Friday, 7 Nov 2003

LOS ANGELES, Calif.

Rebecca and I got going around 10:00 a.m. yesterday with a trip to the Modernica Props warehouse near downtown L.A. I must tell you, being a huge fan of vintage modern style furnishings, I was in heaven. Modernica, the company, reproduces a lot of the amazing furniture designs from the ’50s through the ’70s. In the prop house they rent out these pieces, as well as two floors of true vintage pieces. Some of the most incredible stuff I’ve ever seen. The best part is it’s all rentable, so stylists, studios, etc., don’t have to keep buying new stuff, they can just rent it — much better use of resources.

Turned out that the owners are both from Nebraska too (Rebecca lived in Nebraska for a while and I was born there), so we had a great Nebraska moment. Micheal (yes, Micheal), the manager, was a really great guy and was practically family by the end of our four hour extravaganza. We were able to rent probably 75 percent of our needs for the Business for Social Responsibility event at Modernica, so it turned out to be a great find. I’d like to just bring my sleeping bag next time and stay amongst the out-of-this-world couches, chairs, tables, lamps, etc. Now that would be urban camping.

Next it was off to Hollywood Cinema Production Resources, a nonprofit organization that acts as both a prop house and a youth education and training program. Here we found some more great things for the BSR event: 26 space chairs and 30 or so colored cubes and stands for the models that Rebecca is going to have throughout the event. There were also two huge space pods from the recent remake of “Solaris” that I fell in love with. Not sure what I’d do with 12-foot-diameter space pods, though — cool for a tree house, maybe. The best part about Hollywood CPR is their training program, though. With a focus on youth and diversity, they really have an amazing program going.

Next it was a conference call with our event team. Rebecca found the closest hotel lobby from which to call (I’ve done conference calls from the most amazing places — Mt. Rainier lodge, a high school, hotel lobbies, etc.). We’re down to crunch time and so far everything is coming together.

Rebecca and I finally got lunch, yes lunch, at 4:00 p.m. or so. A Mexican restaurant popped right out at us as we started our search for lunch venues, so the immediate chips and salsa were quite welcome.

As my time on Grist is coming to a close, I invite everyone to keep up on the rest of our adventure on “sslog,” my sustainable style web log on our SSF website. Lots more great things ahead, and of course the final report on the actual event. Thank you all for checking in and joining us on our L.A. adventure. Keep up the good work, y’all, and stay strong. Peace.