By Mary Mullaj The Mondrian Hotel quietly opened it doors to guests two days ago, but the official grand opening will take place during Art Basel. The Mondrian will fill a luxury niche that has been heretofore neglected. With a concept the Morgans Hotel Group and design by award-winning Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, the result […]

Chef Michael Mina will open his first Sunset Boulevard restaurant, XIV, created in collaboration with the Restaurant and Nightlife division of SBE and Sam Nazarin. With a long roster of successful restaurants and a trio of Michelin stars to his name, Michael Mina’s first Los Angeles venture promises to carry on the tradition of modern […]

By Mary Mullaj From haute handbags to exclusive eyeglasses, designers have been imaginative in providing the ultimate accessories. There is always great speculation about the next “it bag” or trendy shoes, but it appears that the latest in extravagant accessories is designer…money? Yes, that’s right. Karl Lagerfeld, who always pushes the limits of design, takes […]

By Mary Mullaj The fresh 2008 Beaujolais Nouveau hit bars yesterday after a poor harvest in France. Although it was the smallest crop since 1975, the price was not changed from its usual $6 a bottle, in order to keep the festive wine practical. The wine is too light to be considered serious, but its […]

The Maserati Quattroporte S, a revised version of the carmaker’s flagship luxury sports saloon, makes its much-anticipated North American debut at the L.A. Auto Show. The North American market is the largest one for Maserati, with one out of three cars sold in the US. Los Angeles and Southern California are the top sales areas […]

By Sean Ballent Eli Broad wants to build a public museum in Beverly Hills, California. This comes a year after the billionaire decided not to give his collection to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The gallery would display works from his personal collection and his charitable foundation. Broad’s proposal includes offices for his […]

Ivanka Trump, the do-all wonder woman spawned from the Donald is about to add yet another “core experience” to her rezzie: author. The 27-year-old has sold the world rights of her opus to Zachary Schisgal, senior editor at Touchstone (a division of publishing house Simon & Schuster), in a deal with Mel Berger at William […]

By Sean Ballent De Beers has more than doubled its U.S. consumer-marketing budget for the holiday season. Chief strategic officer of Forevermark, the recently launched De Beers diamond brand, based his decision on new research that shows diamond jewelry to be the number-one gift for the holiday season. Why in a time of economic crisis […]

A constellation of stars is on hand in the UAE this week to launch the world’s most expensive holiday resort. The lavish Palm Jumeirah man-made island in Dubai is throwing the most expensive private party ever staged-at a cost of more than $20 million-to celebrate the opening of the piggy bank-busting $1.5bn hotel Atlantis on […]