By
OCInSite Site Admin
on January 12, 2012 2:51 PM
By Kelly Shannon & NBM Staff
Photo Jody Tiongco
Emanating a breezy, low-maintenance style that has become quintessential California cool, the Merritt Charles clothing brand (merrittcharles.com) fuses high-end fashion with ultimate comfort in loose cuts and earthy colors. It’s founder, Lacey Horning, a Newport Beach native who is now based in L.A., says she aims to “create closet staples that [her] customer can hold onto for life,”—the same way she assembles her own personal wardrobe. NBM recently met up with the young entrepreneur at Zinc Café & Market in Corona del Mar to discuss her label. Donning one of her own creations—a European-inspired lace cardigan—the always-stylish designer glowed with excitement while recounting her journey into the clothing industry.
NBM: Where does the name Merritt Charles come from?
LH: It’s a family name that belonged to my grandfather and has since been passed down to my father, brother and nephew.
NBM: What type of woman is the Merritt Charles brand designed for?
LH: The sophisticated, classic and desired woman.
NBM: From what do you draw artistic inspiration?
LH: My affinity for travel and nature, as well as my coastal roots. The vibe is perfectly transcribed to my collections and the relaxed feel of the pieces.
NBM: Top travel spots?
LH: Sardinia, Barcelona and Croatia.
NBM: You went from no experience in the fashion industry to developing your own brand—how did you manage that?
LH: I researched and asked a lot of questions. I was passionate about what I was doing, so that was definitely a driving force.
NB: You’ve said you’re also inspired by the ‘60s and ’70s—what, specifically, about this time inspires you?
LH: The free expression of art and style that developed during those times. These two decades have always been most inspirational to me; however, I have recently grown a strong fascination with the ’30s and ’40s.
NBM: Who in history do you relate to most?
LH: Bridget Bardot and Leslie Lawson
NBM: If you weren’t in fashion, what would you be doing?
LH: I think about that almost everyday—there are so many things that I want to do, although, currently, this is my main focus.
NBM: What’s your favorite piece from your line?
LH: The Charcot Cardigan.
NBM: One staple you can’t live without?
LH: My Tom Ford Sunnies.
NBM: Three items you always travel with?
LH: My passport, sunglasses and cell phone.
NBM: Describe your personal style in one word.
LH: Classic.
NBM: One fashion trend that you refuse to follow?
LH: Bling-y things.
NBM: And one you most adore?
LH: Scrunchies.
NBM: An item every California girl should have?
LH: A good pair of classic Levis.
NBM: What’s next for M.C.?
LH:A greater focus on further East Coast and international expansion!
By
Micaela Myers
on December 09, 2011 9:58 AM
Cover shot by James Cant
Laguna Beach is stunning—the ocean, the mountains, the art scene, the charming cottages and modern mansions. But perhaps the town’s greatest asset is behind those doors.
“I think you could knock on almost any door in Laguna and find an interesting person who has very unique life experiences,” comments Mayor Toni Iseman. “We’re blessed with an abundance of talent.”
Indeed we are. As we present our list of the town’s most influential people, consider the enormous breadth of the selectees: from activists like author Arnold Hano, who helped de-segregate Laguna Beach’s barbershops when he moved here in the 1950s, co-founded Laguna Village and now spends his time working to aid the town’s homeless population; to businessmen like Firebrand Media’s own Allan Simon, who often buys up empty buildings and helps fill them with key businesses like Katsuya and Hurley—keeping the town vibrant and thriving.
To find out what drives those on our list to continue working to make the town the best it can be, we also asked each person, “What’s one thing you’d like to see change in Laguna?”
“The most powerful people in Laguna are the people that are getting up every morning and trying to make Laguna a better place for themselves and their community,” gallerist Peter Blake says.
In that spirit, our list of influential people includes entrepreneurs, activists, real estate gurus, educators, business leaders, art visionaries and more—people you’ve heard of, some only a few of you know, but all important parts of the Laguna Beach community.
Coming up with this list was no easy task. We asked the community for nominations, made lists of our own and met countless times to narrow it down. Even after all that, we realize there are many more people worthy of inclusion, so consider this part one. (Let us know whom you would like to see featured next year: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).)
“Without question, there are many others far more deserving of this interview than me,” says Derek Ostensen, president of the Laguna Canyon Foundation. “And I suppose that speaks to the fact that we all comprise part of the whole—this dynamic mix of artists, educators, civic leaders, agitators, businesses and so much more.”
That dynamic mix is far more inter-connected than first meets the eye. Virtually everyone on our list goes beyond their professional title to volunteer in the community—a wealth of talent working to make Laguna Beach the best place to live, work and dream.
To see the full article, check out the December/January issue of Laguna Beach Magazine, or watch for the digital version on lagunabeachmagazine.com. In the meantime, here are three bonus selectees.
The Paddler
Tommy Donnelly: owner of the Stand Up Paddle Co.
“Tommy Donnelly and his team built a brand around SUP in Laguna,” comments XS Energy’s David Vanderveen. That brand celebrates its two-year anniversary in April.
Photo by Kri Sado
“What brought me to opening up a store was just helping a friend and teaching him lessons in standup paddleboarding,” Tommy says. “And then everyone started asking where to get a board, and there was no place to buy a standup board, so I immediately saw the future of the sport.
“My goals are to open up more retail stores—at least two a year. We’re looking in Newport Beach now and San Diego and Malibu. And we’re launching our own brand of boards and full clothing line of practical paddling wear.”
SUP Co.’s influence on the community is also growing (beyond all those paddle lessons you see taking place just offshore).
“We work with Zero Trash in Laguna. We supply the boards too to people that need them. We go out in the ocean and we paddle around out there and pick up trash.” SUP Co. also donates boards to kids’ programs, such as the Mauli Ola Foundation for children with cystic fibrosis, and to Laguna Beach High School’s paddleboarding team.
One thing Tommy would like to see change in Laguna? “I would get the oceans cleaner, which we’re working on now. There’s a lot of trash out there floating around. On the streets, everything runs into the ocean. You can’t see it when you’re surfing or doing any other sport, but when you’re standing up and paddling, there’s a lot of trash out there.”
The Boogie Board Inventor
Tom Morey: of TomMorey.com
Tom was raised in Laguna Beach and took that creative spirit into his music and water-sports inventions, including the first boogie board. “My drive is artistic—not necessarily about canvas and paint,” he says, “but whatever you’re doing if you come out of Laguna, you’re going to have that artistic influence about it.”
After college, Tom found he had talent as a drummer and went on tour. “My time was split in between music and surfing, which became surfboard building.”
Photo by Tom Morey
He was living in Hawaii when his experimental prototypes led him to invent the modern-day boogie board. “My intentions were to build a super high-speed board for the biggest waves anybody would surf. I found this flexible closed-cell foam material called polyethylene foam, which I could use as the core material between my body and a fiberglass bottom that would be durable and skip along the bottom. … I created the prototype, and it didn’t work very well. It broke easily.”
But he was undeterred.
He’d seen foam blown into molds with a layer of paper going first. Tom grabbed some newspaper and tried this method for his board. It was a success, and the boogie board was born. “Incidentally the newspaper copy transferred to the foam shell, and that’s how I made the first one, which I still have,” he says.
Today, Tom still creates boards—surfboards these days, along with his business partner and Laguna Beach childhood friend, Chuck Herpick. He also performs with the Laguna Beach Jazz Quartet, which just released an album.
What’s one thing Tom would like to see change in Laguna? Too much dog poop and owners that don’t pick it all up.
The Family Broker
John Stanaland: broker and partner of HOM Real Estate Group
For John, real estate is a multi-generational family affair.
“My grandparents were originally developers in town,” he says. “They developed Portofino, Nyes, Balboa—all that area. I’ve been here my whole life. I’ve got three children I’ve raised in the community. It’s an amazing place to live. There’s no place like it—the people, the feel, the atmosphere, the quaintness.”
Photo by John Stanaland
John’s been in the real estate business his entire life and is now teaching his sons, Tyler and Trevor, the tricks of the trade. “My role in the community is being a father, husband and lifelong resident,” he says. Part of that role is also supporting important community organizations. “I’ve been a sponsor of Hearts of Montage, SchoolPower, Laguna Beach Police, breakfasts and awards. I’ve supported and sponsored Laguna Beach volleyball.”
What’s one thing John would like to see change in Laguna? “There is absolutely nothing I would change about Laguna. It’s paradise.”
To nominate people you’d like to see profiled in the future, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
*Outtakes overheard:
Here are a few of the quotes that didn’t make it into the article…
-Karyn Phillipsen on her love of food: “If they cook monkey brains and the sauce is good, I’ll eat it.”
-Chris Keller on goals: “Personally, losing about 20 pounds …”
-Mark Christy on how he came to Laguna: “My dad had two attractive job offers, and it was a coin flip between Laguna and Lake Elsinore. Thank God for tails.”
-Sam Goldstein on things he’d like to see change in Laguna: “Our economy is based on parking meters, and yet we don’t have enough parking meters because we don’t have enough parking.”
-Paul Naudé on Laguna Beach: “I think it’s a cocoon in the middle of a madness so to speak.”
-Tom Morey on what he’d like to see change in Laguna: “It’s not healthy to have all that dog [feces]. That’s what bothers me most about Laguna.”
-Kelly Boyd on things we can’t print: “This is off the record, right?”
By
Ashley Breeding
on December 01, 2011 12:56 PM
Have you ever attended the Brooks Street Surf Classic, hung out at the Saloon or wandered into a local art gallery and wondered, “Who is that fine specimen of a man, and is he single?” Let Laguna Beach Magazine answer that question for you. This spring, we will reveal Laguna’s 15 most eligible bachelors.
To make sure we don’t leave any key players out, nominate yourself, your friends, neighbors or coworkers (please, no bad ex-boyfriends). Everyone living or working in LB is eligible.
Please send the nominee’s name, a photo, his contact information, and a brief statement why you think he deserves to be featured to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) by Jan. 15, 2012.
By
Lauren Simon
on October 13, 2011 9:10 AM
Photos by Sean Armenta
It was more than 100 years ago that C.J. Segerstrom and four of his sons invested in the now legendary family farm that was to become the homestead and lifeblood of one of Orange County’s most prominent families.
Two of those sons—Anton and Harold—also had sons—Henry and Harold, Jr.—and so the business passed on to them. Now into its fourth generation, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons has a more feminine face: Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, who is co-managing partner of the family’s multimillion-dollar business, along with her uncle Henry.
How the Segerstroms turned their modest family farm into a mega-real estate empire is local legend, but how Sandy (the youngest daughter of Harold, Jr.) rose to her prominent position is well-kept family business. What we do know is that Sandy grew up at the same time as the family’s crown jewel: South Coast Plaza. But she always thought of herself as a farmer’s daughter, not an heir to a real estate empire.
“When South Coast Plaza opened, I was 4, so the only thing I knew was, ‘Wow, we’ve got a carousel,’” she says. “My parents were really good about not instilling in us, ‘Oh, you own South Coast Plaza.’ When we went to school and people asked what my parents did, I said, well, my dad’s a farmer. We have a farm.”
As Sandy got older and the Segerstrom family began to expand its real estate holdings, Sandy and her siblings—two older sisters and an older brother—lived a quintessential California childhood, with both of her parents dedicated players in their children’s lives.
Sandy recalls that when she played flute in the high school marching band, “We’d march from Santa Ana High School down the street over to the stadium. And my dad would come home that night with one of our ranch trucks that has the big light on top, and he would be the leader or the follower… for our safety.” Likewise, Sandy’s mother, Jeanette, was a band booster. “She’d ride on buses for three or four hours to wherever the parade was, and she’d be dealing out water just like the other band moms,” Sandy says.
“They didn’t spoil us,” Sandy recalls. “I had to raise the money to buy my first 10-speed bike. And then my dad said I had to put the money in a savings account after I raised it, and I thought, ‘Well, that’s really unfair.’ But then he took me out and bought me the bike I wanted. He just wanted to know that I wanted it enough to raise the money to do it.”
Sandy attended Cal State Fullerton to study music and, later, photography. It was during college that she married her husband, John Daniels, and soon had their daughter Tiffany.
As a young mother, Sandy intended to pursue commercial photography, but less than a year after getting her college degree, she joined C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, one of the first women in the family to do so. “There were things going on in the family business, and I just kind of felt that I was needed there,” she says. “I worked my way in and never left.”
Being a young woman in a family business that had been dominated by men for generations was sometimes a challenge, Sandy admits, especially at the beginning. “There were times where it was a little difficult, especially being the girl in the business,” she says. “I can’t even tell you how many times I boxed up my office and was going to go out the door, but something always kept me here.”
That something solidified when both of Sandy’s parents died and their portion of the family business was left in equal parts to each of their four children: Sandy, her sisters Susan and Sally, and her brother Ted. Sally works for the company part time, but, as Sandy explains, “All four of us siblings are basically equal managing partners in that we have a management company, but since I’m the only one that works here full time, they refer to me as the managing partner with Henry.”
As a prominent community leader, Sandy is known as much for her philanthropic work as she is for real estate. One of the most notable beneficiaries of her efforts is Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), where she is in her 11th year as co-chair of the CHOC Follies, an annual, original musical performance that has netted more than $5.5 million for the hospital.
“CHOC Children’s is extremely fortunate to count on Sandy as one of our biggest advocates,” says CHOC president and CEO Kim Cripe. “Her energy and passion are inspiring.”
In addition to co-chairing the Follies, Sandy has performed in it for the last nine years. Because of her music background, she says she can carry a tune. But she adds, modestly, “I can’t carry it very far.” And dancing? “Oh, my gosh, I had five left feet when I started the program,” she says. “Now I only have three.”
Sandy’s signature charity is the annual Festival of Children, a monthlong event that she launched 10 years ago in which more than 80 children’s charities set up information booths at South Coast Plaza to promote their services to the community. During the Festival, South Coast Plaza hosts more than 100 arts, culture and educational activities, workshops and performances, all of which are free to the public.
A year after Sandy started the festival, she started the Festival of Children Foundation. Rather than support one specific cause, the foundation provides funding, programming, collaboration opportunities and public relations assistance to more than 400 member charities across the United States. For example, the foundation offers seminars, webinars and other educational courses on topics such as fundraising and nonprofit management, operates a resource library, and matches its members with organizations that provide pro bono legal and graphic design services.
Kim Cripe, Sammy Heim and Sandy Daniels at a CHOC event.
It is through the foundation that Sandy has successfully taken her cause to the halls of the nation’s capitol. For the last three years, thanks to her efforts, Congress has designated September as National Child Awareness Month, the goal of which is to focus national attention on the challenges faced by children and encourage the public to get involved with children’s charities.
“No one is telling her what to do, she is just doing it because it’s the right thing to do,” says foundation board member and Wahoo’s founder Wing Lam. “Now she has other cities asking her to show them how to start similar programs in their towns.”
Sandy Daniels with Wing Lam at Capital Grill.
The Segerstrom family has a long history in Newport Beach, and Sandy and her siblings are continuing the traditions. All four siblings live in the same part of town, and Sandy and one of her sisters live on the same street.
Through the Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation, the siblings support many charitable causes, such as Orange County High School of the Arts and Pacific Symphony. Orange County’s largest performing arts venue bears the family name, as does the new science center at Azusa Pacific University.
Just this summer, the elder Segerstroms held a family meeting to introduce the next generation of eight 20-somethings to the ins-and-outs of the family business. The extended family gets together on weekends and holidays at the family homestead on the bay, where they have two boats.
“My grandparents rented a house on the bay long before I was even born, and then my parents took over the lease on it,” Sandy says. “I always had a bike down there because I loved riding the bike path, and now I ride it all the way to Sunset Beach. I still love doing that.”
Sandy and John frequent Mastro’s Ocean Club and Balboa Bay Club for dinner, and sometimes they can even be seen at the Fun Zone on Balboa Island, where Sandy enjoys an occasional game of skeeball. Much of her fun, though, comes from her work on behalf of the family. “I hate Fridays, and I can’t wait for Mondays,” she says.
By
Lauren Simon
on October 07, 2011 9:06 AM
Jorg in the midst of his creativity.
Photos by Jody Tiongco
Gallerist Peter Blake visited his longtime friend and painter Jorg Dubin one day several years ago to have his portrait painted. It had been a bad day for Peter, but he did his best to pose for Jorg in a way that, he says, would make him look “strong and confident,” rather than worried and upset, as he really had been. About six weeks later when the portrait was completed, Peter was shocked.
“I looked at the portrait and all I could see was everything that had been going through my head that morning—that kind of fear, that ‘oh my god, what am I going to do… ,” he recalls. “This portrait said everything about my mental state that day. Regardless of how hard I had tried to hide it, Jorg picked up on it and he exposed it.”
Honesty—the basis of Jorg’s signature painting style—often provokes a certain level of discomfort among viewers. Even fans that know and appreciate his work sometimes commission him to paint their portraits, and then don’t even want the paintings after they see them.
“He paints you for all your ugly and all your beautiful and whatever there is, but he’s not masking anything,” says Peter, who is Jorg’s agent of 18 years. Jorg’s portraits “show a side of [the subject] that they know is there, but they don’t want the world to see.”
On the Surface
A self-taught painter, sculptor, furniture-maker, musician and longtime Laguna Beach resident, Jorg has always been controversial, some might even say surly. His resume is impressive and includes exhibitions throughout California, as well as New York, Seattle and the National Portrait Gallery in our nation’s capital. His landscape paintings and sculptures are currently featured in the inaugural show at the Orange County Great Park Gallery in Irvine, and he has more than a handful of public art pieces on display in and around Laguna Beach.
You also might not suspect that Jorg has so much fire in his belly if you meet him casually on the street. The Laguna Beach Arts Commission recently unanimously voted to award him a commission for a commemorative sculpture to be installed in Heisler Park to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Dressed in a crisp button-down shirt and tailored trousers, with closely cropped red hair and pale skin, the 55-year-old artist looks every bit the professional as he explains his design: two original 6-foot I-beams from the fallen World Trade Center mounted on posts and set askew above a 30-inch mirror-polished stainless steel sphere.
“I really wanted to present these two artifacts in a way that highlights the horror of the event but does not place them on a pedestal as precious objects,” Jorg says. Moreover, his design invites viewers to “touch [the beams] and interact with them,” he adds. The mirrored sphere, which reflects objects near the sculpture, helps viewers understand how their personal stories and remembrances of that infamous day are now part of the nation’s communal history. This design, this presentation, this thoughtfulness obviously comes from a man who is deeply and emotionally connected to how people interact with the world and his work.
On the other hand, there is something unnerving—even disturbing—about many of Jorg’s figurative paintings.
His most recent show at Peter Blake Gallery, for example, featured a collection of paintings of mixed martial arts fighters posed alongside scantily clad women who appeared much smaller than the men and were posed in submissive positions. One of the paintings, called “Submit: Humility,” reversed the genders, showing a woman in the dominant position standing above a naked and bloodied man lying on the floor.
The style and content matter was not unusual for Jorg, who often paints men clothed in distinctive dress (priest, hoodlum, luchadore, custodian, clown) standing in strong, aggressive poses. Women in his paintings often appear nude or in partial undress. Sometimes the subjects (men and women) seem powerful, sometimes beautiful, sometimes thoughtful, but they are almost always sexually charged, such as in “Welcome,” in which two women smile while standing in a pool of blood wearing only their underwear and carrying semi-automatic weapons.
When asked about his controversial subject matter, Jorg is unapologetic. “I really want to feel strongly about each subject I paint,” he explains. “If I see a person that I think is interesting or does something interesting or just looks interesting, I just want to make a painting of them.”
Peter’s explanation is that Jorg is a “no-shit kind of guy. I’ve never known Jorg to pander to the market in any way. He could care less what I want, what you want, what someone wants to buy. He paints exactly what he wants.”
Multimedia Artistry
Jorg has very little formal arts training, but he has been making things since he was a child, first in his father’s workshop and then, in his teens, in ceramics class at Corona del Mar High School. He was 15 years old when he and his friends started a ceramics business; and when he was in his 20s, he and a partner opened a design company in which they custom-made furniture and painted faux finishes for high-end residential projects.
In 1976, Jorg moved to Laguna Beach and opened his own ceramics studio in the same canyon location where he still works today. Around that same time, he took a watercolor class with Laguna painter Scott Moore, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that he began to paint seriously, a move he credits to Stephen W. Douglas, the Los Angeles-area painter who then was teaching at Laguna College of Art and Design.
“Really, it was under Stephen that I furthered my understanding of how to use oil paint,” Jorg says. “It was really my introduction to Stephen Douglas and auditing his class for a year and a half that gave me the tools to understand how to paint, understand how to see and understand how not to be afraid of painting.”
Today, Jorg paints mostly from photographs, or as in the case of Peter Blake and others, he has friends pose for him. He earns his living from his artistry, whether it is commissioned work, fine art sales, or occasional work on sets and props for the movie industry. When he is not occupied with commissioned work, such as the 9/11 sculpture, he paints nearly every afternoon and evening, completing 10 to 15 paintings and several pieces of furniture and sculpture every year.
Under the Surface
Although Jorg specializes in figurative painting, his artwork does not fail to comment, however subtly, on current events and popular culture. In addition to his series on mixed martial arts, he recently painted a series based on the popular computer game “World of Warcraft.” He also admits to a fascination with strip clubs and recently took hundreds of photographs of local women taking pole dancing lessons that he plans to turn into a series of portraits.
“You sort of see an interesting thing about the people who work [in strip clubs] and the people who go to those places, how, in reality, although most people won’t admit it, most people have probably gone to one,” Jorg says. “There’s a strange athletic ability to it, but there’s also a sensuality to it, and then there’s a campy quality to it as well.” The migration of pole dancing from strip clubs to strip malls is not likely to be lost in his paintings either, Peter notes.
Jorg is not, as some might think, driven by the shock value of his artistic choices, but rather, by a deep desire to show his subjects’ humanity—whether they are his friends, strangers, athletes, musicians or dancers. “I’m trying to express something that’s very down at a core level of human existence through the paintings,” he says. “I want to get past the surface, to get down inside of who these people are. That’s a connection that all my paintings have—they evoke an emotion or a real humanist quality. I’m not trying to disguise flaws in people. I’m not trying to paint airbrushed Playboy centerfold-type paintings.”
One way that Jorg accomplishes this goal is to pose his subjects so that they are frequently looking directly at the viewer. His painting style, which he calls “raw or unfinished,” also allows the viewer wide latitude for personal interpretation. In other words, whereas some parts of his portraits are fairly realistic, other parts are suggestive, even so far as to include the obvious hand of the artist. This signature style, he says, “contributes to getting past that surface level of the subject and getting under the surface of these paintings figuratively and literally. I want to show the process in my paintings. I want to show struggle in the paintings. And I want to show that a human is being touched by these things—that they aren’t mechanical looking, that there is a freshness, a real human quality to them.”
Would you let Jorg paint you? Go to Facebook and let us know!
By
Bruce Porter
on September 17, 2011 7:00 AM
The most highly anticipated plug-in hybrid vehicle of 2011 won’t be unveiled by Mercedes, Porsche or Lexus. Auto enthusiasts around the world are champing at the bit for a chance to throttle the Fisker Karma EVer, which has been pulling into showrooms across the country this summer.
“Suddenly it doesn’t matter what political opinion or party you’re a part of,” Henrik Fisker says from his company’s headquarters in Irvine. “Everybody can agree on one thing: It’s great to have a car that uses less fuel and pollutes less.”
The Karma, which starts at $95,500, runs primarily on electric motors. A turbocharged four-cylinder gas engine made by General Motors is used to recharge the car’s lithium-ion battery when it begins to run low. For most commuters, who travel less than 50 miles per day, there is no need for the gas engine. But for longer trips, the Karma has a range of more than 250 miles between charges, with mileage of somewhere around 100 miles to the gallon. The entire car was engineered specifically to be eco-friendly: The interior wood trim originates from trees recovered in forest fires, and the optional solar roof panels help power the battery and air conditioner.
Although its practicality is admirable, the Karma bears little resemblance to first-generation hybrids like the boxy Toyota Prius. Instead, its elegant bodywork is matched by its thrilling acceleration and agile handling characteristics. Drop your foot on the accelerator, and the Karma jumps from zero to 60 in just 5.9 seconds.
The Karma’s chic, muscular lines and powerful performance owe more to the tradition of high-end BMWs and Aston Martins than to mass-market Japanese imports, which will be no surprise to those familiar with Fisker’s credentials. As perhaps the leading automobile designer in the world, he was the driving force behind BMW’s Z8 roadster, the model featured in the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough. Later, while working for Ford, he updated Aston Martin’s vaunted DB9 and V8 Vantage.
Fisker shocked his colleagues when he walked away from one of the most coveted jobs in the auto industry. “When you go through certain things in your life, you hit a certain success—more than I expected. I almost felt like I’d reached the ceiling in the corporate environment,” the 47-year-old Danish-born CEO says in explaining his decision to team up with Bernhard Koehler to start a new luxury car company.
In 2003, Fisker Coachbuild was formed with the intention of designing innovative new bodies on existing platforms, which Fisker refers to as “something of a lost art.” The company made two hand-built supercars: the Taramonto, which used the base architecture of the Mercedes-Benz SL; and the Latigo CS, which used the power plants of the BMW 6-series.
“The big moment came when I saw Leonardo DiCaprio driving to the Oscars in a Toyota Prius,” Fisker recalls. “Here’s a guy who could drive any car in the world, and he’s driving a Toyota Prius. I think the major point of that was the statement he wanted to make—that he cares, and wants to show it (DiCaprio was recently spotted in Hollywood driving the Karma). And I felt, there’s got to be a lot of people out there who care, but would also like a cool car.”
“So I thought there was going to be a huge market, and coincidentally I met a person from Quantum Technologies,” he continues. This chance meeting came about when Fisker’s wife, Patricia, was in Newport Beach buying a new Land Rover. There, she met the wife of Alan Niedzwiecki, the CEO of Quantum. “Alan and I had lunch together at an Italian restaurant near South Coast Plaza, right after Christmas in 2007, and we just talked cars,” Fisker says. “He showed me a military vehicle that had a [Q-Drive] propulsion system, so we took the idea of that system and designed a car around it.”
Still, there must have been some apprehension as to the wisdom of launching a new car company, Fisker Automotive, in the midst of the country’s worst recession in decades. Auto manufacturers, especially in Detroit, were reeling. General Motors was on the verge of bankruptcy, and eventually required a government bailout to keep solvent. Iconic brands like Pontiac, Saturn, Mercury and Hummer had been discontinued. How would Fisker Automotive avoid the same pitfalls that befell Bricklin and Delorean?
“We did a bit of research to figure out why they failed and, of course, there are many reasons, but one of the major ones was that, especially in Delorean’s case, he started building a factory before he had a product,” Fisker explains. “When you’ve been in the car industry, you know one of the biggest, most difficult things is the assembly of the vehicle. We decided to outsource our first car because we didn’t want to spend $100 million on a factory with a 15,000 volume.”
Fisker Automotive contracted Valmet, the Finnish manufacturer that currently builds Porsche Box sters, to assemble the Karma. So far more than 3,000 cars have been preordered, which bodes well for their production goals. But Fisker has more ambitious plans for his next production model, another electric car tentatively called the Nina. Fisker hopes to sell 100,000 of these less expensive sport sedans.
Investors have been eager to get involved. Fisker Automotive has secured more than $500 million in private funding, and another half-billion in a loan from the federal government that comes with the stipulation that it is spent domestically. In a brilliant stroke of luck, or perhaps masterful planning, Fisker was able to buy a plant in Delaware in 2009 at a bargain-basement price. “We ended up buying a factory from General Motors, which probably would have cost us a half-billion to make,” Fisker says with a sly grin. “We bought it for $20 million—so that’s unheard of in the history of cars.” When the plant is ready, Fisker Automotive intends to build the Ninas there and continue production of the Karmas.
“We are going to stay in Orange County,” Fisker says, “but we are moving into a bigger building, 156,000 square feet in Anaheim, because we need a place with 800 parking spaces. Yeah, we’re American—but we’re a California car company.”
After leaving Aston Martin in 2003, when his frequent trips to England tailed off, Fisker and his family decided to settle down in Newport Beach. “I’ve always liked the ocean,” he says. “Living in Denmark, you’re one hour from the ocean—even if you live in the middle of the country. When I got over here I knew that we wanted to live by the beach.”
After some debate between Newport and Laguna Beach, Fisker and wife Patricia chose the former, pleased with the discovery of a “reasonably big house” for their two kids and two dogs. “My [Brazilian-born] wife is from Switzerland, and Newport is clean like Switzerland,” Fisker says. Their son, Mark, 19, now studies at Purdue University, and daughter, Natasha, 16, goes to CdM High School. The Fiskers are weekly regulars at Wildfish in Newport, and also like to head south to Sapphire in Laguna Beach.
Fisker loves classic automobiles that compete at the prestigious Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach, like the Maserati Merak and the Lamborghini Espada. “Part of my inspiration for the Karma was to look at these beautiful old cars, the ones that really get your heart pounding, and see what it was that made us fall in love with cars,” he says. “And to try to bring that to the Karma, using modern technology.”
By
OCinSite
on September 13, 2011 6:00 AM
By Dan Arritt and Sharael Kolberg
The waves off Newport’s coast are known for harboring surf talent, but sometimes that talent turns into a dream job and commercial success outside of the water. From a local surfboard manufacturer to a famous Bay Area tattoo artist, these men can trace their history back to NB, where the legends began.
Some have settled into retirement, while others are in the prime of their professional careers. In many ways, they parlayed their experience at surf spots such as 22nd Street, the Santa Ana River Jetties and Newport Point into lucrative careers. Here’s a look at some of the early pioneers and where their love of surfing has taken them in the decades since.
The Soul Surfer
John Peck
Although John Peck learned to surf growing up on Oahu, becoming immortalized among the locals for his big-wave skills, he quickly established himself as a fixture along the Orange County coast after moving to Corona del Mar at age 20, upon his dad’s retirement from the military in 1964.
His accolades include having starred in the surf flick Walk on the Wild Side, appearing on the cover of Surfer magazine in 1963, and winning contests across the Pacific, including placing fourth in the Makaha International Surfing Championships Jr. Men’s Division at age 15. “I’ve been gifted with a lot of beautiful experiences,” he says, “but I’m not someone to look up to. I just wanted to live free and wild in nature and enjoy God’s creation.”
He claims to have been the first pro surfer and in 1965 was sponsored by Tom Morey, inventor of the boogie board. Peck soon designed a board for Morey-Pope Surfboards called the Penetrator, which was unique in that it performed well at high speeds but also offered nose-riding capabilities. He was paid $800 a month by Tom Morey and Carl Pope to promote the board.
He now sports long hair and a dark beard and lives a spiritual life of meditation and abstract theories. “God put me here to be of service to my mom and help her as she gets older,” he says. “I don’t live here for selfish reasons.”
Peck splits his time between Kauai and Costa Mesa and still makes it out to his favorite Newport surf spots. He continues to sport an exceptionally clean surfing style, and gets in the water on a near-daily basis to “connect with Earth and the human race.”
The Old Guy
Don Craig
If you’ve ever noticed a T-shirt or bumper sticker that reads “Old Guys Rule,” then you’re at least partially familiar with the influence the early Newport Beach surf scene had on Don Craig.
Craig grew up in Hermosa Beach, where he learned to surf under the guidance of his father Doug, who made his own boards and was president of the San Onofre Surfing Club. They spent their weekends wandering up and down the Southern California coast in search of the best waves, often settling in Newport Beach.
In 1966, after high school, he moved to Newport Beach and was welcomed into the surf crowd by friends Herb Torrens and George Weaver. “They were hot young kids in town and introduced me to everyone and I was instantly in with the ‘in’ crowd,” Craig says.
Craig soon began competing for well-known manufacturers Bing Copeland, Dewey Weber and Hap Jacob. On land, he built a name for himself as well, becoming the first sales representative for Quiksilver and introducing the Rip Curl brand to the U.S. market.
As Craig and his friends grew older, they further admired the insight and experience of Doug Craig and his inner circle, whether it was taking their advice on locating the best surf breaks or where to invest their money. In 2003, Craig had a bumper sticker made that read “Old Guys Rule” with a surfboard sticking through the slogan, in recognition of his dad and his dad’s friends, Ross McAdam and Fred Caserio. “They counseled us on marriage, careers and where to sit in the lineup,” he says. “We called them ‘the Three Wisemen.’ ”
Shortly afterward, the bumper sticker was spotted by a local retailer, who ordered dozens more. They quickly sold out. Craig then made his first T-shirt with the emblem and 12 months later had sold $500,000 worth of merchandise. Today, “Old Guys Rule” features dozens of variations tailored toward golfers, bicyclists, fishermen and a number of other activities. “Out of the gate, the stickers were a hit,” Craig says. “Then I thought, ‘Not all dads surf.’ So, I came up with a lot of other designs.”
The slogan can be found on hats, shoes and other types of apparel. Craig licenses the brand, which is then sold online and in stores through approximately 1,400 retailers in four countries. As for his surfing ability, Craig still paddles out regularly near his San Clemente home and is known to hold his own against surfers 40 years younger.
The Shaper
Mike Estrada
Few have earned as much respect within the Newport Beach surfing community as Mike Estrada, and even less have maintained their reputation and competitive edge from one generation to another.
Estrada, a Newport Beach native, began surfing at age 9 along with his brother Dave and half-brother Seth Elmer. “We loved surfing and got good at it and people were willing to sponsor us,” Estrada says.
He was at the forefront of the sport’s heyday during the 1980s, winning titles at the National Scholastic Surfing Association and Amateur Athletic Union levels. By age 20 he went pro and was sponsored by Quiksilver and Rip Curl. “Competing is a lot of work and takes determination,” he says. “As a professional surfer, you get to travel and enjoy surf spots around the world, but it is a rigorous, competitive schedule. You gotta surf because you love it first of all.”
A tall, lanky goofy-footer, Estrada was featured in surfing magazines and traveled the globe as a team rider for McCoy and Wave Tools, carving up waves at some of the most beautiful and treacherous locations in the world.
Estrada quickly began experimenting with surfboard design, starting with a 5-foot, 5-inch twin fin and reshaping it into a 4-foot, 11-inch single fin in his 9th grade plastics class at Costa Mesa High. “After that, I was hooked,” he recalls. He began manufacturing boards for a few friends, then turned the hobby into a full-time occupation.
At age 23, he opened his first shop in Costa Mesa in 1990, relying on the craftsmanship he gleaned from the likes of Lance and Richie Collins, Ben Aipa, Bill Cilia and Sean Magyar (Mike’s cousin). “I was picky about my boards and was fascinated with dissecting them,” Estrada says. “Once I started down the road of making my own boards and then taking them out and riding them, that was it.”
He quickly became known for his quality work, becoming the West Coast licensee for Hawaiian-based Town & Country Surfboards. Today, his label, Estrats Board Co., is a thriving local business.
Although he currently resides in Fountain Valley, he still visits his favorite Newport Beach breaks on a regular basis. Thanks to a healthy dose of Pilates, a strict diet, and routine surf sessions, Mike still holds his own in competitive heats. In April of this year, he won the Masters division of the 12th annual Newport Harbor High School Newport Surf Classic.
The Artist
Don Ed Hardy
Don Ed Hardy grew up in Corona del Mar in the 1950s. When he wasn’t hitting the waves at the Corona del Mar jetty, he was exploring the art of tattooing, which eventually led to his multimillion-dollar business, Ed Hardy Tattoo Clothing.
“Newport Beach was a different world in my early years,” Hardy says. “As I became a teenager, a growing awareness of the ultra-conservative and monocultural suffocation of the Newport area motivated me to move to a more culturally and intellectually diverse environment. However, surfing and living near the ocean has remained a lifelong priority.”
He left SoCal in 1963 to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, where he pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Afterward, Hardy declined the opportunity to attend Yale’s graduate program to pursue tattooing. “I’d reconnected with my childhood passion for tattooing as an art form, and left academia,” he says.
He went on to study body art design in Japan and then forged a career inscribing images on torsos, canvases and giant scrolls. Japanese traditional tattooing was his main inspiration for the decision to take up tattooing. In 1973 he spent six months in Japan as the first non-Asian working with a traditional tattoo master. “Japanese art and culture was a big influence since early childhood,” he says, “My father moved to Tokyo and sent back many things from that exotic land.”
A love of surfing also influenced his art and design. “Being so linked to the ocean helps,” he says. “And the Asian art traditions depicting water and waves have been a lifelong inspiration.”
He became a talented lithographer, painter and etcher, and his images appear on T-shirts, motorcycles and even an energy drink that’s sold under the Ed Hardy brand. Now 66, Don is retired from tattooing and lives in San Francisco where he and his son manage his shop, Tattoo City. In May of last year, he sold 50 percent interest in the Ed Hardy brand, worth approximately $17 million.
The Longboarder
Robert “Wingnut” Weaver
Robert “Wingnut” Weaver, a Newport Beach native, didn’t take up surfing until he was 17. He learned to catch waves at Blackie’s in Newport Beach in 1983 when a new neighbor, John Snelgrove, moved in and offered to teach him the way of the waves, transforming Weaver from a body boarder into a surfer. “At that time, Newport Pier was not crowded,” Weaver says. “There was not a lot of longboarding going on, just a bunch of old guys out there catching waves, usually less than a dozen most mornings. Now there are 50-60 people.”
The “old guys” that mentored him included surfers Mike Marshall, Pete Nickertz, Mike Kilfoy, Larry Miller and Ken Sanford. When Weaver wasn’t in class at Newport Harbor High School or waiting tables at Ruby’s on the pier, he would be in the water trying to learn how to master the drop-knee turn from Sanford or master the nose ride from Don Craig.
He eventually competed in longboard events in the late 1980s and early ’90s, while attending the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he graduated with a degree in economics and marketing in 1991, after some time off in Hawaii for two years. He continued competing after college, but realized he’d eventually have to look beyond competitive surfing to earn a living. “At that point, as a longboarder, there was no real way to make money surfing competitively,” Weaver recalls.
His big break came in early 1992, at age 26, when he received a call from legendary surf filmmaker Bruce Brown, who offered him a role in Endless Summer II. The exposure allowed him to gain attention from sponsors without having to maintain a high ranking in competitive circles. Weaver, who will turn 45 this summer, also parlayed his newfound celebrity into a surf-guide business, in which he takes clients to various surf spots around the world and lets them mix and mingle with the big wigs of the sport.
Life wasn’t completely carefree, however. In 1997, at age 32, shortly after the birth of his son Cameron, Weaver was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The disease sidelined him initially, but he has since gained control of the effects and has been symptom-free for 10 years, due in part to Vitamin D, which luckily can be absorbed during a sunny day at the beach. He currently spends his time hitting the waves with his 14-year-old son near their home in Santa Cruz, and managing Santa Cruz Surfboards.
By
OCinSite
on August 23, 2011 10:18 AM
By Kedric Francis
Photos by Sean Armenta
Late bloomers, don’t you love ’em? It seems like top actors and models from are always going on about how homely they were as kids. The girls were all tomboys, the guys all nerds, we’re led to believe, with their early awkwardness, coltish limbs, wide eyes and puffy lips somehow not quite fitting into the “cute kid” paradigm of the day. It’s hard to believe that Newport Beach surfer and model Erica Hosseini was ever less than tan, fit and beautiful, but she lays claim to a pre-surfing, late-blooming background: “Being the tomboy that I was, growing up I played every sport imaginable,” Erica says. “Surfing was the one that stuck.”
Though she was skiing at age two, she didn’t get started in the sport until she was 11, and by age 14 she was the youngest surfer to make it to an Association of Surfing Professionals final. In 2008 she made it to the quarterfinals of the Roxy Surf Festival at Woolamai Beach, Australia, eventually losing to shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton.
“She’s a hard-charger,” says one old salt surfer who shares waves with Erica at her 54th St. home break. If the attention Erica gets from the media is off-putting to some soul surfers, the fact is mixing modeling and surfing is a time-honored way to avoid getting a real job. Though the ASP currently ranks Erica No. 37, there’s no doubt she’s a professional surfer, traveling the world surfing in contests and for editorial modeling jobs and representing her sponsors. She’s jet-setting so much, that she started a “Where’s Erica” website to track her travels (whereserica.com).
But Erica always returns to Newport Beach, where her family lives. “This is the only place I consider home,” Erica says, having just returned from Europe. “I’m fortunate to say I’ll be home this summer, not traveling.” Erica is obviously a Newport girl at heart. She went to Harbor, loves Wahoo’s, Alta Coffee and Fashion Island (True Food Kitchen is a new fave: “I like things organic, fresh and healthy,” she says), and her guilty pleasure is frozen yogurt. “It’s hard to live without my go-to vanilla yogurt, granola and fruit when I go to foreign countries that aren’t up on the trend.”
Erica is sponsored by brands that include Body Glove, Flip Flop Shops, Sector 9, Baby-G, Filtrate, Jack’s Surf Shop and Jose Cuervo. And though she boasts a tequila brand as a sponsor, she’s not a big partier. “I’m more of a homebody,” Erica, 24, says. “But when friends are in town we might ride our bikes on a typical Newport pub run: The Alley, Malarkey’s, Cassidy’s and NB Brew Co.” With the Nike U.S. Open set to hit O.C. in early August, Erica and her family will be hosting a group of visiting surfers she’s befriended in their spacious West Newport home.
Erica plans to continue to do print work, travel and surf for as long as she can, but she also hopes to do more in the entertainment industry. She hosts The Weekly Grind show, an action sports show that’s part of Yahoo Sports and the Action Sports Group, and her blogs and websites are among the most popular in the industry. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that there are lots of shots of Erica at work in front of the camera, where her uniform is most often a bikini. Hey, it’s good work if you can get it!
By
OCinSite At-Large
on August 11, 2011 8:33 AM
“Sierra Point” author, Nancy Milby. | Photo by Ted Reckas
By Maddie Jaeger | Special to OCinSite.com
Many people know Nancy Milby as the ambitious entrepreneur who started the beloved local cooking school, Laguna Culinary Arts; however, few know about her past as a business professional or her recent undertaking of a new challenge—writing a novel. “Sierra Point,” a story about love, loss and renewal, chronicles the ups and downs of a successful businesswoman Annie Shaw and her struggle to let her guard down and let in love.
Nancy sat down with OCinSite to talk about “Sierra Point.”
OCinSite:Tell us a little bit about your book.
Nancy: Well, it’s a love story. I’m not a professional writer, and I self-published the book. This is the first time I have written a novel, but I’ve been wanting to. I picked characters and places that I knew something about … I tried to string it together into a fun story that sort of took a woman from being a high-powered professional to someone who was following her heart.
OCinSite:Is your book purely fiction, or did personal events motivate you to write this story?
Nancy: It is purely fiction … but a lot of personal events that I either experienced or witnessed made up a lot of it—from small things to big things. The places are real, but it’s all fiction.
It was a fun adventure. I like new challenges. It was a challenge to see if I could do it. … I think people will enjoy it. It’s a fun story. I travel a lot through the culinary trips that we do [at Laguna Culinary Arts]. I spend a lot of time in France and Italy. I love France, and a lot of the book takes place in the places that I love. You see these places through my eyes as I experienced them.
OCinSite: You started Laguna Culinary Arts. Was it cooking then writing, or writing then cooking? Any preference?
Nancy: Well cooking, then writing. This business was really an experiment of creating something that was fun and different in Laguna Beach.… that involved food—having fun and cooking. It’s evolved a little bit. It’s a lot different than it was originally, but I’ve always written. In my past career, I was a partner at an accounting firm, and so is my main character, although she is not me. [If I had a preference,] I would definitely write. I’m already sort of noodle-ing around with another book … a sequel to “Sierra Point.”
OCinSite: How long have you lived in Laguna?
Nancy: Thirteen years. [I love] the sense of community. It’s the most amazing community I have ever lived in. Being a local business owner, I get to meet a lot of different people and see them locally. It’s an amazing place to live. People don’t realize how lucky we are to live here.
“Sierra Point” is available electronically at Amazon.com.
By
OCinSite At-Large
on August 08, 2011 9:20 AM
Erica Hosseini sets it up for photographer Sean Armenta.
Photos by Sean Armenta | Newport Beach Magazine, July/August 2011
Late bloomers, don’t you love ‘em? It seems like top actors and models from are always going on about how homely they were as kids. The girls were all tomboys, the guys all nerds, we’re lead to believe, with their early awkwardness, coltish limbs, wide eyes and puffy lips somehow not quite fitting into the “cute kid” paradigm of the day. It’s hard to believe that Newport Beach surfer and model Erica Hosseini was ever less than tan, fit and beautiful, but she lays claim to a pre-surfing, late-blooming background: “Being the tomboy that I was, growing up I played every sport imaginable,” Erica says. “Surfing was the one that stuck.”
Though she was skiing at age two, she didn’t get started in the sport until she was 11, and by age 14 she was the youngest surfer to make it to an Association of Surfing Professionals final. In 2008 she made it to the quarterfinals of the Roxy Surf Festival at Woolamai Beach, Australia, eventually losing to shark-attack survivor Bethany Hamilton.
“She’s a hard-charger,” says one old salt surfer who shares waves with Erica at her 54th St. home break. And if the attention Erica gets from the media is off-putting to some soul surfers, the fact is mixing modeling and surfing is a time-honored way to avoid getting a real job. And though the ASP currently ranks Erica No. 37, there’s no doubt she’s a professional surfer. Who wouldn’t want to travel the world surfing in contests and for editorial modeling jobs? She’s jet-setting so much, that she started a “Where’s Erica” website to track her travels (whereserica.com).
But Erica always returns to Newport Beach, where her family lives. “This is the only place I consider home,” Erica says, having just returned from Europe. “I’m fortunate to say I’ll be home this summer, not traveling.” Erica is obviously a Newport girl at heard. She went to Harbor, loves Wahoo’s, Alta Coffee and Fashion Island (True Food Kitchen is a new fave: “I like things organic, fresh and healthy”), and her guilty pleasure is frozen yogurt. “It’s hard to live without my go-to vanilla yogurt, granola and fruit when I go to foreign countries that aren’t up on the trend.”
Erica is sponsored by brands that include Body Glove, Flip Flop shops, Sector 9, Baby-G, Filtrate, Jack’s Surf Shop and Jose Cuervo. And though she boasts a tequila brand as a sponsor, she’s not a big partier. “I’m more of a homebody,” Erica, 24, says. “But when friends are in town we might ride our bikes on a typical Newport pub run: The Alley, Malarkey’s, Cassidy’s and NB Brew Co.” With the Nike U.S. Open set to hit HB in early August, Erica and her family will be hosting a group of visiting surfers she’s befriended in their spacious West Newport home.
Erica plans to continue to do print work, travel and surf for as long as she can, but she also hopes to do more in the entertainment industry. She hosts The Weekly Grind show, an action sports show that’s part of Yahoo Sports and the Action Sports Group, and her blogs and Websites are among the most popular in the industry. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that there are lots of shots of Erica at work in front of the camera, where her uniform is most often a bikini. Hey, it’s good work if you can get it.
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