Children strut runway for CHLA; EVs cruise in to Petersen
Even though the skies were cloudy, gray and wet, the dresses and suits were colorful, spring-forward and dapper at the Children’s Fashion Show & Luncheon organized by Children’s Chain, a 66-year-old support group of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). The event took place April 13 in the newly renovated enclosed patio of The Beach Club in Santa Monica.
RECENTLY RENOVATED enclosed patio at The Beach Club in Santa Monica was the setting for a spring children’s fashion show to benefit Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Photos by Sondi Sepenuk
The shiny new club building remains smack dab on the beach, and the venue for the fashion show was bright and airy, smelled like new paint and provided the perfect backdrop for children to model their favorite fashions from Elfin, a children’s clothing store in Woodland Hills.
The store donated 20 percent of proceeds for all items purchased to Children’s Chain, which in turn donates the money to CHLA. Children’s Chain is one of 24 associate and affiliate groups that support the hospital.
Guests were welcomed into the space with a steel drum and beverage reception, while children created arts and crafts, making personal frames and drawings. The guests were then seated to enjoy the main event.
EMMA AND ELLIE DAVIE show matching dresses.
Emcee was Hancock Park’s Carlotta Keely, who provided color commentary while the children strutted their stuff down the runway, some walking, some dancing, some making their cute-as-can-be debuts on the world stage. Apparently pizza, mac ‘n’ cheese, Taylor Swift and even trash days on Tuesdays are very big with this new generation. Who knew???
After the fashion show, guests were treated to a luncheon of Ora King salmon salad and Asian chicken salad with grilled cheese or chicken tenders with french fries for the younger crowd.
CHILDREN’S CHAIN members (back row, left to right) Natalie Stone, Maureen Hawley and Alex Huddle, with fashion models, Ella Stone, Frances Jenkins, Harper Huddle and Sienna Morales.
HENRY WYMAN and friend Teddy Canon (left) participated in the fashion show.
THREE GENERATIONS of CHLA supporters are (back row, left to right) Elizabeth Fain LaBombard, Jennifer Fain and Meg Fain Jenkins, and, in front, Gloria LaBombard (left) and Frances Jenkins.
CO-CAPTAINS for the fashion show were Children’s Chain chair Jaclyn Dunne (left) and Cathryn Quinn McCarthy.
While attendees enjoyed the light luncheon, Children’s Chain’s Jaclyn Dunne and her event co-captain, Cathryn Quinn McCarthy, called out the successful buyers at the silent auction and the winners of the raffle.
The afternoon was the most highly attended Children’s Chain fashion show to date, and the generous giving of the attendees will allow Children’s Chain to present a significant check to CHLA. Keely was proud to point out that the money Children’s Chain raises throughout the year helps enable CHLA to “never turn any children away.”
Children’s Chain’s next big fundraiser will be a Newport Harbor sunset boat cruise in June with champagne and light bites.
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PATT MORRISON from the Los Angeles Times brought a sold-out audience to Holocaust Museum LA for a discussion with Steve Ross, center, and Jordanna Gessler, right, about the long history of antisemitism in Los Angeles.
A couple of weeks earlier, at the end of March, our local Holocaust Museum LA in Pan Pacific Park was the site for a sold-out conversation among Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Patt Morrison, Holocaust scholar Steven J. Ross and Jordanna Gessler. The recent Ross book, “Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America,” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history in 2018. Gessler is the museum’s chief impact officer and is a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. Gessler’s career includes presenting internationally on topics like contemporary antisemitism and related subjects.
Morrison wrote a Times story in January of this year, “Antisemitism has a long history in Los Angeles,” and that story led to the March 27 program where attendees could learn more about “why and how antisemitism in Los Angeles is not new and how we, as a community, can work together to stand up against anti-Jewish hate.” The presentation now is available online at: tinyurl.com/2bw8h2w3, where the discussion begins about six minutes into the recording.
Serious enlightenment on topical issues was available, once again, in the heart of our communities.
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PETERSEN Automotive Museum was host to an “EV & Hybrid Silent Cruise-in” on the top deck of the facility’s parking structure, and there were close to two dozen Tesla Cybertrucks among the many EVs on display.
In between the discussion of somber history and the hopeful expectations of youth at a fashion show was another recent and hopeful gathering — the 2024 “EV & Hybrid Silent Cruise-In” at the Petersen Automotive Museum at Wilshire and Fairfax.
TESLA CHIEF DESIGNER Franz von Holzhausen was surrounded by EV fans at the exhibit and later spoke on a panel discussing EVs and their future.
Although dominant presences at the event included nearly two dozen massive Tesla Cybertrucks, the Petersen’s annual electrified breakfast and car cruise-in for alternate fuel vehicles even included something as modest this year as Larchmont Chronicle publisher John Welborne’s 2023 Chevy Bolt all-electric.
But nearly two-dozen Cybertrucks drew more eyes, especially because their creator, Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief designer, was present. He was treated like a rock star (which, in the EV world, he is), and people were asking his advice and getting his autograph on Petersen Cybertruck posters distributed to attendees.
As the longtime chief designer at Tesla, von Holzhausen has been responsible for driving the overall design direction of the EV manufacturer and establishing the design language for Tesla products. He is known for designing Tesla’s Models S, 3, X, Y, Roadster 2.0 and Cybertruck. He also was part of a three-member panel of car industry experts who shared some of their insights at the culmination of the cruise-in.
Included among the cars on display were one-off electrified custom vehicles like a circa-World War II Jeep and a red 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible. These examples of progress toward non-fossil fuel transport were hardly shocking, but lots of fun, according to attendees!
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And now you’re in the Larchmont know!
Category: People