Federico Fernandez, executive pastry chef at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, has tackled plenty of sugar-related challenges in his time – including a seven-tiered wedding cake.

But when he set out to make a version of the luxury hotel itself out of chocolate – surrounded by a village of gingerbread mansions – he sought outside help. He called his dad, Jorge Fernandez, an architect back in their native Argentina, for advice on how to design it to scale.

“When I was a kid I would watch him work on his plans, and this time I had to make one,” said Federico Fernandez, 40.

The project, which Fernandez conceived with the hotel’s general manager, Michael Newcombe, took six weeks. It involved thorough research using Google Earth images, multiple coats of chocolate “paint” and replacing broken chocolate windows. Fernandez mixed dark and white chocolate to get the cream color seen on much of the hotel’s exterior.

Now, the 200 edible hotel rooms are open for $550 “reservations,” which are really charitable donations to Toys for Tots Foundation, along with the 20 gingerbread mansions, which are being sold for $5,000 each.

Skirting Fashion

Courtney Sixx, now a radio host and creator of do-it-yourself website How2Girl.com, learned early on that it’s good to do research before starting a business.

Back when she was still in high school, Sixx decided to create a clothing line at a time that clothing label Von Dutch’s trucker hats were fashionable. She even had clothing samples made.

“I thought, I’m going to make a line and we’re going to do satin pleated schoolgirl skirts with matching camisoles,” said Sixx, 30, who is the wife of Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx. “It was hysterical – the colors were hot pink with a bright blue ribbon trim on the bottom or one with orange and green trim.”

But when a buyer in downtown Los Angeles asked her to create a look book and explain how many items she would need to manufacture and the capital she required, Sixx had second thoughts.

“I thought (they) were going to do that,” she said. “I had no clue how the business worked. But it was a good learning experience to do my due diligence before I jump in to anything else.”

Staff reporters Hannah Miet and Subrina Hudson contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].