March 08, 2009 issue

Letter from the editor

I have been practicing something new for the last few months. It takes real concentration and deliberate commitment that is not so easy.

Letters to the Editor

DISTAFF DEVOTION

Overheard

“I just had my wisdom teeth pulled—now I don’t know which teeth to turn to for advice.”

HOLLYWOOD RULES

What's the Catch?

It was during my first year in L.A., toward the bottom of my third glass of wine, as my office clock passed 10:30 a.m. and the writer leaned forward, blouse largely unbuttoned, to pour me a fourth while continuing to propose her TV series about the wine industry, that I realized I’d arrived. Here it was: the all-out Hollywood pitch, complete with alcoholic props. This was the heralded showbiz tradition, as lampooned in The Player, practiced by quirky writers and smooth-talking producers in this town and roundly mocked by people (including me) outside it for generations.

CITY OF ANGELS

Anonymous Sources

Yazmin Adams never thought homelessness was something she’d have to worry about. But there she was, at just 18, pushed from the only home she’d ever known. And scared to death.

BACK/STORY

What Plane?

If you were to transform this story into a movie and the line at the end of the credits read, “This is based on a true story,” no one would believe it.

Turn It Up

TÊTE-À-TÊTE: JIMMY SMITS

FEATURE STORY

Bearing Fruit

Widely regarded as a marketing genius, Lynda Resnick established her reputation by building brands—think Pom Wonderful, Teleflora, Fiji Water and the Franklin Mint (a company she and her husband, Stewart, acquired in 1985 and sold in 2006). The Resnicks also own Paramount Farming Company and Paramount Citrus, two powerhouses in the world of California agribusiness. The Los Angeles Business Journal has estimated the couple’s net worth at $1.4 billion.

FEATURE STORY

Fashion: Details

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES

I'm Still Hungry

Main Squeeze

Anyone who doesn't think citrus can be better than sex hasn't tasted a Page tangerine like the one I just peeled and ate. Everything about citrus fills the senses and engages me: the smell of the orange blossoms, the sight of the fruit glowing like polka dots against a deep green background of leaves, the feel of the textured skin of a Kiefer lime, the taste of seedless Kishu tangerines, even the sound of the breeze rustling the leaves around giant pummelos has a quality unmatched in any other type of orchard.

GOOD SPORT

Lakers Get Latin

Latinos in Los Angeles embracing local sports teams is nothing new. Anyone who witnessed Fernando Val­enzuela ignit­ing the 1980s groundswell of support for Dodgers baseball that engulfed the city in “Fernandomania” could tell you that, although at the time it was considered a one-shot phenomenon.

OMG

Look, Ma, I Cracked a Safe!

“You’re learning to crack open a safe? This is a class?”

MY BEST STORY

All Together Now

When I boarded the plane to Washington, D.C., for Barack Obama’s inauguration, I had no idea what to expect. I’d followed every beat of the election, discussed the campaigns, reported from the conventions for Nickelodeon’s Kids Pick the President, watched the debates and voted for the first time.