The homeowners say they never hired Ortiz, never met her, and never owed her a dollar. On Feb. 26, 2026, LAPD’s Real Estate Fraud Unit arrested Ortiz. On March 3, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged her with 25 felony counts of knowingly causing a false instrument to be recorded in a public office, under California Penal Code section 115(a). She pleaded not guilty. Bail was set at $700,000. If convicted as charged, she faces up to 24 years in state prison.

Beyond the headline is a cautionary tale for property owners about how the mechanic’s lien system works, why it was vulnerable to this kind of abuse, and what remedies they have if a fraudulent lien lands on a title.

California’s mechanic’s lien law is grounded in the California Constitution and codified in the Civil Code. The purpose of the law is to protect a contractor, subcontractor, laborer, or material supplier who improves real property and goes unpaid. It allows them to record a claim against the property itself. If the owner still refuses to pay, the claimant can sue to foreclose the lien and force a sale. The system favors the contractor over the property owner by providing them with a secured interest in the property value for work completed. For legitimate contractors, it is often the only leverage they have against a nonpaying owner.

At a high level, the mechanic’s lien process has four main steps. First, a contractor who lacks a direct contract with the owner must serve a 20-day preliminary notice identifying the project and the work. Second, the claimant must record the lien within strict deadlines (generally 60 to 90 days after completion, depending on whether a notice of completion was filed). Third, the claimant has 90 days from recording to file a lawsuit to foreclose on the lien. Fourth, if no suit is filed, the lien expires by operation of law.

When a mechanic’s lien is presented for recording at the County Registrar-Recorder, the clerk performs only an administrative review. The clerk checks that the document has the right format, the right signatures, a notary acknowledgment, and the required statutory language. The clerk does not verify whether the work was done, whether a contract existed, whether the claimant is licensed, or whether the amount claimed is plausible. 

The trade-off is that the system relies on two backstops: the 90-day foreclosure deadline, which forces a dishonest claimant into court where the claim can be tested, and the criminal law, which punishes anyone who records a false instrument. There is no easy administrative remedy for property owners who are victims of fraud.

The Ortiz scheme exploited the gap between those two backstops. Recording a lien is cheap and fast. The document immediately clouds title, which means the owner generally cannot sell or refinance until the cloud is removed. A lien for $24 million or $98 million would pause any sale, regardless of whether the underlying claim has any basis. A dishonest claimant who never intends to sue can simply record, wait, and let the pressure build on the owner to pay something to make the problem go away. Even after 90 days, when the lien is legally unenforceable, it remains on the record until someone takes affirmative steps to remove it.

According to the DA, Ortiz is alleged to have recorded 24 claims of mechanic’s lien and one grant deed against ten properties, claiming amounts from $800,000 to more than $98 million, for services such as “cleaning” and “consulting.” LAPD has stated that Ortiz is not licensed by the California Department of Real Estate and was promoting herself as a real estate consultant and business coach without a license.

If a property owner discovers a fraudulent lien on their title, they have several legal remedies, though each of them requires retaining counsel and incurring fees, and may be cumbersome.

The most direct option is a petition to release the lien under Civil Code section 8480. Once the 90-day foreclosure window has passed without a lawsuit, the owner can petition the superior court for an order releasing the lien, after first giving the claimant 10 days’ notice and an opportunity to release it voluntarily. This is the cleanest remedy when the claimant has simply let the lien go stale, which is often the case with a claimant who never intended to litigate in the first place.

Inside the 90-day window, an owner and their counsel can press the claimant to either file suit or release the lien, making clear that a claimant who records a lien and then fails to prosecute it exposes themselves to liability for attorney’s fees, costs, and potential tort damages.

For an owner who needs to sell or refinance immediately and cannot wait for a court proceeding, Civil Code section 8424 provides a mechanic’s lien release bond. A surety bond equal to 125 percent of the lien amount substitutes for the real property as security, which removes the lien from title and shifts any dispute to the bond itself. The approach is expensive, and at the face amounts recorded in the Ortiz matter, which ranged from $800,000 to nearly $100 million, the bond premium and collateral requirements may put this remedy out of reach for many owners. It remains an option worth evaluating with counsel when a transaction is at stake.

A knowingly false lien also supports a civil claim for slander of title. That cause of action allows the owner to recover the damages caused by the cloud on title, including the cost of clearing it and, in appropriate cases, punitive damages against a claimant who acted with malice. In a case involving dozens of liens recorded against unrelated owners, the pattern itself may support the malice element.

Owners should also report the matter as criminal fraud. Filing a false document is a felony under Penal Code section 115, the same statute under which Ortiz has been charged. LAPD’s Commercial Crimes Division operates a Real Estate Fraud Unit, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney maintains a dedicated Real Estate Fraud Section within its White-Collar Crime Division. 

Finally, every owner of Los Angeles County property should sign up for the County Registrar-Recorder’s property fraud alert system, which sends a free email notification whenever any document is recorded against a property the owner has registered. The service will not prevent a fraudulent filing, but it allows the owner to learn about the filing on the day it happens rather than months later when a sale or refinance is already in motion. Early notice materially shortens the timeline for obtaining relief and reduces the transactional damage a fraudulent lien can cause.

DA Ho has said his office will seek a court order to clear title on the affected properties as part of the criminal case. That is unusual and welcome relief for these specific victims, and it suggests an increasing willingness to treat title clearing as part of the criminal remedy rather than a separate civil burden for each homeowner.

The broader question is whether California should adjust the recording system to make this kind of abuse harder. Possible reforms include requiring a sworn declaration of contract existence at recording, requiring proof of contractor licensure for lien claimants who hold themselves out as providing services regulated by the Contractors State License Board, and imposing automatic penalties when a lien claimant fails to foreclose within 90 days. However, no action in Sacramento has focused on this issue yet. Senate Bill 255, which was passed in October 2025, requires every county to establish a recorder notification program and requires that all parties to a deed, quitclaim, mortgage, or deed of trust get a notification within 30 days of those documents being recorded. That will go into effect in January 2027, but would not affect mechanic’s liens.

On April 6, 2026, ABC reported that Marjorie Josaphat, one of the Benedict Canyon homeowners affected by the Ortiz scheme, was able to remove $100 million in mechanics liens filed by Ortiz’s company through a court action.

For now, the practical takeaway for Beverly Hills and Los Angeles property owners is to check title periodically and treat mechanic’s liens with urgency. 

Pooja S. Nair is a Partner and Chair of the Food, Beverage, and Hospitality Department at Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP. She represents clients in real estate litigation and complex business disputes involving contracts, employment, intellectual property, and fraud. Her insights have appeared in Law360, Daily Journal, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. Before joining ECJ, she led the Food and Beverage practice at TroyGould and practiced white-collar defense at Foley & Lardner. She also serves on nonprofit boards and has been recognized as one of Los Angeles’s Top Litigators and Trial Attorneys and Most Influential Women Lawyers by the LA Business Journal.

The post Mechanic’s Lien Fraud Rocks the Westside: Legal Takeaways appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Currently operating on one floor and serving 11 families, the nonprofit aims to raise $35 million to renovate its location at the former Hilgard House Hotel and triple its operation. There is currently a waitlist of 38 families wanting to be housed.

Before opening in 2025, UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital was the only children’s hospital in California that did not have a Ronald McDonald House. Hosting families from around the country and the world who face barriers to finding a residence while their children receive long-term clinical care, Ronald McDonald House Westside Los Angeles offers one hot meal every day, laundry services, a kitchen and community spaces to families in addition to free housing. 

“There’s a huge impact based on being open for one year,” Emily Juarez, development manager of Ronald McDonald House Westside Los Angeles, told the Courier. “You see families in the house, and you can see the stress on their faces the minute they walk into the house go down.”

Families receiving clinical medical care for a child at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Saint John’s Health Center are eligible to be housed at the Ronald McDonald House Westside Los Angeles for the duration of their child’s care.

The March 18 panel included Cedars-Sinai senior vice president and chief advancement officer Arthur Ochoa, J.P. Morgan Wealth Management managing director Tracey Gluck, California Landmark Group founder and president Ken Kahan and UniHealth Foundation president and chief operating officer Jennifer Vanore on topics ranging from the lack of housing aid for medically affected families to the value of philanthropy.

“We’re in an environment where resources for health care and reimbursement for health care providers continue to shrink and get squeezed in every way possible,” Ochoa said. “We are lucky to be in this part of town served by two extraordinary world-class academic medical centers, and at the same time, there is absolutely no reimbursement for the health care provider, for patients or their families for housing when people have to travel all the distance to receive care, and so the insurance companies aren’t paying for that, government isn’t paying for that, nobody’s paying for that. So, the idea that a group of committed philanthropists can help support the mission of Ronald McDonald House in providing that kind of support for people in the toughest times of their lives is pretty extraordinary.”

Proximate housing services are key in reducing a family’s stress while going through one of the most difficult experiences imaginable, Vanore said.

“When you look at stressors and stress being a satellite killer, the number two causes are a loss of a loved one or dealing with a catastrophic event related to health, and then the second is financial insecurity,” she said. “Nowadays, more and more parents are actually two-income families, and they’re very reliant on those incomes. So, if you have a family or a parent that has to be in that home for a year, they’re not able to work, that is a massive impact on their income for their family. It’s a sacrifice, and so being able to have a free place to stay really helps alleviate those stressors and those long-term mental health impacts on both the parents and the child.”

Gluck emphasized the lasting impact of philanthropy for both the receiver and the donor.

“Philanthropy as part of a wealth strategy,” she said. “I’m at J.P. Morgan, and we deal with high-net-worth individuals. Everybody can afford philanthropy, so making it a part of the strategy, along with involving the children and their children in the giving process, is very important because there’s a legacy, and they need to know what their family is focused on.”

Dr. Theodore Moore, a pediatric oncologist at UCLA, spoke after the panel and said that Ronald McDonald Houses not only provide urgent housing services to families, but can be essential for a patient’s care.

“We have a lot of therapy where you need to come for that therapy, but then you need to stay in the area for a minimum of 30 days of follow-up. Where do the families find a place to stay in Westwood or Beverly Hills or an area where they can afford and be with their whole family?” he said. “When you take care of a patient, you take care of the entire family, and Ronald McDonald Houses do this so well, the counseling, the play therapy, everything that’s there. You’re not going to get this with the family staying in a hotel somewhere. The whole family needs to be treated to be whole.”

The services provided by Ronald McDonald House are so impactful that families often have a difficult time leaving the community they’ve built with other families experiencing similar challenges when they are discharged from the house, said Kelly Herman, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Westside Los Angeles. Wheeler Hadden, director of operations of Ronald McDonald House Westside Los Angeles, remembered one moment between a family from Mexico and a family from China living in the house at the same time.

“Both families had a 7-year-old daughter who was receiving treatment and was inpatient when they first came, and now is outpatient. And they have both been there about the same amount of time, 10 or 11 months,” he said. “And you saw them in the kitchen, and the parents were cooking food respectively, in their own spaces. And the two girls started interacting. One girl asked her mom if she could share some of her food; her mom was cooking classic Chinese food, and the other girl shared home-cooked Mexican food. And they started sharing their food, the two girls. So just seeing that, it was beautiful.”  

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The six-story project is designed in a contemporary architectural style consisting of asymmetrical design, a facade featuring white concrete and smooth stucco, floor-to-ceiling windows with glass and curved balconies with aluminum railings. The project also includes an 8-foot non-illuminated sign facing the street and will have three units designated for low-income residents.

Pynoos said she dissented because the project was “out of context architecturally” with the street it’s on, despite commending the project’s designers on the development.

“The responsibility to maintain neighborhood character has shifted to this commission,” she said. “Durant is a street that still has a strong sense of place, even if there are some new, modern buildings on it. It feels cohesive. It feels residential. In Beverly Hills, that’s increasingly rare.”

The Beverly Hills Planning Commission approved a development plan review and density bonus permit to allow construction of the development in October 2025. The project is also located within a half mile of a major transit stop, located at Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards.

Kevin Murray, an associate with the project’s designer, Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, argued that the development fits within the pattern of surrounding large-scale buildings in Century City and future Beverly Hills developments. He added that designers incorporated aspects of other buildings on Durant Drive, including street-facing courtyards and a central bifurcation.

“It should be noted too that in our immediate context, right at the end of the block here, we see Century City and just beyond our property will soon rise One Beverly Hills,” he said. “So when we approached the site, we wanted to make sure that we were finding rhythms that existed on the site that can keep us in scale while still providing innovative architecture here.”

The approval came after numerous residents in the surrounding neighborhood spoke out against the development, decrying state-mandated housing laws and arguing the project strips away the neighborhood’s charm.

“That is an ugly building design. It’s straight out of Huxley’s dystopic “Brave New World,” and is just another step in degrading the family character of this old neighborhood,” Robbins Drive resident Daniel Ditzhazy wrote. “Finally, this is just an implementation of the humiliating attack on local sovereignty conducted by the state of California…It forces us to put high-density residential structures in suburban communities such as Beverly Hills, where the residents oppose such things.”

Terrence Rodsky, who owns the adjacent property on Durant Drive, also questioned the development’s place in the neighborhood.

“This project, as currently designed, is not in good taste. Were it proposed for Miami Beach, it would be welcomed,” he said. “My other point in general is that if the commission is to approve this project as designed, you will jeopardize the right to object to future projects, as builders will cite 9945 Durant as carte blanche for anything they wish to construct.”

Commissioner Jeffrey Daniels voted to approve the project, citing the city’s need to build more housing to meet mandated housing goals from the state. He also commended the project’s design, saying it will bring something “new and innovative to the community.”

“Beverly Hills in particular, but Los Angeles as an entire region, needs to come up with more housing. And this is not like a personal preference, it’s a matter of existential survival,” he said. “So while I appreciate the concern among neighbors, who understandably have a very strong association with the quaintness of the neighborhood, that may not be a sustainable requirement going forward into the future.”

Commission Vice Chair Terri Smooke expressed concerns about whether the project’s design fits with the rest of the street, but commended the developers for incorporating elements from other buildings on Durant Drive. She added that the commission ultimately had to approve the project in order for the city to meet state-mandated housing requirements.

“So for the neighbors who are very concerned about this project, please understand that this commission does not have the ability to deny,” she said. “I am concerned, as I said, we don’t have the right to deny and I think it’s going to be problematic for many people on the street, because it is so different in mass and scale and design, frankly. But I do believe you’ve created something that’s really exceptional.”

Commissioner Evan Meyer said he voted to approve due to the city’s need to build more housing and commended the planners on the design and landscaping of the property.

In other business, the commission heard details about a proposal for a new three-story building with a restaurant and rooftop use for the new Tiffany & Co. flagship store, located at 360 North Rodeo Drive.  

The post Commission Approves Modern, Multifamily Development on Durant Drive appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The decision overturned a denial of the same review and permits made by the Planning Commission in November 2025. 

The hearing, which lasted into the early hours of March 25, included nearly two hours of public comment. 

Developer Crescent Heights first submitted an application for the project in March 2024. In October 2025, the Planning Commission directed city staff to prepare language to deny the project, and in November 2025, the commission voted to deny the project. 

Commissioners cited concerns about, among other items, the ability of the Beverly Hills Fire Department (BHFD) to access higher floors and the potential for increased traffic causing delays for residents who may need emergency medical care. 

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) weighed in almost immediately following the commission’s October 2025 decision. In a Letter of Technical Assistance dated Oct. 29, 2025, HCD urged the commission to be “mindful of the stringent requirements for making findings of denial under the HAA.” 

The letter additionally stated that if perceived noncompliance of state housing law occurs, “HCD may notify the California Office of the Attorney General that the local government is in violation of state law.”

HCD sent another communication to the city following its November 2025 vote. In a Notice of Potential Violation (NOPV) dated Nov. 20, 2025, HCD refuted the commission’s reasons for denial. 

In order to deny Builder’s Remedy projects based on health and safety concerns, a city must provide written findings and overwhelming evidence demonstrating specific, adverse impacts on public health that cannot be avoided or mitigated. 

In its NOPV, HCD wrote that “there is no ‘significant, quantifiable, direct, and unavoidable impact’ related to traffic” nor “any evidence in the record that would suggest that emergency access to all floors of the building would be an issue.”

On March 23, the state sent a follow-up to the NOPV “to inform the city of further obligations under state law that were not mentioned in the November letter, including the burden of proof for conditions of approval under the HAA and potential fines under Government Code section 65914.2, which took effect on January 1, 2026,” it stated. 

According to the letter, under Government Code section 65914.2, local governments that were advised in writing of potential state housing law violations and are subsequently sued by applicants can face fines between $10,000 to $50,000 per unit. 

Applied to the Burton Way project, those fines could total between $2 million and $10 million. 

A report prepared by city staff for the March 24 meeting concurred with the state’s findings in its two previous letters.

In the report, staff notes that the BHFD reviewed the project and stated that they “do not foresee concerns with being able to provide emergency services” to the building. 

With regard to concerns that additional traffic will impede emergency services, the report states that “BHFD does not anticipate any disruption to services as a result of the project” and that “the level of service currently provided is not anticipated to change once the project becomes operational.”

During public comment, a group or residents calling themselves the Neighborhood Legal Fund requested that the council uphold the Planning Commission’s decision. They alleged that, contrary to staff and state findings, the project does not meet the state’s legal safety requirements. 

The group referred to a booklet they had prepared and submitted to council for the hearing. It states that an emergency pedestrian egress route for residents of 300 North Swall Drive, located in a 20-foot-wide alley, will be “completely blocked” during construction. Alleging that an analysis of the route was “vehicular only” and “deliberately omitted” the impact to pedestrians, the booklet states that “the council cannot adopt health or safety findings based on an incomplete factual record.”

The booklet additionally alleges that the alley blockage will violate California Fire Code, and that the geotechnical report on file for the project was written when it was proposed to be 20 stories. The project is now proposed at 26 stories.

The group independently commissioned a geotechnical report by Terraphase Engineering which recommended, in part, “that the anticipated static and seismic deformations of the planned foundations be re-evaluated” based on the updated height from 20 stories to 26 stories. 

Mayor Sharona Nazarian asked city staff how residents’ concerns would be addressed if the project were approved. 

“Can you fit a fire engine in the 20-foot alley?” she said. “Was there a foundation calculated for a 20-story building?”

City Planner Cindy Gordon responded that the next step would be for the developer to go through the architectural review process, then it could move toward acquiring a building permit. 

“That’s when the next phase would come into play with some of the technical studies … [if] the soils report or any geotechnical report was prepared based on old project data, they would be required to update those studies to ensure that the documentation provided to the city reflects the project that is proposed and that they intend to construct,” Gordon said. 

Gordon also said that “the city has every intent and interest in maintaining protections and ensuring adequate, egress and ingress” for residents of neighboring buildings. 

Representatives for the development expressed their satisfaction with the council’s decision. 

“The development at 8844 Burton Way will be the premier residential project in Beverly Hills,” Bruce Menin, a founding partner of Crescent Heights, told the Courier. “Crescent Heights is committed to bringing world-class architecture and much needed housing, including affordable housing, to Burton Way.”

Elliott Kahn, Crescent Heights’ West Coast managing partner and a resident of Beverly Hills, expressed his gratitude. 

“I want to thank the council for their leadership through the long and deliberative process,” he said. “So many members of the community came to support growth and the future of our city.”  

The post City Council Votes 5-0 to Approve 26-Story Burton Way Project appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

On Oct. 6, 2025, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 325, amending the Cartwright Act to directly address algorithmic price coordination. The law became effective Jan. 1, 2026, and makes California the most aggressive state in regulating pricing algorithms, across all industries. The legislation makes two specific practices illegal. First, it prohibits using or distributing a common pricing algorithm as part of an agreement to restrain trade. Second, it prohibits using or distributing such an algorithm if the person coerces another to adopt the recommended price or commercial term.

The proponents of AB 325 stated: “It doesn’t matter if price fixing happens behind closed doors or through artificial intelligence, it’s wrong either way. Californians face an affordability crisis, with basic needs like food and housing increasingly priced beyond their means. Unknown to consumers, digital tools are accelerating the “price crisis,” resulting in higher costs and fewer choices. AB 325 updates California’s antitrust laws to address modern technologies being used for illegal price fixing.”

AB 325 defines a common pricing algorithm as any methodology, including software or other technology, used by two or more persons that uses competitor data to recommend, align, stabilize, set, or otherwise influence a price or commercial term. This definition is deliberately broad. The statute does not distinguish between public and non-public competitor data, meaning that even algorithms using publicly available pricing information could violate the law if they facilitate coordination among competitors. The legislation applies across all industries operating in California, not just rental housing.

AB 325 also fundamentally changed how antitrust cases can be litigated in California. Previously, plaintiffs alleging price-fixing had to meet a high pleading standard, demonstrating facts that excluded the possibility that defendants were acting independently. Under the new law, plaintiffs need only show that the existence of a conspiracy to restrain trade is plausible. This relaxed standard makes it substantially easier for cases to survive early dismissal and proceed to discovery, where plaintiffs can obtain internal documents and communications that reveal coordination.

California paired this legislation with Senate Bill (“SB”) 763, which dramatically increases penalties for Cartwright Act violations. Criminal fines for corporations jumped from $1 million to $6 million per violation. Individual violators face penalties up to $1 million per violation, increased from $250,000. The Attorney General and district attorneys can seek civil penalties up to $1 million per violation. These penalties are cumulative, meaning they can be imposed in addition to other remedies available under California law.

The significance of this legislative framework came into focus even before the law took effect, as two large settlements were announced that dealt with algorithmic pricing. On Nov. 18, 2025, California Attorney General Bonta announced a $7 million settlement with property management company, Greystar Management Services LLC. As part of the settlement, Greystar agreed to stop using any software that uses competitively sensitive information to align rent prices.

On Nov. 24, 2025, the federal Department of Justice announced a settlement with RealPage for the company to change its business practices to cease having its software use competitors’ nonpublic, competitively sensitive information to determine rental prices in runtime operation and cease using active lease data for purposes of training the models underlying the software, limiting model training to historic or backward-looking nonpublic data that has been aged for at least 12 months.

The combination of new legislation, federal enforcement, and state prosecution creates new legal risk for landlords and other real estate companies using pricing algorithms. The practical implications extend beyond the real estate industry, as AB 325 can apply to any industry using algorithmic pricing. 

The legal landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with enforcement likely to intensify as prosecutors have additional tools in their arsenal to essentially catch up with technology. As artificial intelligence and machine learning become more prevalent in business operations, AB 325, and the federal and state enforcement mechanisms will govern a wide range of commercial activity. For businesses trying to set pricing with algorithms, the combination of AB 325’s broad prohibitions, dramatically increased penalties, and relaxed pleading standards creates substantial compliance obligations that require immediate attention. 

Pooja S. Nair is a Partner and Chair of the Food, Beverage, and Hospitality Department at Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP. She represents clients in real estate litigation and complex business disputes involving contracts, employment, intellectual property, and fraud. Her insights have appeared in Law360, Daily Journal, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. Before joining ECJ, she led the Food and Beverage practice at TroyGould and practiced white-collar defense at Foley & Lardner. She also serves on nonprofit boards and has been recognized as one of Los Angeles’s Top Litigators and Trial Attorneys and Most Influential Women Lawyers by the LA Business Journal.

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Homeowners’ associations or HOAs have become a dominant feature of the modern housing market, shaping both what communities look like and how people experience homeownership. According to CalMatters and Census Bureau data, 67% of all new single-family homes built in 2024 nationwide were in communities with HOAs, and California residents paid a median of $278 in monthly fees, among the highest in the nation. In many parts of California, buying into an HOA is the default for new homeowners, meaning that HOA obligations and limitations now operate along with more traditional obligations of property ownership.

HOAs in California are formed through private agreements but they exercise authority that directly affects how people use their homes and common areas in their neighborhoods or condominiums. HOAs exist through recorded declarations of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, along with bylaws and rules. HOAs are generally governed by HOA boards, which have the power to make sure their rules are followed, and to impose fines on homeowners who do not follow those rules. 

HOAs can govern a wide range of issues, including whether a homeowner may repaint a door, change landscaping, install solar panels, renovate a kitchen, rent out a unit, replace windows, park in a particular spot, or even keep certain items visible from the street. In many communities, HOAs also control access to shared amenities and impose mandatory monthly assessments.

AB 130 operates within the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (the “Act”), which provides the statutory foundation for HOA governance statewide. The Act governs elections, assessments, meetings, records, and enforcement authority. It was designed to create uniformity and predictability within the HOA governance system, and to provide a mechanism for homeowners to appeal certain HOA actions. 

AB 130 is a significant addition to the structure under the Act. AB 130 sets limits to the enforcement authority of HOAs. Enforcement actions, in which an HOA can levy fines or impose compliance demands on homeowners, are one of the most common sources of HOA conflict. Disputes frequently arise over architectural rules, landscaping requirements, alleged noise violations, pet restrictions, use limitations, or maintenance standards. Historically, these enforcement disputes often turned on informal practices and managerial discretion by the HOA, giving HOAs wide latitude in enforcing regulations.

AB 130 creates additional due process rights for homeowners in enforcement actions by their HOA and sets a limit on the amount of fines that can be imposed. Under the statute, an HOA generally cannot assess a fine of more than $100 per violation, except for health and safety regulations. 

The fee cap means that an HOA cannot use the threat of fines as a significant source of financial leverage against homeowners to ensure enforcement. HOA proponents claim that this cap on fines may result in homeowners choosing to ignore the rules because they can only be fined once for a maximum of $100. If a violation threatens health or safety, higher fines may still be permitted, but the association must have a defensible basis for that conclusion and must make required findings. 

Additionally, HOAs must give homeowners a meaningful opportunity to cure violations before they can impose any fines or take other disciplinary action. At least 10 days before any meeting to assess a fine, the HOA must notify the homeowner in writing, and provide the meeting’s date, time, location, and the nature of the violation and requested fine. Homeowners have the right to attend the meeting and speak to the HOA board. 

If a homeowner cures the violation before the meeting, the HOA cannot discipline the homeowner or impose any fine. If curing the violation would take longer than the time between the notice provided and the meeting, the homeowner makes a financial commitment to cure the violation, and if they do so, the HOA may not assess a fine or take any other disciplinary action. 

After a meeting, if the homeowner and HOA reach an agreement, they must create a written resolution signed by both parties, which is enforceable in court as long as it is consistent with the HOA’s governing documents and the law. If the homeowner and HOA do not agree, and the HOA imposes discipline or charges a fine, the board has to provide written notification of the decision within 14 days. 

AB 130 formalizes the process for HOA fees and fines and gives homeowners more due process opportunities to cure or challenge fines. Additionally, the cap on fines of $100 for the same violation limits an HOA’s ability to use fines as a hammer to ensure compliance with rules. The statute’s impact is especially relevant in communities with high property values and complex developments. In these communities, associations frequently oversee architectural standards, renovation approvals, and use restrictions. 

At its core, AB 130 rebalances the power between homeowner and HOA by making enforcement harder to impose quickly and more difficult to use as leverage. In communities where HOA rules meaningfully affect renovations, aesthetics, and the day-to-day experience of living at home, the changes will have a significant impact. 

The post California HOA Reforms appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The news came on the heels of multiple indications of trouble for the company, including the sale of the land below Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills, a change in leadership and reports that the company could not pay its vendors. 

News of the impending bankruptcy broke in late December, when Saks Global reportedly missed an interest payment of over $100 million on bonds. Shortly thereafter, Marc Metrick stepped down from his position as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), handing the reins over to Richard Baker. 

The company then announced that former Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck would take over for Baker.  

In the immediate aftermath of its Chapter 11 filing, Saks Global announced that it had secured an approximately $1.75 billion financing commitment. According to a statement issued by the company, its stores, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks OFF 5TH remain open and operational to serve customers. 

“This is a defining moment for Saks Global, and the path ahead presents a meaningful opportunity to strengthen the foundation of our business and position it for the future,” said van Raemdonck in a statement. “In close partnership with [our] newly appointed leaders and our colleagues across the organization, we will navigate this process together with a continued focus on serving our customers and luxury brands.”

According to documents filed in court, the company’s estimated assets and liabilities are listed between $1 billion and $10 billion. 

The sale of the land below Neiman Marcus at 9700 Wilshire Blvd. to New York-based private real estate firm Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. was announced in late December. 

In Beverly Hills, Saks Global is pursuing a major development at and around the site of the historic Saks Fifth Avenue Women’s Building at 9600 Wilshire Blvd. The two-block project sits inside the rectangle created by Camden Drive, Bedford Drive and Wilshire Boulevard, extending approximately halfway south on the Bedford and Camden blocks. 

Michael Forbes, the city’s director of community development, told the Courier in an email that the project is proceeding as planned. 

“Saks told us that the bankruptcy filing is not expected to have any effect on the project and that they will continue moving forward with the entitlement process for the City Council to consider the project,” he said. 

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Sant Ambroeus, an Italian restaurant company that traces its roots back to a 1936 Milanese cafe with multiple locations across New York City, Paris and Florida, will bring its first California location to Beverly Hills in 2026. The historic restaurant will take over the Il Fornaio space at 301 N. Beverly Drive.

“They are taking over the Il Fornaio space at the end of January and are going to do some pretty big remodels there,” said Todd Johnson, president and CEO of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce. “Their goal is to open up in the latter half of the year, probably October. It’s Italian. We don’t have a shortage of Italian restaurants, but they’re really good. It’ll do well.”

The French-Mediterranean restaurant Azur, “a refined yet relaxed destination inspired by the timeless spirit of the French Riviera,” according to the restaurant’s website, will open at the former Tatel space at 453 N. Canon Drive early in 2026.

A new upscale, maximalist Italian restaurant with contemporary design named Bad Roman will be arriving at the former Palm Steakhouse location at 267 N. Canon Drive.

Another Michelin-starred chef will arrive in Beverly Hills in 2026 with the opening of Sushi Nakazawa, where Chef Daisuke Nakazawa will bring his award-winning omakase to 145 N. Robertson Blvd.

North Beverly Drive will see other business openings in the new year. Blue Elephant Café will bring new coffee fare to the city and will be located at 300 N. Beverly Drive in the old Pottery Barn space. Two high-end, outdoor shoe stores will come to the city, Anta and Salomon, and will both be located on N. Beverly Drive. Cinq à Sept, a women’s contemporary fashion store, will also arrive in the city.

Johnson said that the new openings only skim the surface of all that is in store for Beverly Hills in the future. Members of the Chamber of Commerce and city staff regularly meet with business owners in cities across the country and the world to find the best possible fits for Beverly Hills. Another one that is on the horizon of coming to Beverly Hills, Johnson said, is Cote Korean Steakhouse from owner Simon Kim, the first and only Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse.

Beverly Hills’ name recognition, safety and location make it a prime market for new businesses, he added. 

Johnson also highlighted the success of recent openings in the city, including the opening of La La Land Kind Café’s first reserve location, located at 341 N. Canon Drive. The eclectic coffee shop offers an array of specialized pastries, matcha and espresso drinks. Additionally, Pura Vida Miami, a restaurant focused on offering health-conscious and sustainable meals opened to rave reviews at its first California location, at 439 N. Beverly Drive.

The opening of the Metro D line station at Wilshire and La Cienega boulevards by March 2026 will bring even more business to Beverly Hills, said Johnson. He noted that the city is implementing additional safety measures in the area.

“La Cienega and Wilshire, that whole corner will start rejuvenating itself,” he said. “A lot of younger people will just take the subway or an Uber or a Waymo or whatever because you don’t want a car. So, I think we’ll get there. It’s been a long haul, and will continue to have some challenges, but we’ll overcome them.” 

The post A Surge of New Businesses Set to Open in Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

In 2023 and 2024, a series of antitrust class action lawsuits targeted NAR and real estate brokerages and brought NAR’s rules and practices under scrutiny. These lawsuits alleged that NAR’s industry practices and rules unlawfully restrained competition and inflated costs for home sellers. In a federal case in Missouri, Burnett v. NAR, a jury held unanimously that NAR and the defendant brokerages “knowingly and voluntarily” engaged in a conspiracy with the goal of “raising, inflating, or stabilizing broker commission rates paid by home sellers” by following and enforcing NAR’s “Cooperative Compensation Rule.”

The jury awarded $1.8 billion in damages, which could have been trebled to $5.4 billion. In March 2024, NAR announced that it would settle the lawsuit rather than appeal. However, one remaining corporate defendant, HomeServices of America, is still litigating the case and not part of the NAR settlement. As part of the settlement, NAR agreed to pay $418 million and to make some changes to its rules and practices to address the antitrust concerns raised in the lawsuit.

Those changes affect long-standing rules about how homes are marketed, and agents are paid. The above-mentioned Cooperative Compensation Rule had required listing brokers to offer compensation to buyer brokers through the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS. Critics argued that this locked in commission structures that consumers rarely questioned or negotiated. 

Under the settlement, those MLS-based compensation offers were eliminated. Sellers can no longer advertise buyer-broker commissions through Realtor-affiliated MLS systems, and buyer agents must now enter into written representation agreements with their clients before showing homes. These agreements are required to clearly disclose how the agent will be compensated and by whom. 

Changes from the NAR settlement are most noticeable for home buyers. Beginning in July 2024, an NAR rule requires MLS participants working with buyers to enter into written agreements with their buyers. As a result, buyers are now being asked to sign paperwork earlier, sometimes before touring a single property. They may be asked to discuss compensation with an agent before they have fully settled on whether they want representation at all. 

Open houses have also taken on a more structured tone. In many markets, including Beverly Hills, brokerages are increasingly careful to clarify that the agent hosting an open house represents the seller, not the buyer, unless a separate agreement is in place. Sign-in sheets, written disclosures, and explicit statements about agency relationships are becoming more common. 

Listing practices have shifted as well. Because compensation is no longer displayed on the MLS, buyers and their agents must gather information more deliberately. Conversations about whether a seller is willing to offer compensation to a buyer’s agent now occur off-MLS and are often tied to negotiation strategy. This has the potential to change how offers are structured and how services are priced, particularly as buyers compare what different agents offer and how they charge.

The settlement has also curtailed certain pre-marketing practices, such as extended “coming soon” listings that limit exposure to a narrow audience. These rules aim to promote broader access and reduce the perception that insiders receive preferential treatment. 

What has changed most significantly is not the dollar amount of commissions, but the timing and transparency of the conversations surrounding them. The settlement has forced compensation discussions to move from the background to the foreground of a transaction. This shift does not eliminate negotiation leverage or professional judgment, but it does require that both be exercised more openly, with fewer assumptions and clearer documentation. 

NAR’s recent strategic plan emphasizes transparency, local flexibility, and consumer trust. However, one year into the rule changes, the actual impact of the rule changes on Realtor commissions appears minimal. Redfin reported in August 2025 that the average buyer’s agent commission for homes sold in October 2025 was 2.34%, compared to 2.45% one year ago. 

The post NAR’s Antitrust Settlement Is Impacting the Residential Real Estate Market appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

On October 10, 2025, Governor Newsom signed into law a first-in-the-nation disclosure requirement for digital alteration of real estate marketing materials. Assembly Bill (“AB”) 723, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2026, requires licensed real estate brokers and salespersons to clearly disclose when an image used in real-estate marketing has been digitally altered, and makes it a criminal offense to fail to make this disclosure. 

AB 723 adds a new Section 10140.8 to the Business and Professions Code, which governs licensed real estate professionals. The law provides that a real estate broker, salesperson, or person acting on their behalf “shall include in the advertisement or promotional material a statement disclosing that the image has been altered and a link to a publicly accessible internet website, URL, or QR code that includes, and clearly identifies, the original, unaltered image. The statement shall be reasonably conspicuous and located on or adjacent to the image and shall include language indicating that the unaltered images can be accessed on the linked internet website, URL, or QR code.”

If a digitally altered advertisement or promotional material is posted on an internet website over which the real estate broker, salesperson, or person acting on their behalf, has control, they “shall include the unaltered version of the images from which the digitally altered images were created in the posting” by posting a link to a publicly accessible internet website that includes, and clearly identifies, the original, unaltered image.

The term “digitally altered image” is defined in the statute to mean an image “that has been altered through the use of photo editing software or artificial intelligence to add, remove, or change elements in the image, including, but not limited to, fixtures, furniture, appliances, flooring, walls, paint color, hardscape, landscape, facade, floor plans, and elements outside of, or visible from, the property, including, but not limited to, streetlights, utility poles, views through windows, and neighboring properties.” However, the definition does not include images where only lighting, sharpening, white balance, color correction, angle, straightening, cropping, exposure, or other common photo editing adjustments are made that do not change the representation of the real property. For example, the use of a filter to adjust lighting would not trigger the disclosure requirement.

If digitally altered photos materially mischaracterize a home, an affected consumer could have claims for misrepresentation or violations of California’s real estate licensing laws and ethical rules for real estate professionals, which prohibit deceptive advertising. AB 723 is meant to supplement rather than rewrite these underlying rules. 

The Assembly Bill Analysis of the bill states that: “[t]he end goal of including a disclosure and an unaltered version of, or link to, an image is to alert consumers to look at the image with a dose of skepticism. This bill would help protect California’s consumers shopping for real estate by enabling them to know whether or not what they see in advertisements is indeed real, or if they need to investigate the actual condition of the property further.” 

Opponents of the bill argued that it was unnecessary and duplicative of California law prohibiting false or misleading advertising in real estate, and that brokers and salespeople would already be subject to disciplinary action by the Department of Real Estate. 

AB 723 is part of a broader legislative push in California to regulate artificial intelligence. Recent laws include the California AI Transparency Act (Senate Bill 942), which also goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and which requires covered providers to offer AI detection tools and include disclosures that certain content is AI-generated. In the entertainment context, recent California laws require informed consent by performers for AI-created digital replicas, and prohibit use of a deceased individual’s voice or image via AI without consent of their estate. 

AB 723 reinforces the established principle that real estate advertising is a representation with legal consequences. Given the increasing sophistication of AI tools and their capacity for altering reality, real estate purchasers will have another tool to review listings, and licensed real estate professionals will have a further disclosure responsibility. 

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The commission voted 3-2 to deny the requests, with Commissioner Terri Kaplan and Chair Jeff Wolfe voting against the denial.

Developer Crescent Heights submitted an application for the Burton Way project in March 2024. The initial proposal was for a 20-story building with 40 affordable units. The application was revised to 26 stories and 22 affordable units earlier this year.

Commissioners Gary Ross and Myra Demeter and Vice Chair Lou Milkowski cited multiple bases for their denial on Nov. 5. 

Ross and Demeter both referenced the project’s feasibility. 

“I think that the applicant has played games with what is and isn’t feasible,” said Ross, citing the project’s reduction of affordable units and height increase. 

Ross added, “None of us really know what the law is in its vagaries and its changing contours, in what way that a judge or a court would interpret the law. I can only interpret the law the way that I see it.”  

Demeter said she had hoped the developer would agree to reduce the project from 26 stories back to 20 and was disappointed they did not do so. She also stated that she believed the project would be feasible at a lower height and with the original number of affordable units. 

“It’s disturbing, because I really came in here hoping that we could work out something,” said Demeter. “But unfortunately, I feel that what has been offered is not really going to work for me, and I don’t mind if it’s appealed to City Council.”

Milkowski cited his belief that the project will have an impact upon public health or safety because it “conflicts with the city’s general plan, use designation and zoning development standards, including density, outdoor living space and height.” 

“Specifically,” he said, “It’s a mammoth monstrosity that we haven’t seen elsewhere.”

Deliberations about the proposed project at 8844 Burton Way have been extensive and tense at times. On Oct. 21, the commission instructed city staff to draft language denying the project. That language was expected to be reviewed on Oct. 29 but was moved to Nov. 5. 

Following the Oct. 21 decision, the commission received a letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development reminding the city, among other things, of “its obligations under the Housing Accountability Act and specifically the requirements for making findings of denial.”

There is now a 14-day appeal period during which anyone can appeal the commission’s decision to City Council.

Dave Rand, the attorney for the project developer told the Courier after the hearing that “The Planning Commission majority completely and flagrantly ignored the law and we are going to vigorously pursue our rights starting with an appeal to City Council and litigation if necessary.  The city is inviting the State to impose massive penalties for violations of state housing law.”  

The post Planning Commission Votes 3-2 Against Proposed Burton Way Project appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

It also conditionally approved, in a unanimous vote, a development plan review to allow for the construction of an eight-story, multifamily residential structure with 55 dwelling units at 232 Tower Drive owned by Leo Pustilnikov of Oak Investment Company, LLC and Beachside Suites, LLC.

Both projects will be exempt from further review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and both are being designed by Ottinger Architects. 

The votes represent the sixth and seventh Builder’s Remedy projects conditionally approved by the commission this month. On Oct. 9, the commission conditionally approved plans for two eight-story, mixed-use developments at 9467 Olympic Blvd. and 333-353 S. Beverly Drive and a 13-story mixed-use building at 9441 Olympic Blvd. All three properties are owned by Aflalo. 

On Oct. 14, the commission conditionally approved an 11-story structure at 401 N. Oakhurst Drive and a 12-story development at 346 N. Maple Drive. 

The project at 9430 Olympic Blvd. approved on Oct. 23 will take the place of an existing three-story office building. Of its 53 residential units, 11 will be reserved for low-income households. The development will also include 23 parking spaces in three levels of subterranean parking. 

On the first floor, a gym will be available to residents, and a common outdoor area will be located on the 13th floor. 

Beverly Hills resident Ari Tuchman, who advocated for increased privacy measures at South Beverly Drive, 9467 Olympic Blvd. and 9441 Olympic Blvd. developments, expressed his desire for the same measures to be taken at 9430 Olympic Blvd. 

“While this project may not abut single family directly, it is still very close to the block that I live on, which is El Camino, and it’s only a couple hundred feet away and so that’s kind of the reason and the basis for me coming here and addressing a couple concerns I have with this project,” he said, adding, “It’s my request that all of the conditions that were placed on the projects at Beverly and 9467 also be incorporated, by reference, to the extent feasible for this project.” 

Commissioner Terri Kaplan alluded to the fact that per state law, she has little choice but to vote in favor of Builder’s Remedy projects, regardless of her opinion about them.  

“I don’t necessarily like any of these projects, but I feel very constrained,” she said. 

Commissioner Myra Demeter recused herself from the vote on 9430 Olympic Blvd. because she owns property in the nearby vicinity. 

In discussing the Tower Drive project, Ken Dusick, a resident of Carthay Circle, spoke about the impact of the structure on his neighborhood. Dusick called the project “tawdry” and the evening’s proceedings “a hearing in form but not in substance.”

“I have to say that I feel, honestly, rather depressed about what I’m seeing and what I’m hearing … the sanction of the Builder’s Remedy is for the jurisdiction,” he said. “We in Carthay don’t live in that jurisdiction, though we are suffering the consequences of something we weren’t a party to, and that concerns me.” 

The property at Tower Drive is currently home to an eight-unit apartment building with two detached parking garages. The new structure will include 55 dwelling units of which 11 will be reserved for lower-income households.

Echoing Kaplan’s sentiments, Demeter noted that the project, like many Builder’s Remedy developments, is out of scale with the city. 

“This project is a Builder’s Remedy project and very different, not driven by the findings that we can approve a project by—it doesn’t fit any of the findings, it conflicts with the general plan, living space, height, setbacks, modulation, etc.,” she said. “Putting all that aside, we are obligated by the state to approve Builder’s Remedy projects that do not satisfy any of these findings.” 

Commissioner Chair Jeff Wolfe recused himself from the vote because he owns property near the proposed development. 

Both projects will now enter a 14-day appeal period during which they can be appealed to the City Council. 

The post Two More Builder’s Remedy Projects Move Forward appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The decision to delay a discussion regarding the 26-story mixed-use project at 8844 Burton Way came on the heels of a preliminary 4-1 vote by the commission on Oct. 21 to deny a development plan review and density bonus permit for the proposed new structure. Members of the commission on that date instructed city staff to prepare a resolution denying the project, and the Oct. 29 review was expected to result in the commission adopting a final resolution to deny the development. 

In its preliminary vote to deny the project, the commission cited as one of the deciding factors an alleged violation of California Health and Safety Code 17929, which prohibits the isolation of affordable housing units to a specific floor or area on a specific floor. 

Commissioner Gary Ross said at the time that the Burton Way project violated the “spirit” of the law if not the law itself, as affordable units would be spread throughout the bottom five floors of the building.

Attorney Dave Rand, representing the applicant, asked for a continuance at the Oct. 29 meeting because the full commission was not present (Commissioner Terri Kaplan was not in attendance), and what he called “the gravity of the situation.” 

“We believe the findings and the denial resolution were made in error, in violation of multiple state laws,” he said. “And we think given … the importance of your decision, it would be most appropriate to wait until there is a full commission present to be able to deliberate it.”

Rand also cited a letter sent to the commission by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in response to its preliminary denial vote. The letter, dated Oct. 28, reminded the city of “its obligations under the Housing Accountability Act and specifically the requirements for making findings of denial.”

HCD specifically addressed the question of denying a project based on the dispersal of affordable units, stating that “dispersal requirements that are not required by state law and not found in the city’s objective standards cannot serve as a basis for denial.” 

The letter further suggested that the city work with applicants on conditions agreeable to both parties, as long as those conditions don’t render projects infeasible. 

Since the Oct. 21 meeting, the applicant for 8844 Burton Way submitted two revisions to the development, which included changes to further disperse the affordable units and to make them more comparable in terms of the number of bedrooms and bathrooms to those earmarked as market rate. 

Commissioner Myra Demeter said that she had not had the opportunity to look at the most recent revision and noted that she would “need a continuance” to get all the information. 

Multiple members of the public spoke in opposition against the continuance. 

A special meeting will be held on Nov. 5 to review the matter. 

In other business, the commission conditionally approved, in a unanimous vote, a request from developer Masoud Netty of Wilshire Rodeo Company, LLC, for a development plan review and density bonus permit to allow for the construction of a 19-story, mixed-use development with 30 residential units at 145 S. Rodeo Drive.

It also conditionally approved a request from developer 9229 Wilshire Skyline, LLC for a development plan review, conditional use permit and density bonus permit to allow for the construction of a 14-story, mixed-use development consisting of 116 residential units, commercial uses and a 60-room hotel at 9229 Wilshire Blvd. 

The buildings are the eighth and ninth Builder’s Remedy projects to be conditionally approved by the commission since Oct. 9. 

Designed by Los Angeles-based architecture and design firm Cara, the development on South Rodeo Drive will replace an existing two-story office building. At 237 feet tall, the new project will include three levels of subterranean parking levels with 54 spaces as well as an additional subterranean level to potentially accommodate a restaurant kitchen, mechanical equipment and a residential screening room.

Six of the building’s 30 residential units will be reserved for low-income households.

In the proposal brought to the commission for deliberation, all six affordable units were located on three floors. During discussion, the commission requested that the applicant disperse those units more broadly, citing the same concerns they cited in their initial denial of the Burton Way project. 

Ryan Leaderman, an attorney representing the developer, said that despite the further dispersal of affordable units not being required by state law, the applicant would agree to the commission’s request “in the spirit of compromise.” 

During public comment, residents expressed opposition to the project, voicing concerns about increased traffic, noise and congestion, particularly during the construction of the project. 

“I understand that the Planning Commission has limited discretion to deny the project … but the Planning Commission can and should impose conditions to at least try to ease our burden of the outrageous idea of a 19-story, completely out of proportion building that, without the Builder’s Remedy tragedy would never, ever have been built,” said Michelle Bellen, who identified herself as a resident of South Camden Drive.

The development at 9229 Wilshire Blvd. designed by Los Angeles-based architecture firm SPF:architects, will replace a two-story commercial building. Three subterranean parking levels would provide 140 shared parking spaces. The residential units would occupy most of levels two through 10, and a hotel would occupy levels 11 through 14. 

A hotel operator hasn’t yet been identified. 

The developments on South Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard are now open to a 14-day appeal period. 

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“A lot of people are interested in building ADUs,” said Chloe Chen, the city’s principal planner, at the farmers’ market event. “We are encouraging them as alternate options for housing.” 

The booth, which received about a dozen visitors, was part of an ongoing initiative to spread the word about how to build an ADU, the regulations that govern them and what the process looks like in Beverly Hills. 

According to Chen, the Housing Element requires the city to achieve an average of 20 ADUs per year by the end of 2025 or face penalties. 

The need for more housing comes from the city’s Housing Element, which was certified by the state in May 2024. The certification followed three years of attempts by Beverly Hills officials to draft a document that met the state’s requirements, including four formal rejections from state officials and dozens of amendments. 

The final document requires the city to allow approximately 3,100 new housing units by 2029.

Among the programs that city staff were promoting at the Sunday market were the Incentive ADU (IADU) program and the city’s preapproved ADU plans. 

The IADU program allows owners of single-family lots of 13,000 square feet or larger to build one additional ADU above what is permitted by state law, with certain requirements. The structure cannot be larger than 800 square feet. It may be detached or attached to the home and at least one ADU on the property must be deed-restricted for rental use, with a minimum term of 12 months. 

IADUs must have separate entrances and bathrooms, and full kitchens. They must  include a parking space unless the property is within a half mile of public transit, within an architecturally or historically significant district, in an area where on-street parking permits are required and not provided to the occupant of the ADU or if they are within one block of a car-share vehicle pickup location. 

IADUs cannot be sold separately from the primary residence. 

The city currently has five preapproved ADU plans available on its website. Created by individual designers and architecture firms, the plans include architectural, structural and electrical designs that comply with city requirements and are approximately 70% complete for permitting. 

For households interested in building ADUs, the preapproved plans offer an option to move the process along more quickly. 

As part of their program to promote the option in the city, staff has made detailed guidelines for what is permitted in the Central Area of the city, the Hillside Area and the Trousdale Estates, as each region has slightly different regulations. 

For instance, the maximum size for attached or detached ADUs in the Hillside Area is 1,400 square feet or the site’s remaining maximum allowable floor area, whichever is less. In the Trousdale Estates, the maximum size is 850 square feet for a studio or one-bedroom ADU and 1,000 square feet for anything larger, or the site’s remaining maximum allowable floor area, whichever is less. 

Residents of the Trousdale Estates pushed back against proposed changes to regulations governing ADUs last year, expressing concerns that amendments to height restrictions would negatively impact neighborhood views. 

Chen noted that recent changes to city regulations allow for some two-story ADUs and for converting garages to ADUs. 

In addition to their booth at the farmer’s market, city staff was present at Beverly Hills’ National Night Out event in August and has been posting information about ADUs on social media. 

Chen was pleased to find that residents saw the social media posts and came to the booth. 

“I’m so glad it’s working,” she said. 

More information about the program can be found on the city’s website at beverlyhills.org/adu and beverlyhills.org/preapprovedadu. 

The post Outreach Efforts to Encourage ADUs Extend to Farmers’ Market appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The ventures are both multi-family residential buildings: an 11-story structure at 401 N. Oakhurst Dr., and a 12-story development at 346 N. Maple Dr. 

Developer Leo Pustilnikov is the primary applicant for both projects. 

Dave Rand, an attorney representing Pustilnikov, expressed his satisfaction with the commission’s vote. 

“We were very pleased at the decision by the Planning Commission,” he told the Courier. “The city has made a clear, deliberate decision to follow the law, and we’re grateful that was the outcome.” 

At the meeting, Commission Chair Jeff Wolfe said that the city has very little discretion with regard to approving Builder’s Remedy projects. 

“In a nutshell, while I may agree with all the [opposition] from the residents, while I may have all of the same concerns, I still feel, sitting here as a commission, we are bound by both the municipal code, bound by state law and therefore the law compels me to support the project[s] with the conditions as specified,” he said. 

Applications for both projects were submitted to the city in April 2024. Currently, the lot at 346 N. Maple Dr. houses an eight-unit apartment building and detached six-car garage. The new, 124-foot building will have 65 residential units, 13 of which will be reserved for low- and very low-income households. The project will include 15 parking spaces and a one-level subterranean garage. 

The approximately 7,700-square-foot lot at 401 N. Oakhurst Dr. is now home to a six-unit apartment building and a detached six-car garage. The new project will feature a 131-foot building with 25 residential units, five of which will be reserved for low- and very low-income households. It will include 14 parking spaces and a one-level subterranean garage.

At the Oct. 14 meeting, multiple members of the public spoke in opposition to the ventures. 

“These two developments affect our lifestyle extremely,” said a resident of North Maple Drive. “Right now, as the parking exists, people have to drive four times around the block to find a parking spot to come and visit me or provide me services … [imagine] what life will be after these developments—forget about developing it—but after it’s developed, what will happen to parking and traffic?”

At the meeting, Rand emphasized that the North Maple Drive building will help the city fulfill the requirements of its state-issued Housing Element. 

“This particular project includes a very high percentage of affordable units that will be helpful to the city as you meet your [housing] requirements and demonstrate to the state that the affordable obligations, that are getting only greater and greater imposed on cities, are being met here in Beverly Hills,” he said.

Beverly Hills is required by the state to create capacity for over 3,100 new housing units by 2029. 

Prior to making a motion for the approval of the North Maple Drive project, Commissioner Terri Kaplan encouraged residents to voice their opinions about Builder’s Remedy to state policymakers. 

“For those members of the public who will be directly affected by this project, who have shown up to this meeting today or written to us or who are viewing or listening, thank you for participating,” she said. “As to what else you could do, it’s entirely within your discretion, if you object to the state law that places us in this position, you may write, and probably should, to your elected officials in Sacramento, including the governor.” 

Following the commission’s vote, there is a 14-day appeal period during which anyone can file an appeal to the decision. If an appeal is filed, the issue will go to the City Council. If no appeal is filed, the commission’s ruling is final. 

The post Planning Commission Approves Developments on N. Maple and N. Oakhurst Drives appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The plans include an 8-story mixed-use development at 9467 Olympic Blvd., another 8-story mixed-use development at 333-353 S. Beverly Dr. and a 13-story mixed-use development at 9441 Olympic Blvd. All three properties are owned by Samuel Aflalo of Olympic & Beverly, LLC and Fisch Properties, L.P. 

“We appreciate staff’s diligence and the city attorney’s diligence as well, with respect to the project,” said Ryan Leaderman, an attorney representing the projects, at the Oct. 9 meeting. “As you know, we’re in a housing crisis. The city’s population has actually decreased over the past 50 years, and with that in mind, that’s one of the reasons why we have to strengthen housing laws right now.” 

All three new developments take advantage of California’s Builder’s Remedy law, which allows new developments to bypass certain municipal building and zoning codes in exchange for providing affordable units if a city does not have an approved housing element in place. 

There are currently 14 Builder’s Remedy projects in various stages of development in Beverly Hills. 

Plans for the projects on Olympic Boulevard and South Beverly Drive were submitted in September 2024. The 9467 Olympic Blvd. lot, which is currently being used as a grocery store and parking lot, will house an 85-foot-tall building, 17,085 square feet of which will be designated for commercial and restaurant use. 

Of 105 residential units in the building, 21 will be reserved for low-income households. The remainder, which will be available at market rate, will include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The development will feature a rooftop courtyard, private balconies and three levels of subterranean parking with 180 parking spaces.  

The development on the approximately 38,500-square-foot South Beverly Drive lot, which is currently being used as office space and parking, will also feature an 85-foot building, with 16,099 square feet designated for commercial and restaurant use. 

The 135 available residential units will include 27 designated for low-income households and a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units available at market rate. Three levels of subterranean parking will provide 263 parking spaces, and the building will include a gym, community room and rooftop courtyard with a pool.

At just over 143 feet, the development at 9441 Olympic Blvd. will be the tallest of the three. Currently, the site houses a two-story office building. When its new development is complete, it will feature over 4,000 square feet for commercial use, and 15 out of 75 total residential units will be designated for low-income households. 

Echoing the sentiments of many Beverly Hills residents who will be impacted by Builder’s Remedy projects in the city, 24 households from a nearby block of El Camino Drive submitted a signed letter to the Planning Commission expressing their concerns about traffic and privacy. 

The letter focused on the impacts of 333-335 S. Beverly Dr. and 9467 Olympic Blvd. Resident Ari Tuchman, who penned the letter, spoke at the Oct. 9 meeting. He emphasized that residents were not seeking to deny the developers their projects, but rather to place parameters on certain elements. 

“Nobody’s denying anybody’s right to their use and enjoyment of the property, but I think Mr. Aflalo and Mr. Leaderman would agree that that’s a two-way street, and that it also applies to us as it applies to them,” he said. “Our letter is so reasonable and is so understanding, and we’re asking for so little.”

As approved, amplified sound will be prohibited in outdoor open space areas in all three developments. Common outdoor areas will be permitted to be used from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends and holidays, and barbecues on individual balconies will be banned. 

Sound and sight barriers will also be required of all three properties, including a 6-foot sound barrier on rooftop areas facing residential properties and 4-foot opaque or translucent barriers on balconies and common outdoor living spaces. 

There is now a 14-day appeal period during which anyone can file an appeal. 

“If an appeal is filed, the next step would be a City Council hearing,” said Beverly Hills Director of Community Development Michael Forbes in an email to the Courier. “If no appeal is filed, the Planning Commission’s decision is final.”

The developer will then prepare and submit building plans to the city for review.  

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The commission voted unanimously to approve the design for the building, which will be developed at the former site of The Stinking Rose restaurant.

The project will include 140 residential units, 22 of which will be earmarked for very low-income and moderate-income households. Reaching a height of approximately 86 feet, the new building will feature a rooftop deck with a bar, pool and lounge, as well as three levels of subterranean parking.

Developer 55 Del Norte, LLC initially proposed a five-story mixed-use building with 105 residential units, which was approved in June 2023. That design was modified following changes made to California’s State Density Bonus Law in 2024, which allows developers to construct additional units than would otherwise be permitted if they include a certain number of affordable housing units in a proposed new development.

The law was put in place to encourage the creation of more affordable housing in the state.

At its March 13 meeting, the Beverly Hills Planning Commission approved the updated design for 55 N. La Cienega Blvd. in a 3-2 vote, with conditions. On July 1, the Beverly Hills City Council held an additional review of the project at the request of then-Mayor Lester Friedman and then-Councilmember John Mirisch. The council approved the development in a 4-1 vote. 

Members of the Architectural and Design Review Commission at their Sept. 17 meeting were tasked with considering the building’s façade elements, including signs, walls, fences and landscaping.

According to a staff report, the building will be designed in a modern, contemporary architectural style and will use a variety of exterior materials, including mostly monochromatic white marble tiles and white stucco. The center of the building and its private balconies will be recessed. 

On the rooftop and in common balcony areas, drought-tolerant landscaping will feature flowering plants and trees. Along the rear property line, which overlooks Le Doux Road, a 20-foot hedge will serve as a privacy buffer. 

Most commissioners expressed their appreciation for the development’s aesthetics. 

“I think this is a really attractive project,” said Commissioner Evan Meyer. “With any of these projects at this scale and size, it’s tricky to get that feeling of, sort of, reducing mass. So, I think what you’ve done here with the modulation, recessing that centerpiece, bringing up the landscape to the second floor and higher levels … [is] very nice.”

Commissioner Jeffrey Daniels, FAIA, said that the development will bring much-needed housing stock to the city. 

“I want to applaud the whole team for bringing a project like this,” he said. “I think the city desperately needs additional housing, and … the addition of a large-scale residential component [in that area] can only be a good thing.” 

Noting that she would like to see more color and more trees in the project, Vice Chair Terri Smooke nevertheless called the project “lovely.”  

“Since the materials you’ve selected are all very calm, very pale, if you could figure out ways to just bring in some [color], maybe through greenery,” she said. “I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but just to animate the building more than it is right now.”

According to Michael Forbes, the city’s Director of Community Development, all city approvals required for the project are complete, with the exception of building permits. Construction drawings have been submitted to the city and are under review. 

“Once plan review is complete and approved, building permits for the project can be issued,” Forbes said in an emailed message. “However … it is the developer’s decision based on economic and other factors to determine when they want to pull permits and begin construction, and we do not have any indication of when that will be for this project.” 

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All members of the commission voiced their enthusiasm about the project.

“I think it’s a beautiful project,” said Commissioner Gary Ross. “It’s within the scope and scale of our zoning laws, and it will activate that part of our city.”

Commissioner Demeter added that the project will represent an improvement to the head of the Golden Triangle. 

“I want to thank everybody for all the different points of view and all the different ideas, because you’ve come up with a very creative concept, very different … I love it, “she said. “I think it’s great.”

The Louis Vuitton Rodeo Drive Experiential Flagship store will encompass 105,214 square feet. It will include rooftop open-air dining, subterranean parking, two pedestrian bridges and a pedestrian tunnel, and will reach a maximum height of 60 feet. 

The project is separated into two components, one with an entrance on Rodeo Drive (the “Rodeo portion”) and the other with an entrance on Beverly Drive (the “Beverly portion”). 

At 45,433 square feet, the Rodeo portion is designated for retail use and will include over 6,000 square feet carved out for important clients. Special events will be hosted on the rooftop of the Rodeo portion. 

The Beverly portion, at 54,723 square feet, will feature the exhibition space, a gift shop, a café, a fine dining restaurant and operational space. The first of its kind in the U.S., the exhibition space will spotlight Louis Vuitton’s history as a leader of culture, art and design.

Access to the exhibition space will be by reservation only, with a maximum of 1,500 admissions per day Monday through Saturday and 1,169 on Sundays. The fine dining restaurant is also planned to be reservation only. 

LVMH has owned the project site since 2018. The site, which is comprised of four separate legal parcels and is currently comprised of four existing commercial buildings, was originally proposed to house the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills. 

During the Sept. 25 meeting, the Planning Commission requested that the developer create a designated drop-off spot for individuals with disabilities, to which the developer agreed. The commission also requested that employees of the new development be discouraged from parking on residential streets, acknowledging that it may be difficult to enforce. 

Discussing the private loading drive located on North Beverly Drive, commissioners added a requirement that passenger vehicles may only exit southbound, and that a warning system will be installed to ensure pedestrian safety. 

Construction is expected to start in the second half of 2026 and conclude in the second quarter of 2029. 

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SB 79 establishes statewide zoning standards for land within half a mile of a major publicly funded transit-oriented development (“TOD”) stop, which will override many local density and height restrictions and permit multiple-story projects of up to nine stories in areas that would otherwise remain limited to smaller structures. A TOD stop is defined as a major transit stop served by heavy rail transit, very high frequency commuter rail (72 trains per day across both directions), high-frequency commuter rail, light rail transit, or specified bus service within an urban county. The law provides Tier 1 zoning for heavy rail lines, and Tier 2 zoning for light rail lines and dedicated bus corridors. New developments in Tier 1 zones may be built 6 to 9 stories high, while new developments in Tier 2 zones may be built 5 to 8 stories high.

SB 79 was introduced on Jan. 15, 2025. It passed the Senate floor on June 3, 2025 by a 21-13 vote. It passed the Assembly floor on Sept. 11, 2025 and then passed a concurrence vote the following day. SB 79 follows a seven-year campaign by Senator Scott Wiener to push the bill forward after previous versions died in committee.

On June 23, 2025, Mayor Sharona Nazarian submitted an opposition to the State Assembly on behalf of the city of Beverly Hills. That opposition criticized SB 79’s shift away from locally-driven planning and delegation of zoning authority to transit agencies. She also stated that “in a built-out, compact city like Beverly Hills, SB 79 would have far-reaching and disruptive consequences,” and would undermine years of deliberate planning. SB 79 was also opposed by the League of California Cities and California State Association of Counties. The Los Angeles City Council also passed a resolution opposing the bill on March 28, 2025, similarly citing the need for local control and desire to preserve the character of local neighborhoods.

Supporters of the legislation, including Streets for All, claim that SB 79 will bring up to $1 billion to the city of Los Angeles alone due to projected increased property tax revenue from construction. YIMBY (“Yes in my backyard”) organizations contend that SB 79 addresses multiple statewide priorities, including supporting new housing, reducing car reliance, and maximizing infrastructure investments. 

Weiner stated that SB 79 “tackles the root causes of California’s affordability crisis by allowing more homes to be built near major public transportation stops and on land owned by transit agencies—bolstering transit use, slashing climate emissions, and supporting public transportation in the process.”

SB 79 builds on recent legislation attempting to streamline development, and particularly CEQA reforms signed into law on June 30, 2025, which created a new statutory CEQA exemption for infill housing development projects. Additionally, SB 423, also authored by Senator Weiner, extended SB 35 to continue a streamlined approval process for new affordable housing projects and expanded that to mixed-use projects.

The reduction in local control will be a challenge to Beverly Hills. The city has long exercised strict authority over zoning, design standards, and planning decisions, reflecting both community values and property market dynamics. SB 79 shifts that balance by permitting the imposition of state standards. While the city retains the option to adopt an alternative transit-oriented development plan, any such plan must meet or exceed the state’s housing targets and be approved by the Department of Housing and Community Development (“HCD”). 

The most immediate impact lies along Wilshire Boulevard due to the new stations on the Metro Purple Line at Wilshire/La Cienega and Wilshire/Rodeo. Parcels near these stations will become eligible for increased height and density allowances, which could enable development on a new scale for the city. 

Governor Newsom now has until Oct. 12 to sign or veto SB 79. If, as expected, it is signed into law, SB 79 will take effect on July 1, 2026. Starting on that date, SB 79 will require a housing development to be an allowable use on any site zoned for residential, mixed, or commercial development within one-half mile of a Tier 1 or Tier 2 TOD stop for cities with a population of at least 35,000, and one-quarter mile for cities with a population of less than 35,000 unless the local agency adopts an ordinance or local TOD alternative plan deemed compliant by HCD before July 1, 2026. 

Pooja S. Nair is a Partner and Chair of the Food, Beverage, and Hospitality Department at Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP. She represents clients in real estate litigation and complex business disputes involving contracts, employment, intellectual property, and fraud. Her insights have appeared in Law360, Daily Journal, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. Before joining ECJ, she led the Food and Beverage practice at TroyGould and practiced white-collar defense at Foley & Lardner. She also serves on nonprofit boards and has been recognized as one of Los Angeles’s Top Litigators and Trial Attorneys and Most Influential Women Lawyers by the LA Business Journal.

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The mixed-use development, which is being built by developer Crescent Heights, was originally proposed to be 20 stories and 223 feet tall. The new plans propose a building that reaches 26 stories and just over 309 feet. 

Residential density in the building has not changed from the originally proposed 200 units, ranging in size from studios to three-bedroom apartments. Of those, 22 units will be earmarked for affordable housing, up from 20 in the previous proposal. The affordable units will include 14 reserved for extremely low-income households and eight for moderately low-income households. 

The newly revised plans for the Burton Way development also include 318 parking spaces, 24 bicycle parking spots and 42,226 square feet of open space, including a rooftop deck. The building will occupy 492,029 square feet in total.  

According to the website for LARGE Architecture, the firm designing the project, the development will also include private theaters, yoga studios and clubhouses.

The development is one of 14 Builder’s Remedy projects currently under review by Beverly Hills. Several are involved in lawsuits against the city, while others have received one or more notices that their applications are incomplete. 

Revised plans for 8844 Burton Way were submitted in March of this year, and again in July. 

“We’re excited to bring a world-class project like 8844 Burton to Beverly Hills,” said Elliott Kahn, a partner at Crescent Heights, in a statement to the Courier. “It includes 200 much needed homes at a variety of price points, including severely lacking affordable housing. On one of the most prominent multi-family corridors of Beverly Hills, the wide landscaped medians and bike lanes are uniquely suited to this exact kind of multi-family housing.”

Developer Crescent Heights is not the first builder in Beverly Hills to expand their vision in recent months. In August, a Builder’s Remedy project at 125-129 South Linden Dr. submitted revised plans that brought the development’s height from 19 to 36 stories, with 20 new residential units and seven new hotel rooms. 

That same month, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin ordered the city to process the application for the development on South Linden Drive, finding Beverly Hills in violation of the state’s Housing Accountability Act and Permit Streamlining Act. 

Kin’s decision regarding South Linden Drive is expected to set a precedent for other, similar complaints. 

The post Burton Way Builder’s Remedy Project Increases to 26 Stories appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The project at 125-129 South Linden Drive was previously proposed as a 19-story structure containing 65 housing units, 73 hotel rooms and a restaurant. On Aug. 27, the developer announced that the contemplated project is now 36 stories tall, with 185 new residences and 80 hotel rooms.  

“This project represents a bold vision for the future of Beverly Hills,” said developer Leo Pustilnikov in a statement. “We are proud to deliver both market-rate and affordable housing, as well as a new luxury hotel that will strengthen the local economy. With the court’s green light, we are prepared to move swiftly toward breaking ground.”

A statement announcing the new scale of the development said the project has been “re-envisioned at a transformative scale,” citing the impact of AB 1893. That statute, signed into law in September 2024, broadens the allowable scope of Builder’s Remedy projects.

“Builder’s Remedy law provides the city extremely limited discretion to deny a project and if the city violates the law in denying or delaying a project, the penalties are potentially very steep,” Dave Rand, an attorney representing Pustilnikov, told the Courier. 

In response to the amended plans for the South Linden Drive project, Michael Forbes, Beverly Hills Director of Community Development, said in a statement to the Courier, “We have not yet received an application for the revised project, and are not in a position to comment on it until we have received an application and had a chance to review it.”

Pustilnikov and 9300 Wilshire, LLC submitted a preliminary application for 125-129 South Linden Drive in October 2022, followed by a Developmental Plan Review (DPR) application in April 2023. The DPR was deemed incomplete by the city on the grounds that it contained changes to the preliminary application, initiating a sequence of communications between the developer and city staff. 

Two lawsuits were filed against the city regarding the development, in June 2024 and September 2024. After consolidating the complaints, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin on Aug. 12 ordered Beverly Hills to process the developer’s application. Kin also found the city to be in violation of the state’s Housing Accountability and Permit Streamlining Acts.

The city is currently reviewing 14 Builder’s Remedy applications. Of those, at least six have filed lawsuits against the city. Others received notices that their applications were incomplete, and still more are involved in discussions with the city concerning Environmental Impact Reviews. 

Kin’s decision regarding South Linden Drive is expected to set a precedent for other, similar complaints. 

The post Proposed Builder’s Remedy Project Increases Height to 36 Stories appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

 The Courier has asked attorney Pooja S. Nair for a recap of this high-profile case and what is at stake at a critical hearing this fall. 

On June 23, 2025, Compass filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Zillow in the Southern District of New York (Case No. 1:25-cv-05201). The lawsuit challenges the Zillow Ban, which Zillow has framed as its new Listing Access Standards designed to provide maximum information to homebuyers. 

According to the complaint (which cites Zillow’s own investor presentations), Zillow has 66% of the real estate audience share for the U.S. market, and 64% of the average daily app users. The Zillow Ban requires that any home that is publicly marketed be entered into a multiple listing service (MLS) and syndicated to Zillow within one business day. Failure to do so would result in the listing being blocked from appearing on Zillow and Trulia. The definition of a publicly marketed home is broad.

In the lawsuit, Compass describes its 3-phased marketing strategy, in which Compass provides a staging ground for listing. In phase 1, the listing is presented as a Compass Private Exclusive on Compass’ internal platform, only available to Compass agents. In phase 2, the listing moves to the “Coming Soon” phase, where it is posted to Compass’s public home search platform. In Phase 3, the listing is shared with the MLS database, and distributed to Zillow and other aggregators. The Zillow ban would make the first two phases of Compass’s marketing strategy obsolete in that any homes that were listed in Phase 1 and 2 would be banned from appearing on Zillow. Compass emphasizes that by eliminating those early phases, the Zillow Ban is stripping away at customer’s ability to test the waters in a more curated environment before launching into the wider marketplace.

Compass alleges that the Zillow Ban would make it hard “indeed nearly impossible for home sellers to sell their home outside of Zillow, in an effort to force all listings to be on Zillow where Zillow makes money selling leads off the homeowners’ listings.” It further alleges that the Zillow Ban makes it impossible for Zillow’s competitors to carry unique inventory and removes privacy benefits, because it forces homeowners to weigh the benefits of a private risking over the tremendous risk of never being able to list the property on Zillow.

Compass alleges that Zillow conspired with Redfin and eXp Realty to get those competitors to adopt and adhere to the Zillow ban. Compass further alleges in the Complaint that the Zillow Ban violates the antitrust laws by allowing Zillow to leverage its monopoly power to impose the Zillow ban on the market, and simultaneously entering into anticompetitive agreements with its competitors to do the same. Compass seeks a judicial declaration that Zillow’s conduct violates antitrust laws, and an injunction prohibiting Zillow from implementing and enforcing the Zillow ban, in addition to damages for Compass.

The case is before U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in the Southern District of New York. After Compass quickly moved for a preliminary injunction and filed a motion to expedite discovery on June 27, 2025. The court approved an order for limited expedited discovery. On July 17, 2025, Zillow filed its opposition to the preliminary injunction.

Zillow’s opposition argues that “the antitrust laws do not permit Compass to force Zillow to deal with Compass on its preferred terms or support hidden listings which harms customers and Zillow.” Essentially, Zillow argues that the motivation of Compass’ lawsuit is about protecting its own hidden funnel, to the detriment of consumers. Zillow’s framing positions itself as a democratizer of real estate data, compared to Compass as an outdated entity focused on exclusivity.

The lawsuit is currently in the expedited discovery stage, with the parties trading arrows, designating experts, and engaging in heated discovery practice. Compass’ evidentiary hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction will be on November 18, 2025, and the hearing will be extremely hard fought. Between now and then, both sides will likely marshal economic experts, industry insiders, and competing visions of how the real estate marketplace should function. The litigation is already attracting close attention from industry professionals, who see it as a referendum on how much control one platform should wield over how homes are bought and sold.

The long-term implications of the lawsuit could have a major effect on Beverly Hills and other luxury markets, which have historically used tools such as office exclusives, whisper campaigns, and staged rollouts to market ultra-high-end properties where privacy matters. Under the Zillow Ban, those phased strategies would be eliminated because any public marketing would trigger the one-day MLS rule, and prevent the seller from ever using Zillow, making utilizing the Compass phase 1 and phase 2 tools prohibitively risky. This is because if a home does not sell in those phases, the homeowner could risk never having it listed to the wider Zillow audience.

This case also fits into the larger wave of antitrust challenges against digital platforms. Courts and regulators are already wrestling with whether companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple are misusing their roles as gatekeepers to stifle competition. Compass is essentially arguing that Zillow falls within the same category as tech giants whose control over market access has been  checked by the courts under the antitrust statutes. 

Over the next three months before Compass’s preliminary injunction hearing, the stakes remain high. For Compass, a win could preserve its phased strategy and limit Zillow’s influence over how the industry markets homes. For Zillow, victory would reaffirm its authority to set industry standards. However it is resolved, the Zillow Ban antitrust suit is a test case for the future of how real estate will be marketed, and its outcome will be especially influential in luxury markets. 

Pooja S. Nair is a Partner and Chair of the Food, Beverage, and Hospitality Department at Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP. She represents clients in real estate litigation and complex business disputes involving contracts, employment, intellectual property, and fraud. Her insights have appeared in Law360, Daily Journal, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. Before joining ECJ, she led the Food and Beverage practice at TroyGould and practiced white-collar defense at Foley & Lardner. She also serves on nonprofit boards and has been recognized as one of Los Angeles’s Top Litigators and Trial Attorneys and Most Influential Women Lawyers by the LA Business Journal.

The post Zillow Ban Lawsuit Tests Antitrust Application to Real Estate appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

After nearly three hours of presentation, public hearing and deliberation, commissioners voted unanimously to approve staff’s recommendation to adopt the resolutions that would formally recommend the project to City Council for approval. 

The project is part of Hudson’s Bay Company’s (HBC) plans for a two-block, mixed-use development at 9600 Wilshire Blvd. that includes the historic Saks Fifth Avenue property. 

HBC—the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue—submitted revisions to the original plan in November after residents from the southwest neighborhood of Beverly Hills voiced their concerns about the project’s impact on traffic. 

This is the fourth time a public hearing has been held for the proposed project. During its presentation, staff addressed follow-up items from the July 24 meeting and reviewed several resolutions. 

During public comment at the commission’s last meeting, on July 24, speakers expressed concern related to labor and workforce practices, environmental review, traffic congestion, and the level of engagement between the applicant and the community. Commissioners decided that additional review was needed regarding land use, identification of potential vehicle pullout areas alongside Wilshire Boulevard, reduction of construction-related noise and projected traffic impact. 

To address the concerns raised at the July 24 meeting, the commission brought back the plan for public hearing on Aug. 14 with several revisions to the conditions of approval and draft Specific Plan. 

Staff addressed four follow-up issues that commissioners brought up at the last meeting. First, staff decided not to recommend vehicle pullout areas along Wilshire Boulevard because they would reduce sidewalk space and potentially violate the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. For additional noise mitigation, the applicant added a requirement to the Construction Management Plan for sound-dampening shields on mobile equipment that is stationary for extended periods. Regarding southbound turn restrictions, staff consulted with BHPD and confirmed these are enforceable with proper signage in the public right of way. To ensure compliance, they revised Condition 72 to explicitly require city-approved signage installation. Finally, the city’s traffic consultant, Fehr & Peers, prepared a supplemental trip generation memorandum. The analysis found that even if fewer total car trips are generated by the project, local residential streets could see more traffic. 

Additional amendments were made to the plan’s conditions for clarification and consistency in the applicant’s use of language. 

Douglas Adams, a representative for the project and senior vice president of development at Saks Global, assured the commission of maintaining dialogue with the southwest Beverly Hills neighborhood to improve existing traffic conditions. 

“Over the past three hearings and two study sessions before that, we believe we have demonstrated this project is well-thought-out and will enhance the southwest neighborhood and the city overall,” said Adams. 

President and CEO of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce Todd Johnson spoke on behalf of the chamber for its support for the plan. 

“The chamber has supported this project from day one,” said Johnson. “Saks has been there [on Wilshire Boulevard], I believe, 85 years. The continuation of this project will ensure that it will be here another 85 years.” 

Representatives from the Southwest Homeowners Association and others expressed concern with the project, including health and environmental risks, noise from construction, sign enforcement, labor practices and street closures. 

During deliberations, Commissioner Gary Ross recognized the traffic concerns for southwest residents but was overall in favor of the project. 

“Something has to go there to develop that area. It’s unsightly, it’s lying fallow, it’s not on-brand with our city, and what the applicant wants to do is very much not just on-brand but pays homage to the history of the Saks building there,” said Ross. 

“This is a good project that in my opinion would enhance not just the entire city but the daily lived experience of those currently live in the southwest and those who will hopefully become new residents of the southwest,” said Commissioner Terri Kaplan. “That is not to say that I am not aware and empathetic to the significant impact that the current residents will experience as we potentially move forward with this.”

Commission Vice Chair Lou Milkowski sympathized with the complaints brought forth in previous meetings but believes that “the laundry list of conditions that we are proposing satisfies a lot of my concerns and hopefully a lot of concerns of our residents.”

Commission Chair Jeff Wolfe stated that the construction and traffic issues are the ones he’s had to overcome. 

“I believe that the benefits of the project will outweigh the construction impacts,” said Wolfe, who spoke similarly about the traffic impacts. 

“Cities have to move on, cities have to progress, and some of that is going to have negative impacts on certain elements and certain aspects of the city,” said Wolfe. 

The fate of the project now lies in the hands of City Council, which will make the final decision on the two-block development that has sparked months of debate between supporters and concerned residents.  

The post Planning Commission Approves 9600 Wilshire Boulevard Specific Plan Project appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The council unanimously approved the request of developer Cain International (“Cain”) to establish a Community Facilities District (CFD) including two improvement areas within One Beverly Hills, to issue the requested bonds and to levy special taxes on entities within the CFD to repay those bonds.

The bond authorization is broken down into two parts. Cain has requested approximately $315 million in net proceeds to reimburse the cost of constructing the approved public improvements. The city has determined that a gross bond authorization of $390 million is necessary to generate this amount. The remaining $160 million will facilitate a future City Council’s ability to finance major repairs, replacements or enhancements to public infrastructure in proximity to the One Beverly Hills project site.

Councilmember Craig Corman recused himself from the discussion and vote because he is a member of a nearby country club.

Cain will cover all costs related to the creation of the CFD and bonds. In addition, the city will receive a $15 million contribution from the developer to be used at the city’s discretion, with certain limitations, as well as an Environmental Mitigation and Sustainability fee between 2% and 4%.

Beverly Hills Mayor Sharona Nazarian negotiated the contribution up from $10 million during the Aug. 19 meeting. According to Jeff Muir, the city’s director of finance, the contribution will be paid when the first series of CFD bonds are issued.

Nazarian reflected on the significance of the council’s actions in a statement to the Courier.

“In Beverly Hills, we must lead with vision as we plan for the future of our city,” she said. “I’m delighted that we were able to reach a unanimous vote that not only ensures the completion of this unique and important anchor project, but also delivers meaningful public benefit to our community. The additional upfront funding and EMS fees will provide critical resources to continue strengthening public safety, investing in infrastructure upgrades, and enhancing the quality of life for our residents for generations to come. We are grateful for this partnership.”

Cain’s Managing Director Larry Green told the Courier in a statement, “We are pleased the city has taken this important step toward establishing a Community Facilities District, a key part of the public improvements for the One Beverly Hills project. This unanimous vote reflects not only the strong partnership between Cain and the city of Beverly Hills, but also the incredible support of the community that made this milestone possible. With the CFD in place, we will be building best-in-class infrastructure that delivers meaningful benefits to the community, including enhanced safety and security, improved streets, and upgraded public spaces. The council’s action demonstrates a shared commitment to the city’s future and ensures continued progress on this transformative development. We thank the Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilmembers for their partnership, and we are grateful to the community for their support as we work together to advance One Beverly Hills.”

One Beverly Hills is a mixed-use project on a 17.5-acre parcel that encompasses the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills. Once complete, the development will include a new Aman Hotel, two residential towers, boutiques, casual dining, a conference center and approximately 10 acres of botanical gardens and open space.

The development broke ground in February 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2028.

Cain petitioned the city in the fall of 2024 to form a CFD to assist with financing certain elements of the project, including public infrastructure improvements and ongoing maintenance services. According to representatives for the project who spoke at the Aug. 19 meeting, the amount requested through bonds accounts for 3% of the project’s total financing.

Beverly Hills residents who live outside of the CFD will not incur any taxes related to the bonds, and no money will come out of the city’s general fund. If the developer defaults or goes into bankruptcy, the city will not be liable for the bonds.

The proposal falls under the state’s Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act, which allows local agencies to finance public improvements and services through the establishment of CFDs and special taxes levied only on properties that will benefit from the improvements.

In a letter to the city, former Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Mike Roos, who co-authored the act with then-Senator Henry Mello, said that the city’s bonds plan is in accordance with the intent of the legislation.

“I commend your City Council for considering this prudent and effective financial tool,” Roos wrote. “Your approach is entirely consistent with the intent and protective nature of Mello-Roos and it reflects a commitment to smart growth and fiscal responsibility that will benefit your community for generations to come.”

Infrastructure improvements covered by the bonds will include work on such facilities as roadways, tunnels, parks, bike trails and traffic signals. Services and incidental expenses would include the maintenance, design, landscaping and repair of certain facilities.

During public comment, residents spoke both in favor and against the issuance of bonds. Those in favor emphasized the fact that the city will not incur any debt, and that the financing will support a development of which many in the city are in favor.

Those opposed argued that the developer appeared to be asking for a large sum of money and it was unclear what the city would receive in return.

The City Council will hold a second reading and adoption of the special tax ordinance on Sept. 9. Bonds will not be issued until the project is nearer to completion.

The post City Council Approves Up to $550 Million in Bonds for One Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

At issue is a 19-story development that will include 165 residential units, 33 of which will be designated as affordable for lower-income households. It will also include a hotel with 73 rooms and a hotel restaurant. A spokesperson for 9300 Wilshire and Pustilnikov characterized the ruling as a “vindication” that will “bring much needed housing, at various income levels, to the city.” 

In contrast, Beverly Hills City Attorney Laurence Wiener said that the city is “very disappointed” with the ruling. 

“We believe that we had legitimate, good faith arguments that this development lost its privileges under the ‘builders remedy’ law and needed to conform to our general plan and zoning laws,” he told the Courier in a statement. “It is unfortunate that the state has seen fit to take a good deal of local zoning out of the hands of cities and mandated higher density in order to promote more affordable housing.”

The application for the 125-129 S. Linden Drive project was first submitted to the city in a preliminary application in October 2022. A developmental plan review (DPR) application was submitted by the developer in April 2023, which contained some changes to the initial plan. 

The DPR was deemed incomplete by the city, setting off a series of communications between the developer and city staff. According to the Aug. 12 ruling, at least six letters of incompleteness were sent to the applicant by the city. 

Many, if not all, of those letters stated that the project no longer qualified for Builder’s Remedy protections, alleging that the preliminary application had lapsed. 

In June 2024, the state’s Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) sent a letter to the city refuting its claim that the preliminary application had lapsed and directing the city to process the project. HCD then sent a notice of violation to the city in August 2024, stating that Beverly Hills’ “failure to accept the application for processing is in violation of state housing law,” according to Kin’s ruling. 

In December 2024, HCD sent a second notice of violation regarding the city’s overall practice of processing Builder’s Remedy projects. The department wrote that a “preliminary application remains vested unless the number of residential units or square footage of construction changes by 20 percent or more.”

Two lawsuits were filed against the city regarding the Linden Drive project, both requesting a writ of mandate to compel the city to approve the project. The first was filed in June 2024 by Californians for Homeownership, Inc., and the second was filed in September 2024 by 9300 Wilshire. The complaints were consolidated in Kin’s ruling. 

Builder’s Remedy projects have proven contentious in Beverly Hills. Because the projects are often out of compliance with the city’s size, height and density regulations, some residents and elected officials have argued that they do not conform to the rest of the city. 

The city has received applications for 14 Builder’s Remedy projects. At least six developers of those projects have filed lawsuits against the city, including the Linden Drive developers, challenging determinations made against them by the city. 

Other projects have received incomplete notifications, and still more are engaged in back-and-forth communication with city staff regarding the necessity of Environmental Impact Reviews. 

The decision in the Linden Drive lawsuit is expected to set a precedent for other complaints regarding Builder’s Remedy projects in Beverly Hills.  

The post City Responds to Ruling in Linden Drive Case appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

One of the most anticipated celebrations is the debut of “The Clueless Suite” at L’Ermitage Beverly Hills, where guests can immerse themselves in Cher’s lavishly stylish world. The limited-time luxury experience, available from July 12 through Sept. 1, was created in collaboration with Paramount Pictures, “Clueless” costume designer Mona May, and Bloomingdale’s. 

The suite is decorated with stills from the movie, behind-the-scenes pictures provided by Paramount, and framed photos of Paul Rudd on the nightstand. It features yellow plaid upholstery, fluffy accent pillows, and an interactive “digital closet” display that brings Cher’s outfit-selecting computer to life.

“We just wanted this to be like Cher and Dionne invited you to come for a sleepover and stay the weekend,” interior designer Jordan Hackworth told the Courier. “We have the ultimate girly amenities, a game night area, and the most luscious pure silk bedding. We just wanted to really make a fantasy out of it, like what is Cher doing in 2025? We took a lot of inspiration from the movie, and it’s all done with a wink and a nudge. Nothing is taken too seriously. But we wanted to blend high fashion with Beverly Hills and make it girly and sweet.” 

The closet is meant to be like an extension of Cher’s, complete with a wardrobe inspired by the movie and curated by Bloomingdale’s and costume designer May. The whole experience is shoppable, and the booking comes with a custom garment, a $100 gift card to Bloomingdale’s, plus a VIP personal styling service at the department store. And because Cher never relied on mirrors, there’s also a Polaroid camera to photograph your looks before deciding on the perfect one. The suite also comes with a white Jeep Wrangler convertible to cruise around the city in, and beauty treatments fit for a Noxzema commercial.

“The boas, the pink and the yellow, the Mary Janes … it’s all kind of updated and current, and you can get inspired and have fun with colored clothes,” May told the Courier. “It’s basically about inspiring girls … As an artist, it’s incredible to be recognized 30 years later and have some of your work live forever. The sleepless nights, the stress, it was all worth it.”

From “CH” monogrammed bathrobes to a copy of Covert Bailey’s “The New Fit or Fat,” every inch is a nod to the film’s most memorable moments. The vanity is filled with colorful accessories, fuzzy pens, and copies of Cher’s report card, because convincing teachers to change your grades every other semester is no small feat. 

The 30th anniversary celebrations culminate in a festival at La Cienega Park on July 19, where Mayor Sharona Nazarian will officially proclaim the date as “Clueless Day.” Produced with Street Food Cinema, the ticketed event will include food trucks themed photo installations, a DJ, and an alfresco screening of the movie. 

Beyond the suite, other “Clueless”-themed events in Beverly Hills include a special July 10 Concert on Canon featuring “AS IF!”, a ’90s tribute band at the Beverly Canon Gardens, an outdoor screening of the movie at The Beverly Hills Hotel on Aug. 6, a Cher-themed spa package and special dessert at The Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel, which runs from July 15 to Aug. 15.

To learn more, visit https://lovebeverlyhills.com/articles/view/beverly-hills-celebrates-clueless-30th-anniversary. 

As if you’d want to miss it.  

The post ‘The Clueless Suite’ Debuts at L’Ermitage Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Last year, 52% of American newlyweds used an engagement ring with a lab-grown stone compared to just 12% in 2019, according to an annual survey by The Knot. 

This boom in popularity has hit the natural diamond market hard.

The price of mined stones has dropped around 26% since 2022, according to jewelry data analytics firm Tenoris. In 2024, De Beers, the biggest name in the natural diamond business, reported a 23% year-over-year decrease in revenue driven by a loss in demand for mined stones.  

This disruption is even being felt in the luxury shopping destination of Beverly Hills, where many retailers are now opting to sell both natural and mined stones. 

But while the future for the overall industry is uncertain, high-end local jewelers remain confident that Beverly Hills will continue to flourish as a mecca for natural stones.

“Just look at all the global brand jewelry houses building new salons in Beverly Hills,” said Beverly Hills jewelry designer Martin Katz. “That certainly confirms in my mind that there is an international confidence in the Beverly Hills market for genuine diamond jewelry.”

This confidence is founded in the fact that there will always be a customer base that appreciates the value of natural stones and will therefore be drawn to the concentration of top-tier jewelers in the city that specialize in rare and antique stones. 

“Although they [lab-grown diamonds] may look the same to the naked eye, they are not the same,” said Katz. “Natural diamonds are formed over billions of years deep within the Earth under extreme heat and pressure, making them rare and unique treasures from Mother Earth that appreciate over time.”

Or, as renowned local jeweler Jack Weir puts it simply, “Natural diamonds have charisma; lab-grown diamonds do not.”

Manufactured diamonds are chemically, physically and optically identical to natural diamonds, but instead of being created inside the Earth over the course of 1 to 3 billion years, they’re created inside labs in a matter of weeks. 

Akshie Jhaveri, founder of lab-grown diamond seller Grown Brilliance, vividly recalls the moment she understood the possibilities of lab stones. In 2020, her husband presented her with a group of natural diamonds and a group of mined diamonds and asked her to determine which was which. 

“He had two parcels of diamonds, and I really couldn’t tell the difference,” she said. “I thought, this is amazing, this is crazy, and this is an opportunity we need to launch on before it gets too common.”

She founded Grown Brilliance later that year, at a time when there were only two other major players in the market. Fast-forward five years and lab-grown diamond businesses are “a dime a dozen,” she said.

One of the first three storefronts she opened was just across the border from Beverly Hills on Melrose Place. In addition to engagement rings, the store does a fantastic business in statement jewelry pieces perfect for flaunting at a red-carpet event, she said.

“The high jewelry collections that we carry are all made in the exact same way that you would make a natural diamond piece. It’s all handset, hand-polished with very high-quality solid gold, and our customers love it,” she said. “No one can tell the difference, so why would you go and invest in something that you will only wear maybe two or three times a year?”

In addition to spotting a key market opportunity, Jhaveri also said she became passionate about selling exclusively lab-grown diamonds because of the ethical and environmental benefits.

Unlike traditional diamond mining, which can involve destructive land excavation and high carbon emissions, lab-grown diamonds are created in controlled environments with a smaller ecological footprint. Additionally, purchasing lab-grown diamonds helps avoid the concerns associated with “blood diamonds”—gemstones mined in war zones and sold to finance armed conflict.

Grown Brilliance’s rate of growth has exceeded Jhaveri’s expectations. She now has 14 stores in eight states, with more locations on the way.

Improved lab technology and increased production have pushed down the cost of lab-grown stones, which has only served to further increase demand for synthetic jewelry.

In 2018, lab-grown diamonds were sold at an approximate 20% discount to their natural counterparts. Now they are sold at an 80% to 90% cheaper price compared to mined stones, and some experts predict their price will continue to drop even further. 

Among them is William Logian, co-founder of RobinHood Diamonds, who sells some of the cheapest manufactured stones on the market by electing to decrease the markup passed on to customers. The prices of diamonds on his website start at just $119 for a 0.5-carat pear shaped stone. 

After working in the jewelry industry for three decades, including at top-tier companies like Tiffany & Co., Logian said the idea for RobinHood Diamonds was born from a desire to give back after surviving a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis. 

“I kind of was in a moral distress of having three kids and being faced with such harsh life realities,” he said. “Then I came up with this wonderful idea of RobinHood Diamonds, where we are going to concentrate on making luxury accessible for all, and we are going to work diligently and very hard to encourage everyone in the industry to stop overcharging for the lab-grown diamonds.”

Logian predicts that lab-grown diamonds are only going to continue to drop in price and take over more of the jewelry market. 

But what happens to the meaning of a diamond—a traditional symbol of luxury and elite social status—when it becomes accessible to everyone? High-end consumer demand shifts toward types of stones that hold on to their exclusive and irreplaceable nature.

“Obviously, the lab-grown diamond market is growing right now,” said Sasha Tarasova, head of sales for Jack Weir & Sons. “We have experienced impacts, primarily in shifting consumer demand towards colored gemstone rings as well as antique pieces and designer jewelry.” 

Jack Weir started his first diamond business in 1981 after he was inspired by the gorgeous diamonds he saw on a trip to Brazil. His son Wyler joined the firm in 2011, and the following year they renamed the brand Jack Weir & Sons. 

The Weirs consider themselves treasure hunters, traveling the world to secure the most beautiful and interesting stones to bring back to their Beverly Hills store. Because of the rare nature of their vintage jewels, the company does not suffer from increased demand for lab-grown diamonds.

“The people that we work with appreciate natural diamonds and specifically antique one-of-a-kind natural diamonds,” said Tarasova. “The old stones that we specialize in carry historical significance and emotional value. We consider them heirlooms, symbols of legacy as well as timeless investments.”

Some of the jewelry they offer is exceptionally rare. For example, they are currently selling a magnificent 1930s Art Deco, hand-cut Tiffany & Co. engagement ring. It’s a 5.03-carat emerald-cut diamond of G color with sparkling diamond accents, hallmarked with a signature and purity marks.

“It’s listed on our website for $188,000, but it’s a truly museum-worthy piece,” said Tarasova.

Acclaimed Beverly Hills jeweler Martin Katz is not concerned about the impact of lab-grown diamonds on his atelier for many of the same reasons, because his clientele appreciates the history and enduring value of natural diamonds.

“No two natural diamonds are alike, each one carrying its own history and story,” he said. “Much like the art market, an original work is far more valuable and collectible than a reproduction—even if an untrained eye cannot tell the difference between the two pieces.”

Katz has been in business in Beverly Hills for over 30 years and recently relocated to a penthouse salon in the Fred Hayman building, which allows him to spend more time designing jewelry and providing private one-on-one personalized service to his clients.

While Katz’s business is largely untouched by lab-grown diamonds, he anticipates they will continue to have a huge impact on the broader jewelry industry going forward.

“Some retailers will open just to cater to that [lab-grown] market as the profit margin percentages are massive compared to the margin on natural margins,” he said. “The mass market may be attracted to it, but the unlimited production of lab-grown stones keeps driving prices lower, so much so that the fashion industry will likely start using them in place of crystals.”

Tarasova also said she anticipates seeing more retailers enter the lab-grown business, while the natural industry will become more concentrated among the highest-end designers. And when it comes to the engagement ring industry, she does expect to see a continued growth in demand for colored stones and antique rings.

“People try to choose engagement rings that reflect their personality,” she said. “I’m sure a lot of people don’t want to be associated with something affordable and easily accessible.”

As the natural diamond industry adapts and contracts, both Tarasova and Katz predict Beverly Hills will remain a key marketplace where people come to seek natural stones.

“Beverly Hills is synonymous with luxury and heritage and timeless style,” said Tarasova. “The clientele here values craftsmanship, making it a natural house for a natural diamond market and destination for global shoppers who trust Beverly Hills with the highest standards of quality.” 

The post Lab-Grown Diamonds are Upending the Market, but Natural Gems Still Reign in Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

As the city of Los Angeles stands, people are now in rebuild mode. Even if you were not directly affected by the fires, you were affected. People have come together in unity, and through this shared grieving process, a renewed sense of love and respect has emerged for this extraordinary city and for all that live here. It feels like the younger generation is stepping up with inspiration and the needed energy to help get their lost communities and homes back. This is true of a group of older generations as well, but we are also seeing many in later life stages using this tragedy to downsize or change geographics, maybe even to an unknown area. Some feel if they have to start over and cannot have their known safety and familiarity, then they want to completely start fresh. Or, they may decide to preemptively make lifestyle shifts to align with retirement plans they had been considering for the years to come. Some people are even leaving the city altogether to be closer to family or try a new chapter. It seems like human nature makes these changes and jumps into action, and it comes into fruition in different ways for different people as we are witnessing.

Through it all, we have seen remarkable resilience — both in humanity and the overall market. Over two dozen homes sold for $20 million or more in Q1 2025 just after the January fires, and 310 homes sold for between $5 million and 11 million. Right now, it still seems insurance has helped place many of the displaced families. In the next several months we will see another uptick in sales as these fire victims will need to make permanent moves and decisions once they see that the rebuilding of these devastated areas is projected to take at least five years to completely rebound.

Where are the buyers settling in is another question I’m often asked. Many buyers have migrated to areas like Los Feliz, the Valley, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. Some went into rentals in beach areas like Manhattan and Laguna Beach. Brentwood was the initial beneficiary of post-fire relocations, but the demand for homes has since spread citywide, reshaping both pricing and inventory across all of Los Angeles. The one thing that rings true for all the fire victims and non-fire victims alike is that the “Three Ds” have now turned into the “Four Ds” of what drives the real estate market: death, debt, divorce and now disaster. We will see a rebound from this disaster like every drastic fall. Whether it’s a financial crisis or just a cyclical change, “What goes down must come up.” In a metropolis as great as the special Los Angeles, one of the greatest cities in the world, we are sure to see a market recovery, and also some may regret not getting involved in the opportunity that arose from the destruction.

So … how is the real estate market in Los Angeles? Resilient, active, and full of heart. Despite the major setback, the market remains strong—driven by deep community ties and an unwavering belief in the city’s future. Sales are down just 3% since the fires, a remarkable indicator of stability given the scale of destruction. Leases, new acquisitions and re-trades are fueling activity, and momentum is building as buyers, developers and displaced families work to restore these neighborhoods—one lot, one family and one project at a time.

It’s been just four months since the tragedy, yet homeowners are securing insurance, properties are changing hands, and permits are being pulled. While questions remain about what, where, and how to rebuild, progress is well underway. We will all wish we bought in 2025. History is being written in real time—by those committed to seeing Los Angeles rise again. 

Specializing in high-end real estate, Rayni Romito Williams has established a remarkable record with more than $17.1 billion total career sales with her partner and husband, Branden Williams. Her in-depth knowledge of market trends and luxury inventory, paired with her energetic and confident disposition, has made her one of the nation’s top-producing female agents.

The post How is the Real Estate Market in Los Angeles? appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“Rather than coming to grips with the fact that petitioner’s project is subject to the HAA’s Builder’s Remedy, the city has engaged in a course of conduct that is riddled with violations of state housing law,” both lawsuits state. 

The lawsuits challenge determinations made against proposed projects at 8800 and 8820 Wilshire Blvd. and seek to compel the city to approve the applications. 

The complaints bring the total number of Builder’s Remedy lawsuits against the city to four.

In response to the two new lawsuits, Beverly Hills City Attorney Laurence Wiener told the Courier, “We are confident that the city has treated the projects appropriately. Unfortunately, these projects increased their building construction area by more than 20 percent which disqualifies the projects from the Builder’s Remedy process.” 

The proposed developments on Wilshire Boulevard would stand side by side between Robertson Boulevard and Clark Drive. At 19 stories tall, each includes retail space and residential units. The 8800 Wilshire project proposes 139 units, 17 of which would be designated for affordable housing. The development at 8820 Wilshire seeks to build 134 units, 16 of which would be designated for affordable housing.

Preliminary applications for the projects were first submitted in December 2023. At that time, Beverly Hills did not have an approved housing element in place, allowing developers to apply for so-called Builder’s Remedy projects that sidestep certain local building and zoning codes in exchange for providing affordable units. 

In September 2024, development applications were submitted. In response, the developer received two back-to-back letters from Beverly Hills stating that the applications were incomplete, and that the project no longer qualified for Builder’s Remedy due to alleged missed deadlines and changes made to each project’s plans. 

In the lawsuits, the developer argues that the changed plans were within their rights under state law and municipal code, and that all paperwork was submitted in a timely manner. 

The developer later resubmitted both applications and appealed the city’s determinations to no avail. 

Ryan Leaderman, an attorney for the developer, said that the city violated state law that dictates the terms under which a Builder’s Remedy application can be denied. 

“The statute … does not say you can’t change your project,” he said. “The city is reading in a requirement that doesn’t exist in the law.”

Builder’s Remedy projects have been a source of contention in Beverly Hills, with some residents and officials arguing that they are out of sync with other buildings in the city.

There are currently 14 Builder’s Remedy projects under review by the city, all of which are in various stages in the application process. Seven have received letters from the city notifying them that their applications are incomplete, and five are engaged in back-and-forth communication regarding the necessity of Environmental Impact Reviews. 

In addition to the lawsuits regarding 8800 and 8820 Wilshire Blvd., the city is facing two complaints regarding its denial of a Builder’s Remedy project at 125-129 S. Linden Drive. Developers for that project are seeking to build a 19-story, mixed-use development with 165 dwelling units and a hotel.

Leaderman, who represents two other Builder’s Remedy projects whose applications have been denied, said that those are also “likely headed towards litigation.”

The city has not filed a response to either of the Wilshire Boulevard complaints. Both cases are set to go to court for trial setting conferences in early July. 

The post City Faces New Lawsuits Over Builder’s Remedy Projects on Wilshire Boulevard appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 in 2023 and emerged from a financial restructuring process last September, but the company has continued to face significant challenges. According to a May 5 letter addressed to pharmacy benefit managers from Owen McMahon, Group Vice President of Enterprise Pharmaceutical Purchasing at Rite Aid, “These challenges have only intensified as a result of the rapidly evolving retail and healthcare landscapes in which Rite Aid operates.” 

On that same day, the chain once again filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Many locations will be shuttered nationwide, but the Canon Drive location was not listed in its recent store closure list as of a May 9 filing. 

Zach Zalben, a commercial real estate developer who owns many pharmacy locations, tells the Courier that the Canon Drive location is likely in the 10 ten highest pharmacy sales (rumored to be in the $25 million range) of any retail pharmacy in the United States.  

The property on which Rite Aid sits is owned by the Charles Company, a West Hollywood-based commercial and residential real estate development firm run by Mark and Arman Gabay. The 24,553-square-foot brick structure was built in 1967 as a retail pharmacy and a Crown Books, for those who remember. According to documents reviewed by the Courier, Rite Aid’s lease expires at the end of 2025, with an option to extend for an additional five years. 

 “If they don’t have that many years left on the lease, what will happen is that the landlord will be the one who really has the opportunity to call the shots,” commercial real estate agent Richard Rizika told the Courier. “What often happens is someone will come in, like a CVS or Walgreens, and say, ‘I agree to go ahead and take that over, as long as you give me the time to negotiate with the landlord to get a longer lease term.’”

“I think the landlord and the creditors of Rite Aid should come up with a collaboration where both the fee simple owner and the leaseholder, Rite Aid, win,” another prominent Beverly Hills developer told the Courier. “It probably should involve the developer just paying Rite Aid to walk away from their below-market lease so they can put a worthwhile development there. I think they’re keeping the Canon location in the near term, and because it’s such a good lease and such a good store, I think this is one of very few Rite Aids that survive.”

Rite Aid has notified customers that most of the stores slated for closure will stay open for at least the next few months.  With many of their locations, Rite Aid is looking to sell its prescriptions, pharmacy front-end inventory, and other assets to new owners. For the time being, they will continue to offer pharmacy services, but the company stated it is working to ensure a “smooth transfer of customer prescriptions to other pharmacies.”
Rite Aid has not responded to requests for an official comment about the Canon Drive location. But, “Alice,” a shift supervisor at the location who did not want to provide her last name, told the Courier, “It’s a roller coaster …“We know that they’re all closing but we don’t know exactly when.” 

The post Beverly Hills Rite Aid Not Listed Among Bankruptcy Closures appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The new maps—which label regions in the state as moderate, high or very high fire hazard severity zones—designate approximately 260 additional acres of Beverly Hills as very high, according to Jim McDougald, Assistant Deputy Director, Cal Fire Community Wildfire Planning and Risk Reduction. 

Those new areas, said Trevor Richmond, Beverly Hills Assistant Fire Chief – Fire Marshal, are predominantly south of Sunset Boulevard. 

“Prior to the new map coming out, the very high zone was north of Sunset,” Richmond said. “So, you’ll look at the new map and you’ll see that the [very high area] is actually extended.” 

In most of Beverly Hills, the new border of very high fire hazard severity zones runs, roughly, east to west between Lomitas and Elevado Avenues. On the old map, that border ran roughly along Sunset Boulevard. 

To determine what zone their home falls in, if any, residents are advised to type their address into the official map on the Cal Fire website.

Richmond notes that the city has been working to get granular with the borders as some Beverly Hills lots appeared to be “cut in half,” he said, by the boundaries between very high and high zones issued by the state. 

Richmond is also collaborating with a city staff member who works with geographic information systems to examine lots one at a time and determine each property’s correct zone. 

“We’ve gone through all the lots that are half in, half out, and we’ve typed in those addresses [and] readjusted the maps to reflect more accurately what zone each lot is in,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work to make it really clear.”

The city plans to distribute a flyer within the next several weeks that shows those designations, as well as post the information on their website. 

The new maps were created by Cal Fire using updated systems. Those systems allow experts to more accurately account for wind patterns, including speed and direction, that are likely to blow embers from high vegetation areas into urban or non-wildland areas. The new borders in Beverly Hills reflect that increased predicting ability.

“What the model does now that it didn’t do before is mapping, basically, where the embers from that adjacent vegetation are going to land,” McDougald said. 

Work on the new maps has been ongoing since 2022. It came on the heels of a state bill that required Cal Fire to create fire hazard severity zone maps for Local Responsibility Areas (LRA), where the local government is responsible for wildfire protection, in addition to State Responsibility Areas (SRA), where the state is financially responsible for wildland fire protection and prevention.

“We did the SRA adoption first,” McDougald said. “The SRA was finally adopted and went into effect April 1, 2024, and then we started on the Local Responsibility Area.”

Individuals whose home or property is located in very high severity zones are required to comply with laws that govern so-called defensible space, which refers to maintenance regulations for the area around the structure. 

Those regulations include reducing intense fuel within 5 feet of the structure and managing vegetation that exists up to 100 feet from the structure. 

Richmond said the Beverly Hills Fire Department (BHFD) plans to conduct an ongoing public education campaign to help residents understand the new maps and requirements, particularly homeowners who are newly affected by the very high fire hazard severity zone. That might mean a lighter touch with code enforcement as more information is provided to residents. 

“Over the next couple years, it’ll be a public education, probably, versus a code enforcement issue,” he said. “After a couple years … we’ll apply the code and begin the code enforcement.”

Beverly Hills also recently released an updated Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP). The plan will allow residents to be more prepared to face natural disasters, including wildfires. 

According to a statement from the city, members of the community are invited to respond to the plan between April 21 and May 5. In order to qualify for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the plan must be adopted as a prerequisite. 

Residents interested in looking up their home to see where it falls on the new Cal Fire maps can use this link: https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/community-wildfire-preparedness-and-mitigation/fire-hazard-severity-zones.

Residents interested in viewing and responding to the LHMP may visit: https://www.beverlyhills.org/1447/Hazard-Mitigation-Plan-Update or email comments to hazardmitigation@beverlyhills.org. 

The post State Modifies Fire Hazard Severity Zones in Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

From wildfire-prone canyons to shifting climate patterns and soaring premiums, the insurance landscape in California is evolving fast. Whether you’re a seasoned investor, a first-time buyer, or a real estate professional, understanding the new rules of the game is no longer optional—it’s essential.

Wildfires and Premium Spikes: The New Normal

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: wildfire risk. California’s beautiful terrain—its sun-soaked hills, enviable landscapes, and ocean breezes—also makes it one of the most fire-prone regions in the country. Over the past decade, we’ve seen record-breaking wildfires, and insurers have taken notice.

The result? Many companies are reducing their exposure in high-risk areas—or exiting those markets entirely. That leaves homeowners facing steep premium increases or worse, non-renewals. Policies that cost $1,500 a year may now exceed $6,000—or be canceled altogether.

So, what’s fueling the fire behind these rising rates? Along with increased wildfire activity, reinsurance (insurance for insurers) has become more expensive. On top of that, state regulations now require insurers to hold higher financial reserves for potential catastrophe claims. And all of that gets passed down to—you guessed it—the homeowner.

Know Your Fire Hazard Zone Before You Buy

Thinking about buying a hillside home with panoramic views? Make sure you know its Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) rating first. CAL FIRE has mapped every inch of California, assigning each area a fire risk level: moderate, high, or very high.

You can access these maps at osfm.fire.ca.gov or check with your local city planning department. If a property falls in a high or very high zone, it may require fire-resistant construction, defensible space clearance—and extra scrutiny from insurance carriers.

Pro tip for agents and buyers: Check this info early in the buying process. It can influence both insurability and cost, which in turn affects your bottom line.

What Your Policy Might Not Cover

Here’s where things get tricky. Even if you manage to secure a standard homeowner’s policy, it may come with more exclusions than you expect. Coverage limitations are becoming more common, especially for:

•Smoke damage

•Landscaping or detached structures

•Temporary housing (loss of use)

•Sewer backups

•Earthquake damage (typically not included unless added separately)

In other words, reading the fine print isn’t just smart—it’s vital. Ask your insurance broker to break down exclusions, sublimits, deductibles, and what exactly happens when disaster strikes.

The California FAIR Plan: Last Resort, Not Last Minute

If you can’t get coverage through traditional carriers, the California FAIR Plan may be your safety net. It offers basic fire insurance for properties in high-risk areas. But let’s be clear—it’s not a comprehensive homeowner’s policy.

Most homeowners pair the FAIR Plan with a Difference in Conditions (DIC) or “wraparound” policy that adds liability, theft, water damage, and other essentials. Together, these two policies mimic standard coverage—though often with higher premiums and less flexibility.

A few things to keep in mind:

•The FAIR Plan has coverage caps and may limit protection for personal property.

•Approval times have historically been long, but we’re currently seeing faster turnarounds—sometimes same day.

•Uploading clear, date- and time-stamped front-view photos of the property showing the street number is key to speeding things up.

Moral of the story? Don’t wait. Start the insurance process as early as possible.

Why Standard Coverage May Fall Short

Gone are the days when an HO-3 policy had you fully covered. Today’s policies are customized based on location, fire history, roof condition, updates on plumbing, electrical panel, heating and more.

To fully protect your investment, consider these add-ons:

•Extended replacement cost (for inflation-adjusted rebuilds)

•Ordinance or law coverage (to comply with new building codes)

•High-value riders (for jewelry, fine art, or collectibles)

If you’re in a fire-prone area, ask your broker about discounts for mitigation features like defensible space, fire-resistant roofing, hardscape barriers, and monitored alarm systems. These can help offset premium increases.

Insurance and Escrow: Timing Is Everything

Here’s a tip that can save deals—and sanity: start shopping for insurance as soon as escrow opens. Seriously.

Too many transactions get delayed (or derailed) because insurance wasn’t locked in early enough. Lenders require proof of insurance before funding a loan. And it can’t be just any policy. It must meet their criteria: replacement cost, capped deductible, and minimum coverage thresholds.

While higher deductibles might save you money on premiums, lenders may not accept them. And if your policy doesn’t meet their requirements, they can impose “force-placed” insurance—at double or triple the cost.

Timing matters even more for homes near brush or with high replacement values. These often take longer to underwrite, so early action is critical.

Also, don’t assume lender-required coverage is enough. Work with your insurance professional to make sure you’re truly protected—not just mortgage compliant.

Final Thoughts

In a state as breathtaking—and complex—as California, protecting your property means more than checking a box. It’s about crafting an insurance strategy that’s as tailored as your real estate goals. Here insuring your property isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. It requires diligence, savvy, accountability, open-mindedness and some patience wouldn’t hurt.

Whether you’re buying a $25 million estate in Beverly Hills or a rustic retreat in Topanga Canyon, your coverage should reflect the value, uniqueness, and risk profile of your home. With the right team and informed choices, you can enjoy the Golden State’s rewards—without getting burned by its risks.  

The post Insuring the Golden State: What Every California Property Owner Should Know appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Commissioners agreed that the plan, known as the ministerial permit process, is a mutually beneficial one. Developers will be able to move their projects along faster, and city officials will have more say in the projects, some of which exceed the city’s existing development standards, such as height limitations. 

“What we are trying to do here is incentivize [developers] to moderate what they’ve requested in exchange for a quicker process and certain restrictions that they are not currently subject to under the Builder’s Remedy authority,” said Commission Chair Terri Kaplan.

Beverly Hills is currently processing 14 Builder’s Remedy projects. Submitted when the city did not have a certified housing element in place, those projects avail themselves of a state law that allows developers to sidestep some municipal development codes by providing a certain number of affordable housing units. 

Some residents and officials in Beverly Hills have opposed Builder’s Remedy projects, saying they’re out of scale with other buildings in the city. The city has little discretion in approving or denying the applications. 

However, the projects are subject to a discretionary review process, which can take six to 12 months. The ministerial permit process would allow developers to skip that process provided they adhere to permitting standards set by the city. Under the ministerial process, public hearings would be eliminated, as would the requirement for review under the California Environmental Quality Act.

The prospect of a ministerial permit process was first discussed by the City Council on Jan. 28 at a Study Session. Councilmembers were largely in favor of the idea and sent the issue to the Planning Commission for a hearing. 

During the March 27 meeting, the city’s Principal Planner Cindy Gordon presented staff recommendations for standards that developers of Builder’s Remedy projects would need to meet  to be eligible for the ministerial permit process. 

Those include a building height limitation of 85 feet, measures to restrict visibility from balconies that overlook residential areas, prohibitions on the use of common outdoor areas past 10 p.m. and a ban on amplified sound in all outdoor areas, including balconies. 

Nearly a dozen individuals who live and work in the city spoke during public comment. Most were in favor of the ministerial permit process. 

Several members of Unite Here Local 11, a union that represents hospitality workers in Southern California, asked commissioners not to allow hotels to utilize the ministerial permit process, arguing that it would misappropriate laws intended to create more housing. 

Speaking through a Spanish translator, David Jolla, an employee of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, said, “Housing laws should be used to encourage housing.” 

“Sometimes attempts to streamline housing are highjacked in the service of high-end commercial development of hotels,” he said, citing a project in Santa Monica that began as a residential development and later added a hotel. 

During discussion, commissioners requested small changes to staff’s proposed language. Commissioner Gary Ross asked that references to amplified sound specify prohibitions on rooftops as well as balconies. 

Ross also asked that the proposed standards reference existing city code that details restrictions on beaming light. 

Kaplan and Ross both asked staff to check whether developers are required to provide the same quality appliances to market rate units and affordable housing units. 

“I think that the level of finishes is required to be equivalent between a market unit and an affordable unit,” said Kaplan, “which suggests to me that the state’s intention and law is that the level of finishes and the specific brand name of the appliance” be the same in both types of units. 

City staff will now draft an ordinance that will come back before the Planning Commission before going before the full City Council.  

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Are you trying to secure VIP tickets to the U.S. Open this year? Perhaps you are feeling more adventurous and want to track mountain gorillas in East Africa or simply score a table at La Dolce Vita in Beverly Hills on a Saturday night. Look no further than this client-driven platform whose dedicated lifestyle managers provide members with personalized support.

Quintessentially’s U.S. CEO Lauren Wilt oversees the brand’s strategy, corporate development and day-to-day operations with a team of 50 across six cities.

Wilt joined the company as Head of Membership in 2013, after a previous role at the Cipriani Group.  Here are her insights on the growing concierge industry and traveling in 2025. 

Explain the services that Quintessentially provides. 

Travel, tickets and dining are our most common request categories; however, what makes Quintessentially truly unique and stand out are all the other things we do for our members. We take a 360-degree approach to lifestyle management, which means we support our members in all facets of their lives. From day-to-day support like finding dog walkers, to arranging appointments and sending gifts to loved ones, we also have specialists in numerous areas such as property and estate management, education and private clubs.  

What are the most in-demand travel or hospitality requests from your clients?

Time and time again, we see members who want to travel to familiar destinations such as Aspen or St. Barts and explore new places for their larger trips. They rely on us the most to tell them about the top properties, must-try restaurants and “must-visit” destinations to put it on their radar during the planning process. There has been an uptick in wellness-focused retreats; North American destinations like Mexico and Arizona and global destinations like Switzerland, Thailand and beyond. There has also been a surge in exploring the unexplored, which means destinations like Bhutan, which is not only a trending destination but also has great traction among our members globally and provides the opportunity to stay at luxury accommodations like the Aman or Six Senses. On a smaller scale, we are being tasked with requests like quick ski trips. The Presidential Suite at Hotel Jerome was a member favorite over Presidents Day weekend, for example. 

Is there a particularly challenging request that your team was able to resolve?

Earlier this year as the catastrophe of the fires has wreaked havoc on Los Angeles, it has been a particularly challenging time, not only as the CEO who has a large team in California but as a long-term LA resident and member of the community. Understanding the impact these fires have had on our members has been devasting, but it’s been encouraging to know we’re a team not only of experts, but also of friends, sisters, daughters, mothers and fathers who care about our members like their own community. As everyone has been impacted in different ways, we’ve been able to help families relocate for short-term stays in comfortable hotels while they wait to return to their homes, find suitable rental properties within certain criteria for those who have lost their homes completely and work with trusted organizations to provide a resource to members looking to make contributions for those in need. 

What trends are you seeing in luxury travel in 2025?

Luxury travelers are prioritizing self-care and holistic well-being. This includes stays at wellness retreats like SHA Wellness offering personalized programs like yoga, meditation, nutrition and spa therapies, and Chenot Palace Weggis, which offers advanced programs that focus on rejuvenation to delay the onset of biological aging. These destinations—be it in the mountains, by the ocean or at cutting-edge urban spas—are seeing a surge in demand.

Belated and extended honeymoons: Weddings now are so much different than they used to be because more and more frequently the couple has a global network of friends. This, coupled with the growing popularity of destination weddings, means that often couples are now taking a pause between their wedding and honeymoon. It’s nice to fully reset and prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon, which may take place in exotic locations like Mozambique, the Outback, Rwanda and beyond.

Soft travel: Traveling somewhere to reset and relax versus packing it in. The era of jam-packed itineraries is fading and is now being replaced by a desire for slow, intentional travel. Luxury travelers are seeking destinations where they can truly reset—long stays in serene locations, which for some may be tucked away in Jackson Hole and for others St. Barts, providing both a time to connect with nature and experiences designed to refresh both body and mind.

Cultural Immersion: Travelers are looking for meaningful engagement with local cultures. They want to explore destinations through hands-on activities like cooking classes, art workshops or guided tours with historians, creating deeper connections and more authentic memories. A property that comes to mind is Hacienda AltaGracia, tucked away in Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica, which gives it edge and creates an environment where cultural immersion is at the root of who this property is and everything they do. 

Adventure Tourism: Luxury adventure travel is booming as avid travelers want an outside-the-box experience; there really seems to be a surge in making once-in-a-lifetime trips at the forefront of their planning. From expeditions in Antarctica to glacier hiking in Iceland to private safaris in Africa, the focus is on tailor-made experiences that balance thrill with comfort—think luxury campsites, expert guides and personalized itineraries.

You have recently visited Nicaragua, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Costa Rica for surf trips and completed a 500-kilometer cycle challenge across the South of France. Any personal traveling tips for a seamless experience on the road or in the air?

Travel prepared: Before arrival, I’ve done my research and worked with our expert team of travel advisors to map out where I want to eat, what I want to see and experiences throughout the trip.  While this helps set me up for a successful vacation, there are a few habits I always follow upon arrival. 

Walk: I love to take a walk right away. This helps with much-needed fresh air after travel and to get my bearings in a new place. If it’s a city break, I love to see what’s around the immediate area, and if I pass a local grocery store, I always pick up some local snacks, which can be a great indicator of the culture. If it’s a country or nature holiday, a walk helps me to see what’s on property and explore what’s available during my stay. 

Talk: Whether it is to people in the airport, the taxi driver to my hotel or the person checking me in, I always try to be as friendly as possible and ask questions. Locals are a great way to learn about your destination’s history and culture. They will also know of citywide events to look out for and are a great source for insider tips when navigating a new destination, such as an off-the-beaten-track local restaurant or shop.

Unpack: It takes a few minutes, but I find in the long run it’s a time-saver during a vacation.  Unpacking also helps me feel settled and at home in an unfamiliar place. 

Gratitude: I try to ensure I understand and can say basic words and sentences in the local language, especially greetings and words of gratitude.

Which Beverly Hills properties or restaurants are the most sought-after for bookings?

Polo Lounge (The Beverly Hills Hotel), Dante (The Maybourne Beverly Hills), Matsuhisa, Sushi Note Omakase, La Dolce Vita, Nozawa Bar, Funke, Matū and Marea.

What do you never leave home without and why?

Besides my phone, there are a few things I tend to never leave home without. First, I love my Smythson cardholder, which is personalized with my initials. I’ve never been a fan of large wallets, and my Smythson fits in any pocket, with everything I need whether staying local or traveling domestically. Wherever I go, I also always have a Kosas Lip Fuel within arm’s reach. It’s my lip balm, lipstick and lip gloss all rolled into one super sleek tube that fits anywhere. Finally, when traveling, I never leave home without my Kindle. I’m an avid reader and this fits easily into any purse or carry-on luggage. I’m also a huge advocate for packing cubes, which help me stay organized and efficient on any trip. My favorite packing cubes are my monogrammed Mark & Graham set. 

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A visit to Oaxaca, Mexico, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, anytime from October to May is ideal. The temperature is always pleasant and the rains are yet to come. But if I had a preference, it would be in early November. For the adventurous, the Day of the Dead (Nov. 1-2), combining pagan and Catholic rituals, is exciting, vibrant and full of activity. For me, the perfect time is always the day after the day after the Day of the Dead. The chaos, noise and mayhem have calmed, leaving the colors, statues and joy behind. Already one of the most brilliantly glowing cities in Mexico, a country full of color and beauty, Oaxaca is bathed in the bright primary colors of its buildings and the intense ornamentation of its many churches. A very approachable city, ideally you should reserve at least four days for your visit. Besides the city itself, not-to-miss sights are Monte Albán and, time permitting, Mitla, both important archaeological sites and UNESCO World Heritage Sites, full of Zapotec and Mixtec history. 

Historically, the rugged topography of the Oaxaca region was both a curse and a blessing. The curse was in the difficulty of growing crops, but its blessing was its isolation and mineral and gemstone-rich land. The two primary Indigenous cultures, Mixtec and Zapotec, were in constant conflict, with the Mixtecs predominating until the arrival of the Aztecs in the 15th century. Their dominance was short-lived, however. Misjudging conquistador Hernán Cortés for a god, the Aztecs almost immediately lost their stronghold and influence to the Spaniards. It was an ideal location for the conquerors to set up headquarters as they stripped the region of its gold, silver and jade. It is rare to find so much history, Indigenous culture, art and craft in one location. 

Hotels of every level of luxury and sophistication are found throughout the city center. We chose the historic Quinta Real, a stone’s throw from the famous Templo de Santo Domingo and one of the many blocks with long open-air markets selling everything from jewelry to gelato. Like so much of Oaxaca, the Quinta Real is tied to the conquest by the Spanish and its post-colonial history. Originally built as the Convent of Santa Catalina de Siena by Benedictine monks, it was inhabited by Dominican nuns. Steep stone steps lead to the rooms on the upper levels, all built around courtyards, as are most buildings and houses in the area. Many of the 16th-century paintings originally belonging to the Dominican order still hang on the walls. But as tied into the religious history of the city, it is even more connected to its political profile. The Revolution of 1859 by local hero Benito Juárez changed everything, at least for a time. Juárez, the first elected Zapotec president, nationalized the church and seized its many properties, including the convent, turning it first into government offices and then a jail. Later it was a school, a warehouse and eventually a luxury hotel. The old chapel was even used as a movie theater. Yes there are more modern accommodations with greater degrees of luxury, but there is nothing to compare with the history and flower gardens that make up the Quinta Real. That, and the grasshopper omelet they serve at breakfast. 

Walking to the Templo de Santo Domingo, we were immediately immersed in the design and meaning of Baroque architecture. Almost Gothic on the outside, it has two tiled bell towers and a central fascia of tablets depicting lives of the saints with a few conquistadors and contemporaneous citizens thrown in for good measure. But it is the lavish interior that brings the definition of Baroque clearly into focus. Excessive decoration leaving no tile unturned, the Templo has a lavish gold-leafed nave with an arched ceiling of saint portraits encased in ornate gold frames, accented by arched lapis blue ceiling tiles. Each column is bejeweled with statues of saints, some known, mostly not. There is even an elaborate “Tree of Life” with various “sainted” Spanish knights occupying the branches. This is the architectural style for which more is never enough, and an empty inch is a design flaw. Dazzling when entered, it only expands in extravagance. 

Combining the sacred with the irreverent, symbols and statues of the “dead” surround the grounds of the church where vendors hawk their miniature skeletons and totemic animals. Oaxaca is a city of contrasts, historical and artistic. It is home to many churches and a cathedral, many adjacent to one another. But it is also the birthplace of Benito Juárez, who, schooled originally in a seminary to enter the priesthood, became the first democratically elected Indigenous (Zapotec) president of Mexico who established, at least for a time, a clear boundary between church and state, something the conservative party and the church were determined to recoup. Oaxaca is also home to Juárez’s acolyte and later bitter rival, Porfirio Díaz, who replaced the democracy of Juárez with his own autocratic rule, a rule that spurred the Mexican Revolution of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. In so many ways, Oaxaca is the center of everything. 

Parallel to the political history is the art history of the region. Rufino Tamayo, a contemporary of the muralists Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros, was a modernist painter, born in Oaxaca of Zapotec origin. A Mexico City resident in adulthood, he returned to Oaxaca to build an art museum that featured his personal collection of pre-Columbian art. Choosing different colors for each room, highlighting a different era of the archaeological history of Mexico, the shades bring out nuance in the pieces that might otherwise blend into a beige or gray background. In its own approachable way, the relatively few, colorful rooms contain artifacts of the highest quality, rivaling the much larger and more famous National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. The Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art is must-see. 

The artistic thread continued when Tamayo mentored his protégé Francisco Toledo, a Zapotec artist whose influence in Oaxaca may be even greater. Already an internationally recognized artist at the age of 19, he studied and worked in Paris and New York but returned to his home state where his commitment was immediately felt.  

Our first stop was Toledo’s Art Library and school (Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca – IAGO). Built around a bougainvillea-shaded patio, rooms of art-related books, most from Toledo’s personal collection, form the body of a cultural center that includes the Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photography Center and the Eduardo Mata Music Library, all part of the art school he founded. Artwork is hung everywhere, but it was the Day of the Dead altar set up at the exit celebrating Toledo, who died in 2019, that resonated the most. Orange and red streamers hung near his portrait, with candles and celebratory bread loaves, decorated with skulls lining the shelves below his picture. We were in the perfect mood to walk some more along the avenues populated with giant skeletons in party dresses under multicolored flags that created an umbrella over the temporary “Dead” sculptures. Many of the buildings, all painted in various hues, sported skulls or ceramic animal heads. Walking toward the  Zócalo, the large courtyard in the city center, we passed the Catedral Metropolitana, Oaxaca’s only consecrated cathedral, flanked by giant, Rodinesque sculptures of downtrodden men and women carrying the load of the world. Created by Oaxacan artist Alberto Aragon Reyes, “Procession: Time of Giants” is striking in its use of metal. The poverty it portrays is, to a certain extent, an honor to the cathedral behind it, a more modest structure than many of the other churches.  

A return to the hotel meant a return to the bar and one of the excellent mezcal-laced cocktails. Tequila, in all its permutations, may be the national liquor of Mexico, but mezcal has a distinct smoky taste and is a specialty of the Oaxaca region. A cocktail is always a great beginning to one of Oaxaca’s renowned restaurants. Now a foodie paradise, Oaxaca boasts many starred restaurants, all with a distinct Mexican flavor, highlighted by molé. Fear not. Molé, a sauce made from dried chiles and any combination of various ingredients, but always chocolate, is definitely not the black, gelatinous glop so often passed off as a Oaxacan specialty. Mole comes in many flavors and colors and can range from delicate to strong, depending on the amount of spice and chocolate. Not being a fan, it took a lot to convince me to try, but after my first taste of red mole (coloradito), followed by green and then pink, I was a fan. The delicacy of the sauce enhances the flavor of the meat and does not overpower.  

Monte Albán is a must-see, regardless of the time allotted for a visit to the region. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this pre-Columbian archaeological site is not quite an hour outside the city center. Monte Albán was the preeminent Zapotec city for almost a thousand years, founded around 500 B.C. and totally abandoned in 800 A.D. Situated on top of a plateau in the mountains above the valley floor, its elevated location provided an ideal view of invading armies. Terraces of varying levels were designated for the important religious and political leaders, with the workers, tradesmen and farmers living on the lower levels. Although rediscovered in the late 19th century, it remained almost untouched, covered with vegetation, until large-scale excavation began in 1931. A main plaza occupies the center where religious rituals were held. Temples surrounded the plaza where many stone monuments are found (Las Danzantes) depicting the brutal fate of captured soldiers. Large, monumental stairways, like those found in Teotihuacan outside Mexico City, lead to platforms, possibly sacrificial. The remains of white “plaster” can still be seen on some of the buildings. There is, of course, a ballcourt, one of two thought to have occupied the edge of the plaza. It was a game played with life-and-death consequences. Some artifacts can be found in the adjacent museum, next to the gift store selling hats (you’ll need one); but most of the artifacts discovered during the original excavations can be seen in the wonderful Museum of Oaxacan Cultures next to the Church of Santo Domingo, another must-see (but more on that later). 

While not a must-do when on a limited schedule, Mitla, the other archaeological site outside Oaxaca City, offers a look into the architecture and design of the Zapotec culture, still thriving when the Spanish invaded. Inhabited around the turn of the first millennium, Mitla was a thriving city of Mixtec and Zapotec population in an area that supported more than 500,000. Much of the site was devoted to the dead, believed to be a burial site for the rich and ennobled. The construction was very sophisticated, using blocks that fit together seamlessly like those built by the Incas in Peru. Adorned with carvings along the building cornices, creating a crown molding whose decoration was often enhanced by fresco-like painting and fretwork on the walls, these funerary properties were built around courtyards, not unlike the modern architecture of Oaxaca. Smaller and more manageable than Monte  Albán, a trip to Mitla can easily be combined with a trip to Santa Maria del Tule to visit the massive 1500-year-old Tule Tree. Its size and scope make it one of the wonders of the world. At 130 feet tall and 145 feet in circumference, it defies logic.  

Many tourist agencies encourage trips to the outskirts to visit San Bartolo Coyotepec, famous for its black pottery, made here for hundreds of years. The town of San Martín Tilcajete is famous for alebrijes, those animal figurines made from copal wood, hand painted with natural dyes and decorated in dots, stripes and geometric shapes, often sprouting spines of thin wood. Heresy, perhaps, but unless you are determined to see how these crafts are made, your time is better spent in Oaxaca City Center where literally hundreds of shops feature these arts. Be judicious, look carefully at the art, compare the products of the innumerable shops and then fill your luggage with your treasures. 

The Centro de Artes de San Agustin (CaSa), not far from the city, is an art complex started and funded by Francisco Toledo on the grounds of a huge, converted textile factory. Part art gallery, there was a fantastic comprehensive exhibit of Toledo’s art on view at the time, part workshop and part art school, it is worth the short trip to experience the campus that also includes a paper factory, again, started by Toledo.  

Another must-see in the city center is the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures, located in the former convent attached to the Templo de Santo Domingo. An incredible museum, built around a courtyard surrounded by columns and arched walkways, it is almost encyclopedic in its holdings. Many of the artifacts discovered at both Mitla and Monte  Albán found their way into these collections. Intricate jewelry in gold and jade is found next to ritualistic carvings and ceramics of the skulls of men and animals. The library of Francisco Burgoa, also part of the complex, contains over 30,000 works, including incunabula, bibles in Latin, Greek, Syriac and Hebrew, as well as 16th-century books printed in Mexico. A bronze death mask of Juárez is prominently displayed. It is here, on the grounds outside, that Francisco Toledo presented another gift to his hometown, creating the Ethnobotanical Garden on land behind the Templo de Santo Domingo. It highlights the many plant species used by the Indigenous population for cultural rituals, food and medicine. It is also because of Toledo-led protests that the garden was created when the government was trying to use the space for a parking lot. 

This just scratches the surface of a marvelous city. So much can be discovered on your own including the Mercado Benito Juárez and its endless booths of food, spices, clothes and decorations. There’s so much more to explore from the many other museums, world-class restaurants and village markets. But that’s for my next trip, and there will be one. 

The post Oaxaca, Mexico appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Whether luxury travelers desire to savor Singapore’s eclectic tastes, delve into Japan’s geisha heritage, stroll through captivating UNESCO World Heritage sites, soak in Thailand’s eco-beauty or shop till they drop in Hong Kong, one fact is clear for 2025 and beyond—Asia travel, including luxury cruising, is booming.

No longer are consumers taking just one big annual vacation. Instead, they’re heading out on two, three or even more robust trips a year. Virtuoso, a network of top luxury travel advisors, recently revealed that its 2025 travel sales to Tokyo are up 116% year-over-year. From the luxury cruise side, “Japan is Asia’s hottest destination,” says Shawn Tubman, senior vice president of sales and trade marketing, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, with Southeast Asia another big draw.

Helping to fuel demand for Thailand is Season 3 of “The White Lotus,” now airing weekly on HBO and Max. The storylines focus on interactions between global travelers and hotel staffers at a luxurious Thailand resort. But while the tales are pure fiction, the settings are authentic. Many scenes were filmed on location at sumptuous resorts in Phuket, Bangkok and Koh Samui, Thailand, as well as at Thai beaches and eco-preserves.

As a result, “Koh Samui is getting tremendous exposure of its natural beauty,” says Tubman. “That will generate demand for not only Thailand, but also the rest of Asia.” From his perspective, “Luxury cruising will benefit, particularly as people realize how accessible the exotic Asia destinations are via cruising.” Simply put, I totally concur, based on my personal experiences from multiple Asia ocean voyages, most recently a two-week voyage from Tokyo, Japan, to Singapore on Silversea’s ultra-luxury Silver Nova.

Over the years, I’ve traveled within Asia on escorted land tours, city stays and extensive independent trips. I love it all, but luxury ocean cruising is a hassle-free way to travel in comfort and style, plus touch many cultures in multiple Asian countries. For example, while sailing on Seabourn a few years ago, I enjoyed a great night’s sleep and room service breakfast delivered by my suite’s butler while sailing in Southeast Asia.

Less than 90 minutes later, I was off the ship and exploring Sihanoukville, the second-largest city in Cambodia. At a local market, I watched locals haggle loudly with vendors to get the best price on fresh fruits and veggies piled high on produce stalls. Seated on the floor, a fish seller sloshed his hands inside a tub of water, causing the live fish to splash and leap. His convincing performance resulted in a female onlooker nodding and quickly buying a fresh catch. It was a rewarding cultural snapshot of the local lifestyle.

Another two hours later—after a stroll through an ancient temple—I was ensconced back aboard Seabourn Ovation. After a luscious dinner and a great night’s rest, another exotic locale beckoned me in the morning.

Japan and Southeast Asia Soaring

When planning an Asian luxury cruise, booking early allows travelers to savor the pre-cruise anticipation, research “must see/must do” shore activities including any private arrangements, and have the best choice of snagging their preferred stateroom or suite on a luxury ship.

Many cruise lines have already opened Asia sales through spring 2027. For example, on Feb. 16, 2027, Regent Seven Seas Cruises will offer a 14-night “Cities of Mystery and Magic” itinerary from Bali (Benoa), Indonesia, to Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand. The 746-passenger Seven Seas Explorer will sail into Surabaya, Semarang and Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Malaysia; and Singapore (with an overnight stay).

One plus is that this itinerary also visits Borneo and Brunei. Arriving at Kota Kinabalu (Borneo), Malaysia, travelers might head out on Regent Seven Seas’ five-hour “Lok Kawi Wildlife & Handicraft Market” excursion. It’s a great way to view exotic, native animals at a wildlife park, learn about medicinal, endemic and exotic plants, including carnivorous pitcher plants, and stroll through a local handicraft market.

Never been to Muara, Brunei? I recommend Regent Seven Seas’ four-hour “Splendor of the Sultan” excursion. Guests will peruse the Royal Polo Grounds, opulent Empire Hotel and the Sultan of Brunei’s magnificent 1,788-room palace. They will also gaze at the monarchy’s Royal Regalia exhibits.

This voyage will also offer a call at Phu My (Ho Chi Minh City) before concluding at Bangkok (Laem Chabang). “Bangkok is a fantastic city with access to Siem Reap, Cambodia,” Tubman explains. So, by booking a pre- or post-cruise land package, cruisers can also see and do more in Thailand’s capital city and the countryside, as well as head to Cambodia to explore Angkor, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

More New Options

Between September 2026 and May 2027, Silversea’s 596-passenger, ultra-luxury Silver Muse and Silver Moon will operate 17 Asia voyages. Targeted at Southeast Asia, Silver Muse will sail to both marquee ports and less-visited gems, such as Vietnam’s stunningly gorgeous Ha Long Bay. It’s home to limestone karsts, islets, fishing villages and ancient caves.

On certain voyages, luxury travelers will also go ashore at Chan May, a gateway for excursions to Hue’s Imperial City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Coron on the Philippines’ Palawan Island with beaches and scuba diving sites. Silver Muse’s itineraries are also combinable for travelers to create a 28-day Southeast Asia vacation.

Silver Moon will, in turn, operate in-depth Japan itineraries. Two voyages during the 2027 spring Cherry Blossom season will include an overnight in Osaka, Japan. In just one of many touring options, guests might book Silversea’s exclusive S.A.L.T. (Sea and Land Taste) shore excursion to celebrate the science of umami with an acclaimed Japanese chef. Some Silver Moon voyages will offer later-than-typical departures from Busan, South Korea and Kanazawa, Japan, so that guests can spend more time ashore.

On March 1, 2026, ultra-luxury Seabourn’s 600-passenger Seabourn Encore will set sail from Singapore to Yokohama, Japan. One perk for those planning a big Asia trip is “voyage length flexibility.” For example, they might book the 15-day “Southeast Asia: Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan” itinerary. It visits Ho Chi Minh City (overnight) and Danang, Vietnam; Hong Kong (overnight); Keelung (Taipei); and Tokushima, Japan.

Two other options for that same departure date—both entitled “Southeast Asia and Japan’s Crafts & Spring Blossoms” sailings—will alternatively create a 29-day or 43-day vacation. All three options begin with the two-week sailing, but guests booked on the longer trips stay aboard for more cruising and many other ports of call, among them Beppu, Japan, famed for its “hells” or bubbling hot springs.

For those who love leisurely “days at sea,” one Asia and Australia option is Cunard Line’s 23-night voyage from Singapore to Sydney on Feb. 22, 2026. Before setting sail, though, travelers might venture atop Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands for incredible views from its observation deck. Alternatively, perhaps stroll through the Singapore Botanic Gardens; its National Orchid Garden sports 1,000 species of orchids plus 2,000 hybrids.

As for the cruise itself, Cunard’s 2,996-passenger Queen Anne will spend three days at sea, then two full days in Hong Kong, another two days at sea, one day in Manila, the Philippines, before two more days at sea and a day in Bitung, Indonesia. Well, you get the picture. More sea days follow, interspersed with visits to Darwin, Airlie Beach and Brisbane, Australia, before an overnight in Sydney.  

New this year fleet-wide, Cunard has introduced holistic “Harper’s Bazaar” Wellness at Sea programs. Spanning three days each, three optional curated wellness programs—“Relax,” “Recover” or “Energize”—include a selection of spa treatments, some premium ELEMIS products and unique, nutritionally balanced dining options.

In early 2027, Crystal’s “World Cruise” will depart from San Diego, Calif. As the 740-passenger, ultra-luxury Crystal Serenity sails across the Pacific, several April 2027 segments will explore Southeast and East Asia. Guests can learn about Indonesian culture at Semarang’s temples, explore attractions in Singapore and Bangkok, visit the Great Wall of China and chow down on dim sum in Hong Kong.

Crystal Serenity will then continue to South Korea and Japan. There, guests will visit multiple destinations including Busan, South Korea. One destination highlight is the Gyeongju National Museum, displaying ancient Silla Kingdom artifacts.

Returning to China in 2026-2027 is upper premium Azamara. For example, on Oct. 16, 2026, Azamara Pursuit will operate a 15-night “China Intensive: Beijing, Shanghai & Hong Kong” voyage. One plus is that this 702-passenger ship is right-sized for sailing directly into the heart of Shanghai. Another itinerary hook is the unusual embarkation point of Incheon, South Korea, not far from Seoul, the nation’s capital. So, guests who desire to explore more of South Korea can do so pre-cruise.

In Incheon itself, military history buffs should head to the Memorial Hall for the Incheon Landing Operation. Built to commemorate the 1950 Korean War landing led by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, it displays copious military equipment (both inside and outside) from North and South Korea plus other artifacts, photos and flags of 16 war participants. 

Upscale foodies might board Oceania Cruises’ 670-passenger Regatta on April 3, 2026, for a “Cherry Blossom Splendor” voyage round trip from Tokyo. Highlights will include top-notch cuisine and culinary activities on board, plus cultural experiences ashore at nine Japanese ports and Busan, South Korea.

More in Asia

Expanding in Asia, Viking now offers enticing new China itineraries that include a voyage on the 930-passenger Viking Yi Dun, combined with overland stays in China, including Tibet. Separately, Japanese cruise line Mitsui Ocean Cruises, part of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, has opened sales for its cruise vacations in North America. As a first step, Architects of Travel will support sales of the new-to-fleet, 458-guest Mitsui Ocean Fuji (the former Seabourn Odyssey) by promoting it to North American travel advisors. Another former Seabourn ship will arrive in 2026. This is one development to watch.

Many premium lines such as Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Disney Cruise Line also sail in Asia, as do such small-ship operators as Scenic, Aqua Expeditions, Aurora Expeditions, Ponant, Windstar Cruises and others. For instance, Ponant’s 184-passenger Le Jacques Cartier operates a 14-day “Islands, Cities and Volcanoes of Indonesia” voyage, departing Jan. 7, 2026. While sailing between Bali and Singapore, guests can sip a cocktail at the ship’s underwater Blue Eye lounge and gaze out whale-eye-shaped windows to look for marine life. 

Aurora Expeditions’ 130-passenger Greg Mortimer will operate a new 16-day “In the Wake of Wallace: Indonesia & Borneo” itinerary from Denpasar (Bali), Indonesia, to Singapore on Oct. 24, 2026. And between September 2026 and May 2027, Windstar Cruises’ new 224-passenger Star Seeker will offer 12 departures of a 10-night “Grand Japan” itinerary between Tokyo and Kobe in Japan, plus other Asia itineraries. 

Another option for Asia travelers is a river cruise on the Mekong, Yangtze or Ganges rivers. Experienced river operators include AmaWaterways, Scenic, Viking, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, Avalon Waterways, Pandaw and others. This fall, Pandaw’s new 10-cabin Kochi Pandaw will debut on a new “Kerala Backwaters” itinerary round trip from Kochi, India. And in October 2025, Viking’s new 80-passenger Viking Tonle will begin sailing the Mekong River. 

If you’re wondering if there is still time to book an Asian cruise for this year, the answer is “yes.” Tubman stresses that “It’s possible to still book some space this year and next winter.” 

Whenever or wherever one travels in Asia, be sure to relax and cherish the moments. After a long day of Hong Kong touring late last year, I ordered room service in my luxurious suite on Silver Nova and then nestled into a chair on my private veranda to admire the up-close skyline views. But I had forgotten that each evening the city puts on “A Symphony of Lights,” the world’s largest permanent light-and-sound show. Suddenly, dramatic music enveloped the waterfront, and colored light beams danced and twirled across the skyscraper facades. It was pure magic. Best of all, those moments of visual splendor unfolded on my private perch on an ultra-luxury ship. 

The post Asia’s Allure appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

While the Aman brand didn’t originate  in Indonesia, it certainly established its foundation there, with much of its hospitality heritage stemming from the Southeast Asian country’s architectural vernacular, as well as the rich Eastern philosophies of wellness. The Aman brand debuted with the opening of Amanpuri in Phuket, Thailand, in 1988, followed by the opening of Amandari in Indonesia’s Balinese cultural capital of Ubud in 1989. In the years since, Aman opened Amankila and Amanusa in 1992, Amanwana in 1993, Amanjiwo in 1997, and launched a sailing yacht, Amandira, through the area in 2015.

“Indonesia is the heritage and background of the Aman brand,” says Jann Hess, the General Manager of Amankila and Regional Director of Aman Indonesia. “The strongest DNA of the brand comes from the people here, and the ethos of how the brand always aims to blend in with local culture stems from here too.”

While these Aman properties are all well-established, the region’s increasing popularity over the years has made it prime for new development, as well as for people to rediscover the foundation and heart of the Aman brand, with the U.S. bringing more visitors to Aman’s properties than any other region. “Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands and more than 700 spoken languages, as well as breathtaking landscapes and culture,” says Hess. “It’s also 3,600 miles wide from east to west, so it takes some time to fully explore.” Here, the experienced hotelier, who has spent the last decade with Aman Resorts, guides us through what makes each property particularly unique—as well as what’s ahead for these legacy properties.

Amandari— An Enchanted Forest Haven

“In the beginning days of the Aman brand, the idea was that the resorts would feel like homes where you are welcoming friends,” says Hess. Nestled in Bali’s uplands, about 15 miles from the sea, Amandari is surrounded by Bali’s most verdant landscapes, filled with Hindu temples and shrines, rainforests, and numerous craftspeople and artisans. Here, spacious suites offer a variety of residential-inspired configurations, complete with private pools that reflect the tonal greens of their surroundings, as well as open-air rooms for seamless integration with the outdoors to let in views of the Ayung River Gorge and River Valley, rice paddies or landscaped gardens. Materials like teak, marble, as well as thatched roofs and coconut define the building palette.

“At Amandari, you can see how from the beginning, the Aman brand always developed in a way that blended in with what was already around it. It sets the standard for all the resorts to follow,” says Hess. Today, guests at the property can visit the neighboring village filled with galleries and artists; be led by an Aman guide through local markets; explore the nearby iconic temples; go on a cycle journey through rice fields; trek alongside a picturesque lake; experience Balinese spiritual counseling; or simply bask in the environment and absorb the stunning nature.

Amankila—A New Home for Aman Lovers

Historically, Bali was divided into nine kingdoms, each ruled by a different royal family. Set in the ancient kingdom of Karangasem, on the eastern side of Bali, Amankila is set among some of the island’s most culturally significant sites and compelling landscapes. “It’s hard to find a place more unique than this,” says Hess. “Bali is quite large [about 2,230 square miles], but there’s so much you can do here without going too far.” Hess points to Balinese cultural experiences like visiting one of the water palaces, Tirta Gangga, hiking along the stunning gray-sand coastline, as well as snorkeling and diving.

First built in 1992 by architect Ed Tuttle, who is responsible for other Aman resorts like Amangani and Amanzoe, the property has long inspired guests with its cliffside home featuring sweeping views of the Lombok Strait, as well as its intimate accommodations with canopied beds, soaking tubs and private terraces. Now, Amankila is creating just nine exclusive residences, designed by Singapore-based Studio NvS. The expansive properties range from 29,000 to 61,000 square feet, boasting outdoor terraces, private pools and an elevated hillside position to take in sweeping ocean views.

“Each villa is being designed to host multigenerational families and/or groups of friends,” describes Hess. “They’re created on a large scale, each comprised of elegant pavilions and seamlessly blending with the rest of the resort.”

Residences will range from three to five bedrooms, with homeowners having the option to add additional pavilions for spaces like an office, media room or meditation lounge. Owners will have full and preferred access to all hotel amenities and services, in addition to the Aman Private Office, which provides global services across the entire Aman portfolio.

Aman Villas at Nusa Dua—An All—Villa Resort for a Truly Exclusive Stay

Golden beaches, oceanside temples and frangipani-scented hillsides set the background at Aman Villas Nusa Dua, where each private, two-story villa comes with a team of two butlers and a private chef. The all-villa resort feels more like its own private residential enclave, where its seven homes, ranging from 45,552 square feet to 58,727 square feet, occupy a total of 153 private acres. Since opening in 1992, the property has been catering to guests seeking customized experiences in a unique setting. Its position on Bali’s southernmost peninsula provides proximity to the Bali National Golf Club as well as some of the island nation’s most stunning white-sand beaches. Complementing the stunning setting, the architecture of the villas comes from Kerry Hill Architects, who have designed Aman resorts across the world, including the forthcoming property in Beverly Hills. “Kerry Hill’s work, especially in these early Aman properties, really set the tone for the brand, and you can see how decades later, not only is it still relevant, but it’s also still inspiring,” says Hess.

Amanjiwo—Where History Meets a Contemporary Sense of Serenity

Overlooking the world’s largest Buddhist sanctuary, in the bucolic bliss of central Java, Amanjiwo draws guests with its tranquil setting and natural attractions. “The resort overlooks the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Borobudur, which is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple,” says Hess. “There’s a feeling of serenity when you’re here, so much so that ‘Amanjiwo’ actually translates to ‘Peaceful Soul.’” Here, the resort’s 33 rooms form a semi-circle around the central spaces, with views looking out to the cascading rice paddies, Kedu Plain, and four volcanoes. The inland setting, just 35 miles from the coast, is deeply immersed in the island’s rich culture, with guests frequently coming to experience Aman-led private visits to Borobudur, trekking into the nearby mountains, or simply resting in the tranquil landscape and lounging by the pool.

The architecture of the property deeply reflects its storied surroundings, with legendary architect Ed Tuttle designing accommodations with local stone, gracious pavilions and walled gardens. “Ed Tuttle was also the architect of the first Aman, Amanpuri in Phuket, and helped establish the brand’s design vocabulary, looking to merge modern comforts with historic and Indigenous attributes,” says Hess.

Although the options for accommodations range as large as the Dalem Jiwo Suite with two bedrooms, each in their own pavilion, a Javanese-stone swimming pool, two outdoor lounging bales and nearly 13,000 square feet of private space, those seeking to make their refuge even more personal have the option of purchasing one of the forthcoming private residences at Amanjiwo. “We’re currently in the process of creating four villas, each in the language of the current property and Ed Tuttle’s direction,” says Hess. “We’ll never create more than four, though, because it’s important that the property stays small and doesn’t impose on the protected UNESCO site.”

Construction of the villas is already underway, with options for three or four bedrooms, and designs by Sydney-based Manasara architects, who have created various residences and projects throughout Indonesia. The residences will be placed above the hotel for elevated views, and each will feature pavilions for bedrooms, living and dining, as well as expansive terraces and gardens, complete with an 18-meter private pool. Lots range from approximately 30,200 square feet to 37,700 square feet, but should owners ever feel the need to leave their environs, they have full access to all of the amenities at the Aman resort.

Amanwana—Tented Luxury on the Remote Moyo Island

There are tented camps, and then there are the tented camps that Aman creates. Those familiar with Amangiri’s Camp Sarika experience will recognize the full-nature immersion that Aman creates with its camp-style retreats. At Amanwana, instead of being surrounded by a boundless desert oasis, guests have the unique experience of waking up on Moyo Island. Measuring 135 square miles and accessible only by boat or helicopter, the island is part of the Moyo-Satonda National Park and offers calm turquoise waters, lush savannahs and rich forests. Here, just 17 tents rest in a tranquil bay on the western coast of the island. Each of the permanent tents measures 625 square feet and features plush beds, picture windows, wooden decks, full bathrooms with showers, and views of either the ocean or the jungle. “It’s unique that Aman can offer these five resorts in one country for guests to experience,” says Hess. “Each one is designed in complete harmony with its setting to offer something different to each guest. Of course, they can be experienced individually, but when a guest books stays across multiple properties, we can really create a personalized itinerary so that each retreat offers meaningful culture, memorable experiences, and the Aman-level of luxury.”

While the untouched setting of Amanwana is perfect for swimming with whale sharks in the Saleh Bay, scuba diving and snorkeling in the nearby untouched reefs, trekking through the jungle to explore hidden waterfalls, or experiencing a massage at the open-air spa set among tamarind trees, the emphasis here is always on the feeling of being a million miles away in a place still almost completely undiscovered by mainstream travelers.

Amandira and Aman By Train— Journeys Off the Beaten Path

Launched in 2015, the luxury sailing yacht Amandira is the most recent addition to the Aman Resorts portfolio in Indonesia. “This custom-built, two-masted sailing yacht is modeled after a traditional Indonesian Phinisi sailing and diving vessel,” says Hess. “It’s a fantastic complement to our properties on land because it gives our guests such a unique way to see Indonesia and its many islands from a different standpoint.”

Itineraries for Amandira include journeys to the Spice Islands, where powder-white-sand beaches merge with volcanic mountains and uninhabited shorelines, as well as the Komodo Cruise Expedition, where guests track and photograph the elusive Komodo dragon in its UNESCO-protected home of the Komodo National Park. Both journeys are offered only a few times a year due to weather, but each includes an incomparable stay aboard the 52-meter Amandira, where just five cabins ensure an intimate experience, and a crew of 14 ensures top-tier service.

“For another unique Aman experience, we have the Aman train journey,” says Hess. “It’s something we came up with during the pandemic that’s become a really special and popular experience.” Just twice a month, Aman guests arriving to Amanjiwo via Jakarta can board the luxury carriage, which seats 10 guests, for a 6.5-hour scenic ride. “We have a resident anthropologist on board who talks about Indonesian culture and sites you see along the way, which is a wonderful way to ease into and learn about the country,” says Hess. “It’s also a great reminder that some of the best ways to explore and absorb Indonesia are by sitting back and slowing down.” 

The post Rooted Philosophies appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

From its inception, Aman has always pursued the creation of dynamic resorts and residences in incomparable settings. Never compromising on location or architectural integrity, the brand portfolio now includes 35 hotels, resorts and residences across 20 countries, reaching storied destinations such as Bhutan and Marrakech and global metropolises including New York and Tokyo. 

As the first Aman to be located on the West Coast, Aman Beverly Hills will combine the cherished brand’s ability to craft captivating retreats in an unparalleled setting. The project, designed by Kerry Hill Architects (KHA) from Singapore, will be the crown jewel of One Beverly Hills, a multibillion-dollar, 17.5-acre oasis set at the most iconic intersection in Los Angeles, where Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards meet. Aman will join the preexisting Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hilton to create a unified development that will include 10 acres of public and private botanical gardens featuring more than 200 species of California native and water-wise plants and trees. Aman Beverly Hills will raise the bar of luxury in the area, offering a 78-key Aman hotel, two residential towers and a members-only Aman Club, all set on a private parcel with botanical gardens and secluded pathways reserved exclusively for the owners of Aman residences.

What is Aman?

Aman, the Sanskrit word for “peace,” has spent the last three decades cementing itself as a global leader in luxury hospitality. The first Aman Resort was created in Phuket in 1988 to replicate the feeling of being in a private home, with just a handful of rooms. Although the brand has since evolved, its main ethos of making guests always feel at home has long been the common thread running through the brand’s history. 

“Our studio was founded in Singapore 45 years ago, and we’ve spent the last 35 of them working with Aman,” says Tanuj Goenka, Director of KHA. “Our brands started their journeys together, and we’ve been proud to complete 13 Amans around the world. Over that time, Aman has always valued an environment that sets the properties apart, but the brand is not static—it has had a tremendous ability to move with the times, but without ever losing its soul.” 

The now Switzerland-based hospitality brand has always been synonymous with thoughtful design, peerless service and refined taste—qualities it will be bringing to Los Angeles, where it will introduce the city to a new level of luxury. At the recent World’s 50 Best Hotels awards, Aman was recognized as the first-ever winner of the “Most Admired Hotel Group Award,” where it was called out as a “pioneering purveyor of ultra-luxe, wellness-forward stays.” Indeed, Aman Tokyo, which was also designed by KHA, landed as the #7 hotel in the world, while Aman New York landed spot #37, wowing guests with its spacious suites, stunning three-story spa and peaceful atmosphere, all while being located in one of the busiest cities in the world. The New York property was the third U.S. project for the brand, following the landmark 2007 opening of Amangani in Jackson Hole, where the 40-key resort overlooks the Grand Tetons, and the spectacular 2009 debut of Amangiri in Utah, set among red-rock canyons and 900 acres of the Colorado Plateau. Also in North America, the brand features properties in the Dominican Republic (Amanera) and Turks and Caicos (Amanyara), where guests are just a stone’s throw from the U.S. but feel transported to a world away by the captivating environments Aman so thoughtfully designs. 

A Setting Like No Other 

Beverly Hills may consist of just 5.71 square miles, but the tiny enclave has reached world-renowned status as one of the most elite and sought-after luxury destinations in the world. In the early 1800s, the city began as an agricultural community. By 1912, it was welcoming its first hotel, The Beverly Hills Hotel; by the 1920s, historic mansions as Pickfair (the home of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford) were being constructed; by the 1960s, Fred Hayman and Aldo Gucci were turning Rodeo Drive into a glamorous luxury retail destination with the openings of Giorgio Beverly Hills and Gucci; by the 1990s, the city’s zip code was immortalized by the series “Beverly Hills 90210”; and in 2027, the city will become even more elevated with the launch of Aman Beverly Hills. 

“I’ve been to California many times and was already familiar with Beverly Hills before we came onto this project,” says Goenka. “[Another world-renowned architectural firm] Foster and Partners had already put plans in with the city and gained approval for a project that included a botanical garden that would drape around the master plan. The idea of living in a garden in the middle of a busy city, which is predominantly a car city, meant that the Aman resident would have the opportunity to live in a truly special space.” Goenka adds that as he and his colleagues visited private homes around the city, they always noted the generosity of the landscape and the vistas. “We observed how private homes in L.A. take in the natural landscapes, the views, the surrounding nature, the sky … it was important that we brought that all into this vertical project,” says the architect. 

Now, the residences will occupy the two towers at Aman Beverly Hills, allowing for ample space to be dedicated to outdoor gardens that will make each unit feel like a private retreat that embraces the outdoors instead of hiding from them behind walls of glass and steel. But Aman Beverly Hills is not only a lush oasis for residents—its accompanying hotel will offer a new level of vertical luxury the city has never seen before. As the first new luxury hotel in the region in nearly a decade, it will raise the bar by offering guests a new way to experience Beverly Hills, complete with unparalleled design, top-tier service and exclusive amenities. 

Incomparable Design

Deep overhangs, lush, verdant gardens on every level, an abundance of natural wood—there is nothing typical about Aman’s plan to bring vertical living to the heart of Beverly Hills. “This is not your ubiquitous glass-and-steel high-rise,” says Goenka. “We considered how the building would be viewed and lived in from every angle and at different times of the day.” To that end, the glazing of each floor is set back from the edges of the building, with space for plantings, private pools, and undersides of timber that allow both residents and passersby to feel as if they’re immersed in lush landscaping. 

“We’ve created five Amans in Bhutan, which is one of the only carbon-negative countries in the world, and we created the Aman in Kyoto, which rests within a forest, near several UNESCO World Heritage Sites,” says Goenka. “We took the same propensity towards nature with this project, immersing the residents in a beautiful garden setting not on just the ground plane, but on every level.” Natural materials like limestone and natural woods will be used throughout, with the line between interiors and exteriors intentionally being blurred. “We only take on projects where we can be responsible for both the architecture and the interiors. We never want someone in one of our environments to distinguish where the architecture starts and stops. Instead, the indoors and outdoors should flow seamlessly,” he continues. 

KHA is collaborating with Los Angeles–based RIOS for the landscape architecture, whose work can be seen at some of the city’s most prestigious private residences, as well as at larger corporate projects for clients like NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures and Larry Ellison. “We didn’t want the landscape to be secondary; we wanted it to be substantial,” says Goenka. “Trees and plants are set within and all around the buildings—not just in an isolated planter box—so it breaks the illusion that you’re even in a building and instead feels like you’re living within nature. There are also multiple swimming pools and water features, so you truly feel like you’re in an oasis.” Adding to the residential feel of the project, a series of walking paths throughout the property will allow both hotel guests and residents to feel like they’re in their own refined neighborhood, immersed in fresh air. 

Units at Aman Beverly Hills start with two-bedroom homes of 3,100 square feet and extend to five-bedroom units that command 10,500 square feet. Penthouses will offer 25,000 square feet of private space, as well as bird’s-eye views across the city, taking in the ocean, the glittering city below and the verdant Los Angeles Country Club located just west of the site. Every residence of three bedrooms and up has a private pool, and even the smaller two-bedroom units have outdoor onsens.  

“Almost 30 years ago, Aman was one of the first hotel brands to allocate as much space to their bathrooms as their bedrooms,” says Goenka. “We’ve been a pioneer in celebrating the bathing experience as a ritual, and the bathing and dressing areas we’ve created in the homes here are equal to if not larger than the sleeping areas.” In the primary bedrooms, wet areas in the bathrooms extend to the outdoor terrace and pool. The sleeping, bathing and dressing areas have the option of being opened as one free-flowing space or partitioned off at times, so as not to disturb a sleeping partner. 

Each primary suite will contain a double vanity, a WC, a shower with steam option and a freestanding tub oriented to the views. “Typically, bathrooms are designed with lower ceilings than in the bedrooms, but we worked hard to make sure it was the same,” says Goenka. “Once everything is open and slid away, it will feel like one continuous open plan.” 

KHA’s design draws inspiration from American mid-century culture, yet as an international hotel with bespoke solutions, the project incorporates the finest products from around the globe to create a contemporary, exclusive and state-of-the-art destination. 

Life at Aman Beverly Hills

Much like one of the nearby exclusive estates, the approach to Aman Beverly Hills is considered the moment a resident crosses the property. Entry for the residents comes from either Santa Monica or Wilshire Boulevard along a private, secured drive. From there, residents can park in the thoughtfully designed subterranean garage or leave their car with the valet. As residents walk into the lobby, they’re met with a concierge team and staff to help assist with bags and groceries. 

The ground floor includes common areas for residents to greet visitors or hold meetings. From there, three elevator banks host private lifts that take residents directly into their homes. 

While the units at Aman Beverly Hills are truly a special opportunity, the Aman Club is another unique offering. As the social hub of the project, the space will include an entertainment zone, a screening room and jazz club, multiple food and beverage outlets, as well as wellness and fitness facilities. The members-only club is open to all residents of the Aman Beverly Hills, as well as other Aman aficionados who have applied for membership, creating a collective of like-minded individuals. 

Indeed, a sense of community is important to Aman Beverly Hills, with the project feeling like its own master-planned neighborhood. “What we’ve seen in our other residential projects like Amanpuri in Thailand, is that the homeowners at Aman properties are quite compatible and enjoy getting to know each other,” says Goenka. “Especially around certain times of the year or around holidays, they’ll all be there and celebrate together.” With the Aman Club and generous outdoor spaces acting as central gathering spaces, residents are meant to meet, interact and build bonds over the prestigious community that they’re all now a part of.  

“When you look at our other projects, there’s always a clear reference to the property reflecting its location. For instance, in Tokyo, in terms of materials and aesthetics, there’s a clear reference to it being in Japan, but it’s not inherently or too literally Japanese,” says Goenka. “Instead, we prefer subtle references to where the project is. We’re influenced and inspired by the local vernacular, but we aren’t copying it. We’re always looking to distill design to its most essential elements, allowing it to sit lightly within the setting.” 

Upon its completion in 2027, Aman Beverly Hills won’t just wow guests and residents with its striking architecture; it will envelop its guests and homeowners with a sense of calm, peace, and an appreciation for the setting and environment never offered in Southern California. 

The post A Piece of History appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The development in question is proposed for 140 S. Camden Drive. The residential building, at 194 feet high, would include 27 condominiums and rental units as well as four subterranean parking levels. Six of the buildings’ units would be designated as affordable housing.

The final application for the project was submitted by Wilshire Camden, LLC, on Aug. 30, 2024. The city responded with an incompleteness determination on Oct. 3, 2024. 

The appeal hinged primarily on a state law requiring local governments to determine whether an application is complete within 30 calendar days of its submission. If they fail to do so, the application is deemed complete by default.

According to the applicant, who was represented at the council meeting by attorney Ryan Leaderman of the law firm Holland & Knight, the city was in violation of the law by not issuing its determination within 30 days of Aug. 30. 

City staff indicated that as a matter of policy, applications are not deemed submitted until city staff acknowledges receipt and fees are paid, at which point the 30-day review process begins. Additionally, applications and fees submitted after business hours are considered received on the next business day. 

Wilshire Camden submitted the fees for its application at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 30, 2024. The city’s business hours ended at 5 p.m. on that day, which happened to be the start of the Labor Day weekend, rendering Sept. 3, 2024, the next business day. 

An acknowledgment of receipt was sent to the applicant on Sept. 3, 2024. Therefore, according to the city, its response on Oct. 3, 2024, was timely. 

Leaderman and members of the council debated the issue for nearly two hours. In addition to broad legislative intent and specific statutory provisions, Leaderman emphasized that his client’s substantial application fee was paid within 30 minutes of receiving an invoice from the city on Aug. 30. He also pointed out that the city’s own response on Oct. 3, 2024, was delivered two minutes before the close of business and then superseded by another response that came more than two hours after close of business. The city, said Leaderman, would appear to apply the “close of business rule” only to the applicant, and not itself. 

For its part, city staff emphasized that its policies regarding the start of the 30-day review process and business hours are longstanding.

To that end, Councilmember Mary Wells queried staff over where those policies are posted, and when they are first seen by an applicant. 

“That’s at the bottom of every email that’s sent by a current planner in the department,” said Masa Alkire, the assistant director of city planning. “Any time that any individual—for example, Mr. Leaderman—communicates with one of our planners, he would have seen that note at the bottom.”

Another staff member added that the information is also on the application page on the city’s website. 

Turning her comments to Leaderman, Wells noted that when he received the acknowledgment of receipt on Sept. 3, 2024, he did not contest it. She also said that this was not the first time Leaderman had submitted such paperwork to the city, implying that he knew about the city’s policies. 

Calling the city’s policies “arbitrary,” Leaderman in turn proposed a hypothetical scenario in which city staff could deliberately withhold acknowledgment of receipt. 

“A city could play games by not determining or not acknowledging [an application],” he said. “[Our] application was submitted, and it should not be contingent upon someone recognizing or acknowledging that it was submitted.” 

Later in the meeting, when explaining his reasons for denying Wilshire Camden’s appeal, Councilmember Craig Corman suggested that Leaderman deliberately withheld an objection to the email sent to Wilshire Camden on Sept. 3, 2024, which stated that the review process would end on Oct. 3, 2024. 

“There was never any objection,” said Corman. “It was only as if the applicant was lying in wait, thinking, ‘Well, this is an argument I can pull out if I need it.'” 

Prior to the city’s official denial of the appeal, Leaderman noted that his client would be willing to take the case to court. 

“We don’t wish to pursue litigation,” he said. “We want to build housing. But staff’s treatment in this situation is just not right, and what it’s done is, it’s inviting lawsuits from advocates who want housing in the city. I think there’s a better way of doing this, not to necessarily litigate, but we will litigate if we have to.”

Leaderman later clarified his position in a statement to the Courier, which read: “We believe that the city acted unlawfully on Tuesday night in its denial of the project. We are exploring all legal options and will respond accordingly.” 

The post City Council Denies Appeal for 15-Story Building on South Camden Drive appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The commission first reviewed a request for an R-1 Design Review Permit for the construction of a new two-story, single-family residence at 519 N. Roxbury Drive. The residence features a contemporary modern design with minimalist materials and a water-efficient landscape design. 

Commission member Jeffrey Daniels liked the design overall but raised concerns about the heaviness of the stone at the proposed residence’s entryway. “It’s very substantial and I don’t feel that it lives comfortably with the other homes on the street,” Daniels said. “I like the assortment of materials you’ve selected. I think that the color palette is quite attractive.”

Speaking on behalf of the applicants, a representative for the architectural firm behind the project said the entryway is their favorite part of the design, but they had also prepared an alternative design featuring inset paneling and darker stucco around the entryway rather than stone. Commissioners viewed a rendering of this alternative design. Commission member Terri Smooke said, “I like the alternate plan more with the darker stone; I think it’s richer … I think it creates a more cohesive appearance for the house.” 

Vice Chair Rebecca Pynoos asked about the landscaping options for the property. “This particular block of Roxbury is heavily green and landscaped … and I feel this house, while modern, seems more of a departure from what is on the rest of the street,” she said. The architect plans to keep the main tree in front of the house intact, which commission members appreciated, although they suggested planting more in the front yard to allow for tall growth and enhance the privacy of residents and neighbors. 

Chair Evan Meyer was complimentary toward the development, expressing support for the modulation, color palette and mix of materials, but was unsure about the use of a bright white paint for the landscaping walls. “I’d personally love to see that color toned down a little bit and more in line with the stucco on the structure of the building,” Meyer said.

The commission passed a resolution conditionally approving an R-1 permit for the construction of a new single-family residence for the property. Conditions include updating the architectural plans to reflect the alternative design presented during this meeting, as well as using a warmer white paint to match the stone materials. The applicant must also specify the proposed location of the use of obscured glass on the window and door schedule in locations consistent with the elevations presented to the commission. The front yard wall should also be revised to match the condition along the southern property line and must wrap along the north side property line. Commissioners agreed that the landscaping plan be revised to include more plants and taller landscaping, subject to final review and approval by the director of community development.

The commission also reviewed a request for approval for a temporary mural on the facade of the Van Cleef and Arpels building at 300 N. Rodeo Drive. The retailer wishes to install a seasonal art mural for their “Lucky Spring” collection, designed by the artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet. Spring and winter art installations have been installed biannually at the Van Cleef and Arpels Rodeo Drive storefront in the past, with commissioners expressing that shoppers look forward to the new designs and how they enliven the street. The Spring 2025 mural involves large, colorful, illustrated flowers with LED strips for nighttime illumination. The commission approved the installation with a condition for an encroachment permit from the Public Works Department, should any part of the installation encroach into the public right-of-way.

Another retail request was received from Wilson Sporting Goods. The request was for a facade renovation, a flag sign and a sign accommodation for multiple business identification signs for a new retail store at 328 N. Beverly Drive. The subject property was previously occupied by the brand AllSaints and has been split into two separate tenant spaces since. Wilson requests to occupy the southerly half, with minimal updates to the existing storefront. They plan to install an oversized tennis ball display inside a display case. Commission members asked some clarifying questions about the size and placement of the Wilson sign but overall expressed support for the playful and creative design. The commission approved the proposal with a condition that the applicant must clarify how the tennis ball display area will be demised to ensure it is contained within the Wilson tenant space.

A similar request was made by Pura Vida Miami, a new restaurant at 439 N. Beverly Drive. They requested approval for a facade renovation, a sign accommodation for multiple business identification signs, an outdoor seating area and landscaping. The commissioners discussed the lighting plan and had some suggestions for additional lighting but overall were supportive of the restaurant’s coastal, contemporary design. The project was conditionally approved, with the amendment to require an 8-foot vertical clearance for the projecting sign, as required by the city’s municipal code. 

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Beverly Hills’s current height limitations on mixed-use buildings range from three to five stories. The proposed development —called The Eastern — would exceed those limitations by between 29 and 31 stories. 

The developer hopes to trigger the state density bonus law with the project. To qualify under that law, new developments must designate a certain percentage of units for affordable housing. In this case, 22 of the 249 units will be earmarked for affordable housing. 

“State law is being invoked so that this application, as it is today, can move forward,” said Brian Lewis, a spokesperson for the project. “The state has said we have a housing crisis, and we need to be producing more housing and providing incentives to produce that housing. This is one of the laws that allows that to happen.”

Beverly Hills must plan for over 3,000 units of new housing by 2029, with more than half of those units designated for very low or low-income households. 

Mario Palumbo, the managing partner of Millenium Partners Los Angeles, told the Courier that developers have met with members of the city’s planning staff and individual city councilmembers, but details of how the project might move forward have not yet been ironed out. 

“We’ve just been informing them of our aspirations for the site and asking for their feedback,” he said. “One of the things we’ve heard time and time again is that, as noted in the Beverly Hills General Plan, this is exactly the site that Beverly Hills has contemplated having incremental height and density to support increased production of housing units. We’ve heard that time and time again. If not here, then where? Where is it appropriate for Beverly Hills to build housing?”

Palumbo emphasized the project’s location on the edges of the city and noted that developers chose the location in part because of its proximity to the planned stop on Metro’s Purple Line Extension. Given that location, commuters working in downtown and other surrounding areas, such as Culver City and West Hollywood, would have the option to take up residence in Beverly Hills. 

“We are big proponents of putting density near transit,” he said. “We can’t go on thinking that we can put single-family houses around transit stops and that that’s a sensible land use policy … allowing the Golden Triangle to maintain its current character by producing additional housing units at the edges of the city is really, I think, what makes the most sense for the city. It allows it to both generate the housing units that need to be generated, but also to maintain the special charm and feel and character of the center of Beverly Hills.” 

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Historically, the city of Beverly Hills did not allow synthetic turf to be installed in residential front yards. However, in 2015, the City Council was required to adopt an ordinance to allow synthetic turf in residential front yards as part of state-mandated drought-response efforts. During this time, a total of 42 permits for synthetic turf installations were issued, with 24 of these having been utilized by homeowners. Recent concerns about public health issues related to synthetic turf, including microplastic pollution and chemical runoff, led to the enactment of Senate Bill 676 last year. This reinstated local authority control to revise or prohibit the use of synthetic turf, with the Planning Commission deciding which changes to make in light of this new bill.

Vice Chair Jeff Wolfe proposed returning to a ban of synthetic turf. He said, “I would be in favor of going back to what the city wanted before the state intervened.”

All three fellow commissioners (Chair Terri Kaplan was absent for this meeting) agreed with Wolfe’s suggestion that the ordinance should be revised to no longer allow synthetic turf in front yards under any circumstances.

Commission members were, however, divided over whether to make a recommendation on grandfathering; in other words, holding existing artificial turf owners responsible for removing artificial turf they have already installed.

Commissioner Gary Ross emphasized the importance of not applying any retroactive changes to the ordinance. “I would not place any limits or prohibitions on existing turf that’s already in place, other than a continuing obligation for maintenance. I wouldn’t want to be punitive to people that already have [turf installed]. I just don’t think that’s fair,” Ross said.

However, Commissioner Lou Milkowski raised hesitations with this idea, stating that older variations of synthetic turf are more at risk of containing harmful chemicals that could get into the city’s water system. “We could possibly have some sort of remuneration, so it’s not as punitive for those that were trying to do a good thing for water conservation,” Milkowski said. 

Ultimately, the commission decided on a provision in the ordinance that allows existing turf to be grandfathered with a sunset clause. This means that existing artificial turf is allowed to remain in place, for a period of time yet to be determined by city staff following the outcome of research into how long synthetic turf should last before it needs to be replaced. 

The commission also discussed the construction of a new six-story, 24-unit mixed-use building at 8800 Burton Way, on the southwestern corner of Burton Way and North Robertson Boulevard. The project will provide three very low-income housing units, with the other 21 units priced at market rate as well as ground-floor commercial retail and 42 parking spaces. The project site is currently a one-story commercial building and surface parking lot that would be demolished. 

The project is requesting a density bonus permit to allow a 50% density bonus, including two concessions for additional height and an additional story. Based on the municipal code, the site is allowed a base density of 20 units and due to their provisions for very low-income housing are entitled to a 50% density bonus, or 10 additional units. However, the applicant has chosen instead to provide only four additional units. As a result, they are utilizing only 20% of the maximum 50% density bonus they are entitled to. 

Public comments were mixed, with some residents expressing concern over the potential increased traffic to the area and feeling that there is no need for further retail developments near Burton Way or Robertson Boulevard. Other residents supported the construction of the development, considering the positive impact the development would have on the area’s aesthetic appeal and the local economy. 

The proposed development will be located in the Mixed-Use Overlay Zone, which allows for the construction of projects with both residential and commercial uses in certain areas of the city. The Mixed-Use Overlay Zone is expected to provide the most significant opportunities for additional housing in Beverly Hills over the next eight years, according to the city’s 2021-2029 Housing Element. 

“As an advocate of the Mixed-Use Overlay Zone, I’m really pleased to see it being used because that’s what it was meant for, to take the commercial areas and make them into mixed-use so that we could have commercial, retail and apartments,” said  Commissioner Myra Demeter.

Wolfe asked about the stipulations for electric vehicle (EV) charging and whether the developers would consider extending current provisions. Since there will be four commercial parking spaces provided in the new development, the plan currently allocates two of these to be complete EV-ready charging spaces alongside an additional space that will have the electric capability to also be converted into an EV charging space later down the line. For the residential parking spaces, there will be 16 EV-ready spaces and an additional four with EV capability. The developers indicated a willingness to install more EV chargers or provide wider access to 220-volt outlets.

The architect for 8800 Burton Way, Farhad Ashofteh, informed the commission that the building is planning to provide solar panels to help provide the energy that will be used to charge EVs. “All of these things are benefits to the project and the developers would not do something that doesn’t accommodate the tenants. We want to make sure we have all of the facilities needed for good-quality living in this building,” Ashofteh said.  

“I think this is a great project. I compliment the applicant, their attorney and their architect for designing such a beautiful project that will activate and animate a corner that’s currently laying low, in a thoughtful way the city will enjoy numerous benefits from. And this certainly isn’t a project where the applicant has taken advantage,” Ross said. 

All commission members voted in favor of the project, with the added condition that the applicant agrees to provide 220-volt outlet sources within 15 feet of each residential parking space. 

As a result, the Planning Commission proposed a resolution to conditionally approve a development plan review and density bonus permit to allow for the construction of the building at 8800 Burton Way. 

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The new Rolex Boutique opened to great fanfare on Dec. 4 at 312 N. Rodeo Drive. Operated by Gearys, the 6,200-square-foot building features a custom green twisted-glass façade designed to evoke the brand’s classic Oyster model.

“This project started a little over five years ago when Rolex wanted a bigger presence on Rodeo Drive,” Tom Blumenthal, President and CEO of Gearys, told the Courier. “My family has owned Gearys for over 65 of its 95 years. We’re well entrenched in this community, and this space was really just a perfect location. So, five years ago, the spark was lit.”

The new flagship took 3 years to design and 1.5 years to complete. Previously occupied by Dolce & Gabbana, the work plan included modifications to the exterior and the building of a third floor with a rooftop terrace.

Highlights of the new boutique include a stucco wall depicting the Los Angeles skyline, a green marble bar, green marble walls and a circular wood staircase connecting all three levels.

The second floor includes a cylindrical after-sales service area, where watchmakers are available to help clients with their timepieces. The third-floor rooftop is reserved for private events and to host VIP customers.

“It’s a wonderful partnership with Rolex that my family has had for over 25 years,” Blumenthal said. He added that the Rolex timepieces in highest demand are off-catalog, one-of-a-kind watches that are not available to the public and gem-set pieces.

 

In addition to a press conference, festivities included an evening event in which a portion of Rodeo Drive was closed off. City officials and dignitaries gathered to celebrate the newest addition to the famed street. Making a special appearance was tennis legend Roger Federer, who has long been associated with the brand.

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The revamped building has been transformed into a gleaming white structure with floating rectangular boxes, punctuated by high-contrast black architectural elements. Jasmine blooms from an undulating ribbon of hidden stairs. A crisp black flag emblazoned with the white House of Givenchy logo is hoisted above the rehabilitated geometric spire on the rooftop. 

Formerly Anderton Court Shops, the nearly 8,000-square-foot multistore, mini-mall complex was designed by American master architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Built in 1954, it is one of just two commercial buildings on the West Coast designed by Wright. On May 14, 2004, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. While many businesses have set up shop in its various storefronts over the decades, House of Givenchy is the first single-occupancy tenant in the building’s history. 

“For Givenchy’s first permanent store in Los Angeles, it was important to select a space that would resonate with our brand,” Valerie Leon, President of the Americas at Givenchy, told the Courier. “Given Hubert de Givenchy’s love of art and architecture, the Frank Lloyd Wright building felt like the right choice, and the opportunity to bring Givenchy to life there was amazing.”

According to Leon, the brand unearthed another connection between the building and the label’s late founder, designer Hubert de Givenchy. Wright was commissioned to build Anderton Court Shops by a local heiress in 1952 and began initial sketches that same year. Givenchy, a continent and an ocean away in Paris, opened his first boutique in 1952. 

For its Beverly Hills flagship, retaining the building’s historic character and integrity was the top priority for Givenchy, who collaborated with Victor Fuentes, principal architect at Lochte Architecture Group, and Flora Chou, associate principal and cultural resources planner at Page & Turnbull, in preserving and rehabilitating the rare architectural gem. 

With the goal of creating a one-of-a-kind space where shoppers could appreciate a full-sensory Givenchy experience, the original multistore concept was preserved but reimagined as completely separate shops and storefronts for the men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections. Each has its own street-level entrance. 

The brand’s Fall 2024 Pre-Collection along with a variety of items from its very latest high summer collection “Givenchy Plage” are currently available in both shops. Limited edition pieces designed specifically for the opening of the Beverly Hills flagship are also available. These include the brand’s most popular best-sellers, the “Shark Lock” cowboy boot and “Antigona” handbag, reprised in studded white leather with turquoise stitching in homage to Givenchy’s new West Coast locale.

Next year, the fashion brand plans to begin phase two of its Rodeo Drive complex. “We have more work to do, but we didn’t want to wait forever,” Leon told the Courier. “We wanted to open as quickly as we could to start being able to have a new conversation with clients.” Leon wouldn’t reveal specific details, but said the plans included “a very special client experience opening next year,” adding, “Stay tuned, we have many more treats to come.”  

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Take the super-luxe One Beverly Hills, a mixed-use, high-end development designed to exceed California’s own ambitious sustainability goals. The Beverly Hilton and the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills received major energy-saving upgrades propelling both properties to the forefront of sustainable hospitality. The Darrow Office Building, designed by master architect John Lautner, will become a high-tech case study of adaptive reuse. And offices at 9000 Wilshire Blvd. and 433 N. Camden Drive recently underwent multimillion-dollar efficiency overhauls to achieve the highest levels of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification possible.

By combining stunning architectural design with state-of-the-art green technologies, these developments demonstrate that luxury and sustainability (and preservation and progress) can go hand in hand. They’re the next generation of green buildings set to transform Beverly Hills into the city of the future.

Earlier this year, the jaw-dropping One Beverly Hills broke ground. The project is led by Cain International alongside OKO Group, and Alagem Capital remains a committed partner. With a master plan designed by architecture firm Foster + Partners, the development will set a new standard for future sustainable developments in Beverly Hills and beyond. 

Helming the firm is world-renowned British architect, Norman Foster, an English lord best known for his sea cucumber-shaped tower in London, colloquially referred to as The Gherkin. For One Beverly Hills, he brought his future-looking touch to the designs, but behind the opulent facade, is a complex maze of precious resource-saving systems. “The project also aims to integrate various technologies to significantly reduce emissions and energy use,” Lord Foster told the Courier.

Renderings for the development show a sprawling 17.5-acre site with new Aman branded and operated properties (designed by Kerry Hill Architects) including a pair of 28-story residential towers, a 10-story, 78-suite luxury hotel, a private clubhouse and a fine dining restaurant.

Each structure will use a central geothermal system, harnessing the Earth’s constant soil temperature to efficiently create heat and hot water, and reject heat for cooling without the use of gas. A chilled water thermal energy storage system will reduce the number of cooling towers needed, saving millions of gallons of water annually. 

Along with a solar panel array and battery storage, the buildings will be outfitted with a high-tech electrical system that will allow them to maximize imported electricity in real-time intervals when grid generation is composed of renewable energy sources.

What promises to be one of the most breathtaking elements of One Beverly Hills is the 10 acres of botanical gardens and open space that will surround it. Thousands of new plantings of native plants, trees and shrubs will transform the Wilshire gateway—a total of 8.5 acres of carbon dioxide-absorbing parkland, with 4.5 acres publicly accessible. Global design collective RIOS, with its founding partner Mark Rios leading the team, was tapped to oversee the design. 

“Foster + Partners’ idea to cover the entire site with a green blanket was brilliant,” said Rios. “It fulfills the overall vision of Beverly Hills to be a ‘garden city.’ We hope to make that dream a reality by providing an authentic ‘California landscape experience’ to enable everyone to learn about and appreciate the natural beauty of our place in Southern California.”

Astoundingly, the extensive landscape will be 100% water sustainable. Stormwater and greywater generated from condensation inside residential towers and cooling towers will be collected onsite and stored in cisterns and recycled back into the landscape.

In addition, “The master plan design encourages multimodal transportation options, promoting walking, cycling and the use of alternative transport modes, including electric vehicle charging facilities,” Lord Foster told the Courier.  “With flora and fauna returning to the site, One Beverly Hills will establish a new model for sustainable master planning in the region, with a flavor that is distinctly Californian.”

Part of the master plan for One Beverly Hills integrates the existing Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills into the unified site through cohesive landscaping. Both hotels received a significant upgrade to their heating and cooling systems, which typically account for more than 70% of a hotel’s power consumption. 

Recently, a 1.4 megawatt-hour energy storage system from Nostromo Energy was installed inside The Beverly Hilton and also serves the adjacent Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills. The Israeli-based company’s patented IceBrick technology uses power from the grid when renewable energy levels are high to freeze water into ice. In the late afternoon and evening, when power demand reaches its highest levels, the ice is used for cooling instead of drawing fossil-based energy from the grid. The IceBricks chill the buildings for less than 50% of current cooling costs and reduce carbon emissions by 150-200 metric tons annually. This translates to more than 5,000 metric tons reduced throughout the system’s lifetime.

 “We are proud to partner with Nostromo to bring cutting-edge green technology to The Beverly Hilton,” said David Ecija, General Manager of The Beverly Hilton. “This partnership is an extension of our history as a forward-thinking property, focused on the future and what is good for our community.”

In addition to its energy-saving efforts, the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills also recently invested in a high-tech greywater system by Epic Cleantec. Water collected from sinks, showers and washing machines is captured, rigorously filtered and disinfected before it’s reintroduced back into the building for non-potable uses such as landscaping or toilets, which account for a quarter of total water usage. The new system reduces the hotel’s water consumption by more than 90%.

“We are dedicated to creating a healthier environment for both our guests and our employees. The Epic Cleantec greywater system is yet another way that we are putting sustainability at the forefront of all we do,” said Antonio Bugarin, General Manager at Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.

Over the years, the Lautner building at 9884 S. Santa Monica Blvd., originally designed for John Darrow in 1946, was home to various tenants—a nail salon, medical offices and a drug store. But under its current owner, the Angeleno Group, a late-stage venture capital and investment firm focusing on climate change-related technologies, it’s set to become a stunning state-of-the-art sustainable model of adaptive reuse. 

The Darrow Office Building’s brick facade with its iconic louvered shutters will remain virtually unchanged, save for the reinstatement of a few ornamental details that had been removed over time, and of course, the addition of the hotly contested third floor, a glass-walled, floating rooftop patio designed by acclaimed architect, Hagy Belzberg, who won an award for his trailblazing design of the Holocaust Museum LA.

Preserving this historical architectural gem while simultaneously showcasing futuristic tech was the goal. Putting Beverly Hills on the map as the destination for sustainable tech became a mission for Angeleno Group’s Co-Founder Yaniv Tepper. 

“Some years ago, when I was asked where to find the most interesting green building technologies in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills wasn’t high on that list. That’s not what people go there for, but I grew up in Beverly Hills,” Tepper explained. “I went to Beverly Vista and Beverly High. And for me to have to go see green technologies down near the Port of Long Beach or in Santa Monica, it pained me.” In 2021, the city of Santa Monica became the first local government in the nation distinguished with a Platinum certification under the LEED for Cities program. It was an honor that Tepper felt should belong to the city of Beverly Hills. “I wanted the city of Beverly Hills to be an example of these state-of-the-art technologies,” he said.

To that end, every facet of the company’s new headquarters, from the electric outlets to the windows, will be outfitted with cutting-edge, energy-saving and efficiency advancements, many from the group’s portfolio. 

Tepper plans to install what he calls “some pretty frontier stuff,” used mainly in residential applications. One example is the latest in intelligent circuitry from the tech company SPAN. It enables homeowners to choose their power source (the grid, solar or battery storage) and divert energy to high-use outlets where it’s needed most—all from an app on their phone. Visitors to the group’s new headquarters will be able to view the building’s energy consumption in real time via a giant SPAN screen in the building’s lobby. 

Revolutionary active lighting, which automatically adjusts supplied light levels and power usage to reduce waste, will be installed throughout the building. Solar roof panels will be maxed out, and the team is also looking into groundbreaking photovoltaic glass windows to shore up additional sun power. These look like ordinary windows, but cells hidden in the glazing convert sunlight into renewable energy, which can be banked and used when needed. In addition, four solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations will be installed onsite so employees, clients and visitors can charge their EVs during daylight office hours without straining the grid.  

 “We’re looking forward to this being the place where when people visit us, they’ll be able to see, touch and understand all these different green building technologies,” said Tepper. “They’re practical, they’re real, and they’re here.”

When it comes to working spaces, the city scores on the higher end of the national average with 27 LEED-awarded commercial buildings, according to recent statistics provided by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), which administers the complex LEED ranking system, the standard in evaluating sustainable building worldwide. “Because of the high number of luxury brands and high-end offices, Beverly Hills is a unique market for LEED and green buildings,” said Stephanie Gabriel, USGBC Pacific Regional Director. “These companies and brands are embracing LEED certification as part of their sustainability strategy and to enhance customer experience and satisfaction.”

Gabriel considers the remodel of the 46,000-square-foot office building at 9000 Wilshire Blvd. a stand-out example in Beverly Hills. “It implements green and sustainable strategies like water reduction and solar power generation while focusing on health and wellness with bicycle parking service and lots of natural light. This is why the project attained Platinum certification, the highest level a project can achieve.”

Another existing building deserving special mention, according to Gabriel, is the property at 433 N. Camden Drive. When StarPoint Properties, LLC bought the 12-story commercial office tower in 2018, it was the most expensive office building ever purchased in Beverly Hills. At a purchase price of $193 million, it still holds the record. The building recently earned its LEED Gold status after making a few small sustainability-related improvements. Simply replacing fluorescents and retrofitting lighting fixtures with LED bulbs throughout resulted in one of the most extensive cost and energy-related savings measures. StarPoint also received high marks for implementing a robust recycling program and reducing single-use plastics, such as bottles and utensils, across the entire building. 

“From an owner’s standpoint, investing in green renovations positions a building for long-term success. These green renovations optimize building maintenance, preserving the look and integrity of a building for years to come,” said Paul Daneshrad, Founder and CEO of StarPoint Properties. “Today, sustainability is expected; it’s part of our lifestyle. We believe that incorporating green elements into every project makes our environment healthier, and everyone—and every building—needs to contribute.” 

With this spate of new and updated green buildings, Beverly Hills is earning its place as a beacon of sustainability, a distinction rightly befitting this legendary destination. 

“Today, sustainability is expected; it’s part of our lifestyle. We believe that incorporating green elements into every project makes our environment healthier, and everyone—and every building—needs to contribute.”

– Paul Daneshrad, Founder/CEO, 

StarPoint Properties

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According to a recent Deloitte survey, nearly 80% of 150,000 adults spanning 23 countries claimed to have made at least one splurge purchase to lift their mood within a given six-month period. What’s surprising is that these indulgences were made across the board, regardless of age, income or gender. In fact, the study may have even debunked the long-held “lipstick index,” which used women’s purchases as the primary barometer of splurge spending. Deloitte’s poll showed that men were equally as likely to make emotional purchases and spend about 40% more when they do.

The latest designer launches are the definition of retail therapy, with enough vibrant pops of color and glowing neon to send dopamine production into overdrive. Research has shown that many reap the same mood-enhancing benefits as spenders just by window shopping. So, in theory, merely pursuing these pages should elevate your mood without ever putting an item in your cart or a credit card on the counter. Happy shopping!

BRIGHTEN UP

1. Deliciously reminiscent of tri-color swirls of Neapolitan ice cream, the Trinity ring from Cartier features ribbons of 18-carat white, yellow and rose gold. $6,100 at Cartier, 411 N. Rodeo Drive,  310-275-4272 and cartier.com
2. Whether you birdie or bogey, you’ll win style points on the fairway with this golf bag from the summer capsule collection by Louis Vuitton and L.A.-based artist Tyler, The Creator. $31,500 at Louis Vuitton, 295 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-859-0457 and louisvuitton.com
3. This Dior Men fluorescent-green polo shirt was made for the sporty gentleman who likes to stand out in a crowd. $890 at Dior Men, 362 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-247-8003 and dior.com
4. Carry your summer haul in this chic hand-woven tote from Valentino. It comes with a matching drawstring pouch that can be removed and used separately. $3,885 at Valentino, 324 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-247-0103 and valentino.com
5. Named after the first female to complete a solo transatlantic flight, the Amelia sunglasses by Saint Laurent capture the effortless cool of the fearless aviator. $560 at Saint Laurent, 326 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-271-5051 and ysl.com
6. Add a pop of color to any neutral-hued ensemble with these Gucci Signoria neon slingback pumps. Green not your thing? They also come in an electric pink shade. $1,100 at Gucci, 347 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-278-3451 and gucci.com

ULTRAVIOLET DELIGHT

1. Emilio Pucci’s bold prints were the epitome of glamour in the 1960s. They still are. This Pucci one-piece swimsuit is timeless, with an upgrade—it’s made of UV-resistant fabric. $500 at Saks Fifth Avenue, 9570 Wilshire Blvd., 310-275-4211 and saksfifthavenue.com
2. From the HardWear collection by Tiffany & Co., this white gold bracelet is simple enough to be worn every day, but with a single link covered in diamonds, it holds its own when paired with formal attire. $21,000 at Tiffany & Co., 210 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-273-8880 and
   tiffany.com 
3. Imagine the delight of guests at your next garden cocktail party when they’re served libations in these amethyst-hued glasses from L’Objet. The gem-colored glassware is also available in highball, old-fashioned and wine glass styles. They are sold in a set of four and come in purple (pictured), amber, Bordeaux (a garnet and blue topaz color combo) and a rich emerald green shade. $200 at GEARYS Beverly Hills, 351 N. Beverly Drive, 310-273-4741 and gearys.com
4. Part of the latest Colormania collection from Louis Vuitton, this four-piece luggage set will put a smile on your face—before you’ve even made your travel plans. $49,000 at Louis Vuitton, 295 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-859-0457 and louisvuitton.com
5. A wide-brim straw hat is an indispensable summer accessory. This simple, classic version from Dior is destined to become your go-to this season. $890 at Dior, 309 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-859-4700 and dior.com
6. You can ride the perfect break on this gorgeous wooden Fendi surfboard, but if you’d rather display it as decor, we wouldn’t judge. $8,900 at Fendi, 201 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-623-3420 and
   fendi.com 

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From varsity jackets to pixelated camouflage prints and denim fringe, the line includes an array of ready-to-wear pieces, leather goods, shoes, jewelry, sunglasses, bedazzled accessories and more. The brand’s signature Damier checkerboard print runs as a throughline, with checkered details on nearly everything. Inside, Parisian streetlights decorate the space and a large bookcase with Louis Vuitton city guides on the shelves opens up to a secret room. Hidden behind the bookshelf in a dark room, the spotlight is on the crown jewel of the collection: the Speedy Bandoulière bag. The bag comes in bright colorways, decorated with Louis Vuitton’s signature monogram. Over the summer, the $1 million made-to-order Millionaire Speedy bag, with its gold hardware, chain strap and pendant-encrusted diamonds, went viral when it debuted. According to Emily Huang, Director of Corporate Communications at Louis Vuitton, the new Speedy bags are expected to sell out first. Williams also collaborated with L.A.-based artist Henry Taylor for the collection, which features miniature reproductions of Taylor’s portraits as an alternate suit embellishment alongside the iconic LV.  

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The Darrow Office Building, located at 9884 S. Santa Monica Blvd., was constructed in 1946 and is an exemplary model of Late Modern architecture, which is characterized by bold geometric shapes, exaggerated expressions of structure and industrial materials such as glass and concrete. This building is particularly notable for its long horizontal louvers—angular slats that let in light—stacked on the exterior walls. 

The plan to restore the building will preserve all of these key elements, while also adding a third story that will operate as an indoor-outdoor working space. 

“I really appreciate what you’re trying to do with the design,” said Commissioner Jeff Wolfe. “I’m really pleased to see what’s been done with the building in terms of restoring the brick and the louvers all the way down to the floor. I think it’s just a great project.”

The renovation was designed by renowned modern architect Hagy Belzberg and once complete will serve as office space for the Angeleno Group, an investment group that already owns the property. The owners have also initiated proceedings with the Cultural Heritage Commission for the property to be designated as a historic landmark.

Lautner is called “one of Southern California’s most significant twentieth-century architects” by the National Register of Historic Places and is known for his freeform, modernist, expressionist designs. In total, 113 of his structures were built over his 55-year career in Southern California and 64 of his residential buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Lautner generally preferred to design residences to commercial structures, making the Darrow Office Building a rare gem. 

“He stopped doing commercial buildings, predominantly because he felt that there was no indoor-outdoor connection with the outdoor beautiful Southern California space and so the third story addition that Belzberg designed is a completely indoor-outdoor space,” said Jason Somers, President of Crest Real Estate, the consultant for the applicants. 

“I think it (the addition) would really be respected and appreciated by John Lautner,” he added.

Somers also offered these thoughts to the Courier about the project.

“It is a real honor to be presenting a project to the city of Beverly Hills which embodies such grand ambition as to painstakingly restore and improve upon an original design by the iconic John Lautner. The client, Yaniv Tepper of the Angeleno Group, made great efforts to allow a modern-day architectural master in Hagy Belzberg design in respect of Lautner’s well known ambitions for commercial buildings which was to make them more suitable for indoor outdoor enjoyment with a fully retractable glass wall system on the third story addition being proposed, This is a jewel box project to be admired in Beverly Hills for many generations to come.”

Belzberg was present at the meeting and said he purposefully designed the third- floor addition using different materials from the existing structure to mark a clear distinction between the historic and modern elements of the building.

“We really did try to isolate and celebrate the existing beauty of the historical elements and raise our third floor almost as if it’s a floating canopy,” said Belzberg. “We set back the glass, we set back the enclosure… we are trying to make it as delicate as possible while preserving the historical nature of Lautner’s brilliance.”

In order to ensure that the building could be preserved to the greatest extent possible, the property owners applied for a Historical Incentives Permit that would allow the restoration plan to have minor exceptions to the city’s current building code. 

This included a request to deviate from the minimum dimensions required for rubbish storage facilities and from the on-site vehicle loading space requirements, both of which were granted by the commission. 

While commission members were overall excited by the proposed restoration, concerns were raised about the impact on parking and on noise levels in the surrounding area.

The proposed restoration will result in reduction of on-site parking spaces from seven to two, in order to make room for a new rubbish storage room and vehicle loading area. 

Commissioners were worried about how this would affect street parking availability in the nearby residential neighborhood, but noted that they are unable to impose additional parking requirements on the project due to AB 2097.

That bill was passed in 2022 and prevents local agencies from imposing minimum parking requirements on certain residential and commercial properties that are located within a half mile of a major transit stop. This project is located within a half mile of two major bus routes as well as a future Metro Purple Line station, which is currently under construction.

The project is also located directly next to the Peninsula Beverly Hills. During the commission meeting, hotel representative Michael Tener objected to the project applicant’s request for deliveries prior to 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m. due to noise concerns.  

Commissioners listened to these concerns and agreed, as a compromise, to establish a rule that no deliveries take place earlier than 7 a.m. or later than 10 p.m.

The post Restoration Approved for Historic Office Building  appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

A timely event five years in the making took place on Rodeo Drive July 5. The occasion was the groundbreaking and blessing of the space for the new Rolex and Patek Philippe Boutiques. The prime real estate at 312 North Rodeo has housed an illustrious array of tenants over the years, from facialist Georgette Klinger to fashionistas Dolce and Gabbana.

Thirteen months from now, it will house the largest Rolex and Patek Philippe boutiques in the country.

Thomas J. Blumenthal, President & CEO of Gearys Beverly Hills, welcomed family members and invited guests to the ceremony, including his parents, uncle Bruce Meyer, cousins Evan and Emily Meyer, Mayor Dr. Julian Gold, Vice Mayor Lester Friedman and members of the Gearys executive team.

In his remarks, Blumenthal noted that “Rolex and Patek Philippe both asked us to expand and do it in a very thoughtful and experiential way on the famous Rodeo Drive. When we started thinking about where that’s going to happen, I discussed with my uncle and my cousin and my parents and asked when the Dolce and Gabbana lease was up. They told me June of 2023. That was five years ago.”

Fortunately, time did not stand still.

“We waited and this is a spectacular location. It is so fitting for the two brands that we represent in the US,” he observed.

Blumenthal unveiled three sleek renderings of what the space will look like on the Rolex side, the front façade, terrace and the Patek Phillipe side. He then asked Father Ed Benioff, Pastor of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, to provide a blessing.

Benioff obliged by sprinkling holy water around the space, asking for “blessings and success” for the planned endeavor.

Then, in recognition of the ceremony as demolition day one, Blumenthal took a sledgehammer to some remaining fixtures.

A Champagne toast followed, along with dessert bites from The Farm of Beverly Hills. When it came time to add remarks of his own, Gold described Blumenthal and his family as “Beverly Hills royalty.”

“You have done so much for this street and city. This is the next chapter. I’m sure it’s going to be beyond spectacular. On behalf of our community, we thank you,” said Gold. And then it was time for one more toast to the successful venture to come.

The post A Ground-Breaking Day for New Rolex and Patek Philippe Boutiques appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

To begin with, start talking to your children about money when they are young. Even preschoolers can start to learn about the basics of money, such as the value of coins and bills, how to make purchases, and the importance of saving. As they get older, you can gradually introduce more complex financial concepts, such as budgeting, investing, and credit. When my four sons were young, my husband and I created a “chore” sheet. We listed chores, such as clear the dinner table, fill up the dishwasher, dust the cobwebs and put away their toys.

Each of those chores had a monetary valuation, and if they performed those chores, they could earn money. They loved that idea and learned the concept of work as a way to make money to buy things they wanted. As they got older, the chores became more sophisticated and got bigger, such as fold the laundry and put it away, wash the car and sweep the driveway, but the money got bigger and they liked that as well. To incentivize them even further, we made a deal that when they earned $10, we would match it and that worked brilliantly! We were also lucky because they didn’t have the desire to play video games.

While not as challenging as talking about the birds and the bees, the goal is to help them develop a positive relationship with money and teach them the skills they need to be financially responsible adults. Here are some tips about how to talk about money.

Use age-appropriate language and don’t overwhelm your children with too much information at once. Start with the basics and gradually add more complexity as they get older.
Be positive. Don’t make your children feel guilty about wanting things or about making mistakes. Instead, focus on the positive aspects of financial responsibility, such as the freedom and security that it can bring.

Make it fun. There are many ways to make learning about money fun. One of these ways is to play board games. A bit old fashioned but very effective and provides family time where you are actually talking to your kids. The goal is to make learning enjoyable for your children so that they are more likely to remember what they’ve learned.
There are many board games that can help children learn about money and have fun doing it. Some of these games are specifically designed for teenage children, while others can be adapted for use with younger learners. Here are a few examples:

EASY MONEY by the Parker Brothers and MONOPOLY by the Milton Bradley Company. These very similar games are designed to teach children about the value of money in real estate. They’ll experiment with buying and selling, building, borrowing, banking and mortgaging. In other words, making money.

PAY DAY by Parker Brothers/Hasbro. In 15 minutes, players will earn a paycheck, pay outstanding bills, and have the opportunity to make deals on property and earn money from it (passive income for the win!).

THE ALLOWANCE GAME. After a few rounds, kids will become familiar with counting money and saving it, too. The game board is full of different chores to do which earns them cash, so expect the kids to get lots of ideas about doing work around the house.

THE STOCK EXCHANGE GAME. Here the players take big risks early and then switch to safer buys later as retirement approaches. The player with the most money at retirement wins the game, just like in real life.

These are just a few examples of games that can help children learn about money. There are many other games available, so you can find one that is appropriate for your child’s age and interests.

Another way to teach your children is by getting them to read books of which there are several age-appropriate ones to buy. For little ones, 7 and up, there’s “The ABCs of Economics” by Connor Boyack and Elijah Stanfield or “My First Book of Money Basics” by Sara Kale. As they get a bit older, there’s “Understanding Finance” by Linda Connor. And remember, there are lots of other choices to seek out. These are just a few.

Talking to your children about money is an important part of parenting. By starting the conversation early and making it fun, you can help them develop a positive relationship with money and the skills they need to be financially responsible adults.

The most important thing when talking to your children about money is to be open and honest. Don’t be afraid to talk about your own financial situation and let them know that it’s okay to make mistakes. After all, no one’s perfect, right? The goal is to help them develop a positive relationship with money and to teach them the skills they need to be financially responsible adults.

The post Teach Your Children About Finance appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Walking aimlessly down a wide, empty corridor, past the lockers toward math class, Mike Amiri’s 15-year-old imagination steers his thoughts and slows his pace. Turning the corner, he crashes into somebody.

“Sorry,” says Mike, quickly realizing that somebody is Lenny Kravitz! The rock star!

A former student of the school, Kravitz is at the height of his fame.

“I’m Mike,” he offers, containing his excitement.

“Lenny”

“I know. Love your music. But what are you doing back here?”

“Thought I’d stop by. See some of my old teachers.”

“Want some help?”

“Sure. You know Mrs. McKenzie?”

Mike leads Lenny. They reach room 170.

Lenny peeks in, “Yep, that’s her.” Mike opens the door.

Mrs. McKenzie looks up, “Mr. Amiri, shouldn’t you be in class?”

Lenny pops in front of him. Mrs. McKenzie lights up! The class goes wild. Mike, a die-hard, impressionable rock ‘n roll fan, stands back, rapt in the moment, his math class a million miles away.

Twenty-six years later, at the posh Hotel Costes restaurant in Paris, Mike is dining with his wife, Shirin, when Lenny Kravitz approaches.

“Mike…”

“Lenny…” Mike stands to greet him.

“My stylist just texted me you were here. I wanted to thank you for the jacket you made me. I love it.”

“I’m glad,” says Mike.

“It’s iconic.”

“It’s pretty nice,” Mike offers humbly.

“Great to finally meet you,” says Lenny.

“We’ve met before.”

“We have?”

“Years ago. When you visited Beverly High.”

“That was you? Really!”

Mike nods yes.

In that moment of serendipity and recognition, they embrace.

Bumping into a rock star in the hallway of your high school is unbelievable, even if that school is Beverly Hills High. But to meet him decades later and find yourself on par with that rock legend, that is extraordinary. This chance encounter is one of the many signposts along Mike’s journey signaling that Mike Amiri, the fashion designer, has arrived.

In just nine short years, Mike has built an indisputably world-class, luxury fashion house. His eponymous fashion line, AMIRI, blew up so fast it gave established houses whiplash as they watched the new kid on the block open his flagship near them on Rodeo Drive in 2020.

Back in 2014, Mike was stitching one-off stage pieces for musicians like Axl Rose and Justin Bieber from the basement of a Thai restaurant in Hollywood. Soon, he was selling out collections at the fashion cult mecca Maxfield. He has been nominated three times (in 2019, 2021 and 2022) for the prestigious Menswear Designer of the Year Award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, alongside Tom Ford and Rick Owens.

Today, it’s The Weeknd, Usher, Leslie Odom, Jr., Black Coffee, J Balvin and Teyana Taylor who are wearing Amiri’s clothes. And his fans aren’t limited to those from the stage. A-list movie and television stars like Brad Pitt, Paul Rudd, Rege-Jean Page, Tessa Thompson, Natasha Lyonne, Robert Pattinson, Tyler James Williams and Jared Leto wear AMIRI. Mike’s reach has spread to athletes as well, such as Lionel Messi and Odell Beckham Jr. In the championship boxing bout in Las Vegas on April 22 of this year, boxer Ryan Garcia wore head-to-toe AMIRI in and out of the ring.

Along with the Beverly Hills flagship, there are currently nine standalone AMIRI stores worldwide in the U.S., Japan, United Arab Emirates and China. Part of the meteoric rise also involves 160 boutiques, “shop in shops,” inside globally esteemed retailers including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman in the U.S.; Selfridges and Harrods in London; Galeries Lafayette in Paris and Joyce in Hong Kong.

With the expansion into footwear, womenswear, children’s wear, accessories and lifestyle products, along with his newly renovated store on Rodeo Drive, AMIRI is projected, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, to do $320 million in sales in 2023, up 56% from last year.

The soul of the brand is, at its very essence, Mike Amiri himself. His interpretation of California luxury lifestyle is undeniably authentic, built on his own life experiences growing up in Los Angeles, playing basketball, skateboarding, creating street art and hanging out at the rock clubs on Sunset Boulevard.

Where other fashion labels attempt to replicate L.A. culture with products like logo-emblazoned skateboards or campaign images featuring our famous palm tree-lined streets as backdrops, Amiri is the real deal.

So, how did a kid from Beverly Hills High, with no connections, without a bottomless trust fund and zero fashion design education get here? It’s an oft-asked question by those who want to know his “secret sauce.”

I set out to find the answer.

Leaping over puddles on the rare rainy and windy day on Rodeo Drive, I reached AMIRI’s flagship storefront as the black-suited security guard opened the door to let me in. And like Dorothy’s gloomy, black-and-white Kansas switched to sunny Technicolor Oz, this dark day quickly transformed into a bright, calm, inviting AMIRI haven. I soaked in the store’s staging, the simplistic artistry, the mood-setting music and the strategically suspended clothing hanging from the high ceilings. Here, purses mimic chic basketballs, skateboards are designed by L.A.-based artist Wes Lang and handcrafted leather totes show off California landmarks.

Soon, Mike Amiri, like the mastermind from behind the curtain, emerged from the back of the store, brandishing a warm smile, reflecting the sunshine he seemingly created. With a welcoming hug, he led me upstairs in search of a more intimate space for our interview. On the way, we passed a stylized workspace, a walled art installation featuring spools of thread in a rainbow of colors above matching antique sewing machines. Mike shared that the cabinets in front of the wall were filled with drawers of handcrafted or fine bejeweled accessories to enhance custom design for AMIRI’s exclusive VIP clientele.

In the next room, he invited me into a living room-like setting, poised for our interview with two stunning AMIRI logo motif armchairs, surrounded by soft drapery. I could not wait to dive in, to learn how this young designer had stormed the fashion industry in record time, and how he found the magic that ignited a global community to embrace his critically acclaimed, Los Angeles-based luxury brand.

The son of two Jewish Persian immigrants who owned an antiques business, Mike grew up first in Hollywood, then Beverly Hills. The middle of three boys, Mike spent a big part of his childhood in a dreamworld.

“Oftentimes, I created things, adventures, by myself, in my head… At some point, I realized that my brain was just geared for creating things that don’t exist and the possibilities that may exist. It wasn’t necessarily about clothing. It was just more storylines, or narratives, or looking at things a little bit differently than other people saw them.”

He also pursued your average teenage boy interests like basketball, skateboarding and riding BMX bikes. At some point, Mike became captivated by the notion of heroes, spending many hours watching the heroic deeds of characters in Westerns and war films with his father, a proud enlisted U. S. Army man.

“I love the idea of heroes, not just lead singers in rock bands, but in any field. Currently, I’m fascinated with people who become iconic in their fields, those who are obsessed with ideas regardless of adversity.”

Wanting to be cool like the rockers in Hollywood, Mike merged his finely honed imagination with his desire to stand out. In middle school, he attempted his first trendsetting garment. Having seen the punks on the street with DIY patches on clothing, he asked his friend’s mom to sew the front of an old Mötley Crüe T-shirt onto the back of his denim jacket. For $20, he created his own Mötley Crüe piece. Soon his friends in Beverly Hills followed.

“It was me kind of creating that hero for myself.”

When you distill Mike’s recollections of adolescence, a clearer picture emerges, one perhaps defined by his, sometimes fraught, search for a creative outlet. One of these outlets was graffiti, which, while in high school, put him in minor trouble with the law. This led to himsitting down with the school’s counselor. During their meeting, Mike recalls the counselor’s suggestion, “Maybe you just have a need to see your artwork displayed, and you’ll get a sense of pride from that.”

It made an indelible impression on Mike.

“It really changed my understanding of why it happened. It really made sense to my teenage brain.” Pondering today, Mike shares, “When you connect the dots backward, it’s really amazing.”

A Renaissance man, Mike taught himself how to play the piano and drums, and how to use production software on the computer. While in college, Mike reconnected with his old friend, Tiger JK, considered one of the founders of the hip-hop movement in South Korea.

Tiger JK was a classmate of Mike’s at Beverly Hills High School.

“I just really loved kind of exploring how to create things… And when I knew he was interested in music, I said, ‘Well, I can make songs [with him].’ I really fell in love with doing that part of it. It felt natural to me. He ended up becoming a really big artist in Korea, and I would go there and visit him, and sometimes help him perform.”

In the process, Mike learned how to read and write Korean. The group won awards at the Asian Music Awards, honoring much of the music Mike produced and wrote.

Mike knew in his heart this was a detour and not his true path. But the lessons he learned prepared him for the next chapters of his life.

“I did understand what it was like to create something. And watched it carry on a life of its own. To make something from nothing… It’s saying ‘yes’ to something that you have a creative opinion. And not looking at it in a way [in which] it’s unbelievable or ridiculous, whether it’s creating music in a foreign country or saying that you’re going to build a luxury brand.”

When he returned from Korea, Mike applied to law school. “It seemed like a very responsible thing to do… to follow a safe path.”

Mike chose a school that had a campus eight blocks away from the heart of the fashion district in Los Angeles. While he was working towards a law degree, he satiated his artistic drive.

Curious and intentional, Mike submerged himself in the many facets of the fashion industry.

“I would go to the vintage stores and open a blazer and try to understand why they put padding on certain areas. It was deconstructing and trying to understand how things are made.”

He engaged with stylists who were creating pieces for different people. Through them, Mike learned the processes of making a finished product. Soon, the stylists asked Mike to help create garments for their artist clients. He was also included in the design projects for some of the larger American fashion houses.

Eventually, he took the leap and set out on his own, deciding any limitations he would face would be seen as opportunities. He likened the need for resourcefulness to the garage band days of his youth, when the fonts of inspiration and creativity flowed more than funds.

“The thing we always talk about within the design studio is let’s pretend that we can’t buy the best pinstripe wool in the world. So how do we create that? What makes Amiri ‘AMIRI’ is not the fact that we’re able to use the best materials in the world. It’s the fact that we’re able to bring something new to the conversation, which is a youthful, creative sensibility.”

While he was defining his brand’s identity, Mike began to build an impressive clientele of L.A. performers making hand-crafted, unique stage pieces for them. This experience guided him to explore an authentic L.A. rock ‘n’ roll fashion vibe. Mike experimented using traditional materials, manipulating them and employing some outside-the-box craftsmanship. For example, he took cashmere sweaters and jeans to the desert in Joshua Tree and blasted them with a shotgun to give a scorched and tattered effect.

As a native with extensive travel experience, Mike was well aware of the way Los Angeles has been perceived by the world as a place where dreams are born. He wanted to incorporate this uniquely L.A. feeling as a part of his brand’s identity.

“If you are not from here, it means something different to you, and something a bit more romantic. When I go to Italy and people learn I’m from L.A., they say, ‘Oh my God, Los Angeles. It’s my dream.’ I think that reaffirms that we represent something here. There is a dream here that people relate to. I mean, if you look at California, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, this is where people come to chase something bigger than them. There’s so much that it represents, opportunity and optimism. And I always ask myself, ‘What does that look like in clothing? What does that look like on a runway show? How does that feel and why?’”

Mike wanted to set himself apart from the European brands by telling a story that was authentic to his experiences. He posited, “‘Why don’t I bring an authentic California cool to the market? Why don’t we use just as good fabric, just as good sewing, with the same coolness and DIY approach?’”

It was a bullseye for Mike.

“I bring the perspective of someone who is from the city, who knows what it feels like to be from California. There’s a certain romantic notion about a T-shirt and jeans in California. How do they feel? They’re soft, they’re worn in. Your T-shirt might have a little bit of sun fade. There’s a certain color palette associated with that. It allows people who are in Europe, when they buy it, to feel like they’re getting a little piece of California.”

Mike began to filter everything through this California lens, and eventually, it became part of the DNA of the brand.

“I deconstruct suits so they’re super comfortable. It almost feels like you’re wearing a T-shirt because that’s the weather we have here. In L.A., you can go to lunch at 3 p.m., and still go to dinner at 7:30 p.m., wearing the same thing. How would you do that if you were wearing a stiff suit? There’s a certain comfort level associated with this California dream.”

AMIRI jeans are a perfect example of the brand’s distinctive identity. At a time when most designers shied away from men’s skinny jeans, believing their silhouette was too feminine to catch on, Mike ran headlong into the challenge. Using stretch-infused fabric, his jeans became known for their extremely comfortable, yet super tight fit. When he introduced them into the marketplace, AMIRI jeans quickly became identifiable and extraordinarily successful.

Mike lasered in on his brand’s identity, “Modern luxury through a California lens” he proudly exclaims, adding “The plan was always to have an American aesthetic.”

When he was ready, Mike approached the trendsetting, iconic fashion retailer, Maxfield, in West Hollywood. He convinced the owner to stock a few of his designs. He then spent an inordinate amount of time with the salespeople on the floor learning about his new customers.

Mike would ask himself, “Who was this guy? An artist? A performer? An athlete? And as I would design, I would imagine that person a little bit more and put my creative spin on these heroes. And it went from six pieces, to eight pieces, to 15 pieces, to 20 on the rack. And it wasn’t selling anywhere else in the world. If you wanted to buy that product, you could discover it on social media, or you could discover it in Maxfield, alongside some of the best work in the world.”

The hype around the collection was largely built on social media. Knowing this, Mike fully utilized these platforms, which he credits as immeasurably responsible for launching his brand.

“Social media helps democratize what talent can shine. If you look at the traditional fashion world, you’re either discovered by a company, or there is an editor that will help highlight you. Or you’ve worked yourself into a sales showroom. You have to wait for someone to say, ‘Yes, I’ll give you a try.’”

Mike calls these arbiters of fashion, “gatekeepers.” While he believes they are relevant, he does not believe they control the process as they once did.

“I would never have survived in that world. For me, it was more of ‘I’m creating this piece, and I’m going to post a picture of it. And feel free to talk about it if you like it or if you don’t… And if you like it, you can buy it here…’”

By interfacing with the customer, Mike found a more direct route to market his brand. He spoke to a new generation who could check out his post and see, for example, what a designer’s daily activity entailed. In so doing, he created a genuine relationship with his customers, one with complete transparency. They learned about the AMIRI artistic approach combining traditional, delicate, exquisite European craftsmanship and fabrications with a DIY, innovative, garage sensibility.

After the AMIRI pieces flew out of the store, Maxfield proposed a pop-up shopping experience for his customers. Mike interpreted the offer differently.

“It wasn’t like a little pop-up shop in my head. It was my first retail store. And I was going to treat it as such… This is my tester for Rodeo Drive.”

An exclusive AMIRI space, it was filled with everything from a handbag, to a hat, to pants, to a jacket. The purpose was to put together a whole outfit with AMIRI. But money was tight. Mike had to run a lean, mean operation. There were only a handful of people, including Mike, working on his designs and the development and production of the goods. Despite the young brand having never done this before, it sold out nearly $300,000 of merchandise in just three hours.

“It was really organic… but a painstaking process from beginning to end. The product was so detailed and thoughtful and took forever to make. When it got to the rack, it was a bit undeniable.”

For Mike, when it comes to the finished product, the whole isn’t greater than the sum of its parts, the whole is the sum of many great parts.

“To complete a perfect product, it’s never 50 plus 50. It’s one plus one plus one until you get to 100, every little element, from color, to fit, to fabrication, to length… All of these things make the whole. But it’s never, ‘Oh that looks great because they’re using a special sort of thread…’ Every element counts.” Later he shared, “If something is undeniably good, how can you say no?”

Mike also believes that exclusivity is the key to success in the luxury market. Another foundation is incorporating selective discipline. Early on, he exercised “restraint not to sell to a lot of people.” Maxfield, well known for being an ultra-exclusive boutique, carried AMIRI for 1 ½ years before Mike sold it to another retailer.

Barneys Beverly Hills started, like Maxfield, with only a few AMIRI pieces at first. And like Maxfield, Barneys quickly sold out. Mike replenished the small order, understanding that scarcity is a part of the successful formula. The new pieces quickly sold out again. The cycle continued, and slowly grew, with Mike continuing to make his regular recon visits with on-floor salespeople to learn about his ever-expanding customer base. Eventually, AMIRI became one of the top five-selling brands for the entire Barneys company.

“My path deviated from a lot of designers where they would sell what they needed to sell to whomever would buy.”

Russ Patrick, Senior Vice President, General Merchandise Manager of Men’s, Gifts & Home and Children’s at Neiman Marcus shared, “Mike has distilled his L.A. upbringing into a distinctive look that resonates strongly with our Neiman Marcus customer. We began our partnership almost five years ago by launching the collection in our Beverly Hills store, complete with an innovative and welcoming shop-in-shop. Many years later, our customers’ desire for AMIRI continues to grow and so has its presence across our portfolio of stores. Mike’s success as an American designer, on a global scale, has been impressive and swift for a relatively nascent brand. He has shown an incredible amount of focus, thoughtfully and carefully expanding the brand’s presence and assortment, cementing his place as an influential brand in the luxury space.”

The location of the product line is another vital component in building a luxury brand, Mike believes. Birds of a feather flock together.

“[My designs] have to be with my peers. I need to sit next to Gucci. I need to sit next to Christian Dior. And some would say [referring to the brand], ‘You’re 2 years old.’ And in my head, I said, ‘There’s no difference between my art and this art.’ And some buyers would pass and regret it, and other buyers like Barneys, for example, said, ‘I’ll make that deal with you.’”

Similar to the qualities he admires in his heroes, Mike possesses strength in his conviction. Determined to win by taking control of the process and the company’s destiny, Mike was able to choose where AMIRI was sold.

“Whatever I did at Barneys, I did in Selfridges, and I did in Paris, and I did in Tokyo, and I did in every department store saying, ‘I’m not going to sell this unless it’s within a luxury context because this is of that caliber.’ And doing that around the world, little by little, it created a community that was global…The amazing thing about it is, I won’t be the last one to do this. I think this is going to be a bit of a blueprint.”

He believes many more designers, not from the traditional designing world, are going to emerge and open stores on prestigious streets around the world like Rodeo Drive.

The international fashion entrepreneur and connoisseur, Renzo Rosso, founder and Chairman of OTB (Only the Brave) fashion group based in Italy with companies including Maison Margiela, Jil Sander, Marni, Diesel and a minority stake in AMIRI, states, “AMIRI is something unique. Mike is an absolute genius, and he has been able to create a brand, which has a soul, a distinctive voice and is recognizable among all the others. The project Mike had in mind and what he wanted to do were the factors that led me to believe in the project and invest in it.”

Mike has a consuming passion for his brand, but it’s not the only love in his life.

Married 14 years to his beautiful wife, Shirin, he is the proud father of three, daughter Kayla and sons Ryan and Jordan. Having to balance his business with his family life has forced him to make some hard choices, even sacrifices with respect to spending time with his children.

“I think in the beginning, when you’re building something so grand, you have to be obsessed with it. It is one of your children, as well. I don’t think there’s any way to do anything so big if you’re not completely obsessed. When they were younger, they did remind me of the things that I have missed. But once the foundational work was done in the company, I was able to balance out my time much, much better. And also include them in my world. It’s not really a sore subject anymore. They hardly ever bring that up. They have a pride in understanding that I was able to do something that’s very rare and uncommon.”

Rosso added, “Mike and I also have a strong personal tie, and we try to spend some leisure time together with our families during the year. We share our perspectives, ideas and experiences, and I feel these are very meaningful moments for both of us. I strongly believe that family is a source of inspiration and positive energy for Mike; this is one of the most important values for him, and it contributes to his extraordinary creativity and passion.”

After Mike’s bow at the AMIRI Spring-Summer 2023 Paris runway show in the Jardin des Plantes, his children, along with Shirin, leapt out of their chairs and spontaneously rushed to their daddy to
congratulate him.

“The thing I heard most from people, ‘My favorite moment in any fashion show was watching your son jump out of his seat and come hug you.’ I heard that so many times. It’s really great that the sacrifice was both theirs and mine. And the celebration is both theirs and mine.”

For Shirin as well, she’s been a part of AMIRI from its inception.

“I always tell people to surround themselves with people who reaffirm who they see themselves as. When we were first building this,” Mike continues, “Our friends were all professionals with professional careers. I was an artist. I never felt I was a small artist. I always felt like I was more than I was at that time. Shirin made me feel that way. There has never been a difference between then and now. Not having even 100th of what we have now.”

The AMIRI’s aspirational scope has continued to broaden, thanks to Mike’s ingenuity and forward thinking. Presently, the company designs in the California chic, relaxed, luxury space and not only for men. Forging paths and winning awards, Mike has led his company into footwear, womenswear, eyewear, childrenswear and lifestyle accessories, including leather goods and handbags.

Where does Mike find inspiration?

“When I first started making pieces, and they were stage pieces for singers, and these were the frontmen of bands, there was something heroic about them that you wanted to connect to in the clothing. Whether it was shaped a certain way, where it moved a certain way, where it shined a certain way. And I think [by] taking that sensibility and bringing it to the street level, you don’t have to be a rock star to create that feeling of specialness, the confidence somebody can get from clothing. And so, when I’m drawing characters now, when I’m thinking about runway shows, I always say, ‘Who’s my hero this season? Where is he going? What era is he living in? How do I make that touch back to today? What would he look like today?’ When I make sportswear or tracksuits, I look at Michael Jordan. I look at the swagger he carried. I look at the length of his shorts or the fact that his cutoff T-shirts stuck out an inch farther than his shoulders and how it created a strong shoulder silhouette.”

Similarly, Mike describes the “AMIRI woman” as a hero, her own hero. He thinks of the male hero and the female hero as the same person.

“She carries that same shining glimmer that I want the guy to have on stage. She has the confidence, the femininity, but has enough strength to wear things that are traditionally masculine silhouettes.”

Mike designs a lot of tailoring for women, like oversized suiting, while keeping the same principles of ease, comfort and luxury.

“I just love the way a woman looks when she empowers herself in something nontraditional. There’s a certain strength to that. And it came when I started opening stores and noticing the women who would come with the men customers, grab [a] blazer and throw it on. And I’m like, ‘Oh, she wore that. That was hers.’”

He also describes the AMIRI woman as confident, irreverent and effortless. With the completion of two full women’s collections under his belt, including women’s footwear and accessories, Mike believes he is on the right path.

But will the women’s footwear match the success of the men’s footwear division? In total, today’s AMIRI footwear is almost 20% of the entire business. Again, Mike did not develop the footwear division traditionally by attaching a sports influencer to market the product. Instead, Mike forged his own path.

“Like our skeleton low-top sneakers, it feels like a casual sporty silhouette. But when you touch it, the leather is a true luxury leather, and the lining is luxury. And then the inside of the shoe feels like you’re on pillows. It almost feels like the details of a handbag. And the art on [them] was really just created from things we did as skaters where you would write and draw bones on your shoes. So, it’ll have the juvenile sensibility of the bones, but the execution of a luxury house.”

Once again, Mike follows his authentic, creative formula, staying within the boundaries of the brand’s identity.

“There’s something special about using creativity more than capability. The second you lose the magic you had when you were by yourself in a garage or a basement is when the shine starts to dull.”

To keep on the pulse, Mike welcomes collaboration. This is evident from his unique partnership with the contemporary American artist, Wes Lang, for AMIRI’s Autumn-Winter 2022 Menswear and lifestyle collections. Mike was attracted to Lang’s pedigree. Having established his first workspace at the Chateau Marmont, Lang built a global name for himself and shares Mike’s innovative approach. Their collaboration is thought of as an exploration of the city’s aesthetic heritage, reflecting the intersection of the worlds of rock, skateboarding, luxury, craft, art and glam — that defines Los Angeles.

Mike looks to create a buzz with his collaborations, to create something from two minds that would not exist otherwise. He hopes to do many more in the future.

Of all Mike’s accomplishments, he’s most proud of his efforts to pay it forward.

“I’m fully aware, and I’m in awe every day that we get to do what we do. But the purpose has to be more than building something really big for yourself.”

Thus, he created the AMIRI Prize. It’s a $100,000 award for the winning entrepreneurial designer who is granted a company-wide mentorship to help the winner understand the trappings of designing a brand. The award provides full transparency into AMIRI’s successfully executed infrastructure. Most importantly, it enables a young, talented designer to create and execute a business plan.

“The big purpose of AMIRI is not to be the independent designer who created a luxury empire. It’s to be an independent designer who helped spark a bunch of other independent designers to create a new generation of empires. I think that’s the thing that excites me the most.”

Promoting empathy is meaningful to Mike. This past January, he chose to bring awareness of the social injustices occurring in his family’s native Iran. Following his Paris Fashion Week show, he appeared at the end of the runway in front of the most influential fashionistas in the world, wearing a black T-shirt that read in bold letters, “Woman, Life, Freedom.” It seemed fitting as the platform was fashion, and the social injustice issue was ignited around traditional clothing.

“I felt a responsibility to use that opportunity to shed light and awareness, that whatever picture is going to be of me that will go around, it’s going to make a statement that either educates people on what’s going on or tells people that ‘I feel you; I understand; I’m aware.’ Maybe there’s a part of it that we don’t have power in changing things physically, but we do have power in creating awareness and acknowledgement.”

So, what’s next?

“I’m just dreaming bigger. I always thought that you think big until you make it happen, then you realize there’s something actually bigger that is in front of you, and you go at that, which seems impossible, but you make it happen and then you dream even bigger…”

Mike’s well-versed in dreaming. He’s been doing it his whole life.

“You have to [dream] because the end goal is not the reward. The reward is the journey along the way, and as soon as you think you’ve reached somewhere, that means your journey has stopped. So, for me, it’s always something else because I’m obsessed with creating this path and this journey, and I don’t want there to be a finish line.”

Odds are, there will never be a finish line for AMIRI.

At the end of our interview, Mike walked me back through the store, continuing to answer questions about his designs hanging about. I listened to him proudly describe the workmanship in every item my eyes landed on, pointing out each exquisite detail and the California cool feeling it connoted.

As I pushed the front door open and was instantly transported back into the black-and-white gloom of the day, I found myself in awe of the world Mike has created.
What’s astonishing is it was born from the boundless imagination of an intrepid teen, who haunted the rock clubs of Hollywood and the hallways of Beverly Hills High, and ended up on the runways of Paris Fashion Week.

His rise to the top was unorthodox. He rejected the standard career trajectories dictated by the fashion industry elite, skirting around the whims of editors and buyers, and chose instead to appeal directly to the masses. His monumental success in carving out his own space, on his own terms, within the luxury retail market has made him a unique visionary. And in the process, he’s created a road map for other aspiring young designers around the globe to follow.

Mike turned a dream in a basement workspace off of Sunset Boulevard into an international luxury fashion house with a gleaming flagship storefront on Rodeo Drive. He did it his way. And if you ask him, he’ll tell you, he’s just getting started.

The post Mike Amiri: Building A Modern Luxury House On His Own Terms | Feature Interview appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Think of this curated collection of summer’s hottest items as an analog way to browse before you buy.

ORANGE CRUSH

1. You’ll be lapping up compliments wrapped in this Hermès terry cloth beach towel. With its sherbet hues and retro ‘60s pop vibe, it’s more like a work of art than a poolside necessity. $680 at Hermès, 434 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-278-6440 and hermes.com
2. No need to worry if you lingered too long at the shore (and who could blame you?); you can forgo an outfit change in these crisp and stylish two-tone swim shorts by Brunello Cucinelli. They can go straight from the beach to the bar, and no one would be any the wiser. $595 at Brunello Cucinelli, 220 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-724-8118 and shop.brunellocucinelli.com
3. The sleek, knife-edge design of the “Atlas X” hoop earrings by Tiffany & Co. was inspired by the jeweler’s famed 1886 engagement ring setting, which started it all. Roman numerals, etched into the sides of the polished 18-karat rose gold hoops, are a nod to the giant clock that sits atop the brand’s landmark Fifth Avenue flagship in New York. $3,600 at Tiffany & Co., 210 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-273-8880 and tiffany.com
4. Made of turquoise, coral and 18-karat rose gold, this bangle from the “Perlée” collection by Van Cleef & Arpels masquerades as an everyday casual bracelet, but it’s been keeping a secret. Slide the larger stone to the side, and you’ll discover an elegantly hidden timepiece with a mother-of-pearl dial and diamond-studded bezel. $37,800 at Van Cleef & Arpels, 300 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-276-1161 and vancleefarpels.com
5. Whatever you may call it—a fanny pack, hipster, or belt bag—the hands-free capabilities of this luxurious leather version by Gucci are invaluable when you’re traveling or going anywhere with small children. $1,700 at Gucci, 347 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-278-3451 and gucci.com
6. Slip this bright and breezy Carolina Herrera skirt over a one-piece bathing suit for a quick cover up or pair it with a simple white tank and dressy sandals for a chic upgrade. $635 at CH Carolina Herrera, 230 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-276-8900 and carolinaherrera.com

ICE POPS

1. Move over itsy-bitsy, yellow polka dot bikini, this sunny, pineapple print one-piece bathing suit from Eres is just as playful but decidedly more grown up. $496 at Eres, 9566 Dayton Way, 310-246-1008 and eresparis.com
2. Raise a glass to this stunning David Yurman cocktail ring. With a pale pink morganite gemstone at its center surrounded by circling 18-karat rose gold ribbons studded with pave diamonds, it looks like a bottle of Rosé chilling in a bucket of ice. $6,900 at David Yurman, 371 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-888-8618 and davidyurman.com
3. The cotton candy pink shade of Balmain’s “Sponge” shoulder bag calls to mind the spun sugar treats served up at county fairs and amusement parks, and it’s made out of the season’s most quintessential fabric—terry cloth.  What says “summertime” more than that? $1,500 at Balmain, 8421 Melrose Place, West Hollywood, 323-230-6364 and us.balmain.com
4. A cooler is an indispensable summer accessory and this “Tagalong” cube by Igloo, available at Nordstrom, will become your go-to for beach days and long car trips. It comes in five different taffy-like colors such as turquoise, orange, pink and yellow. $59 at Nordstrom, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., 424-207-1177 and nordstrom.com
5. With a highly anticipated live-action film based on the beloved doll coming out this summer, it certainly feels like it’s a Barbie world right now. Hop on Funboy’s Pucci-esque Barbie private jet pool float from Neiman Marcus and take the next non-stop flight to relaxation. $99 at Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Blvd., 310-550-5900 and neimanmarcus.com
6. Elevate a pair of faded jeans or white ankle-cropped capris with these Fendi slides. Their tufts of bubblegum-pink mink fur and sculptural block heels will add drama to any ensemble. (If pink isn’t your thing, they are also available in denim blue.) $1,490 at Fendi, 201 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-623-3420 and fendi.com

SEA & SHORE

1. When it comes to sun protection, you can’t go wrong in a classic wide-brim straw hat by Prada. The beauty is in its simplicity—it’s artfully woven and decorated only with the brand’s understated triangle logo. $1,100 at Prada, 343 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-278-8661 and prada.com
2. Channel your inner action star in these Tom Ford “Bronson” sunglasses, named after the inimitable Charles Bronson, who dazzled audiences in the ‘70s with his tough guy persona and effortlessly cool style. $555 at Tom Ford, 346 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-270-9440 and tomford.com
3. This gauzy, eco cashmere, crewneck men’s sweater by Amiri is made right here in Los Angeles. Its cascading shades of aquamarine give the effect of rolling waves crashing against the shore. $1,190 at Amiri, 461 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-878-2996 and amiri.com
4. Stuff this easily packable Longchamp “Le Pliage Filet” knit bag from Nordstrom in your suitcase, and you’ll have the perfect beach tote on hand for transporting towels and sunscreen on your next tropical vacation. $110 at Nordstrom, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., 424-207-1177 and nordstrom.com
5. Part Birkenstock, part pool slide—all comfort, these surprisingly lightweight, arch-supporting, lambskin “Dioract” sandals by Dior are perfect for strolling along the water’s edge or roaming the city streets of some far-flung destination. $1,050 at Dior, 309 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-859-4700 and dior.com
6. Inspired by minimalist Japanese design and hand-crafted from teak, these “Porto” solar lanterns from RH offer a dramatic play of light and shadow—all powered by the sun. $335 each at RH, 8564 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, 310-652-0323 and rh.com

SAND DUNES

1. Made from natural raffia woven into a simple box pattern, the “Cassette” crossbody bag by Bottega Veneta is neutral enough to pair with your boldest summer garb. $3,400 at Bottega Veneta, 320 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-858-6533 and bottegaveneta.com
2. These flat-front Bermuda shorts by Loro Piana straddle the line between casual and leisure wear. The combo of silk and linen gives them a luxe look, but they’re so soft and comfy, you’ll want to sleep in them. $725 at Loro Piana, 360 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-860-0765 and us.loropiana.com
3. A garden trellis trompe l’oeil wraps this Giambattista Valli frock (available at Saks Fifth Avenue). Its effect is demure and sophisticated, yet appropriately flirty. $2,935 at Saks Fifth Avenue, 9600 Wilshire Blvd., 310-275-4211 and saksfifthavenue.com
4. Proof that there is elegance in simplicity, the “Gates” bracelet by Harry Winston features a single 18-karat gold rosette surrounded by 29 round, brilliant-cut diamonds. To Winston, the symbol represented opportunity, new beginnings and good fortune. $5,100 at Harry Winston, 310 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-271-8554 and harrywinston.com
5. Smartwatches and fitness trackers have their uses, but neither offer what the “Calatrava” by Patek Philippe does—zero software upgrades. It’s the epitome of a classic wristwatch guaranteed to stand the test of time. $40,216 at Gearys Patek Philippe, 360 N. Rodeo Drive, #2, 310-887-4200 and gearys.com/patek-philippe
6. If even the sturdiest of succulents put your gardening skills to the limit, the collection of incredibly realistic faux potted cacti at Pottery Barn will fool everyone. $299 at Pottery Barn, 300 N. Beverly Drive, 310-860-9506 and potterybarn.com

ANCHORS AWAY

1. These round, navy blue, acetone shades from Chanel, with their matching gradient lenses and detachable beaded necklace, are so chic they would make Jackie O jealous. $1,375 at Chanel, 400 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-278-5500 and chanel.com 
2. Crisp navy blue, horizontal stripes cross a field of white on this short-sleeved cashmere and silk sweater from Dior. And an 18th-century seafaring vessel decorates the front, just to send the nautical theme sailing home. $1,250 at Dior, 309 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-859-4700 and dior.com
3. Renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is back for a second collaboration with Louis Vuitton. Her trademark Infinity Dots are reinterpreted in this cheerful tomato red and bright white top-handled clutch. $3,400 at Louis Vuitton, 295 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-859-0457 and louisvuitton.com
4. The “Yacht-Master II” from Rolex is the king of nautical watches. Launched in 1992 for navigators and skippers, the regatta chronograph celebrates sailing’s rich history. $18,700 at Gearys Rolex, 360 N. Rodeo Drive, #1, 310-887-4200 gearys.com/rolex
5. When the sun suddenly disappears behind a band of rogue clouds and the temperature plummets, women can opt for a poncho or a shawl, but for gents, it’s one of those times when having a hoodie on hand is a lifesaver. This bright red version from Balenciaga is not only functional, but it’s also high fashion. $1,290 at Balenciaga, 338 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-854-0557 and balenciaga.com
6. What summer barbecue or lawn party is complete without a game of bocce ball? This set from Shinola, available at Gearys, comes with its own rubber-bottomed canvas tote so you can bring the fun with you. $295 at Gearys, 351 N. Beverly Drive, 310-273-4741 and gearys.com

GOLDEN HOUR

1. With bright and bold blooms in hues that evoke the sky just before twilight, these jersey-knit pants from Etro are an upscale alternative to yoga pants, but just as comfy on long flights. $690 at Etro, 9501 Wilshire Blvd., 310-248-2855 and etro.com
2. Fans of HBO’s hit series “The White Lotus” couldn’t get enough of season two’s Portia (played by Haley Lu Richardson), particularly the character’s quirky (and divisive) fashion sense. We think this silk scarf hat with its Nappa visor by Fendi is the posh vibe she was going for in the look that won over social media. $650 at Fendi, 201 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-623-3420 and fendi.com
3. The hefty weight of the “Maxi Iconica” ring by Pomellato is impressive. But its bevy of baubles—pink tourmaline, orange sapphires, blue sapphires, tsavorite, red spinel, tanzanite and amethyst—is downright dizzying. $7,800 at Saks Fifth Avenue, 9600 Wilshire Blvd., 310-275-4211 and saksfifthavenue.com
4. Add a pair of these colorful, metallic leather slides from Valentino and like magic, you’ll transform your outfit from dull to dazzling. $1,150 at Valentino, 324 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-247-0103 and valentino.com
5. Known for its sumptuous “silk calfskin” leather goods, Loewe elevates the lowly wallet with a buttery trifold in swimming pool blue. $650 at Loewe, 327 N. Rodeo Drive, 310-388-6771 and loewe.com 

The post Must-Haves for Summer appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

First, start early

The sooner you start saving for retirement, the more time your money has to grow. Starting early can provide you with a significant advantage in building your retirement savings. This is due to the power of compounding, which enables your money to grow over time, i.e., your earnings earn more earnings. The average rate of return of the S&P, with reinvested dividends from January 1,1993 to December 31, 2022, was 9.62%. This is based on the total return index of the S&P 500. If you have a 401(k) plan, contribute as much as you can, up to the annual maximum. The more you save, the more money you will have for retirement. Another benefit of maximizing your 401(k) contributions is that the money you put into the traditional 401(k) is pretax, so it has the added benefit of reducing your taxable income. If you don’t work at a company that offers 401(k) benefits, there are other vehicles you can use such as traditional Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), ROTH IRAs, and Deferred Compensation plans, just to name a few. Plus, one of the best benefits of all retirement plans is the tax-deferred nature of qualified retirement plans, i.e., you don’t pay taxes on realized gains and you only pay ordinary income on withdrawals. Tax deferral removes a massive drag on your money that is otherwise present in saving for retirement in ordinary taxable accounts. The distinctions in these plans can be found online or by asking your advisor.

Take Advantage of Employer Contributions

Many employers offer a matching contribution to their employees’ retirement accounts. If your employer offers this benefit, make sure you contribute enough to get the full match. This employer matching is essentially free money and can significantly increase your retirement savings. It is important to fully understand the benefit your employer is offering as it varies from company to company.

Diversify Your Investments

Diversification is crucial in managing risk and maximizing returns. Invest in a mix of stocks, bonds, and other assets that align with your goals and risk tolerance. Consider using low-cost index funds or target-date funds to achieve diversification. There are many choices that are available to you now, so educate yourself as to what these choices are. It is advisable to have a larger allocation to stocks when you are younger, as you have a very long time before you will be taking distributions from these plans.

Keep Fees Low

Fees can eat into your investment returns over time. Be aware of the fees associated with your retirement accounts and choose low-cost investment options where possible. For example, choose index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with low expense ratios.

Rebalance Regularly 

Rebalancing your portfolio involves adjusting your investment mix periodically to maintain your desired asset allocation. It helps manage risk and maximize returns. Rebalancing can be done annually or semi-annually, depending on your investment strategy. Try not to fall into the trap of “TRADING” your account by buying and selling frequently.

Delay Social Security if You Are Able To

Delaying Social Security benefits can increase your retirement income significantly. You can start collecting Social Security benefits as early as age 62 but delaying until age 70 can increase your monthly benefit by up to 8% per year. The information as to what your Social Security Benefits will be is easily available on the Social Security Website. There is a tool on the site that will allow you to model out your benefits depending on when you start to take your social security. In most cases, unless you need the money, delaying when you begin to receive your social security is beneficial. This is something your advisor can help you with.

Consider a Roth IRA

A Roth IRA is an excellent retirement savings vehicle that offers tax-free withdrawals in retirement. Contributions to a Roth IRA are made with after-tax dollars, and qualified withdrawals in retirement are tax-free. There are many advantages to using a ROTH IRA and if your employer offers a ROTH 401(k), it is worthwhile considering as these funds are always going to be tax free when you take distribution. The primary difference is you are using after-tax dollars to fund this. Again, these are decisions you should discuss with your advisor.

Get Professional Help

Consider working with a financial advisor or planner to help you develop a retirement plan that aligns with your goals and objectives. A professional can help you develop a personalized plan and provide valuable guidance on investment strategies, risk management and tax planning.

In summary, maximizing your retirement accounts requires a disciplined approach to saving, investing, and managing risk. Starting early, contributing the maximum, taking advantage of employer contributions, diversifying your investments, keeping fees low, rebalancing regularly, delaying Social Security, considering a Roth IRA, and seeking professional help are all strategies that can help you achieve your retirement goals. With consistent effort and discipline, you can maximize your retirement accounts and enjoy a financially secure retirement. 

Rebecca Rothstein works with high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutions, helping them advance their wealth management goals. She began her career as a financial advisor in 1987 at Bear Stearns. She spent 10 years with Deutsche Bank Alex Brown and 13 years with Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management (formerly Smith Barney) before joining Merrill Lynch. As a Managing Director at Merrill Private Wealth Management, Rebecca focuses on wealth management, tax minimization, and estate planning strategies for affluent clients. She also works with corporate officers, devising liquidity and diversification strategies for concentrated positions. Rebecca has garnered a number of national honors as a financial advisor. Barron’s magazine named her one of the “Top 100 Financial Advisors in America” from 2007 successively through 2012. Barron’s also named Rebecca one of the “Top 100 Women Financial Advisors in America” from the inception of the list in 2006 successively through 2012, profiling her in the 2012 issue. In 2017, Rebecca was recognized by the national publication Forbes, which named her one of “America’s Top Wealth Advisors.” In 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Rebecca was again recognized by Forbes, which named her the #1 of “Top Women Wealth Advisors.” Rebecca is very active in the community. She is the Chairman of the Board and Founder of Teen Cancer America (a global charity founded by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend). She is also a Co-Chair of the Childhood Autism Board at UCLA, which helps children who have been diagnosed with autism, developmental disabilities, and behavior disorders, and she is a board member of the UCLA Health System. In her free time, Rebecca enjoys cooking, sailing, and participating in a number of charitable efforts. She has four sons and splits her time between Incline Village, Nevada and Beverly Hills, California with her husband Ron.

The post Maximizing Retirement Savings appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Asset Allocation is a well-known and understood concept in the world of investing. It is widely used to help determine how your money should be divided across different asset classes which include cash, stocks, bonds, insurance, and real estate. Your short, intermediate, and long-term investment goals should have an influence on these decisions. Are you investing for your retirement, saving for a down payment on a house, investing for your children’s college tuition or building wealth for the long term? One of the most important discussions you should have with your financial advisor is to help them to understand your investment goals. Always remember, this is your money, not the advisors. Once this is understood these goals will influence and determine your asset allocation decisions. 

Assessing your risk tolerance is a very important part of determining in which areas you should invest. How much risk are you willing to take on in your investment portfolio? Higher risk investments may offer higher potential returns, but they also come with a greater risk of loss and volatility. This discussion must include, but not be limited by, helping you determine your level of risk tolerance. 

Consider your time horizon. The length of time you have to invest should influence these decisions. If you have a longer time horizon (let’s, say you’re in your 30s), you may be able to take on more risk in your portfolio. However, as you hit your 50s and 60s you may want less risk. Some of the most important considerations are your age and where you are in your life cycle.

Diversification of investments can help to reduce risk and volatility. In many cases, it can help improve adjusted returns by investing in bonds, stocks, insurance, and real estate. Diversification is a well-known technique that should be used to reduce the overall risk of your portfolio and can help smooth out longer-term returns by reducing volatility. 

Each asset class has its own risk and return characteristics. Once you have formulated a general strategy, then it’s appropriate to determine the percentages of stocks/bonds/real estate, cash and other assets that you may own or want to own such as jewelry and art. The right mix will be arrived at by having this conversation with your advisor.   

Over the last year as interest rates have risen at the fastest pace in decades, even cash and short-term cash management tools like interest-bearing deposit accounts, money market funds, U.S. Treasury Bills and CDs have come back into favor as an asset class to deliver extremely compelling returns versus traditional checking and savings accounts. If managed correctly this could add an additional 4-5% in return on idle assets that have been yielding zero or near zero for years.  

Once you have assessed your investment goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon, you can determine your target asset allocation. A sample asset allocation could be something like 40% equities, 40% bonds and 20% real estate. This is meant as an example only and not something that necessarily applies to you. Decisions related to your specific percentages is what you and your advisor should determine. Your finances can and should be reviewed regularly to make certain you are aware of external forces that may suggest a shift in the investments, as well as to make sure that the investment plan is working towards accomplishing your stated goals. These goals are always subject to change, which is one of the reasons for ongoing, frank discussions between you and your advisor. Also, it’s important to monitor your portfolio regularly and be prepared to adjust as needed because over time your portfolio may drift. For example, as you age your allocations can easily change from higher risk to a more conservative approach so rebalancing your portfolio is very important. 

In many cases, a great deal of your funds are invested outside of tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) and pensions. Therefore, in these types of investment accounts, there will be times that you are tempted to sell because the investment landscape frequently changes due to external forces such as higher interest rates, inflation, and recently, a pandemic. These types of market conditions can be nerve-racking and cause you to want to sell but you must carefully consider this action because doing so will most likely cause a tax event. An advisor should always make certain that you are aware of how you will be taxed and how this will impact your outcome. 

Monitor your portfolio performance. Regularly monitoring your portfolio performance can help you make adjustments as needed. Be a partner with your advisor. Be clear about what you want the outcome to be and ask questions. An experienced advisor will answer your questions and then be able to recommend a plan that will achieve your goals. 

And finally, stay informed. The investment landscape is always changing, so it’s important to keep up with market trends and economic conditions that may impact your portfolio. One of the ways to do this is by watching financial news programs, reading financial publications, and setting up bi-annual meetings with your advisor to review your portfolio. 

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Measure ULA, which stands for United to House LA, imposes a new tax for the city of Los Angeles. The measure, also described as the “mansion tax,” imposes a 4% tax on property sales exceeding $5 million, and a 5.5% tax on properties that sell at $10 million or higher. This new tax adds to an existing 0.45 percent transfer tax on a sale of a property at these values. These taxes must be paid by the seller. The measure was approved by Los Angeles voters last November.

The tax applies not only to single-family homes but also to the sales of multi-unit and commercial buildings as well as vacant land. The purpose of the tax is to generate an estimated $600 million to $1.1 billion annually to create affordable housing and tenant assistance support managed by municipal officials to combat Los Angeles’ rising unhoused crisis, which has worsened since the pandemic and increased inflation.

However, Measure ULA could have an unforeseen ripple effect across an already challenging LA real estate market. The tax is meant to incentivize developers and generate funding to develop new housing; however, there are some concerns that some developers might not pursue projects, inadvertently thwarting expansion that could buoy an economy still in recovery.

Not surprisingly, sellers are offering unprecedented deals to expedite closing on properties by March 31, such as a luxury car included in the transaction. Once the measure goes into effect on April 1, there are several short and long-term ramifications.

First, this measure arrives during very challenging economic fluctuations. We’re seeing an erratic stock market, inflation, interest rate hikes, blockages in supply, demand, and shipping, as well as industries such as the once lucrative technology sector shedding jobs, all of which add to collective uncertainty. No one industry is siloed from the other during highs or lows–we are all interdependent and interconnected–and housing is often a barometer of overall economic health. Given the current sluggish housing market, Measure ULA will likely slow down inventory movement. Sellers will be hesitant to sell, and buyers will be too nervous to buy.

Second, the moods of sellers and buyers in this uncertain climate could create its own domino effect. Housing is a numbers business, but it is also remarkably emotional because we are not simply talking about homes or investments but hopes and dreams for the future. After April 1, we could see a market in which sellers may choose to raise their list prices by $1 million or more to offset the difference lost to this new tax. Or they will more strongly negotiate with an offer on the table if they don’t raise the original price they were thinking. It’s possible that homes valued at over $5 million won’t move at all creating a stalemate in this industry.

Third, the measure could potentially drive developers away in a city that faces a housing shortage. While reports claim that most of the expected revenue from this measure will come from commercial rather than private home transactions, have we considered how this will impact commercial properties? It’s possible multi-unit and commercial owners may raise their tenants’ rents to compensate for deficits, potentially squeezing tenants, whether individuals, families or small to mid-sized businesses, already under financial pressure.

My hope is there will be forward-thinking committee oversight with the revenue that results from Measure ULA. We all want to see homelessness thoughtfully addressed, and housing to be made accessible to all. That means those first few steps shortly after the passage of Measure ULA are mission critical because they could shape Los Angeles’ housing market and economic well-being for years to come. 

Marshall Peck has been a realtor in the Beverly Hills area since 2011. He joined Douglas Elliman in 2016, where he was ranked in their top five of all agents in California. As a realtor, Marshall represents celebrities including John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, and works out of Elliman’s West Coast headquarters located on El Camino Drive in Beverly Hills. A resident of Beverly Hills for 13 years, Peck currently serves as a Commissioner on the Beverly Hills Design Review Commission.

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When a spouse passes away, estate taxes can be due within nine months. In some cases, there are also costs that are due earlier. To meet these tax obligations, some families will borrow against assets or liquidate those assets, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

One popular way of addressing your wealth transfer goals is by using irrevocable trusts funded with life insurance.  There are two basic types of trusts revocable and irrevocable. For the purposes of wealth transfer it is important to focus on irrevocable trusts (also known as gift trusts), as assets held in these trusts are not included in your taxable estate for estate tax purposes. With an Irrevocable Trust the trustee controls how assets are managed, has legal control over the assets determining how they are distributed and used, has a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the beneficiaries, and the terms can’t be altered without legal proceedings. The key point being that the assets in the irrevocable trust are held outside of your estate. This is not a complete list and you should discuss the differences with your estate attorney to be certain that the trust they draft for you aligns with your specific goals.

Utilizing insurance strategies can help to manage risk and provide liquidity for you to pay estate taxes or other expenses. If the insurance has been structured properly it creates a financial safety net and the policy’s death benefit will be excluded from the insured’s taxable estate for transfer tax purposes. Additionally, because life insurance proceeds are free from any income tax, effectively your beneficiaries will receive the money tax free.

There are two basic types of life insurance options. Term life insurance lasts for a specific pre-determined period of time, while permanent life insurance lasts your entire lifetime as long as the premiums are paid. Term life is an affordable solution for temporary short-term needs like paying off a mortgage and it can provide income replacement during peak earning years or while raising a family but it has no residual value at the end of the term. Permanent life provides lifelong death benefit protection, protects your family by providing financial security upon your death, can fund final expense at death and builds cash value that accrues over your lifetime. This can provide a way for people to save for future expenses such as retirement or college tuition.

Benefits from a life insurance policy can help cover expenses such as mortgage payments, paying off debt like car loans, living expenses and credit cards, and funding future education costs for children. It’s important to name beneficiaries because by doing so you will alleviate the burden of your death on loved ones and allow them to grieve without having to worry about financial matters. Furthermore, life insurance can be used to make a substantial charitable gift by naming a charity as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy.

In addition to insurance there are other important elements of estate planning to become familiar with such as The Federal Estate Tax Exemption. This is a specified amount that is exempted from estate tax and is reduced dollar for dollar. For example, in calendar year 2023, the federal exemption amount is $12,920,000 per person or $25,840,000 per married couple. That means that if your estate is valued at $50 million, the first $25,840,000 (for a married couple) is not subject to estate tax but the balance of approximately $24,160,000 will be subject to estate tax. This is where insurance becomes very valuable as the insurance will pay into the estate to pay some of the estate taxes due and then the heirs will not be forced to sell assets to pay the estate taxes.

Additionally, everyone gets the opportunity to make an annual gift to anyone they want to and the amount can vary from year to year. In 2023 that annual gift amount is $17,000. The annual gift is not counted against your lifetime exemption.

From a business standpoint insurance will protect your business from the unexpected. If you own a business, you can take out life insurance policies to protect it. You can set up a buy/sell succession strategy, create a business loan collateralization plan and have key person protection. For example, in case of the death of a key member of the team the death benefit can be used to buy out the deceased owner’s share of the business, ensure that the business continues normal operation of the company providing financial security for your family.

Many of us will need long-term care when we get older. To cover long-term care costs, some individuals buy life insurance policies with long-term care riders. These can provide financial assistance for care in the event of a chronic illness or disability thus preserving the value of an estate. This long-term care insurance either as a rider or as its own policy has become very popular since more people are living longer.

Finally, not only will you have peace of mind knowing your family will be taken care of but owning a life insurance policy will also give your family members peace of mind knowing they will be taken care of in the event of your death. This can be especially important for individuals with dependence on those who are the primary breadwinner in their families.

As you can see, it’s very important to plan ahead and it’s never too early to start these discussions. By including insurance as part of your overall estate plan, you can ensure that your assets are used as you intend so your beneficiaries are provided for in the way you choose, which can help maintain the value of your estate.

The role of your financial advisor is to work with you and other professionals to help you make good choices in choosing the proper insurance, identifying products and solutions that help you pursue your investment goals, and give you access to trust services. And lastly, remember to seek a qualified estate planning attorney and a tax professional to join your team to develop your comprehensive wealth transfer planning
strategy. 

Rebecca Rothstein works with high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutions, helping them advance their wealth management goals. She began her career as a financial advisor in 1987 at Bear Stearns. She spent 10 years with Deutsche Bank Alex Brown and 13 years with Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management (formerly Smith Barney) before joining Merrill Lynch. As a Managing Director at Merrill Private Wealth Management, Rebecca focuses on wealth management, tax minimization, and estate planning strategies for affluent clients. She also works with corporate officers, devising liquidity and diversification strategies for concentrated positions. Rebecca has garnered a number of national honors as a financial advisor. Barron’s magazine named her one of the “Top 100 Financial Advisors in America” from 2007 successively through 2012. Barron’s also named Rebecca one of the “Top 100 Women Financial Advisors in America” from the inception of the list in 2006 successively through 2012, profiling her in the 2012 issue. In 2017, Rebecca was recognized by the national publication Forbes, which named her one of “America’s Top Wealth Advisors.” In 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Rebecca was again recognized by Forbes, which named her the #1 of “Top Women Wealth Advisors.” Rebecca is very active in the community. She is the Chairman of the Board and Founder of Teen Cancer America (a global charity founded by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend). She is also a Co-Chair of the Childhood Autism Board at UCLA, which helps children who have been diagnosed with autism, developmental disabilities, and behavior disorders, and she is a board member of the UCLA Health System. In her free time, Rebecca enjoys cooking, sailing, and participating in a number of charitable efforts. She has four sons and splits her time between Incline Village, Nevada and Beverly Hills, California with her husband Ron.

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Experience: Look for someone who has been in the financial industry for several years and, preferably, has a “team” of specialists. The reason is that often the team members will have more expertise in a variety of topics whereas a sole advisor might not have as much knowledge as one of their team members. Another good idea is to choose someone who has seen different types of market conditions and has a track record of helping clients achieve their financial goals given the fluctuations of the markets. This will give you confidence in their ability to provide guidance and support as you work towards your financial goals. Experience matters a lot in this business!

Qualifications: The financial planning industry has a number of professional licenses and certifications that advisors must earn to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. These include, but are not limited to, a Series 7 license and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification. It’s important to make sure the advisor you choose has the necessary licenses and qualifications to provide professional quality advice.

Fees: Make sure that you understand how a financial advisor charges for their services, including any upfront or ongoing fees. Some advisors charge an hourly rate, while others charge a percentage of the assets they manage. Some charge commissions. Choose an advisor who can charge a fee structure that you are comfortable with and is best suited to your financial goals. Generally, working on a fee basis aligns the advisor with their client’s interests so be certain to ask how you will be paying for their services.

Services offered: When considering a financial advisor, it’s important to determine what services they offer and whether they are compatible with your needs. Have the advisors delineate exactly what you can count on them for, some of which include generational planning, buying and selling of stocks, lending, asset allocation and retirement planning, just to name a few. Make sure to choose an advisor whose services meet your specific needs and goals. Some advisors may offer a comprehensive financial planning package that includes everything from budgeting and debt management to investment advice and retirement planning. Others may offer à la carte services, allowing you to choose the specific services you need. Consider your needs and goals and choose an advisor whose services meet your expectations.

Investment philosophy: Your advisor should understand your investment philosophy and approach to risk management to ensure you are both on the same page. Investors are usually classified into three main categories based on how much risk they can tolerate. Would you prefer to be aggressive, moderate, or conservative with your money? Knowing your risk tolerance level helps advisors plan your entire portfolio and will drive how they invest for you. Your investment philosophy should be based on your personal financial situation so it’s essential to be clear about what you are expecting from your advisor. Don’t expect them to guess. This is an important relationship and all these things should be discussed thoroughly. This will require you to be forthcoming about your own expectations and goals. And, keep in mind that as your relationship with the advisor continues, these things will change over time. A lot of this will depend on your age and the ages of your family members. An advisor who understands what you want will be better equipped to help you make informed investment decisions that will satisfy your long-term financial goals.

Communication style: The communication style of a financial advisor is also an important factor to consider. Choose an advisor that you feel comfortable working with and who has a communication style that you like. You will need to be clear about your expectations. Some people want to be in contact frequently, others quarterly, some less often. Consider your own communication preferences and choose an advisor whose style works best with your preferences. Good communication builds trust and ensures that your advisor is able to provide the support and guidance you need. Always take the time to review the monthly statements that are provided by the firms. Look for an advisor who is responsive and proactive and who is willing to take the time to fully understand your needs and concerns. Strong communication is essential for a successful advisor-client relationship.

Client base: It can be helpful to choose a financial advisor who serves a client base similar to your own circumstances, as they may be better able to understand and address your specific needs and concerns. They will be more familiar with the unique financial challenges and opportunities you may face and will be better able to provide tailored advice and support. Similarly, if you are approaching retirement, you may want to look for an advisor who has experience working with clients in your age group and has a strong understanding of the financial considerations that come with retirement and generational planning.

Conflict of interest: It’s important to make sure the financial advisor you choose does not have any conflicts of interest that could influence the advice they give you. This includes receiving commissions for recommending certain products or services and receiving commissions for buying and selling stocks. As mentioned above, working on a fee basis aligns the advisor with their client’s interests. So, choose an advisor who is transparent about their fee structure and any potential conflicts of interest.

References: Asking for references from current clients can be a helpful way to get a better understanding of a financial advisor’s work style and effectiveness. These references can provide valuable insight into an advisor’s communication style, knowledge and expertise, and overall approach to working with clients. They can also help you get a sense of the level of support and service you can expect from an advisor and their team.

Compatibility: Trust your instincts when choosing a financial advisor. Choose someone you feel comfortable working with and who you believe will have your best interests in mind. Consider their communication style, personality, and overall approach to financial planning. It’s important to find an advisor who you feel comfortable discussing your financial situation with and one who you believe will provide sound and unbiased advice.

In summary, there are a number of factors to consider when choosing a financial advisor. Look for an advisor who has experience, qualifications, and a track record of helping clients achieve their financial goals. Understand how they charge for their services and make sure their fee structure is compatible with your needs. Trust your instincts and choose an advisor that you feel comfortable working with and who you believe will have your best interests in mind. 

Rebecca Rothstein works with high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutions, helping them advance their wealth management goals. She began her career as a financial advisor in 1987 at Bear Stearns. She spent 10 years with Deutsche Bank Alex Brown and 13 years with Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management (formerly Smith Barney) before joining Merrill Lynch. As a Managing Director at Merrill Private Wealth Management, Rebecca focuses on wealth management, tax minimization, and estate planning strategies for affluent clients. She also works with corporate officers, devising liquidity and diversification strategies for concentrated positions. Rebecca has garnered a number of national honors as a financial advisor. Barron’s magazine named her one of the “Top 100 Financial Advisors in America” from 2007 successively through 2012. Barron’s also named Rebecca one of the “Top 100 Women Financial Advisors in America” from the inception of the list in 2006 successively through 2012, profiling her in the 2012 issue. In 2017, Rebecca was recognized by the national publication Forbes, which named her one of “America’s Top Wealth Advisors.” In 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Rebecca was again recognized by Forbes, which named her the #1 of “Top Women Wealth Advisors.” Rebecca is very active in the community. She is the Chairman of the Board and Founder of Teen Cancer America (a global charity founded by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend). She is also a co-Chair of the Childhood Autism Board at UCLA, which helps children who have been diagnosed with autism, developmental disabilities, and behavior disorders, and she is a board member of the UCLA Health System. In her free time, Rebecca enjoys cooking, sailing, and participating in a number of charitable efforts. She has four sons and splits her time between Incline Village, Nevada and Beverly Hills, California, with her husband Ron.

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“I came to America with the idea that I was going to work in Beverly Hills. It was not even a question–I would work in a salon in Beverly Hills,” she says. 

But after accomplishing this, she firmly set her sights on her next goal, to realize her dream of owning her own salon.

While on her reconnaissance walks, Anastasia often found herself drawn to a building at 430 North Bedford Drive.  For two years it sat vacant with a sign on its façade that read, “Dembo Realty,” until one day, she decided to take the plunge. She called the realtor who later set up a meeting with the landlord.  

When, face-to-face, the landlord heard Anastasia’s plans to open an eyebrow salon, he was incredulous, “You do eyebrows!? Get outta here. You can’t pay rent. This is Beverly Hills lady.”

Undeterred, Anastasia returned to his office with magazine photos and articles of her famous clients.  

“I’m going to make this street famous,” she told him. “You have to believe in me.” 

He didn’t. 

Driven by her convictions and life experiences, she tried again.

“I am sure your grandparents or great-grandparents came here. Immigrants as well. Somebody gave them a chance. Please give me a chance. Six months. If I don’t make it, I will leave.”

The landlord eventually gave in. 

In May of 1997, “Anastasia” opened its doors to a long line of awaiting customers, many of them celebrities. Vindication was quick to follow, when the landlord, seeing the crowd from his office across the street, called the salon to verify that all of the people were, in fact, queuing up for eyebrow service. When the receptionist confirmed, he was astounded and asked to speak to Anastasia.  She got on the phone and told him flatly, “Like I told you, I’m going to make this street famous.” To this day, 25 years later, the space has remained her flagship salon.

Anastasia recounts this defining moment in her life from a hotel suite in Paris.  She’s taking a break from her jam-packed traveling schedule, which has taken her all over the European continent, to virtually connect with me in our Beverly Hills Courier offices.

 To beauty buffs and die-hard makeup aficionados, Anastasia probably needs no introduction. Even women who prefer to go au naturale have, more than likely, at least heard of the eyebrow brand, “Anastasia Beverly Hills.” In the early aughts, Anastasia revolutionized the cosmetics industry by creating a then-unheard-of niche centered around a technique and product devoted to something most never gave a second thought to–eyebrows.  These days, brows are a multimillion-dollar category in the beauty industry. You can’t walk down a beauty aisle without bumping into a display case of products promising thicker, fuller, tidier, better-shaped brows, all thanks to Anastasia’s trailblazing concept.

In June, Forbes published its list, “America’s Richest Self-Made Women 2022,” which ranks the wealthiest women in the United States.The article placed Anastasia at number 38. 

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Anastasia Beverly Hills, with products now available in almost 2000 stores internationally. To fully understand the scope of her rise to a globally recognized mononym with a beauty empire, Anastasia, from Paris, takes us back to the start. It was 33 years ago, at age 32, clutching her two-year-old daughter, Claudia, in her arms, when Anastasia boarded an airplane from her Eastern Bloc homeland en route to America.  

Born in Constanta, an ancient town founded around 600 B.C., Anastasia grew up in Romania’s fifth-largest city and largest port on the Black Sea. Despite being immersed in culture, Roman mosaics, celebrated Greek mythological history and ancient ruins, life was challenging under Communistic regimes for Anastasia and her family. By the 1980s, it became untenable. Severe rationing of food, electricity and gas was commonplace. 

In 1986, while traveling on a ship for work in Europe, Anastasia’s husband, Victor, obtained asylum in Italy at the American Embassy, thereby opening the door for Anastasia and their daughter to come to America.

After three long years, Anastasia was able to legally leave her mother and sister (her father had passed away when she was a young girl) and travel for the first time, boarding the airplane, with Claudia in tow, bound for America. Their eventual landing spot was Los Angeles.

“Everybody on the planet Earth, from every small town to a big town, dreams of Beverly Hills. I was dreaming 30, 40 years ago. People are still dreaming. So that was my dream, like everybody else.”

In Communist Romania where all information was controlled, Anastasia’s introduction to Beverly Hills was through movies.

“I mean it was very hard for us to even buy a Vogue magazine. But I remember ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ with Eddie Murphy. I think I watched that movie 100 million times. And ‘Pretty Woman,’ another movie.”

These celluloid images–of ritzy boutiques along Rodeo Drive, palm tree-lined, sun-drenched streets dotted with sprawling mansions, where handsome men in European convertible sports cars escorted incredibly stylish women to lavish dinners–captured Anastasia’s imagination. And they flickered on the screen in stark contrast to the realities of life that surrounded her. She knew she was going to Beverly Hills.

She arrived to find those two-dimensional moving images come to life. Beverly Hills seemed to fulfill all of its onscreen promises. But her unwavering desire to live in America prevented her from considering what the transition would be like in a new country, far from home.

“I never, ever for a minute, thought what I’m going to do there. Or it’s going to be bad, I’m going to be lonely. But when I arrived in the United States, in Los Angeles, I felt like, oh my God, I don’t know anyone. I don’t speak the language. I miss my family, I miss my home, I miss everything. I cried for the first six months. Every day.”

A stranger in a foreign land, Anastasia had to support herself and her daughter. Returning to Romania was not an option as the revolution was about to take place. At this time, she was offered her first job in an American salon, as a waxing aesthetician, to replace another Romanian woman going on maternity leave. It was there she quickly learned the techniques in America were very different from those back in Romania.

“As aestheticians, we had to go to a pharmacy and make a custom cream because you couldn’t go into a department store to buy a cream. This is why sometimes I think women are so lucky to live in the United States. You can choose from whatever you want. You are overwhelmed by so much. In Romania we didn’t have any,” she says.

Anastasia describes beauty school in Romania as an intense and extensive two-year program. “You need to learn biology and chemistry. People didn’t go to a dermatologist for anything other than dermatitis or a really (serious) skin condition,” she says. “But for a facial, for pimples, they used to go to an aesthetician.”

It was while working as a waxing aesthetician that she discovered how little attention was given to eyebrows. Worse yet, she remembers the style was extremely thin with an unnatural high arch. Recalling the lessons from her art teacher in Romania, she knew that when painting a portrait, the eyebrow is important as the shape affects the subject’s emotion. If you want to change the emotion, you have to change the shape of the eyebrow. But how can that be done when the brow was so thin and round?

Having also learned about Leonardo da Vinci’s use of Golden Ratio proportions in his works, she had the idea to apply the concept to eyebrows with respect to the bone structure of the face. Maybe a system could be designed by applying this mathematical theory to enhance eyebrows. Anastasia went to the library in Los Angeles to do more research. 

After months of studying da Vinci’s mastermind approach, she went to an art store and created a stencil, a tool to shape the eyebrow. She began to work on her own eyebrows until she obtained the perfect, natural arch. Soon clients would take notice.  

“My clients would ask me, ‘What did you do? Did you cut your hair? You look different. You look better,'” she says.

Clients wanted Anastasia to work her brow magic on them, but the process took extra time. Soon the owner of the salon complained to Anastasia that the eyebrows were eating up the “facial” time, and since the salon did not charge à la carte for eyebrows, she could no longer provide the ancillary service.

This did not hold Anastasia back. She began taking house calls on weekends. Eventually, entire households, men and women, wanted her service. This convinced her she was on to something.

“The transformation with the right-shaped eyebrows was so incredible that I really believed that [the concept] would make a difference on everybody’s face.”

Deciding this was her path, she opened up the Los Angeles Times looking to rent her own space.  “I told my husband, ‘I’m going to open my own business and it’s going to be in Beverly Hills. I don’t want to go anywhere else. Only in Beverly Hills.'”

She admits it was scary at first, but she had a vision. She believed in eyebrows.

“Look, I left my family. I left my country, I left everybody, all my friends. I left my house to come here. I’m not going to do this for the rest of my life. To be in a small little room. I want to build something. And I have this vision. I really believe in it. Everybody was saying, ‘You are crazy…You can’t pay rent doing eyebrows. This is not big enough.'”

Between 1992 and 1996, she rented a small room at Juan Juan in Beverly Hills, and Anastasia, driven, focused and passionate, built an impressive clientele of movie stars and entertainers, supermodels, successful business executives and local folks, such as Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria, Naomi Campbell, Victoria Beckham and Oprah Winfrey. Since eyebrow products were limited on the market, Anastasia took a playbook page from her time in Romania, mixed together drugstore products–Vaseline, aloe vera and eye shadow–and used them in her salon.

One such client, actress Poppy Montgomery, and her agent approached Anastasia about Poppy filming in Canada for several months and requested Anastasia to provide a small traveling case of the products Anastasia used in the salon. About the same time, her clients would comment, “My eyebrows look perfect when I leave, but after I take a shower, I still have gaps. It’s not the same. I need products.”

Anastasia recognized the big opportunity to mass-produce eyebrow products. Ever resourceful, she made several stencils and filled many little containers with her formulas for the clients who could not regularly come into the salon.  The concept was revolutionary. She knew she needed to manufacture these products and capitalize on what she felt was “lightning in a bottle.” So, she hopped on a plane to Italy, the only place where cosmetics were mass-produced at that time, and began working with a manufacturer.

She also knew that the timing was right to pursue her dream of opening her own salon. By now Romania had recovered from the revolution. The government was giving back Anastasia’s home. Feeling the pull to return, she decided to visit Romania and contemplate moving back, permanently. But after one week, she knew she belonged in Beverly Hills.

“I think it was very good for me to do that because I realized that it was important to close that door,” Anastasia says of her visit to her native country, which only served to strengthen her resolve to make it here in America. “And I said to myself, ‘Okay, this is where I’m going to build a business. This is the country that will give me the opportunities.’ In Romania, I couldn’t do it.”

It was after this trip, armed with a renewed sense of resolve, that she found her own eyebrow salon in Beverly Hills, at 430 North Bedford Drive.

Shortly afterward, Anastasia would make a decision that would forever entwine her business with Beverly Hills where she knew she would make her mark. Her lawyer approached her, advising that her single name was not strong enough for her company. He suggested adding “Beverly Hills” to the brand’s name. She wholeheartedly agreed. “I felt this incredible pride to represent the city as it was my dream to be in Beverly Hills.”

Anastasia officially became “Anastasia Beverly Hills.”

At this point, her daughter Claudia was a young child, and as a single mother, Anastasia often brought her to the salon.

As a child back in Romania, Anastasia would spend time at her parents’ tailoring shop, which they operated out of the front of the family home. It was there that Anastasia received first-hand knowledge, watching her parents, and then her mother alone, interact with clients.

“My mother used to cater to the wives of leaders of the Communist Party. But even with normal people, she never made a separation. Everybody wanted to look beautiful. And she loved that.” Anastasia credits her mother with passing down this egalitarian legacy of ensuring customer satisfaction for all, a legacy Anastasia was passing down to Claudia. 

In 2000, Anastasia finally launched her first full-scale eyebrow product line. It was a resounding success with her clients. Her motto about success? “It’s 10% talent, 90% hard work. The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

She proved her “lucky” theory soon thereafter. Two executives from Nordstrom came into the salon for an eyebrow treatment after reading about her innovative approach to eyebrows in magazines. While buying her products following their appointments, they told Anastasia that they wanted her products to be sold at Nordstrom. 

Anastasia knew that going from a single, local boutique to being a part of a well-respected national department store chain with dozens of locations across the country would be transformative. But she was true to her mission. Instinctively, she felt her products would not be successful unless the employees were trained with her eyebrow products and techniques. Focused, confident and determined, Anastasia convinced the top brass at Nordstrom to invest in brow studios within their stores. 

Peggy Moore, VP of Cosmetic Merchandise Manager of Nordstrom, shares, “I was honored to be the first national merchandise manager to launch Anastasia products and services for Nordstrom stores,” she says. “In our first meeting, I remember she was genuine, and her business plan was unique. She understood the customers’ needs, the retailers’ needs, as well as how to bring it together in a profitable way. She was the hardest working vendor that I ever met, and her tireless efforts surely paid off. She was and still is the real deal.”

But training beauty consultants all over the country on how to work with the products, along with waxing and shaping, became an exhaustive process. Her hard work ethic went into full gear.

“Saturday, we’d finish at the salon at 7 in the evening. We’d take our carry-on, fly on the red eye to one city. The next day, Sunday, I would wax eyebrows all day long, and Claudia would teach the client how to use the products. Then at 7 p.m. on Sunday, we’d go to another city close by. We’d do another event on Monday in Nordstrom, and Monday night we’d fly back and arrive at midnight. We worked seven days a week. This is how we used to train the aestheticians.”

Claudia, now a college student, was by her mother’s side as always, going on these training trips and working part time, manning the front desk at the salon. Until one day, fed up with Claudia showing up to work late for the umpteenth time, Anastasia fired her. In disbelief, Claudia left the salon and looked for another job.

Anastasia claims her multi-tasking daughter was extremely efficient and talented, particularly in servicing the customers, answering phones, and facilitating credit card transactions. Still, Anastasia felt she needed to teach her daughter a lesson. A month passed. Anastasia hired several people to replace the work of Claudia. Anastasia missed her but was unwilling to beg her to come back.

“One day, Claudia came in [to the salon] and said, ‘Mom, can I borrow some money? Because after taxes, I don’t have enough money to pay my rent.’ I told her, ‘You wanted to be independent, I’m sorry. Go and get another job. I’m not going to give you the money because you need to learn.'” With that, Anastasia went back to her appointments. An hour later, Claudia was still there. Seeing her daughter’s resolve, she softened, and offered Claudia her job back but warned, “the moment you walk inside this store, I’m not your mother. And you have to work harder than everybody else. Because I’m going to be tougher on you than everybody else. I will set an example with you.”

 She joined Oprah and a multitude of celebrities, including Nelson Mandela, at the opening of Oprah’s Leadership Academy for Girls, south of Johannesburg, South Africa, in January of 2007. “That was the moment when I said, ‘This should be my mission to give back in life.  Because this is what is the ultimate happiness.'”

A female founder and CEO, Oprah Winfrey inspired Anastasia to “pay it forward.” Over the years, Anastasia has honored her commitment. She has recognized and reenergized the ongoing efforts to create positive change for women all around the world. And most importantly, Anastasia believes in the importance of education. “I think it’s important to give back, to sponsor children to go to school.”

Anastasia supported the building of a small community school in Africa for Albino children. In Los Angeles, she assists United Friends of the Children in putting foster youth through beauty school with the belief that these young people can make a living, be self-sufficient and enjoy what they do. In Romania, she has been a part of the Blue Heron Foundation for 16 years.

“When we started, there were so many orphanages in Romania with children. They didn’t have windows. They didn’t have doors. It was tragic. It was such an honor for me to partner with Blue Heron to help those kids. I could not stop crying because everybody was talking about how this organization changed their lives. Now the kids are growing. We put them in schools. I sponsor children in the university. It’s amazing.”

Blue Heron Founder and President Stefania Magidson counts Anastasia as one of the organization’s faithful supporters, calling her “an intelligent, fearless woman who built a renowned beauty empire, who has not hesitated to give back as soon as she was in a position to do so.” In fact, Magidson says that thanks to Anastasia’s generous financial support and presence in the community, she has inspired many other donors to align their philanthropic efforts with the organization. “We continue to be enormously grateful that we can always count on her support.”

Anastasia managed to juggle her philanthropic efforts while building her brand, which for years continued to grow apace. In the intervening years between 2007 to 2010, she expanded, launching a plethora of new brow products–powders, waterproof gels, crème tints, and a collection of every imaginable tool, from brow brushes to tweezers, needed to maintain arches.

In 2010, Anastasia appointed Claudia the President of Anastasia Beverly Hills after Claudia had tirelessly worked her way up the ranks at the company, mastering every aspect of the business. 

Anastasia credits Claudia for one of many invaluable contributions to the company. She led the company to Instagram in the earliest years of the platform.

Claudia shares, “2011 was when I realized that social media had power. And that’s when I started dabbling on Instagram. Finally, I got the brand onto Instagram in August 2012. And my mom didn’t really get it. But she didn’t have money for advertising and marketing, compared to all the other brands at Sephora and Ulta. So, I said, ‘You need to speak to the customers directly, and this is how you are going to do it.’ And she said, ‘Okay.'”

They began posting and encouraging special relationships with beauty product users. Claudia studied them, and the competitors, and admits she is a good “pattern reader.”

“I saw the patterns, and I thought we should make some makeup starting with the  ‘Contour Kit.'” 

This was Anastasia’s first foray into makeup. Launched in 2014, based on what had become her signature use of the Golden Ratio in supporting one’s natural bone structure, the kit presented highlights and shadows used to bring balance and proportion to the face. It also made contouring popular among all beauty lovers, not just professional makeup artists.

Anastasia Beverly Hills sold 50,000 kits in one day, leaving Anastasia and Claudia in shock and without stock for four months. They no longer needed to travel as extensively. Instead, they could post videos on social media and reach, and teach, more clients than ever.

It’s undeniable. Claudia’s visionary instinct to embrace social media has enabled Anastasia Beverly Hills to have an extraordinary social media presence.

By 2015, the Anastasia Beverly Hills Instagram feed was listed as the most followed beauty account by digital think tank L2, which ranked 106 major beauty brands based on their digital reach. 

Three years later, in 2018, CNBC published a report that the private equity firm TPG (Texas Pacific Group) had made a strategic investment in Anastasia Beverly Hills, valuing the company at $3 billion dollars. Anastasia maintained the largest ownership.

Today, there are approximately 80 brow studios inside Nordstrom stores, and the brand is carried in national retailers Sephora, Macy’s, Ulta, Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard’s, and on the biggest e-commerce outlet, Amazon.

The mother-daughter team continually pushes the brand’s expansion forward, creating and identifying room for improvement in the formulas, such as eyeshadows, liquid lipsticks, and color palettes. Claudia has led the creative team into exciting new areas like the Norvina Collection (Norvina was the name Anastasia had planned to give her daughter, after her paternal grandfather). This latest inspiration is a series that provides makeup for professionals and an exciting entry point into vivid color for all consumers. 

 “She’s smart, she’s hardworking, she is incredible. And I’m so proud of her,” says Anastasia of her daughter.

When asked about staying in front of the trends within the competitive beauty industry, she says that they strive to innovate while always engaging with their audience.

“Presently, we are working on many different ideas as we want to expand, but the ideas need to make sense. We try many formulas, technologies, and ideas evolve, but for us to go forward, we have to believe in it 100%.”

While Anastasia touts that the brand works for everyone, regardless of age, race or sexual orientation, she also makes it clear that she’s never strayed from her tried-and-true Golden Ratio methodology. 

And she admits she’s made mistakes along the way.

“I’ve made so many mistakes. People think that if you are successful, you don’t make mistakes. Of course, you do. This is how business is. You need to try, and you make mistakes and you learn, and remember never to do it again.”

When asked about her biggest achievement, Anastasia points to her daughter. “I think that I was able to give my daughter this drive and the fact that she loves what she does so much, and she has a purpose, in life together with me, is I think my biggest achievement.”

It’s interesting to note that her list doesn’t include founding her company, a homegrown, local business in Beverly Hills, now a global success, or the fact that she’s never taken on a partner.

To financially help her fund the company throughout the years, Anastasia turned to the real estate business, another passion of hers. And she’s done remarkably well, buying, redesigning, and reselling homes in Beverly Hills.  She shyly admits “for myself.” Then she clarifies, “I put everything I made back into the business. Because remember, I didn’t have any investors. I was a 100% owner.”

For Anastasia, her ambition and dedication are always paramount. She approaches her goals and works to fulfill her dreams with laser-like focus. 

 “When I came here, my goal was to be significant. To do something that is going to make me proud and would satisfy the way I am. Because I cannot be mediocre. I need to be the best in what I do. When I see the result, the final result gives me joy.”

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“Thank you for all you do for me,” Nicolas replied.

“You wear the finest clothes,” Bijan shot back. 

“I’m grateful,” responded Nicolas earnestly. 

“What are you going to do when you are 30? Huh?” Bijan pressed.

Bewildered, Nicolas asked, “Dad, did I do something wrong?” 

Bijan’s penetrating eyes meet his son’s. 

“I’m sorry for whatever I did,” said Nicolas as he watched his father disappear through the office door.

Racking his brain, Nicolas struggled to understand his father’s anger. Thursdays were Nicolas’ day off from the boutique. But this day, his classes at Pepperdine University ended early. He decided to cruise on into Beverly Hills and surprise his father. As it turned out, his father surprised him. 

Bijan returned holding a gorgeous jacket. Recognizing the garment, Nicolas sighed in relief. It’s the one they designed together in Italy six months earlier. Its price tag was half the cost of his Porsche. 

Wrestling his generous nature, Bijan wanted to give his son the very best but feared the trappings of excessiveness would impede Nicolas’ desire for growth and accomplishment. 

Bijan put the jacket on Nicolas, and they stood together, father and son, looking in the mirror, proud of their design. “It’s my gift to you,” Bijan said. They hugged. The moment was special, more than Nicolas could have imagined.

It would be the last moment Nicolas would ever share with his father.

Back home in Malibu, a few hours later, Nicolas received the call. His father had suffered a stroke and was being ambulanced to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. 

Arriving at the hospital, Nicolas was greeted by his older sisters and other family members. Bijan was rushed into surgery, but the doctors explained there was little hope. The former Mayor of Beverly Hills, Jimmy Delshad, the highest ranking Iranian elected official in the United States at that time, hugged Nicolas and looked into his eyes. “You are Bijan now. You are a man. Make us proud.”

“It was the push I needed to give me strength,” said Nicolas. Over the next several days the Beverly Hills Police Chief, along with many other family friends, visited him and his family at his father’s house in Beverly Hills. 

Bijan Pakzad never regained consciousness. The man who built the legendary House of Bijan, the most expensive boutique in the world and the one and only international sartorial design house born in Beverly Hills, passed away two days later on April 16, 2011. 

Unlike his immigrant father from Tehran, Iran, Nicolas Bijan Pakzad was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the same hospital that tried to save his father, and the same medical center his beautiful daughter came into the world.

Bijou Bijan, named in honor of her grandfather, was born this year on 2-22-22. Her welcomed birth presented beyond reason, an eerily impactful connection to Bijan’s birth of April 4, 1944 (4-4-44). Was it coincidental or a sign of Bijan’s presence, a north star in his son’s life? Nicolas believes his father is watching over him both in his personal and his professional life. 

For years, Nicolas has had a burning desire to spread his wings and fly. 

“Like my dad felt at my age, I too felt a calling to achieve my own ambitions,” says Nicolas, now 30 years old. “I didn’t want to look back 25 to 35 years from now and know that I didn’t at least try, try to build my own legacy.”

What held him back?

“In starting my own brand, I wanted to make the right decision respecting my father’s legacy, a new creative endeavor, an extension of his legacy. It’s taking his traditions, his teachings, his generosity, his principles, his perfectionism, his authenticity, all the things that drove him, and giving it a new modern interpretation.”

NB44, a new luxury brand set to launch late this year, is Nicolas’ own line of bespoke menswear that’s less buttoned-up and formal. Aimed at a more youthful, modern clientele, “It’s a new service and experience that the world craves in today’s changing times,” explains Nicolas. And the name, NB44? It’s Nicolas’ initials coupled with the number that honors his father’s birth.

Nicolas is settling into his new role as father himself. He and his wife Roxy Sowlaty, who once starred on the E! Channel series the “Rich Kids of Beverly Hills,” are enjoying this exciting new chapter as parents.

Roxy and Nicolas were friends first. Born and raised in Beverly Hills, Roxy was introduced to Nicolas by her high school pal, Rob Kardashian, and she and Nicolas began to date a few years into the friendship. Turning towards design after graduating from USC and Parsons New School of Design with a master’s degree, Roxy, today, is a talented and successful interior designer with her own firm specializing in high-end residential projects.

In Paris, on the famous Pont des Arts bridge, she happily accepted Nicolas’ surprise proposal and planned a grand wedding in Italy.
COVID-19 derailed it to an intimate, beautifully glamorous garden wedding in their backyard seen by, according to Nicolas, millions of interested viewers on social media.

While showing me through their extraordinarily designed San Ysidro Ranch style traditional home in Beverly Hills, formerly Taylor Swift’s residence, Nicolas shares, “This is all Roxy. I take no credit.” 

With a spring in his step, Nicolas leads me up the stairs to visit the nursery, a charmingly sunny, perfectly outfitted baby nest in Bijan yellow. I learn, “Yellow” was a possible name choice, but Nicolas would not hear of it. Bijou, meaning “gem” in French, is a tribute to Bijan, and the name Nicolas wanted for his daughter, though he and Roxy both affectionately call her “BB.” He leans over the crib railing and touches BB’s beautiful face. It’s clear he’s mesmerized by her cooing sounds, her delicate beauty and the miracle of her presence. 

“I’ve never loved Roxy more than I do now. And the whole process of the pregnancy and giving birth, a whole new chamber of my heart has opened up. I want 20 more kids, but I am sure Roxy would object.” 

Returning back down the stairs, Nicolas acknowledges the importance of the Beverly Hills community to him just as it was to his late father. A few weeks earlier, Dean Viana, a former Captain of the Beverly Hills Fire Department, had come by to meet Bijou and to give Roxy and Nicolas CPR training now that they’re parents. Having stayed in touch over the years, he was one of the heroes who had tried to save his father the night Bijan was rushed to the hospital 11 years earlier. 

“There is no doubt of the contributions my father has made for Beverly Hills and, likewise, the contributions Beverly Hills has made for my father’s international success. It was a great partnership.” Nicolas cites the example of the Bijan designed cars. For years the Bijan one-of-a-kind yellow Bugatti and Rolls Royce cars were, and still are, parked in front of the store on Rodeo Drive. Not only did the city allow Bijan to do this, the City Council voted unanimously to award the House of Bijan its own yellow parking meter to match its car, a spectacle that hundreds of thousands of visitors to Beverly Hills enjoy every year. 

But the parking meter and cars are just small pieces of the Bijan legacy Nicolas inherited. As a young boy, the late Bijan Pakzad admired his father, an industrialist, especially how he dressed for work. His parents sent young Bijan, one of five children, three brothers and one sister, to be educated at the exclusive Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland and in Italy. His focus was design despite his parents’ desire for him to study engineering. He opened his first boutique called the Pink Panther in the heart of a thriving Tehran. By the age of 30, Bijan knew he would never reach his goals in clothing design unless he went to America. 

“He wanted to go to Beverly Hills. There he believed he could build and achieve the American dream,” shares Nicolas.

Bijan emigrated to the United States in 1973 and, along with his 50% partner Mr. Daryoush Mahboubi-Fardi, bought a parking lot on Rodeo Drive, the site for his future store. Three years later, in 1976, they opened the newly constructed “House of Bijan” on the east side of the 400 block of what has become one of the most famous streets in the world. For almost 50 years now, the House of Bijan reigns as a premiere shopping destination of the world’s elite. 

Sitting down with Mr. Mahboubi in the Bijan offices, he provides this heartfelt description of his past business partner and best friend.

“The first impression when you met Bijan was that he was very personable. He treated everyone with respect and in return everybody treated him with respect,” Mr. Mahboubi says. “He was very passionate about everything he did in life. He had passion for family, for business, for design, for food. Everything he did, he did it with an extraordinary amount of passion. There was no filter blocking it out, or dimming the strength of his passion. And the third thing you felt about Bijan was that he was truly talented. Personality, passion combined with talent made for a very special recipe for success in this business.” 

Soon the House of Bijan was touted the most expensive store in the world. The claim went uncontested as Bijan, cloaked in courage and fortitude, obtained and sustained his vision: The finest, exclusive sartorial house of quality and design, coupled with unmatched personal service. The result was a financial windfall. 

“The proof is in his success and in the relationships he built,” says Nicolas.  

At a time when boutique owners aggressively encouraged customers to enter their stores, enticing them with marketing devices such as sales and discounts, Bijan locked his front door and said he would see customers “by appointment only.” 

His reasoning was misunderstood, Mr. Mahboubi explains. 

“The first day we wanted to open the boutique, Bijan said, ‘Dar, I have an idea. I want to make it by appointment only.’ The only business of its kind in the world that was paying huge amounts of rent on the most famous street, Rodeo Drive, was saying, my doors are locked. As though you have to qualify to be able to enter. But that message was actually 180 degrees different from what Bijan meant. What he meant to say was, ‘I respect my customers so much that when they come into my boutique, they should not be waiting or wasting their time.’ So, for example, if we have 22 staff members in the boutique when a customer walks in, all 22 members attend to one customer. No other retail operation has that kind of setup. And that is true respect for the customer and his time. And almost all of our customers are extremely important. Their time is extremely valuable.” 

The average client’s attention to shop and buy is surprisingly short. 

“We only get 20 to 30 minutes from the customer,” says Mr. Mahboubi. “In those 20 minutes, we can either sell them $20,000 or $2 million and we choose to sell them $2 million (when) they’re capable of buying $2 million. We’re capable of showing them, to their satisfaction, $2 million worth of merchandise, in their exact fit, their exact taste, their exact color palette, and their exact fabrics that they love. We specialize in this. We kept the business very small, but we kept adding to the value of each customer.”

Mr. Mahboubi claims that many designers have tried to copy what they do.

“Nobody has ever succeeded in copying what our formula is or what our recipe is. It’s very unique. For example, everybody makes a suit and everybody pays from $1,000 to $3,000 for hand stitching, cutting and sewing. But nobody pays $2,000 per yard for the fabric. So, a sports jacket that takes 3 1/2 yards to pay $6,000 to $8,000 just for the fabric is unheard of. But because we know nobody else would actually dare to do that, we do it. And we do it with very special colors.” 

By 1985, from his second boutique located in Manhattan, the New York Times reported that Bijan had amassed 15,000 customers including kings, U.S. presidents, prime ministers, iconic movie stars, superstar entertainers and influential religious leaders. “Simplicity and honesty” best describe his clothing line, Bijan said in the article. In 2002 the New York boutique closed leaving Beverly Hills its original and only flagship boutique, allowing Bijan to remain solely in his favorite City of Beverly Hills and close to his young family.

Adding fragrances to his empire, Bijan began designing and manufacturing perfume for men and women in 1988, which earned him three prestigious Fragrance Foundation Awards, including one launched in partnership with Michael Jordan in 1997. In an article in the Los Angeles Times in 2001, Bijan Perfume and his fashion business had $3.2 billion in sales. Bijan’s designed perfume bottle is featured in the permanent exhibit of the Smithsonian Institution. 

As the only son, youngest child, and heir apparent to the House of Bijan brand, the weight on Nicolas’ shoulders was incomprehensible when his father died. Just 19 years old, a sophomore in college, a part-time employee of the business, Nicolas struggled to find his footing. Days later, when he turned on his computer, he found almost 5,000 emails, condolences from people Bijan had touched. 

One such letter came from an Iranian writer, Shirin Sadeghi, assigned to write Bijan’s obituary for the Huffington Post. In it she wrote, “He dressed President Obama, the Queen of England, Ronald Reagan, the Sultan of Brunei, Prince Charles, Bill Gates and any number of others of the powerful and wealthy of this world. But more than anything he dressed the soul of so many of us young Iranians in America who felt unwelcome and unsure of where we fit in within this massive country that had so much to do with what happened and was happening in our homeland. ‘The reason for my success is because I’m Iranian,’ Bijan said once. We never doubted it, or forgot his words.”

Bijan was revolutionary, not only as a clothing designer but also as an immigrant. Instead of being ashamed of his roots, he not only was proud of it; he used it as a part of his unique style. His authenticity began with his unwillingness to conform or completely assimilate. 

The House of Bijan’s website quoted Bijan, “The world said to conform, the world said to settle for less. The world said to compromise and no one would know. So I made my own world.” 

He didn’t change his Iranian name, his accent, or his ideals of dressing when he came to Los Angeles. He didn’t focus on his disadvantages or the people who resented him because of his former nationality. 

While he communicated through the vernacular of “broken English,” the powerful meaning behind his words was always understood. Nicolas considers that his father used his broken English to give himself more latitude with making his points and to “award himself permission to speak words that might ordinarily be considered inappropriate, but with an amusing charm and naivete.”

“Not willing to conform took serious courage,” says Nicolas, the kind of courage that became Nicolas’ guiding light. He had to accept the reality of his father’s sudden death, and push forward. “It is what it is and there’s nothing I could do about it. You sink or swim,” he says. And the affirmations of his father’s legacy, through the stories in the emails, truly helped. 

Nicolas remembers his father’s words, “You must be kind to everyone you encounter. Treat everyone with respect. Be polite, gracious, with everyone you meet. Because you never know who they are, or how they may come back in your life.” 

Nicolas’ parents had first met professionally when Bijan had hired Nicolas’ mother, Tracy Hayakawa, a model, for his fragrance lines. She, along with their children, would later be featured in countless ads, billboards, commercials and magazines in tribute. Half Japanese and half Irish, the exotic beauty was “the love of his life,” Nicolas shares, even though they were divorced by the time Nicolas was a year old. “My dad was in love with my mom until the day he passed away,” a gift Nicolas is grateful for as a child of divorced parents. Their relationship remained extremely amicable throughout Nicolas’ life. 

A product of many cultures, Iranian, Japanese, and Irish, Nicolas is proud to be an Iranian American as well as a Japanese American. But growing up, he was challenged by his inability to fully communicate through language with many of his family members, especially his Iranian grandfather. Bijan brought his entire family from Iran to Newport Beach, California. Nicolas’ grandmother, who is still alive today, is full Japanese. 

When Nicolas was a toddler, his mother began a relationship with the American billionaire businessman and philanthropist, David H. Murdock. Among many positions, Murdock was the Chairman of Dole Food Company, owner of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, and later would develop the luxury Sherwood Estates and Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. His mother married Murdock a few years later, and young Nicolas was raised on the Murdock farm in Thousand Oaks. Shuffling between his weekdays on the sprawling farm and weekends in Beverly Hills with his father, Nicolas had a privileged life. Whether he was meeting royals or rulers of countries with his father, or running on pineapple plantations and christening cargo ships in Germany with his mother, there is no doubt Nicolas was exposed to the finest things life offered.

For father-son one on one time, Bijan would take Nicolas on long day trips in the car. Cars were a passion they both shared. Bijan had amassed a pristine car collection including designing multimillion-dollar cars in partnerships with Rolls-Royce and Bugatti and enjoyed sharing his love of automobiles with his impressionable young son. Often surrounded by people, this was Bijan’s way of bonding with Nicolas away from his staff. Cruising to the beach, on Sunset Boulevard, or up and down the coast, “that was our thing on Sundays,” Nicolas recalls fondly. 

“I remember the first conversation I had with my father about my future. We were driving on the 405 Freeway, about to get onto the 101 Freeway. Just me and him. I remember this; it’s engraved in my mind. He said, ‘I started my career with relatively little. Look where you’re starting. What you’re starting with. You could be as big as Ralph Lauren. You could be as big as Giorgio Armani.’ And by the way, Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani, they looked up to him. But the point is he was trying to instill in me that I cannot take for granted what he had created for me.”

This conversation did not intimidate Nicolas. Instead, it helped to mold him and make him feel confident. It also prepared him for what was to come all too soon.

“These profound discussions came from a point of this amazing love, from him to me. Losing your dad at 19, a complete shock in my life, a lot of people would ask themselves, ‘Oh my God was my dad proud of me? Did I make him proud?'”

Nicolas has no doubts.  

“Every day he was telling me how proud he was. It gave me a sense of ‘surety.’ I was very disciplined by him. He would be tough and hard on me, but he would always show so much love. And even after he would yell at me as parents yell at their children when they deserve it, because God knows I deserved it, he would embrace me after. I knew I just had to sit there and let him discipline me. And then after, he would make an appearance in my bedroom or wherever I was and try to spend quality time with me.”

Growing up with his mom and stepdad during the week and his father on the weekend gave Nicolas, he believes, the right balance. He just had to make sure to call his father every single day. 

“That was the rule, no matter what. You have to imagine, me being away from my father during the week was tough for him. I’m sure he felt like he was losing me. If I broke that rule and didn’t call him one day, I was scared to call him the next day. When I finally did, he’d ask why I didn’t call. Then he’d hang up on me. And I’d call him back or I’d be in more trouble. I know now, it was a lesson. I had to be present in my father’s life.”

While walking through Nicolas’ beautiful home during our interview, he points to a photo in his home office of his mother holding him as a baby and offers proudly, “Bijou is identical to her.” 

Nicolas has always been close with his mother. He describes her as a “very strong, powerful woman. She had to be to have been married to such incredible and powerful figures with her children. She’s my biggest supporter, my bodyguard, my protector.” 

Behind his desk, he leads me to personal letters, many from dignitaries including U.S. Presidents Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama, and Trump and says, “I’m hoping for President Biden, too.” All contain the recurring theme of gratitude to Nicolas for helping them look good. There are also several signed photos of Muhammad Ali with whom Nicolas was very close to as well as a red glove signed by the two biggest boxers in the world, Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alverez. He explains, “They’re rivals as big as Ali and Frazer. They fight each other but they came together to sign this glove for me.”

On his desk sits a little leather sign, “It can be done.” It was his stepfather’s, and he shares, “I believe Mayor Lili Bosse has one on her desk, too.” He smiles, “I’m in good company.”  

Recently Nicolas celebrated his stepfather’s 99th birthday. Even after Nicolas’ mother and Murdock divorced when Nicolas was a teenager, Nicolas still credits him for instilling life’s values and teaching foundational lessons. 

“Mr. Murdock really did guide me from a boy to a man. And even after my father passed away, he was still guiding me from a boy to a man,” Nicolas says with reverence.

Nicolas’ mother shares, “David gifted little Nicolas his first car at 10 years old, a small two-seater truck to drive around the farm, a stick shift no less. I would often come home to find little Nicolas not studying with his tutor, but out driving the tutor around the ranch giving guided tours. It was something else to drive with him. He always enjoyed the company of adults and could relate with them as no kid could. Adults also always gravitated to young Nicolas; I believe they could see the ‘uniqueness’ and enjoyed his company.”

She goes on to explain how close Nicolas and his father were at the end of his life and how Bijan groomed him to take the reins. But, she adds, “At 19 Nicolas needed more time with him. The irony is that had Bijan not passed, Nicolas would not have had the opportunity and obligation to step into those very large shoes which he has done with such grace, dedication and love. He had to grow up very fast suddenly and navigate some very complicated matters and relationships; it was heartbreaking. But as Nicolas does, he won over hearts and proved himself and has grown into an extraordinary businessman in his own right. It is uncanny sometimes when Nicolas will do or say something exactly the way his father would have said or done or even ‘reacted’ to as a man now. Something Nicolas could not have learned from Bijan. It is almost as if Bijan himself is inside of Nicolas… Forget that Nicolas is the spitting image of his father down to his toes quite literally,” she laughs.

As a child, Nicolas loved hanging out on the farm with the horses, chickens and the cows, riding dirt bikes, driving his truck and going to school in Calabasas. He wanted nothing to do with clothing design or fashion.

“To be honest, if I was my father, I would have been a bit panicked,” Nicolas chuckles. 

But when girls came into the picture, the landscape changed. 

Nicolas remembers realizing, “this sartorial, handmade, beautiful clothing made in Italy, business, fancy cars, and all of these celebrities like Michael Jordan and the Presidents… I don’t care if the other option in my life was becoming the president of the World Bank, I’d say no.” Laughing assuredly, “I’m good with fashion.”

At 13 Nicolas knew he was “taking over the business.” He told his father, “I’m going to tell you how to do it!” But it wasn’t until Bijan was gone that Nicolas realized what a creative and authentic visionary his father was. 

“My father questioned conventional wisdom with respect to retail. He rejected or disrupted the status quo. He built the most expensive, most exclusive, highest quality men’s brand in the world and then told people they couldn’t have it. It was genius.” 

At the House of Bijan, exclusivity is critical. Most items are labeled and numbered like fine art. Usually only one or two pieces are made of the same design. Bijan would explain that his discernable client is intelligent and wants to feel as if he is wearing something unique and made just for him. Bijan firmly believed the cost of each garment had to reflect its production.

He also mastered the art of understanding and servicing the customer. 

“When somebody walked in to meet my father for the first time, he would say, ‘Who is this person that is in front of me?'” recalls Nicolas. “‘Is he conservative? Is he confident? Does he want to be perceived a certain way? But in reality, he’s not that way?’ Clothes speak very loudly or the presentation of somebody speaks very loudly. And even if they say, ‘I don’t care about clothes.’ That also says something. When you dress somebody, you have to understand who they are. You have to be able to understand what they want, even if they can’t tell you. My father did this so well.” 

Nicolas learned the art of customer service from his father. He shares that when he was 27, he met the “biggest retailer in the world, who also happened to be the richest man in the world.” He complimented Nicolas saying, “Customers rule, and you live it.” This is a motto for Nicolas’ new business. 

Customers did rule for Bijan, but he didn’t shy away from challenging societal conventions. As a disruptor, controversy surrounded some of his ad campaigns. Nicolas calls it his “provocative positive” style. The promotions had purpose. “They were not reckless, like some of the campaigns today,” he says. An example was Bijan’s ads in 2000 that featured a nude rotund model named Bella. Bijan defended the ads saying they paid homage to painters, Peter Paul Rubens, Henri Matisse and Fernando Botero, some of whom are in his own collection. “I embrace the beauty of all women,” Bijan said. The backlash turned to acceptance when Tina B

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As part of her Business with Bosse initiative, Mayor Lili Bosse visited the Flour Shop on June 9 inviting the community to sample their sweet treats. Flour Shop, which opened on South Santa Monica Blvd. in August of 2020, is known for their colorful desserts and signature Explosion Cake that explodes with rainbow sprinkles when cut. Attendees posed with Bosse in front of the shops floor-to-ceiling painted rainbow, received a free cake ball and a Flour Shop discount code to use at a future date.

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“I think the purpose of any public commission is to do what it can to advance the public good,” said out-going Vice Chair Thomas Hudnut. “I believe that in moving this project forward we are advancing the greater good of Beverly Hills. We will be bringing to the city a beautiful artifact, really.”

The luxury hotel from the French conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) is proposed for the corner of Rodeo Drive and South Santa Monica Boulevard. The spot stretches across four parcels of land: the former Brooks Brothers building, Celine Rodeo Drive, the former Paley Center for Media and the property at 449 N. Beverly Drive. In addition to a 115-room boutique hotel, Cheval Blanc will include LVMH retail establishments, a private club, and high-end dining venues.

The project was designed by award winning architect Peter Marino, a Rodeo Drive mainstay who designed stores for Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi.

LVMH already has a considerable presence in the city. The luxury products group owns or leases 19 properties in the city, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Rimowa, Bulgari, Loro Piana, Hublot, Berluti and Sephora. Most recently, in 2021, the group acquired Tiffany & Co.

“We are very pleased by the Planning Commission’s unanimous approval of Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills following careful consideration and valuable feedback,” a LVMH representative told the Courier in a statement. “We now look forward to the next step in the City’s transparent and inclusive public review process, and to working closely with all stakeholders to deliver an exceptional new landmark and economic driver in the heart of the Golden Triangle.”

The project would stand at nine stories on the Beverly Drive side, stepping down to four stories on the Rodeo Drive side. As such, the city would have to grant an exception to existing height limits – a prospect that has rankled some residents, who worry that the height would compromise the “village” character of Beverly Hills.

Acknowledging the uniqueness of the project, Commissioner Peter Ostroff said, “It’s not every day that we’re going to approve a nine-story building, but it’s not every day that we have a proposal like this that offers so many benefits – at least, what I perceive to be benefits – to the community.”

Ostroff addressed the question of the proposal’s height, saying that the commission did not overlook “the fact that it’s a tall building.” But, he said, “the benefits, in my view, outweigh whatever perceived detriments there may be from that.”

The Planning Commission previously expressed concerns about the traffic impacts of the hotel and its amenities, including how the proposed motor court off of South Santa Monica Boulevard could lead to backups and ensnare traffic. In response to the concerns, retail shoppers and club members can no longer use the motor court.

Additionally, one of the hotel’s restaurants will no longer be open to the public, which would further lower the number of patrons using the motor court. The revised plans also call for halving the amount of space for the spa.

That, along with other modifications, earned the support of the commissioners.

Prominent Rodeo Drive real estate developer and business owner Dar Mahboubi spoke approvingly of the proposed luxury development.

“After 47 years of hard work, we can finally claim that Rodeo Drive is the number one most desired location by all international luxury brands,” he said. “This is a gift that we, the people of Beverly Hills, should accept with a grateful heart. LVMH Cheval Blanc as owners of title are merely acting as trustees for the residents of our beautiful city. In the big picture, the true beneficiaries of these investments are the residents of Beverly Hills for generations to come.”

A representative of Unite Here Local 11 Workers Union, which represents thousands of hotels and service workers across Los Angeles and Orange County, including hundreds in Beverly Hills, criticized the proposal. Speaking on behalf of the union, Danielle Wilson said the project was “over twice the height” allowed by current zoning laws. She condemned the project for not addressing a lack of affordable housing while increasing the number of service workers who will commute into the city.

Planning Commission Chair Andy Licht said the city would be “very lucky” to host the first Cheval Blanc hotel in the United States. Currently, Cheval Blanc hotels are located in the French Alps, the Maldives, the French West Indies, the French Riviera and Paris.

At its regular meeting earlier in the day, the Planning Commission reversed itself on previous support for an expansion to Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy, an orthodox Jewish school located on Olympic Boulevard between Oakhurst Drive and South Doheny Drive.

The school is seeking to renovate and expand existing structures and add a new building with a gymnasium, classrooms, and a rooftop game court. Hillel wants to expand the number of students allowed at the school. Commissioners have repeatedly raised concerns over traffic issues related to pick up and drop off at the school, which neighbors say causes heavy congestion in the area.

The Planning Commission issued preliminary approval for the project on April 28, but on May 26, instead of voting to approve the project, commissioners expressed new reservations about the expansion and requested number of students. The school will return to the Planning Commission on June 23 with revised enrollment numbers and a traffic and parking plan.

Lastly, the commission voted on a resolution placing stringent limits on the private club and co-working space Spring Place after allegations of repeated violations. Representatives for Spring Place will return to the Planning Commission in a year for a review of their compliance with the new provisions, which limit the capacity of the club’s rooftop to 30 people. 

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“For me, this actually exceeded my wildest dreams,” Bosse told the Courier. “It’s the first time after two very challenging years, that we as a community can finally come together again. We can smile together again, touch one another together and just celebrate each other and celebrate what we love the most about our community, which is that it feels like an extended family. Tonight felt that way. Tonight felt like coming home again.”

The relatively new eatery opened on Feb. 15 at 235 N. Canon Drive, occupying the two-story old Bouchon space at Beverly Canon Gardens, which closed in 2017. The restaurant comes from Tommy Salvatore, formerly the manager at Craig’s in West Hollywood, and the kitchen is helmed by Executive Chef Vartan Abgaryan. According to Salvatore, Tommy’s was “thrilled” to be the first participating business. 

“This is another outstanding event that Mayor Bosse is doing to bring the community together,” Beverly Hills Fire Department Chief Greg Barton told the Courier. “It really shows off what the city has, what the restaurants are, and what’s available.” 

“It was a wonderful community event,” Arts and Culture Commissioner Karla Gordy Bristol told the Courier.

“Just being able to look around and see faces that I used to see and meet new residents that have moved here over the last two years, and this is their first face-to-face experience with Beverly Hills,” Bosse told the Courier. “It’s a way to really showcase our incredible businesses and for the businesses to really experience what the Beverly Hills way is, which is an extended family. It’s welcoming, it’s loving, and you just felt this vibrancy and electricity tonight. So, the best is yet to come because this is the first, and it just feels magnetic.”

The next Business with Bossee events will be held on May 19 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Chaumont Bakery and on May 23 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Alfred Coffee Beverly Hills. Special offering details are expected to be announced soon.

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The 2022 Father’s Day car show will invite auto enthusiasts to participate, driving a planned route that begins at City Hall and concludes on Rodeo Drive, giving fans the chance to see the vehicles both in motion and up close. At its April 12 Study Session, the Beverly Hills City Council heard plans for the event from the President of the Rodeo Drive Committee, Kathy Gohari, and approved a total associated budget request in an amount not to exceed $228,970. Since its inception, the Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance has been among the biggest automotive events in the world, drawing in as many as 46,000 people each year. From American muscle cars to pre-war collectibles and winning race cars, some of the most exquisite vehicles ever made by Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ferrari, McLaren, Bentley and more will be on display. 

“Having the combination of a car rally in conjunction with the stationary exhibition on Rodeo Drive, residents and visitors are in for an exciting Father’s Day celebration,” Gohari told the Courier. “As we are heading into the summer months, and hosting the annual Father’s Day event, with outmost caution for safety, this tradition is an excellent way to come together again.”

The Concours event is curated and supported by founder Bruce Meyer, a longtime Beverly Hills resident, founding chairman of the Petersen Automotive Museum and prominent collector of classic cars. “We’ve traditionally done a car show on Rodeo Drive,” Meyer said at the council meeting. “Then over COVID we did a parade last year, which I thought was quite successful. So, this year, we’re going to do the best of the best, do the parade and the car show.” 

The daylong event will be confined to the city, beginning in front of City Hall on Crescent Drive with a parade of 50 curated cars and drivers who will be cheered on as they set out to follow the proposed route, ending on Rodeo Drive. Another 50 cars will be staged concours-style on Rodeo Drive for the public to enjoy close-up before being joined by vehicles from the tour. “We’ve really taken out all the stops,” Meyer added. Last year, the tour included vehicles like the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, 1960 Maserati Typo 61 Birdcage, 1957 Dual Ghia Convertible and the only 1970 Lancia Stratos Zero. 

“I love the fact that we have made this a hybrid,” Mayor Lili Bosse said. “I love the fact that there’s going to be the tour in Beverly Hills and the car show on Rodeo. I think people are so excited to have it back. So, I’m going to be a predictor, and I’m going to tell you it’s going to be the best one yet. And there’ll be people who will love both and do both.”

Video monitors will be installed throughout enhancing the experience and ensuring that attendees know what vehicles are positioned where, giving everyone a chance to enjoy all the event has to offer. Organizers will work with the Chamber of Commerce and the Beverly Hills Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) to map out restaurants in the city on the monitors to help people find a bite during the car show. “We’re going to get people to really enjoy our restaurants and really enjoy our city,” Bosse said. 

Luxury auto dealership O’Gara Coach will return this year as the event’s main sponsor, displaying some of their most rare historic vehicles. According to coordinators, additional sponsorships will be secured, including from other local brands. 

The Council also approved the following street closures required for the event: Crescent Drive from S. Santa Monica Boulevard to N. Santa Monica Boulevard on June 19 from 7 to 11 a.m.; Rodeo Drive from Wilshire Boulevard to S. Santa Monica Boulevard on June 18 from 9 p.m. to June 19 at 10 p.m.; Dayton Way from Rodeo Drive to the alleyways on either side from June 18 at 9 p.m. to June 19 at 10 p.m.; and Brighton Way from Rodeo Drive to the alleyways on either side from June 18 at 9 p.m. to June 19 at 10 p.m.

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The Warner Estate, named for its first and principal occupant, Warner Bros. co-founder and film impresario Jack L. Warner, currently consists of a two-story residence, a two-story guest house, a two story gym and staff house, a pool house, a swimming pool and a tennis court. The recently approved permits allow for construction of a new pool house, a retaining wall, and the conversion of a crawl space to a powder room.

“I was absolutely astonished by the beauty of this project and the property, and I know it will be maintained in a fashion that it deserves to be maintained,” said Commissioner Peter Ostroff .

Warner first developed the property at 1801 Angelo Drive in 1927. Nearly 10 years later, his second wife Ann Page tore down the original Spanish Colonial Revival manse Warner had built and commissioned a twostory Neoclassical structure with elements of Regency Revival Style from Beverly Hills Master Architect Roland E. Coate, Sr., who also designed All Saints Episcopal Church on Camden Drive.

The massive 9.7-acre property sits along the western border of the city on the north side of Angelo Drive, west of Benedict Canyon Drive. Warner started with just 3 acres in 1927, piecing together surrounding land over the years–a trend seemingly continued by Bezos, who purchased an adjacent property in July 2021 for $10 million.

Warner died in 1978 and Ann continued to live there until her own death in 1990. That same year, music mogul David Geffen purchased the home for $47.5 million, a record at the time, and then embarked on an extensive series of renovations and major alterations to the estate. Bezos, the latest power player to call 1801 Angelo home, shelled over a whopping $165 million to Geffen in 2020, setting a watermark for highest real estate transaction in California at the time.

The property has come before the Planning Commission for permits twice before in 1995 and 2014 seeking to go beyond the 15,000 square feet allowed by-right in the city. It currently has a floor area of nearly 29,000 square feet. A 1985 survey identified the Warner Estate as a potential historic resource, subjecting it to protections by the state for the purpose of preserving historic buildings.

The permits mark the first proposed changes to the property since Bezos moved in.  

Despite the large-scale changes made by Geffin, a report on the property determined that it “retains sufficient integrity to convey its historic association with Jack L. Warner, and the main residence retains sufficient integrity to convey its historic Neoclassical style architecture deigned by master architect Roland E. Coate.”

In his book “The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills,” real estate agent Jeff Hyland opined about the residence, “No studio czar’s residence, before or since, has ever surpassed in size, grandeur, or sheer glamour the Jack Warner Estate on Angelo Drive in Benedict Canyon.”

The commission declined to allow construction parking along Angelo Drive, citing the ample space for parking on the property itself.

The commission next voted to recommend the City Council adopt the Safety Element, a state-mandated document that lays out plans and goals to keep the city and its residents safe in case of disaster. The Safety Element is a chapter of the city’s General Plan and is updated following updates to the city’s Housing Element. The city’s current Safety Element was adopted in 2010.

“As required by state law, this document has been updated to include information on topics such as climate change and hazards such as urban fires, floods and landslides,” said Associate City Planner Chloe Chen.

The Safety Element will next appear before the City Council for adoption at a later date. 

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According to Rite Aid employees, the company notified staff on March 7 that its doors will be closing on March 21. 

“We expect Rite Aid may sublease or work to negotiate an early termination of the lease,” the city’s Chief Communications Officer Keith Sterling told the Courier. “In either case, we expect Rite Aid to pay the full rent due under the lease. In anticipation of the vacancy, we will take steps to begin marketing the space.”

According to Sterling, the city was ready to begin preliminary talks to renew the lease with Rite Aid on Bedford. 

“Like all retail businesses, we regularly review each of our locations to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers, communities and overall business,” the company said in a statement. “During our December Q3 earnings call, we announced that we would be closing 63 stores across the U.S. approximately 2 percent of our total locations. A decision to close a store is one we take very seriously, and those decisions are based on a variety of factors that retail businesses consider such as overarching business strategy, lease and rent considerations, local business conditions and viability, and store performance. We review every neighborhood to assure our customers will have access to health services, be it at Rite Aid or a nearby pharmacy.” 

While the Bedford location will no longer exist, Rite Aid is encouraging customers to transfer their prescriptions to the nearby Canon Drive location. As stated by Rite Aid, the company provided associates at this location with other job opportunities at nearby pharmacy locations.  

“Rite Aid has been an excellent tenant at this location for more than 30 years and we are disappointed to hear about the closure,” Sterling said. 

Nearby boutique pharmacy Mickey Fine is hoping to take on customers left without their drug store of choice. “If you are not a Mickey Fine customer already, please consider breaking free from the chain drug stores and joining us as Rite Aid on Bedford is closing this week,” read a March 14 email. 

In response to the announced closure, community members remember the chain drug store fondly. In a March 16 Instagram post, Vice Mayor Lili Bosse remembers the drug store as “a staple in our hometown. We all felt sad when we heard that corporate was closing 63 locations and Bedford is one of them starting March 21. I will always remember running in for greeting cards, candy (yes candy), and just whatever I needed.”

“This is a big loss to the community,” resident Anthony Ferrara told the Courier. “That pharmacy was a good alternative to the Rite Aid on Canon, which is always busy and chaotic. The one on Bedford also provided a good shopping resource, almost like a convenience store, to residents and employees of all the offices and businesses in area.” 

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But more than three years later, the Board and the public had yet to hear from the committee. That was, until March 4, when the three members of the CCAC presented an update on district construction projects at a study session on offering a mostly positive take on the controversial and expensive efforts. Board members expressed frustration with the committee, saying that a group tasked with transparency had operated with anything but.

“Even this committee being here tonight and giving us a presentation now after years, from what I understand, is further evidence of the fact that we have not had the proper accountability and governance on this construction program,” said Board member Gabriel Halimi.

“Just by the fact that we’re having this conversation tonight, and all of a sudden, all this information is being thrown at us, it’s just further showing us that we have a problem on our hands,” he said.

The committee itself has a mostly symbolic role in the construction process. Only one committee, the Citizen Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC), is required by law. The CBOC has been meeting since 2009.

But the tension on display in the meeting has grown out of concerns over the management of hundreds of millions of dollars in voter-approved bonds for school improvement projects. At an October study session, it was revealed that the program was running a $129 million shortfall.

In 2008, voters passed Measure E, allowing the district to issue $334 million in bonds. Another bond measure, Measure BH, passed in 2018, authorizing the district to issue another $385 million in bonds. Together, the bonds provide funding for modernization, seismic retrofits, new buildings, and improved security.

But even as voters debated and ultimately passed Measure BH, some began to express doubt in the handling of the funds. Then-Vice Mayor John Mirisch opined against Measure BH in a 2017 blog post on his campaign website, arguing that the School Board had failed to deliver results with the Measure E funding.

“We should not be giving this District another dime until BHUSD can right the ship; until it can prove it deserves our trust to spend an additional $400 million on top of the $344 million from Measure E; until it provides our kids with the kind of education they deserve; and until it stops breaking promises to parents and voters,” Mirisch wrote.

In part to address some of the concerns regarding oversight of the construction projects, in May 2018, weeks before Measure BH would pass, the Board approved the formation of the CCAC.

The idea for the committee was proposed by Don Blake, the owner of the company overseeing the bond programs, Team Concept Development Services (TCDS). 

He said that he had used a similar model in his work at another school district. CCAC would offer support “to complete construction projects on time, within budget, and at minimum risk,” Blake said.

As laid out by Blake, members of the committee would be selected by himself and Superintendent Dr. Michael Bregy. Both Blake and Bregy would also advise the committee, which would meet monthly and release quarterly reports to the Board.  

While Measure E already required the district to have an oversight body, the CCAC, Blake made clear that his proposal would serve more of a communications function, relaying information to the public.  

“This is a group of people that can communicate how we actually do this,” Blake said.

Former Board member Howard Goldstein, who expressed support for the proposal, praised Blake in 2018 for opening himself up to oversight.

“I think that speaks volumes for you, quite frankly,” said Goldstein, who now serves on the committee.

Over the three years since its formation, CCAC has not released any report to the Board. Additionally, critics have pointed out that the committee does not hold public meetings, nor has it released minutes or documents from its meetings. 

March 4 was the first time the Board heard from CCAC. Although the committee was originally envisioned with five to six members, only three sit on it currently, including Goldstein, Jason Rund, and Ted Fentin.

Bregy explained the lack of quarterly reports, saying that the committee did not have “information to share to the Board” up until March 4.

“But it has been an active committee,” he said. CCAC has met 22 times since its inception, according to its March 4 presentation. 

Pointing to the completion of two buildings on the Beverly Hills High School campus, B1 and B2, Fentin said that the bond management program was working. Members of the committee touted that buildings B1 and B2 had come in on time and under budget, with savings of $9 million.

“In my opinion, we are on the right course, albeit with bumps in the road. I’m in the construction development business, we all are facing them. But our bond management and our building program is working. It ain’t broke, so as the saying goes, I don’t think we need to fix it,” said Fentin.

Fentin also presented a new “midrange” estimate of the program’s cost overruns, previously reported at $129 million in October but now put at $69 million. The update was received with skepticism by certain board members and came with the caveat that it included $20 million in state funding that had not yet been applied for. Without that, the revised figure sits at $89 million.

“Regardless of which shortfall amount you consider correct, $89 million or $129 million (both are speculative), the fact is that the modernization program is delayed and short the funds necessary to complete the projects promised in Measure BH,” said Board President Mary Wells in a statement to the Courier.

Pam Johnson, Program Manager for TCDS, said that both the $129 million and $69 million estimates are correct.

“The 129 million is [the] worst case scenario if you bid the projects in 2024. The CCAC’s numbers are presuming that you go ahead right now,” Johnson said, attributing the difference to rising construction costs.

Board member Noah Margo defended the committee against accusations of poor transparency, asking his fellow board members what they “feel is not being transparent.”

“I don’t feel like I’m ever getting duped. I don’t feel like I’m fooling the community,” Margo said. The confusion on the subject, he said, stemmed from the sheer quantity of material and information to process.

“We clearly have an issue with transparency and accountability when it comes to our bond construction program making it difficult to evaluate and ensure that we have received the best value for our taxpayer dollars,” Wells told the Courier. 

According to Wells, the Board is in the process of reviewing the program and its stewardship under TCDS and intends on issuing a request for new potential managers.   

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Thank you to those who have already sent us your special stories, including Rabbi Harry Roth, who celebrated his 98th birthday on Feb. 11. 

Have you celebrated an engagement, wedding, big anniversary or major birthday lately? Perhaps there is a new baby in the family, or you are you planning a bar mitzvah this year.

Consider this as a place to post your family’s own milestones and memories to let the entire community share in your excitement.

We have gone through such a long period of curtailed (and canceled) celebrations. 

Now as life is slowly returning to normal, we are eager to hear about the events that are special to you.

Please send your high-resolution images (at least 300 dpi) plus a write-up of no more than 150 words to editorial@bhcourier.com. Include a caption listing the people in your photographs. 

Make sure to write Milestones and Memories in the subject line and provide a phone number where we can reach you.

We look forward to hearing from you and making the Milestones and Memories section one of the first places you turn to in the Courier. 

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A statement posted by the firm on social media Thursday said, “We are devastated to announce the passing of our Co-Founder and President, Jeff Hyland, on Wednesday, February 16th.”

The same statement contained a message from lifelong partner Lori Hyland:

“As some of you may have known, Jeff has been privately battling cancer for the last year. I am thankful to all of you for sharing your wishes and prayers during Jeff’s illness. Your support and kindness have touched me deeply and I know you mourn with me now.”

Hilton & Hyland Co-Founder and Chairman Rick Hilton also paid tribute to his partner in the statement. 

“Thirty years ago, Jeff and I started on this journey. Throughout, a great partnership and a deep friendship were forged, and Hilton & Hyland emerged as a force in the industry.

“Jeff was a legend.  His knowledge about real estate and architecture was unparalleled.”

Born in the Little Holmby area of West L.A., Hyland’s career included stints at Coldwell Banker and Mike Silverman and Associates. He was a founding partner of the firm Alvarez, Hyland and Young before founding Hilton & Hyland with Hilton in 1993. The firm bills itself as the top producing single office brokerage in the world. 

Hyland’s own listings on properties such as The Manor and Chartwell made headlines for record-breaking sales ($119.75 and $150 million, respectively). He also distinguished himself as an architectural historian and published author on the subject of the great estates of Beverly Hills. 

Linda May, Estates Director of Linda May Properties at Hilton & Hyland, described Hyland as one of her dearest friends and colleagues for almost 40 years. 

“He created the top luxury real estate brokerage in our city and was so highly admired for his knowledge and passion for real estate. He was the author of ‘The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills,’ which is the ‘bible’ of trophy properties in our city. His community leadership in the City of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles was outstanding.  He was part of the great evolution of professionalism in our industry. Jeff was loved by all and will be greatly missed,” said May. 

Hyland was known and admired as a mentor whose protégés went on to find fame in television reality shows or in launching high-profile firms of their own. 

“Jeff Hyland was the Godfather of Beverly Hills real estate. He’s a legend and a pillar in the Real Estate industry. The entire community is going to miss his encyclopedic mind, knowledge of each and every home, who lived there, the architecture, style and what the actual homes and estates embodied.

“I don’t know a single person in the industry that was as active and involved in the politics, building, zoning and safety. He truly cared about the city. Jeff Hyland was a mentor to so many and a father figure to even more. It’s a very sad and tremendous loss to our community,” said Rayni Williams, CEO and agent, The Beverly Hills Estates.

Scores of social media posts lauded Hyland as a legend, a gentleman and a true class act. 

Beverly Hills Vice Mayor Lili Bosse was the first to post a tribute in response to the announcement of Hyland’s death. 

“Jeff was an incredible human being,” wrote Bosse. “So kind, giving, a true visionary and beloved by our community. He was a true friend of Beverly Hills and a true, supportive, loving friend to me. I am forever grateful to him for being the man of integrity and love he was. I will carry him with me with so much love and gratitude in my heart always.” 

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Lenga was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1927, where he and his family were restricted to a ghetto in a suburb of Strykow for the first two years of World War II. Later moved to the Lodz ghetto and separated from his family, Lenga was sent to Auschwitz and then to a labor camp in Bavaria after the ghetto was liquidated in 1944. Along with a few other captives, Lenga managed to escape and remained in hiding throughout southern Germany until they were liberated by American troops in May of 1945.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, recognized by the United Nations, commemorates the tragedy of the Holocaust and signifies the day that Auschwitz was liberated. 

Included in the commemoration is a presentation with 3D modeler and mapping expert, Pavel Belsky, to discuss the layout and function of Auschwitz from the eyes of a cartographer. Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Southwest Region Dr. Hillel Newman and Lenga will also speak.

To learn more and register, visit https://holocaustmuseumla.org/event-details/international-holocaust-remembrance-day-1.

To learn more and register for David Lenga’s talk, visit https://holocaustmuseumla.org/event-details/holocaust-survivor-talk-david-lenga-1. 

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Leasing activity reported by the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce shows that the city remains a sought-after destination for business owners. Dozens of new shops and restaurants have opened in the city this year, with at least 20 more set to debut in 2022. Additionally, hotels such as The Maybourne Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hilton are continuing to invest in their spaces with luxurious renovations planned for next year.

“Businesses were up significantly over 2019,” Chamber President and CEO Todd Johnson told the Courier. “There were not very many that I talked to that were worse off. I think the industry that took the hardest hit is: one, the restaurant world, and two, the hotels.” On Dec. 28, Lawry’s The Prime Rib on La Cienega Boulevard announced the restaurant would be temporarily closed for dining-in due to “unforeseen challenges and staffing issues related to the pandemic in recent weeks.” The announcement came shortly after Lawry’s canceled the Lawry’s Beef Bowl, an annual tradition in which the Rose Bowl teams are invited to dine at the Beverly Hills restaurant. Lawry’s is still fulfilling to-go orders.

“Our business is good, it’s not off the charts, but if we had a stronger quarter one of this year, we would be beating 2019,” Duke Hagenburger, the General Manager of menswear store ISAIA Beverly Hills, told the Courier. “We’ve been here for six and a half years, and we had a phenomenal 2019. And then, like everyone else, we had a tough time in 2020. We’ve seen it build back up, starting in the spring and going through summer, into the fall and the holiday.”

Located at 9527 Brighton Way, Hagenburger attributes some of the store’s stability to its highly localized clientele. “We’re not relying on people to come into town to buy from us,” he said. “It’s a relationship-based business.” Known for Italian hand-made menswear, ISAIA offers a tailormade Neapolitan shopping experience. 

“We are fortunate, as a family business, to not have production issues,” Hagenburger said. “Yes, it’s a little slower and our deliveries are later than normal, but not ridiculous. With omicron, I think we’ll have a little bit of fluidity in the first month or two of 2022, but the customer is definitely back in and they’re ready.”

Last year, Tara Riceberg, owner of Tesoro Beverly Hills, worried about not having customers in her shop. This year, she worried about not having enough product. “Thankfully I was able to order from various sources to fill my shelves with beautiful and purposeful objects,” Riceberg told the Courier. “I think I had a strong holiday season because the city provided valet parking on Canon and I kept the store open on Friday and Saturday for late night shopping.”

With fewer street meters to make room for outdoor dining parklets, Riceberg was concerned that her store would suffer due to the lack of street parking. Soon after she voiced these concerns to the city’s Small Business Assistance Task Force, “my loading zone meters were removed and the valet was there,” she said.

With the omicron surge, Riceberg is anticipating a dip in sales. She plans to strengthen online and curbside pick-up again. “At the end of the day, the health of my team and customers is my priority.” She added, “I’m really proud of the city’s efforts to help small business survive and thrive during these challenging times.”

The city’s efforts in these challenging times have definitely paid off, if the roster of new businesses is any indication. Openings expected in 2022 include Jon and Vinny’s (454 N. Bedford Drive), Breadblok (260 N. Beverly Drive), Jeni’s Ice Cream (445 N. Beverly Drive), Beverly Bar (434 N. Camden Drive), Full Proof Pizza (371 S. Doheny Drive), Lorenzo California (9529 S. Santa Monica Blvd.), My Thai Thing (9632 S. Santa Monica Blvd.), Maple & Ash (235 N. Beverly Drive), Erewhon Market (233 S. Beverly Drive), Philz Coffee (233 S. Beverly Drive), Tommy’s (235 N. Canon Drive), Great Art Space (9465 S. Santa Monica Blvd.), The Shade Store (9565 S. Santa Monica Blvd.), Velverie (9737 S. Santa Monica Blvd.), Sweetgreen (245 N. Beverly Drive), ASRV (340 N. Beverly Drive), Sotheby’s Auction House (350 N. Camden Drive), Maddox Gallery (425 N. Canon Drive), All’Antico Vinaio (9523 S. Santa Monica Blvd.) and Shake Shack (9601 S. Santa Monica Blvd.). 

“I think it’s pretty encouraging, to be honest,” Johnson told the Courier. “Other cities are really struggling, and our spaces are getting filled up. I think the brand, and the fact that you’re able to work in Beverly Hills or have a business is still very alluring to people. When I talk to the other Chamber presidents, they tell me that things are kind of tough.”

Additional reporting by Samuel Braslow 

The post With Brisk Holiday Business, the Future Looks Bright in Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

From Tesora to Tiffany and TASCHEN, this is where to find the perfect last-minute gifts for your host or hostess in Beverly Hills.

It’s been dubbed the city’s best gift shop – and with good reason. Tesoro means ‘treasure’ in Spanish and Italian and that is exactly what you will find here – a treasure trove of unique items for every age group. Owner Tara Riceberg has curated a celebration of function and beauty in her small shop next door to Umberto on Canon Drive. The diverse bounty ranges from ANNA New York gilded crystal agate serving platters to Ron Robinson’s Apothia line, eucalyptus shower tables and almond foot balm.

Yet some of her go-to favorites for hostess gifts are Christian Lacroix stationary or a puzzle. “Maybe I’ve never been to your house, and I don’t know if you are vegan or drink,” she told the Courier. “These are amazing gifts for a 90-year-old to a 30-year- old.” For a kitchen favorite, she recommends the Gastro Obscura with salt from Sweden. “You hand grate the salt and pepper over the food. This is for someone who lives North of Sunset,” she added. Riceberg also recommended something unique for unwinding: Lavender dryer sachets. “You pop your PJs in the dryer with these before bed and the scent aids sleep. It’s $20, and great for a girlfriend.”

Every gift over $20 can be packaged in hand-painted custom gift-wrapping paper on request. “It elevates the gift-giving experience,” she said. “All hostess gifts are pre-wrapped for grab and go.” And, you can’t beat the valet parking right in front during this hectic last-minute shopping season.

We know that Gearys is a local staple for high-quality gifting and you can find lovely candles and diffusers past the jewelry cases, but for something with a little more flair, look no further than the Georg Jensen collection. This brand is loaded with sleek and stylish hostess gift ideas, such as stainless steel Champagne stoppers for $39, a fancy deck of cards in a silver case, $59, and simple photo frames starting at $69. Another great gift find upstairs at Gearys is a Baccarat Biseau Budvase for $170, which would look lovely in any home.

For great gifts for your host or hostess to enjoy after the party, The Beverly Hills Hotel carries branded sleep masks, pillowcases, coffee mugs and PJ’s with a pink and white stripe. This is also a gift for friends and family that you might be traveling to visit around the holidays. Who wouldn’t want to receive a little piece of Beverly Hills that you can only get from the famed “Pink Palace.” Prices start at just $36.

If you know the person you are visiting is planning a trip soon themselves, head to Scandia on Beverly Drive for a Down Travel Attache?. This gift looks like a pillow but unfolds into a plush, throw-sized comforter filled with European white down and finished in a cotton sateen that’s available in seven colors for $270 each. The brand also offers Scandia Home 100% cashmere blankets and throws produced in one of Italy’s finest family-operated mills. Each is beautifully gift-boxed ranging from $598- $1,785. Hand towels for the powder room are also a wonderful gift idea, and Scandia carries an array of 100% linen versions with hand embroidery for $48 each.

If you know your host or hostess likes to use name cards for dinner guests, Paper Source on Brighton Way is the place to find packages of up to 50 in all the popular colors for $7.95. They also stock Sugarfina candy cubes with gummy bears from rose to Champagne flavors for $9.95 and small votive candles including the popular Roland Pine, which also make great table setting gifts. You can also go whimsical and bring a small stocking stuffed with holiday sunglasses adorned with antlers or trees, along with novelty ornaments that have the likeness of RBG (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) to Betty White for $22.95.

Conceived by celebrated French designer Philippe Starck, TASCHEN in Beverly Hills is the store’s first outpost in the U.S. It continues to thrill with showstopping coffee table books. Current bestselling tomes include

“Portrait of a City,” a tribute to Los Angeles with photos going back to the 1800s; “The James Bond Archives” – a historic look at all the films – or the Pucci book wrapped in vintage fabric. And, depending on your hosts’ interests, there are books on everything from fine arts to architecture and sneakers to car collecting. A standout is “The Library of Esoterica, which covers the history of witchcraft, and before you give this one the side-eye, the store manager told us they can’t keep it on the shelves. Prices range from $40 to $250 and up.

Although they are known for jewelry and trinkets, tried and true Tiffany gifts include the Elsa Peretti Bone candlesticks and cake plate ($3,000 and $500, respectively). New this year are simple, yet elegant crystal ornaments that evoke a tree or bell shape for $375 per set, along with Modern Bamboo single old-fashioned glasses for a whiskey on the rocks by the fire.

One of the perennial holiday joys is browsing through the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog for over-the-top purchases, but you can also pick-up a few last-minute hostess gifts at the Wilshire Boulevard store. Best- sellers included the Jonathan Adler Botanist Backgammon game ($395), which is exclusive to the store; Versace Kitchen Apron ($395); a Jo Malone Dining Candles Collection, $70 for a set of four; or Nest Fragrances Holiday Classic Candle & Diffuser sets start at just $7.

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Gucci

If the friend you’re gifting is a serious foodie, the newly Michelin-starred Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura Beverly Hills, has partnered with one of the pastry world’s most distinguished and creative minds, Roy Shvartzapel, to create two limited-edition Panettone for the Holiday Season. Both sweetened breads (one with orange and gianduja, the other with candied orange and raisin) are packed in a beautiful limited-edition collectible tin designed by Gucci. (It is available at the store for $150 each.)

Like everyone in business during the past few years, Christian Navarro at Wally’s was searching for new products due to logistical issues. “We are always looking for unique high-quality products,” he told the Courier. Or, in some cases, it’s best just to go back to a tried-and-true old favorite.” 

To that end, Navarro has rediscovered and recommends Henriot Champagne, which has been around for 100 years and is a great quality bottle for a fair price (NV Henriot Blanc De Blancs Brut, $70). For a new rosé, the Lady A hits the top of the mark this season with a label designed by Damian Hirst for $20 a bottle. “It’s the best, least expensive you will find,” said Navaro. Finally, for red wine drinkers, no holiday table is complete without a Pinot Noir from Oregon such as the Nicholas J. for $60.

First Light is a small New Zealand company that produces some of the world’s best grass-fed Wagyu cattle. This environmentally conscious cooperative of family farmers is responsible for naturally marbled beef with Omega 3’s that is Certified Humane, Halal and sustainably raised with zero antibiotics, hormones or GMOs. This beef is also served at mat? on South Beverly Drive and can be ordered individually via Thrive Market starting at $8.99, but you might want to look into the meat lover’s box for $209.99, or check out steakclub.firstlight.farm for monthly deliveries. 

For a sumptuous gift basket, Eataly at the Westfeld in Century City has an array of condiment baskets for any cook or Italian food lover. Two great finds for bringing to your host or hostess include The Truffle Feast gift box ($299) with 12 styles of truffles from pasta to pistachio chocolates or the Taste of Natale box ($134.91) with a highly sought-after Tartuflanghe (black truffle sauce). 

Another top spot for holiday hostess baskets is The Cheese store on Beverly Drive. They also have a rare and limited Vacherin mont d’ore gooey cheese that is sold in a self-contained wooded round box for $55. This special fromage from France is only available seasonally. This is also the time of year to buy white truffles from Alba, which start at $400 per ounce. The store has them available, and you can even buy one fresh truffle and place it in a festive small box. In addition, they are the main retailer in Beverly Hills for Chocolates from Coco Suisse, priced from $6 to $20.  

Gourmet food distributor La Megara, specializes in a variety of food and home wholesale products made from the finest quality ingredients imported from Tunisia and the Mediterranean. The best-sellers include organic olive oil ($11.99 for 750ml), sardine tins, jars with harissa or tapenade, plus you can also order a set of their 3 small olive wood bows, salad hands or cutting boards to go with the gift starting at just $10. These are all finished with wax for a longer lifetime and treated with olive oil. You can order online at lamegara.com or if you are a local, please call 310-887-7044 to arrange for a pick-up at the Canon Drive office.  

Celebrity favorite for special occasion cakes, Sweet Lady Jane, opened on South Beverly Drive over the summer. Known widely for the triple berry cake, the “Beverly” cake was created specifically for the 90210-location. This confection is a yellow butter cake with layers of chocolate mousse and vanilla cream, frosted in chocolate ganache and covered in a chocolate glaze with delicate flowers and leaves of 24-carat gold leaf. The six-inch is sold for $60, eight-inch for $80. They also have an assortment of Hanukkah and Christmas cookies and other specialty holiday cakes that would be a welcome treat.

For coffee aficionados, long-time favorite European spot, ORO Caffé on Santa Monica Boulevard is under new management. They are currently selling Columbine ground coffee from Africa ($7.95 per 200 grams). Or, drip coffee from Costa Rica, Columbia, Brazil and Ethiopia by Mondo. The medium roast, 100 percent Arabica coffee is creatively packaged in 10 individual servings per box with its own pop-up filter that you can place in a cup and just add water ($14.99), which makes a great gift for home or even the office.  

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“I think [COVID] is probably the most devastating thing that could’ve happened to the local economy, if not the world, that we’ve all seen in many of our lifetimes, and hopefully it’s the last thing in our lifetimes,” said Johnson.

In the U.S. about 164,000 businesses closed in the first seven months of the pandemic, according to Yelp.com data. California fared the worst at nearly 40,000 closures, half of which were permanent. 

Locally, the City of Beverly Hills reported that its top revenue generating industries were down a combined 18% during the pandemic. These include property tax, sales tax, hotel tax and business tax.

 Johnson said the Chamber’s first goal is to simply recognize fully vaccinated companies by announcing them on their website and in their newsletter. The Chamber’s hope is that the list will give customers an added sense of safety when visiting the businesses and help drive renewed vitality in the local economy.

“It’s not browbeating anyone that’s not 100%, all we’re doing is saying, ‘Hey congratulations, you’re 100% vaccinated,'” said Johnson. “We’re just trying to take a topic that’s obviously very political and just find the good in it by applauding businesses who are fully vaccinated, and then we’ll continue to acknowledge businesses that reach that as time goes on.”

Thus far, the “fully vaccinated” list includes O’Gara Coach Company, Runyan Capital and the Chamber’s own offices. The Chamber defines 100% vaccination as “all employees are fully vaccinated or have a medical or religious exemption.” Fully vaccinated businesses in the city are encouraged to reach out to the Chamber to be listed.

“Runyan Capital is an office of five that interacts with clients face-to-face frequently, so I encouraged everyone on our team to get vaccinated at their earliest opportunity,” the firm’s founder and owner Jeff Runyan told the Courier. “From my perspective, we help our clients with managing their wealth and the safety of their investment portfolio. So for us to do our part to protect ourselves and protect our clients’ health, it only made sense to be vaccinated.”

In Los Angeles County, about 74% of people 12 years or older are now fully vaccinated,  according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More than 67% of eligible California residents are fully vaccinated. The U.S. is still seeing high COVID-19 hospitalization rates for children ages 5 to 11, according to the CDC, which is now encouraging vaccinations for that age group.

“I’m a member of the Chamber and the Beverly Hills Rotary Club, and a longtime goal of Rotary International has been to rid the world of polio,” said Runyan. “They have worked tirelessly for nearly four decades to achieve this. So, if Rotary International can contribute to accomplish a worldwide goal through vaccinations and vaccinations contribute to the safety of our community, our city–ultimately our county and the world–it wasn’t about me making a choice at all.”

In Beverly Hills, about 25 new businesses have opened or signed deals in 2021 to open soon, according to Chamber staff. Johnson said Beverly Hills businesses may have fared better than their counterparts in many neighboring cities during the pandemic but there is still a need to push economic recovery forward.

“There’s a lot of good things happening in Beverly Hills,” said Johnson. “We have to get past all this stuff and we will as a city. It’s going to be much brighter down the road but we have some tough things to get through.” 

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“My goal is to mentor and prepare new and dynamic leaders that will guide the street forward creatively, providing businesses with opportunities to network, share resources and explore innovative ways to expand in a safe, healthy and responsible way,” said Gohari. “Maor, Kiersten, Kay and Mark bring a wealth of retail, hospitality and business acumen to respond to changes in retail, shape exciting new experiences and propel Rodeo Drive into the future.” 

Established in 1977 by Fred Hayman, the RDC helps enable Rodeo Drive to thrive and advance as a leader in luxury. At the time, Hayman was chairman of the association and president of Giorgio, the iconic Rodeo Drive boutique. One of the committee’s goals was originally “to promote Rodeo Drive as America’s answer to the glamour of Rome’s Via Condotti, London’s New Bond Street and Paris’s Faubourg St-Honoré,” and included a campaign to attract national and international attention to Rodeo Drive. 

With international travel restrictions lifting next month and the holidays quickly approaching, occupancy rates are on the rise. The season will kick off officially on Nov. 18 with the annual Rodeo Drive Holiday Lighting celebration and performances for all along the length of the street.

The infamous three-block stretch is home to more than 100 of the world’s leading luxury brands in boutiques designed by architects and designers including David Chipperfield, Rem Koolhaas and Frank Lloyd Wright. In addition, the Michelin-starred Gucci Osteria di Massimo Bottura is also on Rodeo, bookended by two of the top hotels in the world, The Beverly Hills Hotel and The Beverly Wilshire. The street has seen ongoing development with new flagships, pop ups, and relocations recently for Baby Dior, Brioni, Chanel, MCM, Moncler and Ferrari.

Additionally, plans are underway for the highly anticipated LVMH Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills hotel, designed by architect Peter Marino.  

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Reminiscent of a Louis Vuitton workshop, one stage features a selection of the Maison’s trunks in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes, exotic leather goods, and made-to-order collectibles from the brand’s games and home collection. Another stage is designed as a Parisian apartment decorated in a monochrome palette, where gowns worn by Hollywood starlets are on view beside one-of-a-kind leather handbags, recherché watches and fine jewelry displayed in LV trunks. A third stage evokes a beautiful seascape with a beach set up, displaying an orange surfboard designed by multimedia artist, Alex Israel, featuring three custom-made fins. Next to a lifeguard house, a picnic on the beach displays a monogrammed trunk with neatly housed flatware and cutlery that serves four. Modular furniture pieces designed in new colorways by Damien Langlois-Meurinne and Tokujin Yoshioka made their North America debut in the space, juxtaposed next to hard-sided trunks throughout. 

Wearable pieces are dispersed throughout the space, as well, including classic bag styles for men and women such as Capucines, Keepalls, and Sac Plats that have been reimagined in unique finishes and colors. Select pieces from the new Louis Vuitton x Fornasetti collection are also displayed in the Savoir Faire Universe and available to purchase. 

To learn more, visit www.louisvuitton.com. 

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As part of the Chamber’s Work Plan contract with the city, the shop local program will be rebranded from the existing “My Beverly Hills” branding to “Now Beverly Hills.” At its Aug. 31 Chamber of Commerce Committee Liaison meeting, City Council Liaisons Mayor Robert Wunderlich and Vice Mayor Lili Bosse provided feedback and approved a rebrand design concept presented by Symblaze, a full-service digital agency contracted for the task. Reinvented as Now Beverly Hills, the new design features the word “Now” inside the city’s iconic shield, with Beverly Hills appearing underneath the shield, in orange, pink, and turquoise color variants. 

The new logo will be used for new street pole banner designs, social media assets, website branding and more. Having garnered support and suggestions from council liaisons, Symblaze will develop additional campaign designs to present for final approval from the City Council at its Sept. 14 Study Session. With funding already incorporated into the city’s contract with the Chamber, the launch of the rebranded Shop Local program is expected to proceed in October 2021. 

“For Beverly Hills, that shield shape is very powerful,” Josh Morgerman, co-founder of Symblaze, said. “People all over the LA Metro area and beyond, they know that shield as a Beverly Hills thing.”

Last year, the program encouraged people to patronize local restaurants by running an outdoor dining campaign, featuring businesses that were participating in the City’s OpenBH program. During the 2020 holiday season, the “My Beverly Hills” program launched a “Shop Local, Get Local” campaign where locals who shopped at retailers in the city could use their receipts to be entered into weekly contests, raffling gift cards to local restaurants. The shop local program is complimentary to partake in, with over 4,000 email subscribers and steady attendance at mixers. 

“I think Beverly Hills now can speak to a resident and encourage me, as a resident, to shop and dine in the Beverly Hills of the now, what is currently here,” Vice Mayor Lili Bosse said. “I feel that it also makes people who don’t live in our city, who were coming to visit either as tourists or if they live in West Hollywood or Westwood, they know what we have now.”

“I was thinking that the symbolism of it would be that it’s uniting something different and preserving something that’s the same,” Mayor Robert Wunderlich said of incorporating the Beverly Hills shield into the rebranding.

“It’s the recognizable iconic figure,” Bosse said. “Everybody knows that’s our shield, but you know what, this is us now.”

To learn more about the shop local program, visit http://www.mybeverlyhills.net/.   

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In years past, the lighting ceremony has attracted crowds of more than 10,000 people. Currently, gatherings of that size are classified by Public Health as mega events, and require all attendees to wear a face mask, regardless of vaccination status. To help accommodate these guidelines, the Rodeo Drive Committee (RDC) will be handing out custom branded face coverings with a clear center. 

“Our goal is to make it feel like one big party that’s just extended, so you don’t really feel like you’re missing anything,” Kathy Gohari, president of the Rodeo Drive Committee, said. The event will require an overnight street closure of Rodeo Drive from Wilshire Boulevard to South Santa Monica Boulevard, a portion of Brighton Way and Dayton Way. In addition, the RDC has proposed to have an enhanced audio system and playlist for the five weekends between November 18 and Christmas Eve. 

“I think our goal is we want a wonderful holiday lighting evening,” Bosse said. “But the goal is to have a vibrant holiday experience from that day through the holidays.” As planning moves forward, Bosse hopes to confirm that retailers along Rodeo Drive intend to remain open later during the holiday season. Gohari noted that the RDC is asking merchants to extend business hours for three nights: Nov. 18, 19, and 20. 

“We are asking the brands to put their money where their mouth is,” Gohari said. “So, we really want a partnership from everybody.”

She added that many of stores are already very much vested in the holiday programming, and plan to have small cocktail parties kept within their sidewalks and stores. 

“We have reached out to many of these merchants and we’re asking anybody who has a rooftop to create their own installation to create their own moments of VIP rooftops, and to add to the celebration by creating different levels that they can invite guests to,” Gohari said. 

The RDC is requested funds totaling $529,776 for the holiday lighting celebration, and an additional $11,500 to fund the citywide holiday music. The holiday lighting celebration is funded by the Tourism and Marketing budget, funds that have already been approved by the City Council.  

Rodeo Drive Holiday Lighting Set for Nov. 18 appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The city’s total office market vacancy rate was 16.8% for April, May, and June of 2021, almost double the 9.1% it was a year earlier, according to a report from commercial real estate analysts Costar provided by the city. Commercial rents are down 15% in the Business Triangle, Prime Properties Real Estate President Sep Melamed estimates, and the eviction moratorium has allowed many small businesses to go over a year without paying any rent. 

But a number of city policies, coupled with the enduring allure of the Beverly Hills brand, has meant that demand for available commercial spaces is starting to outweigh supply. Promisingly, the Business Triangle expects to be fully occupied by the end of 2021, according to Houman Mahboubi, Jones Lang LaSalle Los Angeles Executive Vice President. 

Mahboubi appeared more optimistic than wary when he gave a report at the Aug. 19 Property Owners Task Force Committee meeting, which was attended by Beverly Hills City Council Liaisons Julian Gold and Lester Friedman. Mahboubi even argued that in some respects, commercial real estate is in a better position than it was pre-pandemic, especially on North Beverly Drive, where half of the vacancies have been filled.

“The activity has been at an all-time high in terms of inquiries, surveys, interest and deals getting done,” he said, citing the presence of a number of new brands and restaurants like Maple & Ash steakhouse, Guess, and salad chain Sweetgreen. By all accounts, the Golden Triangle is living up to its name.

“Generally speaking, if you look at each area of the Triangle, whether it’s Rodeo Drive, which by the end of this year will have no vacancies, or Brighton Way, which is making a return, Little Santa Monica, South Beverly Drive, Wilshire – there’s so much activity on so many levels, whether it’s lifestyle, fashion brands, fitness, restaurants, food, a lot of service, wellness and art galleries have made a huge comeback,” Mahboubi said, claiming that Beverly Hills is “by the far the most in-demand on many levels.” 

“Some of the major brands have seen exponential increases, and that has resulted in their corporate offices seeking spaces – much bigger spaces,” said Kathy Gohari, president of the Rodeo Drive Committee, noting the proliferation of creative pop-ups she has seen in the Triangle. “They’re spending money any way they can on the street with activations, with any kind of extra activity that could promote more business that they’re already getting. Certain businesses who are not as lucky with extra business are still coming up with different marketing – they’re contacting us to help them come up with new ideas.” 

For this surprising turnaround, Mahboubi credits OpenBH, a city program allowing businesses to expand into the public areas without paying Special Event Permit fees that has been extended until the end of 2021. He also praised the 2020 Mixed Use Ordinance, an amendment to the city’s General Plan that allows for mixed residential and commercial development in designated zones. 

“Everyone is so excited about developments, expansion, and really being open to creative and innovative new ideas,” he said. “The city has outlined mixed use, the Purple Line is coming forth, One Beverly Hills, there is so much happening. Also on Wilshire a lot of mixed-used projects are moving forward, including more office space that’s being built … it’s a very comprehensive, healthy situation.”

Dar Mahboubi, owner of the House of Bijan and developer of the Rodeo Collection, also credited the city’s tougher stances on crime and homelessness. “The relative success of our city in terms of not having too much visible homelessness, camps and sidewalk benches and parks getting occupied by homeless people, which prospective tenants, especially the Europeans I’ve been talking to, seem to value that aspect of Beverly Hills,” he said. 

The situation is a bit less golden outside the Triangle, especially for office space, according to Prime Properties President Sep Melamed. “We were having the activity pick up, but with the Delta variant, it’s slowed a lot of activity in the city,” he said. “A lot of businesses still have 25 to 50% of their workforce still working from home. Usually June, July, and August tend to be the slowest leasing months, but it was picking up March, April, May, but it slowed down again.” 

According to CoStar, office rents in Beverly Hills Q2 are averaging $5.69 per square foot, down from $5.87 in Q2 of 2020, and $5.74 in Q2 of 2019. Melamed told the Courier that office rates in the Triangle are averaging $4.50 to $6 per square foot, and $3-4 outside the Triangle. 

Melamed said that sales are inching up again and expects a better fall season, but it would be premature to make any definite pronouncements before the end of Quarter 3, especially given the Delta variant. “Retail is rebounding, but on the office side people are a little bit more careful,” he told the Courier, noting that many firms are considering permanently downsizing in favor of expanded telecommuting options.

 While Mahboubi said that Beverly Hills was outperforming its neighbors in terms of retail and restaurant space, Melamed said that most of the new office space is being leased in Century City skyscrapers. “Century City has seen enormous increases in rents, mainly because they have large blocks of spaces, and a lot of the financial companies and law firms are expanding at a very large rate,” he said. “A lot of tenants would love to be in Beverly Hills, but our biggest challenge is that there’s not a lot of large, contiguous space with great views. There’s a lot of great buildings, and as Houman brought up, there’s a couple new developments on Wilshire that are really helping.” 

Melamed said that the fastest growing office space in the city are high-end medical offices, which he credits to a November 2020 urgency ordinance that removed several major restrictions to opening medical space, with the idea of filling vacancies with newly-critical medical expertise. The ordinance, which is set to expire in October unless the Council votes to renew it, has resulted in 16 requests to convert existing office space into medical space, according to a city staff report. Six have been completed, resulting in 9,860 square feet of new medical floor area, while 10 requests, totaling 34,600 square feet, are still pending. 

Prior to the ordinance, medical offices constituted 20% of the city’s commercial building spaces, and the ordinance has led to a roughly 3% increase, according to the staff report. According to Melamed, medical rates average $5.50 per square foot outside the Triangle and $7 per square foot within the Triangle. 

To remain competitive, many landlords have used vacancies to renovate, according to Melamed. Sam Hakim, president at S2 Squared Properties, suggested expanding the newly-passed Rooftop Dining Ordinance beyond the Business Triangle, and investing in South Beverly Drive as a potential new commercial hub. Councilmember Lester Friedman noted that after over 30 years, he is moving his law practices from the Triangle to South Beverly Drive.

In light of OpenBH parklet taking up parking spaces, Hakim also advocated the city investing in valet services. 

“In the past you had some valet assist stations throughout the city. Another option is, can the city subsidize maybe in a tax form with landlords to offer valet to the public to help people get into these businesses that are now open,” Hakim asked. 

Todd Johnson, President and CEO of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, also endorsed the medical rule modifications and the possibility of easing parking restrictions. “The Chamber is excited about all the leasing activity in Beverly Hills which is a strong sign that our economy is doing well and that Beverly Hills continues to be a big draw for new companies,” Johnson “Johnson told the Courier in an email. “The Chamber appreciates the actions taken by the City during the pandemic to support businesses and continuing its current work, including evaluating lower parking requirements, modifying medical office rules and attracting new businesses.”

Gohari recommended landlords keep their vacant storefronts as clean as possible, and put signs in the windows to advertise upcoming businesses, just like new tenant Ferrari has done. Meanwhile, the Next Beverly Hills Committee has teamed up with the Arts & Culture and Human Relations Commissions on the Visions of the Future project, which is enlisting local artists to create pop-up installations on vacant storefront windows downtown. 

Without that, people may get the impression things are worse than they really are, Gohari said. “The tourists, the people who are walking down the street, they have no idea what our plans are for the future,” she said, pointing to a picture of a sign from Ferrari saying “We are working on something special for you.”

 “They just see empty lots, and they see some spaces where there’s leftover furniture and dust bunnies.” 

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Hernandez has spent her life in clothing. Her parents, who migrated from El Salvador, worked in garment factories producing items for Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. She began designing clothes herself at a young age, attending the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) before working at brands like Seven7 and Lane Bryant. At 24, she founded GLAUDI, named after her mother, Gladis (in attendance at the show).

Hernandez has been involved in fashion shows her whole life, but she realized that the affairs would not be the same after the pandemic. No more indoor catwalks with throngs of fans, press, and celebrities crowding close together. But she was also put off by the virtual alternatives some brands opted for.

“I feel like fashion shows are made to see in person, because you have to look at the clothes, you have to send a message through how you present your collection,” Hernandez told the Courier.

But as the pandemic progressed, Hernandez noted how different forms of live entertainment innovated to keep audiences safe. For her show, she drew inspiration from drive-thru movies and shows where she “could bring my mom, my cousins, and we just go in one car.”

Hernandez wanted the show to do more than just celebrate her designs–she wanted to celebrate the idea of celebration itself after more than a year of canceled plans, delayed reunions, and virtual parties. “This whole fashion show was inspired to celebrate family and to inspire people to celebrate again,” she said.

After six months of planning and a few postponements, she felt the show went better than she could have anticipated. “It was magical,” she said.

The show set up small stages down Brighton Way, where models wearing GLAUDI stood, sat, and in one instance, swung. The Beverly Hills Police Department closed off the street from Rodeo to North Camden Drive, allowing crowds to mingle, gawk at the clothing, and enjoy crepes and cotton candy. But when the main event began, organizers cleared the street to allow permitted cars through to peer out onto the beaming, waving models. After all the cars had passed, Brighton turned into a block party deejayed by one of GLAUDI’s own models, Esther Anaya, who played along with the music on her electric violin. The models represented a range of sizes, shapes, and ages, in line with GLAUDI’s mission of inclusivity.

Others agreed with Johana’s assessment, including Mayor Robert Wunderlich, who attended the show. “What Johana brings to her clothing is imagination,” he told the Courier. “You can see it in what she’s doing tonight. What an imaginative way to celebrate her imaginative designs.”

“It’s a great use of public space to be able to liven up the city.”

Vice Mayor Lili Bosse, who advocated for nightlife in Beverly Hills through her Beverly Hills Open Later Days (BOLD) initiative and also went to the show, said the event represented the future of the city.

“What Johana has done is so out of the box, so visionary, truly creative, and really represents what Beverly Hills is made of,” she told the Courier. “During COVID, there were some blessings. It forced us to think creatively and I believe that this model that she has created for us today is a wonderful jumping off point for other businesses and our community to keep reimagining our city.”

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Now that nomination proceedings can begin, Director of Community Development Ryan Gohlich will complete a preliminary evaluation by July 28. The Cultural Heritage Commission will meet before Aug. 27 to conduct a preliminary hearing on whether to make a formal recommendation to the City Council, who will then make the final decision whether to place the home on the list. 

If accepted, the property will be the first home in Trousdale Estates to join a venerable list of 43 properties that include Beverly Hills City Hall, the Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Greystone Mansion, and Beverly Gardens Park.

“I can’t say enough about how much I feel this house needs to be on our Registry of Historic Places, so I would like to move forward with the nomination proceedings – I’m totally on board with this in all aspects of the house: the architect, the meaning behind Paul Trousdale picking this specific place to put his house, the landscaping, everything meets the criteria for me,” Commissioner Jill Collins said during a short deliberation.

The three-bedroom, seven-bathroom property was designed in 1959 by John Elgin Woolf, an architect included on the City of Beverly Hills List of Master Architects. Woolf typified the mid-century decor of the Hollywood Golden Age known as “Hollywood Regency”– defined by bold colors, shapes, metals, and glasses– and designed the homes of a veritable who’s-who of 1950s and 60s Hollywood A-listers. Two other Woolf properties – the Vance residence at 805 Hillcrest Road and the Pendleton-Evans Resident at 1033 Woodland Drive – are already designated as city landmarks.

Woolf designed 1010 Hillcrest Road for real estate developer Paul W. Trousdale, known for purchasing the undeveloped hillside land that now constitutes the eponymous Trousdale Estates from Lucy Smith Doheny Battson, daughter-in-law of Edward Doheny, for $400,000 (approximately $4 million in today’s money) in 1955. Trousdale converted the former Doheny Ranch into an estimated 544 single-family residential lots over 14 subdivided tracts. According to a city staff report, this became one of the last major land additions to Beverly Hills. Trousdale chose the lot he believed had the best views and lived there with his wife Jean for 30 years until his death in 1990.

To qualify for the Registry, a building must meet several criteria listed in the 2012 Beverly Hills Historic Preservation Ordinance. Criteria are split into Section A, and Section B. A building must fulfill all the criteria in Section A and at least one criterion from Section B to be considered. Upon preliminary assessment, staff have determined that 1010 Hillcrest Road could qualify because it fulfills all the A criteria: It is at least 45 years old; “possesses a high artistic or aesthetic value and embodies the distinctive characteristics of an architectural style”; “retains substantial integrity from its period of significance” and has “continued historic value to the community.” 

It may fulfill a criterion in Section B – an “exceptional work by a Master Architect,” because the property has appeared in a spread in Architectural Digest and the book “Trousdale Estates: Midcentury to Modern in Beverly Hills” by Stephen Price. It could also be considered “an exceptional property that was owned and occupied by a person of great local prominence,” especially since Trousdale built over 25,000 homes in Southern California.

Cultural Heritage Commission Chair Craig Corman recommended 1010 Hillcrest Road for nomination because the property is currently listed by Hilton & Hyland for $23.5 million (it was listed in July 2020 for $32 million, according to the Los Angeles Times), and he worried that a new owner would tear it down. “This is the kind of property that attracts people who redevelop,” Corman told the Courier. “Given the parameters of the property, we were concerned someone might want to buy it and eliminate the potential historic resource…if someone wants to buy it, we decided to take the bull by the horns.” 

According to Corman, the Commission nominated one of Woolf’s other properties, the Pendleton-Evans residence on 1033 Woodland Drive, for similar reasons.

If the nomination is successful, certain renovations can still take place, despite the common perception that historical homes suddenly become untouchable. Homeowners of designated landmarks are allowed to conduct “ordinary maintenance and repair” that would not normally require a permit without any sort of permission. If homeowners wish to conduct any new construction or remodeling, they must apply for a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Department of Community Development. The Department will grant a Certificate of Appropriateness if it determines that the work “does not involve a change of design, material, appearance, or visibility of the character defining features of a designated landmark or property within a historic district.” (Beverly Hills does not have any historic districts, according to Corman.) 

If the Certificate of Appropriateness is denied, homeowners may apply to the Commission for a “Certificate of Economic Hardship” arguing that it must alter the property in order to avoid “undue economic hardship.” 

The Commission rarely initiates nomination proceedings on its own: recommendations usually come from the owners. In the case of 1010 Hillcrest Road, it is unclear whether the property’s current owner is aware of the nomination process, though Gohlich told the Commission that he left a voicemail for the property’s listing agents, and the Courier is awaiting their email reply.

If the Community Development Department makes a final determination that the home fulfills one of the criteria in Section B, the nomination process can proceed without the owner’s approval, as long as the owner receives all pertinent documents. If the nomination process is able to proceed and be approved, the home will still be subject to all historic building regulations, regardless of owner feedback.

Still, the Commission tries to involve property owners as much as possible, Corman told the Courier, and is willing to do a lot to accommodate their wishes. The Commission has never designated a building without the owner’s cooperation, Corman said.  

“We didn’t necessarily need the participation of the owner to designate, but we always prefer to have the owner’s participation,” he said, pointing to negotiations made to buy a neighboring building during the designation process of the former Kate Mantilini diner building on Wilshire. “And that’s a good example of yes, we’re willing to have discussions. If the owner is willing to go forward, if they get some concessions in other areas, we listen and try to accommodate them.” 

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Euro Caffe makes no secret of its love of soccer (or, rather, football), with team photos, signed jerseys, and other sports memorabilia adorning every inch (or, rather, centimeter) of its walls. Ever since the cafe’s start on South Santa Monica Boulevard in 2002, it has made itself a haven for fans of the global sport.

“It just happened that we had the TV on and people started coming and watching the soccer games and it became a soccer club,” Myda Kemanjian, who runs the cafe along with her husband Vartan, told the Courier.

Many of the observers that day had been coming to Euro Caffe for years to watch games. One of the regulars, Giacomo, works nearby at Celine. He’s from Italy and explained, “The Italian population is around 17 million. Right now, they all think they can do better than the coach and players.”

When asked the meaning of the unhappy exclamations following a missed shot, Giacomo hesitated. “Strong words,” he offered diplomatically.    

But in a tense overtime, Italy scored two goals on Austria, eliciting a surge of cheers from the crowd and pushing the team into the quarterfinals. Italy will face the top ranked team from Belgium in a highly anticipated match up on Friday, July 2. Space at Euro Caffe is limited and reserved for customers on a first-come-first-serve basis. 

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The Planning Commission renewed the establishment’s conditional use permit and extended hours permit. Under the permits, Above SIXTY can operate until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, and until 12 a.m. on other nights. The lounge can host up to 12 events per year that last until 2 a.m. on nights other than Friday and Saturday. Above SIXTY is permitted to have a maximum occupancy of 165 people, excluding staff.

The Planning Commission first considered the renewals at its May 27 hearing, where numerous neighbors spoke out about noise concerns. The hotel was the subject of six noise complaints between April 2017 to May 2021, five of which were related to Above SIXTY. In that same period, the Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD) substantiated nine calls for noise complaints during the extended hours period.

In one instance in February 2018, a resident sent footage to Code Enforcement Officers in which music could be heard beyond the hotel’s property. After multiple requests for help to BHPD in 2019, the City Prosecutor issued a letter to the hotel management and property owner, eventually resolving the matter “without further action,” according to a report compiled by city staff.

For the June 23 hearing, staff came up with three additional conditions to address potential noise spillover. In six months, the hotel must hire an acoustical engineer to analyze the sound on the rooftop and provide possible additional steps to turn the volume down. Within the next three months, the city will pop by Above SIXTY to monitor the operation for compliance with conditions and adherence to appropriate noise levels. Lastly, SIXTY must post additional signage around the lounge and in the alley to notify guests of the abutting residences.

The permits will come up for renewal again in April 2022–a time frame that allayed Commissioner Myra Demeter’s concerns. “I am able to make the findings if we keep it at this level, and let’s see how they perform for the next 10 months,” Demeter said.

Jason Pomeranc, founder and owner of SIXTY Hotels, attributed the problems in the past to an “operational control issue.”

“I’m happy to have an acoustical engineer come back to reassert his recommendations and take periodic readings from different locations as to what the decibel levels should be or are. I don’t think there’s a magic bullet to this except control of the actual operation.”

“I am not a fan of amplified music of any type in a residential area like this is, or residential transition area,” said Chair Peter Ostroff. “But I recognize that things have been different for the last 15 months or so and I also am a believer in second chances.”

Ostroff agreed with Pomeranc’s assessment of the situation as an operational issue. “But that’s on you,” he said. The next 10 months “is plenty of time to see if we can clean up our act.”

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However, retailers throughout the city are increasingly worried about security. “I would say the one thing that I have noticed a little bit more than before COVID is just a little bit of a safety and security issue,” Sabaa Kamal, owner of Kamal Beverly Hills boutique on Bedford Drive, said during the meeting. “I’ve noticed a lot more homeless people kind of wandering into the store…I have gotten more calls from the sales associate on the floor worried about homeless people coming in and picking up some rings off the shelf and walking out with them. This was not as big of an issue before.”

Kamal’s store offers a curated selection of clothing, bridal gowns, jewelry, and accessories meant for formal events in a highly personalized, luxury environment. “I think a lot of people that had put off weddings and special occasions, are now finally going on those vacations,” Kamal said regarding an uptick in sales seen recently. Kamal noted that she moved to Los Angeles specifically to open her store in Beverly Hills. “It’s a luxury statement in of itself, and so I think that’s why I was drawn to the Beverly Hills location… I think we’ve had clients that place orders just to be able to say, ‘oh I got this from Beverly Hills.'”

Other retailers, such as Tara Riceberg, owner of Tweak and Tesoro, have opted to keep the shop door locked. 

“I don’t think we need to rely on the BHPD or Ambassadors to help us with a rogue vagrant when we can prevent the issue by simply keeping our doors locked for the safety of our staff and clients,” Riceberg told the Courier. “Even though we are seeing an increase in homeless people in Beverly Hills, it’s still much safer than in L.A.  I now keep my door locked at my shop on Beverly Boulevard. It may seem less inviting but it’s no different than being buzzed into a jewelry store in Beverly Hills.”

Johana Hernandez, the haute couture designer behind the brand GLAUDI, has three boutiques: one in Beverly Hills, one in Downey, and one in Orange County. “I have to say that Beverly Hills has been the one that’s been more challenging to get back to normal,” Hernandez said. 

Hernandez added that, “with the robberies and protests, it’s just kind of made people not want to choose the Beverly Hills store location. They would rather go to Downey or the OC location.”

For Hernandez, much of her sales result from trunk shows. “And because of COVID, we haven’t done those things. But on July 25, thanks to the city of Beverly Hills and the OpenBH program, we’re doing a drive by fashion show which is the first in the city.” Hernandez hopes the event will bring more customers to her Brighton Way location. Because Beverly Hills gives brands a global platform, the designer hopes to welcome more people, not intimidate them. 

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Sip an afternoon tea or a Continental cocktail, browse a dazzling new art collection, dine with starlight views (and views of stars), all without leaving the neighborhood. The Courier surveyed 12 iconic hotels about new innovations, dining experiences and the ideal guest profile this summer. Though each property is distinct, all “seem full of welcomes.” Here is what the top professionals in the industry told us about “staying in style” this summer.  

Beverly Hills Courier: Describe the most stylish experience at your hotel. 

Sandy Murphy, General Manager, The Beverly Hilton

“Aside from being the long-time home to some of Hollywood’s most important award shows, which offers an experience unlike any other, our most stylish experience is reserved for those who book our recently renovated Presidential Suite. Located on the 8th floor of the hotel, the suite is the perfect mix of luxury and a light, bright California-chic aesthetic that perfectly captures the essence of the property. With breathtaking views of the L.A. skyline, a private pool table and stunning marble bathrooms, to say this space is stylish is an understatement.”

Offer Nissenbaum, Managing Director, The Peninsula Beverly Hills

“Afternoon Tea al fresco on Le Petit Belvedere terrace is the most stylish, relaxed and elegant experience. Our guests come dressed to meet friends. They can savor quality time together or celebrate bridal and baby showers. It takes place on the weekends, but we will in the future open it up to more days. It is lovely to sit in the garden and enjoy a beautiful and very safe environment. People just love it.”

Vanessa Williams, General Manager, Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills

“We recently launched the new Waldorf Astoria Coastal Voyage, an unforgettable experience that features a private yacht for a relaxing coastal voyage and an indulgent stay at the famed Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and the recently rebranded Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club for an elegant beach-house retreat. The package includes two nights at each property, along with delicious meals and pampering spa treatments.” 

Scott Berger, General Manager, Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills

“Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills infuses style into every aspect of the hotel. One of our most revered and stylish offerings is an in-house Le Clefs d’Or lead concierge team that can curate the ultimate Beverly Hills shopping experiences for our guests with appointments made at Rodeo Drive’s most exclusive fashion houses. After a day of shopping, guests can try on their new looks in the glamorous runway-like dressing rooms within each of our suites that feature a tailored vanity area, spacious closets and a three-way mirror.”

David Hoffman, General Manager, Pendry West Hollywood 

“Style is synonymous with Pendry West Hollywood. From the moment you enter our art-centric lobby designed by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, all the way to our chic rooftop pool, bar and signature restaurant helmed by Wolfgang Puck–guests will sense a new wave of luxury, personalized service, and culture. We’ve also developed a standout art collection featuring nearly 100 works–from L.A.-local female artists to buzzy, emerging artists and household names.” 

Edward Mady, General Manager, The Beverly Hills Hotel 

“Steeped in Hollywood history, the legendary pool at The Beverly Hills Hotel has always been home to glamorous starlets, movie icons, and the location for many classic films. Put on your sunglasses and picture this–Fred Astaire gliding over to his private cabana, Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall filming a movie, Lucille Ball jumping off the diving board, and Kathryn Hepburn playing tennis nearby. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Beatles sneaking in for a midnight swim.”

Denise Flanders, General Manager, Hotel Bel-Air 

“More than a hotel, this is the living room, dining room, boardroom and ballroom for many of the world’s most powerful players. The elegance is genuine and the sophistication well-earned as most of the rooms and suites open directly onto the gorgeous gardens, including magnificent one-of-a-kind signature suites, which represent the iconic legacy of the hotel and its treasured reputation.”

Cathy Kim, Director of Sales, Mr. C Beverly Hills

“Drinking our signature cocktail, the Bellini, in a private balcony overlooking the Hollywood Hills. You’ll feel the Italian warmth. Even during the check-in process, everyone receives a Bellini as a welcome drink.”

Michael Newcombe, General Manager, Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills 

“Presidential Suites with floral arrangements from celebrity artistic director Jeff Leatham.” 

Peter Humig, Regional Vice President and General Manager at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel

“Our ‘Pretty Woman for a Day’ experience is rivaled by no other. Where else can you be the star of your own love story with our expertly crafted take on the film? You’ll enjoy two nights in one of our Specialty Suites, a behind-the-scenes tour of Rodeo Drive fashion houses with a personal stylist, a couple’s massage, dinner at THEBlvd and more.”

Eugene Leonard, General Manager, The Maybourne Beverly Hills 

“From our rooftop pool bordered by lemon trees with views of the Hollywood Hills; to our incredible spa, the largest spa in Beverly Hills offering a wide array of specialty treatments, to our al fresco garden restaurant, The Terrace, there are already a variety of stylish experiences to be had at The Maybourne Beverly Hills with even more to be unveiled this summer.”

Nick Rimedio, General Manager, La Peer Hotel

“Our location and pop-ups bring ‘the most stylish experiences’ to life, from being literally steps away from the most avant garde shopping and design destinations along Melrose and Beverly to the restaurants and nightlife on Robertson and Santa Monica Boulevard, you can have it all! Plus, within our walls are an incredible retail shop modeled after an awards show celebrity gifting lounge (GBK Brand Bar), art gallery and studio (James Peter Henry), and incredible dining (Light for breakfast and lunch, followed by Issima by Olivetta for dinner)–it’s all right here.”

What new initiatives, venues and design changes will you debut this summer?

The Beverly Hilton

“We recently launched Sant’olina, our new rooftop dining pop-up in partnership with The h.wood Group, which has quickly become a hot spot for locals and guests this summer. The hotel also wrapped up a $35  million renovation last year, and now with travel back in swing, we’re excited for guests to experience all of the gorgeous upgrades.” 

The Peninsula Beverly Hills  

“The Peninsula Beverly Hills is the latest home for the iconic LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana. The sculpture can be viewed at Le Petit Belvedere, a California Brasserie. It really resonates well with the outdoor environment, and it’s the centerpiece of the restaurant. One thing we’ve been doing for a while, but it has now taken on a life of its own, is offering dining in our cabanas. It started with people wanting their own private space during the pandemic. It’s become very popular for romantic and private dining in the evening.” 

Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills

“Guests looking to hit the road and enjoy an unforgettable stay in the heart of Beverly Hills as the weather heats up will want to book our new Summer Escape package. The new package offers a soothing escape that includes access to a guest room or suite with a terrace and stunning views of the city, an exclusive welcome amenity, a lunch for two guests at The Rooftop by JG and complimentary nightly valet parking for stays between two and five nights. The new Summer Escape Package is available for travel through Sept. 30.”

Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills

“We have launched a flexible check-in and check-out program to ensure that guests experience our superior hospitality from the moment they arrive. Guests can arrive at their leisure on their check in date and can also now receive complimentary late check-out. We also invite local residents to linger longer at the L’Ermitage with complimentary valet parking for all guests of our dining experience, Avec Nous.” 

Pendry West Hollywood

“Pendry West Hollywood just debuted a global collaboration led by CIRCA, an innovative new platform showcasing digital art in the public spaces, to feature a beautiful new video work by David Hockney. We were thrilled to be one of five of the world’s most iconic outdoor video screens, along with  London, New York, Seoul, and Tokyo, to participate in this.”  

The Beverly Hills Hotel

“The Beverly Hills Hotel Spa reopened its doors in February of 2021 after seven months of extensive refurbishment and redesign. The new design of the iconic spa evokes a sense of serenity while maintaining the playful attitude and chic sensibility that is The Beverly Hills Hotel. Notable changes from the redesign include the relocation of reception from its former home in the promenade allowing for a private check-in and check-out to enable a more dignified spa experience; retail vitrines are now prominently on display in the promenade filled with luxury spa products; and a relaxation room has been added for guests to enjoy before their treatments. The spa features four treatment rooms and one duet suite that can accommodate two guests at the same time. Also new to the spa is a nail suite, including two pedicure chairs and a manicure area featuring natural light from the citrus garden.” 

Hotel Bel-Air 

“To celebrate in style, we invite you to enjoy our newest outdoor dining experience, Bel-Air Under the Stars, where you’ll cozy up beside your own private fire pit while sipping wine, toasting marshmallows and enjoying Wolfgang Puck cuisine. Offered Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.

We will be celebrating our 75th anniversary on Aug. 24 and invite you to join us for a historical photo exhibition that will tell our story through archival photographs, which capture the moments that have shaped our legacy.” 

Mr. C Beverly Hills 

“We have just renovated our pool cabanas and day beds in time for the upcoming busy summer season. Our Private Residences featuring two beds, three baths with world-class amenities showcasing a contemporary architecture epitomize the California and European lifestyle.”

Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills 

“We have relaunched Culina Ristorante + Caffè, combining Culina and Vinoteca into one restaurant with a new artist series. The new ‘Live Like an Angeleno’ experience at Culina Caffè offers a coffee program featuring unique coffee cup artwork created by local Los Angeles-based artists. We also have an outdoor pizza oven, making 150 pizzas a day, and live music on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Additionally, we have expanded our wellness rooms to the entire fourth floor, recently receiving the Well Building Certification, the first luxury hotel in the USA to receive this seal! Lifestyle memberships are being launched for the pool and spa, and we have a new private fitness studio.” 

Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel

“From complimentary yoga classes held on our Rodeo Terrace offering exclusive views of Rodeo Drive, to our Historical Hallway, which features a timeline of major hotel events as well as artifacts, we expect this to be a busy summer. Additionally, we are excited to promote BWork, a safety-conscious way to work in this current environment. Our team has thoughtfully converted suites into sleek, ergonomic, highly functioning workspaces. We also have a new Extend Your Stay program. And that’s just the beginning as we continue our Maserati Suite Drive promotion where guests who book the package receive 24 hours complimentary use of their Levante SUV. And last but certainly not least, we are elated to announce THEBlvd Restaurant is reopening in June.”

The Maybourne Beverly Hills

“When we opened the hotel in August 2020, we embarked on what we call our ‘California Journey.’ Throughout this journey, we will continue to steadily unveil new exciting elements of our hotel, starting with our new rooms and suites. This will be followed by a number of creative new additions set to debut this summer, including a new expanded rooftop experience, as well as the launch of our new bar designed by Andre Fu, a glamorous new addition to the Beverly Hills cocktail scene.”

La Peer Hotel

 “We will announce a one-of-a-kind sneaker pop-up in our rooftop pavilion where you can create your custom look for your shoes where you can paint, add fabrics and other details that fully express your imagination. It’s great for shoe aficionados, as well as parents and teens looking for a fun experience that you can do together.” 

Is there a signature dining experience that defines your hotel’s allure? 

The Beverly Hilton 

“We’re lucky to not just have one, but two amazing dining experiences.  First, there is MERCATO. Located adjacent to our hotel’s iconic Aqua Star pool, this restaurant is truly California cool. MERCATO offers a laid back, casual feel with classic menu items in the heart of Beverly Hills. It is this vibe that has made this poolside escape a favorite for years for stars looking to fly below the radar and unwind. Second, there is our new experience, Sant’olina. With gorgeous rooftop views and a Mediterranean-focused menu, this popular new dining experience embodies the energy that is ever-pulsing through the hotel. It’s a place to see and be seen. It’s fresh but also taps into the comfort that is felt while visiting places you know and love.”

The Peninsula Beverly Hills

“At Le Petit Belvedere there’s always an occasion to celebrate with a complimentary Laurent Perrier Champagne toast every evening at 8 p.m. We stop everything and give everybody a glass of Champagne, and we celebrate all the occasions that we could not celebrate. It’s a very intimate moment, heartfelt and really touches people. We’ve been doing it every night, and it  has received a tremendous response.” 

Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills

“Jean-Georges Beverly Hills has reopened for indoor and outdoor dining and offers a six or eight-course tasting menu with signature favorites and decadent dishes for a redefined dining experience. World-renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten is reinventing the upscale dining experience with a sumptuous tasting menu, available Thursday through Sunday evenings. The tasting menu will offer new dishes each month, showcasing seasonal flavors and tantalizing surprises.” 

 Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills

“Our three-meal café, Avec Nous, is known for classic French bistro cuisine with modern elegance. At Avec Nous, we draw inspiration from the Mediterranean coast, add some artful Italian touches, and wrap everything in a St. Tropez vibe. We ensure that every visit is elevated through thoughtful touches that create a lasting impression for each of our guests and reflect the property’s attention to service.”

Pendry West Hollywood

“Located on the rooftop of Pendry West Hollywood, with stunning views of Los Angeles from high above Sunset, Merois celebrates the open-air allure of the City of Angels with a menu that spotlights Chef Wolfgang Puck’s eye for the sophisticated subtleties of Japanese, Southeast Asian and French/California cuisine.” 

The Beverly Hills Hotel

“The world-famous Polo Lounge is the epicenter of power dining in L.A. and is known as Hollywood’s commissary. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin’s favorite spot was booth No. 3 and Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe preferred No. 6. Today, there remains no shortage of celebrity sightings and great people watching.”

Hotel Bel-Air 

“Eating at Hotel Bel-Air isn’t just another glamorous restaurant. This is the secret kitchen for L.A.’s elite, the legendary dining room that feeds the spirits of our accomplished and creative guests, the sunny lunch spot for a group of friends and the right place to choose when you need everything to be just right. Mediterranean-inspired Californian cuisine ensures dining is pure pleasure at Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air, where the al fresco terrace represents L.A. dining at its very best.”

Mr. C Beverly Hills 

“From traditional Cipriani dishes like carpaccio and baked tagliolini to grilled specialties, Mr. C brings true Italian cooking to Beverly Hills. Rounding out this timeless experience are traditional drinks such as the original Bellini or the refreshing mandarin-based Mr. C. Our vanilla meringue cake always ends every meal on a sweet note.”

Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills

“Culina has been relaunched as a more casual dining experience with renowned artists mentioned above, as well as live music from Thursday to Saturday evenings.” 

Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel 

“Enjoy a private dining experience on our Veranda Suite terrace. With sweeping views of the Hollywood Hills and added sparkle from the night sky, this one-of-a-kind dining experience is anything but typical. Set high above Rodeo Drive, your private 2,140-square-foot terrace becomes the setting of your own outdoor adventure. End your al fresco meal with indulgent s’mores made with 24-karat gold. Paired with a vintage Champagne flight, it’s the perfect decadent dessert. With room for eight at the dining table, you’re free to invite close friends.”

The Maybourne Beverly Hills

“Our al fresco Terrace restaurant–everything from the lush garden setting with arbors of lemon trees, to the white parasols and endless fairy lights completely set the scene for dining come dusk. All of this makes for the perfect setting for Chef Kaleo Adam’s ever-changing fresh, seasonal menu that’s all sourced from local farmers and regional purveyors reflecting the relaxed lifestyle unique to Southern California.  You are completely transported when dining at The Terrace. Since opening the restaurant, we have been delighted with the success and overwhelming support we have received from the local community. Our  expansion into Beverly Canon Gardens will allow us to welcome even more guests to dine with us at The Maybourne Beverly Hills.”

La Peer Hotel

 “Issima by Olivetta…what started with Olivetta on Holiday as a poolside and rooftop pop-up last summer is now going to be a permanent fixture at La Peer. It will bring together our idyllic urban oasis setting with their incomparable energy as the place to see and be seen.”

In describing your hotel, what do you say is its distinct personality, setting it apart from the other acclaimed properties in the city?

The Beverly Hilton

“While some hotels fade with time, The Beverly Hilton has remained relevant for decades as a cornerstone of the L.A. landscape. How? Our hotel is effervescent. This spirited energy is seen and felt from our décor, dining experiences, events, award shows, premieres, staff and more. We are able to seamlessly blend the old with the new at the Beverly Hilton, history with the future, and because of this, the spirit of our hotel is contagious, leaving all guests and visitors wanting more.”  

The Peninsula Beverly Hills

“The Peninsula Beverly Hills brings the unique exclusivity of an estate, an urban resort nestled quietly in a Beverly Hills residential neighborhood, yet steps away from the city’s legendary lifestyle and shopping that no other hotel has. We have a reputation and culture that is known for taking care of guests. We have several initiatives that differentiate us from the competition. Guests can check in or out anytime they want. We have monogrammed pillowcases for each room and guest; that’s our signature. We offer an airport greeter on arrival. You can order room service in the car and it will be waiting for you when you check in. Our greatest asset is that we have some amazing staff working here. They do everything with heart and soul; it makes the difference.”  

Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills

“Not only does Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills offer some of the best views in Los Angeles from The Rooftop by JG and our rooftop pool, but we also offer unparalleled service. Guests have a dedicated personal concierge that is at their service from pre-arrival, during their stay and until the time they return home. We are honored to have so many repeat guests that have truly become friends over the years. We also put a great emphasis on health and wellness at our property, always, but especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the use of the Xenex UV Robot germ zapping device in all guest rooms and public spaces.” 

Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills

“Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills is defined by its deep roots in glamour and luxury, and uncompromising privacy for our guests. Our residential setting allows us to provide a really bespoke experience.” 

Pendry West Hollywood 

“West Hollywood is undergoing a cultural revival, and through our art, design, culinary, wellness and entertainment offerings, we have created an exclusive guest experience unlike anything in greater Los Angeles.”

The Beverly Hills Hotel

“The Beverly Hills Hotel is one of the most unique institutions in the world. Hollywood was built around our hotel and so was the city of Beverly Hills. Our guests enjoy knowing that when they walk through the halls of our hotel, they are walking the same steps as virtually every movie star who has ever lived.  This is something that, simply, cannot be replicated.  We are the place of legends.  Our guests are legends and our employees are legends.  And legendary moments happen at our hotels.”

Hotel Bel-Air

“Cradled in the embrace of 12 acres of fragrant, landscaped gardens,

this timeless estate is carefully shielded from the vivid glare of L.A. Here, the most private of lives can walk with unhurried ease, safe in the protective culture that has cared for generations before them. This is a place carved from nature to be the original seat of L.A. power, and the inspirational living room, dining room, boardroom and ballroom for the world’s most powerful players.” 

Mr. C Beverly Hills 

“The hotel combines the timeless glamour of Beverly Hills with stylish, European comfort, elegant service and personalized experiences by the fourth generation Cipriani family. There is nothing like it here in this area. A lot of our travelers from Europe are familiar with the Cipriani name. They come here because they want to feel at home in the States. This summer is special because we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary. We will be having a month-long promotion.” 

Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles

“Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills is a Forbes Five Star property, and the new Wellness floor, full of WELL guest rooms, the Spa and beautiful p

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Unlike last year, which was marked by closures and restrictions, this summer is colored by rebirth and reopening. With people more excited than ever to go out, the Courier asked prominent influencers with ties to Beverly Hills to share their 2021 summer spots in town. The roster of insiders includes Beverly Hills High School grad and “Million Dollar Listing-L.A.” celebrity real estate agent, Josh Flagg; Hawthorne Elementary school alum and influencer’s influencer, Alexandra Rosenthal; S.F. native turned L.A. transplant and Cycle House fitness luminary, Nichelle Hines; Beverly Hills native and an alum of The Buckley School, Olivia Perez, and more. From seasonal culinary pop-ups, new hotel hot spots, and under-the-radar Beverly Hills gems, here is what they’re up to:

Sophia Parsa
@sophiaparsa

At age 30, Parsa’s titles include Head of Community at FabFitFun, co-founder of the Mountain Gate dinner speaker series, angel investor, Forbes 30 Under 30 board member, event planner, and entrepreneur. Last summer, the Los Angeles native co-founded two new ventures: Golden Rice Co., a restaurant pop-up serving her mother’s home-cooked Tahdig (a traditional Persian rice dish) every Sunday out of Poppy in West Hollywood, and Boxxie Party, a personalized event planning and gifting service. Since then, Golden Rice Co. has been featured in The Infatuation’s “Best Pop-Ups In L.A. Right Now” and reviewed by L.A. Times restaurant critic, Bill Addison, as “spectacular.” Parsa has produced hundreds of events and hosted over 1 million guests.

Euro Caffe

I started walking a lot at the beginning of the pandemic, discovering my city on foot for the first time, basically, and I discovered Euro Caffe. I was walking on Canon looking for a bottle of water and kind of stumbled upon it! I didn’t want to walk into a restaurant like Il Pastaio and just ask for water, right? So, I found this little cafe, and the minute I stepped in, I was like, ‘whoa. I feel like I’m in Italy right now.’ I love to travel more than anything, so I love how European the vibe is. It’s through this beautiful walkway in between little shoe boutiques and has Italian jerseys hanging from the wall. The owner makes such incredible coffees, too. This spot is a hidden gem. 427 N. Canon Dr. #111, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

 Summer Social Club

Summer Social Club is another thing I discovered during the pandemic while trying to get to know other people in the food pop-up scene. It’s essentially a pop-up restaurant incubator run by Employees Only in West Hollywood. A lot of these cool culinary pop-ups you see on Instagram just have a cloud kitchen and operate without a place where people can come in. So, Summer Social Club provides a backyard space and a platform to be able to run a live service for restaurants without a physical storefront using their staff, waiters, and bartenders. Every week, the lineup is different! 7961 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046

Olivia Perez
@livvperez

The 27-year-old L.A. native is an interviewer, journalist, and the host of the “Friend of a Friend” podcast, a weekly talk show in which she interviews the next generation of luminaries. Since founding “Friend of a Friend” in 2015, Perez has interviewed the likes of Maggie Rogers, Bella Hadid, Hannah Bronfman, Symone Sanders, Millie Bobbie Brown, Lindsay Peoples Wagner, and Jordan Firstman, and has moderated panels for businesses like Shopify, Bumble, WWD, and The Wing. She’s made her mark as an editorial and cultural archaeologist, digging up the best of the unknown and sharing it with her followers as a contributing writer for Forbes.com, and through her creative partnerships with brands like Chanel, Kith, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Nike, Calvin Klein, and more.

Chaumont Bakery 

Everyone needs a go-to local bakery, and mine is Chaumont. Whether I’m on a morning walk to grab a coffee, want a quick snack on the go, or am looking for a good coffee meeting spot, Chaumont is one of those places that always feels like a hug, and I know will do the trick. They have some of the best croissants in town, and if you’re looking for a treat yourself breakfast, get their breakfast sandwich with egg and cheese.  143 S. Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212

 Gigi’s

Gigi’s is the perfect recipe for a great night out. Whether it’s date night, girl’s night out, or a family dinner, the drinks and food are incredible, and the vibes are unmatched with a hint of old Hollywood glamour. 904 N. Sycamore Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038

 Descanso Gardens 

Slightly off the beaten path, but definitely worth the drive, the Descanso Gardens is the perfect oasis for a day when you want to do something spontaneous and different. It’s one of the most underrated nature destinations in L.A! Whether you want to go for a walk with friends, take a book to the garden, or get lost in their forest, you’ll leave feeling reenergized after a beautiful day in nature (and have some incredible photos too). 1418 Descanso Dr., La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011 

Alexandra Rosenthal
@allymrosenthal

Rosenthal, 29, graduated from Emory University in 2014 with a BBA from the Goizueta Business School. After working on Wall Street for six years, the Beverly Hills native returned to L.A. to work at SET Active, an athleisure startup. Since assuming her role as Director of Operations at SET in 2020, the brand’s signature matching workout sets have attracted the likes of Kaia Gerber, Hailey Bieber, and Kylie Jenner. Beloved by influencers on Instagram, each new drop features limited edition colorways that sell out fast. 

Full Proof Pizza

If there’s one thing my five years of living in New York taught me, it’s an appreciation for good pizza. I’ve been thrilled to see so many new pizza spots pop up all over the city in the past few months. Something I’m really looking forward to this summer is the Lodge Bread Company’s new pizza concept, Full Proof Pizza, opening in Beverly Hills in August. If it’s anything like their current restaurant, it will undoubtedly be a huge hit.

Santa Monica Proper Hotel

Somewhere I’ve loved spending time recently is the Santa Monica Proper Hotel. Immediately upon walking in my first time, I was infatuated by every inch of decor. I’ve been obsessed with every meal I’ve enjoyed there, and I’d also argue that they have some of the best views in L.A. I know for a fact I’ll be spending a ton of summer days at their rooftop pool in my new SET Active swimwear, launching in August, listening to their live DJ with friends. 700 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401

 AKT

The past year has had me really missing in-person workout classes. I was elated to discover that one of my favorite studios from New York, AKT, would soon be opening in West Hollywood. Their classes are the perfect blend of cardio and toning work. It’s one of the only workout classes I take that’s so fun I forget I’m working out! 7111 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046

 Delilah at Wynn Las Vegas

Out of town, you can catch me heading straight to the new Delilah restaurant opening at the Wynn this summer in Las Vegas! Vegas is the best escape for a quick weekend getaway, and now I can’t wait to have one of my favorite restaurants there. Delilah in L.A. is a guaranteed good time and I’m excited to see it make its mark on the Vegas scene. 3131 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89109

Josh Flagg
@joshflagg1

Known for starring in Bravo TV’s “Million Dollar Listing-LA,” Flagg, 35, is one of the most sought-after luxury real estate agents in Los Angeles. Having sold over two billion dollars in property, Flagg’s A-list clients include the likes of Adam Levine, Shonda Rhimes, Tom Ford, and Steve Aoki. Beverly Hills born and based, Flagg is ranked by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the top residential real estate agents in L.A. In addition, Flagg sits on the Board of Governors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Temple of the Arts, and The Los Angeles Jewish Home. 

Cara Hotel, Croft Alley Beverly Hills

This summer, the Cara Hotel in Los Feliz is going to be the place to be. It’s so elegant that it gets me out of my 2-mile radius from where I live. In Beverly Hills, one of my best friends, Adam Rubin owns Croft Alley, which is a great place for a quick bite. It’s always packed and filled with great people. Try the tuna lettuce cups. Or, for a real treat, order the super popular Josh Flagg special, a great dish off the menu: it’s a traditional preparation of French scrambled eggs, cooked with low and slow heat, made with fresh herbs accompanied by truffle fontina toast.  Cara Hotel, 1730 N. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027. Croft Alley, 9433 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.

Nichelle Hines
@nichelle

A founding member and Chief Ride Officer at Cycle House LA on Melrose, Hines, 44, is known for her star-studded clientele and her ability to push those she trains with to redefine their limits. Since starting at Cycle House in 2008, Hine’s cycling classes (many of which she documents on Instagram) have attracted a cult following, with Jessica Alba, Madonna, Naya Rivera, and Nicole Kidman among her dedicated pupils.  The San Francisco native is an activist, coach, trainer, and actress, with appearances on The Sopranos, Grey’s Anatomy, The King of Queens, Parenthood, Scandal, and NCIS: Los Angeles and partnered with brands such as Tory Sport by Tory Burch, Kora Organics by Miranda Kerr, Eddie Bauer and Vital Proteins.

Tree People

My favorite little spot is Tree People on Mulholland Drive. It’s a really cute walking path right at the line where Beverly Hills sort of ends and the valley is about to start. They plant trees there and it’s a great place to take kids. Whether or not the actual Tree People organization office is open, you can just go there and walk it, or you can drive up and park. Just an awesome neighborhood-friendly spot. They have a trail you can walk that’s for planting trees—it’s amazing and perfect for summer. 12601 Mulholland Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Burgers Never Say Die

I think the BEST burger in L.A. is Burgers Never Say Die on Glendale Boulevard right off of Silver Lake Boulevard. It is the best Smashburger in town and you won’t regret it. What’s so great about those burgers is they’re really thin and smashed, and you can eat it without feeling too full after. They marinate the onions for three days, so you get all the onion flavor with none of the bad breath. It’s by far my favorite burger in Los Angeles. 2388 Glendale Blvd. Unit A, Los Angeles, CA 90039

Caitlyn Chase
@caitlynchase

Chase, 33, is a Beverly Hills-based blogger-turned-entrepreneur who began her career as a fashion and beauty writer after graduating from Pepperdine University in 2009. In 2011, Chase launched her own luxury lifestyle blog, “Caviar & Cashmere,” where she continues to share the latest and greatest in fashion, beauty, travel, interior design, wellness, lifestyle, and more. Having amassed a serious online following among luxury lifestyle lovers, Chase launched a Caviar & Cashmere skincare line in 2018. The influencer has worked with brands such as Olay, Aston Martin, Nespresso, Joe Fresh, Simon G Jewelry, Glamsquad, Fairmont Hotels, and the Four Seasons Hotels. In 2017, Chase was awarded “Trendsetter of the Year” by the Los Angeles Business Journal. 

Bel-Air Under the Stars

Summer is my favorite time of year when the days are longer, and the nights are warm. This season, you can find me having a picnic under the stars at Hotel Bel-Air, where the hotel will set up an outdoor dining experience on the property for a group of two to six, complete with your own private fireplace, s’mores kit, and food and beverage by Wolfgang Puck. Don’t forget to order the Tuna Cone! Hotel Bel-Air, 701 Stone Canyon Road, Los Angeles, CA 90077

Beverly Hills Tour D’Elegance

One event I am looking forward to taking place in Beverly Hills is the Tour D’Elegance. Happening on June 20 this year, locals will rally with their favorite classic and modern cars from the Peterson Automotive Museum, through Beverly Hills, ending at Beverly Hills City Hall. Spectators are welcome to attend and watch the parade of notable cars, free of charge. The event will support local first responders, benefitting both the Beverly Hills Police Association and the Beverly Hills Fire Association.

The post Out and About In Beverly Hills: An Influencers’ Guide appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The One Beverly Hills development is one of the largest in the city’s history–a $2 billion luxury complex including 340 residential units and 42 hotel rooms. The project site spans 17.4 contiguous acres, a feat achieved by a proposed land bridge over Merv Griffin Way that would connect the Beverly Hilton to the former Robinson-May property. This expanse includes plans for eight acres of gardens designed by local celebrated landscape architect Mark Rios, more than half of which will be open to the public. The structures and overall design come from the mind of Pritzker Prize-winning London-based Sir Norman Foster and his firm, Foster and Partners.

The developers of the project are Oasis West Realty and BH Luxury Residences, which are owned by Beny Alagem and London-based real estate firm Cain International. Alagem, who owns the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, purchased the former Robinson-May property in 2018 along with Cain for a reported $420 million.

 “This has been a very long journey and the outcome is very exciting,” Alagem told the Courier. “We appreciate the hard work of the City Council, Planning Commission and staff. Their analysis and input improved One Beverly Hills. We look forward to getting started.” 

The June 8 vote split along a now familiar fault line in the City Council, with echoes of the 2020 vote on the Mixed-Use Ordinance. As in that case, Mirisch argued that the city was granting overly generous terms to business interests without sufficient benefits to residents. Members of the majority of the Council offered passionate rejoinders to Mirisch’s sharp critique, defending not just the deal with the One Beverly Hills developers, but also the moral and fiscal considerations with which it was negotiated.

While much of the public comment received during the hearing reflected negative views of the project, the Council also read a letter signed by 155 businesses and residents extolling its potential benefits to the city.

“To those who don’t like this project – and we’ve heard from some – there’s not an option here of no project. The choices are clear, it’s either this project, or the previously entitled projects, which could and probably would be built,” Councilmember Julian Gold said. “And in my opinion, there’s no comparison between what could, or would, have been built and what is proposed to be built.”

Unlike the previously entitled Dalian Wanda Group project or the Hilton project, One Beverly Hills achieves the long-desired goal of connecting the Hilton and the old Robinson-May location. One Beverly Hills also includes the shuttered Union 76 Gas Station.

“This land has been vacant for 10 years,” said Vice Mayor Lili Bosse, who served on the Planning Commission at the time of the Wanda project. “When Wanda purchased it, we all wished it was a unified project and that it was one unified owner, but that wasn’t the case.” It is now. 

But even while One Beverly Hills largely hewed to the entitlements for the Wanda and Hilton projects, maintaining the same square footage, the large swath of green space came at one expense: height. The prior entitlements allow for construction of buildings ranging from nine to 18 stories. The seven major structures now entitled for One Beverly Hills include a 28-story and 32-story building. If constructed, One Beverly Hills would become the tallest development in the historically low-rise city.

While some residents expressed concerns that this could set a precedent for future developments, Mayor Robert Wunderlich said that the deviation stemmed from characteristics unique to the project site.

“Compared with the other projects, it does have tall buildings, but it moves the tall buildings further to the west, immediately adjacent to Century City,” he said.

Similarly, according to Councilmember Lester Friedman, who served on the ad hoc committee that negotiated the development agreement for the city, “The manner in which the buildings are angled and the location at the extreme west end of the site mitigates bulk and mass of the project and allows for the amount of open space that has been proposed.”

Not all of the proposed features of One Beverly Hills are resolved by the Council’s June 8 vote. As a part of the conditions of approval, the Council will return to consider a proposed timeshare-style fractional ownership program once the developers flush out the plans more thoroughly. The Council will decide at that point whether or not to approve the program, which would make 37 fully furnished residential units available to owners for 30-day increments. Both Mirisch and Wunderlich expressed opposition to the program.

From its time in the Planning Commission to its final vote, the project generated the most controversy on the subject of affordable housing.

As a part of the development agreement negotiated by the city and the developers, One Beverly Hills will pay the city a $100 million public benefit fee over eight years (the Wanda project included a $60 million fee). Friedman said the payment represented the largest such fee in the state’s history.

The project will also apply a 5% municipal surcharge (essentially a higher Transient Occupancy Tax) to the new Wilshire Building luxury hotel rooms, and starting in 2030, to the Beverly Hilton. Along with that, the project would pay EMS fees to the city, which will help recoup the revenue lost in allowing residential developments on commercial sites. In the development agreement, the city will receive 2% fees on first time sales and then 3% on subsequent sales.

The $100 million clears the development of any responsibility to provide affordable housing, with advocates arguing that the sum provides more than enough to fund city-led affordable housing projects. But Mirisch was unflinching in his views on the deal. While he said the agreement had some good elements, “its complete and total fail when it comes to affordable housing is the most poisonous of pills, which makes the entire deal unacceptable and which turns a potential inclusionary project into a castle-fortress of exclusion.” 

As a part of his closing remarks, Mirisch brought forward an eleventh-hour study performed by Keyser Marston Associates, who provided financial analyses for the city’s ad hoc negotiating team. The study examined the additional need for affordable housing in the region generated by the project and its resulting demand for service sector labor (the house cleaners, baristas, salespersons, and others who will serve One Beverly Hills’ wealthy residents and guests). The study found that the project would result in a need for 527 units of below market rate housing.

Mirisch’s remarks were met with an equally forceful rebuttal by Bosse, who said she was “almost speechless” following her colleague.  

“There has not been anything on the table regarding affordable housing that has not been supported by our entire council,” she said. 

In response to Mirisch’s questions about the pace of the entitlements process, Bosse pointed out that the City Council decided the Wanda project over three consecutive days of hearings.

“When we talk about a fiscal and moral and ethical value, I can tell you, having been on this Council now and served with everybody here, that everybody here makes all their decisions with a lens of fiscal responsibility, with a moral compass and an ethical compass,” she said.

In the midst of the contentiousness, though, the Council showed signs of possibly realizing plans for affordable housing for seniors. Earlier that day, Wunderlich invited Mirisch to serve on an ad hoc committee “with the goal of finally moving forward with a senior supportive affordable housing project I brought up over three years ago,” Mirisch said.

The post One Beverly Hills is Approved by City Council appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

On hand to accept the award, Tom O’Gara, CEO of the company founded in 1976 said, “Despite the hurdles presented to us by 2020, I am proud that my Rolls-Royce team has earned this award. Taking care of some of the most demanding and discerning clients in the world wasn’t easy managing a virtual relationship, but my team adapted new skills and processes to ensure acquiring a previously owned Rolls-Royce was just as much a luxury experience as acquiring and owning a new one.” 

In town to present the award was Martin Fritsches, President and CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars North America, who added, “With more than a century of history for the brand, and with more than three of every four Rolls-Royce cars ever built still being on the road provenance is critical to the brand. The Beverly Hills team understands that finding that second home for a Rolls-Royce commission is important to maintaining and growing the brand. We started 2021 with the strongest quarter of new commission deliveries, we have also seen the highest level of Provenance deliveries during the same period.” 

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“Thank you to LAPD Chief Michel Moore, our LAPD team, and all engaged law enforcement agencies who continue to work around the clock on this case,” Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz, in whose district the attack took place, said on Facebook.

“This first step will bring a certain level of relief to those who were victimized. “We have more to do and more justice to seek, however we can find some comfort in learning that the first suspect has been taken into custody.”

A group of apparently pro-Palestinian demonstrators attacked Jewish diners outside a Mid-City restaurant on May 18. The LAPD told the Courier that the incident involved five victims and three suspects, with one victim receiving medical attention at the scene. The incident was captured on video and came during a period of heightened tension over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Police made their first arrest in the evening of May 21 “at a residence outside the City of Los Angeles,” according to a statement, taking Pabon into custody with help from Los Angeles and Inland Empire teams from the United States Marshal Service taskforce.

The effort was aided by “many tips” that came into the department after footage from the violent attack went viral. The LAPD said that the tips “assisted with the ultimate identification of the suspect.”

Days later, LAPD investigators from the Wilshire Division descended on Jayylusi in the City of Anaheim. They describe him as “one of the primary suspects in the assault and beating.”

The incident prompted outrage from across Los Angeles amid reports of a spike in antisemitic hate crimes. “As one of the only Jewish-majority cities outside of Israel, we feel particularly concerned with the rise of antisemitism and call for an end to the assaults and rhetoric,” the Beverly Hills City Council said in a statement.

The post Suspects in May 18 Anti- semitic Attack Released On Bail appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The Council then turned to the project’s draft development agreement.

A development agreement functions as a contract between the city and the developer–in this case, Oasis West Realty and Cain International. The agreement assures the developer that the city will not change pertinent regulations during the term of the agreement and will grant certain entitlements that would otherwise conflict with the city’s codes (excessive height, for instance). In return, the city can extract certain demands from the developer as concessions.  

The marquee item of the draft development agreement, negotiated by an ad hoc team of city staff, council members, and attorneys, is a $100 million public benefit fee. The unprecedented sum would absolve the development from the responsibility of providing affordable housing, as is required by the city’s Interim Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. 

As stated in the draft agreement, “Developer’s Public Benefit Contribution under this Agreement fully satisfies any and all affordable housing fees, or exactions, that are applicable to the Project during the Term.”

The project would also apply a 5% municipal surcharge (essentially a higher Transient Occupancy Tax) to the new Wilshire Building luxury hotel rooms and, in 2030, to the Beverly Hilton starting. Along with that, the project would pay EMS fees to the city, which help the city recoup the revenue lost by allowing residential developments on commercial sites. In the development agreement, the city would receive 2% on first time sales and then 3% on subsequent sales. These would generate revenues for Beverly Hills “in perpetuity” after their implementation, according to Director of Community Development Ryan Gohlich. 

City staff who helped negotiate the agreement, along with City Council liaisons Vice Mayor Lili Bosse and Councilmember Lester Friedman, characterized the agreement as historic in the benefits afforded to the city.  

Bob Baradaran, an attorney who served as special counsel to the city for the project, described the package of public benefits as “the most lucrative and richest direct public benefit package in favor of any city in the state of California and probably the country.”

But Councilmember John Mirisch raised concerns about the arrangement. Despite the nine-figure public benefit fee, the EMS fees, and the municipal surcharge, Mirisch argued that the development would not be paying its fair share to the city, especially in terms of affordable housing. He pointed to higher EMS fees in comparable cities like London, Paris, New York, and San Francisco ranging from 5.95% to 15% and suggested that the project could shoulder higher fees for the purpose of affordable housing. 

Mayor Robert Wunderlich revealed a late-breaking change to the project’s southern access. In an earlier meeting, the Mayor had expressed concern that the design forced anyone coming from Santa Monica Boulevard to enter the gardens through a courtyard elevator located inside the property, which Wunderlich suggested might not be “particularly welcoming.” But on Thursday, Wunderlich announced a pending change that would allow the public to enter from Santa Monica Boulevard via an elevator and ramp immediately accessible to pedestrians. 

The Council was unable to complete the approval process at the May 27 meeting and agreed to meet again on June 1 at 2:30 p.m.

The Beverly Hills City Council has moved forward with public hearings on the historic proposed One Beverly Hills project, a luxury hotel and condominium development that would reshape the city’s western Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard gateways. In extensive questioning, the Council asked the development team about accessibility to the project’s vaunted public gardens, management of the gardens, and concerns over a timeshare-style fractional ownership offering. The Council also discussed a controversial move by lawyers for the project’s developer to pressure a local couple into withdrawing a public comment in advance of the meeting. 

If approved, One Beverly Hills would be one of the largest developments in Beverly Hills’ history.  

“When opportunity is presented, you have to seize it. You have to know when the moment is here,” said Oasis West Realty CEO Beny Alagem, who is developing the project alongside Cain International. “We finally have the opportunity to do something remarkable, to bring a new level of architecture to our great city, to build exquisite gateways on both Wilshire in Santa Monica that announce the vibrancy and excellence of the city of Beverly Hills, to plant magnificent botanical gardens, to move the Beverly Hilton into the future, to ensure it remains the center of our community life, and to infuse a new level of energy and excitement in Beverly Hills.”

The design of the seven major buildings and the project’s extensive 8-acre garden received universal praise from the Council. Mayor Robert Wunderlich, however, flagged concerns over the accessibility of the 4.5-acre public garden from Santa Monica Boulevard. As the designs stand now, people coming to the gardens by way of Santa Monica would have to either travel through the development, walk through Merv Griffin Way, or walk around to Wilshire Boulevard. 

“Would it be possible to have an attractive outdoor escalator [or] an attractive outdoor elevator that might be more immediately apparent to someone showing up on foot?” Wunderlich queried. 

One Beverly Hills President Ted Kahan responded that the current design provides ample signage directing visitors taking Santa Monica to the gardens through a courtyard elevator. 

Wunderlich also criticized the project for what he viewed as a “car-centric” approach. Kahan was unequivocal in his response: “There is no project in Beverly Hills that’s given more attention to multimodality than this project. Zero, ever.”

The Council also puzzled over a fractional ownership program proposed by the development called the Private Residence Club, which would make 37 fully furnished residential units available to owners for 30-day increments. According to the applicant, interested parties could purchase one-twelfth of a unit, with the option to buy more time if desired. As became clear through the council members’ questions, owners would not own a specific unit, nor would they have the option to decorate or personalize the unit. Rather, they would request specific dates to stay in whichever similar unit were available. 

Councilmember Lester Friedman raised some concerns with the program, “which is a new concept in the city of Beverly Hills.” He asked how it differed from a timeshare.

“This is not a resort timeshare product,” Kahan said, pointing out that the value of the asset could appreciate and would require payment of property taxes. “This is an ownership product.”

While Kahan assured Friedman that the Private Residence Club would not participate in “the large national exchange programs” that allows owners in one area to swap units with owners in another, he later clarified that the program would allow exchanges “on a very limited basis.”

The applicant advocated that such arrangements generate more revenue for the city and local businesses.

As 4.5 acres of the project would function as a public park, the Council expressed interest in how the public’s stake in the park would be preserved and how the city could exert oversight. The current plans indicate that the gardens would be managed by a non-profit conservancy. Celebrated local landscape architect Mark Rios, who designed the gardens, likened the arrangement to Central Park in New York City and Millennium Park in Chicago (though both parks are owned by their respective cities). 

Gold said that he had seen nonprofits deviate from their mission in the past. “I would ask that as a condition of it, that the city has some significant ability to, for lack of a better word, control what this conservancy does,” he said.

George Mihlstein, an attorney representing One Beverly Hills, offered to “work with staff, perhaps on the concept that each year the 501(c)3 will present a work plan and budget for the year and subject to review by the city and comment by the city.”

The One Beverly Hills team seemed to reverse a previous commitment that “the Botanical Gardens will never be closed for private events at the hotel,” as Kahan said at the April 8 Planning Commission hearing. “Actually, I think we agreed on a condition the other day with staff that would allow the conservancy to have…six events per year,” Kahan said in response to a question from Bosse. 

The Public Comment

When members of the public tuned into the May 25 City Council Special Meeting on the proposed development, they heard comments from dozens of residents–over one hour in which residents praised the project as an environmentally sustainable masterpiece, condemned the project for its height and scale, and questioned the timing of the hearing during a pandemic.

In a move that drew reproach from certain members of the City Council, lawyers representing Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and One Beverly Hills developer Beny Alagem pressured longtime residents Andrea and Rick Grossman to retract a comment they submitted to the Council, alleging that it contained defamatory statements. 

The issue came to light in a lengthy letter submitted to the City Council by Planning Commission Chair Peter Ostroff, who wrote to the Council in his personal capacity. 

“This conduct is troublesome because it is apparently intended to inhibit by intimidation public participation regarding the project,” Ostroff wrote.

Ironically, the Grossmans’ comment nonetheless wound up in the public record through Ostroff’s letter, which reprised the comment in full. The comment referenced a Wall Street Journal article about a lawsuit by the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel alleging, among other things, that a former Peninsula employee gave proprietary client information to the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills. 

On May 23–two days after emailing their comment to the members of the Council–the Grossmans received an email requesting the couple to “immediately inform” the Mayor and City Council that they retract the statement and their request to have it read into the record. The letter accused them of engaging “in defamation that appears specifically designed to cause significant harm to Mr. Alagem personally and to the proposed development of the multi-billion One Beverly Hills project in Beverly Hills.” 

Councilmember John Mirisch viewed the maneuver as a subversion of the democratic process. He called to investigate the matter and look into how the city could stand behind residents in similar situations. 

City Attorney Laurence Wiener stated the law clearly protected the Grossmans in this case. “Anyone can be sued for anything,” Weiner said, but California law protects people from claims of defamation by legislative privilege, “which is the ability to address whatever matter is before the City Council on official business.” 

Other council members voiced concern of their own over the actions, with Councilmember Lester Friedman, himself an attorney, saying this might be a case of an “overzealous” attorney. Or, as Councilmember Julian Gold, M.D., put it, “lawyers gone wild.” 

Vice Mayor Lili Bosse echoed calls to look into how the city could protect residents in these cases, though she repeatedly stressed that “we obviously don’t know the full story.” 

Wunderlich described the letter as “heavy handed and could serve to stifle public comment” given the power and resource disparity between the multi-billion-dollar project and a resident.

At the end of the night’s questions, Mirisch pressed Kahan on whether the development’s lawyers would cease sending similar letters to residents in response to comments in the future. After a tense back and forth,Kahan gave a single word answer: “Yes.”

By press time, the City Council had convened for a May 27 meeting in which they are scheduled to present their comments about the project. 

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Rotary Club in Action appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Looking to the Future of Beverly Hills with Mayor Robert Wunderlich

The event kicked off with a conversation between the newly installed Mayor, Robert Wunderlich, and Chamber President and CEO, Todd Johnson, outlining his vision for Beverly Hills during his term.

“We greatly support the distinctiveness of our small businesses,” Wunderlich said. “But I think what we want to support more is the uniqueness of the operations here. We want them to feel different. We love our small businesses, and there are heartening success stories there as well. I mean there’s Xi’an and Cafe Roma with their outdoor dining. They joined together to create an outdoor space that they could share, and both benefit from. It’s an example of a rising tide that lifts us all. Being a place that will support outdoor dining that wants to have the residents and visitors come there…let’s create an attractive environment, and it’s good for all of us.”

Despite the pandemic, Wunderlich noted the successful opening of AMIRI on Rodeo Drive and Sant’olina restaurant on the rooftop of the Beverly Hilton. Johnson noted the Chamber, in partnership with the city, offers counsel for businesses in Beverly Hills that need help applying for a loan or PPE preparedness. Similarly, the city’s OpenBH program proved invaluable for restaurants, retailers, salons and faith-based businesses who might have otherwise closed permanently due to pandemic related restrictions. 

“We might have had an image in the past, maybe people thought we were aloof, maybe people might have thought we’re haughty, we’re Beverly Hills. And in today’s world, I think we have to demonstrate that we want things that fit us, and we want things that fit our brand. But we’re here to help.”

Restaurant Reinvention with the Original Celebrity Chef Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck joined Johnson to discuss restaurant reinvention, the art of hospitality and his Spago flagship restaurant on Canon Drive. “This is the mother of all of the other ones,” Puck told Johnson about Spago. “People always ask me, why do you spend so much time in Beverly Hills. I said this is the mother. I have to take care of the mother because she’s found all the other venues.”

“It’s an iconic location,” Puck said of Spago. “I think the city is iconic. I think the press you can get here is better than almost anywhere.”

By applying for a Special Event permit through the city’s OpenBH program, Spago installed an outdoor dining tent directly in front of restaurants’ existing brick and mortar to accommodate more customers. While the City Council extended the program through the end of the year, the future of outdoor dining remains uncertain. “I hope I keep it forever,” Puck said of the structure. “Why? Because I have a big kitchen, so we can do parties outside or parties inside. And I think in the end, we’re going to have more people working, so it benefits everybody.”

“I would not use the inside of the restaurant for like a la carte business,” Puck noted, should the tent remain permanent. “I will use it for parties. Or I would use the outside for party business, and the inside for a la cart business.”

State of Luxury with Ann Shatilla

Emmy Award-winning TV news producer and strategic communications PR consultant Ann Shatilla held her annual “State of Luxury with Ann Shatilla” signature event. The event shared insider tips and advice for luxury PR and marketing in an increasingly virtual market. “Today’s luxury client is deliberate and careful about purchasing and spending,” Shatilla said. “Clients now dig deeper into two things: the meaning and the purpose of the brand that they connect with.”

According to Shatilla, luxury keywords for 2021 are: transparency, values and ethics. “Brands that are putting their company values into action are seeing the results during this pandemic. Many of today’s consumers are actively looking to buy from a company associated with social, environmental, and political ideals.”

In defining luxury business for 2021, Shatilla underscored five points that companies should keep in mind to reach their consumers. “Remember this: cultural values, race, gender, sexual equality and income equality.”

The biggest disruptor defining luxury in 2021 is comfort and wellness, according to Shatilla. “Comfort and wellness are set to define luxury across the board for the rest of this year and beyond,” Shatilla said. “Call it comfort consumerism. It’s an alignment of luxury and well-being. People are now choosing purchases in the pursuit of consolation, luxury is no longer about a price point, it’s about relevance.” 

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As the city’s land use agency, the Commission makes recommendations to the City Council about whether or not to grant requested entitlements for developments. At its April 22 meeting, the Commission recommended certification of the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (EIR), adoption of the General Plan Amendment, and adoption of the Overlay Specific Plan, the comprehensive document that regulates land uses, development standards, and operational standards for the plan area. 

As for the draft development agreement, the report to the City Council reads as follows: 

“The Planning Commission is unable to recommend whether or not the development agreement is consistent with the general plan, because the commissioners hold the differing views regarding consistency with the general plan and were unable to reach a consensus.”

A development agreement functions as a contract between the city and the developer–in this case, Alagem Capital Group and Cain International. The agreement assures the developer that the city will not change pertinent regulations during the term of the agreement. In return, the city can extract certain demands from the developer as conditions of the agreement. 

The draft development agreement presented to the commission was largely similar to a development agreement approved for a 2017 project at 9900 Wilshire Blvd., which is now part of the current One Beverly Hills site. That project, proposed by Chinese real estate and media conglomerate Wanda Group, fell through before Alagem and Cain snapped up the property.

One of the largest new terms in the development agreement stipulates that the developer will pay a $100 million public benefit fee to the city’s General Fund over the course of eight years. For comparison, Wanda Group agreed to a $60 million upfront public benefit fee in 2016–an eye-watering sum at the time.

“As far as the general plan, I don’t see any conflict with the development agreement and the general plan. I think it’s a wonderful project, as I’ve stated, and it’s a wonderful benefit for the city–not only the project, but the finances involved as well,” said Commissioner Andy Licht.

Not everyone agreed with Licht’s assessment, though. Chair Peter Ostroff did not mince words in offering his opinion on the agreement, which he said the Commission only received on Monday evening.

“It does provide extraordinary benefits to the applicant, not the least of which is allowing two towers that are more than six times as high as the 60-foot maximum for high density multifamily residential units in the city and at least twice as high as anything else in the city,” Ostroff said. “But when it comes to the benefits for the city, I am very, very disappointed.”

One condition of his approval, Ostroff said, was that the developer would have to either construct or arrange for construction of affordable housing “at least at the minimum level of 10 percent of the 340 proposed dwelling units, which is what is required by the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance for everybody else.”

While he acknowledged that the $100 million fee is a considerable amount, Ostroff said the city would not see even $60 million until August 2027 given how the payments are spaced out. Ostroff said that he looked at the figure with former City Treasurer Eliot Finkel to determine its present value and calculated the actual worth at between a high of $81 million and a “more realistic number” of $58 million. “So, $100 million is not $100 million. It’s a lot less than that,” he said. 

The most contentious element of the draft agreement was that the $100 million public benefit fee relieved the development of its affordable housing contribution.

Commissioner Myra Demeter worried that a lump sum contribution to the city would not actually find its way to affordable housing.

“I also understand the City Council’s need for flexibility and determining the way they use [the public benefit fee], but we do have also a mandate to produce affordable housing in the next eight years, and we have to make sure that that money, partially, is used for that purpose,” Demeter said.

Ostroff broke down his objection by asking what the developer would make by not having any affordable housing. At the 10 percent level required in the city, that would equal 35 units of affordable housing. “They would receive $184 million more if all 340 units were market rate than it would receive if it had to provide 35 affordable units,” he said. Ostroff pointed out that the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance offers an exemption for smaller developments between five to nine units, which can pay an exemption fee of $105 per square foot rather than provide affordable housing. Even if the exemption applied to larger developments over nine units, Ostroff said that One Beverly Hills would have to pay around $107 million for affordable housing alone.

Ostroff said that these figures made a “powerful point,” namely, “that every person, any developer, however small, who wants to build a multi-family project in our city of more than four units must make provision for inclusion of affordable units, except for the developer of the biggest project in the city’s history. Everybody else has to deal with affordable housing, but this developer doesn’t under the draft development agreement that exists, and this seems to me to be more than a bit unfair.”

According to Ostroff, current City Treasurer Howard Fischer described the agreement as “a very poor deal” and “lousy.”

Given these issues, Ostroff said that he could not find the draft agreement in compliance with the city’s General Plan and he urged the Commission to vote to ask the negotiators to return to the table to rework the agreement. 

Although Vice Chair Lori Greene Gordon also found the agreement lacking in terms of affordable housing, her objections differed slightly from Ostroff and Demeter. She found the dollar amount acceptable but felt that the public benefit fee should be earmarked for specific purposes. “I’m going to ask the developer to build [the affordable housing], but I’m asking for this money going to the city to be earmarked for it and the city can use city-owned land and bring in a developer that is experienced in this area to develop this kind of housing,” she said.

Defending the project, President of the One Beverly Hills Project Ted Kahan pointed to a five percent municipal surcharge that would apply to new Wilshire Building luxury hotel rooms and expand to the Beverly Hilton starting in 2030–essentially a higher Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT). Additionally, the city’s own economic study of the project calculated that the project would generate $2.5 billion in taxes and fees for the city. “It is an extraordinary amount and an extraordinary contribution from a single project, and I dare to say three times what the Wanda project was proposing to contribute to the city,” Kahan said. 

Even without a recommendation by the Planning Commission, the question of approval now falls to the City Council. The City Council will have a series of special meetings on the project on May 20, May 25, May 27, all at 7 p.m. The development agreement will specifically be addressed in the May 27 meeting.  

The post Planning Commission Punts on One Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“Am I missing something here, or are we doing pretty darn good?” asked Councilmember Julian Gold.

“We are in a very fortunate position, Councilmember,” said Director of Finance Jeff Muir.

The total sum for the year provides funding for 54 projects, including the Metro Rodeo Station North Portal Project, comprehensive urban forest maintenance and management, the development of a more self-sufficient water production system, the expansion of electric vehicle chargers and the update of the Pavement Master Plan. The budget also includes funding for improvements and maintenance for existing infrastructure and property, such as the completion of the bowling alley and pool house restoration at Greystone Mansion, repair of damaged sidewalks along Robertson Boulevard and install ADA-compliant ramps, and replacement of the water main along Coldwater Canyon Drive.

For comparison, last year’s CIP appropriation clocked in at $58.8 million.

Staff highlighted capital improvement accomplishments over the last fiscal year–a period marked by uncertainty and austerity. Nonetheless, the city plugged the last of the 19 oil wells by Beverly Hills High School, began a streetscape plan for Wilshire and La Cienega Boulevards, trimmed all the pine trees in the city, repaved 5.9 miles of streets and 5.1 miles of alleyways, and finished replacing all the streetlights in the city with energy efficient LED lighting.

“It’s unbelievable that we were able to accomplish as much as we did during this year of COVID,” said Councilmember Lester Friedman.

With many of the city’s revenue streams disrupted by the pandemic, the city sought to defer and even cut payments on programs wherever possible. Like last year, city staff with Finance and Public Works went through the CIP and flagged projects to keep that met the following criteria: necessary on a regulatory or safety basis, contract is made or imminent, and/or will be cheaper if done sooner. At the same time, staff labeled projects where “project timing allowed for funds to be deferred into future years, or where funds could be released for now until it is more fiscally feasible to proceed,” Muir said.

Overall, staff identified $34.8 million in project funds which could be reduced in the upcoming fiscal year. About half of those funds, $16.9 million, represent permanent cuts and the remaining $17.9 million comes from deferred payments that the city will pay in later years.  

The CIP budget draws money from multiple funds, each of which is earmarked for specific types of projects. The largest source of CIP funds is the Infrastructure Fund, which comes entirely out of the city’s General Fund and amounts to $97.3 over the next five years, based on the proposed CIP budget. The city generates most of its revenue for its General Fund from its business sector. The Infrastructure Fund covers projects like the Metro North Portal, decorative lighting, street and sidewalk improvements.

Staff identified more than $3 million in Infrastructure Fund expenditures that could be postponed until a more financially prudent time, including costs for subway mitigation, street light poles replacement, and streetscape improvements on Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard.

The city went through other funds in a similar manner, identifying $3.8 million in reductions and deferrals in the Capital Assets Fund and $13.2 million in the Parking Funds.

Despite the savings, the city will still have to take large sums from the General Fund to support infrastructure. The city routinely transfers $5 million from the General Fund into the CIP budget, but over the next five years, the city must take $78.5 million out of the General Fund. Given the pandemic’s impact on parking and lease revenues, the Parking Fund will require a $6 million transfer from the city’s reserves to keep it solvent in the next fiscal year. Similarly, the Stormwater Fund will need a transfer of $3.3 million.

“I just want to make sure…that in funding these capital projects, we’re not going to short our general services and that we’re going to be able to provide services at the level that the community has come to expect,” Councilmember Julian Gold said.

Muir answered with a preview of next Tuesday’s meeting on the proposed operating budget, saying, “The proposed operating budget is, essentially, a status quo budget of existing city services. There are no proposed reductions of city services.”

Looking out to the future, Councilmember John Mirisch asked Muir about possible federal funding opportunities. Muir said that staff is “actively monitoring” the progress of the $2 trillion infrastructure bill before the Senate and the still-pending details of the latest federal relief package for additional sources of funds.

With consensus among the Council, Finance and Public Works will present the proposed operating budget on May 11 and then bring both proposed budgets before the Council for full adoption on June 1. 

The post Beverly Hills Approves Rosy Capital Improvement Budget appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The city’s current OpenBH program allows businesses to temporarily expand their services to adjacent areas such as parking lots and the public right of way by acquiring a Special Event Permit without having to pay applicable fees. Under the program, street closure fees and meter revenue are also waived, with costs related to traffic circle equipment and staff time being absorbed by the city. With the closure of indoor dining and ever-changing Public Health restrictions, OpenBH proved to be a critical lifeline for many restaurants and retailers teetering on the edge of foreclosure. However, challenges related to equitable fee structures, safety concerns and design elements remain. Some 114 businesses in Beverly Hills have participated in the program since its inception in June of 2020. Currently, there are 96 businesses actively participating. 

“It has facilitated outdoor operations for many businesses throughout town,” Laura Biery, Marketing and Economic Sustainability Manager for the city, said of the OpenBH program. “It’s included expansions onto sidewalks, parking lots, and some of the favorites, on-street parklets.”

“This is the first time Beverly Hills has had the opportunity to have parklets,” Biery added. “And a typical parklet occurs in a parking space along the curb for us in Beverly Hills. Many of those are in parking metered spaces.”

Vice Mayor Lili Bosse and Councilmember Lester Friedman, who both serve on Task Force Liaison Committee, recommended that the Council approve the extension of the program.

“We were well represented by our business community at that meeting, and we have all agreed that this is a very successful program,” Friedman said of the April 22 liaison meeting. “It really has helped our business community get up and going again as a result of the pandemic. Our unanimous recommendation was to extend the program through the end of the year through December of 2021, with a review in September of 21, for any further modifications that may be necessary after the first of the year. We also did discuss establishing, sometime in the future, a Beverly Hills standard for the type of parklet that’s out there, especially if we’re going to continue this program past the end of the year.”

Friedman added: “The city is losing revenue, and it’s much needed revenue to maintain all the services that we expect as residents and businesses in our community. But it is an effort and an expense that is well worth it to help our businesses get through these difficult times. I believe we just went into the yellow tier…which still restricts restaurants indoors to a 50 percent capacity. So, the ability of the city to provide the space for the businesses to make up for what they’re losing indoors is really important to our businesses.”

On May 4, Los Angeles County Public Health officials announced that the county has officially met the threshold to move into the least restrictive “Yellow Tier” in the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. On May 5, an updated Health Order was published that allows for increased capacity limits at many businesses and bars may reopen indoors. As of May 6, restaurant capacity is no longer capped at 200 people, but the maximum indoor occupancy must remain at 50 percent. There must be six feet between tables and tables are limited to a maximum of six people from one household or eight people from up to three households outdoors. If everyone is fully vaccinated, up to six (indoors) and eight (outdoors) different households at one table, TV viewing allowed, live entertainment outdoors only.

“One of the blessings that came over this most challenging year was the OpenBH program,” Bosse noted. “We have now created something that we’ve been longing to do for many years, which was create that sense of vibrancy and buzz. We have yet to hear from a resident or a business that doesn’t love this. We’ve seen that many of these restaurants and businesses invested a lot of money to make this happen, and at a year where most people didn’t even have the money to invest, but they did.”

As it stands, the fiscal impact of the program on the city is a combination of waived permit fees, traffic control equipment costs, and loss of revenue from parking meters as well as valet operations. According to city staff, there are currently 35 parklets and 86 meters being used to accommodate the parklets. If no additional OpenBH permits are issued, the fee waiver for Jan. 2021 through Dec. 2021 totals approximately $1,096,704 in lost revenue for the city. If no additional parklets are built, the meter revenue loss for Jan. 2021 through Dec. 2021 comes out to approximately $300,885. As of April 2021, all traffic control costs, which are covered by the city, totaled approximately $94,000. 

“I think the council has recognized the value of this, both from an emotional point of view, but also from an economic point of view,” Councilmember Dr. Julian Gold said. “And this is our investment.” 

Councilmember John Mirisch added, “We need to look at continuing to fund city services. And so, as we are right now, the figure was close to a million and a half dollars of the city subsidizing, in many ways, this program. If business gets back to normal and businesses are earning extra money because of the additional capacity, then I do think we need to look at a way to recoup some of the funds. And the way we did it before by having fees for outdoor dining.”

Another issue, Bosse added, comes from retailers who are concerned about the loss of street parking. “Maybe we would look at having like a universal valet, or some other way to manage that, if we do decide to keep this permanent,” Bosse said.

“Whenever we think about any foregone fees,” said Mayor Robert Wunderlich. “It’s an investment in our city. It’s an investment in positioning Beverly Hills for the future and creating the atmosphere that we want from Beverly Hills. And so, I certainly am very happy with this project and hope that we are moving into a position to keep it in place permanently.”

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As we embarked on uncharted territories and unusual times, my goals for the new year were to care and support our local community. Community caring for community as we UNITE AS ONE. We set goals to focus on local programs for youths, veterans, the elderly and those displaced from their homes; the most at risk and vulnerable members of our society. I’m proud to share the new heights our club reached through our new programs and initiatives. Rotary has a very rich history. As one of the first service organizations in the world, we proudly support local and international projects to promote peace, fight disease, homelessness and hunger. We thrive to promote education and provide clean water wells. That’s just a fraction of what we do!

In this past year, we used the Zoom platform to host speakers from all over the world! Our speakers were timely, relevant, intellectual, cultural and, most of all, inspirational.

We are nearing our 100-year anniversary for the Rotary Club of BH. As part of my planning for the future, we started the President’s Club and adapted a Long-Range Plan. We created and launched a new website, updated our social media platforms, created a monthly newsletter and started promoting the #UnitedAsOne #ServiceAboveSelf and #bhRotary hashtags.

One of my goals was to have as many members engaged and involved in our club as possible so we launched several new groups and committees. We now have a Real Estate Roundtable, a Women’s Roundtable, a COVID Task Force, a City Occurrences Committee, a 50 and Under Club, Walk and Talk Tuesdays, a Wine Club, a Social Action Club and a Sunshine Club.

I am especially proud of our fundraising efforts, which took off with a $50,000 gift from an anonymous member. Despite the challenges of this year, our fundraising goals reached all-time highs through our Holiday Party that featured comedian Jay Leno. Our International Foundation and Local Charitable Foundation awarded tens of thousands of dollars in grants to worthy recipients that were recommended by our members. Our Women’s Round Table awarded close to $30,000 toward programs to combat Child/Human Trafficking, a cause very dear to my heart. Our member-supported BH Rotary Charitable Foundation also contributed nearly $100,000 to a number of worthy causes, and we donated almost $80,000 to programs directly impacted by COVID-19.

Rotary is about service, and I am proud that we launched the Shawn Saeedian Service Above Self Award and had Shawn as the first recipient. We collected blankets and toys for those in need and we passed out masks and hand sanitizer to our most innocent and vulnerable population, when those items were sparse, high in demand and hard to find. We continued to provide school scholarships to students at both Beverly Hills High School and The Buckley School where we sponsor their Rotary Interact Clubs. We look forward to celebrating our Annual Vocational Service Awards given to local Police, Fire, Postal, City and members of BHHS or Buckley School staff this Monday.

As my tenure draws to a close, I am in awe of the meaningful relationships that we managed to foster during a pandemic. As Rotarians, service above self is our motto and a way of life. I am grateful to and proud of my Board and club members for stepping up and working hard to selflessly serve our community, #UnitedAsOne. 

Sharona R. Nazarian

President

Rotary Club of Beverly Hills

#BHRotary #UnitedAsOne

Follow us on FB BHRotary

Instagram BHRotary

Website http://bhrotary.org/ 

The post Nazarian Shares Highlights of Year as Rotary Club President appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

In the same way that an agenda dictates the direction of a City Council meeting or commission hearing, the city’s yearly priorities map the goals and focus of the city’s many branches. The City Council Priority Setting Session for the fiscal year 2020-21 was a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last year, city staff deferred to the priorities of the prior year while also following City Council directions in regards to the evolving civil unrest and public health crisis.

Councilmember John Mirisch pushed for reviving the Southeast Task Force, a task force convened by then-Mayor Barry Bucker in 2011 to form recommendations on how to improve the southeast of the city. In 2019, with the approach of the Metro D Line, the City Council combined the Strategic Planning Committee and the Southeast Task Force into a single committee–a move that Mirisch said sometimes “muddled” the issues and decentered the concerns of residents.

“I think there was some confusion in combining it to strategic planning. The main purpose of this–Barry Brucker established the committee way back when–was to get the vision of the residents for what they would like to see…and to get their feedback,” Mirisch said. 

The Council also set the city’s rent stabilization policy as a “high priority,” as Vice Mayor Lili Bosse put it. Director of Community Development Ryan Gohlich said that the city would focus on furthering the work of the Rent Stabilization Commission, which is in the process of developing a new ordinance on relocation fees.

“I think this is going to be a very front and center concern for many people as we are coming out of post pandemic, both for the tenants and the landlord. So, I think we have to put a lot of focus on working with the Commission to help the tenants and the landlords through this next year and the years ahead,” Bosse said. 

Similarly, the Council also agreed to continue prioritizing inclusionary housing in the next fiscal year. In previous years, the city passed an Interim Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and contracted with an advisory firm to conduct a study on the topic. The ordinance establishes a requirement that multi-family housing developments include affordable units or pay an affordable housing fee. According to Gohlich, city staff will present the Council with the completed study and bring forward a permanent inclusionary housing ordinance.

The Council unanimously agreed to prioritize the promotion of arts and culture in the city. Councilmember Julian Gold expressed concerns over the costs of maintaining certain pieces of public art, apparently referring to the sculpture “Hymn of Life: Tulips,” by Yayoi Kusama. The city is currently paying more than $600,000 to refabricate the enormous, fantastical flower sculpture in bronze after the steel-framed plexiglass design showed signs of wear. 

“I have a little bit of concern over what has been ongoing issues with the art that we purchased in terms of our ability to keep it pristine and the costs to us of having to redo these things,” Gold said. He suggested a “best practice review” to determine “what we should be looking for that will create issues, or maybe having some form of curation that helps prevent them.”

The council members unanimously hailed the success of the OpenBH program over the last year, which allowed stores and restaurants to extend onto outdoor public right of ways to allow for the safe continuation of commerce. The Council expressed a desire to continue the momentum of the program even as the city comes out of the grips of the pandemic. 

“We tried it. People love it. It is coming back to the City Council agenda very soon,” Mayor Robert Wunderlich promised. 

The Council signed off on prioritizing studying the creation of a city operated health department. According to Assistant City Manager Nancy Hunt-Coffey, the city will hire a consultant to study the proposal, which first came about in response to Los Angeles County Department of Public Health restrictions on outdoor dining during the winter COVID-19 surge.

Additionally, Hunt-Coffey said the city was “beginning exploring having our own office of a city prosecutor.” She said the item would move to the City Attorney’s office for further investigation over the next fiscal year. Much like the interest in a health department, the impetus for a city prosecutor stems from discontent with Los Angeles County–in this case, with District Attorney George Gascón. 

Both Wunderlich and Bosse said they would like to fast track the priority. “Because, as we’ve seen,” Bosse said, “it’s really important that people in our community feel safe and that if there are crimes, that there are consequences to [them].”

Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD) Interim Chief Dominick Rivetti and Assistant Chief Marc Coopwood presented on the priorities for the department. Beverly Hills will seek to hire 20 police officers and five communications dispatchers over the next fiscal year, bringing the department up to full deployment of 150 officers. The goal would not see fruit for some time; it takes about 18 months from the application process before an officer can be deployed. 

Coopwood said that the Department will study the feasibility of a Civilian Response Unit that would respond to non-violent calls involving vulnerable members of the community. “This is the new way that our industry is reimagining policing, to have civilians, mental health clinicians, social workers go out to the calls that traditionally go to law enforcement,” Coopwood said, explaining that these civilian groups could better deescalate some situations and have more expertise interacting with those community members. 

Coopwood presented another goal for the department, the formation of a “Business District Team” that will focus specifically on matters in the Business Triangle. Coopwood explained that the move would build on a “hugely successful” pilot program from the summer. 

The Police Department will also bring a proposal to the Council to extend the contacts with the two armed private security companies through the next fiscal year, citing concerns of more demonstrations and protests. 

Though neither Coopwood nor Rivetti presented the objective, the draft City Council Priorities attached to the staff report lists implementing a new Unmanned Aircraft System program and the ambitious goal of lowering overall crime by 20 percent. 

The Council indicated unanimous approval of the priorities and objectives presented by BHPD, though Councilmember Mirisch renewed a few suggestions for police accountability and reform. Mirisch brought up the idea of supporting the formation of “an independent investigative and prosecutorial authority that specifically deals with potential police abuse or brutality,” not just for Beverly Hills, but for California. 

“The connection between the DA’s office, in general, is so intertwined with the police that in some cases we’ve seen, it’s impossible to have that arm’s length distance to create justice,” Mirisch said. 

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At the previous meeting, the team managing the project and the project’s owners made a presentation to the Commission, highlighting the benefits they say One Beverly Hills will bring to the community. Beny Alagem, CEO of Alagem Capital Group which is developing the project along with Cain International, pointed to his stewardship of his other two luxury hotel holdings, the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria. 

“We delivered with the Waldorf Astoria everything we promised and more. The financial return exceeded the city’s estimates,” Alagem told the Commission. He promised that One Beverly Hills would “perform on [an] exponentially higher level,” generating revenue for city services and schools and creating new jobs. “One Beverly Hills will be the catalyst that will help revive the city economy and support it in the future.”

At nearly 2 million square feet with a $2 billion price tag, the proposed development includes 340 residential units and 42 luxury hotel rooms spread out between seven major structures. It would also demolish and update portions of the Beverly Hilton, including the conference center, the Palm/Oasis Court Building, the parking lot on Merv Griffin Way, the hotel’s vehicle entry, and the Aqua Star Pool. 

The project’s biggest selling point for both prospective residents, future guests, and the city is the 12.7 acres of open space, featuring 8 contiguous acres of gardens, about half of which would be publicly accessible. The plans boast two miles of walking paths dotted with art and water features. The project achieves this by creating a land bridge over Merv Griffin Way in order to connect the Hilton parcel with the Robinsons-May tract. The garden, made up of 40 species of trees and 250 plants, will be managed by a non-profit conservancy–an arrangement that also grants the development tax benefits. 

The Planning Commission is in the midst of a series of public meetings for One Beverly Hills, at the end of which they will make recommendations to the City Council regarding the project. Final approval for the project rests with the Council. At the previous meeting on April 8, the Commission instructed staff to draft a resolution of support for the Final Supplemental EIR. 

At the April 8 meeting, the commissioners went through a list of questions regarding the project’s Overlay Specific Plan, the comprehensive document that regulates land uses, development standards, and operational standards for the plan area. While the project managers did not have time to respond, the staff report for the April 19 meeting included answers to each of the commissioners’ questions from the One Beverly Hills Team.

Even with 50 pages of meticulous answers to their earlier questions, the Commissioners continued to pepper the project team with follow-ups on April 19. Commissioners expressed concerns about access to One Beverly Hills from South Beverly Hills. “For people who live in the south, there’s no way to get to the gardens without making a very, very long route around Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire and then either backtracking, or going up to Wilshire,” said Commissioner Myra Demeter, herself a resident of South Beverly Hills.

Demeter floated the ideas of constructing a bridge or a tunnel to connect the south with the development at a more convenient junction. The issue, according to Ted Kahn, President of the One Beverly Hills Project, is that the property adjacent to the project is privately owned, making it impossible to create a more accessible entry point. In response, Demeter suggested creating an easement on the property to allow for a crossway mid-block. 

The Commission grappled with a proposed fractional ownership program detailed in the plan. The so-called Residence Club would make 37 fully furnished units available to owners for 30-day increments. The Specific Plan notes that “Residence Club units generate more spending than traditional condos” owing to the high-net-worth occupants and high turnover. 

Commissioner Demeter felt that the program would undermine a sense of community among residents. “I’m not sure how you develop a sense of community if there are multiple owners coming and going for a property,” she said at the April 8 meeting.

Planning Commission Chair Peter Ostroff said that he felt the plans did not provide enough detail for a program that the city had never approved. He recommended removing the program from the Specific Plan until the project team could give more specifics. 

“I’m not comfortable with the notion of, ‘This is really a good thing, there’s other cities doing it, so we should do it, too,'” Ostroff said. “We don’t know what the ‘it’ is, and we don’t know what all of the unforeseen issues might be.”

At the end of the 3-hour meeting, Ostroff flagged one last condition buried in the Specific Plan that would prohibit developers from hiring employees with felony records. “Is that a good thing to have? That seems kind of unfair,” Ostroff said. 

Director of Community Development Ryan Gohlich explained that the provision is standard in the city and came about because of One Beverly Hills’ proximity to El Rodeo Elementary School. Ostroff opined that the rule felt “somewhat arbitrary,” and could unfairly penalize those who had already served their time. Vice Chair Lori Greene Gordon and Commissioner Andy Licht agreed that the Commission should throw out the stipulation.

“If somebody had a felony conviction when they were 18 and now they’re 48 and they’re turning their lives around, it just seemed somewhat unfair,” Ostroff said.  

The post Planning Commission Holds Second Special Meeting on One Beverly Hills Project appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

One Beverly Hills is one of two marquee projects before the Planning Commission this year, along with the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills by French conglomerate LVMH. The proposal combines three sites: the Beverly Hilton Hotel and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, the former Robinsons-May department store, and the Union 76 Gas Station. The project is managed by Cain International and Alagem Capital Group, which owns the parcels.

All the president’s men came out for the meeting, including lead architect Pritzker Prize-winning London-based Sir Norman Foster. He highlighted the project’s crowning ambition, its 8 acres of gardens, citing Olmsted and Vaux’s New York Central Park as “one of my personal inspirations.”

“This as a project looks back to history when it was originally a nursery that provided the trees, but it’s rooted in the present. But in terms of sustainability, its pedestrian and bicycle-friendly approach is very much rooted in the future,” Sir Foster said, referencing the tract’s past as a nursery in the early 1920s.  

Alagem Capital Group CEO Beny Alagem predicted that the project would one day be recognized as one of the wonders of the world. “It is a vision that will serve the city well for generations,” he said. “The Botanical Garden, with [its] beauty, tranquility and, just as importantly, sustainability, will be the hallmark of Beverly Hills.”

At nearly 2 million square feet with a $2 billion price tag, the proposed development includes seven major structures. The plans list a 32-story, 141-unit residential building along Santa Monica Boulevard; north of that, a 28-story, 141-unit residential building referred to as the Garden Residences. On the Wilshire side of the lot, utilizing the gas station parcel, the development would have an 11-story mixed use building with 37 residential units and 42 hotel rooms.

The project would also make some changes to the Beverly Hilton. While the Beverly Hilton Wilshire Tower would remain, the plans call for the demolition of the conference center facilities along Wilshire, the Palm/Oasis Court building, the parking lot on Merv Griffin Way, and the hotel’s vehicle entry. Most significantly, the development would bulldoze the Aqua Star Pool, the hotel’s iconic watering hole for the well-known and well-heeled.  

In their place, One Beverly Hills would have a new conference center with a publicly accessible restaurant and a so-called Enhancement Structure, a four-story structure with restaurants, retail, and 36 hotel rooms. The project would construct a new 1,865-vehicle underground parking structure.

But perhaps the most ambitious feature of One Beverly Hills is the 12.7 acres of open space, which includes 8 contiguous acres of gardens, more than half of which would be publicly accessible. The plans boast two miles of walking paths with art features and water features. The project achieves this by creating a land bridge over Merv Griffin Way in order to connect the Hilton parcel with the Robinsons-May tract. 

The garden design is overseen by celebrated local landscape architect Mark Rios. “It’s a lifetime opportunity for us to bring a world class sustainable botanical garden to Beverly Hills,” Rios said. The garden will include 13 gardens of flora primarily native to California. “There are 40 different tree types, with many large heritage trees…[and] 250 different plant types to create these overall 13 immersive gardens.”

The entire project features a heavy emphasis on sustainability. Rios said that the garden will rely entirely on recycled water produced on-site. The gardens will be managed by a nonprofit organization composed of “residents, botanists, educators, community members and leaders from the city.”

One Beverly Hills will offer two hours free public parking and promises to never close the park for private events at the hotel.  

But as President of the One Beverly Hills Project Ted Kahn explained to the Commission, the proposal came with a compromise. “The trade off is height,” he said. “To accomplish our goals, including maintaining the approved square footage, the option was to increase the height of the buildings. But remember what you get in return: more openness, more gardens, more blue space.”

While the city has previously approved other developments on the Robinsons-May site and the Hilton property, it has never approved a unified project on both sites with the addition of the gas station lot. The city has already certified Environmental Impact Reports for the earlier proposals, in addition to approving Specific Plans and various entitlements.

As such, the EIR for the new project only needed to examine the new elements of the proposal–hence, the “supplemental” of Supplemental EIR. The Planning Commission instructed staff to prepare a resolution to recommend that the City Council accept the Final Supplemental EIR. Once the resolution is drafted by staff and voted on by the commissioners, the Commission will move on to make findings on the One Beverly Hills Overlay Specific Plan.

The public used the opportunity to comment on the Specific Plan for the first time, mostly expressing hearty support for the project.

“As a tax paying business owner, I believe that these types of developments are ones that make Beverly Hills an attractive destination, that provide public benefits like the proposed Botanical Gardens [and] upscale areas to entertain, TOT revenue to pay for more police, fire…[and] for the schools, and essential in attracting the kind of residents in Beverly Hills that, frankly, are important to my business and making a living,” said Alan Kay.

Todd Johnson, President and CEO of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, similarly gave the project a ringing endorsement. “We are here to 100 percent support this project. We’ll be there to help out in any way we can, and look forward to you folks making a positive answer on this so this project can get going.”

Some commenters raised issues around affordable housing. For Alan Block, while he gave the project his total support, he added that he thought “there must be an affordable housing condition probably related to this project, but I don’t think it necessarily has to be on site”–a sentiment echoed by Commission Chair Peter Ostroff.

“I think there should be a specific commitment to develop some number of affordable units,” Ostroff said, also agreeing that the units need not be on site.

The Commission will hold two more public meetings to consider the other elements of the project on April 19 and April 22. Both will be held via teleconference at 7 p.m. Comments can be made through email at commentPC@beverlyhill.org. Emails must identify the Agenda Item Number or topic in the subject line and be sent eight days before the hearing. Comments can also be made by calling (310) 285-1020 or via video at https://www.gotomeet.me/BevPublic.

The post First Public Hearing Held for One Beverly Hills Specific Plan appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“Businesses generally succeed in Beverly Hills,” Todd Johnson, President and CEO of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce told the Courier. “There’s some that don’t for different reasons, but, for the most part, it’s the safest city in the country. Regardless of what’s taken place, we’re still extremely safe, extremely friendly and walkable.”

Each year, the Chamber, in partnership with the city, travels to New York City in the fall and San Francisco in the spring to scout new businesses to bring into Beverly Hills. The trips are made by Todd Johnson, who is accompanied by the Mayor, Vice Mayor, and the City Manager. 

According to Johnson, the Japanese sportswear brand Onitsuka Tiger, which opened in February at 474 N. Rodeo Dr., came as a result of the Chamber’s trip to New York in the Fall of 2019. The Rodeo Drive location is Onitsuka Tiger’s third brick-and-mortar store and its second flagship in North America. “We were pretty intricate in helping them get through the process of opening,” Johnson told the Courier. 

To celebrate the Beverly Hills opening, the 2400 square foot Rodeo Drive location will carry exclusive limited-edition items including sneakers with “Beverly Hills” embossed on the side. The Rodeo Dr. store is also the first to sell the Onitsuka Tiger brand’s children’s collection.

“When prospective businesses reach out to us, we put them in contact with real estate guys that can help, landlords and that kind of thing to help them find exactly what they’re looking for,” Johnson said. “We’re in talks with probably a half a dozen other businesses, including a lot of restaurants that are in New York who are interested in coming out here.”

The city’s efforts to help restaurants expand their outdoor dining capabilities manifested with the OpenBH initiative, which allows businesses to temporarily expand to adjacent areas such as parking lots and the public right of way. However, even with OpenBH, new restaurants looking to obtain an Open-Air Dining Permit must still pay hefty fees. “Any restaurant is able to obtain an OpenBH permit free of charge, but permanent outdoor dining continues to be subject to the City’s normal application process and associated fees (with the exception of the lease fee),” Ryan Gohlich, Director of Community Development, told the Courier. “The City has always charged a fee for these types of applications, and the fees are based on periodic fee studies that are conducted to ensure that the City’s fees are in-line with the cost of providing services and the staff hours associated with application processing.”

On South Beverly Drive, six new establishments are opening, including the upscale bakery Sweet Lady Jane (214 S. Beverly Dr.) and a new 100 percent grass-fed Wagyu steakhouse called Mat? (239 S. Beverly Drive), founded by the group behind Sugarfish, where Panera used to be. 

“There are some vacancies on South Beverly, but it’s also a very walkable neighborhood and walkable,” Johnson told the Courier. “It’s also just a little more affordable than up in the triangle.”

Total Body Nutrition, a sports nutrition shop, recently opened at 193 S. Beverly Dr., and San Francisco-based coffee chain, Philz Coffee (233 S. Beverly Dr.) is slated to debut soon. SBE’s affordable to-go sushi spot, Krispy Rice, and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop are also opening soon on the 200 block of South Beverly.

After a slew of slow months and incalculable losses, existing retailers on South Beverly are excited to have new neighbors and hope for more pedestrian traffic.

“Things are slowly picking back up,” Adriana Caras, owner of LeSwim (238 S. Beverly Dr.) swimwear boutique told the Courier. “And now, suddenly, it’s like a surge. I have been busy all day. So now with everything opening, I’m kind of on the fence if we should extend our lease past April and stay longer.”

“I’m honestly very excited about having all these restaurants open up,” Jenny, the manager at Peruvian retailer Cottoniere (245 S. Beverly Dr.) told the Courier. “It’s been super dead here, we almost had to close. We’re hoping that when the new restaurants open, more people will come through.”

On Canon Drive, Nusr-Et–a new steakhouse helmed by Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, known globally as the “Salt Bae,”–is expected to open on April 30 next to Spago. Spanish restaurant Tatel (453 N. Canon Dr.) is also opening at the former Nic’s Beverly Hill location, but has yet to announce a date. Jennifer Fisher Jewelry, a celebrity cult-favorite jewelry brand, recently opened its door at 450 N. Canon Dr. Christian Louboutin, known for luxe, red-soled shoes, also opened a Los Angeles flagship at 477 N. Rodeo Dr. in March. 

With the advent of the parklets and more outdoor dining, the business triangle has been vibrant with new energy and crowded streets. As a result, some retailers have even started staying open later, as more people are out shopping and dining.  “We’ve always been wanting a little more energy and nightlife, because Beverly Hills kind of rolls its street up at 6 p.m.,” Johnson told the Courier. 

Coming soon to North Beverly Drive is the popular salad chain, Sweetgreen (245 N. Beverly Dr.) as well as Erewhon Market (399 N. Beverly Dr.), the upscale health-food store known for its organic, locally sourced and sustainable groceries.

Taking over the former Roxbury Café location, Impasta (459 N. Roxbury Dr.) is offering fan-favorite pasta dishes with zero and low-carb noodles options. “I wanted to open Impasta in Beverly Hills not only because there is a certain type of prestige and notoriety associated with it,” Harrison Litvack, owner of Impasta, told the Courier. “But from a business standpoint, it’s central geography in the greater Los Angeles area allows people to access our yummy and nutritious food more easily.” While the physical restaurant space hasn’t opened yet for patrons looking to dine-in, Impasta began taking to-go orders in February. 

At 434 N. Camden Dr., Beverly Bar restaurant is also gearing up to open, with a menu focused on American-style food. J Watson Fine Art will be opening at 9410 Dayton Way, enticing art collectors and enthusiasts with the gallery’s collection of limited-edition paintings by artists such as Pino, Vidan, G. Harvey, Morgan Weistling, Antoine Blanchard, Peter Max, M.& I. Garmash and more.

In perhaps the sweetest news of all, John Kelly Chocolates chocolatier boutique opened at 9523 S. Santa Monica Blvd. Their specialties include truffle fudge and walnut-caramel clusters. 

In addition to the new storefronts, Johnson pointed to other projects underway in the city.  “You’ve got the One Beverly Hills project coming, the Chanel store remodeling, the LVMH hotel… and Saks has big plans for that little section down on Wilshire where Barney’s used to be. I think we have so much to look forward to over the next year.”

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The discussion consisted of a panel of hospitality experts.

According to Luxury Hotel Advisors Co-Founder Carlos Lopes, industry analysts are predicting a return to peak pre-COVID-19 occupancy by 2023. Beverly Hills, however, has a slightly rosier forecast owing to its reputation and high-end offerings, Lopes said, estimating recovery by mid-2022.

“You can’t compare Beverly Hills with Atlanta or Dallas, or most other major cities. I think we’ve got to look at Beverly Hills as perhaps the Monaco of California,” he said. “This is one of the most exciting destinations in California.”

Across the board, the panelists acknowledged the need to transform certain practices within the industry in order to reassure guests of their safety. As the world has changed over the course of the pandemic, so, too, must hotels and lodgings. 

“As a consumer, my world has changed completely. How do you bring that into a hotel?” asked Shane O’Flaherty, Microsoft’s Global Director of Travel, Transportation & Hospitality. 

O’Flaherty pointed to research that characterized hospitality as one of the “least automated industries on the planet,” saying that this moment offers the industry an opportunity to grow.

He posed the following quesstion:

“How do you bring digital into [the luxury hotel experience] to create kind of a seamless journey for the consumer and how do we use digital to create that emotional connection with the consumer?” 

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The new venture was born of lessons learned during the COVID-19 lockdown, not to mention the Williamses’ own stellar track record. 

In the past 15 years (first with Nourmand & Associates and then with Hilton & Hyland), the couple has broken sales records, amassed a celebrity clientele, gained coast-to-coast recognition and become household first names in luxury real estate sales. Now, with The Beverly Hills Estates, they’re exploring new territory. The Courier recently met the couple in their new offices ahead of an official ribbon cutting set for April 12. 

The Beverly Hills Estates is not actually in Beverly Hills, but next door, on the westernmost edge of the Sunset Strip. Mere city boundaries are no impediment to the Williamses’ vision, though. Their tag line is “Estate of Mind.” And Beverly Hills-ness permeates the business, both in ethos and physical design. The Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows, in fact, is a direct inspiration. 

Branden related a seminal event that took place at the Pink Palace 15 years ago. “Rayni and I had just met. We were just starting out. We were at the hotel and we saw a man there looking at listings. We had no idea who he was. He told us he was from France, and very disappointed that his offer on a home here had just been rejected,” he said. 

The two, somewhat boldly, convinced the gentleman to let them show him another home. “He bought it on the spot,” said Branden of the $5.5 million dollar home. “It turns out he was Johnny Hallyday, the Elvis of France.”

That initial stroke of luck as rookie agents led to years of successful client meetings at the hotel. The new office space, said Branden, “represents a combination of our own style meets the Polo Lounge meets the Beverly Hills Hotel pool area. That’s how we came up with this, and we’re super excited about it. We always wondered why there was no Beverly Hills Estates. So that was the inspiration.” 

The inspiration even extends to the logo for The Beverly Hills Estates, which features a cheery script reminiscent of the Beverly Hills Hotel’s emerald-green signage. The exterior of the new offices at 8878 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood is painted a similar shade. Inside the two-story, 7,000 square-foot-expanse, a suite of offices on the ground level resembles pool cabanas, with pink flamingos dotting the wallpaper. There’s a white player piano, a taxidermy peacock and other homages to the storied hotel. 

Branden gestures outside, to the front of the building.

“We also love Sunset Boulevard because we have 500,000 cars driving by. This used to be the Aahs store, which was always memorable. Whisky a-Go-Go is right over there. This building was photographed by Ed Ruscha (the renowned pop artist whose iconic book of photos captured a 2.5-mile long stretch of the Strip). It’s the 50-yard line for us. Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, the Sunset Strip, the Bird Streets,” he said.

In addition to the individual “cabana” offices, the ground floor of The Beverly Hills Estates offices includes an oversized, serpentine-shaped divan upholstered in crushed green velvet. Against one wall, separated by a customized gold room divider, sits an imposing stone bar, which will offer coffees, fresh juices and croissants to club members. The club/work area also includes several pink-upholstered booths curved around stone tabletops. 

“I wanted a really creative space. I wanted music in the background. [It was David Bowie during our visit.] Agents can come here and feel at home, grab something from the barista, use one of the cabanas, use the conference room. Deals happen when you share information. That’s truly what this space is. We want to have more fun. We want an interactive vibe,” said Branden.

The Williamses have carefully curated every aspect of the design and materials used in the office. Surfaces incorporate purple onyx, jadeite, as well as citrine, which symbolizes real estate abundance and wealth. Also prominent are oversized crystal geodes in the rooms, which Rayni selected for their healing properties. 

If the ground floor of The Beverly Hills Estates is reminiscent of the iconic hotel, the downstairs space features what Branden describes as a “Sunset rock-n-roll vibe.” The offices house IT and marketing staff. Branden is especially proud of the 25-person conference room with wallpaper featuring the Miami-palm-trees-at-sunset look from the office in “Scarface.” On the wall, a neon sign conveys the movie’s slogan, “The world is yours.”

Of course, the world was already theirs. The Williamses have been superstars at Hilton & Hyland for the past decade. In 2019, they closed more than $726 million in sales. So entrenched are they in the upper echelon of the luxury real estate market that many insiders wondered why they would take on the challenges of their own business. (In addition to the Williamses, the company has 15 other sales agents, with broker Greg La Plant as head of operations.) 

“It was just time for us to leave the nest and spread our wings and fly and create our own vibes. They understood,” said Branden, of Hilton & Hyland. “We gave them ten incredible years, and I think we really enhanced the company. We are extremely appreciative for everything that we learned from our mentors,” he added. 

Rayni elaborated on that sentiment. 

“Branden and I have entrepreneurial thinking. For many years, we stayed with our previous firm because of relationships. We had deep love and appreciation for them. But, in the back of our minds, we always knew that we had to have our own company. That’s just who we are,” she said. 

She added that the pandemic was a turning point. 

“When the lockdown first happened a year ago, I sat at my dining room table and looked at Branden. I said, ‘We’ve never sat still our whole lives.’ We’ve never not wanted to work. We love it. We were deciding at that pivotal moment, ‘Do we go with the standard brokerage house, which is a big commercial space, where everyone has a glass cubicle? Do we plop our model into it? Or do we take away the lessons that we know we are about to live and learn? And though we didn’t think that we would be on lockdown for a year, we did know that the world was changing. We knew the world would go back, but it will never go back the same. We’re doing things this way because our heart was telling us that the world needed change,” she said. 

The clubhouse environment relates to the way people are working now, noted Rayni. 

“We’re finding that people are thriving more by working from home sometimes. They may be only going to the office a couple times a week in order to lessen the footprint on the environment and lessen the stress of having to sit in a commercial space cubicle. During COVID, we realized more than ever that people and interaction are the number one things that makes us thrive.”

The couple believe that the private club concept (membership is $2,400 per year) fills a need in the industry.

“COVID taught us to take it back to the basics. In 15 years in this business, we’ve learned that it is a ‘people person’ business. But real estate can be very cutthroat and unfriendly. There is no room for a warm, meet-and-greet kind of environment. It does not exist. We wanted to bring together a concierge-type feeling. Williams & Williams Estates has been established for 15 years and has everything from upholsterers to builders, architects and designers in its Rolodex. Anything our clients need we provide for them. We wanted to invite those lifestyle-type people to have this private membership club and interact and mingle with the brokerage community,” said Rayni. 

Artists and writers have had their salons through the ages. This salon for the real estate profession will similarly inspire creativity, as the Williamses envision it.  

“When you come in through this door, you’re bringing your trade. And when you leave, you also take away something. You may have met somebody who happens to be visiting from Monaco. That’s really what’s it’s about. It’s about human interaction, which COVID taught us that we all need to have,” said Rayni.

The couple’s goal is to have five satellite offices: Los Feliz, the Westside, Malibu, the Valley. “We’re at an age where we’re ready to have our own business. But we’re also ready to bring in all that we’ve dreamed of and wished of a workplace. We’re ready to have a good time,” said Branden. 

“We’re not recruiting. We’re letting it grow organically. There is nobody doing this,” added Rayni. “We’re building something, and if you’re aligned with it and it speaks to you, then come talk to us. If you don’t get it, we can’t explain it to you.” 

One thing Rayni can explain is her belief that the future is bright, both for the industry and for themselves. 

“It’s always hard to make market predictions, however if you look back 10 years and you look back 20 years, you get a good idea of the cyclical market that is real estate,” she said. 

“There are a few things that we know, namely, that the home has become the most important asset we can have. Secondly, that we are inevitably facing inflation. Therefore, tangible assets are the best investments we can have. The wonderful thing about real estate that makes it different from any other tangible asset is that you can live in it. It can always become income property, if you need it to be, by simply renting it. And of course, one thing we all need is a place to live.”

Rayni added, “I predict 2021 will be our biggest year yet.” 

The post Beverly Hills Estates of Mind appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“All things considered, we find ourselves in a bit of a better position than anticipated, and some reason for guarded optimism on signs of recovery,” Director of Finance Jeff Muir said at the March 16 Study Session.

Although the city currently faces a deficit of $12.8 million, Muir cautioned that this estimate “assumes everything plays out exactly as it is in the budget,” which he said rarely happens. With business tax receipts trending upwards, decreases in forecasted salaries and benefits, a slight reduction in overtime, savings from the Early Retirement/Voluntary Separation Program, and staff vacancies above and beyond what had been previously assumed, Muir reported a projected deficit for the fiscal year of $7 million. Additionally, Muir said that the city will benefit from reimbursements for COVID-19 related expenditures and from money from the recently passed stimulus package.  

Beverly Hills draws most of its revenue from four sources: transient occupancy tax (a levy on hotel guests paid by hotels); property tax; business license tax; and sales tax. As of its latest tabulation, the city estimates its 2021 budget as slightly less than $230 million.  

The pandemic dealt a uniquely debilitating blow to the city’s coffers. Public health restrictions all but shut down local hotels. In an effort to assist the hospitality industry, the city halted payments of the transient occupancy tax (TOT). At the same time, commerce in the city came to a halt as shopping destinations like Rodeo and Canon became possible viral vectors, sending sales tax figures plunging.

The city recognized the threat at the outset of the crisis and sprang into action to mitigate the fallout. The city implemented a series of spending reductions and offered employees the option of early retirement programs, including CalPERS Two-year Retirement Program and Cash Incentive Program. As of the Feb. 28 deadline, 40 employees opted for the CalPERS program and 25 elected for the Cash Incentive Program, saving the city $6.4 million. 

“Assuming many of the one-time measures we employed in this year’s budget to reduce expenditures are reversed going into next year, we’re forecasting an approximate deficit of $4.6 million for next year and just under a million dollars for the following year,” said Muir. 

The City Council heard later at the March 16 Regular Meeting recommendations for new city commissioners from various commission interview panels. Four commissions face upcoming vacancies necessitating replacements–Human Relations, Arts and Culture, Design Review, and Planning. Each panel consisted of two council members and the respective commission chair and vice chair. 

Interest was high, with between seven to 12 applicants vying for the one vacancy on each commission. If approved by the council, each incoming commissioner would start the day after the departure of their predecessor. For the Human Relations Commission, the panel recommended Rose Kaiserman to replace outgoing Commissioner Henry Blumenfield, whose term concludes on December 31, 2021. For the Arts and Culture Commission, the panel landed on Pamela Beck to take over for outgoing Commissioner Stephanie Bond, who leaves on June 30, 2022. The panel for the Design Review Commission endorsed Marshall Peck to replace Commissioner Ilona Sherman, whose term concludes on December 31 of this year. Finally, the Planning Commission panel recommended Terri Kaplan to the seat currently occupied by Andy Licht, whose term ends June 30, 2022.

The Arts and Culture Commission panel also suggested that the Council discuss at a later meeting possibly expanding the commission from five to seven members. The recommendations for commissioners will be placed on the formal consent agenda at a future city council meeting.

Vice Mayor Robert Wunderlich expressed excitement at some of the new faces in the applicant pool and encouraged them to remain involved in civic life. For those perhaps discouraged by not making the team in this latest round, he pointed to an upcoming seat on the Architectural Commission. Applications open up next week. 

The post New Budget Forecast and New Commissioners Introduced appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The Commission also discussed a possible ordinance to enable greater construction of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) in order to meet the city’s RHNA requirements. The hearing comes as the Commission draws closer to presenting a Draft Housing Element, which it estimates will take place in April or May of this year.

The subject of ADUs drew considerable interest from the commissioners. “I don’t think this is going to solve our RHNA numbers,” said Commissioner Myra Demeter about ADUs. “But I think that, generally, many, many people are interested. They have elderly parents, they have kids coming back from college.”

Every eight years, cities and jurisdictions around the state draft a new Housing Element, a part of the General Plan which considers the housing needs of the community and anticipates how that need will change. With the housing cycle currently underway, localities are preparing their Housing Elements for approval by the State.

The core component of the Housing Element is the RHNA, an evaluation of the number of units needed in the next eight years and the land use plans and regulations necessary to accommodate them.

The State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) first determines the housing needs in each region of California by examining population data. The agency also considers economic and demographic trends, overcrowding, and overpayment of rents and mortgages. The number that HCD calculates gets passed to a local regional planning agency–the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), in the case of Beverly Hills–that looks at more local data and distributes the total among its jurisdictions.

In 2019, as cities across California grappled with soaring rents and a homelessness crisis, HCD announced an ambitious goal of about 3.5 million new units over the new Housing Elements cycle. Southern California’s share of the load came out to 1.3 million units. For Beverly Hills: 3,096 units. In comparison, in the last housing cycle, Beverly Hills’ allotment was only three.

Although city staff advised that RHNA appeals were rarely granted, the City Council nonetheless instructed staff to file an appeal to SCAG requesting a reduction to 1,486 units. In total, 52 other jurisdictions in Southern California also filed RHNA appeals. On Jan. 13, SCAG held a public hearing for the appeals, rejecting all but two, including that of Beverly Hills. However, as a result of the two partially successful appeals by Riverside County and the City of Pico Rivera, SCAG had to redistribute the units subtracted from their allotments. This increased Beverly Hill’s RHNA number by eight.

While the city is required to plan for a certain level of growth and take efforts to facilitate it, the RHNA is “not a development mandate,” the staff report notes. Jurisdictions must ensure that bureaucratic hurdles like zoning and planning do not obstruct development, but they do not need to build housing or issue permits themselves. But, if the state determines that a jurisdiction has not done enough to foster development, it can withhold certification of its General Plan. This results in loss of certain state funds, more frequent updates to the city’s Housing Element, and loss of control over housing project decisions.

Cities face similar penalties for not meeting their RHNA obligations. Jurisdictions will have to implement a streamlined review process to approve housing development projects.

At the March 11 meeting, commissioners heard the results of an online survey conducted as a part of its public outreach for the Housing Element process. The survey received responses from 81 people by March 2, the majority of whom live or work in the city. Most respondents have lived in Beverly Hills for 21 years or more, own their home, with an age range of 56 to 74 years old. Though a small sample, the staff report compiled for the hearing claims that “the results have provided insight into the various perspectives of community members regarding how or in what ways the city should accommodate future housing needs in Beverly Hills.”

Among the results, 70 percent of respondents answered that they were “very satisfied with their housing situation.” People who replied to the survey listed maintaining a diverse housing market and maintaining the character of existing neighborhoods as “very important.”

Lower down on the list of priorities, respondents indicated as their least important concerns: “ensuring that children who grow up in Beverly Hills can afford to live in Beverly Hills, providing shelters and transitional housing and services for the homeless, integrating affordable housing to create mixed-income neighborhoods, and establishing programs to help at-risk homeowners keep their homes.”

Most people who participated in the survey expressed support for greater density in mixed-use zones and multi-family residential zones, taking advantage of the future metro stations. Staff expect to release a second online survey by the end of March.

In addition to mixed-use zoning, the city hopes to meet its RHNA goals by incentivizing the construction of ADUs, additional structures that share a lot with a primary structure (like a guest house, for instance). Given the lack of vacant land in Beverly Hills, ADUs take advantage of the city’s large number of single-family residences. For HCD to count future ADUs toward the city’s RHNA requirement, the agency will evaluate ADU permitting trends and the extent to which city regulations encourage ADU development.

“I think that if we can at least meet or exceed the state standards, we will be demonstrating good faith to HCD in our efforts to accommodate to the overriding purpose of the Rena allocation,” said Commissioner Thomas Hudnut.

As the staff report notes, a scant nine ADUs were permitted in the city in 2020. At that rate, the city would barely scratch two percent of its RHNA allocation. But the city’s current ADU regulations adopted in 2017 have already become outdated. The staff report suggested updating the ADU ordinance and adding additional incentives to boost RHNA credit.  

Some recommended incentives include increasing the maximum height from 16 feet (which prevents two-story ADUs) to 22 feet and two stories in the Central Area, and 18 feet and two stories in the Hillside Area. Staff also recommended streamlining the review process and reducing the parking requirements. 

The post Planning Commission Examines Housing Solutions appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“Adaptive reuse is really something that we all strive to do when we’re looking at these…historically significant buildings,” said Commissioner Myra Demeter at the Feb. 25 hearing.

The cubic structure at 9111 Wilshire, located just west of Doheny Drive and east of the Golden Triangle, was built in stages over the decades. The one-story tower base and mezzanine were constructed in 1958 as the main branch for Gibraltar Savings and Loan. This was followed a year later with the cantilevered office tower atop the base, or Banking Hall. Both were designed by the architectural firm of William Pereira and Charles Luckman, both of whom Beverly Hills includes on its List of Master Architects. Ten years later, in 1968, Beverly Hills National Bank built a one-story structure designed by Beverly Hills Master Architect Maxwell Starkman.

In 1985, Beverly Hills National Bank shut its doors for good. Gibraltar Savings and Loan closed in 1989. The bank that bought Gibraltar, Security Pacific Corporation, continued to operate out of 9111 Wilshire for a number of years. As for National Bank, actor Harry Lewis and his wife Marilyn bought up its former headquarters and transformed it into the restaurant Kate Mantilini, named after an L.A. boxing promoter from the ’40s and ’50s. The idiosyncratic architectural firm Morphosis redesigned the bank into a postmodern, refined take on the American diner–a long counter with a view of the kitchen, intimate booths recessed into the interior facade, simultaneously cloistered and wide open. The restaurant became a Beverly Hills institution until rising rent pushed it out in 2014. The former Gibraltar Savings branch and shuttered Kate Mantilini restaurant have sat vacant since then.

In 2016, the Planning Commission granted historical status to 9111 Wilshire. That same year, the property was acquired by Charles Company, owned by developers Mark and Arman Gabay, and later transferred to Oakshire, LLC (Oakshire). The latter entity applied to the Planning Commission in 2019 to restore and revitalize 9111 Wilshire.

Oakshire proposal sought to turn the former banking and office space into a 154-room hotel boutique hotel and bring a restaurant back to the former Kate Mantilini location. The mezzanine within the Gibraltar Banking Hall would say goodbye to bank tellers and hello to masseuse tables with the introduction of a spa and fitness area. On the third floor, the “Gibraltar Square Hotel and Restaurant” would have a 2,300 square foot café and restaurant. Right outside, on the rooftop of the Banking Hall, Oakshire would place a pool deck with cabanas.

The application also requested approval of a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for modified vehicle loading spaces and use of an off-site parking garage. Oakshire also sought approval of a Historic Incentive Permit (HIP) to allow use of a hotel that directly abuts a residential zone.

The Planning Commission approved the application in January 2020, but work has yet to commence. In order to prevent the permits from expiring, Oakshire returned to the Planning Commission for an extension on Feb. 25.

A representative for Oakshire explained to the Planning Commission that COVID-19 had caused the delay in construction. “It goes without saying the COVID pandemic has impacted all sectors of the economy, most notably the hospitality industry. And needless to say, our plans to start construction have been delayed as a result,” said Jack Kurchian, who called in to the meeting and identified himself as a representative. While Oakshire had begun interior demolition and environmental remediation, Kurchian said that they “are looking forward to commencing construction later this year.”

The permit renewal drew only one public comment from Jonah Breslau, speaking on behalf of Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and Unite Here Local 11, Hospitality Workers Union. Breslau argued that, while the city’s regulatory framework had not changed since the permits were first approved, the economic conditions in the city had as a result of COVID-19. “COVID has reshaped our working lives and made residents and families spend more time at home. This increases the privacy and other challenges of a hotel operating on a site next a residential area,” Breslau said.

In response, Kurchian pointed out that the project would not be completed for at least two years.

Chair Peter Ostroff asked the applicant about whether they had given any thought to utilizing the mixed-use ordinance, which the city passed after the Planning Commission first approved the project. “We have considered that. The challenge is that we believe that for housing, you require outdoor balconies, which require modifications to the exterior of the building, which our landmark designation prohibits.”

Community Development Department Director Ryan Gohlich pointed out that the city requires 200 square feet of open spaces per residential unit in a building. “That open space can either be provided as private open space directly attached to the unit or it can also be provided as common open space,” he said, giving the example of rooftops open to residents. Additionally, the Planning Commission has the authority to deviate from requirements in cases of adaptive reuse of office buildings.

Ostroff also suggested that the one-year provision in the permitting process is “unrealistic” and “insufficient for a project like this to break ground.” Gohlich offered that the next time the Commission performs “code cleanup,” they revisit the time frame of the permits.

“It is quite challenging nowadays with various codes that have to be complied with, to where somebody is able to actually start physical construction within one year of approval,” Gohlich said. 

The post Planning Commission Renews Permits for 9111 Wilshire appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Nominees are selected on several criteria, including: exemplifying a particular way of life that helped to strengthen the economy of the city; fostering public appreciation and civic pride for the character and quality of the city; possessing artistic or aesthetic values and unique characteristics of an architectural style, type, period or method of construction; association with community members businesses, institutions or events that are important to the cultural heritage of the city; possessing a unique location with singular, physical characteristics; or having educational value to the city and the community at large. 

The first three recipients of Golden Shield recognition plaques include the site of the Dona Maria Rita Valdez de Villa Homestead, located at Sunset Boulevard and Alpine Drive; the original location of Lawry’s Restaurant on North La Cienega Boulevard; and the original Giorgio Beverly Hills Boutique, the first luxury boutique on Rodeo Drive.

The fourth Golden Shield went to Nate ‘N Al’s Delicatessen, situated within Beverly Hills’ Golden Triangle on 414 North Beverly Drive. First opened in 1945, it is the third oldest Jewish deli in the Los Angeles area, following Greenblatt’s in Hollywood (1926), and Canter’s in the Fairfax District (established 1931). “The deli expanded over many years and was a popular gathering place for local residents and luminaries in the entertainment industry,” Mark Odell, the city’s Urban Designer, said at the March 2 meeting. “The delicatessen also represents the rise of the Jewish population in Los Angeles in the 1940’s and rapidly became a gathering place for the Jewish community.” The Deli has served as a longstanding neighborhood hub, regarded as an iconic Beverly Hills institution. 

The fifth Golden Shield nomination went to the Gearys Beverly Hills flagship boutique located on North Beverly Drive. Gearys first opened its doors in 1930 at 357 North Beverly Drive in a Spanish Colonial Revival style structure designed by architect Harry E. Werner. H.L. Geary founded the shop and operated as a small neighborhood specialty store formerly called the H.L. Geary Art & Gift Shop, offering picture framing services, art supplies, fine dinnerware and tableware, as well as unique gifts for the home. By the late 1930’s, the store had been rebranded as Gearys, and expanded into the building next door, at 351 North Beverly Drive, where it is still located today. The plaque would be placed on the sidewalk of the entry to Gearys. 

The sixth Golden Shield went to the former George and Ira Gershwin Residence at 1019 North Roxbury Drive. The home was built in 1928 in the Spanish Colonial revival architectural style by architect Don Uhl. “The home was built for silent movie picture star, Monte Blue, and later rented to composer and lyricist brothers, George and Ira Gershwin,” Odell said. “While living in the north Roxbury drive house, the Gershwin’s wrote many iconic American songs. The house was later occupied by famous singer Rosemary Clooney in 1953 until her passing.” While the home was demolished in 2005 and a new residence was built on the site, the Gershwin Residence is thought by city officials to be worthy of honor as a culturally significant site where significant achievements were made in American musical history.

“I love, love, love this program,” Councilmember Lili Bosse said. “I think the Golden Shield program is just magnificent. The three that we’re looking at today are very exciting because I see them as icons and truly like the heart and soul of our community. And really why we love our city is for reasons like Gearys Beverly Hills, you know, a family business, beloved, who’s been in our community for over 70 years.”

Bosse added: “I think this is very exciting, and I wholeheartedly support it and I thank the Cultural Heritage Commission for such a fantastic vision, and I am very thrilled to support it.”

To learn more about the Cultural Heritage Commission, visit http://www.beverlyhills.org/departments/communitydevelopment/planning/commissions/culturalheritagecommission/. 

The next Cultural Heritage Commission meeting is scheduled for April 14. 

The post Three Beverly Hills Locations Recognized with Golden Shield appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

During a busy Thursday of alfresco dining at Il Pastaio, three men descended on Shai Belhassen during one of his thrice weekly meals at the Beverly Hills institution. “I just saw them walking down, then running towards me with a gun,” Belhassen told the Courier. One of the three men, who he described as young, Black, and wearing sweatsuits, put a gun to his head while another began to take off his watch, a Richard Mille that Belhassen valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Belhassen says that he then “grabbed the gun” from the suspect and “fought him to the ground.” They continued to wrestle on the ground when another patron, Drew Handcock, approached to intervene.

“I saw the guys wrestling. I thought it was just a drunken fight between friends or something. So I stood up, because I’m 6′ 4″ and a giant, and I was walking over there to settle it down and then I hear one shot ring out,” he told the Courier. “I immediately turn and then three more shots ring out as I’m grabbing my girlfriend and our friend and throwing them inside the door and diving in.”

But even with his quick action, his girlfriend, Amanda Shawshan, was injured in the volley. Handcock noticed the blood once inside the restaurant. “She was bleeding…on the back of her calf,” he said. Emergency services took Shawshan to Cedars-Sinai, where she was treated for the injury. Handcock said that Shawshan only needed a single stitch and was doing well. 

The commotion from the shooting rippled down Canon Drive, with diners at other restaurants fleeing inside for shelter. Just moments before the gun fire, a man running north on Canon yelled out, “He has a gun, run,” according to Ashley, who works at a restaurant down the street. Almost immediately, the shots rang out from Il Pastaio. “Everyone from our restaurant ran inside and I think everyone was worried that there might be more coming.” She says the police arrived almost instantly.

Belhassen said that he continued to fight with one of the suspects for over a minute after the gun fired, at which point he wrested the gun away. “They realized that I had the gun [and] they ran away,” he said. “I could have pointed and shot at them, but I didn’t want to. For some reason, I don’t know why.”

According to BHPD, one other victim suffered physical injury during the incident, but was treated at the scene. 

The post Shooting at Il Pastaio appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

In response to the mounting pressure on renters by the economic toll of COVID-19, the City Council approved the creation of a rent subsidy program at its Sept. 15 Regular Meeting. Though initially vested with $715,000, the Council expanded the program to $1.1 million in December. The program applied to tenants living on multi-family properties that fall under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO), prioritizing seniors and households with children enrolled in Beverly Hills Unified School District. The program offered eligible residents up to $1,000 for three months to make up the remaining balance of unpaid rent. The funds went directly to the landlord under the condition that the landlord grant the tenant a year to repay back rent. In return, participating landlords will also have to agree not to evict tenants for a year. The program is administered by Jewish Family Services (JFS), a non-profit that offers a range of services throughout L.A. 

The Council received the first comprehensive update on March 2 since the application period closed on Dec. 7. Potentially an indication of the economic pain radiating through Beverly Hills, the city received more than double the expected number of applications for assistance. While the city anticipated about 200, according to Deputy Director of Rent Stabilization Helen Morales, it fielded a total of 520. 

Morales broke down the status of the applications. Of the 520, staff were able to reject 40 out of hand because the tenant either lived in a non-RSO unit, the tenant received the Los Angeles County Rent Relief Program subsidy, or the tenant’s monthly rent ran higher than $4,000. Of the 480 remaining, JFS has made final determinations of 91, raising concerns about the speed of the process. Then, of those reviewed, only 21 were deemed eligible for the assistance. 

“When I see that our denial rate was 77 percent and our approval rate was 23 percent, that really is devastating in terms of percentages,” said Councilmember Lili Bosse. 

Morales defended the numbers, saying that even though many applicants truly believed themselves financially harmed by COVID-19, other forms of government assistance had sometimes made up for or exceeded lost wages. “When we were doing a comparison of what their current income was post- and pre-COVID, there was no change, and in some cases, they earned more with receiving [unemployment insurance] payments than they did before COVID-19.”

Beyond that, Morales identified three impediments to a higher approval rate: applicants’ lack of documentation showing a financial impact as a result of COVID-19; landlords’ refusal to sign documentation, including a statement saying they would not evict a tenant for failing to pay back rent; and difficulty coordinating with the County to avoid granting money to a resident already receiving money from the County.

Morales explained that many landlords believe that by refusing the subsidy, they can evict a tenant as soon as the crisis ends, possibly renting the units at market rate. As City Attorney Laurence Weiner explained, California’s recently enacted SB 91 makes it considerably harder for landlords to evict tenants for unpaid rent over the course of the pandemic, thus incentivizing landlords to cooperate with assistance programs. Morales said after explaining this to some landlords, they have reversed their positions. The holdouts, she said, have tended to be corporate landlords.

Council members expressed frustration at the refusal of some landlords to participate in the program. Councilmember Bosse suggested that the City Attorney draft a letter explaining the rules regarding eviction to landlords. Going further, Councilmember John Mirisch suggested exploring a measure that would disincentivize evicting tenants in these cases. Mayor Lester Friedman agreed, saying, “We do need to look at it and see if there is something that we can craft that would take away that incentive from the landlord.”

As a silver lining, Morales said the city has only spent $288,000 of $1.1 million allocated to the fund, leaving open the possibility of another round of applications. “I do think that because our eligible candidates are less, we will have additional funds available and we can open up another period and request additional applications at that time,” she said. 

Also at the March 2 Study Session, the Council voiced unanimous support to move forward with a Neighborhood Slow Streets Program. The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the relationship between residents and their immediate surroundings. As a result of stay-at-home orders and remote working, many people spend more time at home and in their neighborhoods when they would otherwise be at work or school. In response to this paradigm shift, cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Pasadena have implemented Slow Streets Programs, reducing traffic volume and creating a safer environment for residents to walk, bike and exercise safely.

“I am extremely supportive of this,” said Councilmember Bosse. “It encourages less traffic, encourages more walkability, encourages people to be outside, [and] it does not stop people who live on the street to have access to their homes.” 

Bosse, whose “Walk With the Mayor” initiative during her stint as mayor promoted active lifestyles in the city, went as far to suggest the program could be extended after the pandemic.

The program only applies to local residential street blocks with a 25 mile per hour speed limit. It does not extend to collector or arterial roads. The block must be sponsored by a resident and reviewed by staff from the Public Works, Police and Fire Departments. Then, the sponsor must receive support from at least 51 percent of block residents.

Successfully completing this process would result in placement of signage with barricades and traffic cones at both ends of the street. The exact form of the barricade and signage would depend on the width available, City Engineer Daren Grilley told the Council. Generally, though, Grilley said the city would place an a-frame barricade in the street, “Most likely near the right shoulder, so that it wouldn’t impact traffic, but it would be clearly visible to anybody coming into that neighborhood.” 

Grilley admitted that apart from the signage, the program lacks teeth. “It’s aspirational, it’s not enforceable,” he said, though he pointed to positive early data from other participating cities.

Councilmember Julian Gold expressed concern that if too many blocks seized on the program, it could hurt traffic in the city. Most other council members seemed unworried about that prospect and instead waxed nostalgic about their childhoods playing safely in the street. While Grilley clarified that some team sports could potentially violate COVID-19 public safety measures, kids (or adults) could throw a football–or even, as Gold offered from his own childhood, stickball. 

“I think that would be fantastic if people started doing that,” said Grilley.

Finally, the Council unanimously voted to make changes to the city municipal code and overhaul the city’s process of procuring contracts for goods and services at the Regular Session. As a part of the overhaul, the Council updated the city’s tiered system of delegating purchases. Currently, the city has four “approval levels” for granting con- tracts and making purchases. At existing levels, the City Council approves bids over $50,000, a significantly lower threshold than in cities like Burbank, Mountain View, or Santa Monica. The City Manager approves bids up to $50,000, the Director of Finance oversees bids up to $25,000, and department heads approve bids up to $7,500. 

This tiered system is meant to delegate tasks, freeing up the City Council to consider the largest contracts. However, approval levels have not been changed since 2006 and the staff report compiled for the Study Session notes that the “relatively low current City Council threshold results in additional agenda items for many routine contracts or purchases, requiring significant staff and City Council time.”

Now, the city increased its approval levels for the City Council to over $100,000, up to $100,000 for the City Manager, up to $50,000 for the Director of Finance, and up to $10,000 for department heads. The Council also expressed support for reviewing the changes again in three to five years.

“It shouldn’t have taken 15 years,” said Councilmember Mirisch. 

The post City Council Considers Rent Subsidy appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The Commission has traditionally promoted its objectives with the annual Embrace Civility Award, Civility Month observances, Kindness Week and the Kindness Taskforce. The Commission’s newest member, Noelle Freeman, proposed extending the HRC’s commitment to civility into the virtual realm. “Seeing how people interact differently online was really what sparked my interest in this, and there hasn’t been an effort to take our civility statement online,” Freeman told the Courier. “When you’re behind a computer screen and there isn’t that sense of ownership, it’s much easier to say and do things that you wouldn’t otherwise say to someone’s face. So, maybe that’s having the Commission create a plan or have ambassadors of this online facility so they can step in when there’s cyber harassment.”

Freeman proposed expanding the HRC’s current Police Department personnel and common complaint form, which allows the Commission to hear and help resolve complaints from BHPD, to all staff. “Really, the goal of this is to allow residents a place to feel heard, and also fulfill our full charge, which states that the HRC is authorized to receive citizen complaints concerning interactions of city employees with the public,” she noted.

“We have made it our charge to say our embrace civility statement at the beginning of our Commission meeting, which sets the mood to be civil,” Vice Chair Karen Popovich Levyn said. “My idea is to expand this to all the Commissions, and perhaps they will make their own statement at the beginning of their meetings.” Other Commissioners were supportive of the idea. 

Last year the HRC added the homeless initiative to its charge. Since then, the Commission has implemented the homeless initiative into its monthly agenda. While the official homeless count this year was not conducted due to COVID-19, last year’s count was 16. According to James Latta, the city’s Human Services Administrator, two homeless people died in Beverly Hills over the last six months. 

“One of them died of an overdose and the other we’re not sure,” Latta told the Courier. “But typically, they die of a medical issue that could have been easily managed if the individual had access to services and wasn’t prevented by mental health issues, like hearing voices or paranoia, from going to a hospital. We don’t have a coroner report, but chances are, she probably died of something simple, like high blood pressure that could have been treated easily.” According to Latta, both of the individuals had been living on the streets of Beverly Hills for roughly 13 years.

“We offer people assistance, but all of that takes a lot of staff time and between the Rangers and P.D., everyone has been stretched thin with the protests and COVID-19,” Latta told the Courier. “So, it’s been challenging. Some of the homeless population is suffering from psychosis and they think people are after them. So, we do our best to engage them, let them know that the services are available, but the laws are such that you can’t hold someone against their will.”

Commission Chair Ori Blumenfeld spoke of the need for a mental health contracted social worker who can assist law enforcement with administering expeditious 5150 (involuntary mental health detention) holds in ongoing case management services.  

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The observance is more than a century old now, but it continues to evolve. This year, the Beverly Hills-based nonprofit Visionary Women is hosting an event expected to draw national attention. The organization’s 2021 Virtual Summit celebrating International Women’s Day is aptly named “A Global Vision for a Better Future.”

It’s all about vision, and the perspective of some of the most influential women in the country. 

In partnership with Women Moving Millions, Acumen and Vital Voices, the Visionary Women Virtual Summit takes place on March 4 at 9 a.m.  It will also be available for viewing on demand March 8, from 8 a.m to 8 p.m. Registration is free.

“During such polarizing times, a summit discussing ways in which we can find common ground to move forward is the most important conversation to have,” author and Visionary Women Co-Founder Angella Nazarian told the Courier. 

The summit features three panel discussions comprised of illustrious speakers across a range of disciplines. The discussions, presented by Maurice and Paul Marciano, will touch upon topics ranging from peacebuilding, to constructing a more equitable world, as well as inclusion and diversity. 

At the center of each, of course, is vision. 

“Vision for Unity” is moderated by psychologist and licensed clinical marriage and family therapist Dr. Jane Nathanson and made possible by GEARYS. Award-winning journalist, producer and author Katie Couric will introduce the distinguished panelists. They include Madeleine Albright, the professor, New York Times bestselling author, diplomat and businesswoman who served as the 64th and first female Secretary of State of the United States. 

Also taking part in the panel is Condoleezza Rice, 66th Secretary of State of the United States and 20th United States national security advisor. Rice was the first African-American Secretary of State and the first woman to serve as National Security Advisor.

“Vision for Equity,” made possible by Merill Lynch, will feature an introduction by Sarah Haacke Byrd, CEO of Women Moving Millions, a global membership community of over 340 philanthropists who have committed nearly $800 million to organizations and initiatives benefiting women and girls. 

Panelists include Jacqueline Novogratz, New York Times best-selling author and founder of Acumen. Joining Novogratz is Pat Mitchell, Editorial Director of TEDWomen and chair of the Sundance Institute. 

“Vision for Peace” is moderated by Alyse Nelson and made possible by Chara Schreyer/ Kadmina Foundation. Nelson is president and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership and a best-selling author. Panelists include the 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker, women’s rights advocate and author. She is the founder and President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, which provides educational and leadership opportunities to girls, women and youth in West Africa. Joining Gbowee is fellow 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Tawakkol Karman, a Yemeni human rights activist, journalist, politician, founder of the Peaceful Youth Revolution Council and the Tawakkol Karman International Foundation. Melanne Verveer, former U.S. Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues and President and CEO of Vital Voices will introduce the panel. 

The event will also include Tracy K. Smith, 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States, who will recite her poem, “An Old Story.”

“We are honored to commemorate these iconic leaders, scholars, strategic thinkers and influential voices who have successfully served their own communities in their own unique way. Now more than ever, the wisdom and counsel offered on these crucial topics are most valuable to women and girls everywhere,” Visionary Women President Nina Kotick told the Courier.

“I am bursting with excitement and anticipation for this extraordinary summit that showcases our world’s most inspiring, innovative and bold trailblazing women.” Beverly Hills City Councilmember and Visionary Woman Co-Founder Lili Bosse told the Courier. “This summit reminds us that women do empower one another to break barriers and their vision allows for positive change during these challenging times toward better days ahead.”

To register, visit https://internationalwomensdaysummit.com/#registration-form 

The post Visionary Women presents: International Women’s Day Virtual Summit 2021 appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The Courier’s Fine Autos Contributor, Tim Lappen, also is the Fine Autos Editor for Haute Living, Haute Time, Haute Residence and Haute Auto magazines and online and a partner in a Century City law firm, where he chairs his firm’s Family Office Group and the Luxury Home Group. He can be reached at TLappen@gmail.com and his website is www.LifeInTheFastLane.org.

Someone once said, “It’s better to be lucky than smart.” That may not have been the most intelligent phrase ever uttered but it came to mind when the Fates smiled on me and I had the chance to drive two of McLaren’s wonderful creations, about a week apart, So, like a good Angeleno, I decided to ask McLaren if I also could cover a third McLaren, which wasn’t yet in production, but which did exist as a full-fledged rolling exhibit.  

To take a step back–McLaren is a supercar company founded by a famous New Zealander, Bruce McLaren, who was an accomplished racer in the 1960s. He won his first Formula One race at the age of 22, the youngest winner ever at that time. He founded the car company soon thereafter. From 1992 – 1998 the company built 106 cars called an “F1,” which was the fastest production car of its time (over 240 mph) and was sold for a then unheard-of price of over $800,000. They have now obtained legendary (even cult) status as one variant sold for close to $20,000,000.

Fast forward to 2010, when McLaren became a car manufacturing company in its own right. Over the winding, high-speed and banked road of the past ten years, McLaren has created some of the most desired cars on the planet. 

This piece is about two of those successes (and the third one not out yet, but with pre-orders predicting success). Luckily, I recently had the pleasure of experiencing all three – driving two (the GT and the 720S Spider) for a week each in the area around my home and, of course, through Beverly Hills. I attended the press launch of the third (the Elva) at a luxury home which had just hit the market in . . . Beverly Hills.  I see a pattern developing here.

The McLaren GT

The first of the cars we’ll discuss today is the GT, the most “usable” of the McLarens in that it is designed to accommodate passengers and luggage for grand-touring ride out of town and even across the country. The concept was to reimagine what had mostly been a rather heavy car used for touring, a two-door of some length and heft which helped it smooth out the road’s imperfections. McLaren’s guiding principle was to create a commodious supercar (as “oxymoronic” as that may sound), with the power and agility to hang with the best of them and yet allow the driver and passenger to arrive after a long drive feeling fairly refreshed and happier for the experience. How did they do that?

Well, first off, McLaren knew that the suspension would be key and, given that McLaren built a solid reputation on suspension engineering, they were up to the task. The McLaren “Proactive Damping Control” suspension analyzes the road conditions and adapts rapidly so as to provide the GT with the ride which this car requires. Secondly, like all recent McLarens, the center cockpit is a “MonoCell II T” carbon-fiber tub (chassis), which results in a huge weight savings and provides exceptional rigidity (non-flexing) to the center of the car. Add to that the increased ride height, to allow better ground clearance and more room for the suspension to travel and thereby absorb whatever the road throws at it.

At under 3,400 pounds the GT is well below the weight of most grand touring cars, yet it doesn’t scrimp on power. Its twin-turbo V8 pumps out about 620 HP and does it with 465 lb. ft. of torque so that’s good enough to hit the top speed of over 200 MPH after running 0-60 MPH in about 3.2 seconds. Yes, this is a car that can turn in blistering performance while coddling the occupants . . . and their luggage.  

Pity that my time with the car didn’t allow a jaunt from L.A. to S.F. or a road trip of epic proportions in a blast to New York. However, I truly enjoyed my time behind the wheel of the GT and I have no doubt that either of those experiences would have been great fun and allowed me to prove McLaren’s marketing tag line about the GT: “Time for what you love, space for what you need.”  While not as radical as some of the other McLarens I’ve driven (I am looking at you, Napier Green 675LT), it wasn’t designed to be. This is a touring car, as noted, so it’s meant to provide a comfortable ride with a sound that is pleasant but not disruptive, yet the McLaren DNA was ever-present, and I mean that in a good way.  Pricing starts at about $210,000.

The McLaren 720S Spider

Aside from the GT, McLaren creates cars under three other main banners – the “Sports Series”, the “Super Series” and the “Ultimate Series”. The 720S coupe and Spider and the 765LT (for “long tail”) are the only models in the Super Series. More powerful than the GT and the Sports Series of cars, the 720S Spider relies on a V8 twin-turbo motor boasting 720 HP and 568 lb. ft. of torque, which motivates this fast drop-top to a 2.9 second 0-60 launch on the way to a 212 MPH top speed (slightly slower with the top down).

With a dry weight of under 3,000 pounds, this truly is a svelte car, which is apparent when pushed through the canyons and up through the twisties. And that is what this car is all about–great comfort and fun with the top down on a sunny day, when out for a cruise, then startling quickness which seems to come out of nowhere to propel the car faster and faster, which then can be reined in on demand with excellent brakes.

Not sure you want the top up or down during the drive?  It needs only eleven seconds to go from up to down or vice-versa, it also can be done while underway (up to about 30 MPH) so changing your mind often is allowed. 

Also, the car is a stunner with the top up or down, especially as the roof cantrails (the length of metal supporting the outer edge of the roof) are visible whether the top is up or town, and they’re now even glazed so you can see through them.  There’s no lack of visibility when driving this car in either configuration.

Driving impressions?  WOW!  This car is English but it’s a plate full of Huevos Rancheros. The speed is one thing, but the feeling of that speed can be quite another and, as with other super-quick McLarens I’ve driven, it feels even faster than it is (not that 0-60 in under three seconds isn’t quite rapid, in and of itself). This car felt like I was wearing it, so amazingly responsive with just the right soundtrack coming from the tail.  It was a wonderful experience, my favorite McLaren yet (I’ve driven most of the other models, other than the F1, P1 and Senna). What’s not to like? Pricing starts at about $315,000.

The McLaren Elva

Finally, but certainly not least, is the Elva, a beautifully designed car born of the wind and, along with the McLaren Speedtail and the Senna, a member of the elite McLaren “Ultimate Series”. (“Elva” means “she goes” in French and was the name of the company which made Bruce McLaren’s open-top racers in the 1960s.) The Elva uses the wind for interesting purposes, even channeling it through and below the hood and then back up in front of the cockpit to create an air dam of sorts, obviating the need for a windshield. It’s about as close as you can get to the feeling of riding a high-performance motorcycle while seated next to a passenger.   

Utilizing the newly anointed Active Air Management System (“AAMS”), the airflow is directed up and over the cabin to provide an unusually un-turbulent calm for the driver and passenger. McLaren describes it as providing all of the adrenaline without any of the distraction. Unfortunately, the car shown at the launch was not available to drive, but  I will take their word for it as everything I’ve read about McLaren’s promises have come to fruition.

I haven’t even heard the motor yet –a V8 with 804HP and over 590 lb. ft. of torque–but it boasts a new exhaust system, utilizing four pipes (two pointing higher than the other two), with each pair given a different tuning to provide a harmonious symphony compared to other McLarens. I hope that they release it as part of a mixtape. When fitted into the Elva, the lightest road-going McLaren yet (not formally announced but said to be less than the McLaren Senna, which weighs about 2,650 pounds!), the Elva is reported to hit 125MPH in about 6.7 seconds (which used to be a rare performance time for 0-60MPH!).  

I hope to update this article with driving impressions but until then, I will have to dream about the Elva like the rest of you.  And, did I mention, production is limited to only 249 units and the pricing in the range of $1,700,000.

There’s a certain trait which I think is woven into the DNA of McLarens–they all feel faster to me than they are, and as they are very quick in their own rights, that feeling is highly addictive. If the “thrill of high-performance motoring” is something that you likewise crave, I commend you to try out one of their models, which run from the lower $200,000s on up into the multiple millions (for the cars currently being made–some older McLarens can be way more expensive than that).  To me, the nicest thing about McLarens is that I never want to give them back at the end of my allotted time. “Yes, I know that I promised but that’s before I had so much fun.” Besides, my trips through Beverly Hills were so limited by quarantine-related regulations, mostly picking up take-out food and a few in-person meetings, I think that they should let me have the GT and 720S back for do-overs, plus give me the Elva, once the quarantine is over and I can make proper use of the cars.  Until then, you and I will have to make do with what we have. I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading about these machines as much as I enjoyed driving and then writing about them. 

The post A Trio of McLarens The Three Ami – GOES appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“I do want to emphasize that it is confusing. This is a very confusing time. And none of us have been through a time where we’ve seen legislation rolled out so quickly,” said Deputy Director of Rent Stabilization Helen Morales. “That’s why it’s important that you get legal advice.” 

As a part of its own COVID-19 relief efforts, Beverly Hills offers free legal services to eligible residents through Bet Tzedek. During the forum, representatives from Bet Tzedek explained to the more than 100 participants the different levels of protection available to tenants now. 

Bet Tzedek went through the local, state, and national protections currently in place to assist tenants impacted by COVID-19. None of the protections guarantee that a landlord cannot evict a tenant. For instance, landlords can still make “just cause” evictions. But for tenants experiencing hardship due to COVID-19, protections and assistance exist. 

Even prior to the pandemic, the Beverly Hills Rent Stabilization Office gave protections to the city’s renters, including a rent cap on eligible rentals, just cause eviction requirements, and relocation fees for eligible units. 

In response to COVID-19, Beverly Hills passed an urgency ordinance on March 15, 2020 that imposed a moratorium on residential evictions of those impacted by COVID-19. The ordinance lays out the process by which tenants can assert a lawful inability to pay some or all of their rent.

Jonathan Alvarez, a paralegal with Bet Tzedek, elaborated on what constitutes a financial impact from COVID-19 under the urgency ordinance. Financial impacts can stem from being sick with COVID-19 or caring for someone in your household with the virus; loss of employment, decrease in work hours, or reduced income; compliance with stay-at-home orders; or out-of-pocket medical expenses related to COVID-19.

Alvarez also explained what someone must do in order to assert financial impact. A tenant must notify their landlord of financial hardship due to the pandemic within seven days after the date rent is due. Within 30 days, they must complete the “Residential Tenants Impacted by COVID-19” form along with supporting documentation. Additionally, the tenant must provide the amount of rent they can pay in lieu of the full amount. 

In response to a question, Alvarez clarified that tenants only need to submit the COVID-19 form once to their landlord and once to the city. He advised, though, that tenants should keep proof of having sent the forms in. One question that Alvarez said comes up frequently is whether or not landlords have to confirm receipt of the COVID-19 form. “There’s no language that the landlord is required to confirm it,” he said.

Alvarez provided examples of documentation that renters can use to prove a financial impact. He listed a letter from an employer, a profit and loss statement, and a bank statement showing reduced income.

If a landlord disputes a tenant’s claim of financial impact, the issue can go to the Rent Stabilization Commission for adjudication. Landlords can contest three different parts of the tenant’s claim: whether the tenant has suffered financial hardship, whether that hardship stems from COVID-19, and the amount of rent the tenant claims they can pay.

The presentation also covered the protections established by the state. Most recently, California extended and strengthened the state’s eviction moratorium on Jan. 29 with Senate Bill 91. The bill also created the State Rental Assistance Program, which funnels $2.6 billion in aid to both renters struggling with payments due to the COVID-19 pandemic and also landlords. Bet Tzedek attorney Hana Kommel explained the steps necessary to take advantage of state protections.

Like with the Beverly Hills ordinance, state law requires that tenants complete a declaration of financial distress related to COVID-19, which is signed under penalty of perjury. State law divides rent into two time periods: rent owed from March 2020 to August 2020 and rent owed between September 2020 to June 2021.

For rent owed between March and August 2020, “all you have to do is…give the declaration of COVID-19-related financial distress,” said Kommel. “If you do that, that means that your landlord cannot use this unpaid rent to evict you and you can never be evicted for not paying that rent.”

For unpaid rent between September 2020 and June 2021, in addition to submitting a declaration of COVID-19-related financial distress, tenants must pay 25 percent of the rent to gain eviction protections. Tenants do not have to make the payments monthly–although they can–but must submit the required 25 percent by the end of the period covered by the protections. For rent owed in either time period, declaring COVID-19-related financial distress does not erase the rent. 

Just like with the Beverly Hills COVID-19 form, SB 91 provides potential categories under which a tenant can claim COVID-19-related financial hardship, including the following: loss of income, increased expenses, childcare or family responsibilities, and then general financial impact. To successfully gain state protections, these reasons must stem from the impacts of COVID-19.

For the state protections, tenants do not need to provide proof of COVID-19 financial impact unless they qualify as “high income,” which is defined as 130 percent the area median income for Los Angeles with a household income of $100,000. Landlords must already have evidence of their renter’s income prior to sending a 15 day notice of eviction–if, for instance, the renter submitted proof of income when first applying for the unit. 

One listener posed a hypothetical question about what would happen if they lost their job, but then received more money in unemployment benefits than they made at their former job. Would they qualify for eviction protections?

No, Kommel said. The declaration of financial distress related to COVID-19 includes language that says that public assistance that the tenant has received does not make up for their loss of income and/or increased expenses. But in the hypothetical, that would not be the case.  

Repayment Question

The rules and timetables for rent repayment are confusing even to experts. The Beverly Hills urgency ordinance gave residents until one year following the end of the emergency declaration to repay back rent, but that timeline was supplanted by SB 91. Under the state provisions, landlords can pursue back rent in small claims court as early as Aug. 1. Contradictorily, SB 91 also gives tenants until Aug. 31 to repay rental debt. The law also prevents local jurisdictions from expanding the repayment period past Aug. 31.

Bet Tzedek attorneys expressed wonderment at the state law, speculating that the narrow repayment window may have been made in error.

Other new protections included in the state law are that tenants cannot be charged late fees and landlords cannot apply security deposit to unpaid rent unless given written permission by the tenant. The law also ensures that rental debt cannot count against tenants looking for new housing.

“The language currently reads that the repayment period ends August 31, 2021,” Green said. “We’re wondering, is this a mistake? Will they change this, will they rectify it? Because as it currently reads, it doesn’t really provide a reasonable amount of time for Beverly Hills residents to repay rent all the way [back] to March.” 

Green said that he is waiting for additional legislation to clarify the confusion. Kommel, who said she first thought the one month window was a typo, said that the legislature is currently looking at the issue. 

The forum also explained the new State Rental Assistance Program established by SB 91. The program incentives property owners to forgive back rent. By waiving 20 percent of unpaid rent, landlords become eligible for 80 percent in rent reimbursements for amounts owed between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021. If a landlord does not agree to participate in the program, qualified tenants can still receive 25 percent of the total back rent for the covered period.

The rent subsidies are available to households with incomes at or below 80 percent of Area Median Income, with priority for the most disadvantaged households and those experiencing unemployment for the preceding 90 days at the time of application. Applications open on March 15, though they could open up earlier, Kommel said. Given budgetary restraints, it is possible that not all eligible applicants will receive assistance. 

The final layer of eviction protections come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But Bet Tzedek attorneys warned that the CDC protections should only be used as a last resort. The country-wide order can temporarily stop evictions through April 2021. 

Green acknowledged the daunting amount of material out there for those looking for help and had one recommendation for all of them. “It’s a confusing time for everybody, not just the tenants that are in these situations, but for legal advocates, as well,” he said. “The best thing to do is to not sit around and guess what your options are if you need some help. We’re here. We’re available.”

The post Beverly Hills Holds Tenant’s Forum appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The Economic Sustainability Plan was presented by David Bergman, director of the urban planning and economics firm Lisa Wise Consulting. “Sustainability, to our mind, really was the ability to react to unknown changes in the environment [and] to be able to absorb shocks,” said Bergman. 

The city first enlisted Lisa Wise Consulting to draft an Economic Sustainability Plan in the wake of the Great Recession, which forced the city to make large cuts to its budget. The City Council at the time felt that austerity on its own would hurt the city more in the long term by dealing a blow to the services expected by its residents and guests. This, in turn, would harm the city’s main revenue sources: the taxes from hotel guests (Transient Occupancy Tax), sales taxes, property taxes, and business taxes.

The city contracted with Lisa Wise Consulting once again in 2018 to update the plan for another four-year period. The update was nearly finished when COVID-19 stuck a stick in the spokes. “We asked Lisa Wise Consulting to look at the trends that were existing pre-COVID, what trends came out of COVID, and then which of these are going to be lasting trends in the retail, hotel, and commercial sectors,” said Deputy Manager Gabriella Yap.

“The City, like all other municipalities, will be affected by the COVID-19 crisis for years to come,” the report reads. “The approach to this Economic Sustainability Plan Update is not to overcorrect from the COVID-19 pandemic, but rather focus on economic strategies and actions that increase the City’s resiliency to market downturns and geopolitical risks and uncertainties.”

The report notes how key sources of revenue for the city were already facing difficult circumstances. For years, the retail market has received bleak prognoses as consumers spent more and more money online. Even luxury markets, which enjoyed relative insulation from the trend, saw declines. But following the explosion of COVID-19, these trends accelerated, and Beverly Hills experienced a rise in commercial vacancy rates.

More than any other business in Beverly Hills, hotels have suffered the most in the era of COVID-19. But even prior to the freeze in international travel, Beverly Hills saw increasing competition from other regional rivals like downtown Los Angeles and West Hollywood. 

“They wake up every morning wondering how they can eat your lunch,” Bergman said about West Hollywood.

Beverly Hills has over 10 million square feet in office space. Following shelter at home orders in response to the virus, many of those square feet became vacant. But, again, even prior to the mass migration to Zoom, Beverly Hills saw the decline of major tenants in entertainment and media.

“When HBO moved from Santa Monica, they didn’t move to Beverly Hills,” Bergman said. He added that he expects major shifts in how Americans work in the wake of the pandemic, saying, “We’re going to see dramatic long term employment destruction.”

But Bergman and the report also provided solutions and opportunities to combat these trends. He stressed the importance of pivoting away from international to local customers. “Public opinion surveys are suggesting that, although we’re all anxious to get out of our house, we are reluctant to engage in a lot of tight public spaces like airplanes,” he said.

The report makes dozens of recommendations in an “action plan” for the city. The recommendations range from increasing height limits to accommodate development, to implementing valet-only parking on Rodeo Drive, to rebranding city staff as the “Business Concierge Team.”

Councilmember Lili Bosse felt that the schedule outlined by the report for some of its goals dragged its feet. “It’s a great report, but the timeline on a lot of the action items is too far out and I feel very confident that this council, along with the input of our community, can get a lot of this done much sooner.”

Councilmember John Mirisch, however, sounded a note of caution. “While there are certain things that we can and should do as soon as we can, there are other things we need to be a bit cautious about,” he said.

In another agenda item during the Feb. 16 Study Session, the Council reviewed the new state eviction protection and how it fits together with its own protective laws. It also received a staff report that detailed issues in its rental protections for tenants impacted by COVID-19.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed on Jan. 29 an extension to the state’s eviction moratorium through June 30. The bill, Senate Bill 91, also establishes the State Rental Assistance Program to allocate the $2.6 billion in federal rental assistance California will receive. The program funnels aid to both renters struggling with payments due to the COVID-19 pandemic and also landlords.

Under the measure, landlords are prevented from evicting tenants who pay at least 25 percent of their rent and attest under penalty of perjury that they have been impacted economically by COVID-19. The State Rental Assistance Program will begin accepting applications from property owners and tenants in March.

The councilmembers reflected that the city had to do more to educate its residents about the protections in place for them. “Not a day goes by that I don’t hear from quite a few tenants who feel like they’re not getting the information they need,” Councilmember Bosse said.

Deputy Director of Rent Stabilization Helen Morales highlighted a legal forum on Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. to provide an overview of the new and existing laws regarding tenant’s rights. More information is available at www.beverlyhills.org/rent.

Finally, during its Regular session on the evening of Feb. 16, the Council honored the 12 years of public service by Director of Community Development Susan Healy Keene, who is retiring later this month. City Manager George Chavez ticked through a list of accomplishments, which include updates to the city’s General Plan, improving mobility and transportation in the city, preserving the city’s history in her work with the Historic Preservation Programs. Most recently, she helped establish the Rent Stabilization Office. 

But Chavez also revealed a little-known fact about Keene. “Susan has a secret talent,” he said. “She’s a stand-up comic. And she has kept us entertained her entire 12 years that she’s been here with us. Thank you for all the laughs Susan.”

“We’ve been so lucky to have you. And I hope that we haven’t given you too much new material for your stand-up comedy,” Councilmember Bosse told her.

“There’s still more challenges ahead, but I think there’s many more great opportunities. So, I thank you again for the opportunity I’ve had here,” Keene said.

The post City Council Addresses COVID-19 Fallout appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Despite the current restrictions, there have been crowds on Canon Drive and customers waiting online at many of the popular standbys. It’s clear that people want to be out experiencing a change of scenery and mingling a little with the community. Here are some options, from casual outings to date night dressy. 

Opened This Week

On Feb. 8 celebrity Chef Curtis Stone and pastry Chef Amy Taylor opened The Pie Room by Gwen in the Maude space on South Beverly Drive. The savory and sweet offerings range from a trio of sizes, including English cottage pies and traditional American caramel-apple with picture-perfect flaky crusts. Tarts and steamed puddings are also in the mix, along with house-made condiments. Within the coming week, they will add side dishes, frozen offerings and a special Valentine’s Day assortment. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. gwentogo.com

Patios, Parklets and Rooftops 

The Rooftop by JG at the Waldorf Astoria is accepting reservations along with the ground floor fine-dining Jean-Georges signature patio restaurant and the newer Waldorf Café by La Colombe. Next door at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, a special Valentine’s Day dinner can be booked poolside at MERCATO. If you want to make a weekend out of it, special packages (rates from $494) include the newly renovated cabana poolrooms with dinner and Champagne on your own private terrace while a classic film is projected on the outdoor media wall. www.beverlyhilton.com

Culina Ristorante at the Four Seasons on Doheny is welcoming guests back to the front and back patios, along with a special multi-course Italian themed menu offering from Feb. 12 – 14. culinarestaurant.com

Heritage Fine Wine on Canon Drive has reopened with a secret garden rooftop overlooking City Hall. The Paris Tokyo concept is accessible through the Visitor Center building off Canon Drive Thursday through Sunday evenings. Expect rosé Champagne flowing and premium custom sushi boats (with 80 to 160 pieces) from Azai Sushi in a romantic setting with day beds and table seating under the stars. Book via Instagram @paristokyo_bh.

The Palm Restaurant has partnered with Garrison Brothers Distillery and Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson on Feb. 14 to create a five-course meal, paired with handcrafted bourbon cocktails and wine from Woodson’s Intercept Wines. Dinners are $350 for two but virtual options with home delivery are also available. thepalm.com

New in West Hollywood 

The Fairfax district is booming with a trio of new options: Madre (madrerestaurants.com) is a Oaxacan-themed eatery with chicken mole and well-balanced cocktails from their 400-plus bottle collection, the largest in the country. Grain Traders (graintraders.com) is a healthy Singaporean transplant with grain-based dishes, baked goods and coffee options under a side patio. The long-awaited plant-based Taco Vega from Chef Jared Simons and Jared Meisler has a back patio space for sipping horchata and snacking on potato taquitos, cauliflower tacos and Ironman bowls.  tacovega.com

Theia is a contemporary Greek restaurant-lounge in Beverly Grove with an open-air patio serving flaming halloumi with ouzo and lavender crème brulee that’s perfect for a weekend brunch date. theia-la.com

The 1933 Group’s historic Formosa Café in the shadow of The Lot Studios is finally utilizing the upstairs patio to its full potential with Taiwanese-American fare served daily from 5-9 p.m. And, just a few blocks away, Chef Nicholas Peter from the currently closed The Little Door can be found at Harlowe serving a French-Moroccan menu on the two patio options.  1933group.com

For old favorites, Craig’s on Melrose has added another parklet-patio to the front of the restaurant, to help with overflow from the back alfresco option, just in time for the long weekend dinning demand. (craigs.la) And, Olivetta is back for their “on holiday” residency at Kimpton La Peer just around the corner with rooftop and poolside dining options. olivetta.la

Latest in Culver City and Westside

STK Steakhouse has moved poolside at the W Hotel in Westwood and will be offering Valentine’s Day specials throughout the weekend including a seafood platter for two ($69) and love potion cocktails, along with bottomless brunch options. stksteakhouse.com

Citizen Public Market is open in Culver City with upstairs and downstairs patios for dining on Good Boy Bob’s duck confit with goat cheese chapatis, links and burgers from the Weho Sausage Company and pizza from Nancy Silverton of Mozza. citizenpublicmarket.com

Jordan Kahn, of  Vespertine and Destroyer fame is offering a Valentine’s Day Picnic Box ($55) that includes artisanal cheeses and house-made delicacies such as foie gras parfait with green sage plum and pink peppercorn.  Pick-up or delivery is available Feb. 12 – 14, or you can also dine on the patio and admire the Haden Tract area architecture.  destroyer.la

Kahn is also offering a special five-course Valentine’s Day version of its “Vespertine at-home” sensory experience menu for $165 per person with a 15-hour slow-smoked prime beef rib for two with esthetic serving vessels. vespertine.la

Chef David Myers, who earned a Michelin star at his former flagship restaurant Sona, and was last seen in this country opening Hinoki + the Bird in Century City, has opened an excellent pop-up burger patio in Venice on Abbot Kinney. The surprise here is not the return of a modern version of the beloved Comme Ça gourmet burger from his former West Hollywood haunt (that The New York Times crowned the best burger), but the inventive milkshakes such as green matcha and white chocolate. adriftburgerla.com 

Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica is slowly opening patio dining but don’t overlook Interstellar – a new low-key daytime coffee shop with a small patio offering an ocean view, and a menu spanning Korean galbi bowls to lobster rolls and a surprising sake selection. interstellarla.com 

The post Dining for Valentines and Presidents appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

That input informs the direction of the EIR, which then gets drafted and presented to the public for another round of comments after a 45-day public review period. Alkire estimated that the city would release a Draft EIR sometime in the summer or fall of this year. The city will then release a Final EIR that addresses the additional questions from the draft–something that Alkire expects to happen in the winter. Then, the Planning Commission reviews the entitlements that the project is requesting and sends a recommendation to the City Council.

“The ultimate decision-making authority on this project is the City Council…We’re anticipating sometime in the winter we’ll have a hearing to evaluate the project and make a decision,” Alkiree said.

The project, led by the Beverly Hills Land Company, proposes building 11 office buildings on 2.12 acres at 9220 Santa Monica Boulevard (commonly referred to as Lot 12). A former railroad right-of-way, the land would require rezoning before any development could commence–one of the entitlements requested by the developer. The buildings would range from three to four stories, with a maximum requested height of 60 feet. While the project would eliminate the 74 metered parking spaces currently available on Civic Center Drive, it would build a two-story underground parking lot with 490 parking spaces, 74 of which would be public. 

As an incentive, the Beverly Hills Land Company has offered the city an adjacent lot, known as Lot 13, in exchange for the necessary entitlements to develop Lot 12. The city could develop the land however it saw fit.

The Scoping meeting heard from many residents concerned about the impact of the possible development on the neighborhood, from property values to the farmer’s market. 

“I don’t see anything in your list of evaluation criteria that talks about how this is going to destroy the farmers market, a farmers market that many of us use every single week,” said Janice Barquist, echoing the concern of others in the meeting. 

The issue of traffic came up multiple times throughout the meeting, with a few commenters pointing out that the conditions posed by COVID-19 might make it difficult to do a traffic study. While CEQA does not require a traffic study, the city nonetheless conducts its own traffic study as a part of the entitlement review process. 

“Traffic operation is not necessarily reflective of non-COVID conditions at this point in time, so the traffic study will have to take that into account,” Alkire said. 

Others, though, seemed generally opposed to developing the land at all.  

A leading opponent of the project, Robbie Anderson, has warned of allegedly elevated levels of arsenic in the soil of the lots as a result of its railroad history. “That land is filled with arsenic, and a lot of other heavy metals, because of all the years of the trains going through there,” one caller claimed.

“It’s certainly not Chernobyl,” Project Representative Gaby Alexander told the Courier. “Railroad land has been safely redeveloped for a long time throughout the country.” Alexander pointed to the High Line, a New York City park situated on a former railroad track. 

According to an initial study compiled by the city, Union Pacific Railroad shoulders the burden of cleaning up the site of harmful materials with oversight by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). “Prior to the commencement of the Proposed Project, it is anticipated that the Project Site, Parcel 13, and the Triangle would be remediated per DTSC requirements and that use of these properties would not pose a significant hazard to the public or to the environment,” the study found.

“It’s not a rush job. It’s not a stealth job,” said Dale Goldsmith, an attorney for the project. “It’s a public process and one that has had and will continue to have robust opportunities for public comment.” 

The post Scoping Hearing Held for Beverly Hills Creative Offices Project appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“Tenants are still responsible for paying unpaid amounts to the property owners, but you cannot evict them for not paying that past due rent,” explained Policy and Management Analyst Cynthia Owens.

“This law not only provides greatly needed support for tenants, but also provides relief to small property owners in need of assistance to pay for mortgages, thanks to $2.6 billion in federal stimulus funding,” said Newsom in a statement.

Under the measure, landlords will be prevented from evicting tenants who pay at least 25 percent of their rent and attest under penalty of perjury that they have been impacted economically by COVID-19. The State Rental Assistance Program will begin accepting applications from property owners and tenants in March.

In addition to providing aid to income-qualified tenants financially impacted by the pandemic, the program incentives property owners to forgive back rent. By waiving 20 percent of unpaid rent, landlords become eligible for 80 percent in rent reimbursements for amounts owed between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021. If a landlord does not agree to participate in the program, qualified tenants can still receive 25 percent of the total back rent for the covered period.

The rent subsidies are available to households with incomes at or below 80 percent of Area Median Income, with priority for the most disadvantaged households and those experiencing unemployment for the preceding 90 days at the time of application.

Given the speed at which the urgency bill passed through the legislature, Beverly Hills had little chance to lobby to receive direct aid for its residents.

“Unfortunately, we just could not work around it with how quickly it did fly through–it’s going to provide direct funding to residents or jurisdictions over 200,000 residents. But we are going to be able to receive funding indirectly through our county for this program,” Owens said. The staff report compiled for the meeting notes that only 24 of California’s 482 cities would qualify for direct funding under this standard, excluding cities like Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica.

“Santa Monica isn’t even 200,000 people; they’re going to be left out on this. [Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica)] still voted in support of this bill, because of that indirect funding stream that we’ll be able to have access to,” said Owens.

In the Study Session, the Council included direct aid for all cities as a part of the city’s legislative platform. The platform informs the city’s advocates and lobbyists on how best to represent the city’s interests in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

“There should be as much funding not just for us, but for all cities under 200,000,” said Councilmember John Mirisch.

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Spotlight on Rodeo Drive

The Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency is enlivening Rodeo Drive with a bright red bespoke “shipping container” façade, black and white patterned window coverings and giant inflatable cartoon-like characters (explained below) hovering above the entrance and on the roof. The installation is expected to generate the same level of attention as the wildly successful “Louis Vuitton X” exhibit that celebrated Louis Vuitton’s legacy of artistic collaborations. That activation was in place for five months in the same space in 2019. Alas, the Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency will be in Beverly Hills only through early March. And current Health Orders dictate a 25 percent maximum occupancy level at any given time. Fortunately, one needn’t be inside to enjoy everything the Temporary Residency has to offer. QR and Snapchat codes on the exterior walls allow bystanders to  interact with animated characters and generate shareable content. More surprises await inside, as discovered by the Courier during a sneak preview before the official Feb. 5 opening.

The 1,600 square-foot retail space stages the Louis Vuitton Men’s Spring-Summer 2021 Collection in  red shipping containers, which will be available for purchase. On the floor, black and white tiles are arranged in hypnotic patterns. An entire wall is taken up by a video screen playing a permanent loop of “Menswear Moments” from current collections. Inside the containers, displays feature jackets, sweaters, shirts and bags in vibrant blue, orange, yellow and green. The collection’s edgy “cartoon” mascots are visible as designs embedded on bags and accessories, even serving as stuffed toys affixed to some pieces. As set forth in more detail in the Jan. 15 Courier Exclusive (“Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency Heading to Beverly Hills”), the characters came to life during the early days of the pandemic.

The Journey’s Origins

When it became clear last year that fashion weeks would not go on as usual, global brands vied to outdo each other virtually. None incorporated as imaginative a means as Louis Vuitton Artistic Director Virgil Abloh. He debuted a short film at Digital Fashion Week in Paris in June 2020, entitled “The Adventures of Zoooom with friends.” Part animation, part live-action, the film introduced a surreal but laid-back cast of animated characters. Their ranks included Joe, the huge, anthropomorphized orange dog reclining at the building’s entrance. Joe’s signature look includes a mod suit and a set of shades in the familiar black and white checkered patterns that are emblematic of the collection. Joe’s cohorts include a birdlike creature, as well as a unicorn, a green dragon, purple dinosaur and a big, smiling flower, among others.

In the film, the disparate crew sets out for adventure in Paris. They then hop aboard a barge loaded with shipping containers carrying signature Louis Vuitton trunks. Presumably, the Spring-Summer 2021 collection has been packed inside. The collection was given the name “Message in a Bottle,” a fitting ode to the theme of venturing out into the unknown. In the summer of 2020, the same could be said of every industry, not simply fashion.

A few months after the film’s debut, the Zoooom with friends characters resurfaced in the live runway shows in Shanghai and Tokyo. This time, however, they took the form of giant inflatables. The gang next appeared at a Temporary Residency at the Miami Design Center in December. That activation disassembled and traveled to Beverly Hills in a truck caravan of–what else–bright red shipping containers.

The Collection

The Chicago-born Abloh is the first African American to head a French luxury design house. He is outspoken on issues of inclusivity, diversity, and the need to set examples for others. One of the central themes of his Men’s Spring-Summer 2021 collection involves the timeliness of fashion. As such, the collection invokes four methods of upcycling: new looks made from recycled material, looks repeated from the Fall-Winter 2020 collection, looks freely created by the studio during the lockdown using recycled material and new looks created from existing ideas. It is a serious through-note in a collection that is above all, a whimsical amalgam of several different influences. As WWD noted in a September 2020 review of the Tokyo runway event, accessories included “hats reminiscent of Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka and sunglasses that recalled the device worn by LeVar Burton in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation.'”

Abloh credits the Ghanaian heritage of his parents as well as visits to a Parisian toy store as inspiration for the “puppets, patterns, palette and accessories” found in the collection. Glancing around the Rodeo Drive installation, it is easy to see the connection. The fashion press last year credited Abloh with brightening up an otherwise subdued time with his playful designs. The same can be said about the Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency on Rodeo Drive.

The post Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency Arrives in Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

As set forth in detail in the Jan. 15 Courier Exclusive (“Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency Heading to Beverly Hills”), the installation will showcase the Louis Vuitton Men’s Spring-Summer 2021 collection. It also highlights the imagination, cultural inclusivity and grand tradition of one of fashion’s finest houses.

The Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency most recently took shape at Miami’s Design District. Described as nothing short of “magic” by the local press, the activation utilized customized shipping containers, oversized inflatables and interactive QR codes. Those signature elements have now crossed the country, ready to star in a Beverly Hills iteration.

Look for a special preview of the installation Feb. 4 on BeverlyHillsCourier.com and in the Feb. 5 print edition of the Beverly Hills Courier.

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The upcoming residency will mark the second time the French luxury house has created a must-see experience at the northern end of Rodeo Drive. First came “Louis Vuitton X,” the temporary art and retail project open for five months in 2019 that drew both large crowds and extensive international press. The Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency will be in place a much shorter time–it closes in early March–but promises to be every bit as engaging. It also comes with a narrative six months in the making. Hailed in the fashion press as one of last year’s most memorable experiences, the Courier has exclusive details about what to expect when it arrives here. In a nutshell: expect nothing ever seen before.

Designed to showcase the Louis Vuitton Men’s Spring-Summer 2021 Collection, the installation’s showstopper is a bright red shipping container “entrance.” The shipping container motif continues on the ground floor, as a backdrop for 1,600 square-feet of retail space. Exterior details of the activation include vinyl window coverings as well as giant inflatable balloon characters,  a leitmotif of the entire project. Onlookers – even those stopped in their cars – will be able to share the experience digitally, courtesy of Snapchat codes affixed to the building. Additional details about the project will be provided in subsequent issues of the Courier.

City Support

The Beverly Hills City Council has already given the Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency a green light. The Council approved requests for expedited special event and building permits, and also waived provisions of the city’s sign ordinance at its Jan. 12 Regular Meeting.

“During these most challenging times, it is inspiring that Louis Vuitton will once again bring an innovative and creative global happening to our city. This out-of-the-box exhibition incorporates all safety COVID-19 protocols while it showcases our city at the forefront of trendsetting and vision,” Councilmember Lili Bosse told the Courier. The Rodeo Drive Committee (RDC) had previously bestowed its support for the installation.

“This exciting pop-up will add to the visual allure of the street and draw new visitors,” said RDC President Nicola Cagliata, in a letter of support.

Of course, the maisons of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) are long-standing fixtures in Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. In addition to Louis Vuitton, the luxury conglomerate operates retail spaces in the city for brands that include Rimowa, Loro Piana, Fendi, Celine, Christian Dior, Bvlgari, Berlutti, Sephora, Hublot and Tag Heuer.

With the Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency in Beverly Hills, the company winds down a story that is outwardly playful, yet inwardly profound. Symbols abound in the vision of Louis Vuitton Artistic Director Virgil Abloh, some more nuanced than others.

On the surface, the shipping containers are not a far stretch for a company whose roots go back to the trunk manufacturing business. Louis Vuitton has been synonymous with luxury travel for almost two centuries. But, in 2020, the pandemic brought travel to a halt, upending traditional fashion weeks in Europe.

Zoooom with Friends

When Men’s Fashion Week in Paris was canceled last June, Abloh saw it as a chance to bring fashion to the people.

“Instead of the doom and gloom, sort of panic approach, I looked at it like, ‘Oh, this is the new frontier that we’ve been asking for in fashion,'” Abloh told WWD in July. “We’re in a new era. I feel like this is the pandemic of 2020 with the hard stop between fashion as it was before, and I’m interested in this sort of investigation.”

Abloh moved forward digitally, creating a short film called, “The Adventures of Zoooom with friends.” The combination live-action, animated work introduced a cast of animated characters inspired by Abloh’s trip to a Parisian toy store.

The vividly colored coterie, including a purple dinosaur, a dragon, an orange dog named Joe, a unicorn named Zip and various bird-like creatures spend Paris fashion week engaged in (at times psychedelic) antics across the city. Many are adorned in the signature black-and-white checkered suits, bell-bottoms, brightly hued jackets and retro-looking tees that mark the Spring/Summer collection.

The film closes with live-action shots of workers at the ancestral Paris home of the house’s founder. The men pack up LV trunks laden with finery into a shipping container. Before the doors of the shipping container close, however, the animated Zoooom with friends gang manages to stow away. They set sail on a colorful barge from the Seine to the sea, on a fashion adventure that will eventually take them to Shanghai, Tokyo, Miami and finally, Beverly Hills.

Egalitarian Message

The notion of taking the collection to an audience rather than the audience coming to the collection is Abloh’s way of “embracing the global community of Louis Vuitton,” according to the source material released with the collection. It also adds an egalitarian message that has marked Abloh’s tenure at Louis Vuitton.

Born in Illinois to immigrants from Ghana, Abloh is the first American of African descent to be artistic director of a French luxury fashion house. He has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Abloh first gained notoriety as creative director for Kanye West. He subsequently launched the luxury streetwear label Off-White (a favorite of Rihanna and Beyonce), and collaborated with Nike. Abloh joined Louis Vuitton in 2018, and the same year was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. The Men’s Spring/Summer 2021 Collection (aptly named “Message in a Bottle”) is Abloh’s fifth for Louis Vuitton. Accordingly, the numeral “5” appears as a prominent creative element thereof.

In a “manifesto” published last summer, Abloh reiterates a commitment to “continue to hire diverse candidates, financially support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and LGBTQ+ causes, shed light on BIPOC-owned companies and LGBTQ+ individuals, work on public-facing initiatives featuring BIPOC role models and LGBTQ+ and will assist organizations promoting a more inclusive workforce.”

As Abloh told Vogue last September, “I’m very much cognizant of the time that I couldn’t get into fashion shows myself, cognizant of my friends going to Paris and I couldn’t go because I couldn’t afford a plane ticket. I was just watching [fashion shows] via social media and through my friends.”

Now, every fan of fashion can have a front-row seat in what Abloh hopes will be a cultural exchange. Moreover, the fantastical animated stars of Zoooom with friends are meant to serve as more than mere entertainment. They “represent a fundamental belief in inclusivity, the core of the French House’s approach to menswear,” according to collection source materials.

Indeed, the Zoooom with friends crew plays a prominent role throughout the journey.

Passage to Asia

After “setting sail” from France in July, the Zoooom crew “resurfaced” in August in Shanghai, the first of two Asian venues to hold in-person debuts for the collection. Actually, Zoooom with friends had transmogrified into huge inflatable balloon creatures. They maintained a looming presence on the live runway shows at the port of Shanghai and on the roof of Tokyo’s International Cruise Terminal. Both shows were livestreamed around the world.

Inflatable iterations weren’t the only form of shape shifting for Zoooom with friends. The runways in Asia were full of bags, garments and accessories integrating the characters into designs. Some items featured plush Zoooom figures attached to them. A lexicon for the collection described this process of “Zoooomification” as a “three-dimensional technique of integrating the Spring-Summer 2021 characters of Zoooom with friends into garments and accessories, effectively adorning and animating pieces. Conceived during the lockdown-fueled digitalization of the world in 2020, Virgil Abloh employs this technique to make fashion ‘jump through the screen.'”

In addition to the characters, another central theme of the collection is “upcycling.” Utilizing the mantra, “No season is an old season,” Abloh defined his Upcycling Ideology as “a set of anti-obsolescence ideas to counter overproduction, waste and the culture of disposability.” A new Upcycling Signal Logo will attach to reconditioned pieces.

At Sea Once More

After a successful run in Asia, the traveling “Message in a Bottle” installation ventured off to sea again. The collection made its North American debut with a Temporary Residency at the Miami’s Design District’s Jungle Plaza. Described by the Miami Herald as one of the “crown jewels” of Art Week, the residency included bright red shipping containers and the giant Zoooom with friends balloons. Document Journal described the installation as “part runway, part P.T. Barnum performance, replete with the accoutrements of modern technology in an experiential fashion show that activates AR, Snapchat, and QR codes that allow visitors to partake in, and take away from, the traveling show in the form of unique sharable content.”

The activation folds up in Miami on Jan. 25. It then travels once again, this time by land. A caravan of the now-emblematic shipping containers will head west. The residency debuts on Rodeo Drive at the same time the “Louis Vuitton: Walk in the Park” public experience winds down in Paris. The Paris residency on Rue du Pont Neuf and the Louis Vuitton Maison Vendôme contains both physical and digital elements, including the chance to interact with the Zoooom characters and augmented reality experiences through the LV app that will also be available for users worldwide on Jan. 22.

Here in Beverly Hills, the Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency will be bound by  state and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Orders. At present, those orders mandate a reduction to 20 percent capacity based on square footage. The space will be open to the public and utilize a reservation system for entry. The Courier will publish exclusive details regarding early access for readers in future issues.

For a month, at least, the installation will provide Beverly Hills with a colorful reprieve from the lingering pandemic and political disarray. It’s also an opportunity to experience a moment in fashion history. “This is my invitation to move forward together with awareness, hope, and determination. You are witnessing unapologetic Black Imagination on display,” said Abloh.

The post Courier Exclusive: Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency Heading to Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“Those will take up a significant amount of 2021,” Assistant Director of Community Development Ryan Gohlich told the Courier.  The Planning Commission will first take up the One Beverly Hills project, a condominium and hotel development on the vacant lots of the old Robinsons-May department store and part of the Hilton property. The project is managed by Cain International and Alagem Capital Group, the owner of the adjacent Beverly Hilton. The $2 billion proposal includes two condominium towers at 28 and 32 stories comprising of 303 condos. Then, a 10-story hotel development
including 42 all-suite guest rooms, along with a fine-dining restaurant and 37 residential units. Finally, the project also incorporates large amounts of green space that would be open to the public.   

While construction could potentially begin in 2021, Gohlich said that it will most likely break ground in 2022.

“It’s a very complex project in terms of the various structures involved and it’s a very large project. It’s over a million square feet of development between the sites. And there is going to be a lengthy permitting process. If they are able to secure the needed zoning approvals from the City Council, then they are going to have a pretty lengthy process of just preparing what we refer to as construction drawings–it’s not just the architectural plan, it’s all the engineering and electrical, mechanical, plumbing, all the little bits and pieces of construction.”

The One Beverly Hills project has the potential to revitalize a once-thriving property–one that Gohlich said used to play a crucial role in the City’s economic fabric. “It’s not good for the city to have vacant land sitting there, that’s not benefiting anybody,” he said. “The Robinsons-May site is a good example of a huge piece of property that used to generate a substantial amount of revenue to pay for all the great city services that we have, and there has been zero activity on that property since the early 2000s. It’s been a long, long time that that property has not been contributing in a positive effect to the city.”

As Gohlich notes, “[Robinsons-May] was truly a world class department store and contributed in a significant way to the city and its development at that time.”

If all goes according to schedule, Gohlich says, the One Beverly Hills project will land before the Planning Commission “through winter and possibly in the spring.” Based on that timetable, the City Council will take up the project toward the end of spring or the summer.

“The hope is that there will be some sort of a final decision on the project in 2021,” he said.

Following behind One Beverly Hills, the Planning Commission will also take up plans for the highly anticipated Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills. The luxury hotel, spearheaded by French conglomerate LVMH, has marked off a location on the corner of Rodeo Drive and South Santa Monica Boulevard. The spot stretches across four parcels of land: the former Brooks Brothers building, Celine Rodeo Drive, the former Paley Center for Media and the property at 449 N. Beverly Drive. The proposed property would serve as a boutique luxury hotel with 115 rooms, ground-floor LVMH retail establishments, and high-end dining venues.

LVMH is no stranger to Beverly Hills. The company, headed by billionaire Bernard Arnault, owns or leases 18 properties in the city, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Rimowa, Bulgari, Loro Piana, Hublot, Berluti and Sephora. On Dec. 30, LVMH came a step closer to adding another Beverly Hills property to its portfolio when Tiffany & Co’s shareholders approved a $15.8 billion deal.

“LVMH has made significant investments in the city over the years and I think it’s great to see continued interest from such an important company in the world of luxury,” Gohlich said. He added, though, that the plans come with some complications. “It’s a project that does not comply with our existing zoning standards, it’s over height, over floor area. They have a world-class architect, so it’s a very well-designed project, and it comes with some big policy questions. How much floor area, how much height is appropriate in that area of the business triangle? Those questions are to be determined through the public process.”

As it currently stands, the Cheval Blanc plans call for up to 220,000 square feet of floor area, with a 4.2 to 1 Floor Area Ratio (FAR)–the measurement of the total floor area in relationship to the site area. “Which basically means 4.2 times the size of the total site area,” Gohlich explained. “They are proposing a maximum height of nine stories, or 115 feet, along the Beverly Drive side of the project. On the Rodeo side, they’re proposing four stories in height.” The existing code allows for three stories on the Rodeo side, with some rooftop uses permitted on newer buildings.

The Planning Commission has already begun work on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project, though it will still be “a handful of months” before the public sees it. He estimates that the project is three to six months behind One Beverly Hills.

The Planning Commission will also decide the future of Lots 12 and 13 in 2021. The two vacant lots, which abut Santa Monica Boulevard, sit on the site of a former rail right of way. As such, the land is zoned only for transportation purposes. The owner of the land, the Beverly Hills Land Company, has proposed a deal with the city: “It is basically undevelopable land with the current zoning designation, and so what they are proposing is that the zoning be changed to allow for commercial development, and in exchange for that change of the zoning, they would then give Lot 13 to the city.”

The Beverly Hills Land Company has indicated plans to build boutique office space on Lot 12. The city would be free to develop Lot 13 as desired. These proposals have not been without controversy, as Gohlich notes. “Some people think it should just remain exactly as is and never be touched. You’ve got people who think it should be developed with just park space and all of it as park space. And then some people, presumably, are in favor of some form of development, either commercial or residential, in the area.”

“I think one of the challenges is that it has been vacant for such a long period of time that people have gotten used to it being a buffer between Santa Monica Boulevard and the neighborhood to the south,” Gohlich said.

The BHCO project falls last in the 2021 calendar, with Gohlich estimating that the project is about three to six months behind LVMH.

Gohlich says that this year is uniquely busy for the Planning Commission. The commission faces both impactful policy decisions and large development projects. “I don’t know that it’s rare, but normally, when you’re busy with development projects, you tend to not be as busy with policy projects. And what we’re looking at is being equally busy on both the policy side and the development side.”

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“Due to the on-scene investigation and immediate crime follow up, we believe the arrest [on Dec. 27] is connected to the Saint Laurent crime earlier in the week,” BHPD Spokesperson Lt. Max Subin told the Courier. He could not elaborate on the connection between the arrests and the other crimes, citing the ongoing investigation.

The Yves Saint Laurent robbery occurred around 5:35 p.m. when about eight suspects walked into the luxury store and seized “items including purses, and fled,” Subin said. According to initial estimates of the haul, the suspects made off with $50,000 of merchandise. “As they were fleeing, the security guard was sprayed in the face with a substance believed to be pepper-spray.”

A few nights later around 6 p.m., a woman who had witnessed the suspects running out of Yves Saint Laurent noticed a crowd congregating near Fendi. She snapped a picture on her phone, and then moments later, filmed as 10 suspects bolted out of Fendi with products in hand and ran into three cars idling outside.

“It was like in the span of a couple minutes,” Josh Lekach, a relative of the woman who posted the video told the Courier. The woman wished to remain anonymous. “They were congregating and then they went in and then grabbed stuff and then left.”

Initial reports calculated the loss at $67,000 in goods.

According to Subin, BHPD patrol units located one of the vehicles from the scene, found items from Fendi inside, and arrested the four occupants inside. “The suspects arrested last night for robbery were all juveniles and released to their parents,” he said.

The BHPD Detectives Bureau and Crime Impact Team (CIT) are currently investigating both crimes and working to locate the other two vehicles that got away.

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“During these trying times, we were delighted to work in partnership with our community groups to bring a little bit of joy and excitement to the lives of innocent children who are less fortunate. We were proud to partner with our Rotary Interact Groups at Beverly Hills High School and the Buckley School, as well as Next Beverly Hills, and BH PTA Council,” Rotary President Dr. Sharona R. Nazarian told the Courier.

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The $3 million of Phase II COVID-19 Response Grants is being directed to local Jewish nonprofits. Some $1.5 million was awarded to 16 organizations, all current or former Foundation grant recipients. Those recipients include theatre dybbuk, Hillel at UCLA, USC Hillel, the Pico Union Project, the Jewish Graduate Student Initiative, Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center, The Miracle Project, Fuente Latina, Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles and JQ International.

“All of us at The Foundation are grateful to provide support during this time of extraordinary need. For me, the silver lining of this pandemic, if any, is how family, friends and colleagues–and the community and beyond–have banded together to surmount this once-in-a-lifetime crisis,” added Schotland.

www.jewishfoundationla.org

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A Season of Giving appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“Forbes Global Properties creates a new and unparalleled sphere of influence for the world’s finest real estate,” said Jeff Hyland, co-founder and president of Hilton & Hyland and also co-founder and president of Forbes Global Properties. “Unlike other branded real estate groups, Forbes Global Properties is not merely a listing tool for agents – it offers direct and measurable access to potential high-net-worth buyers through Forbes’ worldwide media penetration.”

Hyland has a well-earned reputation in the City, with Town & Country naming him “The Gatekeeper of Beverly Hills.” The 73-year-old brokered LeBron James’ $36.75-million purchase in Beverly Hills and the record-breaking $150 million sale of the “The Beverly Hillbillies” estate.

Spearheaded by Hyland, in addition to real estate veteran Bonnie Stone Sellers, the new company is primarily broker-owned and led. Rather than have all listings come from one single brokerage, the site will utilize a network of independent offices situated around the world. Each member will operate with relative independence and have exclusive reach in their market. The service launches with brokerages in 75 locations in the U.S., Asia and Europe, but has plans to expand to no more than 100. The network will begin accepting new member brokerages in the coming months, provided applicants pass a rigorous vetting process.

“Top real estate industry professionals now have an opportunity to capitalize on the immense global reach of Forbes in the creation of an impactful luxury marketplace, which is owned and led by brokerages,” Bonnie Stone Sellers, who serves as Chair, said in a statement. “Forbes Global Properties is not only a network of experts, but also a powerful consumer platform for the world’s most extraordinary homes, available for showcasing distinguished properties in non-member markets as well. We are creating the next evolution of real estate marketing and sales, delivering an incredibly unique value proposition for brokers as well as buyers and sellers of luxury residences.”

The platform launches at a time when luxury home sales have soared, despite the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales of high-end properties grew 42 percent in the third quarter of 2020 as compared to a year earlier, according to a report from the brokerage Redfin. Underscoring the disparate impact of the pandemic on those with less money, sales of medium-priced homes grew a meager 3 percent and sales of affordable homes declined 4.2 percent.

“The luxury housing market normally takes a hit during recessions as wealthy Americans tighten their purse strings, but this isn’t a normal recession,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather in a statement. “Remote work, record-low mortgage rates and strong stock prices during the pandemic are allowing America’s wealthy families to gobble up expensive houses with home offices and big backyards in the suburbs. Meanwhile, scores of lower- and middle-class Americans have lost their jobs or are still renting in the city because they’re essential workers and have to commute into work, so they’re unable to reap the benefits of homeownership.”

These circumstances present a boon to Forbes Global Properties, which currently hosts listings for more than 200 homes priced above $10 million.

Forbes also expects to benefit from the partnership. “Every month, we engage more than 140 million people deeply interested in luxury, travel and real estate,” said Forbes CEO Mike Federle in a statement.

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The property has wound its way through multiple City commissions as it has sought Local Historic Landmark status. The Cultural Heritage Commission initiated landmark proceedings on Nov. 6, 2019, for possible inclusion on the Beverly Hills Register of Historic Properties–a list that includes the Beverly Hills Hotel and Greystone Mansion. After a Preliminary hearing on Dec. 4, 2019, the Cultural Heritage Commission found that the property appeared to be eligible for the designation–a conclusion echoed by the City’s historic consultant, Jan Ostashay of Ostashay & Associates Consulting, in a landmark assessment and evaluation report. Then, on June 18, 2020, the Cultural Heritage Commission unanimously adopted a resolution recommending that the City Council designate the Woodland property as a Landmark and place it onto the registry. Over a week later, the Commission reviewed the proposed project and issued a preliminary conclusion that it complies with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Properties, a commonly used set of guidelines for maintaining and restoring historic buildings.

Shortly after Evans’ death in 2019, Discovery CEO David Zaslav and his wife, Pam, purchased the property for $16 million. The Zaslavs found the home, built in 1942, in mild disrepair and committed to restoring it to its halcyon state. Now, they are proactively petitioning the City of Beverly Hills to designate 1033 Woodland as a Local Historic Landmark.

Planning Commission Vice Chair Lori Green Gordon praised David Zaslav’s initiative in applying for the status. “To say that he wants to preserve it not just for his family, which I think is wonderful, but I think going forward, he looks at this as something that will be preserved for the community as a historic resource,” Gordon said. “I have to commend you because that is an act of honor and I really do appreciate that you do that for our City.”

The Zaslavs have an incentive to apply for landmark status. The City of Beverly Hills offers a Historical Incentive Permit, which is meant to “incentivize the protection of significant historic resources by providing a process by which owners of locally designated historic landmarks may request waivers or deviations from certain development standards,” according to the Beverly Hills Municipal Code. At the same time, owners of historic buildings also must adhere to stricter standards of preservation.

The Zaslavs’ purpose in restoring Woodland is to “ensure that the property is enjoyed in its original state for generations to come,” said Jason Somers, President of Crest Real Estate, who oversees the project. “To remember fondly generations of the past for generations of the future.”

The property had fallen into disrepair toward the end of Evans’ life, Somers told the Courier.

“Five years with no upkeep on a house with that much garden, and it can fall apart quickly,” he said. “Everything is very overgrown, and you find statues lying on their side. It’s almost like an archeological dig through the property. We found statues and pieces of the original pool house building that burned down in the early 2000s.”

Zaslav plans to honor the historical character of the property and has kept on the longtime house manager, housekeeper and butler. Plans call for major renovations and additions that would not compromise the original vision of its architect, John Elgin Woolf. Those plans include a new guest wing and a tennis cabana, expanded garage, rebuilt pool house and relocated tennis court. Many of these facilities as they exist in the plans violate City code, and therefore depend on receiving a HIP or other permit. The new guest wing, for instance, would stand two feet above code at 16 feet, necessitating the granting of a Minor Accommodation Permit. The plans also call for reconstructing portions of the wall at the front of the property. The height of the wall exceeds the allowable standard, but the reconstruction would be permissible under HIP.

Somers makes clear that he and the Zaslavs will approach this work with the care and attention to detail of archeologists. He gives the example of the pool house, which burned down in 2004 along with Evans’ famed screening room and trophy room. The screening room–constructed specifically for Evans when he moved into the house in 1967–is where dailies were shown for Chinatown, Harold & Maude, Rosemary’s Baby, and other Evans works.

Architect John Elgin Woolf, who the City has designated a Beverly Hills Master Architect, occupies a special place in Los Angeles architectural history. His 1980 New York Times obituary credits him with establishing “a new vocabulary for glamorous movie-star living” by mixing elements of 19th-century French, Greek Revival and Modernist styles “into a heady mixture that has since been christened Hollywood Regency.” Woolf and his partner designed houses for some of the best-known icons of the time. Carry Grant, Ira and Leonore Gershwin, and Agnes Moorehead all lived in Woolf homes in Beverly Hills.

The Woodland property was Woolf’s first in the Los Angeles Area. The home played a key role in defining and promoting the Hollywood Regency idiom–at once understated and glamorous.

By today’s standards, the existing development on the 1.4-acre property is modest, totaling 3,800-square-feet (though that number would rise with the renovations). But its value comes from more than square footage. Evans told Vanity Fair in 2009 that he made more deals at Woodland than at Paramount, greenlighting The Godfather and Chinatown there. Laurence Olivier even lived at the property for six months during the filming of Marathon Man.

Evans, an avid tennis player and fan, hosted sports phenoms, politicians, and celebrities on the home’s idiosyncratic black and green court. Some names on Evans’ roster of partners include Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Ted Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin. (The last two played regularly at Woodland). The Zaslavs’ plans include demolishing the tennis court and reconstructing it about nine feet east to open up space around the house’s pool.

Architect Timothy Bryant, former-White House interior designer Michael Smith and landscape architect and horticulturist Wayne David Hand will work on the renovations. The design plans include extensive details for the garden such as unique flower varietals created for and named after celebrities and nobility.

According to Somers, the project has whizzed through the Planning Commission in near record time, which he credits to City staff. “The City has been very supportive of a project that they feel is a benefit to the City’s future,” he said. Somers says that the next step is for the City Council to take up the question itself. While the item has not been agendized yet, he hopes it comes before the Council early in the new year. “I think we would all hope so,” he said.

The post Restoring a Hollywood Legend in Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

It’s been a challenging year and with stores open at only 20 percent capacity, shopping could also be tricky this holiday season as well. If you missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday, here are some inventive gift box ideas for everyone on your list.

For the Travel Connoisseur:

Assouline Publishing is known for producing stand-out volumes. This holiday season, they are packaging a colorful set of coffee table travel books ($95 each) featuring scenes from Comporta to Capri. In addition, “Travel by Design” was just released this fall with images of more than 100 locations in 60 countries, from exotic islands to global cityscapes, ancient civilizations, luxurious resorts, and more. You can find them in Beverly Hills at Gearys, Neiman Marcus or Assouline.com.

For the Art Aficionado:

MoMA Museum has teamed up with celebrity favorite cool-kicks brand Vans for a one-of-a-kind sneaker collaboration with artistic motifs from its collection starting at $80. The shoes have become canvases with Pollock, Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Monet and more. The gift boxes can be ordered with a matching sweatshirt for the full casual-cool lounging look which have all embraced this year. Vans.com

For Dark Chocolate Lover:

The owners of popular Porch Gallery in Ojai have launched Beato Chocolates. The artisanal 72 percent dark chocolates with fleur de sel feature the artwork of world-renowned sculptor Beatrice Wood who made Ojai’s Happy Valley her home and studio. You can also buy the large assorted bars (four for $48) inspired by Wood’s Dadaist work with unique combinations of roasted marcona almonds and smoked paprika, and a bar that also pays homage to the town’s famed pixie tangerines with artistic packaging. beatochocolates.com

For the Gluten-free Baker:

Many of us have taken up bread baking during the pandemic. Newly-opened Breadblok of Santa Monica will do the heavy lifting for you by producing gluten-free loaves of chestnuts sourdough bread available for nationwide delivery. They are packaging this along with other carbs in a holiday box for $149.99 that includes Provencal olive oil and fig jam. breadblok.com

For the Coffee Addict:

Beverly Hills mainstay coffee shop Alfred’s is always adding interesting merchandise to the mix, including this season’s make-your-own vanilla latte DIY kit. The package includes espresso beans, oat milk, vanilla syrup, stainless steel straws, a to-go tumbler and tote bag for $70 that will make 20 drinks.  Available at Alfredla.com. And, for a gift of coffee for a good cause, the Southern California-based Special Needz Coffee provides opportunities for adults with special needs and/or mental illnesses to work in the community. Their medium and espresso roast whole bean and ground coffees can be included in gift baskets along with customized mugs, face masks, T-shirts and other merchandise that supports the work of the organization. www.specialneedzcoffee.com.

For the Tequila and Rosé fan:

Everyone’s favorite sugar-gummy store, Sugarfina in Beverly Hills, has a new Candy Bento Box collaboration featuring Codigo 1530 signature Rosa tequila (aged in French oak barrels) with Tequila Grapefruit Sours and Top Shelf Rosé Roses candy. The box retails for $35, and because this is the first time, they have combined alcohol and candy in the same package, it’s being sold on ReserveBar.com.

For the Foodie:

Goldbelly is a national gourmet food service that will box up and ship your favorite meals to your door. If your significant other is missing mushroom lasagna from Gramercy Tavern in New York, Commander’s Palace turtle soup from New Orleans, or your kids are craving Hattie B’s fried chicken in Nashville or Pike Place chowder from Seattle, surprise them with a holiday delivery. The company also offers live Zoom cooking classes with top chef partners. Prices start at $45. Goldbelly.com

For the Beginner Home Cook:

For something hyper local and vegan-veggie friendly, CropSwap is offering a Golden State Papayas Pizza Party Box for $40 that includes fruits and vegetables from local farmers, the pizza dough, Drake’s Family Farm goat cheese and a jar from The Count of Monte Pesto. These new experimental subscription boxes also include a breakfast kit and pantry staples. cropswap.com

For the Fun Wellness Guru:

There is a plethora of CBD products on the market but this is a sparkling hemp-based CBD-infused craft cocktail pack featuring limited edition original artwork from Collective Project, which supports the global art community. Available starting at $17.99, flavors include Raspberry-Hibiscus Rooibos, Cucumber, Lemon-Lime and Mango, Pineapple-Coconut that will all mix well with your favorite at-home spirits. collectiveproject.com

For the Fitness Expert:

Since we can’t frequent the Shape House in West Hollywood right now to rid our bodies of all those toxins (who couldn’t use a pre-or-post-holiday detox?), while running into local celebs, MiHigh is a portable infrared sauna blanket packaged in a black gift box. This magic blanket claims to burn up to 600 calories in a 30-minute session while elevating your heart rate and calming the mind.  And, you can do this while lying on the sofa watching Netflix for $499. Mihigh.com

For the Fashionista:

Local celebrity stylist and designer Rachel Zoe has launched a seasonal bespoke subscription box of upscale fashion and lifestyle accessories. The collections features jewelry, scarves, handbags, sunglasses, home and beauty products. CURATEUR memberships start at $349 per year or $99 per box. curateur.com

For the Hair Care Fanatic:

Pureology has undergone a renovation with new formulas that are 100 percent vegan, and is now offering them in gift boxes at Sephora.com or in the Beverly Hills store. Known for helping hair color last far beyond the salon, (and with salons being closed, we all need that right now), Pureology Holiday Kits for men and women are $70 and include brightening, strengthening, volumizing, and smoothing themes.

For the Eco Beauty Buff:

With at-home pampering in high-demand, LOVEGOODLY is a new LA-based bi-monthly box that delivers 100 percent toxin-free and cruelty-free, products. Expect clean mascara by EVIO, vegan collagen night cream from London-based Professor Herb, a nourishing eye serum packed with cranberry seed oil for an antioxidant fix, and an orange and tea tree hand sanitizer that also fits in your handbag. Each purchase (starting at $40.00) also gives back to animal welfare non-profit, Farm Sanctuary. lovegoodly.com

For “High Maintenance” Skin Care:

For a more intense approach, West Hollywood’s luxury beauty hub Violet Grey, owned by Cassandra Grey, has just released a Violet gift box of “best sellers” including 111 Skin Y Theorem Bio-Cellulose Mask, U Beauty Resurfacing Compound and Westman-Atelier Lip Suede Les Rouges. The box contains over 13 products valued at over $1,000 for $425. Violetgrey.com

For Ringing Out 2020:

Petrossian caviar on Robertson is crafting special gift boxes this year that include varieties of products for picnics and at-home celebrations such as blinis and crème fraiche with mother of pearl spoons. You can also add Champagne, chocolates and appetizers from the $300 to $700 dollar range. Petrossian.com

The post The Gifting Scene in Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The last round of funding grants was awarded to 19 organizations that provide services to seniors, homeless, cover physical and mental health, culture and more. To learn more about past recipients, go to www.beverlyhills.org/humanservices.

To qualify, an applicant must provide a service that meets a community need including but not limited to social services, community health and education. The City will once again be accepting applications for cultural grants as well this year. The applicant must be, or partner with a 501c.3 organization. The applicant must return completed application by email to humanservices@beverlyhills.org or mailed and postmarked no later than Feb. 1, 2021, 5 p.m. to the Beverly Hills Human Services Division.

To apply, contact Human Services at 310-285-1006, or go online to www.beverlyhills.org/cagf.

The post Beverly Hills Community Grants Available appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

The agenda for the Dec. 1 Study Session will be available at beverlyhills.org/citycouncilmeetings.

The post Beverly Hills City Council to Review Closure of In-Person Restaurant Dining appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

In a Nov. 22 press release, Public Health officials said, “To reduce the possibility for crowding and the potential for exposures in settings where people are not wearing their face coverings, restaurants, breweries, wineries and bars will only be able to offer take-out, drive thru, and delivery services. Wineries and breweries may continue their retail operations adhering to current protocols. In person dining will not be allowed, at minimum, for the next three weeks.”

However, the County is seeing resistance to the new dining restrictions. Many legislators, businessowners, and county and health officials are speaking out against the ban on in-person dining, saying it would threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs. Others question whether restaurants are a major source or contributor to the uptick, instead attributing the county’s current virus surge to private gatherings.

On Nov. 24, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge rejected a request from the California Restaurant Association (CRA) for a temporary restraining order against the plan to end in-person dining. The case challenging the ban will, however, be allowed to proceed. The CRA’s lawsuit also asks that the county provide scientific evidence to support and justify the decision. “The recent order with no stated scientific basis from L.A. County singles out a specific industry and could jeopardize thousands of jobs,” Jot Condie, president/CEO of the California Restaurant Association, said in a statement announcing the legal challenge. “There are thousands of restaurants and many thousands more employees who could be out on the street right before the holiday season.”

Also on Nov. 24, county Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn introduced a motion in an effort to keep allowing outdoor dining, arguing the ban would be too challenging for restaurants that are already struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic. According to Supervisor Kathryn Barger, “There is no sufficient data to show that outdoor dining has led to significant transmission. … No other county has taken the step to close outdoor dining.”

“I have never experienced the kind of pushback I am hearing,” Hahn said of the in-person dining ban. “The public doesn’t think that that recommendation is right, and they don’t think it’s going to work, and they are really losing faith and trust in the decisions that we’re making.”

Supervisors Sheila Kuehl (who represents Beverly Hills), Mark Ridley-Thomas and Hilda Solis stood in support of the ban, which was upheld by the Board by a 3-2 vote. On a motion from Barger, the Board approved allocating an additional $10 million in coronavirus relief funding for local businesses, with a focus on restaurants.

“People are absolutely beside themselves, me included” Adam Rubin, co-owner of Croft Alley Beverly Hills, told the Courier. “I think the primary reason being that we’ve spent so much money and so much time trying to ensure everyone’s safety. Between testing, temperature checks, sanitization, building out parklets into the streets and buying extra tables and heaters, we’ve had a lot of expenses.”

“We just feel that it’s unfair to restaurants,” Rubin said. “We finally started to get back on our feet, and now we’re laying off 75 percent of our employees for the second time in a year.” Rubin fears that this latest hurdle could be the nail in the coffin for many restaurants in the City teetering on the edge.

“I understand that desperate and difficult times may demand an equally strong response,” Giuseppe Mollica, the general manager at Via Alloro, told the Courier. “However, I believe that with proper caution and safeguards in place, the closure of outdoor dining may be a little too autocratic…and possibly a little too much, since here in Beverly Hills, the cases have been minimal. At any rate, we’ll abide to the city ordinance, and we hope to be back soon.”

On Nov. 25, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH)
confirmed 4, 311  new cases of COVID-19 and 49 new deaths. To date, the agency has identified 378,323 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 7,543 deaths. In Beverly Hills, there have been 939 cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths. For context, during the summer surge in COVID-19, average daily cases increased 43 percent from June 20 through July 3. According to Public Health, the average daily cases from Oct. 31 through Nov. 13 increased 108 percent.

The post Beverly Hills Hit Hard by New Dining Restrictions appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

“Work is now in progress to address minor leaks on the two wells previously identified to require additional plugging work. This additional plugging work is anticipated to be completed by December 2020,” Beverly Hills Director of Public Works Shana Epstein told the Courier.

The oil capping project necessitated a temporary closure of the girls’ softball field. Aside from that, the disruption to the campus and surrounding area was minimal.

For years, the energy company, Venoco Inc. operated under a $1.1 million annual lease with the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) and the City, for the extraction of roughly 300 barrels worth of oil a day. The lease stated that the responsibility of cleaning up the site fell to Venoco. However, after ceasing all oil and gas extraction from the site on Dec. 31, 2016, the company filed for bankruptcy in April of 2017, informing the District and City of their intention of vacating the premises. After a bankruptcy judge ruled that Venoco had no further responsibilities related to the oil sites, the City and BHUSD were tasked with the monitoring and plugging of the remaining wells.

In December of 2017, the City and BHUSD reached an agreement whereby the City would assume the management of the oil well plugging project. The City agreed to contribute $8 million to help fund the endeavor, but ultimately advanced $11 million as the BHUSD’s need for financial support became more evident.

The City and BHUSD contracted with WZI, Inc., an environmental consultant specializing in petroleum engineering, to assist and oversee the well plugging process. To complete the project, ARB, Inc. was also retained to provide well monitoring and abandonment services, as well as maintaining well pressure at a safe level.

As the partnership between the City and BHUSD draws to a close, the latter will finance all additional remediation expenses with funds from Measure BH, the $385 million construction bond voters passed in 2018.

The post Final Work Finishing on BHUSD Oil Well Project appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

NEW ON THE SCENE

When you need a break but can’t leave town, these debut dining ventures all evoke a strong sense of place and a much-needed dose of escapism.

Damian, Arts District DTLA

Mexico City Michelin-starred Chef Enrique Olvera has opened his long-awaited restaurant across the street from Bestia in the Arts District. The industrial chic patio with abundant foliage is perfect for social distancing and any intimate gathering. Order the grilled lobster, uni tostada and tamal de elote with a range of over 40 agave spirits. They are closed on major holidays and booking is about one month out, but opt for a waitlist if you can be flexible on the date.

https://www.damiandtla.com/

Cara, Los Feliz

Dean McKillen of Ysabel and Laurel Hardware restaurant fame has gone into the boutique hotel business. High-end hospitality is in his blood. His family owns and operates the U.K.-based Maybourne Hotel Group, which recently opened its first U.S. property in Beverly Hills. For Cara, McKillen has chosen Los Feliz and a Mediterranean vibe, with three different dining patios. The  menu by Chef Michael Patria includes a whole roasted branzino and lemon fettucine. Book one of the 60 chic white guestrooms if you drink too much from the stellar wine or cocktails list. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

https://www.carahotel.com/

The Barish and Spare Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Mozza-plex queen, Nancy Silverton, has opened a romantic Italian steakhouse at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The palm tree-lined patio serves lamb chops, Creekstone Farms New York Strip, grilled abalone mushrooms with porcini butter, pizzetta and even a rolled “lasagna” all cooked over an open flame. Make a night of it and enjoy a fruity poolside cocktail while playing a game of Mad Libs, before or after dinner at the newly reconfigured The Spare Room and you will feel like you’re on vacation.

www.thehollywoodroosevelt.com/

Fellow and The Galerie, Westwood

The brick walls of this Westside spot located in a historic 1935 building are lined with an exhibition of rock-n-roll greats in collaboration with Mr. Musichead Gallery. Now serving on a new sidewalk patio, the tasting menu by Executive Chef Mazen Mustafa (who worked with three-Michelin-star Chef Michel Troisgros, Daniel Boulud and David Chang) includes salmon with sorrel and cream sauce, smoked oat milk panna cotta with eggplant and grilled avocado with pistachio and coconut. The wine list is from Sommelier Scott Lester from Eleven Madison Park and The French Laundry. A  special New Year’s Eve menu is planned.

www.fellow.la

Lucky Steakhouse, Malibu

This famed Montecito classic steak spot has come to the Malibu Country Mart (opening Dec. 1) just in time to celebrate Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve in style. Best known for USDA prime steaks, don’t overlook the shrimp cocktail or other fresh seafood dishes helmed by Executive Chef Michael Rosen, and the extensive wine list by Larry Nobles is strong on Bordeaux going back to 1929.

https://www.luckysmalibu.com/

OSPI Venice

Celebrated Chef Jackson Kalb has taken over the old Canal Club space near the Venice Boardwalk. With a pedigree from Melisse and Joel Robuchon, you will want to order every pasta on the menu. For the first time, Kalb is also making fully fermented breads for sandwiches and wafer-thin pizzas to-go, or to dine on the temporary sidewalk space, and you can stroll along Venice beach after your meal.  A special holiday menu will be available with Mary’s Turkey (to-go only).

https://www.ospivenice.com/

NUEVA, Venice/Marina del Rey Border

Take a trip to Baja on two expansive patios with food by famed Chefs Vartan Abgaryan and Mesraim Llanez. Try the chicken tinga burrito, shakshuka ranchos or the smokey Caesar at brunch and the unique range of tacos from falafel to Mediterranean octopus, tempura sea bass or pork belly chicharron at dinner.

https://nuevavenice.com/

BACK ON THE SCENE IN BEVERLY HILLS

Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura

This intimate second story patio above the Rodeo Drive store will be serving on Christmas Eve only for the holiday season, but the original menu with the famed tortellini with Parmigiano Reggiano cream executed by Chef Mattia Agazzi is still available any other day or night.

www.gucci.com/us 

Il Pastaio

One of the most buzzworthy corners in town will only be open for the holiday of Christmas Eve day, so book your patio or parklet spot soon if you’re craving the pasta dishes.

www.ilpastaiobeverlyhills.com

Mastros

Thankfully, Mastros is always open for every holiday and that has not changed this year. So, decide how you want your steak cooked on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas or New Year’s Eve and save room for the seasonal butter cake.

www.mastrosrestaurants.com

Mr. Chow

For Christmas Eve, Mr. Chow is serving its regular Chinese menu, so you can indulge in the chicken satay, Beijing duck and noodles. New Year’s Eve will bring a set menu and late seating with a band or a DJ.

www.mrchow.com   

The Palm

Expect a traditional turkey dinner for Thanksgiving and prime rib for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with white tablecloth sidewalk seating.

www.thepalm.com

Porta Via

Open outdoors for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Canon Drive apart from Thanksgiving and Christmas. Seasonal items to get you in the mood include pumpkin cauliflower lasagna.

https://portaviarestaurants.com/beverly-hills/

Ocean Prime

This longstanding surf and turf hang-out will be celebrating the end of 2020 on their enclosed patio for New Year’s Eve this year so check back for more details on seating times.

www.ocean-prime.com

Mirame

Sip mezcal on the patio or parklet while owner-chef Josh Gil prepares a pre-Hispanic feast for Thanksgiving that includes kamote sweet-potato and cocoa corn flan. While you’re there, grab some holiday gifts including rare coffee and artisan pottery from Oaxaca.

https://mirame.la/

Wally’s

The wines are exceptional and perfect for any holiday gifting and the patio on Canon Drive is one of the hottest tables in town. Wally’s is also offering special menu items for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve for dine in, to-go, or delivery.

https://www.wallywine.com/

Lawry’s The Prime Rib

Leave the cooking and silver carving cart service, to this La Cienega family-style favorite this year on Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve in their new outdoor patio space.

www.lawrysonline.com

TRIED AND TRUE HOTEL SCENE

Beverly Hills Hotel

The beloved pink-hued patio of the Polo Lounge with be open for a three-course Thanksgiving brunch this year. Christmas Eve brings a four-course dinner followed by a Christmas Day brunch. You can ring in the New Year as well during a three-course New Year’s Eve menu, and it’s never too early to order an eggnog souffle.

www.dorchestercollection.com

Hotel Bel-Air

There are plenty of celebratory options this year on the cozy patio of Wolfgang Puck’s signature restaurant including a three-course Thanksgiving dinner. Christmas Eve features a four-course menu with a beignet holiday confection tree and a three-course family-style Christmas day meal. New Year’s Eve features an a la carte menu for the first seating and a five-course menu with champagne and party favors.

www.dorchestercollection.com 

Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills

Jean-Georges Beverly Hills terrace is back offering one of the most elegant eight-course tasting menus including caviar, King crab risotto and a ribeye cap with wine pairings. A traditional family-style turkey dinner awaits on Thanksgiving, and curbside pickup is available on Nov. 26. Look for a new Latin-fusion themed brunch menu on Sundays and a Waldorf Cafe by La Colombe pop-up.

https://waldorfastoria3.hilton.com /

The Beverly Hilton Hotel

This year, the iconic hotel is offering Thanksgiving dinners to-go that feature roasted whole turkey breast with citrus brine and herb butter, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, butternut squash and brussels sprout hash, kale Caesar salad, and petite pumpkin pie or pecan pie. You can dine poolside year-round at their new casual café MERCATO.

www.hilton.com/

The Peninsula

Le Petit Belvedere and Chef David Codney are whipping up a special Thanksgiving menu with a French flare, including veal cheek bourguignon, that will also be available to-go (orders must be placed by Nov. 22). With any luck, guests will also be able to enjoy the Christmas and New Year’s Eve menu partially indoors this year.

www.peninsula.com

The Maybourne

The Terrace restaurant at the City’s newest hotel offers a special three-course European meets California coastal menu with hors d’oeuvres by longtime Beverly Hills Executive Chef Kaleo Adams. Available for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

www.maybourne.com/

West Hollywood and Westside Scene

Sunset Tower will be open on Thanksgiving Day for lunch and dinner with a special turkey dinner menu that starts with roasted butternut squash soup and ends with pumpkin pie a la mode. And, you can enjoy jazz on the terrace any Tuesday through Saturday night.

www.sunsettowerhotel.com

The London’s signature restaurant Boxwood will be serving Thanksgiving dinner on their beautiful outdoor marble terrace, but with a twist. Yes, you can order a free-range turkey dinner with sage stuffing, but also butter-poached Maine lobster rolls, New England crab bisque, and in keeping with their British roots, beef Wellington and sticky toffee pudding.

www.thelondonwesthollywood.com

The Edition West Hollywood hotel by Ian Schrager has reopened just in time for the holidays with a revamped rooftop and spectacular West Hollywood city views. Here you can dine on a Peruvian inspired menu featuring sweet potato taquitos with red mole or lomo saltado with beef tenderloin. Open at 5 p.m. every day until the end of the year.

www.editionhotels.com/weho/

Olivetta at Kimpton La Peer holds the best hotel residency to ever hit town with Italian specialties by Chef Michael Fiorelli that can be enjoyed poolside or on the rooftop overlooking the hills. So far, they are planning a big bash for New Year’s Eve.

www.lapeerhotel.com

A.O.C. Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne’s Mediterranean eatery is still going strong on the original patio, with more outdoor space added by the front entrance for sipping wine, eating charcuterie and Spanish fried chicken. Holiday booking options include Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

www.aocwinebar.com

Melisse x Citrin Michelin-starred Chef Josiah Citrin has morphed his landmark Santa Monica restaurant into an outdoor dining experience and they will be serving a full Thanksgiving dinner this year with to-go options as well for other holidays.

www.citrinandmelisse.com 

TO-GO SCENE

Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel 

While the hotel dining venues are currently closed to the public, they are doing a traditional Thanksgiving-to-Go this year. To place your order, call 310.275.5200.

Nate ‘n Al’s

This historic deli is still standing on Beverly Drive after a roller-coaster year. A new outdoor patio with acrylic dividers will hold up to 60 people just in time for holiday shopping and lunching in the area. Christmas and New Year’s Day brunch specials are being finalized, but they will also be open every day for take-out, including holidays.

www.natenals.com

Ludobab

Michelin-star Chef Ludo Lefebvre has recently flipped his fine-dining location in Hollywood into a delicious wood-grilled kebab take-out format perfect for a home feast just before or after the holidays.

https://www.ludobab.com/ 

Craig’s

While you can’t have a martini at the bar, you can sit in the newly constructed back patio on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve this year, or better yet, order the popular honey truffle fried chicken to-go.

https://craigs.la/

Republique

The weekly Monday night suppers to-go by owner-chef Walter Manzke have a cult following and you can also sit on the newly reconfigured patio for a cappuccino from morning to night while you wait.

www.republiquela.com

Capital Seafood

Located on La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills, this is probably the best dim sum on this side of the San Gabriel Valley. They will be open every single day for the rest of 2020.

www.capitalseafoodca.com

Xi’an Beverly Hills

This Canon Drive staple for Chinese food for the past several decades will be open for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner, plus New Year’s Eve.

https://xian90210.com

Daughters Deli

If you want the same quality of pastrami from legendary Langer’s, this is your Westside spot (and, yes, this is the owner’s daughter). Cater any holiday gathering with three to four days’ notice since they will be closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

www.daughtersdeli.com

Eataly

For something a little different this Thanksgiving or Christmas, preorder platters of salumi, cheese, pasta and Italian wine. You can also buy a precooked apple cider-braised heirloom organic turkey with focaccia stuffing. Must order by Nov. 20 for pick up on Nov. 23-25.

la-guestrelations@eataly.com

Baltaire

Thanksgiving dinner packages to-go by Chef Travis Strickland include a 10-pound Mary’s free-range turkey along with other special orders such as black truffle mac-and-cheese, caviar supplement and Bourbon croissant pudding. E-mail hello@baltaire.com for pick up on Nov. 25.

The post Holiday Dining Scene – Who is Open, What’s on the Menu and How to Book appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

This year, it’s perhaps more important than ever to go beyond the traditional table scape, spark excitement and spread holiday cheer.

“I find that people are really decorating their homes tremendously this year. They went all out for Halloween and they’re doing it for Christmas. People are doing their holiday shopping early,” Melissa Clark, owner of Brentwood General Store told the Courier.

“This holiday season might not be as big or as busy,” said GEARYS Beverly Hills president and CEO Thomas Blumenthal. “But it can be as meaningful, as this time of year is a reminder of what’s real, what lasts, and what brings true meaning to our lives. Lighting holiday candles, taking out treasured decorations, remembering a friend with a gift–these rituals of the holidays connect us to the value of our traditions, whether shared in person or by FaceTime.”

Unlike other years, we might not be able to fly home and see some family members in person. We might not pass by the kitchen and get a whiff of Grandma’s famous brisket. Clark is seeing a big demand for holiday gift baskets and hampers customized with provisions ranging from pastas to sweets. It’s all about sending family members a little bit of home. We may not be attending our favorite holiday parties or kiss under the mistletoe, we can still foster and nurture meaningful connections, both old and new.

The experts at GEARYS advise us to step back and look at our surroundings with fresh eyes. This year, it’s important to surround ourselves with beautiful objects, eat off exquisite plates and invest in our homes. After all, it’s where we work, eat, play, teach, relax, exercise, and more these days. While dining experiences won’t feel exactly the same, there’s no better time to create a new world in an all too familiar space. Now is the time to marry old traditions with new ones. Call your grandmother and ask for her recipes. While we can’t go see her, we can still bring the scent of her kitchen into our homes.

Whether you’re hosting your immediate family, relatives, or members of your “pod,” we’ve asked some of Beverly Hills’ top retailers to share tips for making this holiday season extra special. From repurposing objects, personalizing each table setting, or gifting, experts divulge secrets key to hosting unforgettable, COVID-appropriate entertaining options.

Work With What You Have

According to Liz Barbatelli, owner of the high-end linen store, E Braun & Co., now is the time to let go of hesitations you might have about bringing out your best plates or tablecloths because they are “too nice.”

“I think people have become kind of casual and probably frustrated with always staying at home,” Barbatelli told the Courier. “I think the best way to make the holidays special this year is to really act like they’re the same. Act as if you were having a big party or having your whole family instead of an abbreviated amount and dress your table accordingly with all of your linens, fine candlesticks and flowers. Get out items that you might already have and that you haven’t been using.”

Flatware

Most of us have been staring at the same plates for eight months and are ready to change the aesthetic. Given that it’s not a traditional celebration, this is a great opportunity to introduce, experiment and play with non-traditional items and schemes.

“I think people are just taking this as an opportunity to elevate whatever they do have at home, because everyone has a different starting off point when entertaining,” Kiki Von Gregsamer, director of marketing at GEARYS told the Courier. “Whether you’re having a few people over, family or just yourselves, bring it to that next level. Adding some different elements piece by piece is a great idea. A lot of times you see pretty, simple white dinnerware and want to add in a few pops of color here and there. It’s the small details that really count when you’re putting a table scape together.”

Instead of purchasing the same set of flatware, Von Gregsamer suggests investing in a set that includes a variety of preselected patterns. Alternatively, instead of using your favorite set of plates rendering the table uniform, mix and match your favorites so that no two setting is the same. Abandon the idea that flatware is prescriptive; you don’t need to use a complete set.

Serving

Now is the time to explore individual, yet interactive, culinary experiences that incorporate statement entertaining pieces.