Deborah Schoeneman

Happy 9-02-10!

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:45:28 +0000

Today is 9-020-10! Get it? Exciting! There’s a party tonight in West Hollywood for the women I work with on the “90210″ remake. There’s also something official sounding that has nothing to do with the show in Beverly Hills proper. I’m currently writing my first script for the show. We’re not supposed to give away any story lines but I will say a lot of it takes place on the beach, so my big life goal to work from the beach continues to be realized. Check out a story in the New York Times from two years ago when the remake aired.

Weekend Warriors

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:35:58 +0000

The Chemical Brothers

It was a real action packed weekend. On Sunday night, we went to see the Chemical Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl. They were awesome! The show featured crazy cool green laser lights and a video installation kind of thing on a screen behind them. It was as close to Burning Man as I’ll get this year and it really reminded me of my raving days in a real nostalgia inducing way. They played with Chromeo, which was also very cool, and Yacht, which we missed. We spent Sunday afternoon at the horse races in Del Mar. I thought it was funny how some women who want to seem wealthy at the races wore short black cocktail dresses and high heels. They would have fit in better wearing something from J.Crew.

The track at Del Mar

Yoga Inc.

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:32:01 +0000

The late Sri K Pattabhi Jois in Encinitas

Ok, so fine, I have a guru. Sri K. Pattahbi Jois. He’s the founder of ashtanga yoga, which is essentially the root of all vinyasa yoga, aka power or flow yoga. In 2005, I studied with him at his shala in Mysore, India for a month. He died last year but his legacy lives on through the many teachers he has trained and his daughter, Saraswathi, and his grandson, Sharath. Over the years, there’s been some grumbling in the yoga community that the Mysore shala has become way too crowded and expensive with very little person attention. While I found all these things to be true when I was there, I also loved every bit of it. It was all part of the party, a very special place that I feel fortunate to have visited. The Jois family recently opened a flagship studio in Encinitas, a groovy beach town just north of San Diego. My boyfriend’s family lives near it, so I checked it out today. I practiced with Saraswathi for the whopping price of $50 for about an hour. The studio, located on a busy street near the ocean, was beautiful, clean and spacious but lacked a certain level of soul that I’ve found in other studios like Eddie Stern’s in New York City, where I learned ashtanga yoga and practiced for years. Maybe that had something to do with the large boutique in the front, featuring overpriced Buddhist beads and yoga pants. The Jois family’s expansion into the U.S. is largely funded by Sonia Jones, the sunny wife (and a former Australian model) of billionaire investor and Robin Hood charity founder Paul Tudor Jones. While I applaud her efforts and support, I can’t help but feel that this cash pipeline may be sucking out some of the soul. A few miles away from the new Jois studio is Tim Miller’s ashtanga studio. He was the first American to be certified by Pattabhi Jois and I had always understood that he was tight with the family. I’ve heard that there was a plan for the new Jois studio and his to merge, but they seem to be very separate entities. While his studio is small and buried in a mini mall, I far prefer it to the new fancy Jois studio. Tim is one of the best teachers I’ve ever studied with and I plan to continue going to his studio when I’m in the area. Also, his class is a relative bargain at just $18. It’s surprising that these major international forces of ashtanga yoga couldn’t work together in the same neighborhood.

Vogue is Obsessed with Blake Lively

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:36:28 +0000

Blake Lively in June 2010 Vogue

I love “Gossip Girl” and I think Blake Lively is a gorgeous, fashionable actress. Maybe she’s even the new Gwyneth. But seriously, Vogue’s fawning coverage is getting a little much. She was on the cover of the June issue (it was her second cover in two years) and she was prominently featured in the July, August and September issues. The September issue has a crazy long—although stunning—spread on her hanging out with Karl Lagerfeld in Paris. It’s as if there’s no other all American looking actresses with squeaky clean images out there. (Is this also Lindsay’s fault?) They could try to at least mix it up by giving some ink to Leighton Meester.

VIP Bedtime Story

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:20:30 +0000

Coco and Jenna during story time. Note the princess and the pea bed situation.

Jenna Lamia, my fellow staff writer on “90210,” is famous for doing the voices on audio books like “The Help.” She’s even won an Audie, which is like the Oscar of the audio book world (paging Christopher Guest!) Last week she was kind enough to stop by my neighbor Jenni’s apartment to put her adorable 6-year-old daughter, Coco, to bed reading “The Thirteenth Princess,” by Diane Zahler. Coco has listened to it on tape about 5 times and it’s not a short book. Jenna, who is sort of an accent savant, did the voices for that audio book and she brought them all to life for Coco. It was bigger than having Miley Cyrus do a live concert in the living room. Special bonus: Jenna answered all of Coco’s questions about the behind the scene lives of the princesses. I think Jenna should start a business where she charges tons of money to do this kind of thing, or at least make some customized books on tapes for kids. It would be a real hit.

LA Very Confidential

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:24:05 +0000

I wrote a page in the new L.A. Confidential magazine about jewelry designer Irene Neuwirth and Satine boutique owner Jeannie Lee’s favorite things. It was my first time writing for the magazine and they spelled my last name wrong!

Action!

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:52:36 +0000

Yesterday I was on the “90210″ set for the shooting of the third episode of next season. We have a scene where some characters go to a taco truck, so the Kogi truck came by for a few hours in the morning. Nothing like Korean tacos to get the day started. I also checked out the NYC street set on the Manhattan Beach studio lot. It’s where they shot Ally McBeal, among other things.

The law office of Ally McBeal

The blue sign is of her law office, but it’s hard to read because of the sun. Hollywood is fun!

Laurel Canyon of the Doll

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:04:57 +0000

Last night was the engagement party for a couple I adore. The party at my friend’s house in Laurel Canyon was really fun and classy. There was a stunning pool deck, tacos, designer margaritas, a churros stand, even a smattering of the comedy-eratti. Right before the party started, the hostess remembered to take her thyroid medication. Unfortunately, she accidentally downed an Ambien instead. She spent much of the night sprawled out on her bed, wearing a perfectly accessorized awesome sundress. Towards the end, we tried to turn her bedroom into a VIP room, but she was really too out of it to partake even in that. The party petered out by 10am—this is LA, after all—but I bet she really rallied around 1AM. Moral of the story: be very careful with pill popping before a party.

Drunk Mommies and Frank Lloyd Wright

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 15:32:24 +0000

The Hollyhock House

Last night we checked out the wine tasting event at Barnsdall Park. It takes place every Friday night in the summer and it’s really great. Perched high atop a hill with city views, you can watch the sunset while hanging out on the lawn of the Hollyhock House, which is the first L.A. house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall. Silverlake Wine provides the booze and everyone gets pretty tipsy, particularly all the hipster moms of very cute little kids running around. One of my mom friends there said it was one of the few places where you could really get wasted with your kid—it’s a safely fenced in area with kid activities—hence its popularity with that demo. There’s also food trucks, but it seemed like bringing your own picnic was the way to go.

Sean MacPherson Takes Over Orso

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:59:03 +0000

Luke Janklow, me, Sean MacPherson and Mike D at Luke's holiday party, circa 2006. I love this picture for a lot of reasons. It was taken by Patrick McMullan.

I have an article in the new issue of C magazine about my friend Sean MacPherson taking over the West Hollywood restaurant Orso. I can safely say that I love every place Sean owns, so I expect his take on Orso to be very cool.