I had like no clue who this Spencer Pratt person was.
But apparently everyone in America under the age of 30 does.
Here is Spencer 'the clotheshorse' Pratt with his wife Heidi Montag
Yes, that Heidi Montag, who is not only on 'The Hills' reality show
she is now infamous for being addicted to plastic surgery at the age of 23
Spencer, who grew up in the west side private school/private club milieu, thus is part of my son's network of acquaintances, is now married to Heidi. He "manages" her "career" which mainly consists of her showing up making public appearances here and there. Mostly, he makes money by selling her photos to the tabloids and gossip magazines.
In other words the two of them are young professional celebrities,
famous just for being famous. Only in LA could a couple like this get paid for being themselves.
I was curious about how a young man like Pratt, who went to the chi-chi Crossroads School and later USC, ended up with this lifestyle so I asked my son. Apparently, Pratt sold a photo to the tabloids of one of the Olsen twins drinking at a party when he still in high school and then realized that it was an easy way to make a lot money. So instead of choosing to become a doctor, lawyer, portfolio manager or whatever, he chose to attach himself to the LA demi monde and feed the celebrity machine.
