Hey everyone! I hope you’re all having a great summer and a marvelous August. We’re approaching the fall season – not like you’d know it by the weather – but that means I get to tell you about a fantastic upcoming event: the 2008 AIDS Walk Los Angeles on October 19, 2008.
AIDS Walk has been an LA institution for over twenty years, which is pretty incredible, and every year, this inspiring event raises millions of dollars for important AIDS education programs and health services. Last year, AIDS Walk LA raised a record $3.9 million, and the event organizers are all hoping that they can break that record this year with the help of the Hollywood community.
A big part of what makes this event possible is the generous support of local businesses, and this year, the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa is doing its part. We’re donating a bunch of guestrooms for all those event organizers and volunteers – many of whom travel from all across the country to help out.
If you’re interested in helping out, click here. There, you can sign up to take part in the walk, join a walking team, and find tips on how to get yourself sponsored. It’s a great cause, and it’s local, which means all the funds raised go to AIDS services right here in LA. What’s better than helping out your local community? And, hey, it’s October in LA: you know the weather’s going to be great… Why not come out?
For the second year in a row, our premier restaurant Twist will be hosting the Celebrity Chef Tour, benefiting the James Beard House Foundation, this time featuring the big-time talents of award-winning Chef Nate Appleman. This exclusive dinner will be held on September 11, 2008.
James Beard, for the uninitiated, is one of the legendary American chefs of the last century (yes, I’m ancient, I get it). His friends established this foundation in the hope of ensuring a continuing legacy of excellence in the American culinary arts. The foundation has grown tremendously over the last few decades and, in 2004, launched the Celebrity Chef Tour, offering people a chance at a “once-in-a-lifetime” dinner prepared by the foremost culinary masters in the nation.
Chef Appleman is currently Executive Chef and part-owner at the San Francisco restaurant A16. The evening will feature at least five (possibly seven) courses, each paired with a select wine from Souverain Winery, and while he hasn’t yet revealed his menu, Appleman’s specialties include rustic fare from Italy, cured meats, and wood-burning ovens so you better believe this is going to be good.
I can’t quite express how much fun we had at the last James Beard House event we hosted (we had some excitement caused by California forest fires – ask me about it sometime) and I just know this time’s going to be even better!
Co-hosted by our own illustrious Chef Elie Chow, the dinner starts promptly at 7:00 pm and tickets are available for $175.00 per person, with proceeds going to the James Beard Foundation. Buy tickets here. For more information, call 720-201-1853 or check out their website at www.celebritycheftour.com.
In the hospitality business, we like to hear people are traveling all over the world during the summer. But right now, the trend seems to be people vacationing right in their own back yard. Some speculate it has to do with the rising price of gas, some say it has to do with our economy but whatever the reason, the media has dubbed this new phenomenon the “staycation.”
No one knows about travel trends better than our very own Chris Orr, Director of Marketing & Sales who appeared on Fox network and Fox Business News, discussing how these “staycations” are affecting us at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa. Here’s the money quote:
“We’re noticing that a lot of people are staying closer to home, but luckily we have 6 million people in our backyard, so they’re rediscovering Hollywood as a nice vacation spot where they don’t have to drive.”
Well done, Chris. In another segment, he mentions that the weaker American dollar is leading to a rise in international visitors.
Now, all I have to figure out is why Fox’s Louise Pennell had to interview you ALL THE WAY ACROSS TOWN in Santa Monica. I hope you rode public transit, Chris.
Did you hear that Spa Luce is open? After a long year of development and construction, we finally have a top-flight spa in the heart of Hollywood. While I have certainly enjoyed my share of treatments – they have to be tested on somebody, I swear – it’s time to share the wealth.
We’ve got two new Spa Luce packages, coupling a short stay at our dear Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa with spa treatments and meals at our premier restaurant Twist, all at a discounted price. We want people to come discover, and I quote our marketing department here: “the personalized treatments, celebrity-inspired pampering, and top-of-the-line beauty and health products.” If that doesn’t sound tempting, I’m sorry to deliver the bad news but you may not have a pulse. My apologies.
The Spa Luce Escape Package includes accommodations for two in one of our divine guestrooms, full breakfast buffet for two at Twist, overnight valet parking, and, of course, a choice of one of two 80-minute signature rituals designed by Red Flower. Now, the Spa Luce Couples Package is a little more fancy and especially intended for you and a significant other: executive bedroom accommodations for two, full breakfast buffet at Twist, valet parking, and a French lavender sea bath and massage ritual, designed for two in the couples’ suite.
For more info, call the hotel’s front desk and they’ll be happy to set up a reservation. Tell them I sent you.
A final note: It’s hot. No, not “hot” in the “wow, that’s cool” sense, but it’s actually very, very hot outside. Please stay indoors, dear readers. And come to Spa Luce.
With the Film Your Issue Film Festival rolling through town last week, I wanted to put up a quick post acknowledging some of the festival winners, put up by the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa during their stay in Los Angeles.
A few films, like High School Drop-Out by Ian Rojas and Petals of Hope by Sarah Morcos, confronted serious issues with a somber tone while serving as a call-to-action. Rojas’ film illuminated a crisis in education in South Carolina, where highschoolers only have a 53% graduation rate; the film came away winner of the Associated Press Award, the MySpace Audience Award, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Strong American Schools Scholarship.
High School Drop-Out
Concentrating on the global struggle for women’s rights, Morcos’ Petals of Hope spoke with authority and dignity, urging us to realize that when one woman suffers, we all suffer. Only 17 years old, Morcos captured the United Nations DPI Award and the United Nations/Global Issue Award.
Petals of Hope
The big FYI winner ended up being a wake-up call about New Orleans. Filmmaker Brendan Odums, 22, and 2-Cent, a group of college students, noticed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that tourists were coming to New Orleans to survey and photograph the wreckage. Odums captures this bizarre phenomenon in his film, New Orleans for Sale, asking the deeply unsettling question: If we’re still paying money to view the devastation, should the citizens of New Orleans rebuild the city? Odums’ film won the FYI Jury Award, the PBS P.O.V. Series Award, the NAACP Award, and the AFI SILVERDOCS Award.
New Orleans For Sale
We at the Renaissance Hollywood salute all the winners of this year’s film festival and we look forward to next year’s crop of great young filmmakers, eager to change the world. You can view all the films at FYI’s site, right here.
