L.A. Stories/The Roving Eye
Vested Interest
The latest fashion trend in Hollywood is a “must-have” bulletproof vest for Tinseltown security detail.
Israeli Military Specialists, a Beverly Hills company started by a former member of the Israeli army’s anti-terrorism unit, is marketing the item made by an Israeli defense forces contractor. The $450 Kevlar vest has exterior pockets for weapons, ammunitions and other gear and is capable of stopping a round from an M-16 assault rifle, says company founder Aaron Cohen, a 26-year-old Beverly Hills High School graduate who claims to be the only American citizen ever accepted into the anti-terrorism unit.
“It’s a little more expensive, but every security company has the responsibility to provide the best service,” says Cohen, who claims that the 9-month-old company already has received 5,000 orders for the vests worldwide. The vest is called the Shomar, which means “guard” in Hebrew.
Pushing heavily for Hollywood business, Cohen last week took out a full-page ad in Variety to promote his firm.
Lonely at the Top
The tough words didn’t stop even after the Screen Actors Guild’s contentious presidential election was finally decided.
Despite talk of mending rifts, winner Melissa Gilbert, of “Little House On the Prairie” fame, wasn’t offering any olive branches to her opponents at the Screen Actors Guild Awards held March 10, the day after results of her rerun election against actress Valerie Harper were announced.
“I’m not here to make friends,” she told reporters. “I have no intention of unifying this leadership…It would be impossible.”
Freaked Out
Perhaps actor Guy Pearce was caught a bit off guard when the media began peppering him with questions at last week’s 54th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards ceremony in the Century Plaza Hotel & Spa press room.
Though a seasoned actor with acclaimed films such as “Memento,” “L.A. Confidential,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” and “The Time Machine,” to his credit, he found himself stumbling for words when asked how he felt about walking down the red carpet with the flash bulbs bursting everywhere.
At first, Pearce responded, “It’s horrible.” Then pausing for a moment, he pointed to the reporters and said, “You’re lovely. It’s not you. It’s just the overwhelming attention It’s freaky.”
SF Gray
For years Angelenos traveling north have to deal with smug pronouncements of civic superiority by San Franciscans who inevitably point to L.A.’s heavy smog as a reason for their disdain of our fair city.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black as in soot black.
The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District joined its counterpart in the San Joaquin Valley last week in filing suit against the state Air Resources Board to force stricter pollution controls in the Bay Area, where stiff offshore winds generally blow the region’s ample pollution eastward. San Francisco is the only urban area in the state that does not require its car owners to adhere to tougher Smog Check II standards, which are credited for greatly reducing harmful emissions.
Both the Sacramento and San Joaquin districts face economic repercussions if they fail to clean up their air by 2005, and both contend much of the problem stems from imported Bay Area pollution.
“The effect of Bay Area pollution is overwhelming on the (San Joaquin) Valley,” said Kerry Shearer, a spokesman for the Sacramento AQMD. “Fairness demands that the Bay Area be held to the same standard as the rest of the state when it comes to vehicle pollution.”
Vintage Baseball
Some competitions just never die.
In a promotion for Mattel’s rollout of its Classic Baseball handheld computer game, former Yankee Reggie Jackson and former Dodger Steve Garvey, who faced off in the 1978 World Series, were to see who could hit a winning home run during the grand opening of The Grove at Farmers Market.
Mattel is rolling out the game, which initially debuted in 1978, following re-introduction of its classic football game in late 2000.
“We saw these old games being sold on eBay and decided to sell them again,” said Mattel spokesman Dan Salazar. “Everything old is new again.”
The Roving Eye
Clean Living
There’s nothing like a clean start.
That’s what designer Linda Warren decided when she was forced to leave her Venice studio of 16 years.
Warren and her small firm, Warren Group, headed east, joining a number of creative companies on the second floor of the newly refurbished art deco Beacon Laundry building in the Helms Bakery complex in Culver City.
While its new studio was being built out, Warren Group spent a year in another office in the Helms complex, allowing time for reflection on creating a new image for the firm. The result: “Laundry Chic.”
Warren, who hails from northern Nevada, melded the laundry theme to the firm’s printed materials (business cards are laundry tags, complete with string) and adding a dose of Western imagery. A few weeks ago, the firm hosted a “Hoe Down and Dirty” party to officially open its airy new space, which it calls “Studio Deluxe.” (Small sacks of laundry soap with the firm’s new logo were given away as party favors.)
“I go through these cycles where every eight or 10 years I need to do something different,” said Warren, whose graphic design firm counts the USC, Mattel Inc., and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles among its clients. “It helps me rejuvenate.”
The new image was partly for fun, but also to drum up new business, especially among Western-themed companies. A new designer at the firm, Pam Esposito, has contacts in the country music world and the firm is making a push to get business in that area.
“As a graphic designer it’s always a challenge to re-create an identity for someone, but it’s even harder when you are doing it for yourself,” Warren said. “We’ve had fun with it and I think it fits with the personality of our firm.”
Darrell Satzman
