| NEWS 05.21.09 8:00 AM |
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Events and Pop-Ups Are a Boon to Troubled Retail Real Estate—and Vice Versa
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 | Reebok's La Brea pop-up
Photo: Vero Image |
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The recession has brought a flurry of “For Lease” signs to the windows of Los Angeles retail spaces, which have been vacated with particular urgency in high-rent districts like Melrose Place, Robertson Boulevard, and Sunset Boulevard. But the bad news for real estate could be buoyed by corporate event and pop-up hosts using those same spaces—and likewise some hosts are finding that a vacant retail space can be an efficient and attractive venue choice.
“[The high retail vacancy is] definitely encouraging me, with any event, to walk around an area I like and look at all the retail spaces as a first protocol,” said Harrison & Shriftman national creative director Ryan Jordan, who recently chose vacant retail and parking structures for the likes of Allergan’s Latisse launch, and a launch for Russian designer Kira Plastinina (whose line filed for bankruptcy just months after its U.S. debut). “They’re a lot more cost effective, and it definitely increases your bargaining power, since they're already vacant—in New York, Miami, L.A.—everywhere.”
The Beverly Center, which occasionally hosts its own promotional events, is actively shopping for corporate event and pop-up hosts. “I've been talking to New Beauty magazine about doing a pop-up store [out of which the magazine would offer relevant] seminars, maybe for a month or a couple of months. We've been talking to Los Angeles magazine about doing the same thing for the tastemakers issue. Also we’ve been working with [an animal rescue] organization to do animal adoptions [out of the space formerly occupied by a] pet store, since their lease expired, which would allow us to lease the space later,” said Steve Valentine, a publicist for the mall (which may be facing a significant new PR problem after the murder of a young rapper in daylight there on Monday).
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RELATED TOPICS
Pop-Ups, Y-3, Reebok, Kira Plastinina, Allergan, Latisse, New Beauty Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, M.A.C. Cosmetics, Paper Magazine, Campari, Kitson, Johnnie Walker |
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| FRESH FACE 07.23.08 11:00 AM |
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New York-Based Production Studio's West Coast Counterpart
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Bicoastal Businesses: Jeremy Smith, an independent contractor with experience helping galleries and artists produce large-scale or technically challenging installations, may not have pictured himself working on events, but an opportunity came along that he couldn’t pass up. Peter Brown and Jeffrey Hatfield, founders of New York-based design and production firm Brooklyn Guild, wanted to open an office in Los Angeles and had their sights set on Angeleno resident Smith, who met Hatfield in Los Angeles through a mutual colleague. “We needed somebody we could trust with our clients and who could, if need be, hang from a crane and weld,” Hatfield says. Smith was intrigued by the company’s full-service approach to production: “Jeffrey really sold me with the design aspect,” Smith says. “[The position] gives me the chance to fabricate pieces and work with clients directly instead of only working in a studio, where it’s someone saying, ‘This is what I want; now make it.’ Instead, we’re getting a little more interaction with the client—you give them ideas and they give you ideas, so you’re really working together on the whole project.” In November 2007, the trio opened Los Angeles Guild, with Smith permanently based in the West Coast office and Brown and Hatfield managing both branches.
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RELATED TOPICS
M.A.C. Cosmetics, Dior, South by Southwest, Levi's, Stella McCartney |
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| NEWS 03.25.08 1:08 PM |
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Grown-Up Coloring Book Enlivens M.A.C.'s All-Pink Heatherette Launch
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 | Richie Rich and Traver Rains of Heatherette
Photo: Charley Gallay/WireImage |
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Beauty junkies took to the M.A.C. professional store on Robertson last Thursday to celebrate the L.A. launch of the cosmetic brand's newest line, a joint design by Richie Rich and Traver Rains, the designers behind Heatherette. The new line's hot-pink packaging served as the underlying theme for the event, which featured hot-pink lighting, decor, cocktails, and appetizers.
Body-painted models greeted guests at the entrance, where guests could make creative marks by painting on the models' bodies. In the spirit of creativity, staffers supplied colored pencils and showed guests to a wall that featured an uncolored mural of the Heatherette boys. The wall served as a coloring book, creating the playful atmosphere that M.A.C. and Heatherette organizers wanted to evoke for the launch. "It's all about fun, and makeup should be fun," Richie Rich said. —Shilpa Gopinath
RELATED TOPICS
Heatherette, M.A.C. Cosmetics |
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| MY FAVORITE VENDORS 02.08.08 5:22 PM |
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M.A.C. Chooses L.A. Models, Gadgethouse
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 | Seth Dolan
Photo: Tressa Matthews |
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Seth Dolan is the director of events for M.A.C. Cosmetics on the West Coast. Dolan works on a diverse slate of events each year, including product launches and retail and consumer events.
Video Production: “We work closely with Gadgethouse for nearly all of our projects. They can supply any video-related event project including plasma setup installations, live-feed screens for presentations and event projections, and production for animated video displays or event records. Gadgethouse always cuts incredible sizzle videos so we have exciting records of our events that can be used for anything, including at the events themselves.”
Catering: “My favorite vendor for catering is Good Gracious Events. Our events are very theatrical—they always tell a story, so everything needs to represent that story, including models, waitstaff, costumes, and the food. Every single detail needs to be consistent. Good Gracious is able to take a guideline or a menu that our creative department has come up with and translate that to the L.A. market in a beautiful way. They produce all of our events for food in Los Angeles, Orange County, and even Las Vegas.”
RELATED TOPICS
M.A.C. Cosmetics |
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| NEWS 11.02.07 3:25 PM |
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Hipster Haven Paper Event Series Returns to L.A.
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New York-based Paper magazine will bring its cool-kid magnet event series back to town next week, beginning Wednesday. The magazine and staff will host an array of events around town—formerly known as Paper Project L.A., now known as "Paper magazine's Los Angeles project"—while producing the February 2008 edition of the magazine (out of an art gallery space on La Brea in Hollywood) from reporting on its own series.
The five-day slate includes an art exhibition sponsored by M.A.C. Cosmetics in Hollywood, a dance party hosted by Paris boutique Colette with Jeremy Scott and Paper at the Montmartre Lounge (dress code: "bad-ass Michael Jackson monster looks"), a guitar shred-off battle and musical performance by Ima Robot presented by Levi’s at the Roxy, a Malibu beach party at short board surfer Pascal Stansfield's home, a book-signing party for Cheryl Dunn’s new book, Some Kind of Vocation, and an open-call setup on La Brea for fashion and looks to be included in the mag's issue.
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RELATED TOPICS
Paper Magazine, Pop-Ups, M.A.C. Cosmetics, Levi's |
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