Side Trips / Black Magic

Going on a trip can be disconcerting. Some travelers mumble to themselves, sweat heavily, or glance wildly about--and these are just the smokers on domestic flights. We asked some Southern Californians what talismans they use to help smooth the way.

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Amanda Beard, 14-year-old swimmer and triple Olympic medalist, travels everywhere with her good luck bear, Harold, and her good luck toy rabbit, Bunny. Harold was given to her by a teammate. Beard got Bunny, who doubles as a pillow, when she was 2.

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Kerman Beriker, the CEO of The Beverly Hills Hotel, carries in his briefcase two shell-shaped stones that he found in the tiny principality of Monaco. “I came upon the smooth stone under an old stone house. It was chipped but I was drawn to its smoothness. Then at the end of the long, narrow street, I discovered its missing half. It matched exactly.”

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Model Iman shuttles between homes in Beverly Hills, Lucerne, London and New York. Always with her is a strand of black pearls that her husband, rocker David Bowie, gave her on their first wedding anniversary. Says Iman, “They’re my good luck. I can’t travel without them.”

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English-born KABC talk-show host Michael Jackson carries a big brown horse chestnut--”a conker”--he picked up on a mossy knoll in the Loire Valley more than 25 years ago. It’s been rattling around in his suitcases since. “Every time I pack, I rediscover it,” he says. “It reminds me of my boarding school days when we used to collect and string them, then swing them at each other in a childhood game. It’s kept me safe.”

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In 1985, restaurateur Michael Chow was advised by a Chinese mystic to dip a chicken feather in brandy at high noon, dry it and keep it with him for protection. The owner of Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills has carried this talisman in his wallet ever since. “I never look at it,” says Chow, “but I do take it seriously.”

Adolfo Nodal, general manager of Los Angeles’ Cultural Affairs Department, carries a good luck keepsake his mother made him when he left home for college more than 20 years ago. On the outside, the small yellow card reads, “Buena Suerte,” good luck. Inside is a watercolor of their former home in Cuba with a silver medal of St. Barbara, one of Cuba’s patron saints, attached to it.

Produced by Barbara Thornburg