All About Eve…and More
James Wolcott, Vanity Fair contributing editor, giant of cultural criticism and protege of Pauline Kael, was a friend of Eve Babitz and calls my Los Angeles Review of Books essay about her “superb” and quotes several paragraphs of it! To quote him: “It was one of those sun-sanctified afternoons in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s... More
L.A. Woman
In Eve Babitz’s third book, Sex and Rage, the main character Jacaranda Leven comes upon a black-and-white photograph hanging in a grand Hollywood penthouse apartment, next to “a David Hockney swimming pool, and a huge pornographic watercolor by John Altoon.” Shot by Julian Wasser in 1963, the image shows Marcel Duchamp playing chess in an... More
Everyone Into the Pool
Wednesday night, beneath an inverted five-pointed star hanging from the ceiling of the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, the artists Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe presented “Shadow Pool: A Natural History of the San San International” to a crowd of 350 that included Gus Van Sant and Jeffrey Deitch, who... More
At Home With Joachim Splichal
Joachim Splichal’s home is decorated with sleek furniture and modern art by the likes of Robert Rauschenberg and Pasadena local Steve Roden, but walk through the kitchen, out the back door and past the azure blue pool, and suddenly you’re transported to a farmhouse in the south of France. On a recent warm fall afternoon,... More
Space Invader
For the L.A.-based painter and installation artist Sarah Cain, space is more than just physical; it’s also psychic and emotional. “I try to morph the three,” says Cain, whose site-specific works incorporate existing elements like wind and light and dip into a playfully vivid palette that defies her contemplative nature. Cain developed her style creating... More
A Safer World
Mathew Gerson was already familiar with the ways conscience and commerce intersect when he had a “eureka” moment. Gerson–who in 2005 founded online retailer Econscious Market, which sells eco-friendly products and donates up to 10 percent of the retail price of each sale to charity–was reading a book about Dr. Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners... More
Ann Roth: Craft Queen
Some call her the doyenne of costume design, but Ann Roth herself prefers the term “broad.” Turning 80 next month, Roth may be the oldest working costumer in the business, but she’s flaunting blue toenails — not hair — and dancing to Tom Waits in the morning for inspiration. And if an Emmy for her... More
Florence Welch: Songbird
Since she was discovered, as the story goes, singing Etta James while drunk in the loo of a London nightclub just a few years ago, the flame-haired singer Florence Welch has ascended to superstardom with a sureness and swiftness that feels almost pre-destined. When her band, Florence + the Machine, releases its second studio album,... More
Back to School
When Hurricane Irene rained all over the planned Southampton screening of Tatiana von Furstenberg and Francesca Gregorini’s coming-of-age boarding school drama, “Tanner Hall,” the duo — best friends since their own teenage years at Brown — decided to move the festivities to Los Angeles. Pulled together in three days by Von Furstenberg, last Tuesday’s low-key... More
Putting the Spark in Arcade Fire
For Arcade Fire devotees, Regine Chassagne’s sparkly dresses — gold stripes and disco stardust at the Grammys, tarnished sequins atwirl on “Saturday Night Live” — are as much a signature as the band’s exuberant sound; even from the cheap seats, Chassagne shimmers. Get a little closer, and the finely wrought frocks, designed by the Montreal-based... More
It’s just Dandy!
Thinking about doing a cleanse but scared to give up coffee? Let me introduce you to your new best friend: Dandy Blend. I just completed a 3 week cleanse, and I may not have made it through without the help of this genius herbal “coffee substitute.” A caffeine- and gluten-free blend of dandelion, beet root,... More
She’s a Rainbow
In the artist Alia Penner’s eyes, everything looks better covered in rainbows. Not girly, pastel rainbows, but brilliant acid hues that bring to mind Peter Max and Sonia Delaunay. When the California-born artist isn’t painting rainbow-framed portals into alternate universes, she brings her pop psychedelic sensibility to album covers and posters for L.A. bands and... More