Shabby

We recently stayed at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel in Victoria, B.C., because your newspaper recommended this establishment ("Everything But the Queen," June 17, 1990). We felt the room was shabby and overpriced ($168). We are uncertain exactly where the rooms were that were described in your article, but we clearly had one of the worst rooms in the house for nearly the highest rate. We also stayed at Abigail's, based on the same article, and were extremely pleased. For the same price as the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, we had a beautiful room with a Jacuzzi bath, a fireplace and a great breakfast.

At a time when weathered woods, vintage treasures and timeworn flea market finds are enjoying a renaissance in the decorating world, it is more than a bit ironic that Rachel Ashwell, the queen of Shabby Chic, finds herself rebuilding her empire. Just two years ago, Ashwell was forced to closed the doors on 15 of her Shabby Chic stores and file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a casualty in the housing market meltdown and ensuing recession. Her beloved mum, the muse to whom she dedicated her last book, had just passed away.

Designer Rachel Ashwell, the creator of the Shabby Chic brand, has sold her Malibu cottage for $3.55 million. The one-story home, behind the gates of Malibu Colony, has limestone flooring, a master suite with an office area and separate one-bedroom, one-bathroom guest quarters. In total there are four bedrooms, four bathrooms and 1,783 square feet of living space. A brick patio and spa are surrounded by gardens. Ashwell focuses on comfortable, practical designs and time-worn objects.

Try not to get too excited, but "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Cheryl Hines and her husband, producer Paul Young , have put their gated Brentwood home on the market at $4,249,000. The Mandeville Canyon-area estate, built in 1951, sits on about two-thirds of an acre with mountain views and a swimming pool. The renovated Cape Cod-inspired house has an open floor plan and was designed for indoor-outdoor entertaining. The detached guesthouse includes a kitchen. In all, there are six bedrooms, 5 1/2 bathrooms and more than 4,900 square feet of living space.

Regarding downtown Ventura and extensive article Dec. 8: In my view the real problem is that downtown is shabby and shoddy and very, very dirty. The sidewalks that have just been rebuilt were never sealed and are already stained. Gutters are dirty and storefronts look neglected. It just presents an unwelcome appearance, and you don't have a comfortable feeling being there. MARVIN KAPLAN, Ventura

Bollywood mega-star Shah Rukh Khan returned to India today, telling fans that the U.S. immigration screening process was discriminatory and involved bizarre and irrelevant questions -- even as he denied that his strong reaction was a publicity stunt for his upcoming movie. Khan, 43, was taken for secondary screening at Newark Airport for about 90 minutes Friday, which he said happened because of his Muslim name and South Asian origin. Khan was on his way to Chicago to attend a celebration for Saturday's Indian Independence Day. In recent months, he's traveled repeatedly to Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York to shoot his upcoming film "My Name Is Khan," about the discrimination Muslims have faced in the U.S. since Sept.

Re: "Buffett Posts Negative Outlook in Annual Letter," March 11: The article on Warren Buffett's comments about the shabby ethics of many business leaders in our country is right on. It should have appeared on the front page under a banner headline. Peter Weisbrod Laguna Beach

"Me thinks Dornan doth protest too much." Dornan's grandstanding efforts in Room 518 of the King David hotel in Jerusalem to whitewash his anti-Semitic remarks in Congress are fooling no one. Innocent he is not. Shabby, shabby, tacky, tacky! Dornan is a buffoon, crude, vulgar--a dangerous opportunist. DONNA VINETZ Santa Monica

Your editorial (June 2) rapping the California Angels for charging small children $7 to sit out of sight of beer and home plate tore the cover off a shabby marketing gimmick. JEROME F. COLLINS Irvine

In response to Morris Fleck's letter "Buy American" (Nov. 4): No, Mr. Fleck, sorry, it is not the U.S. consumers' fault for our financial difficulties. Someone has to react and rebel against shabby products. Who else can do that better than all of us patronizing top quality at competitive prices, whether or not products are U.S. made or foreign made? I will be the first to buy American when I see reliable quality in American goods. It is certainly not un-American to buy quality products even if they are foreign made rather than continue to cultivate shabby, inferior manufacturing and padded executive and stockholders' pocketbooks in the guise of "patriotism."

Designer Rachel Ashwell, the creator of the Shabby Chic brand, has sold her Malibu cottage for $3.55 million. The one-story home, behind the gates of Malibu Colony, has limestone flooring, a master suite with an office area and separate one-bedroom, one-bathroom guest quarters. In total there are four bedrooms, four bathrooms and 1,783 square feet of living space. A brick patio and spa are surrounded by gardens. Ashwell focuses on comfortable, practical designs and time-worn objects.

The Lakers won a game, but it was hard to tell. They're now 1-0 in the Western Conference semifinals, though there were no smiles in their locker room Sunday at Staples Center. A 104-99 victory over the Utah Jazz felt almost like a loss to them, even though Kobe Bryant had his best shooting game in five weeks, Pau Gasol continued his steady play and the Lakers managed to win despite only 39 hours to recover from the fleet feet of the Oklahoma City Thunder, no small concern for a veteran, banged-up team.

Bollywood mega-star Shah Rukh Khan returned to India today, telling fans that the U.S. immigration screening process was discriminatory and involved bizarre and irrelevant questions -- even as he denied that his strong reaction was a publicity stunt for his upcoming movie. Khan, 43, was taken for secondary screening at Newark Airport for about 90 minutes Friday, which he said happened because of his Muslim name and South Asian origin. Khan was on his way to Chicago to attend a celebration for Saturday's Indian Independence Day. In recent months, he's traveled repeatedly to Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York to shoot his upcoming film "My Name Is Khan," about the discrimination Muslims have faced in the U.S. since Sept.

Joe Saunders didn't have his best stuff, calling Tuesday night's start "the definition of a battle." Shortstop Erick Aybar took his eyes off a routine throw from first base, a mental gaffe that cost two runs. Chone Figgins and Kendry Morales broke one of baseball's unwritten rules -- thou shall not make the first or third out at third base -- by making the first and third outs of the seventh inning at third base.

AS an architectural photographer and confirmed "house-aholic," Mary E. Nichols has seen many a residential wreck. But the 1908 specimen at 212 S. Wilton Place -- part of an L.A. street listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- was a house of horrors. Nichols and partner Keith Wood, an ex-rocker with a talent for restoring old houses, took possession in 2006.

As assistants scurry about, carrying furniture from one room to the next in Rachel Ashwell's Brentwood house, a photography team frets that the butter-colored sofa it's shooting appears too golden. The lighting is off, sure, but there's something else that's not quite right. "You see how it's not straight," Ashwell says, jumping into the frame to rearrange pillows in just the right way, then running to a bedroom to grab a flea market oil painting for the background.

I read with incredulity of the $16-million Long Beach proposal to disguise oil derricks as redwood pillars, conceal shabby properties with wave-decorated walls, attempt to cover street noises with the "music" of a giant whale chime, and refer to a city of 500,000 as a "village" (Times, Nov. 4). The thought that kept running through my head was "Potemkin Village." Over 200 years ago, a powerful Russian leader, charged by Empress Catherine II with the task of colonizing the Ukrainian Steppes, undertook vast and expensive developments.

I take issue with your Oct. 29 editorial asking for a "yes" vote on four of five public works bond measures requiring billions of dollars and many years to pay off. Our state needs to learn to live within its means and not put itself in such a gross amount of debt. The voters have in the past mistakenly voted for bonds without realizing that over time the debt we have to pay back is much more than the initial bond amount. Selling bonds is a shabby way to run our state government and a slick way for politicians to get us to pay more.

Mayday, Mayday! There's a new Gucci opening at the Beverly Center, a Shabby Chic dress installation in Malibu and a Stella McCartney trunk show in West Hollywood. Not enough? Take your pick of runway shows: eco-friendly in Santa Monica, whiz-kid fashion students downtown or emerging designers at Barkar Hangar. Check for weekly updates at latimes.com/image and feel free to tip us off at the Exchange. OPENINGS Escada Could it be that Escada is trying to pull a St. John?

ON a pre-dinner stroll through the Pearl District, we passed blocks of shiny new boutiques selling high-end design books, dog grooming services and $75 sweaters for babies. High-rise condos and bustling restaurants seemed to have sprung up on every elegant, cobblestoned corner. I turned to my husband, Michael. "This is amazing," I said. "It's all new." He rolled his eyes. It was the fifth time in 10 minutes I'd expressed such sentiments.