More from Gary Baum
Inside Casey Wasserman’s Lavish 50th Birthday Bash
In recent years, L.A. entertainment and sports mogul Casey Wasserman has successfully striven to be perceived as his own man. A power player in his own right — not firstly the well-connected grandson of late Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman, the MCA/Universal head and political fixer. Along with recent industry acquisitions, including Paradigm’s music business and […]
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Hollywood Talks Big on Climate. But What Is It Really Doing?
In April, Paramount Pictures senior vp Douglas Rheinheimer, who oversees facility operations for the lot, spoke at the U.S. Department of Energy’s annual buildings summit. It’s a key gathering for C-suite execs, government officials, policy experts and property owners who are thinking seriously about the practicalities of a sustainable future. Rheinheimer’s highly technical presentation about […]
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The Street-Fighting Lawyer Who’s Become Hollywood’s Dark Knight
In 2021, ESPN broadcaster Sage Steele was suspended following comments she made on a podcast, including calling parent company Disney’s vaccine mandates “sick” and questioning why Barack Obama considers himself Black when he was raised by his white mother. When she returned to her job, she felt she’d been sidelined from key on-air opportunities. So […]
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The Most Storied Suit-Maker in Beverly Hills Tells All
Beverly Hills’ Carroll & Co. once had the menswear market for Hollywood players all but sewn up. The 20th century’s greatest stars were regulars, from Jack Lemmon to Paul Newman. But the haberdasher, established in 1949, also had the machers, among them NBC CEO Grant Tinker and Walt Disney Co. head Frank Wells. Oh, and […]
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New Academy Museum Exhibit Details How Jews Pioneered the Film Business
Two years ago, when the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened, there was an outcry over the exclusion of the film industry’s Jewish pioneers. “If you’re going to have a museum in Los Angeles tied to the Academy that celebrates arguably the most significant art form of the 20th century, how is it possible not […]
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New Hollywood-Backed Israeli Restaurant Opening at Fraught Moment Hopes to “Transcend Politics”
Opening an ambitious restaurant in L.A. is notoriously challenging. The gauntlet runs from permitting hassles and online critics to razor-thin profit margins. But Carmel, a new dining concept backed by entertainment insiders, faces a singular predicament. It debuts its inclusive, cosmopolitan ideal of Tel Aviv cuisine on Thursday, the day after a violent UCLA protest […]
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Patrick’s Roadhouse Is Closing: Its Namesake Actor Mourns the Loss
Los Angeles’ iconic seaside diner Patrick’s Roadhouse at the edge of Pacific Palisades may have slung its last hash brown. Amid a long-term lease negotiation, and after the financial battering of the pandemic, the half-century-old restaurant just off Pacific Coast Highway, known for its bright green exterior and kitsch décor, is attempting to raise $250,000 […]
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Dean of O.J. Simpson Trial Reporters “Would’ve Also Acquitted Him”
Associated Press journalist Linda Deutsch was already a legendary court reporter when O.J. Simpson stood trial for killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. She’d covered high-profile criminal legal proceedings involving everyone from Charles Manson and Patty Hearst to Sirhan Sirhan and the “Night Stalker,” Richard Ramirez. But Judge Lance Ito […]
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L.A. Restaurant Sparks Debate With Its 4.5 Percent “Security Charge” for Customers
Downtown L.A. restaurant scene mainstay Perch has become a main character in the hospitality world’s ongoing surcharge discourse for its decision to make customers pay for security costs. It’s the latest twist on a broader trend that’s proven divisive among hospitality patrons: itemized fees beyond the food or drink order. What began with automatic service […]
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“It’s a Silent Fire”: Decaying Digital Movie and TV Show Files Are a Hollywood Crisis
While David Zaslav and Bob Iger’s tax-optimization strategy of deleting films and TV shows from their streamers has triggered plenty of agita among creators, the custodians of Hollywood’s digital era have an even greater fear: wholesale decay of feature and episodic files. Behind closed doors and NDAs, the fragility of archives is a perpetual Topic […]
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Wall Street’s War on Soho House
When, in a Feb. 7 report, short-sellers eviscerated Soho House — pronouncing it “a zero,” prophesying it would “meet the same fate” as notorious IPO flameout WeWork — the company’s crisis of cool had already been years in the making. The publicly listed private members club, a seeming oxymoron bearing the sticker symbol SHCO, has for […]
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Hollywood Teamsters, IATSE Hold Solidarity Rally Ahead of AMPTP Negotiations: “F*** Around and Find Out”
A coalition of Hollywood’s below-the-line unions rallied Sunday on the eve of their latest contract negotiations. They threatened a historic strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers if their demands weren’t met. Such a work stoppage would follow a pair of strikes in 2023 by industry writers and actors that crippled the […]
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