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California Love
As a lifelong New Yorker, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’s Amanda Peet wasn’t sure about Los Angeles — until she grew fond of the oil rigs on La Cienega, found a good deli, and conquered her fear of parking structures. By Mark Seal. Photograph by Yariv Milchan.
She originally came to Los Angeles to do a television series, and now Amanda Peet is back on TV, where she started. Peet’s new NBC series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (created by The West Wing’s Aaron Sorkin), is a backstage television drama about a Saturday Night Live–style late-night comedy sketch show. But one thing is different: Between her arrival in 1999 as an ingenue and her new series now, Peet became a star. Along the way, she drove Bruce Willis to distraction in The Whole Nine Yards, became the fantasy of Kieran Culkin as a languid beauty in Igby Goes Down, and made Jack Nicholson’s heart palpitate in Something’s Gotta Give. ¶ Born in New York, Peet tentatively left Manhattan for the wilds of Los Angeles — at least at first. She was a city girl with a bachelor of arts degree in history from Columbia University, and she lived the typical New York actor’s life, auditioning endlessly for daytime television gigs while moonlighting as a waitress and restaurant hostess. “When I was in New York, I was hostessing, and I was going on four subways to make four different auditions for commercials in one day,” she remembers. But then, after winning a starring role in the WB’s 20-something romantic comedy series Jack and Jill, Peet moved to Los Angeles, and the city opened its fickle arms wide. Here’s a weekend with the transplant that bloomed in the sun.
So we’re going to talk about L.A. What do you think? Well, if seven years ago you had told me I was going to be doing an “I Love L.A.” piece, I would not have believed you. I think back then I would have said it is not a real city, first of all. But just because you can’t go get a bagel at the corner deli at three in the morning doesn’t mean it’s not a city.
Is there an equivalent of the corner deli in L.A.? There’s Canter’s, Nate ’n Al’s, and Jerry’s Deli — the one on Beverly. I go there a lot.
You were born and raised in Manhattan. Do L.A. delis get it the same way? It’s very close. I love the matzo-ball soup at Jerry’s. It’s not oily or greasy; everyone’s always really friendly there, and it’s really easy to get to. They always put a lot of matzo balls in the soup. I don’t see that many Hollywood people when I’m there, but I don’t know … I don’t know if they are there. But we did go to Nate ’n Al’s on Christmas, and we saw quite a few Hollywood people.
Whom did you see? Just heads of studios, you know. I think I saw a couple of other actors, and we ran into a lot of people — before going to a two o’clock movie.
That’s Christmas in Los Angeles? Yeah.
So tell me about your arrival there. I came here having a very Hollywood experience. I left for the studio at six in the morning, and I got home at eight o’clock at night. So the only people I saw were the people on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank. It was a lot of just driving. I definitely started to feel like I was, I don’t know, a robot.
Did you find time to go anywhere else? I would go to Crunch. It’s a huge gym, but it’s very centrally located, so a lot of actors go there. It’s the kind of place you don’t want to go work out at because you feel really self-conscious. I just don’t particularly want to wear, like, some tight little spandex number when I know I’m going to run into 200 other actors, casting directors, directors, you know. I feel like a loser. It’s in West Hollywood, in the same shopping center as the Laemmle’s Sunset 5 theaters. I used to just walk up there. Everyone would look at me really strangely, because no one walks in L.A. Everyone thought I was a homeless person whenever I walked anywhere. When I first moved here, I hated driving so much that I wouldn’t go to some places because I knew that I would have to park in a parking structure. I had very weird parking-structure intimidation. I hemorrhaged money paying for valet. Unnecessarily. I didn’t get my license until the year before, so I just wasn’t used to driving, and this idea of circling around with all these other cars in a really tight space and then trying to park without scratching another car and then remembering where your car is, I mean, it was so daunting. I would be starving, and I would want to go get something to eat or to go do an errand, and I just wouldn’t go. I would be paralyzed in my apartment.
But you did manage to escape long enough to work out. Where would you go after Crunch, if you didn’t go back to your apartment? I would go to brunch or lunch and eat at a lot of the places that are actually still my joints. There’s this place called Quality. It’s on Third Street. The decor is very clean and simple and very unpretentious, and they have delicious omelets and salads. Everything tastes really fresh. They have the most incredible biscuits you have ever tasted in your life. You just put the butter on ... my fiancé feels like they don’t even need butter. The biscuits are so good. I found Joan’s on Third, which is another place I really love. I eat there, like, three times a week. It’s really embarrassing. It’s a little gourmet deli/restaurant. They have a huge array of food. They have sandwiches with mortadella, and they have curried chicken, salmon, and delicious salads. And then they sell, you know, wines and mustards and jams and olive oil. Whenever I do a party, they cater it.
Is there a hotel you like? I love going to Beverly Hills Hotel, to the little Polo Lounge and the little diner downstairs, where you can get a really yummy turkey burger called the Novogroder. Oh yeah, Novogroder cheeseburger with pickles. I don’t know why they call it that, but it’s delicious. It’s just so juicy. It’s so many different tastes all together. The Beverly Hills Hotel is very old-school Hollywood. I always have a weird feeling of being an old movie star there. I feel like I should be wearing a little tennis outfit, and I should be about to go play tennis. It’s all salmon and green. I like the Polo Lounge at night. It’s a big kind of landmark for me, because David [Benioff, her fiancé] lives up in the canyon, so whenever I was going on a date with him, you know, I would always drive by the hotel. And when we were on our first date, we went there after going to a restaurant called Nishimura, so it has sentimental meaning.
What are some of your other favorite landmarks in L.A.? Things that epitomize L.A. for you. I guess all the oil rigs as you come in from the airport on La Cienega. When I first got here, I thought that they were so fascinating. It was so exotic to me, and now I feel a lot of affection for them. It’s a bit like the equivalent of seeing the Manhattan skyline when you’re coming in on the Long Island Expressway. When I see [the oil rigs], I’m home. I’m here in L.A.
What’s your favorite road or street? Besides La Cienega, of course. I like Abbot Kinney in Venice. I have a lot of friends who live in Venice. Abbot Kinney has a lot of cute little furniture shops and galleries. Another favorite restaurant of mine is Axe, and that’s on Abbot Kinney. It’s such a nice place to walk, and it’s so nice to be able to walk, you know what I mean. Axe is very minimal, the decor. They have this delicious rice-bowl salad that I always get that has rice and cucumbers and sprouts and carrots, and they can put salmon or tofu or chicken in it. My girlfriend who is Korean said her mom used to make something similar when she was younger. So it’s kind of Asian influenced.
Where do you like to shop? My favorite shop in L.A. is probably Kaviar and Kind. It’s on Sunset. It’s a jewelry store, but they also sell handbags and art and the most beautiful jewelry you’ll ever see. It’s eclectic, and some of it is really organic — shells or feathers and gold. They actually have vintage jewelry, as well, which I love, and they carry a lot of different designers. For clothes, I like Hillary Rush on Third. I just really like the buyer; she has a really good eye. I like American Rag a lot. It’s on La Brea, and they have vintage clothes, and they carry, you know, little Marc Jacobs pieces and some of the not-so-fancy designers that I really love. And they have really good boy clothes, too, so I can shop for David there.
What’s the philosophy of Los Angeles? “What number are you on the call sheet?” Rolling calls. Rolling your calls is a fancy way of saying you’re making one call after another. I’ve heard laypeople say, “I had to roll such and such number of calls,” and I almost keeled over.
Is there a place where you can witness that mentality? Probably the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I always feel like everyone is reading a script there. And everyone is reading a script at the gym; it’s a little bit of a one-industry town. At the one on Sunset, there are a lot of people on their computers. Sometimes it makes me really depressed when I go there, because I feel like, I hope everyone gets a break. Some of them are probably writing something brilliant. When I first got here, I just felt like it was an infestation of Hollywood. I felt so accosted by how everyone was in the same business and everyone was trying to get the same thing. I don’t feel that way anymore. Now, it annoys me when New Yorkers kind of pooh-pooh L.A. and say, “Oh, it’s full of vapid people.” Because the truth is, most of the smartest friends of mine either have lived here or are living here — including my fiancé, who’s much smarter than I am.
What about somewhere where you can escape that mind-set? I like the 29 Palms Inn. It’s a little boutique hotel near Joshua Tree National Park. I’ve only gone there in the winter. I went with a girlfriend of mine, and we made a fire in our room. It was so romantic — or it would have been if we hadn’t been [there] with each other. It’s just so small and intimate. It feels very Neil Young. I think they have massages there, but it’s not a spa. I used to go up Runyon Canyon and go hiking. I’m not that beachy. Now that I’m getting old, I’m not allowed to go into the sun.
Okay, I won’t force you. Let’s talk about being indoors. Where should we go for dinner? One of my favorite restaurants in town is Madeo’s. It has these high, really narrow windows, and it’s kind of sunken down, and the food is absolutely delicious. It’s very old-school. There are a lot of families there and older folks. I get the langoustine, and I love the veal ravioli with walnut sauce. They have incredible pasta. The waiters speak Italian. We speak Italian, the little that I know from my college days. I’ll say, “Grazie.” The Little Door on Third is beautiful. There’s no sign, just sort of a big Tuscan-looking wooden door. Locanda Veneta — I go there all the time too. It’s so small and homey. The pastas and the meats there are amazing. I like Italian food. Then there’s this sushi place called Nishimura, which I mentioned before. It’s right on Melrose, across from the Pacific Design Center. It’s a little nook. It doesn’t have a sign either. David doesn’t want me to tell you about it because he’s scared that it’s going to get too busy. I went there on my first date with him.
How did you two meet? We were set up by a writer friend of ours named Peter Blake. He writes for House, that medical drama, and he was friends with both of us. This was four years ago. Peter just called me and said, “Would you like to be set up with this guy David? He’s also a writer from New York.” And I said sure. David took me to Nishimura, and I thought he ordered rather pretentiously. He ordered the razor clams. He’s a crazy foodie. If he goes to an Italian restaurant, he orders tripe and bottarga pasta. He can never just get pasta marinara or something normal. At Nishimura, David knows everybody. I’m just the girl who comes in with David. He’s, like, the mayor when he’s there. They just do their greetings and bow their heads, and David knows everyone by name, and he always does the chef tasting. I think he thinks it’s really pedestrian that I actually order off the menu, as opposed to just letting the chef choose for me. On our first date, he kind of took over. He ordered for me. I feel like I’m a fairly adventurous eater, so I felt that was a little bit cocky of him. Nishimura is crazy expensive. We think about all the other things we could be doing while we’re there, like staying in the Four Seasons for a night. I’m kidding, but almost.
Design Amanda Peet’s perfect Saturday night in Los Angeles. We would go to Madeo’s, and we’d get dirty martinis. David would get the pasta with bottarga, and I would order a filet mignon. Then we would drive back up into the canyon, and David would have the pool at, like, 98 degrees, because he’s crazy, and we would go get in the pool and listen to music outside. Or maybe we’d go to the Chateau Marmont; I like the lobby for drinks. It’s really fun if you want to stargaze, because there is always someone there. You name it. So many famous people are there all the time. The lobby there is a beautiful room. But you have to be in the mood to deal with the, you know, the celebrity factor. It’s not very low-key.
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She Said …
Where Amanda Peet goes in Los Angeles when she’s not “rolling calls”
LODGING
29 Palms Inn, 29 Palms, expensive,
(760) 367-3505
The Beverly Hills Hotel, very expensive,
(310) 276-2251
DINING
Axe, Californian, expensive, (310) 664-9787
Canter’s Deli, inexpensive to moderate, (323) 651-2030
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, numerous locations, www.coffeebean.com
Jerry’s Famous Deli, moderate, (310) 289-1811
Joan’s on Third, café, inexpensive to moderate, (323) 655-2285
The Little Door, Mediterranean, expensive, (323) 951-1210
Locanda Veneta, Venetian, expensive, (310) 274-1893
Madeo, Italian, moderate to expensive, (310) 859-4903
Nate ‘n Al, deli, inexpensive to expensive, (310) 274-0101
Nishimura, Japanese, very expensive, (310) 659-4770
Quality, café, inexpensive to moderate, (323) 658-5959 (breakfast and lunch only)
SHOPPING
American Rag, (323) 935-3154
Hillary Rush, (323) 852-0088
Kaviar and Kind, (310) 659-8857
NIGHTLIFE
Chateau Marmont, (323) 656-1010
Polo Lounge, (310) 887-2777
ELSEWHERE
Crunch, (323) 654-4550
Laemmle’s Sunset 5, (323) 848-3500
Runyon Canyon, (323) 666-5046. (Please note: This is the number for the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Services office.)
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We Said …
Where we go in Los Angeles when we’re not “rolling calls”
LODGING
Hotel Angeleno,
moderate to expensive, (310) 476-6411. This former Holiday Inn still
has the same smallish rooms, but now features a hipper, more
sophisticated vibe throughout. After settling in and checking out the
view from your balcony, scope out the panorama at the penthouse-level
dining room and then gather around the cozy outdoor pool and fireplace.
Sofitel Los Angeles, very expensive, (310) 278-5444.
Another newly renovated L.A. lodging is this Euro-mod masterpiece on
Beverly Boulevard. Befitting its fashionable address, it features a
5,000-square-foot spa and a Rande Gerber–run bar.
Villa Brasil Motel,
inexpensive, (310) 636-0141. Our third and last lodging to have
undergone a recent renovation is this clean, colorful charmer that
claims to be the city’s first Brazilian accommodation. Rumor has it
Kevin Bacon is a big fan of the motel’s new Café Brasil.
DINING
Bite,
moderate, (310) 305-4010. We originally came here for the Japanese
“street food,” like the crispy tofu slices with peanut dipping sauce
and flash-fried calamari dusted in Togarashi pepper flour. But having
now tasted Bite’s martinis, we’ve discovered they (more than 20 in all)
are worth the trip as well. The table favorite was the Oatmeal Cookie
Martini (mmm, Butterscotch Schnapps!).
Eaturna, inexpensive, www.eaturna.com.
Have some time before your flight at LAX? Fly over to this new kiosk in
Terminal 1 and order from the all-natural, hormone-, and trans-fat-free
menu. The freshly made items — think roasted-vegetable-and-goat-cheese
wraps and crispy-chicken-breast salads — sure beat ordinary airport
food.
NIGHTLIFE
Brennan’s Pub, (310) 821-6622. Since
we like martinis that taste like cookies (see Bite, above), it probably
comes as no surprise that we like something else a little kooky with
our cocktails — turtle races. They’ve been a Thursday night ritual at
this laid-back Marina Del Rey watering hole for more than 25 years. But
don’t worry, no animals come to any harm, so sit back and enjoy a brew,
a game of stick, or a rousing chorus of Irish folk songs.
The Getty Center,
(310) 440-7300. A museum in the nightlife section? Sure, when you
consider the Getty’s monthly Fridays Off the 405 event, a fabulous
collage of art (from ancient Greek vases to twentieth-century
photographs) and music (be it dance hall or hip-hop). Better yet,
there’s no cover charge — or admission of any kind, for that matter.
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