Downtown Flaunts A Fashion of Its Own

Culver City Has Smashbox, but the Los Angeles Theatre Knows How to Party

by Kathleen Nye Flynn

I’m no fashion expert, but in the last few years I’ve snuck into my fair share of catwalk events. I’ve wiggled into Culver City’s biannual Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios a few times, either through the front door or the back.

So I had an inkling of what I was getting into when I showed up (through the front door) at Downtown’s first Fashion Week event in years, which began March 16. The two nights of shows at Broadway’s Los Angeles Theatre, I knew, had the potential to be memorable.

I arrived at the Friday night show just in time for Jared Gold’s collection. The theater’s ornate ceiling swooped above a crowd glammed out in avant-garde dresses, handmade hats and vintage styles.

The lustrous, colonnaded walls and wide, tumbling staircases, combined with the artsy folks on the guest list and DJs spinning tunes,

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Rat Pack Redux

Rat Pack Redux at Cicada

The New Old Lounge Act at Cicada Restaurant

by Kristin Friedrich

If you’re committed, and your shoes are semi-comfortable, Thursday nights in Downtown Los Angeles can include endless combinations of the following: symphony, theater, live music, an art walk, sporting events, a speakeasy, and bars of the wine, dive, faux bordello, frat boy and velvet rope variety.

As if the list needs to get any more colorful, there is now a Texas-born crooner who channels Sinatra and cracks wise, Rat Pack-style, with an orchestra that does not exist.

Max Vontaine appears every Thursday at Olive Street’s ornate Cicada restaurant, his rich baritone teasing out hits from the Chairman, Bobby Darin, Cab Calloway, Tom Jones and Elvis. He also tosses in the odd chestnut such as The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” and the theme song from “The Love Boat.”

One imagines a conversation with Vontaine to be filled with wafting smoke, deep chuckles and “You’re money” and “Daddy-O” asides. But

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Restaurant & Lounge

On the site of the historic Little J’s, a hangout of celebs such as Natalie Cole, Janet Jackson and Stevie Wonder, this South Park lounge offers signature cocktails, fine spirits, cigars, beer and wine by the glass.At 1119 S. Olive St., (213) 746-7746. jloungela.com

Library Bar

This Financial District pub has seven craft beers on tap — some brewed locally like Pasadena’s Craftsman Brewing Co., all of them artisan or small batch — and serves another dozen high-end bottled beers, including several Belgian ales.At 630 W. Sixth St., (213) 614-0053. librarybarla.com

Redwood Bar & Grilldaily

It’s a pirate’s life now for the Redwood Bar & Grill, the former Los Angeles Times watering hole. Nautical gear is everywhere, including fishing nets and floats, weathered wooden planks and the stumps of dock timbers. A rusty anchor and reproductions of pirate flags adorn the ceiling of the entryway.At 316 W. Second St., (213) 680-2600 . theredwoodbar.com

Bar 107

Dark and

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Seams From the Screen

Hollywood Comes Downtown for FIDM’s Annual Costume Party

by Lea Lion

On a Friday morning, a motley crew of reporters is clamoring to get the stars’ attention. Photographers are snapping pictures in rapid-fire succession and TV cameras are rolling.

These types of scenes are ubiquitous in Los Angeles. What sets this one apart is that the stars are not famous actors and actresses. They are the behind-the-scenes people who make it all happen.

It is the day before the opening of the annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) museum in South Park, and the media has been invited for a preview (hence those clicking cameras). Featuring more than 100 costumes from 25 films, including outfits from all five films nominated for this year’s Academy Award for Best Costume Design, the show is a whole other type of blockbuster. The Downtown Los Angeles exhibit runs through April 5.

Three kimonos

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Best Business

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Downtown’s Wonderland in Sales and Services


READERS’ CHOICE

  • Best Shopping Center:7+Fig
  • Best Local Florist: L.A. Flower Market
  • Best Local Grocery Store: Grand Central Market
  • Best Local Furniture Store: The Dock Downtown
  • Best Bargain Shopping: Santee Alley
  • Best Fitness Club: 24 Hour Fitness
  • Best Salon: Candolyn’s Salon & Day Spa
  • Best Spa: Bonaventure Club
  • Best Hotel for Your In-Laws: The Biltmore Hotel
  • Best Pharmacy: Rite Aid
  • Best Wi-Fi Hot Spot: Starbucks
  • Best Dentist: Dr. Don Mungcal, Downtown Dental
  • Best Residential/Loft Complex: Medici
  • Best Mom & Pop Shop: La Parrilla
  • Best Secret Parking Spot: Joe’s on Hope Street
  • Best Place to Blow $100: Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse
  • Best Medical Center: Good Samaritan Hospital
  • Best Carwash: Downtown Car Wash
  • Best Thing We Didn’t Think Of: Multiple WinnersEDITORS’ CHOICE
  • Best Acupuncture: Dr. Steven T. H. Chang
  • Best Florist: Unique Sarah Total Floral
  • Best Massage: Pho-Siam
  • Best Smoke Shop: Bloom’s General Store
  • Best New Market: Joe’s Downtown
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