Hi Everyone!
I hope 2014 is treating you well so far? We are not even halfway through the month and Brits in LA have already hosted 4 events!
Pub Quiz at the Pikey was back in full swing this week. Co-hosted by Sandro Monetti, who puzzled the teams with his Golden Globe and Los Angeles landmark trivia questions. I learned that Grauman’s Chinese Theater has been renamed TCL Chinese Theatre! Congratulations to Michael Greco for scooping the raffle prize. Michael is best known for playing Beppe Di Marco in EastEnders.
For a fun diversion or if you have guests in town, I really recommend you go on Sandro’s Movie Locations Tour of LA. It’s the number-one rated Hollywood tour on Trip Advisor. Brits in LA members can get half price tickets for the next tour on Sat Jan 18 at 2pm by booking in advance at www.tourificescapes.com and using the special code SALE50 – Sandro will be hosting our pub quiz again on February 11th, along with Brit presenter, Caroline Feraday.
It is always a treat to be invited to the British Residence. The British Consul-General Chris O’Connor and his wife Martha Nelems have certainly kept the ‘best hosts’ reputation intact. The house looked particularly stunning this week, all lit up as a giant Union Jack. Sadly the occasion was to say farewell to Fiona and Eric Francois – Fiona has been a great asset to the UKTI and among her many achievements, she helped create about 20,000 jobs during her posting here! It was really touching to see how so many people took time out of their busy schedules for their send-off. I chatted with Donald Haber (BAFTA/LA) who has the BAFTA Film Tea coming up this weekend, Nigel Lythgoe was also in attendance, as was Bob and Sharron Pierce (ex-British Consul General) who are all very excited about this years BritWeek. I also caught up with one of our biggest supporters and long time Brit in LA, Bernard Sidman who was telling me all about his new ventures – so watch this space! Fiona & Eric, we wish you luck in Florida, and hope you come back for a visit soon!
Craig and I popped down for a preview of the newly opened Ace Hotel & Theater (929 Broadway, Downtown LA) – a lot of you may know it as the United Artists Theater or as ‘that building with the giant Jesus Saves sign atop it’ . This is going to be a fantastic addition to the blooming downtown scene – it was originally built by a company owned Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. The people at the Ace have thankfully done their best to preserve as much as they can from the original 1927 structure. I even got to sit in one of the original seats! British space rock band Spiritualized have the honor of launching the theater space on February 14th. Unfortunately their shows sold out immediately, but make sure to subscribe to our Brits in LA gigging page – to catch them next time they are in town. Visit our website at Britsin.LA for more info.
As you may have heard about next week’s launch of our annual short film competition, The Toscars, it is set for January 16th, at Bedford & Burns in Beverly Hills. If you want to join in the fun or just see what its all about come join us on the night or visit our website TheToscars.com. We hope to see some of you at over the next month, either at our weekly Breakfast Club, Pub Quiz or our Burns Night Celebration on January 25th!
Feel free to drop me a line at eileen@britsin.la if you have any questions about this or anything else I have mentioned. Always a pleasure to hear from you!
Cheers!
Eileen
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