Kathryn Bentley’s 5 Top L.A. Hiking Spots
The best way to see the city is from a distance.
“Within minutes of leaving my house—and the hustle-and-bustle of the city—I can be surrounded by the most beautiful, pristine landscape,” says Kathryn Bentley of the jewelry line Dream Collective, who seems to have that whole L.A.-living thing down. “When I’m hiking, I often think of John Muir exploring the California wilderness a hundred years before me.” So where exactly does she head to get perspective? These are her go-tos. —alisha prakash
“This is a view from the Sam Merrill Trail up to Echo Mountain in Altadena.”
“This was taken in Angeles National Forest. I started at the fire station and hiked up to the bee farm—a hike that doesn’t seem to be very popular, which is a nice change from some of the other overpopulated ones. Stumbling upon this bee farm was unique because it’s an active farm at the top of this mountain.”
“This is at a stop along the Mount Wilson Trail above Sierra Madre. It’s my favorite hike. There are shady segments, which offer relief from the sun and heat. There’s always something different blooming along the trail. I’ve seen beautiful hawks that live in the canyons. There are signs at the bottom warning of ‘extremely aggressive mountain lions.’ The thought of hiking in the same habitat as these huge cats is both nerve-wracking and incredible.”
“The Bailey Canyon Wilderness Park hike is lovely because at the top are ruins from a 1890s resort called the White City. Some of the buildings’ foundations remain. There are also railroad tracks and wheels that once transported visitors up this steep 5.8-mile hike. It’s fascinating to see what remains.”
“This was taken at Arcadia Wilderness Park. I’ve really come to appreciate the diversity of landscapes in Southern California.”
Kathryn’s new cuff is as Cali-cool as she is! Get yours while you can!
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Three Los Angeles Designers Kathryn Bentley Supports in a Big Way
In fact, she carries their lines in her store. Bam.
Kathryn Bentley has a namesake fine jewelry line, a Cali-cool label Dream Collective, and—as if all that wasn’t enough—a stellar Silver Lake shop that has become a total destination since opening its doors in 2012. Part of its magic? The awesome, hard-to-find wares Kathryn stocks, made by area designers who also happen to be her pals. “I find that most people coming into the store are looking for something locally made in California, so we’ve been really lucky to have this community of people we’re working with,” she explains. This trifecta is especially near-and-dear. —alisha prakash
Beatrice!
Her colorful shoes, at Kathryn’s store.
“Beatrice Valenzuela, leather-moccasin designer, and I met at the Echo Park Craft Fair, which she hosts—she was one of the first friends I met in L.A. We have spent countless hours listening to traditional Mexican love songs, reading French Vogue, braiding our hair, talking about lovers, eating homemade food, and brainstorming collaborations. We have both really been supportive of each other’s lines. I’ve carried her shoes at the shop from the beginning, and I even named a small collection after her daughter—the Astrid collection.”
Agnes!
Some of her sprays, on display alongside Kathryn’s bags. How good is that packaging?
“Agnes Baddoo is a stylist, writer, and creator. We carry her Everyw’air aromatherapy sprays at the store. Agnes is the person you can always count on to show up, which is a big deal in L.A. I light up every time I see her because I love how real she is. She’s a good person to have on your team.”
Heather!
Her wall hanging, which would give any space a chill, El Lay vibe.
“I met Heather Levine five years ago. She has been making ceramics since she was a teenager, so she’s a master at it. She also makes these wall hangings. We were going to make a whole chandelier and cast the spikes in brass, but instead, we ended up making a jewelry collection and named it Quills.”
Ready to see what Kathryn made us in LA? Score her cuff now!
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Hang Out in Annabel Inganni’s Woodshop
Producing her home line is hard—but fun!—work.
Annabel Inganni spends most of her days in her woodshop in L.A., building all the perfect little pieces in her home decor line, Wolfum—we’re talking coasters and trays (like the ones she made just for Of a Kind!) and all kinds of glorious goods. Here’s a peek into the place where it all goes down. —carly pifer
“Endless planks of maple, birch and pine line our walls. So cozy.”
“The shop can be described as organized chaos.”
“We cut the coasters and trays with a CNC, which is an amazing milling machine that uses rotary cutters. I call it ‘the paw’ due to the oversize arm that moves gracefully over the wood and looks like a giant robot. These are the remnants of the coasters once they are cut. The patterns that are created when they are all stacked is almost a work of art in itself.”
“Each of my prints is designed and engineered for the product. Each coaster within the set has a different element of the print on it. It looks like a little art puzzle on your table.”
“Look how yummy this stack of Of a Kind trays looks—they remind me of candy! These are the printed centerpieces all ready for assembly.”
“We hand-brand each tray and coaster set with our logo—time-consuming, but it adds a personal touch and gives each piece a rustic edge.”
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Explore Annabel Inganni’s Los Angeles Hideaway
It’s tucked into a hillside! No joke!
When East Coast girl Annabel Inganni headed to Los Angeles 15 years ago, she very quickly, as she puts it, “released some of my inner bohemian.” For her, that means making the outdoors as a huge part of her living sitch and getting down with sunny colors (also evident in her killer home goods line Wolfum!). See how she keeps things chill and airy at her Monterey Hills pad. —carly pifer
“Our house is small, but we have expanded by designing our deck to be our outdoor living space. This is our only dining table, so we often enjoy our meals outdoors, lighting a fire in the winter. Garden boxes, where I grow different veggies and flowers year-round, edge the deck to keep my daughter safe.”
“Since our house is below the street, nestled in the hillside, most people miss our stairway down. I love how it twists through the yard—its design and materials echo all the natural elements. It feels so good in Los Angeles to be surrounded by so much green.”
“Gardening is a passion of mine, and I have several boxes throughout the deck and yard. Two are dedicated to herbs, while several others have fruits and veggies in rotation—mostly lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, and now strawberries for the summer!”
“I found this orange velvet fabric in a thrift store and had our vintage Knoll by Eero Saarinen chair reupholstered. Since I am married to a furniture designer, most of our house is built-in, so I love adding these bright, unique pieces where I can.”
“Immediately when you enter the house, you are greeted by this vintage Marimekko fabric that I stretched to hang over our couch. I love the simplicity of the Lokki print, which, again, reflects the organic nature of our home.”
“Our bedroom has a wall full of art collected throughout the years. The portrait is of my grandmother, Barbara Bird, whom my daughter Birdie is named after. Others are from travels to Paris and Rimini, Italy, as well as finds from local thrift shops. There is also a vintage Audubon print, which I adore.”
“Our vintage Verner Panton Flowerpot pendant lamp is one of my favorites. Not only is it orange—my favorite color—but the shape is also sleek and sweet at the same time. It gives off a very romantic, soft light.”
Score Annabel’s tray and coaster set now—it’ll look as good in your home as in hers.
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Step Inside Kathleen Whitaker’s Crazy-Stunning L.A. House
Maybe she’ll invite us to move in?
Kathleen Whitaker’s clean and effortless aesthetic is as evident in her home as it is in her so-amazing jewelry line. Built in 1909, her sun-filled Echo Park casa is in the process of being renovated (with her husband doing all the work himself—whoa!), but she showed us around the parts that are not construction zones. Get ready to be very jealous. —koun bae
“My husband and I have been in our house for a little over two years, and it was a really good time to buy in terms of the market. My father had actually just passed away, and I have this sense of it being divine intervention.”
“And my husband has done everything with his own two hands, not taking an hour of work from anyone else which is crazy. If you really look closely at everything, everything is perfect! Which is really hard to do in a house that is over a hundred-years-old. We fixed the things that were obvious that the house was calling out for, like the location of front doors. It all just flows now beautifully.”
“Making outdoor living spaces where you can take a nap and read a magazine—being able to do that in sort of a room outside has really appealed to me, and I set that up under a big oak tree.”
“A very good friend of mine and I were at the Rose Bowl, and she stopped at this guy who had all these African textiles. They are called asoke fabric, and they are usually worn as clothing. I got really into these fabrics, and, of course, it was a no-brainer to wrap them around some cushions.”
“This is the guest bedroom, and the bedcover is actually a rug that my mom had in our house. It was too white and was going to get dirty, so my friend suggested having it dry-cleaned and putting it on the bed. It just makes the whole room kind of cozy.”
STUNNING, right? Just wait ‘til you see her edition, coming first thing tomorrow.
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Kathleen Whitaker
“The youngest person that’s worn my stuff is eight years old, and the oldest person I’ve seen wearing my stuff is in her sixties. And there are some dudes who have worn my jewelry,” laughs Kathleen Whitaker, explaining her namesake line’s diverse fan base. What gives? Her clean, simple, and hyper-adaptable aesthetic, which takes its cues from Japanese minimalism and the delicacy of English porcelain—in fact, she studied ceramics at Newcomb College at Tulane University, which helped her develop that keen eye of hers.
After working a series of desk jobs in L.A.—PR, corporate philanthropy, financial services!—Kathleen felt that compulsion to get back to her artsy roots and dove into some jewelry-making classes, which sparked a new hobby. “I liked the idea of sculpting something and understanding how certain types of matter can accommodate a design—sort of like what metal will let you do versus what clay will let you do,” she says. Her then-boyfriend set up a website to show off her designs, she did some time at Echo Park Craft Fair (what started as a friend’s backyard affair that’s now a major L.A. event), and bam: Her quiet jewelry attracted some noisy West Coast buzz, turning this burgeoning brand into her full-time gig.
That was in 2009. These days, she’s working on growing her international presence and getting back into her earthen roots by introducing her equally beautiful ceramic pieces to the mix. But the jewelry? That’s sticking around for the long haul. —koun bae
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The Insider: Britt Aboutaleb
As beauty director at Who What Wear, the so-fly Britt Aboutaleb keeps us up-to-date about face creams (and discourages questionable lash-lengthening tactics). The only downside: Her rad job took her from New York to L.A. (i.e., 3,000 miles away from us). Below, our attempt to get our fix. Also, while we’re here, how amazing are her eyebrows?! —carlye wisel
Q: You just went to Japan! Tell. Us. Everything.
A: Japan was amazing! It wasn’t what I expected—Manhattan feels ten times busier—but the people were lovely. We were in Kyoto during Cherry Blossom, which was breathtakingly beautiful, and had dinner with two geisha, a spectacular and very special experience. The weirdest thing I saw was probably the food—or me in a kimono!
Q: What about the beauty products?!
A: The beauty products were bananas. I spent hours in the drugstores buying things I couldn’t even identify! Everyone’s wearing a cateye in Tokyo and sure enough, their liquid liners are the thinnest, blackest best I’ve ever tried. Japanese women are obsessed with skincare, so there are dozens of masks and lotions to try. There would be four floors of makeup and skincare—and then one small corner of hair products, which was fascinating. I loved the really weird things like nipple balm, heated eye masks, armpit protectors, and face massagers.
Q: The weather’s gettin’ warm, but we’re still pale. What are the best ways to look sun-kissed lickety-split?
A: Honestly? A trip to the beach—I think I’m the only sun worshipping beauty editor! But I’ve been using Crème de la Mer’s new Soleil de la Mer Gradual Tan and it’s pretty awesome. It gives you more of a glow than a tan. If you’re looking for more color, Clarins makes the absolute best self-tanning products.
Q: Be real with us: Are there any beauty products out there you think are a total waste or scam?
A: Anything that claims to make you look, feel, or be skinnier without exercising!
Q: What’s the most memorable perfume you’ve ever worn?
A: Gap Dream. It was my first fragrance, circa eighth grade. I still have a tiny bottle, actually, and whenever I catch a whiff, I’m immediately back at the lockers at Sonoma Country Day School.
Q: Do you own any Of a Kind editions?
A: When I left New York, a few of my very dear friends pitched in and bought me Mociun’s Black Diamond Cut Out Triangle Earrings. That was almost a year ago—which is crazy!—and I still wear them everyday.
Q: What would you consider to be the perfect day of L.A. eating?
A: Steak and eggs at LaMill in Silverlake for breakfast, followed by lunch at Gjelina in Venice (can we order everything?), then drinks at Goldie’s. I’m tequila’s number one fan, and the Golden Girl is the best cocktail I’ve ever had. For dinner, Bestia downtown. God forbid I squeeze a snack in there somewhere, but if you insist: tacos from a truck or ice cream from Sweet Rose. That is too much driving and too much food for one day, but it’d be delicious!
Q: What’s something you’ve always wanted to learn but still haven’t?
A: How to sew! I’m actually desperate to learn. I have so many things I want to make. There are about a dozen languages I’d like to learn, too.
Q: If you could do a wardrobe swap with anyone, whose would you choose?
A: I think Giovanna Battaglia. Or on the total opposite end of the spectrum, Lauren Hutton. (Funny because my initial reaction was to answer, “An Olsen with lots of Dolce & Gabbana mixed in,” which is basically the same thing.) I usually dress like a boy (with heels) and when I don’t, it’s nice to feel like a woman—and it’s hard to find something more curve-friendly than Dolce.
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Hortense Jewelry
Long before French-born Hortense Bonneau was designing her line, she was a kid with an eye for jewelry. “When I was five, I went to Florence with my dad. There’s one street with jewelers on both sides, and I wanted to go inside every store,” she says. “Then, at 10, I went Place Vendôme in Paris, spending hours looking into the windows of Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier.”
But she ended up working as a photo editor at a magazine for years before realizing she had an itch. “I wanted to do something with my hands, but I didn’t know what. So my husband sat me down and asked me what I liked in life,” she recalls. The first thing that came to mind: jewelry.
When she moved to San Fran with her movie-animator man, she made the switch. “I washed dogs. That’s how I made money to buy a bench and tools,” she says. One year later, Hortense registered at the Academy of Art and the Alan Revere Academy, and after working as a metalsmith for other designers, launched her own fine-jewelry label in 2007. Over the years, it’s evolved as her life has—taking a pause when her daughter Lola was born, making the move to L.A. when she did, getting daintier when the mood struck her. “Step by step, that’s how I grew.” —alisha prakash
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Weather Vain: Los Angeles, California - 72 and Partly Cloudy
Tomorrow, I head to L.A. (to meet Claire, who’s already there!). Here’s what I’d be jonesing to wear if I was coast-swapping a day earlier. —erica
Clockwise from top left:
+ A Blk Denim leather jacket that’s just wishing, hoping, praying for warm weather.
+ Hoops! Brought to you by K/LLER and ready for a day of shopping on Melrose, West Third, or Sunset.
+ An Eayrslee wallet that proves you aren’t scared of those sunny, Cali hues.
+ A just-nautical Whit dress—take it out for some peel-and-eat shrimp at Son of a Gun.
+ The kind of House of Harlow shades that dot the pages of Us Weekly.
+ Cool girl, I-live-in-Laurel-Canyon shoes (boots? sandals? both?) from LD Tuttle.
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Inside Steven Shein’s Super-Industrial L.A. Studio
The tools are something serious.
If you thought that designers worked from sparse, white-box studios, the jewelry designer Steven Shein’s about to disabuse you of that notion. His space: a former auto-glass shop on the east side of the L.A. River that he shares with a few other artists with a penchant for heavy machinery. Here, Steven takes us on a tour through his space, spotlighting the tools that make it all possible. —alisha prakash
“This is the front door to the space. The whole front wall is a shipping-container wall. I love that the space is a little off-the-grid and away from the main part of L.A. where I live. There are some great Mexican places, and down the road, there is a hall where they have quinceañeras, which is cool, too.”
“On the left is a chop saw that works really well. On the right is a belt-sander. It’s a replacement for a previous model that was purchased expressly to sand an early piece of jewelry—a stacked and laminated acrylic bangle, to be exact!”
“This is an Italian-made steel saw. It’s basically a band saw with pipe system that pumps a water-based coolant onto the saw blade. It’s pretty old, so sometimes the pumps have issues.”
“This is a cast-iron welding table, and behind it is a little Shop-Vac that’s more reliable than the postman. There is a TIG Welder between the table and the lathe that is against the wall. I learned to weld on it last year! It’s incredible to see the electrical current hit the metal and liquify it.”
“This is a table saw. It’s cool to use because it requires total concentration. It really keeps you focused and in-the-moment.”
Score Steven’s (hyper-polished!) edition now! You can wear this ring *four ways*.
