Propelled to a Press Luncheon in Style
How to get L.A. fashionistas and their stillettoed feet to South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa for a weekday lunch? Easy. Make sure they travel in style.
For a store opening and press lunch Wednesday, Louis Vuitton executives rented helicopters to ferry stylists and fashion journalists south.
I’m not the most daring type. I’ve never been on a motorcycle or bungee jumped. Even loopy roller coasters make me nervous. But after careful consideration, I threw caution to the wind concluding that a well-dressed version of the Buddy Holly crash could actually be a pretty glam way to go.
“It’s the only way to travel to Orange County,” cooed freelance writer William Kissel in the departure lounge at Santa Monica Airport.
Shortly after 11 a.m., Evan Jensen of Jet Copters briefed us on safety, and how to avoid what he called the “ ‘MASH’ syndrome.”
“When you exit the helicopter, you don’t have to duck,” he said. “And if you lose any hats or purses in the wind, let them go.”
Clutching our designer bags even closer, we divided ourselves into groups of five and boarded the choppers. My flight mates consisted of four producers from E! Entertainment Television. We were a bit disappointed that the helicopters were not swathed in Louis Vuitton logos. In fact, the only LVs in sight were on the aviator sunglasses placed on our seats as gifts.
“How ‘Charlie’s Angels’ do we look?” said one of my fellow travelers before pointing a well-manicured fingernail to the stem of her glasses and sneering, “Made in China!”
Soon, our Long Ranger lifted off. The view of Los Angeles from 500 feet was breathtaking. As we turned toward the skyscrapers of downtown, I suggested an office building fly-by, but our pilot, Bill Evans, was not amused.
“I wish I could serve you ladies cocktails back there,” said Evans, who kept the 30-minute ride remarkably smooth, save for his brief demonstration of a “pitch and roll,” which had me reaching for one of the small, nonlogoed bags stored in armrests.
I forgot my stomach soon enough, focusing instead on a high school football game being played somewhere south of downtown.
We landed on the top of a parking structure at South Coast Plaza, sputtering to a stop on a landing pad emblazoned with, you guessed it, a Louis Vuitton logo.
The party, by the way, was fine. But now I’m ruined for commuting.
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SoCal Confidential runs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.
