Page 3: LA 500 Notes; Hellen’s Hopes

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Our LA 500 book of the most influential folks in these parts debuted in style during a reception last week at the Peninsula Beverly Hills, where Zhihang Chi, the El Segundo-based GM for Air China’s North America operations, was among the power crowd and particularly excited about a new route for his outfit. … Chi called it Silicon Beach-to-Shenzhen. I’ll go a step further and dub it Silicon Beach-to-Silicon Delta, since Shenzhen is the one-time Pearl River Delta fishing village that has grown into a major tech development and manufacturing center on a diet of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” … Air China plans four weekly flights on a Boeing 787-9 between Shenzhen and Silicon Beach starting in December. (See related commentary, page 50) … Snap Inc. co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy are LA 500 members, and here’s a tip for their employees, whose stakes from that Silicon Beach-based unicorn’s IPO in March recently became eligible to trade. This advice is free but it could be worth a ton because it comes from Ed Thorp, the college professor who invented card counting and beat Vegas before he became godfather of the Wall Street quants and beat the market, as detailed in his latest book, “A Man for All Markets.” What should the Snappers do as they face a market that has pushed shares of the company down about 20 percent below its IPO benchmark? “Where the price has been isn’t relevant (except for tax implications),” Thorp advises. “I would suggest to those employees with a meaningful position and a fear of loss to consider selling half and holding the rest long term.” … A recent notice on the Urbanize LA website put an old photo of Joseph Hellen’s plan for a new residential tower on the 500 block of S. Spring Street. Here’s the latest rendering, which captures the ambition of the Wonder From Down Under, whose Spring-Arcade Building has become a gem of the Historic Core. The nonagenarian Holocaust survivor-turned-Australian real estate powerhouse now wants to add a crown jewel to reflect the reality that change is this world’s only constant. His vision calls for a 55-story tower that pays homage to the Historic Core’s historic look for the first several floors up from ground level, then sets back a bit, takes on a modern design and soars to its full height. … Sullivan Says: It’s about time the Dodgers landed Yu Darvish, who was born to play in L.A., with his Japanese-Iranian parentage and Hollywood looks – not to mention genuine big-league stuff.

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