Month: April 2023

Best lunch restaurants to try right now in Los Angeles

Best lunch restaurants to try right now in Los Angeles

Published by Sam Flores

I’ve never really understood the Hillstone Restaurant Group marketing strategy, which seems to be … whatever the opposite of building brand recognition is. Houston’s, Hillstone, R+D Kitchen, Honor Bar, South Beverly Grill — these are all Hillstone-owned restaurants with very similar menus but, obviously, very different names. I guess they don’t want to be grouped in with the other chain restaurants? Regardless, the strategy seems to be working, and I still love Houston’s. Houston’s is fun because it feels clubby. It feels like a classy Cheesecake Factory. Dark wood, drawn shades, martinis at the bar, capacious booths. It still has its funny “no hats” policy but I’m not sure how strictly it’s enforced. Burgers and a fried chicken sandwich are solid, the spinach and artichoke dip is the gooey mess you need it to be, and salads — the emerald kale salad in particular — are better than you’d think. But sushi might be the real power move at Houston’s. The Thai tuna roll, which is, let’s just say, nontraditional, is stuffed with fish, avocado, …

Malibu beach house death exposes suspected swindle, LSD use

Malibu beach house death exposes suspected swindle, LSD use

Published by Sam Flores

In a rush of adrenaline, Anthony Flores dialed 911 from a Santa Monica hotel to report an emergency seven miles away. “I believe that my friend has died in our house,” he told the dispatcher. Paramedics and sheriff’s deputies raced to the Malibu beachfront cottage of Mark Sawusch, a 57-year-old eye surgeon. They found his body wedged between a sofa and a coffee table near the grand piano he’d been playing that afternoon. The house is suspended 20 feet above a narrow strip of boulders and sand. Waves pounded into the tangle of weathered pilings and beams beneath it. In the distance, city lights shimmered along Santa Monica Bay. Classic stories from the Los Angeles Times’ 143-year archive Two massage therapists had discovered that Sawusch was not breathing. One of them had called Flores. It didn’t take long for investigators to figure out that severe mental illness had recently upended Sawusch’s quiet life as an ophthalmologist with a private practice in Pacific Palisades. His frightening and sometimes violent manic outbursts had destroyed his career and …

“Succession”: Dearly beloved, the Roys cordially invite us to a wedding we won’t soon forget

“Succession”: Dearly beloved, the Roys cordially invite us to a wedding we won’t soon forget

Published by Sam Flores

Believing we’ll go on forever is one of the cruelest tricks humans play on themselves. Such a mindset seduces us into delaying tough choices, putting off the things we meant to do and say until tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Deceiving ourselves that way is foolish; using that lie to string along our loved ones is pitiless. “Succession,” for its part, has been upfront as to where Logan Roy (Brian Cox) was steering his family’s ship from the first season when the 80-year-old Waystar Royco CEO emerges from suffering a hemorrhagic stroke and trumpets his intent to remain on the throne. Instead of establishing a succession plan, he continued taunting and goading his children into hating each other and despising him. It looked like it would go on that way ad infinitum. But nothing lasts forever. All great series hit a point that firmly establishes the end has begun. Only “Succession” would be gutsy enough to hide that pernicious alarm in cake and champagne. Sunday’s episode, “Connor’s Wedding,” doesn’t show any signs of Logan slowing …

The 0 billion beauty industry’s ‘green’ ambitions are a patchwork at best. And they’re falling short

The $500 billion beauty industry’s ‘green’ ambitions are a patchwork at best. And they’re falling short

Published by Sam Flores

CNN  —  The escalating climate crisis is shifting many people’s purchasing patterns and this extends to the $500 billion dollar global beauty industry which is grappling with a range of sustainability challenges across product manufacturing, packaging and disposal. Strategy and consulting firm Simon Kucher’s Global Sustainability Study 2021 found 60% of consumers around the world rated sustainability as an important purchase criterion, and 35% were willing to pay more for sustainable products or services. This shift in consumer preferences has propelled many beauty brands to set environmental goals: to move away from single-use and virgin plastics, provide recyclable, reusable and refillable packaging and offer more transparency around products’ ingredients so customers can ascertain how “green” their purchase is. However, consumers still struggle to understand the sustainability credentials of many products, according to the British Beauty Council. This is because the industry’s clean-up efforts have been inconsistent, and fall short of making a recognizable impact in the absence of collective goal-setting, global strategy and standardized regulations. Ingredient and branding transparency There is no international standard for …

Syrian refugee elected mayor of German town, years after fleeing war

Syrian refugee elected mayor of German town, years after fleeing war

Published by Sam Flores

CNN  —  A Syrian who arrived in Germany as a refugee in 2015 has won a mayoral election in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg. Ryyan Alshebl, who left his hometown of As Suwayda in Syria eight years ago, ran as an independent in the municipality of Ostelsheim. He won 55.41% of the votes on Sunday, beating two German candidates, Marco Strauss and Mathias Fey. Locals cheered the 29-year-old when he welcomed his win, a victory he described as “sensational,” German local broadcaster SWR reported Monday. “Today, Ostelsheim sent an example for broad-mindedness and cosmopolitanism for the whole of Germany,” he said, according to to German public broadcaster ZDF. “That’s not something that can be taken for granted in a conservative, rural area.” Alshebl’s first call after his victory was to his mother in Syria, who was thrilled with the news, SWR reported. The Association of Municipalities of Baden-Württemberg said Alshebl is the first man with Syrian roots to run for and win a mayor’s office. He will start his role in June. Ostelsheim residents …

Kwame Brathwaite, photographer of ‘Black is Beautiful’ movement, dies at 85

Kwame Brathwaite, photographer of ‘Black is Beautiful’ movement, dies at 85

Published by Sam Flores

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The Art Newspaper, an editorial partner of CNN Style. CNN  —  Kwame Brathwaite, the pioneering activist and photographer whose work helped define the aesthetics of the “Black is Beautiful” movement of the 1960s and beyond, died on April 1, aged 85. His son, Kwame Brathwaite, Jr, announced his father’s death in an Instagram post that read in part, “I am deeply saddened to share that my Baba, the patriarch of our family, our rock and my hero has transitioned.” Brathwaite’s work has been the subject of resurgent interest from curators, historians and collectors in recent years, and his first major institutional retrospective, which was organized by the Aperture Foundation, made its debut in 2019 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles before touring the country. Brathwaite was born in 1938 to Barbadian immigrants, in what he referred to as “the People’s Republic of Brooklyn” in New York, though his family moved from there to Harlem and then to the South Bronx when Brathwaite was 5 years …

Britain’s pound is beating every other major currency this year

Britain’s pound is beating every other major currency this year

Published by Sam Flores

London CNN  —  The British pound crashed to a record low last fall as investors rebelled against budget plans by former Prime Minister Liz Truss. Now, it’s enjoying a comeback. Sterling hit its highest level against the US dollar in 10 months on Tuesday, topping $1.25 for the first time since June 2022. The pound, which has advanced about 3.3% versus the greenback since the start of 2023, is the best-performing currency among developed economies this year. The UK currency has been boosted by indications the country’s economy is holding up better than expected. Activity is now thought to have expanded 0.1% in the final three months of last year, up from a previous estimate of no growth at all. Gross domestic product growth in January has been estimated at 0.3% after dropping 0.5% in December. This resilience is bolstering expectations the Bank of England will maintain aggressive interest rate hikes despite concerns about the health of the global banking sector. Rising rates can boost the domestic currency because they help attract foreign investors searching …