White Light White Night

Mona Day Chefs, Dine, Food & Wine Events, Restaurants
White Light White Night

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Walk With Sally hosted its annual fundraiser White Light White Night on August 19, 5:30 pm at Campus 2100 on 2100 E Grand Avenue, El Segundo.

Travis Van Winkle hosted the evening, introducing new CEO Tash Brooks.  The Youth of the Year award was presented to Heather Jenkins, and the Mentor of the Year award to Jenn Nguyen.

Supported by over thirty five corporate sponsors, the event featured 17  restaurants serving their signature dishes and cocktails.  They included Bettolino Kitchen, BOA, BuzzRock Brewing, Clarity Lounge, Eddie V’s, Hook & Plow, Japonica, Jimmy John’s, lil’Vegerie, Lobster & Beer: Coastal, Madison Brown, Nomad, Porterhouse Bourbon & Bones, Quality Seafood, ReadyFitGo, and Sushi Roku.

A live auction lead by seasoned auctioneer Letitia Frye and a silent auction featured  high-end fine art, wine, sports memorabilia and travel items.

Live music was provided by local band Identity Theft, as well as the Chargers Marching Band. Muralist Miriam Hellmann provided vibrant backdrops. 

The event was attended by over 700 attendees and over 100 volunteers were on hand for a night of unity and support. All  dressed in white,  the color universally associated with healing and referencing  a person’s own divine nature to heal one’s self  with this white light of healing and protection, as the community came together on a  beautiful, uniquely memorable summer evening  celebrating love, hope, and healing. 

Many of the volunteers were cancer survivors out there in support.  They included Kara, a survivor of two brain surgeries which took her sense of smell and removed memory on the right side of her body, making her unable to write.  About a year after surgery she realized that she could use my left hand instead, though her mom was insists that Kara not give up her right hand, and  continue to use it.  Kara now wears a brain pendant, volunteers for cancer organizations, and helps them raise money.  

Founded in 2004 by Nicolas Arquette, Walk With Sally’s mission supports children and families impacted by cancer providing them with care-centered one-to-one fellowships along with critical programs and services that include mentoring, mental health support, art healing, and financial empowerment.

For more information and tickets, please visit https://www.walkwithsally.org/wlwn

Masters of Taste

Mona Day Dine , , ,

The seventh annual Masters of Taste returns to the Iconic Pasadena Rose Bowl  on Sunday, April 7th, 2024.  The event is expected to bring over 3,000 food and beverage enthusiasts to sample signature dishes and handcrafted drinks, wines, craft brews, and non-alcoholic drinks  from over 100 Culinary and Beverage Masters. Live entertainment will add to the festivities. 

Participating Culinary Masters and Restaurants include Pez Cantina Village and Pez Coastal Kitchen Seafood Village, 1212, Arth Bar + Kitchen, Agnes Restaurant and Cheesery, Alexander’s Steakhouse, Ayara Thai, BAAR BAAR, Beachy’s Food Truck, BOX Chicken,  Casa Cordoba, Celestino Ristorante, Cerda Vega Tacos,  Champion’s CURRY,  Chaaste Family Market, City Club, Armando Quiroz, Emporium Thai,  Fat Boys, Gabi James,  Georgia’s Restaurant,  Granville,  Gus’s World-Famous Fried Chicken,  Harold & Belle’s,  Italia Pasta e Pizza, La Bohéme, LAVO Ristorante,  Lunasia, MAMA M SUSHI, Marina, Mercado, Panda Inn,  Poppy + Rose, Rice Balls of Fire, Room Service Neighborhood,  Santa Monica Seafood,  Soulmate, StopBye Café, Taishi Hainan Chicken,  The Peppered Goat,  UCHI, YAKIYA, Yardbird,  and Yuca’s Restaurant. 

Sweet Masters showcasing desserts include Bachan’s Shave Ice, warm chocolate chip cookies from Bake Some Noise, Beard Papa’s, Bertha Mae’s Brownies, Faith Café, Gooey Center Bakery, Happy Ice LA, Läderach, custom cakes from Cakes By Chanté, cupcakes from Lark Cake Shop, Magpies Softserve, Marsatta Chocolate, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Pops Artisanal Creamery, Pazzo Gelato, and Porto’s Bakery & Café.

Participating Beverage Masters offering fine spirits include Dead of Night Distillery, Dulce Vida Tequila, Empress 1908 Gin, Knox & Dobson, La Bay Gin, Laurel Canyon Spirits, Lunetta, Mario’s Hard Espresso, Mezcal 33, Neft Vodka, Nosotros Tequila & Mezcal, Old Hillside Bourbon Company, Smoke Lab Vodka, The Raymond 1886, Ventura Spirits and Angeleno Spritz, Vintage Distilling, and Xoloitzcuintle Tequila.

Brew Masters presenting ales, lagers, pilsners include All Season Brewing, Arrow Lodge Brewing, Arts District Brewing Company, Big Noise Beer, Boomtown Brewery, Pasadena’s Cerveceria Del Pueblo, Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Beer, Arcadia’s first Microbrewery Mt. Lowe Brewing Co., Nova Brewing Co., Over Town Brewing Co., San Fernando Brewing Co., and Tarantula Hill Brewing Co.

Wine and Sake Masters showcasing t varietals include Ascension Cellars, Bodegas de Santo Tomas, BONDLE Wines, CRŪ Winery, Golden Star Vineyards, Hitching Post Wines, LMA Wines, Moraga Canyon Vineyards, Anderson Valley’s Navarro Vineyards, NON (Non-alcoholic Wine Alternatives), Sake Akagisan, Sake High!, San Simeon Wines, Stephen Hemmert Wines, Warson Wine Company, and Wiens Cellars.

Beverage Masters Premium providing non-alcoholic drinks to  hydrate, caffeinate and regenerate include Perfect Hydration Alkaline Water, Yerba Mate from Erva Brew Co., Koe Kombucha, boba milk tea from Sunright Tea Studio and Bearology, and Unincorporated Coffee Roasters.

This year’s event is hosted by husband and wife team of Chef Bret Thompson and Lucy Thompson-Ramirez, who have made a significant impact on LA’s culinary scene. In 2015, they opened Pez Cantina, a seasonal, modern, coastal-inspired Mexican restaurant and bar in downtown Los Angeles, and in 2021 expanding with LA Burrito in Montebello. This year they will open Pez Coastal Kitchen in Pasadena featuring seasonal sea-to-table and farm-to-table California cuisine, and specializing in  cured, smoked and dry-aged meats and seafood. 

The annual culinary extravaganza benefits Union Station Homeless Services, whose mission is to create lasting solutions for homelessness through housing, support services, and community connections in 38 cities from Eagle Rock to Pomona. Its Housing First model has achieved a 97% success rate.  Masters of Taste has raised approximately $3 Million over the last six years.

Masters of Taste 2024 is a 21+ and completely outdoors; all guests will receive their  own utensils and hand sanitizer.   A VIP Power Hour from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm precedes General Admission from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. 

For more information and tickets, please visit  www.MastersofTasteLA.com.

LA TRAVIATA

Mona Day Entertainment, Opera, See, stage, Theater

LA Opera will present a beloved staple of the opera repertoire, Giuseppe Verdi’s romantic tragedy La Traviata, from April 6 through 27.

The story of La Traviata, The Fallen Woman,  follows the Parisian courtesan Violetta Valéry whose love affair with Alfredo Germont offers her an unexpected taste of true love, but also devastating consequences when Alfredo’s father intervenes.

The story is based on the life of a real woman Marie Duplessis who rose from poverty to become one of 19th-century Paris’s most celebrated courtesans before dying from tuberculosis in her prime at age 23. Writer Alexandre Dumas based his romantic novel La Dame aux Camélias on their brief affair and subsequently adapted the novel into a hugely successful play upon which Verdi based his opera.

Marie’s tragically short life continues to both haunt and inspire creative expression in  film from the silent era to modern times, including the 1936 Greta Garbo classic Camille, the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman, and the 2001 musical Moulin Rouge! Franco Zeffrelli directed  a film of the opera in 1982 starring LA Opera’s Placido Domino. 

Since its 1853 premiere, La Traviata has won the hearts of generations of opera fans with its memorable music with deep emotional resonance highlighted by the  prelude,  and  showstopping arias like Violetta’s Sempre libera to make it one of the most popular operas in the repertoire. 

One of 1850s trio of Verdi’s most popular operas, La Traviata is an example of French influenced romantic realism that was calculated to test the moral tolerance of its contemporary audience. The Parisian drawing rooms were habited by men like Germont who had no problems while carousing and gambling themselves, had no problem seeing the courtesan, an epitome of selfless love as morally inferior.  When Traviata first played in London, the theater provided no translation of the libretto, fearing that might cause moral offense. 

But history has proven the last laugh to be Violetta’s and Verdi’s, as both sing their way into immortality as the beloved La Traviata.

Music Director James Conlon will conduct five of the six performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with Louis Lohraseb conducting on April 18. The production, new to Los Angeles, premiered in San Francisco Opera in 2022.  Directed by Shawna Lucey, it  stars Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Violetta and  Armenian tenor Liparit Avetisyan as her lover Alfredo. 

The opera is sung in Italian with English subtitles. The running time is  approximately two hours and 55 minutes, including two intermissions.

For more information and tickets, please visit LAOpera.org/Traviata.

A Five Star Celebration at the SLS

Mona Day Awards, celebration, Conference, Entertainment, Fashion, News, Participate, PRODUCTS, See

The SLS Beverly Hills hotel hosted its Third Annual International Women’s Day Celebration on Tuesday March 5 with a full day’s programming event billed as A Five Star Celebration, and what a celebration it was! 

The day began with a Sweat & Workout with celebrity trainer Latreal Mitchell featured on Khloe Kardashian’s Revenge Body.  It was followed by a Pilates workout with  Nicole Stuart, celebrity trainer and co-author of Total Body Beautiful.  The hotel’s Ciel Spa provided shower and changing facilities. 

A pop-up working lounge was set up  in the speakeasy Wasp in a Wig to recharge and refresh. Hutchins Portraits provided professional headshots with a red carpet photographer, and Glamsquad Touchups provided complimentary hair and make-up. An all day Shopping Bazaar offered a range of beauty, fashion & wellness items from female business owners.

Then it was time to move on to panel discussions with industry leaders across entertainment, media, law, technology.  

Presented by the African American Film Critics Association, The Lady Directors Panel was moderated by Carla Renata.  Featured panelists included Kelly Park of The Neighborhood, Jess Wu Calder of Blindspotting, and Nailah Jefferson of Donyale Luna and Nicki Micheaux of Summer of Violence.

The Women in Law Panel focused on the importance of community engagement. Moderated by Vinca Jarrett, featured panelists included Laura Farber from Hahn & Hahn, Chiquita Banks from BESLA, Adrienne Alexander from Every Contract You Need, Nyanza Shaw from Fremantle and Heidy Vaquerano from Fox Rothschild. 

Lunch in the rooftop pool area with panoramic city views highlighted clean cuisine. 

Then, a panel discussion titled  Kicking Open the Door Creating and Maintaining the Pipeline was moderated by Tamara Houston. Featured panelists include Vinca Jarrett, Entertainment Attorney, Michelle Sneed, A Few Good Women, Angela Lee, Rupa Dash, World Woman Foundation and Melissa Cardenas, Wealth Management. 

The day’s final panel discussion titled  AI and the Metaverse explored our role in shaping the future of artificial intelligence. Moderated by Deanna Barnert, featured panelists included Sneha Deo, Microsoft, Jenni Ogden, EyeQ Ventures, Shira Lazar, What’s Trending and Joanna Popper, CAA. 

The evening festivities moved to the hotel’s Garden Room for a red carpet entrance and networking over cocktails, passed appetizers and a dessert station along with live entertainment and fun photography.

The evening program hosted by Producer-Director Aida Rodriguez and SiriusXM Julia Cunningham included a fireside chat and a discussion led by Lorenza Munoz titled DEI and Affirmative Action are Gone, What’s Next? 

The day closed  with an award ceremony honoring director Dyan Cannon.  Past honorees have included Maggie Gyllenhaal and Mary Lou Belli. 

Nadine Vondermann Director of Sales & Marketing at the SLS who launched the annual event said it has become her passion project, attributing that to her years of living in the Middle East.

LA Art Show Opening Night Party

Mona Day Awards, celebration, See

The LA Art Show  kicked off the 2024 Los Angeles art season with its Opening Night party February 14th. Guests got a special VIP preview of the LA Art Show’s 2024 expansive cultural programming featuring over 100 galleries, museums and nonprofits exhibiting that included an  international lineup of galleries and museums from countries from the Philippines, Italy, Israel, Peru and South Korea. 

The gala was hosted by celebrated actress Lucy Hale. Reality TV star Francesca Farago (Too Hot To Handle, Perfect Match) and fiancé Jesse Sulli of Tik Tok fame also took to the carpet.

The evening’s charity partner was the  American Heart Association, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.  As the evening’s host and friend of AHA, Lucy took to the stage and spoke about the important work the American Heart Association’s work with its Life is Why campaign which is inspiring people to honor their reasons for living longer healthier lives. LA Art Show producer and director Kassandra Voyagis, American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown and AHA survivor family Danielle and Chandler Armstead also spoke during the presentation. NFL player Damar Hamlin (Buffalo Bills Defensive Back), who suffered cardiac arrest on the field last year joined Lucy on stage during the American Heart Association presentation. 

LA Art Show will donate 15% of all ticket proceeds to the American Heart Association’s Life Is Why™ Campaign. 

Other LA Art Show 2024 highlights included:

·      A musical performance by Korean artist Choi Sori who through drumming and manipulation of metal surfaces, Choi creates an abstract interplay of light, color, and sound.

·      Iconic LA artist Robert Vargas was onsite live painting his powerful mural – inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s “The World House” – which honored Black History Month and conveyed a message of peace and unity.

·      The Tanya Weddemire Gallery exhibited “Give Us Our Flowers” by acclaimed Haitian American artist, Guy Stanley Philoche, who found art as his refuge at an early age.

·      Fremin Gallery from New York showcased inspiring works including female Turkish artist Ardan Özmenoğlu’s “Blue” a stunning sculpture of a tree on a wooden stump, created from layers of glass panels and nail polish.

·      LP Gallery from South Korea featured renowned artist Dain Yoon known for painting on her skin to create surreal self-portraits.

·      Licht Feld Gallery presented photography from award-winning celebrity photographer, Markus Klinko, including his iconic image of Mariah Carey, recently projected on stage at the 2024 Grammy Awards.

·      Fabrik Projects Gallery showcased ‘The Soul of Your City” exhibition, the culmination of a global photography competition capturing the hidden spirit and true identity of cities through the lenses of local photographers.

·      DIVERSEartLA presented the second Museum Acquisition Award for Emerging Artists participating at the fair. The award-winning artist was Barcelona-based Juan Escudero on behalf of Pigment Gallery selected by Ana Maria Matthei, AAL museum director & AAL Magazine founder, along with DIVERSEartLA curator, Marisa Caichiolo.

For more information, please visit https://www.laartshow.com

 Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival

Mona Day Chefs, Dine, Food & Wine Events, Restaurants

The inaugural Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival will land  on the Santa Monica Pier for three days of food and wine festivities March 1st – March 3rd during the art festival Frieze Week Los Angeles which takes place February 26th –  March 3rd.  

The festival will feature a mix of high-profile culinary and beverage talent, favorite local restaurants, and cultural initiatives with a lineup of 90 participating chefs.

Participating restaurants include award-winning Neapolitan pizza restaurant Pizzana from Daniele Uditi;  acclaimed Thai restaurant Jitlada; Holbox, recently ranked #5 on the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants list; Chef Sathia Sun of new Italian hotspot Donna’s; Bridgetown Roti from famed Caribbean pop-up from chef Rashida Holmes; Chinese-Peruvian restaurant Chifa from Humberto Leon, founder of Opening Ceremony fashion brand, and Ricardina Leon; Bé Ù viet-street food;  Koreatown smashburger spot Love Hour; Santa Monica seafood restaurants Crudo e Nudo and Isla; Michelin-starred Camphor; Xuntos tapas bar; French bistro Pasjoli; Guerilla Tacos, the popular street-taco restaurant that originated as a food truck from Chef Wes Avila. 

Newest additions to the line up include chefs Justin Pichetrungsi of acclaimed Anajak Thai, BBQ master Adam Perry Lang, Alvin Cailan, Food Network Star Duff Goldman, award-winning Mexican-American chef Claudette Zepeda and Stephanie Izard of Girl & the Goat.  Each day’s session will feature over 30 chefs, and tickets include all you can eat and drink. 

The festival is dedicated to highlighting female-owned restaurants in LA.  As such, its official nonprofit partner is Regarding Her (RE:Her), a national nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the growth of women entrepreneurs and leaders in food and beverage and advocate gender parity in  restaurants.

The festival is presented by IMG, the company behind global events that include The Taste of London, Frieze, and New York Fashion Week: The Shows.

Hours are 7:30pm – 10pm on Friday and Saturday; 12:30pm-3pm on Sunday, and ticket options include daily pricing as well as packages.

For more information and tickets, please visit  lawineandfood.com and @lawinefoodfest on Instagram.

A DOUBLE FEATURE OF ONE-ACT GEMS

Mona Day Opera, See, stage, Theater

LA Opera will present two one-act rarities – William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA and Alexander Zemlinsky’s The Dwarf  conducted by Music Director James Conlon  February 24 through March 17.

Unifying the operas is the theme of unrequited love told through powerful, emotional music.  The story of Highway 1  USA follows a hardworking Black couple Bob and Mary, who have scrimped and saved to put Bob’s younger brother through college. After the ne’er-do-well Nate attacks Mary for refusing his advances, the couple come together to focus on building a better life for themselves.

Based on Oscar Wilde’s The Birthday of the Infanta  The Dwarf  involves a birthday celebration for a young Spanish princess, who along with other gifts is presented with a Dwarf, who falls in love with her. She toys with his affections before callously rejecting him;  devastated, he dies of a broken heart.  A gothic tale of an impossible one-sided romance in a decadent Spanish court, the story is animated by a lush and romantic score.  The production was last staged at LA Opera to critical acclaim in 2008. 

A second theme unifying the double bill is that they are both works by major composers lauded in their time but who fell into obscurity as a result of oppression.  Hailed as ‘the dean of African-American composers’,  trailblazing composer William Grant Still wrote more than 150 works ranging from operas, ballets, symphonies and chamber pieces and was the first Black conductor to conduct a major American symphony orchestra when he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a 1936 concert of his own compositions at the Hollywood Bowl.  However, he fell into obscurity despite his early successes as well as the quality of his compositions, especially his operas.  As such, Highway 1, USA composed in the 1940s didn’t have a major professional production until one by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2021.

Similarly, The Dwarf was composed by Zemlinsky during his conducting tenure  at the Deutsches Landestheater, but he was forced to resign when the Nazis seized power, and after Hitler’s invasion forced to flee with his family to New York where he died in 1942, a broken man.  He then fell into obscurity till his rediscovery in the 1970s.

Both operas are part of LA Opera’s groundbreaking Recovered Voices initiative  launched by LA Opera in 2007. 

There will be six performances of the double bill at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Highway 1, USA is sung in English,  The Dwarf  in German, and both will feature projected subtitles in English.  The running time is approximately two hours and 50 minutes, including one intermission.  For more information and tickets, please visit  LAOpera.org

LA ART SHOW

Mona Day Design, Fashion, See, Style

The LA Art Show will return to the Los Angeles Convention Center from February 14-18, kicking off the city’s 2024 art season.  As one of the most comprehensive contemporary art events, it brings over 180,000 square feet of space to house over 120 galleries, museums, and non-profit arts organizations from around the world exhibiting painting, sculpture, works on paper, installations, photography, design, video, performance art and more.

Prominent domestic and international galleries will showcase contemporary trends with offerings for sale.  They will also spill out beyond their booth spaces for immersive experiences through thought-provoking artworks, performances that will engage audience  and create conversations to outlive the show.  Major international exhibitor lineup includes the Philippines, Italy, Israel, Peru and South Korea. 

The largest section of programming at the LA Art Show, Modern + Contemporary will exhibit the spectrum of contemporary painting, illustration, sculpture and more from galleries in Los Angeles, the Pacific Rim, and beyond.

A European Pavilion will house galleries from Spain, Italy, and France to showcase contemporary European movements and stylistic developments.

Project Space showcases a broad array of ideas and talents in solo exhibitions by international galleries.

Works on Paper will display photographs and other artwork not on traditional canvas.

Capitalizing on the city’s leading position on the Pacific Rim, DIVERSEartLA curated by Marisa Caichiolo and others will connect seven international art institutions, representing collectors, artists, curators, museums and non-profits  to LA audiences in 50,000 square feet of donated exhibition space to display not for sale objects  for civic engagement only.  DIVERSEartLA is partnering with seven international art institutions to explore the intersection of memory, humanity, and AI. Amongst the participants, the Nevada Museum of Art will present The Journey by contemporary artist Guillermo Bert and The Museum of Contemporary Art in Bogotá will present Mythstories by multimedia artist Carlos Castro Arias.

LP Gallery from South Korea will feature artist Dain Yoon renowned for painting on her skin to create surreal self-portraits that can trick the eye with their 3D shading. Dain Yoon’s pieces are both playful and profound, reflecting her emotional states and the complexity of identity. Now living in the U.S., her work showcases a creative evolution from processing the challenges she faced as a young woman in South Korea to a stable, confident person in her new environment.

To time with Black History Month, the Tanya Weddemire Gallery will feature the talents of four pioneering black artists, exploring a range of themes, including identity, culture and resilience: Guy Stanley Philoche “Give Us Our Flowers”, Serron Green “Invisible”, Gregory Saint Amand “Play Time” and O’Neil Scott “Distant Memories”.


Fabrik Projects Gallery in Los Angeles welcomes ‘The Soul of Your City’ exhibition featuring the winning works of a global photography competition aimed at capturing the hidden spirit and identity of cities through the eyes of local photographers and their desire to explore and reveal often overlooked aspects of urban life. 

The upcoming exhibition of Young Masters Art Prize, presented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London represents an international initiative to support emerging talent from diverse backgrounds. Select artists from six editions will be featured at this year’s LA Art Show to showcase cultural diversity and female-identifying artists. 

In a new collaboration, the LA Art Show, Expanded Learning and Athletes for Life Foundation will launch the Southern California Art n the Schools Art Contest inviting SoCal students to submit their artwork. Founded by former NFL running back Greg Bell, Athletes for Life has  served youth programs since 1989. Winning artwork will be featured in a  sponsors’ lounge along with works from Greg Bell’s art collection.

The fair debuts with an opening night premiere party on Valentine’s Day hosted by award-winning actress Lucy Hale and LA Art Show’s new charity partner, American Heart Association celebrating its centennial. The LA Art Show will donate 15% of proceeds from every ticket to the American Heart Association’s Life is Why ™ campaign.

For more information and tickets, please visit www.LAArtShow.com.