Valet Parking

Update: TV personality and former model Cristina Ferrare and her husband, former ABC Entertainment President and Morning Light Productions founder Tony Thomopoulos, have sold their Wilshire Corridor condo for $2.8 million, the Multiple Listing Service shows. That's also how much they paid for the high-rise unit in 2003. Designed for entertaining, the contemporary 3,277-square-foot unit has 10-foot ceilings, marble and hardwood floors, an open-plan living and dining room and a breakfast room.

Italian favorite Gino Angelini finds a bigger stage, but is that necessarily better? 9201 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 278-2060, rivabellarestaurant.com PRICES Pizzas, $14-$27; antipasti, $10-$26; salads, $12-$22; pastas, $14-$22; main courses, $28-$40 DETAILS 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, 5:30-10:30 p.m. Sundays and Mondays, 5:30-11 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 5:30 p.m.-midnight Thursdays to Saturdays....

Re "Lords of the Lot," July 2: Good memories make up such an important part of our well-being and this article certainly brought them back. For three years I parked cars for Chuck Pick while I was in high school and truly enjoyed it. The hours were right and being the quintessential automobile fanatic, I figured it would be the last job I would ever have. However, Vladimir Kasl's comments accurately reflect the issues important to us at that time: We all wanted to have careers someday.

Valet parking operators in Los Angeles would be regulated for the first time under an ordinance the City Council approved unanimously on Wednesday. The new rules, subject to a second vote by the council, would require a valet operator in Los Angeles to obtain a permit, carry liability insurance, provide proof of off-street spaces for parking cars and ensure that valet workers had valid California driver's licenses. The ordinance would prohibit operators from using public street parking without permission and from blocking traffic.

Evening valet parking service began this week in the Glendale Urban Garage at 115 N. Maryland Ave., where parking is provided for The Exchange, a two-block area of shops, restaurants and a multiscreen theater. The service will enhance the attractiveness of the redevelopment project at Brand Boulevard and Broadway, northeast of the galleria, city officials said. Valets are available nightly from 6 p.m. to closing at the south entrance to the city-owned multilevel garage. The service costs $3.

Apparently there is a limit to how much people are willing to pay to pamper their cars and save a few minutes, even in car-crazy L.A. An effort at Bob Hope Airport to provide super luxury valet parking for $14,600 a year has been a flop and will be discontinued. Despite the upsides - reserved, extra-wide, covered spaces and shortened wait times - the deluxe valet service has not drawn a single customer. "We've had no takers since the product was introduced," said Clint Joy, a vice president for Standard Parking, which took over operations at Bob Hope last month.

City officials, hoping to lure shoppers away from suburban malls, today will start offering valet parking service downtown. Mayor Donald Canney said the 90-day experiment should lure more consumers to downtown by freeing shoppers from the hassles of finding parking spots at meters or in city garages. City employees in red vests and bow ties will set up a booth outside the largest downtown department store and will park shoppers' cars in city ramps for $2 above the normal parking fee.

Burbank Airport officials on Monday approved a 90-day test of valet parking at the airport, saying they hope that it will increase patronage while reducing congestion in the drop-off area outside the terminals and in the crowded short-term parking lot. The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority unanimously approved the plan, under which airport visitors can have their cars parked for a minimum of $6.

Valet parking is as commonplace in upscale Marina del Rey as boats, but boaters say it has no place in the Marina City Club parking lot, which they use when they board their vessels. The boat owners are protesting plans by the county Regional Planning Department to require valet parking for people who keep boats at the club's 340 boat slips. The plan is an attempt to compensate for parking spaces lost when a hotel is built at Tahiti Way and Via Marina.

The City Council, responding to downtown merchants' complaints about a new restaurant, tentatively decided this week to forbid valet parking services from using city streets or other public parking areas. Dave Fansler opened the restaurant, Wiliker's, on Manhattan Beach Boulevard in early November with 46 parking spaces, enough to meet city requirements. Jim Dolen, Wiliker's general manager, said the valets have parked an average of 20 cars a day, most of them in the restaurant's own lots.

It's a familiar scene in car-centric Los Angeles: Motorist drives up in expensive car to sidewalk lectern with "valet parking" sign. Motorist tosses keys to total stranger wearing black pants and white shirt. Convenience to some, menace to others, L.A.'s myriad parking valets could soon, for the first time, be subject to regulation. Critics complain that fly-by-night valets have turned trusting souls into cynics by failing to cover damage to vehicles or by lifting valuables from glove compartments.

Gusto Small soulful Italian from chef/owner Vic Casanova who revels in the food he loves to eat at this West Third Street spot - sweetbread Milanese, octopus with chickpeas and harissa, pappardelle with oxtail ragu, old-fashioned braciole, and affogato made with Intelligentsia coffee. Location: 8432 W. Third Street, Los Angeles (between Orlando Avenue. and La Cienega Boulevard), (323) 782-1778, gusto-la.com. Price: Small plates, $11 to $16; pizzas, $13 to $15; pasta, $14 to $17; main courses, $18 to $28; sides, $7; desserts, $7. Details: Open Tuesday to Thursday, 6 to 11 p.m.; Friday 6 to 11:30 p.m.; Saturday 5 to 11:30 p.m. and Sunday 5 to 10 p.m. Corkage, $20. Valet parking, $4.

An inspired gastropub with friendly service, cocktails and a concise menu of generous, polished small plates including housemade charcuterie. Location: 11520 W. Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 479-3000; http://www.freddysmalls.com Prices: Snacks, $4 to $8; "smalls," $14 to $20; salads and vegetables, $9 to $16; boards, $18 to $26; desserts, $8. Cocktails, $9 to $12. Details: Open 5:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday to Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Sunny Spot A Caribbean-inspired joint from chef Roy Choi, with rum cocktails, tropicalia and a reggae soundtrack. LOCATION 822 Washington Blvd., Venice, (310) 448-8884, sunnyspotvenice.com. PRICES Appetizers, $4 to $12; larger plates, $12 to $18 (and way up for special dishes); desserts, $4 to $8. DETAILS The kitchen is open 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 5 p.m. to midnight Thursday to Saturday. Credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking.

The City Council unanimously passed an ordinance last week prohibiting valet services from using public parking spaces, beginning in mid-April. A violation of the ordinance will be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $499. Businesses may be exempted from the ordinance, however, by getting a permit from the city manager. City Atty. Carl K. Newton indicated that the exception provision is intended primarily for special events.