Los Angeles enjoyed its first ever Frieze Art Fair last week. Between 15 and 17 February, the Fair – which has already been in New York and London – reached LA and was held at Paramount Pictures Studios, Hollywood.
Endeavor Agency brought Salma Hayek,
Serena Williams and Tobey Maguire to the fair.
Featured there were the following: Doug Aitken, Judy Chicago, Karon
Davis, Mike Kelley, Ed Ruscha and Cindy Sherman. Crowds swarmed the fair and all tickets were
sold. Opening night was attended by the
rich and famous including: Brad Pitt, James Corden, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael
Keaton and Brad Pitt. But they were not
the ones the fair was after (except for the publicity); rather the fair is
interested in agents and producers who are looking to buy such as Jim Ginapulous,
head of Paramount Studios.
A few hours into the fair, Hauser & Wirth put $1.8m forward from a private European foundation for a Mike Kelley installation; this was the most expensive piece sold at the fair. The next most expensive was Yayoi Kusami’s Infinity Nets at Lévy Gorvyy for $1.6 million.
The printing and processing industries
are both encountering growth in LA right now.
Here, we look at two companies in these sectors: 3DEO Inc. and Gigajot
Technology Inc.
3D
metal printing company 3DEO Inc. manufacturers steel components for a variety
of industries by developing “accurate, on-demand printing of repeatable metal
parts.” The firm – based in Gardena – has
raised over $14 million from 11 investors for its next step. Company president Matt Stand will be leading the
MD&M West conference entitled
‘Metal 3D Printing In Medtech: How Medical Devices Will Be
Transformed.’ The conference
takes place at the Anaheim Convention Center between February 11-13th.
Earlier this
month an announcement came from Gigajot Technology Inc. on its upcoming
expansion. Currently the firm’s Pasadena
headquarters measures 100 square foot. The
augmentation of the company premises will result in a move to the Gateway Metro
Center, filling 3,257 square foot. The lease is currently for three years at a
cost of approximately $386,932. Since its
launch in 2017, the company has raised $4 million.
Any efforts made to facilitate the process of getting a job is appreciated. In LA, they are no stranger to organizations and individuals trying to help people become gainfully employed. One way of doing this is through students and as such, the LA Southwest College recently hosted an employment fair. The event – held on 31 January – was focused on those looking for work in homeless services and related industries and attracted around 60 bosses with approximately 1,200 open positions in the field.
With over 700 job seekers attending
the fair, Dr. Seher Awan, President of the college said:
“Los Angeles Southwest College is honored to play its part in helping these all-important agencies find the critical resources and support they need to aid our homeless community. I’m truly appreciative of all of the work being done by Mayor Garcetti’s Office as well as city and county agencies to lead this effort and look forward to being their partners for years to come or until the homelessness crisis in our communities is fully addressed.”
In addition,
looking overall at the job market for California, we find good news. According to figures from the California
Employment Development Departmentfor December 2018, there were
24,500 net new jobs and an expansion of 1.7% in year-over-year payrolls by
284,300.
Now in its third year, the Women’s March Los Angeles was again filled to capacity in Pershing Square. Recognizing the success of the women’s movement in 2018, the organization set out to not rest on its laurels and demanded additional advancements in gender equality issues.
The event –
held on Saturday January 18 – was graced with the presence of various
inspirational speakers as well as entertainers calling for empowerment and
social justice. Subjects covered
included: rights of LGBTQ/trans;
increased gender equality in the political sphere; racial justice; immigration
rights and more.
Although there
had been an ideological split within the movement’s founders, turnout was still
very high. Rep. Katie Hill (who unseat
Republican Rep. Steve Knight in the midterm election) took to the stage and
said: “The activism has just started,” urging activists to “get back
to work.”
Women were not the only LA group to have felt the need to fight for their rights. LA teachers have been striking in an effort to employ more teachers to ease pressure on current educators and improve the education system. It finally ended when a deal was reached between the teachers and the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union. The agreement included a 6 percent increase in pay; reducing average class size by 2022 by four students, a full time nurse for each school and a full-time librarian for every high school .
When looking to purchase (or sell) property in Los Angeles County, it is beneficial to get an overview of the amount of sales; what the going rate is and the current market inventory. In this video, Mike Weber, a broker from Keller Williams, speaks on these matters within the current ebbs and flows of the market.
It’s not just Hollywood where Hollywood is successful. In fact, the figures for 2018 from the box office in South Korea show that the Hollywood movies is mega popular there too. indeed, in 2018 the top 10 box office list in South Korea was more than half from Hollywood!
This number is quite a deviation from years in the past. Significant among these in revenue were:
Avengers: Infinity War ($92.8 million) (position number 2; first position was a local film Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days, $92.9 million)
Bohemian Rhapsody ($62.6 million) (position number 3)
It was 8 years ago when Hollywood titles last held more than half of the top 10 titles.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong last year, Hollywood was even more popular with the top 10 movies including 8 from the other side of the pond! Figures there were:
Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds ($6.96 million) in #9
The Last 49 Days ($6.17 million) in #10.
Overall almost a 6% increase was gained in theatrical box office in the region.
Residents of Los Angeles have been dealing with fear from earthquakes for years. The damage – environmental, physical and psychological – can be shattering. Now though thanks to a new app being designed, early warning signs will be given for an upcoming earthquake.
ShakeAlert® is a collaborative project between US state and university partners together with the US Geological Survey (USGS). During the testing phase the group worked in authentic environments (like hospitals, schools, and other densely populated buildings) to ensure it worked in as close to real life situations as possible.
Now, residents in LA will be able to brace themselves before an earthquake arrives working with the USGS regional sensors that can detect a 5.0 or greater earthquake. Of this development, the region’s Mayor, Eric Garcetti said:
We often say here in Los Angeles that it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when the next big one is going to hit. We know that we live in earthquake country.”
The app has been a work in progress – 10 years – and was made possible thanks to a $260,000 Annenberg Foundation grant received in 2017.
A few industries seemed to have made (and will continue the trend in 2019) an impact on LA’s new business scene. In this article we will take a brief look at two of them from the hospitality industry: hotels and restaurants.
Following are seven new hotels that are set to be built in LA in 2019:
Palihotel boutique eastside hotel called the Silver Lake Pool & Inn set to launch in the spring.
Hoxton Downtown LA hotel will take over the historic 10-story Los Angeles Railway Authority building on South Broadway, with 174 rooms. There will be four cheekily named room types including Snug for solo travelers, Cosy, Roomy and Biggy.
220-room Godfrey hotel offer indoor-outdoor event spaces, a destination lobby bar and a casual steakhouse called About Last Knife.
Proper Hotel Downtown 148 room hotel will take over the 13-story, red-brick YWCA building on Broadway, which originally opened in 1924
Park Hyatt featuring state-of-the-art spa and wellness center, an outdoor pool and deck and a collection of carefully selected partner restaurants and retailers.
Fairmont Century Plaza crescent-shaped 19-story tower originally designed by Minoru Yamasaki. It will have 400 rooms, a gourmet café, a brasserie serving American classics and a rooftop bar, among other amenities.
Thompson Hotel (to open in late 2019) 200 guestrooms decorated by London-based interior design firm Tara Bernerd & Partners.
Cannabis cafes and lounges have been approved for opening in 2019 in West Hollywood
According to Eater: “West Hollywood will have actual eateries, lounges, and cafes that allow smoking, vaping, and/or munching on edibles and weed-infused food. “This news is a game-changer, and far surpasses what many describe as a stalled dispensary application process in Los Angeles’ Department of Cannabis Regulation. Throughout the country, there are only seven consumption lounges in San Francisco, one in Oakland, and one in Denver. but WeHo’s group of new businesses could place West Hollywood on par with Amsterdam, Netherlands for cannabis tourism, and maybe eventually surpass it”
Meanwhile, a restaurant to check out next year if you haven’t done so already is LA’s Somni, which was included in Ann Arbel’s ‘10 Coolest Places to Eat in 2019,’ article. One of the chef’s principal workers, Aithor Zabala has been described as “pushing the boundaries of food, making some of the most avant-garde and all out exciting cuisine in America.”
It might not be the most environmentally-friendly way of saying ‘Merry Christmas,’ but it seems (vintage) Christmas card giving is making a comeback. For those who have completely forgotten to go gift shopping and are perhaps at a loss as to what to get the friend/partner who has everything just use the old “it’s lost in the mail” excuse and run out to pick up a card.
“…old-fashioned paper greeting cards, delivered via snail mail, remain a holiday staple…. the idea of taking the time to exchange tangible tokens of holiday cheer is more appealing than ever at a time when buzzing and pinging digital devices never seem to cease demanding our attention. That’s true even if finding the perfect card now involves sitting at a laptop, editing digital photos and clicking through dozens of template designs.”
The numbers speak for themselves. Executive director of the Greeting Card Association, Peter Doherty found that every year, consumers purchase approximately 6.5 billion greeting cards and 1.6 billion cards. Plus, over the last five to six years, greeting card sales throughout the nation have remained pretty stable.
With the feel of e-cards being “too fleeting,” many are returning to the old-fashioned way to send meaningful holiday cheer.
CBS will be selling its TV City property and sound stage operation. The25 acre area is located at 7800 Beverly Boulevard. Ownership will be transferred to Hackman Capital Partners, a real estate developer for $750 million. Included in this deal will be rights of the realtor to use the TV City trademark in work it conducts on the property.
Once the deal goes through, CBS will still be in operation, but its work will take place at its Studios Center,Studio City at 4024 Radford Avenue, San Fernando Valley, which also houses KCBS and KCAL local TV stations. In addition,this business transaction will not impact any programs CBS produces at the studio campus; there will be no interruption or change in the shows produced by the broadcast network at the property for at least the next five years and office space at CBS Studios International’s US headquarters will also be retained by CBS.
It seems this is not the only large business transaction Hackman Capital Partners has been engaged in. It is now in the process of working on renovating the creative office Culver Studio campus which will be anchored by Amazon Studios. CEO of the firm Michael Hackman said how “thrilled” his firm was with the commitment to the Studios from Amazon. He called it “the ultimate validation of all the hard work our company and the City have put into the campus redesign.”
Once it has been redesigned, the space will reach double its capacity, spanning five new buildings, and 1,930 parking spaces over two lots.
