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Archive for May, 2012
June Gloom follows May Gray
This is the reason we so enjoy the occasional evening luxury tours of Los Angeles we get do with our guests. Everything looks different. But as photographers we find there is still plenty of light. This view looking toward Santa Monica from the Hollywood Hills shows the marine layer making its way onshore where it will sit until late morning the next day. While the inland areas heat up with approaching summer the coast remains cool and comfortable, even a bit nippy. Southern Californians all know to dress in layers. Our tour guests learn that lesson pretty quickly.
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Fig & Olive – Melrose Place
Do you like olive oil? Food prepared with the best oils available and the expertise to make those selections? What about figs?
In our own beautiful Mediterranean climate here is the perfect dining venue to provide us with unparalleled cuisine perfectly matched to our weather and culture. Using only olive oils to prepare the food, the tastes of the oils complement the dish in every way. Beef, fish, fowl and even the pastries have that unmistakeable quality of delicate flavors of olive oil blended with the heartier tastes of the main ingredient. It always brings to mind for me azure seas, warm scented breezes and whitewashed buildings.
Of course, fine wines and expertly mixed cocktails are available to accompany your meal. You may also purchase fine olive oils from a small shop in the restaurant.
We love to suggest to our inquisitive luxury tour guests visiting Los Angeles that they should dine at Fig & Olive for a very special experience.
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Look Up, Look Down and See the Stars
Griffith Park, one of the largest urban parks in the United States, is home to the Griffith Observatory, a wonderful science museum focusing on our place in the cosmos. We drive up there often with our guests on our private luxury tours of Los Angeles to see the museum and the amazing views afforded by its mountainside location overlooking the city and Hollywood. On clear days you can see the beaches and Catalina Island. At night the views are even more spectacular with dazzling lights and colors plus you have the night sky to watch. In the front of the observatory there is a bust of James Dean, a star you can touch! What James Dean movie was filmed at the observatory (hint below)?
Don’t forget to drop by MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) to see the Rebel exhibit. Also, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE is playing at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) on June 2, 2012.
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Giant Sloth and Little Guy
Who says little kids can’t enjoy a tour of Los Angeles and Hollywood? Especially a private, luxury tour customized to please them. Here we are at the La Brea tar pits, a large park in the middle of Los Angeles complete with sculptures of long extinct animals for Alex to climb on and have us take a photograph for mom and dad’s photo album. Even better, a giant hill built around the George Page Museum . You can roll down the hill before or after a visit to the museum to see the tar pit skeletons and more tar and gunk and smelly stuff than you can imagine. Wax museums in Hollywood and tar pits in La Brea nearby – what could possibly be more fun? Climbing on the trails up near the Hollywood sign? Playing on the beach in Venice? Riding the roller coaster over the water at the Santa Monica pier? Sure, there’s lots of fun things to do and see for the very young when visiting Los Angeles.
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Chillax at the Playboy Jazz Festival
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- The first Playboy Jazz Festival in Chicago.
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- A recent Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a regular stop for our private luxury tours of Los Angeles because it is such an amazing site and is so accessible. However, during the weekend of June 16-17 it will not be so accessible as great jazz artists from around the world will be entertaining music enthusiasts all day, both days. Imagine an opportunity to see these musicians all in one place over a beautiful, warm, sunny Los Angeles weekend:
Christian McBride Big Band · Boney James · Ozomatli · Sheila E. · Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings · The Soul Rebels · Global Gumbo All Stars · Cos of Good Music · Louie Cruz Beltran · The LAUSD/Beyond the Bell All City Jazz Band · Ramsey Lewis Electric Band · Robin Thicke · Preservation Hall Jazz Band · Keb’ Mo’ · Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project · The Cookers · Spectrum Road · Chico Trujillo · KG Omulo · Calabasas High School Jazz Band
And, of course, there will be Master of Ceremonies Bill Cosby keeping the mood lighthearted and the spirit high. Join in the fun and music. Get your tickets now and bring a picnic and wine to the 2012 Playboy Jazz Festival.
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Beverly Hills Goes to the Dogs
Herd of dogs? Sure, we’ve heard of dogs but in all our private luxury tours here in Beverly Hills we have not seen this many dogs being walked at the same time. And large dogs, too. They should get a sleigh for the dogs to pull or at least a Mercedes.
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A CUT Above
Wolfgang Puck continues to create masterpiece restaurants with CUT, a wonderful steakhouse at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. This elegant hotel, renowned as the Pretty Woman hotel (and still has a small display of movie memorabilia from the film), moves to attract a modern meat loving crowd with a Richard Meier designed open, well lighted space with John Baldessari artwork and, of course, the food concepts of Wolfgang Puck. Kobe, Wagyu and good old American corn-fed select beef cuts are the mainstay of the menu with assorted sauces and sides to complement the meat. Grilled over wood and charcoal then finished under a 1200° broiler, everything is cooked to the perfection you desire. Pork, lamb and seafood are also finely prepared.
Side Bar, the associated lounge, offers a “snack” menu and drinks for a more informal dining choice.
Our Beverly Wilshire private luxury tour guests visiting Los Angeles and Hollywood rave about CUT and we agree. We also suggest CUT to our customers staying elsewhere but asking about steak dinners or restaurants that attract the celebrity crowd.
CUT is open evenings (except Sunday) and Side Bar is open every evening from 5pm-1:30am.
CUT website
(310) 276-8500
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And the Oscar goes to ….
We captured this wonderful photograph from the upper level of the Blossom Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on a recent private luxury tour of Hollywood and Beverly Hills with guests particularly interested in the film industry and its illustrious history. How could we not take them to see the location of the first Academy Award ceremony held here in May, 1929. Less than 300 luminaries of the day gathered here to honor the previously announced recipients. Douglas Fairbanks hosted what is the only Academy Awards ceremony not broadcast on radio or television. Janet Gaynor, Emil Jannings and WINGS were the major honorees.
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Get Them to the Greek
Saturday, May 26th, at the Greek Amphitheater in Griffith Park, go and hear WAR, Tower of Power and Average White Band for an evening of fun funkadelia and ear pleasing big band rock and soul music.
War
Tower of Power
Are you wondering with us if the green room at the Greek is big enough for this concert? It should be as much fun as a private luxury tour of Los Angeles, Hollywood and Beverly Hills before the concert begins. That’s what we will be doing though we drive the tour before the concert. Come along with us.
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Nat King Cole’s Giant Stack of Records
So many amazing artists have worked and created so much beloved and lasting music at this building over the past 56 years that even our knowledgeable tour guides have difficulty remembering all those who recorded here, even those with stars on the Walk of Fame right outside the building. But we try. We even will bring music to play in the tour vehicle of our favorite Capitol Records artists: Frank Sinatra, Les Brown, Judy Garland, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, OK Go… Any requests?