Around Town - Blonds and Bombs on Rodeo Drive

The usual view on Rodeo Drive

and the unusual view

Here is a photo of the corner of Brighton Way and Rodeo Drive
where the street is blocked to traffic because the police found a suspicious suitcase with wires

So far no loud booms and all is quiet
we're good to go!

OK...so I got the rumor on the bomb scare.
Inside of the mysterious suitcase there was a script that had been delivered to a literary agent to read. 
The agent thought it was not worth reading and tossed it in the garbage in the alley...but missed the giant trash receptacle and the case ended up on the side of the alley.
Bomb Squad Blows Up Movie Script Meant For Agent In Beverly Hills

A Random Walk Down Rodeo Drive

Yesterday, while taking a random walk down Rodeo Drive,
this is what I saw.

LOOKING

FOR A SPONSOR
FOR MY AyseByzanzCrazy
SEXY ALIEN
CATWALK SHOW!!!

A woman in the back of a foil wrapped pickup truck with a weird red, white and blue dress constructed out of foil.
Yes, there goes the neighborhood.

Note:  Tish gives us street photography of lovely Parisiennes
BHB gives you the local fashion fringe freaks...just because we can.
Happy Friday

Bijan - The End Of An Era On Rodeo Drive

I heard last Friday that Rodeo Drive retailer extraordinaire, Bijan Pakzad, had died. 

Bijan, who I always considered as the Persian Ralph Lauren, had an amazing way of marketing his image as well as his products. 

Is there another retailer who used his only image more in advertising.  I don't think so.

He also had an amazing ability to bring out the icons to sell his stuff.

A couple of weeks ago I saw the Bijan Bugatti Veyron parked in front of his store.

Personally, I thought it was a screaming nouveau riche a bit much.

But I give Bijan credit.  He certainly was a master of branding himself and selling a fantasy lifestyle.

But now I wonder, can the eponymous brand be continued in the way that Dior, Balenciaga and Lanvin have endured.

Rodeo Drive Christmas Week - Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Photo by Christophe Choo

This is what it has looked like over the past week on Rodeo Drive.
Wet and empty.  Sales have been slow on the street at a crucial time for luxury retail.
But we had a hint of sun this morning so the deluge might finally be over.
But I'm not going to complain about the weather
especially after seeing photos taken by my friends in Europe.

Here is a snowy lane in the winter wonderland of Günne, Germany.

The only thing missing is a horse drawn sleigh.

Around Town - Deck The Hills with SNOW!

Having recently seen the photos of the snowy streets of Paris,
including this image from the blog God, I Love Paris

I was thinking how nice it would be to have a little real winter weather in Beverly Hills

Well, apparently the weather gods (or the Rodeo Drive Committee) are granting me my wish

WEATHER FORECAST:

100% CHANCE OF SNOW FOR BEVERLY HILLS ON THURSDAY, DEC. 9

Mark your calendar for Thursday, Dec. 9 from 6-9 p.m. as Rodeo Drive and the City of Beverly Hills celebrate the Holiday Season with SNOW 90210 and a 100% chance of snow.

The tony city, that averages a 70 degree high temperature, a 73% chance of sunshine and a chilly low temperature of 52 degrees in early December, is guaranteeing a blizzard over 3 blocks of famed shopping street Rodeo Drive and also on Brighton Way.
The brainchild of the Rodeo Drive Committee, SNOW 90210 is based on the highly successful Fashion’s Night Out

I've been in a bah humbug mood all month, probably because there is so much to do and I can't seem to catch up. But I think that a stroll around the neighborhood tonight might be just the thing to put me in the proper Christmas spirit.

A Simple September Weekend - Fashion, Football, Flowers and Family

Last Friday night I strolled up and down Rodeo Drive for Fashion's Night Out and this is what I saw

The Prada store photographed from my office with a modicum of people in the street.  There was certainly more than the average daily pedestrian traffic but nothing looked overcrowded. Cool the way that Prada could project images on the panel above the storefront.

The Ferris wheel which was carefully constructed on the first block of Rodeo Drive between Tiffany & Co. and Bvlgari.

And my favorite image of the evening, a Beverly Hills police officer on a segway parked on the street between Chanel and De Beers because this is how our cops roll in BH.
What I did not see was any actual shopping and nor people carrying shopping bags. Still, it was well attended and a good event for the city of Beverly Hills. I think that there is certain amount of pent up demand and that street will have action when the holiday$ arrive. We shall see.
Saturday I headed off to the Eastside of Los Angeles, you know the place where the sun actually shines.  And shine it did at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.  Being the sports enthusiast that I am (not) I was at the UCLA-Stanford foot ball game where UCLA got thoroughly trounced.
In deference to the Stanford people around me, I wore a little red on my cuffs.

(Yes, I wore a white button down french cuffed shirt to a football game, doesn't everyone?)
Stanford had a great defensive game and a good running game and UCLA, well what can I say, they were an embarrassment. And speaking of embarrassments

What is up with Stanford's pathetic excuse of a marching band?  Seriously, they are so bad that they've lost their funding.  Thankfully, we fled at the end of the 3rd quarter, because really how much college football can anyone take.

Sunday morning on the Westside of town, where the sun hasn't deigned to come out I've been arranging  flowers.  Here's the result.

 and the close up shot

Pretty aren't they?
Now, it's off to the OC to take my father and stepmother out to lunch to celebrate my father's birthday.
Hopefully the fog will lift and we will find some sun in Dana Point Harbor.

Enjoy your Sunday.