The Hollywood Reporter - 06.11.2019

(Brent) #1

About Town


People, Places,
Preoccupations

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 36 NOVEMBER 6, 2019


HILL: WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES. SPEECH: C-SPAN. COACHILL: COURTESY DAVID WALLACE AT DLW ARCHITECTS IMAGES OF COACHILL INN. PAPA

DOPOULOS: NOAM GALAI/GETTY IMAGES. SMITH: IMEH AKPANUDOSEN/WIREIMAGE. MARIJUANA: ISTOCK. BUXBAUM: TAYLOR HILL/FILMMAGIC.

W


ithout the support of the entertainment
industry, Katie Hill never would have pulled
off her upset victory in 2018’s midterms, in
which she flipped CA-25 from a red district to a blue
one. The same supporters reeled in shock —
following sexual misconduct allegations against
Hill, 32, who resigned Oct. 27 — before regroup-
ing. “We may be brokenhearted about Katie Hill,
but we need to protect this seat,” says Christy
Callahan, wife of MGM Motion Picture Group
president Jon Glickman, who with her husband
will host on Nov. 10 the first of many fundraisers
for Christy Smith. The assemblywoman said
Oct. 28 that she’d be vying for Hill’s seat.
Hill resigned after a conservative website
published texts and photos, some nude, indicating
that the openly bisexual congresswoman had been
in a consensual relationship with a female campaign
staffer. Reports also alleged that Hill engaged in sexual
relations with a male staffer (which Hill denies) that

the House Ethics Committee is investigating. The nude
photos have elicited outrage among Hill’s support-
ers, who have included Kristen Bell, Rosario Dawson
and high-level executives. (In her resignation letter,
Hill alleged that her “abusive husband” Kenny
Heslep, with whom she is in divorce proceed-
ings, had leaked the photos.) “I knew right away
this was a vile but effective smear,” says pub-
licist Steve Elzer, who lives in CA-25 and was
a Hill supporter. “Her poor personal judgment
aside, she’s a victim here.”
Smith likely will face off against former Trump
campaign adviser George Papadopoulos — who
served 12 days in prison after pleading guilty to
lying to the FBI about Russian contact during
the 2016 presidential election — and Steven Knight,
whom Hill narrowly defeated in 2018. Under California
law, Gov. Gavin Newsom has 14 days to call an election
to fill Hill’s seat. Observers expect it will coincide with
California’s March 3 presidential primary.

left his home with his wife, USC
Annenberg dean Willow Bay, at
3:45 a.m., 15 minutes after Arnold
Schwarzenegger evacuated.
Twelve houses in the Tigertail
neighborhood burned to the
ground. Buxbaum and Rosengart
assumed theirs had, too. Later
that day, they learned that the
structure of their home had
withstood the fire, though their
landscaping, retaining walls and
some wiring had been destroyed.
“We are incredibly blessed,” says
Buxbaum, who is encouraging
friends to donate to the LAFD
Foundation. — REBECCA KEEGAN

For those who imbibe
and don’t like to drive:
Enter cannabis hotels.
By 2023, Coachella
Valley will host two:
Coachill Inn Resort in
Desert Hot Springs (ren-
dering above) and The
Grape House boutique in
Palm Springs. The mini-
malist Grape House,
designed by Dan Brunn,
will feature a dispen-
sary, smoking lounge
and restaurant headed
by Michelin-starred
Kristopher Esqueda, says
Chris Santos (co -fou nder
of now-defunct fashion
label MyVice Sweats).
Part of Kenny
Dickerson’s 160-ac re
Coachill Inn Canna-
Business Park, the
resort with 154 eco
rooms ($150 to $2,500
for the suite with hot
springs river), opening
in 2020, will feature
hemp furniture, medi-
cal concierge, sweet
leaf-shaped hot tub,
sports complex, mock-
tail lounges, CBD
delivery by robot and
2,000-seat amphithe-
ater. Greenhouses and
proprietary tech will
be secured by retired
military security and
drones. Resort owner
Roger Bloss has seven
more hotel locations
in the works, the next
one in Vegas: “Cannabis
is the new gold
rush!” — INGRID SCHMIDT

For hours after a
neighbor woke up
Mara Buxbaum
around 2 a.m. Oct. 28, the IDPR
president and her husband,
Greenberg Traurig partner
Mathew Rosengart, watched on
their phones from a
Bundy Drive parking
lot as the security
cameras on their
home off Tigertail
Road showed the
Getty fire encroaching. “The
flames were so bright, the cam-
eras switched from night vision to
day,” she says. The house across
the street was reduced to ash on
the night the 500-plus-acre fire

WHO EVACUATED WHEN BRENTWOOD WAS BURNING


Fire
Report

After sexual misconduct allegations caused Democrat Katie Hill to resign,
Hollywood is rapidly regrouping: ‘This was a vile but effective smear’ By Peter Kiefer

‘We Need to Protect This Seat’


Left: Congress-
woman Katie Hill
after resigning in
a seven-minute
speech on C-SPAN
(below) on Oct. 31
that took aim at a
“misogynist culture
that gleefully
consumed my
naked pictures.”

The Getty fire consumed 12 houses in the
Tigertail neighborhood in Brentwood.

HERE COME
CALIFORNIA’S
POT HOTELS

began consuming Brentwood.
Buxbaum, who represents
such clients as Michelle Williams
and Bong Joon Ho, is one of
several industry figures in the
neighborhood, also home to
LeBron James; CAA agent Fred
Specktor, who evacuated with his
houseguest and client Geoffrey
Rush; and Slate PR partner Ina
Tr e c i o k a s. Disney CEO Bob Iger

POLITICS


Papadopoulos

Smith

Buxbaum
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