Ice cream season
Origin Korean BBQ, Manhattan Beach listings, best ice cream shops, MARA, Celine sunglasses, live events, Studio Shamshiri, Chaka Khan tix, MORE
RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table
Old Seoul
Even among the dozens of Korean BBQ restaurants in LA, Origin, which opened earlier this year in the former home of (the original) Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong in Koreatown, brings something a little different. Not new, exactly. In fact, most of what’s interesting here are the kinds of things you’d find at an old-school BBQ joint in Korea.
For one, they pay more attention to the banchan and greens to wrap the meat, with which one makes a ssam. There are three different types of kimchi on all the tables at Origin, including a bo ssam radish kimchi. Most KBBQ places in LA provide lettuce and rice paper for wrapping grilled meats in, but Origin also brings out perilla leaves. The pork belly comes in thin, rounded slices and the combination shows how important the ssam is: it’s not just about the meat, but about making that perfect bite. Tteok galbi, a marinated meat patty made from minced prime short rib, is another dish on the menu here that isn’t usually seen in LA.
Baekjeong was a wildly popular Korean BBQ spot that created long valet lines at Chapman Plaza. In place of that restaurant’s sparse, utilitarian vibe, Origin has outfitted the space in leather chairs and wooden booths, with weathered, white tiles on the walls, decorated with vintage-looking posters peddling soju and natural wine. It’s moody and dark, evoking 1960s-era Seoul.
The set menu is the way most people go at Origin, which comes with corn cheese, steamed egg, and brisket doenjang jjigae (soybean paste soup). Next to each table’s charcoal grill is a gas stove to keep side dishes (like that corn cheese and doenjang jjigae) hot throughout the meal. Large metal hood vents hang from the ceiling over every table, ready to remove the smoke from those charcoal grills. For drinks, there are of course soju and Korean beers, but consider the house-made sikhye rice punch, a worthy alternative.
Origin is packed nightly, with lively meat-and-soju-fueled conversations and the sizzle of the grills reverberating in the industrial dining room. The Chapman Plaza valets are going to stay busy for a while longer. –Fiona Chandra
→ Origin Korean BBQ (Koreatown) • 3465 W 6th St • Sun-Thurs 11a-12a, Fri-Sat 11a-2a • Reserve.
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: The 101 best tacos in LA • How LA reached peak taco • The absolute best cold brews in LA • Closed since January, DTLA’s Spring Street Bar plans to reopen next month • Top ramen spot Tsujita Artisan Noodle opens outpost in Old Pasadena • Highland Park modern Spanish restaurant Otoño has closed.
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
Manhattan project
It’s been a heady month for the Manhattan Beach real estate market. The area netted last week’s biggest real estate deal in Los Angeles County, a massive six-bedroom residence in the hill section that carried a listing price of $16.9M, per The Eklund-Gomes Team. That follows the sale earlier this month of beachside mansion 1800 The Strand for $24.5M, a new record for Manhattan Beach.
But Manhattan Beach real estate — whether in the Sand Section, Hill Section, Tree Section, or East Manhattan neighborhoods — needn’t run that high octane to hit. Here, three recent listings spanning the town that caught our eye:
→ 2407 Bayview Dr (Sand Section, above) • 2BR/2.1BA, 2203 SF • three-story penthouse with ocean views • Ask: $3.75M • Days on market: 11 • Agent: Louis Scaduto, Premier Agent Network.
→ 738 19th St (Tree Section) • 4BR/3.1BA, 3378 SF • Cape Cod-style home in the tree section • Ask: $3.995M • Days on market: 6 • Agent: Ted Dodd, Haynes Real Estate and Jennifer Caskey, Compass.
→ 1847 9th St (East Manhattan) • 6BR/6.1BA, 5205 SF • newly built house with pool in back and poolhouse • Ask: $5.695M • Days on market: 28 • Agent: Mai-Anh Tran, South Coast Real Estate Group.
LA WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Iconic Yamashiro Hollywood property hits market for $100M, restaurant will stay open for now • Inside Inglewood’s Cosm, LA’s new mini-Sphere • Atwater Village wine shop/grocery Wine + Eggs has new owner • Westwood movie houses Westwood Village and Bruin closing for good this week.
WORK • Thursday Routine
Artistic license
ALLISON MCNAMARA • founder/CEO • MARA
Neighborhood you live in: Hollywood Hills
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I own a skincare line called MARA centered on algae and sea ingredients. We work out of our office in Hollywood most days of the week, so on a normal Thursday morning, I’m usually the first in, sipping my Erewhon whole milk coffee with Holi Mane collagen powder and sorting through my inbox. I like to get all important emails out of the way before moving onto more complex tasks.
I do a lot of product development on Thursdays, so you’ll probably find me playing with a number of new components at my desk, sending notes on a new formula, or editing a product development deck.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Right now, it’s all about our next launch. I can’t share too many details yet — it launches in mid-August — but the month leading up to it is when all of the storytelling and magic falls into place. The big things right now are getting manufacturing finished, our goods shipped off to Sephora and the rest of our retailers, and perfecting all our product purchase pages and social content. We’ve also been working tirelessly on our new lip balm packaging which will launch soon as well — it’s a busy time at MARA.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I’m meeting some friends tonight at Stir Crazy, a really cool wine bar on Melrose. Some other recent favorites are Found Oyster, Stella West Hollywood, and For the Win.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I’m going to an exhibit of the female gaze by Bettina Bogar. I absolutely love art. In fact, the tops of the boxes of MARA are all original works of art that we commission artists to create. I’ve also been really into women’s basketball. I took my team to see the LA Sparks play the Mystics and we had the best time. I’ve also recently gotten back into writing (I spent the first half of my career as a writer and on-camera journalist) and have found a lot of creativity with my Substack.
Any weekend getaways?
You can find me at Soho House Malibu basically every weekend during the summer if I’m in LA. This is my favorite place to have a few glasses of Sancerre and some caviar or oysters with my friends.
What was your last great vacation?
The last great vacation I took was to the new Auberge in Punta Mita Mexico. I went for a pilates retreat with my friend and trainer Amanda Kassar for Core Club and it was the dreamiest three-day getaway.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I went a little crazy at Celine last week and got both the gold frame sunglasses that I have been wearing on repeat and this cognac brown Triomphe bag. I’ve been wanting a brown bag and this one fits in seamlessly with my wardrobe.
WORK • Events
Keynote addresses
Four years ago, after Covid wiped out the in-person events calendar for the media company I was running, we wondered whether events would ever come back. A flurry of digital events companies emerged to help companies like ours fill the void. (The future was Hopin!)
Eventually, as we inched back into gathering IRL, we allowed ourselves to believe that big events would play a central role again. That people would get on planes, sit in ballrooms full of their peers, stroll through exhibit halls during cocktail hour with a bagful of swag. But it wasn’t a sure bet.
This year, with business travel having almost fully rebounded, industry conferences are leading the way. Sixty-three percent of corporate travelers expect to make at least one trip to a conference or exhibition in 2024, more than any other travel purpose, per a Deloitte survey.
Events are hard to execute. Want to distract your entire team for a quarter or two? Plan an event. But there’s no better way to prove your audience is real (and engaged) than by asking them to show up in person somewhere. And if you can keep them engaged once they’ve arrived, well, then you’ve really got something.
We can’t risk the blinding distraction right now, but, someday, there will be a FOUND event. Hopefully, it’ll be somewhere glorious, and you’ll be there. In the meantime, prices go up at the door! –Josh Albertson
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Object
Studio release
For a real dose of Los Angeles style, Studio Shamshiri’s design tome is filled with other-worldly rooms that mix the relaxed Cali look with European splendor. Buy it for anyone who wants a book that doubles as an object d’art on their coffee table. –Zoe Schaeffer
→ Shop: Shamshiri: Interiors (Rizzoli) • $75.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Tell Me Something Good
Sublime with Rome • Pacific Amphitheatre (Costa Mesa) • Sat @ 730p • section 2, $138 per
Chaka Khan with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra • Hollywood Bowl (Hollywood) • Fri @ 8p • section G, $140 per
Club Tijuana vs LAFC • Leagues Cup • BMO Stadium (Expo Park) • Fri @ 8p • Figueroa Club, $279 per
GETAWAYS LINKS: Big Sur Highway 1 repair update: intermittent overnight shutdowns return this week • New app for Napa intriguing but indecisive • Forthcoming Park Hyatt London River Thames now accepting reservations.
ASK FOUND
Four FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we’re seeking intel:
What's the best flight school to take a flying lesson in LA?
I’m looking for something special. What are the best jewelry stores in LA?
Where should I be drinking al fresco this summer?
What’s your Restaurant of the Summer?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundla.com.
GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of LA’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundla.com. For the full archives, click here.
Ice cream shops
Bulgarini Gelato (Altadena), Jonathan Gold’s favorite ice cream homemade by Leo Bulgarini, try the pistachio gelato