From the Editor
Not long ago, when plastic surgery would come up as a topic among my friends, it was solely as a source of derision: “Oh my, have you seen [35-year-old actress’s] lips lately? She’s gone full Joker.” “What’s wrong with [50-year-old athlete]? Suddenly his face is frozen in amber!” It was the freaky celebrity stuff that caught our eye (poolside, sharing the National Enquirer) and demanded immediate commentary. Then something happened: We got older... Read
Features:
The New Face of Plastic Surgery
It’s an L.A. growth industry, and whether or not you partake, its influence shapes your world. Here’s what you need to know about current trends, old fears, and the ups and downs of toying with nature
WEB EXTRA: Faces of the Rich and Famous
WEB EXTRA: The Plastic Surgery Survery
The Cop Whisperer
By Ed Leibowitz
Growing up in South L.A. was key training for David Ayer, the writer-director behind the LAPD saga End of Watch
WEB EXTRA: The King of South Central: How End of Watch Keeps it Real
Game Changers
By Ann Herold
We asked ten women who make L.A. a better place to pick four women who inspire them. Meet 50 activists, entrepreneurs, and religious leaders
The Final Frontier
By Dan Winters
In 2011, as the space shuttle program drew to a close, Dan Winters photographed the last three launches, including that of the L.A.-born Endeavour
WEB EXTRA: Rocket Man, a Q&A with Dan Winters
(Shop)
In Store
Tribal blankets accent boots, belts, and more this season; Katharine Hepburn loses her pants and Marlene Dietrich demands Dior in this fall’s crop of behind-the-scenes Hollywood fashion books
Tastemaker
Ron Radziner, half of the Marmol Radziner architecture team, breaks new ground with a line of torched jewelry
Style Stakeout
We go gonzo in Pacific Palisades, where high-low dressing is as common-place as paparazzi
Best of LA
Need to work on your scare tactics? Check out the costume shops haunted by the pros
(Do)
Culture Files
Photographer Jill Greenberg turns her lens on horses; guitar great Kenny Burrell picks this month’s best jazz; literary impresario Todd Zuniga shares words to die for plus: You never know what’s on the bill at HM157
Weekender
Afoot and afield in Monterey, with its stew of history, ocean views, and touristy fun
The Guide
30 things to do in October, from humming along with wild things to dodging the walking dead
(Columns)
Film
By Steve Erickson
A longtime political junkie and former conservative on the tilted, tainted coverage of presidential politics
Open City
By Anne Taylor Fleming
College football brightens a time of year that gets darker by the day. This season the sport arrives with its own shadows
Culture
By Amy Wallace
Local writer Jonah Lehrer’s implosion after getting busted for being too creative raises two questions: Why’d he do it? And why such elation over his ignominy?
PLUS: 5 Things We’re Not Supposed To Tell You About This Issue
16 costumes
→ Rejected ideas for Halloween getups based on L.A. jobs, including Sexy Musso & Frank Waiter, Sexy SoCal Edison Meter Reader, and Sexy Dodgers Peanut Vendor.
5 inches
→ Length of hair we asked Skip Sterling to add to his illustration of a woman winning Literary Death Match. In the first sketch she looked dowdy, so we requested more “Zooey Deschanel” (we know—sorry). Sterling delivered, sans Zooey’s bangs, saving us from ourselves.
10 agencies
→ Number of modeling firms photo editor Amy Feitelberg contacted in an attempt to find a cover model who wears a size 6 or 8. No such luck. Most models were size 0. We ended up splitting the difference with Tess Kartel, who comes in at a “curvy” size 4.
iPhone 4S
→ Device used to take an Instagram photo of the Entrance Band at HM157 for the Nightlife column. Senior editor Elina Shatkin planned on using her digital camera, but the battery ran out.
7:14 p.m. EST
→ Time on a Friday night that Slate published its story about the investigation of writer Jonah Lehrer’s plagiarizing problem. It was the same evening we were closing editor-at-large Amy Wallace’s story about Lehrer, causing a last-minute scramble to update the story—no plagiarism involved.