The California Dream of Elysian Landscapes
For Judy Kameon, the most important role a garden can fulfill is to create community, so there is a poetic synergy in the fact that her career as a garden designer began almost by chance, in 1996, when she was hosting a pop-up restaurant in her Elysian Park backyard. Hotelier Sean MacPherson was one of... More
Sara Ruffin Costello’s Southern Charms
Seven years ago, Sara Ruffin Costello and her family did what so many New Yorkers dream of but never dare—they left behind the urban rat race for a slower, sweeter pace of life. For Costello, the founding creative director of Domino magazine, and her photographer husband, Paul, the draw was one of America’s most intriguing... More
The New Face of the Hotel Figueroa
Elegant and airy, lit by natural skylights and chandeliers, warmed by wood paneling, plush seating and a central fireplace, and decorated with contemporary art, books and rare objets: This quietly luxe first impression of the renovated Hotel Figueroa was not what the real estate developer Bradley Hall had in mind when the property came on... More
Global Citizen Phillip Lim
Twenty years ago, Phillip Lim was a talented up-and-comer, designing clothes for the label Development out a downtown L.A. studio where the door was secured with a padlock and the streets were virtually uninhabited. With no restaurants nearby, Lim used to drive over to Zip Sushi, an Izakaya spot five minutes away in the Arts... More
Gangsta Gardener Ron Finley
In South Los Angeles, the term “gangsta” isn’t typically associated with flowers, fruit trees, or fertile bins of compost, but one day it will be, if Ron Finley has his way. For the self-named “Gangsta Gardener,” planting an edible garden is an act of resistance and empowerment, not to mention a smart financial move. “Growing... More
Frogtown: A Creative Hub Blossoms Along the L.A. River
Turn onto the wrong street from Riverside Drive and you might never find it. You’ll hit the 2 or the 5 freeway, or maybe wind up at a side entrance to Home Depot. But once you do enter this neighborhood of single-family homes and low industrial buildings, nestled along the curving, soft-bottom section of the... More
The Colorful History of California Graphic Design
Louise Sandhaus’s new book, “Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots: California & Graphic Design 1936-1986” ($55, Metropolis Books), is a collection of visual artifacts as eclectic as California itself. The volume begins in the year that the L.A. transplant Merle Armitage designed the nontraditionally laid-out book “Igor Stravinsky” and ends with April Greiman’s “Does it Make Sense,”... More
Videre Licet: Furniture Glam Enough for Hollywood
President Obama sits behind a custom walnut desk of their design in his private study, and François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek’s Paris apartment is illuminated by their light boxes, but until now, the design partnership of Daniele Albright and Stefan Lawrence fell under the auspices of Twentieth, Lawrence’s contemporary furniture showroom in Los Angeles. Now,... More
Cosmic L.A. Style: Coryander Friend and Parachute Market
Spring is in the air, and this weekend Parachute Market is celebrating the season with “Let There Be Light,” the third installment of this curated design fair. The brainchild of set designer and vintage dealer Coryander Friend < http://coryander.com/> , Parachute aims to bring an aesthetic cohesion to the popular pop-up market format that extends... More
Game On!
Who An eclectic array of guest came out for the inaugural MAK Games, a “tennis invitational” to benefit the art-and-architecture think tank the MAK Center at the Sheats Goldstein Residence, the architect John Lautner’s Modernist masterpiece in Beverly Hills. The event, chaired by Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s in-house architect Priscilla Fraser and the... More
Rock Star Irene Neuwirth
Although Irene Neuwirth’s Abbot Kinney studio contains a queen’s ransom of precious gems and spectacular pieces at various stages of completion, the jeweler herself is adorned with nothing but a simple chain from Mexico. “My life turned around and got really great when I put it on,” she explains, “so I haven’t taken it off... More
Altadena Shangri-La
To transform her Altadena yard into a restorative garden retreat, writer Annie Retamal called upon Melinda Joy Miller, a permaculture expert, feng shui master and healer who is the author of a new book, Shamanic Gardening: Timeless Techniques for the Modern Sustainable Garden (Process Media). Miller and her daughter Kim Colwell, also a feng shui... More