Rodeo Drive

When Giorgio Beverly Hills was in its heyday, from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, Rodeo Drive was not lined with the kind of marquee designer flagships that are located there today. There was no Prada Epicenter, with its arty open facade, or faux Italianate Via Rodeo shopping complex (that was a parking lot). And there certainly was nothing like today's Bebe and Guess stores, which would seem better suited to a suburban shopping mall than a billionaire's boulevard. Back then, Rodeo Drive was a destination for locally owned independent boutiques, both hip and luxe, including Theodore, where retailer Herb Fink sold the Brigitte Bardot-St.

Missoni is having a moment. Last month, the Italian luxury label's Missoni for Target collaboration was so hotly sought after that it caused the retailer's website to crash. EBay was flooded with resales of the stuff — some 21,000 items at one point — at inflated prices, including a pair of boots a Tulsa, Okla., woman posted for $31,000, in hopes, she wrote in the auction listing, of funding her daughter's college tuition. Orders for the Missoni spring 2012 ready-to-wear line got a post-frenzy boost, and the company is pondering a mid-priced line.

He's been called the godfather of Rodeo Drive. And it's not all hyperbole. Before Beverly Hills was the land of designer logos, before it was teeming with tourists and rolling with Rolls-Royces, the city was home to Fred Hayman, the proprietor of the Giorgio Beverly Hills boutique. Hayman was an architect of luxury in Los Angeles, bringing high fashion, a social shopping atmosphere and white glove service to what was still a sleepy main street when he went into retail in 1967 at the age of 38. During the 31 years he ruled the retail roost from his perch under Giorgio's signature yellow and gold awnings, he cultured relationships with designers and celebrities and set a new standard for fashion parties, helping to promote Los Angeles as an international style center.

I ate deep-fried butter at the Orange County Fair. And I'm not apologizing for it. Let's face it — going to a county fair is like getting a free pass to Junk Food Land. All bets are off. No one gives you the admonishing finger if you follow a platter of funnel cake with a deep-fried Oreo chaser. In fact, as I carried around the deep-fried butter, I was bestowed admiring glances from other fair-goers. You have to love a place that offers something called a "Coronary Combo" of deep-fried butter and chocolate-covered bacon.

Real estate may be in the doldrums, but Rodeo Drive is still Rodeo Drive when it comes to property prices. The Hugo Boss building on Beverly Hills' famous shopping street has been purchased by Hong Kong-based investors for $28 million in one of the highest per-square-foot prices paid for commercial real estate since the recession began, the seller's broker said Wednesday. Rodeo Drive has such cachet that many high-profile retailers want to be there even if their rents are too high in some cases for them to turn a profit at that location, said broker Dave Feldman of Marcus & Millichap.

Badgley Mischka, a brand that's walked more red carpets than Nicole Kidman and Cameron Diaz combined, has finally opened the store its two designers ? Mark Badgley and James Mischka ? have always dreamed of. The new Badgley Mischka boutique, on storied Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, is the second L.A. store for the New York-based label (the other is in West Hollywood), but it's the first to feature the breadth of the brand's offerings, said the designers. "The new store is fantastic because of its size," said Badgley.

There are sales and there are sales. One selective thief broke into the Weathervane shop in Santa Monica on Christmas and stole the entire Matsuda line--blazers, velvet jackets, trousers, coats and vests. "A lot of customers asked, 'Where do they resell it? We can buy it cheap,' " said sales manager Kirsten Hall. "It could be in any little store anywhere," she replied.

Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier. Jewelry boutiques on Rodeo Drive tend to be of the big-brand, high-wattage variety. But the tony shopping row is now home to one of the industry's more irreverent players ? Solange Azagury-Partridge. The London-based designer ? famous for bold, playful designs ? has launched her first West Coast boutique here, an 864-square-foot jewel box of a shop that echoes the signature mix of luxe and bohemian found in her eponymous jewelry collection.

The fifth annual Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award will go to famed shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo, known for fitting the feet of Hollywood stars. The ceremony will be held Oct. 8, when members of the Ferragamo family will accept the award on behalf of the designer, who died in 1960. Born in southern Italy, Ferragamo came to the United States in 1914 and began his career creating custom-made shoes for film studios.

DEAR HOT: I have some relatives coming to town who saw the film "Pretty Woman" and loved it. I thought it would be fun to take them to some of the shops Julia Roberts went to in Beverly Hills. Could you list them? --A.M., West L.A. DEAR A.M.: That movie was the ultimate shopper's dream, wasn't it? What we'd give to be able to spend limitlessly on Rodeo Drive--and have a pizza thrown in as well.

When Giorgio Beverly Hills was in its heyday, from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, Rodeo Drive was not lined with the kind of marquee designer flagships that are located there today. There was no Prada Epicenter, with its arty open facade, or faux Italianate Via Rodeo shopping complex (that was a parking lot). And there certainly was nothing like today's Bebe and Guess stores, which would seem better suited to a suburban shopping mall than a billionaire's boulevard. Back then, Rodeo Drive was a destination for locally owned independent boutiques, both hip and luxe, including Theodore, where retailer Herb Fink sold the Brigitte Bardot-St.

He's been called the godfather of Rodeo Drive. And it's not all hyperbole. Before Beverly Hills was the land of designer logos, before it was teeming with tourists and rolling with Rolls-Royces, the city was home to Fred Hayman, the proprietor of the Giorgio Beverly Hills boutique. Hayman was an architect of luxury in Los Angeles, bringing high fashion, a social shopping atmosphere and white glove service to what was still a sleepy main street when he went into retail in 1967 at the age of 38. During the 31 years he ruled the retail roost from his perch under Giorgio's signature yellow and gold awnings, he cultured relationships with designers and celebrities and set a new standard for fashion parties, helping to promote Los Angeles as an international style center.

Bijan Pakzad, an Iranian American designer of jewelry, fragrances and luxury menswear who ran a Beverly Hills boutique and was renowned as clothier to some of the world's most powerful men, died Saturday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family said. Pakzad's family maintained he was 67 despite some public records that listed his age as 71. Pakzad suffered a stroke while working Thursday and was rushed to the hospital but never recovered, said his 19-year-old son, Nicolas Bijan Pakzad.

Even on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, one of the world's most expensive stretches of commercial real estate, the nation's economic woes have claimed a longtime employee. Because of budget problems, the city's visitors bureau has laid off its official ambassador, who has welcomed hundreds of tourists and visitors on Rodeo Drive for the last 11 years. Gregg Donovan, 51, the top-hat-wearing former hotel concierge, got his walking papers last month. No longer will he stroll Rodeo Drive, welcoming tourists to such high-end stores as Gianni Versace, Jimmy Choo and Battaglia.

Paul Picerni Prolific character actor Paul Picerni, 88, a prolific character actor who costarred in the television series "The Untouchables" and was featured in the 1953 horror movie "House of Wax," died Jan. 12 of a heart attack at his home in the Antelope Valley community of Llano, said his daughter, Maria Atkinson-Bates. He was pronounced dead at Palmdale Regional Medical Center. Picerni portrayed Agent Lee Hobson, sidekick to Eliot Ness, played by series star Robert Stack.

Badgley Mischka, a brand that's walked more red carpets than Nicole Kidman and Cameron Diaz combined, has finally opened the store its two designers ? Mark Badgley and James Mischka ? have always dreamed of. The new Badgley Mischka boutique, on storied Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, is the second L.A. store for the New York-based label (the other is in West Hollywood), but it's the first to feature the breadth of the brand's offerings, said the designers. "The new store is fantastic because of its size," said Badgley.

A new contestant is about to enter Orange County's designer derby. Louis Vuitton U.S.A. Inc., one of the premier names in designer luggage and handbags, plans to open a South Coast Plaza store in November--just a year after rival Gucci Shops Inc. opened its doors at the same mall. The addition of the upscale store signals that South Coast Plaza developer Henry Segerstrom is continuing his drive to turn a wing of the center into a sort of Rodeo Drive South.

Two Rodeo, a well-known Beverly Hills shopping center that houses some of the world's biggest names in luxury goods, has been bought by Irish investors for $275 million. Sloane Capital's purchase of the complex at Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard demonstrates how choice real estate is still in demand even though the recent credit crunch related to sub-prime home loans is sending jitters through the financial and residential real estate markets. Tiffany & Co.

British fine jewelry designer Stephen Webster is famous for treating diamonds, emeralds and rubies with an irreverence typically reserved for rhinestones. Recent pieces from his eponymous collection include a ring festooned with a giant lobster made of diamonds and red corral, a bracelet featuring pave-set poison ivy in yellow gold and rings symbolizing the seven deadly sins ? "lust," for example, boasts a brilliant blue tanzanite stone surrounding by feverishly reaching arms and legs rendered in white gold.

The cast members of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" insist they're not ladies who lunch. Ignore the fact that they're at Villa Blanca in Beverly Hills shortly before noon poking at platters topped with ahi tuna tartare, crispy rock shrimp, and smoked salmon pizza. "This is a rarity. Really, it is," said Lisa Vanderpump-Todd, one of the newest inductees to the "Housewives" franchise who also happens to own the restaurant. "We're really not women who lunch. I mean, look at these ladies.