Haute Event: The City of Malibu Honors Herb Alpert

Sting, Daryl Hannah, Linda Thompson and David and Yolanda Foster were among the celebrities on hand to celebrate Herb Alpert as he became the first person honored with a permanent public art installation in the history of Malibu last week.

The City of Malibu officially named the nine-time Grammy winner’s 17-foot-tall bronze totem sculpture “Freedom” with a permanent place in its history.

The Chumash Tribe, in partnership with the Southern California Indian Center, performed ceremonial dances at the event, while the students from the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA and CalArts shared their musical talents.

This wasn’t Alpert’s only big honor of the year: he was feted this year by President Obama at the White House with the National Medal of the Arts for both his unparalleled musical accomplishments and his dedication to providing access to the arts for future generations.

Herb has spent more than half his life as a respected abstract expressionist painter and sculptor, whose work has been exhibited from the U.S. to Europe.  His collection of totems make powerful statements standing out against the skylines in Dante Park in Manhattan across from Lincoln Center as well as in Santa Monica and now Malibu.

Photos: Jason Kempin/ Getty Images

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