Exploring Southern California Through Architecture and Fashion
In downtown Los Angeles, at the 13th Art of Television Costume Design exhibition—where, every year, the FIDM Museum puts some of television’s finest costumes under a literal and metaphorical spotlight—there’s a dress that can’t be overlooked. I don’t have a thing for supernatural sprites, but as we pause in front of this floor-length winged gown,…
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The bartender gracefully slides a crisp menu under my nose. I scan the cocktails, most of which tout ingredients that make my head loll slightly to one side. Dimmi? Dolin Dry? Lillet? Linie? I feel a little uninformed and ill-prepared to order a drink, but I try to act cool because that’s what you do…
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It only started happening recently, but every single time I make brunch plans with a friend, I catch myself googling, “best French bistros in LA.” Then I stop myself. Wait. Why does it have to be French? In the past month, I’ve schlepped across town for baguettes and cheeses, and sat on more woven rattan…
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A little over a month ago, I had the pleasure of spending an evening at the Los Angeles Opera. It was the closing night of a Verdi classic—La Traviata. Still slightly buzzed from a pink gin cocktail I sipped on earlier, I was feeling everything a little extra that evening. (I had the drink at…
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The evening is dark, and the streets are almost empty. I make my way past the doorman guarding the deep, burgundy doors of Raspoutine—a Russian-inspired nightclub in West Hollywood. (Don’t be fooled by the name, this is a French import with a few other locations across the globe, including Paris, Rome and Marrakesh). Once inside,…
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The tour bus rattles as it makes its way up the winding, pristine slopes of Hearst Ranch—an 80,000-acre plot of land that surrounds the infinitely majestic and calendar-pretty Hearst Castle. The crowd inside the bus is typical—a mishmash of locals playing tourist in their state and actual tourists with their petulant, uninterested-looking sons and daughters.…
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“I meant to ask you, have you ever been to Redbird?” I direct-message my friend-slash-fellow-journalist Kristin Vartan on Instagram. Aside from a knack for words, we also have a mutual respect for places with a past— museums, old residences, historic restaurants and cafes. Redbird, I discovered, is that sort of place, and as it turns…
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It’s hot. I walk with a sense of urgency, my heels pinching my middle and little toes every time they smack the pavement. In an utterly predictable bit of kvetching—because I always seem to wear uncomfortable shoes on days when I have to do the most walking—I tell my friend Kristin Vartan how my kicks…
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I stretch my neck forward to look up at the sky through the front windshield, and for a second there, I lose all heart in the work I’m about to do. It’s gloomy, and the sun is showing no signs of ever breaking through the thick ceiling of congregated clouds. When I first discussed the…
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I turn around the corner, and my breath catches in my throat when I see it. It’s almost like the curtain parts, and I’m treated to a grand, extravagant production. Guo Pei’s exhibit in Santa Ana is somewhat like a visual aria—beautiful music wrapped in overheated drama, punctuated by a masterly command of whispered emotions.…
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