The OC Performing Arts Center’s daunting capital campaign gets a big boost this week when it announces an eight-figure gift from a prominent OC couple …
New L.A. Times publisher David Hiller makes no apologies for bringing a Republican resume,law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, two years in the Reagan administration, friendships with Kenneth Starr and Donald Rumsfeld,to a paper that Hiller concedes is widely viewed as left-of-center: “It’s kind of fun to have a former Reagan guy in at the Times. It sort of keeps people on their toes.” Like many papers, the Times “could use a better mix of viewpoints,” Hiller told an OC Biz Council breakfast at the Center Club. Will Hiller, a Chicago boy and Tribune Co. exec who took over in L.A. last October, survive the company’s planned sale to Sam Zell? “I expect to be here for a good long time,already got Cal license plates!” To counter falling revenue, Hiller is cutting jobs and ruffling tradition with a plan to run front-page ads. High on the priority list of the “reinvent committee” is “to do a better job” in Orange County, where circulation has plummeted. Hiller said the Times “was too extreme” in recent years focusing on national and international news at the expense of regional coverage: “Don’t worry what the New York Times is doing. We want to be the Los Angeles Times, a great paper for Southern California.” Hiller displayed a quick wit. Acknowledging that he has sung the National Anthem at several Chicago Cubs games, he added, “It’s less impressive when you realize we own the team.” Now the Cubs are for sale, with potential buyers forming “a line around Wrigley Field.” Hiller said he might like to sing at Angel Stadium …
Try making an appointment now: Dusty Simington of Spa Gregorie’s in Fashion Island was named the Professional Beauty Association’s North American Master Stylist of the Year, the MVP of the hairstyling profession. Colleagues Anthony Cress and Kimmi Le won the Avant Garde award. A reality show could be next, the Insider hears …
Another record sale reported by The Strand at Headlands in Dana Point: a quarter-acre lot has gone for $9 million …
The PR firm of Magnuson & Waters has split up after a year and a half. Meg Waters gets most of the accounts, but former L.A. Times editor/exec Bob Magnuson keeps Henry “Nick” Nicholas. Magnuson has been doing damage control for the billionaire and former Broadcom CEO as the media, led by the Wall Street Journal and Magnuson’s former employer the Times, publicize a federal probe into Nicholas’ alleged drug use. “He’s taking up a lot of my time,” Magnuson says.
