Richard Cohen, the short-lived, change-minded St. John Knits boss, has resurfaced. Cohen is serving as a consultant to Robert Talbott Jr., owner of menswear company Robert Talbott in Monterey. Cohen flies up weekly from his Coto de Caza home, where he and his family remained after he left St. John in April. Dick Braeger, owner of Garys in Fashion Island, hooked up longtime friend Cohen with Talbott, another longtime friend. “If you’re around long enough, you get to meet a lot of great people,” Braeger says. They all had dinner at The Ritz with Cohen and Talbott hitting it off. Cohen’s set to help with strategy and could become an investor in the second-generation family company. “My current role can last up to six months and I’ll decide by then,” Cohen told fashion pub DNR. Braeger says he “absolutely” could see Cohen running Talbott one day. Cohen led a year and a half of heady changes at St. John before parting over differences with the owners …
Way to Orify: The L.A. Times’ listing of the 100 people wielding influence over Southern California included 20 OCers, 21 if you count Arte Moreno. Donald Bren topped the list, one of three OCers in the top 10 along with Henry Samueli and conservationist David Gelbaum. They outranked the Governator, who appeared unranked in “The Next 90” with buddies Paul Folino, William Lyon and Hadi Makarechian (but no Tom Tucker). Some other omissions to consider for next year: Bill Gross and George Argyros …
OC’s Peggy Goldwater Clay and hubbie Bob Clay will be in New York Sept. 14 for the preview of “Mr. Conservative,” HBO’s upcoming documentary about her dad, Barry Goldwater. The film, produced by Peggy’s niece C.C. Goldwater, gets a rave review from Peggy. But it may rankle some GOPers,it features an array of liberals and suggests Goldwater was not a social conservative. “Hillary Clinton has more air time than I do!” quips Peggy; Mrs. Clinton was a “Goldwater Girl” in her youth …
Keen observer Mike Stockstill on The Irvine Company’s reported $400 million-plus buy of the 31-story JP Morgan Chase Building in San Francisco: “You might call it ‘full circle’ historically, as James Irvine I made the fortune that eventually led to the purchase of the Irvine Ranch as a Gold Rush merchant. The iron gates on the fence at the site of the Irvine mansion off Irvine Boulevard, now hidden from view, came from the Irvine home in San Francisco, according to company legend when I was there.” Another historic connection: The James Irvine Foundation,founded by James II, and which sold the company to Bren and other investors in 1977,is based in SF.
