Lakers Legend Still Stands Tall

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Investors and entrepreneurs packed the City Club on Bunker Hill on Monday evening to celebrate promising inner-city businesses, but it was basketball icon Earvin “Magic” Johnson who stole the show.

The Lakers great posed for photos and signed autographs before and after delivering the keynote address for the Inner City Capital Connections program, an investment event co-hosted by Bank of America.

The 6-foot-9-inch Johnson, who was introduced by Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner, drew laughs when he approached the short lectern and clumsily detached the microphone, saying, “I can’t bend down that far.”

Johnson did not shy away from the topic on many minds: the recent sale of his stake in the two-time defending National Basketball Association champion Lakers to L.A. billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong.

“Why did I sell? It was the right time,” he said. “Buy low and sell high.”

Broker’s Bright Idea

Richard Kosoff has a not-so-secret ambition for a second career as an inventor.

Kosoff, 49, got a big idea one night while arguing with his 4-year-old son, Mikey. The boy refused to go to sleep and kept crying, “Leave the light on, dad!”

“As a parent you can’t win: If you turn the light out, there’s crying, and if you leave it on, research shows there are health issues,” Kosoff said.

So he created a plastic lamp shaped like a turtle that gradually dims as the child falls asleep. It’s named Dimmy the Turtle.

Kosoff used his earnings as a mortgage broker at Wells Fargo in Encino to finance Dimmy. He built the first prototype in 2004. His dream took a step closer to reality last year when Kosoff was selected to appear on “Everyday Edisons,” a TV show about inventors on PBS and Hulu.com.

During the last episode of the season, Kosoff met with officials at giant toymaker Fisher-Price in New York. Currently, he’s waiting – with fingers crossed – to hear if the company will mass produce Dimmy next year.

“I’m very successful in real estate,” Kosoff said, “but it doesn’t fulfill my creative side.”

Drinks With a Twist

Amanda MacNaughton might not have any bartending experience, but that didn’t stop her from mixing a few drinks behind the bar at the W Hotel in Westwood recently.

That’s because the hotel each week invites two companies to serve drinks in a competition to raise tip money. The tips are given to charity.

So CultureJam, a Culver City viral marketing company that MacNaughton co-founded with her brother Matt MacNaughton, had a battle of the bar against CauseCast, a Culver City startup that helps non-profits raise money online.

“It was a fun way to network and raise money for a good cause,” Amanda MacNaughton said.

In total, the companies raised $300. CauseCast won the competition, bringing in $50 more than CultureJam. Despite losing, MacNaughton wants to participate again.

“I had no idea how powerful it is to stand behind the bar. It feels like you rule the entire party,” she said.

Staff reporters Richard Clough, Joel Russell and Natalie Jarvey contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

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